I'm a sheep*

We bought wheat germ tonight. We're going to start putting some in all of our baked goods, as well as sneaking a little into our smoothies in the AM. We've talked about doing this for a while, because of the following health benefits, but finally bought some tonight.

"Face it, wheat germ is a nutrition standout. It's one of the best sources of folic acid. That's good news, since it's recommended that all women of childbearing age get sufficient amounts of this nutrient to prevent neural-tube birth defects. Folic acid reduces a compound in your body called homocysteine. Lower levels of homocysteine have been linked to reducing the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis bone fractures, and dementia.
Wheat germ also contains a phytonutrient called L-ergothioneine, which is a powerful antioxidant that is not destroyed by cooking. In addition, the fiber boost you get from wheat germ is phenomenal." (http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/natural-weight-loss-food-wheat-germ-ga.htm)

We're making Honey and Oat muffins this weekend, which use Whole Wheat Flour and Oatmeal and have no added sugar. We found the recipe a few months ago and were really pleased to find discover that the muffins freeze and re-heat really well, so we make a bit batch, freeze the majority of them, and can pull them out on a weekday morning when we're crunched for time. We're also trying out Ambre's Milk and Honey Bread recipe just because we heard it's yummy. We'll be adding wheat germ to both, so I'm anxious to see how they turn out.

Ambre has also recommended adding greens to smoothies to up the nutritional content even more. She, and others, claim that you can't taste the veggies in there if they're well blended, so we're giving it a shot. We bought kale tonight to add to our next batch of smoothies. Kale is also a great food to add to our diets, for the following reasons:

"Though greens in general are nutritious foods, kale stands a head above the rest. Not only is it one of your best sources of beta-carotene, one of the antioxidants believed by many nutrition experts to be a major player in the battle against cancer, heart disease, and certain age-related chronic diseases, it also provides other important nutrients. In addition to beta-carotene, kale posses other important carotenoids: lutein and zeaxathin. These carotenoids help keep UV rays from damaging the eyes and causing cataracts.

According to recent research results, kale is an incredible source of well-absorbed calcium, which is one of the many factors that may help prevent osteoporosis. It also provides decent amounts of vitamin C, folic acid, vitamin B6, manganese, and potassium. The manganese in kale helps your body's own antioxidant defense system, superoxide dismutase, protecting you from damaging free radicals. Its folate and B6 team up to keep homocysteine levels down, which may help prevent heart disease, dementia, and osteoporosis bone fractures." (http://home.howstuffworks.com/kale3.htm)

I've recently (within the last couple years) entered into the world of actually liking vegetables. I ate them before out of courtesy to whoever prepared them, but definitely never liked eating them or craved them. That's changed a lot, but I'm still a little leary of trying new things with veggies...

*I think there's an old adage about whether you're a sheep - a follower, or a shepard - a leader. I totally feel like a sheep writing about what I'm doing to eat healthier, more organic, etc...but I'm sharing anyways!!