The More You Know

What a crazy week it has been...Daniel and I are so thankful for this nice weekend to not do a SINGLE thing. We have nothing on the schedule which is so nice. The last 3 weekends straight have been hectic, so I am using this weekend to do whatever I want.

The first thing I did was make yummy blueberry muffins. (More on that below.)

"The More You Know"...remember that Sat morning slogan? Well, it is the truth. I started doing a ton of research last week on MSG (thanks Danae) and how much of it is in our foods. Then on Sunday we had lunch with my in-laws. Long story short, my father-in-law started going to this wellness/holistic doctor in High Point last year...since then my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and mother-in-law have gone to him. The first thing he does is put his clients on a no-yeast diet and a ton of vitamins/supplements. I started researching the no-yeast diet on Sunday afternoon...I spent 4 hours doing this and now has become my latest obsession which I have spent another 5+ hours on this week.

The deal on yeast. Our bodies has "good" yeast (a bacteria) in it that it needs to help the immune system. However, there is a ton of "bad" yeast (Candida albicans) in foods that we eat all the time which causes and overgrowth of yeast in our body, most importantly, our intestines. This over abundance of yeast causes a ton of problems that you can read about HERE. Yeast feeds on the crazy amounts of sugar that we in-take daily in our western diets. Our culture is all about processed foods...and yeast is in everything as well.

We were out to eat last night and I think I ruined Daniel's eating experience by telling him everything that he was eating was bad. Sorry about that. :) Although I am not totally ready to give up everything, I am scaling back on the yeast/sugar induced foods and focusing more on a high-fiber diet. Daniel and I gave up sweets/chocolate for Lent so that has helped starve my sweet-tooth and now I feel in good control of the sweets aspect. We eat pretty healthy as it is, but all the research this week has helped me realize how important it is to not believe everything I read on the front of boxes. The most important thing is to know what is in the ingredients and what some of the names actually mean. Did you know that there are a ton of different names for MSG? Click HERE. The more you know...the healthier you will be.

So back to my yummy blueberry muffins. These were totally easy and good for you, though I did use sugar...but organic brown sugar.

Blueberry Flax-seed Muffins
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup oat bran
 (I used straight oatmeal)
1 cup flour

1 cup flax seed

1 cup wheat bran (I omitted since I forgot it at the store)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
Half pint of blueberries

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup buttermilk (I never use buttermilk, I always use fat-free milk)

1/2 cup canola oil
l2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cup golden raisins (I omitted)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 12-cup muffin pans with cup cake papers, or coat with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine oat bran, flour, flax seed, wheat bran, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine blueberries, brown sugar, buttermilk, oil, eggs and baking soda. Blend well. Pour mixture into dry ingregients. Mix until well blended. Stir in raisins. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pans 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.