10 Easy Ways You Can Be Green Enough Now!

GREEN! It makes perfect sense that I’m sitting here on St. Patrick’s Day reading a friend’s new book, Green Enough: Eat Better, Live Cleaner, Be Happier (All Without Driving Your Family Crazy!) by Leah Segedie. As you know from the recipes I share here, I’m totally in to eating lean, clean and green. In addition to taking charge of my health, I also care about the environment I live in and its people – I attribute most of these leanings to the upbringing of my tree-hugging, humanitarian mom.   Green Enough - Book Review by TheFitFork.com

But sometimes all of the hot-topic “green” issues can become confusing, there is so much information to process. And, it can sometimes seem crazy impossible to implement with the busy lifestyle I . . . we . . .  lead. But, founder of Mamavation.com Leah Segedie’s new book Green Enough makes it easy to understand and implement. If you want to learn how to live better, eat better and raise healthier kids without a lot of stress, read on – I’m sharing 10 Easy Ways You Can Be Green Enough Now! Continue reading

Speak Up and Help Make Organic Food More Affordable

This post contains content sponsored by the Organic Trade Association. The opinions expressed in my post are my own. For more information on Organic Trade, visit the GROorganic website

Do you purchase organic foods for your family? Read on. Looking for a larger variety of organic food in the marketplace? Read on. Wish you could afford to include more organic in your diet? Read on. Get confused about food labeling? Read on. Not sure what the hullabaloo is with organic food? Read on, read on, read on. I have good news from GRO Organic that requires your action.The Fit Fork - Food is Fuel

Before I get on to the important news that I need help with, let me give you my mindset on eating organic. ** I eat organic when I can, in a perfect world I would be a 100% consumer of organic foods. I think, in general, it’s better for the planet and better for my body (since I see use food as fuel for performance). But, it’s so expensive to load my training diet an feed my family with three teenage boys strictly organic foods. Plus, I can’t always find the organic ingredients I want for my recipes at local markets. In terms of produce, I typically prioritize my food budget so that I can avoid those most contaminated with pesticides and herbicides, etc. I purchase organic proteins when they are on sale, but otherwise I can’t typically justify the expense of my kids’ college educations. I hoard stock up on organic pantry items when they are on sale. I wish I wasn’t limited by these financial and availability concerns in the organic marketplace. ** Continue reading

Healthy Toppings for Yogurt + #KnowYourYogurt Inside-Out

Dannon #KnowYourYogurt

When it comes to feeding my family, I’m all about honesty and transparency. I never was that mom who tried to disguise cauliflower, peas or broccoli as something else – Instead, I just told the kids what they were getting, left it to them for sniffing, prodding and (hopefully) eating! If a certain food seemed to be less loved, I’d just strike up a dinner conversation about its particular powers, still telling the truth, but playing to the action hero infatuation of little boys.

jen  boys birthday 1

This journey of growing three little boys into strapping young men (almost 14, 17, and 19 years old) has been fueled by an enormous amount of food, I’ve found favor with a handful of companies who really listen to their consumers to create and deliver the food products that we really want – not just what’s easiest of most cost-effective to sell to us. While my boys may have been too young to care about exactly how and where their food was source, I sure did!

That’s why The Dannon Company, Inc. has been a brand I’ve trusted for years. We are definitely a family of dairy and yogurt lovers!  I am happy to report the Dannon Pledge to transition some of their top-selling brands toward production with nonGMO ingredients along with removing additives and preservatives. In addition to this customer-driven change, the company is also creating nonGMO feed for cows in their diary supply chain, the first national company to so.  As consumers, we’ll easily and clearly be able to determine which Dannon products are nonGMO by the label – this “transparent” labeling change will be complete by the end of 2017.

Dannon has built relationships with every farm they source milk from, providing us additional transparency in the nonGMO process. You see, Dannon knows what’s going with their dairy farmers from start to finish in the process, they care about the farmers and they care about us! Additionally, knowing who and where the milk comes from has helped Dannon implement and optimize animal welfare practices via the Validus Certification system.  At this time, Dannon estimates that more than 90% of their direct milk supply comes from farms that are Validus certified.

Dannon Oikos Yogurt #KnowYourYogurt

I am a huge Greek yogurt fan and love the Okios Greek Yogurt  — I get the unflavored plain variety so I can stir the sweeteners and toppings of my choosing. Hello beautiful things of Mother Nature, check out the Dragon Fruit, Mango, Blueberry “Flower” on top of Oikos. These are some other favorite flavor combos (not all pictured):

Healthy Yogurt Toppings to add extra yum to your breakfast, snack or healthy dessert.

  • Bananas & Walnuts with Honey
  • Strawberries & Almonds with Vanilla Stevia
  • Peaches & Pecans with Maple Syrup
  • Raspberries, Chocolate Chips, Chocolate Power Os from Love Grown Foods
  • Blackberries & Hemp Seeds with Lemon Stevia
  • Madarin Oranges & Pistachios with Sugar-free Chocolate Sauce
  • Apples, Granola & Peanut Butter
  • Almond Butter & Chocolate Chips

So, are you familiar with The Dannon Company, Inc.? They make something for everyone, learn more about the top-selling brands and the Dannon Pledge at:

dannon logo

 

Sooooo, what is your stance on genetically modified foods? What are your favorite yogurt flavors or toppings? Please share in the comments below – XOXO, Jennifer 

This post contains content sponsored by The Dannon Company, Inc. The opinions expressed in my post are my own. For more information on Dannon’s move toward sustainable agriculture, naturality and transparency,and nonGmo ingredients visit www.dannonpledge.com and www.dannon.com/ingredients .