Benefits of Organic Eggs Plus A $100 Visa Gift Card Giveaway!

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Although I have naturally gravitated towards a mostly plant-based vegetarian lifestyle, I will never be 100% plant-based or vegan.

I refuse to give up my favorite chocolate desserts and Red Mango frozen yogurt parfaits, not to mention – in my opinion – a life without real cheese pizza once in a while isn’t much of a life at all.

It’s funny, I eliminated meat and poultry from my diet almost three years ago and not once (really, not once) have I had a real craving for either source of animal protein.

Quite often however, I will experience strong cravings for eggs to the point where I find myself scrambling up an omelette at midnight because the need is so strong that it wakes me from my sleep.

These sudden and severe cravings usually happen after my long runs and I attribute this to my body needing one or more of the Nutritional Powerhouse qualities found in eggs.

Pete & Gerry’s Organic Eggs provide us with the safest and highest quality because they are raised on real family farms committed to producing fresh, organic eggs from hens that are raised humanely.

Not all eggs are created equal. Organic eggs are one of the few grocery items that are worth my extra money and time seeking out each week.

Pete & Gerry’s Organic Eggs are America’s first Certified Humane egg producer as well as the first “B-Corp Certified” farm.

Wondering what that USDA Certified Organic label even means on the egg carton? According to Pete And Gerry’s:

• Our hens are never caged, and all our barns allow them access to the outdoors. Our animal welfare standards go even farther than the Organic seal requires!
• We never administer antibiotics or hormones to our hens.
• Our hens’ 100% organic feed contains no pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or GMOs.
• It’s also free of animal by-products (and the drug residues/pathogens that may be associated with them). No slaughterhouse waste allowed!
• Our farms are inspected at least once a year by a third-party certifier with USDA accreditation.

You can read a little bit more in depth about the important and meaning of Certified Humane and Cage-Free  by clicking here.

In my opinion, organic eggs taste that much more amazing because they exude an overall fresher flavor and if this makes sense, they even taste cleaner.

I never liked hard-boiled eggs and the smell (plus appearance) of egg salad turns me off completely but there are so many ways to incorporate eggs into your diet!

Aside from scrambled eggs, I love my three-ingredient pancake, often whip a bunch of egg whites into my morning bowl of oatmeal for staying power and enjoy veggie-packed omelette for lunch or dinner.

There is nothing wrong with sometimes choosing just the whites of the egg by the way.

As nutritious as the yolks are, the white of the egg contains most of the protein and really, some recipes just work better when using only the whites.

In fact, I have an awesome new recipe for you today, which utilizes just the egg whites. It’s similar to my three-ingredient pancake but this time, instead of banana as the third ingredient, we are using butternut squash!

Tis the season for my butternut squash obsession.

This pancake, which flips sometimes more like an omelette, is so easy to whip up and can be served sweet or savory – or both!

For breakfast lunch or dinner, this combination of organic egg whites, chia seeds and mashed butternut squash provides us with a nice dose of filling lean protein, a serving of veggies and lots of fiber and omega-3’s!

I like to top mine with peanut butter but you can also go with avocado. Get creative!

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Giveaway time!

Pete and Gerry’s is kind enough to help me offer one reader a $100 Visa Gift Card!

To enter for a chance to win, leave a comment on this post telling me why you love small family farms.

You can also tell me your favorite way to incorporate organic eggs into your diet.

Good luck!

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1.     Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2.     Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3.     Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4.     For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

 This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 11/10/14 – 12/31/14

 Be sure to visit the PGO & Nellies brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

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Three Tip Tuesday – Girls Only

Well hello! I am here to report that yesterday’s run went pretty well: 4.25 miles at an easy pace.

Well, easy until I spotted THAT GUY running ahead of me on MY PATH.

He didn’t appear in my sight until I completed the third mile, and, when I spotted him about a quarter-mile ahead of me, I told myself to ignore that he was even there.

“Listen, he can’t see you, you are behind him, there is no need to outrun him today while you are trying to keep the pace nice and easy. Let it go!”

I let it go… for about 45 seconds…when suddenly the gap between us got smaller and smaller.

I quickly assessed if I had enough power in me to not only outrun him but keep up the pace long enough to ensure he would continue to eat my dust.

And then I went for it.

As I passed him, with flying colors I might add, I not only startled him as I flew by his right side, but heard a snicker uttered in between his gasps for air sounding something like, “she’s fast”.

And that friends, is the reason we chick.

Speaking of chicks, the rest of today’s post is for girls only. I know I have many male readers and while you are welcome to continue reading, I am giving you fair warning that you may not like today’s topic.

Has anyone noticed that not enough is said about our periods in the healthy living blog world? I mean, the subject is touched upon but not often enough and I have a lot to say about it as well as have a ton of questions for my readers.

In fact, I have so much to say on this topic that I think today may just be part one.

As a little background, you should know that I dread my monthly visitor with a passion ever since I was a young girl. I suffered tremendously prior to the birth of my son in the form of horrendous cramps that lead to nausea, vomiting and sometimes even fainting.

PMS, cramps, tampons. Not fun.

BUT- Getting our cycle every month is a sign of health. When something goes wrong in our cycle, be it spotting, arriving too early, too late or not at all, one needs to pay attention and figure out the problem.

I have suffered from secondary amenorrhea two separate times in my life, which, in nonmedical jargon terms, is simply the absence of your period for at least 3-6 months.

My body is extremely sensitive- if I don’t balance my calories properly for the amount of exercise I do, I don’t get my period.

I will admit that the two times this little hiatus occurred, I kinda enjoyed it. I mean, I knew something was wrong but how the heck could you not welcome the opportunity to live PMS, cramp and tampon free?

Please note that just because I am being honest does not make my way of thinking OK.

It is not healthy to be without our cycle. Not only do we need it to be able to have children, our periods are nature’s way of telling us that everything inside is pretty much working according to plan.

Amenorrhea often occurs as part of the Female Athlete Triad, which is a syndrome of three conditions that are interrelated: Energy Deficit/Disordered Eating, Menstrual Disturbances/Amenorrhea and Osteoporosis.

For more in-depth info on the Female Athlete Triad, click here.

Without regular menstruation, our estrogen levels drop increasing our chances for bone loss and stress fractures as well a host of other health problems due to the complete disruption of our body’s hormone levels.

If you have been without your monthly cycle for three months or more, and know you aren’t pregnant, it is time to look into what is wrong.

So. While it may appear super fun to be free from the Tampax, it is crucial to fuel our bodies properly to ensure we suffer each month in order to know all of our systems are functioning properly.

But do we really need to suffer?

I have learned over the last few years that consuming certain foods can help mitigate the negative side of menstruation.

Slices of chocolate fudge cake and bags of salty chips are lovely when our PMSing brains instruct us to eat them but they do nada to make our uterus stop cramping.

The tips below are based upon what has worked for me. The doctors never informed me that eating or not eating certain foods would alleviate my period problems.

In fact, medical professionals are very quick to offer you some hormones in the form of a pill.

My opinion, for what it is worth, is that treating cycle issues with a pill ill only mask the real issue and will not solve the actual problem.

THREE DIET TIPS FOR MAKING YOUR PERIOD BEARABLE

1- VEGETARIAN DIET:

I learned by accident that becoming a vegetarian would work wonders for my menstrual cycle.  The cramping we experience comes from our prostaglandin levels. Some people have higher levels than others. I assume I am one of those higher level people.

Our body produces these series two prostaglandins from the essential fatty acids found in animal proteins. By eliminating or simply reducing our intake, we automatically lower our prostaglandin levels.

Within a couple of weeks of not eating meat or poultry, not only did my PMS symptoms become nonexistent, my cramps were basically gone and the need to change my tampon every hour was no longer necessary.

Increasing Omega -3 Fatty Acids will also help. Omega -3’s are found in cold water fish such as salmon as well as in our favorite little Chia Seeds and Flax Seeds.

2-FRUITS AND VEGETABLES:

When I became a vegetarian, I naturally gravitated towards increasing my fruit and vegetable intake. The anti-inflammatory properties of fruits and veggies as well as the abundance of nutrients they contain all play a role in the reduction in cramping, PMS and at least for me, a reduction in the flow.

My lunch yesterday at Whole Foods – I am all about any excuse to load up at the Food Bar.

3- NON-DAIRY CALCIUM:

So here’s the thing – calcium has been known to assist in the reduction of menstrual cramps yet dairy products have been associated with increasing the pain.

What do you do?

Enter non-dairy calcium sources.

Who knew it was so simple to get calcium without having to drink milk and/or eat cartons of yogurt.

Please Click here for more in-depth info on this subject including a more complete listing of the essential foods to eat and to avoid.

There is so much more I have to say on this topic but it will have to wait for another day as I have a little boy to wake up and get ready for camp.

Remember, without our annoying monthly visitor, we can’t have children. Let’s keep that in mind every 28 days.

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I have a ton of questions:

Do you suffer from painful cycles? How do you handle it?

What are your PMS cravings?

Have you ever had to run a race while having your period? It is my biggest fear!

Which tampons do you use? Do you find some work better for you than others?

Have you ever experienced amenorrhea? For how long? What did you do in order to bring your period back regularly?