A Few Quick Things...

Just a few quick things today at PWN, because I’m taking a mid-week break from school and work to head up to Copper Mountain and ski with my cousins. Weekday skiing is a rare occurrence for me, so I cannot wait! No lift lines, no traffic, and lots of fresh snow – it should be a pretty great day.

So here are a few things I’ll leave you with:

• Yesterday a couple of my classmates presented on soda and sports drinks. We all know they are loaded with sugar, but their information was still shocking. One 20-oz. Coke contains 67 grams of sugar. That is the equivalent of 32 little sugar packs, like the ones you put into your coffee or tea!!! Can you believe it? People usually put one or two into a big cup of coffee, but Coke has 32! Wow. I do not drink soda at all – I don’t enjoy it enough to make it worth it, so I just made the decision to give it up completely about a year ago. But this was still so eye-opening.

• I had a question from a PWN reader yesterday about where to find the gluten-free grains I talk about every once in a while: teff, amaranth, quinoa, brown rice, steel-cut oats and millet. I get all of these at one of Denver’s health food stores – either Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage. I find that buying in bulk saves a lot of money and is easier for storage because I can just fill up my glass canisters. Teff is the only grain I am unable to find anywhere in bulk, so I buy Bob’s Red Mill prepackaged teff. You can probably get the oats and quinoa at a regular grocery store in the organic section, but for the rest you’ll have to go to a health food store.

• Another question from a PWN reader: Should kids be taking vitamin D? This depends on the kid and on the city you live in. If your kids are getting real sunlight every day (without sunscreen on – even a thin layer of low-spf sunscreen is enough to block vitamin D) then they are probably getting enough vitamin D. But if you live in a state that has long winters or lots of rain, your kids may need to supplement vitamin D. The doctor I work for only gives her two daughters vitamin D when we’ve had a snowy streak in Denver, or when they are feeling a cold or flu coming on. It’s probably good to just keep some on hand for times like this. Dr. Mercola sells a vitamin D spray, which would be really easy to give to kids – you just spray it under your tongue and let it sit for 20 seconds, then swallow it.

That’s all for today! I’m attempting a new nut butter this week and hope to share it with you on Friday… so check back!