With the lack of my garden and the ability to pick my own salad at any moment, I've been really missing fresh greens this winter.

Did you know that growing your own sprouts is not only easy, but wildly nutritious, too?

Sprouts are:

• full of enzymes
• easily digestible (in part due to the high enzyme content)
• especially high in nutrients (it all depends on the seed you choose, of course, but sprouting immediately increases the nutrient content dramatically)
• bursting with chlorophyll (the dark green pigment contained in leafy green), which aids detoxification, helps to protect our bodies from toxins and heavy metals, neutralizes free radicals (which are basically cells gone bad), builds our blood and cells, and numerous other benefits

Bought from the store, you'll easily pay $1.50-$2.00 for a teensy little box of them. I can make the same amount for literally pennies, and mine taste much (much!) fresher and more delicious!

Here's my method:

You'll need a regular canning jar (I like to use a quart jar for a bit more growing room, though a 1/2 quart works fine, too), a screw lid to fit the jar, a thin cloth (I use small, thin baby cloths, but something like cheesecloth or thin cotton would actually work better), and your choice of seeds.

Seed choice recommendations: Our favorites are broccoli and clover. Some other options are radish, mustard (both a tad spicy), and alfalfa (I've read both amazing things and terrible things about using alfalfa- very conflicting. At the moment, I'm not using it, though I have in the past). I buy the seeds in 1 lb or 1/2 lb packages, either from Azure Standard or my local health food store.

Next, add 1 Tbsp of your seed of choice into the jar, add enough purified water to more than cover the seeds, and put the cloth and lid on.

Let it sit overnight (or throughout the day) on the counter, long enough for the seeds to really soak up a lot of the water.

Flip the bottle and drain out the water the next morning (or evening, if you soaked during the day). I like to leave my jars propped up on a towel, over the edge of the sink so that any extra water can drain out without making a mess.

Every morning and evening, add some water to the jar (you don't need to remove the cloth, simply pour right through it). Swish the seeds around to get them all nice and moist, and then prop the jar back up to allow the water to drain out. I rotate the jar once or twice a day, just to move the seeds around and make sure they're all getting air and light.

Within just a day or two, you'll start to see sprouts emerging. Continue on with this until your sprouts are a couple inches long and have begun to form small green leaves on the end. It also helps to place your jar on a window sill during the last day or two, to help chlorophyll develop in the leaves.

This is what my clover seeds looked like, when I was finished sprouting them last time.

I store them in a container or a bag in the fridge (it's helpful if it's not airtight, because lack of air will make them go bad faster). Mine will last quite nicely up to a week, though we'll often use them up before they go bad.

1 Tbsp of seeds will make about the amount found in a grocery store sprout container, so if that's too many sprouts (or not enough) for your family to use up, just adjust the amount accordingly.

We love to put our sprouts on any type of sandwich, our very favorite way to eat them! They are also good sprinkled on top of a green salad, and you can even chuck extra ones into a fruit smoothie for the extra nutrition and as long as they're well blended, you'll never, ever notice they're in there (nor will your kids)!

Enjoy your winter greens, you incredible windowsill gardener, you!

Does this look easy enough? Does anyone else make sprouts in a similar way? Any other fun ideas for adding sprouts to our diets?

Imagine taking a chocolate-loving woman (so, that would be pretty much any woman) to some incredible chocolate store, perhaps in, say, Belgium. The shelves and counters are lined with incredibly decadent, melt in your mouth, sweet perfection and goodness. Chocolate truffles, chocolate covered cherries, chocolate toffee, hazelnut chocolate pralines, chocolate ganache.

As she stands there, taking it all in and salivating at the delicate smell wafting through the air, she is bluntly told, "Alright lady, take your pick. You get 3. That's it. No more, no less. Just 3." Can you feel her agony as I do?

So that's sort of how I felt when Judy so graciously asked me this:

Three?!? I can only choose three?

Ok, calm down. Stop shaking. You can handle this. It's a simple question really, and all it needs is a simple answer. She's not asking you to never post about anything important ever again, she's just asking for a starting place. You can do this.

Deep breath. Here goes:

1) Move away from processed foods, towards a whole foods diet

I say this, knowing that it is a large step, but it starts in small ways, and that is all that I'm suggesting. Really, truly. It starts by choosing 1 or 2 processed foods that you regularly buy, and starting to learn to make them from scratch or to substitute a whole food in it's place. Don't even worry yet about whole grain, organic or natural, pasture-fed, etc, etc. Just concentrate on foods that are as close to their original state as possible.

This can be as simple as forgoing the pasta mix (like Lipton side noodles, Kraft dinner, or even a Prego sauce) that you like to purchase, and try making your own sauce to pour over some noodles. It could be attempting to make some homemade bread or muffins instead of buying them from the grocery bakery. It could be learning to make homemade white sauce or trying out some new soup recipes in lieu of canned soups. Chopping and steaming your own fresh veggies instead of the usual canned or frozen ones. Try battering and baking or simply seasoning your own chicken or fish, instead of buying frozen, deep-fried chicken strips or fish sticks.

2) Switch over from a reliance on vegetable oils and margarine, to truly good-for-you fats

What goes: Margarine or any half-half mix or imitation butter spread or spray, canola oil, sunflower oil (this one can still be used minimally, but really, keep it minimal), safflower oil, corn oil, generic vegetable oils, Crisco, Pam, all hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils (look in the ingredients on many packaged foods to find these)

What to add: Honest-to-goodness butter, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, palm oil, flax oil (not for cooking), and even animal lard or tallow

(For more on this, see these posts, Part 1 and Part 2, for more on cooking oils, and this post on butter)

3) Start to decrease and move towards eliminating refined sugars from your diet

There are just so many good reasons to cut out refined sugars entirely:

• They contribute to weight gain and obesity
• They contribute to blood sugar imbalances and Type II diabetes
• They are empty calories and actually rob your body of needed nutrients
• They damage your teeth
• They are addictive (I kid you not!)
• They are a major cause of hyperactivity and an inability to focus and learn well in children
• They cause your body to be highly acid, rather than slightly alkaline as it should be, which contributes to disease
• They feed cancer cells (did you know that one of the most effective cancer scans looks for cells that are uptaking glucose at a fast rate?)

Do we really need any more reasons to get rid of them? Work towards this by slowly finding replacement snacks and foods for the more sugary things you have a habit of eating (pops, store-bought baking, sugary beverages, candy, cereals, granola bars and many other processed foods- look at the ingredients!). Try having one or two days a week where you don't have any refined sugar at all, and gradually cut it down more and more. Learn to use natural sweeteners in your own baking and treat-making at home.

(And if you really want to know, the other suggestion that I really strongly considered was to add in a Cod Liver Oil supplement- it gives you crucial essential fatty acids like EPA and DHA, plus high amounts of Vitamin A and D, which most North Americans are lacking in but are vitally important to good health. So if you're struggling with one of the above suggestions, consider Cod Liver Oil another good step to take instead.)

Phew! That wasn't so hard... :) Think I'll go have a piece of chocolate now. (See, there's that addictive thing I told you about!)

Aren't you proud of me for not mentioning soaking and sprouting your grains? And working to avoid food preservatives, dyes, MSG and other such chemicals? And adding more fermented and cultured foods to your diet?  And drinking raw, not pasteurized, milk? And trying to buy more organic or unsprayed produce and learning to wash and peel to avoid pesticides? And finding a good source of...

I could have mentioned all of those things, but aren't you glad I didn't?

Truthfully, I don't know that it matters where you begin. The point is simply to start somewhere. Anywhere! These are just my suggestions, to give you a few points to focus on, and I hope you find it helpful! Blessings as you begin to make these positive changes for you and your family!

For those who have a long ways to come yet, do these 3 suggestions sound possible? Could you begin to implement these 3 things, and allow yourself to not feel guilty or stressed out or overwhelmed by the other things that you aren't doing? What are some of the simple, beginning steps that some of you have already been taking?

I have been leading up to writing more specifically about what good nutrition looks like for those living with PCOS. Although what I have to share today is not specifically about PCOS, it is solid, nutritional teaching that will benefit anyone and is the backbone of overall good health.

These are the teachings of Dr. Weston Price, whom you will learn more about in these videos and articles. Throughout the years that I have been studying nutrition (6 years going on 7), this is without a doubt the most solid and excellent teaching that I have come across. Over the past 3 years, my family has been slowly adapting more and more of these principles into our diet. We are not there 100% yet, but we are closer than ever, and continually working to improve our diet more and more.

I believe that we are starting to see more of the fruits of that, in the good health of our children and in my health in particular! There is still some work to do on my husband's health, and some obstacles to overcome (namely, his work schedule and the difficulty for him to avoid eating poor foods with clients and coworkers, and to be able to consistently eat more of what I prepare for him), but we're working on that, too!

Getting Started

These 3 videos are an excellent introduction to understanding what traditional diets are all about! They are from Sally Fallon, the president of the Weston Price Foundation, and author of Nourishing Traditions .

They're each just under 10 minutes long, and I'm pretty sure that they skip over some parts of Sally's speaking, but what they do go through is excellent and very thorough, and will give you a really good introduction to the ideas behind her nutritional teaching (which is based on Dr. Weston Price's work)

Additionally, these two articles are a bit long, but they give a great overview of Dr. Price's work and findings, including pictures comparing those who did and did not eat traditional diets, and applications from his teaching for us today.

Ancient Dietary Wisdom for Tomorrow's Children

Dr. Weston A. Price

I will try to give a more step-by-step outline of how to adapt these nutritional principles to how your family eats in the new year, but in the meantime, I hope that they inspire you to begin to learn more!

I am not the only one out there seeking to follow these principles and teach them on my blog! This teaching is definitely spreading and becoming more well known and accepted. Why don't you get to know these wonderful blogging friends of mine as well, for more encouragment and help on your journey to better nutrition and health?

Lindsay @ Passionate Homemaking
Kimi @ The Nourishing Gourmet
Kelly @ Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Donielle @ Naturally Knocked Up and Raising Peanuts
Michelle @ Frugal Granola
Laura @ Heavenly Homemakers

What do you think about the concept of traditional diets? Have you begun to apply any of these principles to your own eating habits (and if not, what holds you back)? For those who have begun to, have you noticed any difference since making these changes?