I remember when I was younger, being asked the old-age question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  One time, I remember my response being, “Well, if we were suddenly allowed to live on Mars, I would like to be the person that tells the earth dwellers what they would need in order to live on another planet.”

Not too long ago, I realized that I am doing exactly what I always wanted to do.  I teach people how to do things differently than the majority. I teach people how to eat differently than the majority, so that we do not succumb to the fate of so many of the chronically sick people around us.  I teach people about alternative care and the incredible ways in which chiropractors, cranial sacral therapists and osteopaths, homeopaths and the like can help families.  Recently, I started to do emotional healing work with children, using The Journey™ process, which involves the child getting into a spaceship and traveling, in their mind’s eye, to a part of their body.  There is not much of what I do that is ordinary and sometimes people, who do not know me well, do think I live on Mars.  What is interesting for me is that no matter how many years I delve into ‘the unknown’, I continue to remain grounded and very much part of life on earth.  I am a nutritionist, who still eats and enjoys what others are eating, in moderation, who has occasional alcoholic beverages and who would still rather do a realm of other things besides cooking.

People often ask me how much work it is to start eating healthier.  They try to imagine life on Mars and end up thinking it’s too much work, so why even get started?  They become particularly concerned when they decide to try avoiding the staples of our diet, such as dairy and wheat.  My answer is always that it is no more work to cook healthily than to cook the regular way, once you have learned about and acquired the healthier ingredients.  And the end result, once you embark on the journey to Mars i.e. healthier eating, is more energy, more balance, and fewer symptoms, conditions and disease.

There are healthy substitutions for each “regular” food available to us.  My book, The Resourceful Mother’s Secrets to Healthy Kids, includes a healthy substitution list that outlines the healthier alternatives to the “regular” foods and even includes the best-tasting brand names of the healthier foods that are available for purchase today.

Here is how I make pancakes, French toast and chocolate chip banana muffins, using healthier ingredients (these recipes are taken from my book where there are plenty more ideas):

Flip-flapping Pancakes

1 cup Spelt, kamut or rice flour
¾ cup Enriched rice, quinoa or hemp milk
1 Tbsp Baking powder
¼ tsp Sea salt
2 Eggs
½ cup Blueberries, raspberries, apples, bananas (optional)
¼ cup Coconut/Olive oil
To taste Maple syrup

 What to do:

1. Blend wet ingredients, adding maple syrup for extra sweetness, if desired
2. Add dry ingredients and blend until mixed
3. Fry in pan using coconut/olive oil
4. Spread pancakes with jam, agave syrup, maple syrup or carob chips

Note: Blueberries make purple pancakes and raspberries make pink pancakes.

Funky French Toast

To make batter, mix one ripe banana with 2 eggs and ¾ teaspoon cinnamon.  Add some rice milk if too thick.  Dip spelt bread or any alternative bread into batter and fry in coconut oil.

Banana Mama Muffins

3 Bananas (approx 1 cup) mashed
¾ cup Sucanat
1 Egg
1/3 cup Olive oil
1 ½ cups Spelt flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Baking powder
½ tsp  Sea salt
½ cup Chocolate or carob chips

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Mash bananas
3. Add sucanat, egg and olive oil to bananas
4. Mix the rest of dry ingredients together and add to moist ingredients
5. Fold in chocolate chips
6. Oil muffin tins with paper towel

Bake for 18-20 minutes

I invite you to take the journey to Mars with me.  Climb in your spaceship and enjoy the ride.  If you’d like me to accompany you on your journey, I would be happy to be your guide.  The grass is truly greener on Mars, where there is actually no grass at all but where health is omnipresent.  There is a whole other world out there and it is yours for the taking.  Carpe diem!

I’d love your feedback. Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. This is a wonderful opportunity to leave a link back to your own blog when you leave a comment.

Until next time,

Meredith