Organic and natural products – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

2nd Veggie Box (Chemical & Pesticide-Free) From Farm To Home Delivery

My second chemical and pesticide-free veggie box from Farm To Home Delivery arrived! As with the first box, I’m very pleased with this one as well as the veggies are very fresh and clean. The veggies are pre-washed with Biolux ozone water. This is why I like getting my veggies from Farm To Home Delivery vs. from the market or roadside stalls. The veggies are free from soil and I can just store them in the fridge without having to clean them up first.

Leeks, plump and sweet cherry tomatoes, purple sweet potatoes, spinach, Siew Pak Choy, French beans, broccoli, ice plant, yau mak, Purslane and Choy Sum.

The two packets of green veggies with tiny leaves are Purslane, a juicy veggie chock-full of vitamins A and C and antioxidants. It’s also beneficial for heart and bone health. We used it for salad.

My favorite tuber – purple sweet potato!
We usually steam / boil the sweet potatoes. We sometimes add them into the porridge.
Did you know that purple sweet potatoes are a good source of beta-carotene but are an even richer source of anthocyanin pigments, which act as antioxidants that can help reduce inflammation and boost your immune system? Purple sweet potatoes have about three times more anthocyanins than the average blueberry.

Some of you may be anal about the leaves of your vegetables and only choose flawless ones. I get attracted to those with holes coz it tells a lot about how the veggies are grown. If worms can graze on the leaves, they’re probably also safe for human consumption 😁

With so much fresh and crisp vegetables, we’ve been grazing on them everyday, from fresh salad to seared, blanched and stir-fried.

Sesame crusted pan-seared salmon with seared Siew Pak Choy. I love how Sherilyn decorated the salmon top with cute tiny Purslane leaves and thinly sliced cherry tomatoes.

Dashi and kombu broth poured over the salmon.

Crispy skin pan-fried salmon with juicy ice plant, purslane and cherry tomatoes.

A salad with all my favorite veggies — ice plant, thinly julienned Japanese cucumbers, purslane and cherry tomatoes, topped with mozzarella cheese and a piquant balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

A healthy cheese on toast with tomatoes and cucumbers.

We’ve already finished all the veggies from our second veggie box and I’m getting ready to order my 3rd box from Farm to Home Delivery for next week delivery.

Stay safe and stay at home folks. Our Health DG has made a clarion call for all and sundry to stay at home to break the chain of infection. Our country is in a dire Covid-19 state of pandemic now and if we don’t do our part by staying at home and practise vigorous SOPs, this pandemic will spiral out of control just like India. Are you not scared? I shudder to think of it. Just do all your shopping online and duduk diam-diam di rumah for the next two weeks. I’m sure we can all do it, just like how we did it in MCO 1.0 last year 💪

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Bubs Organic Cow’s Milk and Baby Food

The moment you held your baby in your arms for the first time, I’m sure he or she made an instant place in your heart forever. You made up your mind that you’re going to give the best of everything to this precious bub of yours. You were determined that baby would be breastfed exclusively for as long as you could lactate, that baby would be fed with only organic produce and you would try to go organic with baby toiletries and much more. However, not all new mothers are able to breastfeed their babies due to a myriad of reasons which are out of their control, such as insufficient glandular tissue (hypoplastic breasts), previous breast surgery, such as mastectomy or a breast reduction surgery, postpartum depression and much more. When faced with such difficulties, there are great alternatives to mother’s milk such as sourcing for a human milk bank or go on baby formula. There are many brands and types of baby formula in the market to choose from and if you can afford it, it would be great to choose a certified organic formula brand, like Bubs Organic®.

According to strict organic regulations put in place by the USDA, organic milk must come from a cow that has not been treated with antibiotics, has not been given hormones ― for either reproduction or growth ― and has been fed at least 30 percent of its diet on pasture. Organic milk has more of the good stuff and none of the antibiotics, synthetic growth hormones or controversial pesticides. Organic cows are happier and healthier which leads to more nutritious milk and healthier babies and kids!

Bubs Organic® milk comes from free range cows that graze outdoors, all year round and enjoy a diet of fresh green grass. A grass fed diet improves the quality of cows milk as it is richer in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin e, beta-carotenes and CLA when compared to other milks. Bubs Organic® milk are available for newborns to children up to age 12 years old. The milk is free from nasties, sucrose and maltodextrin.

Exclusively formulated for formula-fed newborns and babies ages 0-12 months, Bubs 365-day organic grass fed cows produce milk with higher nutritional values than regular cows milk. For toddlers, Bubs organic cows milk formula has 16 vitamins & minerals with prebiotics, probiotics and added DHA and ARA to help support your growing toddler’s nutritional needs. With double organic certification, Bubs organic cows milk drink is a delicious nutritional drink for busy, active and fussy eaters.

Whole foods such as fruits or veggies will be the best snacks for kids. However, sometimes kids want fun and yummy snacks. Bubs Organic has tasty snacks, cereals and rusks that are 100% certified organic for babies 4 months onwards. They are free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives. Each offering from the Bubs Organic® Snacks and Cereal range is carefully crafted with the expertise of nutritionists and chefs, taste-tested by real mums and their bubs.

Did you know that I sometimes buy organic baby biscuits and snacks for our teenage girls for their guilt-free snacking? Even I munch on them 😆

Organic foods, produced without the use of synthetic pesticides, not only help build a healthier ecosystem, they can help boost levels of phytochemicals (plant compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities) in plant foods, as well as lower pesticide residues in the diet.

Bubs Organic® Grass Fed Formula range retails at an introductory price of RM128 each while the Bubs Organic® Snacks and Cereal retails from RM18.90 to RM20.90. All Bubs products are currently available in selected outlets throughout Malaysia.

Learn more about Bubs® and find the full list of retailers by visiting www.bubsmalaysia.com. Parents can also redeem an exclusive 50% off their first Bubs Organic® Grass Fed Formula via the official website over the campaign period. Simply complete your purchase on the website to enjoy this limited introductory promotion!

For the latest updates and promotions, do check out Bubs Malaysia’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/bubsmalaysia and Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/bubsmalaysia/.

No. of times viewed = 134

My Thursday ~ 11 Jan 2018

It’s been a cold and wet day the whole of today. After 1.5 days of torturous chills, backache and fever, my high fever finally broke last night.

The downside of being a WFHM (or SAHM for that matter) is that work has to CONTINUE whether or not you are fit or ill. Donning on a shawl wrapped round my neck and shoulders, I still had to cook and do school runs in a shivering body. Not to mention waking up at 4:15 a.m. to get the girls ready for school. And hubs is not feeling too well too.

After gulping down many packets of Izumio hydrogen water and chewing on my homegrown Indian borage yesterday, I was right as rain again at night! What would make a WFHM and SAHM happiest? When she’s fit as a fiddle and everyone in the household robust.

As I felt so much better this morning, I did some brisk walking at our condo grounds but had to cut short the exercise when it drizzled. And it has not stopped drizzling since.

As I was in the mood to cook, I whipped up Taiwanese ‘Zha Jiang Mian‘ for lunch for Drama Queen and Cass. As this was totally unplanned, I had to make do with whatever ingredients that I had in the fridge. What’s missing was spring onion.

My Zha Jiang Mian is 80% organic cooked using organic pork, organic Mugi miso, organic seaweed noodles and organic cucumber. What’s not organic are the carrots, cooking oil and garlic.

This dish is very easy and fast to prep. If not for Drama Queen messing up the stove, this would only take 20~25 minutes of prep time. That silly girl put the lid on the pot to boil the noodles and I only realized it much later when the fire was put off by the starchy lava that spewed out from the pot. Hubs had to dismantle the stove to unclog the gas holes and I had to do what I hate the most~ scrubbing the stove, the stove parts and the pot glued with starch!

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Savory Oats

I have never really fancied eating oats, though I eat it pretty often, for health sake. I have genetic high cholesterol and oats are one of the most readily available and affordable foods that can help to bring down bad cholesterol level. Thankfully Cass likes eating oats. While her two sisters have toasts for breakfast every morning, she’s happy with a cup of hot sugar-free cocoa drink with fresh milk and organic oats.

This reminds me that I must fix an appointment with my doctor to check my cholesterol reading again! What I HATE about getting cholesterol levels checked is the darn fasting for over 10 hours. That’s my number 1 turn off. I don’t understand why most doctors never come into their clinic on time!!

Note to self: must stop procrastinating!

Today I had organic rolled oats with vegetarian crispy floss for breakkie. I like to experiment combining a variety of foods to break the monotony of having food prepared the same way over and over again. And this combo is for keeps. I love it! The lightly salted and crispy vegetarian floss with seaweed and sesame seeds add a lot of flavors and texture to the otherwise dull and tasteless oats. I love food that is crispy and this combo sure beats the boredom of eating oats hands down!

Nature Quest’s vegetarian crispy floss can be purchased from organic shops, Cosway outlets and selected supermarkets. I got mine from the organic foods section of De Market.

I add the crispy floss to spice up porridge, as filling for sandwiches and tossed onto fried rice, noodles, salads and yoghurt. Crispy Floss can also be used as one of the ingredients for sushi.

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Human Nature Natural Personal Care Products

I am a sucker for all things organic, natural, environmental-friendly and most of all affordable 😀

This makes the products from Human Nature a perfect match for me! Human Nature is the largest natural personal and home care brand in the Philippines. They now also have the most number of NPA-certified products in the world. That’s right – more products certified by the USA-based Natural Products Association, than any other brand in the whole world! Human Nature products are available in the USA, UAE, Singapore and of course, Malaysia. And they are still growing.

Today I received my personal care products consisting of kids natural shampoo, moisturizing natural shampoo, hydrating face toner with moringa extract, calming massage essential oil and tea tree and lavender rescue balm from Human Nature.

Both the kids hair shampoo and adults moisturizing hair shampoo do not have overpowering perfume scents and are very gentle to the scalp. I love the calming massage oil, which has nature’s premium calming trio of lavender, orange and lemongrass essential oils. I use it to moisturize my body after a shower and to massage Cass. The hydrating face toner is gentle and mild in scent. It is brimming with moringa, a powerful ingredient that has 7x more Vitamin C than oranges, 4x more calcium than milk and 4x more Vitamin A than carrots, it doesn’t just help replenish lost moisture, it preps your skin for what should come next – moisturizing! The end result? Luminous, astonishingly soft and beautiful skin!

Did you know? Many chemical toners and astringents contain alcohol, which belongs to the hazardous family of petroleum by-products that pollute the environment and threaten human health. Also, alcohol in toners can dry your skin further leading to premature skin ageing. So why even use alcohol when all you want to do is care for your skin? Phthalates, on the other hand, are present in many toners and astringents and can be damaging to liver & reproductive organs. Human Nature uses none of these nasties so you get only the good, at a price that will not break your wallet.

Internationally, Human Nature pride themselves on being a leading social enterprise with a palpable mission of promoting beauty with compassion. This means offering products that are not only good for our bodies and our planet, but also make a huge difference to impoverished farming communities. This is what I like about Human Nature. They use natural ingredients that grow, or can be grown, in Asia because that’s their way of helping alleviate poverty among farmers. They are among the poorest in the world and as long as they grow nothing but rice they will remain poor for generations to come. Teaching them how to grow high-value crops like lemongrass, mangoes and coconuts, offers them a truly sustainable way to get their families out of the vicious cycle of poverty. Human Nature operate under fair trade principles, meaning they pay market price or higher for their ingredients.

Why Human Nature?

All of Human Nature’s products are natural and chemical-free (no SLS, no parabens, no artificial fragrance, no formaldehyde, no phthalates).

The products can be bought online and delivered to customers anywhere in Malaysia, to help busy mummies and other multi-tasking superwomen.

The products are priced reasonably so that even the average family can afford to go chemical-free.

Just to let you have a rough idea on the price range of Human Nature’s products, the hydrating face toner with Moringa 200ml is priced at RM23.90, kids natural shampoo & body wash tangerine 500ml at RM39.90, natural moisturizing shampoo 200ml at RM24.90 and rescue balm 10g at RM16.90.

Do hop over to Human Nature to check out their products and I am pretty sure that you’ll be tempted to get a little something for everyone in the family!

No. of times viewed = 2