Two years ago, I posted my interest in bringing old traditions back ( Back with the old? ) at the time my concern was still about healthy snacks that fill my family with better nutrition throughout the day and especially after a long day of school.  During the two years I have made many changes from moving to a new home to changing my daily intake of sugar.

I am a believer in visualization and I find myself coming back, full circle, to the same concerns but with even more education and research results.  My concerns of whether my children are getting the best quality food were answered when I talked to many about their dietary habits and changes.  I’ve talked to many people from Vegans, Vegetarians, Paleo Dieters, etc.  One thing remains the same, we are all concerned about what we are ingesting.

I watched a documentary called, Sugar Coated, currently on Netflix.  That documentary and 2 years of personal research and trial and error brought me to who we should really understand about the rise in obesity and diabetes in our children.  I don’t remember knowing, if not any, obese children as I was growing up, let alone any children suffering from diabetes.  My father developed diabetes, I developed gestational diabetes, as well as many other friends and family and let’s put this disease in check and in regular english.  Diabetes is a debilitating, destructive and dangerous disease (we’ll call these the 3-Deadly-Ds).  To understand the 3-Deadly-Ds you don’t need to be a doctor or scientist, you just have to be aware.

Diabetes doesn’t just stop at the daily inconvenience of pricking your finger or watching what you eat.  Diabetes negatively effects every organ in your body and has been responsible for limb removals due to lack of circulation.  Corn syrups, glucose, fructose, etc if these are included in your foods or drinks you need to understand that those sugars go straight to your liver, thus making your liver work overtime, sooner than later one will feel the effects an so will your body.  I’ve met wonderful people that struggle with this disease that now affects all age groups.  In a nutshell, this disease is not cute!

That being said, I do live in the reality that I LOVE FOOD!  I love cooking, baking, cookies, cakes etc.  These are things I like to enjoy on an occasional basis, however raising 6 children can make things tricky when choosing more vitamin rich foods.  I experimented just last weekend by filling two large fruit baskets with Nectarines, Plums, Bananas and Avocado and refrained from buying any “fillers” like crackers & cookies.  I watched my children to see what they reached for and I was proud to see that they weren’t picky, they snacked on the fruit.  In one smart grocery shopping visit, I saved money, several trips to the store and the children were all in great spirits.

In June 2016, I attended a convention with my best friend ( @BrawnyBarbie ).  Since we both run our own businesses and we love to bounce ideas off each other, I was lucky enough that she invited me to go with her.   She, a mother of two beautiful children, also discussed concern about food and the food industry. Now, wandering around this great group of women at the Mompreneur Show was so fun and it lead me to join forces with a company that also shares my passion of tea and health, Steeped Tea.  This is a Canadian owned company that appeared on one of my favourite shows, Dragon’s Den.  I met this wonderful ray of light, Joan Hepburn.  She was so friendly and positive she just oozed sunshine.  She let me taste her different mixes of teas and also shares my love of tea.  I may be on the go all the time, however I would love to start having tea parties and making new friends.  Not only is this a long loved tradition here in Canada, but I think this is a great opportunity to introduce my children to healthier options.

I have since introduced my tea adventures to my extended family and they were also excited about my upcoming recipes to try on them.   My 4 year old son now asks for my home brewed iced tea, so I think I’m moving in the right direction.

Here’s live footage of the Mompreneur Show:

YouTube:  SSVlogs:  Mompreneur ShowSSVlogs:  Mompreneur Show

Sipping Tea all day! 😉

SS

Here’s my Stiletto Steeps FB Page dedicated to my love of TEAS!