As many of you know we were called here to San Francisco back in May due to my husband’s job relocation.  This required that we sell our farm in Illinois and bring the family west again (we had lived in Seattle for eight years previously).  There is much excitement about the opportunities that lie ahead of us, but there is also the task of letting-go.  This farm was my dream home and releasing it has been work. 

We are set to close on the house this Friday. Yesterday our realtor called to say the buyers were holding up the sale unless we remove several hay bales from our back acreage.  In the chaos of uprooting ourselves and moving clear across the country, I guess we forgot to call Farmer Scott, who cuts and bales hay every year, to tell him we had moved. 

My mind ran ahead as I put down the phone.  “What a hassle.  These people are getting a ridiculous deal on our house.  Are we supposed to sell to them?  I don’t know if I can sell to people who are this stubborn.  What if we kept the farm?  Does this mean I am meant to move back to the farm?  I miss the farm.  What about our sweet neighbors?  We could just leave Jason in California and move back home.  He could commute back and forth after all.” I entertained these backward-looking thoughts for probably five minutes. Then I stopped, breathed and realized there is no such thing as retreat.  Home is right where you are. 

Selling our farm and moving west has been a contradiction of emotions for me.  I am chalking it up as a life exercise.  Learning to give up what I want, to pursue a call designed for us by Someone much, much higher.  It’s tough and it requires a steadfast commitment and a lot of faith to let go.  No matter the temporary emotional cost of saying good-bye.  And there is always a cost when it comes to change.

I believe this is true in business as well.  More and more I am beginning to see that the entrepreneurs who are successful vs. the ones that do not make it are simply those who are willing to give-up a bit more of themselves. They make work a daily practice of focusing on small, repetitive tasks that just add up.  Those willing to keep moving forward, on purpose, out of habit each and every day will WIN -- whether or not their businesses ultimately do.

Like our homes, our businesses are a reflection of who we are in the moment.  Perhaps the only thing that matters in the end is this -- can we stand in the mirror and say, “I gave it all.”

Nurish: Leslie, we are big fans of your work here at Nurish. Would you mind telling our readers a little bit about yourself and your family?

Leslie: We live in the beautiful mountain town of Ketchum, Idaho. My kids are 11, 8 and 6. A boy and two girls.

Nurish: What’s a typical mealtime like at your house?

Leslie: We make it a habit to sit down at the table and eat together most every night. Except for when the kids were babies, we always serve the same food for all of us – no special orders. Luckily my kids aren't super picky, although they are fond of complaining about what we serve!

Nurish: Is there anything that inspires/interests you, when it comes to food preparation, cooking and healthy eating?

Leslie: I'm not much of a recipe follower, when it comes to our daily meals. I tend to just throw fresh ingredients together and keep it simple. Though, I do have a lot of cookbooks and cooking magazines, and review recipes for inspiration. Also, if I get something in mind I want to cook, or have a special ingredient I want to use, I will usually look up recipes online, which is an incredible resource, and either use them ‘as is’ or take ideas from them.

My Mom is also an inspiration. She is a great cook. She can make something from anything and she is often trying new recipes. I notice that my kids are much more willing to try different foods when my Mom makes them than when I do, so after eating one of her meals, I will be re-inspired to try new things despite the potential complaining.

Nurish: How do you teach your children about nutrition?

I grew up in a household with healthy food. My Mom didn't buy much packaged food. Although, growing up, I longed for a refrigerator and pantry full of boxes of goodies like some of my friends.  I think it paid off in the long run to not have it around [in Ketchum] -- because making healthy choices comes naturally. I try to do the same thing for my kids, though my 11 year old gives me a very hard time about it. I find that when I cave in and buy junk food, packages start flying open as soon as I walk in the door.  It disappears immediately -- not so good for the body or the budget. 

I do have a few tricks to get my kids to eat veggies.  One trick I have is to always have a big container of cut-up vegetables in the fridge. When they sit down to watch TV, I will bring out the veggies and since they are often hungry and in a mindless munching mode, they will eat them up without thinking about it. I also put them out after school, or anytime the kids start saying they are hungry. I've never seen them actually go in the fridge and choose the veggies by themselves, but if I make a point to sit them out, they will usually dive in.  Also, I will dive it, which keeps me healthy too and from munching on other things!

Another go-to is my "Spinach Reverse Psychology Trick", which works amazingly well (even on professed spinach haters). I get a big bag of washed spinach leaves and set it out, then tell the kids NOT to eat it, because it will make them way too strong. They think it's hilarious to defy me, and will shove literally handfuls of it into their mouths and eat it. This works well on the younger kids ... my 11 year old doesn't buy it anymore, though he does eat spinach!

Nurish: Would you be willing to share one of your kid-favorite recipes with our readers?

I'm a big fan of smoothies for breakfast or snacks and have come up with ways of adding ingredients that my kids don't know about. Here's a recipe for one of them. When my son was into Spider-Man, I named it "Fly Blood" and he would ask for it every day.

Leslie’s Fly Blood Smoothie (Rename as you wish, o' faint of heart)

Yields: 5 smoothies

• 2 c. frozen blueberries
• 1 c frozen spinach
• 2 bananas
• 1 c. milk (or milk alternative)
• 1 c. water
• 4 T frozen pineapple juice concentrate
• 6 almonds
• 1/2 c Kefir (any flavor)
• 1 t flax meal
• agave syrup to taste
• splash of vanilla

If you have extra smoothie, pour it into an ice tray and make "Smoothie Cubes". I end up with lots of Smoothie Cubes, which I keep in the freezer in a Ziploc freezer bag. I then pull them out to use as either the base of a new smoothie, or for the kids to eat as a frozen treat.

Nurish: Leslie, Thanks you so much for spending time with us today.  We wish you much continued success!

Leslie: Thanks for the interview! 

For more information on Leslie Patricelli’s children’s books, puzzles and custom artwork, please visit her online studio at: www.lesliepatricelli.com

Owen’s favorite: Yummy Yucky

I am in the process of reading through Seth Godin’s latest book called Linchpin, and I love it. 

The gist is that work is no longer based on the industrial ‘factory system’ and if you want to make meaning at work and have a long-term career -- it will require you to think and work differently.  It will require you to become indispensible, not one that waits around for instructions, but instead, one who just figures out what to do next. 

A linchpin, according to Godin, is “an individual who can walk into chaos and create order, someone who can invent, connect, create, and make things happen.  Every worthwhile institution has indispensible people who make differences like these.” 

Okay, I'll just say it.  I think I am a Linchpin by nature.  Only back when I was a kid my mom used the term ‘overcomer.’  A sort of hybrid tortoise (persistence) and hare (speed).  I think people who have worked with me would agree.  Certainly the very nature of Nurish qualifies this statement.  I was tired of feeding my kid the same old way, so I invented a new way.

When I entered the workforce in 1996, I thought everyone approached work the same way I did.  Many did.  Many did not.  My overall experience was sometimes my ‘linchpiness’ was well received, and other times it was not.  Many companies at that time claimed to be cutting edge, but were still highly ‘traditional’ factory-minded corporate environments doing it the ‘same ‘ol way’.  I would venture to say this is what pushed me out to start my own company in the first place.  I wanted to do it differently, better, faster, more creatively then I was ‘allowed to’.

Now that I have been out on my own for seven years, I am beginning to feel the yearning for an office environment again.  I would say that Linchpins may even need or thrive in an environment of others.  It’s what drives our need for engineering, problem solving, innovation, change, creativity.  It occurred to me that some of my best and most creative ideas/work have come from periods of extreme dysfunction and adversity in the environment around me.  So maybe I am addicted to drama after all and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing!  Whew, glad to check that one off the self-improvement list!!

Which leads me to wonder does a Linchpin cease being a Linchpin when 1) they work solo or 2) they are at work amidst a bunch of other linchpins?  Another way to put it, does a linchpin need adverse conditions created by non-Linchpins to ‘overcome’. 

When do you think someone becomes a Linchpin?  Is it a part of a person’s personality?  Is it a choice?  Perhaps it is just the way women work and therefore their collective influence on the overall workforce?  Can one read this book, apply its principles and just start being indispensible?  

Would love to hear your thoughts!  (I have a few ideas of my own; I’ll share mine, if you share yours). :)

Last March Nurish had the awesome opportunity of submitting child obesity prevention ideas to the White House Obesity Task Force. We stated our case for early intervention and nutrition guidelines for children under the age of two.  We urged them to consider the research on palate development proving a toddler’s food preferences will set the menu into his adult life. For example, if a child tastes mostly ‘sweet’ flavors from 0 to 2, he is more likely to have a ‘sweet tooth’ as an adult. It was cool to be given the opportunity to participate; we are happy to share their action plan with you here today. 

Originally Posted by Melody Barnes on The White House Blog, May 11, 2010 at 10:00 AM EDT

Today, the Childhood Obesity Task Force is excited to release our action plan to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. The First Lady will be holding a press conference this morning to talk about the report, and you can tune in and watch it live at 10:30AM EDT at www.WhiteHouse.gov/live. And make sure to take a look at the report HERE! It will serve as a roadmap for the work we need to do together to make sure that our kids grow up healthy and have the opportunity to live active lives.

The report reflects input from 12 federal agencies as well as the 2,500 submissions we got from parents, teachers, doctors, nurses and others. It includes 70 recommendations for public and private sector action, as well as concrete metrics and benchmarks to measure our progress towards our goal. Very broadly, the report makes recommendations in 5 key areas:

1. Getting children a healthy start on life, with good prenatal care for their parents; support for breastfeeding; limits on “screen time”; and quality child care settings with nutritious food and ample opportunity for young children to be physically active.
2. Empowering parents and caregivers with simpler, more actionable messages about nutritional choices based on the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans; improved labels on food and menus that provide clear information to help make healthy choices for children; reduced marketing of unhealthy products to children; and improved health care services, including BMI measurement for all children.
3. Providing healthy food in schools, through improvements in federally-supported school lunches and breakfasts; upgrading the nutritional quality of other foods sold in schools; and improving nutrition education and the overall school environment.
4. Improving access to healthy, affordable food, by eliminating “food deserts” in urban and rural America; lowering the relative prices of healthier foods; developing or reformulating food products to be healthier; and reducing the incidence of hunger, which has been linked to obesity.
5. Getting children more physically active, through quality physical education, recess, and other opportunities in and after school; addressing aspects of the “built environment” that make it difficult for children to walk or bike safely in their communities; and improving access to safe parks, playgrounds, and indoor and outdoor recreational facilities.

Many of our ideas can be implemented right away, at little or no cost. With the First Lady’s leadership and working in strong partnership with states, local communities, and the private sector, we look forward to moving without delay to get this plan into action. Let’s Move!

I am a busy mom of a three year old boy named Owen.  Despite my attempts to feed him a variety of healthy, organic fresh foods in proper portion sizes – there are some days when I opt for the frozen chicken nuggets (all natural, of course).   Why?   Because he likes them and they require virtually nothing of me.

At first I was sure it was a pint-size conspiracy. When you take on children’s nutrition you are forced to reckon with your own family diet. What I have come to realize is it’s a choice.  Living life with a toddler means knowing which battles to pick.  Frankly, there are some days I choose what is easy and convenient vs. what is best.  It’s my call and I choose peace and quiet.

‘Nurish-ing’ your child is not about becoming a food-Nazi.  We aren’t into pointing fingers.  We certainly are not out to make you feel like a bad mommy.

‘Nurish-ing’ your child is about simplicity, convenience and peace of mind.  We enable you to quickly solve the daily dilemma of ‘what’ and ‘how much’ to feed your kids using the food in your fridge.  We are about empowerment, education, ideas and avoiding late afternoon, no-nap, full-blown melt-downs.  We like to help.

But I digress, where were we?  Nuggets; right.

We’ve tried making them ourselves (thanks, Annabel) and we’ve ordered them out at restaurants.  My son frankly prefers the frozen kind.  So, I have given-in on this one.  After all, making healthier choices isn't about rigid restrictions of what not to do.  It’s about focusing on what you can do. 

Some days this means a late-morning visit to the fresh farmer’s market and a ‘made-from-scratch’ dinner extravaganza (thanks, Contessa).  Some days, it means reaching into the freezer for that box of nuggets.  Truce.

Owen’s favorite: Applegate Farms

I am realizing more and more that starting a company is not unlike writing the Great American Novel.  Painful, poetic and utterly time consuming. 

I figured I would use the Blog to share the progress of our product development, as well as the story behind our company.  My hope is it will become a place where other Mamapreneurs can seek advice, a laugh and even refuge when necessary.

Here is how our story goes…it all centers around before and after the BIG idea.

Before

I was just a Midwest mom who woke up one day and attempted to measure and feed my toddler a healthy meal.  It was an average day.  I was out of ideas.  I simply got fed up for all moms out there in the world.  And then I did it.  I said out loud from a deep-down place, “there must be an easier way.” 

A few days later I was standing in my kitchen, staring into the fridge and the whole idea downloaded.  A website to help parents track their kids health and nutrition information and a line of feeding products to map and measure healthy toddler meals.  There I was. Just a mom with an idea.

After

It’s been one year and I am now a West Coast mom (San Francisco) with the responsibility of raising an active three year old boy, as well as a newborn company.

It’s not unlike the feeling of bringing your child home from the hospital and feeling wholly unprepared.  Pregnancy I could do.  Being an actual mom for the rest of my life?  A totally different scenario. There are days and weeks when I feel totally competent and there are days and weeks when I feel completely un-done.

The Turtle Wins the Race, Right?

In the past year we have made steady climbs up a vertical rock face. On better days it feels like having never run a 3k and opting to sign-up for a marathon the day before the race.  You get the idea.  I am in over my head.

But it’s been a year and we’ve made it.  I have a healthy, happy three year old who is thriving.  I also have a business plan; website specs; product concepts; provisional patent; a URL; logo; splash page; and blog. I also have a partner; a board of advisors; a relationship with a wonderful nutritionist at Northwestern, as well as an ‘in’ with the National Institute of Health (NIH).

But no story is complete without an antagonist. There have been a host of inconveniences, and though you are warned, you are never quite prepared. 

A Lonely Road

Here is what I know for sure.  There are a few who will believe in you and/or the idea long before you do.  There are a large number of ’lookie-lous’ who will keep their distance just in case.  And there are those who could help you the most, but choose instead to distance themselves remarkably – withholding their support to protect themselves in case you fail.

Though the road has been rough and there are days I so want to quit, I know the story is already written and the race is won.  My job is to just keep turning the page. 

Here’s how the average scenario may go…

You are at Whole Foods looking for lunchbox snacks and you come across an end-cap filled with revolution foods products.  You notice the Grape Jelly and Peanut Butter ‘organic’ Jammy Sammy’s and think to yourself, “that sounds good; I wonder if [INSERT NAME OF CHILD] will eat it.”  You shrug your shoulders and figure that for $3.99 it is worth the experiment. Into the cart they go.

For those who do not typically look up the ingredients on food – we are hoping to make it easy and irresistible with food profiles such as the one listed below.

Product: Jammy Sammy

Who Makes It: revolution foods (Emeryville, CA)

Nurish Rating: 3 of 4 carrots

Description: Snack-size sandwich bar; Organic; No Trans-Fats; No High Fructose Corn Syrup; No Artificial Ingredients

Allergy Alert: Gluten; Peanuts; Produced at a facility that processes tree nuts, milk, soy and eggs.

Serving Alert: Percentages Daily Values (DV) are based on an ADULT 2,000 calorie a day diet; remember to cut the size in half for a toddler eating a 1,000 calorie a day diet.

Nutrition:

• 1 bar (29g)
• Calories 110; Fat calories 30
• Total Fat 3g (5% DV)
• Saturated Fat 0g (0% DV)
• Trans Fat 0g
• Cholesterol 0g (0% DV)
• Sodium 55mg (2% DV)
• Total Carb. 17g (6% DV)
• Fiber 2g (8% DV)
• Sugars 9g
• Protein 2g
• Vitamin A (0% DV)
• Vitamin C (0% DV)
• Calcium (0% DV)
• Iron (2% DV)

Ingredients:

• Grape Filling*: Evaporated Cane Juice*, Water, Rice Starch*, Apple Powder*, Grape Juice Concentrate*, Glycerin, Pectin, Natural Flavor, Citric Acid, Red Cabbage for Color.
• Whole Grain Oats*, Whole Grain Barley Flour*, Peanut Butter*, Agave*, Evaporated Cane Juice*, Sunflower Oil and/or Safflower Oil*, Peanut Flour*, Peanut Oil*, Baking Soda, Sea Salt. *Organic

Better World Rating

• Thumbs Up – 3% of all proceeds fund healthy School Lunch programs to under-served schools.

I grew up on my grandparents' small farm in the summer months during childhood.  I remember watching my Pop-Pop cultivate and seed perfectly straight rows.  Within in a few weeks the seedlings appeared, and after a month or so we were up to eyebrows in all things fresh and yummy.

The kitchen was full of garden tomatoes, green beans, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, lettuce, peas, you name it.  Making a salad never involved a trip to the grocery store.  Instead my grandmother grabbed a butcher knife and headed out back to the garden to literally cut a head of lettuce.

One summer my brother and I got it in our heads to start a produce stand in their front yard -- with all of the extra fruits and veggies. Come to think of it now – it may have been my Pop-Pop’s idea as a way to keep us busy.  My Uncle Charlie ran a successful seafood shop next door, so when the local tourists came by to grab a bushel of crabs – there we were two rosy faced kids and a load of fresh produce broken out in pints.

One summer I convinced my grandfather to take our produce stand on the road.  We hung off the back of his pick-up truck gate and hollered out to families at the local campgrounds. “Get your fresh produce – locally grown tomatoes, cucs, peppers and onions…”

Our hands were in the dirt nearly every day. We were as close to our food as one could get.  The only things I ever remember my grandfather buying at the grocery store – were a gallon of milk, a whole fryer chicken and a box of Entenmann's doughnuts (special on Sundays).  They purchased  only those things they could not pull out of their own back yard.

Inside the house I would watch my grandmother for hours making everything from scratch in her colorful kitchen.  She was renowned for her pies, Chicken n’ Dumplings, canned Bread n’ Butter pickles and my personal favorite beach plum jelly.  Her hands were always moving – during the day it was composting, laundry, snapping green beans, and cooking.  In the evenings it was cleaning-up, crochet and sewing.

In today’s hectic world, these memories sustain me.  Simple things, and real living.

Being ‘green’ wasn't something my grandparents did to be trendy, it wasn’t even a political cause (they were both staunch Republicans).  It was just a way of life they had been taught for generations – parents handing it down to children and grandchildren.

As we raise our son, we find ourselves relying daily on two things – a lot of God and our grandparents' wisdom. I am so thankful for both.  May we continue to imprint the lessons they’ve handed down to us for multiple generations to come.

At Nurish Inc. we help time-starved parents positively influence the way their young children eat, as early as possible. It is our opinion waiting until children pack a lunch, is too late.

Healthy eating begins in the womb, moves to the breast or bottle, into the high-chair, and eventually onto the family dinner table. We believe children’s diets should include a spectrum of flavors; children's palates can be trained as soon as they start eating solids.

In particular, the second year (12-24 months) is critical in a child’s development not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. As of today the USDA food pyramid excludes children ages 1-2, calling it a “year of transition” and leaving it to parents, pediatricians, food manufacturers, and disease organizations, like the American Heart Association, to fill-in the gap. As a result, the information can conflict and get confusing for a new parent.

From ages 1-2, during the ‘year of transition’, many cool things occur developmentally. In one short year, babies go from crawling to walking, from a vocabulary of about 10 words to over 100, and as far as food is concerned, by the end of 24-months a child has nearly established his/her food preferences and taste palate for life.

Parents of infants and toddlers can help their children develop a preference for healthy foods early-on by providing tastes of simple, clean, whole foods found in nature.

Nurish products are designed to help parents teach their children nutrition, as they transition them from baby foods to solid foods. We help parents take the guess-work out of meal prep by providing products that will ‘map-and-measure’ three nutritious, whole foods toddler meals throughout the day.

Stay tuned at www.nurish.com.

Last month, Michelle Obama announced her commitment to end childhood obesity within one generation through the government's Let’s Move campaign.

The Let’s Move website states…

“Childhood obesity or excess weight threatens the healthy future of one third of  American children. We spend $150 billion every year to treat obesity-related conditions, and that number is growing.

Obesity rates tripled in the past 30 years, a  trend that means, for the first time in our history, American children may face a shorter expected lifespan than their parents.”

Here at Nurish we are excited to support the Let’s Move campaign!

We have a commitment to helping time-starved parents positively influence the way their young children eat, as early as possible.  It is our opinion waiting until children pack a lunch, is too late.

Healthy eating begins in the womb, moves to the breast or bottle, into the high-chair, and eventually onto the family dinner table. 

In particular, the second year (12-24 months) is critical in a child’s development not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. The USDA food pyramid excludes children ages 1-2, calling it a “year of transition” and leaving it to parents, pediatricians, food manufacturers, and disease organizations, like the American Heart Association, to fill-in the gap.  As a result, the information can conflict and get confusing for a new parent.

During the “year of transition” many cool things occur developmentally.  In one short year, babies go from crawling to walking, from a vocabulary of about 10 words to over 100, and as far as food is concerned, by the end of 24 months a child has nearly established his/her food preferences and palete for life.

Parents of infants and toddlers can help their children develop a preference for healthy foods early-on by providing tastes of simple, clean, whole foods found in nature.

Many parents stop serving a new food after 2-3 times, if their child rejects it. What they need to realize is it can take a child up to 10 times, at separate sittings, to form a ‘food memory’ or preference for the taste.  The important key here is to not give up (or in) too soon. 

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivores Dilemma states in the movie Food Inc., “as humans we are genetically programmed to prefer three tastes – salt, fat and sugar – none of which occur naturally in nature.”  Mixing or hiding fruits or vegetables in processed foods can actually inhibit a child’s palete development. The child grows up to prefer the salty taste of mac-and-cheese, but not the taste of fresh broccoli, which was mixed in it.

Nurish products are designed to help parents transition toddlers from baby foods to solid foods. We help parents take the guess-work out of meal prep by ‘mapping and measuring’ three nutritious, whole foods meals throughout the day.

Please stay tuned to this blog for more information and tips on how to teach your kids to eat healthy from the start.