Strawberry & Avocado Salad with Hemp Hearts

Hemp hearts? What are they? Here in my town we have a Hemp Festival once a year and the logo is a large marijuana looking leaf, which is what a hemp leaf looks like. So naturally, when I was given a packet of hemp hearts at the food blogger’s conference I attended in Washington state back in September, I thought, ‘Well, they just passed the new marijuana law making it legal, so maybe they’re spreading the love around.’ You think I’m joking, i am telling you I absolutely thought that! This little packet of hemp hearts sat in my cupboard for months until I finally took it out, read about its contents, and looked up the company on their website. I couldn’t have been further from the truth!

Hemp Seed & Strawberries on Leafy Greens — Hemp seeds provide a nutritionally packed nutty flavor in every bite.

This little seed packs quite the nutritional punch. They are higher in protein and omega 3 & 6 than flax and chia seeds, and they are lower in carbohydrates than flax and chia seeds. They are non-GMO certified and hemp has no known allergies associated with the actual seed. They have a nice little nutty flavor and are great sprinkled on top of salads, oatmeal, or in your favorite smoothie. You can purchase Hemp Hearts here.
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(Hemp hearts are naturally gluten-free, but only guaranteed within the <20ppm, which is the acceptable threshold by the World Health Organization and Health Canada for a gluten-free claim.)

Many of you who are following along on eating clean have been asking about a food list. One of my favorite resource guides for shopping comes from the Real Food Forager. Or if you shop at Costco, here is a great list of everything that is organic, non-GMO, grass-fed, or free-range: Costco Eating Clean Shopping List. (Please note, she is not Celiac or gluten-intolerant, so some of her items may be off-limits to those of us who are). One thing is for sure, this lifestyle takes more time and effort to eat healthy and clean. And the dishes! Let me tell you about the dishes. Okay, if you are eating clean, you already know. I have done more dishes in the past five days that my hands look permanently pruned! But the reward is less garbage. Ha! Actually in two ways. Less garbage in my body and less garbage in the trash can. If you are not buying boxed processed foods, your trash can is not going to fill up as fast!

Bowl of Yum — Using Hemp Hearts in your salad is one way to get your Omega 3 & 6’s.

One of the delicious parts of this salad is the homemade strawberry balsamic vinaigrette. I will post it along with the salad ingredients. I would love to know how you are doing eating clean. Where are the pitfalls? What has been the most difficult so far? Is it something you will continue past the 30 days? I know for certain it has changed us and how we view our food. It is important to remember to drink lots of water. Shoot for 64 oz per day if you can.

A few blog posts ago I talked about the herbicide Glyphosate (Round-up) and how some farmer’s use large quantities of it just before harvest to force the grain. A new article from a researcher at MIT has recently written on the health impact of Glyphosate and predictions are that half of all children will have autism by the 2025 due to this chemical. That’s only 10 years away! Click here if you are interested in reading this article. Not only what we eat but how it is grown will affect us all.