Remember how rule #1 of The Nourish Project was to get my family on board and I found it surprisingly easy? I heard the first rumblings of revolt yesterday.

As a little background, one of the things we’ve tried to do for our allergic child (now 16) is to have an open door policy at our house. This allows her to have a safe place to have movie nights, etc. with her friends without worrying about food issues from what they’re eating to whether she sleeps over on a couch where people have been eating (and dropping into the cushions) peanuts and almonds.

Ironically, my allergic child at the same time is not terribly social outside of the school setting and while she loves to go to neutral places with her friends (i.e. the movie theatre), she rarely has people over and rarely goes to others’ houses, even when invited. Go figure.

So in the interests of having a child who doesn’t turn out to be a social recluse, we’ve been gently prodding (okay, maybe not so gently) her to invite her friends over, even if every 3 months.

So imagine my surprise yesterday when not only had she planned a movie marathon with her 2 closest friends that had been put off for a year (yes, really) but that they weren’t doing it at our house. Why? Because we don’t have junk food in the house and so nobody wanted to come over and she was quite content to go elsewhere to get her junk food fix. Oh heaven help me!

So we are now getting enough junk food for a movie marathon to be held at our house – no more, no less so that there’s nothing left over for a midnight raid by other desperate household members (me). We did already keep some beverages like fruit spritzers in our bar fridge for guests anyway so it’s not like we’ve gone completely back to the 1800s despite the rebel theory.

So peace has been restored for this day. Let’s see what happens tonight

Yesterday was day 2 of The Nourish Project and I’m starting to figure out the realities of what I’ve undertaken.

For example, when we finally sat down to dinner last night with my girls (husband being away on a business trip), it was 7:40, not exactly the best supper time. Note to self: become friends with the crockpot again.

Around the dinner table we went back to our policy implemented when the girls were first starting school with sharing what the best part of our day was. My girls shared funny moments at school that they’d had while relaxing with friends. The best part of my day was a meeting on our new website. I really am excited about our new website but really, can’t I come up with something more personal than that?

So today I’ve made an effort to see the wonderful things that are right in front of me: gorgeous sunrise, the way the 5 year old girl at the bus stop dances with joy onto the bus; she just wiggles and it’s a beautiful thing.

For breakfast, I actually did sit down and eat my oatmeal but I had to sacrifice blow drying my hair so now I’m air drying into my least favorite look: poodle. It might be best to hide in my office today.

Goal for tomorrow: make time to sit and eat AND blow dry hair!

Nourish: provide with the food or other substances necessary for growth, health, and good condition

I’m embarking on a new strategy that I’ll call The Nourish Project. The subject of this project is me.

Why create a project? Really, it’s not like I have a lot of extra time in my life but that’s actually the point. Here I am, a 43 year old founder of a company that I created to help other people yet I’m not really helping myself. I spend my day creating new foods, educating customers, speaking to groups of people about eating healthfully within the constraints of a special diet yet I admit, I’m really unhealthy.

Here’s the list of what I’ve become: overweight, tired, wife, mother of 2 teenage girls, entrepreneur, Rotarian (and former president), mentor to 3 younger entrepreneurs, Parent Advisory Council member, Snacks coordinator for soccer, etc., etc. I’m sure that many of you can come up with a similar list.

But here’s the problem; how can I look you in the eye and tell you to take care of yourself when I’m not even close to doing it for myself? I truly believe that good quality food costs more money and that we should have the right to know if there are genetically modified ingredients in our foods. Yet, I was grabbing what was quick and easy at the grocery store and spending less time reading labels beyond food allergens. I’ve always had a full freezer of items that I’d cooked (I’ve never been one to have things like fish sticks in my freezer) but my freezer was shockingly empty of all of those good meals. I was also riding the “sugar train”; ups and downs always seemingly solved by more chocolate or sugary tea.

So I began reading and listening to others and trying to pay attention to what I actually needed rather than what I thought I should do. I’ve come up with some rules about how I’m going to run the project, many of which I have to credit Michael Pollan after I reread (and actually finally absorbed) “In Defense of Food”.

1. Engage Family (this was surprisingly easy)
2. Choose food that will nourish all senses
3. Choose good quality food so that I eat less of it
4. Eat more plants
5. No shoulding on myself. Just one day at a time.
6. Stop watching tv
7. Listen to music
8. Sing again
9. Move my body in the way I want to, not what I think I’m supposed to do

That’s pretty much it. Seems simple, right? Not so much if you take a look at what we emptied out of our fridge and cupboards. And what am I going to do without my weekly dose of The Amazing Race and The Good Wife when I’ve also decreed watching episodes online off limits? What happens when I get off of the treadmill and take a zoomba class and dance like no one’s watching (do these classes come with blindfolds)? I used to sing all the time if just in the shower but I haven’t done that in forever to the relief of my neighbor’s dogs.

And maybe, just maybe, it’s time to put myself first. It’s time to Nourish: Body, Mind and Soul. I’ll keep you up to date on how it’s going but feel free to join in and share your own Nourish Project.

In the last enewsletter and on Facebook I teased you with the new products coming such as our new oatmeal cups, trail mix and quick and rolled oats. We have been manufacturing these new items since July and they have been heading to distributors and retail locations across Canada and the USA. You just haven’t seen them on the website yet and I haven’t forgotten about you.

At the same time that we began manufacturing the new items, we also began private labelling (manufacturing Nonuttin’ recipes under other brand names) for other companies. We then formed partnerships with some of these companies to offer their brands to you. As we began changing our website to accommodate the new products/brands, it became evident that a major website overhaul would need to be done which included updating the website to make it easier for you to shop. This major overhaul has been ongoing and is still continuing until we’re able to re-launch the whole site with all of the new products and new brands which include: Nonuttin’, Rocket Foods, D’Lish and Libre.

When we launch that new website, we will also begin fulfilling all US orders out of a Washington state warehouse rather than from our current Canadian warehouse. This will mean that US customers will be able to get their ground shipping in 3-8 business days rather than the current 10-15.

So thank you for your continued support and patience while we bring you more products, volume deals and better service.

You might be asking how you’ll know the difference between the old packaging and the new. The answer is really simple: smiles and love.

Yes, smiles and love straight from our family to yours. The new packaging front has 2 new icons on it that you haven’t seen before: a green happy face and a dedicated facility red heart. Like this:

On the back of the packaging under the ingredients, you will see a new statement reading:
These delicious products are produced/packaged for you in our own dedicated facility that is free of the most common food allergens (peanut, tree nuts, dairy, egg, soy, wheat, sesame, shellfish, fish, and mustard), gluten, preservatives, colors, artificial flavors, and genetically modified ingredients.

In Canada, if the item has pure oats in it, it will say CF, Celiac Friendly instead. And, of course, have French writing as well.

Any questions? Please give us a call toll free at 1-866-714-5411.

After many months of planning and action, we are in the final phase of our soy elimination: packaging phase out. What this means is that there are no longer any products for sale in the Nonuttin’ online store that contain soy yet you will still see that products have the old packaging that has soy warnings on it (contains soy lecithin for chocolate items, may contain soy for those without chocolate). This will continue for some time while we run out the packaging we purchased before the soy phase out; some products with up to one year of packaging remaining.

If you are purchasing from our online store, all items are soy free and produced in our top 11 food allergen free dedicated facility, even if you see soy on the package. Any product in your home or on store shelves dated before June 1 is NOT soy free.

If you have a soy allergy or intolerance and have absolutely any questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call toll free at 1-866-714-5411

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted since I’ve been just doing quickie updates on Facebook. However, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been madly working up a storm.

You may have noticed that all chocolate chips and chunks are now being discontinued from our online store and are 25% off. This is because we’re heading into Phase II of the soy elimination program.

Phase I was taking soybeans off the production floor and it was completed March 31. Some finished Energy Explosion trail mix pouches (US) and snack packs (Canada) do remain in our warehouse and are being sold at 50% off until they’re gone.

Now we are eliminating our current chocolate chips and chunks since they contain soya lecithin as a fat emulsifier. Their final use on the production floor is May 24th although their sealed packages will remain in our warehouse until they are gone as well. We then go into a 10 day cleandown (is that a word?) mode with scouring the production facility from stem to stern and testing surfaces and equipment for soy contamination before introducing our new chocolate chips.

And what chips they are! Organic, made for us in a dedicated facility that only makes allergy friendly chocolate and coffee. No flavours, no soy lecithin, no dairy, no major allergens cross their door. The quality is fantastic with the way chocolate was meant to be made with just organic evaporated cane sugar, organic chocolate liquor (ground cocao beans liquidized by the heat from grinding them), and organic cocoa butter (you all know that’s the fat from the cocoa bean, not dairy). Melt in your mouth yumminess; we sure had fun taste testing!

I’ve laid out all of the phases of the soy elimination plan on our website at: http://www.nonuttin.com/shop/pages.php?pageid=67

Our whole team is just so pleased to be able to move in this direction. We hope you’ll join us!

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As announced March 1, 2012, we have begun the transition to a soy free facility with step one, finishing production of our soybean-based Energy Explosion trail mix.

We have now removed the dry roasted soybeans from our production floor.

All Energy Explosion trail mix finished packages will remain in our warehouse and be sold on a first come, first served basis until all stock is depleted.

After a thorough cleaning, soy allergen testing will be implemented so that some Nonuttin’ products will have the May contain: soy absent from their labels.

Soy lecithin will remain in the facility (present in our chocolate chips and chunks) until we finish using the packaging that indicates contains or may contain: soy. While soy lecithin is suitable for many with soy allergies, it is not guaranteed risk free and it is prudent to continue labelling all products that are on lines with chocolate until the change is complete and we are using soy free chocolate.

I expect that the finished transition to a completely soy free facility will be completed in 2013 and we will keep you up to date when that final date is determined.

Our staff thanks you in advance for your patience with the transition. We’re very excited to become free of ALL of the top 10 food allergens!

Now that we’re beginning Phase 1 of our Soy Free Facility transition, Energy Explosion will no longer be produced by the end of this week. Therefore, all Energy Explosion Trail Mix is discontinued and 50% off while supplies last.

I am very pleased to announce that we are removing soy from the Nonuttin’ facility.

Soy has been very helpful for many food allergic consumers as a high protein replacement for nuts. However, many customers have contacted us or spoken to us at trade shows about their increasing allergies or intolerance to soy. Soy is known to be cross-reactive for those with peanut allergies and Celiac Disease.

After carefully reviewing these requests and scouring the planet high and low for high quality ingredient replacements, the decision was made to transition away from soybeans and soy lecithin.

Throughout March, we will continue to package the soybean based Energy Explosion trail mix in both 30 g snack packs and black zip top pouches.

April 1, 2012, we will begin our transition by removing the dry roasted soybeans from our production floor. All Energy Explosion trail mix finished packages will remain in our facility and be sold on a first come, first served basis until all stock is depleted.

Once the production facility has all soybeans removed, soy allergen testing protocols will be implemented so that some Nonuttin’ products will have the May contain: soy absent from their labels.

Soy lecithin will remain in the facility (present in our chocolate chips and chunks) until we finish using the packaging that indicates contains or may contain: soy. While soy lecithin is suitable for many with soy allergies, it is not guaranteed risk free and it is prudent to continue labelling all products that are on lines with chocolate until the change is complete.

I expect that the finished transition to a completely soy free facility will be completed in 2013 and we will keep you up to date when that final date is determined.

Our staff thanks you in advance for your patience with the transition. We’re very excited to become free of ALL of the top 10 food allergens!