Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

My husband and I, well, really, our kids too, have been learning a lot through three movies.  Watching these movies- "Fed Up", "Hungry For Change" and "Forks Over Knives" has been pivotal for our health.  Some of it we knew.  Some of it we thought to ourselves after we heard it- "duh, of course, that makes total sense" and some of it was shocking.  Like, did you know that MSG makes fat cells.  That is how they fatten up rats.

     "MSG stimulates your pancreas to output three times as much insulin as it     does normally. This unnatural amount of insulin converts the sugar in your blood into fat very efficiently; and to make things worse, that excess insulin sends your blood sugar levels crashing down so low that you get hungry all over again—much sooner than you should be." (The Gabriel Method)

Here is a link for the many names of MSG. The blog is called Fooducate.

I am astounded by all this new information.

I know some of you are saying, I am just a "crunchy girl" and I may be over the top.  But, I pretty much guarantee if you watched these three movies you would have some epiphanies yourself.

The MSG alone could explain why so many people are overweight in our country.  This is why they keep saying over and over again, if you want to lose weight- stop eating processed food.  And processed food means diet soda.  YES, DIET SODA IS VERY BAD FOR YOU! It kills brain cells.  Pilots are not allowed to eat artificial sweeteners.  Did you hear that, it kills brain cells and makes you less alert.

Okay, I will stop.  WATCH those movies.  If you or someone in your life is overweight or unhealthy- bad numbers from your labs- then do yourself a favor.  Watch these movies!

So, make your own food.  Eat whole foods.  In the wise words of Michael Pollan, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants."

This recipe is good for a quick morning breakfast.  One of these bars is very satisfying.  This is the second time I made it.  That tells you I like it.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Squares

2 large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups milk
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 375F.  Spray an 8 x 8 pan with cooking spray or grease with butter.

Mix wet ingredients separately from dry ingredients.  Combine the two and then pour into the prepared pan.