It turns out that Nonna knows best!

It’s not surprising that grandmas have recognized all along that honey is an effective treatment for coughs. A study done at Pennsylvania State University confirms this. They found that honey offers parents an effective and safe alternative to over-the-counter children’s cough medicines. The study found a small dose of honey (about a teaspoon) given before bedtime provided better relief of nighttime cough and sleep difficulty in children. The honey was found to be more effective than no treatment or even treatment with DM. DM is a cough suppressant found in many over-the-counter cold medications.

Honey did a better job reducing the severity and frequency of a nighttime cough than DM. Honey also showed a positive effect on the sleep quality of both the coughing child and the parents, who were not awaken during the night.

In contrast, the study found that DM wasn’t any better at alleviating symptoms than not treating the cough, at all.

The results are especially interesting since an FDA advisory board recommended that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines not be given to children less than 6-years-old. Because, of their lack of effectiveness and potential side effects.
                                                                                                                    Pictured: Ally is a buzz about honey!

Raw honey has been used for centuries to treat upper respiratory infection symptoms, like coughs, and is considered to be safe for children over 12- months-old.

Babies under a year shouldn’t consume honey. 

When bees collect nectar from flowers, they also pick up botulism spores which get mixed into their honey. Adults and children, more than a-year-old, have fully developed immune systems with intestinal bacteria which destroy the spores. Therefore, eating honey is not a problem for them.

But babies under a year have underdeveloped immune systems. A baby’s immature immune system provides a perfect environment for the spores to activate and unleash their toxin. So babies under 12 months should NOT consume honey.

For children over 12-months, raw honey has well-established antioxidant effects. It also soothes on contact, which may help explain its effect on children with coughs.

CLICK HERE to hear the entire Podcast.

Buy Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater: CLICK HERE.

You can feel good when you make these Italian Chicken Sticks, because they’re baked, not fried. These are guaranteed to please, not only your kids, but the gang when they come over to watch the game. Even the most picky eater will love these Italian Chicken Sticks! They’re also good to make ahead and heat up for when you have to eat and run.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Put three slices of whole wheat bread in a blender; pulse until you have fine crumbs. Pour the crumbs onto a cookie sheet and place in the oven to toast, while it’s heating up. About 10 minutes, don’t over toast the crumbs.

Measure into a small bowl ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1½ teaspoons of dried thyme, basil, and oregano; ½ teaspoons of garlic powder, salt and pepper. Cut 3 boneless chicken breasts into ½ inch strips. Remove the bread crumbs from the oven and mix with the cheese and herbs. Dip the chicken strips in olive oil, then dredge in the bread and cheese mixture.

Place the chicken strips in a single layer on a baking sheet, for extra crisp chicken pieces, first place a wire rack on the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes in your 400 degree oven. Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.

It makes my mouth water, just thinking about these yummy chicken sticks.

As good-for-you as spinach is, often kids (especially picky eaters) refuse to eat it. But, Spinach is one of Try Rannosaurus’ favorite foods! Try is one of the two characters I created for my book, Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater. The two buddies engage young picky eaters in multi-sensory learning. Try is a green T-rex, and green food is his favorite. Of course, that includes spinach. He often announces, “Green food is yummy!” Try isn’t always the smartest animal in the forest. Betty Baby Bites, his best friend and encourager, often comes to his rescue. She’s a lover of whole foods, as well.

I found some interesting facts about spinach. Are you ready? Spinach is a good source of iron and essential nutrients such as vitamins A and C, and minerals, and fiber! I was surprised to learn that spinach also contains 3 grams of protein per serving. So Try is pretty smart after all.

Pictured below:
Shelby is thinking over the prospect
that green food might be yummy, after all!

Spinach grows in sandy soil, so wash it thoroughly to get rid of the grainy, sandy particles. Make sure to tear off the stems. Separate the leaves, and place them in a large bowl of water. Gently swish the leaves and let the sand drift to the bottom of the bowl. Remove leaves from the water, and repeat the process with fresh water until the leaves are clean. If you’re eating spinach raw in a salad, dry it completely by using a salad spinner or by blotting it with paper towels.

Here’s another helpful tip for kids who resist eating spinach, use it as an ingredient in a casserole (especially with tomatoes) or in a soup. When cooked with other foods, spinach takes on the other flavors.

There’s more! To hear the Podcast “Healthy Meals In a Jiffy” CLICK HERE.

Yes, it’s true your salary has a lot to do with tasty food…The word salary comes from salt! Isn’t that hysterical?

It turns out that salt is not only our oldest preservative but commodity, as well. Salt was extremely rare in the past. So rare, that it was often used as pay. That’s right, salt used to be a method of pay for a hard day’s work. Can you imagine earning a couple of tablespoons of salt for a hard-day’s work? I can’t, after all salt is common today and cheap!

Gabi and Luke-Xavier say “Phooey” to too much salt!  ( Click here for their mommy’s website: “Mommy of Many.”)

Restaurants have salt sitting on tables and processed foods are loaded with salt. It’s easy to consume too much. I guess it’s a good thing we’re no longer paid in salt!

Americans eat too much salt, because it’s found in all processed foods. You can accomplish a lot by becoming conscious of added sodium in the foods you purchase. The way to adequately cut salt consumption is easy: cook at home using whole foods. Then, when you use salt, use a natural salt which hasn’t been bleached or heated. In fact, natural salt has trace amounts of vital nutrients: calcium, potassium, sulfur, magnesium, iron, iodine, manganese, copper, and zinc.

Sea salt contains about 80 mineral elements that the body needs. Some of these elements are needed in trace amounts. Unrefined sea salt is a better choice of salt than other types of salt on the market. Ordinary table salt which is found in super markets has been stripped of its companion elements and contains additive elements such as aluminum silicate to keep it powdery and porous. Aluminum is a very toxic element in our nervous system.

Like all acquired tastes, you can alter your taste for salt. Just as sugar consumption can dull a child’s taste buds, too many salty foods can impair your child’s discovery of wholesome foods. Begin to lower your family’s salt intake and, before you know it, some foods you once regularly consumed will taste too salty!

Salt is a vital nutrient, but eating too much salt may contribute to high blood pressure. Americans consume about one-and-a-half teaspoons of salt a day, although only 15 percent of our salt intake comes from the salt shaker. In 2004, the FDA attempted to lower its recommendation of one teaspoon of salt a day to two-thirds of a teaspoon.

However, because of lobbying from the salt industry and the prevalence of salt as an agent in preserving packaged foods, the FDA kept its recommendation at one teaspoon a day. Babies should consume less salt than adults, because their kidneys can’t cope with larger amounts.

Salt is extremely hard for most people to reduce in their diets, because it’s a fundamental ingredient of packaged and restaurant foods. Salt increases the shelf life of packaged foods (bread, crackers and cookies, processed lunch meats, and canned foods), while it depresses bitterness and enhances sweetness.

For convenience, many of the recipes found in my book and on this website call for processed food items in cans, which are usually high in sodium. Today in every grocery store, products are available with less added sodium. Look for these as they are a better nutritional choice.

Most grocery chains carry organic chicken broth, which has at least one-third less sodium and is fat free. Organic chicken broth is made with free-range chickens. For the most healthful broth, purchase a brand stating not only organic, but one that’s free from Canola, soy, and cottonseed oils, as well as added sugars. I stock up on these products when they go on sale.

This information is found in Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater. Buy the book Click Here.

His mom didn’t rush to clean off his fingers, but she talked about the various textures with him. She offered lots of positive reinforcement and praised him every time he c, ADdmplied with her request to touch new foods, especially foods in a sauce.

Because Danny had such difficulty in touching gooey foods, his mom made it a point to have him experience various textures while playing: finger painting, gluing paper objects, and making edible play dough. These activities use the hands as tools and eliminate any pressure of having to eat something with a gooey texture. A plus for any child is that these are fun activities.

Once touching sticky sauce-like substances is no longer difficult when playing, then touching and eating food with sauces won’t seem unpleasant.

Invovle your child in multi-sensory culinary experiences. Happy Pancakes are easy and fun to make for breakfast!

Danny’s mom noticed he had other difficulties surrounding tactile issues and she eventually had him tested by an Occupational Therapist. Danny had Sensory Processing Disorder, SPD, a neurological problem. It’s believed approximately 5 percent of children are found to have some level of SPD. The therapy is to integrate sensory-rich activities in a positive environment.

Children with SPD may have difficulty with motor coordination (either gross or fine). Perhaps they’ll refuse to walk barefoot in the sand or on the grass.

There can be huge issues surrounding teeth brushing, getting hands dirty, and they may dislike having their head touched when brushing, washing and drying their hair. Sometimes the texture of some clothing and labels overly irritate the child with SPD.

If you see a link between other tactile issues and avoidance of foods with a certain texture, a child may be exhibiting sensitivity defensiveness. It’s wise to ask your pediatrician about having an evaluation for SPD by an occupational therapist.

Not all picky eaters have SPD, but most children with SPD are picky eaters, because of their over-responsiveness to tactile sensations. They many times will eat a limited number of foods, and may completely avoid certain textures and food groups. Of course this may impact their overall health.

The Baby Bite Steps uses positive reinforcement, while engaging a picky eater in directed-play. This conditions a positive response to various food textures. Adjust your timetable for kids with SPD. Consistency and praising your child for small steps are even more vital for the “out-of-sync” child.

SPD is a part of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This is a broad category, including diagnosis from Sensory Processing Disorder to Attention Deficit Disorder to Autism to Aspergers Disorder. One constant is that these children are usually picky eaters, preferring the very foods that make their problems worse.

Parents of children with SPD have seen remarkable improvement using the Baby Bite Steps, especially when combined with improving “gut dysfunction.” Jaquelyn McCandless, M.D. says that Autism Spectrum Disorder is a complex biomedical illness resulting in “significant brain malnutrition.”

There’s emerging evidence that, once nutritional concerns have been addressed, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder improve at some level. While the nutritional treatment will vary, there seems to be agreement that all children with Autism Spectrum Disorder improve with diets free from refined sugar, white flour, and food additives. In addition, they usually benefit from probiotics and cod liver oil. Once Danny began taking both cod liver oil and a probiotic formulated for children, he experienced another giant step toward health.

There’s more. To hear the Podcast: Click Here.

There’s more information on the Baby Bite Steps and multi-sensory learning, in my book, Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater. Buy the Book at the Baby Bites Store Now! Click Here

Then you’ll need brain food. Brain food is REAL food. Good nutrition is critical at all stages of your child’s life. And just as in today’s Yummy News Report, the effects will last a lifetime. Brains need carbohydrates for energy, and proteins, and healthy fats to build connective pathways between the brain cells. Vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients help create the neurotransmitters, which relay signals between the brain cells.

Your baby’s brain grows its fastest from about the 10th to 18th week of pregnancy. Then again just before birth and it continues it’s dramatic growth for the first two years of life. Children, who do not get adequate nutrition in their first few years of life are more likely to lower IQs, and slower language and motor development, which leads to poorer school performance.

Preschool nutrition impacts the rest of your child’s life. If you’re pregnant eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants in these foods will protect your baby’s brains from tissue damage. Get your folic acid which is important for a healthy baby by eating plenty of leafy greens and whole grain foods. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding up to two years of age. Mother’s milk is the perfect food for a baby’s developing brain.

When you start feeding your baby solids, usually around six months of age, include whole foods and iron rich foods such as finely minced meats. Your child should eat a variety of foods including whole grains, veggies and fruits, meat and dairy. Give kids a healthy snack between meals, not processed treats. This will insure that your child is receiving continuous nutrients required for growth and development.

For your child to have a healthy brain, eat real, unprocessed foods as much as possible. Eat a rainbow of food. Blueberries, red cherries, yellow peppers, dark leafy greens, purple eggplant, red tomatoes, orange carrots and pumpkins. Each color of food contributes nutrients necessary for good brain health.

Your child’s brain needs fat!

One of the worst recommendations for children’s health for them to eat a low-fat diet. Fat makes up over 60 percent of your child’s developing brain. Although your children need the right kinds of fat. Omega-3 oils are vital for a healthy brain. Toddlers need approximately 35 percent of their daily calories from good fats. That’s omega-3 and -6 Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) found in unrefined oils (freshly pressed oil which is protected from light, oxygen, and heat) such as extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and flax seed oil, it’s also found in avocados and nuts. Unrefined oils provide omega-3 and -6 EFAs needed for cell growth and integrity.

Ben knows fish is high in omega 3. ›

For a healthy brain, eat healthy fats from a variety of sources like fish, walnuts, flax, avocado, and coconut and olive oil. To ensure your baby has the best start, avoid drinking alcohol in any amount while your pregnant. As always, avoid processed foods, which make it harder for your child’s brain to grow properly.

You’ll want to avoid:

• Processed foods with artificial sweeteners or coloring, luncheon meats containing nitrates, and MSG: Monosodium Glutamate an excitotoxin killing brains cells.

• Sugar, which is added to most processed foods, including salad dressings, ketchup, yogurt, and the worst offender soda pop.

• Altered fats and partially-hydrogenated oils are found in most fast foods, fried foods, and packaged chips, crackers, and bakery items.

There’s more. Listen to the Podcast, CLICK HERE.

However, researchers from Hunter College and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Scientists show that three-month-old infants go beyond face-to-face social interactions. They even use social cues to process objects in the world around them.

In this study, three-month-old infants viewed images of people who looked at new objects with either fearful or neutral facial expressions. Infants’ brain activity showed their processing of new objects varied, depending on the emotional signals the adults used.

Pictured above: Aiden is smiling at his mom.

Pictured below: Mom is Helena’s security.

It seems our babies are using our facial expressions as reference points for everything. If you want your baby to be secure in the world, this study indicates you must present the world and the things in it as safe.

It stands to reason, if you want your children to eat healthy foods, then you must enjoy them yourself. The best way to ensure a healthy eater, is to eat whole grains, veggies, and fruits yourself. Smile when you’re eating them, because your baby is watching you!

To purchase Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater, Click Here. 

There’s more. To hear the Podcast, Click Here.

Following is information concerning some of the most horrible things found in our in food: Trans Fat, Interesterified Fat, and MSG. Because these ingredients are commonly found in processed and junk foods, children and even picky eaters frequently ingest them.

Trans Fat

Trans fatty acid is created when the molecular structure of a vegetable oil is altered to a hardened form found in margarine or shortening. Because trans fat increases the shelf life of foods, it’s most commonly found in restaurant foods, fast foods (French fries, fried chicken, and chicken nuggets), snack food, packaged bakery products (cookies, crackers, donuts, and cakes), microwave popcorn, potato chips, peanut butters, and salad dressings.

In the United States, typical French fries have about 40 percent trans fat, and many cookies and crackers range from 30 to 50 percent trans fat. Doughnuts have approximately 35 percent trans fatty acids. A couple of the worst offenders are found in many kitchens—stick margarine and Crisco®.

Trans fat is far worse than natural saturated fat ever could be. The production process of injecting liquid fats with hydrogen gas converts them into indigestible trans fatty acids. Trans fat can’t be metabolized in the human body.

Trans fat molecules are absorbed into your cells, compromising the cell’s metabolism. Trans fat lowers the HDL (good cholesterol) and increases the LDL (bad cholesterol), leading to heart disease. In pregnant women, trans fat, like alcohol, drugs, carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke, and pesticides, pass through the placenta to the baby, affecting the baby’s metabolism in direct proportion to the amount ingested by the mother. In addition, there’s a correlation between trans fat and Type 2 Diabetes. To make matters worse, trans fat inhibits the absorption of vitamin K (vital for bone growth).

Beware! Only with government math will zero plus zero equal more than zero. The labeling requirement has a loophole. Food products with trans fat above .05 grams per serving are required to be listed. Because you could be purchasing smaller amounts (and remember there’s no safe level) without realizing it, read the entire nutrition label.

If you see zero trans fat on the nutrition label, double check to see if there’s any hydrogenated vegetable oil, partially hydrogenated oils, shortening, and margarine listed. These are all trans fats.

Eating out can be more of a challenge than reading food labels.Unfortuantly, picky eaters love fast food! Five small chicken nuggets from a fast food chain may contain between two and four grams of trans fat. A large order (six ounces) of McDonald’s® French fries contains a whopping eight grams of trans fat!

Intersterified Fat 

Wouldn’t you know it, just as we’re eliminating trans fats, up pops a new one. Believe it or not, this one is even more dangerous to your health. Interesterifed fats are like trans fats raising the blood levels of the “bad” LDL cholesterol. At the same time, lowering the “good” HDL cholesterol levels.

According to the January 2007 journal Nutrition & Metabolism, interesterified fats not only negatively affect the cholesterol levels, but also negatively affect blood sugar levels!

Yet, the Food and Drug Administration has given the go ahead to food companies and restaurants. Avoid any food product with interesterified soybean oil, interesterified vegetable oil, fully hydrogenated oil, high in steric acid, or stearate rich on food labels.

Frying food at high temperatures destroys most of what’s beneficial in food, regardless of what fat is used. Food services usually use the same oils for cooking fish, chicken, and other foods as they do fries. As a rule, it’s best to avoid all fried foods (especially chicken and French fries) when eating out, as these are most likely fried in a hydrogenated oil—a trans fat and now interesterified fat.

At home, throw out any trans fats, such as Crisco® and stick margarine. Use natural cold-pressed fats such as extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and butter instead.

MSG 

MSG was first added to processed foods in the United States in 1948. Processing and long shelf life decreases the flavor of foods. MSG is a flavor enhancer. This is a benefit when transitioning people from food prepared in their home kitchens to the convenience of canned foods and fast foods. As you would think, MSG has been added to many, if not most, processed foods. MSG is even a common ingredient in fast food French fries, because it gives food that extra pop in taste. But it’s really flavored poison.

MSG is an excitatory neuro-transmitter or “excitotoxin.” Excitotoxins are chemical transmitters allowing brain cells to communicate. Unfortunately, excitotoxins over-stimulate your brain cells and they die. It’s a toxic substance. As you would guess, children are most at risk from ingesting MSG. It can pass the blood brain barrier and even the placental barrier, affecting unborn children.

MSG has been linked to Anxiety (Panic) Attacks, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD and AHDD), allergies, blindness, brain damage, cloudy thinking, migraines, neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s, MS, ALS, Alzheimer’s, rage, and stroke.

You can cut the time in reading labels if you look for a few key words: Flavoring, Hydrolyzed, and Extract. These words are meant to sound nutritious, but are in fact hiding MSG as an ingredient.

Common ingredients which contain MSG:
Bouillon (chicken and beef)
Broth flavoring
Gelatin
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP)
Yeast Extract
Malted Barley
Malt Extract
Rice Syrup or Brown Rice Syrup
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
Hydrolyzed Protein
Hydrolyzed Plant Extract
Malt flavoring
Natural Beef or Chicken Flavoring
Plant Protein Extract
Sodium Caseinate
Yeast Extract
Texturized Protein
Autolyzed Yeast
Hydrolyzed Oat Flour
Calcium Caseinate
Natural Flavoring/Seasonings

Flintstone’s vitamins for children show that they contain some of the following substances (depending on variety): Artificial flavors and three different types of food dye, glucose syrup, gelatin and modified starch (which both typically contain MSG), the neurotoxin aspartame, and hydrogenated oils.

Baby Bites has lots of healthy and fast recipes. Buy the Book at the Baby Bites Store!!

Today, people eat one hundred and fifty pounds of sugar in a year. That’s two-and-a-half pounds of sugar each week! Eliminating (or at least drasticly reducing) sugars from your picky child’s diet is esential. For the child who’s not eating a healthy variety of foods, this one adjustment will open the door to apprecitating whole foods.

Sugar is produced from sugar cane or sugar beets. In the refining process all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes, and other beneficial nutrients have been stripped away. Simple sugars cause a drop in the ability of white blood cells to engulf bacteria, resulting in the suppression of the immune system.

The average American consumes approximately 150 pounds of sugar a year: That’s 2½ pounds a week! Beginning with sugar in baby’s formula, people develop a craving for it. It doesn’t take long for little picky eaters to develop a preference for sweet tasting foods. Skinny picky eaters may grow up to be overweight, as their favorite foods often have added sugars.

Sugar is seductive as it may take years before sugar makes you overweight, ruins your pancreas, your adrenal glands, and throws your endocrine system out of whack. Sugar is included in most processed foods. It’s in everything from soup, to cereals, to ketchup, to lunchmeat.

In my book, Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater,” there are practical solutions on how to avoid sugar. First, you must become familiar with all it’s aliases. Buy the Book at the Baby Bites Store Now! Click Here

Sugar is listed on the nutrition label under 40 different names!

Various Names For Sugar Commonly Found in Processed Foods:

• Amaske (brown rice)
• Barley malt (grain)
• Beet sugar (root)
• Brown rice syrup (grain)
• Brown sugar
• Cane juice
• Confectioners’ sugar
• Corn sweetener (grain)
• Corn syrup (grain)
• Date sugar (fruit)
• Dextrose
• Fructooliosaccharides (fruit)
• Fructose (fruit)
• Fruit juice concentrate (fruit)
• Galactose
• Glucose
• Granulated sugar
• High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) — If you were to avoid only one sugar, HFCS would be the one! According to physicians Mehmet Oz and Michael Roisen, high-fructose corn syrup is the worst sweetener added to our food supply. In their book, “ You: The Owner’s Manual…,” they state: “One of the biggest evil influences on our diet is the presence of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a sugar substitute that itself is a sugar found in soft drinks and many other sweet, processed foods. The problem is that HCFS inhibits leptin secretion, so you never get the message that you’re full. And it never shuts off gherin, so, even though you have food in your stomach, you constantly get the message that you’re hungry.”
  
• Honey (natural)
• Juice concentrate
• Lactose
• Licorice Root
• Maltodextrin (corn syrup solids)
• Malted barley (grain)
• Maltose
• Maple sugar (natural sweetener)
• Molasses (natural sweetener)
• Powdered sugar
• Rice Syrup & Yinni Syrup
• Raisin juice (fruit)
• Raisin syrup (fruit)
• Raw sugar
• Sorghum syrup
• Stevia—Stevia is really a healthy sweetener. It’s a herbal sweetener that’s two to three hundred times sweeter than sugar and no calories. It’s presently sold in the U.S. as a dietary supplement, although it has been used as a sweetener for hundreds of years in Latin America, Japan, and Asia and now in Europe.
• Sucanat
• Sucrose
• Sugar cane
• Turbinado sugar
• White sugar
  

Update on Sugar Alcohols and Polyols

Polyols include: Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolysates (HSH), Isomalt, Lactitol, Maltitol, Mannitol, Sorbitol, and Xylitol.

Polyols are slightly better than artificial sweeteners, but in light of the following information, I would strongly caution parents in purchasing foods for your children with Polyols listed in the ingredients.

Polyols are made from sugar. Polyols average 50 percent fewer calories than sugar. Although, they can have adverse side effects: dehydration, equilibrium loss, vitamin and mineral depletion, and malnutrition. Polyols can adversely effect the digestive system with bloating, gastrointestinal distress, diarrhea, and anal leakage at 1 1/2 teaspoons a day. Although in some individuals (possibly more so in children) these side effects may occur at a lower level.

Children have immature digestive systems it’s best to avoid Polyols as well as artificial sweeteners. I would NOT recommend Polyols for children, even though you’ll find them in candy, chewing gum, chocolate, baked goods, cough drops, cold medicines, mouthwashes, and ice cream.

Purchase inexpensive salt and pepper shakers and fill the “P” shaker with your own Poultry Seasoning and the “S” shaker with your own Steak Seasoning. Just shake out what you need. That way you won’t have to bother measuring each time you need a seasoning.

1.) For Poultry Seasoning mix together 2 tablespoon each salt and pepper and 4 tablespoons of poultry seasoning or rosemary.

2.) For Steak Seasoning mix 2 tablespoon salt, 4 tablespoons each of garlic powder and pepper together.