Kids Ain't Cheap

But They Sure Are Worth It

3 Tips for Maintaining Healthy Cholesterol Levels

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heart healthKeeping your cholesterol levels under control is important to protect you from heart attack, stroke, and also to improve your overall health.

It’s also important to recognize that not all cholesterol is bad. There are good types of cholesterol and bad types of cholesterol. Looks take a look at both types of cholesterol and how you can keep both under control for a healthier lifestyle.

 

Good Cholesterol

Good Cholesterol is HDL (high-density lipoprotein.) HDL actually removes any unneeded cholesterol in your body. When you look at your overall cholesterol levels, HDL will be one of the numbers measured. For women a healthy HDL level is 40-60 mg.

 

Bad Cholesterol

When you hear someone refer to bad cholesterol they are talking about LDL (low-density lipoprotein.) LDL is made up of fat and can leave fatty deposits in your arteries causing forms of heart disease.

Luckily LDL can be controlled by diet, exercise, and if needed, medication.

Now that we have your good and bad cholesterol level explained let’s look at the three most common ways you can maintain healthy cholesterol levels.

 

Maintain a Healthy Diet

The number one culprit for unhealthy cholesterol levels is your diet.

Bad cholesterol is found in foods that are rich with saturated and trans fat. By limiting the intake of these foods you’ll limit your intake of bad cholesterol.

LDL is found foods like these:

  • Fatty Meats
  • Dairy Products
  • Fast Food
  • Egg Yolks

Look at the saturated and trans fat content of the foods you’re eating and slowly decrease the amount you consume. Cutting the bad fats from your diet will decrease your bad cholesterol levels.

Some heart healthy foods you can incorporate into your diet are oatmeal, salmon, avocado, nuts, nut butters, and olive oil.

 

Incorporate an Exercise Plan Into Your Routine

Exercising can help lower your cholesterol in two ways: first losing weight (if needed) will help lower LDL cholesterol levels. Secondly the enzymes you produce by practicing moderately intense exercise will increase your good cholesterol levels.

Experts recommend that you find a moderately intense exercise like walking, jogging, swimming, or riding a bike that you can partake in for 10-20 minute bursts. It’s recommended to get a total of 30 minutes of this exercise per day or 60 minutes of moderately intense exercise if you’re trying to lose weight.

If you don’t currently have an exercise routine, start small. Try to incorporate 30 minutes of exercise into your day three times per week. Remember, it’s okay to exercise in small ten minute bursts. Gradually try to increase the number of time you exercise per week. You’ll be more likely to stick to a new exercise routine by going slow and steady.

 

Use Medication if Needed

If you are unable to naturally lower your cholesterol levels then medication may be needed.

If you think your cholesterol levels are at unhealthy levels you should consult with a doctor before changing your diet or exercise plan. A doctor will help you come up with a plan to get your cholesterol levels under control and will be able to prescribe medication if needed.

5 Natural Ways to Boost Your Immune System

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larch herbal supplementYou’re working too hard, drinking too many sodas, and grabbing fast food to stave off the hunger pangs. When the weekend rolls around, all you want to do is kick back with a few beers. But did you know your lifestyle is lowering your immune system? Modern habits can take their toll, but you can boost your immune system with these natural remedies.

 

Asian Mushrooms are Tasty Immune Boosters

Asian medicine men have long known the powers of native mushroom varieties including shiitake, maitake, and reishi. They all contain beta-glucans that help your body fight off infections and reduce allergies.

Purified mushroom extracts are available, but you can also enjoy their effects by eating fresh mushrooms in stir fries, pastas, and risottos. In contrast, processed foods impair immune function, so it’s an easy choice when you’re looking for an immune-boosting meal.

 

Lean Protein Protects Your Body

Make room on your plate for other lean proteins, including lean meats, seafood, nuts, and beans. The mushrooms are a good source of protein, but these other ingredients will give your meals an added immunity boost. The antibodies that fight diseases are actually made of protein, so eating extra protein makes a lot of sense.

Many protein-rich foods also have other elements that assist the body’s immune response. For example, lean beef, oysters, and beans are rich in zinc, which aids in the production of infection-fighting white blood cells.

 

Larch Arabinogalactan Wards Off Colds

It’s got a very long name, but larch arbinogalactan is one you should become familiar with if you hope to boost your immune system. People who take this fiber, sourced from the wood of the larch tree, have 23 percent fewer colds.

Take larch arbinogalactan to reduce your chances of getting the sniffles and the more serious conditions that can result, including bronchitis and pneumonia. If you develop these serious illnesses, you’ll need to buy Levaquin or a similar drug to beat them. Choosing a supplement with the ingredient “larch resist-aid” at your local pharmacy or health food store will help you ward off illness, too.

 

Oregano Oil Improves Digestive System

Did you know about 70 percent of the body’s immune system lives in the gastrointestinal tract? So if you want to boost yours, you need to improve your digestive system’s health. Taking oregano oil is a great way to get yours back on track, as it eliminates the bad bacteria that can take hold.

Scientists investigated the link between oregano oil and the immune system when they fed the supplement to nursing pigs in 2011. Their study found the pigs that took oregano oil had more white blood cells in their milk than the control group.

Taking 200 mg of oregano oil, three times a day, will improve the health of your digestive system and boost your immune response.

 

Exercise Helps Immune System Work Better

In 1960, half o fAmericans held jobs that required moderate physical activity. At the turn of the last century, that number had fallen to just 20 percent. That means most of us are sitting at desks all day long. We then sit behind the wheel of a motor vehicle to return home, where we sit in front of a television until bedtime. This sedentary lifestyle isn’t just making us fatter; it’s also compromising our immune systems.

In 2006, researchers studied the effects of exercise on the immune systems of 115 obese and sedentary post-menopausal women. Half of the ladies were told to stretch once a week, while the other half undertook 30 to 45 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise five times a week. Over the year-long study, the stretchers had three times the number of colds.

It makes sense, because exercise encourages antibodies and white blood cells to move throughout the body faster. This helps them detect and start fighting illnesses sooner. This increased circulation is also thought to trigger hormones that tell immune cells that intruding pathogens have entered the body.

Just make sure that you don’t overdo things. High-intensity exercise can decrease your white blood cell count and leave you more susceptible to illness. A brisk walk, swim, or cycle is perfect.

All of us indulge in a few bad habits now and again, but they don’t have to lower your immune system if you use these natural immune boosters.

Do you use any of these natural immune boosters?

Can Laser Eye Surgery Improve Your General Fitness?

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eye surgeryThere are many reported benefits of laser eye surgery. From vastly improved or perfect vision, to reduced costs (owing to the fact you no longer need to pay for expensive lenses) laser eye surgery could improve your quality of life in many ways – but could it improve your general fitness too?

 

Correlation Between Sight and Fitness

According to a story in The Daily Mail, this is exactly what happened to 30-year old Michael McCarthy. Shedding a total of seven stone, equivalent to 34 inches from around his waistline, McCarthy claimed that it was his ability to see clearly which help to visualise his skinnier, fitter self.

He claimed that poor eyesight was responsible for his lack of participation in activities or sports, leading to his weight gain. Even sports like football were said to be off the cards, with McCarthy explaining that he had a fear of his glasses being broken, rendering him unable to see clearly, meaning he sat on the sidelines instead of playing an active role in the game.

 

Getting Your Eyes Fixed

Undertaking LASIK eye surgery, one of the most popular forms of the procedure, McCarthy found his vision considerably improved once he had fully recovered. Prior to the operation, his prescription was -13 and -12.75 – figures which improved to -0.25 in both eyes to give him near perfect vision.

With McCarthy claiming it opened a world of sport to him, allowing to go swimming and undertake mixed martial arts classes with workouts consisting of cardiovascular exercises and even weightlifting, this is strong evidence that eye surgery could help you become fitter.

There are plenty of reputable firms who offer these surgeries for those interested in undergoing the procedure themselves.

 

Finding Help

Optimax laser eye surgery is a perfect example. As one of the industry leaders, they can help you determine whether the surgery is right for you and provide detailed information on the results you can expect to see if you choose to undergo the procedure.

It is worth noting there are risks with any surgery, so you need to make sure you’re making the right decision, but for further evidence of how your confidence and general fitness could be improved by the surgery, just take a look at some parting words from McCarthy:

“It was as if all of a sudden I was seeing everything in widescreen. By the evening my vision was in HD.”

Have you ever had eye surgery?  Do you think there is a connection between sight and fitness?

Pinterest Inspired Family Recipes Tested!

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Pinterest Inspired ReceipesIn the last few weeks, my bi-weekly meal plan has become, well boring. Both my husband and I have been feeling like we eat the same 10-15 meals over and over. Since meal planning is the single easiest way to keep our money in check (we’re suckers for grocery stores) I need to do it. The thought of walking into a grocery store without a list gives me near panic attacks knowing the amount of money we will end up wasting on food!

Feeling uninspired is not how one wants to enter a meal planning evening. Since I knew it had to be done, last week I turned to the internet for some inspiration. Since I love a good food picture without all the text to sift through, Pinterest was fun to browse. I picked a few recipes, ran them by the husband, bought the ingredients and gave them a shot. I’m happy to report so far we’ve had nothing but success!

 

Recipe 1: Taco Casserole

The first recipe we tried was Taco Casserole. I love tacos, my husband isn’t so crazy about them. He finds them messy and annoying to eat (his words). Making tacos in a casserole form seemed to be a great compromise.

Taco Casserole

What I changed: In the final steps of the recipe it calls to add shredded lettuce and tomato and then continue baking. Since I hate soggy lettuce, I instead topped the ground beef with a jar of salsa (instead of tomato) and shredded cheese, totally omitting the cooking with lettuce and tomato. I added the fresh lettuce and some sour cream when we ate it.

This was super fast, cheap and yummy. You can use whatever chip or tortilla you want in the bottom and can play with the spices. I will be making this again for sure.

Total cost: $10.98 ($1.83 per portion) 

 

Recipe 2: Southwest Chicken Soup

The second recipe I tried was a clean-eating, two bean southwest chicken soup/chili.

Southwestern Chicken Soup

I didn’t change much other than swapping pinto beans for romano beans (plus the one can of black beans). This was even easier in terms of prep considering it was a slow cooker recipe. If, and when I make this again I will use a different flavor salsa since it is the salsa that gives all the flavor. I’m thinking about trying it with a peach mango salsa next time. The hardest part of this recipe was getting my can opener to work. It made a LOT and tasted great two days later as leftovers. This recipe easily made enough for six large adult portions.

I chose to eat it with tortilla chips, super yummy.

Total cost: I lost my receipt but I think it was approximately $12.00 total or $1.50-$2.00 per portion depending on size.

We have one more recipe on dock to try next week. I’m optimistic because of all three new recipes, it’s the one the reviewed the best.

It’s easy to find excuses to not do your meal plans but meal planning, when done properly, will save your sanity and budget! If you’re feeling uninspired check out a new recipe book, website or Pinterest for some new ideas.

What Pinterest recipes do you love?  Post them below so we can all share!

Fit Families: Being Active Doesn’t Have to Cost Money

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fit familiesGrowing up, activity was second nature to me. I’d wake up, go outside and play until the sun went down and repeat the next day. I was involved in some organized sports, but for the most part, unless it was pouring rain there was an expectation on me to be active.

The level of inactivity in today’s general population, especially children is alarming. I live on a street full of children and I can count on one hand the amount of times I have seen them actually playing outside. While this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not involved in organized activity outside of the home, it still concerns me. Unless it is pouring rain, I make sure my daughter gets outside and explores everyday. I want activity to be ingrained in her little brain.

A friend of mine recently started complaining about how her overweight son (who is 11) was never going to lose weight because she couldn’t afford to enroll him in an organized sport. Overweight herself, she claims to be determined to not have him lead the life she has as an overweight adult. When I told her I thought ”not being able to afford organized sport” was a poor excuse, she was taken aback.  And don’t even get me started on a junk food tax.

Though organized sports and activity hold many benefits in many aspects, they are not the only ways to get active and fit.

 

Free or Inexpensive Activities for Families

Families who are active together are generally much happier as a whole and individual parts. I can tell you I always feel much better mentally and physically when my whole family gets out together rather than being alone or even me and the little one. Having my husband present is encouraging and fun. Activity is an amazing bonding time for everyone.

Some free or inexpensive activity ideas for the whole family include:

  • Walking or hiking, exploring your neighborhood or local parks,
  • Biking
  • Playing in the snow, snowshoes, skiing, building snowmen are always fun.
  • Family sport game (baseball, tennis, soccer)
  • Play on the beach, running in the sand, building sand castles.
  • Swimming
  • Walk the family dog together
  • Rake leaves, clean the yard, garden together (for more fun jump in the leave piles!)
  • Play electronic games. Electronic games (Wii, xBox, Playstation) can be fun when played as a family, there are many games that encourage activity.
  • Run, there are many family friendly races that you could train and run together.

When activity is a component of your life, you feel better in all aspects of your life. You have more focus and are generally more organized and in a better mood. Nothing bad ever comes from being active together. Being active as a family means you are setting your children up for a healthier life than leading an inactive childhood. When children see their parents active they are also more apt to partake in activity.

Being fit a fit family doesn’t have to include fancy gym memberships or organized sports. There’s nothing stopping you from exploring the world around you and having fun while doing it!

Do you consider yourself to be active? How about your family?

How to Save Money on Food

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fresh foodOther than housing, food is probably the second largest component in a family’s budget. With food prices only rising, it is important to save as much money as possible without compromising the integrity of your family’s healthy diet.

Eating well and cheap is possible but requires effort and planning. When just starting, expect to set aside at least an hour every week if you plan on getting serious about saving money on food for your family.

Here are some tips for how to save money on food and still eat well:

  • Meal plan. This is the easiest way to save money on food. With a meal plan, you can shop for the items you need for the whole week ensuring not only that you have all required ingredients, but also that you don’t end up back in the grocery store. When you make multiple trips to the store unnecessary costs will likely occur.
  • Shop with a list! If you don’t have a list you’ll navigate the store aimlessly and put more things in your cart than required, as well miss items you may need.
  • Always shop the parameter first. Grocery stores are designed to have all the fresh and frozen items on the exterior of the store. Non-perishables are found on the interior. Fill you cart with the health items first then move to the interior aisles.
  • Shop late at night. Shopping late at night may mean you score daily mark-downs. At the end of a normal day (usually around 7-8pm) a lot of grocery stores will start marking down things like their meats in preparation for the next day. They need to make room for the fresh product and will start marking down older or near expired items. I have found this to be particularly true for meat and bread.
  • Coupon. I don’t have a lot of advice to offer on couponing since there are many restrictions on coupon use here in Canada, but I know if done correctly, you’ll be able to save a lot of money and even score free product.
  • Keep a price book. For items that you frequently buy, keep a log of the different grocery store prices. Compare frequently and watch for sales. This will help establish a budget for your weekly spending.
  • Freezer cook. Freezer cooking involves preparing multiple meals at once, freezing them and using them as required. I recently partook in a ”Big Cook” where we prepared over 30 meals at once, froze them and had dinners for over a month. Most freezer cooking meals can adapted for crock pot or oven. Thaw the night before, put in slow cooker in the morning and have dinner cooked!
  • Take advantage of your farmer’s market. Utilizing your local farmer’s market is an easy way to save money on food and get a great product.
  • Buy seasonally and freeze. We have a large blueberry season where I live so in the summer we’ll go to a local u-pick lot and pick berries to freeze. We eat some fresh then freeze them to use throughout the year for things like baking and smoothies. This is much cheaper than buying them frozen throughout the year.

With a little planning and preparation you’ll be able to save money on groceries for your family and still eat well. It will soon become a routine and take no time at all.

How do you save money on food for your family?

Is Junk Food Tax the Answer to Childhood Obesity?

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Junk FoodI re-joined Weight Watchers this weekend (bye-bye baby weight!). At the meeting there was a 18-year-old girl who was a returning lifetime member trying to lose the 50lbs that has found her over the past three years. The first time she joined she was just 11 years old. This post isn’t about Weight Watchers or whether or not I agree with young children doing a structured diet program, I’m looking into WHY an 11-year-old would need such a program.



The Rise of Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity is no secret. It is completely plaguing the developed world. There has been a lot of discussion in our local news about whether or not a ‘junk food’ or ‘fat’ tax is the answer to helping this growing problem. The logic being that parents will be forced to make different, ideally smarter, food choices for their family’s diet. Foods singled out are pop (soda), oils, cheeses, candy, chips, basically anything is highly processed or saturated fat-laden.

Do we really need this? Isn’t a tax just a way for the government to capitalize on our, albeit bad,  food choices? Shouldn’t we be forcing more education instead of punishing?

Thoughts on a Junk Food Tax

These are the types of questions that are running through my head. Instead of punishing a family’s food choices, why don’t we start at the very beginning and encourage affordable healthy eating habits in elementary school? Start the education when they’re young and don’t stop! If we drill it into our kids heads and explain the choices they have to make there could be an entire generational change. I know things in this area are improving but we’re not there yet. We need to educate our kids as well as their families. Some families may be reluctant to initiate the changes required or ask the required questions. If help was available in the form of things like healthy family nights, held at your child’s school, where a nutritionist could come in and do presentations aimed at the specific demographic, the framework for better decision making could be laid down.

Life is about choices, junk food included. We need to teach our children how to make good food choices through our knowledge and counter balance the not-so-good ones. We need to get this junk food tax idea out of our minds. It won’t work, mark my words.

What are your thoughts on a junk food tax?

Introducing Solid Foods

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baby solid foods
Source: <a href="http://www.free-funny-jokes.com/">free-funny-jokes.com</a>

We all know kids aren’t cheap, but I have to be honest, I was a little astounded when we were looking at store-bought baby food only to find out a very small 128ml jar was almost $1.00! Individually, not super expensive, but if you consider how many jars you’ll buy over the months that your child will eat non-table food it adds up!

 

Introducing Solid Foods with Baby Led Weaning

I have friends introducing solid foods via baby-led weaning (BLW), where from the very beginning, around six months, the child feeds themselves; no spoon-feeding by mom or dad, no jars or baby food to buy or food to mash at home. You hand the baby bite sized pieces of family foods and allow them to self feed.

The logic behind BLW is that babies learn how to chew first, then swallow. Where introducing fully pureed food first teaches the baby how to swallow, then chew.

People who are against BLW usually are so because of choking risks, mess, wasted food or not meeting nutritional needs.

 

DIY Baby Food

If you aren’t comfortable with the concept of BLW and can’t justify spending the extra money for jars of baby food, make your own! This is the main route we have chosen when it comes to introducing solid foods. In terms of price difference, I bought a 750 gram bag of frozen broccoli for $1.99. A far cry from $0.75-$1.00/ 128ml jar of baby food!

To prepare frozen fruits or veggies I simply steam, let cool, then puree in the blender. Once pureed, I re-freeze in ice-cube trays for portion size. I have also used canned fruits (canned in water only) and followed the same methods minus steaming. If the fruits are fresh and soft (ie. banana) you can simply mash it up prior to feeding. Meat is a little trickier because it requires adding water to thin it out while blending, but certainly not difficult. There are other protein sources if you’re choosing a vegetarian diet such as lentils, not only are lentils arguably more nutritional they are significantly cheaper, win-win!

People against this method argue that it requires a lot of work (though I would argue this) and as mentioned, teaches the baby to swallow before mastering chewing which can lead to gagging issues in the future as more solids are introduced.

Whatever method you choose, remember that when time comes to introduce solids to your baby, don’t feel like you’re restricted to the few jar options at your local grocery store. Once you’ve ruled out allergies (which are significantly decreased if you wait until six months to introduce solids) there’s no reason you couldn’t quickly blend whatever the family is eating for supper or, should you choose, cut it up and place in front of them!

What methods have you, or will you use?

Breastfeeding at Work?

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breastfeedingRecently in our local news, a restaurant owner was chastised for breastfeeding her son while at work. The local health department came in and handed her a letter of complaint after a restaurant- goer complained that she was breastfeeding at work, specifically while helping clear a table after someones meal had finished. Not because of any actual health hazard or issues with her kitchen, but because she was breastfeeding at work.

 

Conflict

Let me explain that here in Nova Scotia it is a human right to breastfeed where ever and whenever a woman chooses to (although it makes me sad when stories like this continue to arise). This human right is not only backed and supported by our health department, but very much publicly encouraged; this is where an even bigger issue presents itself. One sector of our health department is telling her, and all women, to breastfeed anywhere and everywhere while another sector is conflicting telling her to breastfeed privately and not at her place on employment, a restaurant.

 

My Thoughts

As a mother who has exclusively breastfed my baby for over six months now I have to commend this woman for continuing to breastfeed her son at eight months while working full-time, running a successful restaurant. Breastfeeding on demand is no easy task especially if you have work to get done. Breastfeeding mothers will tell you they very quickly learn to become excellent multitaskers. If we were forced to sit and hide in private every time our child needed FOOD we’d spend more than half our child’s waking hours cooped up in our houses, getting nothing accomplished.

In terms of this particular article- she was clearing a table at the restaurant she owns while breastfeeding her son. WHY DO WE CARE?!

Someone argued that it would be weird to have their groceries rang in buy a cashier who was breastfeeding at the same time. This isn’t even remotely close to the same thing. She is the owner of a restaurant who comes and goes throughout the day. She happened to have her son with her, he happened to be hungry, and she, at the same time, saw an opportunity to help her employees by clearing a table for them. It’s not like she was waitressing while breastfeeding juggling her pad of paper in one hand and baby in the other. She was lending a hand, multitasking, while popping into her restaurant.

Source: Ali and the World

In a society where it is perfectly acceptable to have nearly naked women displayed in our shopping malls, on billboards and on TV, I have a hard time accepting that there is still any issue with breastfeeding in public places. When a baby is latched on and nursing, you see less breast than most popular low-cut women’s shirts yet it is still labeled as disgusting or thought it should be done in the privacy of your home only.

As a fellow breastfeeding mom, I can testify that we find ourselves doing so many things while breastfeeding our child literally becomes an extension of our own bodies, we get to a point where we don’t even notice them. I am certain that this was the case here.

The issue I have isn’t so much that the health department went to her restaurant, they have a public responsibility to check all complaints, the issue is that a complaint was even made.

What are your thoughts?

 

How to Have a Healthier Easter

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Easter Egg HuntMy son happens to be one of those lucky people who can eat whatever he wants and never gain weight, something he certainly didn’t get from me. Although he constantly reminds me of that fact around Easter each time he grabs another jelly bean, I remind him that not being overweight doesn’t mean you can eat whatever you want.

Candy is fine in moderation, but you have to resist temptation around holidays, especially Easter. Of course, like most kids, whatever I say goes in one ear and out of the other, so I learned that distracting him from the candy using Easter activities was the best bet to avoid a sugar frenzy.

 

Easter Egg Animals

I’ve personally done chicks and dinosaurs, but you can make nearly any animal out of dyed eggs. Simply dye the eggs according to the color of the animals your kids want to make. Get some modeling clay that dries in the air and non-toxic glue and paint.

Use the modeling clay to make the animal’s feet and other features, such as beaks and ears and attach the pieces to the egg with the glue. Once the glue dries, have your kids paint other parts on the eggs to complete the look, such as eyes or color patterns.

 

Basket Decorating

Baskets can be decorated using whatever theme your kids chose. My son loves cars, so we went out and bought foam shapes. We painted the shapes and made cars by cutting pieces to sizes we needed and gluing the pieces together. Once the glue dried, we painted each one. After the paint set, we glued the cars all over his basket.

Foam shapes will work for most projects. You can make a princess theme and flowers for girls and dinosaurs and cars for boys using foam shapes. Talk to your kids to get other ideas for basket additions, such as stickers and glitter.

The baskets can be used around the house for holding different things; we keep an especially good one by the front door as a key dump, and there’s another in the bathroom which holds fruity soaps.

You could also decorate an Easter tree, which is another craft variation that is popular in many places, especially Canada.

 

Easter Savings

A lot of family members give my son money at Easter. Putting change in a plastic Easter egg or at the bottom of the basket in the grass is considered good luck. However,  I prefer to use these Easter windfalls  to teach my son about saving money.

Get a plain, unfinished piggy bank or other coin bank from a crafts store. Use stickers or glue on foam shapes representing items he wants to buy onto the bank and have your child put all his Easter money into that bank. Talk to him about saving for items he wants instead of spending his money all at once.

Since Easter happens right around the ISA season, it’s a good time to think about opening a junior ISA for your kid and it fits with the saving theme. Even though your child may not understand the reason behind a tax-free savings account, they will understand you’re using a junior ISA to save money for them for the future.

A junior ISA allows you to save money tax-free and invest the money in the stock market if you want to do so, so you can help your child pay for their education and other life necessities later.

What other tips do you have for a healthier Easter?

5 Holiday Tummy Resolutions

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Keep healthy this holidayIf you are anything like me then you would be something like a Schizophrenic when Christmas time comes around. What do I mean?  Well, I love Christmas. I love the lights, décor, smells, songs, weather, fashion, everything.  But I despise the weight gain that seems to be automatically attached to the season.  So I spend quite a bit of time enjoying myself immensely and then bemoaning my waistline soon after.  What makes it worse is that there are also tummy issues to deal with after!

Well, I want to get out of this rut.  I want to enjoy everything I love about the season and not have to suffer during the first few weeks of the New Year.  So here are some things I have started to do this month.

Drink More Water

I’ve gotten into the habit of drinking more water than I usually do.  Since I am not a soda fan at all and I don’t really drink alcohol that much, my beverages are limited to water, juices and wellness drinks.  I only drink freshly squeezed or made juices (no powder or concentrates) and lots of water.  Water helps naturally flush out toxins, it helps with constipation, it keeps the skin young as well, and it helps you eat less.

Eat Less

On the note of eating less, well, just eat less. Period.  So I have started training to cut my portions in half. For example, if I see these special Christmas cookies that I love, instead of having four like I usually do, I take 2.  I know, it’s still some calories and sugar but I said that I wanted to lessen the terrible after effects and still enjoy the season. Now is not the time to start a brand new diet. It just will not work given all the parties and the celebrations and, as mentioned before, all the seasonal dishes.  But you can enjoy and do this in moderation as well.

Moderation

How do you do this? Moderation and Christmas are not words often seen in the same sentence.  Well, it helps if you track your food.  Not the overly detailed tracking with corresponding grams and calorie count that a lot of diet plans require. That would honestly be just too much work for me for the season.  But taking down just what you ate for your basic meals so you can look back and see if you are eating too much already is good enough. I have started to do this and I must say it is working.

Be Mindful of What You Eat

Then, there is the food you choose to eat. I gravitate towards more fibrous dishes for many reasons, one being these really help my digestion.  Two, I love crunch, color, and texture – and finally, I am not a sweets fan at all so the occasional cookie doesn’t send me into depression.  Choosing more fiber-rich food will help anyone in the long run. There are a lot of delicious Christmas dishes that are high in fiber so thinking that you will have nothing to eat or serve is a myth. Starting your day off right is also important, which is why I have looked into dietary supplements such as Activated You Morning Complete. Getting that energy boost in the morning is so crucial, and getting all those nutrients in will definitely combat the sluggish feeling you can get over the holidays.

Relax

Stress is major party pooper.  I can recall so many parties I hosted, not only Christmas parties, where I ended with a headache and not really remembering enjoying myself much.  In fact, I stopped hosting parties for a couple of years because of this. I am not hosting anything this year and I am not saying become a hermit or stop party planning.  Just organize, do manageable meals, do things ahead of time, and remember that it is a party so smile, laugh, and have fun.

How do you plan to manage your festivities this year?

 

The Importance of Sleep and Structure

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Making sure your child gets enough sleep is important to their growth & developmentIn the beginning, I thought people who placed a whole lot of emphasis on sleep were a tad bit lazy.  Today, it appears that sleep is very important and that those folks were on the right track after all. And sleep is important from the moment your child is born until he or she grows to adulthood.  The growth hormone is naturally secreted when you sleep.  For kids, this is important for the right development.

So it is recommended that they get the prescribed number of hours a day.  For children less than a year it is about 14 hours, for kids ages 1-3 about 12-14, for those aged 3-6 about 10-12, those 7-12 years, 10-11 hours, and those 12-18 years, 8-9 hours a day.

My Worries on Sleep

I used to fret that my kids would not take afternoon naps.  My son especially was immune to the thought.  He has always been the kind of kid that is brimming with energy.  He loves play and socializing and really squeezing every moment out of every day.  My daughter is a little less energetic.  She used to take naps on a regular basis but she has since discovered the joys of packing it in throughout the day. So, gone are her naps.  It is a good thing that my doctor reassured me that as long as they get at least 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night, they are fine, they will develop well and healthily, and the growth hormone and all the rejuvenation that happens when you sleep will happen in the right amounts for them.   Whew!

How To Help Kids Get To Sleep

I do have some friends though who are currently having problems calming their kids or getting their kids to sleep enough.  These friends have kids that differ in age.  Some have kids that have just turned one, others in their toddler years, and one who has a preschooler. I have often gotten complements on how disciplined my kids are about how much and when they sleep and I have been told that their growth and general sunny disposition can be attributed to this.  So I am often asked how I do/did it.  And I am always surprised because I didn’t really do anything extraordinarily different.  I do always stress though that structure and routine were key components in forming my kids into the way they are today.  So, here is what I did for both kids consistently.

  1. Stress on Consistency:  I did the same thing every day.  I had bath time at a certain time (for example, after 9 am feeding).  I had a specific routine for the day bath, I used different soaps and materials, and a specific routine for the night bath. I didn’t force any schedule on my kids.  They told me when they were hungry or needed changing.  But a routine does come out and I followed that and adjusted when I needed to.
  2. Use Cues:  Like I said earlier, I had specific routines and materials for specific activities.  These are known as cues.  So when my kids would smell the lavender soap I used for night time, they knew that sleepy time was coming.  When I would play the classical music, they knew it was afternoon nap time.  When the lights went out and curtains were drawn, they usually fell asleep fairly quickly.  And as they grew and required less waking moments to drink milk, they slept longer and longer intervals until they slept right through the night.  Today, they sleep from 7-8 on weekdays, 9-10 on Fridays and Saturdays, and wake up 10-11 hours later.
  3. Follow Through:  I kept both things- consistent routines and cues- going.  I use them today.  They know that when they get up, after maybe half an hour, they should be getting breakfast.  They know that after school, they have lunch and then their bath, and then their homework and then they play.  They know that they can play and play to their hearts content but when the sky goes dark and the clock strikes 6, they need to calm down and have dinner.  And they know that after resting, they have to take their bath, and then go to sleep.  Usually, they like a good bed time story or telling me something especially interesting about their day.  But when the lights go out, they know it is sleep time and they consistently fall asleep a maximum of 30 minutes after this.

I am no expert and I didn’t know what the effect of what I was doing would be until after the fact.  My main concern there was getting them used to a schedule so that they would be disciplined and independent at the right time.  I guess it worked for the sleep as well.

I hope this was helpful.

What are some things you guys did when your kids were young to get them to sleep well and enough?

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