The Eat Clean Diet

The Eat Clean diet is one that has gained popularity over the years. The main idea is to choose foods that are unprocessed. It is always a good idea to speak with a doctor before starting a new diet. What is the Eat Clean Diet? The Eat Clean Diet is different from other diets because it encourages a lifestyle approach that includes healthy eating and exercise. The main idea is to avoid foods that are “unclean”. In general, this means people who choose the Eat Clean Diet are consuming whole foods and avoiding processed foods that contain artificial flavorings, artificial … Continue reading

Exercise and Diet Together Help Weight Loss

Thinking about losing some weight? You’ve probably found tons of advice that suggests how to do that. Some of it might contradict the other pieces of advice. Those of you who are confused about what the best plan for weight loss is may want to consider what a recent study found. It turns out you need to focus on both exercise and diet together. A Stanford study about weight gain and obesity was making the rounds on the internet recently. The lead author of the study was Dr. Uri Ladabaum, a Stanford gastroenterologist. In short, he describes the results as … Continue reading

Putting Your Preschooler to Work

Nothing makes preschoolers happier than helping their parents.  Studies show that young children are wired to get pleasure from pleasing their mom or dad.  So, instead of ignoring your four-year-old when he offers to help you make the beds, fold laundry or put away groceries, allow him to exercise his independence by lending a hand. In some cases, a preschooler’s attempt at helping is more of a hindrance to parents; however, with a little patience you can turn these heartfelt efforts into teachable moments. When my now 8-year-old daughter was a preschooler nothing delighted her more than being able to … Continue reading

More Fun Pregnancy Symptoms: Leg Cramps

In the middle of the night a few weeks ago I woke up with a terrible pain in my leg.  I cried out about it, and immediately began trying to rub and move my leg.  My more-than-half-asleep husband drowsily watched me do this.  He watched me try to bend my leg, to rub it, to put weight and hobble around the room on it.  When I made it to the bathroom he followed me, and asked me if I thought I was just having Braxton-Hicks.  In my leg.  Now we know that if I go into labor in the middle … Continue reading

Four Ways to Reduce Your Heating Bill

If the weather INSIDE is frightful because you are afraid of home heating bills, you won’t spend a very pleasant winter. A better solution is to stay warm by finding multiple ways of reducing your heating bill and then combine these strategies to reduce your heating bill to the lowest cost possible. Selective Heating Only heat the rooms you are actually using. Are there any rooms that can be closed off temporarily during the coldest part of the year? Even if your home isn’t zoned, you can make it warmer in the rest of the house by isolated unused rooms. … Continue reading

Lifestyle Replacing Diet Plans?

You might be surprised to learn that less and less people (especially women) are dieting.  At first, this might sound like a bad thing.  After all, isn’t obesity a significant problem in the United States?  Shouldn’t more people be dieting? Well there are a couple of issues to consider.  The first is that many women are starting to embrace and accept their bodies.  Not that they don’t want to make healthy changes.  But there is less concern about being stick-thin. Others truly don’t see having too much weight as being unattractive. There are a couple of ways to look at … Continue reading

Mastering the Fine Art of Delayed Gratification

My 8-year-old has the patience of… well, an 8-year-old. Actually, on many days her ability to wait without whining or complaining is more on par with a 4-year-old. She’d kill me if she knew I was comparing her to a preschooler.  Then again, I’ll probably die first from having to tolerate her incessant bellyaching each time she is asked to keep her composure while waiting for whatever it is she wants right NOW! And by now, she means the millisecond her request leaves her lips. During my daughter’s last well child check-up I discussed the issue of delayed gratification with … Continue reading

Tips for Beginners

It’s a New Year.  Are you ready to embrace a new you?  It starts with getting off your duff, no matter how tired you are from staying up last night or how stuffed your belly feels from all the goodies you ate. There is always a good reason to not start.  But there are even better reasons for why you should. There is something about immediately starting off the New Year right…taking those first steps (no matter how small) toward your goal of becoming a fitter person.  So even if that means you take a 10 minute walk, something is … Continue reading

The All-or-Nothing Person

I don’t know if you can relate to this, but I tend to be an all-or-nothing kind of person.  Although this can be a good trait, for the most part it stands in the way.  This is especially true with fitness.  Thankfully I am learning to overcome this mentality. Here is what the all-or-nothing person looks like.  You intend to start up an exercise program on Monday.  But something happens and your schedule for the day gets screwed up. The all-or-nothing person’s response isn’t “I will just start on Tuesday.”  No, they decide to wait until the following Monday. Here … Continue reading

Live Longer

Most of us would probably say that we’d love to live as long as possible. I would have said that as a teen, in my 20’s and in my 30’s. But now that I am in my 40’s, it has started to mean a lot more to me. Now I am looking closer to a time where my children will be getting married and starting their own families. Wanting to be there for that is a great motivation to do all I can to stay on this earth as long as I can. The “U.S. National Cancer Institute” just released … Continue reading