Search Results for: blog is there a seven year itch

Switching the Order of Meals Causes Weight Loss?

I like chicken and fish. I can eat them at any time of the day. Baked, grilled, roasted, it doesn’t matter. According to the book, The Reverse Diet, I should start my day with dinner and for dinner have breakfast. It’s the strategy that Tricia Cunningham, creator of the diet and co-author of the book, used to lose 170 pounds. It has been seven years and she is still at her goal weight of 130 pounds. The concept of the diet seems simple, but there is more to it. At first glance, it looks like a new fad. However, according … Continue reading →

The New Year and a New Budget…. Coming …..

It’s a New Year and time to think about my budget for the year ahead. Maybe you have already planned expenses for the upcoming year, but I am just starting to get the numbers down on paper. As I have casually mentioned in just a few blog posts, Hubby and I, well, – we’ve got some debt. In a spending spree extraordinare last year, we remodeled our kitchen, installed a gourmet coffee machine, spent our savings on our fridge and still managed to travel a bit. Then Christmas came, we hosted for a family of seven and I knew our … Continue reading →

Tips for a Safe and Healthy Kitchen

Did you know that worldwide, nearly 25 percent of people spend more time in the kitchen than any other place in the home? Studies show that 35 percent of families use the kitchen regularly for discussions, 35 percent for socializing and entertaining, 16 percent for hobbies, and 15 percent for playing with children. Some homeowners have gone so far as to describe their kitchens as the heart of their homes. With that in mind, here a few simple techniques you can employ to help transform your kitchen into the safest and healthiest room in the house: Survey Your Dishes. My … Continue reading →

Strength-Based Parenting

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There are a wide variety of parenting styles to choose from. Parents can choose to raise their kids with the parenting style that they were raised with. Or, if they want something different, they can select a parenting style that matches their values and the needs of their kids. One option is called strength-based parenting. Lea Waters is the chair of positive psychology at University of Melbourne. She has written a book called “The Strength Switch”. The full title continues with “How The New Science of Strength-Based Parenting Can Help Your Child and Your Teen to Flourish”. The book is … Continue reading →

Epcot Flower & Garden Festival Kicks Off This Week

This week the Epcot International Flower Garden Festival officially opens.  It’s one of Epcot’s longest events, in the length of time it’s going on at the park.  So from year to year it might not seem like a lot changes.  This year, though, it’s got something special up its sleeve. One of Disney’s big films of the year is “Oz: The Great & Powerful,” which tells the story of how a man from the American Midwest became the wonderful, terrible Wizard of Oz.  It opens on March 8, two days after the kickoff of the Flower & Garden Festival, and … Continue reading →

Could Fast Food Increase Allergy Related Conditions?

We have heard, many times, about a connection between fast food and obesity. Could it also link to childhood asthma and eczema? That is what a group of researchers have determined after taking a close look at global disease and dietary patterns. I don’t think that there are any parents out there who truly believe that fast food is a healthy, wonderful, choice for dinner every single night. (Or, at least, there shouldn’t be). We have all heard it said that too much fast food can cause several different types of health problems, in both adults and children. One of … Continue reading →

Court Rules on Medicaid Funding in Indiana

This year, there have been a lot of lawsuits about whether or not it is legal for a state to exclude Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood specifically because the organization provides abortions. Here is a brief review of what states have done this and the results of the lawsuits that were filed afterwards. Medicaid is a public, or government run, form of health insurance. It covers people who are low income, and who cannot afford to purchase a health plan from a private health insurance company. Medicaid includes coverage for women’s health care. This typically includes maternity coverage, family planning, … Continue reading →

Are You Nesting?

Many pregnant women experience a desire to clean, organize, and otherwise get their homes ready for their new arrival. It often results in a flurry of activity that is commonly referred to as “nesting”. Nesting can happen any time during a pregnancy, and many times there is an extra burst of it right at the end of pregnancy as labor approaches. For some reason, during my last pregnancy, I did not have any urge to nest. I listened to my two pregnant co – workers describe the things that they were doing around their homes and I began to wonder … Continue reading →

California Car Insurance Law Raises Questions

In California, there is an initiative called the 2012 Automobile Insurance Discount Act. It has been described as allowing drivers who have had continuous auto insurance coverage to get a price break. If this initiative passes, will it be good for consumers? Some have raised concerns about why it might not be as good as it sounds. The 2012 Automobile Insurance Discount Act is designed to do a number of things that sound like they would be good for California drivers. It would give drivers who have had continuous auto insurance coverage a discount on their premiums. This discount would … Continue reading →

Remembering the Boy in the Bubble

David Vetter was also known as the “Bubble Boy”. He was born with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), and had to spend his short life living in a sterile, plastic, “bubble”. There have been improvements in treatment for SCID since then. David Vetter was born in 1971 with a disease called severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). This is a rare, hereditary disease, (that is actually a group of different diseases). According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, there are only 40 to 100 babies in the United States diagnosed with SCID each year. It is caused by a genetic mutation. The … Continue reading →