Healthy Snacks Your Kids Will Love

June 27, 2009

Getting your kids to eat healthy foods can be a challenge sometimes, but one that you must overcome to protect child health over the long term.  So how can you encourage your kids to eat healthily?  Kids want to have fun, they need stimulation in things that they do so that you can capture their attention.  Food that they eat need to be presented in a way so that even meal time can be play time for them as well.  They don’t care about vitamins and minerals and carbohydrates, what they want food they can relate to.

To introduce food to a child, you need to think like a child.  A little imagination in this case would go a long way.  If you want your child to eat fruit, don’t just slice and dice away and put them in a bowl.  A little creativity and imagination might entice your little one to eat more heartily with lesser encouragement.  Instead of offering a simple bowl of fruit, ask your child if he wants The Happy Face Snack.  You cut up some bananas, oranges, pineapple, strawberry and apples, the colourful the offering, the better.  You can arrange the fruit in a plate to look like a happy face.

You can take this further as he becomes familiar with the different shapes and flavours by asking them to make their own Happy Face Snack themselves, or you can ask them to make one according to their own interest, be it sports, outer space, nature, you and your child’s imagination is the limit.

Healthy Snacking

June 21, 2009

How would you define a healthy snack?  It would be one with whole grain cereals that are low in fat and sugar or one that is high in nutritional value, one that is packed with vitamins and minerals.  Common food choices would include low-fat, lightly salted crackers, fruits, or energy bars.  Taking a healthy snack in-between meals can help you keep your energy up as it fuels you to last a busy day.

As you incorporate snacks in your day, it would be beneficial to plan even your snacks as you would your three square meals a day.  This will help you prevent making unhealthy choices.  Planning your snacks will help you avoid reaching for a calorie packed burger and fries at the nearest burger stand or reaching for the next candy bar you see.  If you would include snacks in your meal planning, bringing along an extra serving of fruit in the office or in school will help you avoid making those unhealthy food choices.

Snacks will also help you eat smaller portions during meals as you can help stave off hunger especially if you include fiber-rich foods in your snacks.

Eating more often could mean less if you know how to control your portions, feeling less hungry at meal times can help you reduce the amount of food you take in during meals.  So what are you waiting for?  Make snacking a part of your day.

Teach Your Kids to Avoid Swine Flu

June 16, 2009

School is a place of learning and fun for your children, but the current times has made it a melting pot of diseases.  With swine flu practically in everybody’s doorstep, we should take extra vigilance in keeping our child’s health a priority.  This highly communicable disease is spread person-to-person and can easily infect a large population such as our children that go to school.

Although some schools has taken the initiative to announce the suspension of classes in the event of an infection.   The responsibility still lies with the parents to safeguard their children’s health.  Teaching your kids good personal hygiene practices is one way to prevent infection.  Couple this with instructions on etiquette and you may just win the battle yet against swine flu or with any communicable disease for that matter.  Children should be taught how to properly wash their hands with soap and water and if possible, also, how to use an alcohol based sanitizer.

Prevention is truly better than cure, and arming our children with practical knowledge that they will be using for their whole lives is one way to help safeguard their health.

Giving It A Good Shot

June 7, 2009

People suffering from anxiety or have suffered from anxiety may find it difficult to deal with setbacks in their lives.  Having to fall down again can leave the person with anxiety feel vulnerable again, helpless even.  Once you feel bad about the setback, the anxiety will have the opportunity to sink in again making you think of the why’s and how’s of the setback.

Setbacks happen, no question about it.  For a person suffering from anxiety, setbacks can be a very trying time.  With remedies or not, you will end up having setbacks no matter how prepared you are with the challenges you take at hand.  A part of the healing is accepting that defeats are part of life and that everyone goes through them,  what is more important is that you pick yourself up each and every time you fall, no matter how many times, no matter how hard you fall.  Accept them and get past them, enrich yourself with the experience and find something to look forward to again.

Your setbacks may hold you for a while but having to deal with them is part of the healing process.  When you finally get beyond the anxiety, your protective side, your whole personhood should be prepared to moving on from the ordeal.  With each setback, with each failure, comes a learning experience and from these experiences should you find the knowledge and the strength to be better, to be better prepared for the next time.

Guarding your health

June 4, 2009

Staying healthy can be a luxury for some, there are people who have gotten sick because they have taken their health for granted and would give anything to gain some of their health back.  Working too hard or not getting enough rest can put tremendous toll on the body.    Coupled with poor food choices and a compromised living environment, these factors can really put someone on a sick bed when things are left unchecked.

Falling sick may not be the effect of an unhealthy way of life.  Everyone wants to stay young and healthy, but the natural progression of things will eventually catch up with our bodies making the effects of aging obvious.  Wouldn’t you wish you bottled some of the youth you had a few years back and open them up for you to use now?

As your health is your greatest wealth we should be on the constant vigilance to stay healthy.  They say that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.  I say, why not even out the playing field and just as enthusiastic as staying fit and healthy to avoid sickness in the first place?

Psyllium Seed Husk, Your Body’s Clean Up Guy

May 31, 2009

Including psyllium seed husk in your diet helps the body in many ways.  First of all, it is one very good source of dietary fiber.  In fact, psyllium seed husk is used in cereals and health drinks to promote regular bowel movement.  But the benefit of including psyllium seed husk in your prudent diet does not end there.

Psyllium seed husk can aid the body further by lowering the cholesterol levels in the blood.  That is why it is very beneficial for people with cardiovascular diseases to include psyllium seed husk or food fortified with psyllium seed husk in their diet to help control the cholesterol levels in their blood.

As psyllium is a true dietary fiber,  it helps promote regular bowel movement because of its chemical properties.  Psyllium which is grown primarily for its mucilage properties aids digestion by attracting water molecules and raising its volume by almost ten times.  This adds the necessary bulk in a person’s stool.  Not only that, because a person will feel full in the small intestines quicker, regular bowel movement is promoted.  It is not absorbed by the small intestines and it passes through the digestive tract virtually unchanged because the body cannot digest the fiber that makes up the psyllium mucilage.  Like most fibers, the body does not have the necessary enzymes that can digest and take in as nutrients that is contained in the psyllium seed husk.

With the healthy benefits of psyllium seed husk, you can really include it  in your diet and garner the benefits that it all brings.

Why Your Feet Ache Feet during Pregnancy

May 28, 2009

Women’s bodies change a lot during pregnancy, your feet is one of them.  The most apparent reason is the additional weight gain.  As your pregnancy progresses, you will gain roughly around 25 pounds during the whole term.  This additional weight will add pressure to your feet, especially on the heel.

Pregnancy may also promote the swelling of your feet.  One side effect of pregnancy is the surge of hormones that course through your body.  This makes the muscles relax and slows down your circulation, because of this swelling in your feet may occur.

Another hormone released during pregnancy is relaxin, this cause your bones to relax as you prepare for birth, unfortunately, as this hormone prepares the birth canal, it causes some undesirable effect on your feet.  The hormone cause the connections of the bones in your feet, the ligaments, to expand.  This can misshapen your feet by making it larger and flatter compared when you were not pregnant.

A hot foot bath is one way to relax your tired, swollen, misshapen feet.  Soaking your feet in warm water with your favorite aromatherapeutic oil can help relieve those swollen , aching feet.

Thyme, Not Just for Cooking

May 24, 2009

Thyme is a spice that has been extensively used in many cuisines around the world.  Used in pasta, meat and fish dishes, the uses of thyme go beyond its culinary contributions to societies and cultures.  Prized for its ability to flavor food, thyme has many wonderful health benefits that have been extensively used in the past.

Thyme contains thymol.  Thymol is known to be an antiseptic and is the main ingredient of a very popular mouthwash.  In the past, before the rise of modern antibiotics, thyme is used to treat wounds because of the antiseptic properties of thymol.  Thymol is so abundant in thyme leaves that it comprises about 20~54% of the leaves.  Boiled thyme leaves and cooled when used three times a day as a gargle is effective in soothing inflammations in the mouth.

Medicinally, thyme has been used a treatment for lung diseases such as whooping cough.  A tea made from the leaves can be used to treat bronchitis.

Truly, thyme will find its way even outside the kitchen and into the medicine cabinets with its antiseptic properties.

Working out after 40

May 22, 2009

Better late than never, right?  This age-old adage applies to muscle-building as well.  Embarking on a new fitness regimen after 40 is possible with a few know-how and precautions.  Although starting earlier in life would surely help, getting started any time is better than not at all.

Being forty means that you are not as young as you are but with a few exercise, you can gain back some of the lost gait and strength of your younger years.  What is important is that you have a goal in mind and you are not going to lose focus.  Despite your flagging metabolism, getting in shape is still very possible and doable.

The first thing you should look at is your diet.  Because of your slowing metabolism, food that you have taken may take a longer time to be burned and converted to energy.  What happens is that the body overstocks on these stored energy which is fat.  Enjoying a high fat, low nutrient food will not help in your muscle building goals and will actually contribute to a growing pot belly.

Doing warm up exercises is a good way to start up and cool down from an exercise.  Doing warm ups is very important in raising your heartbeat prior to strenuous activities. This prepares the body, raising your core body temperature, stretching the muscles, and loosening up your joints prior to doing your muscle building exercises.  Allowing rest periods in your workout is also essential in  preventing muscle fatigue.

Bringing Home the Baby

May 17, 2009

The long nine months of wait is finally over and here comes the new person and the latest addition to the family.  Giving birth to your new child enables you to give him all the love and support you can possibly give him.  Now you can hold him and stare at his innocent angelic face all you want.

Smothering him with love is easy.  Although the first few days and the following weeks to come will not be without many challenges and frustrations for you and your newborn, the time you spend with him during this time is best time to get to know each other the best.

During this time you will learn what his little grunts and sounds and baby cries mean and you will eventually learn how to soothe your newborn before he breaks out into an ear splitting cry.  First thing to remember is that your newborn will have to be fed every two to three hours.  It is also wise to check frequently on his diapers and change whenever required.  Caring for his stump (from where the umbilical cord used to be) is also required, using 70% alcohol or tincture of iodine solution will be fine in keeping it clean and free from infection.  Be sure to leave it to dry after cleaning.

Most importantly, enjoy all the time with your newborn.  Parenting is one of the most rewarding experience any person can have so enjoy all moments of it.

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