Tips for Moms to Eat Healthy and Stay Fit on the Go

I don’t know about you, but I find it pretty tough keeping up with the stress of being Superwoman all the time. So many of us are bringing in an income, raising our children, and keeping the house clean (sort of), while running a slew of errands and trying to find something to put on the dinner table every night.

However, with all of that going on one of the first things many women start to let slide is their own health. Eating healthy and hitting the gym often goes out the window when moms are too busy to take time out for themselves. Below are some great tips for all of us to eat healthy and stay in shape while on the go:

1. Fast Food doesn’t have to mean high calorie. There are some great apps out now that help busy folks make better food choices when they have to grab food on the go. Of course, cooking at home is still the best option, but with the handy-dandy apps available on your smart phone you can still keep track of the nutrition information at all of your local fast food chains. Don’t get fooled into eating a thousand calorie salad, when there are healthier options. It only takes a few seconds to check out the restaurant, and then you can go in with a solid plan for getting the most nutrition with the least amount of calories.

2. Always keep good snacks in your bag. A great way to avoid chowing down on a juicy Big Mac is to keep some nice, healthy snacks within easy reach during the day. It can be easy to forget to grab a meal and sometimes food is a matter of opportunity. Give yourself the tools to eat healthy even while on the run.

3. Switch to water. Busy moms on the go often forget to carry the obligatory bottle of water, so always keep a bottle with you so that you can stay hydrated. Not only will this help keep up your energy levels, but it will also help flush out toxins that accumulate in the body. When you switch to drinking water you get all the hydration benefits and none of the calories that fill sodas and juices.

4. Keep moving. Even when you don’t have time to hit the gym there are lots of ways to keep your body toned and fit. Take the stairs whenever possible to get the cardio benefit and work out the gluteus muscles. Take a nice brisk walk during your lunch hour to get in some extra exercise and clear your head for the rest of the day. Use a headset for telephone calls so you can walk instead of sitting down at your desk. There are also some great pieces of exercise equipment that can fit under your desk so that you can keep working even in a seated position.

It isn’t easy to juggle all the responsibilities when you work and raise a family, but keeping up with your health isn’t optional. Stay healthy so that you can keep up with your busy lifestyle.

When Your Child is too Sick to go to School

Death, taxes and sick children; the certainties in life. These things are inevitable so you need to have a game plan for all three contingencies. For example, when you have a sick child but can’t stay home with them, plan in advance who will take care of them when school or daycare is out of the question. Sending them to school sick doesn’t count as a game plan.

A child should not return to school until he/she has been fever-free and/or hasn’t vomited for 24 hours. Also, you should not send a child to school who has an uncontrolled cough, has green or yellow mucus, eye drainage, a sore throat, earache, explosive diarrhea, an undiagnosed rash, or is lethargic and mopey.

Sending a sick child to school isn’t fair to…

•  The teachers/staff
• The other students who are exposed to your child’s illness
• Most of all - your child! A sick child needs to know they can recuperate in comfort and in the amount of time needed. Otherwise you’ll only prolong the illness and cause them to do less than their best at school.

If you’re fortunate enough to have an understanding employer who allows for family sick days, count your blessings. But if you’re not, you need to implement a “sick day game plan” using one or more of the following ideas to assure you and your child are comfortable with how sick days are handled.

1. Whenever possible, let Dad take a turn staying home. Also, consider working in shifts. Perhaps Dad could go to work in the morning and then come home so that Mom can take the afternoon shift.

2. It would be great if you have the luxury of having grandparents or other relatives living close by. If so, make arrangements for one or two of them to be an alternate caregiver on days you can’t stay home. Older relatives are generally happy to accommodate and will provide plenty of TLC to make the day as pleasant as possible.

3. Offer to pay a trusted friend or neighbor such as a stay-at-home mom whose children are in school all day. Ask her to come to your home to avoid spreading germs to her household. If she won’t accept the pay, flowers or a gift card are definitely in order.

4. Find out if there someone in your church who might consider helping out on occasion. Naturally, you should offer compensation as added incentive.

The key to a successful sick day game plan is to have everything worked out in advance, and perhaps even a second back-up plan in case your first one doesn’t work out. Of course, you may not know you need to put the plan into play until waking your child for school, so your caregiver needs to understand she may have very short notice. In other words, whoever you plan to ask should have agreed prior to being needed.

Naturally, there’s no one like mom when a little one is sick, so whenever possible give them that special attention. But when life gets in the way make it easier for everyone by having a prearranged game plan worked out. Your family will be most appreciative!

 

Start Living Green in the New Year

“Green Living, Going Green, Eco-Friendly, and Environment Footprints.” These topics have become so popular newsletters, tips, websites, blogs and even reality shows are constantly being launched to educate the masses on how we can save the planet. Though some people have adopted solutions such as wearing organic clothing or buying eco-friendly cars, there are a number of things you can implement on a smaller level to start off the New Year by living green.

Turn Off Appliances. People are generally conscientious about saving electricity; however, there is still a great deal of effort that needs to go into eliminating phantom electricity – a/k/a standby power. This is the energy that is silently used when your electrical appliances are on standby, such as with TV’s, laptop chargers, coffee pots, AC’s and many other home appliances. Although the individual amount of consumption is negligible the aggregate amount can add up to 22 percent of all appliance consumption. If you don’t want to walk around the house shutting off different appliances with the remote or power button, another simple solution for conservation of energy is turn off the appliances from the main power switch before walking out of the door.

Use Eco-Friendly Products. If you’re willing to be a green consumer the benefits to the environment are endless. There is no limit to the power consumers have when making educated decisions on the products they purchase. By showing industries that consumers are only going to buy products which are healthy for the environment, companies will be forced to change their manufacturing strategies along with the final product. Being a green consumer is quite simple. Try buying products with little or recycled packaging along with those that cause little pollution to produce. Educate yourself by finding out about the companies you regularly buy from and make sure they have some form of environment friendly goal or statement on their website.

Educate the Kids. Along with educating yourself you should educate your children on adopting a green lifestyle, as well. Instilling the importance of green living at an early age will ensure that children grow up to be responsible adults who will carry on the effort that you started. The enthusiasm of children is a great trait to use in getting them involved in activities such as recycling, ‘electricity monitoring’ duty, or even starting an organic garden at home or at school.

Recycle, reduce, reuse. Recycling was perhaps the first smart step taken by most people in saving the environment and truly living green. With more and more green living tips available the importance of this simple and proven step is sometimes forgotten. Other than the standard recycling of plastic, paper, and glass in recycling bins it is important to remember that glass bottles can be recycled in the kitchen, paper can be reprinted on, and even food scraps can be recycled to make compost for the garden. Keep your creative mind open in other ways to recycle everyday items at home; almost everything can have a second life.

Healthy Eating and Drinking. The choices you make for food and drink consumption may not seem to be the most obvious ways to live green but taking little steps such as decreasing the frequency of eating out, drinking less soda, and drinking filtered tap water or buying water in large bottles will significantly reduce your carbon footprint on the Earth. Buying things at the local farmer’s market not only increases your green living style but also supports the farmers as well.

There are many ways you can become a smarter, more proactive citizen of the Earth. The small steps taken each individual will help solve the puzzle to saving the environment. Keep yourself up to date with other simple techniques that can be implemented both at home and in the office. For more green living tips check out the article, Which is Greener? for some interesting and economical ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

Tips on Keeping your Pets Safe During the Holidays

The holidays should be fun for everyone including our favorite canines and felines. By taking appropriate safeguards, you can ensure they are safe and stress-free with these helpful tips:

1. Keep tree ornaments out of reach. If your pet shows interest in the tree and all of those dangling things, hang wooden and fabric ornaments on the bottom of the tree to reduce the risk of your pet chewing on glass or plastic. Also, don’t use tinsel because that can be toxic. Anything unfamiliar and shiny has the potential to be a play toy in your pet’s eyes.

2. Keep cords bound together and tucked away so pets won’t get tangled in them causing damage to themselves and/or your home. If your pets are left alone in your home during the day, make sure all exposed cords are unplugged.

3. If you give an edible gift to someone with an indoor dog or cat, let them know so they will not put the gift under the tree where it might be ‘opened’ early. Pets (especially dogs) can pick up the scent of food through layers of wrapping paper or even decorative tins.

4. Keep cedar and pine needles swept up so that pets will not ingest them. Evergreen needles and pine cones are dangerous to your pet’s digestive track.

5. If you have a real tree, don’t use additives in the water because animals will drink from the tree stand. As an alternative, you can take an aluminum pie tin, cut a slit from edge to center and fit around the tree stand, or cover it with aluminum foil.

6. Don’t leave open bowls or trays of cookies and candies out for mischievous pets to get into.

7. Holly and poinsettias are toxic, so please keep them away from pets.

8. This may sound like a no-brainer, but don’t neglect your pet in all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Seriously, you would be surprised how many people forget to:

• Make sure pets are walked and exercised regularly
• Make sure pets are taken out to relieve themselves on a normal schedule
• Make arrangements for pets to be cared for if traveling over the holidays

Finally, relax and spend some quality time with your pet. Although they will appreciate holiday treats (healthy ones, of course) and cute toys, the gift of time spent with you will be the best gift of all.

For more tips on keeping your pet safe and warm during this cold, winter season, check out these Chilly Dog Tips.

Make Good Use of Thanksgiving Leftovers

Flickr / Muffet

The day after Thanksgiving is both the best and worst day of the year. It’s the best day because of all the bargains to be had on Black Friday. And yes, even the most skeptical have to concede that there are bargains to be had. It’s also the worst day if you’re the one who is left to deal with all of those Thanksgiving dinner leftovers. But this year you don’t need to go out of your way to hide turkey and sweet potatoes in every meal for the next three days. Instead, consider some of the following:

1. Give the leftovers away. Prior to Thanksgiving, make arrangements with a local shelter to bring plates by for residents. Then, after dinner, fix plates of food (using sturdy paper plates), seal and deliver. Or perhaps your local fire department would appreciate some good, homecooking.

2. Don’t have leftovers. While you don’t want to run out of food, don’t over-prepare. If you’re having eight people for dinner, cook for eight to ten – not fifteen to twenty.

3. Save the broth. Keep the broth from the turkey, including the yummy tidbits and freeze what is left so that it retains its moisture and flavor. You can do the same with corn, sweet potatoes and dressing. Then, on a cold, winter night when you don’t feel like cooking, pull it out, thaw, and you will have a delicious meal ready in no time. Some desserts can also freeze well. But then again, when is there ever any dessert left over?

4. Don’t ‘suffer’ alone. Send goodie bags home with every family. No one can say ‘no’.

5. Throw leftovers away. No, not everything, but there is no use in taking up space in the refrigerator to store food that won’t be eaten and end up getting thrown out anyway. If it can’t be frozen or given away, set aside what will actually be eaten over the next two or three days and get rid of the rest. This may seem wasteful, but it’s now or later, right?

Here are some additional ways to make use of leftovers:

1. Replace the chicken in your favorite chicken pot pie recipe with turkey.

2. Shred the turkey and simmer in barbeque sauce. Serve on toasted buns with leftover veggies.

3. Mashed potatoes are delicious when served in the form of potato pancakes before hitting the mall, or even a breakfast for supper type menu after you’ve shopped till you dropped.

4. Add the turkey to the dressing, bake till crusty on top and serve with leftover sweet potatoes that have been mashed and seasoned with melted butter.

5. Make a tasty chowder with leftover turkey, broth, gravy and veggies. Add additional canned broth and/or veggies, if necessary.

Thanksgiving Centerpiece Ideas

Add additional holiday flavor to your Thanksgiving table with these fun and creative ideas for festive centerpieces:

1. Fill empty jelly jars with candy corn and stick taper candles in the center, gently pushing the bottom of the candle to the bottom of the jar. Fix enough of these to go the entire length of your table, spacing them 6-8 inches apart. NOTE: Select candles in fall colors.

2. Hollow out a white pumpkin, place a piece of floral foam inside and secure yellow and white roses in the foam. Add water. On either side of the pumpkin arrangement, sprinkle rose petals and scatter miniature pumpkins and/or gourds down the center of the table.

3. Fill a three-tiered candy dish with miniature gourds and pumpkins. Accent with colorful leaves gathered out of the yard. NOTE: Silk leaves from the craft store will also work.

4. Purchase several pillar candles in different fall colors and different sizes. Brush a layer of glue around each candle (one at a time) 2-4 inches in height, approximately 1 inch from the bottom of the candle. Roll the candles in a variety of the following: Dried peas, pinto beans, black beans, Indian corn, popcorn, sunflower seeds (in the shell). Cover the glued area and dry completely. Prepare enough of these candles to a) go the entire length of your table or b) arrange 5-7 of them on a tray in the center of the table.

5. A large colorful mum placed in the center of the table with Thanksgiving-themed wired ribbon trailing down each side. Scatter miniature candy bars in fall wrappers among the ribbon.

6. Fill a wicker basket with apples, pears, fall leaves, miniature pumpkins, gourds and Indian corn.

7. Place small to medium sized pots of mums inside hollowed pumpkins.

8. Hollow out large apples to hold votive candles. Place 6-8 inches apart the entire length of your table and scatter cinnamon sticks and fall leaves among them.

9. Fill a large clear glass vase (at least 10 inches tall) with dried beans or corn. Insert a faux tree branch securely in the vase. Tie miniature pumpkins from the ‘arms’ of the branch. NOTE: You’ll need to make sure you balance the weight so it doesn’t topple over.

10. Fill small clear glass bowls and jars with dried beans and seeds. Layering with different colors is extra nice. Place a white votive or pillar candle in each. Do 5-7 of these to arrange in the center of the table.

Thanksgiving Strategies for Your Holiday Pleasure

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of feasting with family and friends. It’s a time to gather together in thanks for all of life’s blessings, for the freedoms we enjoy in out great nation and for the fruitful abundance we have.

Thanksgiving can also be a season of stress if you try to take on too much with all of the meal planning and preparation. Often, the holiday ends up being anything but a time of festive enjoyment for the cook/hostess of the day. Don’t let that be the case this holiday season. Implement a few of the following tips into your Thanksgiving holiday plans and you’ll find yourself with time on your hands:

Prepare more of less. Instead of having a dozen different dishes, have the traditional turkey and dressing potatoes with three or four family favorites, salad, bread and dessert. Maybe three different pies are necessary, but six Jell-O salads are not.

Delegate. Just because the meal is being served in your home doesn’t mean you have to prepare it all. It’s perfectly acceptable to ask each family unit to provide one or two of the side dishes to go with the turkey and dressing you prepare. And most people appreciate being included in the process.

Be non-traditional. You can be just as thankful over a bowl of homemade chili or vegetable soup and a afternoon of family Olympics, as you can with turkey and all of the fixin’s.

Celebrate your family’s history. America is the melting pot of the world. If your family is of Scandinavian decent serve a traditional Scandinavian meal with Danish red cabbage and a lingonberry sauce. If they’re Irish, go with corned beef and cabbage. Chinese-Americans might prefer Peking Duck and spiced carrots. You get the picture.

Advance preparation. No matter what you decide to fix, do as much of the cooking ahead of time as possible. The turkey doesn’t have to come straight from the oven in one piece. Cook it the day before, slice it and marinate it in its own juices. Sealed tightly, it can be warmed in the over and taste just as moist and fresh as if it were just baked Thanksgiving morning. Pies can be done a day or two ahead of time, as can Jell-O salads and deviled eggs. Most vegetables can be heated and served quickly and easily, and peeling all those potatoes the night before also helps save time. If you’re trying a new recipe, make sure it has been tested in advance.

The key to planning for Thanksgiving dinner or any other event is simplicity. Trying to take on more than you’re comfortable with can lead to frustration and disappointment. All great feasts begin with a well-thought out plan, so start writing yours out today. And be sure to share some of your tips with us!

For some great Thanksgiving recipes visit our sister site, Busy Moms Recipes!