Archive for the 'Healthy Living' Category
Publice Service Murder?
Last night I was watching Criminal Minds. Something one of the characters said struck me pretty hard. I haven’t been able to get this out of my mind. This is a subject I feel very strongly on, but I want to know what you think.
In the show, a young boy had been murdered some twenty years before. A child predator had sexually assaulted him, then stabbed him repeatedly. Later, the same pedophile was making advances towards another boy who grew up to be one of the FBI agents. The Agent had vague memories of the situation. His parents had covered up the entire incident and the Agent had blocked much from his mind.
It turned out that the Agent’s mother had found out about the predator making moves on her child and informed the father of the murdered boy. This all happened about a year after thee unsolved murder. She pointed out the predator, who had also been seen with the murdered boy not long before he had been killed. The boy’s father beat the pedophile to death with a baseball bat.
This ‘crime’ had remained unsolved because no one noticed that the predator disappeared. He had a history of exposing himself to young children and the police in not one, but two states did not readily pursue the case of his murder, even when they found a bit of evidence that would have led straight to his killer. One of the characters, a police officer, asked the FBI Agents if they really wanted to pursue and prosecute someone who had performed a ‘Public Service Murder’.
That has really gotten to me. Though I do not feel we have a right to act as a god and choose who lives or dies, when a crime of this nature has been committed, is it really a crime? Removing from the population a predator such as a pedophile, child molester, child murderer, or any serial killer…should we ardently chase down a suspect? Should a father or mother who kills someone who hurt their child in a manner that will scar the child for life or take away their young life, be prosecuted. In this instance, hypothetically let’s say the parent knows without a doubt who the perpetrator is. There is no doubt whatsoever.
Is it wrong? Is there such a thing as Public Service Murder? Please, offer your thoughts.
Posted in Activities, Exercise, Exercise, Health, Healthy Living, Mental Health, Outdoors, Stress Management, Uncategorized, Weight Management | No Comments »
Choosing the Perfect Pet (part 1)
When picking the perfect pet for your family, there are a few things to consider:
*are you and your family ready for a pet — do you have the time and resources to devote to a new pet in the home
*is your child old enough to handle a pet — keeping in mind that your child won’t be mature enough to help out with the pet until eight or so years old
*what kind of pet will fit in with your lifestyle — if you’re a traveler you’ll want a cat as they are more independent and can be left alone for several days.
If you’re a dog person and you’re absolutely sure your family needs a dog, it’s best to consider one between one and five years old. They are more mature than puppies and won’t rough house as much, and they’re still young and spry enough to play with your child.
Some breeds are better known for their family orientated personalities like retrievers and spaniels tend to be gentler and love being played with. Whereas small dogs such as terriers and toy breeds are easily hurt so they are more aggressive with nipping children out of fear. The only sure way to get one that is good with children is to measure the dog and not the breed.
Adoption is a good place to start with looking for a dog. The adoption counselors know the animals and their temperaments to tell if they’d be a good match with kids. A lot of shelters test out their dogs with children to verify if they’re good with them. They also foster dogs out to families with small children to accustom the dog to day to day life for permanent adoption.
Here’s a test to conduct for yourself when you find a dog you’re interested in:
1.) make loud noises and sudden movements and gauge reactions
2.) touch the dog in an intrusive way as a child would.
3.) play with the dogs ears, hold the paws, put your fingers in the mouth
4.) pat him, push him, roll him over
5.) run in a circle and jump up and down
You’re looking for a pet that can handle the rougher handling because until your child learns they won’t always be gentle. If the dog responds calmly to these annoyances you inflicted, chances are you’ve got a good family dog before you.
Next installment will be on how to choose a good family cat….
Posted in Health, Healthy Living, Mental Health, Sleep, Sleep and Rest, Stress Management, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Asthma
asthma - a paroxysmal, often allergic disorder of respiration, characterized by bronchospasm, wheezing, and difficulty in expiration, often accompanied by coughing and a feeling of constriction in the chest.
“asthma.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 18 Jul. 2008. .
Basically, the airways in your lungs are inflamed and swollen causing the chest to hurt, which in turn can affect the ability to breathe. Now, how can you tell if your toddler or preschooler has asthma when they wouldn’t know the words to describe it? By watching for the symptoms and if you think your child does don’t be afraid that you might be over reacting. Asthma can be a life threatening disease if gone untreated.
Symptoms to look for in toddlers in preschoolers. Coughing, sometimes after playing hard or intense crying, or repetitious coughing at night when sleeping or early morning. Symptoms are usually worse at night. Dark circles under eyes, shortness of breath, wheezing — a whistling sound due to the closed off airwaves. It tends to be commonly linked with allergies.
Triggers. Exposure to allergens, most commonly animal dander, dust mites, and mold, can prompt the asthma symptoms or bring on an attack. Common colds and illnesses, tobacco smoke, and in some cases exercise can also perpetuate the affliction.
If the child has some or all of these symptoms you need to consult your pediatrician immediately. It might be just a cold but if it isn’t, you want the child treated before a full blown asthma attack. The pediatrician will assess the child and make a determination if it is in fact asthma or something as simple as a common cold. If it is asthma, it’s important you work closely with your health care provider to come up with a treatment plan.
First, figure out what is triggering the child’s episodes. Three-feet-of-fun has asthma and he was allergic to pet dander so in order to try and avoid attacks we gave our cats away to a good home. There are medicines for cat allergies but the only truly effective one is in shot form and my husband and I decided that until he could make the choice for himself we’d be pet free — we couldn’t inflict shots on him on top of everything else.
They will also teach you how to use a nebulizer, a machine that turns liquid medicine into a mist that goes through tubing into a face mask for the child to inhale. With that, there are too kinds of medicines: a preventative medicine and a quick reliever. The preventative won’t do anything for a child in arrest only the quick reliever will blast the child’s airways open, enabling them to breathe.
Asthma happens. There is no sure fire way to prevent your child from succumbing to it and there is no cure. You can help their chances to avoid it by keeping your house vacuumed, keeping the child away from smokers and smoke in general, keeping the house pet free if the child shows pet allergies, and diminish mold in the home.
Posted in Exercise, Exercise, Health, Healthy Living, Uncategorized, Weight Management | 1 Comment »
Why Weight?
Toning your upper body is a topic in and of itself. Weights are one way to fight the arm flab but there are a couple weightless toning exercises that work and don’t require you go out and spend money on weights.
The Chest Expander
Target Area: Chest
Benefits: Firms up the breasts and loosens the shoulders
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, as with all standing exercises, and with a straight posture. Never lock the legs, so keep them bent slightly with your weight in your legs. Fold your arms in front of your chest with one arm over the other, not touching, and the hands pointed down.
Slowly, open your arms like an exaggerated shrug until your arms are straight out from your sides, forming a “T” with your hands facing up. You should be able to feel your chest expanding. Out and back in is one rep and you should do three sets of fifteen - twenty of them with a five second pause between each set.
The Push Up
Target Area: Chest, Shoulders, and Arms
Benefits: Firms up the breasts, targets all muscle groups in your arms, and strengthens shoulders.
To get the best results from push ups make sure you use the full range of motion. On the up, make sure your arms are locked and on the down let your nose touch the floor. It’s important to keep your back straight and support your weight in your arms and legs.
There are variations on the push up if you can’t do a full one.
Knees down. Set up like a regular push up but be on your knees instead. Start with your lower leg and feet on the floor and build up the arm muscles. Gradually you can work into having your feet off the ground while your knees are down. Finally, coming to a full push up.
Against the wall. For those who have bad backs and knees, a vertical push up against the wall. Start with a small angle of 20 to 30 degrees to the wall and do the push ups. They aren’t as weight intensive so you have to do more of them to be effective but still get the job done if you do them enough. Gradually, make the angle from the wall bigger until 75 to 85 degrees to the wall. This will put more weight into the push up and make it more effective and still not a strain on your back or knees.
Posted in Exercise, Exercise, Health, Healthy Living, Uncategorized, Weight Management | 1 Comment »
Take the 4-point plastics pledge
Probably everyone has seen that one scene from The Graduate where during the Benjamin’s party, one of his parent’s friends says something to the effect of: “I’m going to tell you one word about the future. Plastics.” Many of us even remember the old commercial sponsored by the American Chemistry Council that stated: “Plastics Make It Possible.” For years we’ve come to rely on the convenience, portability and “safety” of plastics.
Then, we got a collective environmental conscience and realized that plastics were filling our landfills and destroying the planet.
Now, we know that certain plastics contain Bisphenol-A a possible endocrine disruptor and hormonal disruptor as it mimics the female hormone estrogen.
It is in many items that we use daily and consider safe: from baby bottles to sports bottles, the linings of metal food cans, and in nearly any take-out container that isn’t foil or a paper product. The least safe plastic items are those labeled 3, 6 and 7 and their unsafe properties increase with heating from the dishwasher and microwave. A recent report by Catherine Zandonella, M.P.H. in the Green Guide states that “the plastics industry says it is harmless, … a growing number of scientists are concluding, from some animal tests, that exposure to BPA in the womb raises the risk of certain cancers, hampers fertility and could contribute to childhood behavioral problems such as hyperactivity. …[And] ninety-five percent of Americans were found to have the chemical in their urine in a 2004 biomonitoring study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).” The company bisphenol-a.org asserts that the levels of BPA found in the items we use daily are safe, and are only unsafe at high doses. Zandonella’s report continues that according to Frederick vom Saal, Ph.D., a developmental biologist at the University of Missouri, “low doses that are now proving to cause a myriad of harmful effects in animals, including chromosomal damage in female egg cells and an increase in embryonic death in mice. A follow-up to this is a study indicating a relationship of BPA blood levels to miscarriages in Japanese women.” While the FDA sees no reason to change its 2003 opinion on the safety of BPA in conjunction with food use, they have been wrong before. In contrast, in December 2007, the Center to the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction issued a detailed report about BPA and its implications in humans, concluding that more study on the effect of BPA in humans is needed.
Hmmm. Some experts say BPA is perfectly okay; others, not so much.
So what are we to do?
After a thorough check of my cabinets for anything labeled 3, 6 or 7, I was happy to find that all of my son’s sippy cups were labeled 2. But that was just the cups themselves. What about the lid–the part that he actually sucks on? What about the ones that have been saved by relatives with toddlers before us and passed down to us and clearly show the wear and tear of little toddler nibbles? Are the ones that are a decade old (and clearly flaking) still safe? There was no way to know…as neither the contemporary lids nor the older sippy cups had any numbers on them. Am I to assume that because the newer cups have a “2″ imprinted on them that the lids are also twos?
You see. More questions.
I checked my son’s bowls and other plastic that we use for food regularly as well. No numbers there either. Luckily, I never heat food in plastic, but what about transferring hot food to a plastic bowl?
As you can see, the new information only leads to more questions, concerns and decisions about food container choices.
While on one hand I don’t want to give my toddler a glass bowl…it is much easier to take care of a cut than potential future problems that could affect his internal functions.
I put my mind at ease with the intent to make some behavioral changes and wiser shopping choices. Luckily, I didn’t have to grapple with how to dispose of any threes, sixes or sevens properly.
But later in the day, the question arose again. I was at my favorite local cafe, where as I sipped my steaming coffee from its cardboard-lined cardboard cup, I stared down at the number six on the lid. How many times have I sucked on a hot liquid in one of these lids in my lifetime? How many times have I consumed hot food from a number 6 container? Sure, my exposure has been minimal according to the FDA and some scientists, but the questions still lurk.
What about you and your family? It makes you too, wonder now, doesn’t it?
Armed with this new information, I am willing to take a four-point pledge for myself and for my family and make a behavioral change to reduce my (our) exposure to BPA.
Will you too take the pledge?
Feel free to make it public and claim the pledge in the comments field.
Posted in Daily Living, Guest Blogger, Health, Health Care, Healthy Living, News Items, Poison, Smart Buying | 1 Comment »
Once A Month Cooking and Oatmeal Bars
In the essence of keeping to our healthy resolutions, hubby and I have been moving our diet to a more plant based one. We have cut out all red meat and pork, leaving only seafood and fowl. We feel better and have found that our grocery bill is lower, giving us extra money to spend on the other items we enjoy to eat.
One of my favorite bloggers (and a great person to know), Marye Audet at Baking Delights posted a really comprehensive How-to on Once a Month Cooking. This is probably the best guide with a realistic approach I have found. I’m not saying that just because I like her, it’s really that good.
Since we can buy more, we can put away more. Freezing and dehydrating are two of the best ways to keeping food fresh longer, though I have not tried dehydrating a whole meal yet. That will come eventually! As a work at home professional, it is essential for me to be able to throw together a meal quickly. Healthy meals and fast healthy meals are exactly what we need! I need something quick for the mornings, one child off to school and the two others small enough to be starving to death before their sister is out the door.
Our children do like to eat some sweets and my mother in law would bring the kids doughnuts occasionally for a morning treat. Even once in a while is too much when the doughnuts in question are covered in chocolate glaze and stuffed with whatever can fit inside.
So, I experimented with a sweet but healthy breakfast treat. Pre-packaged oatmeal squares and other types of breakfast ‘bites’ are available. I tend to avoid these because of the preservatives and other unnatural ingredients. So, this morning we had home-made oatmeal breakfast bars with fruit. So tasty and very filling!
I can post what went in, but not the exact amounts, because when I experiment, I throw caution to the wind! You can experiment with the ingredients on your own, I will try to estimate the amounts to give you a better chance of duplicating my results. These bars took about half an hour to bake up, your time may vary. You can place these in the fridge and keep for up to a week without freezing. Make a double batch and freeze a whole pan!
Super Oatmeal-Fruit Breakfast Fuel
2 cups Oat meal, plain (the kind in the big cylinder)
¾ cup flour (all purpose)
1 ½ cup low fat granola (I just used some from a cereal box with almonds and raisins)
½ cup raisins
2 bananas, sliced thin
2 eggs
1 cup milk (more or less)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Mix everything in a large bowl. It will be slightly ‘goopy’. The milk will not completely absorb, but try to get all of the flour mixed into the liquid. If the mix is too dry, add a little more milk. Once it is all completely mixed, pour into a pan that has been lined or oiled well.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check at 20 minutes for browning. The top of the bars should be dry with spotty golden brown areas. Remove from oven, cool until you can cut and handle the bars without being burned. Serve warm!
Posted in Cooking, Healthy Living, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Friday’s Foods: Healthy Substitutions
Do you need to change your diet to include more healthy foods? There are still pleanty of foods you can enjoy, especially if you use substitutions. Sometimes it may be hard to figure out what you can use in place of another ingredient. To help you with this change, I offer a list of healthy substitutions for commonly called for ingredients.
1 Baking Chocolate Square- 3 tablespoons carob powder from the health food store and 2 tablespoons of water.
Butter or Margerine- Vegetable oil, sesame oil, or tahini butter in the same amount called for of butter or margerine.
1 cup of Buttermilk or Sour cream- 1 cup of low fat yogurt, 1 cup of milk plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Cornstarch- Arrowroot, agar agar
Cottage Cheese- An equl amount of tofu
Ground Beef- Use the same quantity or weight in ground nuts, soy beans, tofu crumbled, or textured vegetable protein.
1 egg- 1 tablespoon arrowroot or 1 tablespoon cornstarch. This works well in baking.
Milk- Soy milk or nut milks. Almond milk is especially nutritious and tasty.
Peanut butter- Use other nut butters such as hazelnut, walnut, almond, or cashew butters.
To replace salt you can use salt substitute or make your own mix of dried herbs. There are many different recipes for dried herb mixes that you can place in your own shaker and use to season your food. If you have spices and herbs that you favor above others, try experimenting until you have your own secret mix to season all of your favorite recipes.
Posted in Cooking, Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, Nutrition for Adults | 4 Comments »
Healthy Herbs:Rosemary
When my little girl began pre-school, I found out first hand how germs travel from child to child. Then they invade your home. I had no idea what to do to prevent this spread of germs once she was away from home and mixing with other children. Face it, most pre-school kids aren’t very fastidious about their cleanliness while playing. I know some older kids who aren’t either!
About a month after my daughter had been in school, I read an article on how rosemary can help prevent colds. Just plain old rosemary for cooking. Some people drank tea of the herb, but I preferred adding it to food my girl already ate. Rosemary tea just isn’t very appetizing, though it makes a wonderful addition to a bath for someone suffering from a cold or the flu.
I just sprinkled a pinch or two of rosemary into her eggs, along with different cheeses before heading off to school. Adding in some chopped tomato is also tasty and healthy. Just don’t tell the kids about the healthy part.
Another wonderful thing about rosemary is that it’s easy to grow. You can find rosemary trees at your local grocery close to Christmas in the floral department, though some carry them all year. Follow the instructions on the care tags and you’ll have a natural air cleaner that kills airborne germs. The scent of rosemary has been valued since before the Roman Empire!
Why not try some Rosemary Potatoes to get your taste buds clamoring for more?
Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
2 large sprigs rosemary (about 1/4 cup of stripped leaves)
2 pounds unpeeled potatoes cut into 1 1/2″ chunks
3 cloves garlic, smashed and halved
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt.
Toss the potatoes with the rosemary, olive oil, garlic, and salt, then put them in a single layer in a shallow baking dish and roast uncovered for 30-45 minutes at 400 degrees, until they are browned lightly on the outside and tender inside. Serve immediately. These potatoes are terrific with chicken, pork or even hamburgers.
Recipe credit-http://www.gardenguides.com/how-to/tipstechniques/herbs/rosemary.asp
Posted in Cold and Flu Remedies, Cooking, Health, Healthy Living, Herbs and Natural Remedies | 5 Comments »
How Fat Can We Get?
The race to get fat is on!
And, according to research released by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, most Americans are going to place in this race with a big fat blue ribbon.
The research points out that if Americans keep gaining weight at the current rate they’re gaining; in just eight years 75% of Americans will be overweight and 40% will be obese.
Raise you hand if you’d like to come in last in this race.
Our kids are affected as well. It’s not fair to train them for a contest that will kill them.
Sorry if I sound agitated, I do tend to be chipper and positive — look on the bright side.
But when my son and I go to the city park I count far more chubby kids than slim kids. More parents sitting on the bench then playing Frisbee or swinging with their children. It’s sad. Many of the people my age aren’t going to live to see their grandkids. Fat will do them in early — if they even have grandkids. Studies show that overweight individuals have a much harder time conceiving.
Right off the top of my head I can think of two revolutionary ways to stop this…
Eat better and exercise.
Cutting out soda and fruity sugary drinks will help too. As will trimming down food portion sizes and actually hanging out with our kids; setting a good example by playing with them, outside in the fresh air.
Other key points found by Johns Hopkins:
- Currently 1 in 3 adults is obese.
- 80% of African American women over the age of 40 are overweight.
- Asians born here in America are four times more likely to be overweight than their foreign born cousins.
- 16-34% of children (11 million) are overweight and many more are at risk of becoming overweight.
- Women ages 20-34 years have the highest rate of increased weight gain.
But no one is entirely off the hook. The overall fact remains that 75% of ALL Americans will likely be overweight by 2015. Imagine what this will do to the already escalating health care costs.
This is serious. I hear peppy talks by fitness trainers. I see nicely worded articles about slimming down youth. I feel all warm and fuzzy when I learn that yet another overweight pregnant woman thankfully gave birth to a healthy baby.
But honestly, I think we’ve reached the point where happy pep talks and saying “robust” when we mean “grossly overweight” has got to stop. It’s not working. Maybe knowing that we’re willfully harming our children will work. Maybe considering that there soon won’t be enough healthy people to care for the unhealthy people will work. Is death a motivator to get in shape?
Maybe…
If you’d like to see your children grow up healthy and happy you can visit:
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences kids page
Why not make a choice right now that you and your children will lose this race. All you have to do to get started is click on a link above. It’s that simple.
Posted in Child Abuse, Exercise, Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, Nutrition for Adults, Weight Management | 3 Comments »
Green Ideas for Kids!
Kids can make a difference for our planet as well as any adult.
Kids today, have a distinct advantage over us adults — they’re being raised in an environment and communities that are already aware of the consequences of not being green.With a little help from parents who care, kids today are going to change the world we live in for the better.
Read and discuss this list with your kids! Your kids (and you) can try these easy ideas for going green and saving the planet.
Recycle: Okay, that’s a given in most places today — but not all. In my neighborhood in Albuquerque there were barely any recycling resources. If this is the case where you live write a letter, or have your parents help you write a letter to public officials in your area. Make your voice heard. You can even draw a picture to show how you feel. Don’t know where to write try starting here.
Don’t let go: Of that cool balloon. Each time a helium balloon floats away they may end up hurting animals and fish. Helium balloons fall (eventually) back down to the earth and strong winds can blow them to our oceans. A sea animal may try to eat the balloon and that could kill the animal. Balloons can also wrap around small animals and hurt them. No matter how much fun it is to let your balloon fly — don’t. If you want to fly something fun that won’t hurt animals try building a kite with your parents.
Brush your teeth: Now, simply brushing your teeth won’t save the planet– you will have a beautiful smile though. However, you can help to save lots of water by turning off the sink faucet each and every time you brush. Also stay away from pump dispenser toothpastes; they add much more waste to our landfills than a normal tube. Some companies are even making toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes that you can recycle. Take a look at your local co-op and see what’s available.
Let someone else play with your stuff: Before throwing that old toy away see if a friend of yours might want to trade one of their toys for your old toy (always ask an adult before doing this). If no one wants your toy donate it to a thrift store or charity that gives toys to other children who may not have as many cool toys as you do.
If you want to learn more about how to save your planet visit The Environmental Kids Club. At this website you can even become an official planet protector and get free coloring books and games.
Or read this book: Good Earth Art: Environmental Art For Kids, for more ideas
Have fun and always stay green!
Posted in Healthy Living | 1 Comment »
