Archive April 2010

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Do Your Childhood Experiences Get in the Way?

You may have had a bad experience with learning a musical instrument or playing a sport as a child. Maybe you just had a hard time learning it, or people made fun of the instrument you played. Maybe you were not very good at the sport you wanted to play or others picked on you for playing that particular sport. be careful not to project those memories onto your children if they find that they want to do those same activities. They need to try and experience these things for themselves and learn from them. Of course you don't want your child to go through the same issues that you experienced and in fact your memories could be skewed and wrong. Let them try activities that they are interested in and don't let your own misfortunes get in the way of their own learning experience.

Six Ways to Ruin Your Knees

  • By: Tom
  • On: 04/28/2010 15:18:52
  • In: Health
  • Comments: 0
Knee problems can happen to anyone, not just athletes. They are the main hinge between your body and the ground and work as your "wheels" to get you around and allow you to be active. One of the first things that can ruin your knees is ignoring any pain you may feel. If it's pain that won't go away, you need to have it checked out. Being overweight can have a large impact on your knees. Every pound of body weight puts about five pounds of force on your knee. That is a lot of weight being carried on your knees! If you've had a knee injury and don't take the time for rehabilitation and rest you can make your knees worse. Activities that put your ACL at a high risk for rupturing can be dangerous and you should consult a trainer to help avoid injury. Don't overdue your activity, a sudden increase in intensity or duration can cause injuries. Don't overlook the other muscles around the knees. They can be weaker and lack flexibility which can contribute to knee injuries. Become more educated about how to take care of your knees to avoid mobility problems later.

Breakfast Cereals Contain More Sugar Than Desserts

  • By: Tom
  • On: 04/23/2010 14:05:55
  • In: Health
  • Comments: 0
Recent research has shown that many popular cereals like Kellogg's coco pops and crunchy nut cornflakes high a very high sugar content, more than doughnuts and ice cream. A supermarket spokesman commented that many people think they are buying a healthy cereal based on the marketing alone, they simply look healthy or sound healthy. It's important to pay attention to the food labels to know how much sugar content is in the cereal. Not only are sugar contents high but many have  very high salt levels. Don't be fooled by pretty packaging and always read the labels to know the kind of ingredients used and the nutritional values. You may want to have some breakfast alternatives on hand like fruit, yogurt or granola, these foods have a lot less sugar than these cereals.

Teaching Your Children to Cook

There is sort of a crisis here in America with food. Many of us are obese, eat fatty foods, and many foods have been contaminated or recalled. It may be easier to by processed foods or go through the drive-thru but eventually it will all catch up with us and can cause disease and sickness that could otherwise be avoided. It is more important than ever to start eating well and knowing what you put into your body and your children's bodies. One of the best ways to help teach your children about nutrition is teaching them how to cook. They can learn to shop for nutritious foods or even grow their own at home. You can teach them cooking techniques and let them cook some of the meals. Skills like this will last a lifetime and encourage them to take good care of themselves. Here is a great video with Jamie Oliver about teaching your children to cook, it's definitely worth a watch.

Spring Cleaning with Your Children

Spring is upon us and along with it the time to clean out the house and prepare for warmer weather. To get some help and teach the kids about purging and cleaning, get them involved. You may have furniture that you are wanting to throw out, another idea would be to let them paint it and keep it in their room. They will enjoy a creative project and having something "new" in their room. Moving furniture around in order to get those dust bunnies can be quite a chore, but freshening up a room by moving furniture around can make a room seem new. Enroll the kids in helping out by letting them earn "points" for every item that they help move. Five points can equal an ice cream at the end of the day. Turn music on while you're cleaning and let them take turns picking their favorites. Make a game out of it by cleaning and dancing at the same time, when the music stops everyone has to freeze. Anyone who is caught moving has to put an extra item away. Making a game out of these chores can make it fun and they won't even notice that they are cleaning!

Suggested Checkups for Men

  • By: Tom
  • On: 04/14/2010 15:51:38
  • In: Health
  • Comments: 0
Screening tests are important for keeping men healthy and many are reluctant to go to the doctor at all unless they have a serious need. Regular checkups should happen at least once a year just to be sure everything is working well and to catch anything that may be abnormal. Testicular exams are recommended as part of a regular check up for those who could be at risk for cancer. talk to your doctor for more information and their recommendation. For men 20 years old and older a cholesterol test is recommended every five years. A prostate cancer screening is under much dispute about what age is appropriate.  For men over the age of 45 who are at a high risk for cancer normally get screened every year. Any time you have a family history if health issues, you should be checked out for them. You can get more of an idea of when to get tested for what and how often by talking with your doctor.

Superfood Cereals

  • By: Tom
  • On: 04/08/2010 15:21:35
  • In: Health
  • Comments: 0
Cereals that I ate as a kid were very sugary, full of processed foods and full of pasteurized cow's milk which is not a very healthy breakfast Great alternatives to cow's milk are almond and rice milks. Finding a nutritious, delicious breakfast cereal can be quite the challenge. Many just meet the basic requirements to be called "healthy". A raw breakfast cereal is ideal based entirely on organic, non-GMO superfood ingredients. Living Intentions makes a tasty cereal in four different flavors, acai blueberry, cacao crunch, hemp and greens and chia ginger. They have no refined or chemical sweeteners and their number one ingredient is buckwheat sprouts which is very high in protein. Other things to expect from these superfood cereals are that they do not contain gluten, dairy, or nuts. You will notice how good your body feels after eating these kinds of foods regularly.

Thrift Shopping With Your Children

When you need to buy things for your children or even for yourself and can be very easy to just go to the mall or the big box stores to get what you need. Instead try garage sales, flea markets or thrift stores. I recently went to a flea market with my family and came home with great deals. For under $20 we found three boxes of wooden lincoln logs, a yakima child carrier, a child's backpack, a toy robot and a casio keyboard. It can be a lot of fun to do shopping this way and for kids its like an adventure or a game of "what can you find?" it will also make you feel good to be reusing materials. You can usually find a lot of children's toys and clothes when thrifting and it teaches a great lesson about reusing and re-purposing things.