Healthy Habit Thursdays

Posted on February 17, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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I’d like to devote my Thursday blog posts to health issues. I’ll be revising a few of my older posts and then adding new ones down the road.

Staying healthy is not always easy, especially when we are busy. Eating nutritious foods, getting enough sleep, remembering to wash hands frequently and dressing properly for the weather…all are factors in keeping healthy. Paying attention to these may help you stay healthy, even when others are falling victim to colds and flu.

What we eat contributes to our overall state of health. As parents, not only should we oversee what our children are eating…we should also try to be good role models. I actually LOVE junk food…and work really hard to keep most of it out of the house because I know that if it is easily available, it will be eaten by ME! Here are some suggestions I have that work for me…I hope they work for you also.

Plan your weekly menus ahead of time…when we get busy as most of us are, failing to plan in this area is almost guaranteed to equal planning to fail. Fast-food, take-out or frozen TV dinners may have their place on occasion…but if you put aside 30 minutes a week to plan some basic well-balanced meals, your family will be eating more healthfully most of the time. This also allows you to maximize on weekly specials at your local stores. And, it gives you more time for other things…like time to read a book or take a bubble bath.
Choose one morning or one afternoon or one evening a week to turn on your oven and use it to prepare casseroles, a roast chicken, baked potatoes, healthy cookies/cakes/muffins. If you are able to put aside several hours on one day for this task, the rest of the week will be a breeze. Refrigerate or freeze what you have prepared and you will have healthy, ready-made meals for most of the week.
Include your family in the planning and preparing…picky or fussy eaters often eat what they help prepare. Children LOVE helping in the kitchen…it builds their confidence and self-esteem.
Think about portions…I truly believe that the large, super-sized meals that many of us eat, at home and in restaurants, are one of the largest contributing factors of childhood obesity. Just because the cereal bowl can hold 2 or 3 cups of cereal doesn’t mean we should fill it to the top…if you read the portion size on the box of cereal, you’ll see it says 1/2 to 1 cup, depending on the type of cereal. Dinner plates are really large…maybe you can use smaller plates when serving.
Remember to keep hydrated…I know that when I get busy, I forget to drink enough water…and then I think I am hungry and eat a couple of cookies, at 100 calories each, when what my body really wants is a glass of water. With NO calories! Also, try to nix the soda…full of empty calories and not much else except a college education for your dentist’s children.
Plan to have healthy snacks ready for hungry children and yourself between meals like carrot sticks and humus or apple slices and almond butter. Again, if we don’t plan ahead, we will probably grab the first thing we see…and that might be cookies or chips.
If it works with your schedule, try eating 6 smaller meals, instead of the traditional 3. When we are REALLY hungry, we tend to eat more than we should because we eat quickly and our internal hunger regulator doesn’t have time to kick in to tell us we are full. And, on the subject of full, try to stop eating BEFORE you feel full…if you feel full, you’ve had too much. This always happens to me when I go to an all-you-can-eat buffet…and I am never a happy camper afterwards.
Make sure you do allow yourself and your family some special food treats that are part of your holiday traditions or customs…denying oneself EVERYTHING we love is a sure way to feel deprived…and that often leads to overeating, oversnacking and going overboard. I actually have a small ice-cream (made with fat-free frozen yogurt, a handful of homemade granola and a few almonds) every night after dinner. I look forward to it and enjoy it immensely…it is my reward to myself for a good day’s work…and, so far, I haven’t had to hide the scale.

Check out the child-friendly healthful recipes in my new parenting book. There are snacks, salads, soups, and even main dishes. All of them are easy to make and most include low-fat, low-sugar, high fiber ingredients.

Quotable Timeless Tuedays: LOVE

Posted on February 15, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan in 1898. On the...

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“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength…while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” –Lao Tzu

Have you ever read accounts of Herculean feats of strength and courage? I’ve come across news stories that relate how a mother lifted a car that had rolled on her child…and how a husband swam miles in frigid ocean waters supporting his wife until they were rescued. I truly believe that love gives us strength and courage.

“You come to love, not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.” -Sam Keen

As a young girl, I remember sitting with friends, talking about what each of us was looking for in the “perfect” husband…did you have a list of attributes you wanted in a mate? What was on your list? The thing is, there is a perfect person for everyone…their imperfections may bother others, but not you.

“I love you, not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.” -Roy Croft

We are made better by those we cherish…because we strive to be the best we can be for them…we wish them to think well of us and to respect us.

“In real love, you want the other person’s good. In romantic love, you want the other person.” -Margaret Anderson

When you really love someone, you want the best for them and you are willing to give them anything you have, if they need it. My husband and I enjoy sharing things…meals at restaurants, good books, our lives. I know some people don’t like to share food, even with those they love, but I’ll never forget an experience we had at a Dunkin Donuts in Connecticut over 35 years ago. We had been out all day shopping and needed to have a bite to eat before we drove home. We only wanted to grab something quickly, so we pulled into a Dunkin Donuts and went inside. Sitting down at the counter, we noticed the special of the day…soup, bread, coffee and a donut. Since I LOVE soup and hate coffee, and my husband LOVES coffee and wasn’t in the mood for soup, we decided to order the special and share it. The woman behind the counter got our food and set it before us. The soup was delicious and I pushed it closer to my husband, asking him if he would like to have a taste. As he picked up the spoon, the woman behind the counter remarked, “That’s disgusting!!!! I’ve been married 30 years and I’ve never shared ANYTHING with my husband.”

I think that was one of the saddest thing I have ever heard.

“Love is comprised of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” -Aristotle

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and across the web there were stories, pictures and messages about love.

I think the most important message we need to keep close to our hearts is that we shouldn’t wait until Valentine’s Day or any other “special” day to say “I love you” to people we care about.

I will end with a quote by someone who couldn’t see or hear or speak…but her words create a beautiful picture in our minds and epitomize what love is all about.

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” –Helen Keller

Valentine’s Day has come and gone…but children need to hear the words…I love you…on a daily basis. Stop by tomorrow for: What’s In Your Child’s Bookcase Wordy Wednesday. I’ll be reviewing a picture book I recommend in my new parenting book, SHOW ME HOW! BUILD YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH READING, CRAFTING AND COOKING.

Make-A-Meal Mondays: Valentine’s Day Special

Posted on February 14, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Esther Howland Valentine, circa 1850: "We...

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Do you remember your first Valentine’s Day card? Was it from a relative or a best-friend? How about your first “love interest” Valentine? Do you remember crafting Valentines when you were a child…cutting the red construction paper into heart shapes and gluing bits of ribbon or lace onto the handmade card?

The history of Valentine’s Day is clouded by various legends, but its roots are in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration. Pope Gelasius I made this pagan festival into a Christian feast day in 496 and he declared February 14 to be Saint Valentine’s Day.

However, it wasn’t until the 14^th Century that Chaucer linked St. Valentine’s Day with romance. In 1381, he composed a poem in honor of the engagement of Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia. “The Parliament of Fowls” spoke of the royal engagement, the mating of fowls and St. Valentine’s Day.

By the 18^th Century, gift-giving and the exchange of handmade cards had become a tradition in England. However, it wasn’t until the 1850’s that the tradition of Valentine’s cards became widespread in the United States when Esther Howland, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts and a graduate of Mt. Holyoke, began to mass produce Valentine’s Day cards.

Do you still make your Valentine’s Day cards by hand?

A lot of people do try to make something special to celebrate this day of love. If you pass a bakery or candy shop, you will, no doubt, see windows and shelves filled with cakes, cookies, cupcakes and elegant confections in the shape of hearts, bows, and cupids.

For a healthier take on Valentine’s Day food, why not try this lovely HEARTS OF MOZZARELLA SALAD. This recipe is from the SHOW ME HOW! book, which provides 100 child-friendly healthful cooking activities. You can try it for lunch today or as a side salad for dinner.

HEARTS OF MOZZARELLA SALAD

You will need: 1 chunk of mozzarella cheese (about 1 lb), 2 Roma tomatoes, 1 Tb basis (dry or fresh), several leaves of romaine lettuce, 1 Tb balsamic vinegar, 1 Tb olive oil and 1 Tb Parmesan cheese.

1. Cut mozzarella into 8 slices, each about ¼ inch thick. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter or a knife to cut each slice into a heart shape. Put the excess cheese in a plastic bag in the fridge to save for topping on pizza, etc.

2. Slice each tomato into 4 slices and place a tomato slice on top of each cheese heart.

3. Arrange on a platter of lettuce leaves and sprinkle each serving with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil and Parmesan cheese.

I hope you’ll stop by tomorrow for a bunch of wonderful love quotations in Quotable Timeless Tuesday.

May you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day…filled with Sunshine (even if it is raining) and Love.