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Sears KitchenAid entry from Melissa in Redford, MI: "View and rate this contestant's entry for a chance to win a full suite of KitchenAid appliances and more!"
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
26 WAYS TO ENJOY WELL-ROUNDED WELLNESS
What jumps to mind when you think about being healthy? For most people, something about their physical health comes to mind, like eating nutritious foods or getting regular exercise. A close second might be financial health—having enough money to meet your needs.
There’s no question that both physical and financial wellness are important. However, life is about more than just your body weight or your checkbook balance! Have you taken a look at the fitness of your family life, your social life, or your own inner self lately? These areas deserve your attention too. For example, if you’re so consumed with your job that you miss out on the simple joys of spending time with your family, you’re not completely well. Or if you’re consistently skipping time out with your friends to slave away at the gym, you’re not totally well either.
With this in mind, take some time to look over these ideas to help you focus a bit more on your family, social, and inner wellness.
Family Wellness
Your relationship with family members is crucial. Spending quality time with your spouse, children, brothers, sisters, and parents goes a long way toward strengthening family closeness. Closer families enjoy more peace and love in the home. And they form unbreakable bonds that will pass from this generation to the next.
1.Make family time a priority. Give each family member the opportunity to decide on a weekly family activity— it will keep everyone involved and help build togetherness.
2.Cook together. Decide on a “Treat of the Week” and let each family member help prepare it.
3.Play cards or board games. Have a regular family “Game Night.”
4.Garden together. Plant and nurture a family garden and grow everyone’s favorite fruit or vegetable.
5.Help others. Spend some family time doing charity work through your community service organization or church.
6.Get involved in school. Join the parent-teacher organization at your child’s school or volunteer to help out at your local school.
7.Read together. Read to your young children every night before they go to bed.
8.Limit television, video game, and computer time and get outside. Turn off, log off, and go wash the car or play in the yard.
9.Keep in touch. Make a home movie and send it to family members who are away from home.
10.Adopt a pet. Bring home a new family friend.
Social Wellness
You are socially well when you have friends, when your name is spoken with trust, when your home is a welcome stop, and when you are respected for your willingness to help others. Improving your social well-being often means placing others’ needs above your own. As you increase your respect for people—including coworkers and family members—others will naturally become more concerned about you in return.
1.Reconnect. Locate an old friend from high school or someone you’ve lost contact with and catch up.
2.Volunteer. Make time for community service or church committees to expand your social circle.
3.Reach beyond your current contacts. Get to know the parents of your children’s friends and meet the spouses of your coworkers.
4.Switch roles. Organize a revolving monthly dinner with your friends where you take turns playing host and guest.
5.Take to the streets. Have an old-fashioned block party with your neighbors.
6.Introduce people. Host a party where each guest brings a person no one else knows.
7.Take classes. Enroll in classes to meet others who share the same interests as you.
8.Do your civic duty. Get involved in local politics— perhaps even run for an office.
9.Be a team player. If you can’t join a team, sign up as a substitute player for community sports teams.
10.Keep an eye out for others. Organize a neighborhood Community Watch committee through your local police station.
Inner Wellness
You are most at peace with others and yourself when you live your life with integrity. Inner wellness—or living a life consistent with your values—brings you peace, helps keep you centered, and enables you to accomplish what you want most out of life.
1.Spend time alone. Devote some time every day to breathe deeply and focus on yourself.
2.Believe in yourself. Stay true to your values and beliefs—especially when they’re challenged.
3.Keep a clear conscience. Be honest and ethical in all your dealings.
4.Stay positive. Try to maintain a good attitude and outlook on life—especially during stressful times.
5.Expand your viewpoint. Have an open mind and listen to other points of view.
6.Own up. Take responsibility for your actions.
Total Wellness is within your control
Living a healthy, happy life is a day-to-day balancing act. And no one of us are perfect at it! However, these tips and ideas show that you can do small things every day that can have a big impact in the quality of your overall health. Try some of them and come up with a few of your own— you’ll enjoy your life more and be on the road to “well-rounded” wellness.
There’s no question that both physical and financial wellness are important. However, life is about more than just your body weight or your checkbook balance! Have you taken a look at the fitness of your family life, your social life, or your own inner self lately? These areas deserve your attention too. For example, if you’re so consumed with your job that you miss out on the simple joys of spending time with your family, you’re not completely well. Or if you’re consistently skipping time out with your friends to slave away at the gym, you’re not totally well either.
With this in mind, take some time to look over these ideas to help you focus a bit more on your family, social, and inner wellness.
Family Wellness
Your relationship with family members is crucial. Spending quality time with your spouse, children, brothers, sisters, and parents goes a long way toward strengthening family closeness. Closer families enjoy more peace and love in the home. And they form unbreakable bonds that will pass from this generation to the next.
1.Make family time a priority. Give each family member the opportunity to decide on a weekly family activity— it will keep everyone involved and help build togetherness.
2.Cook together. Decide on a “Treat of the Week” and let each family member help prepare it.
3.Play cards or board games. Have a regular family “Game Night.”
4.Garden together. Plant and nurture a family garden and grow everyone’s favorite fruit or vegetable.
5.Help others. Spend some family time doing charity work through your community service organization or church.
6.Get involved in school. Join the parent-teacher organization at your child’s school or volunteer to help out at your local school.
7.Read together. Read to your young children every night before they go to bed.
8.Limit television, video game, and computer time and get outside. Turn off, log off, and go wash the car or play in the yard.
9.Keep in touch. Make a home movie and send it to family members who are away from home.
10.Adopt a pet. Bring home a new family friend.
Social Wellness
You are socially well when you have friends, when your name is spoken with trust, when your home is a welcome stop, and when you are respected for your willingness to help others. Improving your social well-being often means placing others’ needs above your own. As you increase your respect for people—including coworkers and family members—others will naturally become more concerned about you in return.
1.Reconnect. Locate an old friend from high school or someone you’ve lost contact with and catch up.
2.Volunteer. Make time for community service or church committees to expand your social circle.
3.Reach beyond your current contacts. Get to know the parents of your children’s friends and meet the spouses of your coworkers.
4.Switch roles. Organize a revolving monthly dinner with your friends where you take turns playing host and guest.
5.Take to the streets. Have an old-fashioned block party with your neighbors.
6.Introduce people. Host a party where each guest brings a person no one else knows.
7.Take classes. Enroll in classes to meet others who share the same interests as you.
8.Do your civic duty. Get involved in local politics— perhaps even run for an office.
9.Be a team player. If you can’t join a team, sign up as a substitute player for community sports teams.
10.Keep an eye out for others. Organize a neighborhood Community Watch committee through your local police station.
Inner Wellness
You are most at peace with others and yourself when you live your life with integrity. Inner wellness—or living a life consistent with your values—brings you peace, helps keep you centered, and enables you to accomplish what you want most out of life.
1.Spend time alone. Devote some time every day to breathe deeply and focus on yourself.
2.Believe in yourself. Stay true to your values and beliefs—especially when they’re challenged.
3.Keep a clear conscience. Be honest and ethical in all your dealings.
4.Stay positive. Try to maintain a good attitude and outlook on life—especially during stressful times.
5.Expand your viewpoint. Have an open mind and listen to other points of view.
6.Own up. Take responsibility for your actions.
Total Wellness is within your control
Living a healthy, happy life is a day-to-day balancing act. And no one of us are perfect at it! However, these tips and ideas show that you can do small things every day that can have a big impact in the quality of your overall health. Try some of them and come up with a few of your own— you’ll enjoy your life more and be on the road to “well-rounded” wellness.
Enter The Soul Food Site's Spread The Word Contest
Great Southern Food and a contest all wrapped into one! I love the recipes on this site! Go check it out!
Enter The Soul Food Site's Spread The Word Contest
Enter The Soul Food Site's Spread The Word Contest
Monday, November 1, 2010
Beat Bad Air Days By: Katherine Bowers, Womens Health
All the major air pollutants (car exhaust, factory fumes, sidewalk smokers) are outside, right? Not so much. Indoor air may be the grimiest stuff our lungs filter each day. Studies show that things like candles, printers, and even shoes can fill your rooms with harmful contaminants, says Ted Myatt, Sc.D., an environmental scientist in Boston. But there's no need to live in a tent in your backyard—just follow these easy steps to lighten the load on your respiratory system.
The Pollutant: Candles
Sure, they make for a cozy ambience, but when you light one made from paraffin—as most candles are—you're potentially harming your health. Researchers at South Carolina State University found that paraffin candles emit chemicals that are linked to liver damage, neurological problems, and leukemia. They can also release a black soot that, over time, may damage your lung and heart tissue, says Jeffrey May, an expert on indoor air quality and author of My House Is Killing Me: The Home Guide for Families with Allergies and Asthma.
The Solution: Choose cleaner mood lighting in the form of electric votives, or buy 100 percent soy candles, which can burn at a slower rate and emit less soot. If you can't avoid burning paraffin, do so only occasionally and in a draft-free area. And cut out the heavily fragranced jar-style versions, says May; they produce more soot.
Boost your immune system and improve your health with these superfoods.
The Pollutant: Printers
Printers spit out more than just expense reports and flight confirmations—they also spray around lots of microparticles of ink, toner, and ozone, a lung irritant. A recent Australian study found that about one-third of printers are "high emitters," which means they churn out as many harmful airborne particles as you'd find on a traffic-clogged street.
The Solution: Set up your printer in a well-ventilated area and try to stand at least 10 feet away from it during a lengthy job (good advice for when you're at the office too). And remember to print in black-and-white whenever you can, because color ink produces more noxious debris. To see if your printer is on the high-emitter list, visit the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health online at www.ilaqh.qut.edu.au.
The Pollutant: Dust
Those gray tumbleweeds rolling around along your baseboards and under your bed are packed with pollen and zillions of your dead skin cells. They're also the first step in the food chain for dust mites and other insects (gross!) and a breeding ground for mold (grosser!). All that can spell a big headache, quite literally, for women prone to allergies, says May.
The Solution: Sweep a vacuum with a high-energy particulate airborne (HEPA) filter over your floors once a week, and wipe all other surfaces with a clean, damp cloth (make sure you dampen it with water—many spray cleaners, especially those with added fragrance, contain lung-irritating chemicals). And once a month, run your bedding—pillows, comforters, quilts—through a hot dryer cycle; the high temperature will kill any dust mites.
How to beat back dust in your home.
The Pollutant: Shoe Debris
When you stroll through your front door in your sneaks or stilettos, you're likely dragging in some gnarly muck. Sidewalks and lawns can be littered with lead dust, paint flecks, fertilizers, and animal waste—all of which sticks to your shoes. In fact, 80 percent of our exposure to pesticides happens indoors, thanks to tracked-in contaminants, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Solution: Dislodge clods of dirt or grass by rubbing your shoes over a durable outdoor mat (bristly coconut-husk types work best). Once inside, leave your kicks on a cloth mat by the front door.
More ways to fight seasonal allergies.
The Pollutant: Furniture
Pressed wood—also called particleboard or fiberboard—is actually little bits of wood held together by glues and resins. It's cheap (think: affordable bookcases and tables), but it may also emit formaldehyde, a preservative and suspected carcinogen that can trigger rashes, nausea, or asthma attacks, according to the EPA.
The Solution: Ventilate, ventilate, ventilate. "A cheap window-facing fan can clear a room's air in minutes," says May. Or consider opting for solid wood, especially for kitchen and bathroom items, since humidity amps up emissions. If you must go the pressed route, stick with plywood, which releases the fewest fumes.
The Pollutant: Mold
Believe it or not, a little bit of mold can be beneficial: Outdoors, it helps organic stuff decompose, says indoor-air scientist Connie Morbach. "But when those mold spores are activated by indoor moisture, they can grow out of control," she explains. Excess fungus can induce unpleasant symptoms like itchy eyes and breathing problems. And a few harmful strains can attack your immune system.
The Solution: Indoor air that's 30 to 50 percent humidity is comfortable for you but discouraging to mold (buy a $30 digital hygrometer at a hardware store to check your room levels). Spores love dark, damp corners, so once a week mop around your fridge, sinks, and toilets with a mild dish detergent or diluted hydrogen peroxide. Just be sure to dry everything thoroughly; mold can sprout in just 48 hours.
The Pollutant: Candles
Sure, they make for a cozy ambience, but when you light one made from paraffin—as most candles are—you're potentially harming your health. Researchers at South Carolina State University found that paraffin candles emit chemicals that are linked to liver damage, neurological problems, and leukemia. They can also release a black soot that, over time, may damage your lung and heart tissue, says Jeffrey May, an expert on indoor air quality and author of My House Is Killing Me: The Home Guide for Families with Allergies and Asthma.
The Solution: Choose cleaner mood lighting in the form of electric votives, or buy 100 percent soy candles, which can burn at a slower rate and emit less soot. If you can't avoid burning paraffin, do so only occasionally and in a draft-free area. And cut out the heavily fragranced jar-style versions, says May; they produce more soot.
Boost your immune system and improve your health with these superfoods.
The Pollutant: Printers
Printers spit out more than just expense reports and flight confirmations—they also spray around lots of microparticles of ink, toner, and ozone, a lung irritant. A recent Australian study found that about one-third of printers are "high emitters," which means they churn out as many harmful airborne particles as you'd find on a traffic-clogged street.
The Solution: Set up your printer in a well-ventilated area and try to stand at least 10 feet away from it during a lengthy job (good advice for when you're at the office too). And remember to print in black-and-white whenever you can, because color ink produces more noxious debris. To see if your printer is on the high-emitter list, visit the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health online at www.ilaqh.qut.edu.au.
The Pollutant: Dust
Those gray tumbleweeds rolling around along your baseboards and under your bed are packed with pollen and zillions of your dead skin cells. They're also the first step in the food chain for dust mites and other insects (gross!) and a breeding ground for mold (grosser!). All that can spell a big headache, quite literally, for women prone to allergies, says May.
The Solution: Sweep a vacuum with a high-energy particulate airborne (HEPA) filter over your floors once a week, and wipe all other surfaces with a clean, damp cloth (make sure you dampen it with water—many spray cleaners, especially those with added fragrance, contain lung-irritating chemicals). And once a month, run your bedding—pillows, comforters, quilts—through a hot dryer cycle; the high temperature will kill any dust mites.
How to beat back dust in your home.
The Pollutant: Shoe Debris
When you stroll through your front door in your sneaks or stilettos, you're likely dragging in some gnarly muck. Sidewalks and lawns can be littered with lead dust, paint flecks, fertilizers, and animal waste—all of which sticks to your shoes. In fact, 80 percent of our exposure to pesticides happens indoors, thanks to tracked-in contaminants, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Solution: Dislodge clods of dirt or grass by rubbing your shoes over a durable outdoor mat (bristly coconut-husk types work best). Once inside, leave your kicks on a cloth mat by the front door.
More ways to fight seasonal allergies.
The Pollutant: Furniture
Pressed wood—also called particleboard or fiberboard—is actually little bits of wood held together by glues and resins. It's cheap (think: affordable bookcases and tables), but it may also emit formaldehyde, a preservative and suspected carcinogen that can trigger rashes, nausea, or asthma attacks, according to the EPA.
The Solution: Ventilate, ventilate, ventilate. "A cheap window-facing fan can clear a room's air in minutes," says May. Or consider opting for solid wood, especially for kitchen and bathroom items, since humidity amps up emissions. If you must go the pressed route, stick with plywood, which releases the fewest fumes.
The Pollutant: Mold
Believe it or not, a little bit of mold can be beneficial: Outdoors, it helps organic stuff decompose, says indoor-air scientist Connie Morbach. "But when those mold spores are activated by indoor moisture, they can grow out of control," she explains. Excess fungus can induce unpleasant symptoms like itchy eyes and breathing problems. And a few harmful strains can attack your immune system.
The Solution: Indoor air that's 30 to 50 percent humidity is comfortable for you but discouraging to mold (buy a $30 digital hygrometer at a hardware store to check your room levels). Spores love dark, damp corners, so once a week mop around your fridge, sinks, and toilets with a mild dish detergent or diluted hydrogen peroxide. Just be sure to dry everything thoroughly; mold can sprout in just 48 hours.
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