I have been on a health kick for a while now, and I am actually starting to like the results. Not only is the weight control great, but I also seem to have more energy throughout the day. While starting this new way of life, I have learned that fast food is a major hurdle for many people. I don't eat out a lot, but since I have started watching the fats and sugars, there is no way that I could eat as much fast food as I used to, knowing what I would be consuming. I don't believe that it is entirely one person's fault. It's not just the fast food chain for super sizing every meal and making proportions larger than needed. It's not just the person eating out every day for lunch just for convenience, and super sizing it just because you can. I do believe that it is these two things together though, that are making our country so unhealthy.
McDonald's is a very convenient place to stop when you are in a hurry, but this might change your mind when choosing your lunch menu. On the nutrition list for McDonald's, one Big Mac has 540 calories. That is just the sandwich, not the meal. Most people would add fries (medium = 380) and a soft drink (medium coke = 210). That is 1130 calories. For most females the suggested daily calorie intake is 1200, so good luck starving the rest of the day.
Most people argue that there is nothing else to eat when you work from 9 to 5 and only get a 30 min lunch. I would have to disagree. Don't forget the bring your own lunch option. This website had some great ideas. Also remember that when you pack your own lunch, you get to control what goes in and on everything. Try all grain breads for sandwiches or pitas. I love to eat big salads and try new veggies for toppings. There are so many options you can choose from, it's amazing.
It is also cost efficient if you bring your own lunch. On average a lunch cost between $5 and $10 when eating out. If you bring it from home you can choose things you already have. Use leftovers or make something new with them. Remember that reusable containers are always nice to use. You are saving money and making a healthier lifestyle.
There will be days that an eat out lunch or a fast food restaurant will be needed, but just remember to be smart. America is becoming very unhealthy and I believe that this is a major part in helping to slow this process down.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Angels on earth
I have always been the girl who wanted to have a lot of children. I can remember playing house with my sister, and I would always have to have at least 3 babies. I think that a lot of this comes with growing up in a large family with a lot of kids. My mom and dad had 3 children, we had 15 cousins, and we all got together for any occasion. I guess you could say it was always a full house. Well, I think that my wish was granted. I married into a loving family, who has plenty of children to love, but the best gift of all are my own children.
My oldest daughter, Taigan Alexis, is 6. She just started kindergarten this year, and I am convinced she is the smartest child ever (yes, I am a little partial...lol!). In all honesty though, she is very smart, loves anything that is school related, writes poems and songs, and loves to do anything that is creative, such as drawing, painting, or playing with clay. She says that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up, and I know that she will make a great one! She also loves to dance, cheer, and do gymnastics. If it is girly, count her in. Whatever she does it has to be the best.
Next in line is my 4 year old, Tailey Zane. She has an imagination like no other. She can turn cereal boxes and food cans into a beautiful castle that is fit for a queen. She loves to play make believe and her favorite movies are The Chronicles of Narnia, go figure. She also loves to dance and cheer, but definitely has some athleticism about her. She can take her daddy in a wrestling match any day, and likes to play catch outside. She also likes to play school, and loves learning anything new and challenging.
My final baby girl, Tailor Nicole, is 2, but acts like she is 6. With her older sister's doing everything that big girls do, of course she has to follow. I feel like she has grown up way to fast. She is definitely a sweetie, but don't let that fool you, she can take up for herself anytime. She loves to talk, especially if it's on the phone. If there is makeup around, it will be on her face in less than a minute, and would wear a tutu and a crown everyday if I let her.
Last but not least, is my 1 year old son, Bowden Blaine. He is by far the king of the house. If he wants it he gets it. The girls will do anything for him, and he has definitely figured this out. He is all boy! I find it amazing how different it is to raise a boy, after I have had 3 girls. He loves cars, tractors, dirt, rocks, mud, pretty much anything that will make you dirty and destroy. He is also a lover and a big mommas boy. He could give a million kisses a day, and he does.
I feel like my children are angels on earth. There are times that get frustrating, but all of the other moments make up for those times. I am ready to take on this journey of raising my children the way that God has intended. Sure there will be times that we fall, but that will only make us all stronger and help us to learn from those mistakes. I absolutely love my children with all that have, and every moment I share with them makes me love them even more!
My oldest daughter, Taigan Alexis, is 6. She just started kindergarten this year, and I am convinced she is the smartest child ever (yes, I am a little partial...lol!). In all honesty though, she is very smart, loves anything that is school related, writes poems and songs, and loves to do anything that is creative, such as drawing, painting, or playing with clay. She says that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up, and I know that she will make a great one! She also loves to dance, cheer, and do gymnastics. If it is girly, count her in. Whatever she does it has to be the best.
Next in line is my 4 year old, Tailey Zane. She has an imagination like no other. She can turn cereal boxes and food cans into a beautiful castle that is fit for a queen. She loves to play make believe and her favorite movies are The Chronicles of Narnia, go figure. She also loves to dance and cheer, but definitely has some athleticism about her. She can take her daddy in a wrestling match any day, and likes to play catch outside. She also likes to play school, and loves learning anything new and challenging.
My final baby girl, Tailor Nicole, is 2, but acts like she is 6. With her older sister's doing everything that big girls do, of course she has to follow. I feel like she has grown up way to fast. She is definitely a sweetie, but don't let that fool you, she can take up for herself anytime. She loves to talk, especially if it's on the phone. If there is makeup around, it will be on her face in less than a minute, and would wear a tutu and a crown everyday if I let her.
Last but not least, is my 1 year old son, Bowden Blaine. He is by far the king of the house. If he wants it he gets it. The girls will do anything for him, and he has definitely figured this out. He is all boy! I find it amazing how different it is to raise a boy, after I have had 3 girls. He loves cars, tractors, dirt, rocks, mud, pretty much anything that will make you dirty and destroy. He is also a lover and a big mommas boy. He could give a million kisses a day, and he does.
I feel like my children are angels on earth. There are times that get frustrating, but all of the other moments make up for those times. I am ready to take on this journey of raising my children the way that God has intended. Sure there will be times that we fall, but that will only make us all stronger and help us to learn from those mistakes. I absolutely love my children with all that have, and every moment I share with them makes me love them even more!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
My husband and I are having ourselves a mini-vacation. We are in Columbia until Sunday watching my brother-in-law wrestle at the state championships, and we managed to leave the house with no kids. This is why we are declaring this a vacation. So far it has been great, but there is one thing that I would like to talk about. On the way to Columbia, I realized how mean drivers can be to one another if something doesn't go their way. I also realized how harmful it could be to others and yourself. Road rage is a very bad thing!
I know, you are probably thinking that I am just screaming at you for committing this act of wrong doing, but I am truthful when I say that when I point a finger at you, I have 3 pointing back to me. I am just as guilty or more than you are, but the fact is, we really need to hold off all bad feelings on the road. At this site, road rage is described as a display of aggression by a driver that sometimes leads to a physical assault. When I first saw this I thought that it was a little extreme, but I looked at some statistics and found out that over a period of 6 years there were 10,037 reported instances of road rage. Out of these instances, 12,610 were injured and 218 men, women, and children were known to be murdered. These numbers blew my mind!
Most of us think of road rage as being little things that people do to others when they are mad at something they did. Some examples include: profanity, hand gestures, speeding up or slowing down. These all seem like they are harmless, but what happens when they get out of hand. A car could run off the road and hurt or even kill someone. This makes it sound a lot more dangerous, don't you think. This site has some good suggestions on how to overcome the urge to have road rage. They include, concentrate on just driving, make sure you give yourself enough time to get to your destination, and drive the speed limit. It also gives good information on what to do if you are confronted with someone who has road rage. They suggest that you just let them by. Don't give in to their pressure and do not make eye contact. This will let the reckless driver by and away from you.
Everyone has a little road rage every once in a while, but controlling it will help lead to safer drivers. If you want to report any drivers who have displayed road rage you can visit this site for more information. Drive Safely!!
I know, you are probably thinking that I am just screaming at you for committing this act of wrong doing, but I am truthful when I say that when I point a finger at you, I have 3 pointing back to me. I am just as guilty or more than you are, but the fact is, we really need to hold off all bad feelings on the road. At this site, road rage is described as a display of aggression by a driver that sometimes leads to a physical assault. When I first saw this I thought that it was a little extreme, but I looked at some statistics and found out that over a period of 6 years there were 10,037 reported instances of road rage. Out of these instances, 12,610 were injured and 218 men, women, and children were known to be murdered. These numbers blew my mind!
Most of us think of road rage as being little things that people do to others when they are mad at something they did. Some examples include: profanity, hand gestures, speeding up or slowing down. These all seem like they are harmless, but what happens when they get out of hand. A car could run off the road and hurt or even kill someone. This makes it sound a lot more dangerous, don't you think. This site has some good suggestions on how to overcome the urge to have road rage. They include, concentrate on just driving, make sure you give yourself enough time to get to your destination, and drive the speed limit. It also gives good information on what to do if you are confronted with someone who has road rage. They suggest that you just let them by. Don't give in to their pressure and do not make eye contact. This will let the reckless driver by and away from you.
Everyone has a little road rage every once in a while, but controlling it will help lead to safer drivers. If you want to report any drivers who have displayed road rage you can visit this site for more information. Drive Safely!!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Surgery or not??
Congenital heart disease is a defect of the heart that occurs before birth. It is actually a pretty common occurrence. Statistics show that 8-10 out of every 1,000 children are born with some kind of defect, although most of those are usually not caught at birth. To diagnose a defect, a doctor must first hear a heart murmur. A murmur is the sound of your heart beating at an abnormal pace. If the doctor feels that you need further tests, you will be sent to a specialist. Some of the tests that are done include an echocardiogram, chest x-ray, MRI, cardiac catheterization, and an EKG. After these tests are done the specialist will be able to explain what kind of defect you have. Defects range from very mild to some being pretty extreme. The one that I am going to talk about is an ASD (Atrial Septal Defect). If you would like to find out about the others also, click here.
An ASD is a hole in the wall that separates or divides the heart. When a normal heart operates, blood going through the right atrium,which is the top portion of the heart, is low in oxygen. This blood then flows through to the right ventricle, which is on the bottom portion of the heart. Then it travels to the lungs and becomes rich in oxygen. It then goes to the left atrium and then the left ventricle, where it is pumped to the rest of the body. The heart contains a wall between the two atria which is called an atrium septrum. When a person is diagnosed with an ASD, they have a hole in that wall. This causes the oxygen rich blood to pour into the atrium with the poor oxygenated blood. This makes the blood flow that goes to the lungs increase.
Most children who are diagnosed with this will not have any symptoms, and in time the hole will close on its own. Some children who have larger holes that will not repair themselves may need to undergo a procedure to have it closed. If the hole is not closed it may cause problems later in life, such as abnormal heart beat and the ability the heart can pump the blood. There is also an increased risk for a stroke. Most of the time the hole can be closed by putting a catheter into the blood vessel that leads to the heart and placing an implant at the hole that closes it.
So, now that you have read all about what an ASD is, I can explain why I want to know everything that I can about this defect. My daughter was born with 3 holes in her heart. As most parents would be, I was horrified at the thought of this. We followed through with the checkups and the tests. She sees the specialist every 6 months. At her third checkup, she was a year old, and one of the holes had completely closed on its own. This was a GREAT day! She still had 2 but one had gotten smaller. She will be 3 in April and she still has the 2 holes. One is very small, but the other is still pretty large. I am glad that science has come a long way to create a simple procedure, but it is still a procedure, and there are always risks. I am still hanging on to hope, and I hope that a miracle can happen. If a surgery has to be performed, I will put all of my trust in God, and know that it has to be done for my daughter to live a healthy life as an adult.
An ASD is a hole in the wall that separates or divides the heart. When a normal heart operates, blood going through the right atrium,which is the top portion of the heart, is low in oxygen. This blood then flows through to the right ventricle, which is on the bottom portion of the heart. Then it travels to the lungs and becomes rich in oxygen. It then goes to the left atrium and then the left ventricle, where it is pumped to the rest of the body. The heart contains a wall between the two atria which is called an atrium septrum. When a person is diagnosed with an ASD, they have a hole in that wall. This causes the oxygen rich blood to pour into the atrium with the poor oxygenated blood. This makes the blood flow that goes to the lungs increase.
Most children who are diagnosed with this will not have any symptoms, and in time the hole will close on its own. Some children who have larger holes that will not repair themselves may need to undergo a procedure to have it closed. If the hole is not closed it may cause problems later in life, such as abnormal heart beat and the ability the heart can pump the blood. There is also an increased risk for a stroke. Most of the time the hole can be closed by putting a catheter into the blood vessel that leads to the heart and placing an implant at the hole that closes it.
So, now that you have read all about what an ASD is, I can explain why I want to know everything that I can about this defect. My daughter was born with 3 holes in her heart. As most parents would be, I was horrified at the thought of this. We followed through with the checkups and the tests. She sees the specialist every 6 months. At her third checkup, she was a year old, and one of the holes had completely closed on its own. This was a GREAT day! She still had 2 but one had gotten smaller. She will be 3 in April and she still has the 2 holes. One is very small, but the other is still pretty large. I am glad that science has come a long way to create a simple procedure, but it is still a procedure, and there are always risks. I am still hanging on to hope, and I hope that a miracle can happen. If a surgery has to be performed, I will put all of my trust in God, and know that it has to be done for my daughter to live a healthy life as an adult.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Not enough time in a day.....
Do you ever feel like the days just keep getting faster and faster? I keep telling myself that there will be more time, or if I can just get this done first then I can work on completing the other. This is definitely how this week has felt for me, and today was by far the worst. I mean, it is already 11:45 on Friday and I am just now writing my first post of the week.
I woke up this morning with bright plans ahead to catch up on all of my homework. The oldest is off to school and her siblings are fed. Off to a great start right....not hardly. I think that I have been in homework denial all week, and today was not an exception. My husband decided to take the day off, so he wanted to sleep in. That sounded pretty good to me too. Thank goodness for big beds because after breakfast my husband, three kids, and I all decided to climb back in and pop in a movie. An hour passes and kids are ready to play, so we all crawl slowly out of bed (again). I log on to the computer and find myself checking my mail, updating a status, and looking at the next weather forecast. I have yet to open blackboard. I get a knock at the door and someone is here to pick up some furniture they bought from me. Yay! I finally get to clear this stuff out of my house. We talk for a while and then load it into the car. I look at the clock and decide that it is definitely time I need to get started on homework, but wait...now the kids are getting hungry again. So off to the kitchen to make lunch. While I am in the kitchen, I realize that the laundry is piled a little too high. I have to get the laundry done, because with 4 kids and a husband there is never time for a break in laundry. I load the washer and start folding when I hear another knock at the door. It was my best friend from high school. Another Yay!!!! I haven't talked to her in a while, so of course we sat for 2 hours and did nothing but catch up, and yes she gets to go on vacation in 2 days while I am stuck here. Anyway, she had to leave and I had more laundry, and then the phone rang. My daughter's designated after school driver, whom I thank every day for picking up my daughter for me so I don't have to get the little ones out, called to ask if I could pick her and her son up today. Well, of course I can because she does it for me every day. I needed to pick up a few things from the store for dinner anyway. So the kids are picked up and I am back at home when I realize that I forgot to go to the store. It's a good thing my husband took off work. I finally finish the laundry and get dinner started when my baby sister walks in. Yes, another Yay!!! She has not been over in a month, and that is forever for us. Then I remember why she is there. I told her I would go to the game with her tonight, and I can't tell her no, so back to town we go. Three hours later I find myself back at home with a chapter to read in biology with a quiz due, a short story I still haven't read, 3 tapes of psych to watch, and 2 blog posts that I haven't started. On top of it all, I find out that the tests I thought that were in 2 weeks are actually in less than 1.
I think that I have learned a HUGE lesson this week on procrastination. Never again will I let myself get this far behind, ever! It was very stressful and double the effort. Hopefully I can get caught up and enjoy the time I have left over to spend it with my babies. Like I said before, the days keep getting faster and faster, even if you are on top your game.
I woke up this morning with bright plans ahead to catch up on all of my homework. The oldest is off to school and her siblings are fed. Off to a great start right....not hardly. I think that I have been in homework denial all week, and today was not an exception. My husband decided to take the day off, so he wanted to sleep in. That sounded pretty good to me too. Thank goodness for big beds because after breakfast my husband, three kids, and I all decided to climb back in and pop in a movie. An hour passes and kids are ready to play, so we all crawl slowly out of bed (again). I log on to the computer and find myself checking my mail, updating a status, and looking at the next weather forecast. I have yet to open blackboard. I get a knock at the door and someone is here to pick up some furniture they bought from me. Yay! I finally get to clear this stuff out of my house. We talk for a while and then load it into the car. I look at the clock and decide that it is definitely time I need to get started on homework, but wait...now the kids are getting hungry again. So off to the kitchen to make lunch. While I am in the kitchen, I realize that the laundry is piled a little too high. I have to get the laundry done, because with 4 kids and a husband there is never time for a break in laundry. I load the washer and start folding when I hear another knock at the door. It was my best friend from high school. Another Yay!!!! I haven't talked to her in a while, so of course we sat for 2 hours and did nothing but catch up, and yes she gets to go on vacation in 2 days while I am stuck here. Anyway, she had to leave and I had more laundry, and then the phone rang. My daughter's designated after school driver, whom I thank every day for picking up my daughter for me so I don't have to get the little ones out, called to ask if I could pick her and her son up today. Well, of course I can because she does it for me every day. I needed to pick up a few things from the store for dinner anyway. So the kids are picked up and I am back at home when I realize that I forgot to go to the store. It's a good thing my husband took off work. I finally finish the laundry and get dinner started when my baby sister walks in. Yes, another Yay!!! She has not been over in a month, and that is forever for us. Then I remember why she is there. I told her I would go to the game with her tonight, and I can't tell her no, so back to town we go. Three hours later I find myself back at home with a chapter to read in biology with a quiz due, a short story I still haven't read, 3 tapes of psych to watch, and 2 blog posts that I haven't started. On top of it all, I find out that the tests I thought that were in 2 weeks are actually in less than 1.
I think that I have learned a HUGE lesson this week on procrastination. Never again will I let myself get this far behind, ever! It was very stressful and double the effort. Hopefully I can get caught up and enjoy the time I have left over to spend it with my babies. Like I said before, the days keep getting faster and faster, even if you are on top your game.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)