Category Archives: Lifestyle

Easy Ways To Go Green With Your Family

07/09/2019 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Responsibility is one of the most valuable lessons a parent can teach to their children, especially in this day and age. The planet that we call home is in trouble, with waste and pollution all around us. While we may have become more aware of the impact that we have on the Earth, we must ensure our children know of this too. After all, before long, the world will be theirs to take care of, just like it is now ours. Living an eco-friendly lifestyle can seem complicated, but it’s actually quite simple. With that in mind, here are seven easy things that your whole family can do to go green.

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1. Make A Meal Plan

Reducing waste is a big part of living a green lifestyle. While material waste is definitely an issue, food waste is becoming a huge problem in many places around the world. Thankfully, this is one that is very easily solved. All that you have to do is only buy groceries that you know for certain you will eat. By creating a weekly meal plan, you give yourself a list of all the food products that you need for the week. You can create these meal plans as a family so that everyone is happy.

2. Bring Your Own Bags

When you go shopping, make sure that you have your own bags before leaving the house. While single-use plastic bags used to be commonplace, they are slowly being weaned out of grocery stores and supermarkets. Many shops now charge for such bags, while others refuse to stock them at all. Tote bags are much more eco-friendly, as they can be used again and again. If you buy a few plain ones and some fabric paint, you could allow your kids to decorate them.

3. Ditch Single-Use Items

Being a parent isn’t easy. As well as working and looking after the children, there are household chores that need completing. While it can be tempting to eliminate the washing up by using paper plates and plastic cutlery, the waste this produces just isn’t worth it. Before you buy stainless steel knives and forks, however, you should learn everything you need to know about bamboo cutlery. This cutlery works just as well as steel but is much better for the planet.

4. Grow A Vegetable Garden

Starting your own vegetable garden will benefit the entire family. Learning about where food comes from and the process of growing it is incredibly beneficial for children, as is the fresh air that they’ll get every time they help you with the gardening. Plus, you won’t have to travel to get fresh vegetables. This is incredibly convenient for you, but it also means that you won’t have to drive, which limits pollution. If you don’t have a green thumb, you could buy from other growers.

5. Turn Off The Electronics

Kids these days tend to be in front of screens longer than they are away from them. While this can harm the health of your child, it also contributes to pollution. Because of this, you should set limits on how long your children are allowed to watch TV and play their consoles. Once this time is over, you should turn off those electronics at the wall and unplug them from the outlet. Simply leaving these devices on standby will continue to use electricity, costing you and the planet.

6. Use Natural Cleaning Products

The cleaning products we tend to find in supermarkets and grocery stores are far from healthy. In fact, they contain incredibly harmful chemicals, which can damage the environment and your health. Before you send your kids off to do their chores, therefore, you should make your own cleaning products. There are many natural ingredients that you can use for all sorts of cleaners, including lemon juice and vinegar. These clean just as well, but aren’t nearly as dangerous.

7. Take Walks To School

As tempting as it may be on cold mornings, you should avoid driving your little ones to school. If at all possible, you should instead walk with them or ride bicycles together. This is a great way to exercise and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time. If the distance or weather makes walking or riding impossible, then consider carpooling instead. This would mean that fewer cars are on the road, which would benefit the environment in a big way too.

Going green isn’t nearly as difficult as most people think, so follow the advice above and start making positive changes with your family.

Food, Going Healthy, Health, Lifestyle

Diets Vs Individual Foods: Does It Really Matter Which?

07/08/2019 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Typically, we see diets as structured approaches to living a healthier lifestyle. We have set parameters which we cannot go beyond but everything else inside is fair game. In case our diet demands no use of butter for recipes, we have to use olive oil, if we can’t eat chocolate we eat honey to satisfy our sugar cravings, if we can’t eat meat we eat other proteins like nuts and cheese. Diets are really just balancing acts that become a part of our lifestyle. But should we really be forced to lock out certain foods from our diet? Maybe we demonize foods which are completely fine on their own but don’t fit the desired ‘group’ of foods we can’t eat. A diet versus food battle then ensues.

Fats are unhealthy?

If you are on a low fat diet, you’ll be wary of many things. Fried foods are out of the question, so is fatty meat, cheese and milk also take a tumble down the hill. These are the main fats that we have in our normal day of eating, but since your diet doesn’t allow you to have fats they have to be cut out. However, not all fats are the same. There are various fats that your body does need. A low fat diet just means you can’t have as much fat as you normally would. So fats from pecan nuts, Greek yogurt and soft cheese are foods that can be consumed. Pecans and Greek yogurt have fats that are easily broken down by the body, meaning they’re not as complex. Unlike hard cheese, soft cheese is again easily broken down and made into ready-to-use energy by the body. Not all fats should be demonized, even while on a low fat diet.

Body versus diet

Diets are just structures, they aren’t set in stone. Regardless of what the diet you’re following demands, you have to listen to what your body is saying first. There could be certain foods that you cannot eat, that don’t sit well with you and maybe even cause you harm. Look at food sensitivity testing, and this everlywell.com review. It’s a kit which you can use to see what foods are making you ill, sapping your energy or possibly not having much effect on your diet. If a vegan diet demands you eat more plants, but your body is sapped of the vital vitamin B12, then you have to stop the diet. You need foods that have a high level of B12 in them to regain strength, such as beef.

Type of food

If you’re on a low carb diet such as the ketogenic diet, then you need to limit the amount of wheat, grains and high fiber foods you eat. However, some carbs are better than others. For example, bread is going to have a higher density mass of carbs. But those carbs are not as complex as rice or pasta. So foods like bread and potatoes are the better choice for your carb intake as they have less of an impact on your body and health.

Sometimes we get too bogged down in what a dietary book tells us. We have to think for ourselves as well, so don’t lock out certain food which can be useful to your goal.

Going Healthy, Health, Lifestyle, Parenting, Tips

How to Keep Your Family Happy and Healthy During the Summer Holidays

07/08/2019 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Now that school is nearly over, your kids are probably really excited about their soon to be freedom! It’s a bit of a change to how things normally are, it can be really tempting to just order a takeaway and put a film on to keep your kids entertained, but it’s really important to make sure that they get out and about during the summer.

Your kids are probably really excited that they’ll have a break from homework, deadlines and rushing to catch the bus. This break means that your kids (and you) now have time to relax. Obviously, you need to take a break from time to time, however, you should make sure that it doesn’t affect your kids negatively. Having a routine is good for them, so you don’t want to change it up too much.

Get them Moving

Taking too long a break can actually cause a lot more problems, as it can cause unhealthy changes. In fact, some studies suggest that summer may be the most fattening time of the year for kids. So, as a parent, you should be thoughtful about how much exercise your kid is actually doing during the summer holidays.

It’s important to make sure that they don’t spend all day in bed. Whilst you can give them the occasional one, you should still make sure that they get up and active most of the time. Otherwise when they go back to school at the end of the summer holidays, they’ll probably struggle to readjust to getting up early for school.

Create healthy habits

Junk food can have a pleasing taste due to the high levels of artificial sugars. However, they might create mayhem to your family’s moods and health. Nowadays, many kids are either obese or overweight. Therefore, creating a healthy lifestyle can play a significant role in maintaining weight. On many occasions, children that are overweight are very prone to heartburn, which can be caused by eating certain types of foods. Medications can be useful for treating heartburn in kids. However, consult your doctor before buying any heartburn medication, because there is a popular heartburn relief drug that has been recalled by the manufacturers.

Keep to your Normal Routine

This goes hand in hand with getting up early. Sure, you can have an extra half hour in bed if needs be, but don’t let yourself or your kids get into the habit of staying up late and getting up late. It’s a really hard habit to break. Why not make the most of the day and get up and out of bed as soon as possible? The weather’s great outside so you should definitely make sure to soak up some sunshine.

It might also help you to create a list of activities that you can do together. Make sure that you allocate a specific time for this. This way they’ll have something to do (just like they would if they had to get to school). So, this will help stop them just rolling out of bed and sitting on the couch all day.

Remember to Keep Cool and Have Fun!

While it’s important to make sure that your kids have a routine, you don’t want to overdo it. It’s vital that they have some downtime. This is particularly important as sometimes in summer it can get very hot and this can lead to dizziness, tiredness or even feeling faint. This is something that you want to avoid. So, one way that you can do this, is to have fun in a cool room inside your house. In order to do this, you might find it beneficial if you have an air conditioning unit installed in your house. If you don’t have one then you can always check out a website like airecontrol.com. Having an air conditioning unit installed can really help you stay cool and not get too hot during the summer.

It’s important to keep hydrated whilst the sun is shining. If you or your kids get too hot, then you might become ill and this is a sure way to ruin your holiday. You should make the most of those cool rooms that have nice air conditioning. However, if you do want to go outside, then make sure that you drink water regularly. Don’t forget to put plenty of sunscreen on your kids if they are spending all day outside. You can find about more about the right sunscreen to put on your kids here.