Month: August 2017

Nosh

7 Things You Should Know Before Becoming A Vegan

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date August 15, 2017

Going vegan means eating an entirely plant-based diet. That means no meat, no dairy, no eggs, and yes, no fish (for some reason, some don’t consider seafood to be meat).
According to the Vegetarian Resource Group’s poll of more than 2,000 American adults, about 1.6 percent of Americans are vegan. Another study compiled by GlobalData looking at trends in prepared foods says that “6 percent of U.S. consumers now claim to be vegan, up from just 1 percent in 2014.”

Either way, millions of U.S. citizens now consider themselves vegan. If you’ve thought about switching to a vegan diet, here are seven things to take into account before making the commitment.

1. Know your motivation.

In addition to looking at the numbers, the Vegetarian Resource Group also tried to determine what motivates people to eat meals without meat.
Vegetarians and vegans identified their reasons for their dietary choices as “animals (29 percent), health (18 percent), ethics (10 percent), environment (9 percent), and other (12 percent).”

Of course, you don’t have to be a card-carrying member of PETA to think that animals are adorable, and a green diet has a number of health benefits, too.
“Vegetarian eating patterns have been associated with improved health outcomes including lower levels of obesity, a reduced risk of heart disease, and lower blood pressure,” according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Plus, raising livestock contributes greatly to manmade carbon emissions. According to an international team of scientists including representatives from Harvard, “Livestock are responsible for 12 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.” Consuming less meat helps to make a dent in those emissions.
No matter your motivation, seek to clearly identify and articulate why you want to go vegan before buckling down. Taking this step will help you when times are tough (like Thanksgiving, for instance) and give you something to reflect back on when your values are tested.

2. Start slowly and quietly.

Don’t force yourself to make a big life change overnight. You can absolutely ease your way into a vegan diet, as Victoria Moran noted in her book Main Street Vegan.
The author spoke with Reader’s Digest about shifting to a vegan diet and suggested transitioning gradually by eliminating one animal product at a time. Alternatively, consider the “vegan at home” method, which means eating vegan at home but allowing yourself wiggle room at restaurants.

I you’re still an omnivore, Moran also suggests starting your path to becoming a vegan by being a “vegetarian for now,” which means you won’t have to give up cheesy pizza in the immediate future.
Jenné Claiborne, a chef known as The Nourishing Vegan, told Reader’s Digest that aspiring vegans should “crowd out less healthy, or non-vegan foods with a yummy vegan addition. …For example, have a green smoothie before your usual breakfast, or some fruit before an afternoon cookie,” Claiborne advises. “By eating the plant-based food first you won’t have as much room for other stuff, and you’ll develop a taste for the healthier option.”

Vegenista blogger Melissa Bechter says that she did indeed eventually lose her taste for animal-based foods. Former NBA champ and Vegan Vine partner John Salley made this suggestion in Reader’s Digest:
“Don’t announce what you are doing; focus on yourself and being conscious of your surroundings, body, and food addictions first… Be still and strong in your ability to control your own life.”

Remember, this is your own personal journey. Don’t make it too complicated; focus on yourself and whatever internal obstacles or resistance seems to pop up in response to your dietary goals.

3. Find a support system.

There’s a difference between telling everyone in your social media platform about your decision to go vegan and asking a trusted friend or respected peer for help. There are a number of digital support groups for vegans where you can swap recipes, ask for tips, and complain about the haters, and they’re a great resource.

“You’ll need someone to rant to about how many times a day you get asked where you get your protein,” Jill Wiseman of Vegan Cuts told Reader’s Digest.
VeganStart has a list of social media sites and web pages that may be helpful for new vegans so that you don’t feel alone on your food and lifestyle journey.

4. Get inspired.

Many people think of veganism as giving up meat and dairy, but you can just as easily frame it as the foundation for a food adventure.
The Instagram hashtag, #VeganInspiration has around 55,000 posts featuring images of people’s delicious dishes, fitness routines, and adorable critters.

Pinterest is another great place to find and keep track of delicious-looking vegan dishes. Pinterest user Elisa Camahort has curated a vegan recipes page that features nearly 400 inspirational dishes including General Tso’s tofu, pizza, and even toasted coconut chocolate mousse. If you think of vegan recipes as rabbit food, it’s time to think again.
You might also check out Oh She Glows, a successful and growing recipe blog that features more than 500 healthy meal ideas and has been kicking for the past six years.

“I’ve shared energizing, plant-based recipes that my family and I enjoy on a daily basis,” explained the blog’s founder, Angela Liddon. “My goal is to inspire you to embrace more plant-based foods in your diet without feeling the least bit deprived. And yes, my recipes are great for meat-eaters and picky kids too!”
The internet has made it easy to find vegan substitutes if you’re craving dishes that typically have meat, dairy, or eggs.

5. Do it right.

Technically, potato chips and soda are vegan, but they’re not going to provide you with the vitamins and minerals your body needs to flourish.

If you’re going vegan, dozens of people will ask you where you get your protein, but it’s probably more important for you to keep an eye on your intake of vitamin B12, omega-3 and -6 fatty acids, vitamin D, and calcium.
Veganuary, a UK-based website that encourages people to try going vegan for the month of January, offers a very helpful “Nutrition in a Nutshell” page for new vegans.
For protein, you’ll have many options. In particular, look to:
Legumes, like “beans, peanuts, peas, lentils and soy (beans and soy products like tofu, tempeh etc.)”
Grains, including “brown/wild rice, whole wheat bread and pasta, amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa,” and
Nuts, all of them—”brazils, peanuts, cashews, almonds, pistachios and walnuts.”

For vitamin B12 and your omega-3 fatty acids, it may be worth looking into taking supplements in the form of pills to make sure your body isn’t missing out on vital nutrients.
For vitamin D and calcium, make sure you’re eating a balanced diet that includes green foods like kale and broccoli. Also, spend time out in the sun to help your body processes vitamin D.
(And if you do happen to have a sweet tooth, you might find our article on vegan candy helpful!)

6. Don’t be a jerk.

You don’t have to look far to find plenty of commentary from seemingly self-righteous vegans. Try not to brag about your new diet. Not only is this habit annoying, but it can push people away from the very cause you’re trying to support.

Arm yourself with facts, be polite when asking your waitstaff about ingredient in dishes (and tip at least 20 percent!), and remember this is your journey, not anyone else’s.
Of course, you don’t have to let meat-eaters walk all over you if they’re being rude. Build up an arsenal of one-liners, comebacks, and canned responses for people who give you a hard time about your diet.
“Why are you vegan?” they ask. “Because I hate plants,” you’ll say.

Getting harassed about not getting enough protein? Respond, “Thanks, I’ll be sure to remind the nuts and legumes I eat that they’re low in protein. They forget sometimes.”
If you’re getting a hard time about missing out on turkey this Thanksgiving, tell them that Ben Franklin considered the turkey to be a “respectable bird.” In the end, you’re just showing support for a patriot.

7. Be true to and generous with yourself.

“People get so caught up in rules [of being vegan], they become anxious,” Terry Hope Romero, author of Vegan Eats World, told Reader’s Digest. “Relax and learn to love to cook, explore new cuisines, and be adventurous with food. Most importantly, be easy on yourself. Don’t view a vegan lifestyle as the finish line, but as an evolving process of conscious eating.”

After all, there may be times when you find out a loaf of bread was made with eggs or you may find yourself a guest of a family who can’t culturally comprehend your a vegan lifestyle.
You will almost definitely accidentally (and perhaps intentionally) eat some animal-based products in the future. That won’t mean you’re a failure.

Go back to your motivation. Why did you make this decision? Did breaking your vegan diet in that circumstance fundamentally change you as a person? Does making a fuss or feeling bad about it change anything? Consider how can you avoid these situations in the future.
Congratulations for considering this lifestyle change. It’s quite an adventure, but if you’re motivated, you will get inspired and make it work.

Tags 50032986, fuel, hemingway

Motherhood

Meet The World's Most Prolific Surrogate Mother

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date August 15, 2017

Back in the olden days, it wasn’t unusual for people to have extremely large families. Lots of kids meant free labor on the family farm. But in the 21st century, being perpetually pregnant is kind of hard to imagine—unless you’re Carole Horlock.

Horlock has the distinction of being the world’s most prolific surrogate mother. She’s carried her own two daughters, and has so far carried 13 babies for couples struggling to get pregnant on their own.

Journey to Surrogacy

Horlock married young. At 21 years old, she didn’t give much thought to having children.

However, when she got pregnant with her oldest daughter, Steffanie, she was overjoyed. Three months later, though, she left her husband. Three years later, she gave birth to a second daughter, Megan.
Estranged from her daughters’ fathers, Horlock made ends meet as a single mother by working at a laundry service.

In 1995, she read a news article about surrogacy. At the time, surrogacy was a hotly debated issue. Despite the ethical issues surrounding the topic, Horlock knew she wanted to be a surrogate. She’d loved being pregnant with her own two daughters.
While she didn’t want any more children of her own, she knew she wanted to help others conceive.

Horlock became a surrogate mother for the first time in 1995. Steffanie and Megan, just children at the time, were supportive of their mother’s decision to carry a child for another couple.

Not Without Controversy

To date, Carole Horlock has given birth to 15 children in 24 years, including a set of twins and a set of triplets. Her surrogacy journey has not been without controversy, though.

In 2004, Horlock gave birth to a healthy baby boy and promptly turned him over to his parents per their surrogacy agreement. But it was discovered by the new parents that the baby did not share the father’s DNA.
After Horlock and her partner, Paul, were tested, it was discovered that the baby was actually theirs. Horlock said that the experience ended on a “very sour note,” but the couple for whom she was carrying adopted the baby and are raising him as their own. Despite the incident, she continued to be a surrogate for another decade.
Horlock announced her retirement from surrogacy in 2013 after she had to deliver via cesarean section due to extremely high blood pressure. After the traumatic birth, doctors told Horlock that pregnancy was no longer safe at her age. In her mid-forties, pregnancy meant increased risks for both Horlock and an unborn child.

However, Horlock made headlines again when she announced that she’s trying to carry babies 16 and 17 at 50 years old. This would make her the oldest surrogate mother in Britain; the distinction of the world’s oldest surrogate mother belongs to Anastassia Ontou, a 67-year-old Greek grandmother who carried her granddaughter to term.

Why Surrogacy?

Celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and most recently Kim Kardashian have helped destigmatize surrogacy by sharing their stories, but many critics still voice concerns regarding surrogate compensation and child welfare.

Despite these concerns, surrogacy has grown in popularity as a way for infertile couples to have a child.
Some assume that Carole Horlock, like Amy Poehler’s hilarious character in the 2008 flick Baby Mama, is simply looking for easy money. However, when you consider how “fun” pregnancy can be for some women, there are much easier ways to earn a living.

According to Sherrie Smith at the Center for Surrogate Parenting, “Having a baby for someone else is as far from easy money as you can get.”
Horlock, like most legitimate commercial surrogates, maintains that helping people become parents is the greatest reward. A decade ago, when pregnant with baby number nine, Horlock had this to say about surrogacy: “What’s wrong with helping other women? People who have never wanted a child cannot understand the pain involved.”

Surrogacy in the United States

In the United States, surrogacy laws vary from state to state. In most states, surrogates can charge a fee for their services, ranging anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000. In the United Kingdom, where Carole Horlock lives, laws prohibit women from receiving any financial compensation other than those that are directly related to maternity expenses. Horlock typically earns roughly $15,000 to $20,000 per surrogacy.

Recently, surrogacy made headlines when The New York Times reported that a large number of foreign couples are heading to the U.S. to take advantage of lax surrogacy laws. Many countries, like Portugal, prohibit surrogacy altogether.
In the UK, laws prohibit surrogate mothers from carrying children if there are health risks to the mother or child. This is why, when Carole Horlock was told she could no longer be a surrogate, she went to a Greek fertility clinic for her most recent surrogacy.

In the United States, however, surrogacy takes place in private clinics and is largely unregulated. According to the Times, “For overseas couples, the big draw is the knowledge that many states have sophisticated fertility clinics, experienced lawyers, a large pool of egg donors and surrogates, and, especially, established legal precedent.”
Because surrogacy is so varied across the U.S., there are no concrete statistics to show how many surrogates work in the U.S. or how many babies are born via surrogacy annually. One unverified report states that approximately nine babies are born via surrogacy in the United States each year, although the true number is probably much higher.

What is true is that surrogacy is a rapidly growing business, coinciding with the rise of nontraditional families in America.
Since 1995, when Carole Horlock decided to become a surrogate mother, so much has changed, including the way surrogates and would-be parents connect. Surrogacies traditionally take place through a clinic, legal service, or are privately arranged.

But it’s 2017, so of course, there’s now an app to help people choose the surrogate that’s right for them. It’s like a dating app, but instead of swiping left for a date, you’re actually searching for the perfect womb.

What’s next for Carole Horlock?

Horlock hasn’t reported whether or not the fertility treatments she received in 2016 resulted in pregnancy. However, her career as a surrogate made such an impression that in 2013, her daughter Megan decided to become a surrogate mother as well.

Megan currently keeps in touch with several of the children her mother has carried, although she acknowledges it is a bit odd to have a whole network of people who are closer than friends but are not quite family. These relationships fuel her desire to become a surrogate like her mother.
Megan puts it this way: “When you’ve grown up with it, it’s normal in a way. I’ve seen first hand how much joy it brings to people’s lives. You are doing something for them that money can’t buy.”

While the Horlocks are looking to turn the business of creating families for others into a family enterprise, there’s no word on whether or not Megan will try to usurp her mother’s title as the world’s most prolific surrogate mother.

Tags 50026986, hemingway, parenting

Wellbeing

Quack Doctor Cures Through History

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date August 15, 2017

Did you know that up until the mid-1700s, many Europeans believed their monarchs were divine and could cure ailments with just a touch of their hand?

This “cure” might sound crazy to us in an age of modern medicine, but quack medicine practiced by snake oil salesmen has persisted throughout history.
Since the beginning of time, it appears that people will try just about anything in the name of wellness.

Yes, doctor, I’d love to have all my blood drained.

Hippocrates popularized the notion that the body was controlled by four humors–blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Each humor was associated with an element of earth, wind, water, or fire and a season of the year.

For good health, the humors were supposed to be kept in harmony. When a person became ill, doctors tried to restore humoral balance.
That’s how the unappealing art of bloodletting came into practice. Sick patients would be drained of their blood by barber surgeons, often pints at a time, in an attempt to restore the humors’ balance.

In fact, the modern barber pole remains an emblem of the bloodletting practice. The red and white stripes are symbolic of the bloody and clean bandages used during bloodletting surgery.
Unsurprisingly, draining a very ill individual of most of their blood did more harm than good, but bloodletting remained a popular medical practice for hundreds of years. Bloodletting reached the height of its popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries, when leeches were stuck all over the body as a way to drain blood.

By the late 19th century, most doctors agreed that bloodletting does not cure disease. However, the practice still continues and is endorsed by some celebrities as the next great detox diet.

A clyster a day keeps you close to the restroom.

Clyster is just a fancy word for enema. In modern medical terms, enemas are used to evacuate the bowels when things just aren’t moving like they should. While enemas help relieve occasional constipation, people throughout history believed that clysters could cure a variety of ills.

Clysters were especially en vogue during the Middle Ages, and their popularity reached a fever pitch in 18th-century France, when French royals sometimes administered themselves up to four clysters a day.
In the United States, enemas were popularized by one man in the early 1900’s: John Harvey Kellogg, brother of the creator of the eponymous cereal. Kellogg built his famous health sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, where guests ate a regimented vegetarian diet, exercised regularly, and had up to five colonic cleanses a day.

Certainly there are times when enemas are necessary to help things along, but there aren’t any other associated health benefits. In fact, using enemas too often can lead to laxative dependency.

Just a spoonfull of snake oil…

In popular culture, snake oil salesmen were loud, brash cowboys around the turn of the last century who traveled to small towns across America hawking medicinal tonics that promised to cure any ailment.

The original snake oil salesman, Clark Stanley, also the self-styled “Rattlesnake King,” became famous for his patented “Snake Oil Liniment.” This elixir claimed to contain rattlesnake oil that could cure any ache or pain, from toothache to lumbago.
Stanley was a master showman and did not learn of his snake oil remedy from the Hopi Indians, as he claimed. Instead, he appropriated his claims from Chinese immigrants, who did use snake oil medicinally. The Chinese water snake was rich in omega 3 fatty acids, which we now know reduce inflammation. Chinese laborers used the oil on sore muscles.

As you might have already guessed, Stanley’s liniment contained no snake oil at all but was a mixture of mineral oil, red pepper, and turpentine. Still, people continued to buy his liniment until he was finally fined $20 by the government for fraudulent medical claims.

Consume these to cure consumption.

Consumption, the disease we now know as tuberculosis, started with an innocuous cough. It progressed rapidly, and patients wasted away as the infection ravaged their lungs. In the 19th century, when consumption reached its peak in America and Britain, doctors recommended fresh air and exercise as treatment.

Enter Dr. William Frederick Jackson, who claimed to have invented a cure for consumption, alliteratively named Pink Pills for Pale People (PPPP). They contained a mix of iron oxide, magnesium sulfate, sugar, and licorice. But the product didn’t take off until George Taylor Fulford bought and marketed them overseas.
Patients did see mild improvement in their coloring after taking PPPP. This was thanks to magnesium sulfate, an iron supplement that bolstered the blood temporarily. Consumption patients seemingly lost their sickly appearance and got their energy back.

Unfortunately, the effects were temporary, and though popular, PPPP did nothing to cure consumption. Thanks to modern medicine, we now know tuberculosis can be cured using antibiotics to fight infection.

Forget medicine. Have a big glass of orange juice instead.

We’ve all heard that vitamin C is the best cure for a cold, but it turns out this is a big, fat lie.

Dr. Linus Pauling, who is the only person to have won two Nobel Prizes in different fields (show-off!), touted the healing properties of vitamin C, claiming it could cure everything from the common cold to cancer.
By the mid 1970s, more than 50 million Americans were following Pauling’s vitamin C advice.
However, Pauling’s claims about high doses of vitamin C were refuted over and over again by scientists. In fact, those studies showed the opposite to be true. In high doses, vitamins—including vitamin C—can actually exacerbate health conditions and lead to a shortened life span.

Although Pauling did live to be an impressive 93 years old, his vitamin C regimen did not stop him from ultimately succumbing to prostate cancer.

Feeling gassy? Better get the fart jar.

Believe it or not, bottling fart fumes used to be a thing that people did in the Middle Ages.
In the 1600s, the bubonic plague hit Europe, well, like a plague. Hundreds of thousands of people died from the contagious disease, which was thought to have been caused by vapors in the air. In reality, the plague was caused by a bacterial infection spread primarily by fleas.

Doctors at the time (who wore these crazy bird-beak masks to ward off the disease) believed that the deadly vapors causing the plague could be fought with bodily vapors.
Hence the fart jar.
People were encouraged to collect their stinkiest SBDs. When the plague entered their community, they opened the jar and took a big sniff to keep the bubonic plague away.

While flatulence collecting has to be one of the quackiest cures out there, medieval doctors may have been onto something. It turns out that farts are actually a defense mechanism that can warn us of possible harm.
Unless you’re a benign masochist, though, it’s probably best to leave the fart jar at home.

Tags 50033376, body, hemingway

Sweat

Nutritionist-Approved Ways To Speed Up Your Metabolism

Post author By Lisa Douglas
Post date August 15, 2017

“Boost Your Metabolism in 5 Steps!” “Don’t Let Your Metabolism Die With Your Workout.” “Burn, Baby, Burn What You Eat Faster!”
Do today’s hottest health and wellness headlines have you thinking that you need to be thinking (more) about your metabolism? Are you wondering what the heck metabolism actually is and why you need to be so concerned with it?

If your answer is yes, we’re here to help!
Your metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. It’s a two-part operation—a catabolic reaction and an anabolic reaction. The catabolic reaction breaks your food down so it can be digested and absorbed. The anabolic reaction happens when these broken-down pieces are used to rebuild and sustain your body’s tissues.
When people talk about how fast your metabolism is, they’re actually referring to your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the sum of your body’s catabolic and anabolic reactions. Your BMR is basically in charge of breaking food down but is also responsible for other functions like breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, and growing and repairing cells.

Your metabolism can be fast or slow and more often than not is related to your weight. If you have a high metabolism, you burn energy quickly and typically have a leaner body, whereas if your metabolism is slow, your body typically has a higher percentage of fat.
But what makes your metabolism high or low?
A lot of things affect your metabolism, from your body size (the bigger you are, the more you burn), how much muscle vs. fat you have (the more muscle you have, the faster you burn), whether you’re male or female (men burn more quickly than women), and your age (the younger you are, the more you burn).

And, other factors aside, some people are just born with faster metabolisms and others with slower metabolisms.
When you have a faster metabolism, you may maintain a leaner look more easily, be more energetic, and be able to eat more (and less healthful) food without noticing much change on the scale.
Before you curse your bestie whose metabolism appears to be through the roof, there are things you can do to speed up your metabolism if that’s what you’re after. Of course, you can’t control your age or sex, but here are six easy ways to increase your body’s ability to burn.

1. Hit the weights.

The number one thing you can do to boost your metabolism is to increase the amount of muscle that you have. At rest, a pound of muscle burns about 10 calories a day, whereas fat burns two to three calories per pound, per day.

When you’re performing a hard workout, muscle burns even more, but unfortunately, as you age, the amount of muscle you have decreases every decade.
This is the main reason that your metabolism diminishes with age. The way to keep your muscle from diminishing—and your metabolism lifted—is to build that muscle back up.

How do you accomplish this? The best way is to strength train. Hitting the gym and opting to work with weights two to three days a week is the most effective and efficient way to build muscle.

2. Try HIIT training.

High-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT, is a type of cardiovascular exercise distinguished by its alternating rounds of intense exercise followed by recovery periods. For example, you run as fast as you can for 30 seconds, and then rest for 60 seconds. This gets repeated a set number of times, inspiring a complete workout.

HIIT not only burns a huge number of calories during its exercise portions, but it also keeps your metabolism going even after you’re done. This is due to something known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC.
After an intense exercise session, oxygen consumption (which burns a lot of calories) stays high as your cells work to repair and restore your body. Regular cardio workouts can’t do this.
An article published in the Journal of Sports Sciences notes that exercise-intensity studies indicate higher EPOC values with HIIT as compared with low- to moderate-intensity, steady-paced cardiovascular training. And a study conducted at the University of Guelph in Canada showed that fat burning was significantly higher after as little as six weeks of interval training.

Try adding a few HIIT intervals to your cardio twice a week. Use a 1:2 workout to rest schedule. For example, exert yourself as hard as you can for 30 seconds, then rest for twice as long (60 seconds). Perform this for 5 to 10 intervals or however many you can tolerate.
(And try our at-home HIIT videos!)

3. Don’t starve yourself.

Eat less, and your body will burn more calories and be thinner, right? Not exactly—it’s a bit more complicated than that.

You see, your body is pretty smart, and it looks out for your well being. So if you eat too little (and not often enough), your body may suspect that it’s going to starve. In an effort to protect itself, it attempts to conserve energy and hold on to the calories you have consumed by slowing your metabolism.
Of course, this is exactly the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. So how do you speed your metabolism up while still being mindful of calorie consumption? The answer is to give your body just enough of what it needs to feel safe and secure by eating small meals (aka grazing) throughout the day.

When you eat smaller meals as opposed to larger, heavier meals, your burning potential (along with your energy) is boosted throughout the day.

4. Keep a balance.

As you’re grazing, you want to pay attention to what you’re grazing on. Protein and fiber not only help keep your blood sugar stable, they require more energy to digest than refined carbs. A whole lot more!

Studies show that meals that have the same total caloric content but are composed of different ingredients are digested totally differently. In other words, a calorie is not just a calorie.
Clean, whole-food meals that include a lot of protein and fiber are digested much more slowly than meals of processed, simple carbohydrates. Almost twice as slowly, in fact.

What does this mean for you? Try to incorporate some type of protein and fiber into every meal you eat in order to keep your metabolism kicking.

5. Hydrate!

You need water in your body to fuel its everyday processes. And, surprise! Metabolism is one of those water-dependent processes.
If you don’t drink enough water, your body suffers, and your metabolism slows to compensate. Be sure to drink plenty of pure water—not coffee, tea, soda, or even juice—to keep your body well hydrated.

As a side note, it may be helpful for your metabolism to make sure the water you drink is cold. German scientists found that you can boost your burning up to 50 calories more a day by drinking cold, as opposed to warm, water. They believe that the added boost occurs when the body uses energy to warm the water up during digestion.

6. Get to sleep.

It may seem counterintuitive, but in order for your body to burn calories, it needs proper rest. According to University of Chicago researchers, 100 percent of the participants in a recent study of the impact of sleep deprivation on fat cells were unable to tolerate the metabolic consequences of sleep deprivation.

In fact, after just four days of sleep deprivation, the body’s ability to properly use insulin became disrupted.
Shockingly, the insulin sensitivity of participants’ fat cells dropped by more than 30 percent, a difference akin to the disparity between lean and obese participants, or non-diabetic and diabetic individuals prior to sleep deprivation.

When your insulin is disrupted, your metabolism goes haywire and fat ends up getting stored more often—and in all of the wrong places.
So, try to aim for seven or more hours of sleep per night.

Tags 50029066, body, hemingway

Nosh

Millennials Are Spending More On This Than Any Other Generation

Post author By Mary Sauer
Post date August 14, 2017

Time for a little confession: I used to hate taking my mom to the grocery store.

When she first moved into the little apartment in our basement and started helping me out while I ran my errands with three kids in tow, I worried that the differences in how we lived our lives might become an issue. We ate good food growing up. I remember how much praise my mom got for being a good cook, but there is a big difference between the way my mom and I grocery shop.
Namely, I spend a lot more money on food than she ever would have when we were young kids. Because of that, taking her to grocery store caused me some anxiety at first. Was she keeping a mental tally of how much I was spending on organic ketchup, when conventional was half the price? Did she see my love of expensive cheese as a frivolous purchase?

Time has passed, and I don’t think my mom was ever judging me for spending a lot on groceries. But I do think my insecurity was fueled by knowing that us millennials are spending more on food than previous generations. Are my spending habits just one more perceived failure of my generation?
Millennials are spending an average of $2,300 more annually on groceries than older generations, according to a recent study published by Bankrate. When the numbers are broken down into monthly data, my generation is spending around $797 each month on stocking their fridge.

Is frivolous spending to be blamed for the grocery budgets of younger generations? Should we be learning a thing or two about frugality from our parents?
It’s not so simple, as it turns out. Here are the seven big reasons millennials are spending so much on food.

1. It’s a part of their lifestyle.

Millennials are spending more on groceries each month not because they’re frivolous but because it matches their lifestyle.

In fact, Bankrate’s study revealed that millennials aren’t spending more across the board, they’re just spending more on necessities like groceries and gas. Older generations, however, took the lead on travel and entertainment spending.
While it wasn’t that long ago that millennials were seen as fresh college grads, they’re getting older, and their lifestyle is changing. Many millennials are starting families and settling into their adult life.

So it makes sense that necessities eat up a lot of this generation’s budget. For young families, travel and cable TV aren’t as high of a priority when there are little mouths to feed.

2. Their spending mirrors their convictions.

There is no doubt about it, there is more information available than ever before about the impact of our food purchases on our personal health and the greater good of the world.

Millennials are passionate about buying food they feel is healthiest for them, according to one consumer report by the Boston Consulting Group.
Additionally, this generation values higher quality food, and they are more likely to spend time reading labels and considering how their food was made. The origin of the food matters to millennials, too.

Their generation has a greater awareness of the impact their purchases have around the world and are more likely to spend more to honor those convictions.

3. A desire to branch out fuels millennial spending.

When it comes to what lands in their shopping carts, millennial shoppers are more likely to prioritize trying new things.

This generation loves to cook an assortment of diverse foods, according to the Boston Consulting Group, and will spend more for an opportunity to try something they view as unusual or exotic.

4. Millennials like cooking more than older generations.

Even though older generations may be seen as more traditional, millennials are pushing back on this stereotype with their love of cooking. When compared with baby boomers, this generation is more likely to report they enjoy the time they spend in the kitchen.

Younger home cooks don’t just like cooking, they like being good at it. Millennials are more likely to aspire to obtain cooking expertise, with 64 percent reporting they believe they are skilled at food preparation compared with 52 percent of baby boomers.
So it makes sense that this passion would influence how much they are spending at the grocery store.

5. Cooking and community go hand in hand.

Although previous generations place a high priority on family meals, millennials care more about the social aspect of cooking. For this generation, connecting with their friends is a high priority, and cooking and dining together is one of their favorite ways to cultivate community in their lives.

In fact, millennials are more likely to get together to prepare meals with their friends and dine in with their friends on a regular basis when compared with older generations.

6. Millennials have a different approach to shopping.

Since this generation is more tech savvy than others, it makes sense that their approach to filling their refrigerator is so different. When shopping, millennials are looking for ways to use technology to simplify their lives.

Because of this, this generation will spend more on convenience. This is indicated in the rise in popularity of having meal boxes delivered right to their front door. Millennials still want to cook, and they want to cook good food.
Companies like HelloFresh and Blue Apron are making this easier than ever before. These meal boxes include perfectly portioned meals and step-by-step directions for home cooks.

Additionally, services like AmazonFresh and Door to Door Organics make it possible for this generation to shop without ever setting foot in a store.
Of course, convenience comes at a cost, and many of the convenient options being used by millennials cost more than picking up the same items at the grocery store, according to kitchn.

7. Groceries aren’t the only foods millennials spend on.

Just because millennials are prioritizing healthy and diverse home-cooked meals, that doesn’t mean they are spending any less on eating out. In fact, this is one more area where this generation is outspending their elders.

Each month, millennials spend around $50 more on restaurant food than older generations. This can be explained by the same factors influencing grocery costs.
Millennials prefer higher quality foods, they prioritize organic or farm-to-table restaurants, and they would rather try new foods than visit the same restaurants over and over again.

In general, these habits are going to cost more than fast food or chain restaurant purchases, explaining the difference in spending between generations.

What does the future of food purchases look like?

A close look at the way millennials are using their money is a pretty good indication of what spending on groceries and dining out will look like in the future. Young adult consumers can be expected to continue to spend more if it means shopping in line with their values.
Additionally, convenience-based shopping experiences such as organic produce boxes or Blue Apron–style meals aren’t likely to go away any time soon.
Another trend expected to grow in the future are purchases fueled by the opinions of their friends. Millennials are much more likely to express their opinions on products using social media, and retailers are taking advantage of this by funneling portions of their marketing budgets toward social media users.

They aren’t just buying ads, either. They’re paying social media users with heavy influence to use their product and talk about it online. This type of marketing can be expected to continue to drive millennial purchases in the future.
When it comes to millennial spending, it isn’t that they’re worse with their budgets or more reckless with their spending. Instead, a different set of priorities is what sets this generation apart from others.

Thanks to increased student loan balances and lower income levels, millennials may not have the spending power of previous generations, but the way they spend certainly influences the market.

Tags 50033356, fuel, hemingway

Sweat

"You Should Drink 8 Glasses Of Water A Day" And Other Common Medical Myths

Post author By Lisa Douglas
Post date August 14, 2017

What so-called health advice do you follow daily that is actually hocus-pocus?

Here are the top eight most common medical myths that you can officially ignore.

1. You lose most of your body heat through your head.

“Wear a hat—you’ll catch a cold!” says your mother as you sprint out of the house. The myth that heat is lost from the head more than any other part of the body is

. The study followed and x-rayed patients over a five-year period, separating those whose scans confirmed the presence of arthritis into one group and those without arthritis into another.

Surprisingly, it turned out that participants who reported no knuckle-cracking behavior had slightly higher rates of arthritis (18.1 percent versus 21.5 percent) than those who admitted to cracking their knuckles.

Arthritis can be caused by normal wear and tear of the joints, an infection or injury, or an autoimmune disorder. But anxiety-ridden knuckle-crackers can rest easy knowing that their nervous habit is no more dangerous to their health than nail biting or foot tapping.

6. Sitting too close to the TV ruins your eyesight.

When television sets were first introduced, some color models emitted high amounts of radiation that could cause eye damage. This led experts to recommend that adults and children sit as far away as possible from screens.

However, TV and computer monitor safety has been regulated since the ’60s.

So, even though sitting ridiculously close to a screen makes your eyes work harder, it won’t do any permanent damage to them.

Same goes for reading or doing work in the dark. The lack of light might result in eyestrain, but overall, ophthalmologists agree that it’s genetics and age that cause your eyesight to go, not your late-night reading habit.

7. Eating at night makes you fat.

Feeling guilty about your late-night snacking habit? Let us put your mind at ease! Studies show that it doesn’t matter what time of day that you eat as long as you maintain the appropriate calories eaten to calories burned ratio.

The secret of weight gain and weight loss lies in simple mathematics —you must burn as many calories as you eat in order to stay the same weight. If you eat more and exercise less, you’ll gain weight.

Conversely, if you eat less and exercise more, you’ll lose weight.

It doesn’t matter what time you eat your meals, although studies do show that those who snack at night, have a tendency to mindlessly eat with disregard for serving size. This may cause them to eat more than they realize. If you’re a nighttime snacker, keep your calories in check by pouring a serving size of your late-night meal and stowing the package away.

8. Sugar makes kids hyperactive.

Bad news for parents! Your child’s restless, unruly behavior can no longer be blamed on their high-sugar snacks.

Research studying how children reacted to diets containing different amounts of sugar found that no amount of sugar (artificial or natural) affected their behavior—not even in participants diagnosed with attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder.

Where a noticeable response did occur was in the parents.

When told that their children were given sugar (even if they hadn’t been), parents automatically believed their children were acting differently even though they were not.

Tags 50028571, body, hemingway

Lifestyle

8 Things Your Dentist And Hygienist Want You To Know

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date August 14, 2017

One in three participants in a 2014 Gallup poll of Americans revealed that they hadn’t been to the dentist for at least a year.

Although you probably already know that your dentist wants you to come in for your annual cleaning, here are eight other pieces of information your dentist and hygienist want us to pass on to you.

1. You need to think about health benefits, cosmetic benefits, and your dental insurance benefits.

Dentists and hygienists certainly possess troves of knowledge the average person doesn’t, but they aren’t insurance experts. When they have to stop and check out insurance coverage for a patient, it takes valuable time, potentially throwing the rest of their day off schedule.

Damian Dachowski, DMD, says, “People come in for an appointment without knowing what their insurance covers. They think we have a crystal ball that tells us everyone’s insurance information. We don’t. And we need to find out what’s covered before we can do anything.”

2. Your oral hygiene can impact your baby and your heart.

Sure, it seems silly to act like our mouths exist in a vacuum, not affecting any other parts of our bodies. Unfortunately, many people treat their dental hygiene in precisely that way.

According to Kimberly Harms, DDS, dental health issues can lead to other surprisingly serious health conditions. “There’s been research that links gum disease and low birthweight babies,” she says, referencing a 2010 study.

Harms also mentions a 2006 study that shows a link between the bacteria associated with gum disease and increased risk of heart disease.

Yes, that’s right—dental health is literally as serious as a heart attack.

3. X-ray radiation is real, but it’s way less serious than this.

While it’s normal to be concerned about health and safety, those concerns are easily misplaced. For example, when you combine anxiety about going to the dentist with an all-too-common distrust of technologies we don’t understand, the results can be less than rational.

In a Buzzfeed discussion, a dental assistant responding under the username laurenrae1211 says, “People who think that one or two X-rays will instantly cause cancer: a full set of X-rays (18 films) is comparable to the radiation you receive from a 30 minute flight in a plane. You are much worse off if we are unable to detect decay or any other issue because you refuse X-rays.”

Bryan Tervo, DDS, seconds that, using another point of reference when it comes to radiation.

“A lot of patients are worried that dental X-rays can cause cancer, but if you’re outside for an hour, you’re exposed to more radiation than you’d get from a full set of dental X-rays. What I worry about is that if I don’t take an X-ray, I might miss something serious.”

4. Just because you don’t feel like you have socks on your teeth doesn’t mean they’re clean.

Many medical conditions are obvious (if your arm’s broken, you’re probably going to know), but that’s not always the case with dental health, especially when it comes to plaque.

Because bacterial plaque—a main cause of tooth decay and other dental diseases—is often extremely thin, it can coat your teeth without being noticed.

According to Harms, “That bacterial plaque sticks to the front, back, side, in between and right under gums.”

And that’s why regular and thorough dental hygiene regimen is enormously important. “The best way to fight plaque is brushing for two minutes twice a day and flossing properly once a day,” she says.

5. Dry mouth can have serious consequences for your pearly whites.

Harms says, “Many people don’t know how important saliva is for cleaning our teeth and fighting cavities.”

While it’s obvious that saliva helps wash away larger food particles, that also occurs on a micro scale. Additionally, saliva neutralizes acids that eat through tooth enamel, helps to repair teeth, and even has antibacterial properties.

If you regularly find yourself with a dry mouth—which can be caused by certain medications—chances are your teeth are worse off because of it.

According to Harms, “You need added protection or attention to teeth cleaning if you have dry mouth.” While numerous rinses and toothpastes are available that contain ingredients to increase saliva production, there’s another much more straightforward solution: Drink more water.

6. Fluoride is fabulous, even if kids hate how the treatments taste.

Exposure to fluoride via water, toothpaste, or some sort of mouth rinse has been shown to decrease tooth decay by up to 40 percent. Similarly, the occurrence of tooth decay is significantly greater in geographic areas where fluoride hasn’t been added to drinking water, a process known as fluoridation.

On fluoride, Harms says, “There’s a lot of debate about fluoride, but researchers have proven that fluoride prevents decay.”

In contrast to many other preventive dental health measures, which are overwhelmingly topical, ingesting fluoride sends it into the bloodstream. From there, it can help to maintain dental health from the inside out.

Harms says, “It’s nature’s cavity fighter.”

7. There’s no substitute for floss.

According to the results of a study published by the American Dental Association (ADA), only 40 percent of Americans floss daily.

What’s even more disconcerting? About 20 percent of respondents reported that they don’t ever floss.

Despite these dismal numbers, dentists and hygienists still emphasize the enormous importance of flossing for your dental health.

A dental professional going by the username emilypicklesk in the Buzzfeed discussion says, “If you don’t floss every day, bacteria left between the teeth, plus acid from foods (sugars and carbs), lower the pH in the mouth to the point where demineralization of the enamel occurs.”

As far as exactly when to floss, she continues, “Although it’s easier to tie one habit in with another, I tell my patients they don’t HAVE to floss right after brushing. Floss in the shower, floss while you’re watching TV, or heck, pick up some floss and use it while you’re doing pretty much anything.”

While it’s likely easier to remember to floss if you make it a part of a daily dental hygiene regimen, ultimately, she says, “The main goal with flossing is to disturb the bacteria between your teeth so it doesn’t have an opportunity to adhere to the surface and cause damage. So go disturb that bacteria!”

Buzzfeed user baileyr49eber7f1 found a shorter and more colorful way to sum of the necessity of flossing, saying, “Not flossing is like wiping your butt cheeks and not the crack.” Uh, right.

8. Blood in the sink? Something’s seriously wrong.

User patriciah415412f37 on Buzzfeed says of the flossing-related bleeding that she sees in her office, “We didn’t make you bleed. You not flossing and developing gingivitis from poor home care is what made you bleed. Floss daily and I guarantee you your next cleaning will be a lot easier.”

Outside of that all-too-common scenario (which is still an indicator of less-than-optimal dental health), bleeding from the gums is a sign that something is wrong.

As Chicago dentist Ron Schefdore says, “If your hands bled when you washed them, you’d run to the doctor. But in the public’s mind, bleeding gums are okay. Unless you’re really whaling away with your brush, if your gums bleed even a little, that’s periodontal disease, period.”

Tags 50031891, care, hemingway

Lifestyle

Are Gender-Divided Math And Science Classrooms A Good Idea? This Middle School Thinks So

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date August 14, 2017

One St. Louis–area school is set to give gender-divided math and science classes a try this fall.
Northeast Middle School will start having separate math and science classrooms for boys and girls in the coming school year. According to Principal Jennifer Sebold, the move could help students fully realize their talents.
“We felt like giving separate space for boys and girls allows them to really explore their brilliance and figure out who they are as a learner and build confidence,” Sebold told local NBC affiliate KSDK.

Former teacher and guidance counselor Nikki Goldfeder told KSDK, “It’s really the perfect time to really break apart what these narratives that we are so socialized to believe [are] and to allow students to figure out for themselves who they want to be.

Sebold was careful to emphasize that these gender-divided classes are optional.

Parents still have the option to keep their children in coed math and science classes.
Math teacher Greg Herndon emphasized, “The curriculum is not changing and the expectations aren’t changing, but the path to get there is going to have some different steps I think along the way.”

On the national scale, the merits of same-gender classrooms are an ongoing conversation.

Supporters of the move toward separating boys and girls say that advantages include less distraction—especially for hormone-addled teens—and less gender intensification, which is defined as “increased pressure to conform to culturally sanctioned gender roles during adolescence.”

Additionally, proponents say that splitting the genders allows educators to tailor instruction to account for boys’ and girls’ different learning styles.
Jefferson Leadership Academies in Long Beach, California, made headlines in 1999 when it became the nation’s first public middle school to have gender-specific classes, crediting the decision to research showing that girls had better outcomes in math and science in all-girls settings such as all-girls schools.
In 2007, however, the school elected to reverse its same-gender curriculum because of resulting difficulties in scheduling and, even more telling, poor test scores.

Those who opposed separate boys’ and girls’ classes were unsurprised, citing a lack of concrete evidence that splitting up the genders resulted in improved achievement.
As The New Yorker‘s Margaret Talbot wrote in a 2012 piece, “The evidence wasn’t very good [in the ’90s] for a gap between the genders’ learning styles so significant that it would mandate separate instruction, and it hasn’t gotten any better.”

Detractors also argue that same-gender classrooms could make it difficult for students to assimilate to a gender-mixed workforce or college setting, possibly causing a difficult adjustment period.

While transitioning to gender-specific classrooms may seem like a new development, it’s not without historical precedent.

Before the trend toward coeducational schools in 19th century, single-gender schools were the norm. The difference, however, is the reason for the separation. Whereas earlier reasons for single-sex educational settings were based on tradition and religion, contemporary reasons for separation revolve around students’ educational outcomes.

Whether single-gender classrooms are actually beneficial to students, though, is still a question without a definitive answer.

Tags 50033286, hemingway, parenting

Lifestyle

Moms, This Is Why You Are So Tired (And Here Is What You Can Do About It)

Post author By Mary Sauer
Post date August 14, 2017

Last week I hit a wall. Our family had been on a hamster wheel of contagious illness for a full five weeks. We had been rotating through stomach bugs, summer colds, and ear infections.

Not only had I been sick myself, I had been the go-to caregiver for several weeks.

Between spending nights sitting up so my congested baby could doze on my chest and cleaning up puke early in the morning, I was absolutely beat.

My kids were finally well, but I was sick and exhausted from surviving on just a few hours of sleep night after night, and I had to call in reinforcements. My mom loaded up my kids in my van and sent me to bed, demanding I not get up until they get back from the park and lunch.

I fell in bed and found myself unable to sleep. It didn’t make sense. I was so far behind on sleep, why was it impossible to doze off?

It definitely wasn’t the first time being a mom brought me to the end of my rope, and I’m certain it won’t be the last. For years since becoming a mom, I have dealt with on-and-off insomnia that has kept me from getting the rest I need to be my best self.

If you’re a mom, I’m sure my story sounds familiar, because there really isn’t anything special about my life as a completely worn-out mom. Every day, moms like me are giving up on sleep to care for their families and spending their waking hours working non-stop to make sure everyone’s needs are met.

As a result, we’re all really, really tired. The reality is that most moms are putting in longer hours than any other occupation out there, and that is the reason that we’re all so tired.

The Truth About Mom Life

The truth about mom life is that many moms are putting in more hours than some of the most demanding professions out there.

A new study organized by Welch’s surveyed 2,000 women to find out how many hours of work they are putting in each day. The average mom is “clocking in” around 6:30 in the morning and doesn’t stop until after 8:30 in the evening, according to the data they collected.

Of course, we all know most moms aren’t taking the weekends off, either. So, when you take into account the fact that being a mom is a seven-day-a-week job, most moms are putting in 98 hours of work each week. Talk about exhausting!

Moms aren’t just tired, they’re also struggling to take care of themselves. A little quiet time is essential when you spend most of your time caring for tiny humans, but most mothers can barely find space in their day to take care of this basic need. In fact, the average mom only gets one hour and seven minutes to herself each day, according to Welch’s.

When you’re exhausted and over-scheduled, caring for your family well feels impossible. So it makes sense that 4 in 10 moms told Welch’s that their life feels like one non-stop to-do list. They also admitted they were having a hard time keeping up with their workload, and 72 percent felt they were too busy to make sure their kids were eating a healthy diet each day.

Most moms aren’t all that surprised by t
his data. We know just how tiring the job can be, and we know how difficult it can be to get a good night’s sleep. Feeling like you’re constantly drowning in a list of to-dos with no time to recharge or care for yourself is discouraging, to say the least.

The first step is taking charge of your mom life.

Many moms are so focused on giving their family the best that they forget that wanting motherhood to be fun is okay, too. Being tired might be inevitable, but that doesn’t mean mothers should give up on their hopes for an enjoyable and fulfilling family life.

The first step to taking charge of your mom life, whatever that means for you, starts with getting some sleep. We know that struggling with sleep has an impact on mood and may even contribute to depression in certain individuals.

We also know that poor sleep is related with an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other serious health issues. Lastly, we know that running on little to nosleep is dangerous; safe driving and safe work performance require us to be well rested.

In a nutshell, you cannot be your best self or enjoy your day-to-day life when you are running on empty.

Some phases of motherhood may more marked by sleeplessness than others, and it may be true that sometimes interrupted sleep can’t be helped (#newbornlife). But when you finally can crawl into bed at night, it is essential that you are doing everything you can to get the best sleep possible.

So many moms like me find they are facing sleep troubles even when their kids are sleeping well. They have so much on their plate, they’re feeling too anxious or stressed out at night to sleep.

Insomnia, even when it is only occasional, is a burden. To take back your nights, keep reading to learn how to start getting some sleep.

Avoid these four things if you’re not sleeping well.

Moms need all of the energy they can muster to keep up during their 14-hour workdays. If you’re are struggling to sleep, there is a chance you could be making matters worse with negative habits you may have picked up unknowingly.

Staring at Tech

We’re all guilty of spending a little too much time on our phones, but using screened devices before bed can be seriously detrimental to sleep. Blue light emitted by screens throws off our circadian rhythms by signaling our body to make less melatonin, according to Harvard Health.

Melatonin is a hormone that is essential to getting to sleep, so if you’re feeling wired at bedtime, using your phone or computer is probably making it worse. Most experts suggest turning off your tech at least half an hour before bed, but some suggest wrapping up screen time as early as two hours before you plan to catch some Zs.

Tossing and Turning

Okay, so picking up your phone when you can’t sleep is clearly a bad idea, but what should you do instead? Even though it may seem like common sense, staying in bed and trying to make yourself fall asleep actually makes matters worse.

When you are experiencing sleeplessness, trying to force the issue can increase your anxiety, which in turns makes it more difficult to sleep. Instead of tossing and turning, sleep experts suggest getting out of bed and leaving the bedroom to do something relaxing, like reading a book. Once you feel drowsy again, head back to bed and give getting some shut-eye a second try.

Over-the-Counter or Prescription Sleep Aids

For the occasional bout of insomnia, sleep aids can be a big help, but taking them on a regular basis isn’t a great idea. The truth about sleep medication is that extended use can increase sleeplessness because your body can develop a dependence on it.

Once your body adjusts to a sleep medication, you may actually have a harder time sleeping without it and need a higher dose to get sleep, according to WebMd. If you must take a sleep aid, reserve it for your most difficult nights, and look for other options for the in-between.

Stimulants Before Bed

We all know that coffee makes the world go round, especially if you are an exhausted mom. But consuming caffeine too late in the d
ay can have a serious effect on your sleep. Giving up caffeine six hours before bed is what the National Sleep Foundation recommends, since caffeine remains in the body for a long time.

Caffeine isn’t the only stimulant that can mess with your sleep. Working out before bed can also keep you awake. It’s best to avoid anything that could disrupt your sleep after lunchtime if you are having a hard time catching your 40 winks.

So if these are the things you should avoid when you are struggling to sleep, what should you do instead?

Experts suggest creating a solid bedtime routine and sticking with it. Instead of picking up the phone before bed, pick up a book until you begin to feel drowsy. Avoid too much light or too much noise in the bedroom, and keep up with your routine even when you feel discouraged. If all else fails, see a doctor, they can help you figure out the next best step.

Tags 50033306, care, hemingway

Wellbeing

9 Products For The "Supermom"

Post author By Annelise Atkin
Post date August 14, 2017

You take care of your kids, run your household, and try to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Add in hobbies and a hectic day job, and you’re pretty strapped for time. On top of that, you don’t get sick days or time off, and you never lose your cool.

Congratulations, you’re a supermom. Feels great, doesn’t it?

The good news is that every superhero gets to use a secret weapon or two. These products will help you manage the chaos of your everyday life (well, to some extent).

1. Rifle Paper Co. Lively Floral Weekly Desk Pad You’re nothing if not organized, and you know the power of a good list. Few things are more satisfying than looking down at your schedule and seeing tangible proof of your productivity.

This desk pad lets you map out weekly activities for a full year, and it provides plenty of whitespace for organizing the schedules of your entire family. Use it in place of a typical mouse pad, and you’ll always have your schedule nearby. The tranquil floral design is the perfect touch. It’s available here.

2. momAgenda Need a more powerful planner? momAgenda is designed to help you coordinate schedules for up to four kids. There’s a separate schedule for Mom, too, and with chic cover options and a slim profile, this planner is an indispensable organizational tool. Check out the momAgenda here.

Key Review: “With 3 kids and very busy schedules, my day is a hectic one. Every morning when I wake up I check my agenda to see what is going on that day. What I have to do, what the kids’ activities are, what I’m making for dinner, etc. It helps me be more efficient with my time. It goes in my purse everywhere I go! I would be lost without it.” – Julia Rhinehart of Alpharetta, Georgia.

3. Rifle Paper Co. Rosa Weekly Meal Planner Keep control of grocery bills and plan out your meals like a boss (or, more accurately, like a supermom—even if that doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as easily).

One side of the planner lets you list your meals, while the other lets you build a shopping list. The shopping list pages are perforated, so you can tear them out and head to the store without bringing your full planner with you. All you’ll need are your car keys, if only you could find them. Available here.

4. Tile Combo Pack Nothing’s worse than hurrying out the door to a recital or sports practice only to realize that your keys (or purse, or wallet, or some other critical item) aren’t where they’re supposed to be. Hey, you’ve got a lot going on—we get it.

The Tile Combo Pack includes four ingenious Bluetooth trackers that fit onto keyrings, in wallets, and just about anywhere else. When you’ve lost something, open the Tile app to “ring” the missing item or display a map with its last known location.

Tile isn’t the only item tracker on the market, but it’s the only one we found that doesn’t require regular battery replacements or charging. Instead, they use a “custom power source” that lasts for a year, at which point you can trade them in to get a discounted price on a replacement. Check them out here.

Key Review: “I now have Tiles on my purse, keys, car, and luggage. I love that I can find things easily that often took me forever to find. Haven’t yet tested finding my car, but if it works, it will save me lots of time wandering around parking lots!” – Patricia

5. Monkey Mat Quilted Portable Floor Mat This mat easily folds up into a compact pouch. It’s a clean, portable surface that fits into your purse. What’s not to love?

Ideal for use indoors or outdoors, the Monkey Mat cleans easily, and it’s remarkably light. You’ll quickly wonder how you ever got along without it. Check it out here .

Key Review: “Love my Monkey Mat as a portable floor to take camping, to the beach or to the park! So ea
sy to fold up and carry anywhere!” – Fireblossom

6. Mom’s Besty Luxury Car Backseat Organizer with Tablet Holder Who needs a messy, unorganized car? Certainly not you.

This simple organizer holds toys, snacks, books, and more. It attaches easily to the back of the driver- or passenger-side seat, and extra straps help to keep it securely in place. There’s even a touch-screen viewer, so kids can watch movies on a tablet without taking it out of its pocket. Check it out here.

Key Review: “I now keep it stocked up! Bought this for a trip and it has proven to be awesome. Tons of pockets for my kids to organize their stuff. We are in the car a lot just going to and from. We currently have a pocket for toys, a pocket for snacks, a pocket for a water bottle, a pocket for their charger, a pocket for their tablet, and a pocket for tissues!” – Tiffany R.

7. Knock Knock Pads, $13.98/set – If you want a list for pretty much everything, these quirky pads should do the trick. Try the “Let’s Eat!” set, which contains a weekly meal planner and a grocery list, or the “List Lover’s” set, which includes a to-do list and a weekly planner.

Let’s Eat! Notepad Set

List Lover’s Notepad Set

There’s no shortage of clever options, so if you’re really into organization, you’ll definitely want to stop by KnockKnockStuff.com.

8. The Mommy Hook This might be the best invention since sliced bread. Actually, come to think of it, sliced bread wasn’t that great.

The Mommy Hook lets you easily hang on to grocery bags, diaper bags, and anything else with a loop. Attach it to your stroller, and you’ve basically turned it into a makeshift shopping cart. Check it out here.

Key Review: “Anyone who has ever tried to do grocery shopping with a stroller knows this item is necessary. I use it to hang my grocery basket on while I shop, then use it to carry the grocery bags home.” – April

9. Play & Go Mat Quickly clean up after playdates with this two-in-one mat. It provides a clean playing surface, and when you’re ready to go, it quickly converts into a drawstring bag for toys. It’s ideal for picnics or a day at the beach (and yes, it’s machine washable). Check it out here.

Tags 50033236, balance, hemingway

2. You need to drink eight glasses of water a day.

3. You should wait an hour after eating before you go swimming.

4. Gum stays in your belly forever.

5. Cracking your knuckles will give you arthritis.