Stay Away From My Butt and Thighs

While extra money may be scarce around the holidays, extra pounds seem quite easy to come by. With all the parties and events and delicious food constantly surrounding us through this last part of the year, keeping unnecessary pounds off can be a serious challenge.

Thankfully, there are some very simple, yet effective tips you can use to combat that extra flab and keep those pounds from immediately attaching themselves to your butt or thighs. ;P

TrimMom.com has a free guide to help you stay slim during the holiday season. Find out:

• why your so prone to devouring comfort food
• how you may be setting yourself up for failure and
• why cutting all fat from your diet is NOT the answer

Plus find out how to create your own easy-to-follow game plan for overcoming holiday temptations. CLICK HERE to get your free guide today.

A Salad A Day...

Well you know how the saying goes! I'm not one to make resolutions. There's nothing magical to me about the first day of the year. But, I decided to make it a goal to eat more vegetables. So, I decided to create a salad cookbook.

I love salads, but I'm not creative in the kitchen. I have to follow recipes. The romaine lettuce with bottled dressing routine was getting super boring. My menu would be totally stale without my favorite cookbooks. So this one is making it easier for me to eat more vegetables (as well as fruits and whole grains and beans). It has salads of all kinds, from light breakfast salads to hearty main dish salads.

You can go right to 365 Salad Recipes to check it out. I even offer free sample recipes you can test out!

Moms Are Not Allowed to be Sick

I don't know about you, but I don't have the time nor the energy to be sick. This weekend my entire family was vomiting. Not pretty. I'm 21 weeks pregnant and was the only one in the house that wasn't throwing up. Strange, but thank goodness it happened that way. It was still a rough weekend because my youngest, who is 2, is at that age where you just kind of have to watch them and rush them to the toilet when it looks like they may blow. They don't exactly give you a lot of warning that it's coming. Then there was the relatively sleepless first night when he was waking throughout the night as well. Thankfully, each time, we were able to get him to the bathroom in time (yes, I was sleeping quite lightly), so there was no bedding to change or clean in the middle of the night.

My husband tried to work yesterday, but ended up coming home early and stayed home today as well. We took him to the dr to get a note for work and the dr confirmed what we thought. It's a virus, which means there is no medicine and it just has to sort of "run it's course." Fortunately, it seems that my husband has reached the "turning point" for this virus and is starting to get over it.

Like I said, I don't have time to be sick. IF I were to catch this virus that's been plaguing my family it would probably be AFTER my husband goes back to work which means that I will be home alone with the kids who are on summer break. There's just no "sick leave" for moms and I know you know what I mean. So I'm hoping that I can stay healthy! I suppose it's a good thing that EVERYONE seemed to be sick at time same time, because with four kids, often times illnesses get "passed around" with everyone "taking turns" making my exposure to the illness longer than if everyone had just gotten sick at the same time and gotten over it at the same time. Plus I always worry that it'll go back around to the one who started it. Thankfully, that's never happened and I sure hope this particular virus goes away and stays away as it seems to be on it's way out for everyone.

Prenatal Care Should Include Chiropractic Visits

I so think prenatal care should include chiropractic visits for expectant mothers. I'm quite envious of those who have medical insurance that does cover chiropractic care during the year. I remember one woman saying that her medical insurance covers 20 chiropractic visits per year! Wow! During a pregnancy you'd be able to go every other week!

From what I read at AmericanPregnancy.org, chiropractic care during pregnancy can help with:

• Maintaining a healthier pregnancy
• Controlling symptoms of nausea
• Increasing the likelihood of full-term delivery
• Reducing the time of labor and delivery
• Relieving back, neck or joint pain
• Prevent a potential cesarean section

I don't know about you, but from my second pregnancy on, I've had significant back pain with each pregnancy. Enough so that when I get tired, as many pregnant women do, I want so much to just lie down and relax, and yet lying down was painful. It's an annoying situation for which there doesn't seem to be much you can do. But I've heard great things about chiropractic care during pregnancy. I just can't afford to pay $100 per visit so that I can go 1-2 times per month. To bad I don't have any friends who are versed in providing chiropractic care for expectant mothers. Maybe I'd be able to arrange a trade of some sort.

French Women Don't Get Fat

Have you ladies read the book French Women Don't Get Fat? I thought it was a wonderful, no nonsense guide to eating sensibly and staying at your ideal weight.
In a nutshell, the author recounts how she was able to stay thin while she lived in France, and how most of the women there do too, despite eating so called "forbidden" foods like chocolate, cheese, wine and carbs (gasp!). It was when she moved to the States that she started to pack on the pounds.

The author of French Women Don't Get Fat now has an online community that teaches her secrets. It has a community forum, recipes and diet plans, even the "unworkout" exercise techniques that French women practice. You get a nifty free apron for joining too. Take a look: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure

I heard Susun Weed, author of Wise Woman Herbal, use the phrase "No pleasure, no treasure" when referring to her diet. Maybe it's time we started enjoying our food again?

Healthy is as Healthy Does!

With the New Year approaching, many Moms (me included) are making resolutions to lose weight, eat healthier, or exercise more. Great resolutions that seem to be on our list each and every year, but many times our intentions are good, but we don’t always see it through. Sometimes we make it a few weeks and even a few months, before we jump ship and end up living the unhealthy lifestyle we are so accustomed too.

I personally have made a conscious effort this past year, to not only become healthier myself, but to also make sure that my family is on the road to staying healthy too.

I’ve been making healthier meals and snacks for hubby and the boys, as well as make it a point to get to the gym as often as I can. I do my best to workout at least 3 times each week, although I have been slacking a bit of late. Bad Alice!

If I can’t get to the gym, I make it a point to get outside and at least walk a little bit each day. Fresh air and movement work wonders for me since I find that it’s easy to get cooped up in front of my computer, especially when it’s cold and snowy like it has been so far this winter.

When you are on the go all the time, busy being wife, mom, and business woman it is hard to find time to squeeze in exercise, but it can be done. I found this article that lists 20 ways to squeeze exercise into our busy Mama lives. The best part, I don’t have to go outside and freeze my rump off or drive in the snow! heehee

I would love to have a personal trainer. Wouldn’t we all, especially the big bulky male ones? :-) I guess I’ll be satisfied with online personal training resources while I wait for mine!

What have you done to make the past year a healthier one for your family?