-Oprah Winfrey

Why Weight? Diets Don’t Work

You can’t turn on the TV, drive down the road or go to a party without being confronted with America’s hottest obsession: weight. Diets are a billion-dollar industry; companies spend millions and millions luring you to try the latest diet (low carb, high protein, low fat, no fat, you name it) with promises that this will (finally!) be the solution—your shortcut to a thinner body. Advertising efforts also deeply affect our children, who develop distorted body images and are often on diets as early as nine or 10 years of age.

Our culture touts diet pills, celebrity workouts, convenience foods and trendy diets to help us achieve our desired weight, but these quick-fix solutions have backfired. America’s populace has reached its highest weight in history. About half of Americans are overweight; one-third are obese. Diets steer us away from our common sense and dip deeply into our pocketbooks while eliciting few, if any, lasting results. Why?

• Diets don’t work because each person is unique, with different needs based on gender, age, ancestry and lifestyle; how could one diet be right for everyone?
• Diets don’t work because they are extreme solutions. As in physics, if a pendulum swings to one extreme, it has to swing equally to the other. A diet might work for a short amount of time, but research shows that almost all diets result in a 10-pound gain once off the diet.
• Diets don’t work because they are too restrictive. People who fail on diet plans are not flawed or weak. Diets by nature require discipline and restriction at levels that are unsustainable by a healthy human body.
• Most people are disconnected from why they gain weight and see diet as the only culprit. For example, ignoring or discounting emotions is often the first thing to cause weight imbalances.

In our fast-paced world, we have lost sight of many aspects of life that truly nourish and balance our bodies, such as slowing down, eating a home-cooked meal and spending quality time with loving people. Eating consciously and making simple lifestyle changes will create positive results and release you from the endless cycle of dieting.

Given half a chance, your body will balance out by itself, but this is only possible by getting out of the diet mentality and listening to what you truly need. Imagine taking all of the outward energy you expend on diets, fads and gimmicks and turning it inward, so that you can listen to your heart and inner wisdom. There is no such thing as a quick fix; you already have everything you need within you. With careful thought and loving reflection, you can feed yourself in a nourishing way. Working with your body rather than against it will bring you increased energy, stabilized weight and sustainable health.

Food Focus: Asparagus

Now that spring is finally here, it is a perfect time to add some asparagus to your diet!  Here are some wonderful ways in which asparagus can benefit you:

Detoxifies our bodies

Anti-aging functions

Cancer-fighting qualities

Reduces pain and inflammation

Can prevent osteoporosis

Reduces the risk of heart disease

Reduces the risk of birth defects

Recipe of the Month: Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan

Ingredients

2 bunches of asparagus

1 tablespoon olive oil

Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

2 -3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Trim the tough ends off of the asparagus.

On a baking sheet, toss the asparagus with the olive oil, salt and pepper.  Spread the asparagus on the sheet, side by side.  Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese.

Roast the asparagus until tender and the cheese is melted, about 10-15 minutes.

Serve immediately.

Milissa Harding is a Certified Holistic Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She works with busy women who struggle to maintain healthy energy levels.  Milissa creates personalized coaching programs integrating both a nutrition and lifestyle focus to enable busy women to:  increase energy levels, reduce stress, improve eating habits and prioritize self-care. Request your FREE 25-page copy of “Feeding the Busy Mom: Nourishing Yourself from the Inside Out” and schedule an Energy Strategy Session by visiting www.healthystartcoaching.ca.

The other mom is irate. She shares that her daughter had also arrived home from school looking upset. After some prodding, her daughter, in tears, shared the events of the day. The two moms, upset that they had not been informed about this incident by school administrators, arrange to arrive at the principal’s office first thing the following morning. They want to know how and why their children were questioned. Surely, they think, if the situation was serious enough to warrant being removed from class and questioned, they should have been told.

The following morning, the moms are reassured that at least their daughters are not at fault. They are told that the girls had been called in as part of an investigation into inappropriate behaviour by a classmate towards another peer. They had been questioned (“interrogated” the girls called it), together with the other girls and then apart, to try to get to the root of the problem. So, even though their girls had thought they were in trouble, that they had done something wrong, this was actually not true. And the girls’ story that they were never told why they were being questioned or what part they played in the situation, was not refuted by the principal.

The principal apologized and said that they had never intended to make the girls feel intimidated (even though that is exactly how the girls felt) but the damage had already been done. The girls’ experience with helping to resolve a bullying situation that revolved around a classmate, had been very negative. They had felt like criminals and at times, spies. They had felt as if they were, ironically, being bullied by the two large adults looming opposite them. They had felt like they wanted to run out of the small closed door office in tears, but stayed, knowing that to get up and leave would make the situation worse.

When the moms, knowing by then how their daughters felt, requested that they be called in the future should their daughters input be required, they were told that the Board policy did not require that this happen. They were told that any student could be questioned without his or her parent’s permission so long as the incident occurred on school property. The moms were not happy to hear this.

This story, and others like it, have been recounted to me over the past while by parents and children concerned about the way in which incidents such as bullying, defiance, inappropriate behaviour and threats have been handled at school.

Over the same period of time, there has been a movement away from punitive measures such as suspension and expulsion from school. This is not a bad thing since being forced to spend time away from school doesn’t always have the desired effect. In fact, it can lead to other problems -especially if the child is unsupervised or sitting idle. Instead, many school Boards have adopted a restorative justice approach. This means that facilitators (often child and youth workers or specific teachers) within the school, work with victims, aggressors, along with teachers and other adults to restore the situation back to what it was prior to the troubling incident.

The intention is wonderful and makes sense, but unfortunately, if the process is not implemented in its purest form and if the key players don’t have a solid understanding of how the restorative justice approach works, then even with the best of intentions, the process may go awry and lead to other more serious consequences – such as children being afraid to share incidents with school personnel for fear of how they are going to be dealt with.

Rick Kelly is a Professor in the Child and Youth Worker program at George Brown College in Toronto. He has been explicitly using a Restorative/Peacemaking philosophy for the past 12 years as a restorative conference facilitator and trainer, and, implicitly throughout his career, and as a parent of 5 children and a baseball coach. Rick believes, amongst other things, that as a parent, you have the right to know who is responsible for responding to critical situations at school, what training they have received to facilitate change and how the situation is managed. He believes in “transparency.” So, the big question is: have you been informed about how and who in your child’s school resolves conflict?

And if you this hasn’t been communicated to you already, how are you going to find out to make sure that your child’s school is dealing with difficult situations in a way that ensures your child feels that he or she is in a safe, supportive environment with adults who can be counted on to effectively model conflict resolution?

As part of your research, may I suggest that you to listen to my podcast with Rick Kelly about restorative justice and how bullying is being handled in schools today.

Well yes, these girls.

But also these girls.

No, that is not me. I don’t believe I have a waistline or abs. But I do have Girls, and lots of them, particularly now that I am nursing. And it’s important to take care of them.

I have been a Bravado bra devotee since The Boy was born. That’s 6 years of customer loyalty. Why? Because their bras are comfortable, durable, functional and have a good price point.  They came highly recommended to me by my best friend and that is how my Bravado relationship began. And so now I am telling you about them too.

I wore Bravado’s Original Nursing Bra constantly for the first 6 weeks postpartum – like around the clock… 24 hours a day.  I found I was too sore to let everything hang out. I still often wear it at night… yes, it’s that comfortable.

I still, 7 months post partum, live in the Essential Nursing Tank. I wear it summer, winter, day, night… if you really want to know, I am wearing one now. And slept in it last night. It has been a long day – but I digress.

Bravado sent me the Bliss Nursing Bra to try out. It was perfect timing. T-shirt season is here and I was wanting something with a little more support, a little more shape and a little more… zing.  And it arrived on my door in a pretty little package. And I have already gone and bought a second one.

What you’ll love about the Bliss Nursing Bra:

• Seamless Molded Foam Cups: seamless foam cups that hide nipples and breast pads, while giving you a beautiful shape. Your staple t-shirt nursing bra.
• Flexi-Fit Support Channel: a flexible under-breast support channel that offers remarkable shape and lift while maintaining comfort and good breast health.
• Comfortable and Fashionable: beautiful satiny fabric, a delicate center front detail and embroidered straps that make you feel stunning.
• Wear as a maternity bra or as a nursing bra: gentle stretch features in the cups that grow and contract with your changing shape while maintaining support.
• Full Access: cups unclip at the shoulder and drop down and away from your body to give baby full access to your breast, providing you and your baby with skin-to-skin contact which is essential, specially when establishing a breastfeeding rhythm.
• Nursing clips that stay closed: proprietary clips lie flat under close-fitting clothing and easily open and close with one hand.
• A proprietary Bra Conversion Kit (BCK), is now attached to your Bravado Nursing Bra and can be used to convert it to a “regular bra” once your nursing journey is complete. For more information on the BCK, Click here.

So yes, I already bought a second one. It is aptly named since it does feel like Bliss to wear it. I am quite self-conscious with the – errr – grandeur of my nursing size, but I felt very comfortable sporting a t-shirt with the Bliss bra on. Which is perfect if the warm weather ever arrives to stay.

If you are looking for some great information on breastfeeding your baby – make sure to check out the Bravado Blog. Or join the Bravado Facebook page so you can stay up to date with great information, discounts, and new products.

I just had one of those moments.

I was sent some Bed Mats by GoodNites®… they are seriously genius.

Both of my kids toilet trained themselves around the 2 year mark.  They kind of trained themselves – it just sort of happened.

The days were smooth.  And that is where the fun stopped.  There is nothing quite like remaking a bed twice in one night because it’s wet. To say the nights have been a challenge would be the understatement of the century.

I don’t know about you, but we average 12- 15 loads of wash a week. That includes one bed change each a week.  Add in wet sheets to wash and the whole system crumbles. We can’t get our clothes through the wash because of the backlog of wet sheets, underpads and jammies. Not to mention the frustration of remaking beds, washing down wet kids… you know what I am talking about.

Enter the Bed Mats by GoodNites®. They stick to the top sheet, and give an absorbent, disposable layer to catch the liquid and protect the sheets.  They are amazing.  Both kids have, um, put them to the test (if you will) and they have caught everything.  Just whip it off the bed and replace.  No laundry stacks the next day (other than the jammies), just a quick change over.  I love them. “Why didn’t I think of that?”. “What did I ever do before the Bed Mats?”.

I was sent the poem below and loved it, so thought I would share it with you.

Here’s to dry nights Friends!

I find that if I have a bowl of Fibre 1 cereal, I can hold off the cravings and fill myself with a healthier alternative. Listen, it is going to take baby steps. I love that when I have Honey Clusters, I am getting 52% of my daily fibre requirements. I get that little hint of sweet that overrides my desire for candies and sweets.  I do hope my sweet tooth falls out soon.

To retrieve your $1 Off Fibre 1 Honey Clusters coupon, click here.

To help get your day off to a healthy, fibre filled start, General Mills and Fibre 1 Healthy Start are giving away an amazing Fibre Fit pack (value around $50) to one awesome Practicalmum reader. It includes:

-  Fibre 1 Honey Clusters Cereal

- a royal blue Yoga Mat

- a 3.5ft blue resistance band with a grip

- a GoFit Speed Jump Rope.

How to enter? Easy! Leave a comment with a tip for getting a healthy start to the day. That’s it!

Want extra entries? No problem!

1. Follow @practicalmum. Tweet about this giveaway (once daily) and leave a link with your tweet. Here’s one to help get you started:

I want to win a Fibre 1 Healthy Start Pack from @practicalmum #Fibre1Giveaway #giveaway ends 04/30 {CAN only} http://ht.ly/adIwg

2. Stumble, Pin, Facebook, Digg, Reddit- whatever – social bookmark this giveaway and leave me a comment telling what you did. Leave a separate comment for each bookmark. 

3. Post or share about this giveaway on your blog, or any of your social media outlets.  Leave a separate comment for each place you share.

Contest is open to Canadian readers. It ends Monday, April 30th, 2012. Winner will be chosen using the “… and the winner is” plug in and contacted via email. The winner will have 24 hours to respond.

You can enter this giveaway on as many blogs as you would like, but you are only eligible to win it from one site.

When I have a little more time to cook, another favorite is lasagna. I can hide a multitude of pureed veggies in a lasagna (kale, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, zuchini- whatever is in the fridge) and the kids still love it.

I was asked to try the new Olivieri Lasagna sheets so I put them to the test, and they received thumbs up all around.  There is just something about cooking with fresh pasta that makes it noticeably yummier. I used the Whole Grain Lasagna Sheets (with no added preservatives, artificial colours or flavours) and the kids loved it.  The Boy scraped the tomato sauce off his pasta (sigh) and ate the pasta plain (he is currently on a tomato strike).  Not a word about it being whole grain!

If you haven’t already, the Olivieri Facebook page is a wealth of information – full of delicious recipes, tasty tips, and promotional offers… it’s well worth a visit!

Olivieri is generously giving away 4 product coupons to 2 different Practicalmum readers.  That’s right, 2 of you will win 4 coupons for free Olivieri Lasagna Sheets each.  Awesome!

How to enter? Easy!

Leave a comment with your favorite lasagna ingredient.  That’s it!

Want extra entries?

1. Follow @practicalmum. Tweet about this giveaway (once daily) and leave a link with your tweet. Here’s one to help get you started:

I want to win 4 Olivieri product coupons from @practicalmum #giveaway ends 04/30 {CAN only} http://ht.ly/ad47g

2. Stumble, Pin, Facebook, Digg, Reddit- whatever – social bookmark this giveaway and leave me a comment telling what you did. Leave a separate comment for each bookmark. 

3. Post or share about this giveaway on your blog, or any of your social media outlets.  Leave a separate comment for each place you share.

Contest is open to Canadian readers. It ends Monday, April 30th, 2012. Winner will be chosen using the “… and the winner is” plug in and contacted via email. The winner will have 24 hours to respond.

Little Peeper Cookies

Have you ever seen anything so cute? Looks quite straight forward – chocolate chips for the eyes, yellow candy coated licorice and orange gummies for the decoration.

Easter Basket Cookies

I love the look of these – and they are filled with icing which is quite possibly my favorite food on the planet. And there is the added bonus of the jellybeans in the basket.  Who’s to say chocolate mini eggs couldn’t pop in there too?  Just sayin’.

What are you making this holiday?  Any fun and cool recipes?

We can all eat them our own way.  They are like a personalized dinner all wrapped up in one preparation.

First – the tacos – I always get the packs that have hard and soft shells – a little bit of variety is the spice of life.

I usually puree kale and cauliflower and add it to the meat mixture – then I can relax if the kids don’t choose a veggie to put on their taco. I feel quite smug as I watch them eat their dinner knowing they are consuming veggies and they are none the wiser.  I wonder how long I can be so sneaky?

SO. How do we like our tacos?

I turn mine into a massive salad.

The Husbands loads his up with everything.

The Boy specializes in meat and cheese tacos.

The Girl specialized in soft shell tacos – hold the veggies. wink, wink.

And The Baby… well he specializes in eating the straps on his highchair.  He doesn’t eat tacos yet.

How do you eat your tacos?

My mom did it with my grandma, and loved it.

My grandma did it with my great-gra…. you get the picture.

I do it with my kids too.

It’s our favorite rainy day activity. Or Friday afternoon-we-are-tired activity. Or my-brother-is-on-a-playdate-and-I-feel-left-out activity.

Cooking with kids. It’s the best of times – and can be quite challenging at times. But the end results are always worth the pain.

5 Things to Accept when Cooking with Kids

1. It will take longer.

2. It will be messier.

3. There is a higher risk of contamination. (sneezing, coughing, dirty fingers licking)

4. It will test your patience and force you to lower your standards.

5. You will remember it and cherish the time and talks that come from being productive together.

Today The Girl and I made banana bread together. Since I have about a 50% success rate with baking, I am pleased to announce the finished product was delicious. The Girl and I were able to solve many of life’s problems (at least those applicable when you are 3.5 years old) together while we were measuring, stirring, sifting, mixing and giggling. That to me, is time well spent.  I am still trying to get the flour out from between the stove and counter, but I loved every minute of it.

Come out from under the covers.

You can’t hide anymore – it’s that time…

Don’t walk away, come back and read this review if you haven’t filed your taxes yet.

Usually we avoid things we find 1) frightening, 2)overwhelming, 3) out of our realm of understanding.

For me, all those feelings apply to taxes. It’s time to stop hiding and get your returns in – the tax deadline is April 30, 2012 here in Canada.  You have one month to go.

It’s time to hit modern times and do away with the old paper and pen return. Why not use a software that is easy to use, with a step by step process, easy to understand interface to get them done?

Turbo Tax tax software is Canada’s #1 selling tax software. I had my dad, an accountant test out Turbo Tax tax software on his return this year.  He has extensive knowledge on the whole system so thought he was best to put it to the test.

Turbo Tax tax software according to Dad;

- he liked that it took into account a spousal return so they could maximize their return.

- he wished that Turbo Tax allowed the user to see the actual CRA forms once the data was entered.

- he liked the easy-to-use interface and found the questions easy to answer.

- as you enter the data, questions from other users are shown about that particular section – they had limited use.

- he liked the free tax advice hotline – you get real answers from real pros… free… 24/7.

- he liked the security features – Turbo Tax uses the same online security features as the major banks so your data is safe.

- he liked that you could file online, in your jammies, beer in hand… you didn’t had to go and buy a hard copy to install on your computer.

- he was hoping for a refund, and didn’t get one – but that had nothing to do with the software!!

So stop hiding and get filing! Use a software to help make the process way easier!