Avoid Online Shopping Hazards

I love to shop online. It saves me time and a bit of my sanity. But there are some things you need to watch out for.

1. Never click on a link in a spam e-mail. Never, Never, Never. Period. I don’t care how good the deal sounds.

2. Always look for the padlock before entering any personal information.

3. Watch for sales. You can sign up for email alerts at your favorite sites.

4. Take time to compare prices. Just like shopping at the store, you want to make sure you’re getting the best price. And online - it’s easier to get from one store to another!

5. Pay attention to the amount you need to spend to get free shipping. many time, buying one more item will make shipping free. It’s like getting that item for free.

6. Shop where you can earn rebates.

7. Always right down or print out your reciept and tracking information. Email is not always reliable anymore. You may not get a copy if your filters stop it from getting through. And you want to be able to keep track until you recieve your order and make sure it’s ok.

In all the years that I’ve been shopping online, there was only one time when I didn’t get what I had ordered, and paid for. I ever ordered a bicycle one year. The postman was thrilled with me that year - NOT!

Online shopping is basically safe and secure as long as you take a few precautions. And the time and gas you’ll save! Plus, you can shop at 2 in the morning if that’s when you have some free time.

One more tip - make sure you get your holiday shopping done soon to avoid higher shipping fees, or risk not getting the presents in time!

Happy shopping!

Carole

a.k.a. – ‘Mother’

Survive the Holiday Chaos without gaining 100 pounds

When you’re running around like a crazy person, it’s so handy to grab fast food, and whatever is on the desks at work. Problem is - those foods will leave you feeling sluggish and make you more prone to getting sick. And we don’t have time for that right now, do we? We need every bit of energy we can muster!

Here are 10 tips for getting through all those hectic days without gaining 100 pounds, losing energy, or getting sick. You might even lose a few pounds!

1. Drink 8 glasses of water throughout the day.
* It fills you.
* It satisfies your thirst, which is often mistaken for hunger.
* It flushes out toxins and wastes (including fat) from your system.
* It keeps your organs working their best, which means they can absorb nutrients, get rid of the garbage, your skin will look better, you’ll think better, you’ll have more energy, your immune system will be stronger, and you’ll burn more calories.

2. Make 5 a Priority.
Even if you change nothing else, make eating at least 5 servings of vegetables and fruits a priority each day. At mealtime, eat the fruits and vegetables first, leaving less room for the worse things on your plate. You’ll be surprised at how big a difference this one little change will make.

3. Eat Something From Every Food Group Every Day.
Your body needs all sorts of foods to operate its best, including fats and some sugar. The better your body works, the better you feel, and the more calories you burn. Be leery of any diet that tells you to eliminate an entire food group. It’s not healthy, and it will be hard to stick with.

4. Added Nutrition.
At a minimum, take a good vitamin and mineral supplement everyday. It’s almost impossible to get every single nutrient your body needs everyday just by diet alone. Besides, who has the time to spend counting calories and nutrients?

5. Get Some Sort Of Exercise Every Day.
Take a walk, take the stairs, vacuum, dance, just get moving. Even if it’s 10-minute spurts a few times a day. It doesn’t have to be earth shattering. Exercise helps you beat stress, strengthens your immunity and your bones along with your muscles.

6. Eat Fresh Food.
Fast food and prepared foods have a lot of saturated fat, salt, chemicals, and they don’t taste all that great. Cooking healthy is really very fast and easy. Use lots of raw vegetables and fruits. No cooking required! You’ll feel so much better and have a lot more energy. Just plan ahead so you have fresh food easily avaliable for the day.

7. Get Enough Sleep.
Your body repairs itself while you sleep. You’re even burning calories! When you don’t get enough sleep, you tend to compensate by eating a lot of empty calories that further drain your energy.

8. Try Not To Over Schedule Yourself.
When you’re running around like crazy it’s too easy to just grab junk food – which only drains your energy even more.

9. Eat All Day.
The secret is to keep your body fueled all day. Most people make the mistake of not eating all day, and then eating too much at night when you’re not going to do enough to burn it off. (But stop eating when you’re full.)

10. Stop Eating a Couple of Hours Before Bed.
If you feel hungry at bedtime, have a piece of cheese and a few baked crackers just to take the edge off. It’s actually not good to go to bed hungry. But stay away from sugar and caffeine before bed.

The truth is, it’s not that hard to lose weight and stay healthy. Just by following these 10 simple tips you will start losing weight almost effortlessly and you’ll find you’ll have more energy and you won’t be getting sick as often. Who has time to be sick now?

Want to speed up your weight loss even more? Cut our saturated fats and pop, and get more exercise. The whole key to losing weight is to burn more than you take in. In time, once you’ve mastered better eating habits, you can make it mathematically impossible to gain weight.

For more information on what you can eat to stay thin, healthy, and full of energy for life >>>

keep your kids off drugs

I’ve gotten a lot of comments about the fact that I do not buy into all this ADD, ADHD stuff. Well finally, some other people have had enough of the drugging of our kids and are speaking out! I was feeling like a lone squirrel in the forest.

One former school board member in Virginia has caused quite a stir. you can read about it here -  http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=135015&ran=160257&tref=po

Make sure to scroll through some of the comments.

I heard about it through Mike Adams - NewsTarget - and you can read his scathing report here - Renegade School Board Member Educates Parents On ADHD Alternatives

I’ve seen kids who were labeled. They’re treated worse by teachers. They’re treated worse by the other kids. The drugs make them either despondant or mean.

And I’ve seen kids get better when their diet is fixed and they have a physical outlet for all that kid energy. There was one kid in particular that I thought was going to force me to give up my no drug stance. He really was terrible. Once his diet was fixed, the change was nothing short of miraculous. He turned out to be a really sweet kid - a joy to have around. It was truly amazing. This was a kid who was stealing bicycles, had a mouth on him you wouldn’t believe, and was doing things you wouldn’t post in a publicly read blog.

I mean, even my dog has behavior problems when he isn’t fed right and doesn’t get enough exercise. What does that tell you?

If you suspect ADD or ADHD, try a diet of natural foods, no yellow dye, cut way down on sugar, and cut out pop. Feed them plenty of fruits and vegetables. I’ve read that fish is a very helpful food. I’m not a fish eater, so I can’t attest to this. I know, I should eat it. I never claimed to be perfect
Make sure there is plenty of physical activity to burn off excess kid energy, and that they get enough sleep.

Some cases are linked to food allergies - like peanuts or wheat.

Yes, there are some cases where drug therapy might be needed. but I think it’s about 95% less than what is currently being prescribed. Try diet and exercise changes first and see if that makes a difference.

If you haven’t read High Energy Eating, you should grab a copy. It contains everything a normal person needs to know to keep your family healthy.

You’re being manipulated everyday. Just use some common sense and you’ll be fine.

Carole

a.k.a. – ‘Mother’

What you don’t know about HRT

Recently, we had a disasterous accident on one of our highways. A trailer was packed with 59 horses and ran a red light. The trailer was on it’s side across 3 lanes of traffic. The highway was closed for 7 hours while they worked to rescue these horses.
14 horses died that night.

Now the horses are being cared for, and homes are being sought.

Now you might be asking yourself why the owners would just abandon these horses? I mean, horses are expensive animals. There was one little mention that these horses were probably off to be slaughtered. Uninformed among us would think, wow, that’s sad. And why are that many horse so sick that they have to be killed?

By now you’re saying OK Carole, I thought this was about HRT?

It is. You see, HRT drugs are made from pregnant horse urine.

The mares are kept perpetually pregnant. The resulting babies are slaughtered. Truckloads of colts are sent from Canada to the US to be slaughtered. Why? I don’t know yet. Maybe Canada doesn’t allow that? I also hear it’s worldwide.

I’ve also learned that horsemeat is considered a delicacy in some countries, so there’s big money to be made there too.

So, not only are you risking your own life when you take these drugs, you are contributing to this horribly cruel treatment of some of the most beautiful animals on earth.

Can I convince you to adopt a heatlhy lifestyle instead of depending on drugs to take care of your body when you won’t?

A healthy lifestyle is the best present you can give yourself, your family, and the world. Now that would be some holiday spirit, don’t you think?

Hey, I heard that!  Yes, I’ve gone through menopause - drug free. No problem. Just a relatively healthy diet, and exercise. Thought you were going to get one up on Mother did ya?

Carole

a.k.a. – ‘Mother’

How Old Are Those Spices?

Oh boy. You might want to check.

 For those of use who are a little older - you might still have some of those cute red square tin spices up in your cupboard.

I came across an ad recently that said that those spices are at least 15 years old! Oh my gosh…

And the ones in the glass bottles with the green lids? If it came from the Baltimore plant, it too is at least 15 years old.

Will it kill you? No.

Will they have much taste? No.

How old is too old? I haven’t a clue!

And there’s the goobeldy gook codes on the bottom that no human can read or understand.

But it seems that McCormick has a service that will read the code for you. You just go to www.McCormick.com/freshflavor and it will tell you how old your spices are.

I’m off to check mine before I make that last trip to the grocery store!

Carole

a.k.a. – ‘Mother’