BMI Calculator
Body Mass Index Basics, including the BMI Formula and BMI Calculators as well as BMI information for children and teens.

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Brian Tracy on The Key to Happiness

Momscape’s Guide to Natural Cleaning Products
Whether you want to help the environment, create a healthier home for your family and pets, or you just want to save a few bucks — homemade, natural cleaning products are the way to go. We’ve provided a few trusted recipes in every cleaning category we could think of, plus we’ll give you tips on how to use, dispense, and store each cleaner. Includes recipes for Natural Air Fresheners, Basic All-Purpose Cleaners, Furniture Polish, Laundry Detergent, Stain Removers, Metal Cleaners and Polishes, Carpet Cleaners, Floor Cleaners, and Pet Stain Removal.

Healthy Fats: All Fats are NOT all Created Equal
Do you know your trans fats from your saturated fats? Your monounsaturated fats from your polyunsaturated fats? And are you getting enough essential fatty acids? Nutritional consultant and author Elizabeth Yarnell gives us an easy to understand guide to healthy (and not-so-healthy fats). Includes bonus recipe.

I’ve just posted a new article on Momscape:

Post Natal Exercise: Why Exercise is Important After Baby
Includes tips for making time to exercise.

I Dare You! Get Rid of the Sugar and Watch the Benefits Come In
A challenge from Sugar Shock author and blogger Connie Bennett.

“How Can I Diet When I Love to Eat?”
The truth is you don’t have to stop loving food in order to manage your weight. You just need to alter the ways you view it.
Here are three ideas that work, from Linda Spangle, author of 100 Days of Weight Loss.

Get a Weight Loss Buddy
Dieting with a girlfriend can be a powerful key to successful weight loss. Here’s how to partner up when you diet.

As more and more families search for ways to become healthier, one of the most commonly overlooked health concerns is sugar consumption. Sugar consumption is most commonly identified as candy and junk food. While this is true, there are even more ways that sugar is incorporated into your family’s diet. Here are a few tips for reducing the sugar in your family’s diet.

Eat brown rice – White rice contains mostly carbohydrates, which converts to sugar after consumption. Brown rice offers full nutritional value and should be chosen over white grain rice.

Opt for whole fruit – Most kids love fruit juice. However, there are fruit juices on the shelves today that are loaded with sugar additives. Instead of drinking fruit juice, opt for whole fruit, like apples, bananas and grapes.

Eat your veggies – Lots of kids fuss over eating their vegetables. Even though this might be a huge hurdle for some families, incorporating more vegetables into your meals will reduce your sugar intake by far and large. Smart vegetables include green beans, carrots, tomatoes, and squash. Be cautious not to intake too many of the starchy veggies, like potatoes and corn, which contain high amounts of sugar.

Snack wise – Families tend to snack a lot—yes, even parents. Make fun, healthy snacks for your family instead of binging on junk food. For power-packed snacks that will keep away hunger, use protein. A light snack, like a turkey and cream cheese roll-up, will keep hunger at bay a lot longer than a bag of potato chips.

For more information, read  Breaking the Sugar Addiction: 16 Tips

Whether intentional or not, generational traits are passed down from parents to children.  If mom and dad live a fairly healthy lifestyle, odds are much greater that the children will follow suit.  Conversely, if the head of the household believes being on a diet means skipping the super size fries and adding extra lettuce to the fast food burger, we can surmise the outlook that the children will hold.

There is no time like the present to turn the sinking ship around.  New Years is the perfect time to make a family resolution – agree to set healthier habits.  One can’t do it without the support of others, so the entire family might as well jump on board.

The easiest change a family can start with is in food consumption. Obviously you’ll need to incorporate exercise into the habits; however starting with food is a small step with measurable results. Simply do not bring junk food into the house.  If you have chips, sodas and ice cream available, would you really be able to just have some grapes?  More than anything you will need a change of mindset.

Sit down at the table as a family and get input from everyone.  Talk about the health risks, talk about wanting to be around for the children for years to come.  Make an agreement that there will be no closet eating.  Agree to look for creative recipes so that it doesn’t seem like you’re eating rabbit food.

Forcing or demanding healthier habits is formula for failure.  If you can make other family members feel that they are part of the decision and truly understand the importance of it, positive results will be easier to achieve.

Hold each other accountable.  Give son permission to question mom why she’s eating a donut.  Agree to support, not ridicule.  Accept digressions as temporary set backs, not failures.  Agree that failure is not an option.  Keep on keeping on.

A few years ago, if someone had suggested I take a fish oil supplement, I would have thought they were crazy. However, with the discovery of “good” fats, and Omega 3 fatty acids, fish oil supplements are becoming more and more popular. Oily fish, such as mackerel and salmon have been found to be one of the best natural sources of these essential fatty acids, which have been found to reduce the risk of heart disease, improve the functioning of the eyes and brain, keep a healthy immune system, and even help relieve your diabetes symptoms.

If you’re not a big fish eater, then fish oil supplements are a great way to get Omega 3 acids. However, not all fish oil supplements are the same, some can even be dangerous. That’s why it’s important to know how to choose best quality supplement.

The first thing you want to look for in a quality fish oil is the active ingredients it contains. Fish oils actually contain two types of omega 3 fatty acids: EPA and DHA. While they are both important nutrients, you should actually look for a supplement with higher concentrations of EPA. Most supplements give you more DHA, so you may have to do a lot of label searching. You also want to look for other vitamins and nutrients, such as Vitamin A and Vitamin E, that are included in some fish oils and may be harmful in large doses or when used with certain medical conditions.

An important step for ensuring your fish supplement is safe is finding out where the fish come from. Many people avoiding eating these types of fish because they can contain mercury and other heavy metals that pollute fishes’ natural environment. These metals are hazardous and can be found in certain fish oil supplements. That’s why it’s important to get a supplement that uses fish from pristine waters.

Sadly, just because the fish come from clean water doesn’t mean that you should assume it’s safe. For a fish oil supplement to be free of dangerous chemicals, it should be molecularly distilled to remove any additional impurities. You should also look for products that say they are pharmaceutical grade. A product that lists that it is pharmaceutical grade and molecularly distilled is much more likely to be free of any potentially harmful chemicals.

As with any supplement, you should consult your doctor before you start taking anything new. This is especially important with fish oil because too high a dosage may cause dangerous side effects.

[Editor's Note: Here's a great resource about choosing a fish oil supplement, from David Servan-Schreiber's website: (Servan-Schreiber wrote The Instinct to Heal: Curing Stress, Anxiety, and Depression with Drugs and Without Talk Therapy, in which he writes in detail about the importance of Omega 3s.)

 http://www.nofreudnoprozac.com/article.php3?id_article=55&var_recherche=omega+3

At this link, one of the supplements he recommends is Omega3+Joy by GenuineHealth.com -  I have tried that and really like it. It is formulated to not have a fishy aftertaste.]