I couldn’t post this yesterday because I was practicing electricity conservation in honor of Earth Day. I actually wrote this post with a good old fashioned pen and paper. How about that?
April 22nd, 2:00 p.m.
I decided for my contribution to Earth Day I would use as little electricity as possible for one day. (I would have tried using no electricity but it was 100 degrees yesterday so I did have to turn the ceiling fans on and set the A/C to 83 degrees, although it really didn’t come on that much.) That means no TV, lights, cooking, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, computer, etc.
For food today I am just making things that don’t need to be cooked like cheese, crackers, and tuna sandwiches tonight. I don’t know what we’re gonna do about lights when the sun goes down, I haven’t thought that far in advanced. I guess we will just have to light some candles. That should be kinda fun actually. Tonight instead of watching TV after Eva goes to bed we will actually have to spend time together talking or maybe play a game. Oh the horror.
The reason I’m doing this is to give the Earth, and me, a little break from electricity pollution. Imagine if as a country we had one day a week or a month where everybody used as little electricity as possible (you still need a/c and heat) and didn’t drive their cars anywhere. How much pollution could we reduce? Besides the pollution I believe our lives as a whole would benefit. It would be like a mini camping trip once a week. Only with beds and indoor plumbing.
Do you think our ultra-commercialized nation could function without commerce for one day a week? I’m not advocating a law be passed or anything like that but maybe a tax credit for everyone who participates. Maybe you could turn in your electricity meter reading at tax time showing that you refrained from using electricity a certain number of days? I don’t know how you would prove that you didn’t drive your car though. Any ideas?
Don’t think I’m saying that technology and modern convenience are bad because trust me I enjoy them just as much as everybody else does. As a stay at home mom I know I would feel even more isolated if I didn’t have e-mail or facebook or my blog to make me feel connected to the outside world. So yes, I am grateful that I live in the 21st century and not the 18th. But maybe there are a few things we can gain by saying goodbye to those things for just 1 out of 7 days a week.
The more and more I learn about our country’s history and our present circumstances compared to the rest of the world the more I am convinced we have some major changing to do. In education, health care, pollution, crime, and poverty. These are all areas that have been sorely neglected and need some major time and effort spent on each of them to improve. Maybe this is one thing we can do to combat the sad fact that we contribute entirely too much pollution to this earth. President Obama if you are reading…I’d be thrilled to head the committee!

For those of you that have read my “about me” page you know that I am a social worker at heart. That’s why issues like health care or the lack thereof really get to me. I get regular e-mail updates from a website called “Stand up for Health Care“. They are an organization that fights for health care reform so that everyone can enjoy this right.
Here are a few facts from their website.

• Four out of five uninsured Americans are in working families.  One out of five uninsured Americans is a child.
• More than three out of five adults who report having problems paying their medical bills  had insurance at the time they incurred their debt
• Between 2000 and 2007 along, the average premium for job-based family coverage increased by more than 90 percent, rising from $6,351 to $12,106
• As unemployment continues to rise and fewer families can afford health coverage, more children are likely to need coverage. For every one percent increase in the unemployment rate, an additional 600,000 children become eligible for Medicaid and CHIP.
• When children get the health care they need, they are better equipped to do well in school because they can do things like attend school regularly, see the chalkboard, hear the teacher, and participate in classroom and recess activities-all essential parts of succeeding in school.

My belief is that healthcare is a right not a privilege just like being protected by the police or the firestation.  Looking at some of these statistics I also think that it is an equality issue.

If you would like to get involved in some way you can also check out Families USA.

I think I am about 2 Reese’s peanut butter chocolate eggs away from a sugar induced coma.  I woke up this morning after a day of stuffing myself with candy and cupcakes and downed an ice cream float then traced it with Butterfingers.  This left me feeling even more sick and lethargic than when I first work up (it took me an hour just to get out of bed) plus I was feeling really dehydrated and had a funny taste in my mouth.  It got me thinking just what are the effects of sugar overload on the body?  So I consulted a book I’ve been reading on child nutrition called Picky?  Not me Mom! by Karla Heintz.
She has a great chapter on energy level in which she addresses ADHD and ways you can alter your child’s diet that may help with their hyperactivity.  Lucky for me in this chapter she also addresses the association between sugar and energy level.  The book explained perfectly why I continued my sugar binge this morning.  Apparently after we eat sugar our bodies create insulin to try and bring  blood sugar levels back  down to normal.  Often times it creates too big of a drop in our blood sugar which is why we then crave more sugar.  It is also why the big increase in energy can quickly be followed with lethargy.  This totally explains why Eva woke up this morning BEGGING me for candy.  She would not stop and now I feel really guilty because I let her eat so much candy yesterday.  Poor thing her little body is just trying to balance itself back out.
Another important point she makes in the book is that many “white” foods such as pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, and flour can have the same effect because they have a high glycemic index value.  Heintz suggests instead of feeding your child sugary or processed cereals for breakfast give them something high in protein and fiber such as an egg with whole grain bread or fruit with yogurt.  (The book states that is better to give actual fruit instead of fruit juice because the juice lacks fiber.)
She questions the research that shows no relationship between energy levels and sugar consumption, which is something I always wondered about.  Instead Heintz suggest observing your child’s behavior after consuming large amounts of sugar and challenges you to test the theory for yourself.

Let’s play “How many grams of sugar are in that?”

A teaspoon of sugar Is 4 grams.  The USDA recommends no more than 12 teaspoons (or48 grams) of sugar be consumed a day (on a daily intake of 2200 calories).  Sadly most Americans consume well over this amount…about 47 teaspoons of sugar every day.  Think about that for a second, 47 teaspoons of sugar in a day!  Think about pouring 47 teaspoons of sugar in your mouth every day!  That is insane!

I pulled some things out of my pantry and sadly I wasn’t really surprised how much sugar some of the things had.

5 Reese’s Peanut Butter chocolate eggs = 19 grams of sugar = 4.75 teaspoons
4 large marshmallow’s = 20 grams of sugar = 5 teaspoons
1/4 of jellied cranberry sauce = 21 grams of sugar = 5.25 teaspoons
1 small serving of angel food cake = 23 grams of sugar = 5.75 teaspoons
1 cup of Kellog’s Smart Start cereal = 14 grams of sugar = 3.5 teaspoons
1 serving of cornbread = 15 grams of sugar = 3.75 teaspoons
8 oz of Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey = 17 grams of sugar = 4.25 teaspoons
2 tbsp of Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey BBQ sauce = 15 grams of sugar = 3.75 teaspoons
1 fruit punch flavored Caprisun = 18 grams of sugar = 4.5 teaspoons

ETA – Some popular drinks

1 can of coke = 40 grams of sugar = 10 teaspoons

1 bottle of powerade = 60 grams of sugar = 15 teaspoons

What I don’t understand is WHY?  Is it really that necessary.  I know when making things from scratch I don’t need to put anywhere near that amount of sugar to make something taste good.  Do company’s do this so that we become more and more addicted to their products.  Makes you wonder right?

Today’s tip isn’t really about child development or anything of that nature but it is about keeping a clean house which in itself is more challenging once you have children.
One word VINEGAR. Vinegar is pretty much my best friend when it comes to cleaning my house. I walk around with a little spray bottle with 50% vinegar and 50% water and use it on everything. Kitchen counter tops, dinning table, wood blinds, the floor (wood or tile), all my wood furniture, bathroom, glass, stainless steel. I love using it to clean my stainless steel appliances because it doesn’t leave those ugly water streaks. It makes everything beautiful and shiny. You can use it on any wood surface, the vinegar dries quickly so it doesn’t ruin your wood. I spray a little on go over with a damp sponge or rag and then go over it again with a dry towel.
My other little friend that I just discovered recently is lemon juice. We have glass doors on our shower and I detest those water spots that are soooo hard to get off. So this is what I do. Squeeze the juice of about 5 or 6 lemons into a bowl, take some newspaper and dip it into the juice and then rub the spots off the door, spray with plain water and voila spotless shower doors! I hate using harsh chemicals especially in the shower because it always gives me a headache. This way your shower is clean and the bathroom smells nice too!

Have you ever said a phrase your whole life without ever thinking about what it REALLY means. This will probably sound odd but it just hit me today what the phrase “in it for the long run” really means. I was driving in my car thinking about how this health journey I’ve been on for the past year is kind of like running a marathon (even though I’ve never actually run a marathon). But anyways I was thinking about how running a marathon is about endurance. It’s not about running as fast as you can it’s about pacing yourself so that you can stay in the race and actually finish your goal. And then it hit me ohhhh, that’s what “in it for the long run” means. It is an actual run and not some obscure concept that has been twisted and stretched so that now the phrase “long run” is said without any real thought of running a long distance.
That’s how my health is for me. It’s not about losing weight as fast as I can so I can fit into that pair of skinny jeans. It is about modifying my LIFE so that I can remain healthy for the REST of my life. For the LONG RUN.
It’s also how I feel about a lot of other things in my life. I’m “in it for the long run” with my marriage. I’m not about just sticking around for the good times and then bolting when things get rough or when “that loving feeling” isn’t there as strong as it used to be. I know that if I stick through the hard times things will get better, and then worse again, and then better again. And when we finish that race together it will be the best feeling in the world. Knowing that we stuck it out and that the rewards were miraculous.
I’m “in it for the long run” as a mom. Even when I don’t know what I’m doing and my daughter has pushed every single button I have, I stick it out and try to pace myself so I don’t lose it. Knowing that at the end of the day I’ll get that hug and kiss that just melts my heart. Then, when I don’t even get that I know that the next day will bring many rewards in the midst of all the trials. Ultimately even if being a mother had NO rewards (which is impossible) being able to finish the race and still be standing at the end is reward enough.
LIFE is the “long run” Sometimes it feels like I’m jogging along the beach, and sometimes it feels like I’m running uphill against the wind. But either way I’m running it and I’m never giving up.

photocredit: flickr