Tips For Keeping Your Family Cold and Flu-Free

Cold and flu season is just around the corner and I wanted to share my tips that I do to keep my family Cold and Flu-Free this season. When it is cold outside it is easy to want to stay indoors where it is nice and warm, but sometimes that is where the germs are lingering. If I am stuck indoors where the germs are I like to eliminate them. If I am stuck outdoors then the best thing to do is dress for the weather and be prepared for weather changes too. What you don't want to do is get stuck somewhere and not have the proper attire to keep you warm.

1. Disinfect things. We use Lysol products, chlorine bleach, ultra-violet light, isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, tea tree oil, or vinegar to disinfect things in our home. Surface areas, knobs, handles and other most touched surfaces can cause someone to get germs easily from others who have them if touched by them. The best way to get rid of germs is to wipe them away with a disinfectant wipe.

2. Eat Healthy. Eating healthy well balanced meals will help in keeping your body strong. Yogurt has probiotics that are good for inhibiting pathogens and toxin producing bacteria. Camomile tea and/or supplement helps immunity to getting sick. Zinc syrup or lozenges are great for shortening affects of a cold or flu. Drink your orange juice! Vitamin C is great for helping the immune system. Get plenty of vitamin D from the sun, from food, or from a supplement. The best way to get vitamin D is from the sun and foods that are enriched with it. If you are stuck inside make sure you get your daily dose to maintain a good immune system and promote bone health along with calcium. Get plenty of fluids.

3. Get your sleep. Getting a good amount of sleep helps with keeping your body well rested and your immune system working well. The optimal amount of sleep varies from person to person. There really is no magic number to a perfect amount of sleep, but getting what is needed for your own body is mandatory in keeping healthy, happy and functioning well.

4. Get your exercise. Exercising helps combat health conditions and diseases along with maintaining well being, improving mood, controlling weight and boosting energy.

5. Have good hygiene and brush your teeth/tongue/gums regularly.

6. Cough into your sleeve (the bend of your elbow) or a tissue not your hands. Don't stifle a cough and don't sniff the mucous back into your lungs. Sneezing, blowing your nose, and coughing are a must when trying to expel germs from the body.

7. Let some fresh air in and don't over heat your house. Overheating and not ventilating properly will only make the air in your home stagnant, stale and dry. Lack of humidity causes our nose and tonsils to dry out so they cannot trap germs efficiently. When this happens it becomes difficult to sneeze and cough. Turning down the thermostat and turning on a room humidifier keeps virus-laden mucus flowing out of your body. As gross as it is you need to get it out of your system.

8. Teach children how to keep well. The most important times to clean hands include after sneezing, coughing or using the restroom, upon leaving "high-risk" places (recess, nap-time, play stations) and before meals or snacks. Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer regularly. If you are a good example your children will follow. Stress the importance of not touching their eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth. Show your children how to cover their mouth and nose for every cough and sneeze. Better to be on the sleeve than in the hand. This simple maneuver has spectacular results in decreasing the spread of viruses and bacteria floating about the room, waiting to be inhaled.

9. Try to stay away from others who are sick and if you get sick try to stay home. Try not to spread germs to others.


Lysol Cold & Flu PreventionLysol Cold & Flu

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Lysol blogging program, for a gift card worth $40. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Getting Your Kids To Eat More Vegetables

I am a very big fan of eating healthy. Getting the right amount of veggies in my kids' meals is important to me and the task can be challenging at times. There are many ways I have hidden vegetables in my kids' foods. Some of my kids are more picky than others. My daughter, Teela, loves eating broccoli, but not all of my children are like her. No parent likes to find out that their child is hiding their veggies in their napkin or trying to feed them to the family pet. I am going to share some secrets I have tried to get her and my others to eat their veggies.

SOME IDEAS:
1. Fruit and veggie juice blends without added sugar or high fructose corn syrup. You can also make them into Popsicles or frozen cubes and throw them into smoothies. Some kids love to just eat veggies frozen...esp. good on a hot day!
2. Bake them into things or add cheese (Broccoli with cheese sauce, so classic and I love chocolate chip zucchini muffins)
3. Make zucchini puffs, poor mans crab cakes, an omelet, or Okonomiyaki (A Japanese style pancake that you can put all sorts of things in.).
4. Have them make their own foods with ingredients you provide. Kids who cook or prepare it themselves (with a little help) usually end up also eating what they have made. Salads or fruit and veggie kabobs are wonderful to do this with!
5. Casseroles and Crock Pot meals loaded with veggies. Have your little one help you with what goes in it.
6. My kids think they are cool because they like "green paper", seaweed wraps for sushi, to eat plain. They think it is funny to eat them in front of someone who might think they were a bit strange for doing so.
7. Rename things in fun ways like the above "green paper"...broccoli could be mini trees, peas could be called "power peas", or spinach leaves could be "dinosaur scales", etc.
8. Use Japanese Bento Boxes or be creative about serving the fruits and veggies. You can make all kids of fun creations from animals to faces the skies the limit!
9. Teach 'em while they are young. Read books to your baby and toddler about veggies and the importance of eating healthy. Start early offering your child lots of different types of foods when they are young and letting them see you eat and enjoy a variety of foods, especially vegetables.
10. Have them help you in the garden...if they have picked it or grown it maybe they'll eat it.

About the book Peas and Thank You:
Peas and Thank You is a collection of recipes and stories from a mainstream family eating a not-so-mainstream diet. It's filled with healthy and delicious versions of foods we’ve all grown up enjoying, but with a Mama Pea twist—no meat, lots of fresh ingredients and plenty of nutrition for growing Peas. From wholesome breakfasts to mouth-watering desserts, there’s plenty here to satisfy the pickiest Peas in your life. It’s easier than ever to whip up crowd-pleasing meals that will have the whole family asking for, “more, Peas.” Sarah Matheny's delicious recipes and entertaining stories draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to her blog, peasandthankyou.com each month, where she makes raising a vegetarian family easy and fun. She is the author of “Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love.” Learn More about the book.

More info: http://peasandthankyou.com, Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love [VIDEO]. Peas and Thank You on Facebook. Follow @Mama_Pea on Twitter. Buy the book: Peas and Thank You.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Peas and Thank You blogging program for a gift card worth $30. For more information on how you can participate, click here.