Nine Months of Healthy Eating

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If you’ve never paid attention to what you eat, then now is the time to get started. Now, more than ever before, it is important to choose your foods wisely and eat and act responsibly. The last thing you’ll want to do is gain 75 pounds because you’re “eating for two” and spend the whole next year chowing down and becoming best friends with your  medical staff, rather than bonding with your baby.

A BALANCED DIET
Image by linda yvonne via Flickr

Yes, pregnant women tend to overeat due to the misleading concept of “eating for two”. While technically you are eating for both yourself and your fetus, your growing baby does not need for you to eat more than 300 extra calories a day, which is not as much as you think it is. So instead of sitting down to two steak and potato dinners in one evening, stick with a single dinner and then a light snack of sliced apple, humus, and half of a whole wheat pita. Piling on ice cream, chips, and soda will not only make you gain too much weight during the next nine months, but will likely make you feel sick, especially knowing how common pregnancy heartburn can be. Continue Reading

Sweets Will Sink Your Diet

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Sweets will torpedo a diet if you let them. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the occasional treat won’t add to your wasteline.

It shouldn’t take reading an eat healthy blog to know that sweets are terrible for your diet. Everyone knows that! However, it’s worth emphasizing just how awful they truly are.

Take PotBelly Sandwich Works for example. They are a somewhat up-and-coming sandwich place that’s located in a few places throughout the country. Their nutritional information online is startling. Let’s compare their Chicken Salad Sandwich (one of the most unhealthy sandwiches they have since it’s made with mayonnaise) to one sugar cookie:

Sandwich – 480 calories

Cookie – 520 calories

Yes, that’s right, at PotBelly’s, one single sugar cookie has more calories than an entire sandwich, one of their more unhealthy sandwiches at that!

Another good example is the Cheesecake Factory. Yes, they have wonderfully delicious entrees and desserts, but it’s simply horrible for you! One single piece of their cheesecake has between 900-1,500 calories! That’s more than half the amount of calories most people need for an entire day!

Non-Fat Yogurt: Too Good to be True!

Places like TCBY and have exploited the health-conscious market with their “yogurt”, which everyone knows is much healthier than ice cream, right? Well, technically that is true. However, that’s not to say yogurt should be considered healthy! The “non-fat yogurt” at Coldstone Creamery has nearly 400 calories for a medium-sized serving. This contains much fewer calories than their ice cream, but is still very high in calories for what effectively amounts to an after-dinner snack. The crux of the problem with these “non-fat yogurts” and other desserts is the sugar! Foods rich in sugar are loaded with unhealthy carbohydrate calories that, if not burned off shortly upon consumption, are stored on the body as fat.

As a general rule of thumb in dieting, if it seems too good to be true, it almost always is. The correlation between tastiness and calories is very closely aligned.

Shakes = More Hip to Shake

Another favorite sweet that is deceivingly horrible for you are milkshakes. It seems somewhat intuitive to think that since you drink it, it probably can’t be that high in calories. However, this is completely untrue. For example, a regular-sized Oreo McFlurry from McDonalds has 550 calories. That’s more than their Big Mac! It gets much worse if you decide to go for the large-sized goodness. Their 32 oz. shakes all have over 1,000 calories! It’s almost mind-blowing to think you could consume so much sipping through a straw for a few minutes.

Healthy Alternatives

In short, there is no truly healthy alternative to cheesecake, ice cream, and milkshakes. The tastiness of such items simply cannot be maintained when the calories are cut. But no one said eating healthy was easy. It takes sacrifices. Try substituting some of these things for the big slice of pie or cookies when your sweet tooth starts acting up again:

Apples, bananas, or other fresh fruit

Cup of yogurt (low in calories and very healthy for digestive system)

Desserts sweetened with Splenda or other artificial sweeteners

Make dieting easy on yourself and avoid sweets. They can single-handedly derail an otherwise productive diet.

About the Author

The author writes for a website with tips on how to eat healthy.The website is new and is currently having a French version developed,Manger sain – Vivre bien

.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

How to Decorate a Celestial Themed Nursery

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It’s time to welcome your new baby with a room that’s out of this world! A celestial themed nursery is a great way to show your creativity, and you never know, maybe you’ll be raising a little astronomer or astronaut! This theme can fit a room that’s either small or big, just pick and choose from the suggestions below until you have a space that fits your style. We have also included some budget tips to help you keep some of the expenses of a new baby down.

Celestial Theme

This theme isn’t nearly as complicated as it sounds, and it’s versatile enough to be used for either a boy or a girl, which is perfect if you’re one of those parents who would like a surprise! The predominant color for this theme is blue, but the soft nuances necessary to create the right atmosphere make it gender non-specific. It’s also important to keep in mind that a celestial theme means you can either go with a starry night or a sunny day, so this theme is incredibly versatile indeed.

So let’s begin decorating!

Walls, Ceilings, Windows and Floor

As mentioned previously, most of the colors used will be blue, whether light blue for the day theme, or dark blue for the night theme. Also, if you’re using the day theme, whites and yellows can also be a good choice.

The ceiling is a critical piece for the celestial theme. Either paint it dark blue for a starry night theme, or light blue to depict a sunny day. To make things really fun, you can use those glow-in-the-dark stick on stars to spread across the ceiling. Or alternately, you can add cloud versions of the stars for the day theme. You can even paint or stencil on your own clouds. When it comes to the walls, start by getting a star and moon, or sun and clouds wallpaper.

Budget tip: Wallpapers, while lovely, can be both expensive and difficult to apply. You can save yourself some time and money by using paint instead. No matter the theme, a light blue color would go best. If you still want to include a little wallpaper for that extra oomph, get some funky, sky-themed borders to put around the door.

For the windows, you’ll need to add either some drapes or valances. For a classic combination, use white or yellows to compliment the ceiling and walls. Yellow can even be used in the night theme, because a darker yellow can help accent the stars. Lastly, don’t forget about the floor. Now, you may already have carpet in the room, but if you don’t, you have a couple of choices. You can find a fun star and moon carpet, or if that’s too much pattern with what you have already, get plain dark blue.

Furniture Time

Furniture essentials are a must, like a crib, a changing table, and a dresser in which to keep the baby’s clothes. With the celestial theme you can really use any color, but white would certainly be a good pick. If you have some extra space in the room, you could also add a small nightstand, a bed, and a couch. The bed is useful as a place for you to sleep on those nights when you feel the need to stay close to the baby, or a bed or a couch can be a good place for friends and family to sit when they are visiting the new arrival.

Budget Tip: This is particularly useful if you plan on keeping that room as the permanent room of the baby. After all, eventually your child will grow into the bed, saving you money later on.

Time to Decorate

Now it’s time to put the finishing touches on your baby’s room with decorations! A night lamp would be a great idea, and also practical. For the starry night theme, get a moon shaped night light. For the sunny day theme, get one that’s shaped like the sun. Put it somewhere where it’s convenient and still easily seen. Next, get some celestial-themed bedding for the crib and/or bed. You should be able to find a bedding set with stars or suns on it in most stores.

Budget Tip: Buy all your bedding at once and save with a bed set. The same way you book a vacation flight, hotel and rental, this can save you money.

If you haven’t reached the end of your budget yet, you can also add a store and moon musical mobile over the crib. Also, add teddy bears and other plush toys on the changing table and other parts of the room for a cute touch. Don’t forget to use light colors to keep the theme consistent. You could even choice nocturnal stuffed animals only if you’ve got a night theme. You could choose any animal. Maybe you want stuffed cows, or plush dogs and plush cats. Arrange them in places that will really brighten up the cuteness factor of the room.

So there you go! You now have a beautiful nursery with which to welcome your new baby. Remember, you can be as creative as you want, or as a budget friendly. Take these suggestions, and soon you’ll have the perfect celestial hideaway!

About the Author

Ready to decorate? Start by finding the perfect teddy bear, plush dog and other adorable toys stuffed animals, just like the article suggests at KCPlush.com. With so much variety and such great deals, you will surely find the perfect decor for your baby’s new room !

Article Source: Content for Reprint