10 Health Benefits of Cycling - Guest Post

Cycling is tremendous fun for everyone from the youngest child to those that have reached retirement age. Not only are you doing something that is enjoyable, but you will also find that there are numerous health benefits that go along with cycling.

Get Rid of Unwanted Weight

As you likely know, taking up cycling is a great way to work off those unwanted calories and improve your waistline. If you decide to cycle for extended periods of time while making use of training aids like jawbone you will benefit to your health. Studies have shown that steady cycling can help people burn up to 300 calories per hour.

Improve Your Muscle Tone

Although you may not see much of a difference in your arms, your legs will certainly improve in terms of muscle tone.   With extended periods of cycling you will find that your legs will become quite noticeably toned. If you decide to stand up while pedaling off and on while you're cycling, you'll also find that your lower back and abs will also see great results.

Improve Your Joints

When you are cycling, the motion of pedaling is a constant up and down, which gives your knee and hip joints quite a workout. The motion of pedaling not only helps to lubricate the joints it also helps to strengthen them as well.

Cardiovascular Improvements

You simply cannot deny it, becoming a cyclist will lead to tremendous improvements in your overall cardiovascular health in addition to your endurance. Studies have shown that you can experience up to an 8% increase in your endurance after a month of consistently getting on a bicycle and cycling at least 30 minutes per day. Training tools can help monitor your progress.

Improved Co-ordination

Not only will you see improvement in your muscle tone, you'll also see improvement in the coordination that it takes to keep those muscles working in constant motion. This is especially important if you happen to cycle in heavy traffic and are moving between vehicles. You'll see a great improvement of your body-to-eye coordination.

Get Rid of Stress

You'll find that almost any physical activity is going to be a proven stress-reliever and there is no exception when it comes to cycling. The consistent exercise combined with muscle fatigue and calorie-burning abilities will all play a big contribution to reducing the overall stress levels that you experience.

Sleep Better

Because of the extensive physical activity that you will experience during the period of time that you're cycling during the day you will find that you'll be able to sleep better at night. Studies have been conducted on people that had a hard time sleeping; when they took up cycling for at least 30 minutes per day, they went to sleep in half the time than those who didn't take up cycling.

Reduce the Chance of Disease

When you take up cycling you'll be lowering the chance of you becoming sick while improving your overall health. Cycling will keep your heart in great health and reduce the chances of cardiovascular diseases by a significant amount. 

Improved Motivation

When you take part in any type of physical activity, cycling included, you will be helping to boost your overall energy levels and the amount of motivation that you have. You'll have excellent results in this area if you are a very productive cyclist as you'll begin to feel much more confident about your skills due to the fact that you will eventually be able to cycle for longer periods of time than when you first started out as a cyclist.

Positive Behavior

You'll be taking part in a positive and productive hobby that you are able to do as many times if you like without any type of negative side effects.

As you can see there are many great benefits to cycling, so if you are looking for a great way to get some exercise and improve your overall health cycling is definitely worth looking into.

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Healthy Pizza That Your Kids Won't Know Is Healthy

How to Cook a Healthy Pizza That Your Kids Won't Know Is Healthy

It's not often you see the words "healthy" and "pizza" used in the same sentence. As you're well aware of, pizza is a ridiculously healthy yet notoriously unhealthy food choice for you and your family.

The Chicago Classic Individual Size Deep Dish Pizza at Pizzeria Uno has over a day's worth of calories for most folks (2,300), and over two day's worth of fat (164 grams) and sodium (4,910 milligrams).

If you want to make smarter, healthier food choices for your family but still want a great-tasting, crowd-pleasing pizza, I've got just the recipe for you.

How to Make a Healthy Pizza 

There are several simple tips you can use to turn an unhealthy pizza into a healthy one:

1. Opt for a whole grain thin crust.

Buy a whole wheat or whole grain crust instead of a white one. And if you can find a thin whole wheat crust, that's even better because it'll save you additional calories.

2. Use lots of veggies.

If you have kids that will frown upon this, hide the veggies under the cheese or blend some spinach and onions together with your tomato sauce and they won't even know.

3. Use lean meats.

Pepperoni, sausage and bacon may be delicious, but they add lots of calories, salt, and fat to your pizza. So go with chicken or ham instead to please the carnivores in your clan.

4. Pick up a low-sodium tomato or marinara sauce.

Pizza contains a lot of salt, but you can cut back on that sodium content drastically by buying a low sodium tomato sauce.

5. Grab a bag of reduced fat cheese.

This will help you cut back on the calories and fat. You still want some fat though for flavor, so stay away from the fat free dairy products.

So now that you're equipped with the tips you need to succeed, let's show you how to make your soon-to-be-delicious pizza.

Healthy Chicken Supreme Pizza Recipe

Ingredients:
• 1 Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
• 4 oz. Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
• 1 Tomato
• 1 Cup Spinach
• 1/2 Onion
• 1/2 Green Pepper
• 1/2 cup Reduced Fat Shredded Mozarella Cheese
• 1/2 cup Low Sodium Tomato Sauce
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions:
1. Heat a pan to medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Cook chicken breast for 5-6 minutes.Flip chicken breast and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
2. Chop the onion and green pepper and saute in the same pan with the spinach for about 5 minutes.
3. Spread tomato sauce over the crust. Top with onion, green pepper, spinach, and diced tomato.
4. Cut chicken into half-inch cubes and spread evenly over pizza.
5. Top pizza with mozarella cheese.
6. Cook for 8-10 minutes at 400 (or according to the instructions on the crust package). Let cool, cut pizza into 8 slices and serve.
Nutrition Facts (per 2 slices):
303 calories, 9 g fat, 37 g carbs (7.5 g fiber), 19 g protein, 488 mg sodium


Guest post provided by:

Scott Christ is an author, blogger, local food advocate, and healthy recipe expert. Check out his website The Healthy Eating Guide to grab a copy of his free eBook The Ultimate Healthy Eating Roadmap and get more easy healthy recipes. 

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The Importance of Using All Natural Cleaners - Guest Post

It was so fantastic to have Katie Moore of Moore from Katie offer to post for me while I am soaking up the sun in Myrtle Beach this week!

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When I found out I was pregnant; I began researching everything from pregnancy symptoms to natural living. What I found in my research is that many of my everyday products were filled with chemicals that I didn’t want exposure to. Did you know that many of the items in everyday household cleaners are toxic? For example, many cleaners and detergents contain chemicals that disrupt hormones in the human body.

In my research, I found that homemade cleaners are very simple to make. For example, I found a great recipe from Wellness Mama for an all-natural, all-purpose cleaner. This cleaner is simple to make. The ingredients are inexpensive, so I save money using this all-natural cleaner as well!

All-Purpose Cleaner

Ingredients:
1 t. borax
½ t. washing soda
1 tsp liquid castile soap
Essential oils for scent (optional)
2 cups warm, distilled water

To Use:
Pour ingredients into a spray bottle. Cover bottle. Shake well. Use as needed.

Toxins are also found in disposable diapers. For this reason, I have decided to use cloth. Using cloth diapers means I will be doing more laundry. Many women who use cloth diapers employ a diaper service. Diaper services exchange clean cloth diapers for dirty cloth diapers. For busy moms, this service is valuable. I am more interested in saving money than saving time, so I am opting to launder my own cloth diapers. I recently started making my own laundry detergent using a recipe from diyNatural. This detergent works as well as the detergent I used to buy, and it costs pennies per load!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Ingredients:
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1 4.5 oz bar soap, shaved

To Use:
Mix ingredients together. Use 1 T. of mixture per load of laundry.

I want to be the perfect mom, but I know I will make mistakes. As with anything throughout your pregnancy, make sure to double check with your doctor. My doctor was able to give me information about natural living, birthing options, cord blood banking and so much more! Preventing my baby from being exposed to the toxins in commercial household cleaners and disposable diapers is one thing I can do to keep us healthy. Using all natural, homemade products is much more inexpensive than using traditional cleaners. I plan on putting the savings to good use!



Katie Moore has written and submitted this article. Katie is an active blogger who discusses the topics of, motherhood, children, fitness, health and all other things Mommy. She enjoys writing, blogging, and meeting new people! To connect with Katie contact her via her blog, Moore From Katie or her twitter, @moorekm26

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PAWS 4 THOR

I had been working on a very long and very wordy, Wordy Wednesday post... and then I began a small conversation. It led into another post needing to go up today. Please read the following guest post... and do something if you feel led to.


PAWS 4 THOR

On April 14th, 2011 my 2 ½ year old son, Thor, was diagnosed with Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder, and Extreme Anxiety; he leads a life apart from others his age.

Thor's brain has difficulty processing the sensory information that he perceives; many times sights, sounds, smells, and touch can overwhelm him and even be painful. This usually leads to outbursts and a desire to flee the situation. Every moment of every day Thor fights against his natural tendencies to be afraid, anxious, or overwhelmed. He is only semi-verbal and does not respond to strangers or to his name being called if he were to wander or hide. He's run away in stores more times than I can count - hiding on shelves and behind counters, leaving me afraid and searching.

There are many issues that arise from Thor’s disabilities that make living each day difficult for Thor and myself (a single parent). He must have his hand held constantly or be on a toddler “leash,” because his severe anxiety causes him to run away and hide when out in public. He also self injures - hitting, slapping, pinching or punching himself and even banging his head on hard surfaces.

Thor is also a loving child and has an infectious laugh. I strive every day to help him overcome the many obstacles he faces...one of the ways I can help him is by getting a specially trained Autism Service Dog through 4 Paws for Ability. Thor has been accepted into the Autism Service Dog program; but I must first complete the fundraising requirement for the non-profit agency that trains these dogs - 4 Paws for Ability eliminates a long waiting list by allowing their clients’ family, friends, and community to raise $13,000 (USD) to help cover some of the cost of extensive training service dogs require. I've reached 35% of my goal so far. (http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/paws4thor/4pawsforabilityinc)

A service dog would allow Thor the ability to have more freedom when we are in public by having him tethered to the dog and being able to walk along side the dog, rather than being carried or strapped in a stroller. A service dog would also be able to track and retrieve Thor if he were to get away from me, comfort him when he is upset or having a meltdown, and keep him from dangerous activities and bad behaviors. It would give me another set of eyes to keep Thor safe.

4 Paws for Ability takes a child with Autism and all the difficulties they have with verbalization, communication, and social relationships and pairs them with a well trained service dog specifically trained to meet their unique needs; to create a consistency in the child's life as their dogs go every where that they go, even within places of public accommodation, and the educational system bringing along with them: consistency, stability, and calm reassurance that the feelings of anxiety or fear are not needed because their trusted buddy is by their side.

In my fundraising journey, I found myself in the lead to win $50,000 for my favorite charity. I need to stay in that #1 spot until July 17th - and if I do... if I WIN this contest...I plan on celebrating! Because you all have helped me so much to get this far I plan on giving away $100 CASH (of my own money via paypal) to one person if I win this. To help, all you need to do is click this link and then "connect with facebook" (that's it! no voting, just sign up). You can enter to win the $100 by visiting here.

here is Thor's Video: http://youtu.be/vXhj-le4xrI

Thanks to all who have supported us in this journey!


Erin Blocksidge

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Making a House a Home - Guest Post

A fabulous guest post by Cinzia Rolling!  You can check her out here.


As a parent, have you ever been facing an option, requirement or a desire to move out of your current residence, City or even State and been overcome with the sickening question of how it will affect your children? Has this caused you to teeter-totter on your decision to go or not to go? Once one has children, there is no question that decisions of such magnitude become a little more difficult to make.

I’ve gotten plenty of advice over the years, both before children and after having children so I thought I’d share some thoughts on what I have learned so far.  Children are truly resilient and even when something may seem like a difficult adjustment to them, it turns out to be an opportunity for growth. Fear not, there are some things parents can do to make a transition easier and be sure that you are not leaving your Home for a new House in a new locale.

1. Include your children in the process. Yes, this can be more challenging, but it is always a good idea
to have them really feel a part of the process and having some say in the matter versus arriving on the
day of the move. This would mean a family visit to the proposed destination when looking for your new
home once you have narrowed down some choices. A word of caution: DO NOT take them on every
single house visit because that will drive you, them and your realtor crazy!

2. During this visit, be sure to save time for one or two “fun” activities. Taking the time to do some
fun activities will give them a flavor for the new area and meet some people which can go a long way.
Instead of having this view of it being the oh so dreaded – BORING, they will have some memories of
good times and may even be excited to share with their existing friends on a future visit.

3. Take a tour of the schools both virtually and in person. Do your due diligence prior to even
narrowing down some areas and properties to look at by visiting sites like www.greatschools.org and the
local school system websites. Use that to take some virtual tours of some schools in the area and get
some input from your child. Be aware of educational programs, as well as sports and other extra
curricular activities offered.

4. If your child is involved in a sport, try to attend a school sporting event for that sport. When a
child is heavily involved in a sport, a majority of their social life is intertwined in that sport and it is a
huge part of their life. Make it known that it is important to you as well by attending an event and even
maybe meeting the coach depending on how far into the process you are.

5. Lastly, don’t go hog wild. One of my yoga teachers once told me, “It is a little easier to accept and
transition to the new, when holding on to a piece of the old.” That has proved to be sound advice, so
even though you might be moving across country for all I know, try not to clear out the entire house
before you go in an attempt to travel lightly. I tend to be a less is more person, but my husband often
reminds me that maybe I go a bit overboard sometimes.

So, is it time for a change? Embrace the adventure and your children will more than likely do the same. After
all, a house is just an empty building until you add your family and memories that make it a home. Please share
some of your experiences or additional advice that I’ve missed.

Cinzia Rolling  |  cinzia@creativegrowthstrategies.com | http://cinziarolling.com

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