Green Fridays

By Beth Egan

A lot of the joy of the holiday season comes from giving wonderful gifts to family, friends, and those we wish to thank. As “Black Friday” is behind us, we hope you will put some thought into making the remaining Friday’s in December – December 11 and 18 – into “Green Fridays”! Changing elements of the gift or how it is wrapped can make a wonderful difference – reduce, reuse and recycle.

Wrapping

One way to turn a gift into a wonderful gift is to present it in a unique or beautiful way.

Reduce

Giving a gift in a box? Why not use a pretty ribbon to wrap the box. Add an embellishment on top or a fancy tag and voila! No need for wrapping paper.

Package items for the same person in one box or bag or package. A lot less wrapping paper will be used, and less gift tags as well.

Are you able to use part of the gift as the wrapping? How about using a dishtowel with ribbons at either end to wrap a kitchen-type gift. Maybe some PJ’s to wrap a few new books, or a stocking to wrap some holiday ornaments?

Reuse

Baskets, tins, containers and reusable gift bags can be very attractive. Paper gift bags and containers are available at most retailers. However fabric gift bags are as easy as making a pillowcase! Here is the link to learn how. Not up for sewing? There are many options available online. You can purchase reusable bags. We personally like the drawstring sling bags – and we have heard nothing but positive comments from the recipients!

Fold up this year’s tissue paper and ribbon and store in a bin or tote bag. This can be used all year long – to top gift bags, as the wrapping paper, for craft projects or for next year’s boxes.

Why not invest in some festive cloth napkins to use at your holiday gatherings. While you are at it, purchase some for everyday use as well! This cuts back on the cost and waste of paper napkins.

Reusable snack bags and lunch bags are great gifts. There are many varieties available online. It cuts down on bulky containers (save those for the softer foods) and cuts way down on plastic sandwich bag use. The styles are fun and easy to clean!

Recycle

Save this year’s holiday cards. They can be used to create unique gift tags next year!

Recycle the wrapping paper, tissue paper and cardboard that comes in to the house. Local churches and schools collect paper as a fundraiser, look for the yellow recycle bins in their parking lots – perhaps your city even collects it?

Recycle all of the cans and bottles that will be used in your celebrations and cooking as well!

Happy Holidays!
Beth Egan

Beth Egan is a mother of 2 and a grandmother of 4. As a former teacher, Beth enjoys educating others on the importance of living green and removing the toxins from your home and the environment. She does this through articles, guest blogging, volunteering for the Healthy Child Healthy World Organization and her business with Shaklee. As a supporter of the Healthy Child Healthy World organization Beth will be posting articles frequently to this blog to alert you to current news on this topic and give ideas and information about making changes that will benefit all of us but most importantly the future, Our Children.

What steps are you taking to help reduce the amount of waste this holiday? Please leave a comment on this post to share your tips and tricks!

Three Steps to Better Health

by Beth Egan

As we approach the holiday season, keep these three simple steps in mind – your heart and your body will thank you!

1. Proper Nutrition: a diet of whole, organic foods is essential to good health. Plenty of foods rich in antioxidants, healthy beverages, nutritious, brightly colored vegetables, and a balance of the right fats, proteins, complex carbohydrates, and oils for whole body health. Limit or eliminate processed foods, saturated fats, and meat consumption. Definitely eliminate artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup from your family’s diet.

2. Hydration: drinking enough water is essential for the health of your digestive system, kidneys, liver, and skin. Dehydration causes headache, fatigue, weakness, and a variety of other symptoms. If you drink water and it tastes sweet, or you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated. Consider purchasing some sort of filtration system for the water you use for drinking and cooking. Even purchasing a pitcher that filters your water is helpful in removing some chemicals and contaminants. Stop buying bottled water, it often contains impurities, plus the plastic bottles cause environmental issues.

3. Exercise: exercise should happen on a near-daily basis. The best ways to exercise are whole-body holistic models, such as yoga and tai-chi, both of which include meditation and personal/spiritual aspects. But a brisk walk of 30 minutes or more 3 times per week has great benefits as well.

Beth Egan is a mother of 2 and a grandmother of 4. As a former teacher, Beth enjoys educating others on the importance of living green and removing the toxins from your home and the environment. She does this through articles, guest blogging, volunteering for the Healthy Child Healthy World Organization and her business with Shaklee. As a supporter of the Healthy Child Healthy World organization Beth will be posting articles frequently to this blog to alert you to current news on this topic and give ideas and information about making changes that will benefit all of us but most importantly the future, Our Children.

What are you doing to stay healthy? Please share your tips and tricks by leaving a comment on this post.

Family Harmony – For A Healthy Body, Mind And Spirit

By Tracy Liebmann

I believe the simple principles of family harmony are three fold, when you look at your family you must look at three key elements, body, mind, and spirit. A healthy family is like a healthy body, the system works together, almost effortlessly. The brain is functioning, the heart pumps, the lungs breathe and the body moves. In our families if every person’s needs are being meet the family will be functioning well and in harmony with one another. It is important to check in with the three key elements to help the family work well together.

What are the needs for the body, mind and spirit of each family member?

Every human being is made up differently and everyone has different needs for food, sleep, quiet time, exercise, social interaction, spirituality and many other components that you will need to look at specifically for your family. I think one sure way of disrupting family harmony is when the adults in the family are deciding what everyone’s needs are around what they need.

I believe this is a common problem in today’s culture, not taking children’s needs as seriously as our own.

The official definition for harmony in the Webster’s dictionary has to do with musical sounds which do not clash or has an agreeable effect. My interpretation of this in regards to our families is very similar; it is a just rightness in our families, it is a sense of inner peace that is flowing through all of us. We do not clash and we have an agreeable effect, of course this is true most of the time not all of the time, this is real life not the Hollywood version! Feeling a sense of disharmony often comes up in my coaching practice and the places families tend to get out of balance tend to be around getting out of the house, food and bed time. Why do you think that is? Well, in my experience it is often due to expectations, like being on time or kids should be in bed by 9 PM, or unreasonable demands like eat all your vegetables or a 4 year old take a bath, brush his teeth and get into PJ’s without assistance.

If you are feeling like you want more harmony in your home choose one thing to work on at a time. Just be the “watcher” of what is going on that causes the disharmony. Try not to judge or fix the situation just watch, listen and learn from what is going on. Go back to the simple formula of looking for what each person needs to be feeling content and happy in his/her body, mind, and spirit. If getting out the door to go somewhere always ends in some type of drama; whose needs are not being met? Did little Johnny have all the time he needed to transition from what he was doing before you announced “lets go, we are late” or was Sara able to finish her level on her video game and save before you rushed her out the door? These things are very important to our kids, getting there on time is important to us! So we need to look for ways to get things ready and in the car in plenty of time and give the children as much time as they need to be prepared to leave.

That will look different for every family, and once you figure out what everyone needs to accomplish the goal things will run smoother and everyone will be more agreeable.

This is just one example of the daily situations that families are sometimes challenged by, I hope this brief description of family harmony has been helpful to you. Please feel free to sign up for a FREE sample session at my website www.transformingfamily.com if you would like to talk more about a specific situation in your family that you would like to bring more harmony to…I look forward to hearing from you!

Tracy Liebmann is an experienced educator, Certified Family Life Coach, and Author. She believes deeply that great communication is the key to better connection with your loved ones. She mothers her two teenaged children from the heart, knowing that is where the truth lies when it comes to parenting. Her coaching clients describe her using words like; compassionate, caring, understanding, patient, insightful and intuitive. She lives in Charleston, SC with her husband of 19 years, her 2 children and many interesting pets. She enjoys being with her family, cooking, anything outdoors and being with her horses! You can learn more about her and her coaching practice at www.transformingfamily.com or you can get parenting advice with heart at www.asktracy.wordpress.com Tracy is a regular contributor to this blog, so stay tuned for more great parenting articles from her!

Fruit And Vegetable Smoothies- So Heathy, So Yummy!

I don’t know about you, but the couple of days of warm and sunny weather has me excited for more days to come. The birds chirping, the farmers markets, fresh and crisp vegetables- oh hurry up spring weather!

Because of the warm weather coming up I know many of you will be hitting the farmers markets and filling up your home with tons of fresh fruits and vegetables. What do you do with all of them so they don’t spoil faster then you can eat them? Smoothies! That’s right- cold, refreshing smoothies.

Carrie Lauth of Natural Mom’s Talk Radio has a new recipe book ready for your kitchen and to save you money. Instead of throwing all your scraps and too ripe foods out to your compost pile- try one of the recipes in the book. Get your Smoothie Recipes today and create a lovely blend for lunch.

Save money and drink your vegetables! What a wonderful concept and I just had to share it with you today!

I know it’s easy to hope over to the natural foods store and grab a smoothie for $4-$5, but what kind of smoothies have YOU made in your home? Do your kids have a favorite? Carrie has been known to sneak things in like Cod Liver Oil without anyone in her home knowing- what sort of healthy items have you snuck in?