Blooming Where We Are

Staying Healthy on the Road... part 2

2011-04-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

Mmmmmmmmm...

Do you love a good cup of Joe? I sure do. Coffee can be earth friendly, easily organic and fair trade without breaking the bank. I buy mine from a local roaster who buys fair trade beans from all over the world and then locally roasts them for $9 a pound.

But on the road?

Having spent the last two weeks driving across the country, I can tell you that it can be tough finding the local coffee joint. They ARE out there but just off the interstate? Not so much. So what is the one things that you CAN do?

Take along your mug!

Do I have to go on and on about the evils of styrofoam? BPA lined paper coffee cups?

Can we all just agree that they are evil?

I know, as someone who used to think that coffee in a paper cup was a New York delicacy, giving up your disposable cup of joe is tough. But if I added up just the disposable cups that I personally use in a year, I cringe at how much landfill space that takes up. Not to mention exposure to plastics and other yuck.

I have a lovely stoneware travel mug with a silicone top. My eldest gave it to me for christmas and, if I'm honest, it's by far my favorite present. I use it daily, carry it with me at all times and has become my blankie. Weird yes but as any reader of the FlyLady knows, if you do it for 30 days it becomes a habit.

Next up, fast food...

My One thing...Number 3

2011-04-11T16:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I think that we've established that this will not be a daily thing...

Anyway, we've been traveling this week and it has got me thinking about being healthy on the road. Inevitably, we end up eating out a lot when we are traveling. Although we try to avoid the nasty drive thrus we always end up at some point eating meals in the car. So, here's my first of five things that you can do while traveling...

Always pack a cooler.

Even if you plan on eating most or all foods out, if you take along foods that need to be refrigerated you'll at least eat some healthy foods on hand for when the road trip munchies hit.

Here's what we packed...

Carrots

Three kinds of ready made salad from the deli counter. Two pasta and one tossed salad. This fed us for two meals on the road with much healthier fare than the drive through places that we would have needed to eat at given our time constraints.

Kalamata Olives - our family loves these.

No sugar added juices.

Hummus and pitas.

Yogurt - you don't want to take too much only what you can eat in a day so that it doesn't spoil.

Seltzer - To temper soda consumption.

Diet Soda - so much for our efforts to eliminate this from our diet. The DP and I allowed ourselves to drink this on the trip as we could not find an acceptable coffee maker for the road.

We also brought along a two sets of children's stainless and a set of BPA free dishes. I put them in a sealable plastic bag as they get dirty and wash at night.

Day One...

2011-04-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

Here's my one thing for Friday...

Food Cures for KidsThe Food Cure for Kids: A Nutritional Approach to Your Child's Wellness by Natalie Geary M.D. and Oz Garcia PhD

Go to your local library and pick up a copy of this book. It's so good, I would even recommend buying it. Geary and Garcia are a wonderful team that give practical advice to parents who want to help their children nutritionally. This is not a hippy dippy go completely organic or go home guide. It is a practical guide to taking small steps to improve your child's nutrition.

This is the book the set us on the right path to helping our eldest daughter. She has exhibited a host of low grade allergy symptoms since she was about a year old. Rashes, a runny nose and a lack of appetite have been our main concerns. She's tiny, underweight (but not severely) and doesn't have a lot of hair.

I was concerned. Our allergist had a host of "concerns" and suggested testing her again when she's five but no specific answers. Reading this book got me thinking about how we are feeding her. How her staple: milk might be the thing that was causing a problem rather than it being the one thing that she would eat. Six weeks after switching her to a combination of goats milk, a protein shake, low sugar juice and water, her hair is growing out, she's gained two pounds and has more energy. She's also a lot less moody. We're planning to systematically eliminate other things one at a time to see if she has other sensitivities. We'll keep you posted as to our progress.

Do One Thing...

2011-04-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

This is my inspiration. Today we'll start our project. Can we do one thing each day? Each week? Each month? To improve our family, our health, our country? We'll see.