by Judy Corbus | Apr 5, 2016
Spring has sprung and this is the perfect time to clean and freshen your house. But you don’t have to spend a lot of money on cleaning products when you can whip up your own with a few simple, inexpensive ingredients.
The basic ingredient list includes:
- White Vinegar
- Baking soda
- Rubbing alcohol
- Ammonia
- Mild dish detergent
- Washing soda (can be found in the laundry products aisle)
- Borax (also in the laundry section)
Use clean jars or bottles for mixing and storage. Do not use food containers – children can think the contents are something to eat. Also, don’t mix your products in empty cleaning product bottles; residue from the original product may interact with your product, causing a dangerous reaction. Label each product and store out of reach of children. NEVER mix chlorine bleach with ammonia or vinegar – it will create dangerous, toxic fumes!
Here are a few recipes to get you started:
ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER
Mix in a 16 oz. or larger spray bottle:
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup water
Use on sinks, countertops, lightly soiled range surfaces, floors, toilets, and showers.
WINDOW CLEANER
- 3 tablespoons ammonia
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
Put in a spray bottle and fill the rest with water.
HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT
- 1 bar Ivory® or 1/3 bar Fels Naptha® soap
- 1/2 cup washing soda
- 1/2 cup borax powder
Grate the bar soap into a cooking pot. Add 6 cups of water and heat until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into a clean bucket. Add the soap mixture from the pot and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel slightly. Optional: Add 1 ounce essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice.
Use 1/2 cup per load. This is a low-sudsing soap which removes dirt and odor and can be used in high-efficiency machines.
For more product recipes, check out Homemade Household Cleaners and Green Cleaning: Recipes for a Healthy Home.
Sources: Homemade Household Cleaners
Clean It Green!, C. Rogers, UF/IFAS Extension Suwannee County.
by Angela Hinkle | Apr 1, 2016
“Breaking bread”, or eating a meal with others, is a deeply personal way to foster a sense of belonging. Food is a social glue; it brings us together for conversation, a time to catch up, a chance to connect with loved ones, and it fills our bellies as well.
If you wish to “break bread” (with actual bread), here are some nice, tasty bites of information.
- The hypnotic, heavenly, warm, welcoming aroma of freshly baked bread makes many of us feel that all is right with the world and provides a sense of comfort.
- Researchers have found that the smell of baking bread triggers a positive mood that leads to a higher degree of benevolence, kindness, and concern for the welfare of others.
“Bread – like real love – took time, cultivation, strong loving hands, and patience. It lived, rising and growing to fruition only under the most perfect circumstances”. – Melissa Hill, Something from Tiffany’s
- A fascinating thing about bread is that though it is often viewed as a “poverty fuel”, it can feel like a luxury to even the most monetarily wealthy of individuals.
“”There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread”. – Mahatma Gandhi
- If you’re going to break bread with bread, go for healthy whole grain varieties for plenty of good-for-you minerals, vitamins, and fiber.
Break bread for a healthy life.
by Ginny Hinton | Mar 24, 2016
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once said, “The greatest thing in the world is not so much where we are, but in which direction we are moving.” That saying holds true when it comes to our health and our finances.
Health and personal financial issues affect millions of Americans. We struggle with epidemic obesity rates, over 79 million Americans have “pre-diabetes”, debt and bankruptcy filings remain high and millions of Americans live on the “financial edge” with less than the recommended three months’ emergency fund set aside for the future. Problems that develop gradually soon become overwhelming.
Many of us, when faced with the need to change, see our problems as unbeatable and “freeze” instead of moving forward. It is true that there is no easy way to lose weight, gain wealth or become debt-free. Even drastic fixes like weight loss surgery or bankruptcy come with huge risks. So, what is the secret?
According to Former HHS Secretary Tommy G.Thompson, small steps are the key! Mr. Thompson stated, “Consumers don’t need to go to extremes – such as joining a gym or taking part in the latest diet plan – to make improvements to their health. But they do need to get active and eat healthier.” No step is too small to get started and you can never be too early or too late. Examples might include walking during your lunch break, cutting out 100 calories a day, saving the change you accumulate each day or tracking your spending for a month. Anything you do daily over a period of time will soon become a habit, or an “automated” behavior. When your healthy behaviors become automated – no matter how small – you’ve just taken a step toward physical and/or financial wellness.
In the end, your health is in your hands. Set realistic goals, take small steps to reach them, learn from the obstacles and believe that you can achieve. And remember, “In the end, the only people who fail are those who do not try.” – David Viscott
Adapted from Small Steps to Health and Wealth, B. O’Neill and K. Ensle, 2013.
by Ginny Hinton | Feb 10, 2016
Sometimes canned foods get a bad rap. Often, concerns are valid because canned foods tend to be high in unwanted salt and/or sugar. The good news is that you can buy fruits canned in their own juice and vegetables or beans labeled “low-sodium or” no salt added”. By draining and rinsing your canned produce with water, you can also lower the sodium or sugar content and have a healthful – and inexpensive – solution to balancing your child’s nutritional needs. For example, draining and rinsing canned beans lowers their sodium levels by as much as 41 percent.
We know that buying local fresh fruits and vegetables in season is a smart idea but kids can be picky. The Brussels sprouts or turnips that are available in the winter might not appeal to a child who only wants peaches. Benefits of buying canned foods include:
- Most canned fruits and vegetables are packaged within hours of being picked. This means the foods keep their peak flavor and nutrients.
- Canned fruits and vegetables are peeled, cut and ready to use in recipes. They “get you there” quicker and easier, usually with the same or even more nutrition than fresh or frozen. For example, did you know that canned pumpkin has three times more Vitamin A than fresh pumpkin?
- Canned fruit and vegetable selections are available year-round. Canned foods can offer reliable, great-tasting ingredients when fresh produce is not in season.
- Canned foods can be used in recipe “hacks” to improve nutrition. (“Hacks” are tricks that aid in the preparation or reduce the cooking time in recipes.) For example, soups can be thickened with a combination of pureed canned white beans and low-sodium vegetable or chicken stock instead of the traditional – and fattening – flour and butter. Canned evaporated skim milk can be used in equal amounts to replace cream in recipes for a fraction of the fat content.
All in all, canned foods can be used in any season to create a healthy plate. Just watch the sugar and salt content to create inexpensive, healthful and tasty meals your kids will love!
References:
- Kendall, A.R. and Dahl, W.J. (2015). Shopping for Health: Vegetables. University of Florida/IFAS electronic publication: edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fs165.
- Jones, J.B., and J.R. Mount. (2009). Sodium Reduction in Canned Bean Varieties by Draining and Rinsing. 209. Institute of Food Technologists Conference Poster. Anaheim, California.
- Tavoletti, R. (2015). The Time is “Ripe” for Canned Food. Canned Food Alliance. http://www.mealtime.org/article/the-time-is-ripe-for-canned-food.aspx?siteLocation=c8e9a60a-8e4d-45ef-9434-624be5cbf61b
- Lydon, K. (2015). It’s No Trick, Treat Yourself to Better Nutrition with These Recipe Hacks. Canned Food Alliance. http://www.mealtime.org/article/its-no-trick-canned-food-recipe-hacks.aspx?siteLocation=c8e9a60a-8e4d-45ef-9434-624be5cbf61b .
by Marie Arick | Feb 10, 2016
“Walking is man’s best medicine.” The ground breaking physician Hippocrates, said this around 300 BC. It’s amazing that this still applies today. Walking is one of the easiest exercises that the majority of Americans can perform. So what does it take? Not much – just the personal incentive to get started. Requirements are comfortable shoes and your choice of the place to walk. This can be the local school track, a park, your neighborhood, or even within your own home.
The current recommendation is 10,000 steps per day which equates to about 5 miles per day. This is the mission of the US Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy, and the Shape Up America! campaign (http://shapeup.org/10000-steps/). If you are a couch potato and are just starting out, you can simply time yourself and see how long you can walk before you get tired. Once you have established that amount of time, challenge yourself to walk for a longer time or distance. If you want to get technical, download a free app for your cell phone such as Map My Walk (www.mapmywalk.com/app/ ) or purchase an inexpensive pedometer to count your daily steps and then begin to challenge yourself to exceed that number each day. Every extra effort counts!
Hippocrates realized the need for exercise long before our modern day physicians ever began their studies. Some things are just that simple, so slip on those comfortable shoes and take a walk!
by Amy Mullins, PhD, RDN | Feb 3, 2016
Photo credit: pixabay.com
Did you know that heart disease is the #1 killer of Americans, accounting for 1 in every 4 deaths? It has been called the “silent killer” because often there are no symptoms.
Your risk for heart disease can depend on many things. The good news is that 80% of risk factors are preventable!
Things you can do to reduce your risk:
- Avoid use of and exposure to tobacco.
- Avoid excessive alcohol consumption.
- Be physically active every day.
- 150 minutes per week of aerobic activity, equivalent to brisk walking, has been shown to lower obesity, blood pressure, triglycerides, and LDL (bad) cholesterol, and increase HDL (good) cholesterol
- Aim for a healthy body weight.
- Aim for normal blood glucose. Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the US and can cause serious health complications such as heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and amputations.
- Fasting glucose levels over 100mg/dL could signify prediabetes
- Fasting glucose levels over 126mg/dL could signify diabetes
- Check your blood pressure regularly.
- Less than 120/80 mmHg is normal
- 120-139/80-89 mmHg is pre-hypertension
- 140/90 mmHg or higher is hypertension
- Check your cholesterol. People with high cholesterol have about twice the risk of heart disease as people with lower levels. Aim for:
- Total Cholesterol (less than 200 mg/dL)
- Low triglycerides (less than 150 mg/dL)
- Low LDL (bad) cholesterol levels (less than 100 mg/dL)
- High HDL (good) levels (60 mg/dL or higher)
- Consume a healthy diet. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and ChooseMyPlate, a healthy eating plan:
- Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products
- Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts
- Is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars
- Stays within your daily calorie needs
Taking care of yourself is no easy job! Talk to your doctor and schedule regular checkups. Knowing what your risk for heart disease is literally can save your life. For more information about reducing your risk of heart disease, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
