Staying a Young and Fit Mom

People who have bad nutrition often look much older than they really are. This is because over time they literally become constructed out of things that are not that good for them

I don't know about you but I don't like it when my kids point out things like the wrinkles around my eyes. My son started calling me Big Butt the other day. I did not appreciate it. However he was right.

So how can you avoid having your kids seeing you as too old or making those cute little cracks about your age or weight?

Health experts recommend a diet that emphasizes whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables as well as other tips:

· Drink eight to ten cups of fluid every day, and make at least five of those cups of fluid water. Water is needed by each and every one of your cells, including those in your skin to renew themselves. If you live in an area where the water is possibly polluted drink bottled water or distilled water.

· Limit your daily intake caffeinated and alcoholic beverages, which can wreak havoc with the nervous system and cause insulin spikes in blood sugar. This can also help create a big fat belly.

· Stay away from carbonated beverages, which are thought to be hard on the pancreas and increase insulin production. Studies have shown that people have lost as much as fifteen pounds in one month simply by cutting out colas from their diet!

· Reduce the amount of saturated fat in your diet and replace it with healthy monounsaturated fats such as that in olive, canola, sunflower, safflower and soybean oils.

· When snacking, choose fruits, vegetables or whole-grain products and avoid sugary or refined products.

· Choose foods that have good calories and that give you the most nutritional intake for the effort it takes to ingest them. For instance a slice of whole grain bread is more nutrient dense than a slice of white bread even though both are approximately 90 calories.

· Eat several small meals a day to keep your blood sugars level. Many doctors recommend doing this to prevent bloating and weight gaian.

· Choose brightly colored fruits and vegetables as they contain antioxidants that assist in the fight against aging. They have more vitamins and minerals.

  • Avoid processed foods, artificial coloring, deep fried foods and monosodium glutamates (MSG) which are thought to accelerate the aging process, especially with regards to the skin include sugar, chocolate, preserved meat, chips, French fries and other kinds of junk food.

This is not just advice for you. It isa lifestyle and way of eating that is also good for your kids if you want them to grow up lean, healthy and happy.

Of course my main motive is to have my kids get to know me for as many years as possible.

Healthy Sugar Substitute

My kids have sweet tooths and so do I and my husband. Still we all know how sugar is supposed to be bad for you.
The first thing that you have to do is cut the level of refined sugar that you take on board every day. This means that you must cut right back on sugar rich foods such as cakes, cookies, candies, chocolate, jellies and the like and if you currently ladle sugar all over your breakfast cereal in the morning, stop doing it right now.
In addition, if you take sugar with your tea or coffee, try to wean yourself off sweetening your drinks or if this is something that you cannot imagine doing, try a natural sweetener like stevia or sucanat as alternative.
The first of these natural sweeteners is somewhat controversial in that it is approved by the FDA as a dietary supplement but not as a sweetener. Nevertheless, even though it is a little expensive, the extreme sweetness of stevia means that a little goes an awful long way, so the cost per cup of tea or coffee is probably no different to cost of the sugar you are currently buying.
On the other hand, sucanat is a one-for-one direct replacement for processed sugar and as always, there are plenty of places on the net where you can obtain both of these substances.
The point about having too much sugar in your diet is that not only does all of that instant energy tend to get piled on as fat if it is not used, processed sugar is bad for your immune system and particularly for your skin. Consequently, if you consume too much processed sugar or products made from sugar, it is pretty much a given that you are going to suffer boils and other skin problems.
Of course, this does not necessarily mean that you have to cut all sweet foods from your diet, but what you should do is replace the sweets that you used to use with natural sweet substances wherever possible. For example, eating plenty of fruit and vegetables is an essential of any well-balanced diet, and if you want to boost your immune system, then you can replace some of the sweetness that you have lost with the sweetness of fruit.
Furthermore, there are lots of other entirely natural sweet substances that you can use to satisfy your sweet tooth. The sweet syrup that is commercially extracted from Agave comes in three different variations, ranging from a ‘light version' that has little traceable taste of the plant (just sweetness) to the version that carries a noticeable taste of the plant itself.
You then have reliable old standbys like maple syrup as well as less known but entirely natural sweeteners such as barley malt, date sugar, fruit juice concentrate and sorghum syrup.
There is also honey with some varieties such as manuka honey from New Zealand having acknowledged antibacterial qualities as well as being stunningly sweet as well. Indeed, as you can read on the website, the antibacterial qualities of this particular honey are so pronounced that you can even apply it to wounds for its antibacterial qualities!