Now, on to today's post...
In January, I decided that my goal for the year was to be more balanced in my life and to focus on those things that really matter to me (rather than wasting so much time on things I won't care about three years from now). Since January, I've written about six different areas of my life that tend to become unbalanced.
I wanted to provide a one-stop-spot for people to browse through these posts, so here it is! I've chosen my favorite posts and linked to them below.
Faith Posts:
A Busy Mom's Guide to Finding Time for God
A Quick Guide to Spiritual Disciplines
5 Ways to Guarantee You Never Read Your Bible
Marriage Posts:
Valentine's Day on a Budget (or cheap ways to celebrate your spouse)
How to Love the Spouse You Don't Really Like
5 Things You Can't Afford NOT to Do for Your Marriage
Parenting Posts:
You Might be a Mom If . . .
One Thing That Will Make You a Better Parent
Friendship Posts:
5 Reasons Women Need Girlfriends
10 Ways to Be a Good Friend
When It's Time to Walk Away from a Friendship
Family Posts:
5 Reasons You Should Celebrate Your Mom
7 Ways to Get Along With Difficult In-Laws
Exercise Posts:
Easy Ways for Stay-at-Home Moms to Exercise
One Great Reason to Exercise Today
Coming this month: healthy eating posts! As I'm brainstorming what I want to write for this month, I'd love to hear your ideas.
How do you promote healthy eating in your family?
Lindsey, Thanks for this post! I see some I'm going to go back and read!
ReplyDeleteYay for healthy eating posts - nutrition is one of my passions! I'll share a few things I do:
1. I buy organic as much as possible.
2. I don't buy anything with high-fructose corn syrup in it.
3. When baking, I try to use 1/2 stevia and 1/2 sugar, to reduce sugar intake.
4. The only beverages in our house are filtered water, organic milk, organic decaf. coffee, and I found a brand of lemonade that is sweetened with stevia. (No soda!)
5. I avoid all artificial sweeteners at *all* costs. Instead I use things like honey, real maple syrup, agave nectar & stevia. (I have bad reactions to sucralose (Splenda) and aspartame anyway, but even if I didn't, I've researched a lot about how much havoc they can cause in a body.)
5. I try to avoid artificial coloring as much as possible, too. For example, I quit buying fruit snacks and went to dried fruit or good old whole fruits. Also, I started canning my own pickles - pickles at the store often have yellow coloring. I buy cereals for my kids in the health food isle that don't have the extra junk like colorings & preservatives.
6. My youngest daughter and I are gluten-free, too, so we are forced to avoid refined white flour. Instead, I've found other whole grains that are "safe". I never would have tried things like quinoa, amaranth, or sorghum if not for being g-free. I highly recommend them to everyone else, g-free or not, because of their extra health benefits, over wheat.
7. Because of being g-free, I also have to cook more at home. Much less food-on-the-fly (fast food), unless it's an occasional salad, a chili, or a frosty at Wendy's. I always pack snacks wherever we go! And I make things like homemade salad dressing, homemade pizza, homemade bread, etc. So it takes more planning and time in the kitchen, but I love cooking/baking, so it's not a big deal to me.
8. I only buy large containers of plain yogurt and then in each bowl, put a packet of Truvia (a brand of stevia), cinnamon, and cut up fresh fruit. (Sometimes we add a few mini chocolate chips to satisfy a chocolate craving!)
I'll be quiet now! ;) I've read many books and am very conscience about what we eat. Maybe my rambling has given you some ideas?
Wow! Awesome tips, Kristen. Thanks so much for sharing:)
Delete