Oh Those Winter Blues!!!

Winter is in full force and we find ourselves combatting the lessening of light that we experience during the winter months. So how do we beat the winter blues? We know we can not beat them , so let's join them by embracing these 5 ways to prevent the blues from coming on and to get yourself back to normal if they are already there.

a.) Excercise: Excercise is a great way to not only relieve stress, it also is important to staying healthy and maintaining your weight. Excercise will increase your energy level and your mood.

b.) Eat A Healthy Diet: What you eat has an affect on not only your mood, but on your energy level as well. Try to include a lot of complex carbohydrates into your diet, such as whole wheat breads, brown rice, veggies and fruit. These healthy foods provide your mind and body with nutrients, as well as, help to stabilize your blood sugar and energy levels. Try to avoid processed foods that are devoid of nutrients and zap your energy. Don't forget the importance of keeping hydrayted.

c.) Get Some Sun: Vitamin D improves your mood. Similar to excercise, exposure to sunlight releases neurotransmitters in the brain that affect mood. Get outdoors as often as you can. Get as much sunlight into your home as possible. Read by a sunny window.

d.) Relax: Set some time aside to simply relax. Try to spend a few minutes a day doing nothing. Read a good book, sleep in, go to bed early and possibly try meditation excercises or yoga.

e.) Have Something to Look Forward to: Winter can seem endless and having something to look forward to can lift anyone's mood. Plan a trip, a day at the spa, go out for lunch or plan a special day with your loved ones.

What to Eat To Prevent Colds and Flu

Here's a list of what to eat and drink to help prevent colds and the flu this winter season :

1.) Drink Green Tea: Eating fruits and veggies are one of the best ways to keep germs at bay this winter, as well as drinking green tea. Green tea is the best food source of catechins, which are plant compounds that halt oxidative damage to cells. If you flavor it with fresh pomegranate or ginger, you will add an extra anti-inflammatory nutrient punch!

2.) Make Some Chili: If your chili contains ingredients like garlic, onions, pasta, mushrooms or veggies, you have added immune boosting ingredients that will give you the comfort you crave during chilly winter months.

3.) Use Lots Of Spices: Some immune-supportative spices include tumeric and ginger. Try adding a pinch of cayenne to soups or stir-fries. These spices are traditionally used in cooking to get one's blood flowing and to promote healthy circulation.

4.) Include a lot of Vitamin C and Healthy Fats into Your Diet: Vitamin C is an extra cold-fighting antioxidant and nuts, like cashews, provide your body with healthy fats.

5.) Protect Yourself with Nutient Rich Foods: You can strenghthen immune cells by eating foods that are nutrient-rich and full of antioxidants like mushrooms. red bell pepper, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, garlic, beans, nuts and whole grains.

Natural Alternatives To Toxic Fabric Softener

According to the Allergy and Environmental Health Association, both liquid and dryer sheet fabric softeners are "the most toxic product produced for daily household use." Most of the popular brands of fabric softeners contain many neurotoxins (substances that are toxic to the brain and nervous system) and other types of toxins. So, you're ready to forego commercial fabric softeners but you still want soft clothes. What are your options? Well, here are our 6 suggestions to detox your laundry:

1.) Add a 1/2 cup of baking soda to the water in your washing machine and let it dissolve prior to adding your clothes. This is my preferred method since the baking soda acts as a water softener and helps makes clothes super soft.

2.) Some people toss tennis balls or other rubber balls into the dryer with clothes. I'm not a huge fan of this method since the heat of the dryer can cause the rubber to off-gas onto your clothing. If you have an allergy to latex, this is definitely not the method for you. Plus, I wouldn't choose this method if you're drying delicate clothing items.

3.)Adding a cup of vinegar to the wash water can also soften clothes but I don't find this method as effective as the baking soda technique.

4.) To help with static, there's the aluminum foil ball technique. Tightly scrunch a piece of foil to form a ball. Throw it in with clothes in the dryer. There is some possible concern with increasing your exposure to aluminum (which has been linked to some brain disorders). It can also snag delicate clothes.

5.) Try to keep synthetic fabrics out of the dryer since they are the culprits when it comes to static. Natural fibers like cotton, bamboo, hemp, and linen are best dried on their own.

6.) And, of course there are natural fabric softeners available in most health food stores. I must admit, though, that I don't find them necessary. I try to purchase clothing made of natural fibers as much as possible and find my clothes are soft regardless whether they go through the dryer (free of fabric softeners) or are hung to dry.As you can see, there are plenty of options when you want soft clothes and to be free of toxins.

Five Simple New Year's Resolutions That Will Bring Your Diet into Balance

It seems like every January we make New Year's resolutions to eat better and save money, bur never follow through. But, let's break the habit this year by creating several super easy-to-do things to make a difference in your diet, and the planet.

~*~ Resolution: Incorporate three different colored foods a day into your diet. If you plate is looking pale, that means you are probably not getting much nutritionally from your food. One surefire way to make sure you are eating right is by keeping it colorful. Brightly colored foods like carrots, beets and spinach are nutrient-rich and packed with powerful antioxidants.

~*~ Resolution: Trade in the Twinkies for natural sweets. Packaged, processed, high-fructose corn syrup-rich treats gratify for seconds, but leave us feeling sluggish and bloated. This year, swap one of your go-to packaged sweets for the natural sugars of fresh and dried fruits.

~*~ Resolution: Cook at home one night a week. Eating and cooking at home saves money and keeps you in control of what you are putting in your mouth. Not sure what to make? Try a smoky root vegetable gratin or a hearty vegetarian chili.

~*~ Resolution: Take advantage of the delicious seasonal foods around you by inviting friends and family to a " garden to table" party, featuring locally sourced seasonal dishes. Link up with a local farmers' market for yummy seasonal fare, and encourage guests to bring their own dishes.

~*~ Resolution: Start a container tomato garden. Growing your own food is a great way to get hands-on with your diet, and tomatoes are chock-full of antioxidant-rich lycopene and vitamin C.

Plus, they taste great and can be used in everything from sauces to salads and sandwiches.

Did You Make A Resolution?

Around this time of year, you will inevitably be asked if you have made a new year's resolution. And when you are, you may feel a rush of adrenaline--which may be because you feel a sense of personal connection to yours.

>Resolutions create pressure

Once you say something out loud, you are broadcasting your hope in your self. You have instigated public expectations in your performance. Now that it is said, you could fail! Not only that, but your friends and family will be holding you to your word. Enforcing behavior modifications that you may not feel as resolved in at that moment, as you felt at the time you jovially announced your New Years Resolution.

>Resolutions build intention

Letting people in on what you want to create in your life builds a supportive environment to actually bring it to fruition. When your resolve is meager, those who support you will become your temporary crutch until you regain your conviction. And, all worldly manifestations originate as a thought. The more thought generated in the same direction the more energy there is for it to manifest on your behalf.

>How genuine is your resolve?

When you hesitate to make a New Year's resolution, you don’t feel like thinking that hard or you don’t believe there is any value in the tradition or you just can’t think of anything, you are not recognizing how significant your personal resolve is in the outcome of your life.

When contemplating the New Year feel, what would make your heart full? Let yourself dream; imagine living your dream; visualize the journey. What convictions are necessary to make this change in your life? This is where your resolve needs to be. Express your resolution in a way that creates the feeling you have when you dream about the resolutions result.New Years resolutions are about creating positive change in your life. Happy New Year from The Maids!!!

The Horrible Truth About Food Reconditioning

It's no secret that food companies aim to make money. They strive to spend as little as possible and bring in much more than they spend, that's just business. However, it's becoming more and more alarming when the public learns what some companies are doing, and being legally allowed to do to our food just to save money. One of these money-saving tactics is called reconditioning. It's a lawful process allowed by the FDA and it's probably effecting food that's in your cupboard right now.

>Reconditioning is the process of turning imperfect, mislabeled, or even contaminated foods into edible and profitable goods.

Some of these practices seem to be harmless and understandable. If a company flops some pasta and the end result is a batch of misshaped macaroni noodles, they may regrind it in to semolina flour and start over.

Another very common procedure deals with ice cream. Apparently chocolate ice cream flavoring is so powerful that it overpowers other flavors. Due to this fact, imperfect batches of other flavors get mixed together and become chocolate ice cream. While I'd like my ice cream to be perfectly pure, the fact that it may contain slightly odd blueberry ice cream doesn't really bug me, it's not unappetizing.

These steps make sense. They reduce waste and save the company money.The element of reconditioning that is disturbing is when a company is allowed to take an outright contaminated food, re-process it, and put it on the shelf for profit.

This has been done recently with moldy applesauce, salmonella-contaminated flavor enhancers, and insect-infested rice. In the case of the mold and salmonella, the foods were run through a heat process and repackaged. The rice got re-sifted and put on the shelf. The companies filed a reconditioning request with the FDA and kept their losses to a minimum.

As the consumer, I'd like to know if my rice was re-sifted because a family of bugs were residing in it. Or I'd really like to know if the applesauce I buy for my son was full of mold. However, the FDA does not require a label or notification or even a price reduction to shoppers. Obviously it's a money issue, too. We doubt many would buy rice with a sunburst label stating, "Contained bugs last month!"

Officials from the FDA recently stated that "It's no secret that the FDA allows certain levels of expected contaminants to remain in foods, simply because a zero-tolerance standard would be impossible to meet."

If reconditioning and contaminant levels weren't a secret, it sure wasn't being advertised. But why would it be? It would cost money and apparently making our health priority number one isn't good business.

Eco-friendly Tips for a Natural Green Holiday Season

If one of the visions dancing around in your head this holiday season is to "go green," then you are in luck. Here are some eco-friendly ideas from The Maids to prep your house for entertaining and fill it with seasonal spirit and natural scents...

*** Buy a "green" Christmas Tree- Avoid artificial trees that are made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC.) Choose a fresh tree instead. Live, potted trees are reusable. Or, recycle your fresh cut tree.

*** This year, find your decorations in your backyard instead of heading to the store. Berries, flowers and evergreen branches are beautiful decorations and fill the house with seasonal aromas. Make holiday potpourri by simmering ingredients such as lemon or orange slices, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg. Add to your seasonal scents by baking gingerbread cookies.

*** The holiday season is for cozying up in the house, so this is the perfect time to clear the air inside of toxins as well as dust and dirt. Use mild, biodegradable natural and non-toxic cleaning products. Baking soda and vinegar mixed with a little water make excellent all-purpose cleaners. If possible, try and open the windows a little while cleaning to let toxins out and fresh air in.

*** Candles and holiday lights are a big part of the holiday season, but electric holiday lights consume a lot of energy. If you are stringing lights, conserve energy by turning the lights only on at night. make sure they are LED lights because they are brighter than standard bulbs and use one-tenth the energy.