Here’s How Some of the Most Common Summertime Beverages Help (or Hurt) Your Teeth

According to an AACD survey, virtually all adults (99.7%) surveyed believe a healthy smile is socially important, but it's medically important as well. While most people are aware of the ways that certain foods affect our dental health, not everyone stops to think about how beverages can do the same. This summer, maintain your healthy smile and be more conscious of your oral health by staying hydrated with the right beverages. Here's how some of the most popular U.S. beverages affect your teeth. Energy Drinks Many people consume sports drinks and/or energy drinks throughout the day to keep their energy levels up. While neither is great for your teeth, energy drinks are definitely worse. As much as sports drinks are harmful to your teeth, researchers found that exposure to energy drinks … [Read more...]

Summer Self-Care Tips For Busy, Amazing Moms

This summer, your focus might be completely on your kids. After all, they're off from school and it might be up to you to occupy them more frequently. But that doesn't mean you can't and shouldn't take time for yourself. In fact, you'll be a much happier mom if you practice self-care on a regular basis. But although 179 million Americans visited spas in 2016, self-care doesn't have to involve an expensive massage, facial, or pedicure. There are other ways to truly care for yourself and prioritize your well-being without spending a lot of time or money doing so. Here are some of our favorite tips. Nourish Your Body Yes, a massage can revitalize you in both body and spirit, but that's not the only way to feel great. Taking a new workout class, spicing up your exercise regime, or taking a … [Read more...]

5 Natural Ways to Get Allergy Relief

There is no good time for allergies to rear their swollen eyes, red-nosed, ugly head. Now that spring is in full bloom so are seasonal allergies. In our house, we like a multi-prong approach for obtaining allergy relief which includes both natural and traditional medicinal routes. Here are my top five natural ways to get allergy relief. If it is not a stuffy nose or one that is chronically running there are swollen, red eyes or a dry cough that plagues at least one or all five members of my family.  While I have more allergy relief than ever this year due to my strict Lyme diet (no gluten, no dairy, no sugar, no yeast) my kids and husband do not.  The absence of food inflammatories in my diet has made a radical difference in my seasonal allergies this year. There is a lot to be said … [Read more...]

Want a Better Vacation? Consider a Digital Detox

In the digital age, many of us feel like we couldn't possibly go anywhere without our devices. And if we can't leave home without our electronics, we might not even consider going on a vacation sans smartphone. But if you can embrace the idea of a getaway without texting and social media scrolling, it might do you a world of good. You might get vacation envy every time you look at your Instagram feed. Around 23% of Millennials say that social media significantly influences their choice of travel destination, after all. And now, there are even vacation packages that cater to those who really want to impress with their posts. Cheap Caribbean recently launched a three-night trip to Bermuda that offers personal photo shoots and social media tutorials to travelers who specifically want to … [Read more...]

Help Your Kids Find The Right Balance Between Sports and School

Photo credit/site https://pixabay.com/en/team-grass-cheer-field-game-sport-2444978/ There is no question about it; we are a society on the go. Parents balance careers, family, and the social lives of every member of their families. Just as parents have to balance their calendars, they must teach their children to balance theirs. Children must learn priorities, teamwork, and responsibility at a very young age. Teaching kids to prioritize This may sound easy, but it is far from it. Ask most parents, and they will say their kids know school is always going to come first. However, when your child has joined a team, and the team is depending on them, a math lesson that they do not understand throws everything off. Sooner or later, you will face this issue. Your child will struggle with … [Read more...]

A Few Health Trends to Help You Have Your Healthiest Year Yet

With spring finally here, it's a good a time as any to start thinking about bettering your health and wellness. Making choices that will boost our health is something everyone should try to do, especially parents. With the average child catching between six and 10 colds each year, it's important to take your kids to a family health clinic for regular checkups and try your best to keep your family as healthy as possible. While this can be difficult to do, it's important we do our best. So to help you get started, we're going to talk about a few health trends people are jumping on this year. For starters, more and more people are giving plant-based diets a try. Whether it's because of growing health and nutrition research regarding plant-based diets, wanting to reduce their environmental … [Read more...]

Thinking of Doing a Juice Cleanse? Here’s Why You Might Want to Save Your Money

For many busy families, a glass of juice is a necessary way to start off the day. In fact, the average American drank 2.7 gallons of OJ throughout 2015 -- so it's clear that fruit juice is still a popular addition to breakfast. Many moms will even opt for a fruit smoothie in lieu of cereal or toast, citing it gives them more energy throughout the day. But while juicing can be delicious and nutritious in moderation, trendy juice cleanses are a different story. Although they may be popular, experts say that they're largely unnecessary and, in some cases, could even be harmful to your health. At first blush, the idea of a juice cleanse may sound intriguing. Just drink some yummy fruit juice for a set number of days to lose weight and feel amazing! It's supposed to give your system a fresh … [Read more...]

Could Social Media Food Posts Be Ruining Our Health?

In the U.S., more than 10,000 people reach the retirement age of 65 each day -- and given the growing population, that number will also increase in the coming years. It's understandable that you might want to do everything you can to adopt healthy habits while you're still young. You could potentially stave off a chronic health condition or maintain a healthy weight just by making small changes in your youth. But considering how social-media-obsessed young people are these days, it's important to consider whether the visually appetizing food trends we see on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat are helping or hurting those endeavors. In other words: could these platforms be negatively impacting our diet, even if the food depicted seems nutritious? Facebook has approximately 1.97 billion … [Read more...]

Ways To Practice Self Care During Fertility Treatments

For many women, the journey to becoming a mother is one of the most difficult struggles they will ever face. If you are currently in the midst of IVF or other fertility treatments, you might know this difficulty all too well. About 85-90% of infertility cases are treated with drugs or surgery, and this process can be taxing. From the news of your infertility to the actual intensity of treatment, you might be feeling emotionally and physically drained. And this is why self-care is more important than ever. While a self-care ritual might be the last thing on your mind, there are steps you can take to make yourself feel calmer and in control of your situation. While there are many tips floating around the internet, here are some simple ideas to get you started. Get enough … [Read more...]

Living with Lyme Disease

As we move into the new year, let's get one thing straight. I'm living with Lyme Disease. There I said it. I'm opening up about it more as we move into 2018. Living with Lyme disease means something different for everyone but for me, it means making this year the year of healing. It means a lot of guest posting on here too.  Lol.  Because truthfully since I was diagnosed for the second time in May, my life began to unravel.  I didn't take the time to heal like I did last summer (where I really believe I conquered it) when I got bit the first time.  I didn't rest like before. I kept pushing my mind and my body.  All summer I went full force.  Fall rolled around I continued to do the same creating a schedule that would double my work hours.   And I crashed.  Hard. I thought I was … [Read more...]