Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in oakland, CA

Are You Prepared?

by VDog

April 29, 2009

If the answer is 'mmmm, sorta?' you may want to invest in this handy dandy Home Emergency Pocket Guide by Informed Guides.

It's actually quite nifty and practical, and just larger than an iPhone.

The paper is specially coated to be waterproof and is also alcohol-fast (which I guess means when you spill your boxed wine on it, it doesn't bleed?). Needless to say, this guide is DURABLE. And small enough to fit in your fleece-vest pocket with room to spare.

As you know, we have to deal with earthquakes and potentially terrorist threats here in the Bay Area. The Home Emergency Pocket Guide has you covered for either possibility, plus dozens more.

The index is impressive -- Avian Flu, Bioterrorist Attack, Bombing, Burns, Chemical Attack, Choking, Contacting FEMA, Contamination, CPR, Decontamination, Diabetic Emergencies, Earthquake, Fire, Flood, HazMat, Hostage Situations, Inhalation Anthrax, Radiological Attack, Poisoning, Resources, Ricin Poisoning, & West Nile Virus.

As parents, we are most likely to deal with burns, choking, fires and earthquakes. Each section is well written and succinctly explained. The Informed Guides authors must have known that we would be short on time when we were in the need of their product.

The guide is color coded by section and also uses different colors for emphasis in the text. This is very useful for finding what you need quickly and easily.

There are pages for entering all of your local and out-of-state contact numbers, evacuation plans, and other important information.

Considering the price tag, $16.95 for the edition shown or $9.95 for a downloadble PDF, the Home Emergency Pocket Guide is good investment. As long as you can keep calm to read the guide after an ACTUAL emergency (because, face it, as parents, we're busy enough as it is to really delve into this guide BEFORE we need it), the guide will be well worth your less than twenty dollars!

Spotlight On Health

by VDog

March 02, 2009

Being a parent is tough. We're so focused on taking
care of our children that sometimes we forget to take care of
ourselves. Nutrition-wise, we often take the quick and easy way out
-- a cookie here, a bag of chips there, a cup of coffee for breakfast,
half of our children's mac-n-cheese at dinnertime. I'm as guilty as
anyone. But what's a busy parent to do? Today's guest posters, Bonnie
Johnson and Deanna Segrave-Daly, serve up five great ways parents can
maintain a healthy lifestyle even in the midst of all the childhood
chaos. As registered dieticians, they know the ins and outs of good
nutrition. Even more important, they are moms who understand that our
busy, crazy schedules means we need quick, manageable solutions -- and
all the help we can get.

**Giveaway below!**

------------------------------
5 Basic Boosts for Busy Parents
From Two Spicy Moms
Bonnie Johnson, MS, RD and Deanna Segrave-Daly, RD, LDN (on behalf of
trim®)

1) Kick Up Your Heels - Don't make exercise a daunting chore. Have a
20-minute dance party with the kids. Everyone gets to pick one song.
Try out different rhythms or steps like hula, cha-cha, the twist or
the oldie-but-goodie chicken dance.

2) Faster Fruits- Often, we are so focused on getting our children to
eat healthy, we forget about ourselves (sound familiar?) And most of
us need to at least double our daily dose of fruit. So, instead of
trying to count that strawberry cheesecake as a serving, try:

           1/2 cup applesauce - Add a dash of cinnamon and/or nutmeg

           1 can of trim® Juice drink - New from Tree Top, one can
counts as a 1/2 cup of fruit serving and comes in yum flavors like
Mango Peach and Strawberry Kiwi)

           1/4 cup dried fruit - Try tossed into cereal, over a salad
or eaten on the go

3) Satiety is the new buzzword in healthy eating-it's that feeling of
satisfaction after a meal or snack. It makes sense - if you are
satisfied longer, you won't scarf down those extra calories you really
don't need (like the remnants of junior's PB&J.) Fiber has great
satiating power.  Shoot for getting more fiber by choosing cereals
with five grams or more fiber per serving, tossing a can of beans into
a pasta dish, having a small bowl of popcorn  or enjoying a single
serve can of trim® which has three grams of fiber per serving.

4) Get Some Extra Zs - That's sounds dreamy but how do you get your
head on the pillow when  you are multitasking long after the kids are
in bed? Research shows that a good night sleep can reduce stress,
improve your memory and even increase your success at weight loss.
While experts recommend at least 8 hours a night, start by going to
bed just 15 minutes early. Do that every night for a month - and see
how you feel (and if you can up it another 15 minutes.) And yes, this
is one of Deanna's New Year's resolutions.

5) Cover Your Bases - As dietitians, we recommend getting your
vitamins and minerals from food first. But as moms, we know you can't
have it all. Add a basic multivitamin to your morning routine just to
be sure. But remember, it's called a supplement because it SUPPLEMENTS
your diet (rather than replaces food) - and really, we're all about
keeping as much tasty and healthy food in your diet as possible!)

Five readers will receive samples of Trim! To win, be one of the first five readers to: