Similarities between golf and motherhood...

There are few places I'd rather be than on a golf course playing a round with Chris. I love it for a variety of reasons; the scenery, the relaxed atmosphere, the hours of uninterrupted adult conversation (possibly with a beer or two) and then of course, there is the actual game. Now mind you, if you know me, I say I can enjoy golf still because I am not that good. I put no pressure on myself other than to enjoy the round. I can also enjoy it because it hardly ever happens anymore; since kids, I think I've played once, maybe twice a year.

That is the big picture of why I like it; however, in a round of golf there are frustrating aspects, I do not like every shot I take, there are few times that I feel 100% confident in my swing but overall, I love it. This is why I think it is a lot like being a mom. I do not feel confident in 100% of the things I do with my kids, I wish I could take mulligans on a daily (if not hourly) basis; but overall, I LOVE what I do.

This metaphor is what "drives" this story home. My family was sitting around the dinner table tonight and I felt like I had just hit a great shot (the kind that kind of makes me want to pack it in, because I know there isn't going to be another one like it for a while :). I had told the older kids earlier this week that they had to give me ideas for dinner that didn't come out of a box or a bag. We're attempting to eat a little healthier in our house and this was idea one for me. Anyway, they did; Ryan picked swordfish and Ainsley picked salmon (be careful what you ask for I guess -- when they said they wanted lobster, I did decline that one). Well, I found simple recipes and they each "cooked" dinner for the family. Tonight I also made them put lettuce on their plates and had a tray of "toppings" (fruit, veggies, cheese), they each had to pile it on to make their own salads. Well, it worked, everyone had a really healthy meal and really enjoyed it. There was no whining, no complaining, no nothing. On top of that, we had great family dinner conversation (probably because we could because of the lack of whining and complaining).

So, I share this story with you for two reasons: 1. it could be an interesting way to engage your kids in your menu/meal planning and 2. know that I will probably be asking for a mulligan before 8 am tomorrow. That was my great shot for the round!

Lindsay's Latest Contribution

Are you making your kid fat?

A lot of moms (without realizing it) enable poor eating habits that can plague their children for a lifetime. As the research is now teaching us, we can influence our children’s weight as early as the first 9 months of their life – in the womb! We can do this by being over-weight to start with, overeating during pregnancy or by getting too many of our calories from junk food during pregnancy. All of these things can influence our child’s genetic predisposition toward obesity. In addition, multiple studies now show a link between over-feeding infants and obesity. According to a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, children fed enriched formulas develop about 30% more body fat than their breastfed counterparts and babies fed standard formula. While chubby babies are certainly cute, a baby weighing in near or above 100 percentile on the weight chart should probably elicit more concern than praise. As a result of this and other studies, most doctors are now reversing recommendations to supplement with nutrient-rich formula for any baby who is not premature. As the doctor said to me when my son came in at just under 30 percentile on the chart, “he certainly looks okay to me.” It’s sounds simple, but you can use common sense (and your eyes) to see if your child is eating enough, too little or too much. You don’t need a chart to tell you whether or not he or she is healthy.

Many parents are also guilty of overfeeding their children by demanding a clean plate, an especially grievous offense when these parents are serving portions too large for small tummies. I have seen parents offer their children ridiculously huge portions of spaghetti or mac & cheese and then insist they clean their plates despite protests from the child that he or she is full. It is also critical not to offer dessert as a reward for cleaning one’s plate. Studies show that because we have different taste buds for salty and sweet foods, we can actually magically open up more room for dessert even when we are truly full. So by insisting your child eat a large plate of food in order to then consume a load of empty calories is doubly irresponsible. It is critical to remember that unlike most adults, young children do not eat emotionally. They know when they are hungry and when they are full. Of course some kids fib about being full to avoid eating unappealing foods, but again, you just have to use common sense. If they eat some and then stop, they are probably genuinely not hungry. And since you can’t actually give their leftovers to a starving child in Africa, try not to bring moral dilemmas to the dinner table.

It is also important that as mothers we do not encourage our children to either fear food or worship it as a panacea for all ills. I have certainly done this and I am not proud of it, but we should not offer sweets or junk food as a reward for good behavior or as cure for tears. Try not to make too many references to “good” and “bad” foods; rather explain that some foods are better to eat every day and as much as possible whereas others are better to have as treats or on special occasions because some foods make you stronger and give you energy while others just taste good.

Of course, the best way to encourage your children to have a healthy relationship with food is to lead by example. Try to let your children see you enjoying food and spending time on it (shopping for it, cooking it and eating it), and try not to let them see you eat mindlessly (like snacking on candy in the carpool line). Studies show that cultures (like France) where food is more respected, prepared more lovingly and consumed more leisurely actually have much lower rates of obesity. Most of all, don’t stress it too much. As any of us have ever been on a strict diet know, the thing that will make you want to overeat the most is being too strict with yourself. In this respect, kids are no different. The less food and weight are discussed, the less they are likely to become big problems.

Lindsay Hill is a nutrition counselor and board-certified health coach. To find out more about private health coaching, visit www.inhabithealth.com or to learn more about Lindsay’s personal nutrition philosophy, visit her blog http://inhabithealth.blogspot.com.

Halloween Inspiration

This post from Christina Ramon has something for everyone this Halloween season!!!

Some people like Fourth of July, others love Christmas. But ever since I can remember, Halloween has been my holiday of choice. As a kid, I would BEG my mom to take me to look for Halloween costumes – in June. She usually gave in by July or August. The selection was sparse in the middle of summer, but I still couldn’t resist.

Now 25 years ago, we didn’t have multiple warehouse Halloween stores. If you wanted to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, you bought ballet flats at Payless, sprayed painted them red and glued red glitter on them. My grandma went to every department store to find a stuffed dog that looked like Toto. These days, the costume store has an entire Dorothy aisle!!

That aside, I still get a huge thrill checking out each Halloween store with my son. We browse every aisle and try on the funny masks or scare each other with gruesome fingers. We do tons of Halloween crafts, go to the local pumpkin patch, and this year, I am going to attempt to make kid’s Halloween soup, served in a pumpkin!

I am also very, very fortunate that my almost 4-year old is, and I am not kidding, as obsessed with Halloween as me. And I promise, it is not my doing - I think it is genetic! He has loved it since his second Halloween, when we went as the Addams Family. He was the baby, Pubert, from the movie. About a month after that Halloween, he asked to be a pink cat whenever Halloween rolled around again. Luckily, we were able to convince him to be a black cat with a pink belly.

About a month after last Halloween, he committed to being a Medusa jellyfish. And yes, he insists that my husband and I also go as different types of jellyfish. He wants my husband to be a Lion’s Mane jelly, and me to be an Upside-Down jellyfish. I explained that the logistics behind mommy walking on her hands all night would be just too much, so he is settling for me being a Moon jellyfish. And if you are wondering, they don’t sell jellyfish costumes! We are making them from scratch, starting with umbrella hats covered in iridescent fabric.

I relish in the challenge of making costumes, soup in a pumpkin and skeleton noodles (skeleton what?!) Maybe this article will inspire you to create a Halloween craft with your kids! Here are a few ides.

FOR THE NOVICE:

Paper Plate Jack-o-Lantern – buy orange paper plates or have your kids color/paint white paper plates. Use black felt, foam or paper to cut out eyes, a nose and a mouth. Create a green pipe cleaner stem and leaf )or just use green construction paper. Hang around your house and enjoy!

FOR THE CRAFT DABBLER:

Noodle Skeleton – buy different noodle shapes such as wheels, penne, macaroni and shells. Glue noodles in skull or skeleton shape on black construction paper.

FOR THE PROS:

Clothespin Bats – use a pencil to draw a bat outline on black foam, felt or construction paper. You can find templates through Google Images (free coloring pages are a good route.) Cut the form out (you will need two bat forms for each clothespin.) Glue googly eyes to the bat, or use colorful construction paper, paint, etc. to make eyes.

Meanwhile, paint clothespins black (spray paint is easiest). Once dry, glue a bat form to either side of the clothespin. Glue the tips of the wings together. Hang around your house with the clothespin clip!

Have fun and be safe this Halloween! And if you never get around to one of these craft projects, at least enjoy decorating some of the coloring pages, free from Google.

Apples, apples and more apples

Taking the kids apple picking is one of my favorite things in the world to do. There is a farm near us that is wonderful, hay rides, easy ladders for them to climb on and DELICIOUS apple cider donuts! We get their early, grab a cup of coffee and donuts and then meander through all the different trees.

However, when we get home I am always trying to figure out what to do with the seeming bottomless bag of apples. I do have an apple corer/slicer/peeler thing that is great! Here are some quick and EASY things that we do with them:

1. Baked Apples -

Simply core the apples, leaving the skin on and pop in 1/2 stick of cinnamon, a teaspoon (or so) of brown sugar and butter and then bake at 350 for about 30-45 minutes. It is a great dessert alternative and the kids can do it themselves for the most part. If I have it on hand I make some whip cream and put the sauce from the bottom of the pan on top.

2. Apple Sauce

I like this because it cooks in the slow cooker and again, the kids can do this themselves for the most part.

10 McIntosh, Granny smith or Macoun apples (cored and chopped)

4 Peaches (pitted and chopped)

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Plop it all right in the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours and then on low for 2.

3. Apple Crisp -- This is Ina Garten's recipe that I LOVE (though I must admit, I don't always go with the "fresh" oj and lemon juice -- I just use whatever I have on hand, even if it is in a carton.

Ingredients

• 5 pounds McIntosh or Macoun apples
• Grated zest of 1 orange
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• For the topping:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 14 by 2-inch oval baking dish.

Peel, core, and cut the apples into large wedges. Combine the apples with the zests, juices, sugar, and spices. Pour into the dish.

To make the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Scatter evenly over the apples.

Place the crisp on a sheet pan and bake for 1 hour until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly. Serve warm.

Selling online, social media style

Sue Zimmerman is focused again! Here is some of what she learned this summer on the Cape, I thought it was a great read for those of you who might be interested in mom related businesses!

Remember when the must-have for every small biz was a web site? You weren’t a legitimate business if you couldn’t also be found on the Web. Well, today you gotta have a fan page if you have a business. And, curiously, once you do – and you successfully cultivate an active fan base like Sueb.do’s – you’ll find that you’ve come full circle again to also really needing that web page that allows you to sell products and services online.

And that’s right where Sueb.do sits, Sueb.do’s doors on the Cape are closed for the season. I’m busy planning the launch of a new Sueb.do online store this Winter.

What’s interesting is that I’m finding my Facebook fan page allows me to have conversations with customers before, during and after sales. Furthermore, it has actually created the need for adding an online store to the sales mix. Making customer conversations transparent to everyone via social media is proving to be an effective way to create demand for products that are best fulfilled through an online store.

So I’m formulating the 2011 Sueb.do sales and marketing plan a’la social media. And to help me implement it, all summer I’ve been:

• Asking each customer for their email address as a routine part of the payment and checkout process
• Maintaining separate email databases for each different Cape sales location to be used in future targeted email marketing campaigns
• Telling customers about the Sueb.do Facebook fan page; asking if they are on Facebook; and, if so, getting their exact Facebook handle so that I can follow up with them on Facebook
• Taking photos showcasing customers wearing and purchasing products and then posting them for all to see and talk about on Facebook
• Creating videos from my Flip
• Using the Facebook fan page link to and activate a new, soon-to-come Sueb.do online store!

BACK in action by Tara Downie

Our resident fitness guru has some more tidbits to share. Stay tuned next week for our next business entry.

We can be so focused on getting a flat, tight tummy that we crunch, crunch, and crunch all the time! Focusing on only your abdominals can put your back at risk. Strengthening the back- particularly the lower back- will help you prevent injury, perform everyday tasks without pain and age gracefully. There are many exercises out there for strengthening the lower back. To list them all for you would be an overdose of information. Therefore, I have listed my three favorites. See below.

Also remember….another key element to protect and strengthen your back is to work all the supporting muscles as well. These include the lats, upper back, abdominals and transverse abs (obliques). Exercises like dumbbell rows, reverse fly’s and pullovers work the supporting back muscles.

1. Begin on your hands and knees. Simultaneously raise your right arm and left leg until they are parallel to the ground. Hold for 2 seconds and come slowly back to starting position. Repeat with left arm and right leg, alternating 10 times.

2. Lie facedown; arms extended overhead, palms on floor. Simultaneously raise arms and legs a few inches off the floor. Hold for 10 seconds and return to start. Repeat 10 times.

3. Lie flat on your back. Hug your knees to your chest and at the same time, bring your chin to your chest. Hold for 2 seconds and repeat 10 times.

Strong lower back muscles and abdominals work together to maintain a pain-free and healthy back. Theses exercises will help strengthen the muscles of the lower back. It is important to start slowly and increase levels gradually.

Welcome to our nutrition expert - Lindsay Hill.

Welcome to our newest contributor, Lindsay Hill. We went to college together and I am super excited to collaborate with her. She wonderful mother and is also a nutrition counselor and board-certified health coach. I have been following her blog and it has a ton of great recipes - be sure to check it out (http://inhabithealth.blogspot.com)!

Your Kid Might Not Eat This, But He Just Might Eat That

I am pretty sure that the powers that be punished me with a child who throws vegetables on the floor just to remind me that I can’t control the universe’s eating habits no matter how educated I become about nutrition. While I am not a total health nut, I do eat things like kale and quinoa, and I have just been certified as a holistic health-coach so you can imagine my horror when my son throws his peas to the dogs every time. Admittedly, perhaps having a son who savors the non-flavor of refined carbohydrates is a healthy thing for my brain, even if it’s not actually healthy for his body because it has forced me to a) relax a little and b) be more creative (a trait that can suffer under the duress of repeated episodes of Thomas The Train).

The best thing you can do is start with the healthiest version of a food when you introduce it. For example, do not assume that your child won’t eat multi-grain bread or seed crackers and offer him the Sunbeam and Saltines from a young age. And don’t introduce an Oreo as a cookie (just don’t introduce an Oreo period!) when for all you know the kind from the famers market made with molasses and arrowroot might make her just as happy (or she may associate cookies with something mediocre and not develop a taste for them). Remember, your child has not tasted Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia so he or she might think low fat, organic frozen yogurt topped with berries is heaven in a cup.

It is also important that you not inflict your own tastes and preferences onto a child. Just because you deem homemade oatmeal raisin cookies to pale in comparison to the double chocolate chunk variety, does not mean that your child will feel the same way. Just because you think whole-grain flaxseed pancakes are for hippies, doesn’t mean your child might not prefer the heartier, nuttier taste. So, put your child’s needs before your own tastes or assumptions. Start with the healthiest version of a food (even if it’s something you do not like) and work backwards if necessary.

So while my son still eschews most forms of protein and won’t even look at a vegetable, by following the two rules above, I have gotten him to eat some surprisingly healthy things. He will eat Lara bars (made only of nuts and dates), gluten-free seed crackers (Mary’s Gone Crackers is our favorite brand), and ginger snaps I found at Whole Foods made from spelt, olive oil and just a touch of raw honey. He will also eat Ezekiel bread (made from a variety of grains and beans and really high in protein) as long as it has a touch of nice butter and jam on it. To him, these are just bars, bread, crackers and cookies – he doesn’t know they are loaded with healthy ingredients, and he also doesn’t know that unhealthy versions of these foods lurk around every corner. I may not be able to control what he gets his hands on in the future, but I can at least help him develop good taste buds so that hopefully he will one day find Wonderbread as appetizing as cardboard (which is also its nutritional equivalent).

As far as getting the vegetables in, you may have to go the route of deception. Most of you are probably familiar with Jerry Seinfeld’s wife’s book about making purees to sneak into her homemade breads and pastas so that her kids get vegetables in their daily diet. Well, those of us not married to Jerry Seinfeld might need a timesaving alternative. With young kids, try sneaking organic pre-made baby food into some of their favorites. It always helps if the color is similar. The frozen purees you can find in most health food stores (Yummy Spoonfuls and Happy Baby are both popular brands) are preferable to the kind in jars, but a jar will do in a pinch. I am certainly not discouraging you from making your own purees if you have the time, but using prepared organic baby food is a quick and easy alternative. I sneak pureed butternut squash or sweet potato into his macaroni and cheese. I also puree or mash avocado and mix that in banana yogurt (trust me, it tastes kind of good). My son is a fruit lover but if your child is not, almost any fruit puree, purchased or homemade, disguises nicely into yogurt or oatmeal.

Feel free to post some of your own ideas for getting kids to eat healthy foods. As mom, we can always use the friendly advice!

To find out more about private health coaching, visit www.inhabithealth.com or to learn more about Lindsay’s personal nutrition philosophy, visit her blog http://inhabithealth.blogspot.com.