Health – Page 2 – HAPPY HOLISTIC HOMESTEAD

August 1, 2018September 13, 2018

Why You Should Quit The Gym And Choose Lifercise

Quit the Gym and LIfercise

What is Lifercise? It is a word I made up. At least I think I made it up. A Google search showed no direct hits. So allow me to define this new word for you:

life-er-cise (lyfercize) noun. The practice of taking opportunities that arise in your daily life to get exercise. Example:

“Jim wanted to take the elevator but I told him we should get some lifercise so we took the stairs.”

Continue reading “Why You Should Quit The Gym And Choose Lifercise”

July 28, 2018September 15, 2018

What Living In A Blue Zone Taught Me About The Path To Longevity

Have you heard or read anything about blue zone research lately? In case you haven’t I will begin by explaining that blue zones are areas of the world in which the residents experience higher than average levels of longevity. The researchers found that there were 5 geographic areas in the world that had the highest level of centenarians, or people over the age of 100. The areas are Ikaria, Greece; Ogliastra Region, Sardinia; Loma Linda, California; Okinawa, Japan; and the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. I am going to focus on the Nicoya Peninsula in this article because it is an area that I have personal experience with. My husband and I lived there for about a year and half early in our marriage and our first daughter was born there. I want to share with you some first hand observations we made while living there about the lifestyle of the local people. Continue reading “What Living In A Blue Zone Taught Me About The Path To Longevity”

July 26, 2018August 19, 2018

Why I Only Eat Pastured Eggs

Only Eat Pastured Eggs

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These days when a person is perusing the egg section at the grocery store there are so many choices. There are regular eggs, simply labeled grade A. Those are the worst. These birds are kept in the tightest quarters possible and fed the lowest quality food. There are Organic eggs. That sounds pretty good right? We live in a time when people are becoming more concerned about animal welfare. An organic egg seems like a better option to many, surely a hen that lays an organic egg had a better life? Continue reading “Why I Only Eat Pastured Eggs”

July 21, 2018August 19, 2018

Why I Stopped Ordering Drinks At Restaurants

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When I was younger I never went out to eat without ordering a drink. It would not have seemed like a true restaurant experience without ordering a beverage, and by beverage I mean something, anything, besides water. I was also a big soda drinker when I was younger. In fact, I remember distinctly having a conversation with a friend that went like this:

Friend: You should really drink more water.

Me: I drink plenty of water.

Friend: I, literally, have never seen you drink water.

Me: (Indignantly)That’s not true!

Friend: You always drink Coke.

Me: Coke has water in it. It’s like, the first ingredient.

I was totally serious. I thought the amount of water Coke had in it was suitable for my daily H20 requirements. If I wanted to be really “healthy” I might drink some juice. I didn’t really like drinking water, it made my stomach feel all sloshy. I am totally face palming myself at my younger self right now. I realized the importance of water in my early twenties and I have been much better off because of it. When I got pregnant with my first daughter I pretty much stopped drinking soda because I had read somewhere that caffeine wasn’t great for babies in utero, this continued after her birth because Continue reading “Why I Stopped Ordering Drinks At Restaurants”

July 21, 2018September 1, 2018

Why I Only Feed My Family Organic Peanuts and Peanut Butter

Eat Organic Peanuts

My family loves most kinds of nuts, including peanuts, and peanut butter is a versatile, low cost and high protein food. However it is also one of the most pesticide contaminated food that Americans eat. The reason for this is because peanuts are commonly rotated with cotton crops. Cotton crops deplete soils of nutrients and nitrogen rich legumes, like peanuts, help to build up the soil. So what is the problem? Cotton is considered to be one of the dirtiest crops in the world due to the incredibly high amount of pesticide use. Cotton is also not a food crop so the kinds of chemicals sprayed on cotton are not ones that would typically be used in edible agriculture (although those chemicals are also awful). Peanuts are then grown Continue reading “Why I Only Feed My Family Organic Peanuts and Peanut Butter”

July 12, 2018September 1, 2018

10 Awesome Things That Happened When I Stopped Eating Refined Sugar For One Month

In my younger days, prior to motherhood, I was always more of a salty snack type person. Something happened to me during my first pregnancy and I began to have some serious cravings for sweets. Ice cream was number one. I wanted it every single night. A lot of it. As the years went by my tolerance for sugar increased and I was able to, and wanted to, eat more and more of the stuff. Chocolate of almost any kind and an excessive amount of sweet creamer in my coffee were daily indulgences. I decided to give up sugar for a month to see if it made me feel any better. It is officially one month later. Here is what Continue reading “10 Awesome Things That Happened When I Stopped Eating Refined Sugar For One Month”