6 Steps to Build a Healthy Family

Remaining healthy in today’s world is not as easy as it was in the past, because there are temptations everywhere you look. Almost every food item is loaded with sweeteners, sugars, and fats. Moreover, you will come across many distractions that make it hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

As a parent, you need to lead by example if you want your kids to be healthy. Staying healthy as a family is not easy but it can be fun if you try it together. Here are some steps to build a healthy family:

Stay Active Together

Instead of spending your time as a family indoors watching television, you should consider spending that time outdoors to stay active. You can engage in lots of activities and sports as a family. For instance, if your kids have always wanted to visit the Houston Zoo, you can Charter Flights to Houston Texas. You can also plan a fun family weekend and learn new hobbies such as kayaking. Such activities will have a positive impact on your family and encourage everyone to remain active.

Educate Your Family

The best way to keep your family healthy in this age of confusing news is to keep them educated. You need to be proactive when it comes to learning more about the foods you eat and how they affect your health. You need to avoid following the food pyramid, as it might not be the best way to keep your loved ones healthy.

The more you know about exercise and nutrition, the more prepared you will be as a family to make the right choices. For instance, once you learn about healthy sweets for your kids, you can schedule for candy delivery once a month.

Eat Better

As a family, you can make the choice to eat better every single day. Your kids will look up to you for decisions about their diet. This means that you should start preparing nutritious meals for your family to keep them healthy. However, you should keep in mind that eating right does not necessarily mean that you have to eat boring.

You can spruce up your veggie servings by making them appealing for everyone; otherwise, your children will not eat them.

Slow Down Meal Time

Mealtime is one of the most important times that a family spends together. Not only should you focus on preparing a healthy meal for your family, but you should also take the time to wind down with everyone. When your family members rush through mealtime, they are more likely to chew their food incorrectly and overeat.

If you want to practice healthy mealtimes you should encourage your family to eat slowly. You can do so by telling stories at the dinner table to make mealtime fun for the kids. Moreover, you should restrict the use of electronics such as phones and video games because children rush through meals to go back to their rooms and play with their gadgets.

Practice Moderation

Kids who are not allowed to eat snacks and sweets do not end up learning about moderation. From a young age, you need to teach your kids to eat sweets in moderation if you do not want them to eat them behind your back. You can do this by planning a monthly family outing where you take your kids to eat ice cream and special candy.

Just because you want to live a healthy lifestyle does not mean that you cannot enjoy candy occasionally.

Be Positive

A healthy family is a happy family and parents are responsible for teaching their kids how to eat healthy. Children who learn how to eat healthy at a young age are more likely to carry the behaviors into adulthood and live long, fruitful lives. For this reason, you need to be positive when teaching your family how to live a healthier lifestyle if you want the new habits to stick.

The above tips will come in handy if you want to build a healthy lifestyle. Through purposeful commitment and investment, you and your family will be able to enjoy great relationships and lead healthy lives. Good health will allow your family to thrive in all areas.

Winter Is Coming

Tell me, are you a Summer person?  Someone who craves the sunshine, loves the fact that you can walk around without the baggage of a coat?  Someone who looks at the snow and ice with dread and has a hatred for all things cold?

Alternatively, are you a Winter person?  A lover of warm drinks and cozy clothing.  Someone who loves a good snow ball fight and generally loves the beauty that Winter brings to the landscape.

Me, I'm a definate Summer person, but am trying, slowly to learn to love Winter.  So here are a few things that I thought about that I love about Winter that might make you love it too.

A Good Cuddle

Summer is wonderful, but how many nights have you spent far too hot during the evenings, stripping off layer after layer of clothing, drowning yourself in ice filled drinks and throwing off the bed covers at night?  How many times have you given up on the idea of a cuddle with your partner because you are just too damn hot?

Winter is made for cuddles on the sofa, a hot chocolate and a good film.  My fella is like a walking hot water bottle and snuggling up in bed on a cold night is something that brings us together even more.  

Stepping Into a Warm House

When you have spent a freezing day in the office followed by a cold and miserable commute home, is there really anything better than walking into a warm, inviting house?

It is this time of year that I make sure that our central heating systems are working as they should to ensure a warm and inviting house.  There is nothing worse that getting home on a cold day only to find out that your radiators are not working and you walk into freezing cold house.

My top tip for ensuring that your house heats up faster and retains more heat is to cover a thin sheet of card with tinfoil and placing it behind your radiator.  This reflects the heat back into your room and helps to heat everything that much and more importantly, retains the heat (saving you a bit of money too!)

Winter Clothing & Accessories

As much as I love, and I do adore, a Summer dress, there is just something about wrapping yourself up in many layers like a cocoon that makes you feel wonderful, calm and serene.  

Warm toasty socks in bed, a sumptuous scarf around your neck to keep out the cold, fur trimmed gorgeous coats and a good, old fashioned hot toddy on a particularly cold night are all things that I love about Winter.

The Food

At a risk of sounding like what they call a "typical woman" (what about any woman is typical I have to ask?), I do love a gorgeous roasted hazelnut latte in the Winter months.

Also, who can resist the lovely beef stew, simmering throughout the day in the slow cooker and ready to perfection when you arrive home?  Cauliflower cheese, apple crumble, chicken and mushroom pie or the good old English breakfast.  My mouth is watering just typing about them.

So, is Winter really that bad?  The icy streets can be hard to handle but there is so much about Winter to love, if you only care to look.  

Learning To Drive: 7 Ways To Keep Costs Down

Defensive Driving Starts Before You Learn To Drive

Following are a number of tips to help you drive in the most effectively defensive way possible. Defensive driving will reduce your vehicular defenses substantially, but it’s just one of many strategies you can employ to achieve this result. Several more worth considering include:

1. Driver’s Education

Driver’s Ed can reduce your insurance expenses while additionally teaching you effective defensive driving techniques that are essential in an increasingly urban driving environment with an expanding population. Attending driving courses can help you pass your test more quickly, and once passed, ensure you pay the minimum necessary amount in vehicular insurance.

2. Always Insure Your Vehicle

Insurance isn’t fun, it’s costly, and let’s be honest: to a certain degree it’s a racket. You’re going to have one claim every 19 years, but you’re going to pay around $1k annually depending on the level of coverage you get. However, that’s the rules of the game, so you’ve got to play by them.

If you lapse in coverage, resuming will cost you more. Your best bet is to buy insurance initially, and retain it perpetually. If and when you switch companies, don’t let coverage lapse in the process. Also, ensure you know your legal recourse in the event of a denied insurance claim.

3. Exercise Proper Maintenance Strategy

A vehicle that is properly maintained will be less likely to break down unexpectedly in a place which is inconvenient, and costs you hundreds of dollars. Read your driver’s manual and replace components at strategic intervals. There are certain things you can take your time on by monitoring them.

Its pretty obvious when serpentine belts start to go; you can run them until they get a “look” to them which requires replacement. Sometimes it will be under the projections of your user manual, sometimes over. The more defensively and carefully you drive, the less wear-and-tear you put on a vehicle, allowing components to last longer. A good rule of thumb: drive like your grandmother.

4. Learn The Patterns Of Traffic

High traffic produces higher likelihood of collision. Avoiding traffic as best you can will reduce your likelihood of being wrecked into, costing you money directly and collaterally. You can’t avoid all traffic, but you can pay attention to patterns, and figure out secondary routes that may be longer, but take less time because they avoid traffic. Time is money, and so are repairs. Avoid wasting time and paying out the nose in repairs by reducing their need through traffic avoidance strategy.

5. Plan Your Trips Out Ahead Of Time

This point dovetails from the previous one: figure out where you’re going, and what conditions will be like when you arrive; and as far in advance as possible. Internet maps can make this a lot more simple than it used to be. Additionally, know the time of year. Avoid holiday travel during high-traffic times if possible; or at the very least, leave in the dead of night when traffic is statistically low.

6. Start With A Beater

If you’re new to driving, don’t be so foolish that you buy a new car valued at around $30k and pay it off every month. That’s just setting money on fire and dancing around it like a savage. A better strategy is to buy a cheap old beater at around $1,000. If you get a year’s worth out of it, it will have paid for itself. Also, you won’t feel so bad when you make mistakes and tear the thing up.

When it breaks down, you can either get another one, or consider investing in a finer vehicle. Unless you can drop $30k on a car directly, and not be impacted financially, it’s not a wise move to have your first car be new.

7. Buy Used

Generally, buying used is a wise tactic. The cost you’re shooting for is about $5k, and you want to pay it all off at once if you can. If you’re fastidious about maintenance, and strategic about how you drive, you’ll get the same kind of use out of a used vehicle that most people get from a new one, but you’ll save tens of thousands of dollars.

Saving Time And Money

If you’re strategic to ensure you plan your driving ahead of time, start with a beater, buy used, take classes to learn more effectively how to drive while reducing insurance premiums, learn traffic patterns, and keep your insurance up to date at all time, you’re going to reduce necessary costs of vehicle ownership.

Even so, you should expect to pay around $2k to $3k a year in terms of gas, insurance, repairs, and maintenance. Budget for that, and keep an eye on expenses. That way you’ll be able to see how well you’re saving.