Much like her cousin Jenny, Kate loves her some selfies. I love finding gems like this on my phone!
Friends, I am struggling.
With all the uncertainty surrounding Kate right now, I am having a very hard time staying focused on the positive and staying in the moment. I am trying to remind myself that today, she is happy and healthy and swimming and doing everything she wants to do – and that today is all we know for sure anyway.
I am trying to keep myself from worrying, but I am failing miserably.
I know it’s impossible to completely quell the worries and the what-ifs, but there must be ways to control them. I just don’t know what they are.
Which is where you come in.
Tell me – do you have tips? Any daily rituals for being thankful for what is happening right now? Ways you remind yourself to count your blessings?
This post is sponsored by the School Nutrition Association, but was written by me alone.
When my Sophie started kindergarten, she was slightly obsessed with lunch. I guess it was the novelty of chowing down with a group of her peers, or perhaps the excitement of the free time to socialize. Even though she’s not a huge eater, it is still definitely her favorite part of the school day. She came home those first couple of weeks excited to tell me who was a “packer” and who was a “buyer”, how much lunch cost, what you did with your lunch money when you got to school, and which teacher had been on lunch duty that day. And of course, she also filled me in on the menu.
As parents, we are of course all concerned that our kids have healthy lunch options available to them at school. When Jonah starts preschool in January at our local public school, he will be eating breakfast there because he will be in morning preschool, but if he were in the afternoon class he’d be eating lunch – and either way, since he has food allergies, I’m obviously going to have questions and concerns to go over with the school nutrition staff when he starts school. It’s important to have a dialogue between parents and school staff when it comes to the food our kids are being served there. That’s why the School Nutrition Association and Kiwi Magazine are once again partnering on National Take Your Parents to Lunch Day during National School Lunch Week this year.
Mom & daughter enjoying Take Your Parents to Lunch Day at Sayler Park Elementary in Cincinnati
Take Your Parents to Lunch Day is a day where parents can not only eat lunch with their kids at school, but a chance for them to learn about what goes into making their kids’ school lunch healthy, and it’s a great chance for them to talk to their kids about healthy eating habits at every meal. It’s also the perfect time for parents to ask questions and learn from their kids’ school lunch providers and take time to learn about the government standards for school lunches (which underwent big changes in 2012).
Yesterday, Cincinnati public schools participated in National Take Your Parents to Lunch Day in every single one of their elementary schools. Parents from all over the district got the chance to spend some time with their kids and with the people who work to give them a healthy lunch each school day. But it wasn’t just about the food – these families also got the chance to talk to each other and to school officials about what goes into a healthy school lunch and why it’s important to make healthy choices in every meal of the day, and snacks, too!
Roberts Academy Elementary in CincinnatiMore parents checking out lunch at Roberts Academy Elementary
Even if your child’s school isn’t hosting a Take Your Parents to Lunch Day, it’s still important for you to be informed about what’s going into their lunches and why. Do you have questions? There’s an awesome Lunch Day Toolkit you can download at MyHealthySchool.com. It’s packed full of information on what the requirements are for a healthy school meal, and has great conversation starters to facilitate dialogue between you and your school’s food service provider. And since your food service provider isn’t the only one you need to talk to about healthy eating, there are conversation starters for you and your kiddos, too.
A fun family lunch at Salyer Park Elementary
If you want your school to host a Take Your Parents to Lunch Day next year, check out these great tips for getting your school involved!
Did your kids school participate in Take Your Parents to Lunch Day? What are your biggest concerns about the lunches they are served at school, and have you talked to school officials about them? I’d love to hear your experiences in the comment.
Oh yay, another “what’s wrong with Emily today?” post. I’m sure you’re all excited to read this! Now might be the time to click away from here and google “cute kitten pictures” or something, because this is bound to be a bunch of nonsense.
Anyway. I am so frustrated and need to get this out!
Last week I wrote about how I’d been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, and how glad I was to finally know what’s been going on with me for the past eight months.
I am glad and I am feeling better, but I am incredibly frustrated because it seems like everything I’ve been doing to try to make myself feel better has actually contributed to the problem.
For example – training for a 60 mile walk. Sounds like an awesome way to get in shape, right??
Wrong.
“Most people think of exercise as jogging or muscle building. While these are beneficial to general good health and promotes circulation and muscle strength, it is not the best solution when it comes to Adrenal Fatigue. In fact, wrong exercises may make Adrenal Fatigue worse and can trigger adrenal crashes easily.”From Dr. Lam Adrenal Fatigue Center
I wanted to stop using hormonal birth control, so I got a copper IUD in October (three days after walking 60 miles, I might add). Awesome!
Not so much.
First, I had a vasovagal response to the procedure itself. Here’s my favorite quote from the Wikipedia definition – Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary[3] describes this as the “feeling of impending death.” Two weeks later I had my first migraine ever, and for about two months I had extremely horrible digestive issues.
As it turns out…
There’s a possibility copper IUDs can cause elevated copper levels (or copper toxicity) in some people. What does copper toxicity do? I’m so glad you asked.
“Elevated copper and low zinc related to adrenal burnout impair the immune system… Often secondary to adrenal exhaustion are other glandular imbalances such as hypothyroidism… Several researchers postulate an association between migraine headaches and excessive tissue copper… One may also feel nausea, impaired appetite, and possibly some other digestive disturbances.”
From DrLWilson.com
