Motivational Monday: Motivating Workout Music

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Krissyar

When I work out, whether I’m on the bike, treadmill or lifting weights I must have music. What is funny, is it’s not the ‘normal’ music I would listen to driving down the road, sitting in the office or even cleaning my house.  When I workout I need to feel pumped. I need the fast beat to match my heartbeat as I’m working on my heart rate to increase and to burn those calories. I think most people are the same way, that’s why Zumba, Sweating to the Oldies and other dance type workouts are so popular. We need motivation to keep moving. 

I found a great channel on Pandora called Pop and Hip Hop Power Workout Radio that is my go-to station when I need to get pumped. It’s hard to keep a fast pace listening to Billy Currington’s Let me Down Easy!  This station always has some great music, though parental advisory is recommended ( I have skipped a few songs myself – I don’t want to hear about hoes and such, just sayin’). Some of t

I also found this awesome list of 100 Most Motivating Workout Songs from SparkPeople I wanted to share. Keeping your motivation going during a workout (especially one that you don’t really want to be at) is key to keeping at it.

Aretha Franklin – Respect
Avicci  –  Wake Me Up
Basement Jaxx  –  Good Luck
Bastille  –  Pompeii
Bee Gees  –  Stayin’ Alive
Beyoncé – Run the World
Bill Conti  –  Gonna Fly Now (theme from “Rocky”)
Black Eyed Peas  –  I Gotta Feeling
Bon Jovi  –  It’s My Life
Bon Jovi – Livin’ On A Prayer
Britney Spears – Stronger
Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
BT  –  Never Gonna Come Back Down
Calvin Harris  –  Let’s Go
Des Ree  –  You Gotta Be
Destiny’s Child  –  Survivor
Destiny’s Child – Independent Women
DJ Khaled – All I Do Is Win
Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky
Click here to see the rest of the list!
Posted in Fitness/Health, Motivational Monday | 6 Comments

Teaching Our Youth: Balanced Literacy Programs

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Krissyar

Teaching reading can be challenging, and people have always strived to find the ‘best’ way to teach it. For a significant portion of the 20th century, choosing the best reading program has been a topic of much discussion and thought. There are many arguments over the best ways to teach children to read because it is such an important skill to be a successful adult. One of the current programs, called balanced literacy instruction, has taken the schooling world by storm.

Before balanced literacy programs came on the scene, there were many other methods that focused on different facets of reading, some focused on phonics, while others focused on whole language. As a whole, literacy instruction was quite unbalanced, and each new teaching method was met with resistance.

Advocates of a phonics based reading education believed that in order to be a quick and fluent reader, children needed to understand the letters at their most basic, with the sound they made. Phonics based reading education focused on the sounds of letters as well as the spelling of words, and, overall, phonics based instruction was successful, especially for students who were analytical and auditory learners.

Whole language based reading instruction, on the other hand, focused on the meaning of words and using words and writing as a means for expression. Proponents of whole language based reading instruction believe that phonics wasn’t a truly effective form of reading education because it only focused on word recognition without the meaning attached. Just like phonics, whole word based reading instruction was successful, and especially so with students who learn better with a hands-on approach as well as social learners.

Without differentiated instruction, there will always be a student who gets left behind. Every person learns differently, and to have a successful reading program, multiple learning styles must be taken into account. This is why balanced literacy instruction has taken center stage in the reading instruction war, because it offers an instructional technique with combined strategies, which have shown to be more effective.

Balanced Literacy Instruction

Balanced literacy instruction focuses on using both whole language and phonics together to create a more holistic reading approach. The most successful elements of each are incorporated into balanced literacy instruction, which allows for students with different learning styles to be successful.

The Five Facet Strategies of Balanced Literacy Instruction

The first strategy, called ‘the read aloud’, is where the teacher reads out loud to the entire classroom. This allows for the teacher to model correct reading skills, focusing on rhythm, intonation, and enthusiasm. This is a great way for students to learn to enjoy reading before they are able to read successfully on their own.
The second strategy, called guided reading, is where teachers group students by reading level and encourage students to read with peers who are on their same level.
The third strategy, called shared reading, focuses on having the teacher and students read together.
The fourth strategy, called independent reading, allows the students to choose the types of books they would enjoy the most, making reading an enjoyable experience.
The fifth strategy, called word study, is the phonics portion which focuses on letters and their sounds, eventually moving to prefixes, suffixes, and root words.

There is no correct way to teach reading, but there are ways that are more effective and reach more students, and the balanced literacy program approach is one of them.

Posted in Parenting | Leave a comment

Benefits of Yacon

Posted on February 15, 2014 by Krissyar

Yacon, Polymnia sonchifolia, also known as Peruvian ground apple, is a native of South America that is a relative of the sunflower. It produces juicy, edible tubers, from which its name, translated as “watery root,” is derived. People in the Andes have enjoyed yacon as a food source for more than a thousand years. Yacon offers certain health benefits.

yacon

Blood Sugar Management

Syrup made from yacon root may help lower your blood sugar, according to a study published in the April 2009 issue of “Clinical Nutrition.” Sugarlike molecules in yacon known as fructooligosaccharides, which are derived from a nondigestible carbohydrate called inulin, provide about half the sweetness of sugar without raising blood sugar levels.

Cancer Prevention

Potential anticancer benefits of yacon were demonstrated in a tissue culture study of human cervical cancer cells published in the October 2011 issue of the journal “Fitoterapia.” Yacon compounds inhibited the growth and reproduction of cancer cells and promoted early cell death.

Liver Health

A combination of yacon and silymarin, which is the active component in milk thistle, Garcinia Cambogia Formula , improved cholesterol and blood sugar levels in patients with metabolic syndrome in a study published in the March 2008 issue of “Food and Chemical Toxicology.” Metabolic syndrome is a combination of conditions that increases risk for heart disease and diabetes. In the study, participants consumed 2.4 grams of yacon and 0.8 grams of silymarin a day for 90 days. Results showed the combination supplement improved cholesterol levels and prevented fat accumulation in the liver, leading researchers to conclude that yacon and silymarin may promote healthy heart and liver function.

Dietary Uses

Fresh yacon has a slightly sweet taste and a crunchy texture similar to that of an apple, while its flavor is close to that of watermelon. South Americans eat the tubers, which can range from yellow to purple, as a fruit, with lemon juice and honey, or they add it to fruit salad. You can also stir-fry, roast or bake yacon as a vegetable. Use yacon leaves, also high in inulin, to wrap other foods as you would cabbage or grape leaves, or brew them to make an herbal tea. Yacon syrup and powdered yacon supplements are also available.

 

 

Posted in Fitness/Health | Leave a comment

Top Ten Ways to Make Lunch Fun Again with Meatless Meals

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Krissyar

Adults often have a difficult time fitting lunch into busy schedules.  Many find themselves torn between a few unattractive options.  First, you can choke down fast food while driving back to the office.  Not only does the “drive and scarf” lunch sort of defeat the purpose of a lunch break, it also often comes with a post-meal guilt trip.  Second, you can try to fill up with a protein bar and fight off hunger until dinner. 

Healthy lunch ideas can make lunch fun again.  Avoid the guilt trip and fast food dash.  Also, don’t starve yourself.  Healthy meatless lunches can be filling and fun. Listed below are the top ten ways to eat healthy and make lunch at the office fun again:

1.Get Others Involved

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, over 60% of Americans are currently overweight.  Introduce others in your office to different types of healthy lunch alternatives, such as crispy vegetarian chicken.  Have a weekly meatless office potluck, or start a friendly competition.

2.A Little Competition Never Hurt

Start an unofficial healthy lunch club with several other coworkers.  Elect one person to share his or her latest meatless creation with the rest of the group every week.  Elect a quarterly winner, and find a goofy prize for the master of meatless cuisine.

3.Find Your Philanthropic Side

It might not be practical to donate your lunch to your coworkers every day.  Instead, make homemade sample-sized dishes for everyone in the office.  Everyone loves snacks and free food.  Help everyone else endure a marathon meeting by bringing tasty meatless snacks, and feel good about yourself instead of feeling guilty.

4.Learn to Love Cooking Again

It is not uncommon for great cooks to get stuck in a rut.  Spice up your routine by trying new ingredients, such as vegetarian burgers, into your repertoire of go-to recipes.  Make lunch for the week on Sunday, and stick it in the freezer.  Love lunch by rekindling your love of cooking.

5.Go Meatless for Lunch

Going vegetarian for breakfast and lunch can have multiple benefits in addition to making lunch more fun.  You can politely decline to attend a gathering with a clique at work that you would prefer to keep a safe distance from.  Keep your office social status secure by playing the vegetarian card.  Enjoying meatless mandarin chicken salad in the park on a sunny day can also help you save money and cut calories.

6.Show Off How Cool You Are

Do you remember when you ate at the cafeteria as a kid?  There was always that one kid who had the good fortune of enjoying a really stellar lunch from home.  Now, it’s your chance to be token office pro se chef.  Enjoy a delicious vegetarian Thai beef salad with the works, and let the comments roll in.  You can choose to snicker or share the recipe.

7.Think About How Much You Love Animals

Eating a slice of pepperoni pizza after seeing how animals were brought for the slaughter can be more than a downer.  It can make lunch not fun.  Thinking about the nutritional value of said pepperoni pizza can also detract from the fun factor.  Enjoy meatless products that taste like the real thing.  Remember, one cute picture of a piglet could ruin your entire lunch.

8.Watch Your Waistline Get Slimmer

Stay full for longer by eating healthy food during your lunch hour, and wait for the results.  Unless you are a contestant on a reality television show, you probably will not drop over ten pounds in a week.  Make lunch more fun by sporting the clothing you bought at your last trip to the mall.  Look and feel great by going meatless.

9.Fun Doesn’t Have to Mean Commitment

Many people that are not strict vegans or vegetarians can benefit from incorporating meatless products into their diets.  Carnivores can enjoy healthy lunches while having fun.  It is often comforting to recognize that you don’t have to swear off steaks and ribs forever.  You can choose to only go vegetarian for breakfast and lunch.

10.The More, the Merrier

Probably the most effective way to make lunch fun again is to include others.  Instead of scarfing down a shake in an office all by yourself, get lunch back.  Include coworkers and acquaintances.

Share healthy lunch ideas, and go meatless for one or two meals every day.  Healthy doesn’t have to mean boring.  To the contrary, healthy lunches could be the thing you need to make lunch fun again at the office.

 

Posted in Fitness/Health | Leave a comment

Resolutions Continued: Organization 101

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Krissyar

So I’ve pretty much kept on track for part 1 of my New Years Resolution. I’ve been eating healthier, and hitting the gym whenever possible (though I tell you between sick kids and a busted hot water heater, the days were few and far between for awhile). As these things are becoming habits I am now turning more of my focus onto another very important resolution: organization.

“A place for everything, and everything in it’s place” This is a concept that I have no problem wrapping my mind around..but my kids, they are a different story. Since we’ve had such a hard time with this in my house, Mom has made an executive decision that if it doesn’t have a place – she find’s one for it – in the garage sale bin. I have bins in our basement for donating to charity & for our annual garage sale. If we have too much, then something needs to go. Trying to buy new, and never get rid of the old is what’s gotten us to the place where I feel overwhelmed when it comes to cleaning. Let’s just say right now, we are on track to pay for summer vacation with what’s in the bins!

“Get ‘er Done” I cannot even begin to tell you the ‘to do list’ I have in my planner. I have posters frames I need to purchase, and pictures that need hung, photo albums to put together, even a dresser for my son that’s been sitting in the box since November! 

“Have a Workable Task List/To Do List” Having a list for everything, from cleaning to a grocery list makes life a LOT easier. I get a lot of my printables from Lisa over at Organize365. Having a list to follow, and check off, makes it a lot easier to stay on task. It especially helps with my absent mindedness – this way, I can’t forget!

“Change” When it comes to change, I’m usually not that hip on it. Though I love the idea of a clean organized home, the idea of change – not to mention the how – is always scary to me. I’ve found some great ideas (especially for the kids rooms) from IHeart Organizing.

“Unapologetically take control of your time and priorities” I know that I can’t do any of the above without taking control and making certain things a priority. I know that I need to balance my need for perfection and realizing that I have 3 young kids, and a full-time job! There are times when the laundry won’t be done, when their toys and books will be laying all over the floor. I’m going to enjoy them while I can, because one day I’m gonna’ miss it!

Posted in Cleaning & Organizing | 2 Comments