Throw the Guide Book Out the Window…
19 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
in Being a Mom
I am a very “book-smart” kind of person. I love to read and throughout my whole life I have pretty much depended on books to get me through everything. The same was true for my pregnancy. I read “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” (among other books) religiously. I also purchased all of the books that I thought I would need after the baby was born.
Boy was I WRONG!
Childcare books may contain some good information such as “When to call the doctor”, but the rest is just subjective. Every baby is so completely different and every baby goes through different stages at different times and sometimes even skips stages. Sometimes, your baby will do something that is not in any book and you will worry, but then it never happens again.
My daughter is 3 months old now and I have learned to go with the flow. If there are obvious red flags like a fever, bleeding, not breathing, etc., call the doctor or go to the Urgent Care right away. But for anything else that does not seem to be harming the baby, just go with it.
Do not try to follow any “rules”. I had so many people telling me that I should not put my baby in a swing or to put her in bed with me because she will get used to it. Well, if that’s the only way that I am going to get any sleep, then that is what I will do. I know she will eventually grow out of it.
Our daughter’s pediatrician advised us not to take her to a chiropractor. We did anyway and she has never been happier.
Sorry, I’m just not as convinced by the “professional opinion” anymore because it makes life 10 times more difficult in some cases.
Do what is best for you and for your baby — do not worry about what other people say! Everything will work out just fine 
And remember, as soon as you think you have your child figured out, they will change on you again.
Does the Internet have an “Off” Switch?
17 Jun 2010 2 Comments
in Technology Tags: apple, ibook, internet, internet dependence, iphone, kindle, technology
I have always wondered if the Internet has an “Off” switch.
Is there a short chubby man from Oz hiding behind a curtain controlling everything? If he decides he no longer wants the Internet available for people, will he just turn it off?
Most everyone is becoming extremely dependent on technology, namely the Internet. You cannot hide from it anymore, as much as some people want to. The Internet is everywhere.
If you want to buy a new phone, you can no longer get the standard old flip phone with just a number keypad – you have to buy a touch screen phone that can find the closest pizzeria, tell you where your ex-girlfriend is hanging out, and even do the laundry. All of this, of course, comes standard only if you purchase the “optional” data plan from your cell phone carrier.
So where does your phone get all of this information? The Internet, of course.
My husband and I received the newest copy of the Yellow Pages on our front door the other day. I remember the days when my parents used to hoard those musty-smelling yellow books like they were pirate gold. Things have definitely changed. My husband picked up the Yellow Pages and threw the book straight into the recycling bin. “We don’t need it,” he said, “we have the Yellow Pages on our iPhones”.
And now, the latest development from Apple, iBook (similar to Amazon’s Kindle). You can find any book you want digitally. You never need to have paper copies again. Movies and TV shows are the same thing. Buying DVDs is old hat. Everyone is renting or buying movies online or through their TV now, eliminating the need for any type of extra “collections” in the house.
Doesn’t that scare anyone?
Don’t get me wrong. I love technology, I love the Internet, and I absolutely ADORE my iPhone. I really do not know what I would do without it. Sometimes I go for weeks without using my personal computer because something about squinting my eyes to read the small print of the iPhone is so much more appealing to me. Just kidding. In reality, the convenience is what brings me there. So many apps, so little time. There is an app for everything. When I had my first baby, I even found apps for keeping track of her feedings and her diaper changes.
The thing that scares me is not knowing who controls it all and if that person or group of people has good intentions.
I do not believe that the Internet is just a free realm of cyberspace that anyone can access and play with freely. Just like every parcel or piece of real estate is owned by someone, the Internet must also be “owned” by someone. How else would websites have the right or ability to sell you “space” on the Internet so that you can create your own website?
So if we are all residents owning a little piece of real estate on the Internet, who are part of bigger pieces, then the Internet is really like a country. But who is running the country? What are their intentions?
Have you ever thought about what would happen if they turned the Internet off?
Maybe it is a hard lesson to learn but history has shown us time and time again that the best way to control people is to take away their knowledge and keep it for yourself. Knowledge is power. If a government wanted to control the citizens of their country, they would start by burning books and only publishing those that promoted what they wanted to achieve — in one word, brainwashing.
So if all of our movies, news sources, and even books come from the Internet, what happens if someone decides to only put on it what they want people to read? Or worse, what happens if someone decides to turn it off completely?
Those who have tossed away their paper copies of books, maps, and newspapers will no longer have access to any of that information. And those of us (like me) who went from memorizing everyone’s phone numbers to simply storing that information in a phone without memorization will be lost.
So who is the man behind the curtain? Is he on our side or is he easily corrupted for the right price?
I guess we will have to wait and see. Until then, I am keeping all of the paper copies of my books.
Meal Replacement Shakes
26 Jun 2009 Leave a Comment
in Health & Fitness Tags: diet, dieting, meals, replacement, shake, slimfast
Slim Fast, EAS Myoplex, and Luna Bars–the list goes on. In today’s society, where most people are gaining weight instead of losing it, the diet and weight-loss industry has been booming. Every time a new McDonald’s opens on a busy intersection, a fitness guru sitting in a laboratory finds another way to dress up a milkshake and call it a diet. But do these meal replacement diets really work or is it all just a hoax?
The concept behind all of the different meal replacement shakes is the same: You replace two of your meals per day with the shakes and your third meal is something small and sensible (typically ranging from 400 to 600 calories). Each meal replacement has between 180 and 240 calories (depending on brand and flavor). Assuming that the two shakes and the one meal are your sole nutrition for the day, your total caloric consumption will weigh in around 1000 calories. So, a dieter following the meal replacement diet plan is essentially just restricting their caloric intake, which is one of the first steps to weight loss (besides working out). The average person needs to consume approximately 1200 calories per day in order to maintain their weight. If you take away 200 of those calories and you throw in a workout routine that takes away even more, of course you will lose weight! Not only will you lose weight, but your body will adapt to only eating 1000 calories per day and you will no longer feel as hungry as you did before the diet started.
Now the question is whether or not diets such as these are healthy. As many know, a lot of diet supplements exist that may not necessarily be good for you since most of these supplements do not have to receive FDA approval. This means that if you are taking a diet supplement that you saw advertised on television, you can never be certain whether each supplement has the same proportion of ingredients within. But let us look at meal replacement shakes. They contain balanced portions of calories, fiber, protein, and carbohydrates. They do not restrict your body of anything to a point where you will overindulge later on and they contain the proper amounts of each type of nutrient. Furthermore, most of them also contain traces of other natural vitamins and minerals that are good for everyday body function. In short, meal replacement shakes are good for the body and for weight loss.
Essentially, using meal replacement shakes in a diet is an easy way for people to receive the proper amount of calories, fiber, protein, carbohydrates, and fat without having to measure anything out on their own. If you are a nutrition guru, you would not need meal replacement shakes because you would know exactly how much of everything is in each food you consume.
Meal replacement shakes work (but only if you limit your caloric intake at other times in the day). From a scientific standpoint, the logic is staring you straight in the face; daily caloric reduction = weight loss. From a personal standpoint, I can say that this diet worked for me. I am more aware of how I eat, I love how the shakes taste, and I managed to lose five inches off of my abdomen in nine days. Besides all of that, they make my life easier because I only have to cook once per day—you can’t go wrong with that!
