Detox Your Home

When you come home after a long day, it’s essential to have a clean environment that is conducive to relaxation and is free of clutter and toxins. Here are some tips to making some easy swaps and changes to detox your home and breathe easy:

Add House Plants to Each Room

Certain varieties of houseplants, such as English ivy, bamboo palm and spider plants can filter pollutants from the air, allowing you breathe in the benefits. Your best bet is the Garden Mum - NASA research found this to be the air-purifying champion, removing benzene, formaldehyde and xylene from indoor air. 

Purify the Air You Breathe

Himalayan salt lamps can generate negative ions in your home, improving the air quality over time - all thanks to their hygroscopic effect. Water vapor (found naturally in our air) and its pollutants are attracted to the salt lamps and these microscopic compounds remain on the salt, not in the air you breathe. An even better way to get exposure to these negative ions is the old, natural way: spending time outdoors surrounded by a body of water and plant life. 

Swap Out Your Chemical Cleaners

Although many of us have been made to think the dirt in our homes is worse than the spray we use to clean it up - there is increasing evidence that it may be the other way around. A common ingredient in everyday cleaners is bleach, which can irritate the respiratory tract and mucus membranes. There are lots of non-toxic cleaners available, but one Google search can bring up plenty of simple, homemade ones for you to try with ingredients like white vinegar and lemon. Also, Norwex is a brand of microfiber towels that use an antibacterial agent (micro silver) against mold, fungi and bacterial odor. Take this one step further and remove fragrance-filled candles and room sprays. Most candles are made of paraffin wax, which creates highly toxic benzene and toluene when burned (both are known carcinogens). Instead, try out an essential oil diffuser to freshen up a room or make your own room spray with the essential oils of your choice. 

Clear Clutter + Let Go

Donate and purge items that no longer serve you - whether it’s unused appliances, clothing, or books, there are several donation centers that will take them off your hands for you. Simplifying one room - let’s say your office or den - to have only what you need, makes work much more productive. Instead of shuffling through old papers, you can easily grab what you need and stay focused. Having a home for all items in a room means you can walk into the space feeling relaxed rather than stressed to tidy up. 

Make Cleaning a Regular Occurrence

It seems obvious that the more frequently you clean your home of germs, dirt and dust, the better your health will be. By regularly dusting and vacuuming you’ll remove common allergens that stick to carpet, and get rid of the pet dander, mold spores and chemicals that collect in dust bunnies. Even if you can't deep clean as often as you'd like, taking your shoes off at the door will prevent pesticides and other contaminants from entering your home. 

Maintaining a clean and orderly space (even organized chaos) provides the sanctuary needed to relax at home. Trying one or all of the above tips will help improve the quality of your health and create a place you feel good to come home to.  

2016: Ending With Reflection

Give 2016 some thought and note the times that you celebrated, re-charged and felt whole. You might be surprised how frequent this actually was. We tend to remember and dwell most heavily on the challenges that were presented in our year, or altered the path we were on. What we tend to forget is that many of these path-altering challenges indeed forced us to learn a necessary skill or grow in a new direction that we wouldn’t otherwise have gone. Reflecting on an entire 12 months can be a powerful reminder of the bigger picture, and demonstrate your resilience despite those rocky moments - and when you step back, you can see they were only moments. 

When Did You Feel Your Best?

Was 2016 the year that you took a leap in your career and left a toxic work environment? Or did a family trip bring you and your children or siblings closer? Even on a smaller scale, we can find memorable and important times where we felt really alive. Maybe you took skiing lessons for the first time, started to go on weekly nature walks or started volunteering your time for a cause you really believe in. Journaling can be an excellent practice to uncover these specific times for yourself, and to discover new ones as well. 

What Are Your Happiest Moments of 2016?

Was a new member or pet added to your family, or did you get to connect with an old friend or relative that you haven’t seen in a long while? Did you get recognized for your hard work on a project, or were you able to able to be present at a sibling’s wedding? A “happy” moment can easily be a subjective way to describe a shift or experience in your life, big or small. 

Past, Present and the Future

With only one day left of 2016, this is a prime opportunity to kick-start a flow of energy that helps keep our minds calm and clear and also invites fresh positive energy to enter. Decluttering your space helps clear that old energy and make room for new projects and ideas. Focus time and dedication on finishing any projects that have been started or halfway completed. Anything that we have been procrastinating on will need some kind of structure so that we can release the energy caught up in it, even if all we do is make a plan with a realistic deadline. 

Here are a few intention-setting prompts to help you reflect on where you’ve been and where you’re headed:

1. What’s the last good habit you developed? How did you do it?
2. What have you always wanted to do, but haven’t gotten around to doing? What is stopping you?
3. What are one of the desires you have for your career? 
4. What relationships (with children, relatives, coworkers, romantic etc.) do you want to grow and flourish? 
5. What brings you joy every single day?

Healthy Eating for the Whole Family

Many parents battle to have their kids eat balanced, healthy meals both at home and at school. Families, however, can make the shift towards healthier meals without having to coax their children to eat something they don’t want to eat. Here are a few ways that you can make healthy food a fun part of your meals together and even have them requesting whole, nutritious foods. 

Give Them the Chance to be Involved

Many kids enjoy helping out at dinner time and even helping out with the grocery store list. Bringing them along to the farmers market is a great chance for them to learn about vegetables or fruits they have never had before, and together you can come up with a dish to try them in. Depending on their age, you can start to let them join in on preparing food and even cooking. An easy way to start cooking together as a family is with “build it yourself” meals such as fajitas, salad bars, pizza or fruit and yogurt parfaits for dessert. This is also a great method if you have some picky eaters as it will give them the chance to try something new, but also eat what they like. Cooking at home shows them that healthy means using whole ingredients and can be fun, too.

Teach Your Kids to Follow the 80/20 Rule

Kids’ appetites fluctuate with their level of activity, mood and growth so don’t stress over a couple of unbalanced meals - or days. The 80/20 rule means they eat wisely 80% of the time, which leaves the remaining 20% for pizza with friends or enjoying the occasional treat. As parents know, it can be stressful trying to control what your child eats at a friends house or at school lunchtime. But the 80/20 rule shows them that perfection is not the goal, and it's alright to indulge in a small treat here and there. This also helps them see that not everything about food has to be restrictive - setting up positive eating patterns early on.

Stock the Fridge with Healthy Choices

Just like adults, kids will make better choices if they are easy. Filling a bowl with fruit and keeping it on the kitchen table puts a healthy and quick option in plain site. The same works for the less healthy options like soda and chips - if they are kept out of sight they are not as tempting. It’s one thing to tell your kids to “eat the rainbow” -  meaning eat colorful fruits and veggies - but it’s another for them to open the fridge and see it. 

If you're used to going down the snack aisle and picking up pre-packaged snacks for your kids, it won't be as difficult as you'd think to pick up quick and healthier options instead. Many stores carry pre-cut vegetables and fruit and although they are a bit more expensive, it can offer more convenience when you need it. Here are some simple snack ideas that require minimal prep or cooking:

• apples and peanut butter or cheese
• broccoli and hummus
• ants on a log (celery, nut butter and raisins)
• lettuce wraps (turkey+mayo, tuna salad...the fillings are endless)
• sweet potato and zucchini fries
• fruit and yogurt ice pops
• homemade trail mix

If your kids are curious about learning how to make their own snacks, this peanut dipping sauce goes great with carrot sticks and can be put together in less than 5 minutes:

• 3 tablespoons of peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• A splash of soy sauce
• A few drops of sesame oil
• Water to smooth
• Carrot sticks

Mix everything but the carrot sticks together with a fork or whisk in a bowl. Add water as needed to thin mixture to a dipping consistency (all-natural peanut butter needs more; everyday brands need less).

Still concerned your kids will reject “healthy food”? They will eat healthy, delicious food if you continue to offer it and try to model the right food choices for yourself.  Kids can learn to eat on their own terms which is the key to healthy eating in the long run. It is good to strive for balance but over the course of the week most kids will eat what they need; let them decide how to eat so they learn their own satiety signals.