Keeping Track of It All

My food journal has helped me find my own strengths, weaknesses, and patterns over the past few weeks. I wrote down what I ate, when I ate, all my medications, vitamins and supplements, and how I felt before and after all these various and sundry things entered my body. One supplement made me feel just awful, and thanks to my journal, I was able to nail down which one it was - and get rid of it - right away. Yes, my journal has been really helpful. Not nearly as helpful as it could have been, though. Now I know about D*I*YPlanner.com.

For a geek like me, this site is the cat's pajamas. D*I*YPlanner.com has tons of free templates to download and print out as planner pages, or to use however you like. I'm already addicted to their menu planning pages, which include both a weekly menu planner and a shopping checklist. I use them to make menus for Pete, myself and the kids and then to make the whole shopping list. If anyone in your home is on a special diet of any kind, this is a great way to get everyone's needs on the same shopping list!

Actually, I found this site looking for financial forms, which they have in droves. But what I found were some of the best - FREE - forms for tracking your health. Need to track your glucose readings and insulin? There's a free form for that. How about your workouts? Several to choose from! Getting enough water? Yup, there's even a form to keep track of your water intake. Did I mention all these forms are free?

Ok, ok, I know I'm a Type-A organizational nerd (if you don't believe me yet, check out my Organizational Management for Moms blog - OM4M here). Not everyone will be as excited as I am to find such a site, but I AM sure you'll find a few tools to help you manage your healthy lifestyle, or to start a new one. Check out D*I*YPlanner.com here, and let me know if you're as impressed with it as I am.

Breastfeeding Could Have Saved You From Dieting

Ok, let me start by saying that I know many of our readers are men. Fine. Take this information for what it's worth and file it away for a time and place when it might be useful to someone you know. It IS World Breastfeeding Week, and I just can't skip over the fact that breastfed babies are less likely to suffer from myriad health problems, including obesity, throughout their entire lives. In fact, if every baby was breastfed we might not have the multi-billion dollar diet industry. First, though, we've got to get rid of the multi-billion dollar artificial baby food industry. So here are a few facts for you.

Breastfed babies receive antibodies in their mother's milk which reflect the exact pathogens they've been exposed to together. Babies are healthier, stronger, happier, cry less, and have more energy to devote to learning, not fighting off infections. Yet another in a long line of studies was published less than 2 months ago proving breastfed babies are more likely to attend college than artificially fed babies. Parents of breastfed babies miss less work since their babies are so healthy. Breastfeeding is free, and WIC recipients receive the would-be formula credits for healthy food for the mom and family instead, so everyone wins. Breastfed babies' exceptional health often means less money spent on doctor's visits, medications, and other medical expenses. In fact, premature infants who receive their mother's milk come home, on average, 1 full week earlier than infants receiving artificial food.

Speaking of artificial food, many people truly believe that it's "just as good" as breastmilk. It's not. In fact, it's dangerous. Oops, there's lead in formula. Oops, those BPA-Free bottles really aren't. Babies who receive artificial food are more likely to develop diabetes, childhood obesity, and other common illnesses. Have you checked the prices lately? $25 a can to give your baby something that could make him sick? Better yet, have you tried to have a baby in a hospital and get out without them giving you or the baby directly some formula, "just in case"? In case of what? In case I'm really a man? Because I've got to tell you, there are very, very few cases on Earth of women who cannot breastfeed, and there are entire milk banks full of healthy, donated human milk available for these cases. (Actually, with the right medication, even a man... no that's too far for too many...) There's a woman in Indiana who has successfully breastfed her quintuplets for the first year. Quints! Yes, some of the milk has been donated, of course. That's what it's there for! For more information on how, like the tobacco companies and the pharmaceutical companies, artificial food manufacturers have manipulated the media, lobbied in DC, and lied to new mothers, click here. Enfamil even referred to one "flavor" as "breastmilk formula", as if there was real human milk in the can!

The next time your wife, adult child, neighbor, niece, child's teacher, or anyone else you know is expecting a new baby, you'll have some good information to share. Right now, this week perhaps, maybe you could just be kind and supportive if you see a mother feeding her baby somewhere. As a society we've forgotten that throughout history and throughout the rest of the world, breastfeeding has been and is natural and normal. Support these generous mothers. They're just feeding their babies as nature intended.