Time for Clementines

I LOVE clementines. This time of year they are my favorite thing to snack on. I just found out this week how great of a snack it really is. My kids can peel their own and love to eat them. My baby really likes these and with my two youngest children sick, I'm more then happy to let them eat them because of all the vitamin C they get. I could eat these all day! My kids like them so much, we went through a whole bag full of them in just two days.
I found this article from http://www.ehow.com/list_6572805_benefits-clementines_.html

• The Sweet and Healthy Clementine clementine image by laurent gehant from Fotolia.com

  Clementines, the smallest members of the mandarin orange family, have been enjoyed in the United States since 1909. These small, sweetly flavored citrus fruits are a cross between a mandarin and a sweet orange and are grown domestically as well as imported from Spain, Chile, Morocco and Africa. Clementines possess numerous nutritional benefits. Clementines are easy to peel, readily available, help relieve stress and are beneficial for skin.

Nutritional Benefits

• Clementines have a high vitamin C content. In fact, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, consuming two clementines fulfills the daily recommendation for vitamin C. Vitamin C supports the immune system and assists the body in forming collagen in the muscles, bones and cartilage. Additionally, Today's Women & Health points out that clementines contain ascorbic acid and beta carotene, which promote healthy vision and minimize age-related vision loss.

  According to Paramount Citrus Growers, there are only 40 calories in each clementine. Clementines have no sodium or cholesterol; however, clementines do contain nutrients such as potassium, fiber, vitamin A, calcium, thiamine, folate, magnesium and copper.

Easy Snacking

• Clementines usually are seedless and have thin, easily peeled skin, which makes them easy to eat for a snack or with a meal. According to Paramount Citrus Growers, clementines are often called "zipper oranges" because peeling one is so quick and easy. This makes clementines a viable healthy alternative to convenience snacks such as chips, cookies or candy bars.

Enhanced Mood

• According to Today's Women & Health, the clementine's scent causes the brain to release serotonin, a neurotransmitter that affects mood. Serotonin also helps to regulate blood pressure, sleep and body temperature. The calming effect can help to alleviate stress or anxiety and elevate mood.

Readily Available

• Clementines are grown domestically in Florida and California, with a growing season which extends from November until May. Clementines are readily available throughout the year due to supermarkets importing them from other countries. Spain produces clementines during the months of November until February. South Africa grows clementines from June until August, and Chile produces the small citrus fruits from August until October.

Benefits to the Skin

• Clementines contain citric acid, which is an antibacterial agent. Using clementine juice topically can eliminate the bacteria that cause pimples. Additionally, the vitamin C in clementines can stimulate collagen production in the skin; thus, minimizing fine lines and improving skin's texture.

Read more: What Are the Benefits of Clementines? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_6572805_benefits-clementines_.html#ixzz1fDNHCR00

Eating at Thanksgiving

When thinking of Thanksgiving, I think of overeating. With the Holidays upon us, we often over indulge in food and sweets. When thinking of this, I couldn't help but think of the movie You Again. It is one of my favorite movies! In it, the father does a diet where he covers his eyes and eats. Claiming that he had lost 5 lbs. I sometimes think of doing this.
 Growing up, we were always told to finish our food. I find myself trying to get my kids to eat all of their food. I struggle with them wasting food, and trying not to give them bad habits like mine. I always feel the need to finish eating my food!
 I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

No motivation

I have zero motivation. I have nothing to say any more and would love to have someone post for me. I have run out of ideas and an am more then happy to hand it over to someone else. Or, if someone would be generous and post something, that would be great. I need some ideas!! Thanks!!

Feeling like this?!

An Indoor Workout!!

My husband's schedule has changed, again. I have not been able to find time to go running, at all. My sister found this workout schedule and did it herself and she hurts today!! I can't wait to try it myself!!

The 100 Workout:
 100 Jumping Jacks
 90 Crunches
 80 Squats
 70 Leg lifts
 60 Jumping Jacks
 50 Crunches
 40 Squats
 30 Leg lifts
 20 Jumping Jacks
 10 Minutes of Running
She got it from http://losinggweight.tumblr.com/post/10481536746

Migraines and exercise.

My younger sister, Jordanne, and I suffer from migraines. Jordanne gets them more frequently then I do and we have tried lots of things to help with it. She found this article on Foxnews.com and sent it to me. I like that exercise has been found to help with migraines. Another reason I need to get back to running!

Regular aerobic exercise worked just as well as relaxation therapy or the anti-epileptic drug topiramate in preventing migraine headaches in a Swedish trial.

"This non-pharmacological approach may therefore be an option for the prophylactic treatment of migraine in patients who do not benefit from or do not want daily medication," wrote Dr. Emma Varkey and her colleagues from the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, in the journal Cephalalgia.

Varkey's team randomly assigned their subjects to one of three regimens for three months: aerobic exercise on a stationary bike (40 minutes three times per week), a standard form of relaxation therapy or daily topiramate.

Previous studies have shown that relaxation therapy and topiramate are both effective for migraine prevention, the investigators note in their paper.

The 91 women in the trial were all from a single headache clinic in Sweden. They were between 18 and 65 years old, had neurologist-diagnosed migraine, with or without aura, and got headaches two to eight times per month.

All three treatments reduced the frequency of some women's migraine attacks by as much as three quarters, although the average reduction was more modest.

In an e-mail to Reuters Health, Varkey admitted that she was a bit surprised by the small between-group differences. 

"Topiramate is a drug of first choice which has shown great effects in studies. It was a bit surprising and very interesting that the change in number of migraine attacks was almost similar in all three groups," she said.

"The only parameter where topiramate was better compared with exercise and relaxation was the reduction of pain intensity," Varkey added. "On the other hand, the non-pharmacological options were free from adverse events and the exercise group increased oxygen uptake, which is very positive."

None of the women in the relaxation group or exercise group reported side effects, but eight women (33 percent) in the topiramate group did and three withdrew from the study as a result. The most commonly reported side effects of the drug included numbness or tingling, fatigue, depressed mood, vertigo and constipation.

Finding that exercise is not inferior to topiramate as a prophylactic measure is "of great value," the researchers note in their report, because patients often seek non-pharmacological options for migraine.

"From a wider health-based perspective, it should be stressed that patients with migraine are less physically active than the general population, and that exercise has positive effects in terms of general well-being and the prevention of disease," they added.

"Additional and larger studies are, of course, needed to verify our results and to gain evidence for exercise as migraine treatment, but our results are hopeful," Varkey told Reuters Health

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/10/10/exercise-may-offer-drug-free-migraine-prevention/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fhealth+%28Internal+-+Health+-+Text%29#ixzz1bp774N8p