Refresh Your Family Meal Plan With Your Giant Nutritionist

If you're a regular blog reader around here, you know that I take my weekly family meal planning seriously. Each Monday, I post our family meal plan right here on the blog. While it can sometimes feel like a chore, weekly meal planning saves me time and money every single week, making it worth the effort.

I have to confess though, I have really been slacking on my meal planning this summer. So when Giant asked if I wanted to come in and meet with the Nutritionist at my local store, I jumped at the opportunity. To be honest though, I was a little nervous going in, not really knowing what to expect.

Seeking Balance in an Unbalanced World

Oola.

That's a funny word right? I heard it for the first time about a year or so ago and thought it was odd. Then I found out it's related to Oo-la-la. Ok then. . . but what does it all MEAN???

Oo' - la \ n. adj. \ 1 a: a state of awesomeness b: a Life that is balanced and growing in the key areas of health, finances, career, relationships and well-being c: a destination (i.e.,  getting to Oola) 2 a: describing actions, insights and goals that lead to a balanced life (ex: That's so Oola.) 3 a: the ultimate plan for achieving balance in an unbalanced world.

I first came across this word in my education of essential oils and Young Living (by the way, this post includes affilate links - thank you for your support). I read the first book from the Oola Guys,  Ooola, Find Balance in an Unbalanced World and I was intrigued by not only their story of self discovery, but of their relationship and dynamic. You see, there is the Oola Guru (Troy Amdahl) and the Oola Seeker (Dave Braun).  They have a history . . .they have a theory . . .they have a plan, but best of all, they have RESULTS. 

Healthy Snack Option: Stonyfield Whole Milk Smoothies

A new year almost always means new eating habits. Whether your goal is to lose weight or simply to eat healthier, come January, we are all looking for tips. I have a pretty healthy diet, eating mostly real food, and drinking plenty of water. My downfall? Snacks!

One problem I have is that I don't eat enough throughout the day. I know it seems crazy, but when I track my food, I am always under my calorie count until the evening hours. (and yet, not skinny) After the kids go to bed, my snacking beast is unleashed and I undo all the good I did throughout the day. Besides a lump of calories I didn't need, I'm also left with a pile of guilt over my lack of willpower and snacking weakness.

3 Easy Steps Towards a Chemical Free Home

There's a lot of talk these days about GMOs and food labeling. But have you stopped recently to take a look at the products you are using in your home and on your body? We've been on a better health and wellness journey for the past couple of years, and let me tell you, some of those things are down right scary. Yet they are all perfectly "legal" and approved by the FDA.  I'm not one to get overly political here on the blog, but I want to share the three easy steps we found to kick more chemicals out of our home, and replace them with better, safer and more natural alternatives.

Cold and Flu Season is Coming - 5 Ways to Prepare

Disclosure: I'm proud to be working with CVS Pharmacy on the CVS Pharmacy Difference Campaign. All opinions expressed are my own, and all product claims or program details shared should be verified at CVS.com or with the appropriate manufacturers.

Like it or not, it's here. Cold and flu season is right around the corner.  This is the time of year that I start to think about what changes we need to make to get our family prepared. As a mom, I work hard to reduce our susceptibility to and increase our defense against seasonal colds and flu. I was happy to team up with CVS Pharmacy, which now owns and operates all of the pharmacies inside of Target stores, to share five ways that you can prepare yourself and your family for the upcoming cold and flu season.

Fall Favorite: Oatmeal

With Fall in full force and winter on the way, there is something very comforting about a hot breakfast to get your day going.

A big thank you to Stonyfield for sponsoring this post and for providing wholesome and delicious products I feel good about serving to my family. I recently received a bag of Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats and a bag of Bob's Organic Coconut Sugar to try out and share my thoughts on.

Shop Simpler and Smarter with CVS Pharmacy at Target and The CVS Mobile App

Disclosure: I'm proud to be working with CVS Pharmacy on the CVS Pharmacy Difference Campaign. All opinions expressed are my own, and all product claims or program details shared should be verified at CVS.com or with the appropriate manufacturers.

I don't know about you, but I am always looking for an easier way to manage my day-to-day life. Do you ever feel like all you do is run from one place to the next? Sometimes I feel like my life is a hamster wheel, spinning and spinning with a constant stream of errands. Nothing gives me more of a shopping thrill than combining my stops (well, maybe a great deal). All that parking and getting in and out of the car can be a real drag.

Another Reason to Love Target: Convenient CVS Pharmacy

Disclosure: I'm proud to be working with CVS Pharmacy on the CVS Pharmacy Difference Campaign. All opinions expressed are my own, and all product claims or program details shared should be verified at CVS.com or with the appropriate manufacturers.

I don't know about you, but I have a real love affair with Target. We do a family shopping trip, probably once a week.  It's our go-to store for all our basic family needs. Need a new lunch bag? Check Target. Out of index cards? Add them to the Target list. Well, recently, along with the addition of the large red concrete balls out front, we noticed another new thing at our local Target: the pharmacy changed to CVS. As if any of us needed another reason to love Target.

What does this mean for current Target shoppers and current CVS Pharmacy customers? Well, if you are already enrolled in CVS's ExtaCare loyalty program and the opt-in ExtraCare Pharmacy and Health Rewards you'll earn $5 in ExtraBucks Rewards for every 10 prescriptions filled. Patients can also earn rewards for the other things they do to stay healthy, like getting immunizations or choosing email refill reminders.

Everything You Need to Know About Backpacks

Perhaps nothing signals the return of kids to school like the backpack. I don't ever recall carrying a backpack, loaded with books, to and from my own school as a kid. But since the day my oldest was born, I've been scouting the perfect back-to-school backpack.

Where did this obsession with backpacks come from? I can't recall anyone carrying a backpack when I was in school (ok - it was the 70's and 80's). According to this fantastic article by Lee Hale from NPR, the backpack craze as we know it launched itself firmly in 1982, when LL Bean featured their Book Pack. It quickly became the company's top-selling product, and is still one of the top sellers in backpacks today. By the late 1980's every kid was carrying a backpack.

What to Wear for Your Summer Workout

Time for another weekly fashion post. Each Wednesday, I share real fashion ideas and inspiration to help get you dressed in the mornings. I highlight at least one outfit that I'm wearing right now, as well as provide tips for finding great outfits in your own closet. This week, let's talk about summer workout wear.

Summer is coming. For me, even though it's hot, I tend to work out more often in the summer. Whether it's a morning yoga routine or an evening family stroll after dinner, I like to get outside and enjoy the summer. There's no need to look sloppy or unstylish while you do it. The days of gym shorts and your husband's t-shirt are over.  There are a million options, in every budget for stylish workout wear. So pick up a great pair of yoga pants, a skort or a pair of board shorts and get moving!

Easy Ways to Make Everyday Foods Healthier

We all said it. Back in January, do you remember? We all promised that this would be the year we got serious about eating healthier. We know that a healthy lifestyle is important for many reasons. We want to be around a long time for ourselves, our partners and our kids. But for some reason, making that leap from wanting a healthy lifestyle to actually claiming a healthy lifestyle, is hard. Really hard.

But the best way to reach any goal is to take small steps. For the last few years, I have been taking those steps. . .usually forward, but occasionally I too, take a few steps backwards and need to get myself on the right path again. I've cut out soda from my diet. I've added a cup of warm lemon-water to my morning routine. I bought a new journal, and I take time to write. Each of these little steps, are a building block to a healthier lifestyle.

Kids and Yoga

We've been hearing for a while now, that yoga is good for us. In our quest for a healthy lifestyle, we should include yoga in our routines. Yoga has been found to increase our flexibility, help us lose weight, improve respiration, vitality and energy, and provide many more mental and physical benefits to our bodies and minds.

What is yoga? Yoga is formally defined as: a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practiced for health and relaxation. But more often, yoga is defined as an ancient science of mind, body and spirit. 

Love, Romance and Essential Oils

February is the month of love. With Valentine's Day on February 14th, the entire month is filled with hearts in red and pink almost everywhere you look.

No matter what your Valentine's Day plan may be, it's always a good idea to pay attention to the love and romance in your life. In fact, studies have shown that love can protect your heart, lead to a longer life and even help you beat cancer. Doctors at the University of North Carolina have found that hugging may dramatically lower blood pressure and boost blood levels of oxytocin.

So what can we do to foster more love and romance in our lives and what does that have to do with essential oils? Well, essential oils have been used for thousands of years for cosmetic purposes, as well as for their spiritually and emotionally uplifting properties.

Why A Retreat May Be Just What You Need

What do you think of when you hear the word, retreat?

I immediately conger up something relaxing. A retreat to me, means getting away from it all and recharging your batteries.

I recently had the opportunity to go on a weekend retreat with a group of creative entrepreneurs. It was like a girls' weekend, but with a mission. We even had a loose agenda to keep us on track and accomplish our goals.  We loaded up journals, paper, pens, yoga pants and wine and headed to a beautiful cabin in the Maryland woods.

Drink Up - Getting Enough Water is Good For You

Sponsored Post

It's that time of the year when we all start to think about ways we can improve ourselves and our lives. Some of us choose One Little Word to guide us, some of us make resolutions and some of us fight the trend and maintain our own status quo. Regardless of your personal choice, there's no doubt that beginning in January, many people start trying to be healthier. One of the ways we can be healthier, is to increase our water intake.

There are a lot of health benefits to drinking water. Water makes up about 60% of your body weight, and is an important factor to your body's health. According to the Mayo Clinic, men should consume about 13 cups of water per day, and women should aim for 9 cups of water a day. You're safe with following the popular 8 8-ounce glasses of water a day "rule".

Super Easy Ways to Start Your Day With a Good Breakfast

 This is a sponsored post in partnership with Stonyfield and Nature's Path.

I am not a breakfast person . . .unless you count coffee. Then I am most certainly a 2-cup kind of breakfast person. I know it is better for your overall health to eat a healthy breakfast each morning. But just because we know something to be true, doesn't mean we follow the advice - right? Guilty as charged.

So while I make sure my family doesn't head off to work and school without something nutritious in they tummies, I settle down at my desk after some coffee, and attempt to work.  Some days go better than others.  According to WebMD, breakfast is linked to many health benefits, including weight control and improved performance. Now who doesn't need those two benefits to start your day off on the right foot?

What to Know About the HPV Vaccine

I share a lot of information on this blog about parenting and healthy living. Keeping ourselves and our families as healthy as possible is important, but not always easy.  Making sure my kids are guarded against disease and illness to the best of my abilities, is one of my priorities as a mother. But it's not easy.

Why isn't it easy? There are so many reasons. Sometimes health information is hard to find from a reliable source. Personally, I tend to start with the CDC and move on from there. Sometimes the language that health information is presented in, can be difficult to understand (again, that's why I start with the CDC). Health can be a personal decision, one we don't necessarily want to share with the general public. And sometimes, it's a topic that no one really wants to talk about!

Being Yourself and Working From Home {#JustBeYou}

As a mom, I strongly encourage my kids to be themselves. I want them to have confidence in their own quirks and the traits that make them special. As a grown-up, it seems so simple, but I remember as a teenager, it wasn't always so easy to just be myself. These days, I am relatively confident in who I am, and my place in the world. I also work form home, which can make being yourself a little easier.

Take a Walk - 5 Great Walking Trails In and Around Philadelphia

Taking a walk is a great way to get in those 10,000 steps a day. Going on a walk as a couple or with your family, can also be a great way to spend time together. There is something calming and centering about immersing yourself in nature for a while. Right now, the trees are still pretty and there's still plenty of wildlife to be seen. So grab your water bottles and put on some sturdy shoes, and get out there!

Using Essential Oils Aromatically

By now, you've probably realized how devoted I am to my essential oils for supporting my family's health and wellness. Essential oils contain vital plant compounds. Many of these compounds have been studied for their positive effects.