Motherhood Category
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
If you’re like me, you’re probably alarmed to hear so much about the prevalence of “mental disorders,” particularly among children. It seems that every year there are more and more disorders are emerging, along with psychotropic medications to treat them. However, as the mother of three grown-up, mentally healthy children and with a strong background and experience in nutritional research, I counsel mothers to be careful before mistaking your children’s odd behavior with a mental illness. It turns out the symptoms of malnourishment and mental disorders are actually quite similar in children.
Even just the signs of a deficiency in B vitamins will sounds familiar to you as the symptoms of childhood mental disease. Deficiency in Vitamin B1 can result in fatigue, poor memory, irritability, and insomnia. A B2 deficiency can cause depression. Deficiencies of B3 may begin as depression, but untreated may progress to psychosis or even dementia. Deficiencies in Biotin may cause a variety of problems, including skin disorders and eczema, dandruff or hair loss, fatigue, depression, even hallucinations.
Children can also suffer from a classic case of low blood sugar. Studies show that breakfasts rich in protein keep the body’s blood sugar level higher and more stable than breakfasts such as, say, the American breakfast staple of sugar-packed cereals. Kids are bound to peak in the morning and then crash later in the day, exhibiting hyperactivity and lethargy during the school day.
The consequences of improperly diagnosing a mental illness instead of treating malnourishment in a child can be severe. If you care about your child and children in general, it is imperative that you and your child’s teachers learn the crucial difference between children’s mental disorders and inadequate nutrition.
Tina Turbin
Tags: advice, alternative remedies, children's diet, children's health, children's nutrition, diet, education, educators, family, kids health, kids misdiagnosed, kids nutrition, moms, Motherhood, natural remedies, nutrition, Parents, schools, teachers, tina turbin, tina turbin author, tina turbin humanitarian, Tina Turbin researcher, Tina Turbin writer, vitamins
Posted in Being a Mom, Children, Cooking, Gluten-Free, Health, High Quality of Life, Home Schooling, Motherhood, Parents, Recipes, advice, author | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Statistics are showing that Americans have fewer friends than they used to, according to a recent study, “Social Isolation in America,” which was published in the American Sociological Review. The authors found that the number of Americans who feel they have someone with whom they can discuss important matters dropped by nearly one-third from 1985 to 2004, and the number of people who said they had no one they could discuss such matters with tripled to nearly 25 percent of Americans. The authors suggest the cause for this decrease in intimate friendships may be longer work hours and the increased popularity of the Internet and television.
The same study also determined that the number of people who discuss important subjects with family members only increased from 57 percent to 80 percent, and those who depend solely on their spouse for such intimate discussions increased from 5 percent to 9 percent.
So what does this mean for you? It may be harder than ever to fight loneliness in society and to form intimate connections with others, but the health benefits are worth the effort to forge friendships with a large number of people.
Start visiting with friends on a regular basis and befriend their own friends, family, and acquaintances to instantly increase the number of friends you have. There are countless ways to meet people in your community as well. You can get involved in volunteer work, take local classes in subjects and hobbies you’re interested in, or start a book club at your neighborhood bookstore or café. You can also take advantage of online social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, but with the view of using these to set up real-life meetings with the friends you make online, taking the safety precautions of meeting new people in groups of people you already know and in public places, of course.
Tina Turbin
Tags: advice, Baby Boomers, connecting to others, connections, friends, friendship, girlfriends, Health, Relationships, research, tina turbin, Tina Turbin researcher, women's issues
Posted in Baby Boomers, Goals, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Relationships, Women's Health, Women's Issues, advice, networking | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Here is the moment you’ve been waiting for—your last child has moved out of the house and is now “on his own.” You can finally enjoy some “peace and quiet,” you tell yourself, some “me” time for yourself and “we” time with your spouse. Life after Mom-hood has begun!
Well, if you’re anything like me, the mother of three grown children, or like many other women out there who have raised their children and watched them leave home to start lives and families of their own, you may find that life after raising children has some definite challenges.
First of all, there is the matter of you. Who are you, after all? Many moms tend to identify themselves as moms, of course. Twenty-four hours a day, that’s what you’ve been doing for the past couple of decades. As a supporter of women and mothers, I know how important it is to take on this identity as a mother and I applaud any woman who does this. However, it is also important to have your own identity apart from motherhood.
This ties into the second challenge. Now what? Studies show how important it is to have goals and show a direct link between writing your goals down and achieving success. This one is up to you. What would you like to do now? Come up with one or more goals, and you will have something to serve as a foundation for your hard work and dedication in this new life after mom-hood. You know you are strong and capable—you successfully raised a child, after all!
Life after mom-hood is something you’ve been looking forward to for some time now, after all. You deserve to make it as rewarding as it was raising your children!
Tina Turbin
Tags: advice, Baby Boomers, Goals, life after mom-hood, moms, Motherhood, Relationships, tina turbin author, tina turbin humanitarian, Tina Turbin researcher, Tina Turbin writer, tips, women's issues
Posted in Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, Goals, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Organize, Parents, Relationships, Women's Issues, advice, author | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
I have found setting goals to be an especially useful tool since my children left the house, leaving me with a lot more time to reconnect with and realize my dreams of being a children’s author and helping others. Whether your children are grown, your children are still young, or you don’t have any children at all, it is vital to establish your goals.
So, where do you want to go in life? Get a precise “big picture” of what you want to do in all of the fields of your life. These “big picture” goals should embrace various areas, such as artistic, education, career, spiritual, family, financial, physical, community service, and friendship goals. If you’re anything like me or the average woman, you probably have many different facets of life that are important to you—your marriage, your children, your career, and wellness or faith, for example. Make sure to write your grand vision down and all of the more detailed goals your vision encompasses.
By setting sharp, clearly-defined goals, you can measure your progress and celebrate the achievement of your goals, raising your self-confidence and your ability to achieve further goals. Your smaller goals should include dates and amounts where applicable so you can measure your achievement. Keep them realistic and attainable so you can reap the rewards of having attained what you want. Determine which goals have priority so you don’t feel overwhelmed by everything you’ve set out to do. Lastly, don’t let anyone but yourself determine what your goals are, and the sky is the limit in what you can dream.
Tina Turbin
Tags: advice, goal setting, Goals, personal goals, tina turbin author, Tina Turbin researcher, tips
Posted in Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, Goals, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Organize, Parents, Relationships, Women's Issues, advice, author | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
If you don’t want to hit the gym or purchase equipment for your home, walking is the easiest low-impact exercise. The key to this particular exercise is to challenge yourself to walk faster and faster and also by moving your arms more exaggeratedly as you go. You can also do interval training to increase the challenge, which proves to be an effective calorie burner. This can be done by walking as fast as you can for one minute followed by two minutes of a slower pace for recovery, back and forth, for at least thirty minutes total.
Tina Turbin
Tags: aging, Baby Boomers, Exercise, Health, tina turbin, tina turbin author, walking, Women's Health, women's issues
Posted in Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, Exercise, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Natural Alternatives, Parents, Women's Health | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
Chances are, you have an idea of just how important you are as a mother in your household. For instance, what if you were to go out of town for a week? Who would get the kids ready for school, take them to soccer or ballet, help them with their homework? And could you imagine the state of the house after such a length of time?
My experience as a mother started long ago when I married and became pregnant with the first of my three children at the age of twenty-one. Not only is this role the basis of my work as a children’s author, inspiring me to create my children’s series, Danny the Dragon, but it also serves as the foundation of my work as a researcher, writer, and humanitarian. Believe me, this mother thing is no small job.
Now that you’ve taken a look at how your role as a mother is a valuable asset in your own home, which is a fact I’m sure you have figured out all on your own, I urge you take a look at a mother’s role in society. Typically, aside from rare exceptions, it is the mother who is charged with the responsibility for rearing children. When it comes to all matters of hygiene, cleanliness, nutrition, schoolwork, etc., it is Mom who oversees these. On a collective scale, statistics of childhood illness and disease, childhood nutrition, and children’s literacy could largely be attributed to mothers everywhere just like you and the decisions they make about their own children. Clearly, moms everywhere are an asset to our society and they deserve our support, too!
Tina Turbin
Tags: Children, family, moms, Motherhood, mothers, tina turbin author
Posted in Being a Mom, Children, Cooking, Goals, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Parents, author | No Comments »
Monday, December 28th, 2009
I am sharing a lovely acknowledgement from a mom-to-be, that wrote in to me.
Sara is a gluten-free employee at the wonderful company, Bio-K Intl. in Quebec.
SARA Gluten- Free Mom-To-Be
Though never officially diagnosed as Celiac, I discovered with my naturopath that I was wheat intolerant. After struggling to eliminate this staple from my diet (it took me more than a year to kick it completely!), I finally started to recover from the migraines, lethargy, chronic pain, fatigue, extra weight, and “brain fog” that had plagued me most of my life. I have now been wheat free for 5 years, and strive for a gluten free diet whenever possible.
Now, as an expectant mom-to-be with a new family (Spouse and stepson), feeling good and eating well are more important than ever. Resources like GlutenFreeHelp.info make living with a restricted diet much less overwhelming. A lot has changed in the 5 years since my diagnosis, and there’s more information and GF food available than ever before. This gives me great hope for my unborn daughter, as she is likely to inherit the same condition. Knowing that people like Tina are working hard to make the GF lifestyle attainable, stress free, and even enjoyable gives this pregnant lady one less thing to worry about.
Sara Lomas 32
Sara Lomas
Bio-K+ International Inc.
www.biokplus.com
Tags: celiac disease, Children, children's book, Gluten-Free, gluten-free diet, humanitarian, Motherhood, tina turbin, tina turbin author, women
Posted in Being a Mom, Gluten-Free, Health, Motherhood, Women's Health, advice, family | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
Many of us parents have had our share of traveling experiences with our children.
But what about if you’re traveling with a celiac child? Learn some of my tips on how to easily manage the task. In fact this is helpful advice for all parents whether your child has celiac or not! Read Tid Bits with Tina in the NFCA’s (National Foundation for Celiac Awareness) November newsletter.
Thank you,
Tina Turbin
Tags: celiac, celiac disease, kids travel, National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, NFCA, tid bits with tina, tina turbin, travel with children, traveling with children
Posted in Being a Mom, Children, Gluten-Free, Managing Life, Motherhood, Parents, Travel, Women's Issues | No Comments »
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
Many don’t realize that having clear-cut personal goals for ourselves is an integral part of creating a happy home. The great news is that it’s not too difficult to achieve this!
On last Thursday’s radio show on the topic of Positive Parenting and Happy Homes, I revealed effective tips and advice on how to do the above and SO much more. Listen here. All you have to gain is a happy home!
Tina Turbin
Tags: author tina turbin, Children, happy home, parenting, Parents, positive parenting and happy homes, single parents, tina turbin
Posted in Being a Mom, Children, Goals, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Parents, Radio Shows, Women's Issues | No Comments »
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
My 2nd article written for the September issue of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) newsletter focuses on fun, sure-fire ways to help your child to actually LIKE eating vegetables, as well as proven methods to “sneak” vegetables in to many of your everyday meals.
As I’m sure many parents will agree, the above is definitely worth a read and could be most beneficial! I’m re-posting the link below.
Read the full article here and prepare for some meal-time magic! After you click on the above link, be sure to scroll about halfway down the page, and go to my section entitled: “Tid Bits with Tina”.
Happy vegetable eating! And if you’d like to share your own proven, successful methods for vegetable-eating with kids and/or have any success with your kids as a result of this blog entry, please do let me know.
Tags: celiac disease, Children, family issues, Gluten-Free, gluten-free diet, healthy, humanitarian, kids, National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, NFCA, tina turbin, tina turbin author, vegetables
Posted in Being a Mom, Children, Gluten-Free, Health, High Quality of Life, Motherhood, Parents, author | No Comments »
