Tag Archives: health

Life, Lifestyle

Keeping The Family Pet Safe & Sound

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The infographic below, How to Prevent Losing Your Pet, contains valuable information for every dog or cat owner. It’s something every member of the family should read, as well as anyone else involved with or responsible for caring for the family pet.

As the infographic points out, losing a pet is a traumatic experience. Hopefully the anxiety lasts only a short time, but the sad truth is, many lost pets are never united with their owners. The ASPCA reports some startling and sobering statistics: Of the approximately 6.5 million pets entering U.S. animal shelters every year, only about 710,000 are reunited with their owners — 620,000 dogs and 90,000 cats.

Cat lovers should take special note of those statistics. Fewer cats than dogs are tagged or microchipped, which may explain the disparity. Making matters worse, it’s likely that fewer lost cats end up in shelters than dogs, since when cats are wandering outdoors, people are less likely to assume they are lost and report them to the authorities. And if that were not enough, many communities lack the resources to pick up stray cats even if they are reported lost.

The 12 tips presented in the infographic will greatly reduce the chances of your dog or cat getting lost, and also greatly improve the chances of your pet being returned if it does get lost.

Some of the tips are very basic principles of pet ownership, but perhaps because they are so basic, pet owners overlook them. Keeping your dog on a leash is a good example. Leashes have been around as long as dogs have been around, and every dog owner knows a dog should be on a leash when being taken for a walk or to somewhere away from home. But it’s easy to think, Just this one time without a leash will be ok, or, My dog is trained so well no leash is needed. Well, it only takes one time for dog to bolt after a squirrel and POOF — there goes your dog, maybe forever. It’s not enough to know the basics, you have to do the basics every time. This, incidentally, is why we like the infographic format — you can easily put a copy of it on the refrigerator or elsewhere in your home as a constant reminder.

New technologies give pet owners better ways to keep their pets secure. For neighborhoods with restrictions on physical fences, invisible fences have been a pet security godsend. Beyond that, microchipping makes it possible for pets to be identified even if physical tags are lost, and GPS collars enable pet owners to track their dog or cat’s location from their mobile phones or computers 24/7/365. These tools provide wonderful peace of mind and hefty additional layers of security. You should not, however, let these technological tools give you a false sense of security: Other tips mentioned in the infographic reduce the likelihood you’ll ever have to rely on that microchip or GPS collar.

For more information to keep your pet safe, please continue reading below.

Infographic provided by LandAirSea Systems
Going Green, Going Healthy, Health, Parenting

How To Set A Green Example To Your Kids

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green, earth, pollution, health, recycle
Credit – CCO Licence

If you care about your kids doing the right thing, and you care about the planet, then you are probably going to want to find some way to make these both coincide. That essentially means that you are going to be looking into some of the ways in which you can hope to set a green example to your children, and that is something that might be easier than you think. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the best ways you can do this, so that you are more likely to help the next generation cope with the demands of the world when they grow up.

Build An Eco Home

Everything starts at home, and when you are trying to set an example to your children this is certainly the place to do it. If your children grow up in a home which is distinctly ecological, and which is clearly doing its part in helping to keep the planet going strong, then they are automatically going to understand and appreciate the importance of that way of living. So one of the best things you can possibly do for them is to build an eco home which they and you can live in, and in so doing to ensure that they understand what it is that makes it ecological. You should find that this makes an enormous difference to how they think about the world, and it can only be a positive effect.

Teach & Research

The more you know, the more you can pass on to your children while they are young, which in turn helps to give them a head start when it comes to being green. So you might want to spend some time doing some research around the whole issue of climate change, just to make sure that you are clued up on it as well as you could be. Then you can spend some time home-teaching your children about its importance, why we need to be taking action now, and what it is that they and you can do to help things along. The more you do this, and the more they hear it directly from your mouth, the more engaged they are going to become about the whole issue. If you can start them young with that, they are going to have much more chances of helping to change the world.

Recycling, Energy Use & More

Finally, remember that it’s all those daily actions you carry out which really matter, and which they are going to watch with intrigue. These are the things that affect your children’s behaviour, so make sure that you are always remembering to do the essentials: that means recycling as well as possible all the time, being sensible and conserving your energy use, and all those other little things that we know add up to make a huge difference. If you can instill these behaviours in your kids now, the world might stand a chance.

Food, Going Healthy, Life, Parenting

Making Sure Your Family Have Healthy Balanced Diets

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diets, family, health, kids, parenting, healthy food
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When you have a family, you take on the responsibility of ensuring that everyone remains as fit and healthy as possible. But knowing where to start can be relatively difficult. Of course, numerous factors play into well being – ranging from exercise to mental wellness. But for now, let’s focus on diet and what we consume!

Managing Calorie Consumption

The first step that you need to take into consideration to make sure that everyone’s getting what they need from their daily diet is to effectively manage everyone’s calorie consumption. Now, you don’t have to be hyper-vigilant and excessively strict with this. If your family goes slightly above or below their recommended calories every now and then, it’s not the end of the world. You just need to make sure that everyone’s having roughly the right amount the majority of the time. Calories can be spread across meals and snacks and will vary depending on your age and lifestyle. The below list will give you a good idea of where different family members should be though!

  • Children aged 2 to 8 – 1000 to 1400 calories
  • Girls aged 9 to 13 – 1400 to 1600 calories
  • Boys aged 9 to 13 – 1600 to 2000 calories
  • Active women aged 14 to 30 – 2400 calories
  • Sedentary women aged 14 to 30 – 1800 to 2000 calories
  • Active men aged 14 to 30 – 2800 to 3200 calories
  • Sedentary men aged 14 to 30 – 2000 to 2600 calories
  • Active adults over 30 – 2000 to 3000 calories
  • Sedentary adults over 30 – 1600 to 2400 calories

Ensuring Everyone Stays Hydrated

A factor we often forget to evaluate in our diets is what we drink. Sure, we don’t chew drinks up and swallow them and we don’t dedicate whole meals around drinks, but they do still contribute to what’s going into our bodies. It’s absolutely essential to ensure that your family are all staying hydrated. This involves drinking around eight glasses of water a day, though the recommendation for younger children could be less. This will keep you hydrated, keep organs functioning well and will prevent issues such as loss of concentration or dry skin. Having a fresh water supply available at all times is essential. Generally speaking, the water system in your home will provide you with this. But you could visit this link for backup water sources too!

Balancing Everyone’s Plate

Everyone’s plate should contain all of the different food groups in appropriate moderation throughout the day. This includes fruit and vegetables, starchy food, dairy or dairy replacement, protein and fats. Avoid cutting any single food group out. Everything works together to keep everyone’s bodies ticking over properly. If you’re struggling to get all of the food groups into your family’s diet, consider consulting a nutritionist who will be able to help! Or, if you’re pressed for time and have the budget, meal delivery plans are an excellent option. Most services come with a variety of options, include key nutrients for a healthy lifestyle and can lend themselves to different diets (e.g. vegan, paleo/keto, etc..).

These are just a few steps that you can do to move towards ensuring your family has healthy and balanced diets. The steps are simple to implement and will quickly become routine when you get into the swing of things!