Work at Home Moms Articles – WAHM Articles

Summer time brings shorts and swimsuits, but if you don’t look fit you may not want to wear those types of clothes. This leaves you with clothes that won’t keep you cool and an activity less summer. Who wants that to happen? I know I don’t want that to happen.

If you’re in this situation, it’s not too late to get your weight under control so you look great when you go on vacation or out to the lake. Here are a few things you can do to make it happen.

1. Eat right

What you eat will control how you look, so if you eat out all the time or you eat donuts for breakfast, the weight isn’t going to come off. While breakfast is one of the most important meals in the day, it’s also the one most people have the hardest time with, so it’s crucial to do it properly. You need high protein foods such as eggs or a protein drink. It’s also important to have fruits and vegetables and limit your snacks. Portion eating is something else you must do each time. If you eat 1 ? or 2 portions of something, you’re overeating and that’s going to put the weight on or make it difficult to take off.

2. Exercise

Exercise is something else that’s very important. You must do some sort of exercise at least five times a week. It doesn’t have to be hours and hours of exercise, but 10 or 15 minutes won’t cut it either. It depends on what you plan to do as to how long you need to do it. For example, if you plan to do a high intense aerobic workout, 30 minutes may be all you need, but if you’re going to take a walk on the trail with your spouse, 30 minutes won’t be enough. You’ll need to extend that out by an additional 30 minutes to an hour.

To continue reading this article, click here.

A friend of mine on Facebook put up a new status a few weeks ago that went like this. “NIKE has the best slogan. JUST DO IT! Seriously, stop making excuses, and they are all excuses, trust me! If we have time to sit on Facebook or any other sedentary thing we definitely have time to MOVE!”

The definition of sedentary is this: A Sedentary lifestyle is a medical term used to describe a type of lifestyle with no or irregular physical activity. A person who lives a sedentary lifestyle may be known as a couch potato. Sedentary activities include sitting, reading, watching television and computer use for much of the day with little or no vigorous physical exercise.

What is your excuse? I’ve heard a ton of them…from I don’t like to workout in front of people to I just don’t have the time. I’ve even said some of them myself. My biggest excuse was that I didn’t like to have people I didn’t know watching me sweat. So I bought an elliptical machine for my home. Problem solved!!

To continue reading this article, click here.

Today’s Free Book is on health and fitness. It is called Be Healthy (52 Brilliant Little Ideas). I always like seeing the number “52″ in an advice book. There are 52 weeks in a year. That means you would be able to focus for a week at a time on one area in your life. In my opinion, it makes change easier. You aren’t trying to do it all at once. When you do that, I believe you set yourself up for failure.

We all know how important it is to keep our bodies healthy by eating right and exercising. This book covers that topic, but it also goes one step further and helps you keep your mind healthy. It gives advice on eliminating the stress that we all have in our lives.

If you want to make a change in your life, Be Healthy (52 Brilliant Little Ideas) is a must read. One reader,”Maau”, gave this review: ”It is the Best book I have ever read regarding the health, fitness ideas. I made some real serious changes in my lifestyle after reading this book and those changes are helping!”

Click here to get your copy of Be Healthy (52 Brilliant Little Ideas) now while it is still free. The price is subject to change without notice.

When it’s cold outside it’s easier to workout than it is when it’s warm or even hot. Exercising in the winter will help you warm up and stay warm. When it’s hot outside it’s harder to do what’s necessary. That’s why these tips will help you to get your exercise in each day and stay cool at the same time.

If you enjoy taking walks outside as a way to get your exercise that can be difficult in the summer time when it’s hot. One way to still make this happen is to do it early in the morning or later in the evening. When the temperatures are cooler you’ll find it’ll be easier to do it. Look at the forecast and decide if it’ll be better to do it in the early morning hours or later at night.

If exercising outside is not your cup of tea, you need to consider your options inside. This will give you the ability to work out with a fan or air conditioner. This will make it more comfortable for you to work out and get the job done and you’ll have control over the temperature so if you get too cold or too hot you can adjust accordingly.

One thing to remember when you’re working out is the more you sweat the more fat you’re burning and that’s where your weight will come off. Even though it’s hot and you’re sweating, it’s still better, but you don’t want to get too hot, so it’s a good idea to use a fan aimed at your face or upper body.

If you choose to workout at home you have control over the temperature. You can use a fan, an air conditioner, swamp cooler or ceiling fan to control the temperature while you exercise. This will help make it more comfortable during the time you’re working out.

To continue reading this article, click here.

Work at home jobs or home businesses has many benefits, that is a given. However, like many have experienced; working from the comfort of your home office has a few cons attached to it. Among the many work from home cons include non-school age children home with you all day, isolation, interruptions by family members and friends, no employment benefits and balancing your family and social life with your work life.

And those are just for starters. There are others depending on your situation and lifestyle. However have you thought about the health risks that go along with working at home? Yes, there are indeed many!

1. Your Eyes – Have you thought about your eyes while staring at a computer screen 8 to 10 hours per day? I’m affected, and my last eye exam proved it. My eye doctor could tell (just by my examination) what I did for employment. My eyes paid the price with me needing bifocals. I can imagine what my next appointment will be like. It will probably be trifocals. I can sure feel it …I have to strain more while tilting my head backward; and my eye doctor told me I’d be doing that more and more as time went on.

There is something you can do for this, and I can tell you it works. My eye doctor told me to take several small breaks each day, he said at least 4 times every day that I work. He told me to stop working and walk out on my porch and look out as far as the eyes can see. This gives the eyes a nice break several times a day. Your eyes are important to you, take the short time it takes to do this, and you will feel the affects of it more than you might think.

2. Exercise and Circulation – Sitting in your office every day is not good for your circulation, or your brain for that matter. You need some kind of activity to keep your muscles and joints moving and active. I start out my days with an aerobic video workout. It’s a 48 minute workout (including a warm up and cool down). I follow that workout with abdominal crunches. I feel awesome after my workouts. Walking is also good to stay fit. It would be a good idea to take two separate breaks from your online work to take short walks outdoors, (weather permitting of course). Also a treadmill is something to consider when the weather is bad.

3. Isolation – Isolation is often something that many of us experience when we decide to work from home.. For the most part, you are alone while working unless perhaps one of your kids are home from school on a holiday or he or she is sick. Although for many moms out there, it’s normal to have your kids around you. You need to get out with friends and family for various activities, even it it’s for a lunch or dinner. It can also be just for a cup of coffee and a good talk.

(more…)

It’s okay to take a sick day even when you work from home was one of my work at home tips I offered on Twitter. As a small business owner who works at home, this question is often asked as to what you do when you’re sick.

My answer is depending on how sick I am and I do take sick days which I have taken recently. Some people may think, well, that’s easier said than done. For me, I’m like, how so?

Can you answer these two questions?

1. Is your business more important than your health?
2. How well is your business doing if you’re working on limited capacity?

Granted, some people may be able to work at full capacity when they’re ill, but I have to wonder what kind of quality a person is producing in their work.

It’s great if you have a Virtual Assistant (VA) or business partner to hold down the fort for you when you’re sick, but if you’re a one woman show like me here are two tips to keep your business running smoothly when you aren’t.

1. Set up an auto-responder for your email accounts. It could be a generic out of office/away from the desk and I’ll reply to you as soon as possible type message. You could easily have this already set up in your email settings and all you have to do is enable it.

There are two reasons this is a good idea.

I don’t know about you, but I get a “sick” brain. I’m also impatient and I can be very forward. I can be irritable. It’s hard to interpret tone in email communication and the last thing I want to do is sound condescending, snarky or rude to new clients, current clients or customers.

Secondly, you could be making bad business decisions. Correspondences are best left when you can fully wrap your brain around the subject.

2. You can still market your business on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook by automating your tweets. There are different third party apps you can use to schedule your tweets, but the common ones are TweetDeck and Hootsuite. It’s important to remember to answer your direct messages and replies when you’re feeling better.

Your business should be able to run on its own steam for a while. It’s important to take the time to recover from your illness because your business is as good as the person running it.

Sophia McIntyre is an Internet Marketer, Article Marketer, Ghostwriter and founder of WorkAtHomeSpace.com, a free resource focusing on work at home companies and jobs, home businesses and other money making opportunities.

We all know that exercise is important for maintaining a healthy weight or getting your body into shape, but not everyone knows that there are other, little known benefits of it. Here are five:

1. To let off steam after a bad day: One of my favorite times to go to the gym is when I have had a bad or stressful day. I always say “The treadmill will never complain when you take your bad day out on it!” ‘Nuff said!

2. Increased energy: Yes, I said “increased energy”! Try running the stairs at your office instead of taking the elevator. You will be out of energy when you first start out, but over time, you will find that it’s no problem running them anymore. The same applies at the gym. Yes, you will be worn out and sore, but eventually, you will have more energy…even after a tough workout!

3. Healthy Skin: By increasing blood flow, exercise helps nourish skin cells and keep them vital. “Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to working cells throughout the body, including the skin,” says Ellen Marmur, MD, author of Simple Skin Beauty: Every Woman’s Guide to a Lifetime of Healthy, Gorgeous Skin and associate professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. To read the article where I got this information on exercise and skin care, click here.

4. Helps keep families together: Any time you spend time with your family, you will become closer. We all read about having family dinners together, but it doesn’t have to stop there. Go to the park and play tag with your kids. Go to the gym and have a race on the treadmill with your spouse. You’ll have fun and get your exercise in too!

5. Improved sexual function and better sex life: First of all, since exercise is proven to help you lose weight and get a toned figure, it is obvious that it will change the way you feel about yourself! You will have increased confidence and be less worried about your body! You will also see impovements in your endurance and heart function, which all will enhance sexual functioning.

So there you have it! 5 additional reasons to exercise! What are you waiting for?

Amy Royce has two children and has been married since 1995. She is an affiliate marketer and a Virtual Assistant. She enjoys helping others through the programs she markets and the tasks she performs as a VA. To learn more about Amy and what she offers, visit her site by clicking here. Also visit her new Health and Fitness blog by clicking here.

As the seasons change once more with milder temperatures it means seasonal allergies are among us again. As a long-time seasonal allergy sufferer, this is one reason I don’t look forward to or enjoy spring.

A few Fridays ago, I decided to take full advantage of the beautiful spring day. Armed with my iPod, I went for a walk. It was only about 12 or 13 degrees Celsius and a bit chilly. It was still a blue and cloudless day. It took about 45 minutes before my nose started getting itchy and I knew right away I had paid the ultimate price of venturing out of my home to an invisible attack of pollen.

When I came home late that afternoon, I was pretty much done. I was in full-blown allergy mode and there wasn’t much else to do.

Over the years, I have taken a variety of antihistamine medication. Some worked, some didn’t, and over time, my body got used to it and they stopped working all together. I guess it was a blessing in disguise and as I became older and more aware of the non-prescription medications, I felt I was doing more harm to my body and I decided I would search for natural remedies instead.

Here are eight home remedies for easing seasonal allergy symptoms.

Tip #1:
Avoid peak pollen times which are usually high in the mornings. Stay indoors when it’s windy and keep your windows closed. On warm days, use a ceiling fan or regular fan to circulate the air in your home.

Tip #2:
Use a nasal saline spray to clean your sinuses. You can purchase a neti-pot and make your own saline solution. You can mix two heaping teaspoons of kosher salt, and one teaspoon of baking soda to one pint of water. Leave this solution at room temperature. Keep in mind, if the solution stings when you use it, use less salt. If you don’t have a neti-pot, a bulb syringe will suffice. Stand over the bathroom sink as the solution will go in one nostril, up your sinuses and come out your other nostril. Don’t worry if some of it will hit the back of your throat because that’s normal.

If you don’t want to make your own solution, you can buy natural nasal sprays at the pharmacy. Depending on the brand, you may be able to find them in light mist to a strong jet steam.

Tip #3:
Don’t hang your clothes, towels or bed linens outside to dry. As much as it is cost efficient, it makes things worse for people who have seasonal allergies.

Tip #4:
Wear a mask when you’re gardening and avoid touching your nose and eyes with your bare hands.

Tip #5:
Wash your hair daily. Yes, it’s a pain in the butt, but pollen stick to your hair and clothes.

Tip #6:
Use cold compresses or cucumbers to reduce puffy eyes or itchy eyes.

Tip #7:
Incorporate more vitamin C, thyme and parsley in your diet. Garlic, nettle, chamomile and plantains has antihistamine properties. Eating more apples, onions, kale, papaya, broccoli, berries, raw honey and drinking green tea or tea steeped in nettle may all ease or lessen the allergy symptoms.

Tip #8:
For me, taking a nap eliminates my allergy symptoms. It’s not always a practical solution, but it has worked for me on many occasions.

Sophia McIntyre is passionate about leading and living a healthy life. Her health blog, Healthy Perspectives is where you can learn more about making healthier choices, living, and maintaining a well-balanced lifestyle.

I am a caregiver. I am also a wife, mother, grandmother, blogger, and insurance agent. Recently I was asked by a family member how it was that I had time to be a caregiver to her parents, when she felt that she didn’t have time to do so herself. I have been thinking about that comment a lot. I have come to the conclusion that caregiving is never done without some sacrifice. There are things I don’t get to do, and there are things I feel like I shouldn’t be doing…such as vacations. My phone and the help of my daughters, sister, and sister-in-law are the only things that make a vacation even possible.

When I say sacrifice, I mean unfortunately the things I would normally do for me. Reading books, exercise, sleep, meals sometimes, and television are things that are…shall we say, optional. Other things are far more important. If I can keep my mom and my in-laws healthy, the rest isn’t so important. Don’t get me wrong…I understand the importance of keeping myself healthy, and I do as much as I can, but worrying about what I can’t squeeze into my day only serves to make it more stressful. I believe that every healthy change I can make works in my favor, and every bit of worry about what I didn’t do, works against me.

I have read articles about how to plan your day better, how to squeeze more time into your day, how to spend more quality time with family, and how to have more me time, but the reality is that more often than not, in real life that is not possible. Sacrifices must be made to care for another person…or to run a home business, especially while also working full time outside the home. And when you have no real control over the situations that might arise, your time is even less in your control. There is no way to control the health of your loved one, and often in business, there is no way to control the last minute “hurry up” project that can come up.

Finish reading the article here.

Most of us really hate getting up in the morning. What’s even worse is knowing that we lost two or three hours of sleep because we couldn’t get to sleep and now we have to face a rough day ahead.

The terrible downside…

The lack of sleep will leave us feeling fatigued and stressed during the day. This can also lead to feelings of frustration and irritability which can have an impact on how we relate to the people around us.

If we are feeling exhausted our metabolism often drops (leading to weight gain) because we lack the motivation to exercise or even fork out the effort to prepare a healthy meal…which means we may be tempted to grab fast food and perhaps spend the entire evening on the couch.

Occasional loss of sleep doesn’t seem to have long term affects, but what if we are deprived of sleep on a regular basis? Just imagine the cumulative effect! We would likely feel lousy, lose our friends, gain weight, and be out of shape physically. That’s proof of how important sleep is to our well-being!

Obviously, we desire a good night’s sleep, but may find ourselves scratching our heads for ways to fall asleep faster. The good news is that there are some simple tactics that you can use to improve your chances of sleeping through the night.

4 Simple Ways to Fall Asleep Faster…

To continue reading this article, click here.