Helping Teens Handle Winter Blues

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Helping Teens Handle Winter Blues.

Helping Teens Handle Winter Blues

Helping Teens Handle Winter Blues

Many folks do not like winter. That is okay. However, at times the not-like-winter actually becomes more than that. It becomes winter blues.

The official name for Winter blues is “seasonal affective disorder.” But sometimes it is not a full disorder, it’s just a “who likes winter?” mindset.

The winter is cold and the days are short. The sky is gray most of the time and seems to just hover six inches above our heads (especially in the mid-Atlantic, where we live). 

Closed in and gray. That makes it hard to have the energy to do your best at homeschooling. With that in mind, here are some ideas for you from real life experiences and trainings I have had as a mental health counselor. In my career, I have worked with number of homeschool families and clients who have the winter blues. (It is probably more common than you think.)

What Are The Winter Blues?

Have you noticed that you and or your teens are feeling kind of down? Where your body feels lethargic, like you have to almost carry yourself around or drag yourself from place to place? It would be easy to just sit on the couch and watch YouTubes all day long.

Teenagers may feel like hibernating. That is, they might want to just sleep all day long. Unfortunately this messes up their biorhythms. Then they stay awake later and later into the night. And that just becomes this vicious cycle of everything being off rhythm…which actually adds to that lethargic and winter blues feeling.

Many people will also experience carb cravings. As if your body is saying, I need ice cream and chips all day long. I need it. I need it. However, what your body (or your teen’s body) is trying to say is that it is running low on serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is in charge of much of our energy, concentration and our good moods.

Our serotonin will often dip during the wintertime. That is related in part to a lack of vitamin D because there is not enough sunshine for the lifestyles that we live. Therefore, we have to do some things to help our serotonin along.

Here are some things we can do for helping teens handle winter blues (and anyone else, for that matter). 

Ways To Beat The Winter Blues

There are several ways to help make the winter blues get better.

Get Full Spectrum Lamp or Light Bulbs

The first thing is really practical, yet easy to miss. Get a full spectrum lamp or a few full spectrum light bulbs. Put them in any lamp that is sitting around the house. 

These are lights that have all of the light rays except for the dangerous ones. It is not the kind that gives you a sunburn, but you are getting a mimicking of sunlight from this light bulb.

If you get one of these lamps or light bulbs in one of the family lamps and put it within three or four feet of your teen while leaving it on for about fifteen minutes as they do their schoolwork, on most days, they will usually start feeling a bit better after a while.

However some teens don’t like that much intensity of light around them. In this case, just stick the light in a corner of a room and leave it on for about an hour during the day. You will be able to get enough light  to raise energy levels. This helps with focus and with those carb cravings. 

God made light to be a therapeutic thing for us, and when we can’t have it from His natural sun, get these fancy little lights that don’t cost all that much from the hardware store or the grocery store or simply order one. 

Take Walks

Another thing you can do for helping teens handle winter blues is to take a walk. Even though it is cold outside in the wintertime, if you can get outside and move your bodies you’ll be able to walk off daily stress hormones that burn off stress which increases a neurotransmitter called dopamine. 

Dopamine can work together with serotonin with the full spectrum light to significantly improve mood and specific direct focus on the things teens need to pay attention to. 

But sometimes you just aren’t able to get outside and go for that walk. When that happens, find YouTube videos with exercise. In fact, 7 Sisters has a fitness curriculum with exercise videos, taking kids through safe and healthy physical activity. It doesn’t particularly matter what the movement is; it just needs to be some form of movement. 

However, according to the research at the University of California, if you go outside and have trees around you, simply seeing the trees will increase some of the neural activity that improves mood. A bare tree in the wintertime is somehow good for mood. 

Eat Healthy Food

Another thing for helping teens handle winter blues is eating healthy food. Healthy foods mean good proteins, colorful fruits and vegetables because good protein and colorful food have micronutrients that work together to literally make those neurotransmitters work. 

Teens are short on these micronutrients, which are like the Legos you snap together to make a neurotransmitter. And the most important one is serotonin. 

And teens learn about this in a 7 Sisters homeschool health curriculum because we want them to know they are not just eating healthy food because mom said so. There is really a neurological reason to eat healthy foods besides all the obvious health benefits of it.

Monitor Sleep Patterns

Monitoring and watching sleep patterns can be difficult because it becomes an active will sort of activity. A lot of times, teenagers in the wintertime want to sleep and sleep and then sleep some more. And, true, teenagers do need a lot of sleep, and they probably need a little extra sleep in the wintertime. 

But more than 10 hours is going to overdose them with melatonin, which is the hormone that keeps them asleep while they’re sleeping. This will cause them to feel groggy which can lead to depressive kinds of feelings. Literally, over 10 hours becomes toxic. 

Somehow, you have to work out a deal with your teen that 10 hours is the max. They can sleep in every once in a while, like once a week perhaps, because they’re teenagers, and they deserve to sleep in one day. They shouldn’t go under seven hours very often, but ten hours should be the max.

If they mix up their day and night schedule, you can help them slowly get back to normal so that they are sleeping during the night and awake while the sun is up.  

Have them up and awake in the hours when the sun is up, which is really just the way the body needs things to happen because it does its healing hormones while they sleep and does it best in the dark. And similarly, they have other things their body needs to do while they’re awake

Get Them Laughing

One of the best things you can do is to get your teen laughing. To feel better, everybody needs some laughter in their lives. We know from scripture that a Mary heart does good like a medicine, and it really does. 

Research shows when we laugh, our body releases endorphins and oxytocins that improve mood, but are actually good for our immune system. Isn’t that wild? 

This means if you haven’t had a chance to laugh together, find something funny like movies or Netflix or YouTube videos or things you know will get good giggles out of each day. 

You will find laughter is healthy for the body and soul, and a family that laughs together likes life better together.

Do Fun Stuff For School

Grab the curriculum that is boring you to tears and set it aside. Then take two weeks off that curriculum and, in its place, do fun things that count as school. 

You can read a silly book like JIS and Wooster and do a study guide for it or even do some cinema study guides for literature learning. You can count those as books instead of the usual books and field and study guides. 

Just mix things up or go on some unusual field trips, like a museum you haven’t been to in years or go drive to a different indoor state park or national park if there’s one nearby. 

Changing the boring things up will cause a change in rhythm and when you get back to the rhythms, it is actually very healthy for the brain. It helps the brain to calibrate, reduces anxiety, and helps them feel better. So change things up on the academics and in the experiences for helping teens handle winter blues.

Helping Teens Handle Winter Blues

What are some ideas or ways to beat the winter blues that you found? Are there some fun things that you do to mix things up and make it fun? We would love to hear about it, so send us an email or throw something out in the 7 Sisters Homeschool Facebook group because we all learn together. You matter and we all appreciate you being there.

Join Vicki for some helpful tips on handling winter blues.

Thank you to Richie Soares with Homeschool and Humor for writing this blog post!

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4 Kinds of Exercise Every Teen Needs

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Finish Well Homeschool Podcast, Podcast #178, 4 Kinds of Exercise Every Teen Needs, with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network

4 Kinds of Exercise Every Teen Needs

In “4 Kinds of Exercise Every Teen Needs,” Episode, #178, Meredith Curtis explains four ways our bodies need to workout to stay healthy and fit: aerobic, strength, balance, and stretching. After giving a wide variety of workout examples and sports that cover two or more kinds of exercise, she shares how teens can design their own workout schedule to fit their taste and style. She also encourages teens to find a lifetime sports and shares how that plays a role not only in lifetime health, but happiness as well. Teens can build healthy habits now that last a lifetime.

 

 


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Show Notes

Teens, are you worried about spending too much time in front of a screen and not enough time working out? Or maybe you are a parent concerned about your teen’s health? Exercise is a big part of staying healthy from birth to old age.

First let’s talk about 4 kinds of exercise our bodies need.

4 Kinds of Exercise

  • Aerobic
  • Strength Training
  • Balance
  • Stretching

Many sports and workouts combine them all.

  • Ballet
  • Ice Skating
  • Water Aerobics
  • Swimming, Diving, + Stretching
  • Soccer + Stretching before and afer
  • English Country Dance + Stretching
  • Gymnastics

Aerobic

Works heart muscle. Makes heart pump harder and faster. Gives our lungs a workout too with a greater need for oxygen.

  • Running
  • Swimming
  • Dance (ballet, tap, jazz, Old English country, square, ballroom)
  • Skiing
  • Cycling
  • Basketball
  • Tennis
  • Volleyball
  • Football
  • Soccer
  • Classes (kickboxing, Zumba, Jazzercise, boot camp)
  • Gymnastics

Strength Training

Muscle strength is the amount of work your muscles can do.

Muscle endurance is how long a group of muscles can work effectively.

You build muscle strength and endurance through strength training where you focus on a particular body part (e.g. situps) or in the process of aerobic workout (e.g. running builds leg muscles)

“he’s ripped!” – when you work out to build muscle mass, you actually damage/tear muscle and when the muscle repairs itself, it is bigger than before.

Low weight + Many reps = Toned muscles

Heavy weight + Fewer reps = Large muscles

Balance

Balance is the ability to maintain poise and physical equilibrium in various body positions. Gynastics, ballet, ice skating, soccer, and football all required balance.

Balance easy – stand on 1 leg; then the other and other easy exercises

Stretching

When you stretch a body part you lengthen (stretch) the muscles and associated soft tissues.

Benefits

  • Improves flexibility
  • Maintains mobility
  • Increases range of motion
  • Increases blood flow
  • Prevents injury
  • Improves posture
  • Improves sleep
  • Eases anxiety
  • Releases tension from muscles, joints, ligaments (connect bone to bone), and tendons (connect muscle to bone)

Most importantly, stretching before and after working out, warms the muscles and keeps them from tightening up, preventing injury of bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

Teaching Health to Teens

Physical Anatomy (How the body works & what the body needs)

Personal Responsibility (what will they do to take care of their bodies?)

I have written my own high school health course. I also teach health at True North Homeschool Academy.

Healthy Living for Christian Teens by Meredith Curtis

Teens can figure out what sports they like to play already and/or would enjoy adding to their life

  • Large group (basketball, football, soccer) or single (running, ice skating, horseback riding) or small number (tennis)
  • Making a plan that includes all 4

Benefits of at least exposure to serious team sports

Choose a lifetime sport

  • Cole-basketball
  • Aunt Joan – tennis

I teach Health online at True North Homeschool Academy

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STEM Resources

Our curriculum works great at home; or in homeschool co-ops and online classes, too! 😊

Healthy Living for Christian Teens by Meredith Curtis From Stars to Shining Seas by Laura Nolette and Meredith Curtis at Powerline Productions, Inc. Little Lambs Exploring the Heavens Lapbook by Laura Nolette and Meredith Curtis at Powerline Productions, Inc. My Creation Week Lapbook by Meredith Curtis and Laura Nolette at Powerline Productions, inc.

 


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Career Exploration with Special Guest Vicki Tillman

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Finish Well Homeschool Podcast, Podcast #168, Career Exploration with Special Guest Vicki Tillman, with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network

Career Exploration with Special Guest Vicki Tillman

In “Career Exploration with Special Guest Vicki Tillman,” Episode, #168, Meredith Curtis interviews homeschool mom/counselor/curriculum creator Vicki Tillman about future careers for homeschool grads. They start by sharing the careers of their 10 homeschool graduates – all so different and some very specialized. Vicki and Meredith discuss ways to help our teens explore various careers in high school – classes, investigating careers, talking to people about their jobs, ministry, apprenticeships, starting their own businesses – so they can enjoy successful careers in the future.

 


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Show Notes

Welcome to Special Guest Vicki Tillman with Seven Sisters, a homeschool podcast and curriculum provider.

Careers of All Our Grown Children

All graduated from Homeschool & College

Vicki’s Kid’s Careers

Meredith’s Kid’s Careers

Career Exploration

How to Help Teens Explore Career

God’s part in Career Exploration

God’s Will, Experiences, Giftings, What They Enjoy, Values

Apprenticeships

When to Learn About Careers

No Right Way

Sometimes a Little at a Time

Sometimes a Semester Class

Adding to Economics Class

Starting Your Own Business

Vicki’s Career Exploration Class

Ministry

Listen to Vicki Tillman’s Podcast: The Homeschool High School Podcast

Purchase Seven Sisters Career Exploration Bundle HERE.

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High School Resources

True North Homeschool Academy High School Health True North Home School Academy Intro to Computer Science Class True North Homeschool Academy Computer Illustration Class

Healthy Living for Christian Teens by Meredith Curtis Economics, Finances, and Business Government: God's Blueprint/Man's Agenda by Meredith Curtis Who Dun It? Murder Mystery Literature and Writing High School Class

 


Thank You to our Network Sponsor – CTC Math!

Teens Take Charge of Your Health! … for high school credit!

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Finish Well Homeschool Podcast, Podcast #167, Teens Take Charge of Your Health! … for high school credit!, with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network

Teens Take Charge of Your Health! … for high school credit!

In “Teens Take Charge of Your Health! … for high school credit,” Episode, #167, Meredith Curtis shares practical things to include in your teen’s health class that will motivate healthy lifestyle changes. Teens can do health as an independent study if they want to start adding healthier habits to their lives. Or parents can create a health class that is practical and helpful. Healthy nutrition, exercise, hygiene, sleep, and relationship habits can start now and last a lifetime.

 


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Show Notes

I started 2 habits related to health in high school – 1 good and 1 bad

Nutrition

What nutrients does your body really need? What is the best way to get it?

Exercise

What are the 4 kinds of exercises teens need? What is the funnest way to do them?

Sleep & Fresh Air

Teens need more sleep – why? Why does fresh air matter?

Avoiding Sickness

Simple investments to avoid sickness –-> huge dividends

Personal Hygeine

Body odor, acne, shaving, and clothing all matter for teens.

Healthy Communication & Relationships

Communication and relational skills called soft skills – make a huge difference in the 21st century.

Sexual Purity

How on earth can teens stay pure in a seductive world?

Addictions

Common addictions among teens and how to find freedom.

How To Keep Growing in their Relationship with God

Silver, Kit Carson, Carson City, Virginia City

Silver and gold mining, mining towns, ghost towns, Kit Carson, mountain men, capital, capitol, desert

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High School Resources

True North Homeschool Academy High School Health True North Home School Academy Intro to Computer Science Class True North Homeschool Academy Computer Illustration Class

Healthy Living for Christian Teens by Meredith Curtis Economics, Finances, and Business Government: God's Blueprint/Man's Agenda by Meredith Curtis Who Dun It? Murder Mystery Literature and Writing High School Class

Homeschooling with Hot Flashes & Broken Bones

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Finish Well Homeschool Podcast, Podcast #156, Homeschooling with Hot Flashes & Broken Bones, with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network

Homeschooling with Hot Flashes & Broken Bones

In “Homeschooling with Hot Flashes & Broken Bones,” Episode, #156, Meredith Curtis honestly reveals her own aging challenges and how they have impacted her homeschooling. She learned to work around hot flashes and broken bones—and you can too! Prepare to laugh a little, nod in agreement, and feel inspired to stay the course through it all—all while homeschooling effectively.

 

 

 


Colossians 1:28 by Laura Nolette and Powerline Productions, Inc.

 

Powerline Productions, Inc.

Bringing Homeschool Joy to Families Everywhere!

 

 

 


Show Notes

Breaking bones and trying to play soccer with teens stories.

Menopause

My first hot flash

Osteoporosis/Weakened bones

Grumpiness, Emotions Running High

This Age You Might Start Caring for Aging Parents

Finish Well Radio Show, Podcast #086, How to Care for Aging Parents with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Homeschool While Body is Aging

  • Making time for gentle exercise and weights.
  • Nutrition
  • More sleep

How to Homeschool When Recovering from an Injury

  • Find comfortable positions
  • Homeschool in spurts
  • Back hurting, I can lay on my side
  • They read aloud or listen to audios and discuss
  • You can homeschool from bed!

How to Homeschool During Menopause

  • Gentle exercise & weights make symptoms easier
  • More sleep
  • Stay in the Word!
  • Learn to converse with God
  • Tell the children how you are feeling when you are having a bad day and ask them to pray for you
  • Be real! But be godly!

The Joys of Growing Older

  • Time alone
  • Grandchildren
  • Time to create
  • Enjoy now but don’t fear what is to come!

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Resources

These resources help your teen grow in virtue and life skills/soft skills

Unlocking the Mystery of Homeschooling High School by Meredith Curtis and Laura Nolette Lovely to Behold Jesus Fill My Heart and Home by Meredith Curtis A Wise Woman Builds by Meredith Curtis

 

Helping Teens Have Healthy Relationships with Food, Interview with Kassandra Baker

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on the Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Helping Teens Have Healthy Relationships with Food, Interview with Kassandra Baker.

Helping Teens Have Healthy Relationships with Food, Interview with Kassandra Baker

Helping Teens Have Healthy Relationships with Food, Interview with Kassandra Baker

Note: The topic of food can be a trigger for some people. This episode contains an encouraging discussion with our friend Kassandra Baker in which she discusses healthy relationships for teens with the food they eat.

Vicki was happy that she could tackle a tough topic with a new friend, Kassandra Baker. Kassandra and Vicki met at a conference a couple of years ago and have been discussing the importance for teens of healthy relationships with food, as well as healthy body image. They were finally able to connect and record this episode.

Kassandra’s Story

Kassandra grew up in a Christian home. In that faith-filled family, she accepted Christ at the age of four while watching a Billy Graham crusade. From the outside looking in, things looked perfect. However, from the inside Kassandra experienced some struggles.

Having a highly sensitive personality can be hard on young people, especially middle schoolers and high schoolers. Kassandra was one of those kids. This sensitivity is a gift but also challenging because she felt emotions and compassion so deeply.

Kassandra, like many young people, was growing up in a culture that modeled for her that she had to look “a certain way” in order to be valuable and to be loved.

She did not necessarily look “that certain way” in her eyes. Thus by the time she was in middle school she began to wrestle with body image. Then she started dieting.

Soon this body image insecurity and dieting routines began to develop into a binge eating disorder. Then by the time Kassandra was in her early twenties, the struggles created a disorder called orthorexia: an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. Interestingly, Kassandra’s orthorexia developed out of her trying to eat healthily but then becoming overly attached to the affirmations she was receiving for her “healthy lifestyle”.

As Kassandra started to become aware of the unhealthiness of her trying to be healthy, she gave a name to her struggles to help her label and detach from them: Ed and the Gang.

  • Ed is the eating disorder
  • The Gang is those struggles that prime her to have an eating disorder:
    • Perfectionism
    • People pleasing
    • Legalism
    • Needing to be in control
    • Type A personality

To Kassandra, Ed and the Gang felt like a huge rock on her, pushing her into the ground. It felt overwhelming to her.

As a young teen, Kassandra’s “Gang” led her to a very high performance, especially academically. She strove the be the valedictorian of her school and other high-achieving accomplishments. This was not hard for Kassandra to do…for a while. She could work, work, work. Then she would “hit a wall”. By the time she would get home from school on those “hit a wall” days, she would crash on the couch, watch television and eat.

Unfortunately for her, this was not simply “emotional eating” (which can still be dysfunctional), it was more uncontrollable eating. Binge eating is the kind of food intake that cannot be controlled. It feels like the need to eat is a compulsion.

Next she would feel ashamed and so she would extremely food-restrict (eat very little). This would lead to her body feeling that it was facing famine or starvation because she was not taking in enough calories to survive.

This led to feeling deprived. Next, the deprivation led Kassandra to another binge-eating event.

By the time Kassandra was in college, she was trying to help herself by “clean eating” and lots of exercise.

Kassandra was so obsessed with her healthy eating that she would either not eat at events with her peers, or she would bring her own food. She missed out socially on so much in this rigid lifestyle! Even when she was not eating, she was thinking about food. In reality, she had simply moved to a different kind of eating disorder.

What brought Kassandra to a wake up moment was a traumatic event. In 2014, she experienced a traumatic brain injury and ended up in the hospital in the trauma room. Over night, she could not do all her “healthy behaviors”. In fact, she could not even get up and go to work.

As if that was not enough, Kassandra experienced three more traumatic brain injuries within a two year time period. Unfortunately, this led to chronic pain and vertigo. Thus, she simply could not do all the “behaviors”.

Fortunately, she had already started a Bible study about the underlying wounds that made her more vulnerable to her eating disorders. While Kassandra did not experience any “big T” traumas (things like abuse, natural disasters, family crises), she did experience many “small T” traumas. Like many of us humans, we encounter painful things through our growing years that teach us a fragile self-concept and anxiety. This Bible study helped her work on healing those pains.

BTW- When teens, or adults, are experiencing pain, anxiety, depression or trauma, counseling is so very helpful. Take it from Vicki, who is a counselor and has been through her own counseling. Therapy is a road to health.

In experiencing healing from her childhood pains, Kassandra had more energy to start recovering from her eating disorders.

Then she discovered “intuitive eating“.

Intuitive eating is a self-care framework that integrates instinct, emotion and rational thought. To help her reorganize her relationship with food and become more intuitive with her eating, she worked with a dietician who specialized in helping people learn those skills.

Kassandra describes her life before recover as living in “black and white”. However, with the freedom from the bondage to Ed and the Gang, she feels life is now “in color”.

Intuitive Eating includes ten principles

A diet is an external program. It tells you from the outside how you should eat. On the other hand, intuitive eating helps you understand how your body is specifically created. Then learning how to eat according to what your body needs. These needs can be different at various times. For example, when Kassandra had the traumatic brain injuries, she had different needs for food. In fact, her brain communicated differently with her body due to the injury.

Thus, she had to learn to be aware of her needs for food and care in new ways. It was rewarding to Kassandra to learn to be gracious to herself and her body in every stage of life.

The principles include (from The Original Intuitive Meeting Pros):

  • Reject the diet mentality
  • Honor your hunger
  • Make peace with food
  • Challenge the food police
  • Discover the satisfaction factor
  • Feel your fullness
  • Cope with your emotions with kindness
  • Respect your body
  • Movement- understanding your body
  • Honor your health with gentle nutrition

The basic idea of intuitive eating is to learn:

  • when you are hungry and full
  • what foods you like and do not like
  • to move our bodies to feel good rather than to burn calories

This is different than the current American diet culture, which tells us to look a certain way (thin) and must live your life working on becoming thin. Intuitive eating allows you to be your healthy weight and size (which often is not diet-culture thin). God created everyone’s body to be different and to be beautiful in the way God made them. For Kassandra, her healthy size and lifestyle is not “skinny”…it is allowing herself to be the person (body and soul) that God created her to be.

With this in mind, Kassandra has a heart to minister to church teens and women about healthy relationships with food and with body image. She has found that sometimes our American diet culture has invaded the church, informing women that the only way to be healthy is to be thin. Thus the only way to please God is to be thin. This gives so much shame and guilt.

Food for thought from Kassandra: If God created the elephant and ant, why would He create all women to be a size 0?

It IS important to take care of our bodies, however, you cannot tell if a person is truly healthy by looking at them. That is God’s business.

If God created the elephant and ant, why would He create all women to be a size 0? -Kassandra Baker

For Kassandra today, a healthy relationship with food looks like:

  • Enjoying a cup of ice cream when she wants to
    • Eating only as much of the ice cream as her body wants (stopping when she is satisfied)
  • Knowing that all foods are permissible!
  • Craving a wide range of foods
    • Engaging in the craving as she listens to her body
  • Eating with friends when she is with friends
  • Allowing herself to accept a healthy body image
  • She holds tightly onto the verses I Corinthians 4:3-5, where Paul talks about not accepting others’ judgement of her, but holding fast to God’s gift of a clear conscience and love for herself. God’s love for her never changes, no matter what she looks like
  • The Gospel is a continuous source of freedom for her: Christ’s love and sacrifice for her personally
  • Recovery is a process
    • Kassandra accepts help from helpful people and continues graciously in her growth process

Today Kassandra Baker is now certified as a health, life and mental health coach. If you have questions about helping teens with a healthy relationship with food, visit Kassandra at KassandraBaker.com or info@KassandraBaker.com.

Join Vicki and Kassandra for an encouraging and helpful talk about helping teens find a healthy relationship with food. Here are some other resources:

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10 Ways to Be Healthy & Stay Healthy

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Finish Well Homeschool Podcast, Podcast #115, 10 Ways to Be Healthy & Stay Healthy, with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network

10 Ways to Be Healthy & Stay Healthy

In “10 Ways to Be Healthy & Stay Healthy” episode #115, Meredith Curtis shares easy ways to maintain good health and avoid getting sick. These tips are simple and time tested. Meredith explains how sleep, nutrition, exercise, fresh air, sunshine, hygiene habits, handwashing, and staying dry work to keep you healthy. She also gives tips to help you make changes in your lifestyle and shows you how to talk to your family so that everyone can be on the same page.

 

 

 


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Show Notes

As we are coming out of the Covid-19 Lockdown, we have become more health conscious. How can we stay healthy? Boost our immune system? Avoid getting sick? Well, the answers are very simple and old-fashioned. You might think your listening to your Grandma when I share these things. However, they work and I will explain why.

Sleep

Get plenty of sleep. Add an extra hour or two if you can. You see, when your body is fighting germs–and that’s why our immune system is here for–it works super hard and needs more sleep. Our body is fighting germs all the time and most of the time our immune system wins! If others are sick around you, inside there is a battle going on to stay healthy. Help the war against flu germs by getting plenty of rest.

Nutrition & Water

Protein, carbohydrates, and fats

Minerals and vitamins

Water

Fruits & Vegetables

Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Full of antioxidants and nutrients, these super foods nourish our immune system and give them the stamina and tools to fight germs so we don’t get sick.

Stay Dry

Wear snugly water-resistant coats in the winter, especially if it’s raining or snowing. You see germs thrive in warm moist places. You might get wet outside and come into a warm house where now the moisture is warm–perfect for germs to reproduce. If you get wet, change clothes or better yet, shower and change clothes.

In the summer, take showers as needed to wash away sweat that often contains dirt and germs.

Workout

Exercise regularly. Exercise speeds up our blood flow to help carry germs away and out of the body for good!

  • Stretching
  • Cardio
  • Resistance
  • Balance

Fresh Air & Sunshine

Get out in the fresh air and sunshine. Staying inside means recirculated air which is filled with germs that recirculate with the air. If you can’t get outside, open a window for a few minutes. Sunshine acts like bleach, disinfecting the surfaces it touches–a great way to say goodbye to germs!

Vitamin D

Recirculated Air vs. Fresh Air

Clean Your House & Clothes

Target the most “germy” surfaces in your house and keep them clean. Sinks, counters, toilets, and door handles are covered with germs. Clean these surfaces regularly. I also wipe them down with bleach wipes twice a day if the flu is going around.

Wash your clothes and wear clean clothes. Change your sheets regularly.

Happy Habits

Make it a family rule to cover your mouth when you sneeze and cough. Use a tissue or your hand. If you use your hand, though, wash it afterward. Get thick, sturdy soft tissues to keep on hand so that people will use them.

And the hands-down most important way you can avoid the flu is…tada!

Handwashing

Wash your hands! The number one way to avoid germs is to wash your hands with soap (NOT antibacterial soap). Wash thoroughly–singing the Happy Birthday song all the way through is the right amount of time you should be scrubbing. If you wash quickly, you are just giving the germs a little bath. Scrubbing is what kills them.

The biggest way that people get sick is by touching a germy surface or having a germ land on their hands. When they touch their face, the germ invades the body through the nose or mouth. Clean hands protect you from 90% of germs.

Handwashing can keep you from getting germs and spreading them around.

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Resources

American Literature & Research British Literature & Writing High School Class Communications 101:Essays and Speeches High School Class Foundations of Western Literature by Meredith Curtis
Real Men 103: Leadership Who Dun It? Murder Mystery Literature and Writing High School Class HIS Story of the 20th Century by Meredith Curtis HIS Story of the 20th Century: High School Workbook by Meredith Curtis
God's Girls 101: Grow in Christ God's Girls 103: Courship, Marriage, and the Christian Family High School Class God's Girls 104: Motherhood by Meredith Curtis God's Girls 105: Homemaking by Meredith Curtis

More Podcasts You Might Find Helpful

Finish Well Radio Show, Podcast #004, Friends with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network Finish Well Radio Show, Podcast #014, Is My Family Normal? with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Network Finish Well Radio Podcast #029 with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network Finish Well Radio Podcast #030 with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network

Using Technology to Eat Healthy

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

technology to eat healthy

Episode 52: Using Technology to Eat Healthy with Debbie Hanyon

In this episode, Debbie Hanyon from Homeschooling Dietitian Mom, joins us to share how she uses technology to eat healthy. Debbie is a homeschool mom and she has a number of resources on her website other homeschool moms will find helpful. Take a special look at her Meal Planning for Kids Curriculum.

Debbie’s favorite apps and websites for healthy eating are:

  1. My Fitness Pal
  2. Spark People calorie tracker
  3. Is My Food Safe app only available for Apple products. This app helps you determine how long to keep food before you toss it, what internal temperature different meats need to reach when cooked and other useful things.
  4. Eat Right website by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND)
  5. Choose My Plate
  6. Food & Nutrition Magazine App which is available on Android and iPhone and is put out by AND.

Listen to the episode to hear the specific aspects of each of these apps and websites that Debbie likes so you can determine which ones will help your family eat more healthy.

Show sponsor FundaFunda Academy has an online health class that includes a number of modules on healthy eating and uses at least one of these resources Debbie recommends..

Be sure to join our Facebook group where we carry on the discussion about Homeschooling with Technology.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review!

Contact Meryl via email on meryl@mediaangels.com or connect with her on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook

Technology to eat healthy - Apps and websites for healthy eating #healthyeating #homeschoolpodcast #homeschoolfamily

Using the Homeopathy For Mommies Book To Take Care Of Your Family

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Using the Homeopathy for Mommies Book to Take Care Of Your Family - with Sue Meyer of Homeopathy for MommiesThis week, Sue shares a recording of a part of her recent advanced homeopathy class in Ft. Myers, Florida where she talks to moms about how to use her Homeopathy for Mommies book to care for their families.

Get Sue’s Homeopathy for Mommies book by clicking here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can get more in-depth training like this in Sue’s Crash Course in Homeopathy! Sue has developed a 10-Class AUDIO Series based on her book, Homeopathy for Mommies, that gives you a “Crash Course” in learning how to use homeopathy to treat acute conditions in your family.  Click Here to see more!

 

 

 


The content of the Homeopathy for Mommies Radio post or page, including text, graphics, images, or information contained in text or audio, or other content, is offered on an informational basis only. No content is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. You should always seek the advice and guidance of a qualified health professional before: Changing or making any adjustment to any medication or treatment protocol you are currently using.

  • Stopping any medication or treatment protocol you are currently using.
  • Starting any new medication or treatment protocol, whether or not it was discussed on the Homeopathy For Mommies Radio show, page or post on this website.
  • Information on this site is informational and not as specifically applicable to any individual’s medical problem(s), concerns and/or needs.
  • These products have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to treat or prevent disease.

In each audio remedies are recommended. We are not claiming that the product will cure any of these problems or disorders. We are merely reporting that people have used the product to aid these conditions.

 

Homeopathy and the Immune System

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Using Homeopathy to Build the Immune SystemJoin Sue Meyer from Homeopathy for Mommies as she goes over a few basic steps to boost the Immune System during times of stress and exposure. Learn about a few homeopathic remedies that can be of aid.

 

 

Get Sue’s Homeopathy for Mommies book by clicking here.

 

You can get more in-depth descriptions of remedies like this in Sue’s Crash Course in Homeopathy! Sue has developed a 10-Class AUDIO Series based on her book, Homeopathy for Mommies, that gives you a “Crash Course” in learning how to use homeopathy to treat acute conditions in your family.  Click Here to see more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

——————–

Disclaimer:

This audio is for educational purposes and is not intended in any way to be a replacement for, or as a substitute to qualified medical advice. If you think you are suffering from a medical condition consult your doctor or other qualified persons.

The content of the Homeopathy for Mommies Radio post or page, including text, graphics, images, or information contained in text or audio, or other content, is offered on an informational basis only. No content is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. You should always seek the advice and guidance of a qualified health professional before changing or making any adjustment to any medication or treatment protocol you are currently using.

Stopping any medication or treatment protocol you are currently using.
Starting any new medication or treatment protocol, whether or not it was discussed on the Homeopathy For Mommies Radio show, page or post on this website.
Information on this site is informational and not as specifically applicable to any individual’s medical problem(s), concerns and/or needs.
These products have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to treat or prevent disease.
In each audio remedies are recommended. We are not claiming that the product will cure any of these problems or disorders. We are merely reporting that people have used the product to aid these conditions.


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