Kelly Bonanno

Your soulful coach for eco friendly living, clean beauty & wellness Savvy | Sexy | Beautiful | Healthy | You

Kelly

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3 Healthy Alternatives to Kids’ Favorite Foods

When was the last time your child asked you for a plate of steamed vegetable? Never, right?! If they’re like most kids they’re begging for cookies, cheeseburgers, pizza, candy, etc… right?!

Providing our kids with a healthy diet is a constant battle for parents. Our culture is obsessed with junk food, and spends more than 110 billion dollars on fast food every year. Over 30 percent of children in America under age 17 are overweight. Kids are the target market for all the junk food out there. We don’t want to deprive them of the foods they love, but it’s our job to make sure they’re getting proper nutrition. Many of their favorite foods are unhealthy, but fortunately there are some delicious alternatives. Read on to learn about my picks …

1. Healthy pancakes.

Love to make pancakes every Sunday morning? Look for a mix that’s made with organic stone ground whole grain flour, pure raw evaporated cane juice or pure raw sugar, and aluminum-free leavening. I make them even healthier by adding ground flax seeds and wheat germ. (My kids don’t even notice.) The recipe calls for oil, so opt for a healthy option like grape seed oil, then top with a little 100 percent pure maple syrup. My kids love them! Try Bob’s Red Mill buttermilk pancake and waffle mix or organic seven-grain pancake mix from Nuts.com… Read entire article at Parent Society. 

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When In Doubt, Recycle

20130215_102100Our trash bin is rarely full but our recycle bin is busting at the seams nearly every week. I’m always asking my neighbor if I can put our overflow of recyclables in his bin. Most people don’t realize that lots of stuff that we toss in the garbage can be recycled.  They just throw things away because they either assume it cannot be recycled or they just don’t bother. In fact, more than 75 % of waste is recyclable, but only about 30 % of it actually gets recycled!

Glass jars, newspaper, magazines, cardboard, cans, some of this stuff is obvious but people still neglect to fill their recycle bins each week. Someone once told me that they don’t recycle because there is no room for a bin under their kitchen sink. Seriously?!! Make room. The mud room, the laundry room, the bathroom, garage anywhere!  Recycling is probably the easiest thing that a person can do to live a greener existence.

Even that clear, hard plastic packaging used for toys and other goods can be recycled as can shipping boxes, department store bags, tissue paper and some types of wrapping paper. Milk cartons and those liquid cartons that contain juice, egg nog and broth can be recycled as well. Those containers have a high grade fiber so they work well in paper mills.

My kids and I went on a tour of our local landfill. Not exactly a trip to Legoland but it was interesting, the boys had fun and we learned a lot. Our guide told us, when in doubt, recycle. She said if you’re not sure whether or not an item is recyclable throw it in the recycle bin because they sort through everything anyway. Not every municipality is run the same but you can call yours with questions. Certain items like tires, electronics, carpeting, appliances, paint, etc. are not always easy to recycle because you usually have to find a drop off center but it can be done, just go online for information on your area. Just do what you can, every little bit helps.

“We can help educate our families and communities about the importance of recycling for our environment, and how each of us can make a difference for a better world by recycling” 
-Robert Alan Silverstein

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Happy Birthday To My Sweet Baby

Happy 7th Birthday Jackson!! XOXO2012-06-07 Spring 2012 001

I am madly in love with my sweet, smart, happy, funny, fun, amazing boy!
He brings more happiness into my life than I could ever have imagined ♥2012-02-25 2012-02-25 001 016

This joyful little boy has a special quality, a sparkle in his eye… one of those people everyone likes.

♥  I am incredibly lucky and proud to be his mommy  ♥

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Healthy Child Healthy World… When Did You Wake up?

urlHealthy Child Healthy World is a valuable resource for creating a healthy, safe home and life. Thanks to them, millions are waking up to the risks that toxic chemicals pose. James and Nancy Chuda founded this wonderful organization after learning that the cancer that ended the life of their 4 year old daughter was most likely caused by a pesticide that Nancy was exposed to during her pregnancy.

Part of their mission is to bring awareness of toxic risks to parents and to encourage healthier lifestyle choices. I am extremely impressed by this organization, the work they do is so important. I am passionate about living a healthy, toxic-free lifestyle so I love how they have truly empowered and enlightened the public and helped change things for the better. But it’s an ongoing uphill battle, this short video will give you an idea of what they are trying to accomplish. I hope you’ll join me in spreading the word by tweeting this, posting it on your Facebook wall and sending it to your friends and family.

I woke up about 7 years ago when I was pregnant with my youngest. I hit the snooze button at first but I’m wide awake now. When did you wake up?

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Make The Sandy Hook Promise

Keep the community of Newtown in your heart

www.sandyhookpromiseI still get intensely sad when I think about the horrific tragedy in Newtown, CT last December. In an effort to honor the lives lost and help the community heal, members of the Newtown community have formed a nonprofit grassroots organization called Sandy Hook Promise. Their mission is to come together and support all involved. They are dedicated to making and keeping the very important promises of honoring the 26 lives that were lost and encouraging and supporting common sense solutions that make our communities and country safer. We can all make these promises at Sandy Hook Promise.

It was two months on Valentine’s Day, pledge your support to the Newtown community by participating in the One Million Hearts for Newtown campaign. Although Valentine’s Day has passed, you can still send a virtual Valentine to show the community of Newtown that they are in your heart. My heart goes out to the parents of those sweet babies and the families of all the victims. I hope you’ll join me in making the Sandy Hook Promise and send them your love and support.

“Our hearts are broken;
Our spirit is not.”

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Valentine’s Day Fun Facts

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  • The legend of St. Valentine’s Day is as mysterious and elusive as love itself. There is more than one theory, but the most widely believed dates back to the Roman Empire when Claudius II forbade men to marry during wartime. Bishop Valentine was executed on February 14th for defying the order and secretly marrying young lovers. Just before his death he wrote a love note to a young woman he had fallen in love with and signed it, “from your Valentine”
  • Valentine wishes date back to the middle ages but the first known ‘Valentine’ was a poem sent from Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife in 1415 written during his sentence at the Tower of London after he was captured at the Battle of Agincourt
  • Do you ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’? That expression comes from a Valentine ritual popular in the middle ages. Young men and women drew names from a bowl and pinned the name to their sleeve, the name they chose was said to be their Valentine
  • Chocolate is synonymous with Valentine’s Day possibly because in the 1800s, physicians would ‘prescribe’ it to calm patients who were pinning over a lost love. Another reason could be that Casanova, known as the world’s greatest lover, is said to have eaten chocolate to make him more virile
  • After taking over England, the Romans held a Pagan fertility festival in on February 14th. When the Romans left, Pope Gelsius did away with the Pagan tradition and established St. Valentine’s Day as a celebration of love in 496A.D, it was first declared a holiday in 1537 by England’s King Henry VIII

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Work It With Physique 57

Looking for a good workout DVD that will kick your #%$? Try Physique 57. I am particular about fitness DVDs because they can get boring, I’d rather be outside jogging or on the elliptical blasting my iPod. But Physique 57 is not your typical exercise video, these DVDs are well paced with lots of energy.

002They give you a seriously challenging workout with exercises that target each part of your body working muscles you never even knew you had. The instructors are fantastic. They explain all the moves in easy to understand detail and they keep things from getting dull. If one your resolutions for 2013 is to lose a few lbs., this will help.

These gals also keep you motivated by asking things like, “how do you want your bottom to look in a bathing suit?!” Tight, toned and shapely please! It’s based on the Lotte Berke Method targeting muscles to the point of fatigue in what they call interval overload and let me say, it works you. They have studios in New York and Los Angeles. It’s the workout that Kelly “ripped” Ripa has been doing for years.  Give it a try and let me know how you think it compares to other workout DVDs.

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Seriously Good Cereal

3 Sisters Cereal 007Do your kids beg you for sugary big brand cereal after being bombarded by their commercials? I love how they spin it as “part of a healthy breakfast,” yeah, the unhealthy part. Sure, once in a while I give in and treat them to a box but our pantry is stocked with healthier alternatives. There really are several to choose from. My family loves a line of cereal sold exclusively at Whole Foods called Three Sisters. They do not use any partially hydrated oils, high fructose corn syrup, artificial preservatives, colors or flavors.  My husband says it’s even better than the unhealthy sugar laden brands!

My kid’s favorites are Cinnamon Sweets, their alternative for Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Marshmallow Oaties, their answer to Lucky Charms. In fact, the ‘oatie’ part is tastier than the non-marshmallow cereal in Lucky Charms. My youngest actually eats it rather than just picking out the marshmallows the way he does on the rare occasions he has Lucky Charms. Three Sisters offers several other varieties including four flavors of oatmeal.  The only con? It’s a bit pricey considering how much is in the bag. They use renewable wind energy in their production and the cereals come in a freshness saver bag, no box saves energy as well as a few trees. This eco girl loves that! Try them and let me know what you think.

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4 Tips For Better Home Efficiency This Winter

Guest Post by Jakob Barry 

It has been a particularly brutal winter in many parts of the country so far and it’s not over yet.  Here are some good reminders to help keep your home in shape when severe weather strikes 

Seal Drafts

Drafts are the bane of indoor heating and probably the most difficult thing to catch when you’re not looking. As most heating contractors will tell you the key is finding them now before the cold weather arrives. Otherwise you’ll lose out financially when the heating system is working over time trying to compensate for all the lost heat. How do you find a draft? Wait for a breezy day and holding a lit candle move it around the interior frames of windows and doors. If the flame flickers and it wasn’t from your own breathe chances are there is a draft which needs to be tended to. When drafts are detected the easiest way to seal them is by caulking on the outside and if necessary on the interior too.

Inspect Doors & Windows
Sometimes drafts are part of a more serious problem such as a window or door not working properly, which all the caulking in the world won’t fix. Examples include when windows don’t sit level, cannot be shut correctly, or don’t lock. The same is true for doors which may shut but need a kick, do not close snug with the frame, or have a space between the floor and base of the door. In all of these cases cool air can easily enter a home competing with the thermostat when it’s trying to maintain a certain temperature.

Clean Gutters
Believe it or not gutters are one of the most important parts of a home’s exterior because without them rain water would have nowhere to go except rushing down the sides of a house. Even though this still occurs, with the help of gutters the flow of water running down siding and over windows and doors is less. Problems occur when gutters get clogged from leaves and branches that may have fallen into them resulting in an overflow and sometimes leakage through a roof. In order to prevent such damage cleaning out gutters is a necessary pre-winter job that can be done on your own though only if you are comfortable on a ladder. Make sure access to down spouts are clear and if possible put wiring over the top of gutters so if anything falls on them it can be removed easily.

Check For Water Damage
Preventing water damage is one thing; checking for previous damage is another. If you haven’t been in the attic or crawl space lately find some time to go up there and take a look around. What you’ll want to inspect for is any discoloring on the inside paneling and ceiling, which will be a sign of a leak or past leak that needs attention. Sometimes this occurs from shingles which have dislodged from bad weather. Occasionally the nails that hold them down loosen creating a space for water to seep in. Around the chimney is another area of concern, as sometimes the flashing needs repair and water leaks through cracks where the bricks meet the roof. This may require hiring a professional who knows exactly what to do but if you must, don’t wait. Water damage is not something to take lightly because it could turn very costly if it becomes a larger issue.

Jakob Barry is a home improvement journalist for Networx.com. He blogs about Green topics for pros across the U.S. including Jacksonville, Florida Roofers and Cincinnati, Ohio HVAC. 

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Sweet Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas For Your Sweetheart

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Eco girls will love perfume by JoAnn Bassett, a line of all natural, organic fragrances formulated without synthetics

 

 

This sweet Love necklace by Leslie Shields Handmade Jewelry & Accessories on Etsy is perfect for Valentine’s Dayil_fullxfull.192169447

 

 

giftheartsroundbigHand painted Limoges boxes from Bonnie’s Limoges are a lovely way to ask “will you be mine?”

 

 

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Katie’s Charms has several cute charms, beads & accessories to choose from

 

 

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Top off your romantic evening with fondue for two with this fondue set from Crate & Barrel