Kelly Bonanno

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

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An Interview With Author Katherine Zwers

Christmas movies, Christmas music, Christmas lights… I love it all! And I always enjoy reading Christmas books with my kids this time of year. I was fortunate to land an interview with author Katherine Zwers. Her latest book, Christmas Star, is a heart warming Christmas book about Sebastian, the Shepherd and Hopscotch, the lamb that tells the story of their Christmas Eve adventure.

Savvy Suburban:  Christmas Star is truly a wonderful book, how did you come up with the idea for the story?
Katherine Zwers:  When I wrote Christmas Star, I wanted to create a story that was fun and imaginative for kids, but also included the wonderful and inspirational meaning of Christmas.

SS:  What was your inspiration?
KZ:  My inspiration has always been my mom. As a child she encouraged me to develop my creativity in every project I started. As an adult she supported me during every step of the book publishing process.

SS:  Ah, behind every successful woman there is an amazing mom! How long have you been writing?
KZ:  I won a writing award when I was in eighth grade, I’ve been hooked ever since.

SS:  What other books have you written?
KZ:  I have also written The Golden Easter Egg. The Golden Easter Egg is a companion book to Christmas Star and both stories include the characters Sebastian, the Shepherd and Hopscotch, the lamb.

SS:  The illustrations are vivid and contemporary. Tell us about your illustrator, Carol Heyer, and her background.
KZ:  Carol Heyer has been my friend since I was nine years old. Her amazing artistic talents speak for themselves. She has published over 27 children’s books and sold several million copies. I am very fortunate to have her as the illustrator of my books, and better yet, as my friend.
For more information visit their site and follow Katherine on Facebook. Christmas Star is a wonderful holiday gift for the little ones in your life!

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Which Type Of Cookware Is The Safest?

Is your cookware hazardous to your family’s health? How we cook our food is just as important as what we serve. We’ve all cooked with non-stick pots and pans. They are easy to use and easy to clean but most of them really aren’t safe. The substance that gives them the slippery surface, PFOA is toxic. If you’re like me you tossed your non-stick pans when this first made big news a few years ago.6974973271_00126e35e8_c

PFOA has been linked to birth defects, several cancers including kidney and testicular, thyroid problems, weakened immune systems, miscarriages and other serious illnesses and conditions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did a study on PFOA and discovered that it could be found in in nearly 98% of the population. Another study done by  the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2007 revealed that PFOA was detected in 100% of the newborns that were examined. That’s frightening. Teflon and other non-stick surfaces are particularly hazardous if there are scratched or nicked in any way. It’s not just pots and pans, cake pans muffin tins, rice cookers, etc. can also have PFOA.

The Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] requested that manufacturers reduce production of these types of pots and pans by 95% by 2010. Moving forward, they are requesting that companies stop making their existing non-stick coating; the goal is to reach a total elimination of its production by 2015.

There are safe alternatives, we don’t need to be exposing our families to the hazards of non-stick cookware. Some think that aluminum and stainless steel cookware are good options, however, they could potentially leach metals into your food. They’re still better than teflon. Certain substances are not toxic unless they’re heated but the whole purpose of using cookware is of course to heat food. Stainless Steel is a combination of many metals including nickel, chromium and molybdenum.

It’s not always easy to find safe, quality cookware. It can be pricey and sometimes the safer non-stick material doesn’t work that well or last long, it’s a bit of trial and error. The best choices are ceramic, porcelain, enameled and cast iron. Amazon has a wide variety. I really like Ecolution Bliss Hydro Ceramic.  Orgreenic and The Green Pan are pretty good. I’ve found them at Target, Costco, Bed, Bath & Beyond and I’ve bought a few at discounted prices from stores like HomeGoods, Ross, TJ Maxx and Marshalls.

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Do You Know Where To Get Your Vitamin B12?

Guest Post by Mishka Thomas

There are many popular dietary B12 sources, mostly animal-based products. Upon researching these food sources, you have probably read about vitamin-fortified breakfast cereals on many mainstream lists and supermarkets. But are cereals actually a health-smart way to fight off vitamin B12 deficiency and other lack in nutrients?

Do you suffer from anxiety? A vitamin B12 deficiency could be the cause.

Breakfast cereals are not a healthy food at all – and this holds true whether you are taking about vitamin B12-fortified varieties or not. The highly processed grains in the cereals immediately break down to sugar in your body and stimulate production of insulin. It may also be interesting for you to know that children and infants do not fare well consuming these breakfast staples that are deceptively marketed as healthy and beneficial.

So what B12 sources should you stick to? Natural ones, of course!

• Fish and Seafood Certain types of seafood provide good amounts of B12.  Be sure to buy your fish from clean sources so you can avoid eating contaminated fish. This is the result of industrial processes that have already contaminated the oceans and seas with toxins like mercury. The jury is out on whether or not he risks linked to mercury-laced seafood outweigh any potential health benefit. Extra caution is necessary if you are pregnant or have a growing family. Methyl mercury is highly toxic to the developing brains and nervous function of infants and children. Do your best to find uncontaminated fish.

•Chicken This is another natural B12 source. However, stick with organic chicken because conventionally raised chicken may contain antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.

•Beef and Beef Liver Keep in mind, though, that grass-fed beef is highly preferable to the grain-fed kind. Besides, it tastes better.

•Milk Raw milk is a good bet, especially if you are able to get Certified Grade A milk that is guaranteed clean and produced under government watch. Otherwise, make sure it’s organic.

• Eggs These are not only rich in vitamin B12, but also considered among the healthiest all- around foods in the world. My first choice would food-eggsbe to buy your eggs from a free-range pasture farm. If this is not possible, buy free-range organic eggs from the grocery. What you should avoid are omega-3 added eggs, which are actually less healthy than regular egg varieties.

• Pork While it is another natural source of vitamin B12, pork is not highly recommended. Pigs are scavengers in nature, and they will consume almost anything. This makes them susceptible to parasites and retroviruses, which have quite a huge chance of making it into pork-based food supplies. There is simply no assurance they these viruses have been killed even if you have efficiently cooked the meat. If you consume pork, your safest bet is the meat of organically fed pigs. It is also crucial that you avoid eating sausage, bacon, and other processed pork treats.

How about if you’re a vegetarian or vegan? You may want to consider a  B12 supplement. This will help you keep your B12 in a positive balance and give your tissues sufficient B12 for their requirements. Even if you eat meat and eggs, you may still be deficient. A deficiency in B12 levels can cause problems including extreme fatigue, dementia and permanent damage to nervous tissue if left untreated. Symptoms can be vague so so ask your doctor to give you a simple blood test to check your levels, particularly if you are experiencing inexplicable fatigue.

It is important that you source your supplement from a reliable manufacturer. You should take note that a B12 supplement should be free of sugar, wheat, starch, yeast, salt, gluten, eggs, soy, dairy, stimulants and artificial flavors and colors. Vitamin B12 deficiency is a real and serious threat that you should guard yourself against.

About the Author
Mishka Thomas is a health blogger who reviews new and emerging supplements on the market
and features wellness trends and developments. She favors vitamin B12 and its host of benefits for
individuals young and old.

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Homework For Parents… A Clever Assignment

Our oldest son just embarked on his final year of elementary school. He’s off to a good start and he really likes his teacher. He is fortunate to have another wonderful educator guide him through 5th grade. It amazes me how fast his grade school years have flown by. How is he not still in second grade?! His teacher gave parents an assignment that I thought was a unique and interesting way to get know students. He asked that we write about why we treasure our child. He read each letter out loud to the class and asked the students to guess the identity of each child through what was written about them. My talented husband crafted a very creative letter:

 Our Treasure

Imagine you find a box buried in the sand. You brush the sand off the lid and inside this box are several small bottles filled with potions. The potions are labeled “kind,” “considerate,” “funny,” “generous,” “athletic,” “talkative,” and “brilliant.” After drinking all the potions you suddenly feel courageous. Your homework is almost effortless. You’re confident and can’t help but look everyone you meet in the eye. You are logical, compassionate and likeable but often love to lose yourself in a book of fantasy. You are almost perfect, but your little brother drives you crazy by copying everything that you do. This is our wonderful son. Who is he?
Hints: He loves football and cheeseburgers 

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Fitness & Fundraising

Jog-a-Thons ~ A Fun & Healthy Way To Raise Money $$$

Last Friday was the annual Jog-A-Thon at my kids’ school. It’s a fun day and a smart way to raise money. It’s fitness based; the kids get exercise, have a blast and parents enjoy being involved. It works fitness into fundraising instead of material goods. They even have a DJ blasting music so the kids can get their groove on while they run.

With all the budget cuts over the past several years, fundraising is essential to keep certain programs alive. The monies raised from the Jog-A-Thon fund programs such as Visual and Performing Arts, PE Specialists, school­ assemblies, classroom instruction and technology assistance, upgrades and support. These programs are vital to our children’s education.

In order to reach their goal, the school requests that each student raise a certain amount of money by either asking friends and family to sponsor them with a certain dollar amount per lap or the family can simply make a flat donation, no need for sponsors. What’s great is that it’s a one shot deal and you don’t need to sell wrapping paper, cookie dough, magazine subscriptions, etc. How many times can you hit up your friends, co-workers, grandparents and neighbors to buy stuff? It’s a never ending cycle because everyone has kids who need to help raise money for their schools and some schools make those type of fundraisers extremely competitive.

With the Jog-A-Thon, each child is asked to raise the same amount of money. The only competitive part is that the kids aim to run as many laps as they can. If your child’s school is looking for fundraising ideas I highly recommend a Jog-A-Thon. If you have any good fund raising ideas, please share them!

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How Pure Is Your Honey, Honey?

Sweet, thick, golden, dripping honey. We’re told that it’s a healthy replacement for sugar, it soothes a sore throat, even helps calm a cough but many brands are contaminated. Yes, contaminated. Can consumers trust anything on store shelves anymore?
Imported honey has been found to contain heavy metals and animal antibiotics that could potentially make people sick, particularly children. Ingesting unnecessary and harmful antibiotics also builds antibiotic resistance. Much of the problematic honey is sourced out of China. Big surprise. They attempt to dodge high import taxes by shipping it to the U.S. through other countries such as India or mislabeling it, a practice known as ‘honey laundering.’
A study done by Food Safety News found that 76% of the honey sold in grocery stores and nearly 100% of the honey sold at big box chains did not contain any pollen. When pollen is removed from honey, not only does it lessen the health benefits but there is no way to trace where the honey actually came from so you can’t be certain it’s safe.
The FDA has done nothing about this issue despite the fact that public health groups, several members of congress and the honey industry have all requested that they put standards in place for over a decade. This is another area where Europe is ahead of the curve. Over the last 2 years, 27 European countries banned honey imported from Asian countries because of this problem.
In many cases, honey from China is also most likely diluted with high fructose corn syrup and rice syrup. How do you know your honey is pure? Buy USDA certified organic honey made in the USA. Go local if possible, but at the very least, make sure it is made in the USA.