This year is especially different in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. You might not be going to as many places or seeing as many people. But, the pandemic has caused a completely different type of stress. We’re dealing with uncertain times this winter, and more states are even starting to see a second wave of positive COVID cases. 

So, it’s more important than ever to take care of yourself this winter. By making health and wellness a priority over everything else, you can manage your stress levels, feel better physically, and enjoy the holidays, no matter how different they may be. 

Stay Safe During the Holidays

One of the most important things you can do this winter is to stay safe from illnesses. Remember, other common viruses like the flu are still out there! So, follow any safety restrictions put in place in your state or community, including: 

• Wearing a mask
• Social distancing
• Staying home whenever possible
• Not going anywhere if you feel sick

But, remember that it’s just as essential to protect yourself from colds and the flu. You can do that by eating an immune-boosting diet full of fruits and vegetables. Doing so can “detox” your body and provide nourishing health benefits from the inside out to give you that holiday glow. 

Perhaps the easiest thing you can do to stay healthy is simply to wash your hands as often as possible. Hand washing will always be more effective than just using sanitizer. But, if you have to go out in public, sanitizer is helpful in a pinch as long as you apply it correctly and let it dry without rubbing it off. 

Stay Active

There are plenty of stereotypes about winter being a time of rest. It’s easy to imagine big bears in their caves, hibernating for weeks at a time. But, laying around and being lazy isn’t good for your body or your mind. 

While it can be tempting to stay inside to watch your favorite holiday movies, you should also take some time each day for physical activity. One of the best things you can do is to spend some time outside. Being in nature can reduce stress levels, boost your energy, and actually help you to feel happier. Some outdoor winter activities that will get your blood pumping include: 

• Ice skating
• Cross country skiing
• Hiking
• Snowshoeing
• Sledding

Even shoveling snow, having a snowball fight with the kids, or building a snowman can offer up a great cardiovascular workout that will keep your body strong and healthy all season long. 

If you do end up spending a lot of time outside this winter, take extra care of your skin and make sure you’re drinking enough water so it doesn’t dry out from the cold. 

If you don’t want to go outside, you can still get moving indoors with online workout videos, or even doing chores around the house. You might be surprised at all the muscles needed to put up and decorate a Christmas tree!

Stay Centered

Again, this year has been a roller coaster of emotions for many people. So many are still living in uncertainty and fear. You may even be grieving the loss of a “normal” holiday with family and friends. Your stress levels might feel like they’re at an all-time high. This can lead to anxiety and even depression. Now, more than ever, it’s important to take care of your mental health as well as your physical health. 

One of the best things you can do to reduce stress and the symptoms of anxiety is to practice mindfulness. Even if you only have a few minutes a day, stop and focus on nothing else but your breathing. Take a few deep breaths in and out, and remain in the present. As other thoughts start to come in, let them pass by like clouds, rather than hanging onto them. Mindfulness isn’t difficult and it can be done any time, and almost anywhere. Whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a few minutes to be mindful. 

You can also practice self-care and feel calmer by being grateful. 

It might not seem like there’s much to be grateful for this year. But, if you think about it for a few minutes, you’re bound to come up with a list of things to be thankful for. Focusing on that and actively showing gratitude can improve your whole attitude and reduce your stress levels. Being grateful for the things you have is especially important around the holidays every year. 

Yes, this holiday season will be a bit different. But, even when 2020 is over, it will always be important to take care of your health and wellness over the holidays. Keep these tips in mind now and for years to come to get through the season with health and happiness. 

The post How to Stay Healthy During the Holidays appeared first on Food Health & Parenting Tips.

With so many stories of long-time successful restaurants closing due to the current pandemic, you might think that opening a new one is only a recipe for disaster. While it is certainly a risky move to make, the restaurant business is one of the toughest industries to succeed. With the right planning, safety precautions, and commitment, finally opening a successful restaurant, you’ve always wanted doesn’t have to wait.

Follow Solid Examples of a Successful Restaurant

One prime example of a restaurant doing it right and finding success can be found in Hong Kong. Black Sheep, a popular restaurant enterprise co-founded by Syed Asim Hussain, is currently doing very well thanks to their committed efforts to keep their customers and staff as safe as possible. To name a few safety protocols Hussain and his team have created and enforced during this pandemic, every Black Sheep restaurant is required to:

• Make masks available and mandatory.
• Provide hand sanitizer throughout the restaurant.
• Increase sanitization efforts with an external agency deep clean every 10 days.
• Create a Health Declaration form for customers to fill out and mandate temperature checks.
• Set every other table to maintain distance between customers.

While many restaurants are closing, Black Sheep manages, and it’s partially thanks to their efforts to maintain a safe restaurant environment. Black Sheep’s COVID-19 guidelines aren’t just useful for them either. The business and its successful safety practices have been so effective that their guidelines have been picked up by Hong Kong government officials. Many of the internal guidelines from Black Sheep’s COVID-19 playbook are musts for all Hong Kong restaurants. The point co-founder Hussain especially notes, is to put safety before hospitality — at least for now.

While your restaurant is certain to face different challenges than those in Hong Kong, Black Sheep’s response is a great source to build an effective and successful foundation. While it can be tempting to hope things will return to normal by the time your restaurant is up and running, we still have no clue when that “normal” will return. Instead, work to address and adapt to the current problems you’re facing, even if you aren’t close to opening your doors quite yet. You’ll save yourself a lot of scrambling and stress later down the road.

Be Flexible with Your Ideas

When opening a successful restaurant mid-pandemic, it’s helpful to be flexible in your plans. While you might love the idea of starting your own brick-and-mortar place, it might not be the best choice right now. You have to consider the cost of renting a space and that overhead and the extra funds necessary to keep a large space as clean and COVID-19 free as possible.

A large space certainly leads to more opportunities to make money — more space means more seating. More seating means more customers; more customers mean more money, but it also presents more failure opportunities. Running at full capacity is also not a great idea right now and can even get you in trouble in some states.

With all of that in mind, it’s worth considering starting up a food truck. Of course, even a food truck still has overhead costs, and high-quality equipment isn’t exactly cheap. However, with a truck, you’ll have a lot more flexibility in how and where you serve customers. Food trucks are often held to much higher sanitation standards than restaurants, pandemic or not. You still have to keep in mind the high-risk customers. A food truck can be a viable option for those missing out on typical restaurant outings due to health concerns. This means, unlike in pre-COVID-19, a food truck could be better at reaching more customers than a dine-in one and potentially make you more money. All the COVID-19 precautions aside, you’ll still need a food handler certificate that is beneficial to any food truck business in ensuring all food safety and hygiene practices are observed during day-to-day operations.

If a food truck is not an option, though, then try taking a look at your to-go services. With limited seating for dine-in, you could make up for lost revenue by creating or enhancing to-go services. Besides your regular menu, offering to-go drinks like gourmet coffee and alcohol may attract more customers and increase foot traffic. You also don’t have to be an expert barista or mixologist either.

Learning to roast coffee beans or create signature cocktails is easier than you might think, and it’s a great way to bring in additional cash. It would also be a fun idea to add some simple, exclusive to-go menu items to really pique interest. You may not end up keeping the same services once the dust of COVID-19 settles, but for now, it could help make a positive difference in your revenue.

 Don’t Be Afraid to Be Social 

With so many people leaving their houses less often, you might struggle to get the word out about your new restaurant. Unlike in the past, when new customers would often wander into a new restaurant while shopping or doing errands, people tend to only go out with a particular purpose and place in mind now. To solidify your new place in the community, increasing your social media efforts is a must.

Currently, most businesses have a good reach online, considering people are scrolling through social media and using their phones a lot more now. From creating social-media-exclusive coupons and offers to implement a direct messaging system to sharing mouth-watering photos of your dishes, investing in your digital marketing can help catch the eye of more would-be customers. It’s also worth noting that major big-name companies like Disney and Coca-Cola withheld advertisements in a July boycott against Facebook. This could present an opportunity to buy ads on Facebook for a lot cheaper than you normally would.

Of course, don’t be fooled into thinking it’s a walk in the park to run a business’s social media accounts. It takes a lot of planning, creativity, and commitment to be really successful in your social media efforts. Bringing on an experienced social media manager can help with this and take some of the pressure off your shoulders. While in the past, it was fair to question if you and your business even really needed a social media presence, living in these COVID-19 times, it now could mean the difference between success and failure.

Opening a successful restaurant during COVID-19 presents a whole new world of unique challenges. And while this pandemic situation isn’t forever, the things you learn during this time with likely be invaluable in the future. When in doubt, try looking at other restaurant success stories to keep you feeling motivated and ready to conquer whatever curveball the future throws next.

The post Opening a Successful Restaurant appeared first on Food Health & Parenting Tips.

Alternative medicine has saved untold numbers of lives across the decades. It continues to be our most excellent defense against some of humanity’s most devastating illnesses and catastrophic injuries. And yet, it is by no means the be-all-and-end-all of human health. 

For millennia, human beings have found both comfort and healing in alternative medicine and continuing to have an essential place in our modern world. And though modern medicine had dominated patient care for well more than a century in the West, patients are increasingly returning to alternative remedies. Now, more than ever, they are recognizing the benefits of finding the balance between alternative and traditional medicine to achieve optimal health and wellness.

A Healthy “Alternative” Medicine?

Alternative medicine reflects a different option from more “modern” standards and practices of care based on pharmaceutical treatments and technology-based care. 

In other words, alternative medicine is considered to be outside of the mainstream of Western medicine, which is, perhaps ironically, often termed traditional. 

Traditional Western medicine centers on the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of disease or injury. It takes a more myopic view of health, an idea that, principally, defines health as the absence of some pathology, some significant deviation from the norm.

Alternative medicine, on the other hand, is not disease-focused in the way Western medicine is. Many forms of alternative medicine emphasize the whole person, focusing not on the illness or disease, but the individual. The emphasis is on restoring the patient to a state of balance. It envisions health as the wellbeing of the whole person, mind, body, and spirit.

Holistic Medicine

Holistic medicine, as an amalgamation of the two, supports the more disease-focused and interventionist strategies of traditional medicine with alternative therapies, such as herbal remedies, meditation, and yoga. The ultimate goal is to enhance the efficacy of conventional treatment while mitigating its potentially negative impacts. Simultaneously, the goal is to use alternative medicine as a preventative tool. A method of maintaining wellness to the greatest extent possible, to reduce the frequency and severity of traditional medical interventions.

Consider COVID-19. A holistic approach would combine a traditional treatment plan, such as antiviral medications, with alternative medicines designed to boost the immune system. For example, through the use of plants, herbs, natural supplements, tinctures and teas, and other natural approaches.    

Why It Matters

Traditional Western medicine has, without question, dramatically improved the quality and length of life for human beings the world over. Nevertheless, for all its indisputable benefits, it has also brought about significant harm as well.

According to a recent study from Johns Hopkins, an estimated 250,000 people die in the United States every year due to preventable medical errors. Between 1990 and 2016, more than 100,000 Americans are believed to have died. Not as the result of medical errors, but only due to “adverse” events caused by treatment. This includes hospital-acquired infections and complications related to cancer care.

For seniors, the potential harms can be especially significant. Poor medication management, for instance, can lead to dangerous side effects, heightened risk of accidental overdose, and the potential for life-threatening drug interactions.

But it’s not only the health risks associated with conventional Western medicine that hurts patients and their families. It’s also massive amounts of medical debt incurred from even the most routine treatments. More than 79 million Americans are carrying significant medical debt, many facing sums so large that debt forgiveness is the only option for avoiding bankruptcy.

A holistic approach seeks to mitigate these harms while maximizing the benefits of traditional medicine. For example, the emerging field of holistic nursing aims to combine conventional Western therapeutics. The strategy of care includes nutrition, exercise, and spirituality to improve patient health and, above all, to enhance their overall quality of life.  

How Alternative Medicine Works

Alternative medicine seeks to maintain or restore wellness without subjecting the patient to the substantial physical risks and financial burdens of conventional Western medicine. 

One of the most important strategies used in alternative medicine involves a combined protocol of stress management, diet, and nutrition supplements. Also, including zinc, echinacea, and vitamins C and D, to boost the immune system. 

Not only will this increase the body’s resistance to viruses and bacteria, but a robust immune system can also help the body fend off more fearsome illnesses, such as cancer. If you are undergoing conventional cancer treatments, increasing your immune function can also help you to withstand the side effects of your treatment better.

Alternative medicine can also be a powerful tool in fighting one of humanity’s most significant health challenges: chronic pain. In 2016, it was estimated that as many as 20% of people in the US were contending with chronic pain. And this has been a significant factor in contributing to the opioid epidemic that has ravaged our nation in recent years.

Holistic medicine, which refers to the integration of traditional and alternative medicine,  can be highly effective in treating chronic pain. Once again, alternative therapies use a person-focused approach to pain management. This combines gentle exercise, herbal remedies, and alternative therapies, such as heat, acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic. Simultaneously, a more traditional approach, such as steroidal medications or surgical interventions, can be used to target the disease or injury, causing the pain.

The holistic approach to pain management is based on the premise that pain is not only the result of injury or illness, but is exacerbated by psychological, emotional, and even social factors. These can range from stress and anxiety to the foods we eat, the quality of our sleep, and how we work, live, and move through the world.

The Takeaway

Conventional Western medicine has changed our world for the better in many ways. But it has also brought about significant harms. And now, more than ever, the use of alternative medicine is proving its enormous value in helping patients achieve whole-person wellness, health, and healing in the heart, soul, body, and brain.

Read more: 

• 4 Ways to Lead a Healthy Lifestyle 
  
• 5 Simple Ways to Sooth and Manage Anxiety 
• Peppermint for Anxiety and Depression

The post Balance Between Alternative Medicine and Traditional Medicine appeared first on Food Health & Parenting Tips.

Shop Fresh, Save Cash

When it comes to eating a more organic, yet affordable diet picking seasonal fruits and vegetables is one way to stretch your dollar. Plus, in-season produce often tastes the best. To keep your grocery shopping list on track with all the right organic fruits and vegetables, plan out your meals ahead of time. 

And keep in mind, you don’t have to plan more than a couple of days in advance. By now, you’ve likely heard about people who can meal prep and plan for weeks at a time. While this certainly works, planning too far in advance might lead to more impulsive and, thus, costly purchases when you shop organic. 

Considering how quickly our cravings can change, the dinner you had planned for Saturday might be the last thing you want to eat when the day arrives. So what do you end up doing? You likely rush to the store to pick up more ingredients, which can then tempt you into buying more than you need, or you end up ordering takeout. Plus, too extreme planning can leave out spur of the moment opportunities, such as when your partner picks up a pizza on the way home. If you don’t plan correctly, those skipped planned meals end up going to waste.

Try Not to Waste 

While a few skipped meals throughout the week probably doesn’t seem that wasteful, it adds up. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, around 30% of the food we buy ends up in landfills. Not only does this impact the environment, wasting valuable resources such as water and energy, but it’s money down the drain. 

When you shop organic, it’s essential to learn how to limit yourself to buying only what you’ll use. It can be hard to plan exactly how many apples you’ll eat in the day, but getting as close as you can to the right amount is still helpful to your budget and the environment. 

Moreover, for those times when you do end up with leftover food, keep it out of the landfill by utilizing some unconventional methods to reduce food waste. This can look like using old stale bread to make delicious bread pudding or mealing-sharing with neighbors or your children’s teachers. 

Inspire a Positive Relationship with Food

Another way to shop organic and healthy without breaking your budget is to shop around. While this can be time-consuming and a bit of a hassle, these days, it is much easier to peruse various sales and competitive prices than in the past. All it takes is jumping online to look at a few grocery store websites and see what offers they have. If you prefer to shop locally, many small businesses will at least have a social media page where they announce exclusive sales or allow you to contact someone to discuss prices.

Shopping around for more affordable options can also inspire a better sense of intentionality when it comes to your food habits. This, in turn, is likely to help you develop a more positive relationship with food, making the process of procuring healthy, affordable food for yourself and your family more enjoyable. When you look forward to cooking a delicious, healthy meal each day, shopping around becomes part of the journey rather than just another chore. Furthermore, when you cook at home more than eating takeout, it gives you full control over the ingredients, portion size, and overall cost.

Pick Your Battles

Committing to a total overhaul of your lifestyle and eating habits all at once can lead to an early defeat. Switching to shop organic, healthy eating is a significant change to both your usual diet and budget, so to ensure the longevity of this worthwhile change, start slowly. An easy way to do this is to stick with the Clean 15. 

The Clean 15 list includes certain conventional produce, such as avocados, pineapple, onions, eggplant, and asparagus, that have low amounts of pesticide residue. This makes them not much worse than their organically produced counterparts. 

On the other hand, there is also the Dirty Dozen. If you’re going to make any produce a priority on your organic shopping list, it should include items from the Dirty Dozen. This includes produce such as strawberries, spinach, apples, celery, and potatoes as these are notably some of the worst items for pesticide use.  

Eventually, once your budget adjusts to the new costs of shopping organically, you can then switch to shop organic foods exclusively. In the meantime, though, you can still save money with these helpful guidelines, without sacrificing your health. 

Whatever your reasons are for wanting to switch to a healthier, more organic diet, there are numerous ways to enjoy this lifestyle without going broke. With enough motivation and helpful tricks up your sleeve, you can enjoy all the many benefits of how to shop organic while maintaining your budget.

Read more:

• 7 Wonderful Ways to Live a More Sustainable Lifestyle
• How to Reduce Waste in Your Grocery Shopping

The post How to Shop Organic & Healthy Without Breaking Your Budget appeared first on Food Health & Parenting Tips.