Feeling under the weather? -Tips to be healthy during the winter.

If you are feeling under the weather now, then well you are not alone. Most people feel that way during this time of the year. We don't see the sun quite often and most of the time it's raining. Oh well, what can we do. We cannot fight the weather if that's only one thing we can't do. But we can atleast try to take better care of ourselves so we feel better. So here goes some tips. But I should mention that I am not a doctor or medical professional and these are not my advice to you. I simply wanted to share what things I do or atleast believe I should do to keep myself healthy and happy during this time of the year. So use these tips at your own risk as I will not be liable for any wrong going. Also it's always better to take your doctors suggestion before doing anything. So here goes the tips.

1. Drink plenty of water. The other day I read in an article that drinking plenty of water not only hydrates your cells in return they keep you young too. Wow, surely some easy way of keeping that age far away from you :). Also water detoxify your body so you feel better everyday.
2. Ensure that you get adequate amount of vitamin C and D everyday. Didn't we read when we were child that Vit C helps us protect from germs? We adults always forget and also remember that Vit C doesn't stock up in our body, it always gets eliminated so we have to get it everyday.  Now Vit D, well Mr. Sun is the most natural and obvious option of getting/generating Vit D. But what can we do when there's almost no Sun during this time. Well, there's so many food now available which are fortified with Vit D like milk and juice. So we have to take those in adequate amount. Also I guess researchers are now saying that consuming Vit D might prevent you from getting certain Cancers.
3. Excercise. Well this is one thing i feel so lazy about. But you know exercise has so many benefits that you can write an entire blog about that and I am sure you already know the benefits of exercising. So go ahead take a walk, run a mile outside or on your treadmill.
4. Chapped lips are part of this dry and cold season. The best way to prevent it is first of all not to lick your lips. Also you have to use some moisturizer on your lips. I prefer Vaseline. If you have very dry lips first wet your lips with water and then use the moisturizer to lock in the moisture on your lips.
5. For dry skin also moisture your body skin with a moisturizer just after taking the bath before you are completely dry. That will keep your body moisturized for a long time.
6. Eat healthy and proper foods. Lots of fruits and vegetables are your way of keeping yourself healthy and beautiful. I believe that if you keep yourself healthy inside you will automatically look beautiful outside :).
7. Last but not the least, take proper rest. Take a good night sleep, you will feel lot energetic that way.

Ok what else? I guess I have talked about almost everything  - drinking properly, exercising, moisturizing properly, resting and eating properly. Think about it, I didn't tell anything new here that you didin't know previously, your mom probably were telling you these things for years. But I guess if you were not following then hey, this might be your time. Time is right. So just start from today. Even a little bit change towards a healthy life will make you feel more happy and healthy.

So, there you have it. Live healthy and enjoy the weather :) Also please do share your tips of living healthy during winter and through out the whole year.

Simple Kool-aid Play dough recipe

There's a commercial on TV from Kinder, where it says "Did you play today?". It's such an obvious thing yet how many of us can answer positively? Honestly can you remember the last time you played with your family or children? I do pass a lot of time with my daughter but it's more like doing day to day activity with her and watching her play but did I actually play with her? I started wondering the other day and found that I didn't play for a long time not even with my daughter. So I decided to take quick action and made some play dough and played to my heart's content by molding it at different shapes and having fun with my daughter. It felt good. My advice: No matter how busy you are, see if you can find few minutes of your time everyday to play with your children, I strongly believe that it will make you fresh and recharge your battery!

So here goes the recipe of making play dough. I used Kool-aid in the recipe, I got the recipe from someone the other day and really liked it because for using Kool-aid I didn't have to worry about getting stains from food color and the play dough also smelled good and fruity :). To give a twist in my play dough I also used a little bit of whole wheat flour (approx. 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour and 2 cups of all purpose flour) which gave a sparkling effect. Again, some recipes of play dough use tarter, in this one you don't need to. You will find all the ingredients in your kitchen and after you make the play dough you are only limited by your imagination to mold it to any shape and size. So have fun and play for a while. I will go and play too with my daughter :) Don't forget to share your creative ideas and suggestions with us as well.

Kool-Aid Play dough recipe

Ingredients:

1. 2 ¾ cups of flour
2. ½ cup of salt
3. 2 pkg of Kool-Aid
4. 4 tbs oil
5. 2 cups of boiling water

Direction:

1. Mix dry ingredients together and add oil on top.
2. Add the boiling water, mix with a spoon until too thick to stir.
3. Continue to mix by hand until all the ingredients are combined.The dough will be hot, so be careful in handling. You may prefer to wear hand gloves when mixing the dough by your hand. When  you start to mix by hand, the dough may stick to your hands but as you continue, the oil will mix through and it will not stick.
4. Put into an air tight container to store.