I’m sure before you Discover more at My Fitness Hub for fitness exercises you start with reading magazines and happen to make a pile of it somewhere in your drawer. For your knowledge, Fitness Magazines are not just a great read: They can be reused over and over in several fun ways!

This New Year, why not kill two birds with one stone.  Keep your resolution for going green, getting the body you’ve always dreamed of or taking holiday weight off with fat burning pills, and organizing your paperwork, your life, and your home all at once.  You can start with that stack of fitness and health magazines that have been sitting in a pile and collecting an array of dust.  This month, check back every Wednesday to tackle one project at a time.

This Week:  Get in shape while reducing, reusing, and recycling!

Step One:  Magazine Subscription Insert Cards

Use subscription insert cards to blot lipstick! Keep stacks in your make-up organizer for ready use.

 

Step Two:  Donate Magazines

When finished with old magazines, pass them on to friends, family, or even your local doctor’s office to keep the ideas going and to inspire another.

Step Three:  Create a Fitness Scrapbook

When I’m completely finished with my fitness magazines I cut out the moves, ideas, inspiring words, and recipes into a personal fitness scrapbook.  I bought a journal for $5.00 at my local Big Lots, took a glue stick, scissors, stickers, and gems to create my work-out scrapbook on the cheap.

My personal work-out scrapbook that I bought for a mere $5.00

 

Recycle old fitness magazines by cutting out moves and recipes then using a glue stick to place them where you like then get ready to shape-up!

 

Old magazine clips have a wealth of routines, moves, and recipes!

Creating your own personal scrapbook gives you time to research and reset your brain for easing into a fitness routine for the New Year!

Step Four:  Use Tear-Out Cards!

Take tear out cards and mix n’match by using a hole puncher and place them on a ring for quick and simple work-outs!

Step Five:  Cut and Paste low-cal Recipes on Index Cards

Be sure to buy an index card box too with a variety of colors then cut and paste your favorite healthy recipes.  Use a label divider to keep your recipes stored in order such as, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and smoothies.

Magazine subscription cards also make great bookmarks for the avid reader!

Blogger Laurali Star can be found on her blog, Charming Laurali Star, and on her site, The Damsel in the Attic, where she sells handmade and vintage clothing and accessories.  Another fab way to help reduce, reuse, and recycle!  Check it out!

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

With Christmas around the corner, it’s time to start planning ways to incorporate fruits and veggies into your festive meals! We all tend to indulge at this time of year so it’s always a great idea to balance that out by eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. Around here eating and serving fruits and veggies has to be fun! This broccoli tree with tomato decorations and a star made out of a yam makes a delicious and healthy centerpiece!

Put out some dip and watch the tree disappear

To make these trees you need a styrofoam cone shape…we used one the was 98mm (3-7/8 in) x 301mm (11-7/8in) and trimmed a lot off of the bottom in fact I would suggest cutting the cone half way down so that it doesn’t take up too much broccoli! We used 6 large heads of broccoli for our tree.

I recommend using extra long tooth pics so that you can trim them down for the top of the tree and then use the full size on the bottom…this helps to make the tree extend out at the bottom! You could easily sprinkle in some cauliflower in there to make it look like some snow on the tree. I cut our star out of a piece of yam…but feel free to use anything that you have on hand!

We hope this Holiday Season is full of love and laughter for you! Wishing you Health and Happiness in the new year!!!!

 
Happy Healthy Eating,
Kia

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!

Bill sets out healthy foods on display to begin making butterfly food art

The end result: Beautiful and nutritious butterfly snacks!

I had the chance to chat up Bill and Claire Wurtzel on the phone recently and discovered a whole new world of happy as we discussed how to add healthy food choices to your child’s classroom menu, how to make fun food art, and the great love story of Bill and Claire!  All you need:

• Imagination
• An array of healthy foods set out on display
• A willingness to teach and do
• An Open-Heart and Mind

The Love Story:

It turns out, love can be duplicated at breakfast!

Congratulations to Bill and Claire for celebrating their recent 5oth anniversary!  They are a warm and kind couple with a good cause that they want to share with the world.  Funny Food originated in the kitchen at their home in Manhattan, N.Y.C.  On Sunday mornings, Bill would make breakfast for Claire then create art couture from toast, fruits, eggs, and nuts all in hopes of getting a good laugh out of his wife.  About five years ago Claire prompted Bill to take pictures and the New York Times published them on March 2nd, 2011.  From love story to food story, Bill and Claire now have an up-coming Funny Food Book which will become available April 2012.

Healthy Food Workshops:

School Workshops 10-4

Bill and Claire have a message that they hope reach First Lady Michelle Obama in their quest for combating childhood diabetes and obesity as as getting children to eat a well-balanced breakfast.  Together they have visited New York City schools that have high rates of childhood obesity promoting interactive, hands on learning for kids.  They hold workshops in which they display nutritious breakfast from the different foods groups.  Claire, an educator, speaks up about nutrition while Bill models breakfast in his quirky, funny food way.  I was so inspired by my talk with them that I hope to transpire their ideas to Pinellas County Schools in Florida.  Want to make a difference?  Download copies and print copies to pass out at your next PTA meeting.

Bill Wurtzel's Anthroplum created for Green Halloween!

Let kids get creative by setting out a tray of pre-cut nutritious food shapes for art creation!

Take a pita and crack a smile! Who says you can't play with your food?

Take a pita, crack a smile, throw some eggs on top of her head for a funny hairstyle!

Take eggs and yolk and a lot of imagination to make a peggquin scene!

Make sure your toast is gluten-free or whole-wheat for a healthy alternative

Bill’s Background:

Bill Wurtzel is a renowned guitarist and art director.  He improvises breakfast like a jazz solo!  Check out his musical abilities at Bill Wurtzel.

Bill places his love of jazz in this musically inclined Bosc Player!

Panjo

Granddaughter Daniela:

The proud grandparents mentioned their little granddaughter Daniela a few times and since she lives right next door, its the perfect time for Bebop to make her breakfast too!  She gets in on the breakfast action by creating her own works of art.  Check it out and then prep your counter for foodie fun with your own kids!

Bebop Bill made this for Granddaughter Daniela for a healthy dessert

4 year old Granddaughter Daniela Weis making her own art!

4 year old Daniela's fruity doll art!

Yummy, healthy food art kids just love to design

You do the cutting, let your kids create the art!

Daniela made this scary face for Green Halloween! Good job!

This Cantaloupe Skeleton was made especially for Green Halloween by Bill!

Look for Bill Wurtzel as we feature him in up-coming posts on Green Halloween!

Blogger Laurali Star can be found on her blog, Charming Laurali Star, and on her site, The Damsel in the Attic, where she sells handmade and vintage clothing and accessories.  Another fab way to help reduce, reuse, and recycle!  Check it out!

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

by Corey

We are thrilled and honored to partner with Non-GMO Project to present the first-ever Guide to a non-GMO Halloween!

Offered to parents as a toolkit, the 2011 Guide contains a list of Non-GMO Project Verified Halloween treats (such Nature’s Path organic crispy rice bars, Endangered Species Chocolates and Glee Gum minis), fun ideas for “treasures” (non-food goodies) and even a healthy recipe from our very own food blogger, Kia Robertson.

Get the Guide here.

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

by Corey

When I was five, my family went to a “haunted house.” It was supposed to be kid-friendly.

But just steps into the experience, I was so freaked out that my parents convinced a group of witches and ghouls to drop their act and show me that they were real (live) people. Nonetheless, I refused to go any further through.

That was the last time I set foot in a haunted house.

The occasion was supposed to be fun, but for me, it was just awful. I was too young and the acting was too real.

For many kids, the typical “spooky” themes of Halloween can be frightening: the un-dead costumes, the haunted decor, the creaky music, if you are looking for table runners for your Halloween then at CV Linens you will find the best cheap table runner. But there’s no need to limit the fun when there’s so many great alternatives that kids of all ages can enjoy.

Here are 3 not-so-spooky themes for your Halloween celebration:

Credit: Oh The Lovely Things

Harvest

Forget ghosts and goblins and think “Harvest” – perhaps a pumpkin or apple theme. For either, decorate the room with harvest items you have grown, picked or purchased (look for organic and locally grown). Stamp names on mini-pumpkins for place-cards. Turn apples into candle holders (keep out of the reach of children). Play pass-the-pumpkin or dunk-for-apples (or hang apples from strings and see who can get a bite). Turn last year’s saved plastic Easter eggs into little jack-o-lanters. Stuff with healthy goodies. Have a Halloween egg hunt. Roast pumpkin seeds or make pumpkin cookies. Make mini-caramel apples (using all natural/organic caramel). Make (upcycled) pumpkin or apple crafts. Press apples for cider. Send kids home with a packet of pumpkin or apple seeds.

Credit: Fiksd

Owls

Owls are a great nod to the season, without being too spooky. Send a paperless Owl e-invitation. Line the front walk-way with paper-bag luminaries with owl cut-outs, or owl-carved jack-o-lanterns. Decorate the house like a forest. Cover walls with recycled craft paper and paint trees. Make smaller “limbs” from crumpled paper bags. Download Owl calls and forest sounds and play during the party. Make a paper mache owl pinata and fill with healthy goodies. Invite an owl expert to attend. Play pin the owl on the tree. Paint owl faces using natural face paints. Make owl pompoms and send home as the gift.

Credit: Green Baby Guide

Bugs

Creepy crawlies can be – well, creepy – but they don’t have to be. Make giant spider webs with strips of old sheets or cheesecloth. Flatten large cardboard boxes and paint with chalkboard paint (black). Use chalk to draw on spider webs. Let the kids add spiders with colored chalk. Cut spiders out of recycled paper (like snow flakes). Make spiders from old bike tire tubes and hang on a Halloween tree. Serve buggy fare made from fruits, veggies and whole grain crackers. Play Bug, Bug, Spider instead of Duck, Duck, Goose.

Or forgo the “theme” all together and simply use colors to create a festive Halloween ambiance without the fear-factor.

Try black, green and purple for a twist on the usual orange and black. Serve foods in these color schemes, too.

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.