Luna Moms Club Weekly Tip

To help get us in a festive mood for the holiday feast, here are some easy decorating ideas, using what you find out on a walk.

Centerpieces: Pumpkins and other winter squashes, Native American corn, acorns, nuts, grapes, pears, pomegranates, and apples overflowing from a wicker cornucopia or heaped in a wooden bowl look abundant and beautiful in the center of your festal table.
Leaf coasters: Autumn leaves make great coasters to protect your furniture from rings and stains. Oak leaves are especially tough, leathery, and durable.
Natural napkin rings: Tie napkins with raffia and tuck in a pretty fallen leaf and an acorn, or a cinnamon stick or two. Guests can add their cinnamon to a pot of hot cider to sip on later.
Pumpkin vase: Hollow out a pumpkin and place a cup inside to hold fresh or dried flowers.
Decorated votive holders: Glue or tie the following around the outside of your glass votive candle holders: dried apple slices, cinnamon sticks, cornhusks, autumn leaves.

Luna Moms Club Weekly Tip

Buy food (and drink-ideally tap water) from local companies whenever possible. Each pound of local food you purchase prevents a quarter pound of global warming (CO2) emissions. Support your local Farmer's Market. If possible, grow your own fruits and vegetables using organic gardening practices. Find local resources at www.localharvest.org.

Luna Moms Club Weekly Tip

Set the furnace thermostat at 68 degrees or lower, and the air-conditioner thermostat to 78 degrees or higher, health permitting. Three to five percent more energy is used for each degree above or below these marks

Luna Moms Club Weekly Tip

Consider this: If you're in a drive through restaurant/ business line or waiting for someone in your car, turn your engine off! Idling is linked to increases in asthma, allergies, heart and lung disease and cancer. Idling gets ZERO miles per gallon. Idling for 1 hour burns nearly 1 gallon of gasoline.

Luna Moms Club Weekly Tip

Fact: In a recent warning about lead exposure, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) specifically recommends that shoes remain outside the house. According to a report called the Door Mat Study, lead-contaminated soil from the outside causes almost all the lead dust inside homes and it notes that wiping shoes on a mat and removing them at the door cuts lead dust by 60 percent.
Action: Leave the dirt at the door. Wiping our shoes off and leaving them at the door reduces the amount of contaminated dirt tracked in. Think about this, your babies and kids are the ones who spend the most time on the floor of your home.

Luna Moms Club Weekly Tip

Fact: Personal care product companies are not required to test their products for safety prior to selling them and can put in virtually anything they want. Not surprisingly, there are many ingredients that have been found to be harmful.
Action: Reduce exposure to carcinogens, neurotoxicants, and reproductive toxicants, by purchasing products that do NOT contain: Parabens, Formaldehyde, Triethanolamine and cocamide DEA, PEGs, Isoprpanol, 2-phenoxyethanol, Benzethonium chloride, Talk, Phthalates, or Fragrance . Skin Deep safety guide is a great resource www.cosmeticdatabase.com

Keep Moving!!

Exercising during pregnancy can help with the physical challenges of pregnancy and help speed postpartum recovery. One other great point is that you mentally feel much better after exercise! I think that's as important as the physical benefits, and also a strong motivator. Another benefit of prenatal fitness is that it can improve your baby's ability to tolerate the stresses of labor and delivery. Research has shown that babies of exercising moms have fewer complications during labor and delivery (possibly as a result of a greater blood flow and fetal reserves resulting from their mother's exercise). Another study found that the placentas of exercising women had greater blood flow from increased blood vessel development than those of pregnant women who didn't exercise regularly. That may be one way that babies of exercising moms are better able to deal with reductions in uterine blood flow during times of stress. All great reasons to keep exercising during pregnancy!

This comes from: Catherine Cram, M.S.Owner for Comprehensive Fitness Consulting LLCAuthor of Fit Pregnancy for Dummies (Wiley Publishing, Inc. 2004)