I received an advanced copy of his book The Hypothyroid Diet for review and was very impressed with what I read.

Hypothyroidism is a devastating epidemic affecting 10 to 27 million Americans, often caused by an autoimmune disorder, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Most sufferers are women, and many are misdiagnosed, undiagnosed, or mistreated. When she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and subsequently thyroid cancer, Dr. Dobrzynski’s wife Amy did not get better despite medication and surgery. Her husband was determined to help her lose weight, fight fatigue and feel normal again, and their success is documented in The Hypothyroid Diet.

A licensed practitioner of natural medicine, Dr. Kevin Dobrzynski has a thriving practice helping people use exercise and nutrition for a happier, healthier life. “Combining alternative medicine with exercise creates a healthy option and balance to give you the freedom while staying in control of your own healthcare,” he explains. Driven by a desire to help his wife, he studied the effects of the immune system, thyroid function and the interplay of nutrition and exercise.

I recommend reading this book if you are battling thyroid disease (or think you might have it even if you haven’t ‘officially’ been diagnosed with it) and/or are looking to lose weight.

Dr. Dobrzynski shares many of the factors that affect the inability of those suffering from thyroid disease to lose weight.  One of things I found most helpful in the book was his chart of “functional” test results of those that are affected.  Many people who think they may have thyroid disease come out of the doctor’s office being told their levels are within a normal range.  But Dr. Dobrzynski tells you how exactly labs and doctors come to those conclusions, and how you might just be on the verge of having thyroid disease and gives you the levels of those that are “on the fence” so to speak.  I took out my last tests for these, and lone behold…My levels land on his chart!  But this is a good thing, because now I know to go back to the doctor’s with this information in hand and ask the questions I didn’t know to ask before.  Plus knowing what I now know, will allow me to lose weight more easily.

With many ideas of food choices that will boost your metabolism, and foods to stay away from, Dr. Dobrzynski gives you a plan that is feasible to live with daily.  He knows you’ll have occasions where you’re going to indulge, and that’s okay too!  It’s about making it fit your life so that you can lose weight and feel great.  Along those lines he gives sample menus so you can get a strong start, and gives options to substitute so you don’t get tired of eating the same thing all the time.

I REALLY THINK THIS IS A KEY BOOK FOR INFORMATION ON WEIGHT LOSS FOR THOSE WITH THYROID DISEASE.

You can learn more about Dr. Dobrzynski and The Hypothyroid Diet at http://thehypothyroiddiet.com/.   The book will be released in May of this year and is available  for pre-order on Amazon.com as well as other online book retailers.

How do you prepare to handle a child that isn’t typical. One that has special needs, physical limitations, autism or sensory processing disorder?

Singer/Songwriter Jennifer Shaw had to come to terms with the fact that their son Toby was not typical. He would not run across grass or walk on sand. The wind hurt him and water seemed to burn him. These symptoms of sensory processing disorder threw typical out the window in their family and they had to implement major changes in their daily lifestyle.

In her new book Life Not Typical: How Special Needs Parenting Changed My Faith and My Song, Jennifer shares the life-altering events that seemed to snowball from the start of an ectopic pregnancy to the diagnosis and therapy of Toby’s SPD.

If your child has SPD, this book is sure to encourage you. If you think your child might have SPD it might allow you to recognize the symptoms. Jennifer also cites many potential options for therapy and assistance. While Toby’s case of SPD was quite severe (especially the issues he had for many years with food), there are varying degrees of SPD. Regardless of whether your child is “typical” or not – every mother can be encouraged by the message Jennifer writes about as she shares the positive influences in Toby’s life, her faith in God and knowing that there was a plan for Toby and their family amid it all.

Life Not Typical: How Special Needs Parenting Changed My Faith and My Song is available for purchase in paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com.

I received a copy of this book for review purposes.

Giveaway

One reader will win a copy of Life Not Typical.

To enter the giveaway just fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

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Jake Taylor (Randy Wayne) is a good-natured 16 year old all-star athlete who seems to have everything going for him. Despite trouble at home, he is self-assured and has found comfort in the insular world of American high school life from the perspective of being “the popular kid.” Bound by his place in the high school caste system, Jake grows apart from his childhood friend Roger (Robert Bailey, Jr.), who doesn’t fit in. When the school’s social scene drives a final wedge between them, an unexpected tragedy strikes. Forced to come to terms with things that he has long taken for granted, Jake reflects on his priorities and begins his journey on a new path that threatens everything his world is built on- his friends, his girlfriend Amy (Deja Kreutzberg), his basketball scholarship and his reputation.

Visit GMC to learn more about To Save a Life.

Just a week before her sixth wedding anniversary her husband was killed in a snowmobile accident. Not long after that she had to give away the Doberman that they had. After much thought, she decided to get another dog.

After much looking and researching she chose to get a smaller dog. It’s amazing how that little dog helped her grieve.

It’s an interesting story on how that dog got his name. When she first brought the puppy home, she had a short list of names, and she asked me, my niece, nephews and some friends for some name ideas. But ultimately it came down to a fun memoriam to my brother-in-law when it came time to deciding the dog’s name.

My sister’s husband was quite the stylish guy. He was always into the latest fashions and loyal to certain brand names. One of the brands he liked the best was Tommy Hilfiger. Most of the clothing he wore had that ‘flag’ emblazoned on it. After my sister and he started dating, her closet started having more and more of the navy, red and white hues of Tommy Hilfiger as well.

From Tommy Hilfiger shirts, jeans, cologne, perfume, bed sheets and bath towels, their home was like a fashion warehouse!

And that’s how my sister’s new puppy got his name ‘Tommy’.

Tommy helped heal my sister’s grief, and became her ‘baby’, having had no children from her first marriage. Tommy endeared everyone who met him. My sister’s boss even let her take Tommy to work with her in a laundry basket when he was a puppy!

Caring for Tommy gave her a purpose and let her remember the good memories of her husband. Through the years Tommy became a big part of our extended family too, we all expected him to be at gatherings and the kids all loved him.

Eventually my sister found love again, re-married and had a couple of children. Tommy was much loved by my nephews. Unfortunately there came a day when Tommy’s purpose in my sister’s life came to an end, but his life and what he did for her will always be remembered.

I am blogging about my canine companion as a part of the “What’s in a Name?” Campaign hosted by DogFenceDiy, the invisible fence alternative. No matter what you choose to name your pooch DogFenceDiy wants to keep them safe and warm.

My two favorite strategies that Brooks and Goldstein discuss to nurture a “social resilient mindset” in your child are

Teach your child to learn from mistakes rather than feel defeated by them
Cultivate and foster your child’s creativity and growth in the face of adversity

The book features dozens of stories and its easy to follow narrative demonstrates how to apply techniques to foster resilience to every parenting practice when raising children with autism spectrum disorders, and helping them develop essential social skills. They provide specific, practical strategies for nurturing social skills and resilience in children.

One of the strategies that I was most impressed with was the concept of “bubble talk”. It’s a positive way to reach children that have a difficult connection as to know what is acceptable to say out loud and what can be vocalized. Using the image of a cartoon and a thought ‘bubble’ over the character’s head, the child is engaged at home with scenarios in which they can decide in a safe environment what they should keep in “bubble talk” and what they can say aloud.

Children love to help and receive praise, and Brooks and Goldstein illustrate how we can build upon those feelings of worth and introduce resilience in our children by uplifting them in areas that they are competent in. This is even more true in families where there may only be one autistic child, and the siblings all feel unequally pressured to live up to expectations that they feel unfair – even if the parents are unaware of it.

What’s interesting about this book is, although it is written to parents and caregivers of children on the autism spectrum, its advice and techniques can be used just as effectively for children who aren’t on the spectrum. Many of the challenges that are illustrated in the book are not exclusive to any one child or diagnoses.

Testimonials of the families will show that parenting a child with autism on a good day can be frustrating and on a bad day it can feel like sheer hopelessness. It’s not about being a bad parent, it’s about understanding where your child is at – and through this book, Drs Brooks and Goldstein will help you be the empathic parent your child needs, whether they’re on or off the spectrum.

Raising Resilient Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder by Dr. Robert Brooks and Dr. Sam Goldstein is available at book retailers and online.

I received a copy of this book to review.

We made this a family project.  My husband and I went to Walmart to shop for the healthy snacks.

We purchased some Abbott Nutrition products to include in our packs; PediaSure Sidekicks (in chocolate and vanilla flavors) and Zone Perfect Fudge Graham bars.  We also purchased other shelf stable healthy snacks to put in the pack.  We thought it would be good to add a 32oz. refillable water bottle so the kids who received it could stay hydrated as well

Check out our shopping experience in our Google+ story below.

After we put a couple of Snack Boxes together my daughter took them to the Salvation Army where she prepares and serves dinner every other month.  There are always kids there and so we knew it would be a great place to give them out.  The kids decided it would be fair to hold a raffle since there were more of them than there were snack packs!  Seems to me that they were pretty happy to receive them

Just like the name implies Simple Service Projects are just that — simple.  They are easy for one family to do on their own or grab a group of friends or co-workers and make it bigger and better!  I encourage you to go out and pick up some healthy snacks, and donate them to a community service organization that will make sure the kids who need it will receive them.  I think you’ll actually feel just as excited to do it as the kids that get the snacks will be!

If you do participate let www.championsforkids.org/simple know what you’ve done – and be one of what they hope will be millions that are Champions for Kids.

“This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  All opinions are my own.”

Take them one at a time, and shred them. Don’t just throw them out or recycle them. You don’t want to be dealing with someone taking your identity off them and dealing with the problems and credit crises that you might be slugging through five, ten, fifteen even twenty years from now because someone pretended to be you.

One of the smartest things my husband and I have ever done is take out identity theft protection. You may have seen commercials on TV or ads in magazines for different services that provide solutions for this.

Many of us have activities and and habits that leave us at risk for identity fraud, whether that’s not shredding mail with our information on it, or giving our social security number to people or businesses that don’t need it. IdentityHawk can protect you and your lifestyle from identity theft in numerous ways, including letting you know the places that you are most vulnerable.

Remember your identity is one of the most important assets you own – don’t give someone else the opportunity to be you.

Brought to you by your friends at www.identityhawk.com.

To give you some background on this project, let me give you some staggering facts:

• Over 16 million children under 18 in the U.S. are not able to get sufficient quantities of nutritious food essential for healthy living.  More than three million of those children are under five.

• Because kids under the age of five are still growing and developing their immune systems, the lack of nutritious food can have a negative effect on the way they grow, learn and ward of sickness.

• That statement ‘you are what you eat’ is never so important when it comes to the nutritional quality of the food that children eat – 17% of children between two and 19 years of age are obese and 1 in 7 low-income, preschool aged children.

(Sources:  Feeding America; Center for Disease Control)

Here’s where you and I come in to the picture – we can help with this simple service project idea:

LEARN about the hunger needs of children in your community.
- We’ve seen it first hand, every other month my daughter volunteers at the Salvation Army and helps make and serve dinner to families that are in need.  We are told that almost half of those that are served at the food pantries in South Dakota (where I live) are children and infants!  We want to help put healthy food in even just one or two of those children.

GATHER the people you know and ask them to bring healthy and nutritious foods together so you can present an organization, teacher, church, community center or family with nutritious food for the children they know that are hungry.  Items by Abbott Nutrition #AbbotCFK like Pediasure, Pediasure SideKicks and ZonePerfect bars are excellent to help supplement vitamins and minerals that those children may not be receiving in their daily diets.

- This is a family and friends project for us.  My husband and I are going to go to our local Walmart and do the shopping, and my daughter and some friends are going to deliver the healthy snack items.

GIVE the healthy food to a local organization that can identify the children who need it most.  It may be a church, charity or school.

- This #CBias campaign couldn’t have come at a better time.  This weekend is one of the dates that my daughter goes to the Salvation Army to help prepare and server dinner.  There are always children there, and she’s going to find a couple of them to present the healthy snack boxes to.  We’ve seen the impact that the Salvation Army dinners have in the two years that our daughter has been involved.   They do so much in our community for families and children.

See it’s simple!  And you can do this in your own community – you can tell www.championsforkids.org/simple what you’ve done and send them photos too!  Let them know that you participated in Abbott Nutrition Pack A Snack project and were Champions for Kids.

Come join us tonight Thursday, January 19^th at 9:00 pm EST for the Abbott/Champions for Kids Twitter Party.  You can RSVP at www.FoundtheMarbles.com.

“This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  All opinions are my own.”

Do these statistics astonish you?

The Global Genes Project is a grassroots effort to bring more awareness to the rare disease community as more awareness will lead to more support and funding which will aid in developing treatments and cures. Currently only 5% of rare diseases have any sort of treatment; there are no cures.

Call to actions:

• Join our “1 Million for RARE” movement and like our Global Genes Project Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/globalgenesproject
•  Tweet with us @GlobalGenes. Use #1Mil4RARE
• Tell a friend about this project!

Just by sharing the message you will be helping to raise awareness as we head into World RARE Disease Day on February 29th. The rare disease community thanks you for listening.

Fun or Inspirational shirts.  These can be a good present for a guy or a girl.  Find a tv show or a cause that is near and dear to your loved one and they’ll think of you every time they don that shirt.  You can usually find tees for under $30.

Eyeglasses.  Yep, it’s a gift not many people would think of, but if you can get a copy of their prescription, a pair of Valentine’s Day glasses is a present the fashionista in your life is sure to appreciate.  Whether their style is light and delicate, sleek or bold, there are plenty of colors and styles to choose from and if you purchase online they don’t cost a fortune either.

Jewelry. Of course.  But it doesn’t have to be expensive you can find great pieces at craft fairs and online sites like etsy.  Pendants, bracelets and earrings are a good choice.  Make sure you know your recipient’s ring size if you’re going to go that route.

Hats and Gloves.  Knitted or fleece – outwear in February is a warm way to say “I Love You”.

Lingerie.  I’ll leave that to your own imagination.

What sort of apparel and accessories would you enjoy receiving for Valentine’s Day?