August Newsletter

6 Simple Tricks to Start Each Day Strong

(Family Features) Pressing snooze, finally waking up frazzled, rushing through the house to leave on time, skipping breakfast – if that sounds like a typical morning for you, creating a new routine to start days on a stronger note may help you feel more refreshed and accomplished.

For many people, easy, breezy mornings may sound like a fantasy. However, instituting these simple tips from the experts at Buddha Teas – creators of fresh, organic teas with high-quality ingredients to let you explore nature’s best qualities – can put you on a fast track toward less frantic beginnings to each day.

Begin a Bedtime Routine
A bright-eyed, bushy-tailed morning actually starts the night before. To help ensure you’re getting enough sleep each night (7 hours or more for adults, according to the National Institutes of Health), make sure you’re winding down both physically and mentally before heading to bed. This often means skipping caffeine, turning off devices and avoiding big meals close to bedtime.

Wake Up at the Same Time Each Day
As part of your fixed bedtime routine, try going to sleep and waking up at the same times each day – including weekends. This may help your body create a natural rhythm to make it easier for you to rise in the morning without pressing snooze.

Start with Something You Enjoy
Whether you’re a morning person or natural night owl, knowing you’ll start the day with something enjoyable can help you dread that ringing alarm clock a little less. For example, a steaming mug of Buddha Teas Turmeric Ginger blend offers a delicious and comforting way to wake up. Turmeric’s pungent flavor combined with delightfully sweet ginger warms with every sip to energize your morning.

Meditate and Move
While a meditation session may sound like a quicker way to put you back in bed than get your day going, it can actually be beneficial to harness positive energy first thing. Focus on deep breathing, calm your mind and slow your heart rate prior to taking on the day’s tasks. Once you’re mentally motivated, move on to physical preparation with 10-15 minutes of light stretching to energize your body and get your blood flowing.

Strengthen Your Body
Another key aspect to a successful morning includes strengthening yourself physically by eating and drinking foods and beverages that provide immunity-boosting ingredients. Consuming a powerful blend of healing, protecting and preventative herbs can be a productive way to defend your body from free radicals with a beverage like Buddha Teas Echinacea Elderberry, which is packed with organic and plant-based vitamin C, antioxidants and detoxifying herbs. Echinacea, used for centuries to heal and protect, is combined with elderberry’s high levels of vitamin C, which is essential for growth, development and reparation of the body.

Eat a Nutritious Breakfast
Everyone knows the common refrain: “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Yet, many people choose to skip a morning meal or simply run out of time, despite the many benefits of refueling before heading off to work or school. In fact, a nutritious breakfast offers a multitude of health benefits for your body, according to the International Food Information Council Foundation, including a healthier heart, better digestion, stronger bones and improved metabolism. Plus, making time to eat in the morning can provide the energy you need to tackle your to-do list.

Find more beneficial ways to start your days strong by visiting BuddhaTeas.com.

Photos courtesy of Getty Images

SOURCE:
Buddha Teas [tab]

6 Small, Kind Gestures to Make a Big Impact Each Day

(Family Features) Everywhere you look, you can see moments of kindness. From a friend sending a thoughtful text message to a stranger holding the bus for someone running late or a person paying for someone else’s coffee, acts of kindness happen every day. While these moments can have a monumental impact on the person on the receiving end, they often go unrecognized.

In fact, a study published in the “Journal of Experimental Psychology” found that performing acts of kindness improves individual well-being and leads to more positive moods. At the same time, many people underestimate the impact their kindness may have on themselves and others.

To help foster positive connection among friends, family and communities, which the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory revealed can help reduce the risk of serious health conditions, people should consider ways to weave moments of kindness into their daily lives.

Here are a few simple ways to show kindness:

Hold the Door for Strangers
It may seem small, but holding the door for someone who is entering or exiting a building after you is a brief way to offer a helping hand and set off a contagious string of goodwill.

Send a Thoughtful Surprise
Sending someone a favorite treat, book or even a photo memory can provide a positive boost to not only the recipient but the sender as well. To take this gesture one step further, have a gift delivered to a person you don’t know but may be in need of a thoughtful gesture – such as a basket to a soldier overseas or senior citizens in local nursing homes or assisted living facilities.

Celebrate and Share Kindness Online
So much of the world is connected via social media. To build positive connections online, seek out digital spaces or services that emphasize and inspire kindness, such as the Starbucks Kindness Mobile AR experience. By combining the real world with augmented reality, the experience invites people to explore and share acts of kindness through notes inspired by real stories of kindness, photos, videos and Kindness Cards that can be shared on social media or by text message.

Look for Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteering time to local organizations, such as nursing homes, homeless shelters or food pantries, is an engaging and personal way to help those in your community.

Be Kind to Your Mind
By practicing gratitude, compassion and kindness toward yourself, you can spark moments of kindness that are more genuine and intentional with others. Meditation practice, such as the free, guided collection from Starbucks and Headspace, invites calm and kindness, opening the door to cultivate a more considerate relationship with mind, body and world.

“Experiencing kindness in the world begins with cultivating kindness toward ourselves,” said Dora Kamau, mindfulness and meditation teacher at Headspace. “This week, try being kind to your mind and notice how this has a ripple effect on others and the world around you.”

Offer Words of Encouragement and Gratitude
Whether it be via a text, note or conversation in-person, words are a direct way to show kindness and help individuals feel seen, appreciated and respected. Depending on what the situation requires, providing a compliment or saying, “thank you,” can make a significant impact on someone’s day.

For more ideas to share a little kindness, visit stories.starbucks.com.

SOURCE:
Starbucks [tab]

Meal-Prep Tips for a Manageable Back-to-School Menu

(Family Features) The hustle and bustle of back-to-school season can cause chaos in households. Class time, field trips and homework typically rule each day, which can make sitting down for a meal seem like a far-off dream. One easy way to save time is simplifying family recipes and prioritizing meal-planning.

Consider these meal-planning tips from the experts at Healthy Family Project, whose partners are donating $16,000 to the Foundation for Fresh Produce to support children’s accessibility to fresh fruits and vegetables.

Choose the meals you plan to make for the week. Cut down on prep time by planning dishes with overlapping ingredients then write out a grocery list to keep from overbuying. Recipes like this Southwest Quiche Muffins Bento Box that include a brief list of widely used ingredients can help you avoid buying items you may only use once.

Stock the kitchen with ingredients your family often uses. Ensure you have the spices, seasonings, condiments, sauces and canned foods to prepare favorite meals at a moment’s notice.

Save time by washing and prepping produce once each week. For example, if you’re using sweet peppers in these Mini Sweet Pepper Sheet Pan Nachos and again in another meal that week, prep all at once so they’re ready when it’s time to cook – just be sure to store in an airtight container.

Serve quick snacks that won’t spoil dinner. Kids often need a little fuel for homework, but complicated snacks can cut into already busy schedules. Keep ingredients on hand for simple options like trail mix, fruit parfaits and meat and cheese wraps.

Use kitchen tools that speed up the process. Pressure cookers and air fryers can help you put nutritious meals on the table faster while slow cookers let you prep in the morning and come home to a hot, delicious dinner.

Visit HealthyFamilyProject.com to find more back-to-school recipes.

Mini Sweet Pepper Sheet Pan Nachos

Recipe courtesy of Healthy Family Project
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Servings: 4

8 ounces Pero Family Farms Mini Sweet Peppers, cut into chip shapes
7 ounces tortilla chips
1/2 cup sweet or red onion, diced.
1/2 cup canned or fresh corn
1/2 cup queso fresco cheese
1/4 cup black olives
1/4 cup jalapeno peppers, fresh sliced
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, for garnish
1 lime, cut into thin wedges, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Place peppers and tortilla chips on sheet pan. Layer onion, corn, cheese, black olives and jalapeno peppers. Bake 3-5 minutes.
Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

Southwest Quiche Muffins Bento Box

Recipe courtesy of Healthy Family Project
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Servings: 12

8 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
nonstick cooking spray
3/4 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chopped Nature Fresh Farms Tomz tomatoes
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 small RealSweet sweet onion, chopped
1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
1/4 cup granola
1/2 Zespri SunGold kiwi, chopped
1 Bee Sweet Citrus mandarin, peeled and segmented

Preheat oven to 325 F.
In large bowl, whisk eggs and milk.
Coat 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray or use silicone muffin liners. Evenly divide beans, tomatoes, cheese and onion among cups. Pour eggs over top.
Bake 20-25 minutes, or until eggs are set and lightly browned.
Remove from oven and cool in pan 2-3 minutes. Use knife to loosen edges and remove.
In cup or bowl, mix yogurt, granola and kiwi.
Assemble bento box with two quiche muffins, kiwi parfait and mandarin slices.

SOURCE:
Healthy Family Project