News and Reviews
- Today is the start of the “Drink Your Water!” challenge hosted by Julie over on the If You Have an Egg Facebook Group. It’s not a competition, just a great way to challenge yourself and get some extra encouragement!
- I didn’t see any new recalls this week (whew!) so let’s do two quick product reviews before we start instead!
- Real Good Food Frozen Chicken Bowl – it was worth the 1 pt… and not in a good way. It was really lack luster, and I was disappointed.
- Smart Food Snickerdoodle Flavored Popcorn – 2 1/2 cups for 5 pts… it is DELICIOUS! I love Snickerdoodle cookies, and it was the perfect light flavor!
- Quick response to the questions I’m getting about the WW app updates. Mine has not updated and no one close to me has the update yet either for me to see. I will NOT be reviewing, commenting on, or chatting about the updates until I have seen them myself. I know you understand I always want to give you first hand info and I appreciate your patience!
(just a reminder, as an Amazon Affiliate I will receive compensation for any purchases you make with my links. I am also an affiliate for other companies who may be linked in this post for which I may be compensated with free or discounted product and in some cases monetarily. We appreciate your continued support!)
Last week was Chat #387 “Shape Your Sleep Routine!”
Isn’t it ironic that our topic was sleep on the same week that the time changed for everyone in the US and her territories except Hawaii, Arizona, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands?
WW wasn’t the only entity that was chatting about sleep and the importance of it this week. Wonder why and if it’s really that important? Let’s find out!
We are all just large toddlers
When you get down to it, we are all just toddlers in large bodies. Me. You. All of us. According to the Mayo Clinic children may suffer the following ill effects from frequent lack of or disrupted sleep
- Absenteeism from school (or work!)
- Being accident prone
- Challenges with impulse control (so that’s why my brain says salad but my mouth says fries and a milkshake at the drive thru)
- Decrease in attention span, mental alertness, and ability to learn and reason
- Decreased motivation (starting to sound familiar)
- Defiance or noncompliance
- Depression or anxiety (oh boy now you’re preaching!)
- Difficulty falling asleep (isn’t that crazy??)
- Difficulty in waking
- Hyperactivity and silliness or giddiness
- Impairment in decision-making, problem-solving and judgment (um hello?)
- Increase in appetite and sugar cravings (boom, that explains alot)
- Overemotional (been there done that)
- Poor concentration
- Poor school performance (insert poor life performance here)
- Signs of cognitive, memory impairment and forgetting daily tasks
- Tantrums, irritability or aggressive behavior (ok now you’re just meddling LOL)
You can’t make up for lost time
I will claw and fight for that extra hour when the time falls back each autumn. Who’s with me?
But that one hour doesn’t make up for all the times I stayed up way too late to finish a Netflix series. Or stayed up all night with John to drive to Disney. Or got up super early because I couldn’t stop thinking about something at work and drove on in.
Frequently losing hours of sleep whether intentional or not can’t be made up with a nap, a late morning in bed, or even an annual time change
Back to being a toddler
A few minutes ago we discussed just how much we are like a large toddler. I bet you were nodding your head in agreement on at least 3-5 of the results of not enough sleep.
And if your toddler or young child was exhibiting even just a couple of these behaviors you would get right back onto that old bedtime routine wouldn’t you?
Only you know how many hours a night it takes for you to be a sane, productive, and somewhat normal participant in society. What have you done in the past or could you do to make sure that “most” nights you get that perfect for you sleep for your sanity?
For me it’s:
- Turn off the tv, phone, anything with blue light at least an hour before bed
- Make sure I have on the coolest clothes possible and that my husband has on like six layers
- Read for the last 30 minutes before I shut off the last lights and lay my head down
Your homework was #SleepForYourSanity. Take 10 minutes and list three things you did or do or think you could/should do as a nighttime routine to achieve the magic number of hours to be sane the next day
- Ann kept her sanity this week by setting an alarm on her phone that turns the phone off when the alarm goes off…what? Genius! And Melisa got her a book for her bday so she will be making some time before bed to read that too!
- Deanna is so faithful to her homework! This week she’s staying sane by
- 1. Take a hot shower
- 2. Read before bed
- 3. No electronic games 1 hour before bedtime
- Melisa is so sane this week because she’s reading an actual book and set her Alexa to turn off the lights after 30 minutes!
Bravo, you did it!
This Week’s Topic: “Control What Counts!”
It is now 18 days (less than 3 weeks) until US Thanksgiving. Are you feeling in control? Out of control? Or are you already playing the doom and gloom death spiral of holidays mix tape in your mind?
So you can’t control everything about the holidays but you are NOT completely without and out of control. How? Let’s find out!
Name 5 things you absolutely can control about Thanksgiving
- Happiness
- What We Eat
- How Much We Eat/ Volume of Food
- Walking/Exercise Through the Holidays
- When We Get Back on Track
Name 5 things you can’t control about Thanksgiving
- What Other People Bring/Cook
- Stress
- How Things Were Cooked
- Time of Meal
- Dealing with Family
What’s Important, What’s Not, and What Do We Do About It?
- I can’t control what people bring… but my family made a list! So now I know what I want to eat and what needs to be skipped.
- I might not be able to control how other people cook the food, but now I cook some of my favorites. Now I know what’s in it and how many points it will be.
- Stress is a hard thing to control… but maybe you use this holiday to practice #SleepForYourSanity and go to bed early the night before/ sleep in on Thanksgiving day.
- Dealing with family… be happy you have one. You can deal with them for a day or two, because you are blessed to have another year with them.
And for the things we can’t control or that don’t really matter anyway, we are just going to have to trust that everything will be ok. It’s a Turkey Trust Fall!
This Week’s Homework: #TurkeyTrustFall
Your homework for this week is #TurkeyTrustFall. Take 10 minutes and list three things you did or do or think you could/should do as a nighttime routine to achieve the magic number of hours to be sane the next day. Now DO YOUR HOMEWORK because I promise there is someone who needs the idea you have already rattling around in your head. Whatever it is let us know, I promise your decision to participate this week will help you AND someone else! Then type it, snap it, share it however you like, and then tag me for your next cool badge!
Don’t forget to do your homework is #TurkeyTrustFall and tag me when you share on social media!
- Tag @ifyouhaveanegg on Instagram
- Tag @ifyouhaveanegg on our Facebook Page
- Tag @Kelly Green Milligan in our Facebook Group
- Tag @ifyouhaveanegg on WW Connect
The Amazon Wish List is UP and I so appreciate your support. This will provide a way for us to continue testing products for you, trying out new gadgets and recipes, and refilling the IYHAE pantry since it doesn’t look like the budget cuts are budging. If you don’t already know, it costs more than $100 per week to provide this free content to you and that doesn’t include my time. Your support really does help keep us going!
Amazon Wish List can be found here: If You Have an Egg Support Wish List
Extra Credit: IP Loaded Mashed Potatoes
I am swapping out some ingredients on one of my family’s favorites around the holidays… Loaded Mashed Potatoes!
Now, I prefer to make my mashed potatoes with red skin new/baby potatoes. I love leaving the skins on, but I wouldn’t recommend leaving them on if you are using regular sized potatoes.
I pre-cooked the potatoes in the Instant Pot, and then cut them down into 1.5-2in cubes. There were 5lbs of potatoes… you didn’t want to have to see me cook all of them on live!
Then, I add
- non fat plain greek yogurt
- fat free cream cheese (I make my own using this recipe)
- light sour cream
Now, you need to mash your potatoes before you do anything else. Those items were swapped in for the butter, milk, heavy cream that usually tends to be in mashed potatoes, but you still get the same creamy, yummy taste!
To make these potatoes loaded, I add
- cheese (I usually use light cheddar)
- a little bit of garlic
- chopped bacon/bacon bits (I know they tend to be a lot of points, but a little goes a long way, I promise!)
- green onions
- any of your favorite spices! I use DAK’s Red Mountain Rub… YUM!
There will be a detailed recipe posted soon, be on the look out for that!
Would you make these loaded potatoes? Let us know in the comments below!
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