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Recent Adoption ArticlesThink Healthy When Trying to Adopt!
http://usaadoptions.com/articles/healthy.htmlIn my work as an adoption professional, I get emails from people sharing with me that they are trying to cut back and save money during their adoption. While this is good, there are some areas that are just too valuable to skimp on. Your nutrition is one of those areas.
Good nutritious food and a healthy diet can keep you going during the ups and downs of adoption. The process of adoption can be stressful and you need to be in top shape to perform and respond well. Often women who have experienced infertility have hormonal problems (I speak from experience here) and if we don't eat properly we can get cranky to say the least.
Many birth mothers call in a panic and state that their lives feel out of control. I often ask them if they have eaten and 99% of the time they have not eaten or they have only eaten junk food. Healthy food is good fuel and is a must have when you are stressed. I am not speaking of chocolate- though quality chocolate can help after having a healthy meal. (Smile)
Some couples share that they can only "afford" cheap foods like boxed macaroni and cheese and on sale hot dogs. They feel that buying fresh nutritious produce and healthier foods are too expensive. Yet healthy food is affordable when you cut out or cut down the junk food in your life and then add or replace it with healthy food.
Next time you are at the grocery store, just add up what it costs for chips, cookies and sodas. Now compare to nutritious foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats and grains. You will see just how much farther your dollars go when you invest in real and nutritious food. You will also feel better and live longer. What's really unaffordable is a rotten diet. Garbage in, garbage out and you'll reap what you sow. Consider your health as an asset in your adoption that deserves care and attention.
In my adoption, I was very healthy and active, but my husband and I were overweight. I had one young prospective birth mother tell me that she wanted to place her unborn baby with a healthy and thin couple only. While not all birth mothers share this view, they do want someone who will be around long enough to parent their child and be a good role model in a healthy environment.
You'd never put low-grade fuel in your car, so how can you justify low-grade fuel for your family? Healthy is wealthy. Start now by making these changes, so your child will have a healthy parent and you will have healthy children with a long life to live it together.
Here is a site to visit:
Cooking Up Healthy Meal Plans La Leche League
Author:
Mardie Caldwell, COAPAbout the Author:Mardie Caldwell, COAP is nationally recognized as an authority on adoption and adopting safely on the Internet. Mardie has helped build families though open adoption since 1986. Her organization Lifetime Adoption helps birth parents and adoptive parents come together. She is an award-winning author of AdoptingOnline.com and Adoption: Your Step-by-Step Guide, as well as the radio talk show host of “Let’s Talk Adoption…with Mardie Caldwell”. Mardie has written and spoken on parenting, adoption, infertility, and women’s concerns in all areas of the media. She speaks nationwide to groups on issues of adoption. Contact Mardie through her radio site at Let’s Talk Adoption with Mardie Caldwell.
NBC’s Today Show in New York on Wednesday, May 9th, discussed recent changes in adoption. Mardie appeared live, as an expert on adoption. She was one of the special guests during the month of May. The series focused on various ways to build a family.
As an adoptive parent who experienced many of the challenges adoptive families might face, Mardie knows the sorrow of dealing with infertility including 7 lost pregnancies. She understands the important steps that must be taken to complete a safe and secure adoption. Mardie knows the joys of loving and raising an adopted child.
Mardie’s life work is dedicated to helping adoptive parents and birth parents find each other to build happy families and provide a loving and secure future for these precious infants and children. Honoring birth mothers for their courage and love to provide their babies a more secure, happy future is a hallmark.
Mardie has been a guest on numerous television networks, including CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, and BBC, PBS and radio talk shows. She is regularly interviewed by family and parenting magazines. Mardie has authored numerous articles on adoption resources, challenges and joys of adoption and parenting.
To contact Mardie please visit www.adoptingonline.com
December 21, 2007 03:16:34 PM
