Month: November 2014

Position: A supine position on the floor with the knees straight and the heels together. The bar is held at straight arms’ length over the chest with the elbows locked.

Action: From this position, the arms are lowered overhead, keeping the elbows rigid or locked. The moment the knuckles touch the floor the bar is returned to the starting position over the chest.

Breathing: Inhale as the bar is lowered to the floor and exhale as it is raised over the chest.

Progression: The movement should be started with 10 counts and 2    counts added each week until 20 have been performed for 3 exercise periods.

Then 2½ lbs. should be added to the bar and the motion begun again at 10 counts with the repetitions increased as before.

It is well not to exceed 25 lbs. resistance in this exercise. If a heavier is used, the ribs will become fixed to act as a base or origin for the

muscles to raise the and the rib box will not be expanded for the desired effect.

Goal: Girls and women should work up to a resistance of 15 lbs.

Boys and men should work up to a resistance of 25 lbs.

Comments: The breathing in this movement is very important. When the bar is lowered, the lungs must be full of air when it touches the floor. The purpose is to stretch the walls of the chest, not to lift a heavy .

If a heavier than 25 lbs. is used, the elbows must be bent to relieve the shoulders of unnecessary strain and to permit full expansion of the rib box.

This movement with the elbows bent is used as an advanced exercise and the weights used can be worked up to 50 of 75 lbs.

Rather than to use a heavy , it is better for the individual to keep using the 15 to 20 lb. bar and place a low stool under the shoulders.

With the body in this position, the bar can be lowered further and the ribs stretched a little more. This is quite severe and should not be used until the chest is thoroughly accustomed to the pull over in the regular manner.

In arranging a program, this movement should follow an exercise for the back or legs, for those movements stimulate the volume of breathing making the stretching of the rib box more effective.

It is not uncommon for youngsters to gain as much as 3 inches in the normal chest circumference in as short a time as six weeks.

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Childhood Immunization or vaccinations as they are also called is one of the best ways to protect your children from many serious diseases.

Some parents are afraid that vaccines can be dangerous and think that it might be better to let their children gain immunity by getting the disease.

This is a serious mistake!

While it would be wrong to say that vaccines are completely free of side effects, they are much safer than the diseases they protect against.

The vaccines that are available in Canada have undergone rigorous testing to ensure their safety and effectiveness.

However, as with anything in life, there is always a risk. Here are some cautions parents should be aware of:

If your child has ever had an allergic reaction to a vaccine, talk with your doctor before the child gets another shot. Allergic reactions include breathing problems and severe swelling of the skin or mouth.

There may be some redness, swelling, or pain at the place where the needle entered the skin.

Some children may develop a fever after getting a vaccination. Your doctor or pharmacist can advise you on how to relieve these symptoms.

If your child is very sick when it is time for a vaccination, ask your doctor if it would be better to reschedule the shot.

Diseases that Can Be Prevented

Not all diseases can be prevented, but vaccines can provide protection against the following diseases.

Diphtheria is an infection that can damage the heart or paralyze the breathing muscles and cause death.

Tetanus (lockjaw) causes muscles to become tight and go into spasms, which can severely affect breathing and cause death.

Pertussis (whooping cough) can cause such severe coughing spells that an infected baby or child may not be able to eat, drink, or breathe. The infection can also cause brain damage and death.

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a viral infection that attacks the spinal cord and brain and may cause life-long physical disability, paralysis, or death.

Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) is a bacterial infection that can cause blood poisoning or bacterial meningitis, an infection of the brain and spinal cord coverings that can lead to mental retardation, deafness, and death.

Measles (rubeola) is a serious illness that causes high fever and skin rash. It can lead to serious complications that can be fatal.

German measles (rubella) causes a rash and a fever. Healthy children generally recover completely, but if a pregnant woman catches the infection, it can cause serious birth defects in her unborn baby. Vaccinating children will help prevent the spread of this disease to pregnant women.

Mumps is a viral infection that settles in the saliva glands, causing fever, weakness, and facial swelling. A healthy young child will usually recover from mumps, but it can cause serious complications such as deafness and swollen testicles in older children.

Chickenpox causes itchy, weeping blisters to form on the skin. Children generally recover from mild cases of chickenpox, but the disease may lead to serious complications. An adult who is not immune to chickenpox can easily catch the disease from an infected child, and one in five adults who gets chickenpox develops pneumonia, which can be deadly.

Hepatitis B can be transmitted from an infected mother to her baby. Some children become infected when they have their ears pierced with a contaminated needle. It can also be picked up from a contaminated household object, such as using a toothbrush that was used by an infected family member. Once a person is infected, the hepatitis B virus attacks the liver and my cause liver disease or liver cancer.

Other Vaccinations

In addition to immunizing children against the diseases described above, the Canadian Pediatric Society and Health Canada recommend that children receive the following vaccines:

Pneumococcal vaccine to protect against infections caused by a bacteria known as Streptococcus pneumoniae, which causes meningitis (a brain infection), pneumonia, and ear infections.

Meningococcal vaccine to protect against diseases caused by the meningococcus bacteria, which is responsible for meningitis and septicemia (a serious blood infection).

Flu shot to prevent influenza. This is especially important in children who have a high risk of developing serious complications from the flu. Children are considered to be at high risk if they have heart or lung problems, a chronic condition such as diabetes, or if they have been treated for long periods of time with ASA.

Timing Is Important
It is important for children to receive vaccines at the proper times. For the sake of convenience, some vaccinations are combined into a single shot. Check with your local health clinic or hospital to find out when you are expected to get these immunizations.

My daughter and I have been spending Saturday afternoons the last few weekstrying to make great granola bars. Not sure how well we are really doing but I have been eating up our progress!

How are Granola Bars Made?

First of all it is important to have a place to start from with any kind of recipe. When making granola bars there are two parts, dry and wet.

The dry part of the granola bars is based on rolled oats and usually some kind of nuts and seeds as well as a sweetener. I have used various nuts and seeds now and for sweetners have used dates, brown sugar, and coconut.

For the wet portion of the granola bars there are a few staples. Peanut butter is popular, as is often some kind of oil, honey, chocolate chips, and I am guessing more things than we can all think of.

After you have mixed the two parts together you squeeze them down in an 8×8 or 9×13 pan and then put in the fridge to harden.

So with so many options there are a multitude of combinations to make your granola bars. I would like to share our recipes and how they have changed and gotten better as time goes on.

First Granola Bar Attempt

The first attempt as you can see the ingredients here was ok although a little dry.

We looked through a lot of recipes and ended up doing the worst thing, modding recipes before we knew what we were doing

First Granola Bar Ingredients

2 1/2 cups Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Flaked Coconut
1/2 cup Crushed Walnuts
1 cup Quinoa
1/2 cup Crushed Pecans
1/2 cup Pumpkin Seeds

1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/4 cup Butter
1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1. We knew that there was an advantage to toasting our dry goods and we had a mixture of rolled oats, quinoa, pumpkin seeds (pepitas), crushed walnuts, crushed pecans, and coconut.
2. We cooked these at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and then broiled for less than a minute to brown the dry ingredients
3. For wet ingredients we used honey, brown sugar, butter, and peanut butter. heated to melted on the stove in a fairly large pot.
4. By doing this we were able to add the dry ingredients to this pot and that gave us a place to mix it all together.
5. After we completed the mixture we added 1/2 cup of chocolate chips but we found that they melted since our heated wet ingredients and toasted dry were just too warm.
6. Then we put this mixture into a Pam sprayed 9×13 pan and pushed down hard to make sure the mixture was flat and compressed.
7. Finally, we put this pan in the fridge for a couple hours to cool and make it nice and solid so we could cut it into bars.

As good as it worked it was kind of dry and the quinoa was a bit too crunchy. Another problem that we had was that we kind of burnt our dry stuff and although I couldn’t taste it my darling wife certainly did.

Second Granola Bar Attempt

So the next Saturday we tried again. My daughter did not like the way the quinoa hardness added gritty bits into the original Granola Bars so we decided to leave this out. Also, we were much more careful of toasting our seeds and nuts.

We added more coconut this time which was a great addition and replaced the butter with coconut oil.

Second Granola Bar Ingredients

2 1/2 cups Rolled Oats
1 cup Flaked Coconut
1/2 cup Crushed Walnuts
1/2 cup Pumpkin Seeds

1/2 cup Honey
1 cup Peanut Butter
1/4 cup Coconut Oil
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

We wanted to make sure we had a bit more liquid in this recipe to make it more moist and chewy and also add to the sweetness with more peanut butter and brown sugar.

We followed the same recipe instructions as we did for the first recipe and we really liked how well it worked out.

Inspiration comes from Youtube

My daughter and I discovered a few videos along the way in making these Granola Bars and I think this one from Modern Mom Jesse Jane is probably the best of the bunch that we watched. This really gives you an idea of the process as well as the pushing down of the granola bars using an 8×8 pan inside the 9×13. Great Stuff!

Third Granola Bar Attempt

This one has been our best so far. We got everything right and most of our Granola bars were gone by Sunday night. Everyone seemed to like them.

To do this we reduced out ingredients and wanted to add dried apricots and dried cranberries to get a more fruity flavor. Also we got rid of some of the other ingredients. Here is what we used exactly.

Third Granola Bar Ingredients

2 1/2 cups Rolled Oats
1 cup Flaked Coconut
1/2 cup Pumpkin Seeds

1/2 cup Honey
1 cup Peanut Butter
1/4 cup Coconut Oil
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Chopped Dried Apricots
1/2 cup Dried Cranberries

1. We browned the Rolled oats, Coconut, and Pumpkin Seeds for about 10 minutes (no broil this time)
2. In a large pot melt the Honey, Peanut Butter, Coconut Oil, Brown Sugar, and Chocolate Chips
3. Added the chopped dried Apricots and dried Cranberries alond with the dry toasted ingredients to the pot with the wet ingredients
4. Mix, mix, mix
5. Then put the whole mixture into a 9×13 sprayed pan and pushed down.
6. After we pushed it down well we put parchment on top and used an 8×8 pan to push it down even better and flatten well.
7. As before we put this into the fridge for a couple hours to harden and cool

This as I said was the best one yet. We were happy with the result, and with that my daughter retired from Granola Bars as a champion baker!

Minimalist Granola Bars

My wife found a great and simple recipe for 5 ingredient granola bars and my daughter decided to retire as granola bar champion so I made these myself yesterday.

The recipe calls for just honey, peanut butter, almonds, dates, and rolled oats. This was a great recipe and I really like the taste.

This is the first time that I have used dates and I really like the taste that they add.

Dates I have read are “natures sweetener” and I guess I have been living in a cave somewhere to have totally missed out on this fruit.

I doubled the whole recipe so that there would be enough for the 9×13 pan and it was just the right amount but it seemed there were not quite enough wet ingredients so I had a bit of trouble with the binding.

There seems to be a fair amount of dry ingredients just sitting at the bottom of the pan. Next time I make these I will just up the liquids a bit so that I can get them together a bit better.

Did I mention that these things tasted fantastic?

I know this has been a very long post but what I seem to be finding across the different food blogs are some great ideas and great recipes.

What I was happy to learn over the last few weeks was all of the different changes that we could make to change the texture and taste of the granola bars to get what we were really looking for.

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