Travelling while pregnant

Stiff and swollen feet, ankles, and legs are a problem for many passengers on long trips, and especially so for pregnant women. To make you feel as comfortable as possible, you should take a number of aspects into consideration. The following travel tips will help you survive the long journey:

• Wear a maternity support hose. You should put on stockings before you get out of bed and keep them on all day. Lie on your back as you pull them on. This will ensure that you start the day right.
• Keep hydrated. Avoid coffee, tea, and sodas containing lots of sugar and caffeine. Instead, drink water or juice.
• Wear comfortable shoes that have expandable gussets or Velcro-type closures that you can easily loosen. Take into consideration there might be some walking involved, so the comfier your shoes, the better.
• Elevate your feet whenever possible.
• Every few minutes, lift each leg off the floor as you sit and rotate your foot at the ankle in both directions; then point your toes forward and back a few times. The pumping action will help to keep blood and fluids from pooling in your legs.

Flying While Pregnant

• If you plan to take a plane trip while pregnant, discuss it with your doctor first. Barring any problems or complications, your doctor will probably let you go - except in the very early stages (when miscarriages are more likely to occur) or in the later stages (when you may be more likely to go into labour). Most airlines have regulations regarding how late into a pregnancy you may travel. Check before you fly to avoid disappointment.
  
  It is probably not a good idea to travel anywhere that requires prior immunization. Avoiding the introduction or ingestion of foreign substances during pregnancy (including alcohol and nicotine) is the safest route to a healthy baby.

Try to book a seat with comfort in mind:

• A seat near the bathroom will facilitate your regular trips to the ladies rooms.
• An aisle seat will make it easier to get up for quick walks (and trips to the washroom).
• Bulkhead seats have the most legroom.
• First class seats will be most comfortable - if you can afford the expenditure.

Medical Certification is Important

Don't forget to get a medical certificate from your doctor before travelling, confirming that it is okay for you to travel at this stage.

Pass the Time in Tranquillity

To kill time during a long trip, take your iPod with soothing music, chanting, prayers, or some nice baby development books. These will give you and your unborn baby immense happiness and peace.

Pay Attention to Nutrition

Always carry your own food while travelling. Home prepared food is best for the frequent nutrition required at this stage. Avoid packing junk food or anything purchased readymade from the market. Try carrying fresh fruit and juice tins or tetra packs, as they are easy to carry and nutritious.

Take a friend along

If possible, do not travel alone during your pregnancy. Always keep your emergency contact number, and doctor’s contact details handy so that if needed someone can find the details easily in your luggage.

*Always consult your doctor before travelling while pregnant.

Lilanie Janse van Rensburg

Sure Zorgvliet Travel
Tel:016 421 3753
lilanie@zorgvliettravel.co.za

Westley’s fitness tip of the month: The great battle…LOSING FAT!

Losing weight is a constant battle for some people, and is not always an easy one to fight.

Losing weight is not just a simple eight week diet that you can follow. If this was the case, nobody would ever be overweight! It truly has to be a lifestyle change. Yes, you can lose a lot of weight on an “easy or quick diet”, but in most cases, as soon as you stop the diet, your fat tissue will just start piling back on.

Now, most quick or easy diets result in the loss of body fat as well as that hard earned muscle tissue. When you stop dieting, the 'lost' fat tissue returns but the precious muscle is lost. As a result, a few months down the line you will most probably be heavier than when you first started your dieting efforts. This is a simple recipe for failure, one which all of us would surely like to avoid.

Healthy eating

Okay, so let’s get to the point! If you want to lose weight and keep it off, the principles are the same for both men and women – stop eating junk food and change your lifestyle:

1. The first step on your road to success is to have a good breakfast when you wake up in the morning to kick start your metabolism.

Ideas for healthy breakfasts:

• A bowl of high fibre cereal (such as Special K) with ½ cup yoghurt
• 1 Cup of Oats – not the instant packets, opt for the regular Oats
• 2 Portions of Weetbix with milk
• Two scrambled eggs on toast (use low GI bread)

2. This should be followed by a mid-morning snack, a healthy low GI lunch, another mid-afternoon snack and dinner.

Ideas for healthy snacks:

• 1 Cup plain yoghurt with 1 large peach
• 3 Slices ham with 5 stalks celery
• 1 Slice cheese ( Parmesan or Cheddar )
• ½ Cup low fat cottage cheese with 1 cup baby carrots

Ideas for healthy lunches/dinners:

• 100g skinless chicken breast, 1 cup of sweet potato and 1 cup of green beans
• 100g hake fillet, 1 cup of broccoli and ½ cup of baked beans
• 1 can of tuna, ¼ cucumber, 1 tomato, ½ onion and a little bit of lettuce.

**I would advise you to keep your lunch and dinner the same: make double the quantity for dinner, and save the rest for the next day’s lunch.

3. Choose Low GI foods and reduced fat items.

4. When you go to a restaurant, choose wisely, most restaurants have a list of    healthy choices available.

5. Drink an adequate amount of water during the day and take a balanced    multivitamin in the morning.

6. If possible, make an appointment with a dietician and let them work out a    balanced meal plan that suits your lifestyle and needs.

7. Follow this with a couple of good gym sessions each week to increase muscle     tissue and calorie usage which will also improve your fitness levels. Please do     not be afraid of gaining too much muscle, it's really not that easy! Using            weight training will be more effective for losing body fat than any other    cardio equipment.

That brings me to my next point of discussion – KETTLEBELLS!

Basically, this is an iron ball with a handle on it in different weight classes. This is a great tool for losing fat tissue, building muscle and also building your strength. Strength trainers in Russia have been using kettlebells for over 300 years, and only in recent years have we started to discover the kettlebell and its advantages.

If you are serious about losing weight and toning up your body, look into getting yourself a personal trainer. This is a fun way of keeping your training interesting and full of variety. Having a personal trainer will ensure that you train correctly and show good results. Training with little or no results will just de-motivate you and you will soon be lead astray.

Look out for my next article in which I will teach you how to train with kettlebells and give you a variety of fun exercises. I will also show you how to choose the correct personal trainer. Your gym experience will never be the same again!

And remember – Train and eat with dedication and perseverance – always!

Westley Matthews
Personal Trainer/Conditioning Coach
Cell:072 014 6298
westley.matthews@virgin1on1.co.za

Summer hair care tips…

Summer months can have a harsh effect on your hair, especially when you swim often, leaving it dry and brittle. Make use of the following tips to avoid dryness, split ends and unhealthy looking hair:

• Use a moisturising shampoo that is gentler than usual during the summer months.
• Use a clarifying shampoo after swimming to wash out the chlorine/salt and any residues that may be in your hair. Chlorine will severely dry out your hair if it is not washed out.
• Get your hair trimmed every six to eight weeks. Your hair grows faster in the warmer months and frizzies are more common in the summer months due to the heat and moisture.
• Once you have your hair moist, lock in the moisture by running your hair through cold water; this will also give your hair an extra shine.

Preventing damage from summer moisture and the summer sun:

• Wear a scarf, hat or cap to protect your hair from the sun but make sure that it's not too tight and that it doesn’t restrict scalp circulation.
• If you know you are going to be in the sun for a long time and you don't want to wear anything on your head, use a leave-in conditioner with sunscreen in it before you go out.
• If you are outside and forgot to put leave-in conditioner with sunscreen in your hair, you can put regular sunscreen in your hair, but make sure you rinse it out with a deep cleansing shampoo when you get home.
• Limit the use of "hot" items on your hair such as a blow dryers and curling irons.
• Avoid taking hot showers or washing your hair in hot water. Use warm or cool water instead; the heat can dry out and/or damage your hair and skin.
• Staying hydrated is important for healthy hair as well as your overall health so make sure that you are taking in enough water.
• Try washing your hair less often; shampooing your hair strips the moisture out of your hair.
• Use a conditioner on your hair daily.

 

Grazia Farelo
Grazia’s Hair
Tel: 016 423 3961grazia@telkomsa.net

Affordable décor solutions

If you’ve scrimped and saved and now are finally able to afford to buy a bigger or better place, the last thing you want to do is ramp up your debt on fitting her out. However, having beautiful bare walls and nothing much else may appeal to those with minimalist inclinations but will shortly send any one else into fits of depression. Preferable to that is using your pennies wisely and being price-smart over purchases.

1. Curtains or Drapes
   Windows take up a good deal of wall space. By using sheers, windows can be transformed into ethereal lightscapes. Illuminate a room by capturing and bouncing natural light off sheers or semi-transparent drapes. This type of fabric creates interesting points in any room. Plain sheers will break up and diffuse light while patterned ones make pretty dapples.


2. Used Furniture and Throws
   More and more popular, throwing a length of fabric over your existing furniture is an instant way to change mood and ambience of a room. When buying used furniture the throw is an inexpensive way to hide faults until they can be dealt with at a later stage. 2nd hand couches and chairs are an economical way to decorate your home for less. If you know your budget will be stretched for a fairly lengthy time into the future, yet you still need furniture then 2nd hand is a way forward.


3. Chair Rails and Moldings
   This is one of the cheapest ways to add style and detail to a boring room. A host of dado moldings are available on the market and are quite easily fixed to the wall. The dado rail, usually positioned about a third of the way up the wall, was originally used to show a break between two types of wall fabrics and to keep chair backs from scraping the fabrics and damaging them. From a simple plain design to one filled with flourishes and curlicues, dados, once painted have a remarkably decorative effect.


4. Paint and Color
   Versatile, cheap and with selective use paint can fool the eye. Rooms with a low ceiling usually feel claustrophobic. By playing with optical illusions a room can be made more spacious. Using vertical stripes draws the eye up and down and fools us into believing the ceiling is higher than it is. Stick to soft contrasting colours and make the stripes broad or thin depending on the proportions of the room.


5. Shelves
   A beautifully decorated room is quickly marred by lack of order and neatness. Storage space is cheap to install and reduces the chaos inherent in a busy household. Most people do not return items to their rightful place, even more so when the item is buried under a heap of mismatched objects. Without a place for each, items soon vanish and endless searches made hunting it down when needed. A place to put things helps keep sanity in the home. Lots of simple shelving, a bookcase or two and chests with lids go a far way in bringing calm to the environment.

Riana Kriek
Décor Home Design
Cell:082 337 2399
Riana@cinema-architects.co.za

About divorce mediation – now compulsory!

What is divorce mediation?

Divorce mediation is an alternate process to litigation in preparing couples/partners for separation and/or divorce. Divorcing couples have to make decisions on matters regarding:

• Custody
• Access
• Maintenance
• Division of Assets

Mediation is essentially negotiation between the couple facilitated by a neutral third party (a mediator).

What are the advantages of mediation?

• The couple formulates the agreement themselves and are therefore more committed to it.
• An amicable and co-operative climate is created rather than a conflict one and this benefits all family members.
• The couple saves time and money because they negotiate directly with one another rather than using attorneys to represent them on all issues.
• When parents can set aside their differences; they are able to focus on the best interests of their children.
• A Memorandum of Understanding is reached in as many as 80% of mediated cases.

Who is the mediator?

The mediator has completed a mediation training course accredited by the South African

Association of Mediators (S.A.A.M.). The mediator provides specialised information on the emotional impact of divorce on the couple and their children and assists in working out the fairest financial settlement.

What does the mediation entail?

• The couple attends sessions together.
• Each session is an hour and a half.
• The mediation process can take from two to six sessions.
• The number of sessions varies from couple to couple and depends on the number of issues and their level of complexity.

Ronelle Prinsloo
Legal advisor
Cell:071 889 5062
ronelle.prinsloo@gmail.com