When it Comes to Pregnancy Nutrition – Get the Facts

Planning for the best pregnancy nutrition requires expectant mothers to gather as much information as possible. While your doctor is a great resource for the most important nutrition facts, the library, bookstore, and Internet offer other options for learning how to meet your pregnancy nutrition needs.Understand the Basic Nutrition Facts when Planning Your Pregnancy Whether expecting a baby or not, the most important nutrition facts include the need for a balanced diet, proper hydration, and a mix of vitamins and other concentrated nutrients. Each of these criteria can become especially important where pregnancy nutrition is involved. After all, you want to help your baby grow and develop to its full potential, and eating a healthy diet that includes plenty of whole foods is a wonderful way to give your little one the best start in life.Eating whole foods is a great way to get the pregnancy nutrition that is so vital, but many expectant mothers can also benefit from additional supplements. For example, your body may require extra calcium to help baby’s teeth and bones develop without completely robbing your own body of its resources. The nutrition facts show that by adding supplements with whole food ingredients, you can increase that calcium intake while benefitting from other nutrients at the same time.Eating More of the Right ThingsThe mother-to-be will need to balance her growing need for calories with her continuing need to choose the right kinds of foods. Just because your recommended caloric intake goes up does not mean that these should be empty calories. By following the basic rules of good pregnancy nutrition, you are giving your baby every opportunity possible. This means that instead of simply eating more food, you make a conscious effort to eat more of the right kinds of food.While supplements can certainly be an important part of your pregnancy diet, don’t overlook the basic nutrition facts. For example, fruits and vegetables are an incredible source of the nutrients that both you and your baby need. Fresh produce will have the most impact on your nutritional needs, with frozen fruits and vegetables coming in second. By making produce a part of your pregnancy nutrition routine, you are protecting the health of your child, not to mention taking care of your own dietary requirements.Just as an expectant mother may require a boost in her calcium intake, she should also be sure to get folic acid in her diet. Also referred to as “folate,” this nutrient helps the fetus to develop properly. Whether taking folic acid as a supplement (check the nutrition facts on the label for the amount) or through your regular consumption of whole foods, it is essential for healthy pregnancy nutrition plans.Have a Healthy OutlookIn a weight-obsessed culture, a woman may feel pressure regarding how much weight she should gain during her pregnancy. While you should always consult with your doctor to learn what is the right pregnancy nutrition plan and amount of weight gain for your situation, one way to avoid problems is to adjust your diet to make sure you are eating the healthiest foods available. Get all the nutrition facts you can and determine the best way to move forward.If your pregnancy nutrition plan is full of healthy whole foods and nutrient dense foods, then you are going to be more satisfied and in better shape. As you gain weight, adhering to some basic nutrition facts will help you to be sure that it is for your baby’s benefit, rather than simply from eating empty calories that aren’t good for either of you.

Baseball Glove Repair

Baseball glove repair would really not be a concern around this time of year if players and/or parents would just perform a little bit of “routine maintenance” on their baseball gloves right after the playing season is over and then maybe a little bit more right before the beginning of the next season. But this doesn’t seem to happen that much from what I can tell.So here we are…another High School Baseball and College Baseball season. I’ve already gotten a couple of baseball gloves in the last month or so that have broken. And it’s the same thing…very, very dry leather and laces. The laces on one of these baseball gloves were so dry, hard and brittle that they didn’t even feel like leather. The laces were so stiff that it was actually a little tough pulling these laces out of some parts of the glove.The condition of your baseball glove during and after a season will somewhat depend on where you live in the country. In the southeast and southwest you probably aren’t going to see a lot of snow, ice and mud. Your glove may face very strong sun and heat, though.The baseball gloves that I have just repaired were used in the northeast part of the country which can be terrible for leather. The leather can see snow and freezing temperatures. The baseball gloves will definitely get wet and muddy. This mud and water gets ground in sometimes day after day. This water eventually strips the leather of its original oils, softness and color. Then, summer comes. The sun beats down on the glove and dries it up even more. The laces become stiff, weak and brittle. They eventually break. Sometimes parts of the glove, like the eyelets and leather holes, rip. This even happens on the good, expensive gloves that are not cared for.All of these things can mostly be avoided. Simply try to implement some of the following tips:
Clean off your baseball glove during the season when it needs it. Just a warm, damp cloth will do. Don’t soak the glove. You’re just trying to get some of the dirt off.

During the season, if the glove has seen a lot of water and then a lot of sun, you should rub in a little bit of conditioner (not any kind of oil!) and let it soak in. This will restore some of the leather’s oils, softness and color.

Most importantly, give your glove a good cleaning and conditioning after your season is over. Wipe off all of the dirt and then after the glove dries rub a good coat of conditioner into the glove. Sometimes you may have to do this two or three times if the glove soaks up all of the conditioner right away. Wipe off any excess conditioner. Your restored glove will look and feel new during the off-season.

Tighten up loose laces and definitely repair broken laces or laces that you have a good feeling will break the next season. Do it now while you have the time.

And then, right before the beginning of your next season, inspect your glove again, tighten things up if necessary, put a light coat of conditioner on. There you are! Almost a new glove again.

Believe me, these simple baseball glove repair and restore tips work. I have taken care of a catcher’s mitt for three years now…and yes, it’s up in the northeast where a catcher’s mitt takes water and mud in great amounts in some games. But this glove, after three years, feels great and looks great. The laces and leather show no signs of weakness. This is all because I religiously follow the tips above.The kid who’s glove I fixed the other day…the real dry one, says his glove looks and feels new again. He actually likes the all-black laces better than the original gray ones too. I hope he takes care of it now. But I bet I see it again someday.And I bet I’ll repair a good number of gloves starting around now. These are all of the gloves from last season that were just thrown in garages or basements with no after-season conditioning or tightening or repairing of laces.So that’s where I’ll come in…again. Baseball glove repair and restore. I do it all of the time and never once have I advertised this. It all started with one glove, as a favor, and word got out. That was about six years ago and I’m still repairing gloves today.So try to keep in mind some of these baseball glove repair and restore tips. Your glove will always be in great shape and you’ll prevent those unexpected breaks during a game…and there will be no “down time” of your favorite glove.

Business Loans In Canada: Financing Solutions Via Alternative Finance & Traditional Funding

Business loans and finance for a business just may have gotten good again? The pursuit of credit and funding of cash flow solutions for your business often seems like an eternal challenge, even in the best of times, let alone any industry or economic crisis. Let’s dig in.

Since the 2008 financial crisis there’s been a lot of change in finance options from lenders for corporate loans. Canadian business owners and financial managers have excess from everything from peer-to-peer company loans, varied alternative finance solutions, as well of course as the traditional financing offered by Canadian chartered banks.

Those online business loans referenced above are popular and arose out of the merchant cash advance programs in the United States. Loans are based on a percentage of your annual sales, typically in the 15-20% range. The loans are certainly expensive but are viewed as easy to obtain by many small businesses, including retailers who sell on a cash or credit card basis.

Depending on your firm’s circumstances and your ability to truly understand the different choices available to firms searching for SME COMMERCIAL FINANCE options. Those small to medium sized companies ( the definition of ‘ small business ‘ certainly varies as to what is small – often defined as businesses with less than 500 employees! )

How then do we create our road map for external financing techniques and solutions? A simpler way to look at it is to categorize these different financing options under:

Debt / Loans

Asset Based Financing

Alternative Hybrid type solutions

Many top experts maintain that the alternative financing solutions currently available to your firm, in fact are on par with Canadian chartered bank financing when it comes to a full spectrum of funding. The alternative lender is typically a private commercial finance company with a niche in one of the various asset finance areas

If there is one significant trend that’s ‘ sticking ‘it’s Asset Based Finance. The ability of firms to obtain funding via assets such as accounts receivable, inventory and fixed assets with no major emphasis on balance sheet structure and profits and cash flow ( those three elements drive bank financing approval in no small measure ) is the key to success in ABL ( Asset Based Lending ).

Factoring, aka ‘ Receivable Finance ‘ is the other huge driver in trade finance in Canada. In some cases, it’s the only way for firms to be able to sell and finance clients in other geographies/countries.

The rise of ‘ online finance ‘ also can’t be diminished. Whether it’s accessing ‘ crowdfunding’ or sourcing working capital term loans, the technological pace continues at what seems a feverish pace. One only has to read a business daily such as the Globe & Mail or Financial Post to understand the challenge of small business accessing business capital.

Business owners/financial mgrs often find their company at a ‘ turning point ‘ in their history – that time when financing is needed or opportunities and risks can’t be taken. While putting or getting new equity in the business is often impossible, the reality is that the majority of businesses with SME commercial finance needs aren’t, shall we say, ‘ suited’ to this type of funding and capital raising. Business loan interest rates vary with non-traditional financing but offer more flexibility and ease of access to capital.

We’re also the first to remind clients that they should not forget govt solutions in business capital. Two of the best programs are the GovernmentSmall Business Loan Canada (maximum availability = $ 1,000,000.00) as well as the SR&ED program which allows business owners to recapture R&D capital costs. Sred credits can also be financed once they are filed.

Those latter two finance alternatives are often very well suited to business start up loans. We should not forget that asset finance, often called ‘ ABL ‘ by those Bay Street guys, can even be used as a loan to buy a business.

If you’re looking to get the right balance of liquidity and risk coupled with the flexibility to grow your business seek out and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor with a track record of business finance success who can assist you with your funding needs.