A New Year

I'm back. I'm 35. I'm in the worst shape of my life.

But I'm back. No more excuses. I have been coasting along on excuses for too long. It was so easy, herniated disc, Achilles tendinitis, sprained ankle. "Of course I can't work out, I'm injured." I always told myself I would work out when I felt better. But that's the thing, I haven't felt better and I won't until I start to work out and actually take care of my body. It won't be easy, it never is. But it has to be better than this!

And I won't just be working out to take care of myself. I will actually be feeding myself like I respect my body. No more eating like crap because I can't work out. No more starting on Monday (well I am starting on Monday but you get the point!) I'm not going extreme, no crazy diets. Just sensible portions and more fruits and veggies. Can't go wrong with that! 

Because let's face it, I'm not getting any younger, this isn't going to get any easier, and I am sick and tired of feeling sick and tired! So here is what I want: I want to feel better in general; I want to feel better in my skin; I want to feel better in my clothes; I want to be able to do everything I want to do without worrying about my weight; I want to be able to run a spontaneous 5k, just because. 

So that's it. Oh, and if, in a year, I have met my goals, I'm booking a trip to Mexico! 

Facebook

I love Facebook. I hate Facebook. It is the connection to family and friends. It is the albatross around my neck.

I have come to view Facebook (fb from here on) as a necessary evil, but I love it. I mean, where else can you see what your friends are doing every day? Well, I guess you could always call them! And therein lies the problem; I don't call my friends and they don't call me. Why would they? I am a fb post whore, I put everything up there, most would probably say that I am a fb over sharer and I know I am guilty.

But I do it because I can, because with one post I can share Amelia's first (or 5th) day of school with all of my family in Maine, Florida, Connecticut, England, and New Zealand, and anywhere else they might be. I can share a vacation picture with friends that are scattered far and wide. In the span of 30 seconds I can share something that might have taken days to reach all of our loved ones.

But there is the issue of not calling people. Sure I can get a vague idea of what my grandmother is doing, or how the move across country went for a friend, but I never think to just call someone up to see how they are doing, like, really doing. Although I get updates from more people, I am truly connected with less.

Something's I think about deleting my fb account and going back to rely on email and Picasa to share news and pictures. Is that any better though, really? It would be more work for me, and I would just end up sending out mass emails and calling it good enough. At least with fb I usually feel guilty that I haven't talked to someone for a while Nd eventually do call them. If I were sending out emails (even mass emails) I would feel less guilt over the communication level.

So for now I will continue to be a Facebook whore and post my life for te world to see. And as long as I can keep up with all the security changes maybe the pictures and posts I put up will stay just a little bit private.

February Challenge

And it really has been a challenge.

Let me first explain. I created a challenge for the month of February, a fitness challenge. I was really very excited about it, running, weights, yoga; a different challenge every day (except for two rest days). I started out running a mile, a task that is repeated each week. My first time was 9 minutes and 5 seconds. A sprained ankle made the first half of the month difficult for the running days. But I persevered, figuring if others were doing my challenge than I should too.

But as the month has worn on, most of the people doing my challenge with me have fallen off. It was nice having people doing it, it spurned me on. Days when maybe I was a little tired, or had put it off too late, I would still do it, knowing that somewhere out there someone else was doing it to. But as followers have stopped doing the daily challenges I find it too easy to not do them myself.

And of course, I wish I had the will power to just do it myself but I am weak. The husband helps keep me on task though and that is good.

On a higher note, the pushups are doing great! We did repeat week 3, due partly to the norovirus and also just to help make the whole thing a bit easier. Friday I did 122 pushups, not too shabby. Half way through, although I have a feeling that more weeks will have to be repeated.

Diet

Diet is an interesting concept. The definition of diet is simply the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats. So really anything we eat is our diet. However, these days diet has come to refer to a restricted regiment of food and has taken on many shapes; The Atkins Diet, The South Beach Diet, and most recently in the media, The Paleo Diet (among many). If you are trying to lose weight it gets confusing trying to figure out which diet works for you.

I have been thinking a lot about this, as my weight loss has plateaued of late. I try to just eat right and watch my portions but that can be hard, especially when you have kids and have to have snacks around the house. So the idea of going on a specific diet to help aid my weight loss is rather appealing. You may remember my post about the Master Cleanse, I certainly will never forget the experience! So I am really trying to look at all angles before picking a diet, if any at all.

The first one I thought about was the Atkins Diet. I know someone on it who loves it and is losing weight like crazy and it is a really good fit for her. Although I really like the sound of the results, I love carbohydrates. And honestly I think it would be really hard for me to give up all carbohydrates, I feel like I would just be setting myself up for failure. I want a diet that doesn't make me feel like I am missing out on things.

Then I heard about the Paleo Diet and I did some research into it. Besides it being very similar to the Atkins Diet, it was a little intriguing. I read a lot of articles about it and came to the same conclusions as I did about the Atkins Diet. On top of grains and beans, you also can't eat corn. Or peas. Or potatoes. But then there are some who say that you can eat potatoes.

Looking at these two diets made me think about the sustainability of them. Can we eat that much meat as a global community and sustain it? Do we need to eat that much meat? Vegetarians don't think we do, but the Paleo Diet supporters say that we aren't that physiologically different from our ancient caveman ancestors and meat was the staple of their diet. Both tout the life extending benefits of their diets but I think the key lies somewhere in the middle.

Is a diet of meat healthy? Well probably not with the meat you are thinking. Cavemen ate very lean, grass fed meat, not grain fed hormone addled animals. So while our ancient ancestors may have lived a long life with their meaty diet, the fatty meat we have available to us leads to all sorts of health issues. Not to mention do we need that much meat? Sure our ancestors did, they were hunting ALL day, they were constantly moving. Us? Not so much. So do our sedentary lifestyles warrant that much protein? I wouldn't think so. But I am no nutritionist.

Then there is the issue of sustainability. Is it feasible for this many people to eat that much meat? I will spare you my bad math and instead point you a statistic and a very interesting article. Both lead me to rethink my meat consumption. As it is I try to eat local beef and pork and since I can't find local chicken I try to eat organic.

After all this research and reading I have decided that for now the course of action for me to just eat right and watch my portions. Limit meat and cheese and focus on whole grains.

Back to Work?

The question "Will you go back to work when your kids are in school?" is thrown at me so often, I have no choice but to think about my future. And it really is never very pleasant. "Back to work" is such a hard concept for me. After college I worked retail, and while I did enjoy the interaction with people, I could never go back to retail hours. After retail I did data entry. Sure I sexied it up and told people I worked for a litigation support company building databases, but the brass tacks are that I did data entry. So no, I will not be going back to that. Although I did enjoy the project management side of my job, but I think I get enough of that at home.

So what will I do when my kids are in school? It is not as if there will be a lot of time, school goes from like 8 or 9 to 2:30. That doesn't really free me up for a 9-5 gig. And I wouldn't want that anyway. Well my mom planted the seed in my head that I should be a personal trainer. I am still not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not, since personal trainers are paid to beat people up and my mom thinks I would be good at it.

But it got me thinking. I would REALLY like that. I love fitness. I know I may not look like it, but I am working on it. And I work on it a lot (on a good week!) I watch people at the gym to give me ideas of exercises, I read magazines to find new workouts, I watch videos on the internet to find the right form. The whole fitness world is just so cool to me. Training someone to reach their goals, watching and helping them get stronger, and not to mention being the boss, sounds like an awful lot of fun to me!

I got the opportunity to work out with a friend the other day and it cemented the idea in my head. That is what I want to do. Although I want to work on my own terms, not for a gym. I want to be affordable to people who can't afford the $70+ an hour that you get charged in a gym. I want to have a car filled with kettlebells and Bosu balls and all sorts of torturous gym equipment, so I can train anyone, anywhere. Yeah, maybe I will go back to work!

Hundred Pushups

The husband and I started this program tonight. It was better than I was expecting, besides the fact that I am so weak I have to do girly knee pushups. But it could be worse, at least I can do girly pushups right! And the sad initial test - 16 girl pushups. I have a long way to go but I'll get there.

So the gist of the program is that by following a schedule of pushups for 6 weeks you should be able to perform 100 consecutive pushups by the end of the 6 weeks. It seems a tall order but I am willing to give it a go. For more information go here.

While the program is free on the website, I went ahead and bought the app for $2 to just make it a little easier. A friend recommended it so I figured why not - the husband bringing home $75 in iTunes gift certificates from his recent sales op didn't hurt! The app is pretty nifty since it tells you how many pushups, then gives you a rest timer and then your next set of pushups. So easily something that you could do yourself but just handier than doing it yourself.

Day 1 pushup total - 48

Bathing Suit Season!

I realize that for many of us Northerners bathing suit season is a long way off. But it dawned on me today that for me, bathing suit season is exactly 3 months away! Earth Day is my annual dip into the chilly waters and it is coming up sooner than I would like. But the good news is is that I do have 3 months, 12 weeks, to get my body in shape before baring it to the world.

That means 12 weeks of running. If I run 16 miles a week, 4 4 mile days, that is 192 miles. That is 7 marathons! That is a lot of running. But it should get me in shape right? If 192 miles doesn't get me in shape I don't know what will!

It also means 200 pushups. That's right, 200. I am going to do the Hundred Pushup program, but I have to do the pushups on my knees :( Then hopefully I will do it again but actually do real pushups. Now I don't necessarily need to be able to do 100 actual pushups, but being able to whip out 25 at any given time would be nice.

It further more means a VERY strict diet. Back to counting calories (which I never should have stopped doing), limiting salt, and cutting back on alcohol. I am going for less meat, less carbs, and less cheese (which are 3 of my favorite food groups!)

So Monday I will be up and running, literally, at 6am. Gym on Tuesday and Wednesday, running again Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It's a pretty strict schedule but I can do it! Yay exercise!

Losing It.

No clever title today, no witty post. I am losing it, I am losing my shaky hold on sanity and slipping into the dark. Not somewhere I want to be. I know I shouldn't need validation from others but you come to expect things from people close to you, you just can't help it. I don't like to think that I need people more than they need me. I feel isolated and the bridges I thought I had . . . Well let's just leave it at that.

The Master Cleanse

Day 1 1 Day.

Ok, so my sister finally convinced me to try the Master Cleanse. She always raves about it and how great she feels afterwards. Even her husband has done it several times and I figure if he has done it more than once the results must be worth it. But really what won me over was the lure of losing 10 pounds. I mean, who wouldn't love to lose 10 pounds in 3 or 4 days. And after a weekend of eating in Maine I needed it!

For the cleanse you need 6 lemons per day you decide to do it and I had decided on 4 days, Tuesday through Friday. So I went to the grocery store and bought 20 lemons, which I knew wasn't enough but I figured I could always go get more, plus they were really big lemons! I am thinking this is going to be a piece of cake, I love lemonade so this will be awesome, drinking lemonade all day. I have done fasts before and they aren't terrible so I am mentally prepared, so I thought.

I wake up on day one, Tuesday, feeling great. My kids slept all night and didn't wake up until 7:15, which let me assure you is a rarity and one I treasure. We all get downstairs and the kids play while I start juicing my lemons, with a hand juicer nonetheless. I put 5 of my big lemons in a gallon jug, added some maple syrup, and some cayenne powder, filled it up with water and poured myself a big ole glass.

The first initial reaction, besides the burning in my sore throat, was that it wasn't that bad. It was actually pretty good, maybe could have been a bit sweeter, but all in all I was happy. I mean, I wished I hadn't started when I had a sore throat because let me tell you a day of lemon juice did not make it feel better. I finish my first glass and am feeling good. Went and dropped Amelia off at preschool came back home with James. I decided that I wouldn't go to the gym, what with the only drinking I figure that working out would be a bad idea. Had myself another glass of the lemonade (less cayenne this time made it slightly less painful on my throat). Then went out to Target to try to find a better juicer, which I completely forgot!

By the time lunch rolled around I still was doing alright, I mean I wanted to eat because my kids were. I can see where the cleanse would be infinitely easier if you didn't have to make food for others. After the kids were up for their nap I entered my typical snacking time. And this was HARD. I found myself looking in the fridge countless times, only to close the door and sigh. But I was hanging tough. I busied myself and waited for the kids to wake up so I could take them to the doctor.

Then I started to get a headache. And little waves of nausea. I tried drinking some more juice because I figure I needed the sugar boost, but it was making my stomach upset and heartburn was threatening to set in. I drank a glass of water instead. I called my brother-in-law on the way to the doctor to try to get a little perspective on what I was feeling. He was on day 2 of his cleanse and I figured a little solidarity might help. He said it was normal and it would go away, stay strong! All this time the headache was only getting worse.

We make it through the doctor's appointment, double cases of bronchitis and antibiotics all around thank you very much, and I am not feeling any better. I call my sister, this instigator of all this misery. She tells me it is the toxins leaving my body, usually this happens on day 3 so I should be happy that I am getting it out of the way. Stay strong, stick with it. I can't even fathom making the kids dinner so they got hot dogs and cheese sticks. At that point the simple act of walking across my kitchen was making me light headed, nauseous, and it was starting to hurt to just have my eyes open.

That was the point where I broke. I ate a banana. Then I ate a sandwich. I pulled myself together just enough to get the kids in bed, which was no easy feat and took a little over an hour, and then I promptly passed out on the couch. The Master Cleanse is not for me.

Losing It - 2012 Edition!

I'm back! Hopefully for the whole year. Admittedly last year fizzled out a lot faster than I had hoped and not only here. I lost 16 pounds in the first 12 weeks of 2011 and then gained 4 back to end the year with a 12 pound loss. Not very impressive considering how far I have to go. So a new year, a new start, a new challenge (or 5!)
Challenge 1: Run 16 miles a week.
Challenge 2: Complete the Hundred Pushup Program
Challenge 3: Cut drastically back on the amount of meat I eat (notice I did not say quit eating meat!)
Challenge 4: Get my compulsive snacking under control.
And here is the big one
Challenge 5: Hit my 50 pound weight loss milestone, get down into the normal BMI range, and hopefully lose 30 pounds.

I know that this may seem like a lot and trust me, it seems like a lot, but I need to take control this year. If anyone follows my LoseIt! posts on Facebook you can sort of figure out how much I snack given how many calories I log running, interval training, and doing Bob Harper's yoga.

So here we go again!

Calories Burned

I have been going along on this weight loss journey counting my calories and exercising. I have just been going with what Lose It! or my treadmill tells me I am burning, and not really thinking much of it. Well the other day I decided to strap on my heart rate monitor and crunch some numbers.

Running - I run at 5 mph on the treadmill, so not killing it by any means, but I get it done. The other day I ran for 40 minutes. According to Lose It! I burned 416 calories. My treadmill had me at 417 after a 5 minute cool down. So those have been pretty close all along. According to my heart rate monitor, an Iron Man, my average heart rate was 157 for the 40 minutes of exercise (I did not include the cool down) and the calories burned was 740-something! Wow. That was a big difference so I decided to use EBSCalc on the iPod touch which has a calorie burned calculator. According to that I had burned like 640-something.

It sort of makes sense to me, I do have a ridiculously high heart rate so any calculations based on that might be off a little. Those calculators also take my age and weight into consideration and my treadmill, not so much. So it got me thinking - how many calories am I really burning during the 30 Day Shred? So this morning I used my heart rate monitor again.

The Shred - A 25 minute circuit training video by Jillian Michaels. I am currently at Level 3 and it kicks my butt pretty good. According to Lose It! 25 minutes of circuit training burns 261 calories (267 calories at the beginning of the year!). According to my heart rate monitor my average heart rate was 137 and I burned 360 calories. And EBSCalc tallied my calories burned at 320.

So I am still tracking my calories with Lose It! and will be sticking with their ideas of calories burned. I figure that it has worked so far, 13 pounds this year and nearly 40 total! Also, I am sure that I underestimate some food choices so it all comes out in the end. It has been an interesting little experiment, teaching me a little more about exercise every day!

Feeling Overwhelmed

I don't know if it is a result of being trapped inside by the cold or what but I have been feeling alone lately. I love where we live but I am sad that I am not closer to either my parents or my sisters. We moved away from our friends, not by a lot but by enough. And I am sure it is just the weather because people always stay in more when the weather sucks, and it sure has sucked this month.

I love my family and I wouldn't trade what I have for anything. I feel very blessed in my life. I do wish that we had more friends in the stage of life we are. It is hard to try to balance family life and still hang out with our friends, sans kids. If we had a babysitter it would be easier but how do you find a babysitter? I mean seriously, how? I had a number, but Chuck had to go and throw it away so now I am back to square one.

And Chuck traveling just makes it that much harder. Trying to make it work out with two kids all day and night, no break, it is exhausting. I finally figured it out tonight the worst part; putting James to bed is usually my down time, I don't have to worry about Amelia, the house, the cat, anything. I just nurse James and close my eyes and relax. I don't have that now. I either nurse James while Amelia runs rampant and naked through the house, or while reading Amelia books. I really miss my time with James.

Amelia also has been trying every last nerve I have. I realized tonight that I really need to learn some patience and anger management. It is very frustrating trying to manage dinner with no help. Not just making it, but eating it as well. I have mastered making it with the help of a little tv time and the walker, but eating it, that is another story. Amelia still gets distracted when eating if she is not getting a lot of attention so when I have to feed James she sort of loses the plot. And then if I focus on Amelia, James ends up throwing his food everywhere. I swear after a meal it looks like a bomb went off in a supermarket.

The End of 2010

I have heard a lot of bad news this year, a lot of lost jobs, deaths, hard times. 2010 has not been an easy year for a lot of people and for them I am sure the hopes are high for 2011. I feel very blessed to be able to say that 2010 has been a terrific year for me and my family. Chuck got a new job in February and it has gone exceedingly well, we moved into our new house in March, James came into our lives in June, Amelia turned 2 in July. I am so lucky to have so many blessings in my life.

Of course a new year always makes us pause and think about what things could be better in our lives. We resolve to do things better, make ourselves better, be better. There is a lot that I could do differently to make my life better; here is a short list:

1. Be healthier. Limit portions, healthier choices, more exercise.

2. Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred starting Jan 1st.

3. Get James sleeping through the night.

4. Vacuum my downstairs everyday. James will be crawling soon and I don't want him eating dirt!

5. Take at least 1 non baby picture everyday (this will continue through the year)

6. Finish Narrow Dog to Carcassonne I have been trying to finish this book since LAST Christmas. Not for any particular reason other than I don't have a little light in my bedroom.

7. Be more patient with Amelia.

Merry Christmas!!!!

I am like a frickin' kid this Christmas. I am the most excited one in my house. I want my kids to wake up and see the cool things we got them. I am giddy with excitement.

Alright, that is done. But honestly this has been a pretty cool Christmas. We are in our new house, we have a big tree. Amelia is finally old enough that she is getting into the spirit of the season. We have been made humble by the generosity of our friends. It truly is a magical time of year and I am so blessed. Last night we had some friends stop by to visit which was awesome. Tonight a friend stopped by for a visit, and a neighbor popped in with a poinsettia for us. Tomorrow we will be seeing family as well as Sunday. I just can't get over how much love is in my life and how lucky I am.

Phoning it in

I do not like this phrase. It really bugs me and I don't know why. What does it even mean? Where did it come from? Ugh.

Okay so anyway. Another pet peeve of mine lately is people lying to me. I am a big girl, I don't need to be coddled. I have a big belly, I know that. When you tell me I don't it just makes me irritated. I realize that my belly is not as big as it used to be but that does not mean that it is magically not fat. (I Love you husband and appreciate your support)

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And So Begins a New Theme

Ok, I can't keep it up, the whole Losing It thing. Titles are not so easy to come up with! So here we are and the titles will just be whatever. James is 6 months old and I told myself that sleep training started at 6 months. But it is proving to be more difficult than I expected. Amelia needed to sleep training around 7 or 8 months but that was because she went from sleeping 7 to 7 to waking up once or twice. I don't recall it being so hard with her. It was certainly difficult, any time my kids cry it breaks my heart. I just don't recall it being as hard as it is with James. It is terrible listening to him cry and I know that it means that I just won't and I won't get sleep and I will be tired and cranky. But he is just so little and cute and I love him so much.

Seriously though some days are harder than others. He was sleeping 7 to 3 then 7 again. That isn't bad, I can handle that. Lately though he has been waking at 9 and 3 and 6 (at which point he comes into bed with me!) And Amelia usually wakes up once so I have been having some sleepless nights - which Chuck usually wakes up from with no idea what I have been through.

Last night was better and I got 5 and a half hours of straight sleep! It was amazing, and I got to snuggle with my little guy in the morning. So here is hoping that last night's trend continues!

Losing My Ambition

So yeah, I sort of ran out of steam huh? Almost of month of nothing but I'm back baby! The blog hasn't been the only thing that I have been slacking on. I haven't been going to the gym, I haven't been watching what I eat, and I haven't been keeping up with my cleaning. Well I am really hoping to turn everything around, starting tomorrow - Although oddly tomorrow is when I will be quitting the gym. I have a brand new treadmill at home and I LOVE it! It is a Sole F80 and it is fantastic. Well, I mean, I have clocked a whole 5 miles on it (in two days) but so far it is pretty nice. The one thing I am really missing from the treadmills at the gym is a cool down button.

Losing Chocolate and Goldfish

Alright, enough is enough. Seriously. I am tired of this rut I am in. I am not counting my calories, I am not working out, I am not losing weight (but on the plus side I am not gaining it either). There always seems to be an excuse for not going to the gym, not counting my calories, not caring, and quite frankly it is getting old. I am tired all the time, I am disappointed in myself, I am disappointed in the scale, and I no longer feel good about how I look (even though I haven't gained weight I just feel more bloated).

I need to get back on track and I don't want to wait until after the holidays. So my plan of action is to give up chocolate and delicious Goldfish crackers for the month of November. Why these two completely unrelated items you ask? Good question.

Chocolate - I am not usually a chocolate person, in fact chocolate used to be safe in my house. Halloween candy could be found up until Easter. Lately though it hasn't had such luck! When I was pregnant with James I craved chocolate and so we bought it. I wasn't bad about it, a couple M&Ms here and there was really all I needed. However, in the past 4 months where I have NOT been pregnant I have learned a valuable lesson - sweet begets sweet. The more I ate, the more I wanted, it was, nay is, a vicious cycle. So with an overabundance of Halloween candy and a half gallon of chocolate ice cream in the freezer, I am saying enough is enough! I don't like chocolate, I would rather have something else, so something else will have to do. For the month of November I will NOT eat chocolate. Does this mean I will not eat sweets? No, just not chocolate. I will still be able to eat pie on Thanksgiving, I will still be able to satisfy my sweet tooth (Amelia got quite a few tiny bags of Skittles!), I will just be abstaining from chocolate this month.

Goldfish - This favorite toddler snack is my kryptonite. It is seriously a problem. Amelia loves them, so I feel like I should have them around. But if I have them around I eat them, and not like one or two. Oh no, not this girl. I devour them. It is terrible. So no more. I am giving them up. Again, not all snacks, just goldfish.

Losing My 20s

Well I turned 30 today. I don't feel it, but really are you supposed to feel any different? I mean, it is just another day. 30 for me is not looking too bad though. I have two beautiful children that I just can't get enough of, I have a fantastic husband who provides so well for us, I am in better shape now than I was in my 20s. So while it is true that I can't go out and drink like I used to (hangovers are the pits!) I honestly can't say that I really want to. I love my life, I love watching my kids grow and being there with them. I love hanging out with Chuck and a couple of baby monitors. I know it sounds lame but I just love my life. I get to go out when I am invited, we are still planning to travel (New Zealand next October anyone), and in a couple years the whole family will be skiing every weekend in the winters.

Now I am going to go curl up in bed in my flannel pants and wool socks, oh yeah!

Losing Herd Immunity

As a mother I am involved in the interests of my children, including the health interests. When Amelia was a baby I had to make the decision to vaccinate or not. This was not a light hearted decision for me. I did a lot of research and spoke to my pediatrician and then did more research on the matter. What I concluded was best for my family was to vaccinate my child on the AAP recommended schedule, and I am continuing that decision with James. I feel not only is this best for my child it is best for the herd immunity.

(From Wikipedia) Herd immunity (or community immunity) describes a type of immunity that occurs when the vaccination of a portion of the population (or herd) provides protection to unprotected individuals.^[1] Herd immunity theory proposes that, in diseases passed from individual to individual, it is more difficult to maintain a chain of infection when large numbers of a population are immune. The higher the proportion of individuals who are immune, the lower the likelihood that a susceptible person will come into contact with an infectious individual.^[2]

Basically, to protect the weak or sick, the majority of the population must be vaccinated. This is seen in animals as well as humans. The best example of this that I have heard is a child with Leukemia enrolled in preschool. That child has a weakened immune system and at risk to contract possibly deadly diseases. The health of the child is dependent on the rest of the children in the daycare to be immunized, if they are not, the child with Leukemia will be forced to leave the daycare.

Another example can be found in this article http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-01-06-childhoodvaccines06_CV_N.htm which talks about the recent outbreak of Meningitis in Minnesota.

The debate over vaccines started with a paper published in a respectable British health magazine called the Lancet. The author was later found guilty of professional misconducted and was struck from the British Medical Register. His claims that there was a connection with the MMR vaccine and Autism were unfounded and based on manipulated data. (To read more about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy) Since the article was printed the debate to vaccinate has raged. And while it is true that the instances of Autism have increased since the 1980s, the data can't be entirely trusted because the ways of diagnosing have changed considerably.

Do the benefits outweigh the side effects? Well that is a question that each family must answer for themselves. I truly hope that if you are faced with the decision to vaccinate or not, you take the time to do the research and look at both sides of the issue.