Problem: Article: Practice mindfulness while eating. Mindfulness is not a diet but a way to be present while eating, break bad habits and bring awareness to habits around eating. Mindfulness encourages you to know when we are truly full and pay attention to your body's signals that you are full. The benefit of mindfulness eating is decreases over eating meals as well as desserts. To help with mindfulness, try something new. Often we eat the same breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a regular basis. Try to switch it up with new recipes or vegetables and meats you don't normally eat. Pay attention to each bite. This includes looking at your food, enjoying the look, savory each bite, and spending a moment after to enjoy the experience. Turn off the TV and avoid other distractions so you can enjoy each bite. Your brain needs time to register it is full after a meal. It takes time for the brain to retrieve signals from the digestive hormones. It differs from person to person, but it is recommended to wait 20 to 30 minutes before eating dessert. If you find that you are craving sweets, try an alternative activity that alleviates your emotional triggers or helps provide that break between a meal and something sweet. If you are bored and you want to grab that bag of candy just to fill the time, try one of these other activities: Take a walk Try mediation Write in a journal Chew sugar-free gum Another strategy for avoiding sweets is to limit access to temptation. This could be removing it completely or putting it out of sight. Research shows that removing items or at least making it harder to access them decreases consumption. It provides more time to think about if you really, really need or want the sweet. You can try: Throwing away all sweets and sugar in your house. Hide sweet items on the top shelf making it harder to reach. Place healthier items in sight, such bowl of fruit on the counter instead of a cookie jar.
Summary: Practice mindful eating. Take a break before dessert. Find an alternative activity. Limit access.

Problem: Article: When your hens are mature enough to start regularly producing (18 to 24 weeks depending on breed), you need to make sure that they have the right feed and nutrients to produce eggs suitable for human consumption. Otherwise, your hens' egg production will be poor and their eggs might break before they make it to the table. The proper diet will also ensure that your hens look and feel healthy. After about 20 weeks, you need to up the amount of calcium your laying hens consume. Laying hens need 2.5% to 3.5% calcium in their feed, which is higher than other chickens. The calcium will help provide the proper nutrients to support healthy eggs. Offer this calcium to your hens separately from their regular feed, so that they can consume it at their own pace. For good sources of calcium, consider: Oyster shells. Calcium grit. Limestone. The hens' own eggshells, but only after they have been cooked and thoroughly cleaned. If you choose to offer eggshells, grind them up into a fine powder so that the hens do not recognize what they are eating and decide to try eating their own eggs. Feeds with added calcium. Free-range chickens are able to supplement their diet with a variety of insects, berries, seeds, and grain. This will not only help them secure the nutrients for healthy egg production, but it will also improve the taste of your eggs. In addition, you'll have happier hens, and you might even be able to sell their eggs for more money to a population that is increasingly concerned with the well-being of farm animals. You don't want your laying hens to have too much protein in their diet. While meat hens need 20-24% protein in their diet, laying hens only need 16% or less protein. As a result, be alert to the type of feed you buy, and what your hens are consuming. To boost protein, consider: Letting your chickens free range for worms. Extra grower feed. Feed that is formulated for laying hens. Layer feed is feed that comes with the nutrients that laying hens need to produce healthy eggs. If you don't want to spend a lot of time overseeing your hens' diets, consider purchasing a pre-mixed layer feed. If you do formulate your own layer feed, make sure that it has the protein (16% or less), and calcium levels (2.5% to 3.5%) to ensure that your eggs will be strong enough to make it to the table. Typical laying hens will consume a quarter of a pound (0.11 kg) of feed a day. Provide your hens with all of their food at one time, preferably in the morning. Always check feed levels to make sure your chickens have enough feed. Grit refers to tiny pieces of stone or gravel that stay in the hens' gizzards and help to grind down their food. Without a little grit in their diet, your hens won't be able to digest and use all of the nutrients they're supposed to be getting in order to produce healthy eggs. Adding grit to your hens' diets is especially important if your hens are confined and you don't allow them to roam. While table scraps can supplement the diet of your hens, you need to be careful about what you're feeding them. Some foods will hurt the egg production of your hens, rather than help it. Consider: Egg laying hens should not be fed more table scraps than they can consume in 20 minutes. Potatoes, pasta, beans, and even stale bread are all ok. Avoid avocado, chocolate, citrus fruits, and tomato stems. These are toxic to chickens. Avoid foods with strong tastes like garlic and onions, as the eggs might take on those tastes. Table scraps could also increase the fat intake of your hens, making them overweight and unhealthy. Mealworms are little worms that provide hens with lots of protein and other nutrients. As a result, you should consider mealworms only as a treat for your hens. While they might make your hens happy, feeding them too much could undermine your egg production by raising their protein levels too high. Give your hens mealworms maybe once a week. Mealworms are probably unnecessary if your hens free-range, as they'll be able to find their own worms and other insects. You can grow your own mealworms, if you don't want to buy them.
Summary: Provide your hens with the right food and nutrition at the right time. Add calcium to the hens' diet, at the right time. Allow your hens to roam free. Maintain appropriate amounts of protein. Find some good layer feed. Provide your hens with a bowlful of grit. Avoid feeding your hens large amounts of table scraps. Feed your hens mealworms, sometimes.

Problem: Article: To clean and disinfect your water bottle, try soaking it in a mixture of white vinegar and water. Mix one part vinegar with one part water in a bowl. Then, submerge the water bottle in the solution, making sure the solution gets inside the water bottle. Let the bottle soak for one to two minutes. Another option is to fill the bottle with the vinegar and water solution. Then, let the solution sit in the bottle for one to two minutes. Once you have soaked the bottle, rinse out the solution. Then, use a damp brush or a sponge to scrub the bottle. Make sure you scrub the mouth and lid of the bottle well, as this is usually where germs live. Scrubbing the bottle will also help to remove any remaining vinegar in the bottle. Let the water bottle air dry on a drying rack or a clean towel overnight. If you are in a rush, you can use a clean cloth to dry the bottle. Make sure you dry the mouth and lid of the bottle well.
Summary:
Soak the bottle in a vinegar solution. Scrub the bottle with a brush or a sponge. Dry the bottle.