The benefits of eating less meat

It can be challenging to serve healthy meals on a budget, but with planning you can eat better for less. Many people save money by adding meatless meals to their weekly menus. Meatless meals are built around vegetables, beans and grains — instead of meat, which tends to be more expensive. Meatless meals also offer health benefits.

The health factor

A plant-based diet, which emphasizes fruits and vegetables, grains, beans and legumes, and nuts, is rich in fiber, vitamins and other nutrients. And people who eat only plant-based foods — aka, vegetarians — generally eat fewer calories and less fat, weigh less, and have lower cholesterol levels than do nonvegetarians.Just eating less meat has a protective effect. A National Cancer Institute study of 500,000 people found that those who ate 4 ounces (114 grams) of red meat or more daily were 30 percent more likely to die of any cause over 10 years than were those who consumed less. Sausage, luncheon meats and other processed meats also increased the risk. Those who ate mostly poultry or fish had a lower risk of death.

How much protein do you need?

The fact is that most Americans get enough protein in their diets. Adults generally need 10 to 35 percent of their total daily calories to come from protein. Based on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, this amounts to about 50 to 175 grams a day. Of course, you can get protein from sources other than meat — sources that are often less expensive. Take a look at these examples:

• Eggs. A large egg has 6 grams of protein. At $2.16 for a dozen, a gram of protein from eggs costs 3 cents.
• Milk. A glass of milk has about 8 grams of protein. At $2.60 a half-gallon, that's a little more than 4 cents per gram of protein.
• Cottage cheese. Many cheeses are high in fat, and high priced, but cottage cheese provides a healthier alternative. And at $2.50 a pound (0.5 kg), a gram of protein from cottage cheese costs a little less than 5 cents a gram.
• Tofu. At $2.00 a pound (0.5 g), you pay just 6 cents for a gram of protein.

Try meatless meals once or twice a week

You don't have to go cold turkey. Instead, try easing into meatless meals. Consider going meatless one day a week. If you don't like the idea of a whole day without meat, start with a couple of meatless dinners each week. Plan meals that feature entrees you like that are typically meatless, such as lasagna, soup or pasta salad. Or try substituting the following protein-rich foods for meat in your favorite recipes:

• Beans and legumes — great in casseroles and salads
• Vegetarian refried beans — good substitute for meat in burritos and tacos
• Tofu — perfect addition to stir-fry dishes

When meat is on the menu

When your meals include meat, don't overindulge. A serving of protein should be no more than 3 ounces (85 grams) — or about the size of a deck of cards — and should take up no more than a fourth of your dinner plate. Vegetables and fruits should cover half your plate, with whole grains filling in the rest.

Flexing for your health

The term "flexitarian" has been coined to describe someone who eats mostly plant-based foods but occasionally eats meat, poultry and fish. That kind of healthy eating is the heart of the Mediterranean diet — which limits red meat and emphasizes fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and healthy fats — and has been shown to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions. Why not work on your flexibility and start reaping some healthy benefits?

How Your Friends Affect Your Weight

Forget the old saying "You are what you eat." These days, the theory is that you are, instead, what your friends eat. A whole raft of research has looked at the effect that our loved ones' diet and exercise habits have on our own health.One long-term study of 12,000 adults found that a person's chances of becoming obese increased by about 40 percent if a spouse or sibling became obese—and jumped as high as 170 percent if a close friend became obese. Another study, in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that college students adjusted their food intake based on how much their companions ate. And it's not just adults who are vulnerable. New research says that children are subject to the influence of others as well.

PARADE: 5 ways to control your appetite

In a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers looked at the eating habits of normal-weight and overweight kids aged 9 to 15 when paired with friends or strangers. They found that participants eating with friends ate more than those dining with children they didn't know—and that overweight friends ate more than leaner friends."Youths' weight and eating habits are influenced by their friends' and peers' weight and eating habits," says Sarah-Jeanne Salvy, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Buffalo's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. "With one-third of kids and two-thirds of adults overweight or obese, there are fewer normal-weight people for children to emulate and less peer pressure to not overeat."

PARADE: Fix your worst diet habits

So how can we address the problem? Forcing children to give up friends with unhealthy habits is extreme and may do more harm than good. "It's hard enough being an overweight child and dealing with all of the social pressures that come with that," Salvy says. "Not allowing overweight friends to eat together is not a solution—overweight kids have been found to eat more alone than with peers.Parents need to help in a friendly way, never nagging or criticizing. Lead by example: Get more active and eat better as a family. Keep wholesome, nutritious foods in the house. Pack healthful lunches and snacks for your children to take to school."

PARADE: 7 ways to get kids to eat healthy

Peer pressure will always be an issue, and no child—or adult, for that matter—wants to be the odd man out. You can't control what others do or eat around your kids, but you can teach your family about good health at home and hope they take that knowledge with them when they leave. Settle for small victories—say, a piece of fruit in the morning with breakfast. If your kids get in the habit of healthy eating, they'll be better equipped to defend themselves against peer pressure. They may even start a more nutritious trend among their friends.

Best & Worst Foods for Your Cholesterol (continued)

The bests

Best breakfast

Starbucks Perfect Oatmeal with Nut Medley

• 240 calories
• 11 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
• 0 mg sodium

Best lunch

Baja Fresh Grilled Mahi Mahi Tacos (2)

• 460 calories
• 18 g fat (3 g saturated)
• 600 mg sodium

Best snack

Wholly Guacamole Classic (2 Tbsp)

• 50 calories
• 4 g fat (0.5 g saturated)
• 75 mg sodium

Best dinner

Uno Chicago Grill Lemon Basil Salmon with Steamed Broccoli

• 510 calories
• 39 g fat (5 g saturated)
• 1,030 mg sodium

Don’t spoil a day of perfect eating with calorie-packed beverages. Avoid all items on this list of the 20 worst drinks in America.

Best & Worst Foods for Your Cholesterol

While nutritionists and researchers may disagree about how certain foods and fats affect our overall cholesterol levels, one universal truth that everyone can agree on is that trans fat is an ultimate evil lurking in our food chain, proven time and again to lower healthy HDL cholesterol, raise artery-clogging LDL cholesterol, and put us at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. In fact, this artificial fat is so hazardous to our bodies that in 2007 the New York City Department of Health banned its use in restaurants.

Which of course led to the destruction of all the city’s restaurants and caused New York to drop into the sea. Oh no, wait ... that didn’t happen. In fact, the effect on New York’s restaurants—including its fast-food joints—was pretty much zilch. That’s because there are plenty of suitable, and much healthier, options out there and plenty of industry titans are using them. But to this day, many chain restaurants and food manufacturers in most parts of the country are still clinging to hydrogenated oils and shortening, and putting you, the consumer, in danger as a result.

What’s so unfair about this ongoing disregard for our health is that many fats are actually good for us—having a positive impact on our cholesterol profiles while also helping us stay fuller longer. Monounsaturated fats, like those found in olive and canola oils and healthy foods like avocados and nuts, can be used to make most any food better for us.

Make it your mission to eat healthfully for every single meal. Check out the four worst—and four best—meals for your cholesterol. And for more great tips like these, order the latest, most up-to-date version of the best-selling weight-loss series: Eat This, Not That! The Best (& Worst!) Foods in America!

The worsts

Worst breakfast

Bob Evans Stacked & Stuffed Caramel Banana Pecan Hotcakes

• 9 g trans fat
• 1,543 calories
• 77 g fat (26 g saturated)
• 109 g sugars
• 2,259 mg sodium

These problematic pancakes keep popping up on our worst lists for a reason: They have more calories, sugar, carbs, sodium and fat than nearly any other breakfast in America. Add to that list 4½ days’ worth of trans fat and you begin to wonder why Bob Evans doesn’t make you sign a waiver before applying the syrup. When ordering from Bob’s breakfast menu, stick with items labeled “Fit from the Farm”—aside from scrambled eggs or a plain bowl of oatmeal, they’re the only healthy breakfast foods Bob Evans offers.

Click here for more great weight-loss tips like this one.

Worst lunch

Boston Market Classic Chicken Salad Sandwich

• 5 g trans fat
• 800 calories
• 41 g fat (7 g saturated)
• 1,900 mg sodium

Chicken and tuna salad sandwiches might not be the models of health some purport them to be, but even we were surprised to see how bad this Boston Market sandwich really is. Where do they possibly find the room to cram 2½ days’ worth of trans fat into chicken, mayonnaise, lettuce and bread? The answer lies somewhere in the murky ingredient list, which, as with too many of their dishes, runs at more than 40 items long. Boston Market has a swath of solid entrées—from rotisserie chicken to slices of sirloin—and healthy sides on their menu. Get a sandwich stacked with lean white meat, minus the trans fat, with Boston Market’s line of open-faced sandwiches.

Worst snack

Pop-Secret Kettle Corn (4 cups popped)

• 6 g trans fat
• 180 calories
• 13 g fat (3 g saturated)
• 150 mg sodium

The only secret here is that the popcorn purveyor uses partially hydrogenated oil to pop their kernels, turning a reasonable snack into a nutritional nightmare of heart-wrenching proportions. This box has three bags of popcorn, which means every time you buy it, you’re bringing 54 grams of dangerous trans fat into your house. There’s not an easier—or more important—swap to make.

Worst dinner

Denny’s Double Cheeseburger

• 7 g trans fat
• 1,540 calories
• 116 g fat (52 g saturated)
• 3,880 mg sodium

There’s nothing redeeming about this atrocious cheeseburger—stacked between
two buns is nearly three times your daily limit of trans fat, three-quarters of the calories you should consume in one day, and the sodium equivalent of 118 saltine crackers. Oh, and did we mention the 59 bacon strips’ worth of saturated fat? Aside from the Fit Fare Boca, you’re not going to find a reasonable burger on the Denny’s menu, so it’s either this or a grilled chicken sandwich.

Lose 10 pounds in five weeks

Can you really do it this time?

If you have a weight problem, it can feel hopeless. The heavier you get and the longer that you've been overweight, the more impossible it seems to be able to drop weight and keep it off. It's hard to believe that this time, it will work. But it can.

Even if you have biological tendencies that make it easy to gain and hard to lose weight, you can be leaner and fitter than you are now.

If you are overweight, there's a good chance you could be making smarter lifestyle choices. To lose weight, you'll have to train yourself to substitute poor choices with ones that will help you drop pounds.

Now is the time to take stock of your behaviors. This first step—a reality check of the eating and exercise choices you make most of the time—may be the most challenging part of making a change. But it's crucial for achieving lasting success.

So, to get yourself ready to follow the Lose 10 Pounds in 5 Weeks plan, here's what you need to do first:

Step 1. Take three days of this week to write down everything you eat. This will help you identify your specific eating patterns and spot areas where you can improve. This will be your Baseline Diet Diary. You can track your diet and eating habits at My Wellness Center.

Step 2. Learn to improve your diet. Read through these Eat Smart tips to get started.

Step 3. One of the simplest ways to squeeze fitness into your life is to walk more. Start the Walk-the-Fat-Off plan; each week has a designated walking program.

If you follow the Lose 10 Pounds in Five Weeks plan, not only can you start to get in the best shape of your life, you'll feel happier and more optimistic. Eating better will fuel you and give your body the nutrients it needs. Your daily walks will lift your mood and your self-confidence.

Welcome to the beginning of the rest of your healthy life!

This diet and exercise program should not be followed without first consulting a health-care professional. If you have any special health conditions requiring attention, you should consult regularly with your health-care professional regarding possible modification of this program.

10 Things Every Woman Should Know About Her Body

I give health advice to everyone: patients, friends and, of course, my 23-year-old daughter. But it doesn’t really stick unless they know the why. I’ve found that if you understand how your body works—say, the effect that getting four hours of sleep instead of eight has on your brain—you’re more apt to make a healthier choice. So I’m going to share some of the info that doctors usually don’t have time to get into: Use it to help yourself feel, look and live better. What Happens When…You Try a Fad Diet The Master Cleanse and other restrictive weight-loss plans seem to have become more popular than ever. But let me fill you in on something: After a few days of massively scaling back food intake, your metabolism starts to plummet. That’s because your brain senses that there isn’t enough food coming in. It tells your body to cling desperately to the fat stores it already has, and starts burning lean muscle tissue for fuel—two things that ultimately increase your percentage of body fat. After several days on a very low-calorie diet, levels of omega-3 fats in your brain can fall as well. Around 30 percent of the brain is made up of these fats, and without enough of them, you may be more prone to depression. How to help your body: The healthiest, most effective way to lose weight is to eat small, balanced meals and snacks every few hours so your brain never goes into that starvation panic mode, and to never, ever drop below 1,200 calories a day. What Happens When…You Skimp on Sleep After even one night of four hours’ sleep instead of eight, you’ll feel crankier and generally “down.” You’ll have more difficulty processing complex information, and you’ll want to eat more—specifically simple carbs like sweets. Why? Your body wants a quick energy fix any way it can get it. When you don’t get enough rest, your body also produces less growth hormone, a substance that helps tissues regenerate and repair themselves, keeping you younger longer. How to help your body: The exact amount of rest your body needs is very personal, but, on average, I recommend women get no fewer than seven hours. Men are a bit needier (as you probably already knew). They have to get closer to eight. What Happens When…You Eat a Fatty Meal Once a bacon cheeseburger gets into your system, the saturated and trans fats cause blood vessels to constrict. They stay that way for about four hours—boosting blood pressure and reducing blood flow and oxygen supply. And here’s the kicker: As soon as those tough four hours are up, it’s time for your next meal; choose another fatty one, and the cycle happens again. Someone who eats this way most days is almost always walking around with tightened arteries—a prescription for heart disease. How to help your body: To feel your best and live longer, make high-fat splurges like this the exception, not the rule. What Happens When…You Have a Glass of Wine Piles of studies have linked light drinking—whether it’s wine, beer or the hard stuff—to a healthier heart. One study illuminated the possible reason: After one drink (4 ounces of wine or 1.5 of liquor, not a glass the size of a soup bowl), your blood vessels relax. That’s a good thing, but having a second drink stresses your circulatory system. And it’s worth noting that men have more of an alcohol-digesting enzyme in their stomach than women do. More of the alcohol you drink gets into your bloodstream than it does for men, making you drunker quicker. Once boozed-up blood hits your brain, your reaction time and your ability to process information slow. And your liver gets pulled away from its work of clearing out toxins to focus on neutralizing the alcohol. Research suggests that alcohol may be two to three times riskier for a woman’s liver than a man’s, even when they drink the same amount. How to help your body: You’re far better off having a glass of wine a day than having none all week and then seven on Saturday night. What Happens When…You Kiss Someone Touching a person you love sets off powerful reactions in the body. One study by Swiss researchers found that young women who got brief shoulder rubs from their partners before a stressful event had lower heart rates and levels of stress hormones than women who didn’t get massages. Touching also triggers the release of oxytocin, a hormone that boosts feelings of closeness and can reduce the perception of pain. All of this happens whether you kiss, cuddle, hold hands or have sex. I say do them all more often. How’s that for a doctor’s order? What Happens When…You Overdo It on Caffeine Minutes after you slug back a jumbo java, the caffeine begins to take effect. When you get more than about 250 milligrams (the equivalent of about three 8-ounce cups of coffee) in a couple of hours, your body pumps out stress hormones like epinephrine and cortisol, which increase heart rate, tense muscles and push blood pressure higher. Yes, the surge makes your brain more alert, but if you overdo it, you’re apt to experience a crash later. How to help your body: To get the most out of your caffeine buzz, have small amounts throughout the day, and keep your total to around 400 milligrams. Just don’t sip it after 3:00 P.M. or it’ll disrupt your sleep. What Happens When…You Go for a Jog You may have heard a recent report that exercise does not help you lose weight. It’s a juicy story that makes the rounds every couple of years, but I’m here to tell you: Cardio exercise like jogging, biking, running or fast walking will help you lose weight. I’ve seen it in the research, I’ve seen it in my patients—and I’ve seen it in myself! Aside from all that, it’s good for your entire body and mind. Lace up your sneakers and head out for a jog: Right away, more blood flows to your muscles, and they start working more efficiently. As you continue to work out, you’ll strengthen the muscle fibers in your heart, too. Then the feel-good endorphins you always hear about begin flowing, putting you in a more positive, happy mood. When all this happens regularly, your risk for heart problems and cancer drops. Bonus: Your metabolism will stay high for a few hours after—so you’ll be burning more calories just soaping up in the shower. How to help your body: Quite simply, exercise is the most powerful drug I’ve ever seen. Get your fix three times a week at least. What Happens When…You Stub Your Toe I know—even though it’s just a toe, it kills. Same thing with other minor injuries, like paper cuts. Research suggests you actually have more pain receptors on your skin than a man does, so you literally feel more pain. That said, I find that women have a higher pain tolerance. (Men—especially young men—are wimps! Believe me, they’re the worst group of people to do surgery on.) It’s a coping mechanism that developed largely to help women endure the pain of childbirth (long before the miracle of epidurals, of course). How to help your body: You’re probably already doing the right thing: Rubbing an owie makes it feel better by stimulating nerves around the injury and sort of distracting your brain. (And go ahead and yowl—a study found cursing may help. What Happens When…You’re Stressed Let’s say your boss calls you into her office and says she has bad news. Wham! Your body’s stress response kicks in and the hormones cortisol and epinephrine flow, making your mind hyperalert and speeding up breathing and blood pressure—all to get you ready to either flee the scene or fight whatever danger you’re facing. Once your brain senses that things are OK and you’re not going to be swallowed by a bear—or, in this case, canned—things return to normal. In small doses, this isn’t a terrible thing, but when acute stresses become chronic—say, you’re forced to work late every day for weeks or you’re going through a divorce—cortisol levels get stuck on high, and your body, heart and mind never fully relax. That kind of chronic stress increases your risk of heart disease, depresses your immune system (and mood) and causes headaches, back pain, breakouts, even weight gain. I can look at a woman’s belly and know how hectic her life is—cortisol overload causes your body to lay down fat, particularly around your middle. How to help your body: Want a double-whammy cure? Exercise. You’ll burn off fat and reduce the stress overload that leads to belly pooch. Even just a 10-minute brisk walk can make a difference. Mehmet Oz, M.D., is the director of the Heart Institute at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. His new, nationally syndicated TV program, The Dr. Oz Show, started airing in September.

Eggs & Your HEART

As a preventive cardiologist, one of the questions I’m often asked is whether eggs are bad for the heart. My answer is almost always, “No,” although I suggest that you speak with your own doctor if you have concerns.For years eggs have gotten a bad rap for their cholesterol content (210 mg in a yolk), but recent studies on their effects on dietary cholesterol have shed new light on the issue. Studies now show that dietary cholesterol, found in eggs and other animal foods, raises blood cholesterol in only about one-third of people. More significantly, eggs do not appear to contribute to heart disease or stroke in healthy people, even when eaten as often as five times a week (although one recent study did find that consuming more than one egg per day was associated with an increase in some people's risk for type 2 diabetes of up to 77 percent; it is not clear exactly why and the study did not examine the relation between egg whites and diabetes risk).

Now research reported in a recent issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry suggests that proteins in boiled and fried eggs may reduce blood pressure and potentially reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The findings, which were achieved using a model system of the stomach and small intestine to simulate conditions in the human gut, showed that proteins in fried and boiled eggs can be converted by enzymes in the stomach and small intestine to produce peptides with angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory activity. (ACE inhibitors help improve blood flow and blood pressure by preventing the the formation of angiotensin II, a hormone that causes arteries to constrict.) The researchers noted that the effect of the fat and oil content of the fried eggs was not considered. They also quite rightly remark that these in vitro results now need to be replicated in humans.

So while this exciting research is ongoing, I encourage you to enjoy your eggs, especially if it means that you won’t skip breakfast and wolf down a fatty doughnut mid-morning instead. And if you do fry your eggs, be sure to do so in a little heart-healthy olive oil or canola oil, not butter.

Walk the Weight Off--Anywhere

Around the block, in the mall, on a treadmill: 3 routines that slim you down fast

By Jessie Knadler , Jessie Knadler is a freelance writer and documentary film-maker living in New York City.

Get ready to be inspired: This workout trio may just make winter your favorite walking season. Head outdoors for a routine that cranks up the intensity, helps keep your muscles warm, and ensures a quick return home.

If getting outside is impossible, we've also provided an at-home treadmill workout; we even have a fitness walk you can do while shopping at the mall! "The more options you have, the more likely you'll be to stick to an exercise routine, no matter what the weather," says certified personal trainer Kate Larsen, author of Progress Not Perfection: Your Journey Matters. Keep up the hard work all season long, and by spring, you might be shopping for a smaller size!

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Pace Yourself for Best Results

Here are the pace and exertion levels you'll find in these workouts:

Easy: You can sing

Moderate: You can talk freely

Brisk: You can talk but you'd rather not

Fast: You're huffing and puffing

Sprint: You can't go for longer than 30 seconds/Hop on the Treadmill

350 calorie burner

This hill-heavy routine sculpts and strengthens thighs and glutes, says creator Jennifer Renfroe, Tread N' Shed treadmill class instructor at Crunch Gym in Atlanta. "Feel free to adjust the speed and incline depending on your personal fitness level," she advises.

What You'll Need A treadmill with an incline adjustment

The Routine

Duration 45 minutes

0-2:00 Easy walk (warm-up)

2:01-5:00 Moderate walk

5:01-10:00 Hill drill: Brisk walk, increasing incline one level every minute

10:01-12:00 Lower incline to level 1 and walk briskly

12:01-17:00 Hill drill: Brisk walk, increasing speed by 0.1 MPH and incline by one level every minute

17:01-19:00 Lower incline to level 2 and walk at a moderate pace

19:01-20:00 Raise incline to level 5 and walk briskly

20:01-24:00 Hill drill: Brisk walk, increasing speed by 0.1 MPH and incline by one level every minute

24:01-26:00 Lower incline to level 2 and walk at a moderate pace

26:01-40:00 Repeat minutes 19:01-26:00 two times

40:01-45:00 Easy walk, return incline to level 1 (cool-down)

Boost Your Burn Strap on a Powerbelt ($90 at Bodytrends), a lightweight padded belt that's equipped with retractable resistance cords, and give your upper body a workout. Hold the cords while you swing your arms forward, backward, up, or down and you'll burn as much as 64% more calories.

How to Overcome Everyday Disasters

Not all setbacks are of epic proportion. Often, all it takes is a casual insult or silly faux pas to knock you off course. Those trip-ups can snowball--a barista snaps at you, leading you to be short with a coworker, which turns into a fight with your partner, and...well, you get the idea.

To help manage life's minor tragedies and prevent them from wreaking havoc on your world, we asked psychology and etiquette experts to share their own stories of everyday woe--and how they recovered."I was at a hot new restaurant--the kind of place where all the waitresses want to be actresses--and my young and beautiful server gave me a look of pure disdain and sighed when I asked her a question about the menu. Then she actually walked away in the middle of my order to wait on a table of 'more important' people! I nearly lost my appetite."

Fix It Fast Instead of being rude to your server (that won't help anyone), discreetly find the manager or ma?e d', and say something like, "My waitress and I just don't seem to be communicating. Would it be possible to switch?" The manager will appreciate that you didn't make a spectacle and will likely oblige. After all, he wants a repeat customer.

Next Time Now, when Orloff notices that the coffee shop/lunch counter/five-star restaurant she's in is busting-at-the-seams busy, she makes sure to acknowledge it to her server. ("They have you working hard today, huh? I'll try to make this painless.") Once you lay on the empathy and camaraderie--and the smiles--the waitress will have a tougher time being so impolite to you, she says.

"I once had to introduce a client to the only person I knew at an event--the mayor of the city we were in. As we walked over to the mayor, I completely blanked on my client's name! I introduced the mayor, and then there was this awkward silence that lasted for what felt like forever. Everyone just looked at me.

Fix It Fast You can always try the "Have you two met?" trick. Usually one or the other will stick out his hand and make his own introduction. If that doesn't work, humility and honesty is the way to go: "I'm so sorry, but I've completely forgotten your name." What you never want to do is weasel out of the situation by ignoring an introduction, Fleming says. You'll simply make everyone uncomfortable.

Next Time If you have a flair for forgetfulness, immediately repeat your new acquaintance's name aloud. Also helpful: linking people's names to something visceral, like sights or sounds. (You just met Amy, who's from Maine. While silently repeating her name, picture her on a boat, sailing through the salty sea.) This way, you engage both the temporal lobe (the area of your brain that handles recall) and the brain's sensory motor center, says Fleming. With both parts storing the memory, you effectively double your recall powers.

Expert beauty advice for anti-aging skin care, hair color, beauty products, and makeup application

Deliciously Ageless!

Deliciously Ageless!

Eat for beautiful skin, amazing energy, and great health for life. 4 Rules and 5 Recipes get you started

Glowing Skin, silky hair, and taut, toned muscles over age 40? Absolutely! Cheryl Forberg, RD, is redefining what aging looks (and feels) like in her new book, Positively Ageless. Here, she shares how to harness the stay-young power of food, plus offers select recipes based on the latest anti-aging research.

1. Eat Colorful Produce
Every 4 to 5 Hours As you age, Forberg says, your skin's natural antioxidant protection drops; eating a diet rich in colorful fruits and veggies can help protect against wrinkles. There are hundreds of antioxidant nutrients, but the most important include vitamins C (found in tomatoes, citrus fruits, and bell peppers) and E (nuts and avocado), polyphenols (natural cocoa powder and berries), quercetin (onions and broccoli), and carotenoids (leafy greens, sweet potatoes, and other bright orange vegetables). One good option to boost your intake: Sweet Potatoes with Onion Confit.

2. Drink More Fluids
As you get older, your sense of thirst naturally becomes less acute, making you more vulnerable to dehydration. One of the first side effects is a loss of skin elasticity, a major contributor to fine lines. Eight glasses of water a day is a good goal. If you're not a fan of water, sip green tea, fat-free or low-fat milk, and the occasional cup of coffee, and look beyond the glass. Fruits and vegetables are naturally packed with fluid--it's what gives them crispness. Boost their anti-aging potential by serving broth-based soups, such as Italian Vegetable Soup, at lunch or dinner. At breakfast, whip up a fruity smoothie, made with almond or soy milk or low-fat dairy milk and unsweetened fruit juice.

3. Get 30% of Calories from Protein
After age 30, your muscle mass dwindles by approximately 3 to 8% per decade, causing you to lose strength, not to mention calorie-burning power. The antidote is a regular strength-training regimen--and dietary protein. Higher intakes of animal protein in particular help preserve muscle in women over 50, suggest several studies. Protein is also key to warding off fatigue, maintaining a steady blood sugar level, and promoting cellular repair and growth. Forberg recommends getting 30% of your daily calories from healthy protein sources such as lean meats, poultry, seafood, legumes, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, and traditional soy foods. A serving of Forberg's Roast Pork Tenderloin has 24 g.

4. Make Every Grain Count
Stock your pantry with a variety of antioxidant-packed whole grains, she advises. Wild and brown rices, bulgur, farro, millet, quinoa, and oats are all good options. Whether you're serving a simple side dish or preparing a meat loaf or meatballs (like the Lebanese Kebabs), don't automatically reach for white rice or plain bread crumbs. Think whole grain, and you'll be rewarded with better flavor, additional fiber, and more anti-aging nutrients.

Liver Health (Health and Fitness)

You might not think about your liver too often, but a healthy liver is critical. The liver is a mini-factory in the body. It is responsible for filtering what comes into the body and extracting nutrients. The liver's jobs include: storing energy, helping build muscles, keeping pollutants out of the body, producing bile, and removing waste products from nutrient breakdowns.

To help understand how to support liver health, and ensure it can properly maintain its critical function, the Wellness Advisor recommends the following products to help maintain liver health:

SAM-e: SAM-e is synthesized from the essential amino acid methionine. SAM-e is a naturally occurring molecule and plays an important role in a process called methylation. Methylation is a key step in the biosynthesis of DNA, RNA, phospholipids, proteins, neurotransmitters, and other compounds. SAM-e has been used to protect the liver and many clinical trials have focused on the effect of SAM-e on cholestasis, a failure of bile flow. SAM-e may exert beneficial effects on the liver through a variety of mechanisms, including an ...
an increase of glutathione concentrations, a major antioxidant in the liver that detoxifies and limits oxidative damage. SAM-e may also improve bile flow, decrease the negative effects of hormones on bile flow and composition, decrease fatty deposition in the liver, and may protect against alcohol related liver damage.

Milk Thistle: Milk Thistle preparations have been used for liver health for over 2000 years. Although its use declined over time, renewed interest in the clinical use of milk thistle for liver health grew again in the 1930’s and continues to grow. Milk thistle is one of the best documented therapeutic agents available to treat various types of liver problems. Milk thistle’s active ingredient, silymarin, is thought to be liver protective by stimulating both the synthesis of bile salts and regenerative ability of the liver. Silymarin protects the liver from toxins by stabilizing and protecting liver cell membranes, thus preventing the penetration of toxins into the interior of the cell. Internal ingestion of standardized preparations has shown to be liver protective in humans.

Mother's Day Flowers (Women)

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8th! Whether she lives next door or across the country, Send Mom a beautiful Fresh Flower Arrangement to celebrate her "Special Day!" Your local florist can design and deliver the perfect gift to Mom this year.

A Vase or Basket of Mom’s Favorite flowers will be a welcome surprise. Lilies, Roses and Orchids are especially popular for Mother’s Day. With Spring in full swing, Tulips and Daisies are abundant as well. Ask your local florist for creative suggestions based on your Mom’s favorite floral variety and/or colors. You may also find that they have some unique/specialty vases or containers available to showcase Mom’s blooms!

A Green or Blooming Plant can be delivered with your "Happy Mother’s Day" message. A decorative bow can be added for that special touch. Fresh Cut Flowers can also be added to a planted gift for an extra splash of color.

A Floral Centerpiece can be created just for "Mom" to highlight her tabl...
of homecooked meals she is so famous for! Centerpieces can even be designed with a candle as an extra keepsake for Mother’s Day.

Fruit/Gourmet Baskets offer Mom some delicious treats in a decorative basket. Consider sending Mom some special Teas, Coffees, Cookies, Chocolates or any Gourmet treats. Ask your local florist about the many delicious options available for Gift Baskets.

For an extra special touch, add some balloons or a plush animal to Mom’s flowers, plant or gift basket. It will give Mom’s gift a real "WOW" effect!

A simple "Happy Mother’s Day or detailed sentiment can be included with your floral gift on a message card. Some florists also have full size greetng cards available.

Consider sending your Grandmother a floral gift on Mother’s Day as well! Mother’s Day is a perfect day to celebrate any woman in your life that you honor and respect; Your Wife, Your Grandmother, Your Stepmother, Your Mother-In-Law, Daughter-In-Law.

The Good Old Days (Women)

Some moments are worth savoring. As I write this, I am outdoors with the sun gently warming my skin. A gentle breeze is caressing my face. The air is fragrant with the blossoms on my peach and plum trees. My sons are giving Thomas the Tank Engine a ride down the slide. My daughter and her friend are playing "Ice Cream Shoppe". It is simply one of those perfect moments.

A couple of years ago we might have missed a moment like this. Like many others, we would probably have been watching TV, even though it was a gorgeous day outside.

WHERE HAVE THE "GOOD OLD DAYS" GONE?

It's funny how the critics lament the passing of the "good old days". They wonder what happened to communities, neighborhoods, civic virtue, or family values. Pundits rant at the right and the left, blaming each or the other.

Yet, the biggest change over the last two generations has been the advent of television. In two generations TV has grown to suck up over four hours of peoples' time per day. No other social change comes close to this shift. It eats up about half of individuals' free time.

What did people do with those four hours a day before the television came along? They spent time with the neighbors, with their families, and with their communities. The "good old days" were simply sucked into the television set. The fastest way to get them back is to get rid of your TV.

TV ISOLATES US

TV does not unite us. It does not bring us together in any meaningful way, although it is sometimes portrayed that way. The physical act of watching TV isolates us from one another. We don't chat over dinner. We are plugged into the TV set. We don't visit the neighbors. We watch "Friends". We don't play ball with our children. We watch the "Playoffs".

We can not enjoy the warmth of the sun, if we are indoors watching TV. We cannot savor the beauty of nature if we are parked on a safa watching TV. "Nature" and "National Geographic" can not compare with the real thing. Most importantly, we can not enjoy one another's company if our attention is locked on the TV screen. TV always demands our full...
l attention.

COMMUNITES OF TV's

There can be a room full of people, but if a TV is playing, everyone will be plugged into the set, mesmerized by the flickering lights. Watch it. Watch a party be ground to a halt by a TV.

That is what is happening on a larger scale with our communities. There are communities full of people, all ignoring each other as they are plugged into their TV. Drive around almost any community at night. Are people gathered in groups gossiping and having fun with one another? More likely, you will pass by a plethora of isolated houses with eerie lights flickering through the windows. From a distance those lights are downright creepy.

PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED AND RELATIONSHIPS BUILT

Get a taste of the "good old days" by turning off the TV. It is not that problems vanish when you turn OFF the TV. Problems do not vanish any more than they do when the TV is ON. My idyllic scene was disrupted shortly after I descibed it by the kids' bickering. However, they resolved their differences and started playing in the sandbox.

That is the key. They were still interacting and could resolve their problems. Turning off the TV frees them to solve their problems and to grow in their relationships.

I have studied history extensively. I know full well that the past is full of pain and suffering as well as joy. People have also made great strides in many social issues over the past several decades. Yet, we lost something critical to our existance when we plugged in the TV and left it on for over four hours a day. We lost the time that used to go to building relationships, to loving, to living, and to connecting with each other.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Go back to the "good old days" by turning off your TV. Turn it off and play outdoors with your family. Go for a walk. Invite the neighbors over for a barbeque. Host a family game night. Read with your children. All these activities are relaxing and build essential relationships. They are also things people used to do in the "good old days". Going back is as simple as pushing a button--the OFF button.

Wife Smarter Than Husband? (Women)

Is it safe for a wife to be smarter than her husband?

Of course! Men who cannot afford social ornaments sometimes want inferior wives. Why? Often because they harbor a great sense of inferiority.

Therefore at all economic levels there are some men who want apparently weak and docile women whom they can dominate completely, who will not put up any arguments, and who will do as they are told without any "ifs," "ands," or "buts."

Likewise there are women who either want to be dominated, or who are so eager to marry that they will do so under such circumstances.

What about the "ordinary man" who has no serious feelings of inadequacy, and who cannot afford, and does not desire a social ornament? Does he demand that his wife not have too many brains?

Certainly he wants her to be intelligent enough to do her job well. He does not want to feel ashamed of her because of her stupidity. Actually, too, the marriage will turn out more successfully if the wife is smart enough to be interesting, and to help develop satisfying personal relationships.

Still, the man usually does not want to feel inferior to his wife. But feeling inferior is not the same as being inferior. Some men have a quiet pride in a wife who is smarter, provided that she is smart enough not to make him appear and feel inferior, especially in front of his friends.

Some men, like some women, want others to run things for them. This desire may result from an unwillingness to assume responsibilities. It may come from a deep-seated desire to be dominated. Whatever its basis, there are men who want to be dominated by their wives. In such cases, both of them should know it in advance.

The problem is not limited to what men in general, or this man in particular, may want. There is also social demand. The boy and the girl who plan marriage should have a clear understanding of what the entire situation actually is, including its contradictions which they must somehow resolve.

Our culture expects the husband to be intellectually superior to his wife. Yet actually, he is not and in many cases cannot be. By the law of chances, there will be almost as many wives who are superior to their husbands, as husbands who are superior to their wives. So what t...
o do?

In real life the situation does not work out too badly. Vocationally, the wife usually becomes side-tracked while she is bearing and rearing the children. With a twenty-year advantage, even a relatively inferior husband can usually manage to keep ahead. And as a result of the differences in what society expects, the wife usually runs with the throttle only partly open.

While the husband is advancing himself vocationally, or rising in his company, the wife busies herself getting up church suppers and organizing flower shows which consume her time and energy, but do not show up in either the pay check or her vocational standing.

Yet such advantages are not always enough to keep the husband ahead. If the difference in ability is marked, it speedily becomes known.

Such a situation may be concealed by a polite little conspiracy to maintain the fiction of male superiority, but everyone knows to whom to go, to get things done. In our day this fiction is becoming more difficult to maintain.

More and more wives are going back to work as soon as their children are old enough to be left by themselves, and are getting real money and recognition.

In some instances, the wife will outstrip her husband. The problem often becomes a real issue at the time when her income exceeds his.

My feeling is that the soundest marriages are those in which husband and wife are on about the same level of intelligence. We may think that the problem will be serious, only if the girl is markedly superior, but this is by no means necessarily true. The girl who marries a man who is intellectually far superior may face problems quite as serious. She will be safer if she chooses a man more nearly on her own level, so that through the years the relationship can most easily be maintained.

There is just as much chance that the wife will be superior to the husband, as the other way around. All who marry should face this fact. Actually there is no more justification for a man feeling embarrassed because his wife is superior, than there is for a wife to feel embarrassed because her husband excels her.

In any case, character and personality are far more important, provided each of the couple is intelligent enough to do a good job.

Are You Addicted To TV? (Women)

It is 2AM and you are blankly staring at a rerun of "Columbo". You meant to go to bed hours ago, but the time has somehow managed to slip through your fingers. Your hand reaches for the remote.
It's Saturday afternoon and your best friend since kindergarten calls and asks to meet with you over coffee. She has some exciting news, and she can't wait to share it. "Wait until "Friends" is over," you reply.
Sound familiar? If so, you may be addicted to your TV. TV has some funny effects on the brain. Most people are not aware of these effects. However, the effects of TV on the brain are similar to the effects of addictive drugs. The good news is, once you become aware of these effects, you can begin to reduce TV's addictive hold.
TV = Relaxation
Everyone knows TV can be very relaxing. TV has the ability to completely shut out the rest of our crazy world. All the world's problems vanish as you are wrapped in a cozy TV Neverland. The relaxation is almost instantaneous. The quickness of the relaxation conditions you to associate TV with relaxation. As long as you are watching TV, you feel relaxed.
Unfortunately, this sense of relaxation ends as soon as the TV is turned off. The cozy little Neverland disappears. You don't even get the benefit of a gradual withdrawal. Poof! Neverland is gone.
With drugs, the faster a drug leaves the body, the more addictive it is. The Scientific American researchers, Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi, who explored TV's addictive qualities, explain:
"A tranquilizer that leaves the body rapidly is much more likely to cause dependence than one that leaves the body slowly, precisely because the user is more aware that the drug's effects are wearing off. Similarly, viewers' vague learned sense that they will feel less relaxed if they stop viewing may be a significant factor in not turning the set off."
After the set is turned off you will feel either worse or the same as you did before watchin...
TV. If you were trying to avoid painful feelings, those feelings will surge back when you reenter the real world. Worse, if you have acclimated to TV's forced relaxation by watching too much, you may become dependent on the TV to relax.
TV "Grabs" and "Holds" your attention
TV shows use cinematic tricks to "grab" and "hold" the viewers attention. Humans brains are hard-wired to turn their attention to things that suddenly change in the environment. This is an evolutionary benefit for noticing potential threats. The body relaxes while the brain gathers information. The technical term is the "orienting response".
Sudden changes is volume, cuts, zooms, scene changes, or sudden movements on the TV cause you to look at the TV. Repeated changes have the effect of "holding" your attention. Commercials, action movies, and music videos are notorious for containing large numbers of these sudden changes that "grab" and "hold" your attention.
Test it for yourself
Watch your own responses the next time you watch TV. For a fun experiment, turn on a TV in a room full of people to watch how the orienting response works. It is pretty amazing to watch, if you can keep from getting sucked in. The next time the TV is playing see how many cuts, zooms, loud noises, and scene changes you can count.
What are the major symptoms of TV addiction?
* You want to watch less, but find it difficult to turn off the TV.
* You tried in the past to limit your TV watching--but failed.
* You feel anxious when the TV is not on.
* You think about TV when you are not watching it.
* TV replaces other meaningful activities, like spending time with family and friends.
Television has become so common in our society that it may be difficult to recognize a TV addiction. When everyone at the office is discussing the latest episode of "Desperate Wives", it may be difficult to see that an unhealthy addiction is at work.

Family Mental Illness -- Coping (Women)

Experience and Coping Strategies of Living with Mental Illness
"The mental illness of a family member is an unexpected event that disrupts the usual sense of continuity an rhythm in the lifecycle with a profound impact on young family members". (Marsh & Dickens, 1997, p.51)
Mental illness disrupts lives in the following ways:

* economic hardship
* frequent changes of home/residence
* separation/divorce
* secrecy due to the stigma of mental illness
* distancing of neighbors & family members due to a lack of understanding of mental illness
* avoidance of friends due to an unstable home environment

Quite often youth experience Parentification -- that is a role reversal. Often one or more children in the family assume an adult role & take over household responsibilities as well as caretaking of other siblings due to the unavailability of a parent or inability of a parent to perform necessary household and caretaking tasks. Usually the parent and child lack bonding experiences which can result in impaired social experiences.
When a psychotic outbreak, episode or suicide attempt occurs there is an increased reliance and dependence of the ill family member on the rest of the members. Quite often the ill member is in denial of the outbreak and usually experiences confusion, anger and despair. The ill member needs a safe place, food and lots of rest. Meanwhile.....
The rest of the family members are left in a state of shock, crisis and chaos while left to care for the needs of the ill family member. Usually everyone attempts to normalize the e...
perience and to compensate for the disruptive force of the mental illness. The ill member is unaware of the family's unmet needs of the parent's), or children. The spouse is often tending to the ill member, hence children's needs are forgotten.

The social and emotional impact of Mental Illness includes:

* shame, due to stigma and secrecy of the mental illness
* feeling as if your 'head is in the sand'
* frequent state of crisis, chaos, shock & denial
* hoping against hope that an additional crisis will not occur & the ill member will be healed
* disillusionment, confusion & feelings of hopelessness
* loss of an adult role model (if it is mentally ill parent)
* anger, guilt, frustration or resentment due to unmet needs and the inability to help the ill family member
* perpetual loss
* empathetic pain for other family members
* feelings of isolation and loneliness
* shattered trust
* often and unclear sense of reality
* low self-concept
* unmet needs

Coping Strategies:

* Do not do anything harmful to yourself
* Establish and set goals for yourself
* Find healthy avenues of escape, to divert or distract yourself such as: reading, jogging, sports, visit friends or becoming involved in activities outside the home
* Seek the support of professionals, such as a therapist, doctor, etc.
* Recognize or establish boundaries between yourself and the ill member
* Educate yourself about the illness
* Engage in activities and associate with individuals who reinforce or boost your self-esteem

Face Paint Recipes (Women)

These easy face paint recipes show how to make homemade face paint using common household ingredients. Mix and store in baby food jars or discarded film canisters. Be ready for your next kids party or dress-up event.

HOMEMADE FACE PAINT RECIPES

Facepaint Recipe #1

* 1 tsp. Cornstarch
* ½ tsp. Cold cream
* ½ tsp. Water
* Food coloring (variety of colors)

Mix together cornstarch and cold cream until well blended. Add water and stir. Add food coloring one drop at a time until you get the desired color.

Facepaint Recipe #2

* 3 tblsps. Cornstarch
* 1 tblsp. Flour
* 3/4 cup Karo light corn syrup
* 1/4 cup water
* ½ tsp. Liquid food coloring

Mix cornstarch and flour together in a bowl. Gradually stir in Karo syrup and water until smooth. Divide mixture into individual containers as needed and tint each one with the food coloring of your choice. Leave one batch untinted.
P>****************************

Clown Make-up

* Blend on a paper plate:
* 2 tblsp. shortening
* 5 tsps. cornstarch
* 1 tsp. flour
* Dab of Vaseline

Add food coloring for various colors.

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Fake Blood for Halloween Party Make-up

* Karo brand corn syrup
* Red and blue food coloring
* Milk

Add some red food coloring to the corn syrup, then just a drop or two of blue to get a more realistic dark color. Milk will make the blood appear more opaque and more realistic.

Note: This mixture is sticky and can stain clothes.

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More Fun Make-up Tips:

To lightly blacken faces, carefully burn a cork and when cool, rub on the face.

For a ghoulish look, add a dusting of flour to already made up faces.

For a stubbly bearded look, sprinkle tobacco over a thin layer of vaseline.

Today's Woman (Women)

She is a guide, mentor, mother, nurturer, wife and friend. She is many things to many people. She is Today's woman. She is a new woman in ever changing new world or is she? She gives and she takes only what is earned. She speaks up even when it feels uncomfortable. When life gives her lemons Today's woman takes those lemons and makes lemonade or does she?

As a woman today I have the same goals in mind as my mother yesterday. I want just as much to raise and care for my children in a healthy home environment. The only difference between me and my mother was that she was born in 1932 a time of poverty. By the age of 12 she was at home raising her brothers and sisters instead of attending school. My mother grew into a woman and took on the job of mother and wife. My mother never worked outside of the home until my father’s death in 1988. At this time she was faced with no education, no job experience and was forced back into the work force. She took a job at a factory until health forced her into early retirement. But she did what she had to do to survive.

Today I want as much for myself and my children as my mother did. However today as women we have worked our way into the right to vote, to fight for equal pay, to break away from traditional roles but I think we have over stepped our roles. No longer is Today's Woman concerned with equality but we have pushed our way with a feminist movement that we are now one up on men.

The abortion movement is one fine example of that. The law allows a woman to take power over a joint decision by aborting a life made by both man and woman and the man has no say over it. Yet the same feminist are demanding that fathers pay child support and alimony instead of teaching the single woman to financially support herself. Feminist have created Today's woman all right, they have trained and molded her to be a victim.

I will tell you that there are no victims in life only those who willingly volunteer to play the role. The sad thing is feminist don't even see how sad and how much of an embarrassment they are to other women like me. Today's Woman is teaching Today's Woman to take control over something that involves both a man and woman like abortion and yet at the same time making her depend on her man's money and encouraging the government to ...
ive her special privileges.

Being Today's Woman should mean that you can make a contribution to humanity as a whole. It should be about finding your passion in life and embracing it with determination and depending on only yourself. Today's Woman has more than equal rights and she still wants more. She wants to eat her cake and have it to. Come on you have to admit that the feminist way of thinking is pretty much bios. She wants the same rights as man but accepts a few favors because she has a set of tits and ovaries.

At one time the feminist movement might have actually stood for something, meant something to me as a woman but sadly not anymore. I was proud to be a feminist when women were shouting and marching up the street take back the night don't be a victim. But now Today's woman has gone from the nurturing caring mother like my mother was to a bitter resentful woman. Sadly by Today's woman standards if you are not a woman on the side of the line who believes in aborting the unborn child and taking Daddy to the cleaners in a messy divorce then you’re not real women.

Today's woman has labeled all women victims. By Today's woman standards there is only one way to think and that is their way. They have no problem in playing the helpless female role and taking power over man. But lets look at this perhaps it is man who is really the victim.

There are sadly to many double standards set by Today's woman so maybe I'm yesterdays woman after all living in Today's World. A mother is perhaps the most noble, important profession in society. Maybe I am just a woman who was born in the wrong century.

I know a young thirty-four year old single mother who is bringing up five children on her own. She is a woman that I admire as Today's Woman. She cares about the well being of her family. She struggles daily to uplift her family out of poverty and provide the best for those children. She made the ultimate sacrifice a mother can, she leaves her children each day to go to work and provide for them. She doesn't have any daddy in the background paying child support and alimony. She is both mother and father. She is what Today's Woman should be about. Tammy Chambers is a lady that I greatly admire as Today's woman and she could certainly teach the feminist movement a thing or two.

The Importance Of Prenatal Vitamins (Women)

One of the most important things you can do if you are thinking about becoming pregnant is start taking a prenatal vitamin with at least 400mg of folic acid. Folic acid is an essential nutrient that can help prevent birth defects in newborns. If you start taking a prenatal supplement before you even try to become pregnant, you will have the best chance of ensuring a happy and healthy journey once you become pregnant.

Prenatal vitamins are packed full of nutrients that will help support and nourish your growing child and your body during pregnancy. Most women assume that they need a prescription to acquire prenatal vitamins. There are actually however many high quality prenatal vitamin supplements you can purchase over the counter. If you are not certain what your best choice is, be sure to c...
consult with your healthcare provider who can point you in the right direction.

If you aren’t engaging in regular exercise prior to pregnancy, you’ll find it is more difficult though not impossible to start exercising during pregnancy when you are already feeling bulky and tired. Therefore one of the best things you can do to prepare for pregnancy is start exercising regularly. You don’t have to join the Boston Marathon, but even walking around the block a few times per week will help tone and condition your body and help you prepare for the journey ahead.

Women who regularly engage in some form of exercise before and during pregnancy are more likely to experience quicker and less problematic labors. That is a good enough reason in and of itself to start exercising as soon as you can.

Deception Wrinkle Cream (Women)

New Cosmetic Product Makes Wrinkles Almost Invisible to the Naked Eye!

Watch this recent ABC News clip and see the results for yourself! An ndependent news organization persuaded two volunteers to try the product and tell them what they thought about it!

What's going on here?

Is this some kind of magic? No, -it's not magic. It's science which seems like magic.

The main ingredient in Deception is made from something called "emu oil". I'll tell you about emu oil in a moment... but first... let me tell you what creates the "magic" effect.

This is the best triple-refined emu oil in the world. And, an extra ingredient is added to it while it is being made into a cream. This extra ingredient is a suspension of superfine silicon dioxide nanoprisms which has been "fractionated" instead of powderized. That means instead of turning into flakes when it is processed... it turns into...

Billions of Microscopic Three-Dimensional Nanoprisms!

So...
what?

Here's "so what." Almost nobody knows this... but... the human eye cannot see a wrinkle. What the eye sees is actually the shadow made by the wrinkle. And, since all those billions of microscopic nanoprisms refract light, when you use Deception...

There are No Shadows to See!

This effect will last until you wash your face and the invisible silicon dioxide is removed. And get this: Remember how I told you the main ingredient in this cosmetic cream is made from emu oil? Well, it turns out emu oil is probably the best cosmetic ingredient in the world. That's because its molecules are much smaller than the molecules in human skin. Because of this, emu oil can...

Penetrate Down Through Seven Layers of Human Skin!

This makes it the best moisturizer in the world.

And here's more good news! The reason you get wrinkles in the first place is, as you get older, you start losing the collagen in your skin. Can you guess what emu oil does?

Morning Sickness - All Day Sickness! (Women)

Morning sickness should be referred to as all day sickness. While some women will sail through pregnancy with nary a symptom of nausea, others will find themselves severely ill for weeks on end.

Morning sickness is actually a misnomer. It can strike at any time any day for several days at a time. Most women will experience morning sickens during their first trimester, when hormone levels are rapidly rising to prepare the body to carry your baby to term.

Morning sickness can be worse in the morning, usually because you have an empty stomach. However it is not uncommon for it to strike midday or even in the evening. For an unfortunate few, the feelings of nauseousness that accompany pregnancy sometimes last well into the third trimester.

The good news is that there are a number ...
of easy things you can do to help minimize the symptoms of morning sickness:

Eat several small meals per day. This will prevent sickness that is associated with an empty stomach.

Avoid high fat and greasy foods. These foods often contribute to increased feelings of nausea and vomiting.

Sip on some carbonated water. The fizziness of the water often helps relieve morning sickness. Better yet, squeeze some fresh lemon into the water. This is very helpful for alleviating morning sickness.

Chew on some ginger. Ginger is a natural remedy long used to help combat nausea.

Have some crackers by the bed. Many women feel nausea is worse in the morning because their stomach is empty. Try chewing a few crackers and sipping some water before you get up out of bed in the morning.

Maintaining a Healthy Prostate (Men's Health)

Prostate health is one of the leading concerns for American men. An estimated one out of six will encounter some type of challenge to the health of their prostate. However, there is some new hope on the horizon. A new national study researching the health benefits of Selenium and Vitamin E will join research which supports using the herbal supplement Saw Palmetto in helping to maintain a healthy prostate.

The prostate is a gland located between the bladder and the rectum. Present from birth, the prostate grows from about the size of a pea to the size of a chestnut when a man reaches young adulthood, and helps regulate sexual function and testosterone in the body. Problems can occur when tissue builds up on the prostate, causing blockage of flow to the urethra or other physical problems.

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute are now set to launch a 12 year trial of 32,400 men, age 50 and over, to see if two supplements—Vitamin E an...
Selenium—can reduce the incidence of challenges to prostate health. The idea is that Vitamin E and Selenium, both powerful antioxidants, are capable of neutralizing cells that cause damage to the body. The study is based on two previous trials, in 1996 and 1998, which found that Selenium contributed to a 60% benefit in helping to maintain prostate health, and Vitamin E provided a 32% benefit. The study will follow the long-term progress of the men and measure the effectiveness of the vitamins both separately and together.

Another supplement that has been found to be beneficial to the prostate is Saw Palmetto. Saw Palmetto, a naturally occurring berry, grows on dwarf palm trees native to the West Indies and the coastal regions of the southeastern United States. Most of the fruit is harvested wild in Florida. Saw Palmetto has a long history of use and Native Americans valued it for urinary health.

A Long and Happy Life (Health and Fitness)

What makes for a long and happy life? Some things which are spiritual, some things which are material, and some things which are physical. While not everything that happens to us in life is under our direct control, chronological age is not a stop sign for an active life. Here are a few steps you can take to ensure your health, happiness, and well being:

Exercise The beauty of a human body is that the more you move it, the less you lose it. Regular exercise, whether it be tennis, swimming, walking, or rock climbing is one of the few magic bullets we can rely on in the battle against advancing age. Circulating oxygen around your body provides a very real service in bringing nutrients from the blood stream to every corner of you body. Exercise also builds up and maintains the muscles in our body and keeps bones dense and strong. Regular physical exercise could add as much as twenty years to the life span of a once sedentary person.

Take a Hike Going on new adventures in the great outdoors is not only good for us physically, but allows us to appreciate and interact with the world a...
round us. By enjoying nature at whatever pace you choose, you can explore new territory or revisit old vistas. Celebrate your birthday by going with a friend for a weekend exploring the great outdoors.

Love Thy Neighbor Being part of a community offers us a vital support system we can rely on as we age. Not only is the companionship of friends a wonderful part of any stage of life, but the psychological support that friendship can bring and the rewards of sharing mutual interests can vastly improve the quality of life as we get older.

Nutrition Key to helping us maintain a healthy body as we age are the nutrients we receive. In addition to a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, high fiber, and low-fat foods, you can help maintain the biological age of our body by including antioxidants as a major feature in your diet. As you age, your body absorbs nutrients less effectively, and general daily supplements, as well as additional key antioxidants (which lessen the impact of some cellular damage), can help preserve your biological youth.

Women and Smoking: Questions and Answers

* Smoking increases women’s risk of cancer and other health problems (see Question 1).
* Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in U.S. women (see Question 2).
* Quitting smoking offers immediate and long-term health benefits (see Questions 3 and 4).
* The National Institutes of Health supports research related to women, tobacco, and cancer (see Question 5).
* Resources are available to help women quit smoking (see Question 6).
1. Are women who smoke at increased risk of health problems?
Yes. Women and men who smoke are at increased risk of developing cancer, heart disease, and lung disease and of dying prematurely (1, 2).
A pregnant smoker is at higher risk of having her baby born too early and with an abnormally low weight. A woman who smokes during or after pregnancy increases her infant’s risk of death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) (1, 2).
In addition, some studies suggest that women who smoke are more likely to experience irregular or painful periods. Smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to go through menopause at a younger age. Women who smoke after menopause have lower bone density and a higher risk of hip fracture than do women who don’t smoke (1). 2. Does smoking increase cancer risk in womens.

Yes. Smoking causes cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx (voice box), mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach, and cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukemia (2). In 1987, lung cancer surpassed breast cancer to become the leading cause of cancer death in U.S. women. Unlike early breast cancer and many other types of cancer, lung cancer is rarely curable (3). Most deaths from lung cancer among U.S. women are caused by smoking (1).
3. What are the immediate benefits of quitting smoking for women?

The immediate health benefits of quitting smoking are substantial. Within a few hours, the level of carbon monoxide in the blood begins to decline. (Carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless gas found in cigarette smoke, reduces the blood’s ability to carry oxygen.) Heart rate and blood pressure, which were abnormally high while smoking, begin to return to normal. Within a few weeks, women who quit smoking have improved circulation, don’t produce as much phlegm, and don’t cough or wheeze as often. Women can also expect significant improvements in lung function within several months of quitting (4).
Also, women who quit smoking reduce the risk of infertility, and pregnant women who quit early in their pregnancy reduce the risk of the baby being born too early and with an abnormally low weight (1, 5).
4. What are the long-term benefits of quitting smoking for women?

Quitting smoking dramatically reduces the risk of developing an illness caused by smoking (2, 6):
* The risk of death from heart disease is substantially reduced within 1 or 2 years after quitting, and eventually becomes the same as that of nonsmokers.
* The risk of death from lung cancer and other lung diseases declines steadily, beginning about 5 years after quitting.
* Quitting smoking as early in life as possible is likely to reduce the risk of fractures that would be caused by smoking in old age.
Regardless of age, women can substantially reduce the risk of disease, including cancer, by quitting smoking. For women who have already developed cancer, quitting smoking helps the body to heal and to respond to cancer treatment, and quitting reduces the risk of developing a second cancer.
5. Is the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supporting research on women, tobacco, and cancer?
Yes. The NIH is funding research that aims to prevent and reduce tobacco use among women, and to increase the survival rates of women suffering from cancers caused by smoking. The National Cancer Institute (NCI), a component of the NIH and the Nation’s lead agency for cancer research, formed the Women, Tobacco, and Cancer Working Group to stimulate scientific research and suggest approaches to prevent tobacco-related cancers among women in the United States and around the world. The Working Group, a public/private partnership that met in 2003, discussed the issues and made recommendations for progress in this area. The findings of the Working Group are summarized in the NCI report Women, Tobacco, and Cancer: An Agenda for the 21st Century, which can be found at http://women.cancer.gov/reports/wtobacco.shtml on the Internet.
The health effects of smoking in women are an area of concern for many other NIH agencies, including the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the John E. Fogarty International Center, and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Some current and recent NIH-funded research projects in this area include the following:
* A survey of tobacco use among pregnant women in several developing countries.
* A study of the use of nicotine replacement products among pregnant smokers.
* A program to help women remain smoke free after giving birth. * An examination of the effectiveness of the nicotine patch in male and female smokers.
In addition, the NCI is funding studies to investigate the effects of smoking and quitting on various cancers, including those of the lung, breast, uterus, and cervix. Studies are also investigating genetic/molecular differences between women and men and their effect on cancer risk.
6. What resources are available to help women quit smoking?
The NCI fact sheet Quitting Smoking: Why To Quit and How To Get Help, at http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cessation on the Internet, provides a list of Government and nonprofit organizations that have resources to help people quit smoking.
General Resources:-- Government resources that provide information about quitting for all smokers include the following:
The Tobacco Control Research Branch of the NCI established the Smokefree.gov Web site in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Cancer Society to help people quit smoking. The Web site provides an online guide, Clearing the Air: Quit Smoking Today, for smokers interested in quitting. The guide covers thinking about quitting, preparing to quit, quitting, and staying quit.

Clearing the Air:-- Quit Smoking Today is also available as a print publication. Other publications available from the Web site include the following:
* Clear Horizons for smokers over age 50.
* Forever Free™ for smokers who have recently quit.
* Guía para Dejar de Fumar for Spanish-speaking smokers.
* Pathways to Freedom for African American smokers.

Internet Web site: http://www.smokefree.gov

Mice study gives clue to how breast cancer spreads

Scientists who watched tumor cells spread in living mice said on Sunday they had found a gene signal controlling how cancer cells move, which could help companies design new drugs to fight the disease.

Scientists working for Cancer Research UK used hi-tech imaging techniques to watch how breast cancer cells spread in mice. They found that a genetic signal, known as TGF-beta, was crucial to whether cells moved as single entities or in clumps.

TGF-beta signaling is only active in singly moving cells, not in collectively moving cells. And in singly moving cells, the signal is on when they move and off when they stop in a new place to grow, they reported in the journal Nature Cell Biology.

"The results helped us to find the set of genes that are behind the spread of breast cancer -- and that the genes need to be first turned on and then off in order for single cancer cells to be able to relocate," said Erik Sahai, head of the tumor cell biology lab at Cancer Research UK's London institute.

He said several pharmaceutical firms were investigating how to stop TGF-beta from functioning, but stressed they were "very much in the development phase."

"As yet there is no new drug in the pipeline," said Sahai, "But because we now know what these cancer cells are actually doing, it gives us lots of new ideas about how to stop them."

CANCER SPREAD

A study published in May 2007 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation found that treating cancer with surgery, chemotherapy or radiation raised levels of TGF-beta and could actually cause tumors to spread.

But as yet, relatively little has been known about how cancer cells spread through the body because it is very difficult to track them when they are moving.

"In a medium-sized tumor there could be a billion cells -- and only a small proportion might break away and spread. So it is like trying to find, and understand, a moving needle in a very big haystack," said Sahai.

Sahai and his team used two groups of fluorescently labeled breast cancer cells inside live mice and tracked them with a technique called multiphoton confocal microscopy.

When the TGF-beta signal was blocked, the tumor spread via clumps of cells in the lymphatic system -- limiting how far it could go, the researchers said.

But cells that could receive the TGF-beta signal moved as single entities, and the TGF-beta signal was first turned on -- allowing the cells to spread through the blood, and then turned off -- allowing them to grow again in a new location.

"It seems they can't multitask," said Sahai. "They can't move and grow at the same time, they can only do one or the other."

Low income linked to poorer breast cancer survival

Lower-income women appear less likely to survive breast cancer than their more-affluent counterparts, and later diagnosis may largely explain why, a new study suggests.
Using data on more than 100,000 U.S. women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1998 and 2002, the study found that those living in economically depressed areas had poorer survival rates through the end of 2005.
When socioeconomics were considered alone, women in the poorest areas were almost one-third more likely to die during that period than those living in the highest-income areas.
When other factors were weighed, the timing of a woman's diagnosis seemed to explain much of the income gap, according to findings published in the online journal BMC Cancer.
Lower-income women were more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage: 13 percent of those in the two lowest-income areas were diagnosed after the cancer had spread beyond the breast, compared with just under 10 percent of women in the two highest-income areas.
Past studies have shown that women with lower incomes and less education have, on average, poorer breast cancer survival rates.
These latest findings suggest that later diagnosis may largely explain why, according to study author Dr. Xue Qin Yu, a researcher at Cancer Council New South Wales, in Kings Cross, Australia.
However, lower rates of recommended treatments were also a factor, Yu told Reuters Health in an email.
The study found that women in lower-income areas were less likely to receive radiation as part of their first course of treatment: 55 percent to 58 percent of women in the two higher-income groups received radiation, versus 48 percent in each of the two lower-income groups.
Radiation is typically recommended to destroy any remaining cancer cells after a breast tumor, or the breast itself, has been surgically removed.
Exactly why there were income-related treatment differences is unclear. But lack of insurance or poorer overall health among lower- income women could be at work, Yu writes -- as could bias on the part of doctors, or higher rates of treatment refusal among poorer women.
Race also seemed to make a "modest" contribution to the connection between socioeconomics and breast cancer survival, Yu found.
Just under 80 percent of black women were alive one year after diagnosis, versus roughly 90 percent of women of other races. Much of the racial gap seemed to be explained by differences in diagnosis and treatment, but not all of it; biological factors might play a role, Yu notes, but it is not possible to tell from this study.
According to Yu, the findings point to a need for "targeted interventions" to increase breast cancer screening and early treatment of lower-income women.
That, the researcher said, could include education for women and more government funding of screening programs for low-income or uninsured women.

Former KISS drummer: men get breast cancer too

Peter Criss, founding member of rock band KISS, knows that many of his male fans are macho, so he is making the rounds to tell them even tough rocker guys like him can suffer from a disease usually associated with women -- breast cancer.
Criss, who was the New York rock band's drummer on and off from its founding in 1972 until 2004 and the voice on some of their most beloved classics, including the 1976 Top Ten hit "Beth" and "Hard Luck Woman," said too many men don't seek treatment and think breast discomfort will go away on its own.
But Criss, who discovered a lump in his left nipple in December 2007, said men need to get over their perception that breast cancer is a woman's disease.
"It can happen to you, and when it does, if you don't deal with it right away, with your 'dude' and your metal and your tattoos, you'll go in the box and we'll see you," Criss told Reuters during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Criss, 63, underwent a lumpectomy in February 2008 and a mastectomy the following month under the care of Dr. Alex Swistel, director of the Weill Cornell Breast Center in New York, and he often felt odd as the only man in the waiting room.
While breast cancer among men is one hundred times less common than among women, it can be deadly. The American Cancer Society estimated there will be 1,910 new cases of male breast cancer in 2009, and about 440 U.S. men will die this year from the disease.
Criss, who is now cancer free, acknowledged that the treatment was unpleasant.
"Whoever invented (mammogram machines) had to do it in the medieval days," he said, adding that it was nearly impossible to fit a small male breast into the machine. He called the pain "excruciating" but a worthwhile price to pay to be healthy.
Criss, who is currently working on an autobiography as well as a new rock album, said his bout with cancer had affected his song writing.
"My lyrics are not so deep and dismal," he said. One of the tracks on the album, expected next spring, is called "Hard Rock Knockers."
Criss said he is sanguine about the fact that his old KISS band mates, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, are currently on a North American tour of arenas with two new band members, one in the make-up of Criss' "Catman" character and the other as ex-guitarist Ace Frehley's "Spaceman."
In its 1970s heyday with Criss and Frehley, KISS cranked out hit albums such as "Alive!," and its live performances that were filled with pyrotechnics rocked audiences.
"You want to put two clones up there in our makeup, that's great," he said. "Must I keep putting spandex and makeup on at 70 -- I don't think I really want to do that."
Still, Criss said he hopes his heavy metal credentials will help mitigate the stigma around breast cancer for men.
"You are no more manly a guy than me -- I grew up in Brooklyn," Criss said.

Processed foods

Since the Industrial Revolution some two hundred years ago, the food processing industry has invented many technologies that both help keep foods fresh longer and alter the fresh state of food as they appear in nature. Cooling is the primary technology used to maintain freshness, whereas many more technologies have been invented to allow foods to last longer without becoming spoiled. These latter technologies include pasteurisation, autoclavation, drying, salting, and separation of various components, and all appear to alter the original nutritional contents of food. Pasteurisation and autoclavation (heating techniques) have no doubt improved the safety of many common foods, preventing epidemics of bacterial infection. But some of the (new) food processing technologies undoubtedly have downfalls as well.

Modern separation techniques such as milling, centrifugation, and pressing have enabled concentration of particular components of food, yielding flour, oils, juices and so on, and even separate fatty acids, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. Inevitably, such large scale concentration changes the nutritional content of food, saving certain nutrients while removing others. Heating techniques may also reduce food's content of many heat-labile nutrients such as certain vitamins and phytochemicals, and possibly other yet to be discovered substances.[45] Because of reduced nutritional value, processed foods are often 'enriched' or 'fortified' with some of the most critical nutrients (usually certain vitamins) that were lost during processing. Nonetheless, processed foods tend to have an inferior nutritional profile compared to whole, fresh foods, regarding content of both sugar and high GI starches, potassium/sodium, vitamins, fiber, and of intact, unoxidized (essential) fatty acids. In addition, processed foods often contain potentially harmful substances such as oxidized fats and trans fatty acids.

A dramatic example of the effect of food processing on a population's health is the history of epidemics of beri-beri in people subsisting on polished rice. Removing the outer layer of rice by polishing it removes with it the essential vitamin thiamine, causing beri-beri. Another example is the development of scurvy among infants in the late 1800s in the United States. It turned out that the vast majority of sufferers were being fed milk that had been heat-treated (as suggested by Pasteur) to control bacterial disease. Pasteurisation was effective against bacteria, but it destroyed the vitamin C.

As mentioned, lifestyle- and obesity-related diseases are becoming increasingly prevalent all around the world. There is little doubt that the increasingly widespread application of some modern food processing technologies has contributed to this development. The food processing industry is a major part of modern economy, and as such it is influential in political decisions (e.g. nutritional recommendations, agricultural subsidising). In any known profit-driven economy, health considerations are hardly a priority; effective production of cheap foods with a long shelf-life is more the trend. In general, whole, fresh foods have a relatively short shelf-life and are less profitable to produce and sell than are more processed foods. Thus the consumer is left with the choice between more expensive but nutritionally superior whole, fresh foods, and cheap, usually nutritionally inferior processed foods. Because processed foods are often cheaper, more convenient (in both purchasing, storage, and preparation), and more available, the consumption of nutritionally inferior foods has been increasing throughout the world along with many nutrition-related health complications.
History

Humans have evolved as omnivorous hunter-gatherers over the past 250,000 years. The diet of early modern humans varied significantly depending on location and climate. The diet in the tropics tended to be based more heavily on plant foods, while the diet at higher latitudes tended more towards animal products. Analysis of postcranial and cranial remains of humans and animals from the Neolithic, along with detailed bone modification studies have shown that cannibalism was also prevalent among prehistoric humans.[46]

Agriculture developed about 10,000 years ago in multiple locations throughout the world, providing grains such as wheat, rice, potatoes, and maize, with staples such as bread, pasta, and tortillas. Farming also provided milk and dairy products, and sharply increased the availability of meats and the diversity of vegetables. The importance of food purity was recognized when bulk storage led to infestation and contamination risks. Cooking developed as an often ritualistic activity, due to efficiency and reliability concerns requiring adherence to strict recipes and procedures, and in response to demands for food purity and consistency.[47]
From antiquity to 1900

The first recorded nutritional experiment is found in the Bible's Book of Daniel. Daniel and his friends were captured by the king of Babylon during an invasion of Israel. Selected as court servants, they were to share in the king's fine foods and wine. But they objected, preferring vegetables (pulses) and water in accordance with their Jewish dietary restrictions. The king's chief steward reluctantly agreed to a trial. Daniel and his friends received their diet for 10 days and were then compared to the king's men. Appearing healthier, they were allowed to continue with their diet.[48]
Anaxagoras

Around 475 BC, Anaxagoras stated that food is absorbed by the human body and therefore contained "homeomerics" (generative components), suggesting the existence of nutrients.[47] Around 400 BC, Hippocrates said, "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food."[49]

In the 1500s, scientist and artist Leonardo da Vinci compared metabolism to a burning candle. In 1747, Dr. James Lind, a physician in the British navy, performed the first scientific nutrition experiment, discovering that lime juice saved sailors who had been at sea for years from scurvy, a deadly and painful bleeding disorder. The discovery was ignored for forty years, after which British sailors became known as "limeys." The essential vitamin C within lime juice would not be identified by scientists until the 1930s.

Around 1770, Antoine Lavoisier, the "Father of Nutrition and Chemistry" discovered the details of metabolism, demonstrating that the oxidation of food is the source of body heat. In 1790, George Fordyce recognized calcium as necessary for fowl survival. In the early 1800s, the elements carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen were recognized as the primary components of food, and methods to measure their proportions were developed.

In 1816, François Magendie discovered that dogs fed only carbohydrates and fat lost their body protein and died in a few weeks, but dogs also fed protein survived, identifying protein as an essential dietary component. In 1840, Justus Liebig discovered the chemical makeup of carbohydrates (sugars), fats (fatty acids) and proteins (amino acids.) In the 1860s, Claude Bernard discovered that body fat can be synthesized from carbohydrate and protein, showing that the energy in blood glucose can be stored as fat or as glycogen.

In the early 1880s, Kanehiro Takaki observed that Japanese sailors (whose diets consisted almost entirely of white rice) developed beriberi (or endemic neuritis, a disease causing heart problems and paralysis) but British sailors and Japanese naval officers did not. Adding various types of vegetables and meats to the diets of Japanese sailors prevented the disease.

In 1896, Baumann observed iodine in thyroid glands. In 1897, Christiaan Eijkman worked with natives of Java, who also suffered from beriberi. Eijkman observed that chickens fed the native diet of white rice developed the symptoms of beriberi, but remained healthy when fed unprocessed brown rice with the outer bran intact. Eijkman cured the natives by feeding them brown rice, discovering that food can cure disease. Over two decades later, nutritionists learned that the outer rice bran contains vitamin B1, also known as thiamine.