10 Ways to Lose Friends and Irritate People

Want to win friends and influence people? Here are 10 things that ensure you won't: 1. You thoughtlessly waste other peoples' time. Every time you're late to an appointment or meeting says your time is more important. Every time you wait until the grocery clerk finishes ringing you up to search for your debit card says you couldn't care less if others have to wait unnecessarily. Every time you take three minutes to fill your oversize water bottle while a line stacks up behind you says you're in your own little world--and your world is the only world that matters. Small, irritating things, but basically no big deal? Wrong. People who don't notice the small ways they inconvenience others tend to be oblivious when they do it in a major way. How you treat people when it doesn't really matter--especially when you're a leader--says everything about you. Act like the people around you have more urgent needs than yours and you will never go wrong--and you will definitely be liked. 2. You ignore people outside your "level." There's an older guy at the gym that easily weighs 350 pounds and understandably struggles on the aerobic and weight equipment. Hats off; he's in there trying. Yet nobody talks to him. Or even seems to notice him. It's like he's invisible. Why? He doesn't fit in. We all do it. When we visit a company, we talk to the people we're supposed to talk to. When we attend a civic event, we talk to the people we're supposed to talk to. We breeze right by the technicians and talk to the guy who booked us to speak, even though the techs are the ones who make us look and sound good onstage. Here's an easy rule of thumb: Nod whenever you make eye contact. Or smile. Or (gasp!) even say hi. Just act like people exist. We'll automatically like you for it--and remember you as someone who engages even when there's nothing in it for you. 3. You ask for too much. A guy you don't know asks you for a favor; a big, time-consuming favor. You politely decline. He asks again. You decline again. Then he whips out the Need Card. "But it's really important to me. You have to. I really need [it]." Maybe you do, in fact, really need [it]. But your needs are your problem. The world doesn't owe you anything. You aren't entitled to advice or mentoring or success. The only thing you're entitled to is what you earn. People tend to help people who first help themselves. People tend to help people who first help them. And people definitely befriend people who look out for other people first, because we all want more of those people in our lives. 4. You ignore people in genuine need. At the same time, some people aren't in a position to help themselves. They need a hand: a few dollars, some decent food, a warm coat. Though I don't necessarily believe in karma, I do believe good things always come back to you, in the form of feeling good about yourself. And that's reason enough to help people who find themselves on the downside of advantage. 5. You ask a question so you can talk. A guy at lunch asks, "Hey, do you think social-media marketing is effective?" "Well," you answer, "I think under the right circumstances..." "Wrong," he interrupts. "I've never seen an Return On Investment. I've never seen a bump in direct sales. Plus 'awareness' is not a measurable or even an important goal..." and he drones on while you desperately try to escape. Don't shoehorn in your opinions under false pretenses. Only ask a question if you genuinely want to know the answer. And when you do speak again, ask a follow-up question that helps you better understand the other person's point of view. People like people who are genuinely interested in them--not in themselves. 6. You pull a "Do you know who I am?" OK, so maybe they don't take it to the Reese Witherspoon level, but many people whip out some form of the "I'm Too Important for This" card. Maybe the line is too long. Or the service isn't sufficiently "personal." Or they aren't shown their "deserved" level of respect. Say you really are somebody. People always like you better when you don't act like you know you're somebody--or that you think it entitles you to different treatment. 7. You don't dial it back. An unusual personality is a lot of fun--until it isn't. Yet when the going gets tough or a situation gets stressful, some people just can't stop "expressing their individuality." Look. We know you're funny. We know you're quirky. We know you march to the beat of your own drum. Still, there's a time to play and a time to be serious, a time to be irreverent and a time to conform, a time to challenge and a time to back off. Knowing when the situation requires you to stop justifying your words or actions with an unspoken "Hey, that's just me being me" can often be the difference between being likeable and being an ass. 8. You mistake self-deprecation for permission. You know how it's OK when you make fun of certain things about yourself, but not for other people to make fun of you for those same things? Like receding hairlines. Weight. A struggling business or career. Your spouse and kids. It's OK when you poke a little gentle fun at yourself, but the last thing you want to hear are bald or money or "Do you want fries with that?" jokes. (Bottom line: I can say I'm fat. You can't.) Sometimes self-deprecation is genuine, but it's often a mask for insecurity. Never assume people who make fun of themselves give you permission to poke the same fun at them. Only tease when you know it will be taken in the right spirit. Otherwise, if you feel the need to be funny, make fun of yourself. 9. You humblebrag. Humblebragging is a form of bragging that tries to cover the brag with a veneer of humility so you can brag without appearing to brag. (Key word is "appearing," because it's still easy to tell humblebraggers are quite tickled with themselves.) For example, here's a tweeted humblebrag from an actor friend of mine: "Oh dear. Don't know what to do at the airport. Huge crowd, but I'll miss my plane if I stop and do photos... oh dear don't want to disappoint." Your employees don't want to hear how stressed you are about your upcoming TED Talk. They don't want to hear how hard it is to maintain two homes. Before you brag--humbly or not, business or personal--think about your audience. A gal who is a size 14 doesn't want to hear you complain that normally you're a size 2, but you're a size 4 in Prada because its sizes run small. Or better yet, don't brag. Just be proud of what you've accomplished. Let others brag for you. If you've done cool things, don't worry--they will. 10. You push your opinions. You know things. Cool things. Great things. Awesome. But only share them in the right settings. If you're a mentor, share away. If you're a coach or a leader, share away. If you're the guy who just started a paleo diet, don't tell us all what to order. Unless we ask. What's right for you may not be right for others; shoot, it might not even turn out to be right for you. Like most things in life, offering helpful advice is all about picking your spots--just like winning friends and influencing people. Now it's your turn. What would you add to the list? Source: Inc – Wed, Apr 16, 2014

Eating More Fruits and Vegetables Can Cut Your Risk of Dying in Half

Despite the fact that vegetables have been proven to help lower your risk of chronic disease and support longevity, most Americans are not eating nearly enough of these natural, relatively inexpensive superfoods. The latest data shows that nearly 23 percent of Americans report consuming vegetables and fruits less than one time daily, with a median vegetable intake of just 1.6 times per day. Adding in more vegetables to your diet is a simple and powerful step to dramatically improve your health. Vegetables are quick to prepare and come in so many different varieties that they should suit virtually everyone’s tastes. If you want even more motivation to eat more veggies, check out these newly unveiled health benefits (which are so dramatic the researchers called them “staggering.”) Eating Veggies Lowers Your Risk of Dying Prematurely by 42 Percent - People who eat seven or more portions of vegetables and fruit a day have a 42 percent lower risk of dying from any cause. They also enjoy a 31 percent lower risk of heart disease and a 25 percent lower risk of cancer. The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, is among the first to quantify the health benefits of eating different amounts of fresh produce. As you might suspect, eating any amount of vegetables was better than none at all, but the benefits increased with more servings. So what counts as a vegetable serving? According to the US government, one cup of raw or cooked vegetables or fresh vegetable juice, or two cups of raw leafy greens can be considered as one serving from the Vegetable Group. Also, the study highlighted that vegetables had a larger protective effect than fruits. So while consuming small amounts of whole fruit is fine (and even beneficial) if you’re healthy, your focus should be on vegetables. When broken down by vegetables only, each additional daily portion of fresh veggies lowered participants’ risk of death by 16 percent compared to 4 percent for fresh fruit. Optimal Health Depends on Eating Large Amounts of Fresh Vegetables - We all need to eat large amounts of fresh, high-quality vegetables every day to achieve high-level health. Most vegetables are not very calorie dense and as a result they probably should constitute the bulk of your diet by volume. Vegetables contain an array of antioxidants and other disease-fighting compounds that are very difficult to get anywhere else. Plant chemicals called phytochemicals can reduce inflammation and eliminate carcinogens, while others regulate the rate at which your cells reproduce, get rid of old cells, and maintain DNA. The Impressive Power of Vegetables - Vegetables have an impressive way of offering widespread benefits to your health. When you eat them, you're getting dozens, maybe even hundreds or thousands, of super-nutrients that support optimal, body-wide health. Vegetables Are One of the Best Forms of Dietary Fiber - Unless you regularly eat whole fruits and vegetables (along with nuts and seeds), you may be missing out on the healthiest forms of fiber available – and that could be a problem. It is actually because your body can’t digest fiber that it plays such an important part in digestion. Soluble fiber, like that found in cucumbers and blueberries, dissolves into a gel-like texture, helping to slow down your digestion. This helps you to feel full longer and is one reason why fiber may help with weight control. Insoluble fiber, found in foods like dark green leafy vegetables, green beans, celery, and carrots, does not dissolve at all and helps add bulk to your stool. This helps food to move through your digestive tract more quickly for healthy elimination. Many whole foods, especially fruits and vegetables, naturally contain both soluble and insoluble fiber. One of the signs that a food is a natural source of fiber is that you must chew it a good number of times before swallowing. Processed foods, which basically melt in your mouth, are not going to give you the fiber your body needs. Vegetables, on the other hand, will, and this is yet another one of their virtues. There’s no shortage of research showing how a high-fiber diet may boost your health. Some of its top potential benefits include: • Blood sugar control: Soluble fiber may help to slow your body’s breakdown of carbohydrates and the absorption of sugar, helping with blood sugar control. • Heart health: An inverse association has been found between fiber intake and heart attack, and research shows that those eating a high-fiber diet have a 40 percent lower risk of heart disease. • Stroke: Researchers have found that for every seven-grams more fiber you consume on a daily basis, your stroke risk is decreased by seven percent. • Weight loss and management: Fiber supplements have been shown to enhance weight loss among obese people, likely because fiber increases feelings of fullness. • Skin health: Fiber, particularly psyllium husk, may help move yeast and fungus out of your body, preventing them from being excreted through your skin where they could trigger acne or rashes. • Diverticulitis: Dietary fiber (especially insoluble) may reduce your risk of diverticulitis – an inflammation of polyps in your intestine – by 40 percent. • Hemorrhoids: A high-fiber diet may lower your risk of hemorrhoids. • Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): Fiber may provide some relief from IBS. • Gallstones and kidney stones: A high-fiber diet may reduce the risk of gallstones and kidney stones, likely because of its ability to help regulate blood sugar. Fermented Vegetables Are Phenomenal for Your Gut Health - Your gut is much more than a food processing tube — it houses about 85 percent of your immune system. This is in large part due to the 100 trillion bacteria that live there, both good and potentially harmful, that can stimulate your immune response. When your GI tract is not working well, a wide range of health problems can appear, including allergies and autoimmune diseases. If you suffer from any major illness, you simply will NOT be able to fully recuperate without healing and sealing your gut. Balancing the menagerie of microorganisms that occupy your GI tract is a key part of maintaining your immune health, and one of the best ways to do this is by consuming fermented vegetables. Fermented vegetables are potent chelators (detoxifiers) and contain much higher levels of probiotics than probiotic supplements, making them ideal for optimizing your gut flora. Beneficial gut bacteria play important roles in vitamin production, mineral absorption, and helping prevent diabetes, digestive issues, neurological problems, cardiovascular disease, and even acne. Creative Ways to Get More Veggie Superpowers Into Your Diet - Keeping veggies on hand is the first step to eating more of them. Fresh, non-genetically-modified and organic is best, but even frozen will work in a pinch. Make it a point to include vegetables with every meal – a salad, a side dish, or a pre-meal snack – or make veggies the main focus of your meals. You’ll easily work your way up to seven or more servings a day. When preparing your veggies, use quick, gentle cooking methods (only cooking to a tender-crisp, not mushy texture) to preserve the most nutrients. Also try to eat a good portion of them raw, which will allow you to receive beneficial biophotons. Now that it’s springtime in the US, consider growing some of your own veggies at home. You can plant an organic veggie garden even in small spaces, and this will provide you with a readily available source of the freshest, most health-boosting foods around. Source: mercola.com, 4/14/14.

New Blood Pressure Guidelines May Take Millions Off Meds

About 5.8 million American adults may no longer be prescribed drugs to treat high blood pressure under recently revised guidelines, according to a new study. In February, the Eighth Joint National Committee released controversial guidelines that relaxed blood pressure goals in adults 60 and older from 140/90 to 150/90. The guidelines also eased blood pressure targets for adults with diabetes and kidney disease. In this study, researchers used blood pressure data collected from more than 16,000 Americans between 2005 and 2010 to assess the impact of the revised guidelines. The proportion of adults considered eligible for medication to treat high blood pressure would fall from about 41 percent to 32 percent, the authors concluded in the study published online March 29 in the Journal of the American Medical Association and presented Saturday at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The researchers also said that 13.5 million adults -- most of them older than 60 -- who were considered to have poorly controlled blood pressure would now be viewed as having adequately managed blood pressure. That includes 5.8 million adults who would no longer require blood pressure pills. "The new guidelines do not address whether these adults should still be considered as having hypertension. But they would no longer need medication to lower their blood pressure," study lead author Ann Marie Navar-Boggan, a cardiology fellow at Duke University School of Medicine, said in a Duke news release. One in four adults older than 60 currently receives treatment for high blood pressure, according to the researchers. "These adults would be eligible for less intensive blood pressure medication under the new guidelines, particularly if they were experiencing side effects," Navar-Boggan said. "But many experts fear that increasing blood pressure levels in these adults could be harmful." Even under the new guidelines, about 28 million U.S. adults still have uncontrolled high blood pressure and more than half of them don't receive treatment, said Navar-Boggan, who noted that uncontrolled high blood pressure is a risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Source: HealthDay News, 3/29/14.

10 Rules to Build a Wildly Successful Business

Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff built Honest Tea from scratch into a $100 million enterprise. In my recent article on Forbes, you get a few lessons and a compelling story of their journey. Goldman and Nalebuff share 10 must-follow rules on how to start and build an equally impressive empire. You can find these rules in the back of their book; ‘Mission In A Bottle’. 1. Build something you believe in — because that’s the first step to building a great brand. Just like Goldman and Nalebuff, I learned a powerful lesson in tenacious passion from 30 plus years of entrepreneurship. When you’re all alone, sitting in a dark room wondering why your business is failing, there is only one true thing to power you forward — you believe in your purpose. 2. Don’t aim for 10% improvement. Make it radically better and different. Yes — in today’s society we collectively create amazing products, services and companies through entrepreneurship. World changing at times and Honest Tea was radically different when first introduced. But, if you look around, we also live in the land of ‘me-too’ businesses. Don’t fall for it. Dig deep and decide right now to build something radically different and radically better. 3. Prepare to be copied. Don’t start unless you’ll survive imitation. If your idea is truly radical and takes off, you can count the minutes before the copy-cats arrive. How will you survive competition from the big 800-pound gorillas on the block? Or even from the upstart little guys? Your key is a system of ‘continuous innovation’. Although you could also take the road of Honest Tea — make friends with one of the gorillas and let them buy you out. Coca-Cola Company acquired Honest Tea in 2011. 4. Build up reserves of money and energy for bad luck and mistakes. Great advice — but sometimes extremely difficult to do. What startup or growth company has reserves of cash sitting around? But Goldman and Nalebuff make a good point — run as lean as you possibly can and do not waste money or energy. You will endure mistakes and bad luck along the way, so having a good war chest full of capital and energy can help handle it. 5. Never, ever give up control — until you sell. Some high-impact entrepreneurs will readily give up control in exchange for the lure of high-growth through venture capital — but I am not one of them. Relinquish control and you risk losing the culture and vision of the company you set out to build. Even though Honest Tea raised investment capital from the beginning, the co-founders always remained in the driver’s seat. And yes — Goldman can still drive his vision as CEO of Honest Tea, but his boss at Coca-Cola can say ‘no’ at anytime. Thus, true control is now forever gone. 6. Don’t compromise on the big things — compromise on everything else. Vision. Purpose. Core values. Write these things in stone and never budge. But flexibility in the value propositions, products and services you build to execute your purpose is vastly important. Many entrepreneurs I see fail to ‘bend to the market’ by adapting to what their customer’s are telling them. 7. Figure out how to achieve your goals on a tiny budget — then cut that number in half. Yes — you’ve heard it said before — it will cost twice as much, and take twice as long as you think. My recommendation is you apply the principles of lean to your business from day one. No fancy offices. No fancy full color brochures. Your goal is to stay alive until you can nail your secret formula for success. Blowing the budget will insure nothing but a quick death. 8. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Is it ever. Building a business is neither for the faint of heart or the speed demon. Climbing Mt. Everest is not done in 3 easy steps: 1.) decide you want to do it, 2.) fly to Nepal with zero preparation, 3.) sprint straight up the mountain in 12 easy minutes. Build systems for the long-haul and focus on small-connected steps. It takes 26,364 steps to climb Mt. Everest, and that’s starting from half way up at Basecamp. 9. Take care of your family, personal and spiritual health — if you aren’t laughing or smiling on a regular basis, recalibrate. Imagine the path to a wildly successful business: founder working at a feverish pitch for 18 hours each day, for at least 5 years straight. True? No, it’s not. In my private conversation with Goldman, he flat-out told me two reasons he made it through the rough years: first — he believed in his purpose, second — his drive for personal balance. The notion we need to kill our family relationships, personal health or level of sanity to build our own business is sadly misaligned. Take it from me — don’t go there. 10. Build the enterprise and the brand as if you’ll own them forever. Will you sell your business someday? Maybe. Should that be the sole reason you are building it? Probably not. When you start and build a business based on passion and purpose, with a burning desire to solve the pain of your customer through the deliverance of value, you build a far more valuable enterprise. Those in it for the short-term quick buck rarely succeed. Plaster these 10 rules from Goldman and Nalebuff to your mirror, live by them every day of your life as an entrepreneur and you might end up as successful as they are. Honest. Source: Eric T. Wagner | Forbes, Dr. Dan Thibodeau - 3/19/14

10 Interesting Facts About Chiropractic

Spinal manipulation has existed for at least 2500 years and chiropractic care as we know it today began over a hundred years ago in Davenport, Iowa by Daniel David Palmer. D.D. Palmer and his son B.J. Palmer went on to start what is now Palmer College of Chiropractic. Since that time, it has gained recognition worldwide as an effective form of health care. Patient satisfaction is typically very high and studies have shown that, compared to conventional medical care, chiropractic is more safe and financially feasible for many ailments. It’s no surprise that people enjoy chiropractic coverage through their insurance and it’s even offered to men and women serving in the military. Clearly, chiropractic is accepted, widely used, and familiar to most people. It’s also a profession in which a number of interesting footnotes have come to exist. Let’s take a look at a few of the lesser-known facts about chiropractic. 1. May Help Torture And Trauma Survivors - Torture and trauma are real horrors that can cause survivors to experience pain, depression, PTSD, and other horrible long-term problems. Could a wellness approach help to make them well? It seems so. The Boston University School of Public Health reports that some forms of complementary and alternative medicine such as meditation, massage, acupuncture, and chiropractic may be effective as part of a comprehensive approach for treating survivors of torture and trauma. 2. Chiropractic Is Worldwide - Chiropractic is popular all over the world. Although the chiropractic profession was founded in the United States in 1895, spinal manipulation has a long history of use in China. By the 1960′s it spread to Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. It’s more recently extended across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Australia. In fact, in Australia, one in four adults have consulted with a chiropractor and nearly 40% of the elderly population rely on complementary and alternative medicine like chiropractic. 3. The Face Paper Sheet Really Works - If you think about it, the average chiropractor’s table probably comes in contact with as many people as the average park bench. As such, hygiene standards are important to make sure the facilities do not become a petri dish of disgusting pathogens. In 2011, the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College evaluated the cleanliness of area chiropractic clinics and found that, while bacteria was a valid concern, most chiropractors were proactive with disinfection and the face paper sheet used to cover the table headpieces was an effective barrier to germs. 4. The Amish Like Chiropractic Too - The Amish may reject many of the modern “conveniences” many of us enjoy, but there is no denying that they have somewhat of a reputation for embracing a robust, natural approach to maintaining good health — an approach that is quite similar to wellness. It’s no surprise that this has lead to an acceptance of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the Amish community. A few years ago, the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine conducted a survey of Amish women concerning their use of CAM and reported that thirty-six percent used nutritional supplements, herbal therapies, and chiropractic medicine. 5. Chiropractors Do It Better - It’s not uncommon for an adjustment to produce an almost orgasmic moan of relief. If you’ve ever had a kink in your neck that a chiropractor was able to remedy, you know what I’m talking about. It begs the question, why does it feel so good? Well, in addition to unpinching pinched nerves, realigning the misaligned, and generally guiding things back where they need to be, manipulation stimulates muscular and tendon sensory receptors to produce an excitatory effect on the central nervous system and often times a release of endorphins. 6. Sometimes The Healers Need Healing - Being a chiropractor can be physically demanding and there are times when performing an adjustment requires you to throw your back into it. Unfortunately, chiropractors aren’t immune to throwing their back out. In 2006, the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic surveyed 1000 United States chiropractors to determine what work-related injuries they’ve experienced. Respondents said that the most common affected their hand, shoulder, and lower back and occurred while performing an adjustment or positioning a patient. Giving credence to experience, it was also found that most injuries occurred in the first five years of practice. 7. Female Chiropractors Can Hold Their Own - As said, being a chiropractor can present physical demands and performing an adjustment can require a lot of thrust. This has led some to squint their eyes and wonder if smaller-framed male and female chiropractors can cut the mustard. Well, fear not. When researchers at the University of Victoria pitted the abilities of 14 male chiropractors against 14 female chiropractors, they found that female chiropractors are just as able as their male colleagues. 8. A Little More Diversity Would Be Nice - The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported that the average chiropractic patient in 2008 was white, female, of higher income, and residing in a small metro area. And, although Medicare covers chiropractic care, the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice found that from 2002-2008, 97% of Medicare-covered recipients of chiropractic care were white. Why is this? Everyone can benefit from chiropractic. I would really love to hear some feedback — what can the chiropractic industry do to attract a more accurate sampling of our diverse American population? 9. Don’t Let Your Untrained Friend Adjust You - “Hey dude! Will you pop my back?” Have you ever heard someone say that? Worse, have you ever said it? Worse yet, have you been the one to do the popping? Stop it! Proper chiropractic care involves more than a few simple motions and manipulation is only safe when performed by someone who has received the necessary training. Chiropractic is not monkey-see, monkey-do! Do you need proof? In 2001, a man in India developed severe spinal cord and brainstem problems after receiving an adjustment from his barber. That’s just one example. Bad idea. 10. One Of The Most Successful Chiropractors Ever Was Blind - Vision impairment does not make a person incapable, and a fantastic example of that was Dr. Charles Robinson Johnson. In 1918, when he was 39, Dr. Johnson graduated from the Palmer School of Chiropractic and became the first blind chiropractor, and one of the most successful. For over 25 years he practiced in Peekskill, New York and had a well traveled reputation as a miracle healer, seeing hundreds of patients each week. The newspapers even called him, “The Man Who Made Peekskill Famous.” Quite an achievement for someone blind and born in a mining camp! Source: Dr. Edward F. Group III, www.globalhealingcenter.com, 3/5/14.

What Little Girls Wish Their Daddies Knew

I'm spending the morning waiting for my car in the repair shop. Four men in flannel and I sit around smelling tires and inhaling exhaust fumes while an enchanting little fairy is in constant motion around her daddy. She climbs on him, giggles, turns around, and then she's back to twirling on the tile. She's bouncing and spinning around in her pink frilly skirt. Her black cable knit tights are sagging around her tiny knees, and her puffy coat makes her arms stand out further than is natural. To top off the ensemble is a shiny crystal tiara. It's been tacked down to her head with what appears to be about 60 haphazard bobby pins. She's probably 4 years old. So little, so vulnerable. She doesn't seem concerned about it as she sings about teapots and ladybugs in her black Mary Janes. I feel myself tear up as I watch her. I tear up as I watch him watch her. She could not possibly know at 4 what impact this man, his character or his words will have on her for years to come. And, maybe he doesn't know either. So, to all the daddies with little girls who aren't old enough yet to ask for what they need from you, here is what we wish you knew: 1. How you love me is how I will love myself. 2. Ask how I am feeling and listen to my answer, I need to know you value me before I can understand my true value. 3. I learn how I should be treated by how you treat my mom, whether you are married to her or not. 4. If you are angry with me, I feel it even if I don't understand it, so talk to me. 5. Every time you show grace to me or someone else, I learn to trust God a little more. 6. I need to experience your nurturing physical strength, so I learn to trust the physicality of men. 7. Please don't talk about sex like a teenage boy, or I think it's something dirty. 8. When your tone is gentle, I understand what you are saying much better. 9. How you talk about female bodies when you're "just joking" is what I believe about my own. 10. How you handle my heart, is how I will allow it to be handled by others. 11. If you encourage me to find what brings joy, I will always seek it. 12. If you teach me what safe feels like when I'm with you, I will know better how to guard myself from men who are not. 13. Teach me a love of art, science, and nature, and I will learn that intellect matters more than dress size. 14. Let me say exactly what I want even if it's wrong or silly, because I need to know having a strong voice is acceptable to you. 15. When I get older, if you seem afraid of my changing body, I will believe something is wrong with it. 16. If you understand contentment for yourself, so will I. 17. When I ask you to let go, please remain available; I will always come back and need you if you do. 18. If you demonstrate tenderness, I learn to embrace my own vulnerability rather than fear it. 19. When you let me help fix the car and paint the house, I will believe I can do anything a boy can do. 20. When you protect my femininity, I learn everything about me is worthy of protecting. 21. How you treat our dog when you think I'm not watching tells me more about you than does just about anything else. 22. Don't let money be everything, or I learn not to respect it or you. 23. Hug, hold, and kiss me in all the ways a daddy does that are right and good and pure. I need it so much to understand healthy touch. 24. Please don't lie, because I believe what you say. 25. Don't avoid hard conversations, because it makes me believe I'm not worth fighting for. It's pretty simple, really. Little girls just love their daddies. They each think their daddy hung the moon. Once in a while when you look at your little gal twirling in her frilly skirt, remember she'll be grown one day. What do you want her to know about men, life, herself, love? What you do and say now matters for a lifetime. Daddies, never underestimate the impact of your words or deeds on your daughters, no matter what their age. Source: HuffingtonPost.com, 02/04/2014

Rules to Build a Wildly Successful Business

Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff built Honest Tea from scratch into a $100 million enterprise. In my recent article on Forbes, you get a few lessons and a compelling story of their journey. Goldman and Nalebuff share 10 must-follow rules on how to start and build an equally impressive empire. You can find these rules in the back of their book; ‘Mission In A Bottle’. 1. Build something you believe in — because that’s the first step to building a great brand. Just like Goldman and Nalebuff, I learned a powerful lesson in tenacious passion from 30 plus years of entrepreneurship. When you’re all alone, sitting in a dark room wondering why your business is failing, there is only one true thing to power you forward — you believe in your purpose. 2. Don’t aim for 10% improvement. Make it radically better and different. Yes — in today’s society we collectively create amazing products, services and companies through entrepreneurship. World changing at times and Honest Tea was radically different when first introduced. But, if you look around, we also live in the land of ‘me-too’ businesses. Don’t fall for it. Dig deep and decide right now to build something radically different and radically better. 3. Prepare to be copied. Don’t start unless you’ll survive imitation. If your idea is truly radical and takes off, you can count the minutes before the copy-cats arrive. How will you survive competition from the big 800-pound gorillas on the block? Or even from the upstart little guys? Your key is a system of ‘continuous innovation’. Although you could also take the road of Honest Tea — make friends with one of the gorillas and let them buy you out. Coca-Cola Company acquired Honest Tea in 2011. 4. Build up reserves of money and energy for bad luck and mistakes. Great advice — but sometimes extremely difficult to do. What startup or growth company has reserves of cash sitting around? But Goldman and Nalebuff make a good point — run as lean as you possibly can and do not waste money or energy. You will endure mistakes and bad luck along the way, so having a good war chest full of capital and energy can help handle it. 5. Never, ever give up control — until you sell. Some high-impact entrepreneurs will readily give up control in exchange for the lure of high-growth through venture capital — but I am not one of them. Relinquish control and you risk losing the culture and vision of the company you set out to build. Even though Honest Tea raised investment capital from the beginning, the co-founders always remained in the driver’s seat. And yes — Goldman can still drive his vision as CEO of Honest Tea, but his boss at Coca-Cola can say ‘no’ at anytime. Thus, true control is now forever gone. 6. Don’t compromise on the big things — compromise on everything else. Vision. Purpose. Core values. Write these things in stone and never budge. But flexibility in the value propositions, products and services you build to execute your purpose is vastly important. Many entrepreneurs I see fail to ‘bend to the market’ by adapting to what their customer’s are telling them. 7. Figure out how to achieve your goals on a tiny budget — then cut that number in half. Yes — you’ve heard it said before — it will cost twice as much, and take twice as long as you think. My recommendation is you apply the principles of lean to your business from day one. No fancy offices. No fancy full color brochures. Your goal is to stay alive until you can nail your secret formula for success. Blowing the budget will insure nothing but a quick death. 8. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Is it ever. Building a business is neither for the faint of heart or the speed demon. Climbing Mt. Everest is not done in 3 easy steps: 1.) decide you want to do it, 2.) fly to Nepal with zero preparation, 3.) sprint straight up the mountain in 12 easy minutes. Build systems for the long-haul and focus on small-connected steps. It takes 26,364 steps to climb Mt. Everest, and that’s starting from half way up at Basecamp. 9. Take care of your family, personal and spiritual health — if you aren’t laughing or smiling on a regular basis, recalibrate. Imagine the path to a wildly successful business: founder working at a feverish pitch for 18 hours each day, for at least 5 years straight. True? No, it’s not. In my private conversation with Goldman, he flat-out told me two reasons he made it through the rough years: first — he believed in his purpose, second — his drive for personal balance. The notion we need to kill our family relationships, personal health or level of sanity to build our own business is sadly misaligned. Take it from me — don’t go there. 10. Build the enterprise and the brand as if you’ll own them forever. Will you sell your business someday? Maybe. Should that be the sole reason you are building it? Probably not. When you start and build a business based on passion and purpose, with a burning desire to solve the pain of your customer through the deliverance of value, you build a far more valuable enterprise. Those in it for the short-term quick buck rarely succeed. Plaster these 10 rules from Goldman and Nalebuff to your mirror, live by them every day of your life as an entrepreneur and you might end up as successful as they are. Honest. Source: Eric T. Wagner | Forbes – Thu, Jan 30, 2014

The Top Things Dying People Regret.

Everyone goes through life experiencing enough mistakes and resulting damage that, by the time they are old enough, they have regrets. When you look back at your life you will know what moments you should have changed. We’ve compiled a list of the things you must not do or else you will regret them at the end of your life. Just read through these and trust us. It’ll be worth it. 1.) Not traveling when you had the chance. Traveling gets harder as you get older, as more people depend on your presence, day-to-day and it ends up becoming more expensive to bring more people with you. 2.) Not learning another language. You probably took another language in high school. You should put it to good use. 3.) Staying in a bad relationship. It may feel hard to get out of a bad relationship, but it’s not worse than staying in it and wasting everyone’s time. 4.) Sunscreen. It may not seem like much, but sun damage adds up over the years, causing wrinkles and discoloration. 5.) Missing the chance to see your favorite musicians. You never know when the band might break up, so seize the day. 6.) Being afraid to do things. Fear can paralyze us, but we can’t let it. 7.) Failing to make physical fitness a priority. As you get older you’ll realize how important it is to take care of your body. 8.) Letting yourself be defined by gender roles. Define yourself, don’t let society do it. 9.) Not quitting a terrible job. You may need to pay rent or provide for a family, but you can’t force yourself to be miserable every day. 10.) Trying harder in school. Grades are important, but what’s more important is applying yourself and being dedicated. 11.) Not realizing how beautiful you are. There are many definitions of beauty and you shouldn’t think you’re unworthy of someone’s attention. 12.) Being afraid to say “I love you.” Loving another person is a precious gift, even if that same love wasn’t returned. 13.) Not listening to your parents. They have a lot more experience than you want to give them credit for. 14.) Spending your youth being self-absorbed. There is more to the world than just you and eventually you’ll realize that. 15.) Caring too much about what other people think. When you’re older, you’ll realize that the opinions of others don’t factor into your true happiness. 16.) Supporting the dreams of others over your own. Being nice is one thing, but sacrificing your happiness isn’t worth it. 17.) Not moving fast enough. Don’t hesitate to make decisions; you’ll end up regretting wasting time. 18.) Holding grudges, especially against those you love. Choose to let go of your pain, instead of dwelling on it. 19.) Not standing up for yourself. Just because others may disagree with you, it doesn’t mean you have to abandon your principals. 20.) Not volunteering enough. There are countless reasons to help other people, especially when they are needy. 21.) Neglecting your teeth. Flossing and brushing may seem annoying, but it’s much better to take care of your teeth while you’re young instead of losing them later. 22.) Missing the chance to talk to your grandparents before they die. They hold a lot of knowledge and they will only be around for a little while. 23.) Working too much. You’re going to miss the good parts of life, or be too stressed to enjoy them, if you do. 24.) Not learning how to cook one good meal. It’ll add to your family and friend get togethers more than you can ever imagine. 25.) Not appreciating the moment. Quit texting or taking pictures and realize what you are doing when you are doing it. 26.) Failing to finish what you start. Every day is an opportunity that shouldn’t be squandered. 27.) Never mastering one awesome party trick. This seems silly, but just think of how many amazing memories you can create. 28.) Letting yourself be defined by cultural expectations. If your family or country thinks you should do something for a career, you’re not forced to. 29.) Refusing to let friendships run their course. Sometimes people drift apart. Forcing that connection could do more damage than good. 30.) Not playing with your children enough. Kids are joyful and innocent. You should be choosing to fill your life with this joy, not avoiding it. 31.) Never taking a big risk (especially in love). Taking a bigger risk can pay off more than taking a smaller one. 32.) Not taking the time to develop contacts and network. It may seem like schmoozing, but it’ll help your career in the long run. 33.) Worrying too much. Worrying, especially about things that haven’t happened yet, is useless. 34.) Getting caught up in needless drama. Drama can be addictive, but there is no point. Don’t get off on how bad your day is. 35.) Not spending enough time with loved ones. We are on this earth for a limited time, don’t take that for granted. 36.) Never performing in front of others. This may not be your true calling, but trying it at least once is an important life experience. 37.) Not being grateful sooner. Learn to say thanks and learn to mean it. So many parts of your life will improve if you do. It’s never too late to change your life, so start by avoiding these things. You won’t regret it. Share this article with your friends so they can have the same advice. Source: Viralnova - Trending stories on the web, 1/10/2014

Chiropractic is the Best for Back Pain

12 Reasons Why Chiropractic is the Best Choice for Back Pain. Chiropractic is a great way to naturally and safely improve your health. Over the last few years, many studies have been published in the medical literature and have shown that chiropractic is the best choice for patients who suffer from acute or chronic back pain: 1. The American Medical Association Recommends Chiropractic Before Surgery. Surgery always carries a certain amount of risk and should be avoided, if possible. This landmark article from the Journal of the American Medical Association says that patients should try Chiropractic before resorting to surgical intervention. 2. Chiropractic Helps You Avoid Surgery, Too! This study from the journal Spine found that patients who used chiropractors were less likely to have surgery for their back pain. 3. Chiropractic is Better than Drugs. Another study from Spine found that chiropractic patients had better outcomes than patients who used medications for their back pain. 4. Chiropractic Prevents Future Cases of Back Pain. In this study, researchers found that chiropractic helped prevent back pain in patients with work-related injuries. 5. Chiropractic Saves You Money. A study that compared chiropractic to medical care found that chiropractic patients spent less on health care than medical patients. 6. Chiropractic is More Effective than Epidural Injections for Disc Herniations. This 2013 study found that back pain patients had better outcomes and lower health care costs with chiropractic than those who had epidural injections for spinal disc herniations. 7. Chiropractic Best Option for Sacroiliac Joint Pain. Dysfunction the sacroiliac joint can cause severe back pain and sciatica. This study reports a 72% success rate for patient who use chiropractic for SI joint pain. 8. Chiropractic Best Option for Sports-Related Back Pain. Back pain is a common sports injury, and this study from the journal Sports Health found that chiropractic was the best option for treatment of back pain. 9. Chiropractic is Safe. The prestigious medical journal Spine found that chiropractic is a safe choice for back pain patients. 10. Chiropractic Beneficial for Back Pain During Pregnancy. Many pregnant women suffer from back pain, and regular medical treatments or drugs can be unsafe. This 2006 study found that chiropractic is a safe and effective way to relieve the symptoms of back pain during this important time. 11. Chiropractic Helps Older Patients with Back Pain. As we get older, our spine loses flexibility and we’re more likely to develop back pain. This 2013 study found that chiropractic is safe and effective at reducing back pain in older patients. 12. Chiropractic Best for Teens with Back Pain. A recent British study found that for teens with back pain, chiropractic offered the biggest improvements. Source: ChiroHosting, Dr. Dan Thibodeau, 1/13/14.

7 Worst Ingredients in Food

More than 3,000 food additives, preservatives, flavorings, colors and other ingredients are added to US foods, and this is why I recommend avoiding most processed foods. While many well-meaning nutritionists teach you the importance of reading food labels, the easiest way to eat healthy is to stick with foods that need no food label at all. When was the last time you saw an ingredients list on a steak or a bunch of broccoli? There’s a good chance, though, that you do eat some processed foods, and if this is the case reading the label is invaluable. There are literally thousands of ‘red flags’ to watch out for in the foods you eat, but a handful are the worst of the worst. Let’s look at each in detail: 1. Artificial Sweeteners - Experiments have found that sweet taste, regardless of its caloric content, enhances your appetite, and consuming artificial sweeteners has been shown to lead to even greater weight gain than consuming sugar. Aspartame has been found to have the most pronounced effect, but the same applies for other artificial sweeteners, such as acesulfame potassium, sucralose and saccharin. Yet, weight gain is only the beginning of why artificial sweeteners should be avoided. Aspartame, for instance, is a neurotoxin. As a result of its unnatural structure, your body processes the amino acids found in aspartame very differently from a steak or a piece of fish. The amino acids in aspartame literally attack your cells, even crossing the blood-brain barrier to attack your brain cells, creating a toxic cellular overstimulation called excitotoxicity. 2. Synthetic Trans Fats - These are common in foods that contain partially hydrogenated oil, such as crackers, chips, most store-bought baked goods, and any fried foods. Synthetic trans fats are known to promote inflammation, which is a hallmark of most chronic diseases. In a 2010 study, post-menopausal women who consumed the most daily synthetic trans fat had a 30 percent higher incidence of ischemic strokes. Synthetic trans fats have also been linked to: cancer, diabetes, decreased immune function, problems with reproduction and heart disease. 3. Artificial Flavors - What’s particularly alarming when you see a word like “artificial flavor” on an ingredients label is that there’s no way to know what it actually means. It could mean that one unnatural additive is included, or it could be a blend of hundreds of additives. Strawberry artificial flavor can contain nearly 50 chemical ingredients. The artificial flavoring called diacetyl, which is often used as a butter flavoring in microwave popcorn. Research shows diacetyl has several concerning properties for brain health and may trigger Alzheimer’s disease. Genetically engineered flavor enhancers can also be listed under the artificial flavor or natural flavor label. 4. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) - This flavor enhancer is in countless processed food products ranging from frozen dinners and salad dressing to snack chips and meats. MSG is an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your cells to the point of damage or death, causing brain dysfunction and damage to varying degrees -- and potentially even triggering or worsening learning disabilities, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease and more. Part of the problem is that free glutamic acid (MSG is approximately 78 percent free glutamic acid) is the same neurotransmitter that your brain, nervous system, eyes, pancreas and other organs use to initiate certain processes in your body. 5. Artificial Colors - Every year, food manufacturers pour 15 million pounds of artificial food dyes into U.S. foods and that amount only factors in eight different varieties. Nine of the food dyes currently approved for use in the US are linked to health issues ranging from cancer and hyperactivity to allergy-like reactions and these results were from studies conducted by the chemical industry itself. 6. High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) - It’s often claimed that HFCS is no worse for you than sugar, but this is not the case. Because high-fructose corn syrup contains free-form monosaccharides of fructose and glucose, it cannot be considered biologically equivalent to sucrose (sugar), which has a glycosidic bond that links the fructose and glucose together, and which slows its break down in the body. Fructose is primarily metabolized by your liver, because your liver is the only organ that has the transporter for it. Since all fructose gets shuttled to your liver, fructose ends up taxing and damaging your liver in the same way alcohol and other toxins do. And just like alcohol, fructose is metabolized directly into fat – it just gets stored in your fat cells, which leads to mitochondrial malfunction, obesity and obesity-related diseases. The more fructose or HFCS a food contains, the worse it is for your health. As a standard recommendation, I advise keeping your TOTAL fructose consumption below 25 grams per day. For most people it would also be wise to limit your fructose from fruit to 15 grams or less, as you're virtually guaranteed to consume "hidden" sources of fructose if you drink beverages other than water and eat processed food. 7. Preservatives - Preservatives lengthen the shelf-life of foods, increasing manufacturers’ profits – at your expense, since most are linked to health problems such as cancer, allergic reactions and more. Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydrozyttoluene (BHT) are preservatives that affect the neurological system of your brain, alter behavior and have the potential to cause cancer. Tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) is a chemical preservative so deadly that just five grams can kill you. The preservative sodium benzoate found in many soft drinks, fruit juices and salad dressings has been found to cause children to become measurably more hyperactive and distractible. Sodium nitrite, a commonly used preservative in hot dogs, deli meats and bacon, has been linked to higher rates of colorectal, stomach and pancreatic cancers. US Processed Foods May Be Even Worse Than Those in Other Countries Many of the food additives that are perfectly legal to use in US foods are banned in other countries. The banned ingredients include various food dyes, the fat substitute Olestra, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate (aka brominanted flour), Azodicarbonamide, BHA, BHT, rBGH, rBST and arsenic. When foods are processed, not only are valuable nutrients lost and fibers removed, but the textures and natural variation and flavors are also lost. After processing, what's left behind is a bland, uninteresting "pseudo-food" that most people wouldn’t want to eat. So at this point, food manufacturers must add back in the nutrients, flavor, color and texture to processed foods in order to make them palatable, and this is why they become loaded with food additives. If you live in Europe, you may have more options than Americans, as you may be able to find some processed foods that do not contain any synthetic additives. Still, swapping your processed food diet for one that focuses on fresh whole foods is a necessity if you value your health. Remember, people have thrived on vegetables, meats, eggs, fruits and other whole foods for centuries, while processed foods were only recently invented. If you want to eat (and be) healthy, I suggest you follow the 1950s (and before) model and spend quality time in the kitchen preparing high-quality meals for yourself and your family. If you rely on processed inexpensive foods, you exchange convenience for long-term health problems and mounting medical bills. Source: mercola.com, 12/30/13.

Future MDs Unprepared to Manage Pain

Chronic pain affects 100 million Americans – that’s more than the number impacted by diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined. Most suffering from pain turn to their family doctors for help, but many leave the office with a prescription for painkillers in hand. Many physicians do not know how to help their patients manage or eliminate chronic pain, and this trend is going to continue for the future unless a radical change occurs. As it stands, most new physicians are learning little about how to treat pain, despite it being one of the most common, and most debilitating conditions around. Just 12 Hours of Pain Education in Six Years of Medical School - The study, which surveyed undergraduate medical schools in Europe, found that even when compulsory pain courses are in place, they represent just 0.2 percent. Most of the schools have no required courses on pain that all students must take. This means that 12 hours of pain study represents a best-case scenario; at 82 percent of medical schools without compulsory pain courses, the students may be receiving even less… or no pain training at all. Also there is no consistency in what topics are covered, and most of the schools included only classroom based teaching, with no practical or hands-on experience. The researchers called for a major overhaul to address the urgent public health need to adequately manage chronic pain. Pain Education in North American Medical Schools ‘Limited’ and ‘Fragmentary’ - Though the study took place in Europe, it echoes a similar trend in the US and Canada by a separate study published in The Journal of Pain. Most of the schools offered pain education as only a part of general education courses. Less than 4 percent of the schools had a required course in pain and many offered no dedicated courses at all. Even at those schools offering pain curriculum, the education amounted to less than five hours. Those researchers similarly concluded: “Significant gaps between recommended pain curricula and documented educational content were identified. In short, pain education [in US and Canadian medical schools] was limited and fragmentary. Innovative and integrated pain education in primary medical education is needed.” This is clearly out of sync with the needs of Americans. So many are suffering daily with pain that surveys show seven in 10 Americans believe pain research and management should be one of the medical community’s top priorities! Instead, it receives barely a passing mention. What Happens When Physicians Don’t Know How to Treat Pain? - MDs resort to the only treatment they know: prescription drugs. And now we’re facing another epidemic on top of chronic pain: prescription drug abuse. The latter has been called the fastest-growing drug problem in the US by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as the number of deaths from opioid painkillers like hydrocodone and oxycodone rose nearly four-fold between 1999 and 2009. The overdoses now kill more people than cocaine and heroin combined. As USA Today recently reported, more US states are now taking action to try and stop this growing problem: • Alabama has instituted three new laws that give more medical personnel access to the state’s prescription monitoring program database, as well as tighten regulations on pain management clinics and making ‘doctor shopping’ to get multiple prescriptions punishable by jail time • Indiana instituted new oversight powers to the state attorney general on pain management clinics and is considering mandatory annual drug screening of people prescribed opioids • Kentucky now requires pain clinics to be licensed and mandates that physicians check electronic prescription records before writing opioid prescriptions • Washington state has set dosage limits for physicians who prescribe pain medications, and prescriptions over a certain amount must be approved by a pain specialist • New York has a requirement that physicians and pharmacists check the state’s drug-monitoring program database before prescribing opioids Prescription Painkillers Are Addictive and Often Deadly - Painkillers (opioids) like morphine, codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and fentanyl are one of the most commonly abused drug classes. These drugs are not only addictive, they can lead to slowed breathing and death if too much is taken, and the risks are compounded if you add alcohol to the equation. Hydrocodone, a prescription opiate, is synthetic heroin. It's indistinguishable from any other heroin as far as your brain and body is concerned. So, if you're hooked on hydrocodone, you are in fact a good-old-fashioned heroin addict. Worse, pain-killing drugs like fentanyl are actually 100 times more potent than natural opioids like morphine, making the addictive potential and side effects associated with prescription drug use much higher. Americans consume 80 percent of the pain pills in the world, and once you start, they set off a cascade of reactions in your body that make it extremely difficult to stop. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital and CNN's chief medical correspondent, reported: “ … after just a few months of taking the pills...The effectiveness wears off, and patients typically report getting only about 30% pain relief, compared with when they started. Even more concerning, a subgroup of these patients develop a condition known as hyperalgesia, an increased sensitivity to pain…all of this creates a situation where the person starts to take more and more pills. And even though they are no longer providing much pain relief, they can still diminish the body's drive to breathe. If you are awake you may not notice it, but if you fall asleep with too many of these pills in your system, you never wake up. Add alcohol, and the problem is exponentially worse...” Try Natural Options Before Considering Painkillers for Chronic Pain - At the top of this list should be an explanation of why dietary changes are so important for long-term pain relief. If you suffer from chronic pain, there’s a good chance your physician has neglected to tell you this: • Take a high-quality, animal-based omega-3 oil. • Reduce your intake of processed foods, they contain sugar, additives and omega-6 fats, which contribute to inflammation. • Reduce most grains and sugars (especially fructose) from your diet. • Optimize your vitamin D by getting regular appropriate sun exposure. • Chiropractic adjustments on patients with neck pain who used a chiropractor and/or exercise were more than twice as likely to be pain free in 12 weeks compared to those who took medication. • Massage releases endorphins, which help induce relaxation, relieve pain, and reduce levels of stress. • Acupuncture has a definite effect in reducing chronic pain - more so than standard pain treatment. • Icing a painful area for 15 minutes on and 30 minutes off can greatly reduce pain, inflammation and muscle spasms. • Nutritional Supplements that may include: Astaxanthin, Ginger, Curcumin, Boswellia, Bromelain, Cetyl Myristoleate (CMO), Evening Primrose, Black Currant, Borage Oils and Cayenne. *Ask the doctors at Beck -Thibodeau Chiropractor which pain relief options are best for you and your family. Source: mercola.com, 10/30/13, Dr. Dan Thibodeau.

Sugar Substitutes - What’s Safe and What’s Not

With all the dire health effects associated with refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), many wonder what is actually safe to use to sweeten your foods and beverages. It’s certainly a good question. You do have to be cautious when choosing an alternative, as many sweeteners that are widely regarded as "healthy" are, anything but. A previous National Geographic article set out to compare eight different sugar substitutes, which fall into four general categories: Artificial sweeteners, Sugar alcohols, Natural sweeteners and Dietary supplements. Sadly lacking from their review are any notations about adverse health effects of many of the sugar substitutes tested. Despite copious scientific evidence of harm, artificial sweeteners are promoted in general, as safe because they “pass through your body undigested.” Needless to say, safety concerns will be front and center in this article. The Case Against Artificial Sweeteners - Sweetener lesson 101: Avoid artificial sweeteners. While the mechanisms of harm may differ, they’re all harmful in one way or another. This includes aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal), sucralose (Splenda), saccharin (Sweet'N Low), acesulfame potassium, neotame, and others. There's little doubt in my mind that artificial sweeteners can be far worse for you than sugar and fructose, and there is plenty of scientific evidence to back up that conclusion. Aspartame is perhaps the most dangerous of the bunch. It’s one of the most widely used and has the most reports of adverse effects. There are hundreds of scientific studies demonstrating its harmful effects. Be Critical of “All Natural” Sweetener Claims - If artificial sweeteners are out of the picture, let’s look at some all-natural sweeteners, such as honey and agave. They may seem like a healthier choice, but not only are they loaded with fructose, many are also highly processed. In that regard, you’re not gaining a thing. The health effects will be the same, since it’s the fructose that causes the harm. Agave syrup can even be considered worse than HFCS because it has a higher fructose content than any commercial sweetener, ranging from 70 to 97 percent depending on the brand. HFCS averages 55 percent fructose. Most agave "nectar" or agave "syrup" is nothing more than a laboratory generated super condensed fructose syrup, devoid of virtually all nutrient value. Honey is also high in fructose, averaging around 53 percent, but contrary to agave it is completely natural in its raw form, and has many health benefits when used in moderation. Keep in mind you’re not likely to find high quality raw honey in your local grocery store. Most of the commercial Grade A honey is highly processed and of poor quality. What About Sugar Alcohols? - Sugar alcohols can be identified by the commonality of “ol” at the end of their name, such as xylitol, glucitol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, glycerol, and lactitol. They’re not as sweet as sugar, and they do contain fewer calories, but they’re not calorie free. So don’t get confused by the “sugar-free” label on foods containing these sweeteners. As with all foods, you need to carefully read the food labels for calorie and carbohydrate content, regardless of any claims that the food is sugar-free or low-sugar. One reason that sugar alcohols provide fewer calories than sugar is because they’re not completely absorbed into your body. Because of this, eating too many foods containing sugar alcohols can lead to abdominal gas and diarrhea. It’s also worth noting that maltitol, a commonly used sugar alcohol, spikes blood sugar almost as much as a starchy potato. Xylitol, in comparison, does not have a great effect on your blood sugar, so from that perspective may be a better choice. In moderation, some sugar alcohols can be a better choice than highly refined sugar, fructose or artificial sweeteners. Of the various sugar alcohols, xylitol is one of the best. When it is pure, the potential side effects are minimal, and it actually comes with some benefits such as fighting tooth decay. All in all, I would say that xylitol is reasonably safe, and potentially even a mildly beneficial sweetener. (As a side note, xylitol is toxic to dogs and some other animals, so be sure to keep it out of reach of your family pets.) Three of the Safest Sugar Alternatives - Two of the best sugar substitutes are from the plant kingdom: Stevia and Lo Han Guo (also spelled Luo Han Kuo). Stevia, a highly sweet herb derived from the leaf of the South American stevia plant, is sold as a supplement. It’s completely safe in its natural form and can be used to sweeten most dishes and drinks. Keep in mind that the same cannot be said for the sugar substitute Truvia, which makes use of only certain active ingredients and not the entire plant. Rebaudioside A is the agent that provides most of the sweet taste of the plant. Usually it’s the synergistic effect of all the agents in the plant that provide the overall health effect, which oftentimes includes “built-in protection” against potentially damaging effects, but what the FDA has approved as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) are just a couple of the active ingredients, including rebaudioside A used in Truvia. In one toxicology review, the researchers point out that stevioside compounds and rebaudioside A are metabolized at different rates, making it impossible to assess the risk of rebaudioside A from toxicity assessments of stevioside (which has been used as food and medicine in Japan and South America for decades or longer). Additionally, in a human metabolism study, stevioside and rebaudioside A had different pharmacokinetic results. In layman’s terms, that means that your body reacts differently to the two compounds; each compound is metabolized differently and remains in your body for different lengths of time. Truvia may turn out to be a very good substitute to sugar, but I’d have to see more details before giving it an enthusiastic thumbs. A third alternative is to use pure glucose. You can buy pure glucose (dextrose) for about $5-7 per pound. It is only 70 percent as sweet as sucrose, so you'll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of sweetness, making it slightly more expensive than regular sugar—but still well worth it for your health as it does not contain any fructose whatsoever. Contrary to fructose, glucose can be used directly by every cell in your body and as such is a far safer sugar alternative. Consider Dampening Your Sweet-Tooth... Keep in mind though that if you have insulin issues, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, or if you're overweight, you'd be best to avoid or reduce all sweeteners, including Stevia, since any sweetener can decrease your insulin sensitivity. Source: mercola.com, 10/7/13

7 Important Reasons to Properly Chew Your Food

The last time you had something to eat, did you give any thought to how long you chewed? Most likely not, as chewing is done almost as a habit or unconscious reflex. As soon as a piece of food enters your mouth, you chew and swallow, probably far too quickly (especially if you’re in a hurry or eating on the run). The chewing process, also known as mastication, is actually extremely important and serves as the first step in your digestive process. The way you chew, including how long you chew, can significantly impact your health in ways you likely never knew. 1. Absorb More Nutrients and Energy From Your Food - Chewing breaks your food down from large particles into smaller particles that are more easily digested, making it easier for your intestines to absorb nutrients from the food particles as they pass through. This also prevents improperly digested food from entering your blood and causing a wide range of adverse effects to your health. Recent research presented at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo in Chicago showed that when participants chewed almonds longer, the smaller particles were better and more quickly absorbed by the body. In those who chewed less, the larger particles were passed through the body, while also providing opportunistic bacteria and fungi with a source of fuel during their transit. Purdue University professor Dr. Richard Mattes explained: “Particle size [affects the] bioaccessibility of the energy of the food that is being consumed. The more you chew, the less is lost and more is retained in the body.” 2. Maintain a Healthy Weight - The longer you chew, the more time it will take you to finish a meal, and research shows that eating slowly can help you to eat less and, ultimately, to avoid weight gain or even lose weight. For example, chewing your food twice as long as you normally would will instantly help you control your portion sizes, which naturally decreases calorie consumption. It takes time (generally about 20 minutes) for your brain to signal to your stomach that you’re full, and this may explain why one study found people reported feeling fuller when they ate slowly. They also ended up consuming about 10 percent fewer calories when they ate at a slow pace, and presumably chewed slower, as opposed to when they were rushing. 3. Your Food Gets More Exposure to Your Saliva - Saliva contains digestive enzymes, so the longer you chew, the more time these enzymes have to start breaking down your food, making digestion easier on your stomach and small intestine. One of these enzymes is lingual lipase, an enzyme that helps break down fats, for example. Saliva also helps to lubricate your food so it’s easier on your esophagus. 4. Easier Digestion - The chewing process predigests your food into small pieces and partially liquefies it, making it easier to digest. Digestion is actually a very demanding task for your body, requiring a great deal of energy, especially if forced to digest improperly chewed food. Chewing properly allows your stomach to work more efficiently and break down your food faster. 5. It’s Good for Your Teeth - The bones holding your teeth get a ‘workout’ when you chew, helping to keep them strong. The saliva produced while chewing is also beneficial, helping to clear food particles from your mouth and wash away bacteria so there may be less plaque buildup and tooth decay. 6. Less Excess Bacteria Lingering in Your Intestines - When large particles of improperly chewed food enter your stomach, it may remain undigested when it enters your intestines. There, bacteria will begin to break it down, or in other words it will start to putrefy, potentially leading to gas and bloating, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, cramping and other digestive problems. 7. Enjoy and Taste Your Food - If you rush through your meal with hardly any chewing, you’re also not really tasting or enjoying the food. When you take the time to properly chew your food, it forces you to slow down, savor each morsel and really enjoy all the flavors your food has to offer. How to Chew Your Food Properly The way you chew is unique to you and is probably deeply ingrained by this point in your life. You will likely need to make a conscious effort to change the way you chew, but the good news is you can start with your next meal. There are many theories about how many times you should, ideally, chew each piece of food. The Times of India recently highlighted Horace Fletcher, a late-1800s health-food guru (also known as “The Great Masticator”) who was famous for chewing each bite 100 times before swallowing (and to this he attributed his good health, strength and endurance). You need not be this strict, however, as the amount of chewing a food requires will obviously vary depending on its type and texture. Here’s a guide to ensure that you’re chewing in a way that will support your health. Generally speaking, you’ll want to eat in a relaxed, non-distracted environment; eating on the run or while you’re working or watching TV is not conducive to proper chewing. • Take smaller bites of food to begin with (it’s easier to chew smaller morsels) • Chew slowly and steadily • Chew until your mouthful of food is liquefied or lost all of its texture • Finish chewing and swallowing completely before taking another bite of food • Wait to drink fluids until you’ve swallowed The Dangers of Chewing for No Reason While chewing is essential when you eat, chewing without eating food can be counterproductive. When you chew gum, for instance, you send your body physical signals that food is about to enter your body. The enzymes and acids that are activated when you chew gum are therefore released, but without the food they’re intended to digest. This can cause bloating, an overproduction of stomach acid, and can compromise your ability to produce sufficient digestive secretions when you actually do eat food. Chewing gum can also cause jaw muscle imbalances (if you chew on one side more than the other) and even TMJ or temporomandibular joint disorder in your jaw, which can be a painful chronic condition. Source: mercola.com, 10/2/13.

9 Tips for Raising a Happy Child

Children are probably not the first ones who come to mind when you think about stress. After all, they’ve got no bills to worry about, no job or other responsibilities on their shoulders… Yet, children feel stress, too – often significantly. They worry about making friends, succeeding at school or sports, and fitting in with their peers. They may also struggle with the divorce of their parents or feel anxious about war and violence they see on the news. While a child’s natural state is to be happy, vibrant and curious, it’s estimated that up to 15 percent of children and teens are depressed at any given time. In reality, many of the same worries that make you feel anxious and sad have the same impact on your children. However, kids also have unique needs that can interfere with their ability to be happy if left unmet. Virtually every parent wants their child to be happy. The Huffington Post recently highlighted seven simple strategies for achieving this goal, and I’ve added a couple of my own as well. 1. Healthy Eating - Mood swings and even depression in kids are often the result of a heavily processed-food diet. In fact, the greatest concentration of serotonin, which is involved in mood control, depression and aggression, is found in your intestines, not your brain! Your gut and brain actually work in tandem, each influencing the other. This is why your child’s intestinal health can have such a profound influence on his mental health, and vice versa – and why eating processed foods that can harm his gut flora can have a profoundly negative impact on his mood, psychological health and behavior. The simplest way back toward health and happiness, for children and adults alike, is to focus on WHOLE foods -- foods that have not been processed or altered from their original state; food that has been grown or raised as nature intended, without the use of chemical additives, pesticides and fertilizers. You, a family member, or someone you pay will need to invest time in the kitchen cooking fresh wholesome meals from these whole foods so that you can break free from the processed food diet that will ultimately make you and your children sick. Food is a part of crucial lifestyle choices first learned at home, so you need to educate yourself about proper nutrition and the dangers of junk food and processed foods in order to change the food culture of your entire family. To give your child the best start at life, and help instill healthy habits that will last a lifetime, you must lead by example. If you're not sure where to start, I recommend reading my nutrition plan first. This will provide you with the foundation you need to start making healthy food choices for your family. 2. Eating on Time - If a child goes too long without eating, it may lead to fluctuations in blood sugar levels that lead to irritability. Children need to refuel their growing bodies on a regular schedule, so try to keep your child’s meal and snack times consistent. 3. Regular, High-Quality Sleep - Too little sleep not only makes kids prone to being grouchy and having mood swings, it also negatively impacts children’s behavior and attention. As little as 27 minutes of extra sleep a night has been shown to have a positive impact on children’s mood and behavior. Children aged 5 to 12 need about 10-11 hours of sleep a night for optimal mood and health. To help your child get a good night’s sleep, get the TV, computer, video games and cell phone out of your child’s bedroom, and be sure the room is as dark as possible. Even the least bit of light in the room can disrupt your child’s internal clock and her pineal gland's production of melatonin and serotonin. I recommend using blackout shades or drapes. 4. Free Play - Unstructured playtime is essential for kids to build their imagination, relieve stress and simply be kids. Yet today, many kids are so over-scheduled that they scarcely have time to eat dinner and do homework, let alone have any free time for play. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics states that free, unstructured play is essential for children to manage stress and become resilient, as well as reach social, emotional and cognitive development milestones. Along with slowing down and resisting the urge to sign your child up for too many activities, be sure to provide your child with simple toys like blocks and dolls that allow for creative play. Free play time is also an ideal time for active play – like tag or chasing butterflies – which is naturally mood-boosting (as exercise is for adults). 5. Express Emotions - Kids need to yell, cry, stomp their feet and run around with excitement. This is how they express their emotions, which is healthy for emotional development and will prevent a lifetime of internalizing negative emotions. Encourage and allow your child to vent and express his emotions in healthy ways. 6. Make Choices - Kids are constantly being told what to do, so giving them the ability to make choices goes a long way toward increasing their happiness. Try letting your child decide what to wear or what to eat (within reason), or give her a few choices for activities and let her decide which one to do. 7. They Feel Heard - Your child knows when you’re not really listening to them (such as if you’re ‘talking’ to them while surfing the Web or watching TV). Yet a child’s happiness will soar when he feels like his parents truly listen and respond to what he’s saying. Not only will you feel more connected to your child, but you’ll also build his self-confidence and happiness. 8. Unconditional Love - Above all else, children need unconditional love, and they need it consistently. If your child makes a mistake, let her know you still love and support her regardless. Your child will grow up confident and happy knowing you are behind her every step of the way. 9. Be Happy Yourself - If you’re stressed out and unhappy, your child will sense this and also feel sad and worried in response. You are your child’s first role model, so lead by example by embracing the bright side of life. Source: mercola.com, 9/5/13

10 Ways to Stay Active as a Family

Despite the seemingly infinite benefits that physical activity has for your health, most people are not very active. Statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that just over 20 percent of adults are meeting recommended physical activity guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening physical activity! Those guidelines recommend at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity activity, or 1 hour and 15 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity a week, plus muscle-strengthening activities two or more days a week. This trend extends to kids, too – only one in three US kids are physically active every day. It’s clear that many families also feel there aren’t enough hours in a day to spend quality time together, between work, school and other obligations, so it makes perfect sense to make your family time active time as much as possible. This way, you’re spending time together while also boosting your fitness and modeling a healthy lifestyle for your kids. When kids are involved you’ve got to get more creative … and more fun! 1. Go on a Scavenger Hunt - Make a list of challenges (find an orange leaf, get a neighbor’s signature, snap a photo of a playground, etc.), split your family into teams, set a time limit and then head off (on foot or on bike) to see who can complete the most items. 2. Have a Water Day - Tossing water balloons, splashing in a pool and running through a sprinkler in the backyard are fun ways to stay cool and active on a hot summer day. 3. Set ‘Mileage’ Goals for the Weekend - Decide as a family how many steps, or how many miles, you want to travel over the weekend, then have fun trying to reach the goal. You can use pedometers to measure steps taken while running errands, going on hikes, playing tag and more, and can challenge the family to increase your goal each weekend. 4. Wash the Car - Washing the car uses key core muscles and can be a fun, bonding experience, especially if you take time to cool off with the hose, too. 5. Family Olympics - Get together with a group of families and compete in events like hula-hoops, 50-yard dash, relay race, basketball shoot, and an obstacle course. You can even make it an annual event! 6. Family Fitness Classes - If you like a more structured routine, try a fitness class designed for families, like stroller workouts, mom/dad and baby workouts or family yoga. 7. Do Chores Together - Vacuuming, washing windows, weeding the garden, raking leaves and even doing laundry work your muscles and burn calories while teaching your kids the value of responsibility. Make chores fun by setting a time limit and turning up the music while you work together as a family. 8. Plan Seasonal Outdoor Activities - Swimming, biking, canoeing and hiking are great in the summer, while sledding, ice skating, building a snowman or skiing are fun – and great for your fitness goals – in the winter. 9. Play Together - Tag, hide-and-go-seek, hop scotch, doing cartwheels and dancing in the kitchen are so much fun you won’t even realize its exercise in disguise. 10. Try Out Family Sports - A backyard game of softball or volleyball, shooting hoops or taking a trip to a golf course give you quality time as a family while staying active. You Can Even Stay Active on Your Family Vacation! Whether you’re going to grandma’s house for the weekend, planning a trip abroad or even having a “staycation,” family getaways are another opportunity to fit in fun activities that promote fitness. While on vacation, try: walking tours, museums, zoos, theme parks, collecting seashells, jogging, walking on the beach, power walking in the airport terminal, using a hotel gym, snorkeling, hiking, volleyball, bicycling, or exploring. What Will Your Kids Gain by Staying Active? Leading a physically active lifestyle is a good habit to instill in your child from an early age because the sooner you do it, the better. Keeping kids active is a superb way to increase learning, focus and even test results. As many of you reading this have likely experienced, if your mind is feeling cluttered or you're having a mid-afternoon slump, a brisk walk or a quick workout can give you a renewed sense of clarity and focus. This is certainly true for kids and teenagers, too. There are a multitude of short-term and long-term health benefits your child can gain from regular physical activity, including: reduced risk of diabetes and pre-diabetes, improved sleep and mood, stronger bones, reduced restlessness or hyperactivity, decrease symptoms of ADHD, improved immune system function, weight loss and increased energy. What Will YOU Gain by Staying Active? The benefits that kids receive extend to adults as well, although as you age you’ll begin to reap the benefits of a lifetime of exercise in the form of better mobility, muscle mass and brain power. One of the primary benefits of exercise is that it normalizes your insulin and leptin levels, with the secondary benefits of weight loss and normalization of blood sugars. These basic factors in turn cascade outward, creating a ripple effect of positive health benefits, which include: improving your brainpower and boosting your IQ, lowering your risk of heart disease and cancer, building strong bones, lowering blood pressure, reducing insomnia, losing weight, relieving pain, improving mood, fighting depression, increasing energy, acquiring fewer colds, lowering risk of diabetes, and slowing down aging. Limiting Screen Time is a Key Part of Staying Active. Once you’ve committed to staying active as a family, you may notice that the time you all spend sitting in front of a computer or the television naturally decrease, and this is a very good thing. More than two hours a day of screen time is associated with increased emotional and behavioral difficulties, regardless of the time spent exercising. According to one study: • Children who spent more than two hours a day watching TV or using a computer were 61 and 59 percent more likely to experience high levels of psychological difficulties. • Children who failed to meet physical activity guidelines, were 70 percent more likely to experience high levels of psychological difficulties. • This risk increased to 81 percent for children who used a computer for more than two hours a day while also failing to meet recommended exercise guidelines. **So remember that it is imperative to limit your child's TV, computer, and video game time in addition to encouraging your child to spend more time doing various forms of physical activity. Source: mercola.com, 8/25/13.

Singing Happy Birthday Makes Cake Taste Better

If you want to make your food taste better, and more thoroughly enjoy the experience of a meal, it may be as simple as performing a ritual first, according to new research from the University of Minnesota. Singing ‘Happy Birthday’ before eating birthday cake is one example, but the beauty of this finding is that it works for healthy food too. There are simple strategies you can implement today to get more enjoyment out of your food. Ritualistic Behavior Enhances the Enjoyment of Eating, Improves Flavors of Food If you’ve ever wolfed down a meal while working, driving or engaging in another task, you probably didn’t feel too satisfied afterward, and this is partly because you didn’t take the time to sit and savor your food. Along these lines, researchers conducted a series of experiments to test whether performing a simple ritual before eating makes the food more enjoyable, and in each case, the answer was ‘yes.’ • Participants who broke an unwrapped piece of chocolate in half and ate one half before unwrapping and eating the other half rated the chocolate more highly, savored it more, and were willing to pay more for it than those who ate it however they wanted. • Those who waited to eat carrots after performing a small ritual enjoyed them more than those who had no delay. • Simply watching someone perform a ritual, such as making lemonade, was not effective at improving its taste, which suggests personal involvement in the ritual process is key. How You Can Harness the Power of Rituals The researchers concluded that rituals may have such an impact because they force you to become more involved in the experience at hand: “Rituals enhance the enjoyment of consumption because of the greater involvement in the experience that they prompt.” Rather than simply eating a bar of chocolate, for instance, stopping to feel the texture in your hands, breaking it into smaller pieces and waiting to savor each bite slowly is likely to enhance your enjoyment, even allowing you to feel more satisfied by eating less chocolate. Of course, this should work for other foods, too, like a bowl of steamed broccoli or a handful of nuts or berries. It’s not so much the food that matters, it’s the ritual beforehand. So you could try shaking the nuts in your hand before eating them, or placing your berries in an attractive dish first to make them taste even better. This might also mean that as you take steps to prepare your food, such as making homemade fermented vegetables, the preparation ‘ritual’ will enhance your enjoyment of them, providing extra incentive to spend more time in the kitchen (a major benefit for your health!). This also helps explain why certain foods seem to taste so much better at certain times of the year, such as on Thanksgiving or other holidays that involve long-held traditions. This can backfire, too, though, if you’ve become accustomed to watching TV while you snack on chips, for instance. In this case, breaking the ritual may help you to break your reliance on an unhealthy food. Giving Thanks Before Eating One of the most rewarding rituals you can do before a meal is to stop and give thanks for your food. Not only might this make your food taste better, but also people who are thankful for what they have are better able to cope with stress, have more positive emotions, and are better able to reach their goals. People who give thanks before they eat also tend to eat more slowly and savor the meal more so than those who do not, lending a natural transition to mindful eating. Being Mindful When You Eat Practicing "mindfulness" means that you're actively paying attention to the moment you're in right now. In terms of eating, this means you’re focused on your food and you’re really taking the time to chew, taste and savor each bite that goes into your mouth. Mindless eating would be the opposite. Similar to engaging in a ritual beforehand, being mindful when you eat forces you to slow down and makes you feel more connected and involved in your eating experience. There are other ‘side effects’ too, as when you eat slower you give your brain time to register that you’re full, so you’ll likely eat less. Taking the time to thoroughly chew your food also allows you to absorb more nutrients from your food, helps you maintain a healthy weight, allows for easier digestion, and leads to fewer digestive issues like gas and bloating, all while allowing you to actually taste your food before you swallow… a novel concept if you’re used to eating on the run. Using Rituals to Establish Healthier Habits Rituals can be extremely powerful in all facets of your life, especially if you use them to help create healthful habits. For instance, if you want to start getting to bed earlier, washing your face and brushing your teeth can be the ritual you use to trigger your earlier bedtime. Another example would be to spend time journaling, meditating, sipping herbal tea or even changing into loungewear when you come home from work as a ‘ritual’ to de-stress from your day and switch gears into relaxation mode. Getting back to eating, a simple ritual like lighting a candle or two and setting your table can signal to your family that it’s time for a meal together. Saying grace or giving thanks before you eat, as mentioned, is another ritualistic way to enhance the enjoyment as you eat. The opportunities to harness the power of rituals are truly endless, and only you can determine which rituals will be the most meaningful and productive in your own life. Chances are you have quite a few rituals already, and taking a few moments to create more is a simple way to live better. Source: mercola.com, 8/8/13.

10 Reasons to Avoid Retirement

After a lifetime of working, it's certainly fun to dream about playing golf, laying on the beach and not having to deal with bosses or customers. But after a few months of relaxation, some retirees find that they miss the friends, structure and steady paychecks their career provided. Here are some of the reasons you might not enjoy retirement. 1. Like your job. If you enjoy the work you are doing, there's no reason to leave just because you hit a certain age. "A lot of times, your job defines who you are and you take part of your identity through what you do for a living," says Dana Anspach, a certified financial planner and author of "Control Your Retirement Destiny." If you retire, how will you answer the question: What do you do? 2. Need the money. Saving up enough money to pay for a 30-year retirement is a daunting prospect. "Many Americans don't have enough money to retire in this ultra-low interest rate environment," says Kimberly Foss, a certified financial planner and author of "Wealthy by Design: A 5-Step Plan for Financial Security." "The boomers are squeezed by their kids going to college, the kids moving back home and also having aging parents who are living a long time, too." Delaying retirement gives you more time to save and shortens the number of retirement years you need to save up for. 3. Avoid lifestyle cuts. Retirement often involves cutting back your lifestyle so you can live on the amount you have saved. Your retirement years could involve downsizing to a smaller house or condo, clipping coupons and eating at home to save money. "Some people can't give up the nice dinners out and latest style of clothing. They want to travel in retirement," Anspach says. A retirement job could give you some extra income to pay for luxuries. 4. Your health. Continuing to work could have a positive impact on your health. A recent study of about 429,000 self-employed workers in France by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, found people who retire later have a lower risk of developing dementia. "For each extra year of work before retirement, it lowers the risk of getting dementia by 3.2 percent," says Carole Dufouil, a director of research at the institute. "This is in line with the 'use it or lose it' hypothesis, which says that as long as you use your brain, it is efficient." 5. Better social life. Friendships are often forged with colleagues and might include lunches out or after-work drinks. You aren't likely to get invited to these events when you no longer share the same office. 6. Marital harmony. Retirement requires you to establish a new dynamic at home that will often include much more face time with your spouse than you had while working, which can create challenges for your marriage. The transition can go more smoothly if you have a job outside the home. "Being stuck at home every day, all day, can lead to some real issues in people's marriages," says Nancy Collamer, a career coach and author of "Second-Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit from Your Passions During Semi-Retirement." "By having something else in your life, it enables you to quite frankly get out of each other's hair." 7. Bigger Social Security checks. You get bigger Social Security benefits if you delay claiming your payments between ages 62 and 70. For example, a baby boomer who could get $750 per month at age 62 would get $1,000 per month at age 66 and $1,320 monthly at age 70. After age 70, there is no additional benefit to delaying your payments. Social Security benefits are calculated based on your 35 highest-earning years in the workforce. So, if you earn more than you did earlier in your career, you could further boost your payments. 8. Continue to defer taxes. Retirees are generally required to take withdrawals from their retirement accounts after age 70 and to pay the resulting income tax on the amount withdrawn. However, if you continue to work in your 70s or later, and don't own 5 percent or more of the company maintaining the plan, some 401(k) plans - but not IRAs - will allow you to defer withdrawals from that 401(k) account until you actually retire. 9. Workplace benefits. The group health and retirement benefits you get through a job are often better than what you could buy on your own as a retiree, which is particularly important for people not yet old enough to qualify for Medicare. Many workplaces also provide other perks including company paid travel, discounts on company merchandise and the occasional company party. 10. Helping others. Whether by mentoring younger employees or providing a service to the community, many workers help people through their jobs. The rewards you get from providing a valuable service often go beyond any paycheck you receive. "By the time people are well into their 50s, they generally are less driven by the next promotion or opportunity on the job," Collamer says. "They tend to be more motivated by wanting to make a difference in the world." Source: U.S. News & World Report – July 23, 2013

10 Things the Processed Food Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know

Processed foods are typically loaded with excess sugar, salt, fats, preservatives and other additives. What you may not know about processed foods is the extent of the havoc they can wreak on your body, a closely guarded secret that the processed food industry doesn’t want you to know. In short, though they may taste good and be easy to prepare, when you eat processed foods you’re exchanging convenience for your health. Donna Gates, author of The Body Ecology Diet, explains 10 reasons why you might want to think twice the next time you’re tempted to eat processed foods. 1. They’re Addictive and May Cause You to Overeat - Processing modifies or removes important components of food, like fiber, water and nutrients, changing the way they are digested and assimilated in your body. Unlike whole foods, which contain a mix of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, fiber and water to help you feel satisfied, processed foods stimulate dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter, making you feel good even though the food lacks nutrients. This dopamine stimulation can lead to excessive food cravings and food addiction. 2. They’re Linked to Obesity - Processed foods are virtually guaranteed to contain additives that are linked to obesity. This includes monosodium glutamate (MSG), high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners and more. Plus, refined carbohydrates like breakfast cereals, bagels, waffles, pretzels, and most other processed foods quickly break down to sugar; this increases your insulin and leptin levels, and contribute to insulin resistance, which is the primary factor of nearly every chronic disease and condition known to man, including weight gain. 3. They Break Principles of Food Combining - Some nutrition and health experts believe that eating foods in certain combinations helps your body’s digestive processes to work more efficiently and absorb more nutrients. According to one such premise, eating proteins and starches together, which is common in processed foods (such as a pepperoni pizza), inhibits digestion leading to putrification of your food, acidic conditions in your blood and supports disease-causing pathogens in your gut. 4. Processed Foods Lead to an Imbalanced Inner Ecosystem - The microorganisms living in your digestive tract form a very important "inner ecosystem" that influences countless aspects of your health. Processed foods disrupt this system, suppressing beneficial microflora and leading to digestive problems, cravings, illnesses and chronic disease. Beneficial organisms in your gut thrive on whole, unprocessed foods. 5. They’re Detrimental to Your Mood and Brain - Mood swings, memory problems and even depression are often the result of a heavily processed diet. The greatest concentration of serotonin, which is involved in mood control, depression and aggression, is found in your intestines, not your brain! Your gut and brain actually work in tandem, each influencing the other. This is why your intestinal health can have such a profound influence on your mental health, and vice versa – and why eating processed foods that can harm your gut flora can have a profoundly negative impact on your mood, psychological health and behavior. 6. Processed Foods Encourage ‘Eating on the Run’ - Processed foods are quick and easy, making them ‘perfect’ to grab when you’re on the go. But eating on the go, or while you’re multi-tasking, can cause you to lose touch with your body’s natural signals telling you you’re full, leading to overeating and weight gain. It’s also more difficult for your body to digest properly when you’re busily engaged in other tasks. 7. Nutrition Labels can be Misleading - A processed food may be labeled ‘natural’ or ‘sugar-free,’ but that doesn’t make it healthful. For instance, the natural food label on a processed food has no standard definition and really no meaning at all. A "natural" product is meaningless as it can legally be genetically modified, full of pesticides or made with corn syrup, additives, preservatives and artificial ingredients. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also allows processed food manufacturers to use absurdly tiny serving sizes on their labels, which can lull you into a false sense of security when it comes to determining how much of each stated nutrient or toxin, like trans fat, you're actually consuming. 8. Processed Meats are Linked to Cancer - Processed meats are those preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or the addition of chemical preservatives, which includes bacon, ham, pastrami, salami, pepperoni, hot dogs, some sausages and hamburgers. Particularly problematic are the nitrates that are added to these meats as a preservative, coloring and flavoring. The nitrates found in processed meats are frequently converted into nitrosamines, which are clearly associated with an increased risk of certain cancers. Meat cooked at high temperatures, as many processed meats often are, can also contain as many as 20 different kinds of heterocyclic amines, or HCAs for short. These substances are also linked to cancer. 9. Processed Foods May Increase Your Risk of Infertility and Malnutrition - Because processed foods are stripped of nutrients your body needs, you could be eating a large number of calories but still become malnourished. In just three generations, a nutrient-deficient diet can lead to infertility, which is on the rise in the US. Processed foods often contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients, which are also linked to reproductive problems. 10. Processed Foods Lead to a Long Shelf Life, Not a Long Human Life - Processed foods can last a long time on the shelf without going bad, thanks to their chemical cocktails of preservatives and other additives. Unfortunately, their makers put a lot of money and time into strategies to increase shelf life and create attractive packaging, with little attention put on the foods’ nutrient value or how it will actually detract from lasting health. A Simple Step-by-Step Guide to Ditching Processed Foods When it comes to staying healthy, avoiding processed foods and replacing them with fresh, whole foods is the "secret" you've been looking for. This might sound daunting, but people have thrived on vegetables, meats, eggs, fruits and other whole foods for centuries, while processed foods were only recently invented. Many of the top executives and scientists at leading processed food companies actually avoid their own foods for a variety of health reasons! Try to spend 90 percent of your food budget on whole foods, and only 10 percent on processed foods (unfortunately most Americans currently do the opposite). This requires that you plan your meals in advance. Ideally, this will involve scouting out your local farmer's markets for in-season produce that is priced to sell, and planning your meals accordingly, but you can also use this same premise with supermarket sales. You can generally plan a week of meals at a time, make sure you have all ingredients necessary on hand, and then do any prep work you can ahead of time so that dinner is easy to prepare if you're short on time in the evenings (and you can use leftovers for lunches the next day). Further, by cutting out these high-glycemic foods you can retrain your body to burn fat instead of sugar. However, it’s important to replace these foods with healthy fats, not protein—a fact that’s often not addressed. If you're currently sustaining yourself on fast food and processed foods, this is one of the most positive life changes you could ever make. Source: mercola.com, 7/17/13