Health Advice for Women

For many of my friends and family, the carefree spending and impulse purchases of the last few years will not be a part of their holiday this year. Many are cutting back on the number of toys they are giving their children and on the number of gifts they give to each other. And they are looking for gifts that have a lasting impact. They are looking for gifts that have special meaning rather than just a high price tag or a fancy gadget.

My favorite gift this year that falls into this category is AeroGrow’s indoor gardening appliances. I found the AeroGarden www.aerogrow.com online this year while looking for a gift to give a friend of mine that is a long-time gardener. When the winter months come around, she always bemoans the fact that she cannot get out into her garden. With the AeroGarden, she doesn’t have to wait for spring to appear, she can garden all year-round right in her own kitchen.

AeroGrow touts its product as “The World’s First Kitchen Garden Appliance”, but I think that makes it sound like something you stick under your kitchen sink. In fact, the AeroGarden sits right on your countertop. You can fill it with herbs, flowers, vegetables or greens. There’s a grow light on the AeroGarden that turns it on and off automatically so you can place the garden anywhere you like, and it will still grow. And it only takes a few minutes to set up, so there’s no impossible set of directions to follow or four hours needed to get this gift up and running.

The best part about the AeroGarden is that it truly is the perfect gift for all the people on my list this year. Amy, who likes to cook, will absolutely love having fresh herbs right on her countertop. Doug, who we all tease about his black thumb, will appreciate how easy it is to set up and grow things. And Kate, my environmentalist friend, will appreciate the fact that this is a long-lasting gift – no waste or pollution to think of, and yields hundreds of dollars of herbs.

The only thing I do not like about this product is that I did not discover it for my grandmother. She lived in an assisted living home, and spent much of her time in her own room. Since flowers are proven to increase happiness and overall emotional wellness, this would have been the perfect gift for her. And the products are so small that they do not take up a lot of space, which is important to the elderly in these situations.

So this year, I plan to give a gift that brings year-round joy to those people on my holiday list. No fancy gadgets, no fancy boxes; just a lovely little AeroGarden that provides for flowers, herbs, vegetables or greens. It’s a gift that will make my friends and family smile everyday and think of me. What more could you ask for?

Not that long ago, the term “going green” conjured up thoughts of radical environmentalists going to extremes to save a forest in the name of “The Movement.” Today, however, “going green” means so much more. As individual awareness has grown regarding how behavior affects greenhouse gas emissions or hurts local water supply, home recycling and home energy efficiency has grown from energy efficient light bulbs to entire energy efficiency home conversions.

As an extension of this personal impact awareness, businesses are giving serious thought to how they can “go green” while continuing to make their businesses more efficient. Beyond in-office recycling and re-using coffee cups, companies are searching for solutions that provide the right combination of savings and benefits for both employer and employee, while enabling employers to give some intangible benefits to employees during tight economic times. One such solution is phone and web conferencing.

Phone and web conferencing by companies such as www.webpresentnow.com allows employees to hold virtual meetings from their own offices. It gives them instant access to co-workers, customers and clients without having to travel, thereby eliminating the environmental impact while lowering company costs.  When you consider that a roundtrip flight from New York to Los Angeles emits 2.46 metric tons of CO2 — the greenhouse gas that goes directly into the most sensitive portion of our atmosphere – you realize how much you can make a difference by simply introducing phone and web conferencing into your company culture. [1]

Phone and web conferencing also allows individuals to reduce personal stress and increase productivity by giving them the option to work from home on one or more days a week. Being able to meet virtually wherever they are means they can still hold impromptu meetings or keep recurring ones with ease. Phone or Web Conferencing enables individuals to use their time more efficiently – scheduling and keeping other appointments becomes easier.  Additionally, telecommuting using phone and web conferencing equates to cost savings on vehicle use — less wear and tear on vehicles. The result of using phone and web conferencing is that employees strengthen the work-life balance and, ultimately, companies are able to hire and retain happier, more productive workers.

Environmentally speaking, encouraging staff to use phone and web conferencing has many benefits. Already 12 million employees and another 16 million self-employed people work at home at least one day a month [1]. Collectively, these home-based workers now save the equivalent of 24% of Gulf oil imports and avoid producing 33 million metric tons greenhouse gases a year [1]. Also, according to a report released in April 2008 by the American Electronics Association, if every U.S. worker telecommuted 1.6 days per week, an estimated 1.35 billion gallons of gasoline could be conserved annually.

The positive results that phone and web conferencing make for the environment and in an employees life is something that any company can feel good about. What’s more, shareholders, clients, employees and investors, will feel confident supporting a company that employs such forward thinking, cost efficient and eco-friendly policies.
[1] American Electronics Association Report- April 2008

About the Author:
Heather Bishara lives in South Riding, VA, is a mother of two boys ages 1 and 4 and works as a business consultant for www.tricalyx.com part-time from home.

Are you looking to give great green Christmas gifts in 2008 that are good for the environment and that are well received? Christmas is a wonderful time, but it’s also a time of huge waste, so let’s do something about it in 2008. Below are a collection of ideas, please send your comments if you have others to add!!

• Try to give organic gifts when possible, they use no pesticides which is healthier for us all.
• Give gifts that cut back on gas usage in the coming year. I gave my sister free web conferencing for a year, she can do all of her meetings over the web and not waste time and gas driving to her meetings. Here’s a link to the great low cost web conferencing I found www.webpresentnow.com.
• Give toys that are made with non-toxic paints or plastics and if possible made in the USA. Support local products if possible. I great website for finding toys such as this is www.kazootoys.com.
• Give your wife a new hybrid car. I love my Toyota Prias, it gets 50 mpg or higher around town!
• The packaging and gift wrapping usually goes right into the garbage 5 seconds after opening the gift. Try packaging and wrapping your gifts with another gift. For example, if you are giving someone a glass object, wrap it in some organic towels. This keeps it from breaking and there is no waste.
• Be creative this year with gift purchases and gift wrapping. Think of gifts that can last forever (diamond rings), gifts that can be passed down from one generation to another (jewelry), or gifts that continue to give like plants or flowers, check out www.aerogrow.com.

Are you looking for that perfect gift for your woman for Christmas 2008? Well look no further.

We have polled women far and wide to compile the 2008 Christmas List for Women. Here’s your top no fail gift list.

1. Jewelry - Guys if you want to score big go for the jewelry!
2. Chocolates - Go for fabulous organic chocolates.
3. Gift Certificate to a Spa - Pamper your love to her favorite spa.
4. Gift Certificate to a great restaurant - Its an event and fun.
5. Trip for Two to an Exotic Getaway - Enough said.
6. Indulge her Favorite Hobby - If she loves skiing, get her those hot new skis

Can one person save 86,000 barrels of oil in a day. Yes! If every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 25oz petroleum-based diswashing liquid with a plant-derived product we would save 86,000 barrels of oil. This is enough oil to heat and cool 4,900 U.S. homes for a year.

That’s inspiring to think of how much power we have with our purchases! So here’s my challenge to you. Convince one relative or neighbor to do this and ask them to do the same. Don’t just replace your dishwashing liquid, replace your laundry detergent, shampoo, liquid soap, and household cleaners with a plan-derived product! Think of how much oil we will all save then. We could end the oil crisis with our choice of purchases. To top it off, plant-derived products are much more healthy. It’s all I have in my home, in fact there are no products in my home made with petrochemicals. It’s time to move into the 21st century, get rid of those petroleum based products and help save our world!!

I went online and sent my sister a complete array of personal and household products that are plant-derived versus made with petrochemicals. Go to mothernature.com and the shipping is free.

So you need to lose 10 (or 20 or 30) pounds - or think you do – but we’ll get to that later, missy. Well what is so hard about that?  All you need is a little self discipline. After all, you only need to eliminate 3,500 calories from your intake, and whoosh – it’s gone.
A one time deal and you never have to think about it again, Right? Right?? Don’t I wish!!

Why is it that I don’t hear cheers and the sound of high fives from around the room? What I do hear is the sneaky rustle of potato chip bags and Twinkie’s wrappings. Ah, you say, I could stick to a diet if it weren’t for those nasty food cravings.

All right, I hear you, and yes, I’ll admit that food cravings are real, and the good news is that there could be medical reasons for these cravings.

• Are you pregnant? If you think you could be, please get tested. Don’t wait for nine months to find out, girls. That kid needs to be fed right, and fed right NOW. (You want a pickle? Go for it, mom! Just don’t use pregnancy to justify stuffing your tummy with everything you have tried to deny yourself for the past 15 years. )
• Premenstrual? Look at the calendar. Does simply being a woman make want you a candy bar? (Or several candy bars? I’ll take two plain chocolate, one with almonds, and a little bag of…but you get the point.)
• Low insulin levels? Yes, lack of insulin could be driving your irrational desire for Real Food, i.e., lots of carbohydrates. If you have low blood sugar or if there is diabetes in your family, your body will try to protect itself by storing every calorie within reach. Go to a doctor immediately, and get this checked out, will you? There are also great website loaded with information, check out www.insulitelabs.com.
• Low Serotonin? So your boss hates you, your mom won’t get off your back about your messy living room, and your guy is the reason for the messy living room, in the first place. Sure, everybody wants to feel good, and if you are under a lot of stress, your body may start to holler for a one pound bag of chocolate chip cookies, fudge-ripple ice cream or three Margaritas. Are you going to give in?
• Yes, food cravings are out there, but the question is, ‘What can you do about them?’ Well, apart from the very real medical issues that some women face, you can do a lot.

Now I know that some of you do not want to go the gym, but exercise really helps. Not only does it elevate the level of those natural feel-good chemicals, it tones your muscles (making the body you have look better, even if it weighs the same), it reduces the number of calories that are available for storage on your inner thighs, and gets you out of harm’s way (that bag of potato chips can’t see you when you are at the gym).

Now that’s not just a two-fer, it’s a four-fer! Of course, you don’t have to go to the gym to exercise. You can take long walks with a friend, go bowling, or swim at your local pool - better than watching TV any day.

Meditation and yoga help, too, and yoga helps keep you flexible, as well as calming your nerves (the ones that are frayed because of your guy, your boss, and your mother: see above). Sex and a bath with candles can help, too. The point is that we do have a lot of control over our lives, so let’s go girls!

Are you overweight and fatigued? Do you feel jittery and irritable but better once you eat? Do you feel sleepy after eating a meal heavy with carbohydrates? Do you suffer from high blood pressure or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)?

These are all signs of Insulin Resistance, one of the major underlying causes of excess weight and obesity. It affects up to 65% of the overweight population.

Insulin Resistance vastly reduces the insulin sensitivity of cells, which impairs the processing of glucose through the cell wall for conversion to energy. As a result, glucose remains in your blood stream, causing elevated levels of blood sugar, which are sent to the liver. Once there, the sugar is converted into fat and stored via the blood stream throughout your body. This process can lead to weight gain and obesity

Insulin Resistance has many factors that contribute to its presence in the body. In essence, our environment and lifestyles have evolved too rapidly for our bodies to keep pace. We are still genetically “wired” to thrive on the entrenched habits of our ancestors who consumed different, nutrient-rich foods, a diet low in carbohydrates and also sustained greater levels of movement and exercise.

Some people may also have a genetic predisposition to Insulin Resistance. Others develop Insulin Resistance through unhealthy lifestyles.

Over time, the above factors have damaged the complex ability of your body’s cells to properly utilize insulin to convert glucose to energy. Unhealthy diets cause the pancreas to overproduce insulin that overwhelms the cell thereby reducing its sensitivity to insulin and impairing the vital glucose-to-energy conversion process. If you feel you may be suffering from obesity caused by Insulin Resistance take this self-test.

The good news is that Insulin Resistance is reversible, without drugs. By weaning yourself from “bad” carbohydrates and replacing them with “good” carbohydrates while increasing your consumption of nutrient-dense foods, you can break the cycle and heal your body by changing the way it responds to food on a cellular level.

Here is a sample daily meal plan from The Insulite LabsGuide to Reversing Insulin Resistance.

For additional information on reducing carbs visit Insulite Labs Excess Weight and Obesity web site: http://weight.insulitelabs.com

Breakfast: Avocado and smoked salmon toast. Puree avocado, 1 garlic clove, 1 tbsp. lemon
juice, 1 tsp. olive oil, 2 tsp. fresh cilantro or parsley. Spread on “Manna from Heaven” bread.
Layer with 6 oz. smoked salmon. Fat 19g, Carbohydrates 18g, Protein 8g

Snack: Yogurt with fruit. One 4 oz. container plain whole-fat yogurt with 1/4 cup blueberries,
plus a pinch of cinnamon. Add stevia to sweeten to taste. Fat 4g, Carbohydrates 11g, protein 4g

Lunch: Chicken with vegetables and salad. Grilled chicken breast, steamed broccoli, and
arugula salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp. feta cheese over
the whole plate. Fat 24g, Carbohydrates 17g, Protein 36g

Snack: Slathered celery. Two celery sticks with regular-fat cream cheese.
Carbohydrates 1g, Protein 2g

Dinner: Grilled tilapia. Grilled tilapia with 1 Tbsp. each of capers, lemon juice, and olive oil.
Salad: sliced cucumber and tomato, mozzarella cheese, and basil leaves with olive oil dressing
and chopped dill. Fat 7g, Carbohydrates 6g, Protein 28g

Daily total: Fat 64g, Carbohydrates 53g, Protein 78g

I am fortunate to be able to work at home, set my own hours, and design my workspace to completely fit my ergonomic needs. One of the most important pieces of “furniture” in my office is my balance ball that I use exclusively as my office chair. Sitting on a ball for 8 hours a day has helped strengthen my core, alleviate back pain and muscle tension, and has given me the opportunity to stretch and do exercises in small intervals throughout the workday. If you are experiencing back pain or are frequently feeling stiff and uncomfortable in your office chair, sitting on a ball, even for part of the day will help you feel better and stronger. Also, the added fitness benefit is great for toning your rear end, stomach and core.

I use the “Total Body BalanceBall” by Gaiam.

My experience with diet pills, much like the history of diet pills, was scary! After years of searching for the perfect pill I finally realized that exercise is the only safe and effective diet “pill.” It helped me lose 38 pounds. No prescription drug or fat blocker had ever done that for me.

Diet pills have been around since the 1930’s when two Stanford University physicians developed the chemical dinitrophenol (DNP) to speed metabolism by increasing body temperature. DNP was taken off the market in 1938 after causing fatal fevers and blindness. Though it can still be purchased illegally online, DNP is now used as a manufacturing chemical.

In the 1950’s amphetamines gained popularity as doctors sought a way to help patients lose weight by decreasing appetite. Amphetamines proved to be effective, but also addictive. Since the 1970’s, they are prescribed for a few weeks at a time to stimulate weight loss but not prescribed long enough to develop dependency.

I started taking Phentermine (an amphetamine) in 2003. Even though I had a prescription for three weeks, I only lasted four days! It was awful. My heart felt like it was going to explode. Sure, I wasn’t hungry. But I felt dizzy, weak and did I mention my heart felt like it was going to explode?

Over the counter pills loaded with caffeine or “natural” sources of caffeine weren’t any better. I still felt jittery, like I’d had a pot of coffee. But they didn’t seem strong enough to curtail my appetite. With pills containing green tea and Hoodia, I had no side-effects, but they did absolutely nothing for me.

And we all remember Fen-Phen, which became popular in the 1990’s, with doctors writing over 85,000 prescriptions a week until the Mayo Clinic published a study reporting it caused heart valve complications. A month later, the FDA took it off the market.

I had never taken Xenical, the fat blocker, but when it came out in its over-the-counter form, Alli, I was in line the first day to give it a try. I followed the rigid guidelines: no more than 15 grams of fat per meal, so as not to get the dreaded side-effects of too much fat intake. Even though I was eating the recommended 1,800 calories per day and keeping my fat grams in check I had intense cravings for sugary foods.

I’d had it! I decided to see a nutritionist. She helped me understand that I was suffering from Insulin Resistance and carbohydrate addiction.

Insulin Resistance creates increased levels of insulin and glucose in the blood stream, which is a major underlying cause of excess weight and obesity. Symptoms can include fatigue, trouble concentrating, feeling irritable or jittery but better once food is eaten, sleepiness after eating meals heavy with carbohydrates, high blood pressure, and even depression. If you feel you may be suffering from obesity caused by Insulin Resistance I suggest taking this self-test.

Though I supplement my lower-carbohydrate diet with nutraceuticals, I will never take another diet pill again! I’ve found exercise to be the best diet “pill” of all. I started slowly, walking through my neighborhood in the evenings for twenty minutes and worked my way up to an hour. I’ve definitely revved up my metabolism with my daily exercise “pill.” I feel more alert throughout the day and my cravings have subsided.

I’ve discovered that it’s not about sweating and straining until you feel like falling over. It’s about finding something you can stick with every day. Well, most days.

I remember the day that my soon-to-be husband got his first pager. He was so excited to be considered important enough to be given a company pager because, to him, it meant that he was now the new go-to guy - the guy who could be trusted to fix any problem that came up, day or night. He could hardly contain himself!

I, on the other hand, wanted to throw the pager in toilet after its third day on my sweetie’s hip. He had received no less than 25 pages during the few hours we had spent together during these three days. This left me wondering where the line had been crossed between work and home. It also made me think about how I was going to get my fiancé to become more engaged in his life outside of work when he was so unfairly lured by the demands of the people who support his self esteem and who also pay his bills.

What we needed was a work-life balance plan. I had heard of these before, but had never put one together myself. After going through the process, here’s what I have learned:

1. In order to achieve a work-life balance you first need to figure out what really makes you happy. Is it your family? Your friends? Your career? Something else? Take a moment to write down, in order of importance, what really matters to you most. This will help you establish what it is you really want to spend your time on. If something is not on the list or is rated a low priority, you need to give serious consideration to eliminating this item from your life altogether. By sticking to mid-to-high priority items, you can start building a life that you can be proud of and are excited to actively participate in, not one that you are just going through the motions with.

2. Focus on a few activities. Let’s face it. Most of us are extremely over-programmed. Every minute of our lives is taken up with various activities that, at some point, we thought we wanted to participate in. The reality is that some or even most of these activities are just drains on our time. If you are serious about achieving a happy work-life balance, then you need to figure out which activities you just can’t live without and focus solely on them. You’ll be amazed at how much time, stress, and energy you’ll save by whittling your activity commitment down to just one or two really rewarding ones.

3. Learn how to say no. One of the things that gets us into the most trouble with our work-life balance is our inability to say no. As human beings we have empathy for one another and we really do not want to let anyone down. In the meantime, we are letting ourselves down because every time we accept a new responsibility, we are taking time away from our personal priorities. Saying no is not easy and it can takes lots of practice in order to find a way that makes both you and the person you are saying no to feel comfortable with the outcome. But in doing so, you are freeing yourself and your time to focus on things that matter most to you.

4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Life can be overwhelming, even when we are organized and have our priorities in line. The fact is that everyone needs help sometimes. By not asking for help we are creating more stress in our lives that can be damaging to our overall health. Stress alone can bring on other health issues. As an example, pre-diabetes can be caused by Insulin Resistance-related obesity which, in turn, may be brought on by stress. Various forms of stress release the steroid cortisol and this process may result in weight gain. And we all know that added weight can bring on additional complications like high cholesterol and heart disease.

So what types of things can you do to relieve some of this stress and avoid potential health risks? Ask a neighbor to watch your kids while you go to dinner with your spouse. Or have a neighborhood kid mow your lawn so that you can spend some quality doing something else that you love. The extra effort is worth it as you keep your life and your relationships on track and keep stress down to a minimum.

5. Always have something to look forward to. We all are a little happier when we have a vacation, fun activity or big family gathering coming up on the calendar. Everybody’s work calendar is booked with various activities so why not your home calendar as well? Planning special events will enhance your life by allowing you to keep those personal relationships with friends and family strong. So turn off your cell phone and make the most of these special occasions. You might find that you have more of a skip in your step at work because of it!