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?

Unfortunately, countries that have never been on the radar for obesity are now starting to show up there. They are beginning to feel the adverse affects of the influx of fast food and grocery store chains in their communities. Places like China and India, which are historically known for having thin populations, are now becoming fatter as they become more indoctrinated into the global economy. As a result, these and other countries are starting to see an increase in weight related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

In India, researchers have also found that obese women are having a hard time conceiving. According to an article in The Times of India, this is because 90% of them, 35% of whom are within their childbearing years, suffer from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is a hormonal disorder that affects a woman’s insulin production resulting in irregular menstrual cycles and infertility. Women with PCOS can also experience increased body and facial hair, hair loss, adult acne, and the inability to lose weight solely on a low calorie diet, among other symptoms.

According to Dr Gita Gan guly Mukherjee, former Head of Department- gynaecology at R G Kar Hospital, Kolkata, there are two main reasons for the increase of PCOS diagnoses in Indian women: the adoption of unhealthy eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle. Whereas older generations of Indian women eat traditional, lower calorie foods with less sugar, many young Indian girls today eat a steady diet of junk food. When these bad habits are combined with an extremely aggressive academic load, young girls simply cannot burn off the increased calories to maintain a healthy weight.

As a result of these increases, Indian doctors and patients alike are searching for solutions that will help women of Indian descent conceive children. Companies such as Insulite Labs (http://pcos.insulitelabs.com/) and support boards such as www.pcosa.org offer these women hope and solutions to their reproductive challenges. In fact, Insulite Labs reports seeing a noticeable uptick in orders of their 5 Element System – nutrition, exercise, vitamins, addiction/cravings awareness and support — coming from Indian women with PCOS living both in India and elsewhere.

Here are testimonials from two women of Indian descent that talk about how incorporating non-pharmaceutical solutions into their daily routines helped reverse the symptoms they were experiencing with PCOS:

“Thanks so much for the Insulite PCOS System. After being on it for 4 months I’ve conceived now and before that I had been trying for last 1 year but failed. Really, you are like lord for us.”

- Pankaj Anand, India

“Thank you very much for having changed my life. I am doing very well with the Insulite Labs PCOS diet and exercise regimen. I am exercising for 35-40 mins daily. My fat has drastically reduced and I now have a flat belly after taking your tablets. I am getting my periods regularly and there is a reduction of facial hair by 70%. I am very thankful to your support and the work you have done to reverse PCOS.”

- Rashmi Desai — Gold Coast, Australia

As illustrated by Pankaj and Rashmi, PCOS is beginning to affect more and more women around the world. Thankfully there are support groups and companies such as Insulite Labs that are working hard to sustain these women - until there is a serious effort to change global dietary and exercise standards that will help our populations maintain a reasonably healthy weight.

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.

The latest change I’ve made is in my diet. For years I’ve heard I should give up dairy and I did give up milk for a year. I love milk more than anything, so this was really hard. But just giving up milk didn’t make a huge difference. Two months ago I went on a gluten and dairy free diet! It’s all the rage here in the Boulder, CO area, but being the renegade I’m am, I didn’t want to follow the trends… but I did. As you know getting healthy is the goal, so I keep testing new theories and hoping I will be the healthiest and strongest old women alive. Back to the gluten and dairy free diet, I have to say I feel better. When your body is fighting so many things as it is when you have MCS, you have to slowly start removing the things that cause your body to react. I know it’s helping because when I fall off the plan and eat wheat or dairy I notice the difference. My digestion is better and I’ll won’t bore you with the graphic details.

I’ve removed as many chemicals out of my environment and I eat healthy food, but I didn’t realize some healthy foods just weren’t sitting well with my body.Many people with allergies and MCS are finding they do better eliminating dairy and wheat. You would be surprised at all the alternative gluten free products on the market now. I eat rice bread, rice pasta and rice crackers. Gluten free muffins are pretty aweful, so if you’ve got a good recipe let me know.

For me, trying to explain to someone that I have not had a normal period for years makes me look like an alien and feel like a failure. I can’t really explain to them why I have chronic greasy skin and why my acne refuses to clear up at the age of 34. They don’t understand the frustration of not being able to get pregnant after months, even years, of trying, nor do they understand why my life is totally consumed by new dieting methods and exercise programs that guarantee to help me lose weight but never really do the trick.

Thank goodness we live in the digital age! With online health communities also known as internet forums, growing by leaps and bounds, finding someone who understands exactly what I am going through is not just possible, it’s easy. An internet forum, online forum or message board, is a website with a discussion format. Forums allow anonymous visitors to view the contents and belong to a group of contributors who’ve registered into the system, becoming known as members. The members submit topics for discussion (known as threads) and communicate with each other using publicly visible messages (referred to as posts) or private messaging.

People participating in an online forum will usually build bonds with each other and interest groups will easily form around a topic’s discussion, subjects dealt within or around sections in the forum.

In online health forums, no one judges you. You don’t have to censor your symptoms or defend how you are feeling. You can share your successes and know that the online community is genuinely happy for you.

After years of feeling horrible about myself and very much alone in my efforts to get healthier, I’ve finally found a group of “sisters” that help me deal with my particular disease, PCOS – Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I have come to find out that there are a lot of women out there that suffer from the same issues as I do. They give me suggestions on how to deal with my symptoms, chat about what treatments have and have not worked for them, and provide me with emotional support when times are tough. Even in the wee hours of the morning, I know I can go online to find someone in a PCOS forum who understands and sympathizes, then encourages me to take action in my own life.

So if you are suffering from a health issue for which feel you need more emotional support or need access to more information and treatment options, go online! You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how uplifted and empowered you’ll feel when you do. And if you need PCOS support, I’ve listed some of my favorites below. I hope you find them as helpful as I have.

• Insulite Labs Forum (http://pcos.insulitelabs.com/forums/index.php)
• PCOS Association (http://www.pcoscommunity.com/index.php)
• SoulCysters (http://www.soulcysters.net

A local Boulder Colorado company, Insulite Labs, continues to get emails and praises every day from customers that have been able to conceive after suffering infertility prior to going on the Insulite PCOS System. It’s great to see a natural solution for infertility that women are finding success with. Below are two women expressing their views.

“Thanks so much for the (Insulite Labs) PCOS System. After being on it for 4 months I’ve conceived now and before that I had been trying for last 1 year but failed. Really, you are like lord for us.”
- Pankaj Anand
India

And from a woman of Indian descent from Australia who has been guided by Dr. Heather DeLuca:

“Thank you very much for having changed my life.

I am doing very well with the Insulite Labs PCOS diet and exercise regimen. I am exercising for 35-40 mins daily. My fat has drastically reduced and I now have a flat belly after taking your tablets. I am getting my periods regularly and there is a reduction of facial hair by 70%.

I am very thankful to your support and the work you have done to reverse PCOS.”
- Rashmi Desai
Gold Coast, Australia

First off have you figured out you have it? (Read my blog on MCS to see if you have the symptoms) The most important thing is to get yourself in an environment that is not making your body sick or sicker. Initially I really didn’t know what to do and some of the things I was doing to help were actually harmful.

Get all the chemicals out of the place you live and sleep. Here’s your list of things to do:

• Take out the carpet and install ceramic tile - this will be huge. If you have hardwood floors this is good, just get rid of any area rugs in your room.
• Wash all your bedding in plant derived laundry soap. I like the Seventh Generation - Free & Clear products. They are not made with petrochemicals and have no perfume. If you have been using cleaning products made with petrochemicals (Tide, Cheer, ERA, etc.) you will need to wash them 3 or 4 times to get the petrochemicals and fragrance out.
• Get rid of all perfumes and fragrances in your house.
• Switch all your personal products over to fragrance free and petrochemical free. This is hard, so go to your local health food store to find this type of product. I’m talking shampoo, soaps, lotions, sunscreen, anything you put on your body.
• Switch all your household products over to non-toxic, fragrance-free and petrochemical free. Stick with Seventh Generation free& clear if you can find this line. Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage carry this brand.
• The clothes you wear can be killing you. Most people don’t know how many chemicals are in the clothes we wear. I love to wear my oldest cotton clothes that have been washed a million times! Do you know why, it’s because all the chemicals have been washed out. Don’t dry clean or have a laundry wash and starch your clothes because this will not help. If you have to buy something new, stick with natural fibers like cotton and then wash this new item at least 5 times before you wear it. I probably wash new clothes at least 10 times before I wear them. If I don’t I get a headache very quickly!
• Don’t buy new furniture or anything new if you can avoid it. Everything on the market these days is loaded with chemicals. It’s just that we are so surrounded with them, that most people don’t notice the chemicals until our body is overloaded. Until you can get your MCS under control, you need to control your environment very carefully.
• If you have the choice you should move to a very unpolluted place in the mountains or by the ocean to give your body a rest from the chemicals. Most of us don’t have that luxury, but the mountains are less polluted and your body can get a rest from the chemicals it is reacting to.
• There is a great book called “Creating a Healthy Household” that I used to help me initially turn my house into a safer, less-toxic home.
• Lastly, get as much exercise as you can. Hiking in the mountains everyday has helped me to continue to improve my health.
• Try not to drive your car if possible, the car is loaded with chemicals and puts off exhaust that weakens our body. I now drive a hybrid and it’s much better.
• Here’s a big one that took me a while to figure out. Don’t fertilize your lawn, this fertilizer is so toxic to our bodies and it lingers in the lawn for a long time.
• Don’t have your house sprayed with pesticides for insects, this is going to kill you. Use healthy alternatives to getting rid of insects.
• Don’t use bleach. Initially I thought I was killing the mold which was good, the bleach was killing me!
• Indoor air can be really toxic when all the windows are closed. Spend the money and buy some good hepa air filters. I use Healthy Mate from Austin Air. It helps a lot!
• Get rid of pets if you can. They are a major contributor to indoor toxins and allergens.
• Minimal decoration is best. Remove curtains and just have blinds or nothing on the windows. If you have just bought new furniture, put it in the garage until it can off-gas.
• Don’t park your car in the garage. The toxins from your car go right into the house!

• 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.

Many women in their 40’s and 50’s actually have an increase in their sexual drive. This stage is often compared to the teenage male’s sex drive. I guess that’s how the wild divorcee’ got such a crazy and sexual connotation. This high sex drive is usually a problem with the woman’s husband or boyfriend in that he can feel inadequate by not meeting her needs.

If you do feel like your sex drive could use a little boost, please talk to your OB/GYN or visit your local acupuncturist. Stress or prescription medications can be a major contributor, but sometimes your body is just a little out of wack. My advice is don’t wait to take care of this, “we all deserve to have a wonderful sex life”. This was a direct quote from an OB/GYN!