Vegetable of the Month Club

Filed under:World Of Nutrition — posted on March 23, 2008 @ 10:55 pm

We should eat more vegetables. But knowing doesn’t translate into doing.

So let’s keep it simple. How can we get more of those wonderful veggies into our wonderful bodies?

Adopt a vegetable of the week or month. Experts say it take us that long to form a habit.

Start with an easy vegetable, say the carrot.

Consider the carrot’s statistics: Carrots are crunchy like potato chips, but without the salt. And you definitely can’t “inhale” an entire bag of carrots like you can with chips because carrots fill you up much sooner! That’s a good thing, right?

Next time you’re at the grocery store, buy a bag of carrots. Try the bite-size baby ones. No prep time!

When you get home, divide the big bag into smaller, sandwich-size bags and put them in the refrigerator. Take one with you to work each day. Need a snack? Reach for a carrot bag.

Then progress to other veggies–cucumbers, spinach, cauliflower.

Sure, you’ll have to get creative with some of them. A little dip goes a long way toward making some vegetables more palatable.

Got a salad shooter? Haul it out, dust it off, and run broccoli, zucchini, and spinach through it. Any vegetable will do. A food processor works, too, just put the appliance in a spot where you can use it easily on a regular basis.

Once you’ve shredded or julienned your vegetables, add a couple spoonfuls of your favorite dressing and you’ve got a tasty salad. Throw in some mandarin oranges or a diced apple for a little sweetness and zip. Chopped nuts or sunflower seeds add extra flavor.

Be sure not to go overboard with the salad dressing. A couple spoonfuls should coat all of your vegetables.

Eat a vegetable salad every day for a month and see how good you feel!

Try some shredded veggies in a sandwich and decrease the amount of meat.

Do you need to consume the vegetables in their raw state? No, not at all. Cooking enhances the nutrition of many vegetables, including carrots, and often aids digestion.

So why not cook up a delicious, nutritious pot of vegetable soup. Great news for the culinary-challenged: Making delicious vegetable soup doesn’t require “Iron Chef” status. Just add the vegetables of your choice, some seasoning, and water, then let it simmer.

Traditional soup vegetables include onions, carrots, and potatoes, but experiment with different, more exotic varieties.

Put the soup in a crock pot or slow cooker in the morning and come home to a delicious supper.

Add a small amount of beef or chicken for flavor if you prefer, maybe an ounce or two.

Leftovers make a quick, nutritious lunch the day next. Pack in a thermos to take with you and skip the cholesterol burger and fat fries.

Start your own Veggie of the Month Club. It’ll be a healthy tradition!

Looking for diet and weight loss tips? Kathy Ferneau has created an excellent resource for information on diets, healthy eating, and exercise. Click here: http://www.lose-weight-diets.com

What is Peritoneal Mesothelioma?

Filed under:Hall Of Medical Resources — posted on @ 5:41 pm

Peritoneal Mesothelioma is a tumor of the membrane Peritoneum. The peritoneum is a thin membrane in the organs in the abdomen consisting of mesothelial cells.

Peritoneal Mesothelioma is associated to coming about from having previous exposure to asbestos, and in many cases is found through routine abdominal xrays and CT scans showing something different than normal.

Peritoneal Mesothelioma can stay dormant in your body for many years, before it will be seen, and for this reason many people years after they have been exposed to asbestos will be diagnosed with Peritoneal Mesothelioma. About 20% of all mesotheliomas are Peritoneal Mesothelioma, and they can be of two types: malignant and benign.

What are the Symptons of Peritoneal Mesothelioma?

- abdominal pains
- weakness
- weight loss
- loss of appetite
- nausea
- abdominal swelling

The symptoms become more severe over time and should be checked out by a doctor. If they do not, they will cause increasing pressure on your abdomen organs, causing much discomfort, and will lead to bowel obstruction and distention.

How is peritoneal mesothelioma diagnosed?
A peritoneoscopy is performed, and if there is a reason to be concerned, a biopsy is performed. A biopsy is the process of taking a piece of tissue to be given to a pathologist for analysis. The pathologist uses a microscope to analyse the tissue and make the actual diagnosis.

Currently, it is still unknown why Asbestos causes the mesothelial cells to be cancerous, and it is unsure how many fibers are needed for the tumor to occur. Many treatments exist for peritoneal mesothelioma, however a cure has yet to be found.

What are some of the treatments available for Peritoneal Mesothelioma?
- chemotherapy
- radiation therapy
- surgery.

If you are feeling any of the symptoms noted above, ensure you have it checked out early. The earlier the diagnosis of Peritoneal Mesothelioma, the better chance the treatments will be effective.

Michael Kralj is author of the Blog Mesothelioma Info and Updates found at mesotheliomainfoupdates.blogspot.com. Learn more about Mesothelioma and its treatments.

Business Ownership, Cash in Your Pocket - Today!

Filed under:Safer Investments — posted on @ 5:09 pm

Yesterday we learned that 74% of all wealth is created by people who own their own business. Below are a few facts about owning your own business, specifically a home-based business that you may not be aware of.

Fact: The fastest growing segment is home-based businesses.

Fact: A new home-based business is started every 11 seconds.

Fact: Unlike traditional business start-ups, 95% of home-based businesses succeed in their first year.

Fact: 85% are still doing well after 3 years.

Fact: People who own a home based business have an annual average income of $50,250, more than double the average American wage.

Fact: Owning a home-based business is the best tax strategy in existence today!

Today we will overcome the two roadblocks most people run into when attempting to start a business. Then show you how to fund a new business and put money in your pocket this month!
The two reasons people never get their own business off the ground, are FEAR, and lack of capital.

FEAR.

First lets address the fear issues. Most people used to believe that working for a major corporation was a safe place to earn a living. In recent years, as downsizing, massive layoffs, and total disregard for employees, has become the way of life in major corporations, the perception has changed. Most people realize that they have no real security working for someone else and, if you don’t own your own business, you always follow the same rules.

Rule #1: He who owns the company makes all the rules.
Rule #2: If you don’t agree with the owners decisions, see Rule #1.

Still, employees routinely sell themselves to a company at far less than they are worth in the name of security. Your employer tells you how much you can make, when to come to work, how long to work, when or if you can take time off, and most employees soon find themselves in a trap.

They don’t earn enough income to provide the things they want out of life, so they begin to use leverage in the form of credit to acquire the things they cant afford. Soon they make just enough income to service the debt and monthly bills, and are now trapped in their job. Even small increases in wages are soon offset by additional purchases and all the while the interest on their debts, eats their income up at alarming rates.

At this point employees ride a fine line between maintaining their debt service and total financial collapse, AND they have no control over their income. The employer or company can, and routinely does, layoff, right size, downsize or FIRE (the old fashion word for it) the employees.

What would a 90 day job search do to your present financial condition? Could you get by with ZERO income for the next 90 days? What if on the other hand you had a business started that created passive monthly income larger than your monthly bills. Would your loss of income matter? Absolutely not!

The fact is that the only real security is creating and controlling your own source of income, and the smartest time to begin creating your own income is before you need it!

As it turns out, not only is starting and running your own business the predominant way to create wealth, it’s also much safer than depending on outside forces for your income.

The other common fear people have when starting a business is lack of expert knowledge. Most average people do not have a tax advisor, financial planner, or attorney on call, to advise them when they run into challenges. At the end of today’s lesson we will show you how you can have a live tax advisor, and attorney, on call, every day, to asset you with any expert advice, for less than the price of a cup of Starbucks coffee! For now, relax in the knowledge that inexpensive help will be available to you for your new business.

Lack Of capital.

What is your number one expense? Is it your mortgage, your car payment, educational bills, credit card payments or loan payments? NO! Your number one expense is, TAXES! Federal Income Tax is typically the #1 expense for every U.S. household earning over $25,000 annually.

If you take a look at your regular paycheck you will notice the dramatic difference between your Gross Income and your Net Income. The difference is your largest expense, taxes. What’s even worse, if you are a regular employee, you are paying the highest percentage of taxes with the fewest deductions of any category of taxpayer. Haven’t we always heard that wealthy people pay less in taxes as a percentage, than the poor and middle class. Well sadly it’s true. The wealthy have the expert knowledge available to them, to reduce their number expense, taxes. Starting today you too, will have that knowledge.

Wealthy people realize that buy owning and running a business they can actually reduce, or eliminate in some cases, a major portion of their taxes.

It gets even better, did you know that just by starting a business with the intent to make a profit you can actually put cash in your pocket! Cash that can be used to fund your new business venture without having to borrow money or take any risk. The U.S. government will actually help you fund your new business, by increasing your eligible deductions. You can then translate that into immediate, monthly, take-home pay!

So how can starting a business put cash in your pocket today?
Take a look at one of your recent pay stubs from your last payroll check from your current employer (assuming you are working for an employer). Look at the difference between the Gross amount, and the NET amount. The majority of these taxes are federal and FICA withholding taxes. Have you ever stopped to think about just what’s going on here? In effect you are loaning the US government money by pre-paying a portion of the estimated taxes you will owe at the end of the year. Taxes in the U.S. are due on April 15th of the following year. So lets say you pay your estimated taxes for January of this year. You have just paid the government 16 months in advance of the date the taxes are owed. You are paying your taxes “as earned” instead of at the end of the tax period. The system is set up “as earned” for several reasons primarily to make sure Uncle Sam get his money first before your even allowed to cash your check!

The #1 Financial Strategy in America today is to start a home based business. By implementing a new home based business, you will be able to take advantage of the many tremendous tax deductions now available to you as a 21st century entrepreneur.

These new tax deductions can allow you to cash flow your business with up to several hundred dollars a month, from the very first day you start. That’s right, by starting and operating a home based business “with an intention for a profit”, you can legally convert a portion of your current, non-deductible personal expenses into new deductible business expenses. These deductions will then carry over to your individual 1040 tax return at the end of the year. This could lower your taxable income by thousands of dollars and quite possibly even lower your tax bracket.

Because you may owe less at the end of the tax year, you can adjust your W4 withholding form, and change the “as earned” withholding to properly account for the new deductions. This reduces the amount of taxes taken out on each check. Translation…. MORE CASH IN YOUR POCKET, THIS MONTH!
Here comes that fear again!

When most people think about dealing with taxes and specifically the U.S. government they get gun-shy. Most people will tell you imagined horror stories of the audits that will surely happen if you fool with your taxes. Nothing could be more distorted than the irrational fear of the IRS.

The bottom line is, it’s your money! And you should take advantage of every Legal deduction possible! Just by doing so you can immediately increase your monthly income, and use that money to start and run your new business!

To learn more about the complete financial fitness system, click here Wealth Building | Debt Reduction | Affiliate Marketing | Home Business or visit us at http://www.financially-fit.net

Teaching Moments - Who Stole Your Day?

Filed under:Cute Kids — posted on @ 4:47 pm

Every day has the potential to be a good, and in some cases, a great day for you. Few of us get up in the morning thinking that we want this to be a bad day. Yet in many cases the day turns that way because of a person, an event or because we worry something in the future.

This Teaching Moment is about those small events that throw you off balance and negatively impact your day.

What stole your day? Was it a boss, an unruly child, the erratic driver on the way to work, not getting the “B” you expected on the history paper, a discourteous server at lunch, etc.

Every day there are numerous people or events that can prevent us from having a good day - if we let them. The key is not letting them “steal your day.”

In most cases we can not control these life experiences, but we can control how we react to them. Lao-Tzu, a Chinese Philosopher said: “He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty.”

Question for discussion:

1. Discuss the pluses and minus of your day with your family. Be specific.

2. Discuss with your family something that almost “stole your day.” Describe the event and how you handled it.

3. Do you notice a pattern? Are there particular people or events that seem to always steal your day? Say, the drive to work, the bus to school, and the neighbor’s barking dog? etc. Discuss.

Suggestions for implementation:

1. Do your- family members have suggestions on how you could have handled a particular situation? This is a learning experience for everyone in the family. The idea is to share positive ways to keep you positive and focused on what is really important.

2. Make this a fun discussion stimulating experience for everyone.

3. Learn to accept others. They may be having a bad day for any number of reasons. Take a couple of deep breathes and say to yourself: “I’m not going to let this steal my day.”

We hope you have found this Teaching Moment helpful.

Accent On Success® an organization dedicated to giving parents and teachers the tools they need to help children succeed in school and in life. Their first book, Goal Setting for Students®, has recently won three national parenting book awards.

Please visit our website http://www.teachingmoments.com/ for additional easy-to-implement parenting. Thank You, Laura