A Year Without Colds
Colds seem to arrive along with the holiday season but it's not something we look forward to and it's not a present we want. I found a great little solution to this problem several years ago.
I am not a doctor and I do not give medical advice. This works for me and it has worked for friends and relatives who I have shared it with. It's effective by stopping the cold before it takes hold. It is very inexpensive and works quickly.
You must do this when you feel that tickle in the throat and you begin to feel a cold coming on; you know the feeling, it's the one you had before you woke up the next day with a full blown cold. The best time to do this is before going to bed that night. I also do this when I have been around people who have a cold.
While lying on my side I have my helper add Hydrogen Peroxide (3%) to my ear, it bubbles and bubbles and can take several minutes before it stops. Once it stops, I turn over and drain that ear into a cloth and have drops put into the other ear.
Continue to alternate the process until you no longer hear the fizzle when you first insert the liquid. If you stop too soon, it won't work.
Hydrogen Peroxide costs very little; just be sure you are using the 3% (available at drug stores, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc.)
My family and friends love it and have enjoyed being free of colds.
Wouldn't it be nice to be free of colds this year?
If it works for you, spread the word.
Jerry has spent over 25 years in the water treatment business and is now retired. He spends his time seeking alternative health solutions to common health problems. He shares his findings at his blog: http://naturalhealthnow.blogspot.com
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America's Secret Addiction
America is a nation of self-disclosers, amiably acceptant of our weaknesses. Celebrities, family members, coworkers and friends think nothing of admitting their compulsions and dependencies on alcohol, street drugs, prescription medications. We enter rehab programs, clean up, dry out, and go on with our lives: beating our problem or entering a long series of relapses and treatment episodes. Except, perhaps, for politicians or ministers, there is little social stigma attached to such mistakes unless there are criminal overtones that may lead to incarceration.
Television and films have educated us on the dangers and side effects of dependence upon alcohol, heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, designer drugs, steroids, pain pills, cannabis and opium. We had to coin the term chemical dependency (CD) to completely cover the broad and ever-growing field. We approach individuals ensnared in their abuse as victims of a disease, to be educated and helped as long as they have a willingness to change and are prepared for the painful journey that owning responsibility for one's own self-destructive behavior demands.
But the most widespread, self-destructive, dangerous addiction afflicting America is never discussed: FOOD.
The treatment of overeating is extensive: diet clinics, fitness programs, fat farms, plastic surgery. We collectively spend billions of dollars on weight loss aids and fitness equipment. We decry the epidemic of obesity that is overtaking our population to an enormous (literally) degree. We investigate metabolism and hormonal effects. We debate the comparative merits and flaws of protein, fats, carbohydrates, and roughage. We develop new vitamin and mineral formulae. Diet books, support groups, internet clubs, and television shows trumpet tips, techniques, special aids and hundreds of weight control regimes that promise inevitable weight loss with the right combination of "tasty" and "delicious" foods, guaranteed to ensure that our comfort levels remain high and our self-discipline minimally challenged.
We fail to confront the irrefutable fact that obesity is caused by food addiction. Excuses and metabolic rationales aside (No, Virginia, no one ever walked out of a Nazi concentration camp or a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp fat -macabre but true) our out-of-control overweight is a direct result of our obsession with, and dependency on, too much food.
You may disagree. After all, the other CD addictions are for substances we can totally banish from our lives whereas we have to eat to live.
Consider the problem from a slightly different perspective. In the United States, an "all or nothing" society, the goal of the typical CD treatment program is total abstention. The alcoholic is taught that one sip of liquor is never acceptable and constitutes a full relapse from which recovery must start over. In Europe, and many other parts of the world, moderation is considered more realistic than abstention. The goal is to lower the level of usage to the point where it has no deleterious effects on the user's life and the problems - work, relationships, mood, productivity -are resolved.
Such a model can more easily be applied to food. Our bodies require a certain level of sustenance to thrive. It is when the intake becomes excessive that problems arise: appearance, the inability to be active, fatigue, depressed mood, and strains on the internal organs. If we can temper that level of intake, we can avert the consequences that follow overindulgence in anything.
Such is indeed the focus of many weight control programs. However, they are missing one vital ingredient: acceptance of personal responsibility. At a 12-Step meeting, members repetitively admit to the group: "My name is B and I'm an alcoholic." Imagine, if you will, the different atmosphere that would be engendered if a member were to state: "My name is B. I drink a lot because I inherited the genes from my drunken parents and I can't drink, like all my friends can, without overdoing it. It's so unfair that everyone else can enjoy a drink and I can't."
Such a statement sounds ridiculous coming from an admitted problem drinker yet that is exactly what we allow from our problem eaters. It is far more likely that we will tell a close friend: "M, I think you have a problem with alcohol and I want you to get help," than we will tell an equally close friend: "G, I think you have a problem with too much eating and I want you to get help."
We remain silent about overweight because we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. We use euphemisms like "heavy" and "queen-sized" to avoid the word "fat." When a very overweight friend asks plaintively, "Don't you think this dress makes me look slimmer?" we quietly agree, refusing to give the honest answer that nothing in the world will make her look slimmer except losing 60 pounds of avoirdupois!
One lesson learned over decades of CD research and treatment is that the problem must be acknowledged before it can be addressed and beaten. CD clients are notorious for making excuses, playing mind games with those around them, and shirking self-responsibility whenever they can. If we can bring ourselves to acknowledge that we are addicted to food, it allows for eventual movement into a process of change, bypassing the excuses and rationalizations at which overeaters excel -- to an extent that their CD counterparts would admire.
Confrontation of the problem requires that we drop the faade of politeness and euphemistic phrasing. As a society, we need to look at others and ourselves and call it as we see it. If I'm fat, I'm fat, and it's my responsibility to not only admit that honestly, but to also admit to myself and the world that it is my fault: I am the one who made myself fat. No one else forced food into my mouth. Like the recovering alcoholic at the bar, I can always say no or drink a plain club soda. Like the recovering cocaine addict who learns to stay away from certain street corners or drug houses, I can stay away from bakeries, fast food outlets, and pizza parlors.
Weight control can be simple - eat only what you need to survive - but never easy. The fallacy of many diets is that we can lose weight without suffering. Stopping or minimizing CD abuse is always painful and a craving for chocolate, ice cream, or the urge for sugar (no one seems to crave vegetables) can be as overwhelming to the dieter as the addict's emotional need for his drug of choice.
Naming our national weight problem for what it really is, a plain old addiction to food, releases us to start the process of rehab and recovery that has been so completely developed in the CD field. Honesty, and the willingness to work through pain to reach our goal, allows us to not only accept our responsibility for our problem but also to relish the triumph of our eventual success.
Virginia Bola is a licensed psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic. She specializes in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation on individual goals. The author of The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a free ezine, The Worker's Edge, she recently completed a psychologically-based weight control book: Diet with an Attitude:A Weight Loss Workbook. She can be reached at http://www.DietWithAnAttitude.com
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Christmas PS3 Blues
Patience is a virtue, and you're going to have to be pretty virtuous if you're one of the millions of UK PlayStation Fans awaiting the arrival of the ps3. As if it wasn't bad enough we had to rewrite our letters to Santa this year (because it now won't hit our shelves until March), we're also all going to be green with envy as the web fills up with the usual reviews, cheats, and walkthroughs etc from sites in the States where they will get their hands on the console from November 17th.
Personally, my patience (lost my virtue a long time ago) ran out already, and my craving for HD gaming led me to the xbox 360. I suspect many others will do the same this Christmas and I don't blame you. To not release the most hyped console of all time for Christmas has got to be the craziest decision Sony has made (apart from the choice of software packed with their MP3 Walkman - but don't get me started on that one). It can't even be based on format because the ps3 will be region free, and you can play any ps3 game on it no matter what part of the world you bought it from.
If you do decide to cut your losses and go for the xbox 360 you won't be disappointed, I certainly haven't been. But you should be aware that in their hurry to steal the HD gaming market, microsoft left a couple of jobs as 'work in progress'. Although the list is growing, the xbox 360 still only plays a handful of original xbox games. If you're starting afresh that?s fine, but if you've got a hefty back-catalogue of xbox titles you were planning to play then that?s a real bummer. Backwards compatibility was a target that simply wasn't reached in time for release and early release was obviously of greater importance to microsoft than it appears to be for Sony.
However, if you're a PlayStation purist, or simply do not fancy the xbox 360 or the nintendo Wii, then your virtue will be well rewarded. Although I find it difficult to understand some of Sony's business decisions, I can fully understand the hype surrounding the ps3. It will be without doubt the most powerful domestic games console available, boasting the 'Cell' processor, twelve times faster than processors found in top range PC's. The ps3 will also offer 'Blue-ray' technology which Sony are heavily promoting to take over from dvd, as well as offering free 'out of the box' online gaming (broadband connection required).
All of this extra 'oomph' inevitably comes at a cost, and you should expect to pay more for the prestige of owning such a machine. You'll also need to keep an eye on game prices too from November and compare them to its rivals, afterall there is no point owning the thing if you have to rob a bank every time you want something to play on it. On the plus side it will play any ps2 or PS1 titles you have tucked away.
Whatever you decide, have a happy Christmas, and keep on gaming !
Rob O'Neill is owner of Console Fun, the one stop shop for information on video games consoles including xbox, xbox 360, PS1, ps2, ps3, PSP, nintendo gamecube, Wii, and DS.
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Lawn Sprinklers - How Often Do You Need To Water?
One of the biggest issues in using lawn sprinklers is also one of the most obvious. How often do you need to water your yard? How do you know, other than seeing the grass turn brown? There are several key factors that go into knowing how often to water your lawn. Here are some quick tips to help you in knowing how often to water.
1. Your Grass
The type of grass your lawn has will be one big factor in knowing how often to turn on the lawn sprinkler. Grasses such as Bermuda or other hot weather grasses will not require as much watering as cool weather grass like bluegrass. Although I must say that this is not always the case with every type of grass. You need to know what type of grass you have and then asses what its watering needs require.
2. Your Ground
The type of soil in your yard is another important point. Sandy soil will require you to water the grass more often than clay soil.
Sand allows water to quickly soak through, whereas clay will hold in the moisture much longer.
3. Sun Or Shade
Does your lawn get plenty of shade from tall trees or does it sit in full sunlight all day? This will certainly determine how frequently you'll need to water.
4. Mowing
How short do you mow your lawn? If you cut your grass short then you will need to water more often.
5. Weather
This is perhaps the biggest factor in determining how often to water your grass. The hotter the weather the more often grass will need watering.
Also, windy and less humid areas will need more frequent watering as well. Of course, if you happen to be in an area which sees a lot of rainfall you won't have to water as often either.
You can find much more information on How Often To Water With A Lawn Sprinkler as well as more information on all types of sprinklers at http://www.SprinklersA-z.com
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