Go Green

There are places in the world where a concentrated number of people routinely live to 100.

From the lush valleys of Ecuador to the peaceful island of Okinawa to the pristine hills of the Himalayas, these centenarian clusters all have something in common: an environment conducive to a healthy, long life-clean air, pure water, and nature unspoiled by the modern world.

In our Western world, we have to contend with the toxic by-products of our technological advances. Not only have we made our environment cancerous for ourselves, but we have also made it harder for other organisms in nature to thrive. By living in harmony with nature, we bring health to ourselves and to the planet.

Make Our World Less Plastic

Plastic, lightweight, durable, and versatile is everywhere in our modern world - bad news for the environment and our health. Many plastics release vinyl chloride and other harmful gases or contain phthalates that can lead to cancer, birth defects, and lung and liver disease.

Some plastics are right out in the open, like the ones found in our TVs, computers, telephones, coffeemakers, water bottles, and food containers. But some plastics show up in places where you might least suspect them, in carpeting, chewing gum, cosmetics, mattresses, sanitary napkins, polyester clothing, tissues, toilet paper, and upholstery.

Minimize plastic usage to cut your health risks. Use glass water bottles, wooden toys, personal care products and cosmetics made with natural ingredients, and natural fiber clothing, bedding, and mattresses.

Unbleached Paper for the Planet

Paper products do not come naturally white. All white paper is bleached with chemicals that leave behind harmful residues of dioxin, which is a known carcinogen.

These residues are found in coffee filters, diapers, lunch bags, napkins, paper towels, tissues, and toilet paper. When dioxin enters the landfill as waste, it leaches into the soil, contaminating groundwater. Using unbleached paper products is good for both you and the earth.

Green your Clean Routine

Seeking longevity means protecting ourselves from products that are dangerous to our health. Household cleansers containing bleach or chemicals are harmful to inhale. Instead of these, choose natural cleaning products that have recently come onto the market, which are safe and will not pollute the environment. You can use natural brands sold in your local health food stores.

Look no further than your own kitchen for these simple, homemade cleaners:

• Stovetop: sprinkle baking soda on, let it sit five minutes, then scour with steel wool or scrubber. For stubborn spots, mix dishwashing liquid, borax, and warm water, spray the mixture on, and let it sit for 20 minutes before scouring.

• Diluted vinegar is an effective cleanser in the kitchen and bathroom, and will work for tiles, windows, toilet bowls, mirrors, and even carpets. The acetate acid in vinegar also helps inhibit bacteria and mildew.

Try this formula: mix one cup of distilled white vinegar with one cup of water and use it just like you would use any other cleaning product. For those jobs requiring elbow grease, avoid chlorinated powder and scour with baking soda instead.

Eat with Environmental Edge

Commercially grown produce is filled with pesticides, herbicides and toxic chemical residues. Conventional meat, poultry, and dairy products contain high amounts of pesticides, hormones, and antibiotic drugs that are harmful to your health.

These toxins show up in a variety of places, including the water supply, breast milk, and urine. They cause degenerative changes, hormonal problems, immune system disorders, and cancer in both people and animals.

For your own wellbeing and the health of the planet, search out organic foods; whenever possible, buy only organic and free-range poultry and meat.

I hope you find ways to be in harmony with nature! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

Release your stress!

Stress has become a part of the fabric of our busy lives, but it wreaks havoc on our health - and our lives. Read on to learn some measures that you can take to become stress-free.

The Impact of Stress

All that epinephrine or adrenaline is produced during the stressful bouts of fight-flight, survival mode that gets turned on all too often these days.

The adrenaline is released from the adrenal gland when you are under mental pressure, and it tells the body to convert stored sugar from the liver to glucose because the energy needs of the body will increase substantially during the supposed fight-or-run-for-your-life scenario.

The bad news is that this scenario almost never plays out and the excess blood sugar that never got used up ends up being stored as fat.

One of two things can happen from a prolonged survival mode.
One: Your body will keep storing up excess sugar as fat and asking for more energy from more sugar. This equals weight gain (an unpleasant side-effect of stress).

Two: All of this stress and Herculean effort continually depletes your body of its energy resources until it inevitably crumples under the overload. This can either lead to adrenal exhaustion, nervous breakdown, or a broken down immune system - thereby exposing a person to disease. The vicious circle repeats itself over and over again and people never seem to be able to get out of the rat race.

Release Your Stress

Here are some healthy habits you can integrate into your daily grind to free yourself from stress forever.

1. Cut the Caffeine: Caffeine stimulates the adrenaline release. Give up the cup of coffee and opt for the therapeutic benefits of caffeine-free herbal teas.

Or you can cut down on your caffeine intake by substituting green tea for coffee, which usually has 1/3 of the caffeine of a cup of coffee, but with the benefits of the antioxidant polyphenols.

2. Meditation: A daily meditation program is can be your number one method to decompress at the end of a busy day and release tension.

3. Take a Breather: Exhale the stress away. Specific exercises can detoxify your body and revitalize your being. Try this exercise, adapted from Chinese qigong and make your goal to slow down, smooth out, and deepen each breath.

With every exhalation, utter the word calm in your mind and breathe out the tension from a part of your body, starting from the top of your head and working your way down through each part of your body until you get to your feet. Release the remaining tension through your toes and the bottoms of your feet.

4. Cleanse the Clutter: Have you ever heard the saying that what you own soon owns you? Not only do these unnecessary items consume much of your energy for cleaning and maintenance, they also add to the clutter, making you disorganized and increasing your stress level. Cut back and let go. A good rule of thumb is that anything you haven't used in six months can be given away to charity.

5. Lighten Your Schedule: Cut back on the commitments in your calendar of events. If you are really scrambling for some free time, try writing in a day a week to just spend alone and relax...and stick to it!

6. Reframe Your Perspective: As you move through your day, pay attention to what causes you feelings of stress. Our response has much to do with how it will affect us; by reframing our perspective on stressful situations, we can often see that the danger is largely an illusion and maintain a calm frame of mind.

Refresh your body with 100 power naps!

This is one of my favorite longevity tips, but don't get the wrong idea! Sleeping your way to 100 means power naps. Power naps: 10, 20, 30 minutes a day really rejuvenate and refresh your body. Read on to discover how they factor into your longevity plans.

Power Up with a Power Nap

A long-time tradition in Latin countries, a siesta is a great way to jumpstart the second half of your day. Famous nap enthusiasts have included some of the best minds in history, such as Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Thomas Edison.

What they knew was that a midday snooze - while seeming to be an unproductive use of time - could actually increase their effectiveness. Some of the reviving benefits of naps include enhanced cognitive function, better reaction time, more patience, stress relief, and better overall health.

So how long should your power nap be? It differs from person to person, but on average, a brief nap to revive the brain should be between 15 and 30 minutes. Sleeping for any longer will get you into deeper stages of sleep, from which it is difficult to awaken. (If you are napping to compensate for significant sleep loss, you would of course want to take a longer nap, and research has much to say about the restorative benefits of lengthy naps.)

Nap Advice to Take to Heart

In America, coronary heart disease is the single largest killer of men and women. Taking a midday nap is one of the best ways to lower stress on your heart.

The body follows a circadian rhythm and according to Chinese medicine, noontime is the peak hour for the heart. In order to strengthen your heart, Chinese doctors advise that you rest and engage in calming activities at this time of day. Studies show that people who napped 30 minutes every day were 30 percent less prone to heart disease than those who didn't take a midday snooze. If you want to live to be 100, you need to take a few naps along the way!

Snoozing on the Job

In this modern society we are pressured to work hard and then play hard, living by the saying, "You can rest when you're dead." Although catchy, it should probably say: "If you don't rest regularly, you'll be dead a lot sooner."

Modern countries don't value rest. Consequently, most adults are sleep-deprived, and this sort of fatigue affects our health, safety, and productivity at work, which in turn, affects a company's bottom line. Think about it: sleepy workers make more mistakes and cause more accidents.

Some companies are actually beginning to encourage power naps during the workday, providing a place where workers can rest briefly. Workers who take advantage of the opportunity to nap for 20 minutes during the workday report that they can then return to work with renewed enthusiasm and energy.

• Instead of combating the afternoon lull with caffeine - a tactic that creates the illusion of efficiency and alertness, but actually "borrows" energy from your life force that you didn't have in the first place - try taking a power nap!

• If you only have five minutes to spare, just close your eyes. Even a brief rest can reduce stress and help you relax, which can give you the increase in energy you need to complete your tasks of the day.

• If you are uncomfortable with napping during the day, another option is meditation. It gives your body a rest and produces slower brain waves that are similar to sleep.

I hope this article shows you the wisdom of napping!

Morning with good ritual

The way you begin your day sets the tone for the rest of the day. Over time, it sets the tone for your long-term health. Here are a few morning rituals that will start your day on the right foot for years to come.

A Morning Massage to Ease Awake

Many people wake up in the morning by jumping out of bed and plunging right into their activity-filled day. This jolt taxes the system and creates strain on weak artery walls. Additionally, the body experiences a sudden and dramatic increase in blood pressure, temperature, and heart rate compared to its sleep state. When this is taken into account, it is no wonder that strokes and heart attacks commonly occur between 6 a.m. and noon.

It is much more beneficial to your long-term health to wake up gradually with soft music, stretches, and self-massage before getting involved in your busy day. A morning ritual has been passed down by the Chinese Taoists that softens the transition between sleep and awakening in a gently stimulating way:

Begin massaging your sensory organs - your eyes, nose, lips, and ears - as soon as you wake up.
Gently tap and brush your scalp with your fingertips.
Then massage the rest of your body with a stroking action from your neck down to your shoulders, elbows, hands, chest and abdomen, hips, knees, and all the way down to your feet.
Stroke your lower back with your palms. Inhale deeply into your nose and exhale through your mouth three times; this pushes out toxins.
Then take three deep inhalations, filling your cells with vital oxygen.

Whole Oats for a Blockbuster Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it gives you the energy you need to function during your daily activities. Instead of your usual cold cereal, try substituting a warm bowl of whole oats. Your body will thank you for years to come.

Whole oats balance the body's blood sugar levels by slowing the absorption of carbohydrates, and they also prevent colon cancer by binding toxic minerals and acids. Rich in antioxidants, whole oats keep cholesterol from sticking to artery walls.

The outer coating of oats contains a high concentration of soluble fibers, which help trap cholesterol and move it quickly through the intestines. The saponins in oats increase production of natural "killer cells," which play a critical role in the body's supervision of the immune system.

These benefits are reserved for whole oats only; the oats that many people eat in refined form will not share the same lifelong health rewards because they contain very little of the precious bran that contains beta-glucan and saponins. So stick with unrefined whole oats.

Add to whole oats a good mixture of berries in season - especially blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. As another option, try apples or mandarin orange. For a sweetened taste, add raisins, honey, or date pieces. Simply add soymilk or almond milk, and you have a blockbuster breakfast!

I hope you enjoy this invigorating morning ritual!

Refresh your body with 100 power naps!

This is one of my favorite longevity tips, but don't get the wrong idea! Sleeping your way to 100 means power naps. Power naps: 10, 20, 30 minutes a day really rejuvenate and refresh your body. Read on to discover how they factor into your longevity plans.

Power Up with a Power Nap
A long-time tradition in Latin countries, a siesta is a great way to jumpstart the second half of your day. Famous nap enthusiasts have included some of the best minds in history, such as Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Thomas Edison.

What they knew was that a midday snooze - while seeming to be an unproductive use of time - could actually increase their effectiveness. Some of the reviving benefits of naps include enhanced cognitive function, better reaction time, more patience, stress relief, and better overall health.

So how long should your power nap be? It differs from person to person, but on average, a brief nap to revive the brain should be between 15 and 30 minutes. Sleeping for any longer will get you into deeper stages of sleep, from which it is difficult to awaken. (If you are napping to compensate for significant sleep loss, you would of course want to take a longer nap, and research has much to say about the restorative benefits of lengthy naps.)

Nap Advice to Take to Heart
In America, coronary heart disease is the single largest killer of men and women. Taking a midday nap is one of the best ways to lower stress on your heart.

The body follows a circadian rhythm and according to Chinese medicine, noontime is the peak hour for the heart. In order to strengthen your heart, Chinese doctors advise that you rest and engage in calming activities at this time of day. Studies show that people who napped 30 minutes every day were 30 percent less prone to heart disease than those who didn't take a midday snooze. If you want to live to be 100, you need to take a few naps along the way!

Snoozing on the Job
In this modern society we are pressured to work hard and then play hard, living by the saying, "You can rest when you're dead." Although catchy, it should probably say: "If you don't rest regularly, you'll be dead a lot sooner."

Modern countries don't value rest. Consequently, most adults are sleep-deprived, and this sort of fatigue affects our health, safety, and productivity at work, which in turn, affects a company's bottom line. Think about it: sleepy workers make more mistakes and cause more accidents.

Some companies are actually beginning to encourage power naps during the workday, providing a place where workers can rest briefly. Workers who take advantage of the opportunity to nap for 20 minutes during the workday report that they can then return to work with renewed enthusiasm and energy.

• Instead of combating the afternoon lull with caffeine - a tactic that creates the illusion of efficiency and alertness, but actually "borrows" energy from your life force that you didn't have in the first place - try taking a power nap!

• If you only have five minutes to spare, just close your eyes. Even a brief rest can reduce stress and help you relax, which can give you the increase in energy you need to complete your tasks of the day.

• If you are uncomfortable with napping during the day, another option is meditation. It gives your body a rest and produces slower brain waves that are similar to sleep.

I hope this article shows you the wisdom of napping! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

Release your stress!

Stress has become a part of the fabric of our busy lives, but it wreaks havoc on our health - and our lives. Read on to learn some measures that you can take to become stress-free.

The Impact of Stress

All that epinephrine or adrenaline is produced during the stressful bouts of fight-flight, survival mode that gets turned on all too often these days.

The adrenaline is released from the adrenal gland when you are under mental pressure, and it tells the body to convert stored sugar from the liver to glucose because the energy needs of the body will increase substantially during the supposed fight-or-run-for-your-life scenario.

The bad news is that this scenario almost never plays out and the excess blood sugar that never got used up ends up being stored as fat.

One of two things can happen from a prolonged survival mode.
One: Your body will keep storing up excess sugar as fat and asking for more energy from more sugar. This equals weight gain (an unpleasant side-effect of stress).

Two: All of this stress and Herculean effort continually depletes your body of its energy resources until it inevitably crumples under the overload. This can either lead to adrenal exhaustion, nervous breakdown, or a broken down immune system - thereby exposing a person to disease. The vicious circle repeats itself over and over again and people never seem to be able to get out of the rat race.

Release Your Stress

Here are some healthy habits you can integrate into your daily grind to free yourself from stress forever.

1. Cut the Caffeine: Caffeine stimulates the adrenaline release. Give up the cup of coffee and opt for the therapeutic benefits of caffeine-free herbal teas.

Or you can cut down on your caffeine intake by substituting green tea for coffee, which usually has 1/3 of the caffeine of a cup of coffee, but with the benefits of the antioxidant polyphenols.

2. Meditation: A daily meditation program is can be your number one method to decompress at the end of a busy day and release tension.

3. Take a Breather: Exhale the stress away. Specific exercises can detoxify your body and revitalize your being. Try this exercise, adapted from Chinese qigong and make your goal to slow down, smooth out, and deepen each breath.

With every exhalation, utter the word calm in your mind and breathe out the tension from a part of your body, starting from the top of your head and working your way down through each part of your body until you get to your feet. Release the remaining tension through your toes and the bottoms of your feet.

4. Cleanse the Clutter: Have you ever heard the saying that what you own soon owns you? Not only do these unnecessary items consume much of your energy for cleaning and maintenance, they also add to the clutter, making you disorganized and increasing your stress level. Cut back and let go. A good rule of thumb is that anything you haven't used in six months can be given away to charity.

5. Lighten Your Schedule: Cut back on the commitments in your calendar of events. If you are really scrambling for some free time, try writing in a day a week to just spend alone and relax...and stick to it!

6. Reframe Your Perspective: As you move through your day, pay attention to what causes you feelings of stress. Our response has much to do with how it will affect us; by reframing our perspective on stressful situations, we can often see that the danger is largely an illusion and maintain a calm frame of mind.

6 "Health Foods" making you fat

Hold on: I'm not talking about broccoli and bell peppers here. I'm talking about a lot of the foods that are sold to us as "low-fat," "low-carb," or otherwise "healthy" fare. The food industry invests $30 billion a year in advertising, and much of that is used to dupe consumers into believing bogus bites are somehow good for us.

The truth is, behind every low-fat label and celebrated salad is a list of ingredients that would give even the most relentless glutton reason to reconsider.

In researching the best-selling book "Eat This, Not That!," the title for this new blog with my co-author Matt Goulding, we were shocked to find that the foods so many health-conscious eaters in this country consider to be smart choices are actually the most responsible for our ever-expanding waistlines.

Many of the "low-fat" or otherwise "healthy" options we examined packed several hundred extra calories in them! Translation: Get duped into eating one pseudo-healthy food a day, and you'll have an extra 30 pounds (or more) to work off by the end of the year.

We've identified six of the most misunderstood foods in America, so that next time you think you're doing your body a favor, you actually will be - by looking for something else that actually is healthy.

1. Bran Muffin
440 calories
23 grams of fat
35 g sugars

Made primarily with sugar, refined flour and hydrogenated oil, it's like starting your day with a candy bar. Actually, it's like starting your day with two candy bars, since this misunderstood muffin has more fat and calories than two Kit Kat bars.

2. Chicken Caesar Salad
900 calories
60 grams of fat

Caesar salads suffer the consequences of two natural disasters: a flood of fatty dressing and a blizzard of Parmesan cheese and croutons. All told, it's a caloric catastrophe - equal to scarfing down 20 Chicken McNuggets!


3. Tuna Melt
950 calories
55 grams of fat

Plain tuna out of the can is healthy; tuna drenched in mayo, shrouded in melted cheese, and slicked with another layer of dressing is not. You'd be better off eating three six-inch roast beef sandwiches from Subway!

4. Chicken Wrap
700 calories
35 grams of fat

How wraps got such a good rap is beyond us, since they're really just oversized tortillas, packing up to 400 calories on their own - that is, before the onslaught of cheese, meat, and dressing it houses! You'd get the same number of calories from 20 strips of bacon.

5. Turkey Burger
850 calories
50 grams of fat

At home a turkey burger might be a decent choice, but in the restaurant world it means high-fat ground turkey, heavy mayo, melted cheese, and a big, pillowy bun. It's the equivalent of three 8-oz sirloin steaks.

6. Fruit Smoothies
600 calories
120 grams of sugar

Unless it says 100 percent fruit, your "fruit" smoothie is likely made with ice cream, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and a few token chunks of banana. All told, this popular afternoon snack has as much sugar as six Haagen Dazs Vanilla and Almond ice cream bars. Ouch.

Try Natural Insomnia Relief

Insomnia affects almost two out of three Americans. That's a lot of people lying awake at night! If you are tossing and turning all through the night, you are missing out on the most crucial key to maintaining your health, energy, and immunity. Read on to learn plenty of ways to be sure that you are getting the best quality sleep.

A Sleep-Enhancing Atmosphere

Of the many patients I have treated for chronic sleeplessness, one particular case stands out as an example of the powerful energetic influences our living environment can have on us. This patient lives in a lovely townhouse with an open loft space.

When she first moved into her home, she slept in a small bedroom off in a back corner, but visiting friends convinced her to sleep in the loft space. Initially, she had no trouble sleeping, but as the years wore on, she began to suffer from insomnia. Eventually, she showed up in my office seeking relief from her sleeplessness.

After trying several treatments with no noticeable difference to her sleep, I asked about her bedroom arrangement. When she mentioned the open and spacious loft with lots of light and no drapes, I realized that was the most likely culprit.

At night when you are asleep, you need to feel safe and protected in a cocoon-like atmosphere. Otherwise the sensory organs will stay awake to "guard" you from danger and the things that go bump in the night. I suggested that she try sleeping in the small bedroom; her chronic insomnia has disappeared and not returned since.

As the example above shows, it makes a huge difference to your quality of sleep that your snoozing environment is soothing. Do everything possible to establish a quiet and cozy atmosphere.

Your bedroom should ideally be located in the quietest and less trafficked area of your home. The lighting should be dim and any music that is played should be peaceful. Keep the décor minimal, with nothing busy to detract from your sleep. Colors should be in the realm of blues, greens, and grays. Do not place computers or televisions in your bedroom because they generate electromagnetic fields and positive ions that can induce agitation.

Also, consider having Fido sleep outside the bedroom; sleeping with pets often causes restless sleep because their movements will keep your body from fully relaxing into deep R.E.M. sleep.

Routines to Help You Sleep Tight

Quality sleep is critical to staying in synchronization with our biological clock. Our bodies run on biological rhythms and function best with consistent routines. To ensure restful sleep every night, form your own calming routines to help you get to sleep. Once you find an activity that works, practice it consistently to program your body for the sleep response. To listen to some of the ways to get a good night's sleep, click here.

Here are a few more helpful hints:

• Do not eat late. Your last meal should be no later than 7 p.m.

• Drink valerian or passionflower tea before bedtime every night for one month.

• Take a relaxing evening stroll an hour before bed.

• Soak your feet in hot, Epsom salt bath for 15 minutes before bedtime.

• Keep a journal at night. Emptying your thoughts onto paper helps you unburden your mind for a more peaceful sleep.

• Induce relaxation with a 15-minute meditation. Here's how: Sit comfortably at the edge of a firm seat with your back erect and your head tilted slightly downward. Place your arms gently over your lap and breathe slowly, deliberately, and gently. Keep your eyes slightly closed.

• Do not exercise for at least two hours before bed. Interestingly, people with regular exercise routines have fewer episodes of insomnia. Exercising moderately for 30 minutes daily, combined with meditation in the evening, will not only help you fall and stay asleep, but will also increase the amount of time you spend in R.E.M. sleep. For some people, exercise alone is enough to overcome insomnia.

• You might also try Calm-Fort/Sleep formula with useful herbs like lily bulbs, polygala and turmeric that help manage stress and calm the spirit while relieve restlessness and alleviate insomnia.

When all else fails, see your doctor because insomnia may be a sign of more serious problems.

I hope you find the ways to sleep soundly! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

Allergy Alert: Breathe Easy, Naturally

Itchy, watery eyes, running nose, an aching head, and sinus congestion. Sound familiar? You may be among million people in the world who suffer from allergic rhinitis or sinusitis. Consider combating your springtime woes naturally with these time-tested self-healing techniques.

Allergens in the Air

When you are sinuses, the air-filled hollow cavities around your nose and nasal passages, become inflamed, fluid can accumulate and interfere with normal drainage of mucus in the sinuses. This condition is known as acute sinusitis. The result? You may have trouble breathing through your nose and feel your eyes and facial tissue swell up.

Your symptoms may include a headache, fever, a nagging cough, post-nasal drip, thick green or yellow discharge, and a feeling of facial "fullness" that gets worse when you lean forward; during a severe sinus infection, some people even experience a toothache.

This uncomfortable condition has many possible causes, including bacterial, viral, and fungal infections, allergies, or a deviated septum. Synonymous with spring, allergic rhinitis, commonly called hay fever, is the inflammatory result of your immune system's overreaction to allergens in the air.

Pollen is one famous offender. Other allergens include dirt, pollution, animal hair, food particles cloth fibers, and mold.

Surprising Secrets for Sinus Health

Here are some all-natural ways to gain freedom from sinus suffering.

• Clear your sinuses and your mind with a steamy stovetop spa. Add a few drops of wintergreen oil to a pot of boiling water and inhale the steam. Take care not to be burned by the vapor.

• Herbs and spices like ginger, scallion, basil, garlic, oregano, cayenne peppers, white pepper, horseradish and turmeric will have your sinus passageways unblocked in no time!

• The supplement bromelain - a papaya and pineapple-based enzyme - helps reduce histamine release, the body's natural allergic response.

• Clear your nasal passageway daily for healthy, happy sinuses. Add 1 tsp of sea salt, 1 drop of oregano oil, and 1 drop of wintergreen to a cup of warm water. Fill a small-spouted squeeze bottle with this warm solution. Squirt into one nostril at a time and blow out through the nose. Alternate nostrils.

• Press one clove of garlic, mix with 1 tsp of olive oil and soak a clean cotton ball with the oil mixture and place in nostrils after having washed the nostril with warm salt water. Leave in for 20 minutes and repeat three times a day until the symptoms clear up.

• These two simple self-massage practices that follow are incredibly effective for relieving sinus congestion. For both, sit at the tip of a sturdy chair with your back erect, spine stretched, and your head tilted slightly forward.

1. Inhale and gently press your forehead just inside the temples with your palms. Exhale and release. Repeat three times.

2. Cross your middle and index fingers by placing the tips of your middle fingers on top of the fingernails on your index fingers. Rub the sides of your nose 36 times in a circular motion, warming your fingers first if they're cold.

What you eat affects your sinus health

Avoid the foods that produce mucous and dampness: dairy products, cold and raw foods, corn (including corn syrup), and simple sugars. Choose whole grains like quinoa, amaranth and brown rice instead of wheat, rye and barley, which are typically high allergy grains. Opt for papaya, cranberries, pear, pineapple, cherries, mango, and citrus fruits. Eat more green vegetables such as artichoke, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, and spinach.

Both alcohol and smoking should be avoided during a sinus flare-up as they irritate the respiratory tract and worsen nasal inflammation. Also, sinus congestion is often worse with lack of quality rest so be sure to get plenty of sleep and keep your stress level low.

I hope that you find the ways to keep your sinuses clear and freely flowing. I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me. Have a healthy Life!

Toilet Pesawat (Humor)

Seorang pria yang sedang mengadakan perjalanan dengan pesawat terbang, tiba-tiba ingin buang air. Akan tetapi setiap kali ia pergi ke toilet, selalu saja toilet itu terisi. Seorang pramugari melihat keadaan ini, ia lalu menganjurkan pria tadi untuk menggunakan toliet wanita dengan catatan tidak menekan tombol-tombol yang ada di dekat toliet tersebut. Ternyata tombol-tombol itu memang ada didekat tissue, pada tombol-tombol itu tertulis huruf "WW" ."WA".."PP". ."ATR"...

Karena penasaran, pria tadi tidak mengindahkan pesan sang pramugari dan mencoba untuk menekan tombol-tombol itu. Dengan hati-hati ia menekan tombol "WW" dan seketika air hangat menyemprot pantatnya... dalam hati ia berkata "Oh rupanya tombol ini berarti Warm Water (air hangat...) untuk cebok.....wah enak ya perempuan kalau ke toliet"

Karena ia masih penasaran, lalu ia mencoba menekan tombol "WA"....dan seketika bertiuplah udara hangat (Warm Air) untuk mengeringkan pantatnya yang basah....."Aha. .." ia berpikir "Tidak heran kalau perempuan betah berlama-lama didalam toilet dengan pelayanan seperti ini...!!":

Lalu ia menekan tombol "PP" dengan sangat berhati-hati sambil meng-antisipasi kemungkinan yang akan terjadi. Sebuah bantalan bedak (Powder Puff) keluar dari samping lalu membedaki pantatnya yang sudah kering dengan bedak halus..... "Man...this is great sangat hebat pelayanan seperti ini !!!" ia berkata dalam hati...

Kemudian ia ia menekan tombol "ATR". Tahu-tahu ia bangun dan tersadar di sebuah kamar rumah sakit dan ditangannya telah menempel selang infus...ia sangat heran..lalu ia bertanya kepada perawat yang sedang bertugas..ia menerangkan bahwa yang ia ingat adalah ia sedang berada didalam toilet wanita di dalam pesawat.

Sang perawat kemudian menjelaskan. ."Ya...anda pasti sedang menikmati pelayanan dipesawat yang ditujukan untuk perempuan... sampai ketika anda menekan tombol ATR yang artinya adalah Automatic Tampon Removal (pelepas pembalut otomatis)... ..dan buah zakar anda tertarik oleh alat itu...." Apaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....................

Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking helps us analyze each alternative and choose one over the other. Colleges are paid good money for developing our critical thinking skills. Whether, it be for considering a business proposal, or analyzing a poem, these simple steps will help you:

1. Understand your own purpose: Criticism, especially artistic, is subjective. What do you want to achieve by your critique? Do you want to evaluate an artistic work, or an objective business proposal?
2. Understand the purpose of the person whose work you're analyzing: Most criticism goes off its target simply because the critic doesn't take into account what the writer or painter wants to convey. The writer may aim for and hit the branch, while you may think he has actually missed the bird on the branch. Has the writing or painting succeeded in accomplishing its original purpose?
3. Know the alternatives: Research works related to the one you're reviewing. Criticism can only be done by a standard: A thing is higher or lower in relation to something. Find out about contemporary writings and similar endeavors in past ages. If you are evaluating whether to buy a car from someone, find out how much other options like buying second-hand, or renting a car will cost you. If you can find nothing related, let the standard be your own vision of how the project should shape up, or how the originator of the proposal wants it to shape out.
4. Learn logic: Study how an argument is constructed, what premises are, and how the conclusion is reached. Then study the fallacies of logic, and practice pointing them out in your daily life.
5. Learn the critical jargon: Every field has different critical jargon. For example, in poetry terms like alliteration, enjambment, and the trochaic meter, show that you know what you're talking about. These terms will help make your critique more concrete, and give you hotspots on which to focus your critique.
6. Use the GBI technique: The lateral thinking psychologist Edward de Bono states that we should list the Good, the Bad and the Interesting points.
7. Don't just say you don't like it, say why you don't like it, and add suggestions to make it better.
8. Give criticism in a non-offensive way. People get defensive if something they pride themselves on gets attacked. Prefacing criticism with praise usually works well.

Some Tips

1. Don't be absolute, yet don't be timid in your criticism: Try to avoid absolutes like "never", and use them only when you're completely sure. However, at the same time, be assertive in your criticism. Think how much less motivating this saying would be: "Slow and steady, in certain cases, wins the race."
2. Use libraries and the Internet, to find out information on the topic you're critiquing. An uninformed critique is sometimes worse than one merely executed badly.
3. Ask for other people's opinions. They most likely will offer a new perspective which could change your approach. Consider people both from different age groups and different occupations.
4. Practice critiquing, as you'll get better at it. Take notice if others critique your critique.
5. You can something critique much, much better if you can actually do it. Only a writer can properly analyze another's works, for example.
6. Read other people's critiques in newspapers and books, and learn from their mistakes and strengths to improve your own style.
7. Be diplomatic. Your aim is not the person himself, but the proposal he puts forward.
   

Make a Good First Impression

Sometime somewhere when we met someone we probably walked away with "yuck" or "loser" in mind. Are you afraid of being that someone and having others not like or understand you? Well, let your worries and fears fade by learning how to make a great and lasting first impression on people using the following steps:

How should I manage?

1. Be confident and outgoing! When a person realizes someone has those qualities, they find them easier to talk with and much more welcoming.
2. Proper posture is imperative! Body language can tell someone a lot about your mood and confidence level. Slouching is a no-no as it gives the impression of insecurity and defeat. You must always stand straight and tall, possibly with a hand on your hip, if you want to convey to someone that you are a strong, confident, deserving individual.
3. Never fidget! Keep your hands to your side or in your lap. Never bite your fingernails, twirl your hair or crumple a napkin in your hand.
4. Smile! Especially when first meeting someone. It's not necessary to show your teeth, just a meaningful grin will do. Be careful not to transition from a smile to a straight face too quickly, or people will sense you're being fake or that you don't like them.
5. Make eye contact ! Stay focused on the person you are speaking with and certainly not on anything else to avoid them feeling unappreciated and unwanted.
6. Dress appropriately! Always be genuine and show your unique personality. Try to be in style so others will see you are modern and up-to-date. Go on-line and look up the latest trends or pick up a fashion magazine.
7. Go easy on the perfume or cologne! This is self-explanatory. Remember the famous saying "a little bit goes a long way" rather than "too much is never enough". You may love the scent you are wearing; however, it could easily offend others or cause a reaction to their allergies, if applicable. In this regard, it is probably better to wear none at all or, if you must, then spray it into a distance and wait a few seconds before walking through the sprayed area.
8. Use good hygiene! This is super important, especially for teens. This may seem overly basic, but always shower daily and wear clean, fresh clothes. Also equally important, you should brush your teeth twice daily and be sure to wear deodorant and/or anti-perspirant, if needed, especially if you're meeting someone important who is likely to make you nervous.

Some Tips

1. Improve your personality without changing who you are.
2. Stay genuine and unique, but polish any rough edges.
3. Use proper grammar and never use profane or offensive language.
4. Never frown, slump or roll your eyes even if you're talking to a friend in the room.
5. Always act as if the person you are trying to impress is watching you...because they could very well be doing just that without your knowledge.
6. Be real or people may think you are acting fake or trying too hard. As silly as it may seem, you may even want to take acting lessons to always appear genuine and interested, even if you're really not.
7. Do not bring up a bunch of stuff about your ex boyfriends/girlfriends. It may make your date believe you are still hung up on your ex.

Prinsip 90/10 Stephen Covey….

Prinsip yg sebenarnya sudah diketahui oleh banyak orang, menurut ahli kita ini 10% porsi hidup diluar control, 90% lainnya dibawah control anda dan terjadi sebagai akibat dari kegiatan atau response anda.

Intinya kita semua sudah tau langit ngga setiap hari mendung, ngga setiap hari cerah, ya kalo pas cerah dinikmati, jangan loe bikin mendung, kalo pas mendung jangan loe buat tambah mendung, kalo menghadapi kondisi tidak menyenangkan jangan dibuat tambah ribet. Jakarta – macet? Jangan uring uringan karena macet, wong kapan Jakarta ngga macet, macet + marah + kesal + bete + sebal = ngga ada gunanya kale! Macet? ya nyetel radio, dengarin becandaannya para pembaca acara radio yg sekarang pada tambah kreatip ‘n lucu lucu. Pas lagi macet berat? waktunya buat nelpon istri, suami, pacar, selingkuhan, ttm, bokap or nyokap, ngapain mikirin macetnya? Ato stel keras keras lagu favorit loe, isi sudoku kek, buat kegiatan yg lebih positip energinya, ya begitulah kira kira contoh 90/10 yg paling sederhana.

Kita semua pasti sudah pernah menjalankan prinsip model 90/10 ini, cuman kita ngga ngasih nama, wong kita ngga seterkenal Stephen Covey, hehehe….

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