Archive for June, 2008
June 14, 2008 at 11:12 am · Filed under Uncategorized
So, you’re doing cardio religiously and you’re not getting any
results…What’s the deal?! Good news. You’re probably just making
some minor mistakes that need to be corrected. If you want to make
changes to your body, it’s probably pretty important for you to
understand how your body works. After all, I doubt you’re running on the
treadmill because your cable got shut off and the cardio-theater at your
gym is the only place you can watch “The OC.” I’m almost certain you
want to burn fat. So, let’s learn how that works.
We’re going to talk about using nutrition to maximize the benefits of your workout. What you
eat and when you eat it can make a world of difference. But first, we
need to talk about how your body works.
Even though you want to get
rid of the excess fat that’s stretching out your pants, your body is not in
such a hurry to do so. You almost have to trick your body into burning
that fat as energy. You need to have fat to survive, and to your body,
those love handles are money in the bank. Because of this, when you
don’t eat anything for an extended period of time (as little as 4 waking
hours), your body will go into what’s called “starvation mode.” In
starvation mode, your body will actually store more fat and break down
muscle tissue to use as fuel. This slows your metabolism and increases
your body fat. It’s basically a self defense mechanism. With no fuel
coming in, your body fears it may have to survive for some time without
food. Your body doesn’t know that you’re just stuck in traffic or that you
had to skip lunch because your boss was making you do his work. It just
thinks…Holy Mackerel, I’m gonna starve. So instead of using it’s
valuable fat stores, your body gets stingy and actually cannibalizes it’s
own muscle tissue to use as fuel.
So to keep your body from freaking
out and going into starvation mode, try to eat small meals throughout the
day. 5 to 6 small meals a day is ideal. When I say meals, that doesn’t
mean that you need to sit down and have 3 courses. A handful of
almonds or even a protein shake can count as one of those meals.
On the other end of the spectrum, if you eat a turkey sandwich right
before you hop on the treadmill, your body won’t burn fat then either.
When you eat carbohydrates, your body stores them in the form of
glycogen in your liver. As you expend energy, your body uses these
glycogen stores until they are gone. When performing any type of
aerobic activity, like walking, running, etc., your body can use glycogen
stores or fat stores for fuel. The problem is that your body will never use
the fat stores until the glycogen stores are gone.
So you’re saying that
if I don’t eat, my body will get scared and hold on to all my body fat, but if
I do eat, my body will just use that as fuel instead of burning fat? Yes….
And if this were the end of the article, you would probably be pretty mad.
Fortunately, there are ways to make this work.
Option 1: Right when you wake up, before you eat or drink anything
(except water), do 55 minutes of moderate impact cardio. Walking or an
elliptical machine is ideal. If you’re breathing too hard to carry on a
conversation normally, slow down. If you get light headed or weak from
this option, eat something with no carbs before you workout. For
example: egg whites, chicken breast, or a protein shake with no carbs.
Protein consumption will not affect your glycogen stores so your body
will still be willing to burn fat. With this option, it’s okay to eat breakfast
when you’re done.
Option 2: If you only have 20 minutes in the
morning, do intervals before you eat. Warm up for 5 minutes and then
run for one minute and walk for two. Each time you run, make it a little
more intense until you are running at full blast for one minute. After 20
minutes of these intervals, cool down walking for 5 minutes and then
don’t eat for an hour after you’re done. Your body will burn fat for that
entire hour.
Option 3: If you can only do your cardio in the middle or at
the end of the day, use either of the above formulas but try to workout
about 2-2 1/2 hours after you eat.
Option 4: Do your cardio right after
you do your weight training. I know you’ve heard to do it before…this is
wrong. Warming up for 5 minutes before you weight train is fine, but
always do your fat burning cardio sessions after your weights. For more
on this option read “Weights Before Cardio”: www.shapeyou.com/nutrition_cardio.html
Option 5: If your cardio
sessions are more intense like an advanced step class or a spin class,
you’re better off having something in your stomach. Try eating about 2
hours before the class and then don’t eat for an hour after the class.
Most often, during an intense cardio workout, your body is not willing to
burn fat as fuel. It doesn’t know that you’re going to stop in an hour. It
thinks this behavior could continue for some time so it can get stingy
with it’s energy stores. But it will burn plenty of fat in the hour after you’re
done.
Be specific when following these formulas. They work. Am I
saying that if you eat before your cardio that you’re wasting your time?
No, anytime you do cardio it’s great for your heart, you’re burning
calories and you can increase your metabolism. But why not get the
maximum benefits if you’re going to do the work anyway.
You may reprint or publish this article freely as long as you include a
visible, active link to ShapeYou.com along with the author’s bio.
Tony Hale is a certified personal trainer with 12 years of experience
servicing clients in the entertainment industry throughout the Hollywood
area. He is also the editor in chief for http://www.shapeyou.com
To Train with Tony online, visit http://www.shapeyou.com/trainers.html
June 14, 2008 at 11:06 am · Filed under Uncategorized
With all the protests someone recently asked if there might be a civil war over the illegal immigration issue? Oh no doubt we could easily have a civil war over this, but luckily the illegal immigrants who come here are very happy to be here rather than where they came from. And until they reach 12% of our population, probably not a civil war. But mind you some estimates are as high as 24 million illegal aliens, but there are 300 million plus people so we could hit 12% if this continues at the current rate or if Mexico City has another 8.5 plus Earthquake causing mass exodus into the US.
So, we should not be over alarmed at the civil war thing, but we damn well ought to pay attention to how we handle this crisis otherwise, our children will be sorry. I hope you will consider this abstractly without the “scare tactic’ motif, just kind of consider history, fall of Rome and some other issues in and around the world right now with separation of classes, riots, torched cars and such in other nations.
We all need to hold up the same flag and be on the same team for immigration to really work. That means streamlining entry process and preventing illegal crossings. We owe ourselves that much, look it took too much sacrifice to build all this to not be smart about maintaining all we are and all we have built. Thank you for your consideration.
“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/
June 13, 2008 at 9:52 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
If your child loves all different types of animals, a jungle mural is a great way to make their room a fun and enjoyable place. You might be thinking how you will be able to achieve such a task, especially if you do not have artistic talents.
The truth is, however, that this type of mural is rather easy to construct as long as you have the tools to do it.
The easiest way to create a jungle mural is to transfer a desired jungle scene, animal or image to transparency
film, and then use an overhead projector to display the image on the wall, which you can then trace out and begin painting.
You will find that transparency film can be purchased from any store that sells computer accessories, business or school items. As for the projector, you may be fortunate enough to be able to borrow one from your work place, or your child’s school.
If that is not an option, you can always rent one, or purchase one from a local business store or online.
The best place to look for images for your jungle mural is on the internet, simply because your child will be given many more options to choose from, as well as the images can be easily printed off on the transparency film. When looking for images, a good rule of thumb, if you are artistically challenged, is to make sure that you don’t select images with too much detail.
Try to select those that are two-dimensional. In addition to using transparencies, you can also use stencils for smaller animals such as for any birds that may be in the sky or sitting on trees. Stencils can be purchased in craft stores.
The best paints for you to purchase when constructing your jungle mural, are acrylic and artist paints, which you can get from craft or art specialty stores, as well as online. You will also need a variety of different sized brushes to go along with your paints.
When constructing your jungle mural you should also keep in mind that your mural is not only limited to the walls, you can also paint on the ceiling. For instance, if you are painting a lot of trees in your child’s jungle mural, extend the tress to make their leaves travel over the ceiling.
You may even consider coloring the center of the ceiling blue, to make it look as if the sky is peeking through a hole in the trees.
If you are not interested in adding a lot of trees, you can always make your child’s jungle mural more animal focused, by placing animals in different corners of his of her room. Don’t forget that you can use the shape of your child’s room to your advantage when creating a jungle mural.
If you choose to make a jungle mural in your child’s room, another nifty idea is to purchase for them a bunk bed or
a loft bed. The reason is because these beds give a more tree house effect, which would really encourage the imagination of your child, and will improve upon the whole authenticity of the room.
You will discover that the more you brainstorm ideas with your child, the more creative you will be. Plus, not only will you discover that creating a jungle mural will be a lot of fun, but it is also a project that can bring together the whole family, making it a task that everyone can enjoy and take pride in.
Michael Holland is the creator of the Web site http://www.kids-rooms-and-crafts.com. His web site offers lots of FREE home decorating tips and ideas.
June 11, 2008 at 11:27 am · Filed under Uncategorized
You won’t hear many negatives from iPod users. Even So, one thing often brought up is the inability to transfer video from their iPod to a second computer Though the iPod has no problem copying songs from your PC or laptop to iPod using iTunes, the reverse is forbidden. Without iPod to Computer Software, you won’t be able to transfer your iPod data to an additional personal computer. This issue oftentimes occurs when customers get a new machine or have to restart the OS on their existing machine. Apple forbids this process because it doesn’t want unauthorised sharing of bought videos and music from the iTunes store. However, there are a plethora of legitimate scenarios that iPodders want the power to transmit from iPod to computer. If a PC goes down and you need to reinstall the operating system, you may need iPod to PC copy software to retrieve your priceless data. Otherwise, the clean installment of iTunes will wipe your iPod, potentially costing you lots of dollars in deleted files. Yet another common scenario customers need these types of programs is when they buy a new personal computer and wish to put their existing database of iPod files on the new machine. Again, if you do not install this type of program, you might potentially lose your worthful iPod files. You can find many companies that provide computer programs to carry through this project. A prompt visit to CNET or Tucows will show a bunch of picks. You can also just type ‘iPod to PC transferring software’ into the search engine of your choice.
June 8, 2008 at 4:09 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
You have probably heard the word Bratislava before. You might even know that is actually a city somewhere in the Eastern Europe. But a very few people know that Bratislava, the cosy capital of Slovakia, is a very appealing town with unique and well preserved Old Town and history reaching back to the times before the Christ was born.
Our Little Big City was hidden behind the Iron Curtain for many years. But even the long rule of the Communist regime did not manage to destroy the unique character of the city on the Danube. Bratislava has been unveiling herself lately and is becoming a very popular tourist destination. With major low-cost airlines adding Bratislava to their destination list, more and more visitors keep finding out what a gem Bratislava is.
The medieval Old Town is quite small, but it is packed with historic sights, small shops and pleasant cafes, restaurants and pubs creating a unique atmosphere. It is great just to sit in one of the cafes and soak up the spirit of the place.
Unlike in the overcrowded glamorous neighboring cities of Prague, Vienna and Budapest, you can actually enjoy the local flavors in Bratislava. Come and experience the unique atmosphere of our Little Big City.
Matej Jambrich lives in Bratislava and runs an incoming travel agency offering tourist services, including accommodation in central hotels and serviced self-catering apartment for short rent in the Old Town. Visit http://www.hotels-in-bratislava.com
June 8, 2008 at 2:52 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
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Another bit of advice would obviously be to take your chances for a start with modest amounts rather than spend way too much right away. First of all, check the functionality of this online blackjack outfit prior to running any dangerous menace- the more so in regards to money! And now, our last most essential recommendation about online casino. It must be this- to never ignore that online casino wagering should solely be about recreation and less about big dollars. Casino wagering is certainly no career, but a diversion that intends to let you feel joyful and your life as a whole fun. Finally, after you have observed all these infos, you can go ahead surrender to the beguilement of online blackjack! 
June 4, 2008 at 4:10 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Walking down the cat food isle in a pet store could leave you quiet confused as to what food is best for your cat. There are certain nutrients that a cat must have, knowing these nutrients and making sure the food you buy has them listed as ingredients can help make the choice easier.
Other factors to consider are your cat’s lifestyle, age and health. Cats need meat-based food to survive and remain healthy. The reason being that certain substances essential to cats cannot be manufactured synthetically and are only found in meat.
Different types of Food:
• Dry
• Semi-moist
• Wet/Moist
Dry:
Contains little water, is hard and crunchy which helps keep your cats teeth tartar-free. This can be left out all day for your cat without going off. Choose a variety that is low in magnesium to prevent Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disorder (FLUTD), where stones or crystals develop causing painful urination for your cat. Usually dry food contains all your cats nutrient requirements, but do not take it for granted, always check the label.
Semi-Moist:
Contains less water than canned food and often contains vegetable protein. This can be left out for your cat to snack on. Not all semi-moist foods contain the nutrients a cat needs and supplementation may be necessary so that your cat gets a complete diet.
Wet/Moist:
Has a high water content, comes in many flavors and is the food type preferred by most cats. Wet food goes off very quickly and any left over by your cat should be removed and not left out. Wet food easily looses its meaty smell, so if you notice your cat turning up his nose to a meal, this could be the reason. Buying the smaller canned food or food that comes in pouches is often the better choice as there will be less wastage. To help prevent tartar formation you can add a few dry biscuits to the food. Or leave a bowl of dry food out for your cat to eat during the day and feed wet food once a day.
Serve food at room temperature, if you have canned food in the fridge bring it to room temperature before offering to your cat. Always provide fresh drinking water to your cat. Cats do not need to drink cows milk and in fact if you offer it to them, they will likely have an upset tummy as they are unable to digest the milk sugar (lactose). Instead offer a brand of cat milk found at your local pet store.
If you decide to feed your cat a home-made diet it is essential that you consult with your veterinarian as cats require many essential nutrients. These nutrients and requirements vary based on many factors, such as age and weight along with whether or not your cat will be indoors or outdoors.
Guide to Cats. Get information on buying, owning and caring for your cat, learn more about Cat Feeders.
Paul Hegarty is the owner of learningfromdvds.com. Price compare Fitness DVDs, read reviews, download free E-books. Read this month’s e-book on “How To Spot A fraudulent Email”. Grab your free copy today.
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June 4, 2008 at 3:54 am · Filed under Uncategorized
I’ve discovered a really fantastic way to discover what works best in direct marketing, BEFORE doing traditional direct marketing. Use these internet tools to find what works best, then apply what you’ve learned to your traditional direct marketing, direct mail, etc. It’s fast and less expensive.
How to Find What Works in Your Marketplace?
Overture provides an excellent tool to find what people are looking for on the internet. For all practical purposes, you can use that to apply to other types of marketing.
Go to http://inventory.overture.com. Type in some keywords that apply to your product or service. Overture will provide the number of times that search word was searched in the last month, and it will also provide a list of related words and how many times they were searched. This provides a really excellent tool to research what people are wanting, and how they are looking for them (at least what words they are relating to that search).
Using my business as an example:
I provide training (sales, customer service, leadership and several other things).
So, which ones are in demand right now? I can do a search for “training” on Overture.
The results are:
Training –searched 165,196 times
Online training, searched 149,418 times
Management training, searched 133,499
Sales training, searched 70,496
What can we learn from this?
It looks like I should focus more online training instead of face-to-face, or local training.
Management training is being searched for almost 2 times as much as sales training. So, shouldn’t I focus more on management training over sales training? I’ll certainly have a larger market.
This can be applied to almost any kind of marketing, direct mail, cold calling, email, website, etc. Not only can I find the best direction (management training) but I can also find the right words to use in a direct marketing piece before sending it.
Here’s another one.
Use GoogleAdwords, a pay-per-click online marketing campaign to find what works. If you haven’t experienced GoogleAdwords, just go to www.Google.com and search for something. When the listing shows up there will be 2-3 sponsored listings across the top of the page, and 5-6 down the right hand side. These are pay-per-click ads, those companies pay for the ads only when someone clicks on them. You are taken to that site. At that time the sponsoring company pays so much for each time someone clicks on it.
A really fantastic way of using this for a marketing study is that within 1-2 days, there will have been enough clicks to know which search words are working.
Another one of the fantastic benefits of GoogleAdwords is that they allow alternating ads in an Adword campaign. So for any campaign you can have several different ads running. Within just 1-3 days there will have been enough people searching and clicking through that you can see
Which search words are searched for the most often
Which one of the ads are producing the most click-thru’s
It isn’t unusual to see a 2 to 1 difference between the ads. So now you know how to say what in an ad and what kind of typical response rates you might have.
You can also take the best ad, tweak it again. Check back in a few days and know if you’ve improved it or not. I’ve seen pay-per-click ads crawl upward to 10-15% response rates in a matter of a week.
Now, it’s time to start using those same words and structure in our next direct mail, or other direct marketing campaign. It’s fast and very economical. Instead of taking weeks and costing a ton of money like a traditional test market would, we know in days what works for a lot less.
Want to know how many people are looking for your product in your small geographical area? Set up a GoogleAdword campaign and set the geographic limitation to your address with a known radius. Come back in a few days and see how many searches you got in that territory. Then go out with your local direct marketing with what you just learned.
Even if you aren’t an e-commerce site you can learn a lot about what works in marketing this way.
Alan Boyer, President/CEO of The Leader’s Perspective, LLC, is considered one of the world’s leading breakthrough specialists. He has worked with some of the worlds largest companies, on projects in the multi-billion dollar area, and with single proprietor companies. He has worked on many hundreds of projects with companies that have resulted in multi-$100 million savings or gains.
With over 35 years of business, quality, and process experience, he has catapulted businesses lightyears ahead in weeks. Some have doubled and some have jumped 10 times. He claims the key to that is:
Helping the business owners/employees develop the business skills
Helping them overcome the limitations and attitudes that they built between their ears (the self imposed limitations, I can’t, this won’t work for me, I’m different)
By helping them find the breakthroughs in their business and thinking
Helping companies worldwide reach further than they EVER thought possible….FASTER
http://www.leaders-perspective.com/Small-Business-Help.aspx
mailto:AlanBoyer@leaders-perspective.com
June 4, 2008 at 3:48 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Our church has charged all parents of young children to read a Bible story each day to our children so reading from my son Noah’s children’s Bible has become a part of our regular bedtime routine. Sometimes I try to hit stories that relate to the current holiday in the Christian calendar and other times we simply pick stories that look interesting to him (there are pictures to help with the choice). There are also stories that he considers to be favorites–Noah and the Ark of course, Zacchaeus (because he loves the song), and Jonah.
I have been very happy with his eager responsiveness to the stories and to reading them. He will even pull out his children’s Bible to share the stories with his stuffed animals–or at least some version that he remembers or can guess from the pictures.
One day when he related the story of Jonah to Fred the green rabbit I was struck by how close to home the story strikes–for Noah, for me, for all of us.
Noah’s version of Jonah:
God told Jonah to go to a special place but Jonah didn’t listen. He went on a boat to another city instead. So God sent a storm and threw Jonah into the water and a giant fish swallowed him up. Jonah was in time out in the fish for three days before God told him he could get out of the fish. Then Jonah went where God told him to go. The End.
Noah to Fred: “You have to listen to God or you’ll get in time out too!”
Noah’s story is simplistic but then so is the essence of Jonah’s story. The moral of the story is simply that we must listen to God.
If only it was as simple as that!
Of course we know that. No matter what our religion or creed we know that we must listen to God. We know we must follow the rules and guidelines that God has set down for us.
Children, like Noah, know they must follow their parents’ rules and dictates or there will be consequences. Often those consequences involve a time-out for Noah so the story of Jonah strikes home with him.
Obviously as he grows older the rules that he must follow will come from many different sources and many will be unspoken. This is why his father and I now set down rules and boundaries for him. Obviously it makes our home life easier if he follows set rules and other rules are necessary for his protection, but even more important we are teaching him to follow the rules that God and society have set down for him.
We learned rules as children for the same reasons but as we grow up and learn to abide by the rules of God and society the punishments we receive change and become more subtle. We no longer are put in time out but instead encounter punishments that more often come in a social or monetary form.
For many of us it becomes increasingly easy to ignore these punishments without the threat of a big whale to swallow us up.
As a Christian, I think God’s message to us is simple. He wants us to love him and to show that love by loving and helping others. All of Jesus’ lessons and teachings can be tied to that simple theme.
It is simple and yet so very hard. What have you done this week to love and honor God? What have you done this week to love and help others?
What worries me is that some people get so wrapped up in following other messages they have gleaned from the Bible that they often overlook or directly contradict these essential truths. While the Bible and its teaching are incredibly complex, one can find the truth by simply studying Jesus’ teachings and actions. There is truth in the simple question–What Would Jesus’ Do?
It is simple and yet so very hard. What have you done this week to love and honor God? What have you done this week to love and help others?
Of course the difficult challenge is the fact that by not doing these things we are just as bad as Jonah. We are not doing what God has told us to do.
Don’t look now, but isn’t that a big whale coming up behind you?
Deanna Mascle is an inspirational freelance writer. You can find more inspiration at Inspiration by Dawggone and her inspirational ezines Words of Inspiration Online and Daily Quote Online.
June 4, 2008 at 3:42 am · Filed under Uncategorized
This home buying tip will help you ask the right questions when researching home inspectors.
A proper home inspection will give you the comfort of knowing your new home has been checked for breakage, disrepair and other problems.
But it all starts with choosing a professional home inspector who can give your home the thorough review it needs. So don’t be afraid to ask plenty of questions when choosing a home inspector. Here are seven key questions to ask:
1. What all do you inspect?
Different states have different rules for home inspectors. So you need to know up front what your state requires of inspectors, and then you need to make sure the inspector will actually cover those areas. Ask to see a blank copy of their inspection report or checklist. This will show you exactly what the inspector covers. If they have a problem showing you this document, find another home inspector!
2. What certifications do you have?
Like other home-based industries, home inspection has its share of frauds and phonies. It’s safe to assume they represent the minority, but it still pays to ask about certification. A professional home inspector will be happy to tell you about his certifications.
3. Do you specialize in residential or commercial inspections?
Be sure your inspector specializes in what you want him to do. In this case, make sure they specialize in residential / home inspections (instead of commercial property inspections).
4. How long have you been inspecting homes in this area?
General experience is fine, but regional or local experience gives a home inspector an extra edge. For instance, if an inspector has been working in your area for a long time, they probably know about unique conditions to watch for (radon levels, basement moisture, life expectancy of roofing, etc.).
5. How long do your home inspections usually take?
* Home buying tip — The average home inspection runs anywhere from two to four hours. If a home inspector tells you they can do it in an hour or less, you might want to dig a little deeper. Anything less than two hours is probably not a thorough inspection.
6. How much will the inspection cost?
* Home buying tip — Home inspections average between $300 and $500. This will depend on the size of the home and other factors. The cost of a home inspection is nominal when you consider the peace of mind it brings, but you still need to ask about the cost in advance. You don’t want to be surprised by an outrageously priced inspection after it has been completed.
7. Can I attend the inspection?
A home inspection is a great opportunity to learn about the inner workings of your home. Many home inspectors will let you proceed through the house alongside them. That way, they can educate you about your roof, heating and cooling system, water heater, etc.
Conclusion
This home buying tip will help you choose a professional, qualified home inspector. As a result, you’ll get a more thorough review of the home before buying it, and you’ll enjoy more peace of mind!
* Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett. You may republish this article if you keep the byline and author’s note, and also leave the hyperlinks active.
Learn more!
This home buying tip was brought to you by HomeBuyingInstitute.com, the Internet’s largest library of home buying advice. Increase your home buying intelligence by visiting: http://www.homebuyinginstitute.com!
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