ATLCoffeeHouse Healthy Coffee News and More . . . .

Make a Purchase with ATLCoffeeHouse & Get a $5 Rebate!

2011-05-01T17:26:00.000-07:00

When you make a purchase with ATLCoffeeHouse.com during the month of May 2011, you will receive a $5 rebate to the store of your choice.

All you have to do is make a purchase from these product lines:

* Ganoderma Ganobrand Healthy Coffees & Teas for Life
* Ganovia Gourmet Healthy Black Coffees
* Coffee Flavored Scented Candles
* Home Spa Products

Once you have made your purchase and it has been verified, you will be emailed the link to redeem your $5 rebate. The email address you use at the time of purchase will be the email that will be used to email your $5 rebate. So please use a valid email address. ATLCoffeeHouse, LLC will not be responsible in any form or fashion for you not receiving your $5 rebate due to invalid email address.

At the time of your purchase, there will be a customer note/comment section to where you can say what store $5 rebate you wish to receive. The $5 rebate may be used both online and in-store.

Only one - one time $5 rebate is allowed per customer during the month of May, 2011.

These are the store choices that you may choose from.

$5 1-800-Flowers Rebate
$5 Union 76 Rebate
$5 7-Eleven Rebate
$5 Aeropostale Rebate
$5 Albertsons Rebate
$5 Aldo Rebate
$5 Amazon Rebate
$5 American Eagle Rebate
$5 American Airlines Rebate
$5 Apple Rebate
$5 Arby's restaurant Rebate
$5 ARCO Rebate
$5 AT&T Wireless Rebate
$5 Autozone Rebate
$5 Avis Car Rental Rebate
$5 Banana republic Rebate
$5 Barnes & Noble Rebate
$5 Bed Bath & Beyond Rebate
$5 Belk Rebate
$5 Best Buy Rebate
$5 Big Lots Rebate
$5 Big Y Rebate
$5 BJ's Wholesale Rebate
$5 Bloomingdale.s Rebate
$5 Blue Nile Rebate
$5 Borders Rebate
$5 Budget Car Rental Rebate
$5 Burlington Coat Factory Rebate
$5 Buy.com Rebate
$5 Charlotte Russe Rebate
$5 Chevron Rebate
$5 Costco Rebate
$5 Crate & Barrel Rebate
$5 CVS Rebate
$5 Dell Rebate
$5 Delta Airlines Rebate
$5 Diapers.com Rebate
$5 Dick's Sporting Goods Rebate
$5 Dillard's Rebate
$5 Disney Store Rebate
$5 Dollar General Rebate
$5 Dollar Tree Rebate
$5 DSW Rebate
$5 eBags.com Rebate
$5 Enterprise Rent a Car Rebate
$5 Expedia.com Rebate
$5 Express Rebate
$5 Abercrombie & fitch Rebate
$5 Foot Locker Rebate
$5 Forever 21 Rebate
$5 Freshdirect.com Rebate
$5 Fry's Rebate
$5 FTD.com Rebate
$5 GameStop Rebate
$5 Gap Rebate
$5 Giant Eagle Rebate
$5 Giant Rebate
$5 GNC Rebate
$5 Guess Rebate
$5 Gymboree Rebate
$5 Harris Teeter Rebate
$5 Hertz Car Rental Rebate
$5 Hollister Rebate
$5 The Home Depot Rebate
$5 Ikea Rebate
$5 iTunes Rebate
$5 J.C. Penney Rebate
$5 J. Crew Rebate
$5 JetBlue.com Rebate
$5 Kmart Rebate
$5 Kohl's Rebate
$5 Kroger Rebate
$5 Lowe's Rebate
$5 Macy's Rebate
$5 Marshalls Rebate
$5 McDonalds Rebate
$5 Michaels stores Rebate
$5 Neiman Marcus Rebate
$5 Newegg.com Rebate
$5 Nike Rebate
$5 Nine West Rebate
$5 Nordstrom Rebate
$5 Nutrisystem Rebate
$5 Office Depot Rebate
$5 OfficeMax Rebate
$5 Old navy Rebate
$5 Orbitz.com Rebate
$5 Overstock.com Rebate
$5 Panda Express Rebate
$5 Payless Shoe Source Rebate
$5 Peet's Coffee & Tea Rebate
$5 Perfumania Rebate
$5 PetSmart Rebate
$5 Priceline.com Rebate
$5 Publix Rebate
$5 Puma Rebate
$5 RadioShack Rebate
$5 Raley's Rebate
$5 REI Rebate
$5 Rite Aid Rebate
$5 Rockport Rebate
$5 Ross Rebate
$5 Rotten Robbie Rebate
$5 Safeway Rebate
$5 Save Mart Rebate
$5 Sears Rebate
$5 Shell Rebate
$5 Sherwin-williams Rebate
$5 Shoes.com Rebate
$5 Shutterfly Rebate
$5 Southwest Airlines Rebate
$5 Sports Authority Rebate
$5 Staples Rebate
$5 Starbucks Rebate
$5 Subway Rebate
$5 Sunoco Rebate
$5 SUPERVALU Rebate
$5 Target Rebate
$5 Texaco Rebate
$5 The Limited Rebate
$5 T.J. Maxx Rebate
$5 T-Mobile Rebate
$5 Toys R Us Rebate
$5 Trader Joe's Rebate
$5 Travelocity.com Rebate
$5 Valero Rebate
$5 Verizon Wireless Rebate
$5 Victoria's Secret Rebate
$5 Virgin America airlines Rebate
$5 Vistaprint Rebate
$5 Vitamin Shoppe Rebate
$5 Walgreens Rebate
$5 Walmart Rebate
$5 Wegmans Rebate
$5 Wendy's restaurant Rebate
$5 Wet Seal Rebate
$5 Whole foods Rebate
$5 Winn-Dixie Rebate
$5 Zappos Rebate
$5 Zipcar Rebate

Get started today by visiting ATLCoffeeHouse.com!

>>Click Here<< to visit ATLCoffeeHouse.com

The 4 Stages of How Ganoderma Helps You to Become and Stay Healthy

2010-10-04T06:42:00.000-07:00

Ganoderma Lucidum - Red Mushroom:For thousands of years Ganoderma Lucidum has been highly regarded as the miraculous "King of Herbs". The Chinese believe that Ganoderma may be able to improve the body's healing ability, maintain a healthy body and promote longevity.

Ganoderma is the scientific name for red mushrooms. There are approximately 2,500 species of Ganoderma in the world and the number increases, as researchers detect more and more species.

Ganoderma contains more than 200 active elements. But medical science currently concentrates only on a few main elements such as Polysaccharide, Organic Germanium, Adenosine, Triterpenoid and Ganoderic Essence.

Why do we need to take Ganoderma?

Most ailments and chronic illnesses are caused by the imbalance of body functions due to the accumulation of toxins in the body. The Chinese have found that Ganoderma may have the ability of giving us a 'check-up' to discover if we have hidden illnesses in the body. It may then remove the toxins and enable the body to treat a wide spectrum of illnesses through the re-building of the natural immune system.

How does Ganoderma work in the body?

Scanning (1 - 30 days)
Ganoderma helps to regulate body functions. During this process, symptoms will be surface and this is known as 'ailment reflection'. This reaction is not a side effect, but it helps us identify the ailing area.

Cleansing - Detoxification (1 - 30 weeks)
Ganoderma is known as ' King of toxin remover' for its power to remove uric acid, lactic acid, excess cholesterol, fat deposit, dead tissue and accumulated chemical toxins in the body.

Regulating (1 - 12 months)
During this process, many reactions will be observed. Do not be alarmed as this signifies that the body is undergoing a healing process.

Building - Recovery (6 - 24 months)
Ganoderma continues to strengthens the immune system, and also supplies essential elements and vitamins.

Rejuvenating (1 - 3 years)
The ultimate aim in consuming Ganoderma is to maintain body functions at its optimum level and stay healthy.

ATLCoffeeHouse.com

The information contained on atlcoffeehouse blog should not be used to alter, or used as a substitute for medical therapy without your doctor's advice. For some specific health problems consult your doctor for advice and guidance.

What A Happy Girl I Am!

2010-07-11T10:06:00.001-07:00

This is the third time I have followed this program in approximately 8 years, so far, all three times with success as I desire it.

I started the program this time, as I have a new job and my eating habits became abhorring. I was running through fast food windows and snacking without thought. I not only wanted to cleanse my body of the bad habits I had adapted, but the anticipated and known weight loss was also going to be a great benefit!

I started on a Sunday to jump start my week. I was completely faithful to my "bags of food", as I call it, and the Hydra water. Right from the beginning, on Monday morning, my digestive tract knew I was on a different food program. This continued through Wednesday, if you know what I mean. Initially, as I knew I would, I felt tired and lethargic. Tuesday and Wednesday I had to take a caffeine pill while driving long distance (for my job). Thursday night I came home from work with the start of a significant headache. I took my Excedrin and went to bed.

By Friday I was feeling really good! I was really proud of myself for being faithful to the program. I knew, from experience, I had been through the "tough part". My energy level began to sore. I had worked through the periods of hunger and now was able to eat just enough to be satisfied and it felt good. Now would be a good time to note that I really find the food tasty and satisfying. I am pleased to see the new version of the Veggilicious SPICE. This really enhances that product that, to me, not very interesting.

I made it through my first weekend and was really proud of myself as that is the time for socials, cocktail hours, etc. I kept thinking, just 13 days.

The scales started to tip virtually immediately! By Tuesday the scale tipped by three pounds. By the first weekend, six. By the end of the 13 days, 10! I had fun going to my closet and trying on shorts that I knew to be a bit tight when I started.

Into the second week, I added berries, fresh veggies (as a salad with olive oil/balsamic vinegar), and nuts. I ate all natural almonds, peanuts and walnuts. I really liked the variety it allowed and I felt like I was still on program. The results continued!

My program Tri-athalon ended on July 4th weekend, but it made me very conscientious at the holiday BBQ's, I have decided to continue with the program with the extra program food and continue to supplement with fruit, veggies and nuts. So, I am 17 days in, 10 lbs lighter, tummy noticeably flatter, eating habits seemingly under control.

What a happy girl I am! And, a fun note, based on how expressive and happy I have been on the program, a girlfriend of mine ordered the 7 day program to test for herself. Her initial reports, "going well".

Maggie Stewart - Richmond, VA

WholeFood Farmacy - Click Here

Why More People Are Choosing Java Impact Coffee Over Name Brands!

2010-07-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

BENEFICIAL MUSHROOMS

We all love a cup of hot, delicious gourmet coffee. The aromatic aroma, the smooth warming taste – the happy, satisfying feeling your favorite brew gives you, it’s no wonder that coffee is the #1 daily beverage of choice for most of the people in the world! At Javafit, we found a way to make that great tasting cup of coffee even better and Java Impact was born! We blended the medicinal mushrooms that for thousands of years have been recognized for their power to improve health, vitality, and longevity. This is an important discovery to anyone who researches natural healing with the major hurdle being how to find high quality mushroom sources and incorporate them into a natural daily diet.

When recent studies were published revealing the exciting new health benefits of drinking coffee, a few companies were enamored with the idea of combining the important healing benefits of mushrooms with the healing and endurance discoveries of coffee. This led to the creation of Ganoderma and Reishi enhanced coffees. The major challenge to what seemed a certain path to success: the taste. Those initial mushroom coffees had little regard for the rich, full-bodied experience of a delicious home brew and instead left people dissatisfied with the watered down blandness of an average instant coffee, or worse, with a bitter taste in their mouths commonly associated with Reishi mushrooms. It seemed that coffee t hat was good for you would never taste like good coffee to you. Until Java Impact.

PREMIUM ORGANIC COFFEE ENRICHED WITH 14 BENEFICIAL MUSHROOMS

Until Javafit, creating a truly healthy coffee WITHOUT sacrificing delicious full bodied taste, was an exercise in futility. But now, with Java Impact, - the first and only premium organic gourmet brewed coffee that has all the benefits of a potent mushroom blend, you have the perfect marriage: healthy non bitter mushrooms and all the flavor and taste of world class gourmet coffee.

JAVA IMPACT - THE ONE AND ONLY

Our organic coffee beans are roasted and then infused with a healthy full spectrum powdered extract of 14 beneficial organic mushrooms – making our natural coffee the only gourmet blend on the market!

In addition to a full range of complete mushroom benefits , including the potent immune enhancing benfits of beta glucans, our mushroom extract is also alkaline based which, as many scientists are now discovering, counteracts the harmful effects of acidity and provides a healthy living environment for your cells.

THE BEST TASTING COFFEE IN THE WORLD TODAY.

This is because Java Impact is unlike any other coffee you have ever tried... We begin with the finest green certified organic Arabica coffee beans, grown in nutrient-rich soil on natural farms without the use of pesticides, artificial fertilizers or other chemicals. We then take these premium organic beans and hand roast them in small batches to perfection.

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

The customer feedback we are receiving is absolutely amazing. Our lines are buzzing with reports of increased energy, elevated moods, enhanced stamina, reduced stress sensitivity, weight loss and even lower blood sugar. We are also hearing comments line: “it made me feel great”! “It made me feel like I can tackle anything”! “It gave me a beautiful sense of calm and well being.” And even, “this is happy coffee!” Many also report that Javafit Impact helped them sleep! One person called it “better energy and better sleep, all in one cup!”

For ordering and more of JavaFit products CLICK HERE

Free to Enjoy Coffee again! Make any coffee stomach-friendly!

2010-07-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

Naturally Reduce the Acidic Effects of Any Coffee

If you like coffee, you’ll love your favorite coffee with JAVAcid! Specifically formulated to remain flavor neutral, giving you all the enjoyment of your favorite cup without the miserable side effects—heartburn, indigestion or sour stomach.

You don’t have to limit yourself to using home brewed low acid coffee like Hevla Coffee, Simply Smooth or Puroast.

Right out of the packet, Patent JAVAcid powder has a natural, earthy aroma and taste, but combined with coffee the flavors neutralize, leaving nothing but great coffee flavor.

Any Coffee Drink —Anytime!

You can drink the same coffee as your co-workers, drink your favorite blend at Starbucks, enjoy any coffee, anytime! Use JAVAcid in all your favorite coffee drinks—brewed or french press coffee, cappuccino, latte, mocha or just a straight shot of espresso.

That’s what makes JAVAcid the preferred solution for people who love to drink any coffee anytime, at home or on the go, without stomach upset.

Regulating Digestive Health For Your Active Lifestyle

In addition to reducing stomach acid, the ingredients in JAVAcid like DGL and two kinds of fiber naturally improve intestinal flora and when taken for 14 days may improve overall digestive health and regularity. You can use zero-calorie JAVAcid in place of high calorie, less portable digestive health foods like Kraft LiveActive cheese, cottage cheese or Activia yogurt.

JAVAcid comes in small, convenient, zero calorie packets that you can carry in your pocket or purse, so you can use it anytime, anywhere, with any coffee beverage. Just sprinkle, stir and enjoy!

Enjoy your favorite cup of joe anytime and anywhere with JAVAcid!

Click Here for more info and to Order!

Groundbreaking Health Documentary

2010-07-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

Is it possible to stop getting sick and reverse chronic illness?

Imagine what you can accomplish if you were free of physical setbacks and full of productive energy?

I have just finished watching a documentary film that brings together everything I've known or been taught about health, sickness, and the how to treat chronic illness. Everything I saw shocked me in a good way and sparked a change in my lifestyle.

You can watch the trailer online now. http://twurl.cc/3139

You can view the wholefood selections here. http://twurl.cc/313a

The film discusses Cancer, Heart Disease, Depression, Anxiety, Weight Loss, Detoxification and what you can do today to improve your health.

The film features experts from across the globe on Nutrition, Raw Food, Superfoods, Supplementation, The Heatlhcare Industry and Natural Cures.

We all know that robust health and immunity correlates with a life of greater abundance, wealth, and happiness but with so much conflicting information out there it is hard to know where to start.

This film cuts through the mass of information our there today on Nutrition and Natural Healing and presents it all in an easy to understand format leaving you ready to take steps to improve the quality of your health and life today.

Don't miss this life transforming documentary. http://twurl.cc/3139

Don't miss these life changing foods. You can view the wholefood selections here. http://twurl.cc/313a

In GREAT HEALTH!

A Must See Documentary Film on Food & You!

2010-06-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

Let's take small steps towards a healthier life and a healthier you!
Find answers to your questions about a natural approach to Weight Loss, Detoxification, Diabetes, Cancer, Heart Disease, Depression and more. It’s not as hard as you think!

We here at Food Matters are committed to helping you help yourself. We believe that your body is worthy of good care and that no one is more suitably qualified to care for it than yourself.

Get Your Life and Health on the Right Track TODAY!

Click Here to get Started NOW!

Click Here for the AWESOME FOOD SELECTIONS!

The SECRET to Coffee's Belly Fat-Busting Powers!

2010-06-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

Coffee: The World's Best-Kept Weight Loss Secret!

It's summer: time to shed those pesky winter pounds and get out in the sun for some high-energy fun! Now, everybody wants to lose a little weight before they hit the beach; but did you know that the secret to a slimmer and healthier you is as easy as drinking your favorite ATLCoffeeHouse coffee drinks?

Loads of recent research suggest that drinking a few cups of coffee a day can lead to dramatic results for your waistline. In fact, some researchers are even saying that a few cup of black coffee -- iced or hot -- is better for your body, mind, and weight loss goals than those expensive dietary supplements all the celebrities are hawking nowadays!

So, what's the secret to coffee's belly fat-busting powers?

1. COFFEE IS A GREAT APPETITE SUPPRESSANT! Because of its caffeine content, a cup of coffee can help quell your desire for a midday snack. The caffeine in coffee curbs your appetite, while the delicious taste satisfies your taste buds. Good-bye candy bar, hello coffee break!

2. COFFEE IS LOW-CAL! In an article about the best beverages for weight loss, Yahoo! Health writer David Zinczenko tells us that a regular cup of coffee -- even with sugar and cream -- is almost 200 calories less than a fancy blended coffee drink.

3. COFFEE KICK-STARTS YOUR METABOLISM! That's right -- the caffeine in coffee is a great way to raise your basal metabolic rate on a daily basis, leading you to burn more calories even when not engaged in physical activity. Furthermore, the extra boost of energy -- especially the sustained boost from ATLCoffeeHouse's evolved products -- can lead to better, more vigorous work-outs!

Of course, all of these amazing benefits depend on choosing the right coffee. You won't see great weight loss results by slurping down expensive, high sugar caramel frappaspresso's or what-have-you; instead, opt for a cup of good, old black coffee, flavored conservatively to your tastes. And when it comes to black coffee, nothing beats Ganoderma Lucidum-enriched: the only truly evolved coffee on the market!

Mainstream Medicine Mad For Medicinal Mushrooms!

2010-06-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

Medicinal Mushrooms Gaining Steam in Mainstream Medicine!

If you're a ATLcoffeeHouse affiliate -- or one of our millions of happy customers -- you know all about the benefits and beauty of Ganoderma lucidum, the super-herb that enriches every single one of our products. But did you know the mainstream medical community is starting to embrace so-called "alternative" treatments, too?

In a recent interview with AllIndiaToday, Dr. R.D. Rai -- a renowned Indian Biochemist and researcher -- extols the benefits of wellness-boosting mushrooms (especially Ganoderma lucidum!) in traditional medicine.

"Mushrooms have been used as medicine by the Chinese and other East Asian cultures since time immemorial," says Dr. Rai. "Mushrooms are there in Chinese and Japanese systems of alternative medicine."

Dr. Rai has been studying medicinal mushrooms since 1997; that's 13 years of serious, institution-certified work, all dedicated to finding out how herbs like Ganoderma lucidum can help bolster "Western" treatments. And what has Dr. Rai found?

"[The most important] medicinal mushroom[s] in the world is Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) and its annual world trade is almost three billion US Dollars," says Dr. Rai.

It sounds like Dr. Rai's research has led him to the same conclusion as ATLCoffeeHouse's affiliates and customers: that Ganoderma lucidum is the single best solution for whole-person wellness and revitalization!

Like Dr. Rai, researchers in Thailand are rushing to find "microspecies" such as Ganoderma lucidum to treat a battery of illnesses that "traditional" medicines have so far failed to conquer. And at the forefront of this research is Dr. Supaporn Pitiporn of the Abhaibhubejhr Hospital.

"The benefits of fungi in particular are invaluable, used in many traditional healings, including detoxification, and as nutrient supplements," says Dr. Supaporn.

Dr. Supaporn particularly recommends Ganoderma lucidum "to delay tumour growth, as well as to stimulate the immune system."

With more and more so-called "traditional" doctors and researchers in other countries investigating medicinal mushrooms like Ganoderma lucidum, it's only a matter of time before Western practitioners get "into the game." What better time to get involved with and enjoy ATLCoffeeHouse, the world's top provider of the purest, most potent Gandoerma lucidum available today?

Cool Down With These Awesome Coffee Recipes!

2010-06-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

Cold coffee drinks have been steadily gaining in popularity over the last decade or so. In fact, it is likely that many of the younger coffee drinkers in the world first began their love affair with the beverage by way of a flavored cold coffee drink. So it makes perfect sense to serve some chilled varieties of healthy coffee products at your "Coffee Breaks." This will require a small amount of preparation on your part, but you certainly don't have to go to Barista School either. Here are a few easy ideas for serving some cold coffee beverages at your next event:

Iced Almond Coffee - Combine 2 cups of Ganoderma 2-in-1 Black Coffee, 2 cups of milk, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and a 1/2 tsp of almond extract, and serve over ice into 4 glasses.

Chocolate Iced Mocha – Combine Ganoderma Mocha and milk, serve over ice, top with whipped cream and chocolate syrup!

Blended Mocha – Combine equal parts Ganoderma Mocha, milk, and ice into a blender and blend until smooth. Top with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

Iced Latte – Pour Labae 3-in-1 over ice! (It doesn't get easier than that!)

Those are just a few examples to get you started; you're really only limited by your imagination. So the next time that you are conducting a "Coffee Break," by all means, break out the iced tea to help cool down your visitors, but don't forget about the iced coffee… chances are some of your guests may already be craving it!

We would for you to share your coffee beverage delights!

Why Positive Thinking Is Bad For You!

2010-03-30T12:06:00.001-07:00

Positive thinking is so firmly enshrined in our culture that knocking it is a little like attacking motherhood or apple pie. Many persons swear by positive thinking and quite a few have been helped by it. Nevertheless, it is not a very effective tool and can be downright harmful in some cases. There are much better ways to get the benefits that positive thinking allegedly provides.

Perhaps the statement that best exemplifies positive thinking is "When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade." It seems so self-evident that this is a good thing that we never question the wisdom of the adage. But it does not take a whole lot of digging to unearth the flaws in this reasoning.

First, did fate really hand you a lemon or was this merely your initial, unthinking response? Second, is a lemon really a bad thing, something that you would rather not have, but now that you do have it you will somehow salvage something by making lemonade? Finally, it is quite stressful to be handed a lemon until such time as you figure out how to make lemonade. Do you really have to go through this phase?

Beware Labeling Things Good Or Bad

No matter what happens to us in life we tend to think of it as "good" or "bad". And most of us tend to use the "bad" label three to ten times as often as the "good" label. And when we say something is bad, the odds grow overwhelming that we will experience it as such. And that is when we need positive thinking. We have been given something bad, a real lemon, and we better scramble and make some lemonade out of it and salvage something out of this "bad" situation.

How tiring and tiresome!

Blessings In Disguise

Now think back on your own life. Can you recall instances of something that you initially thought was a bad thing that turned out to be not so bad after all or perhaps even a spectacularly good thing? Like the time you just missed a train and had to wait a whole hour for the next one and it was horrible except that your neighbor also missed it so you talked for the first time and a beautiful friendship developed. You will find many instances in your life, some of them very significant such as the job you desperately wanted but didn't get only to find that a much better one came by and you would not have been able to accept it if not for the earlier rejection.

Drop The Labels

Now lets propose something radical and revolutionary. Lets propose that, no matter what happens to you, you do not stick a bad thing label on it. No matter what. You are fired from your job…your mortgage lender sends you a foreclosure notice . . . your spouse files for divorce . . . or whatever. This seems so far-fetched as to be laughable. Of course these are horrible tragedies and terrible things to happen. Or are they? Is it possible, just possible, that you have been conditioned to think of these happenings as unspeakable tragedies and hence experience them as such?

Viktor Frankl in his book Man's Search for Meaning narrates the tale of the beautiful girl of privilege who was grateful to be in a concentration camp because she was able to connect with a spiritual side of her that she never knew existed. Observations like this led Frankl into his life's work of determining why, when faced with extreme adversity, some persons positively flourish while others disintegrate.

Many who rise so triumphantly never label what they go through as bad and lament over it. They simply take it as a given as if they were a civil engineer surveying the landscape through which a road is to be built. In this view, a swamp is not a bad thing. It is merely something that has to be addressed in the construction plan.

Why You Don't Need Positive Thinking

And if you never label something as bad, then you don't need positive thinking and all of the stress associated with getting something bad and experiencing it as such till you figure out how to make lemonade out of it simply goes away.

That is the huge pebble in the positive thinking shoe. "This is bad. Really bad. It's a lemon. But somehow I will make some lemonade out of it and then perhaps it won't be so bad." First you think its bad and then you think you will somehow make it less bad and there is a strong undercurrent that you are playing games and kidding yourself. Some people succeed. Many don't. And those who don't are devastated that the model they were trying so hard to build caved in on them. That's why positive thinking can sometimes be harmful.

Changing Your Labeling Mindset

Can you actually go through life without labeling what happens to you as good or bad? Sure you can. You have to train yourself to do this. You have been conditioned to think of things as bad or good. You can de-condition yourself. It is neither easy nor fast but it is possible.

Lets say you break your leg. There is stuff you have to do like go to an orthopedist and get it set and go to therapy when the cast comes off. But all the rest of the stuff you pick up "Why did this have to happen to me? Bad things always come my way. I am in such pain. Who will hold the world up now that I am disabled?" is simply baggage. You don't have to pick up this load and the only reason you do is because you were never told that you didn't have to.

I am telling you now. Don't pick up that useless burden. Don't label what happens to you as bad. Then you won't need positive thinking and much of the stress in your life will simply disappear. Poof! Just like that.

by: Dr. Srikumar Rao

9 Foods that will Help You Fight Stress

2010-03-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

Chowing down on eats that tame hunger and reduce anxiety

Eat It to Beat It
Today with such a fast paced society, high employment rates, prices spiraling out of control, there are many reasons to be stressed and to have anxiety. So many people turn to drugs (legal and recreational) as well as alcohol to combat and deal with stress. There are natural ways to combat stress, such a exercise, and other activities. But the right (healthy!) foods can often help tame mindless munching and cravings and, better yet, actually lower overall anxiety and its symptoms. Nine of our favorites:

Dark Chocolate
High in flavonoids, which are lauded for their relaxing properties (chamomile tea is another great source), chocolate also contains phenethylamine, a chemical that enhances your mood. The darker the chocolate, the more healthy substances you're getting in your diet, so look for bars that are 70 percent cacao or higher.

Skim Milk
Turns out that a glass of warm milk really is calming. One study found that women who drank four or more servings of lowfat or skim milk every day were about half as likely to experience stress-related PMS symptoms than those who drank less than one serving a week.

Oatmeal
Carbs help you produce serotonin, a calming hormone that helps fight anxiety's negative effects-which is probably why many of us crave them when we're stressed. Go with the craving and choose healthy sources. Oatmeal is high in fiber, which means that your body will absorb it slowly. In one fell swoop, you'll prolong the serotonin boost, keeping yourself feeling full for longer (and on less) and making sure your blood sugar's in check.

Salmon
Research shows that omega-3 fatty acids-abundant in fish like salmon-can help reverse stress symptoms by boosting serotonin levels, and that an omega-3-rich diet can also help suppress the production of the anxiety hormones cortisol and adrenaline.

Walnuts
They've been shown to help lower blood pressure, which is critical for those whose hearts are already working overtime thanks to high adrenaline levels. In fact, research so strongly backs their health benefits that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration goes so far as to recommend 1 1/2 oz per day.

Sunflower Seeds
A good source of folate, which helps your body produce a pleasure-inducing brain chemical called dopamine.

Spinach
Studies show that magnesium, which you'll find in leafy greens like spinach, improves your body's response to stress.

Blueberries
Their antioxidants counteract the effects of stress hormones like cortisol on your body.

Reishi Mushroom
This mushroom is said to reduce anxiety and calm the nervous system. More information on the reishi mushroom can be found by clicking here.

STAY HEALTHY MY FRIENDS!

ATLCoffeeHouse.com

How To Maximize The Benefits Of Water On The Human Body

2010-03-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

Correct timing to take water, will maximize its effectiveness to Human body.

Two (02) glass of water - After waking up - Helps activate internal organs

One (01) glasses of water - 30 minutes before meal - Help digestion

One (01) glass of water - Before taking a bath - Helps lower blood pressure

One (01) glass of water - Before sleep - To avoid stroke or heart attack

Please pass this to the people you know & care about......

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Man's Best Friend the K9 Can Now Benefit From Our Healthy Products

2010-03-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

FIDO ROLLS OVER, BEGS FOR GANODERMA HEALTHY PRODUCTS!

Want a super-pooch to beat all super-pooches? Share Ganoderma lucidum with your dog!

Sometimes, you just have to say "Wow – how can one little mushroom do so much?!"

We had that moment the other day, when a friend told us cutting-edge veterinarians are recommending Ganoderma lucidum as part of your pup's daily diet!

University of Florida Veterinary Scholar Dr. R.M. Clemmons suggests in his article "Integrative Treatment of Cancer in Dogs" shoring up Lassie's immune system with regular doses of Ganoderma lucidum, the powerful little 'shroom that enriches all our Gano Excel products!

In addition to Ganoderma's seeming positive effects in fighting canine diseases, Dr. Clemmons also suggests Ganoderma for improving your pup's immune and digestive systems, and providing them more energy for their doggy day.

Reports are inconclusive concerning Ganoderma's ability to stop those, eh, "messes" on the kitchen floor – but hey, you never know!)

Blogger Jennifer Gittins over at eHow also offers ideas for enriching your woofer's diet with Ganoderma lucidum in her article "Reishi Mushroom Treatments for Canines". According to Ms. Gittins and Dr. Clemmons, your doggy's dosage should be:

* 1/4 human dosage for small breeds
* 1/2 human dosage for medium breeds
* 1 full human dosage for large breeds

As with anything you'd put in your own body, make sure to consult a doggy doctor before you introduce our healthy mushroom products into Bowser's food bowl!

So, next time you send Lassie out to pull Timmy from the well, make sure she's got her collar, injections, and enough Gano for her and the kids. Is there anything this awesome mushroom can't do?

KEEPING YOUR K9 FRIEND HEALTHY TOO!

ATLCoffeeHouse.com

Can Ganotherapy Help You? Find Out!

2010-02-07T15:01:00.000-08:00

Let us see if Ganoderma which has been discribed as the "miracle herb" can help you with your health regime.

Ganoderma is a type of mushroom that has been know to the far east for thousands of years for its meraculous medicinal properties.

These mushrooms are regarded as "Spirit Medicine" by the Chinese as they are among the most powerful herbs in Asia.

Chinese medicine has used Ganoderma for over 4000 years and was highly prized as an elixir of immortality.

Research has been done by both Chinese and Western scholars in recent years and with analysis and clinical experiments done by colleges, hospitals and pharmaceutical manufacturers its potency is finally coming to light.

So how can Ganoderma help you?

Well here is a list of what Ganoderma can do for you!

* It an anti-inflammatory
* detixicant
* diuretic
* liver protector
* increases energy levels
* intestine regulator
* increases libido
* helps with sleep disorders
* cardiotonic
* blood pressure
* antitussive
* hemocatheresisis and expectorant
* tranquillizer
* helps protect against tumor activity

Ganoderma is a traditional tonic used to nourish,tonify and supplement the whole body as it removes toxins and disperses accumulation.

It has even been know to help some people with hair regeneration!

Ganoderma has also been know to re-activate the pancreas to secrete insulin in some type 2 diabetes sufferers.

Ganoderma can also function as an insulin. Whereas taking insulin ordinarily will not do this and in fact may accelerate the aging of the organ. Ganoderma will help retard its ageing with no adverse side affects.

Ganoderma contains a veritable pharmacy of substances which can also help with the immune system by enhancing production of antibodies,T-cell,macrophages which are the bodies most powerful defense against cancer.

Scientific evidence shows that Ganoderma counteracts damage caused to the immune system by radiation therapy including anti-tumor activity. It protects bone marrow cells against free radicals generatged by X-rays.

Ganoderma can be taken long term without any side effects.

So to answer the question "Can it help you?"

Without a doubt we believe it can help you as part of an overall health plan along with diet and exercise.

Ganotherapy. Is It Right For You?

Try some TODAY! ATLCoffeeHouse.com

A New Perspective On The 'Food Pyramid'

2010-02-03T16:07:00.000-08:00

The Honest Food Guide (HFG) is:
Free from the corruption and influence of various food industries (dairy, beef, junk foods, etc.)
Designed to benefit you, not Big Business.
Offers genuine nutritional information, not watered-down information designed to boost the sale of milk, beef and grains

A U.S. District Court judge ruled last week that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) violated federal laws when they selected individuals with known financial ties to various food industries to serve as members to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. This group was in charge of drawing up the latest nutritional guidelines that comprise the USDA's "Food Pyramid".

In addition to its educational purpose, the pyramid also serves as a basis for all federally funded food programs in the United States.

The research and advocacy group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) had filed the lawsuit in December, 2000.

PCRM asserts that the current food pyramid is unhealthy because it promotes the consumption of meat, eggs and dairy as part of the daily diet.

They also maintain that it is racially biased since nonwhite races are more likely to be lactose intolerant and some are more susceptible to diet-related chronic illnesses including heart disease, stroke, hypertension, obesity, diabetes and certain types of cancer.

As a matter of fact, several groups and people within the African-American community openly supported PCRM's lawsuit, including the NAACP, former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, Martin Luther King, III, and Muhammad Ali.

Source: www.mercola.com

HONEST FOOD PYRAMID - Download the Honest Food Guide Here or visit their website here: http://www.honestfoodguide.org/

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STAY HEALTHY MY FRIENDS!

Taking small steps towards a Healthier Life and a Healthier You!

2010-01-28T20:59:00.000-08:00

Let's take small steps towards a healthier life and a healthier you!
Food can be your best friend! Discover how you can Detox, Lose Weight, Reverse Diabetes, Conquer Cancer, Beat Heart Disease, Ditch Depression and more using a nutritional approach. It’s not as hard as you think!

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Instinct Based Medicine: How to SURVIVE Your ILLNESS and Your Doctor

2010-01-25T10:03:00.001-08:00

Instinct Based Medicine: How to SURVIVE Your ILLNESS and Your Doctor.

Leading Patient Advocate. Expert on cancer and stress related illnesses - Formerly general physician, NMD, PhD, CNHP - Leading health, motivation and success researcher - Consultant and trainer for many companies, organizations, medical institutions, politicians, top athletes and business executives - Founder of the "Modern Therapy Centers" and the "Foundation for Crime and Drug Free Schools and Health for Children". Dr. Coldwell is also President of the World Wellness Organization.

Dr. Leonard Coldwell is one of the most endorsed holistic and alternative doctor. His curing rate for so called incurable diseases in Europe is legendary. After sixteen years as a General Practitioner in Europe, Dr. Coldwell left general practice to concentrate on his applied research in stress and stress related diseases, with particular emphasis on cancer and other so called incurable diseases.

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A cup of confusion: Is coffee healthy or not?

2010-01-24T15:44:00.000-08:00

New studies suggest java helps protect against major diseases

By Karen Collins, R.D.
Special to msnbc.com

Considering all the past concern about possible health risks from drinking coffee, newer reports of coffee's possible protective effects may leave many people confused.

Overall, recent studies suggest that coffee (regular and decaffeinated) may offer a variety of health benefits against diseases such as cancer and diabetes. However, coffee may not deserve a place in the same category with other healthful foods like vegetables, fruits and whole grains.

Laboratory studies suggest that the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant compounds in coffee could help reduce risk of cancer. Coffee also has a tendency to speed the passage of waste through the digestive tract. Potentially, this may lessen the time that cancer-causing compounds spend in contact with the intestinal tract, which could
reduce the risk of colon cancer. Population studies, however, tend to split between coffee intake having no effect on or reducing risk of breast and colon cancer.

Diabetes prevention
The case for coffee's ability to protect against diabetes is strengthened by several recent studies. In the Iowa Women's Health Study, more than 28,000 women were followed for 11 years. The women who drank four or more cups of coffee daily were about 20 percent less likely to develop diabetes. That became a 30 to 40 percent drop among those who drank decaf coffee.

A study in Finland linked consumption of three to six cups of coffee per day with a 25 percent lower risk of diabetes. In both studies, benefits were seen after adjusting for other diabetes risks, such as weight, diet, and activity level. Several studies now link moderate coffee consumption with lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Researchers are working to understand the potential advantage of decaf versus regular coffee and how weight control is involved.

Potential increased risk of high blood pressure and heart disease has been one of the long-standing concerns about coffee. Recent studies confirm that caffeine can raise blood pressure, but this effect is observed with soft drinks, not coffee. Laboratory studies suggest that perhaps coffee's healthful compounds can counterbalance
the blood-pressure raising effects of caffeine.

In the Iowa Women's Health Study noted above, four to five cups of coffee a day were linked with a 19 percent lower risk of heart-related death. Other studies have found no effect of coffee consumption on heart disease risk. But people should follow their doctor's advice.

Before you drink a whole pot ...
Coffee does warrant some cautions, however. Both regular and decaf coffee relax the muscle that keeps stomach acids from rising into the throat, so those with heartburn or reflux disease (GERD) are encouraged to avoid or strictly limit coffee. People with trouble sleeping should limit or avoid caffeinated coffee.

Studies now suggest it is unnecessary for pregnant women to completely avoid caffeinated coffee. Until the impact of caffeine is more clearly understood, however, many experts suggest that pregnant women limit their daily caffeine from coffee, soft drinks and other sources to about 300 mg, the equivalent of three cups of regular
coffee.

It's exciting that something as simple as drinking coffee might help lower our risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. However, while brewed coffee (not freeze dried) is a concentrated source of antioxidants, it can't be a substitute for berries, legumes, nuts, and other fruits and vegetables that provide antioxidants along with a wide range of vitamins, protective compounds and dietary fiber.

Nutrition Notes is provided by the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C.

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive

90 DAYS TO WELLNESS DAY 13: Garlic & Your Heart

2010-01-22T21:48:00.001-08:00

A new study just released in the Oct. 16th , 2007 issue of the prestigious medical journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that garlic causes red blood cells to release hydrogen sulfide in the body thereby causing blood vessels to relax.

When blood vessels relax, they become larger and are able to carry more blood and more oxygen to the brain and other important parts of the body. Blood pressure also comes down when blood vessels relax. It is well known that high blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, so this newly discovered health benefit of garlic, once again, is an example of modern day researchers confirming the wisdom of the ancients. Garlic has been used for medicinal purposes throughout all of recorded history.

The lead researcher is Biology professor David Kraus from the University of Alabama. He said that there is also another study in progress that shows "sulfide can protect from cardiovascular damage during a heart attack, it can alleviate various sorts of inflammation, and it can reduce platelet aggregation that would cause a blood clot to form".

When you eat garlic, your body metabolizes garlic's active ingredient, allicin, and produces hydrogen sulphide. The hydrogen sulphide then signals your blood vessels to relax, increasing blood flow, reducing blood pressure and supporting heart health.

You can find garlic in many of your favorite foods such as Corn of Plenty, Veggielicious Spice, V-8 Creamy Bean Soup, V-10 Creamy Yam Soup and V-12 Creamy Vegetable Soup.

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STAY HEALTHY MY FRIENDS!

90 DAYS TO WELLNESS DAY 12: A Woman's Heart

2010-01-22T21:41:00.001-08:00

Amazing new research was published in the October 2007 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. This new study shows that women who eat a healthy diet, drink moderate amounts of alcohol, are physically active, maintain a healthy weight and do not smoke have a significantly reduced risk of heart attack - a reduced risk of up to 92 percent!

Dr. Agneta Akesson, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, and colleagues identified dietary patterns in 24,444 postmenopausal women by analyzing food frequency questionnaires, on which the women supplied information about how often they ate 96 common foods.

The low-risk lifestyle, characterized by a high intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fish and legumes, in combination with moderate alcohol consumption, not smoking, maintaining the proper weight and being physically active was associated with 92 percent decreased risk compared with findings in women without any low-risk diet and lifestyle factors.

Several components of fruits, vegetables and whole grains such as fiber, antioxidant vitamins and minerals, have been associated with a reduced risk for coronary heart disease, the researchers note. In addition, previous studies have found beneficial effects of small amounts of alcohol in preventing the buildup of plaque in the arteries, which could help prevent heart attacks. "The combined benefit of diet, lifestyle, and healthy body weight may prevent more than three of four cases of heart attack in our study population," Dr. Akesson and colleagues report.

We make it easy and convenient for you to enjoy the benefits of a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and dietary fiber.

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STAY HEALTHY MY FRIENDS!

90 DAYS TO WELLNESS DAY 11: Apple Juice

2010-01-22T21:35:00.000-08:00

When it comes to apple juice, "cloudier" may mean healthier, according to a study published in January 2007, in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

In a head-to-head comparison of apple juices, Polish researchers found that pulpy, non-clarified juice carried a greater antioxidant punch than clear juice. Antioxidants are compounds that neutralize free radicals, molecules that can damage body cells and contribute to disease.

Unlike cloudy apple juice, the much more common clear variety undergoes additional processing to remove any apple solids. Manufacturers typically think the public will favor the more attractive, clear juice over its cloudy cousin, and retailers prefer the clear variety for its longer shelf life.

But the new findings suggest that health-conscious consumers should reach for the cloudy variety, according to Dr. Jan Oszmianski, the study's lead author. "Cloudy apple juices contain much more antioxidant than clear," says Dr. Oszmianski, a researcher at the Agricultural University of Wroclaw.

In fact, Oszmianski's team found, cloudy juice packed up to four times the level of polyphenols, a group of antioxidant plant compounds. And in experiments, cloudy juice was the more effective free radical "scavenger," the researchers report in their findings.

In addition, Researchers at the University of California-Davis recently reported that apples and apple juice may help protect arteries from harmful plaque build-up. In the first study conducted in humans, adults who added two apples, or 12 ounces of 100% apple juice, to their daily diet demonstrated a significant slowing of the cholesterol oxidation process that leads to plaque build-up - thereby giving the body more time to rid itself of cholesterol before it can cause harm. Enjoy some apples or cloudy apple juice each day and keep the doctor away!

You can also find Apples in some of your favorite foods such as Fruitalicious, Fruitalicious Plus and Phi Plus. Have you, your family and your children had some apples or cloudy apple juice today?

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90 DAYS TO WELLNESS DAY 10: A Slice of Life

2010-01-22T21:30:00.001-08:00

These days, juicy, delicious oranges are practically synonymous with vitamin C. But did you know that America 's favorite fruit also provides healthful natural compounds called limonoids? In laboratory tests with animals and with human cells, citrus limonoids have been shown to help fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach, and colon.

Agricultural Research Service scientists in northern California led by chemist Gary D. Manners of the Western Regional Research Center in Albany have uncovered new details about these compounds. Their research has demonstrated that our bodies can readily access a limonoid called limonin, and all of its health-imparting properties, each time we bite into an orange. This is the first time that bioavailability has been shown in humans.

In some individuals, limonin remains in the bloodstream for up to 24 hours which is an impressive length of time. This longevity, or persistence, may help explain why limonoids fight the type of cancer cells which proliferate unless they are continuously suppressed.

A single orange provides 12.5% of the daily value for fiber, which has been shown to reduce high cholesterol levels and to prevent atherosclerosis. A single orange offers you over 170 different phytochemicals and more than 60 flavonoids, many of which have been shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and blood clot inhibiting properties, as well as strong antioxidant effects.

Although oranges are the major fruit in the citrus fruits group we shouldn't forget about the others such as Tangerines, Mandarines, Clementines , Satsumas, Lemons, Limes and Grapefruits.

Treat yourself and your children to a slice of life today!
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90 DAYS TO WELLNESS DAY 9: Go Nuts!

2010-01-22T21:26:00.001-08:00

Some fairly recent analyses of the Adventist Health Study findings showed a remarkable relationship between eating nuts and whole wheat bread, and experiencing a reduced risk for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). These findings were the subject of a research article submitted by Dr. Fraser and his colleagues to the Archives of Internal Medicine, and published in its July 1992 issue.

The most outstanding findings of this part of the overall study show that nut consumption reduces the risk of both fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease. Again, the researchers looked for a variety of ways to disprove the finding, adjusting the data for differences in age, sex, smoking habits, exercise, relative weight, and hypertension. The protective qualities of nuts remained statistically significant and essentially unchanged in magnitude.

Those individuals who ate nuts one to four times a week had 26% decrease in the risk of suffering from definite nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) and a 27% decrease in the risk of definite fatal coronary heart disease as compared to those who ate nuts less than once a week. However, those individuals who ate nuts five or more times a week had a 48% decrease in the risk of definite nonfatal heart attack and a 38% reduced risk of definite fatal CHD as compared to the group who ate nuts less than once a week.

Age- and sex-adjusted analyses of the associations between nut consumption and definite CHD were calculated for various subgroups within the Adventist Health Study. Results were examined to see if the association between nut consumption and CHD held up in different segments of the population. The consistency was quite remarkable and adds to the researchers' confidence in the importance of these findings.

Both "ever-smokers" and "never-smokers" showed a 46% decrease in the risk of coronary heart disease when they ate nuts five or more times a week. Study participants with normal blood pressure showed that eating nuts more than five times a week reduced their risk of coronary heart disease by 60% percent, and hypertensive individuals enjoyed a 30% decrease in risk compared to similar subjects who ate few nuts.

The next time you go to the grocery store, spend a few minutes looking at all of the different types of nuts and consider them in place of other processed food snacks such as potato chips and cheese puffs. You'll love them, your kids will love them and your whole family will be much better off. Now is the best time to put your kids on a path that leads to health, vitality, longevity and happiness.

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90 DAYS TO WELLNESS DAY 8: Teach Your Children Well

2010-01-22T21:14:00.001-08:00

Teaching children from a young age to eat healthy fats can have lifelong health benefits according to a new study published in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation in August, 2007.

The study focused on over one thousand children in Findland who were followed from the age of 7 months through age 14. The researchers found that children who were taught to focus on the healthy fats found in fish, nuts, seeds, and plant oils had slightly lower cholesterol levels compared to children who ate an unrestricted diet by the time they reached the age of 14.

Dr. Art Labovitz, cardiology director at Saint Louis University School of Medicine pointed out that even a small decrease in cholesterol levels can have a big influence over the course of your child's life. "If you study large numbers of people, the small increments result in a significant change in heart attacks and cardiac deaths," said Dr. Art Labovitz.

Dr. Harri Niinikoski, lead author of the study done at the University of Turku in Finland, said children begin forming their eating and lifestyle habits in childhood. "We think that this lifestyle change can be started early," he said.

Dr. Sarah Blumenschein, a pediatric cardiologist with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said the study shows that early intervention is the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. "The earlier you intervene, the more likely you are going to be successful," she said.

The key is to teach your children, starting as young as possible, to appreciate the healthy fats found in fish, nuts, seeds, and plant oils. By eating a little less meat and avoiding the saturated fats and trans fats which are in most processed foods, fast foods and junk foods - your children will lower their total fat intake and enjoy more of the benefits that healthy fats have to offer. As your children grow into their teens and begin eating more meals away from home, their healthy habits will guide them towards healthier food choices when unsupervised.

We encourage parents everywhere to read the nutrition information on the foods that their children eat. The healthy fats are listed as unsaturated fats, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The unhealthy fats are listed as saturated fats, partially hydrogenated oils, and trans fats.

Ourfoods are rich in heart healthy fats which are found in nuts, seeds, and plant oils - and these foods offer you a wonderful way to encourage healthy eating habits with your children starting at a young age.

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90 DAYS TO WELLNESS DAY 7: The Power Of Healthy Living

2010-01-22T21:09:00.001-08:00

Dr. Dana King and his team of researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina have just completed a very inspirational study. Dr. King and his team set out to find if middle-aged adults could reap the rewards of habits like eating vegetables and walking 30 minutes a day.

The researchers reported in June 2007 that middle-aged adults age 45 to 64 who began eating five or more fruits and vegetables every day, exercising for at least 2 1/2 hours a week, keeping weight down and not smoking decreased their risk of heart disease by 35 percent and risk of death by 40 percent in the four years after they started.

"The adopters of a healthy lifestyle basically caught up. Within four years, their mortality rate and rate of heart attacks matched the people who had been doing these behaviors all along," said Dr. Dana King at the Medical University of South Carolina, who led the research. Dr. King added "even if you have not had a healthy lifestyle previously, it's not too late to adopt those healthy lifestyle habits and gain almost immediate benefits."

The four key habits are eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables everyday, exercising for 2 ½ hours per week, not smoking and maintaining a healthy weight. The study participants who adopted all four healthy habits enjoyed a sharp decline in heart disease risk and in death from any cause.

It took all four -- having just three of the healthy habits yielded no heart benefits and a more modest decrease in overall risk of death. Still, said Dr. Nichola Davis at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, "These benefits are on a continuum. The more of the healthy habits that you can adapt, the better. ...These are modest changes that they're talking about."

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90 DAYS TO WELLNESS DAY 6: Spice It Up!

2010-01-22T20:57:00.000-08:00

New research shows that herbs and spices also pack a powerful punch when it comes to antioxidants. A USDA study looked at nearly 40 common herbs and spices to test their antioxidant activity. Oregano emerged as the leader of the pack.

Researchers found that oregano has 3 to 20 times more antioxidant activity than the other herbs studied. In fact, it has more than many fruits and vegetables. Oregano has 42 times more antioxidant activity than apples, 30 times more than potatoes, 12 times more than oranges and 4 times more than blueberries. But that's not the only herb or spice that can improve your health. Dill, thyme, sage, rosemary, ginger and even peppermint have high antioxidant levels too.

The main ingredient in curry is turmeric, from which a spice called Curcumin is derived. Dr. Sally Frautschy, Ph.D., is a researcher from UCLA who has done extensive testing on Curcumin. She says that "we accidentally found out that it blocks every single step in Alzheimer's pathogenesis and it kills nearly every cancer cell in the lab." In India, curry is part of the staple diet; they also
have the lowest rates of Alzheimer's disease in the world.

Marcia Herrin, R.D., a nutritionist at the Dartmouth Medical School says "practically every herb and spice that's been studied has some health benefit," herbs and spices are loaded with antioxidants, but we may not be getting those benefits as much as we could. Herrin says Americans don't use many herbs and spices compared to the rest of the world.

Researchers also say that many of these antioxidants in herbs and spices are only absorbed by the body when they're eaten with fat, so recipes that include good fats to help your body to absorb and use the antioxidants.

You favorite foods are rich in a wide array of spices and combined with good fats from nuts and seeds so that your body will get the most benefit from all of the antioxidants that spices have to offer.

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SCHOKOLADE IS "PARENT'S FIRST CHOICE" FOR HEALTHIER, HAPPIER KIDS!

2010-01-22T20:22:00.000-08:00

We all know kids think Gano Schokolade is great - but did you know it's also great for them?

That's right: every packet of this belly-warming, chocolatey family favorite is packed with vital nutrients and focus-boosting "brain foods" that make it a "hit" for kids' health: body and mind!

So, why should you make Gano Schokolade a regular part of your child's diet?

NO CAFFEINE! Unlike other hot chocolates, Schokolade is 100% caffeine-free. Numerous studies indicate that children's intake of caffeine should be strictly limited to no more than 45mg/day (if that). Wouldn't it be great if you could satisfy your kid's sweet-tooth without sugary, caffeine-packed cocoas?

POWER OF EXCELLIUM! On his recent trip to the States, our company's founder Mr. Leow Soon Seng confirmed that Gano Schokolade contains Excellium, a potent health-boosting formula made from the mycelium of Ganoderma lucidum. Mycelium is classed as a top-flight "brain food," special edibles that boost mental activity and focus, because of its high-concentration of polysaccharides. Who ever heard of a cocoa that might help your kid achieve even more!

MAKE NUTRIENTS GO FURTHER! The same mycelium that gives Schokolade its brain-boosting power may also help your kids absorb nutrients better! Unlike your old cocoa - all junk, no food - Schokolade helps the nutrients in your kid's other food do more. Imagine pairing a cup of Schokolade with a packet of Gano Spirulina C'Real Oats for your child's breakfast: that's a powerhouse combo that can't be beat!

Oh, and Schokolade just happens to contain a gram less sugar than standard grocery store cocoa! No caffeine and less sugar means calmer kids...and makes Gano Schokolade a parent's best friend for those long winter "inside days"!

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How much of Ganoderma Healthy Coffees & Teas are OKAY?

2010-01-21T10:54:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been worried that you're consuming too much Ganoderma? Are you holding back on that third cup of Ganoderma Coffee or Tea today because the saying "too much of a good thing" just passed through your head? Well, our Customer Care team can attest that you're definitely not alone in this line of thinking as they field numerous calls each week, from people raising the same concern. How much Ganoderma is okay?

As you may know, Ganoderma exhibits itself amongst a unique classification of natural substances called "adaptogens". Coined in the late 1940's, the term adaptogen describes any number of "plant-derived agents that help to adapt the body or protect it from stress". These agents must be non-toxic, produce a non-specific response in the body, and possess a normalizing influence on physiology to fit this classification. But unlike other medicinal herbs, these adaptogens (also referred to as 'tonic herbs') do not show a decrease in effectiveness when consumed daily or on a frequent basis. Many experts suggest that incorporating adaptogenic substances into your regular diet actually helps the body build-up defenses against any number of stressors it might encounter.

Respected author and physician Dr. Andrew T. Weil addressed this topic in a recent posting on his web site. Dr. Weil, who is believed to be one of the founding fathers of "integrative medicine" (an ideology promoting the fusion of mainstream and alternative medicine into one), discusses how Ginseng and Ganoderma are two adaptogens he frequently recommends to patients. Wouldn't it be interesting to see what Dr. Weil thinks of Gano Excel's Tongkat Ali, which contains both Ginseng and Ganoderma? We can just hear him now... "It's like a cornucopia of adaptogenic superstars".

As with almost everything in life, the practice of moderation is always recommended and results with any product will vary from person to person. Only your trials will tell you what your personal thresholds are with any given product, so obviously let your body be the guide. Just know that Ganoderma is among the elite group of adaptogenic substances that are safe to consume consistently and rarely lose their effectiveness in your body over time. With that, you really should have that third cup of Mocha today... you know you want to!

»» Read Dr. Weil's response to the question: "Can Herbal Remedies Lose Their Power?"

STAY HEALTHY MY FRIENDS!

Who's Doing Your Taxes? Get Your Questions Answered & More!

2010-01-21T09:53:00.000-08:00

It's Tax Time ! ! !

Drop Off Service * Fax-A-Tax * Mobile Tax Service

It's the beginning of the year and their is always one thing for certain after the holidays...TAXES!!!

Get Your Refund within 8 days at a fraction of the normal cost. We offer Income Tax Filing, *E-Filing*, Personal, & Business.

If you're in a rush?...Ask us about our:

Drop Off Service
Fax-A-Tax
Mobile Tax Service

8 year tax professional at your service.

Please feel free to contact me with any tax questions.

Ask for Jarvis Taylor

P: 404.542.9191 * F: 678.476.0365

90 DAYS TO WELLNESS DAY 5: The Benefits Of Daily Exercise

2010-01-06T13:48:00.001-08:00

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, studies that have followed large groups of people for many years are all drawing the same conclusion: A sedentary (inactive) lifestyle increases the chances of becoming overweight and developing a number of chronic diseases.

Exercise or regular physical activity helps many of the body's systems function better and keeps a host of diseases at bay. According to the US Surgeon General's report, regular physical activity:

}} Improves your chances of living longer and living healthier
}} Protects against heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol
}} Helps protects against certain cancers, including colon and breast cancer
}} Helps prevent or control type 2 diabetes
}} Helps prevent arthritis and may help relieve pain and stiffness in people with this condition
}} Helps prevent the insidious loss of bone known as osteoporosis
}} Reduces the risk of falling among older adults
}} Relieves symptoms of depression and anxiety and improves mood

If you already exercise on a daily basis - keep it up! If not, please consider taking a walk each day. Start off easy if you need to with a short 10 minute walk. From there, gradually increase your walking to 30 minutes a day - the results will amaze you! Your mood will improve, your energy levels will increase and you'll enjoy all of the health benefits listed above.

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90 DAYS TO WELLNESS DAY 4: Understanding Dietary Fiber

2010-01-04T08:41:00.001-08:00

You don't usually see it or taste it, but fiber works wonders for your body. Dietary fiber, or roughage, is a known cancer fighter found only in the cell walls of plant foods. For years, studies have pointed to the fact that increased fiber intake decreases the risk of colorectal cancer.

According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (1999), this protective effect may be due to fiber's tendency to add bulk to your digestive system, shortening the amount of time that wastes travel through the colon. As this waste often contains carcinogens, it is best if it is removed as quickly as possible; so, increased fiber decreases chances for intestinal cells to be affected.

The Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1999) reported that Fiber may also help protect against breast cancer, an effect noted especially with consumption of whole grains and wheat bran. Additionally, studies suggest that high amounts of fiber may also prevent breast cancer by binding to estrogen. When bacteria in the lower intestine break down fiber, a substance called butyrate is produced which may inhibit the growth of tumors of the colon and rectum as reported in the Journal of Oncology Research in 2000. Fiber may also have a protective effect against mouth, throat, and esophageal cancers according to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer in 2001.

If you're like most North Americans, you take in only 10 to 15 grams of fiber per day. However, most studies have shown that optimal intake for cancer prevention is at least 30 to 35 grams per day. Recent studies suggest that small increases in fiber, such as adding vegetables to a chicken stir-fry or having a hamburger on a whole wheat bun, do not offer much protection. On the other hand, when we replace high-fat, animal products such as chicken, fish, cheese, and eggs with plant foods, we easily boost fiber to levels where real protection is possible.

Whole foods contain two types of dietary fiber which are known as soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and is found in a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains. It cuts cholesterol and adds to your feeling of fullness. Good sources of soluble fiber are oats, oat bran, oatmeal, apples, citrus fruits, strawberries, dried beans, barley, rye flour, potatoes, raw cabbage, and pasta.

As you may have guessed, insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water and is found in whole grain brans, fruit pulp, and vegetable peels and skins. It is the type of fiber most strongly linked to cancer protection and improved waste removal. Good sources of insoluble fiber are wheat bran, whole wheat products, cereals made from bran or shredded wheat, crunchy vegetables, barley, grains, whole wheat pasta, and rye flour.

It is best to choose fiber-rich foods over fiber supplements in order to get the full range of the cancer-fighting phytochemicals that fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains contain. We offer you a convenient and delicious way to enjoy whole grains each and every day.

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STAY HEALTHY MY FRIENDS!

90 DAYS TO WELLNESS DAY 3: Understanding Whole Grains

2010-01-04T08:18:00.001-08:00

Whole Grains are the seeds of plants that belong to the grass family. This seed, also known as the kernel, is made up of three key parts: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm.

A whole grain can be a single food, such as oatmeal, brown rice, barley, or popcorn, or an ingredient in another food such as bread or cereal. Whole grains include whole wheat, whole oats/oatmeal, whole-grain corn, popcorn, brown rice, whole rye, whole-grain barley, wild rice, buckwheat, bulgur (cracked wheat), millet, quinoa, and sorghum. Other less common whole grains include amaranth, emmer, farro, grano (lightly pearled wheat), spelt, and wheat berries.

Recent research reported in the May 2007 issue of the online journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases, shows that Americans should eat more whole grains like oatmeal, barley and brown rice to help lower their risk of clogged arteries, heart attacks and strokes, according to researchers. The study's lead author, Dr. Philip B Mellen, of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina commented: "Many consumers and health professionals are not aware of the health benefits of whole grains".

In a review of seven major studies, the researchers found that higher whole grain intake was consistently linked to a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. On average, adults who ate 2.5 servings of whole grains per day were nearly one-quarter less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than their peers who rarely consumed whole grains. Whole grains are believed to benefit the heart in a number of ways. The fiber and other nutrients in whole grains may help lower cholesterol, blood sugar and insulin levels, as well as improve blood vessel functioning and reduce inflammation in the circulatory system. Yet, surveys show that few Americans get the recommended three servings of whole grains per day, according to the authors of the new study. More than 40 percent of U.S. adults say they eat no whole grains at all.

We are proud to offer a wide variety of delicious, convenient meals and snacks that are rich in whole grains. Phi Plus, Cranberry Phi, Coco Cherry Phi are rich in whole grains. Our line of Farinas are all handcrafted using our custom whole grain blend that includes Cracked Wheat, Rye, Oats, Millet, Bulgur Wheat Brown Rice, and Quinoa.

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STAY HEALTHY MY FRIENDS!

90 Days To Wellness Day 2: Understanding Free Radicals & Antioxidants

2010-01-01T17:02:00.001-08:00

If you think back to your days in high school or college chemistry, you probably remember the topic of atoms. An atom has a nucleus at the center and then a certain number of electrons that orbit around the nucleus. Normally, the atoms that make up your body are balanced; they have an even number of electrons. A free radical is an atom that has lost one of its electrons leaving it with an odd number of electrons.

These unbalanced free radicals attempt to stabilize themselves by "stealing" an electron from another healthy atom. The cells your body where this process is occurring can become injured. The cell may malfunction causing disease or even become malignant causing cancer. It is also widely believed that free radicals are one of the main causes of the aging process.

The body produces free radicals through normal metabolic pathways such as extracting energy from the food we eat. Exposure to the toxins in junk food or polluted air, for example, can also be sources of free radical production. In short, we are exposed to potential sources of free radical production every day of our lives.

Antioxidants are nutritional compounds in whole foods that have extra electrons. When an antioxidant comes in contact with a free radical - the antioxidant "donates" an electron to the free radical. This way, the free radical doesn't have to "steal" an electron from another healthy molecule and the damage normally caused by the free radical can be avoided. The antioxidant nutrients themselves do not become free radicals when they "donate" an electron because they are stable in either form.

The human body is capable of producing antioxidants naturally, but under conditions of a poor diet, toxicity, physical stress or emotional stress this antioxidant production can be severely impaired. Do you know someone who eats a poor diet, has high levels of toxicity and is stressed out much of the time? This is why they may appear older than they actually are.

Eating a healthy whole food diet and drinking plenty of water are two of the best ways to protect your body from the damage of free radicals. Fruits and vegetables provide an excellent source of natural antioxidants to help your body stabilize the free radicals and ward off the damage that they cause.

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5 Key Building Blocks To Wellness

2010-01-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Wellness Center! Each article sheds light on the latest research regarding whole foods and preventative based lifestyles—this information will help you make informed, healthy decisions regarding your daily route and help to influence your food choices, habits, and behaviors, to foster a much healthier, happier lifestyle.

The Wellness Center has five categories:

Whole Foods
Children's Health
Prevention
Physical Activity & Exercise
Healthy Lifestyles

With the vast amount of information collected, we are sure there is something to be found for everyone.

To view articles, CLICK HERE

FoodMatters Nutritional & Natural Healing: http://bit.ly/9tzDCQ

Healthy Coffees, Teas & Waters Here: http://bit.ly/ndSf3

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The 7 Principles of Health

2010-01-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

Over the past century, we've seen enormous advances in medical technology. We have more doctors, more pharmaceutical medicines, and more hospitals than ever before. We also have the sickliest generation of Americans in history. The number one culprit: THE AMERICAN DIET.

The processed food and fast food industries are serving it up, Americans are gulping it down, and wide spread obesity and chronic disease is the result. From there, the masses are driven into the "waiting hands" of the highly profitable pharmaceutical industry. We're offered pills that alleviate our symptoms while the simple underlying causes are ignored. What incentive does the pharmaceutical industry have to focus on prevention? If disease rates decreased, so would their profits.

The ingredients to health, happiness, vitality, and longevity are no secret. Every major non-profit health organization in the world has been offering the same advice for many years. Eat more fruits and veggies, drink more water, exercise on a daily basis, lose weight if you need to, don't smoke, avoid toxins, & reduce stress.

To that end, we are dedicated to Educating and Inspiring people to embrace the “Seven Principles of Health” which are the foundation of a preventative based lifestyle.

The Seven Principles of Health
Fresh Air & Sunshine
Water
Whole Foods
Physical Activity
Loving Relationships
Passion
A Good Night's Sleep

Now there's convenient healthy whole food based meals & snacks, non-toxic personal care items, and a website dedicated to "self-care" and a preventative based lifestyle.

Delicious, healthy foods, with convenience and affordability. Salon quality personal care items offer superior results without the toxic chemicals. Nothing short of a consumer based, grass roots return to healthy choices and lifestyles can steer our children, and future generations, in a healthier direction. If you're ready to improve your health and join us as part of the solution, click on banner below

STAY HEALTHY MY FRIENDS!

90 Days To Wellness Day 1: Water & Your Heart

2010-01-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

Drinking high levels of water can significantly reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, say researchers at Loma Linda University whose research was reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology (Vol. 155, No.9). This exciting study reveals that drinking high amounts of plain water is as important as exercise, diet, or not smoking in preventing coronary heart disease.

"Basically, not drinking enough water can be as harmful to your heart as smoking," warns Jacqueline Chan, DrPH, principle investigator and lead author of the article. Dr. Chan and Synnove Knutson, MD , PhD , second author, chair of epidemiology department, found that California Seventh-day Adventists who drink five or more glasses of plain water a day have a much lower risk of fatal coronary heart disease compared to those who drink less than two glasses per day.

The results from this study show that by drinking more plain water, healthy people without any history of heart disease, stroke, or diabetes-- reduced their risk of dying from a heart attack by half or more . This is as much or more than if they had adopted any other well-known preventive measure, including stopping smoking and lowering cholesterol levels, increasing exercise or maintaining ideal weight.

Because drinking more plain water is a simple lifestyle change that anybody can do, this simple practice has the potential of saving tens of thousands of lives each year with minimal cost . Neither total fluid intake, nor intake of other fluids combined showed this reduced risk. Instead, for women, high intake (5 or more glasses a day) of other fluids showed a greatly increased risk of coronary heart disease.

"People need to be made aware that there is a difference, at least for heart health, whether they get their fluids from plain water or from sodas," says Dr. Chan.

As you start off the new year, we encourage you to incorporate water into your daily routine.

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Incredible New Discovery That The Big Coffee Companies Won’t Tell You About…

2009-12-29T15:47:00.000-08:00

“Discover A Powerful Ingredient That Will Not Only Neutralize The Acidity Of
Coffee, But Eliminate Some Of The Other Known Harmful Effects Of Drinking
Coffee…”

Secret #1: The Coffee Industry Is Huge, And A Very Profitable One.

Okay, I know that isn’t a very big ‘secret’. Data from the Coffee Research Organization and the National Small Business Development Support Center Clearinghouse clearly show that coffee is the second most popular beverage in the world, second only to water. Americans alone consume 400 million cups of coffee per day…which translates into four and a half thousand cups of coffee per second!

Daily consumption of coffee beverages has remained consistent in 2009, with 54% of the adult American population claiming to drink coffee on a daily basis. What this is telling us is that even through tough economic times, people are still consuming coffee.

However, the fact is that industry figures show that despite the pervasive gourmet coffee shop, 70% of coffee is still consumed at home.

The thing is, although consumers may be cutting back on purchasing their coffee from coffee houses, most coffee lovers aren’t likely to give it up completely. As a result, companies offering home brew coffee may actually see an increase in their sales as more consumers decide to make their favorite cup of brew at home.

The coffee industry is huge…an $18 billion dollar industry in the United States. Independent shops are responsible for $12 billion of that in annual sales, meaning the rest of that money is spent by folks brewing their coffee at home. Do you think the major coffee manufacturers are taking notice of that? You bet they are!

Given that information, you can see why the major coffee companies don’t want you to know about something that would take money out of their pockets.

“The Major Coffee Manufacturers Will Use Their Financial Strength To Advertise The Benefits Of Consuming Their Brand…And Diminish The Facts About The Harmful Side Effects Coffee Has On Your Health…”

The coffee industry keeps a close eye on all of its competition, and would by nature defend itself from something that might challenge their control of the market, and reduce their profits. Face it, they are in business to make money, and they know people are going to continue to consume coffee on a regular basis. So, they continue to place their coffee in front of you, the consumer, and in doing so hope you
don’t notice the other options available to you.

Secret # 2: Caffeine Is A Drug And Should Be Treated As One

Caffeine is a drug that has been widely used for centuries. Although caffeine does not fall into the class of "addictive" drugs, it still may be habit-forming. Many people experience headache, fatigue, irritability and nervousness if their daily intake of caffeine is substantially altered. In fact, in 1912 the Pure Food
And Drug Act was amended to include caffeine to the list of "habit-forming" and "deleterious" substances which must be listed on a product's label.

“Regular use of caffeine may lead to "habituation"…which means no net benefit from use, but rather, a negative effect if the drug is not taken.”

The main short term effect of caffeine is that it is a mild stimulant of the central nervous system, which helps to reduce feelings of drowsiness and fatigue. (Isn’t that why most of us drink coffee?)

Besides the above-mentioned central nervous system stimulant effect, caffeine also temporarily increases your heartbeat, increases blood pressure, and stimulates the action of the lungs. It also increases basal metabolic rate (BMR), and promotes urine production.

Too much caffeine can also result in restlessness, jitters, nausea, headache, tense muscles, sleep disturbances, and cardiac arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats). Because caffeine increases the production of stomach acid it may also worsen ulcer symptoms or cause acid reflux ("heartburn"). Afternoon use of caffeine may disrupt sleep and cause insomnia.

For these reasons, caffeine should be used cautiously by people with heart disease and high blood pressure (hypertension), and by those suffering from the eye disease glaucoma.

“Coffee consumption statistics show that coffee represents 75% of all the caffeine consumed in the United States.”

Consumed in large amounts, and especially over an extended period of time, caffeine can lead to a condition known as caffeinism. Caffeinism usually combines caffeine dependency with a wide range of very unpleasant physical and mental conditions including nervousness, anxiety, irritability, muscle twitching, insomnia, and headaches to name a few. So, yes, you should be concerned about how much
coffee you consume.

Warning: An acute overdose of caffeine can result in a state of central nervous system over-stimulation called caffeine intoxication. Symptoms may include restlessness, nervousness, muscle twitching, a rambling flow of thought and speech, irritability, irregular or rapid heart -beat, and psychomotor
agitation. In cases of much larger overdoses, mania, depression, lapses in judgment, disorientation, disinhibition, delusions, hallucinations, and psychosis may occur, and rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue) can be provoked.

Secret # 3: Your Body Only Functions Well At A Neutral PH, And One Of The Major Downsides Of Drinking Coffee Is That It Sends Your Body Into An Acidic State!

As little as one cup of coffee sends your body into an acidic state. It actually takes 14 cups of water to neutralize this acidity, and another 2 cups of water to offset dehydration! Imagine then, the amount of water you would have to drink if you had 3 – 4 cups of coffee!

Furthermore, because caffeine increases the production of stomach acid, high usage over time can lead to stomach ulcers, erosive esophagitis, and even acid reflux disease.

“The pH balance of the human bloodstream is recognized as one of the most important biochemical balances in our body’s chemistry.”

The reason your body pH is so important is because pH controls the speed of your body's biochemical reactions. It does this by controlling the speed of enzyme activity as well as the speed that electricity moves through your body.

If we say something has an acid pH, we are saying it is hot and fast. Think of it this way… look at the battery of your car. It's an acid battery, right? This is because on cold days you want it to be hot and ready, so that it will start fast.

Here is an example of how pH can control your body. Take a look around at society as a whole. You see people getting exhausted, burned out, and quick to anger. You see a rise in violence and road rage. This could be due in part to the fact that people today tend to have an acid pH. As a society in general, we are running ‘hot and fast’. How did we get to this point? We guzzle coffee for breakfast (acid), fast food
for lunch (acid), wash it down with super sized colas (acid), followed by that afternoon cup of coffee (acid), and maybe have a pizza (acid) for dinner. Given this scenario, you could easily blame the rise of violence in our society with the increasing number of fast food restaurants and espresso stands on every
corner! OK, I’m getting a little side-tracked here…

Your body’s PH is under the immediate control of what you put into your mouth. Makes sense, right? What you eat and drink will have a direct impact where your body's pH level falls, and your body's pH controls the activity of every metabolic function in your body.

PH is behind the body's electrical system (nervous system) and intracellular activity, as well as the way your body utilizes enzymes, minerals, and vitamins. That is why PH is one of the first things a doctor looks at if you are experiencing any type of unbalance in your body. And since your body's PH level is a direct result of what you eat and drink, anytime you are experiencing imbalance, you need to look at
what you have historically been eating and drinking. It's a circle. You can’t separate the two.

What you eat and drink is directly tied to the functioning of your digestive system as well. From your mouth through your small intestines and on through your colon, that system plays the most important part in your physical well being. This whole system, what you feed it, and how it impacts your pH, is what determines whether you have perfect health or not. It really is that simple.

“Introducing One of The Most Powerful Nutritional Natural Herbs On The Planet, The Ganoderma Mushroom. The Ganoderma Mushroom Is Known for Its Ability to Naturally Help Improve the Body’s PH.”

Secret # 4: The Ganoderma Mushroom Has Over 200 Active Nutrients, Vitamins and Minerals.

The Ganoderma is a type of mushroom, which is also known as the Reishi mushroom. It has been well used and documented as a medicinal treatment throughout China for over 4000 years. The Chinese refer to the Ganoderma mushroom as a “spirit medicine”, and use it to promote longevity. In ancient times, this mushroom was reserved for Kings, as it was relatively rare and hard to find. Now, thanks to modern technology, this mushroom can be farmed, making it more affordable and accessible to the average person.

“Here Are A Few Of The Important Benefits Of The Ganoderma Mushroom That Make It Right For You”

1. The Ganoderma Mushroom, or Reishi Mushroom, has one of the highest number of antioxidants found in any plant on earth. It has over 160 antioxidants that work to reduce the oxidative stress in your body by ridding it of free radicals formed due to food intake or environmental free radical exposure.

2. Contains special nutrients known as alkaloids. Alkaloids are very important because they mitigate your body’s PH balance and counteract acidity.

3. The Reishi mushroom has triterpenoids that help support the digestive tract and enhance digestion.

4. Another important nutrient found in the Reishi mushroom is adaptogens. The caffeine in coffee over stimulates the adrenal gland, which increases the production of cortisol…a stress hormone. That is why some folks get the jitters when they drink coffee. Adaptogens neutralize this effect, and have a normalizing influence on the body.

5. According to the Bulletin of the Oriental Healing Arts Institute, reishi acts as an agent for promoting an increase in leukocytes, which in turn increases the number of disease fighting T-cells in the bloodstream.

6. May help you enjoy refreshing, deep sleep.

7. Helps create a positive mood by maintaining the brain oxygen level for a feeling of well being and increased mental focus.

8. Promotes a stronger immune system.

9. Helps maintain healthy skin, lungs, and urinary tract.

10. Supports healthy blood and cholesterol levels, as well as healthy liver function.

“Finally, You Don’t Have To Venture Into The Wilderness To Enjoy The Benefits Of The Reishi Mushroom, A Remarkably Beneficial Fungus For The Human Body.”

Secret # 5: With 100% Certified Organically Grown Ganoderma Mushroom In Their Blend, A Unique And Delicious Healthy Coffee Has Been Developed Which Is Helping Coffee Lovers All Over The World Enjoy Their Coffee Without Its Harmful Side Effects.

Developed with the goal of providing a great tasting, smooth blend of coffee that everyone will love to drink, a healthy coffee has been made available that provides the smooth rich flavor that coffee lovers crave, while providing protection from acidity and the ‘caffeine effect’. This healthy coffee uses a custom blend that combines the best of both worlds, arabica and robusta coffee beans, and adds 100%
certified organic ganoderma. The ganoderma makes it a healthier choice, and neutralizes the negative effects of the acid and the caffeine found in ‘regular’ coffee.

“WHY AM I SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS COFFEE?”

That’s a great question. Let me tell you why I am so excited by this amazing coffee.

I have been a regular coffee drinker for as long as I can remember. I don’t want to say that I am ‘addicted’ to coffee, since that word has such negative connotations, but I honestly can’t imagine starting my day without my cup of coffee. However, I was starting to notice some of the caffeine effects after a couple of cups of coffee…I was getting a little jittery. That made me a little nervous.

In addition to the jitters, I was having trouble sleeping at night. The lack of sleep was starting to affect how I felt the next day…a general lack of energy and trouble concentrating for starters. My health is extremely important to me, but so is enjoying my coffee! I tried to drink less coffee, but that really wasn’t a good solution for me. So, after doing some research, I found what I had been looking for…a
healthy coffee! Now, I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms, but really, there is a healthy way to enjoy coffee.

I have been drinking this coffee infused with the ganoderma mushroom for some time now, and I feel amazingly better. I can drink this coffee without the negative effects of caffeine, even though it is not decaffeinated.

Most importantly, I have to tell you that this is real coffee, and tastes like real coffee. I know you may be thinking that this coffee must taste horrid, but honestly, it tastes just like the coffee you know and love. You see, the reishi mushroom is bitter, but the bitterness of coffee offsets that, and therefore the taste
of coffee prevails. You absolutely cannot taste the mushroom in the coffee.

Wouldn’t it be something if you could drink a few cups of coffee each day without feeling or worrying about the effects of caffeine or the acid in coffee?

I know that there are many people out there, just like me, that are thinking about the negative effects coffee may be having on their health. That is why I cannot keep this information to myself. I think I have an obligation to share what I have found with others that share my love for coffee.

I also know that some of you may be skeptical, and I can certainly understand that. All I can say is don’t let your skepticism get in the way of improving your health and still enjoying that cup of coffee you love.

Respond to this report, and let me help you discover what I know. I have helped countless others make one small change that has improved their health and quality of life. I can help you too, if you:

1. Have an honest need and desire to improve the quality of your health.

2. Are open minded about new concepts.

3. Are absolutely committed to do whatever it takes.

You see, I put this report together out of concern for you, my fellow coffee lover. I honestly hope you found it informative and helpful. I have a sincere desire to help anyone and everyone who possesses the qualities mentioned above. So, if that is
you, send me an email at atlcoffeehousegmail.com with your name, questions and concerns. You can also get more information, browse the products and get samples at our website at http://bit.ly/4nX8O6 Please allow up to 24 hours for me to respond to your email.

Stay Healthy My Friend!

14 Reasons Why This Coffee Is Better. . . .

2009-12-28T15:44:00.000-08:00

14 Benefits of Drinking Ganoderma Coffee are:
1. Balances blood sugar levels and pancreatic functions.
2. Protects against skin cell degeneration, improving skins texture and reducing appearance of aging
3. Eliminates toxins accumulated in the body
4. Increases metabolism
5. Reduces fatigue
6. Contains anti-oxidants that inhibit damaging free radicals
7. Helps unclog arteries and supports liver function
8. Boosts energy
9. Improves the digestive system
10. Relieves sinus congestion and other respiratory problems
11. Rejuvenates body tissues and cells
12. Boost all body functions
13. Beautifies the skin by improving vitality
14. Effectively aids in the healing of skin wounds, scrapes, psoriasis, mouth ulcers, external bleeding, bug bits and stings.

Consuming Ganoderma coffee can help your body heal back to a balanced state while rejuvenating your skins youthful appearance. And there are no known side effects! No wonder the Chinese have regarded it for hundreds of years as the miracle herb!

Try a cup TODAY!

Click Here to browse and order

Why These Personal Care Items Are Better!

2009-12-27T13:16:00.000-08:00

(Items are listed in order of picture)

Ganozhi Toothpaste
Ganozhi Toothpaste is specially formulated with Ganoderma extract to effectively maintain your oral hygiene. It is a natural teeth-cleaning remedy and does not contain saccharin, fluoride, coloring or fine sand.

Click Here to Order

Ganozhi Bath Gel
Ganozhi Bath Gel contains Ganoderma extract and Vitamin E that gently cleanses your skin while maintaining the moisture level of your skin. It contains no artificial coloring and is suitable for all skin types.

Click Here to Order

Ganozhi Shampoo
Ganozhi Shampoo contains Ganoderma extract and Vitamin B5 that revitalizes the natural beauty of your hair and makes it naturally soft and healthy. It is mild and gentle, suitable for all hair types.

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Ganozhi Soap
Ganozhi Soap contains Ganoderma extract and palm oil. It washes away dirt and gently cleanses the skin while preserving its natural oils. Ganozhi Soap is suitable for people of all ages and for daily use.

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Coffee That's More Than Coffee.....

2009-12-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

Café Essentials Black Coffee with Ganoderma & Cordyceps

Our Black Coffee is a blend of Gourmet, exotic coffee beans, blended with high grade extracts of Reishi (Ganoderma) and Cordyceps Mycelia mushrooms. For the coffee purist, our black coffee is outstanding as is, or add cream & sweetener to taste.

Reishi (Ganoderma Lucidum) kown as "The Miraculous king of herbs", has been continuously used for over 4,000 years. Research shows that with regular use, Reishi may provide a powerful boost to the immune system, give energy, promote restful sleep & detoxify the body.

Cordyceps Mycelia is used in traditional Chinese Medicine to promote Cardiovascular health & strength, sexual potency and immune system health. Millions worldwide use Reishi & Cordyceps mushrooms to help boost their energy and overall health.

Ingredients: Coffee, Ganoderma Extract, Cordyceps Mycellia Extract

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Café Essentials All-in-One Coffee with Ganoderma & Cordyceps

Our All-in-One Coffee contains the select coffee beans, blended with Ganoderma & Cordyceps extracts. All-in-One is conveniently pre-sweetened with natural cane sugar, natural sweetener, Xylitol, and just the right touch of non-dairy creamer. The individual sachets make it easy to take with you whether traveling or dining out. Try All-in-One today & find out why people are choosing this as their favorite Cream & Sugar Coffee!

Our Ganoderma also known as Red Reishi helps to:
+ Provide more energy and vigor, less fatigue and increased brain power
+ Rejuvenate and make you feel young and alert
+ Strengthen the organs for waste elimination and detoxification
+ Strengthen the body’s immune system
+ Promote a good night’s sleep

Ingredients: Cane Sugar, Non Dairy Creamer (Glucose, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Sodium Caseinate (Milk Derivative), Monoglycerides, Dipotassium Phosphate, DATEM, Silicon Dioxide), Coffee, Xylitol, Ganoderma Extract, Cordyceps Mycellia Extract

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Note: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Healthy Detox after the Holidays of Overindulging

2009-12-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

Stuffed with stuffing, filled with turkey, crammed with cookies, and saturated with alcohol. Now what? Holidays call for celebration, and many of us know the consequences that come from overindulging in alcohol and food. Sometimes, despite out best intentions, we overdo it. This holiday season, detoxify and recover naturally with the tips that follow.

FOOD OVERLOAD
Chinese medicine views proper digestion as the most essential component in living a long and healthy life. Your digestive function is made up of numerous organs all working together to break down, absorb, and process all of the nutrients in the food you eat. Without healthy digestion, you can become malnourished and toxins will build up in your body, leading to degenerative diseases and rapid aging down the road.

Indigestion is caused and made worse by overeating--especially rich, fatty, spicy foods, alcohol, coffee, and acidic foods. These remedies will get your digestion on the right track.

ONE HOUR AFTERWARD:

Walk it off
After a large meal, take a 10- to 20-minute stroll. Aside from the proven benefits to your heart, walking is the perfect gentle exercise for promoting digestion and encouraging cleansing of the lymphatic system. Walking helps food move along the digestive tract, improving digestion and absorption. For added benefits, walk while massaging your abdomen with your palms, in a circle around your belly button.

Herbal tea brings relief
Relieve that feeling of fullness with herbal teas that target your digestion: Steep 1 teaspoon each of mint, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, sage, and basil and in a cup of hot water. Drink after each meal to soothe and prevent bloating. Peppermint, chamomile, and ginger tea are other good choices for settling the stomach. Also, look for Chinese herbal formulas like Indigestion for digestive support and cleansing.

THE MORNING AFTER:

Start with apple cider
Apple cider vinegar is traditionally used to remedy digestive distress, support liver detoxification, normalize digestive juices, and reduce intestinal bloating. Mix 1 tablespoon of organic apple cider vinegar with 12 ounces of warm water, and drink in the morning on empty stomach. Feel free to add a little honey or maple syrup. Lemon water will also help.

Eat right to lighten up
These meals will help your body recover from overindulgence.

> Breakfast: Eat oat bran cereal, brown rice, or any other whole grain cereal (as long as it is unbleached and does not contain any added sugar or chemicals.) Pair with unflavored soy milk.

> Lunch/Dinner: Eat any combination of beans, brown rice, oat bran, vegetables, and organic chicken, turkey, or soy-products.

> For a powerful Super Cleanse Broth, simmer any combination of the following ingredients for an hour: collards, Swiss chard, kale, mustard greens, cabbage, dandelion, Brussels sprouts, daikon radish, watercress, seaweed, shitake mushrooms, cilantro, garlic, leeks, fennel, anise, fresh ginger, and turmeric. Drink 8 ounces twice a day.

> A popular herbal formula is Internal Cleanse, a special combination of natural herbs to detoxify, clear the mind, promote emotional balance, and ease digestion. For more information.

Try a detoxifying exercise
This movement is from Liver Cleansing Qi Gong, a body-mind exercise that was designed by ancient Chinese physicians to help stimulate the liver and drain the excess toxins from the body:

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart in front of a tree. Inhale while raising your right leg and exhale while placing your right foot on the ground in front of you between your body and the tree.
2. Inhale while raising both arms from the sides until they come together over your head. Exhale while lowering your hands in front of your face. Visualize green light running down your face as your hands move down to your chest.
3. Inhale as you move your hands to the right rib cage over your liver. Exhale as you move your arms down your right abdomen and right leg, as if pushing down and out with your hands. Visualize the green light moving the toxins out of the liver, down the liver meridian on the inside right leg, and out the big toe.

ALCOHOL OVERINDULGENCE
The liver is one of the hardest working organs in your body and performs a wide variety of functions. Its most important ones include the processing of nutrients, the production of bile to help in digestion of food and eliminating wastes, and cleansing the blood of toxins such as drugs, alcohol, and other dangerous substances.

The liver has the ability to regenerate itself, but the effects of alcohol eventually wear down the liver. I strongly suggest that you keep your drinking to a minimum for the longevity of your liver and your health, but on that rare occasion when you overindulge, consider these remedies.

ONE HOUR AFTERWARD:

Ginger tea to the rescue
Ginger is an ancient Chinese remedy to minimize the symptoms of hangovers. Ginger has been found to soothe the digestive lining and balance gastric juices, making it a great remedy for overeating, too. This remedy is even more effective if you drink it in between alcoholic beverages.

Cut a 2-inch piece from fresh ginger root, and thinly slice. Bring three cups of water to boil in a pot. Add the sliced ginger and reduce heat to a simmer. Brew for about five minutes. Then strain out the ginger and sip the tea slowly. You may also add honey to taste.

Drink up!
Water, that is. Though this is hardly a secret remedy for combating a hangover, it bears repeating. Alcohol dehydrates your system, so drinking plenty of water will help combat some of your unpleasant hangover symptoms, rehydrate your body, and flush out toxins. Drink a few glasses of room temperature, filtered water after a night of holiday extravagance.

THE MORNING AFTER:

Start with lemon water
First thing in the morning, drink one lemon squeezed in 12 ounces of warm filtered water. Lemon activates your liver to release toxins and helps to cleanse and move the roughage that stays behind in your intestines. Throughout the day, drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water to flush your system.

Detoxify with herbal tea
Chinese traditional medicine uses natural substances to help support the healthy functions of your liver, lymphatic system, bowels, urinary tract, and skin. Try these herbs in teas to cleanse and prevent a buildup of toxins and wastes in your body:

* Chrysanthemum flower is traditionally used to cleanse the liver and neutralize toxins.

* Hawthorn berry is used to cleanse the blood of plaque and other toxins.

* Turmeric supports the detoxification process in the whole body by increasing bile production and releasing and eliminating toxins. Simply put a tablespoon of the spice in a pot and stir over medium heat for five minutes.

* Milk thistle protects and restores the liver, due to its content of silymarin.

* Dandelion root has been found by studies to enhance the flow of bile, relieving liver congestion, which in turn aids the body in detoxifying.

Popular is Hangover, a Chinese herbal remedy that is helpful for relieving symptoms of hangover.

Heal your aching head
If you wake up with a "morning-after" headache, try this herbal tea to reduce head pressure: Boil 2 tbsp each of chrysanthemum flowers and mint leaves in 4 cups of water for 15 minutes. Drink throughout the day until your headache subsides.

I hope this article helps you recover from the effects of overindulgence!

Happy Holidays!

7 Ways to Avoid Mistakes with Money

2009-11-16T03:55:00.000-08:00

I’m going to guess you’ve made a financial mistake or two in your life. Who hasn’t? For some of us, it was more than an occasional late fee or random urge to overspend that brought us to our financial knees. But I’m not talking about the kind of blunders that got us into trouble—we could list those in our sleep. Instead, I want to focus on the mistakes people make while they’re working their way back to financial health. Whether you’re recovering from a season of unemployment or from a financial mess you created on your own, avoid these goofs and you’ll get where you want to go much faster.

1. Not Saving
You’ve heard this plenty, and here it comes again: Jump to the front of the line— ahead of your creditors—when you divvy up your paycheck. Get over feeling guilty about keeping money for yourself. You need a fat emergency fund, and the only way to build it is to pay yourself first! Stuff happens, and if you’re not financially prepared for those emergencies, you’ll keep falling back into debt.
You’ll need enough in your fund to pay all your bills for at least six months. But don’t let that big number discourage you. Start by saving enough to live on for two weeks, then up it to one month, and so on until you reach goal.

Solution: Put your savings on autopilot—you won’t miss what you don’t see. Commit to saving 10 percent of every paycheck. If you can’t start there, start with 2 percent. Then in a few weeks, change it to 5 percent, then 7 and so forth until you reach at least 10 percent.

2. Paying for College
If you must make a choice between adequately funding your own retirement and paying for your kids’ college education, put retirement first. Contributing to college funds, going into debt by cosigning for student loans or taking out a home equity loan to cover tuition before you’ve taken care of your own future are huge blunders. The best gift you can give your kids is to make sure you won’t become a financial burden to them in your sunset years.

Solution: Kids have far more options for funding their college education than you have for your retirement. They’ve got scholarships, grants, financial aid, student loans, work-study programs and the not-to-be-forgotten method of working their way through college. Once your own future is secure and you’re out of debt, that’s when you’re in a position to help pay for education. Use the free Retirement Calculator at MoneyCentral.MSN.com/Retire/Planner.aspx to determine how much you need to be setting aside for retirement each month.

3. Too Much House
Add up your shelter costs (monthly mortgage payment plus taxes and insurance). Your total shouldn’t exceed 28 to 33 percent of your gross income—and that’s only if you don’t have a lot of other debt. Biting off more house than you can chew leaves you wide open to foreclosure and bankruptcy.

Solution: Don’t let a commissioned professional talk you into buying the most house you can qualify for. Do your own research and run your own numbers to determine how much house you can afford. You need a 20 percent down payment and a 30-year fixed-rate loan, with monthly payments that can easily fit within 28 to 33 percent of your current gross household income. If you’re over your head in a house you can’t afford, maybe it’s time to sell. If you’ve fallen behind or fear you may soon, but you owe more than the house is currently worth, call your lender immediately. You may be able to enter into a short sale (the lender agrees to settle your debt for the sale price that you can get for the house now, and forgives the balance you owe). Or speak with a HUD-approved housing counselor to find out about other options, such as loan modification (the lender agrees to adjust the terms of your loan so you can afford to keep living in your home).

4. Refinancing a Fixed-Rate Mortgage
With mortgage rates at a 50- year low, it’s tempting to refinance to get a lower monthly payment. But before you do that, ask yourself this: Can you take the difference between the payment you have now and the lower payment and use it to repay all your refinancing costs within 24 months?

Let’s do the math. The average closing cost is 2.5 to 5 percent on a $150,000 loan ($3,750 to $7,500), but the percentage normally goes down as the loan increases. Divide the amount you’ll save each month into the closing cost. If the result is more than 24, you’ll be making a big mistake by refinancing.

Even worse, refinancing with this lower monthly payment will “reset the clock,” putting you back on a 30- year payback schedule. Your goal should be to pay off the home so you own it free and clear before you retire If you’re 10 years from paying off your home and you refinance to get a lower monthly payment— but end up with a new 30-year term—you’ll be making those new “lower” payments for an additional 20 years! If the payment is, say, $2,000, you’ll end up paying an additional $480,000 just because you refinanced and reset the clock.

Solution: If you did the math earlier and it worked out in your favor, go ahead and refinance—but keep making the original, larger mortgage payments you’ve been making all along. Now, that lower payment will make an authentic, financially wise difference. You’ve managed to outsmart that reset clock and the extra interest that comes with it.

5. Paying Off the Mortgage Too Soon
Paying extra on your mortgage each month is laudable, but not if you time it badly. Your mortgage should be the last debt you pay off. Why? First, its interest rate is a lot lower than the interest you’re paying on your other debts (credit cards, student loans). Second, mortgage interest on your primary residence is tax-deductible. While you’re in debt having that deduction helps to ease the pain by lowering your tax bill.

Solution: Once you’ve built up a fat emergency fund and all of your high-interest, unsecured debts are paid in full—only then should you consider putting money toward paying off your mortgage.

6. Investing in the Wrong Thing
If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past year, it’s that money invested in the stock market is at risk. You could lose it! Don’t jeopardize any of your hard-earned money while you’re carrying high-interest, unsecured debt. Instead, invest in your debt—it’s a much smarter move. Let me explain: If you have a $2,000 credit card balance at 14.5 percent interest, you’re paying $290 per year in interest, or $24.16 per month. Instead of taking a $2,000 gamble on the stock market, put it toward reducing your credit card debt Now each month, rather than paying that $24.16 interest to the credit card company, you get to keep it.

Solution: As long as you’re carrying unsecured debt, do everything you can to pay it down each month. You’ll get a return equal to the amount of interest you would have paid to the credit card company.

7. Debt Consolidation
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Get a new low-interest loan to pay off all your high-interest debts! But more often than not, that’s a big faux pas. Low-rate consolidation loans are typically tied to something of value like your home’s equity. Bad enough, but here’s the real problem: The financially immature person gets that equity loan and then keeps using those credit cards. In no time, the balances creep back to the limit. And that means double the trouble.

Solution: Forget about consolidating old debt into new debt. Instead, get serious about cutting your spending so you can pay off the debts you have as quickly as possible. If you have a good payment history, call the creditor and ask for a lower interest rate. You never know— you just might get it!

By Mary Hunt

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8 Foods that Help to Fight Fat

2009-11-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

Combat fat! Your allies in battling bulge? Foods that do the work for you. These edibles have proven lipid-melting powers that help you slim. That’s a win.

Almonds Almond joy! Dieters who ate 3 ounces of these nuts every day reduced their weight and body-mass index by a solid 18 percent compared with an 11 percent drop in the no-nut group, a study in the International Journal of Obesity found. Almonds are high in alpha-linolenic acid, which can speed the metabolism of fats. Stick to 12 per serving.

Berries Vitamin C–loaded fruit such as strawberries and raspberries can help you sizzle up to 30 percent more fat during exercise, suggests research from Arizona State University at Mesa. Blend a vinaigrette of 1 cup berries and ¼ cup balsamic vinegar.

Cinnamon This spice could make your waistline nice. Sprinkling ¼ teaspoon on your food may prevent a postmeal insulin spike—this increase normally occurs after you eat and “signals the body that it should store fat rather than burn it,” explains Lauren Slayton, R.D., of New York City. Add a dash to your oatmeal, yogurt or coffee.

Mustard Hello, yellow. The spice that gives mustard its color, turmeric, may slow the growth of fat tissues, a study in the journal Endocrinology notes. Eighty-six mayo in favor of any mustard; sprinkle turmeric on cauliflower and roast for a tangy side.

Oranges Prevent pound creep with this citrus star: It contains fat-torching compounds called flavones. Women who ate the most flavones had a significantly lower increase in body fat over a 14-year period, a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds. Snack on slices or drink freshly squeezed OJ (with pulp!) for the biggest payback.

Soybeans These green gems are rich in choline, a compound that blocks fat absorption and breaks down fatty deposits. Add ½ cup edamame to a salad.

Sweet potatoes Trade up to sweet taters. They’re high in fiber, which means no drastic insulin jumps and thus less fat packed onto your hips. Bake a small sweet potato—think of two bars of soap as a portion size—and top with a dollop of lowfat or nonfat cottage cheese.

Swiss cheese Holy cow: “Calcium-rich foods reduce fat-producing enzymes and increase fat breakdown,” says Michael B. Zemel, Ph.D., director of the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Put toe to toe with some of its cheesy counterparts, Swiss is a heavy hitter in the calcium department; layer a slice on a lunchtime sandwich, or stack some on high-fiber crackers.

By Veronica Byrd

Why Mushrooms in Coffee and Tea are Good for Your Daily Health

2009-11-11T15:50:00.000-08:00

Dr. Hoover, NHD explains in the video below the daily health benefits of having mushrooms in your favorite cup of coffee or tea. He also recommends these mushroom products to his actual patients - watch the video below!

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New Coffee just for the Ladies!

2009-11-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

We are proud to introduce a wonderful new healthy coffee just for the ladies. Our new Kacip Fatimah - Collagen - Ganoderma Coffee is not only delicious, but great for the female body! This new coffee contains several proven natural ingredients that may provide some much needed support for females and the best part of it all, it is as easy to use as drinking a great cup of coffee!

Dr. Hoover has been recommending healthy ganoderma coffee in his clinic, Essential2Health Advanced Natural Health Center, for years and was instrumental in making Healthy Coffee a household name in the Ozarks and across the country. "We now have a great tasting coffee that is great for women looking for that edge, especially during those menopausal years!"

One of the main ingredients is Kacip Fatimah. Kacip Fatimah is traditionally used to maintain a healthy female reproductive system, to help tighten and lubricate, and to enhance sexual function. Kacip Fatimah is rich in phytoestrogen and isoflavones, that may ease menopausal symptoms.

Kacip Fatimah is said to boost a woman's libido and support the health of the female reproductive system. This herb is said to provide sexual benefits specifically for the female body, and manufacturers that promote this ingredient claim that it can help tighten and naturally lubricant vaginal muscles. Though, for the most part, this herbal extract is primarily advertised as a strong aphrodisiac for female users.

+ Acts as an aphrodisiac for many people
+ Improves physical and mental performance
+ Enhances energy levels, endurance and stamina
+ Reduces mental fatigue and exhaustion
+ Helps Reduce high blood pressure
+ Helps Strengthen bones and muscles
+ Improves blood circulation
+ It especially helps to achieve the effect of contracting and firming of the muscles in the abdomen.

Another ingredient is Collagen. Collagen is one of the most plentiful proteins present in the bodies of mammals, including humans. In fact, it makes up about 25 percent of the total amount of proteins in the body. Some people refer to collagen as the glue that holds the body together. Without it, the body would, quite literally, fall apart. As people age, however, collagen degradation occurs, leading to wrinkles. As such, it is an important substance for those looking for ways to fight the visible effects of aging on the skin, weight loss and reducing body fat. Collagen may also help with inflammation, joint pain and joint health.

As with all of the Healthy Coffees Dr. Hoover promotes, Reishi "Ganoderma" is a core ingredients with provides a "wealth" of health benefits including, powerful anti-oxidants, digestive support, liver support, adrenal/thyroid, and immune system support.

All of this is blended into a grade A great tasting coffee. It can't get any easier to help yourself than doing what you already do each morning, have a great cup of coffee knowing you are supporting your body!

Kacip Fatimah Collagen - Ganoderma (Female Enhancer)

Known as the the female version of Tongkat Ali. Traditionally, it is used for enhancing vitality, overcome tiredness and addressing female balance issues.

15 SERVING BOX $29.33
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6 BOX CASE $91.33
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Does Green Tea Promote Long Life?

2009-11-10T14:36:00.000-08:00

Drinking green tea does promote long life. But, there is a major catch. You have to drink green tea regularly. If you want a long life, you should be drinking green tea at an early age. Remember, there are many different types of green tea available that come from both China and Japan. Depending on how young you start drinking green tea, keep in mind the type of green tea that you are drinking. If you are nearing the end of your life and you start drinking green tea, then your will not extend your life that much. But, you might be able to extend your life for maybe a year at least.

If you are looking to green tea as a means to live a long life, you will have to start drinking that stuff at an early age. The reason that green tea helps extend life is because that the stuff is full of antioxidants. Back during my junior year in high school, I had learned that eating chocolate in moderation would extend a person's life by one year. This is because chocolates such as dark chocolates are full of antioxidants. However, green tea has far more antioxidants than dark chocolate does.

The magic word would be "antioxidant." Eating foods full of antioxidants are keys to living a long and healthy life. Regularly drinking green tea is the key to living a long and healthy life. However, you have to do your research on what type of green tea you are drinking. It is important that you do not go crazy with drinking the green tea. While there are many health benefits to drinking green tea, there are as many side effects to drinking green tea.

According to a study released back in 2003, it has been revealed that green tea does boost ones gamma delta T cells. In turn, it boosts ones own immune system. When you get older, your immune system breaks down. Having a strong immune system is crucial to living a long life. Green tea will help boost your immune system and ensure you do live a long life. Remember, you must have been drinking green tea for quite awhile.

Green tea has the antioxidant known as EGCG that protects against many cancers such as lung, prostate, and liver cancer. When we get older, we are more prone towards getting cancer. Cancer can shorter a person's life. If green tea protects those against cancer, then it should promote long life. Keep in mind that you have to have been drinking green tea on a regular basis for quite some time.

For the elderly, green tea lowers the risk of getting cognitive impairment. That should say it helps promote long life.

There are many properties of green tea that does extend ones own life. However, one must be award of the side-effects of green tea. Too much green tea may shorten a person's life instead of extending it.

If you are looking to green tea to promote long life, make sure you do your research. However, I would recommend looking to other sources of foods that are full of antioxidants.

But if you are starting out with green tea, I would suggest the Japanese green tea of kukicha. This can be mixed with any type of juice for a children's drink. Kukicha has plenty of antioxidants and is low in caffeine. Children will not be at risk of getting addicted to caffeine.

That is just one example.

Remember to do your full research on green tea. One type of green tea is different from another.

Green tea does promote long life. But, it needs to be consumed in moderation. The key word is "moderation." Drink it in moderation on a regular basis.

by: Can Tran

Foods that Help You Get HAPPY

2009-11-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

Fight stress and depression with five nutrient-buffed snacks

Sorry, ice cream isn't on the list! But the following foods do have nutrients that can help fight stress and depression, says Elizabeth Somer, RD, author of Eat Your Way to Happiness.

Food: Oranges, lemons and other citrus fruits
Mood-Boosting Ingredient: Vitamin C
This vitamin helps you cope better in stressful times by lowering your levels of stress hormones. If you get a lot regularly, you'll feel calmer during tough situations.

Food: Nuts
Mood-Boosting Ingredients: Vitamin E, arginine (an amino acid) and magnesium
A handful of nuts will keep you full and satisfied because they have a low glycemic index-which means they don't jack up your blood sugar levels and cause mood swings. It also makes you feel good to eat something that seems decadent (they're considered a little bit naughty because they're high in fat) but actually has health benefits.

Food: Leafy greens
Mood-Boosting Ingredient: Folic Acid
Research has shown that the folic acid in leafy greens such as kale and spinach can reduce depression and even improve blood flow to the brain. If you're not eating at least one serving per day you're more than likely low in folic acid, so try getting more or consider taking a multivitamin that contains it.

Food: Salmon
Mood-Boosting Ingredient: DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid)
The omega-3s in fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines have been found to improve your mood while lowering the risk of depression and age-related memory loss. The depression link is so strong that American Psychiatric Association suggests that anyone taking antidepressants and/or going through therapy also boost her intake of omega 3s.

Food: Dried cherries
Mood-Boosting Ingredients: Potassium, magnesium and vitamin C
These nutrients all work to curb your body's stress response. Dried cherries also keep your brain healthy because they're packed with antioxidants (including vitamin C), which prevent damage to your brain cells that can lead to memory problems.

By: Abigail L. Cuffey

28 Facts About Caffeine Everyone Ought To Know

2009-11-02T20:36:00.001-08:00

This is a great list of facts about caffeine:

1. Caffeine is a stimulant that temporarily wards off drowsiness and restore alertness. 2. Over 60 plants use caffeine as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kill insects.
3. Caffeine is the world’s most widely consumed legal, unregulated drug estimated at 120,000 tons per year.
4. Dark-roast coffee has less caffeine than lighter roasts because the roasting process reduces the bean’s caffeine content.
5. The color of tea cannot be used to indicate caffeine content.
6. Arabica coffee normally contains less caffeine than coffee originating from Western Africa.
7. Caffeine is COMPLETELY absorbed by the stomach and small intestine within 45 minutes of ingestion.
8. A cup of tea contains half the amount of caffeine of an average cup of coffee.
9. Caffeine in chocolate is insignificant to the point where a 28-gram serving of milk chocolate bar has as much caffeine as a cup of decaffeinated coffee.
10. A study found out that 5.5 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body mass resulted in subjects cycling 29% longer during high intensity circuits.
11. Animals like dogs, horses and parrots are unable to metabolize the compound thus caffeine is toxic to them.
12. 80% to 90% of American adults consume caffeine daily, and their mean daily caffeine intake exceeds 200 mg/day which means that a large fraction of the U.S. adult population is completely tolerant to most of the effects of caffeine.
13. A reduction in serotonin levels when caffeine use is stopped can cause anxiety, irritability, inability to concentrate, diminished motivation to complete daily tasks and even mild depression.
14. Other side effects include dizziness, tachycardia, blurred vision, drowsiness, dry mouth, flushed dry skin, diuresis, loss of appetite, nausea and stomachaches.
15. Caffeine intoxication happens at 3-4 cups of brewed coffee.
16. Caffeine intensifies and prolongs the effects of epinephrine-like drugs such as amphetamine, methamphetamine, or methylphenidate.
17. A small dose of caffeine taken with pain killers increase the effectiveness of relieving headaches and body absorption levels by 40%.
18. Drinking 100 cups of coffee in a streak is another method of committing suicide.
19. Extreme overdose starts at 2 grams of caffeine.
20. According to British Journal of Addiction, caffeine addiction troubles 1 in every 10 of the population.
21. Caffeine reduces the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease in men.
22. Caffeine improves short term memory only when the information to be recalled is related to the current line of thought.
23. Caffeine prevents dihydrotestosterone from damaging hair follicles.
24. Caffeine increases sperm movement.
25. Caffeine significantly reduces the risk of heart diseases of non-high blood pressure patients.
26. Caffeine causes excess release of stomach acids during ingestion.
27. Smoking can shorten caffeine’s half-life
28. Give a spider caffeine and and you will notice the speed of it’s web construction

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6 Healthy Habits You Can Start Today

2009-11-02T20:27:00.000-08:00

Although there are some things we can't control about our health, there are many things we can. By developing healthy habits that we practice on a daily basis, we can tip the odds in our favor for living a long and vibrant life.

1. Drink more water. Most people don't drink nearly enough water to properly hydrate their bodies. If you simply consider the fact that the human body is about 75% water, it helps to understand the importance of drinking the recommended daily amount of 8 to 10 eight-ounce glasses.

2. Eat less food more often. Many people believe that the best way to lose weight is by skipping meals and eating less often. The truth is that when you skip meals, the metabolism slows down and you burn less calories and fat.

3. If it's white, don't bite. Processed foods that contain limited amounts of natural fibers and nutrients may fill you up, but they can still leave your body malnourished. Natural foods contain the fibers and minerals your body needs to function properly.

4. Give your liver a daily cleansing. For a good natural detoxification, squeeze half a lemon in 8 ounces of water and add stevia to taste first thing every morning. The lemon juice helps clean out the liver and also balance blood sugars naturally.

5. Get moving. There’s no way around it—if you really want to get and stay healthy, exercise is a key factor. Of course, the benefits of exercise reach much farther, including cardiovascular health, stress reduction, muscle toning, and sleep enhancement.

6. Get your sleep. Sleep rejuvenates cells and helps in the healing process and also helps to maintain and boost the immune system. Lack of sleep also leads to stress, which leads to increased cortisol release, which leads to weight gain.

10 Great Benefits Of Drinking Green Tea

2009-11-02T20:13:00.000-08:00

Green tea has a great importance in China history. Ancient Chinese people knew the benefits of green tea for health. They have always used it for medical purposes. It is produced from the leaves of Camellia Sinensis by some special processes. This is the list of benefits of green tea which I’ve found during my research.

1. It is used to treat multiple sclerosis.
2. It is used for treatment and prevention of cancer.
3. It is used to stop Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
4. It is used to raise the metabolism and increase fat oxidation.
5. It reduces the risk of heart diseases and heart attacks by reducing the risk of trombosis.
6. It reduces the risk of esophageal cancer.
7. Drinking green tea inhibits the growth of certain cancer cells, reduces the level of cholesterol in blood, improves the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol.
8. It is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular diseases
9. It is used to treat impaired immune function. .
10. Some researches show that, drinking green tea regularly may help prevent tooth decay by killing the bacteria which causes the dental plaque.

Via HealthMad

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Coffee and Exercise Performance

2009-11-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

If you’re planning on using exercise to get yourself in shape for summer, you might want to drink a couple of cups of coffee first. In a study recently released, researchers at the University of Georgia in Athens found that the amount of caffeine in two cups of coffee cut exercise-induced muscle pain in half.

The group studied nine college-aged women who were given caffeine or placebo at 24 and 48 hours after performing what is called eccentric exercise. The two intensities of exercise tests were actually designed to cause soreness in the subjects’ thigh muscles, or quadriceps. It is interesting that the harder the women exercised, the more effective was the caffeine at relieving their muscle pain. Those who consumed caffeine one hour prior to the more difficult exercise test had 48% less pain than the placebo group, while the women who consumed caffeine prior to the less difficult test had 26% less pain than the placebo group.

The authors wrote: “Eccentric exercise occurs when skeletal muscles produce force while being lengthened. For example, the biceps brachii muscles act eccentrically when a cup of coffee is lowered from the mouth to a tabletop. This experiment found that caffeine (equal to approximately 2 cups of brewed coffee) could produce a large reduction in pain resulting from eccentric exercise-induced, delayed-onset muscle injury. This finding may improve the quality of life of individuals who experience skeletal muscle pain after engaging in unaccustomed, eccentrically biased exercise.”
According to Dr. Victor Meridakis, “If you can use caffeine to reduce the pain, it may make it easier to transition from that first week into a much longer exercise program…. but you have to apply some common sense and not go overboard.”
_________________________
Reference: Caffeine Attenuates Delayed-Onset Muscle Pain and Force Loss Following Eccentric Exercise. Maridakis V, O'Connor PJ, Dudley GA, McCully KK. J Pain. 2006 Dec 8; [Epub ahead of print]

How the Sweet Taste of Soft Drinks are Destroying Your Health

2009-11-02T15:59:00.000-08:00

Soda, pop, cola, soft drink — whatever you call it, it is one of the worst beverages that you could be drinking for your health. As the debate for whether to put a tax on the sale of soft drinks continues, you should know how they affect your body so that you can make an informed choice on your own.

Soft drinks are hard on your health
Soft drinks contain little to no vitamins or other essential nutrients. However, it is what they do contain that is the problem: caffeine, carbonation, simple sugars — or worse, sugar substitutes — and often food additives such as artificial coloring, flavoring, and preservatives.

A lot of research has found that consumption of soft drinks in high quantity, especially by children, is responsible for many health problems that include tooth decay, nutritional depletion, obesity, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Why the sugar in soft drinks isn’t so sweet
Most soft drinks contain a high amount of simple sugars. The USDA recommendation of sugar consumption for a 2,000-calorie diet is a daily allotment of 10 teaspoons of added sugars. Many soft drinks contain more than this amount!

Just why is too much sugar so unhealthy? Well, to start, let's talk about what happens to you as sugar enters your body. When you drink sodas that are packed with simple sugars, the pancreas is called upon to produce and release insulin, a hormone that empties the sugar in your blood stream into all the tissues and cells for usage. The result of overindulging in simple sugar is raised insulin levels. Raised blood insulin levels beyond the norm can lead to depression of the immune system, which in turn weakens your ability to fight disease.

Something else to consider is that most of the excess sugar ends up being stored as fat in your body, which results in weight gain and elevates risk for heart disease and cancer. One study found that when subjects were given refined sugar, their white blood cell count decreased significantly for several hours afterwards. Another study discovered that rats fed a high-sugar diet had a substantially elevated rate of breast cancer when compared to rats on a regular diet.

The health effects of diet soda
You may come to the conclusion that diet or sugar-free soda is a better choice. However, one study discovered that drinking one or more soft drinks a day — and it didn’t matter whether it was diet or regular — led to a 30% greater chance of weight gain around the belly.

Diet soda is filled with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin. These artificial sweeteners pose a threat to your health. Saccharin, for instance, has been found to be carcinogenic, and studies have found that it produced bladder cancer in rats.

Aspartame, commonly known as nutrasweet, is a chemical that stimulates the brain to think the food is sweet. It breaks down into acpartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol at a temperature of 86 degrees. (Remember, your stomach is somewhere around 98 degrees.) An article put out by the University of Texas found that aspartame has been linked to obesity. The process of stimulating the brain causes more cravings for sweets and leads to carbohydrate loading.

Carbonation depletes calcium
Beverages with bubbles contain phosphoric acid, which can severely deplete the blood calcium levels; calcium is a key component of the bone matrix. With less concentration of calcium over a long time, it can lower deposition rates so that bone mass and density suffer. This means that drinking sodas and carbonated water increases your risk of osteoporosis.

Add in the caffeine usually present in soft drinks, and you are in for even more trouble. Caffeine can deplete the body’s calcium, in addition to stimulating your central nervous system and contributing to stress, a racing mind, and insomnia.

Skip the soda and go for:

• Fresh water
Water is a vital beverage for good health. Each and every cell needs water to perform its essential functions. Since studies show that tap water is filled with contaminants, antibiotics, and a number of other unhealthy substances, consider investing in a quality carbon-based filter for your tap water. To find out more about a high-performance filtration system, click here.

On the go? Try using a stainless steel thermos or glass bottle, filled with filtered water. Enhance the flavor of your water with a refreshing infusion of basil, mint leaves, and a drop of honey.

• Fruit Juice
If you are a juice drinker, try watering down your juice to cut back on the sugar content. Buy a jar of organic 100% juice, especially cranberry, acai, pomegranate, and then dilute three parts filtered water to one part juice. You will get a subtle sweet taste and the benefit of antioxidants. After a couple of weeks, you will no longer miss the sweetness of sugary concentrated juices.

• Tea
Tea gently lifts your energy and has numerous health benefits. Black, green, white, and oolong teas all contain antioxidant polyphenols. In fact, tea ranks as high or higher than many fruits and vegetables on the ORAC scale, the score that measures antioxidant potential of plant-based foods.

Herbal tea does not have the same antioxidant properties, though it is still a great beverage choice with other health benefits, such as inducing calming and relaxing effects.

If tea doesn’t satisfy your sweet tooth, try adding cinnamon or a little honey, which has important health benefits that refined sugar lacks. For a selection of healthy teas that promote total body wellness, click here. Drink up!

Happy Drinking!

Coffee Buying Online... Is It Better?

2009-11-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

You may have never thought about buying coffee online before, but it could very well be the next thing you fall in love with. But why would someone want to look for online coffee when there are a few good selections at the grocery store? Well, if all you have ever had was grocery store coffee, then you might feel like shopping online is a waste. The thing is though, the coffee that you purchase online is typically better than anything you are going to find in the grocery stores.

Since grocery stores only have a limited amount of shelf space, they can only store a certain number of various kinds of coffee. If you are really into coffee of various blends, then looking to purchase coffee online is your best bet. Since the online store is able to stock many more different kinds of coffee than your local grocery store, you will be able to find just the right coffee for you. You probably won't believe your eyes when you see all of the different selections that are really out there.

Also, you will find that the coffee online that you purchase is much fresher than what you could run down to your local grocer's and pick up. This is because the coffee did not have to travel to the stores, sit in the back room and then sit on the shelves for weeks before being purchased. When you order online, you are usually getting the best of the best which means you will have the freshest coffee for you and your loved ones when you wake up in the morning.

Are you worried about the shipping prices for the online coffee? Well, don't be. Since the online stores do not have as much over head as the regular grocery stores in your town, they are able to help you with the shipping a little. Some online stores will even offer for you to have free shipping, which means that you are not really out any extra money. In fact, you save money buy purchasing coffee online because you do not have to waste gasoline and time running to and from the store. The coffee will be shipped right to your front door.

So, do you really think that you will enjoy shopping online for your coffee? You really will not know until you try it for yourself. You might be surprised and find that you love it so much, that you really cannot think of any other way to purchase your coffee. Purchasing coffee online is something that you will get extremely used to. Give it a shot and see what you think. Since you really are not spending any extra money to shop for online coffee, there is nothing to lose.

by:
Ruaidhri Prendergast
EzineArticles.com Expert Author

Loss - How To Overcome Any Calamity

2009-11-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

There are many in America right now that are losing their homes.

My children and I lost our home shortly after my divorce. Losing your home, a loved one, a business, a job, or any other significant thing or person in our lives brings forth vast and unsettling emotions.

Our sense of security, identity, and safety is threatened.

We wonder if we will survive. We wonder how we will survive. We feel pain, anger and a sense of tremendous loss.

At one time or another we will all experience this in our journey through life.

Sometimes we merely survive the upset.

Sometimes we are left with unresolved anger and a lingering or lifelong feeling of unjustness and unfairness.

Sometimes we experience a greater sense of ourselves and our abilities. We realize that we can not only survive but that we have intelligence, instincts, and strengths beyond what we previously believed. Sometimes we experience a peace that is more profound than we ever imagined. Sometimes our self-confidence expands. Many times we learn the power of letting go. And many times we learn that we are not the things we own or we are not the other half of another person.

What is life about?

Why do these “calamities” befall us?

Why are we here?

I believe that we are here to learn who we really are. I believe that we are here to grow in our power, love, intelligence and sense of self. I believe we are here to demonstrate to ourselves that we can survive and that after and through survival we rise to higher levels of spiritual and internal power. When I use the word power, I mean the ability, capacity and action of generating – of creating – this divine power within that many times has lain dormant waiting to be awakened.

Are you experiencing a wakeup call right now?

Are you being challenged beyond reason?

Are you unsure of your ability to survive or cope?

Know that you are more than this experience.

Know that you are divine.

Know that, on some level, you may even have created this event for your own growth or wakeup call.

Know that this may be a turning point in your life.

Know that you may discover a part of yourself that you never knew existed.

Know that – in time – you may look back on this experience and call it the best

thing that could have happened to you.

Know that it is not “bad” and neither are you.

Know that you are a creator.

Know that life is with you – whether you feel it now or not.

Know that you have the ability to look at what occurred or is occurring and figure out what you could have done differently to have prevented this. Know that it really is okay that you didn’t prevent it. Learn from this experience.

Some of you have read in Outrageous Mastery® how I figured out how to get a home for my children and myself. It was a wreck and it made me angry but once my children and I accepted it as a challenge – we rose to the occasion.

The pride that we all felt a year later went soul-deep. A neighbor just shook her head and said, “You are superwoman!”

And I felt like superwoman.

Know that everything passes.

Know that life goes on.

Know that you are more than this experience.

Know there is a reason for it.

Know it may turn into a gift.

Know that you are incredibly special.

Know that you are loved.

Know that it doesn’t mean you are a failure.

Know that it doesn’t mean anything negative about you.

It is a life experience. That is all.

And it is an opportunity to be stretched, to go beyond your comfort zone, to find
out how tough you really are. It is your challenge.

Rise to the occasion and show yourself who you are.

Look for and find the opportunity that is awaiting you. It is there.

Know you are more important and worth more than what is happening.

Know, as time passes, everything will be fine.

Know that you are the one that can make it fine.

P.S. One of the key ways to break free from loss is using your self-confidence. It's your greatest tool, so don't let it go to waste!

by: Sasha Xarrian

Coffee and Heart Failure. Is there a Link?

2009-10-31T12:09:00.001-07:00

Contrary to findings from an earlier study, recent research suggests that coffee lovers need not worry about heart failure.

Coffee may not be a threat to one’s heart as it was once suspected to be. Previous studies suggesting that heavy coffee consumption might contribute to heart attacks or other cardiac problems were mainly retrospective - asking heart attack sufferers about their coffee consumption and comparing them with people who had never had a heart attack. But recent studies have been better designed to weed out a true association. These so-called prospective studies have first asked people about their coffee intake and then followed them over time to record new cases of heart trouble.

Researchers studied and followed 37,315 middle-aged (ages 45 to 79 years) Swedish men for 9 years and found that those who regularly drank coffee were no more likely to develop heart failure than infrequent coffee drinkers. The researchers found no clear relationship between the men's reported coffee intake at the outset and their risk of developing heart failure.

Whether the findings apply to men with existing heart problems is not known. None of the men in the study had a history of heart attack. Heart-muscle damage from a heart attack is one of the major causes of heart failure. The study also did not include women. It's possible that the results could be different for women, but that seems unlikely. Since there no evidence was found of an association between coffee drinking and heart failure, the researchers concluded that it would be premature for people to give up coffee in an effort to prevent heart disease.

Coffees that do contribute to your body's overall health
http://twurl.cc/1sit

by: American Heart Journal

Coffee... The New Sports Drink?

2009-10-31T11:56:00.000-07:00

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: What's your take on drinking caffeinated beverages, including coffee, before exercise or before a game? I have told my sons that drinking such beverages will dehydrate them. They claim they boost energy and are harmless. Who's right?

— D.M.

Moderate amounts of caffeinated drinks, including coffee, before exercise or before a game are acceptable and can even provide benefits for an athlete used to drinking such beverages. Moderate translates into about three cups of coffee. Coffee has almost reached the status of a health drink. It provides protection against heart attacks, strokes and diabetes. And it might decrease the risk of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. It's a source of magnesium, chromium, potassium and the B vitamin niacin. It contains antioxidants. Oxidants are byproducts of cells that act to promote effects similar to those of rust. Antioxidants are rust-proofing materials.

As for sports, caffeine has many favorable effects. It boosts endurance, and that has been shown in many studies. It enhances the body's burning of fat for energy. That preserves the body's stores of glycogen, stored carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are high-octane energy fuels. Keeping them in reserve makes it possible to withstand the rigors of long-duration events. Even athletes whose sports require short bursts of intense energy gain an advantage from caffeine.

As for your point about increased urination and possible dehydration from caffeinated beverages, that was something that was taught for many years. It became a universal belief. It isn't true, however. Caffeine-containing beverages cause the production of no more urine than does the equivalent amount of water. Athletes who drink such beverages don't become dehydrated and don't lose their ability to control body temperature.

Caffeine seems to dull muscle pain that comes with exercise.

On the downside, caffeine causes the jitters in some, and it can lead to tremors that interfere with fine muscle control and coordination. That's an effect that is learned through experience. If it happens, then caffeine should not be part of an athlete's pre-exercise routine.

Try these coffees to help out with your exercise routine to your daily grind:
http://twurl.cc/1sip

by: Paul g. donohue M.D.

The Satisfying Aroma of a Sweet Business Opportunity is Here ! ! !

2009-10-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

People forget to take vitamins in the morning, but No One Forgets to Drink Their Coffee ! ! !

More than half of U.S. adults drink coffee daily for the flavor and the caffeine. Imagine if it were actually good for you, too.

JavaFit combines premium coffee with an actual function:
• Weight Loss
• Immune System Support
• Energy Enhancement
• Improved Mental Focus

Make a Comfortable Income selling the only Healthy Fully Functional Gourmet Brewed Coffee & Latte Shakes!

For Products & Opportunity: http://twurl.cc/1rox

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Healthy Coffee That's Making National Headline News!

2009-10-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

Introducing

The Only Healthy Gourmet Fully Functional Coffees & Lattes!

...the first ever fully functional blend of brewed gourmet coffee & lattes, with clinically tested nutrients, GREAT TASTING... fortified coffee that helps you stay fit and healthy. Good to the last Function!

For Products: http://twurl.cc/1ror

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Blog - http://twurl.cc/1qlo

A Doctor that actually Endorses, Uses and Recommends Healthy Coffee to his Patients

2009-10-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

A Doctor that actually Endorses, Uses and Recommends Healthy Coffee to his Patients. Dr. Hoover, NHD - watch the video below!

For Products: http://twurl.cc/1rms

Follow us on:
Twitter - http://twurl.cc/1qlk
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Blog - http://twurl.cc/1qlo

29 Ways to Successfully Ingrain a Behavior

2009-10-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

Our daily lives are often a series of habits played out through the day, a trammeled existence fettered by the slow accretion of our previous actions.

But habits can be changed, as difficult as that may seem sometimes.

I’m a living example: in tiny, almost infinitesimal steps, I’ve changed a laundry list of habits. Quit smoking, stopped impulse spending, got out of debt, began running and waking early and eating healthier and becoming frugal and simplifying my life and becoming organized and focused and productive, ran three marathons and a couple of triathlons, started a few successful blogs, eliminated my debt … you get the picture.

It’s possible.

And while I’ve written about habit change many times over the course of the life of Zen Habits, today I thought I’d put the best tips all together in one cheatsheet, for those new to the blog and for those who could use the reminders.

Keep it simple
Habit change is not that complicated. While the tips below will seem overwhelming, there’s really only a few things you need to know. Everything else is just helping these to become reality.

The simple steps of habit change:

1. Write down your plan.

2. Identify your triggers and replacement habits.

3. Focus on doing the replacement habits every single time the triggers happen, for about 30 days.

That’s it. We’ll talk more about each of these steps, and much more, in the cheatsheet below.

The Habit Change Cheatsheet
The following is a compilation of tips to help you change a habit. Don’t be overwhelmed — always remember the simple steps above. The rest are different ways to help you become more successful in your habit change.

1. Do just one habit at a time. Extremely important. Habit change is difficult, even with just one habit. If you do more than one habit at a time, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Keep it simple, allow yourself to focus, and give yourself the best chance for success. Btw, this is why New Year’s resolutions often fail — people try to tackle more than one change at a time.

2. Start small. The smaller the better, because habit change is difficult, and trying to take on too much is a recipe for disaster. Want to exercise? Start with just 5-10 minutes. Want to wake up earlier? Try just 10 minutes earlier for now. Or consider half habits.

3. Do a 30-day Challenge. In my experience, it takes about 30 days to change a habit, if you’re focused and consistent. This is a round number and will vary from person to person and habit to habit. Often you’ll read a magical “21 days” to change a habit, but this is a myth with no evidence. Seriously — try to find the evidence from a scientific study for this. A more recent study shows that 66 days is a better number. But 30 days is a good number to get you started. Your challenge: stick with a habit every day for 30 days, and post your daily progress updates to a forum.

4. Write it down. Just saying you’re going to change the habit is not enough of a commitment. You need to actually write it down, on paper. Write what habit you’re going to change.

5. Make a plan. While you’re writing, also write down a plan. This will ensure you’re really prepared. The plan should include your reasons (motivations) for changing, obstacles, triggers, support buddies, and other ways you’re going to make this a success. More on each of these below.

6. Know your motivations, and be sure they’re strong. Write them down in your plan. You have to be very clear why you’re doing this, and the benefits of doing it need to be clear in your head. If you’re just doing it for vanity, while that can be a good motivator, it’s not usually enough. We need something stronger. For me, I quit smoking for my wife and kids. I made a promise to them. I knew if I didn’t smoke, not only would they be without a husband and father, but they’d be more likely to smoke themselves (my wife was a smoker and quit with me).

7. Don’t start right away. In your plan, write down a start date. Maybe a week or two from the date you start writing out the plan. When you start right away (like today), you are not giving the plan the seriousness it deserves. When you have a “Quit Date” or “Start Date”, it gives that date an air of significance. Tell everyone about your quit date (or start date). Put it up on your wall or computer desktop. Make this a Big Day. It builds up anticipation and excitement, and helps you to prepare.

8. Write down all your obstacles. If you’ve tried this habit change before (odds are you have), you’ve likely failed. Reflect on those failures, and figure out what stopped you from succeeding. Write down every obstacle that’s happened to you, and others that are likely to happen. Then write down how you plan to overcome them. That’s the key: write down your solution before the obstacles arrive, so you’re prepared.

9. Identify your triggers. What situations trigger your current habit? For the smoking habit, for example, triggers might include waking in the morning, having coffee, drinking alcohol, stressful meetings, going out with friends, driving, etc. Most habits have multiple triggers. Identify all of them and write them in your plan.

10. For every single trigger, identify a positive habit you're going to do instead. When you first wake in the morning, instead of smoking, what will you do? What about when you get stressed? When you go out with friends? Some positive habits could include: exercise, meditation, deep breathing, organizing, decluttering, and more.

11. Plan a support system. Who will you turn to when you have a strong urge? Write these people into your plan. Support forums online are a great tool as well — I used a smoking cessation forum on about.com when I quit smoking, and it really helped. Don’t underestimate the power of support — it’s really important.

12. Ask for help. Get your family and friends and co-workers to support you. Ask them for their help, and let them know how important this is. Find an AA group in your area. Join online forums where people are trying to quit. When you have really strong urges or a really difficult time, call on your support network for help. Don’t smoke a cigarette, for example, without posting to your online quit forum. Don’t have a drop of alcohol before calling your AA buddy.

13. Become aware of self-talk. You talk to yourself, in your head, all the time — but often we’re not aware of these thoughts. Start listening. These thoughts can derail any habit change, any goal. Often they’re negative: “I can’t do this. This is too difficult. Why am I putting myself through this? How bad is this for me anyway? I’m not strong enough. I don’t have enough discipline. I suck.” It’s important to know you’re doing this.

14. Stay positive. You will have negative thoughts — the important thing is to realize when you’re having them, and push them out of your head. Squash them like a bug! Then replace them with a positive thought. “I can do this! If Leo can do it, so can I!” :)

15. Have strategies to defeat the urge. Urges are going to come — they’re inevitable, and they’re strong. But they’re also temporary, and beatable. Urges usually last about a minute or two, and they come in waves of varying strength. You just need to ride out the wave, and the urge will go away. Some strategies for making it through the urge: deep breathing, self-massage, eat some frozen grapes, take a walk, exercise, drink a glass of water, call a support buddy, post on a support forum.

16. Prepare for the sabotagers. There will always be people who are negative, who try to get you to do your old habit. Be ready for them. Confront them, and be direct: you don’t need them to try to sabotage you, you need their support, and if they can’t support you then you don’t want to be around them.

17. Talk to yourself. Be your own cheerleader, give yourself pep talks, repeat your mantra (below), and don’t be afraid to seem crazy to others. We’ll see who’s crazy when you’ve changed your habit and they’re still lazy, unhealthy slobs!

18. Have a mantra. For quitting smoking, mine was “Not One Puff Ever” (I didn’t make this up, but it worked — more on this below). When I wanted to quit my day job, it was “Liberate Yourself”. This is just a way to remind yourself of what you’re trying to do.

19. Use visualization. This is powerful. Vividly picture, in your head, successfully changing your habit. Visualize doing your new habit after each trigger, overcoming urges, and what it will look like when you’re done. This seems new-agey, but it really works.

20. Have rewards. Regular ones. You might see these as bribes, but actually they’re just positive feedback. Put these into your plan, along with the milestones at which you’ll receive them.

21. Take it one urge at a time. Often we’re told to take it one day at a time — which is good advice — but really it’s one urge at a time. Just make it through this urge.

22. Not One Puff Ever (in other words, no exceptions). This seems harsh, but it’s a necessity: when you’re trying to break the bonds between an old habit and a trigger, and form a new bond between the trigger and a new habit, you need to be really consistent. You can’t do it sometimes, or there will be no new bond, or at least it will take a really really long time to form. So, at least for the first 30 days (and preferably 60), you need to have no exceptions. Each time a trigger happens, you need to do the new habit and not the old one. No exceptions, or you’ll have a backslide. If you do mess up, regroup, learn from your mistake, plan for your success, and try again (see the last item on this list).

23. Get rest. Being tired leaves us vulnerable to relapse. Get a lot of rest so you can have the energy to overcome urges.

24. Drink lots of water. Similar to the item above, being dehydrated leaves us open to failure. Stay hydrated!

25. Renew your commitment often. Remind yourself of your commitment hourly, and at the beginning and end of each day. Read your plan. Celebrate your success. Prepare yourself for obstacles and urges.

26. Set up public accountability. Blog about it, post on a forum, email your commitment and daily progress to friend and family, post a chart up at your office, write a column for your local newspaper (I did this when I ran my first marathon). When we make it public — not just the commitment but the progress updates — we don’t want to fail.

27. Engineer it so it’s hard to fail. Create a groove that’s harder to get out of than to stay in: increase positive feedback for sticking with the habit, and increase negative feedback for not doing the habit.

28. Avoid some situations where you normally do your old habit, at least for awhile, to make it a bit easier on yourself. If you normally drink when you go out with friends, consider not going out for a little while. If you normally go outside your office with co-workers to smoke, avoid going out with them. This applies to any bad habit — whether it be eating junk food or doing drugs, there are some situations you can avoid that are especially difficult for someone trying to change a bad habit. Realize, though, that when you go back to those situations, you will still get the old urges, and when that happens you should be prepared.

29. If you fail, figure out what went wrong, plan for it, and try again. Don’t let failure and guilt stop you. They’re just obstacles, but they can be overcome. In fact, if you learn from each failure, they become stepping stones to your success. Regroup. Let go of guilt. Learn. Plan. And get back on that horse.

by: zenhabits

Fake Sweetners: Are They Doing More Harm Than You Think!

2009-10-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

Too much sugar will make you fat, but too much artificial sweetener will ... do what exactly? Kill you? Make you thinner? Or have absolutely no effect at all? This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration's decision to ban cyclamate, the first artificial sweetener prohibited in the U.S., and yet scientists still haven't reached a consensus about how safe (or harmful) artificial sweeteners may be. Shouldn't we have figured this out by now?

The first artificial sweetener, saccharin, was discovered in 1879 when Constantin Fahlberg, a Johns Hopkins University scientist working on coal-tar derivatives, noticed a substance on his hands and arms that tasted sweet. No one knows why Fahlberg decided to lick an unknown substance off his body, but it's a good thing he did. Despite an early attempt to ban the substance in 1911 - skeptical scientists said it was an "adulterant" that changed the makeup of food - saccharin grew in popularity, and was used to sweeten foods during sugar rationings in World Wars I and II. Though it is about 300 times sweeter than sugar and has zero calories, saccharin leaves an unpleasant metallic aftertaste. So when cyclamate came on the market in 1951, food and beverage companies jumped at the chance to sweeten their products with something that tasted more natural. By 1968, Americans were consuming more than 17 million pounds of the calorie-free substance a year in snack foods, canned fruit and soft drinks like Tab and Diet Pepsi.

But in the late 1960s, studies began linking cyclamate to cancer. One noted that chicken embryos injected with the chemical developed extreme deformities, leading scientists to wonder if unborn humans could be similarly damaged by their cola-drinking mothers. Another study linked the sweetener to malignant bladder tumors in rats. Because a 1958 congressional amendment required the FDA to ban any food additive shown to cause cancer in humans or animals, on Oct. 18, 1969, the government ordered cyclamate removed from all food products.

Saccharin became mired in controversy in 1977, when a study indicated that the substance might contribute to cancer in rats. An FDA move to ban the chemical failed, though products containing saccharin were required to carry warning labels. In 2000, the chemical was officially removed from the Federal Government's list of suspected carcinogens.

In 1981, the synthetic compound aspartame was approved for use, and it capitalized on saccharin's bad publicity by becoming the leading additive in diet colas. In 1995 and 1996, misinformation about aspartame that linked the chemical to everything from multiple sclerosis to Gulf War syndrome was widely disseminated on the Internet. While aspartame does adversely effect some people - including those who are unable to metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine - it has been tested more than 200 times, and each test has confirmed that your Diet Coke is safe to drink. Nor have any health risks been detected in more than 100 clinical tests of sucralose, a chemically altered sugar molecule found in food, drinks, chewing gum and Splenda.
The fear-mongering and misinformation plaguing the faux-sweetener market seems to be rooted in a common misconception. No evidence indicates that sweeteners cause obesity; people with weight problems simply tend to eat more of it. While recent studies have suggested a possible link between artificial sweeteners and obesity, a direct link between additives and weight gain has yet to be found. The general consensus in the scientific community is that saccharin, aspartame and sucralose are harmless when consumed in moderation. And while cyclamate is still banned in the U.S., many other countries still allow it; it can even be found in the Canadian version of Sweet'n Low. Low-calorie additives won't make you thinner or curb your appetite. But they help unsweetened food taste better without harming you. And that's sweet enough.

by: CLAIRE SUDDATH

8 Global Secrets of Weight Loss

2009-10-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

Whatever happened to just enjoying good food, in moderation, without guilt? These global tricks reveal it's possible, and show you how.

1. Stop eating before you're full. The Okinawans, whose average BMI is 21.5 for those who eat a traditional diet, call this hara hachi bu, or eating till you're 80 percent full. Of course, we're not suggesting that you leave the table hungry. But eating until the buttons pop stretches the stomach by about 20 percent each time you do it, so you inevitably need more food to feel satisfied, explains Bradley Willcox, MD, co-author of The Okinawa Diet Plan. He says that putting your fork down "when you feel that first twinge of fullness" gives your brain a chance to realize that you are full before you overdo it.

2. Drizzle on the healthy oils. Healthy fats like olive oil, a staple of the Mediterranean diet, and canola oil, a staple of Okinawans, make vegetables tastier, so you're likely to eat more of them. And, as we know, eating a diet rich in produce is key to maintaining a healthy weight.

3. When you're eating, just eat. No other culture multitasks meals the way Americans do with our TV dinners, fast-food drive-throughs and grab-'n-go food that's designed to fit into a car cup holder and be eaten with one hand. In Japan, it's considered rude to eat while walking. And you'll never catch the French gulping coffee in the car. "In France, there are no car cup holders because you don't drink coffee while driving," explains Will Clower, PhD, author of The Fat Fallacy : The French Diet Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss. "Eating and drinking aren't errands. It's not what you do on the way to something else." Good advice. When you're distracted by work, traffic or the TV, you're apt to overeat without even realizing it, notes Dean Ornish, MD, author of Eat More, Weigh Less. "If you really pay attention to what you're eating, you enjoy it more fully and don't need as much food."

4. Get moving. People in Asian countries, France and the Mediterranean tend to be slim because they're more active. Not that they spend hours at the gym; they simply walk a lot.

5. Enjoy regular meals. One reason French women don't get fat is because French women eat three meals a day. You may think skipping meals cuts calories, but all it does is evoke a primal "fear of hunger response" that causes overeating later, explains Dr. David Katz, MD, author of The Way to Eat. "Throughout most of our history, we had too little to eat. So when you go for long periods without eating, you stir up all that native programming, which says eat like crazy when you can, because all too often you can't." Start with breakfast. Studies show that breakfast-eaters are slimmer than skippers.

6. Dine with others. Eating with family or friends vs. alone in your car, at your desk or on the couch is part and parcel of traditional cultures. Not only does camaraderie make the meal more enjoyable, it's slimming. "Eating with others restrains your own behavior," notes Dr. Katz. "You eat more slowly, which increases the likelihood that you'll register when you're full before you've eaten more than you should."

7. Chow down only when you're hungry. Americans eat for all sorts of reasons besides hunger, especially from boredom, loneliness, stress or fear, a foreign concept in other cultures. "You can't make food the solution to every issue in your life and expect to be thin," says Dr. Katz. "If you eat from boredom, find a hobby. If you eat to relieve stress, learn meditation or yoga."

8. Have a glass of wine. A staple of French and Mediterranean tables, wine adds joy to the meal, and because it contains potent antioxidants, is at least partly responsible for why these cultures traditionally have lower rates of cardiovascular disease and mortality despite their higher-fat diets. And while some studies show that we tend to eat more when we drink, a Finnish study actually found that male drinkers were leaner than abstainers.

7 Habits that can Cost You BIG Bucks!

2009-10-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

A recent study found that showerheads are apparently a nightclub of sorts for bacteria -- a warm, dark haven to party and multiply. An analysis of 50 showerheads from nine U.S. cities found about 30 percent contained high levels of a strain of bacteria that can cause lung infections when inhaled or swallowed. The levels were 100 times higher in showerheads than in typical household water, the researchers found.

This means your everyday routine may involve luxuriating in a cascade of germs. Aside from pondering the prospects of companies that manufacture showerheads, the report made me wonder: What dark corruption might be lurking behind your daily money routines, imperiling your road to wealth? What every day activities may be threatening your financial health? Here are seven:

1. Tossing out the "junk mail" from your credit card company.

The Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights Act goes into full effect in February. Ahead of that deadline, companies are changing the terms of customer agreements. For example, the new law prohibits raising the interest rate on existing balances unless a customer pays more than 60 days late. To skirt that provision, firms are notifying customers that their cards are now "variable rate." (Translation: We can jack up your rate whenever we please.)

So watch those benign notices, and be ready to call and demand a fixed-rate card or take your business elsewhere. Amid these tactics, a new bill calls for moving up the deadline on the credit card law to Dec. 1.

2. Using a debit card without writing down the transactions in your account register.

Debit cards are expected to account for 60 percent of transactions this year, but debit-card users tend to lose track of their money: Swiping plastic triggers 44 percent of overdraft fees, while paper checks account for just 27 percent.

A new report finds 50 million Americans overdrew their accounts at least once in a 12-month period, and 27 million incurred five or more overdraft fees. At an average of $34 a pop, that's a lot of beans -- literally. By one account, Americans spend about the same amount on overdraft fees as they do on fresh vegetables.

Why write down debit spending? Because swiping a card doesn't feel the same as laying out cash. The discipline of recording the transaction may reduce mindless spending and makes money easier to track. Simplify your money trail by using online bill pay for all your regular monthly bills, rather than having money withdrawn from your account by outside companies. Then take 30 seconds a day to log on to your account, add the pending transactions in bill pay to the outstanding checks and debits listed in your register that haven't cleared yet. Subtract from the current balance. If the result is nearing zero, add money to the account. Voila -- no overdrafts, no fees.

3. Ignoring new bank charges.

You may have noticed banks are a bit desperate these days to make a buck. One of the more recent innovations is dinging customers who make electronic transfers to an external account.

Example: In the last year, Wachovia started charging customers $3 per transfer to an outside bank. Let's say you automatically stash $100 a week into a savings account at an online bank offering 1.8 percent interest (the current top rate). Smart move. Except Wachovia will now ding you for 3 percent of that weekly deposit. Annual cost? $156.

Meanwhile, Wachovia doesn't offer any savings accounts that compete with a 1.8 percent rate (except Way to Save, which severely restricts the amount you can deposit). Solution: Find a local bank or credit union with no transfer fees, so you're free to access higher returns.

4. Investing time in the wrong things.

Maybe you're someone who will drive 20 minutes to a store on your lunch hour to get $5 off a $20 sweater. Or you'll spend 45 minutes on the phone protesting a $3 error on the cable bill. But when you start a new job, you procrastinate for two years before joining the 401(k) plan or leave your contribution languishing in a money-market account.

Make a weekly to-do list of your financial decisions (savings and spending) and then prioritize them in terms of bang-for-the-buck over time. When you do the math, you'll see why paying off credit cards in full and contributing to a retirement plan that offers a match should be at the top of the list.

5. Spending with no goals to guide you.

One definition of insanity, attributed to Albert Einstein, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Yet that's how some people approach their finances. They earn and spend and earn and spend, and wonder why they aren't making any progress.

Break the mindless cycle by figuring out what you value most, whether it's world travel, returning to school to change careers, home ownership, a peaceful retirement or a debt-free college education for the kids. Then set specific goals, with real time frames, and track your advancement on a monthly basis. Make this a daily discipline by putting a list of those goals in your face -- the fridge, your desk at work, your wallet.

6. Failing to track spending.

You can't succeed at No. 5 if you don't know precisely where your money is going. When I first started working, I carried a pencil and paper around and wrote everything down. Today, there are numerous desktop software applications and Web sites that will aggregate your finances and track your spending and savings.

You can pay upfront for software. Choose an online program that's free, but supported by sponsored ads and offers you'll see when you log in (and the service may sell your data). Or you can pay a monthly fee for a site with no outside ads or offers. Check out this recent list of budgeting tools at the blog Get Rich Slowly.

7. Failing to exercise.

How can this hurt your finances? Daily physical activity lowers the risk of a multitude of ailments, from heart disease to diabetes to certain kinds of cancer, which are obviously expensive to treat, even for people who have health insurance.

A Harvard study found medical bills are behind 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies, and more than 75 percent of bankrupt families had health insurance at the onset of the illness. Meanwhile, a regular work-out might get you a raise. Studies have found exercise can improve your performance at work by boosting cognitive skills and productivity, and reducing stress and absenteeism.

In the meantime, while you're thinking about health, consider changing the showerhead.

by: Laura Rowley

Coffee Making You Tired & Sleepy Instead of Energized?

2009-10-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

These coffees are great for people that are having reverse affects of coffee making them tired and sleepy. These coffees will give you energy, keep you energized through the day, are healthy for you and are non addictive.

Organo Gold Healthy Black Coffee

The finest arabica beans combined with organic ganoderma lucidum for the richest, healthiest cup - any time of the day.

EnerGi Black Coffee

EnerGi Black Healthy Coffee is a high quality blend of instant gourmet coffee with reishi and ginseng extracts to provide the most perfect aroma and taste.

Lingzhi Black Coffee

Lingzhi Black Coffee is a coffee beverage uniquely blended with the finest coffee beans and Ganoderma extracts. Coffee is packaged individually in small sachets for instant satisfaction and everyday-use convenience.

Ganoderma 2-in-1 Classic Cafe Style Black Coffee

A Fine Classic Cafe Style Brazilian Black Coffee, with all the goodness and richness you have come to expect. With the perfect blend of Ganoderma Lucidum. The flavor alone has made this our number one selling product.

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5 Teas Worth Trying with Extraordinary Health Benefits!

2009-10-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

Healthy Teas that will Make a Difference In Your Health!

Ganoderma Green Tea
Combining the benefits of Ganoderma along with the antioxidant properties of natural green tea, makes for a wonderful healthy tea beverage. The best Green Tea you have ever tasted! Hot or Cold.

Spica Tea
Spica Tea is specially formulated with Ganoderma, Radix Glycyrrhzae and other natual herbs. It is mild and does not contain caffeine, artificial coloring or preservatives, suitable for people of all ages. Spica Tea is packaged individually in small sachets for everyday-use convenience.

Organo Gold Organic Healthy Green Tea
World’s Only OrGanic Green Tea with 100% Certified OrGanic Ganoderma.

Gano Tea SOD
This Rooibos red tea is both caffeine free and a natural source of Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD), a powerful antioxidant. In fact, Rooibos Tea is said to have a greater amount of antioxidants than Green tea Then they combine it with the extract from the powerful RED Mushroom (Ganoderma Lucidum). Known to contain over 200 nutritional trace elements, the Red Mushroom is called the magical "king of herbs." Finally the Gano excel experts blend it all into a superb new tea tradition with good health in every cup.

EnerGi Chai Healthy Milk Tea
EnerGi Chai Healthy Milk Tea is formulated from the most premium ingredients of gourmet tea from Kenya, reishi, and ginseng extract, plus non-dairy creamer and natural cane sugar.

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Mushrooms and Green Tea May Lower Breast-Cancer Risk

2009-10-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

A recent study reported in the International Journal of Cancer suggests that women who eat large amounts of mushrooms and drink a lot of green tea may be at lower risk for developing breast cancer.

The research trial included more than 2,000 Chinese women, with 1,009 breast-cancer patients (aged 20-87) and an equal number of healthy women matched for age. Each woman completed a detailed dietary questionnaire citing specific foods consumed.

Do mushrooms and green tea affect breast-cancer rates?

The researchers found that the greater the mushroom consumption (both fresh and dried), the lower the breast-cancer risk. Those who ate the greatest amounts of fresh mushrooms (10 grams or more per day) were about 2/3 less likely than those who ate none at all to develop breast cancer. Subjects who ate 4 grams per day saw their breast-cancer risk fall by half.

Interestingly, the women decreased their risk even more if they also drank green tea daily. The breast-cancer risk of women who consumed both mushrooms and green tea was 11 percent, compared to 18 percent for women who didn't consume either food. The study used green tea, which is a "younger" tea but which still has caffeine.

No proof yet

While the researchers eliminated possible confounding factors, this study does not prove that mushrooms and green tea actually reduce a woman's chances of getting breast cancer.

Epidemiological studies, however, do show that in places where the Chinese people are still eating the traditional diet, breast-cancer rates are 4-to-5 times lower than those of most developed countries. (All bets are off if a Chinese woman has switched to eating a westernized diet.)

While this study has not nailed down a cause-and-effect relationship, it is the first to link high dietary consumption of mushrooms and green tea to reduced breast-cancer risk. In addition, those participants who ate at least 10 grams of mushrooms per day saw the greatest reductions in their risk. (See Mushrooms: The Ultimate Longevity Food.)

So eat some!

Half a cup of raw mushrooms weighs roughly 35 grams, so a little more than 1/8 cup of raw mushrooms a day (about 8 or 9 grams' worth) might just help reduce your breast-cancer risk. Even an 8-ounce cup of raw mushrooms would add up to only 10 calories; therefore, a big helping of these tasty fungi might also help you feel fuller and lose weight. Adding green tea may be a good idea, too. (See Go Green for Your Breast Health.)

If you're a mushroom-lover or willing to try them, here are some tips:

~ Look for mushrooms that are firm, unblemished, and free of mold or surface moisture (but not dry).

~ Store pre-packed containers of mushrooms in airtight plastic bags in the fridge, so they'll hold on to their moisture and won't spoil so rapidly.

~ Place loose mushrooms in a paper bag and then in your fridge.

~ Squeeze some lemon or lime juice onto raw mushrooms to help them retain their color.

by: Margaret Furtado, M.S., R.D

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Great Olive Oils That Don't Break the Bank

2009-10-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

Good-quality, cheap olive oil does exist. We tried nine olive oils—nothing over $20 per liter, with most bottles hugging the $10 price point. Some of us chose the bread-dipping technique; others believed a spoon was more official. Which oils were mellow? More intense and spicy? The most like water?
Best Mellow Oil

Fairway ($8.99 for 1 liter): The New York mini-chain of markets sells this as their in-house brand of straight-forward olive oil both online and in stores. It's smooth, soft, and pretty neutral. If you can't handle the throat-grabbing intensity of peppery oils, this one will make you feel safe. Good for cooking.

Best Bitter, But Not Crazy Bitter Oil

Goya ($3.99 for 250 mL): The Hispanic packaged foods brand might be more familiar for canned beans, but they also make a not-too-intense olive oil. If you like buttery olive oils, but are ready to branch out into the crazier world of bitter, more dramatic flavors, this is a good place to start. It's not too spicy but still has a grassiness that gets your attention. Good for bread dipping.

Best Bang for Buck

Trader Joe's Spanish ($7.49 for 1 liter): Spanish olive oils are usually cheaper than Italian olive oils because those touted Italian olives get all the attention. This Trader Joe's Spanish EVOO—they sell a variety but admittedly, we fell for this pretty tree artwork—had a well-rounded flavor. Earthy but not too bitter, it'll leave your mouth slightly puckered—nothing too uncomfortable. Good for salad dressings.

Most Expensive And Just So-So

Colavita ($5.29 for 250 mL): Buying the adorable mini bottle made this same like a decent bargain, but it was actually the priciest one per-mL we tried. Though it had a nice, olive-rich taste (always a good thing when you're talking olive oils) it wasn't that exciting. Nothing harsh to say here, it's just not the best value.

Best All-Around

Whole Foods 365 Organic ($6.99 for 500 mL): We all came together in support of this guy. It has a nice sharpness up front with hints of bell pepper, but won't choke you with bitterness. Dunk bread into this and go to town drizzling it over salads—this is a winner.

Least Memorable

Bertolli ($8.99 for 500 mL): As I type this, wait there is nothing to type. Because it was that life-changing! For all the fat in olive oil, you should at least walk away with a memory. Maybe it's fine for cooking, but bread-dipping? Eh. Be skeptical of the actor dude's Italian accent on those Bertolli commercials.

Most Like Water

Filippo Berio Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil ($4.29 for 250 mL): In all fairness, they warned us about the "extra light" part. But why does it have to look so much like water? A pale yellow, slightly contaminated-looking water, but still. Do you really contain olives? Really? C'mon, are you just corn oil playing a little game of pretend? The "tasting" part threw us off since as one person noted, "it tasted like invisible."

Eight Ways to Check the Strength of Your Professional Network

2009-10-07T03:18:00.000-07:00

How Strong Is Your Network?

If you needed to find a new job, how many people could you turn to for help? If the answer is "not many," you may need to upgrade your professional network.

Here are questions for assessing the health of your network:

1. How many former co-workers' contact information do you have?

Focus particularly on your peers and people above you in the organization.

The more people you're in touch with, the better. If you need to beef up the number of people in your network, a tool like LinkedIn can help, both with searching and with keeping up with former colleagues' job moves.

2. Does your network include a handful of people who could serve as references?

These people need to be willing to recommend you -- and they need to know your work well. "References can't be vaguely positive," Civitelli said.

If you can't think of four to six good reference candidates, you need to step up your networking to make sure people you work with know about your achievements.

3. How many of your contacts have you communicated with in the past six months?

This is a measure of your active network.

"You don't need to talk to everyone in your network every three minutes," said Richard Phillips, owner of Advantage Career Solutions. But you should check in regularly, even if you just send a brief email saying you hope all is well. That way, when you do need to ask for job-hunting help, it will be "emotionally much easier" to make the contact.

4. Have you had lunch or coffee with someone from your network in the past month?

Make a point of meeting in person with a former colleague or another professional connection every few weeks.

5. Have you attended a professional event recently?

Attending professional conferences will help you expand your network beyond former colleagues. Becoming active in a professional association will also boost your resume.

6. Have you added any professional contacts in the past month?

Your network needs to grow in order to stay vital. Try to add new contacts -- either by getting back in touch with former colleagues or by meeting new people -- frequently.

7. Are you networking "outside the box" -- that is, making connections beyond your former colleagues and friends?

Job opportunities can arise from unexpected sources. Marianne Adoradio, a career counselor in Silicon Valley, recommends expanding your network to include some people outside your industry and at different stages of their careers, who can tell you about trends and opportunities you might not otherwise hear about.

8. When your professional contacts get in touch with you, do you answer?

"People just kind of steer away from you if you're not responding," Adoradio said.

What if a contact is asking for job leads and you don't have any? "You do have the ability to offer something of great value," Phillips said: encouragement. This will also increase the chances that that person will help you sometime in the future.

by Margaret Steen

Ten Ways to Help You Have Job Security

2009-10-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

Stop Self Sabotaging Your Job!

1. Keep your focus on the networking part of social networking.
She says, "You have to set boundaries as to how you use various social networks (e.g. Facebook for personal, LinkedIn for professional) and make sure you communicate those boundaries so that feelings aren't hurt." While Facebooking has become a part of many people's workdays, Levitt says, "Don't let your boss and coworkers catch you chatting and playing with Facebook applications when you should be working."

2. Avoid sending a tweet in the heat of the moment.
Twitter is a great tool to help raise your reputation. Levitt advises, "Use your real name on Twitter to network with people you wouldn't have the chance to communicate with in real life, and send them valuable information or interesting tidbits about their field. Just don't get caught up in the heat of the moment. Before you post something on Twitter, think about whether you'd want to read it on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

3. Finding friends at the office is fine -- but don't look for love.
You spend a lot of time at the office, so it may be tempting to become involved with a colleague. She states, "You can pursue friendships in other departments and with friends of your coworkers, but don't ever date a boss or a direct report. And refrain from dating an immediate coworker unless you can handle seeing that person every day if the relationship goes south."

4. Appearances count around the office.
Don't let casual Fridays be your fashion downfall. Levit, also the author of "Success for Hire," says, "Pay attention to what constitutes business casual in your workplace (i.e. what others are wearing) and dress accordingly -- although business casual usually means khakis and a butto- down shirt. And no matter what the trend du jour is, "Don't ever wear short-shorts or flip-flops to work."

5. Practice proper email etiquette.
Almost everyone has trouble managing their inboxes these days, so don't be so quick to send unnecessary emails -- or those that might stir the pot around the office. She counsels, "Only 'reply to all' if every person on the string really needs to hear what you're saying. Always check the list of people in the 'to' and 'cc' lines before sending any e-mail. Don't hit reply too quickly in case that reply-to-all function is accidentally on, and don't use e-mail for negative or controversial discussion."

6. Think before you speak.
Converse carefully with coworkers, especially at first. "Spend more time listening than you do speaking. Show an interest in other people, but don't discuss anything that you wouldn't talk about with your grandmother or religious officiant -- especially with a coworker you don't know extremely well. In general, steer clear of sex, drugs, and politics," she reveals.

7. It's good to be heard -- but not all the time.
Watch your volume control around the office. And don't be afraid to speak up if someone else's volume is distracting you. Levit urges, "Say nicely that you're on the phone with a client and ask if he wouldn't mind keeping it down a bit. Never allow your desire to avoid confrontation affect your work effectiveness."

8. Just say "no" to complaining.
Everyone has complaints at the office, but it may be best to avoid sharing them with coworkers. She admits, "It's good to get negative emotions off your chest by venting to a close friend or family member, but don't complain at work at all -- people won't like you. Instead, think of ways to turn a bad situation into a more positive one and approach your boss and coworkers with solutions rather than problems."

9. Handle alcohol with care.
Sometimes bonding over food and/or drink is part of business. According to Levit, "It's OK to have fun at happy hour with your colleagues, but keep it to a one- or two-drink maximum. Don't drink at lunch or during daytime business meetings, and don't ever get drunk with coworkers even in evening, social settings. You'll end up saying or doing something you'll regret (and your coworkers may not forget)."

10. Know the difference between sharing and oversharing.
There's a fine line between a caring coworker and an overbearing one. She urges, "Develop close friendships with coworkers over a period of time, assessing how much you can trust them before you disclose too much personal information. However, do not assume someone is going to be your best friend just because you work in the same office eight hours a day; and when it doubt, you should err on the side of caution."

Five Easy and Quick Ways to Boost Your Resume

2009-10-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

5 Easy Resume Boosters

Job-seekers can use these five quick and easy resume-boosting tips to make sure their resumes are getting chosen:

Poof! No Resume Gap

Many of us have time periods we'd love to downplay in our resumes. Those might be short-term assignments or periods where we dropped out of the workforce. If the whole gap or forgettable job fits into the same calendar year, we can drop it off the resume entirely. Use years, rather than months (2005-2009 in place of June 2005-April 2009) to make those under-one-year gaps or mini-jobs vanish.

Consolidate Assignments

The typical resume of a big-company veteran is full of endless descriptions of meanderings from one job to another. Unless these same-company jobs are truly distinct from one another, no one cares when you moved from Desk A to Cubicle B. You can consolidate your jobs inside one employer under the heading "Marketing Roles" or "Operations Assignments" without giving us chapter and verse on each assignment.

Draw Us a Picture

Most of us know what the folks at IBM, Kraft, Google and other brand-name employers do. If we've never heard of your past employer, the first thing we want to know from you is, "What do they do in that company?" Use a "framing statement" at the beginning of each job description to tell us what the employer did:

Global Supply Company
Inventory Manager 2006-present

Global Supply is the Midwest's largest distributor of heating and cooling equipment to contractors. As Inventory Manager I was responsible for managing $1M in equipment and coordinating deliveries and outbound shipments among our 45 suppliers and 400+ contractor clients.

Lose the Jargon

Twenty-five percent of the words in a typical resume are useless corporate jargon, terms like "Task-oriented manager" and "cross-functional collaborator." These terms suck the energy from our resumes and waste space that should go to telling quick, pithy stories. "I got our X-15 product distributed by the country's top three resellers" beats "Results-oriented professional" any day.

Add a Human Voice

Your resume is your marketing document. Who wants to sound like everyone else? Wherever you can add a bit of yourself to your resume, do it!

"I love to tackle a chaotic office and lower the panic and stress levels" is more human and more specific than the overused "attention to detail." If you're struggling to add a human voice to your resume, talk to a friend about your career aspirations and your strengths, and ask him or her to repeat back what you said.

Employers will appreciate the you that a human-voiced resume offers!

7 Secrets for Lifelong Libido

2009-10-06T09:46:00.000-07:00

An active love life is good for both your health and your relationship. In fact, people who enjoy regular intimacy live longer. To boost your libido naturally, here are 7 foods and herbs that heat up passion:

1. Oats promote libido lift
Besides its reputation for lowering cholesterol, the common oat plant, Avena sativa, has long been considered a sexual tonic. Oats contain a nutrient called avenacoside, a substance that supports healthy testosterone levels by freeing bound-up, inaccessible testosterone and making it available to your system. The percentage of testosterone that is inaccessible rises with age. A healthy level of testosterone lifts the libido of women as well as men, and increases muscle strength, endurance, and mental capacity.

2. Flax to fix your sex life
Flaxseed, also called linseed, contains a rich supply of lignans in its hull. Lignans are phytoestrogens that improve levels of good estrogens such as estradiol, which protects women from heart disease, bone loss, and vaginal dryness. It is also helpful in maintaining a healthy ratio of testosterone to its bound cousin, DHT. Optimal testosterone levels are crucial to a raised sex drive for women and men. Studies have found other benefits from lignans, including the ability to prevent hair loss and acne, keep cholesterol and blood sugar in balance, and act as potent antioxidants. Flax oil contains small amounts of lignan, so your best bet is to grind your own flaxseed, hulls and all, and take one tablespoon daily. Sprinkle over your breakfast cereal or mix into a smoothie.

3. Nuts and seeds for a sexual boost
Traditional Chinese herbal therapy prescribes nuts like walnuts, almonds, and chestnuts along with sesame and hemp seed as tonics for sexual vigor. Even recent studies show that nuts and seeds are rich in the amino acid arginine, which appears to restore declining levels of growth hormone to a range typical of the prime years, thereby boosting sexual and mental functions. To give a boost to your sex life, you can take 6 to 10 grams of arginine daily in supplement form — or just snack on a handful of mixed nuts and seeds every day. Other arginine-rich foods include eggs and meat.

4. Histidine increases arousal
Abundant in poultry, saltwater fish, meat, eggs, and soy, histidine is a semi-essential amino acid that can help increase sexual arousal. Women who take histidine an hour before sexual activity experienced enhanced arousal and intensified feeling. The same amino acid may benefit older men's sexual performance as well. As a supplement, typical dosage is around 500 mg a day, but it is best to get histidine from food sources.

5. Spice up your love life
Pungent, spicy foods — garlic, onions, chives, cinnamon, ginger, peppers, coriander — can activate arousal centers and increase blood flow to the lower body.

Cardamom, in particular, is a spice with libido-perking properties. A stimulant with a positive effect on overall well-being, cardamom is used as both as a tonic for the body and as an antidepressant for emotional disorders. And orchid bees are drawn to cardamom, using it to synthesize pheromones. Thanks to this combination of properties, it is often prescribed by Chinese doctors, in doses up to 5 grams daily, to revitalize sexual desire.

6. Smells for sexual excitement
Studies have found that certain smells can excite a man sexually and increase blood flow to the penis. These include pumpkin pie, black licorice, and vanilla. Use that mm-mmm cooking smell to perk up your sex life!

7. Horny goat weed
Thousands of years ago, Chinese shepherds noticed that goats, after eating a certain weed, would become sexually energized and active. The same weed was used as a traditional remedy for disorders of the kidneys, joints, adrenal glands, and liver. The patients got well, but that wasn't all! Soon Chinese doctors began prescribing it to increase libido and sexual function. It is now believed to promote blood flow to the reproductive organs and mimic the effects of sex hormones. Considered a longevity herb, horny goat weed stimulates the sensory nerves and increases sexual desire in both men and women by supporting essential neurotransmitters that play a role in sexual arousal. For successful results, it must be taken daily. The herb is available in health food stores, online, and from Asian pharmacies and acupuncturists, often times in a formula with other natural libido-boosters.

Other herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine for lifting libido and improving sexual energy are cnidium (or snake's nest seed), schisandra fruit, and morinda. You can find a formula with all of these and more to improve your sex life. Look into Feminine Desire for women and Male Dragon for men.

Healthy Habits To Live Long

2009-10-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

1. Drink more water
Drink 8 glasses of fresh, filtered water every day. Water is very important for proper lymphatic drainage and hydrating the cells to prevent buildup of toxic waste products. Your safest bet is filtered water. The best kind of filtration processes for removing contaminants use activated charcoal, which removes the impurities but leaves the water-soluble minerals. Avoid water softeners, which take away essential minerals.

2. Eat like a centenarian
The rural community of Rugao, four hours north of Shanghai, enjoys the reputation as the "longevity county of China" because there are over 200 centenarians in the small region -- the highest number per 1,000 residents anywhere in China. Rugao residents eat mostly fish, vegetables, mushrooms, seaweed, corn and buckwheat. There was virtually no meat or poultry present in the majority of their diet. Scientists have confirmed the health benefits of a diet high in fish and vegetables and low in animal products.

Know what foods to enjoy and what to avoid:

• The very best thing you can do for your health is to eat a wide array of colorful fruits and vegetables every day.

• Eat fish and cut back on meat and poultry.

• Choose the right fats. Cut back on saturated fats like butter and avoid all trans fats. Instead, choose mono-saturated fats: olive, sesame, canola, flax, and fish oils.

• Avoid all refined sugars.

3. Restore with regular rest
Get 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep every night.

4. Take the stairs!
Take a walk. Go for a swim. Join the gym. Find an exercise activity that works for you and stick to it, practicing at least four times a week for thirty minutes a session. Regular exercise can strengthen your immune system, uplift your mood, maintain joint mobility, increase energy - the list goes on and on!

5. Manage your stress.
Stress is the root cause of most of the diseases that shorten our life span. Meditation is a powerful way to manage your stress level. For the best results, meditate every day. Start with five minutes and work your way up to fifteen or twenty minutes. Another option? Get your exercise and stress-management all in one by beginning a tai chi practice.

6. Detoxify your surroundings.
With environmental factors causing ever more damage to our well-being, it is important to know what to look out for and avoid. For starters, you can avoid many dangerous chemical compounds if you buy organic foods and use glass and recycled paper products. In addition, it is beneficial to undergo periodic detoxification treatments with special dietary and herbal regimens to lower your body's toxic load. An herbal blend that is specially formulated for helping your body detoxify is Internal Cleanse.

Happy Healthy & Long Living!

6 Books That Made A Difference To Jay-Z

2009-10-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

A Rapper’s Take On Life And Spirituality

If you haven't heard the news, Jay-Z was recently interviewed by Oprah. While I didn't watch the whole interview, one thing that struck me was his take on life and in particular the books that had influenced him.

Love him or hate him, Jay-Z is a genius. He hasn't forgotten his roots, is an entrepreneurial whiz, is a champion giver to charities, and let's not forget his incredible ability to make money (his net worth is estimated to be at $150 million).

And if you give his list of books a look, you'll realize this millionaire rapper is a lot deeper than he appears.

If you're wondering, here is his list of books. Doubtless there are more that have influenced him but these are the top 6:

The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav
The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
Homer's The Odyssey
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Purple Cow by Seth Godin
Nigger by Dick Gregory

Pretty impressive in terms of personal growth.

Of The Seat of the Soul, Jay-Z had this to say, "There are two books that I absolutely live my life by. This is one of them. Growing up, I was always curious about religion. This book made the most sense to me; it's about the way you live your life. I believe in karma and doing the right thing even if it may not advance you as far as you want. If every single person felt the same way about karma and intention, then the world gets fixed tomorrow. But temptation gets in the way. Zukav is right: It may take lifetimes to learn."

Happy Self Growing!

Lifestyle Habits That Age You Quickly

2009-10-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

The culprits that will most quickly age you and negatively affect your health are:

1. Poor diet
2. Lack of exercise
3. Stress and worry
4. Exhaustion
5. Unhappiness
6. Lack of love
7. Toxic overload
8. Blockages and congestion of the transportation highways within our bodies.

For ATLCoffeeHouse Affiliates that have ATLCoffeeHouse Affiliate Website...

2009-09-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

We have implemented two new programs that we feel will help give you more exposure to your ATLCoffeeHouse Affiliate Website.

1. Your site will be promoted in our new company rotator website address. This new company website address will show your affiliate site in rotation as we promote it worldwide.
The new company website address that will promote your affiliate website in rotation is http://www.ATLCoffeeHouse.net. Every time the website address is visited by someone, your website will be seen in rotation randomly around the world.

2. This program will allow more exposure to your ATLCoffeeHouse Affiliate Website but also will allow you to combine other businesses you are involved with by putting links and banners on your ATLCoffeeHouse Affiliate Website. By offering this and instead promoting many different business website addresses, you can just promote your ATLCoffeeHouse Affiliate Website. The rules and guidelines for having your other businesses placed on your ATLCoffeeHouse Affiliate Website are:

a. Your other business must be a family oriented and legitimate business. No porn or scams allowed. Any violation of this will result in your ATLCoffeeHouse Affiliate Site being removed and terminated.

b. The sizes allowed for your banner placement are 88x31, 125x125, and 468x60. For each business you wish to be placed, your are allowed one link and banner for each business. You are only allowed to have your top three businesses placed.

Send your information to:

Email: AffiliateExposureProgram@atlcoffeehouse.com

Along with your full name, your ATLCoffeeHouse Affiliate Website Address, your business names, website addresses, and banners.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

We look forward to bringing more exposure which means more customers and more money in your pockets!

For those who are interested in becoming a part of our affiliate program and obtaining an ATLCoffeeHouse Affiliate Website, visit http://www.ATLCoffeeHouse.biz

Have an awesome & blessed day!

Pete Taylor 3
Founder & CEO
ATLCoffeeHouse, LLC.
ATLCoffeeHouse.com
TheHealthyJava.com
MyCheapCoffee.com
P: 770.634.2388
E: pete@atlcoffeehouse.com
Your Complete Circle of Health: MIND, BODY & SOUL

Social networks should be in your marketing plan

2009-08-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

Social networks are groups of interconnected individuals, organizations and businesses on the Internet.

Popular social networking Web sites include MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn. Also, blogs (like online diaries) and blogging services such as WordPress, Blogger and Twitter allow sharing of ideas and activities.

These sites are important marketing tools because they have many millions of members. Facebook, for example, has 200 million users, half of whom visit the site daily, according to the American Marketing Association. Membership is exploding, with women ages 35 to 54 the fastest-growing segment.

Your competition is almost certainly using these sites. Advertising on social networks is up 17 percent this year, and often with very good results. The American Marketing Association reports that, on average, companies with high levels of social media activity experienced an 18 percent increase in revenue in the last year.

As marketers, we try to advertise to our most likely customers for best effect, and social networks are a great way to do this by age, education and interests. MySpace tends to attract a teen and young adult crowd. Facebook started with college students and recent grads but has grown well past its college roots. LinkedIn is a site for professionals to network; it’s also a terrific place to find skilled employees. Marketers choose the sites that best fit their typical customer.

Finally, these sites are free. Optional ads may be purchased that are shown when a profile contains certain words. For example, a store selling canoes and kayaks may pay Facebook to show its ad when a profile contains the word “kayak.” Otherwise, your business or organization may have a page on these sites at no cost and then any number of fans may sign up to read about your business, events, ideas and more.

Social networks allow you to have meaningful contacts and conversations with your best customers, who will then introduce you to their friends — your next best customers! People overwhelmingly trust a referral from a friend over a communication directly from a company.

5 Steps On How To Start Every Morning With Energy That Will Carry On Throughout The Day

2009-08-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

Let’s face it. Not everyone is a morning person. Least of all me. But we still drag ourselves out of our cozy beds each day to live our lives.

To be honest, I just woke up and feel like going back to bed but what’s a better time than now to write about having a great morning?

So I did some research, looked at the hardest parts of anyone’s morning, and came up with this quick 5-step guide to getting the best out of every morning so that the rest of your day is absolutely amazing.

Step 1: Get A Good Night’s Sleep

Probably the most important. You can do all the morning rituals you want but if you didn’t get enough quality sleep, then you’ll still be missing out on your full morning potential.

Now not everyone’s the same. Some people only need 6 whereas I need a good 9 hours. Figure out where you stand and make it your target to get that amount of sleep every night. Of course, a little late night partying is allowed every now and then, just don’t over do it.

Step 2: Spend Some Alone Me-Time

Set aside a block of time just for yourself. Even if it’s just for 20 minutes. We live in such a connected and busy world it’s often hard to remember to focus on just you. Not your family, not your pets, not your boss, your mortgage, etc. Just you.

If you ever get the feeling you don’t know yourself anymore then it’s time to take a break, do something you love alone, and take the time to focus on who you are. If you’re only always surrounded by people your personal growth may stagnate.

Step 3: Drink Plenty Of Water And Eat A Healthy Breakfast

Breakfast is the foundation of any nutritional diet. So eat up. Just make sure it’s healthy. Eating breakfast will energize you get your brain going faster. Don’t underestimate the importance of this meal.

Most people don’t get enough water. So make it part of your daily morning routine to drink one big glass of water. We often wake up dehydrated and don’t know it. So before you go for your coffee, have some water first.

Step 4: Be Productive From The Get-Go

When you get to work, don’t spend time procrastinating. We all do this at one point or another. We know we have Task A, B, and C to do but instead we check Twitter, Facebook, our emails, or surf the net.

This is extremely unproductive and will get you into a bad routine. Instead go straight into what you need to do. This’ll create momentum and encouragement for you to finish everything else on your To-Do list. But of course, we all need breaks.

So schedule 10 to 15 minute breaks in between tasks for you to relax and entertain your distractions for a while. But be disciplined. Once your scheduled break is up, go back to your goals for the day.

Step 5: Outline Your Top 3 Most Important Tasks (M.I.T.s) And Do These First

These are the tasks that you absolutely need to get done. And often they’re the ones that you want to do the least. Well, suck it up and do them. This gives you a great boost of accomplishment each morning and will make the rest of your day easier, happier, and smoother.

This also ingrains good habits within you. The next time you set out a huge goal for yourself you’ll be more likely to finish it as your mind is conditioned to take challenges straight on and finish them. You’ll end up with that “Yes, I can” attitude.

by Gabrielle Lim

Coffee News That You Can Use

2009-07-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

There is surprising news about coffee and your health -- it's antioxidant content, the link between coffee consumption and reduced risk of diabetes, Parkinson's and colon cancer; enhanced memory and physical performance. Learn the latest practical tips for taking advantage of coffee's many health benefits.

Source of Antioxidants
That coffee you’re enjoying doesn’t just taste great – it’s also good for you! In fact, coffee is the number one source of antioxidants in the American diet.1 That’s according to Dr. Joe Vinson, a scientist who studies the antioxidant content of foods. Click here for full article.

Little Known Facts About Coffee
That cup of coffee you’re enjoying is full of surprises. Here are a few facts that scientists around the world have reported: Click here for full article.

Can Coffee Help You Get in Shape?
There are many reasons that coffee is America’s favorite beverage. In addition to tasting great, keeping you alert and boosting your mood, coffee can also help you shape up and stay fit.

For your body workout, a number of studies have shown how coffee can enhance physical performance. The research shows coffee may be especially useful for athletes
engaged in sports like swimming, running or cycling.1 Many studies prove coffee boosts energy and helps people do what they do. Coffee may increase stamina, reduce
fatigue1 and even lessen muscle pain.2 For many people, experts say that a cup or two of coffee 30-60 minutes before a workout may do the trick.2 Coffee’s pain relieving
effect on sore muscles keeps working after you exercise as well. You also may be surprised to learn that coffee is just as hydrating for your body as water.3
Click here for full article.

Coffee and Memory
Aren’t we fortunate that a beverage so delicious can be good for us in so many ways?
We’re told by scientists that it looks like coffee can offer protection against type 2 diabetes,1 liver disease,2 Parkinson’s disease,3 some types of cancer3 – and even
dehydration.4We always knew our favorite brew kept us alert, but here’s one more benefit: studies have shown that coffee actually may enhance memory.5 And they’ve
actually seen it work! Click here for full article.

Coffee and Your Health: Surprising Findings
Do you want to stay healthy? It’s human nature to want to feel good, have lots of energy and avoid illness and pain. There are many ways to boost our health profile, including good lifestyle habits, diet and exercise. But there’s another,
surprising source of health benefits sitting right on your table or desk – coffee. No kidding! And, here’s the scientific skinny: Click here for full article.

Take Your Workout to the Next Level
No matter what the season, it seems like there’s always a pressing reason to get into better shape – getting ready for swimsuit season,making up for over-indulging during the holidays, getting buffed up for a special reunion or celebration.
Click here for full article.

Building a Wealth and Prosperity Mindset

2009-07-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

One sure way to boost your odds of becoming successful is to have a mindset geared toward wealth and prosperity. Why? Because the actions you take on a daily basis – right down to the amount of effort you put toward your goals – stem directly from your state of mind.

Believing you can accomplish something is the first step in actually doing it.

Unfortunately many of us pay little attention to our mindset, and end up creating a whole lot of struggle and difficulty for ourselves in the process! The good news is that creating a wealth and prosperity mindset can be achieved quickly and easily with a little know-how and some determination.

This report will share some helpful insights on:

• Exactly what a wealth and prosperity mindset is
• Why it’s vital to have one if you want to succeed
• How to develop your mindset for wealth and prosperity

What is a Wealth and Prosperity Mindset?

The common definition of “mindset” is: a mental attitude or inclination, or a fixed state of mind. So, a wealth and prosperity mindset would mean an attitude or inclination that causes us to focus on abundance.

It may surprise you to learn that most people focus on the opposite. They focus on wanting more prosperity, seeking greater wealth, and pursuing both at any cost.

In other words, they focus on the fact that they do not yet have wealth or prosperity, which means they actually have a scarcity or poverty mindset. They focus more on what they’re lacking, the things they can’t afford to buy, and even worse – feeling resentful toward people who are already wealthy.

Does this describe your general attitude, too? If so, don’t let it get you down! It’s actually very common to have this mindset, and you can turn it around starting right now.

All you need is the willingness to start thinking in a different way and the courage to take actions based on this new way of thinking. Don’t worry; you won’t have to take groundbreaking actions; just one step at a time will move you in the direction you want to go.

Scarcity Consciousness vs. Abundance Consciousness

The very first step in building a wealth and prosperity mindset is to start expanding your awareness of wealth and prosperity.

Right now you may be in the habit of looking at the dark side of every situation. Perhaps you worry about how little money you have or you feel the heavy burden of too many bills. In order to turn this perception around, make it a point to see the abundance that surrounds you:

• Be grateful for the money you do have.
• Feel optimistic that you will receive more soon.
• Believe you can improve your life and make more money.

It’s also important for your perception of wealth to be in line with attracting it. You can’t have a negative opinion of wealthy people and expect to get wealthy yourself! It just won’t happen because you block wealth from coming to you every time you speak or think negatively about wealth or wealthy people.

Instead, start paying more attention to wealthy people you can admire. Read about great philanthropists or celebrities who do important work with their money. Seek out success stories about people who started with nothing and became millionaires.

The more you do this, the more you’ll change your perception of what it means to be wealthy and you’ll begin drawing more tangible expressions of wealth into your life.

A Common Blockage Against Feeling Prosperous

While you’re focusing more of your attention on success and wealth, it’s also important to deliberately turn your attention away from examples of scarcity – both in your own life and in the world in general.

What is it that makes us obsess over negativity and disasters? Like staring at a horrible car wreck when driving by, we sometimes can’t help ourselves and have to look!

Unfortunately, this habit carries over into all other areas of our lives and we find ourselves obsessing about problems and challenges too. The problem with this is that it keeps us focused on things that make us feel powerless and out of control.

In order to create a true prosperity mindset, you must train yourself to turn your attention away from anything that distracts you from focusing on your wealth and well being.

That doesn’t mean hiding your overdue bills in a drawer or refusing to face reality. You don’t have to become a “Pollyanna” to focus on abundance, but you do have to stop obsessing over the challenges and problems in your life.

A good rule is: Do what you can to improve the situation, then immediately move on to more positive pursuits.

Refuse to wallow in setbacks; avoid spending hours a day worrying about money; don’t talk yourself out of taking action because you might possibly fail. Be proactive and precise in your actions and keep focused on where you want to be, not where you don’t want to be.

If you were taking a road trip, rather than looking back at where you started, you’d keep focused on your destination and the route you need to take to get there.

Perception is Everything

The way you view your life and experiences is extremely important. Why? Because most of us live in reaction mode, that is, we tend to take action on our experiences after something happens.

If we perceive something to be dangerous, we take action to defend ourselves. If we perceive ourselves to be poor and lacking in opportunities, we see no point in working to improve our lives.

The problem with reactions like these is that they usually become self-fulfilling prophecies. Being overly-defensive can actually provoke attacks, and being overly-pessimistic can attract more and more issues that prevent us from improving our lives.

Rather than living with a reactive mindset, you can learn to start living with a proactive mindset and change your life in ways you wouldn’t have believed possible before now.

Limits Only Exist in Your Own Mind

What are your perceived limits when it comes to being rich and successful?

• Do you really believe you can make more money than you do now?
• Do you think that a lack of opportunities prevents you from doing so?
• Does it seem like there are too many obstacles between you and your dreams?

Make a list of every possible limitation you can think of that prevents you from being wealthy, and be sure to include both inner and outer limits. Include information about your own fears and doubts, as well as any perceived shortage of opportunities in your life.

Then examine each one carefully and decide if it’s really true or not. You may be surprised at some of the things you’ve convinced yourself to believe!

For example, if one of the items on your list is, “I can’t make more money because I don’t have a college degree,” ask yourself if there are any millionaires in the world who didn’t graduate from college with a degree, or even go to college at all. Of course there are!

This process is incredibly eye-opening and will help you see where you’re placing limitations on your own success.

It’s also important to keep challenging these false perceptions on a regular basis, because some of them may be embedded pretty solidly into your subconscious mind.

Logically, you may know that there’s nothing holding you back, but then you still find yourself hesitating or procrastinating.

If you keep challenging your limiting perceptions, and you take action despite them, they’ll begin to fade away and eventually disappear. You’ll have convinced yourself that they’re not true after all.

Taking the Right Actions

Now that you’re starting to transform your perceptions of limits, you’re in a much better position to begin taking focused action. The question is: What kind of action should you take?

All of th e richest and most successful people in the world have one thing in common: they found a way to contribute value to the world and are rewarded well for their efforts. Think about that for a minute.

Becoming wealthy is not about wishing for wealth until it falls out of the sky and lands on your doorstep. At least it doesn’t work out that way for most people. The majority of us will have to work for our wealth – but that’s not such a bad thing if we choose work we truly enjoy.

The seeds of your wealth are tucked away in a surprising place: in your greatest interests and passions. Of course, simply following your passions isn’t enough. You also have to find a way to make your passions pay.

That means finding a way to use your interests and talents to contribute value to the world. This can be done in any number of ways.

Here are some ways you can follow your passion while contributing value:

• Write a book about a topic you love.
• Create a product in line with your interests.
• Offer a service doing something you enjoy.

The possibilities are endless! Give some thought to the things you truly enjoy and the skills and experience you already have. Then ask yourself, “How can I use these assets to contribute value and generate income?”

Changing the Way You Work

Once you have a clear idea of the right activities to begin drawing wealth into your life, it’s time to begin approaching these activities with a newfound sense of purpose and a “can do” attitude.

Most of us go about this in the wrong way and then get frustrated when it doesn’t seem to be working. The wrong way would be: taking small actions while hoping for big results right away and then concluding we failed because we didn’t progress quickly enough.

Instead, try this:

• Take bold, consistent actions every day.
• Step out of your comfort zone as far as you dare.
• Be confident about your abilities and expect positive results.
• Be patient; don’t expect overnight success.
• Focus most of your attention on enjoying the journey.

Can you see the difference between these two approaches? One leads to certain failure and the other virtually guarantees success. When you aren’t so focused on needing to see results, you relax and let them come naturally.

Ironically, such a relaxed attitude actually helps us make much faster progress than if we keep stopping to pull our hair out in frustration!

Happiness, Prosperity, and Success

One of the most common misperceptions about wealth is that achieving some monetary goal will make you happy. It’s true that having more money allows for greater financial freedom in life, which can be seen as a facet of happiness – but true happiness doesn’t come from anything outside of you.

Happiness is a state of mind.

Can you recall any wealthy people who are unhappy with their lives? Just off the top of your head you could probably recite the names of half a dozen celebrities who are constantly struggling with addictions, relationship turmoil, legal problems, and worse.

Money didn’t make these people happy, and it can’t make you happy either.

If you want to be happy, then you must decide to be happy now – regardless of your problems and challenges. Just having a ton of money in the bank won’t make problems go away unless those problems are directly related to a lack of money.

No matter what you do, there will always be issues and events that threaten to detract from your satisfaction and happiness. However, how this affects you is your choice.

The greatest power you can ever develop is the ability to focus on the good so you can be happy right now – no matter what else is happening around you.

It’s time to stop the mental recording that loops over and over, “I’ll be happy when…I’ll be happy when…I’ll be happy when…” Right now is all you have.

Let tomorrow take care of itself. Instead, focus most of your energy on making this moment the best it can possibly be. Mastering this skill alone can make you the richest person on the planet!

Enjoy the Journey!

The biggest drawback to traditional goal-setting is that it encourages us to focus so strongly on an end result that we don’t recognize the gifts we receive along the way. Be sure to pause now and enjoy the scenery from where you stand, even if you haven’t reached your ultimate goal yet.

Doing this regularly can provide great encouragement and motivation to keep moving forward, but even better, it makes the entire journey seem as rewarding as the destination!

by Nina_Cap

Twitter, Business, Questions and Answers

2009-07-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Twitter is still a scary, untamed frontier for many businesses. They know that they should be engaging with the Twitter community, but aren’t sure how to do it.

I’ve collected up some of the most common questions asked by Twitter-for-business newbies and answered them below.

Is it bad to have a lopsided following/followers ratio?

Balance is better. Following 150 people with only 75 following is OK. If you have more lopsided figures of, say, 300 following to 75 followers, that might give tweeters pause before they consider following you. Focus on quality over quantity.

How do I stop people from following me?

Block them. Go to the person’s Twitter page and click “Block” in the sidebar under “Actions.” Once you block someone, they won’t show up in your followers list.

I’m concerned that a follower of my company is a porn site. What if my clients see such a follower prior to my blocking them?

First off, most folks don’t have time to analyze your list of followers. Secondly, most people know that spammers go after everyone and we don’t always catch them all. So it’s not a concern, unless you have lots of them.

If you block someone, is there a way to see those you blocked, in case you want to reverse your decision?

You can reverse your decision by going to the person’s Twitter page and clicking “Unblock” under “Actions.” You can view a list of people you’ve blocked, but it’s an XML file and not very readable: http://twitter.com/blocks/blocking.xml.

Should I protect my Twitter page, so I can avoid spammers and such?

This is a bad idea, particularly if you’re using Twitter for business. Some Twitter users don’t follow people who protect their updates.

I’m trying to implement Twitter at my company, but can’t get executive buy-in. What can I do?

Many businesses are using Twitter to connect and exchange ideas with customers. It might help to do a search to find case studies and examples of businesses using Twitter and show how they’ve benefited.

Do you recommend having separate Twitter accounts for business personal use?

That depends. Many people have a single account that they use for all because it adds personality. But if you like to share strong opinions and talk about sensitive topics like religion or politics, then a separate personal account would be wise. It also depends on what you represent. Are you working for a large company and tweeting in its name or are you a one-person business?

What are the liabilities associated with a business using Twitter?

It’s up to the business. The company might want to consider drafting a policy on the company’s rules for how employees use Twitter and other social networking sites. Suggestions for things to address include usage, company disclosure and consequences for violating policy.

Who should manage a company’s Twitter account? Marketing? Product Management? Sales?

It’s important to note that Twitter users easily detect fakery. Who does the tweeting depends on the purpose of the Twitter account(s). Be honest about who is doing the tweeting. Avoid having personnel far removed from the executives to do the CEO’s tweeting, for example.

What are those words starting with # like “#b2b”?

They’re hashtags. They make it easier to tag references to a topic, event or other common factor. For example, if someone tweets about a job opportunity, he could tag it with “#jobs” so those looking for jobs can easily find it.

Should you use a account name that is recognized to be associated with your company, or not?

For business-related Twitter accounts, you should either use your real name or your company’s name. If you use the company’s name, you should put your real name in your profile. If multiple people tweet from the same company account, then say so in the profile. List their names, if you can.

If the people you are following are listed on your Twitter page, how do you prevent people from clicking on your competition? Can you follow someone without it being listed?

It’s better to not hide the people you follow, even your competition. Having open dialogue with your industry — including your competitors — will help you earn trust and credibility. If you really want to follow someone without them knowing, then subscribe to their Twitter RSS feed.

How often should a business tweet?

Avoid posting many tweets in a short space of time and overwhelming followers’ streams. Think quality over quantity. A good rule of thumb is to post few tweets spread out over the course of the day.

How do you respond to people who say something good or bad about your business?

Being able to rapidly respond to any news about your business is valuable. If it’s good, either tweet the person directly or in a direct message (DM). You don’t want to bug people with a short “Thank you for that.” If it’s something bad, try to solve the problem or ask questions to find out the problem. If you find out the problem and you’re researching the answer, don’t wait until you find the answer to respond. You can respond quickly with a “We’re researching this and will get back to you.”

Should I block followers who have nothing to do with my business?

No — unless they’re spammers or have inappropriate content.

How can we quickly build up our list of people to follow?

Use search.twitter.com or an application like twellow.com, which can search profiles for keywords. However, don’t be in a hurry to build a big list. Remember lopsided followers/following is not good.

Is there a way to integrate CRM with Twitter?

Some CRM applications include Twitter and other social media sites as part of the app. Some have add-ons. If yours doesn’t, create a custom field.

How do I get leads on Twitter?

Focus on providing value with your tweets. Spread out links to your own content, because doing it too often turns off many users. Help others, ask questions and share thoughts about your industry or business in general. These are just a few of many ways you can build relationships on Twitter.

by Meryl Evans

Squeezing your way to business growth

2009-07-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

If you want to grow your small business, it's time to squeeze some oranges.
No, I don't mean you have to go out and start drinking orange juice. I mean you have to squeeze more out of the things you already do and have in your business now — your products, services, customers, distribution, even employees. You've got to make from what you already have, especially in this economy.

I think it helps to think of your company's various assets as baskets of oranges. For instance, if you've been in business for some time, you've already developed a number of very valuable assets. You've spent money, time, energy and careful thought developing a number of key ingredients for your success, such as your existing:

• Products or services.
• Clients or customers.
• Marketing materials and methods.
• Distribution channels.
• Key referral sources.

Let's call that your first basket of oranges. You're already getting a certain amount of money — juice — from that basket.

Now what's the best way to make more money?

Create a second basket of oranges? Or squeeze harder on the oranges you have?

Instinctively, many entrepreneurs wanting to grow their businesses take the route of creating a second basket of oranges; they develop new products, services, or markets. It's particularly tempting to try to find a new basket of oranges in this economy. But that costs a lot.

Are you really sure there's no more juice in the basket of oranges you already have?

Let's examine a number of options for growing a small business, including:

1. New product development: You create and offer additional products or services. This means investment — research and development, finding new sources, adding production capacity, testing and perfecting.

2. New market development: You offer the same products or services, but now you look for totally new markets. This means investment — opening new locations, developing new distribution channels, creating new marketing materials or websites aimed at these new markets.

3. Opportunistic: You respond to opportunities for new business as they come to you. If it's a big enough customer, they may demand that you change or significantly modify your products or services. Also an investment.

4. Increase sales to existing market: You go after the same or similar market with existing products or services, but you market more aggressively. You might have to tweak, revise, or reprice some of your existing products or services, but you don't totally revamp them. Instead, you work harder, longer, smarter.

The first two options — developing new products or developing new markets — require you to invest a lot of time, money, and energy in cultivating what is, essentially, a new business. That costs a lot and takes a long time to see results.

The third growth option is by responding to opportunities that come to you. Most entrepreneurs grow at least part of their business this way. In fact, I first went into business by literally bumping in to an opportunity. While walking my dog, I met a man who needed a business plan; I had never written one before. Twenty years later, I'm still dealing with business plans and business planning.
But growing opportunistically is hit or miss. You can't control or count on it.

The final option is to find ways to sell more of your existing products or services to your current customers, through your existing sales channels. This is the most lucrative. You don't have to invest a lot of time and money in developing new products or new distribution or marketing techniques.

You're squeezing your oranges!

So — if you want to grow your business, you'll probably find it doesn't make a lot of sense to create entirely new product lines unless your product is out-of-date or no longer competitive. And it doesn't make sense to develop new markets unless your current market is extremely small or shrinking.

Instead, the best way to grow your business and increase sales may be to develop a coherent marketing plan for your current products and services, building on what you already have in place. Then, just go out and work hard — squeeze harder on the oranges you already have in your business basket. Start squeezing!

by Rhonda Abrams

Combat common customer service myths

2009-07-11T11:37:00.000-07:00

Retailers usually rely on sales numbers to indicate success: if sales are rising, business must be going well. However, you may be reducing your profits by spending up to four times as much as necessary on marketing and customer acquisition. A wiser approach than just pushing sales is to harness word of mouth and improve customer experience. This lowers customer attrition and can lead to “customers for life.”

There are five myths that almost all retailers believe which are costing them sales and employee turnover as well as sapping the impact of marketing dollars.

Myth 1: Complaints and returns are going down so we are doing really well.
Fact: No news is not good news. There is dissatisfaction even if you are not hearing about it.

What looks like the good news may be the bad news – your customers may have stopped complaining because they have given up on you. TARP has found that complaint rates, in general, are down, and that more than half of customers who don’t complain cite that “it won’t do any good” as the primary reason. For instance, employees not making eye contact suppress complaints by 30 percent. For small ticket items, more customers throw the item away than return it, but their loyalty to the store is damaged – often by as much as 40 percent.

Action: Vigorously track and research complaint rates. If complaints go down, check to see if accessibility has been reduced. Aggressively solicit complaints in stores (via signs), because every complaint is information you need.

Myth 2: Price is the name of the game to expand share and profitability.
Fact: Great service enables you to deliver extra value, charge a higher price, and raise profits.

Price is the primary driver for product selection for only one-third of customers. The rest (that would be two-thirds) will pay a premium for higher quality and service. Surveys of more than 6,000 customers of three major retailers found that sensitivity to price is a function of the number of recent problems. Even one problem can double sensitivity to price. Excellent service changes your competitive position and can enhance your margin. Customers will pay a premium when they encounter few problems and observe that any problems are quickly resolved.

Action: Prevent problems and unpleasant surprises for customers.

Myth 3: The key to great service is getting the frontline to follow and enforce our policies.
Reality: Policy and process problems related to products are costing you two to four times as much revenue as staff sales behavior and policy adherence.

This myth is really way, way off base. Usually only 20-30 percent of dissatisfaction comes from frontline staff failures. The four top causes of dissatisfaction are out of stocks, obtaining help in finding or selecting items, returns, and long waits at checkout. None of these is primarily caused by the failure of frontline staff to do their jobs. Customer waits to get service or at checkout are often exacerbated because customers take additional time to complain about the wait when they do obtain help. These issues then contribute to staff turnover because the staff have to take flack for policies that they have no control over. They are put in the position of either saying, that is our policy which appears to be unresponsive or worse they overtly acknowledge that management doesn’t care about the customer’s needs. Much turnover is due to employees saying to themselves, “I’m not getting paid enough to take all this flack.” You can either pay them more or reduce the flack.

Action: Ask your frontline reps what issues they regularly encounter but cannot fix. Modify the policy and process issues in light of the revenue damage. Finally, provide the frontline with flexibility to solve problems, illustrating this by stories as well as clear, believable explanations and responses. This is a problem that must be solved by senior management, not supervisors.

Myth 4: Many customers are crooks and you need a rigorous return policy, like getting receipts.
Fact: 98 percent of customers are honest and, by running them through the gauntlet to catch the 2 percent, you are doing serious damage.

In interviews with operations executives at a dozen retailers, TARP has received general agreement that almost all customers making returns or using coupons are honest. When onerous requirements are placed on a transaction, the customer often views it a playing a game of “gotcha” to avoid fulfilling the customer’s needs. Again the employees are caught between the policy and their desire to satisfy the customer, especially when told that “the customer is king and always right.”

Action: Encourage the employee to say yes as often as possible and to view each transaction as an opportunity to either drive the customer away or to retain the customer. If the customer seems honest or just confused or admits to having lost the receipt, and they have not made the same request recently, the employee should be encouraged to “break the rules” and give the customer the refund.

Myth 5: Out of stocks and discontinued items are ok – customers understand and expect this.
Fact: Customers do not understand or accept disappointment.

Customers are deeply bothered when advertised items are out of stock – they feel that the store executed a bait and switch. Likewise, they lose part of their reason for coming into the store when items they have been using for a long time are discontinued. TARP finds that customers in these situations are 15 percent less likely to return or recommend your company. Smart retailers calculate the cost of inventory against not only a lost sale but lost future revenue due to disappointment. Also, savvy retailers have given customers an opportunity to buy discontinued items in case lots – which they did with great enthusiasm and thanks.

Action: Avoid disappointing customers and rethink the long-term revenue implications of any policy that is creating disappointment.

The problems that tend to do the most damage to loyalty, word of mouth and retention are policy and process issues. Neither customers nor employees tend to complain loudly because they assume policies are unchangeable. You need to encourage feedback from both groups and listen hard. Improving your customer service, will improve your bottom line.

by John Goodman

Wal-Mart to drop savings claims in its ads

2009-07-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

A national consumer watchdog has told Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that it should stop running national television ads that claim shoppers can save $700 a year by patronizing its stores.

The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus made the recommendation Monday after H-E-B Grocery Co., a large, Texas-based supermarket chain, filed a complaint in December challenging several of Wal-Mart's advertising campaigns.

The National Advertising Division faulted an ad Wal-Mart began running last fall that features a shot of packaged grocery items and a voiceover that says shoppers could save $700 if they bought the items at Wal-Mart. A four-second statement at the end of the ad said the claim is based on a study by Global Insight Inc. on 2007 sales of packaged foods and that "local savings vary."

Wal-Mart said it is no longer running the ad, but that it disagrees with NAD's findings: "We firmly believe that claim is well-supported by the Global Insight study, and that the advertising clearly communicated the claim and the basis for the claim."

An H-E-B spokeswoman it is prohibited from talking about the case due to National Advertising Division guidelines.

by ANN ZIMMERMAN

What's Decaffeination?

2009-07-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

Lots of people instinctively ask for “decaf” when they sit down for dinner or head to the local coffee shop. Their thinking is, All the delicious, warming goodness of a cup of joe without any of those nasty jitters! Now, it's true that drinking too much of your usual brew can give you the jumpin' crazies – a problem avoided with ATLCoffeeHouse, which is fully-caffeinated coffee but (according to lots of our drinkers) doesn't seem to give you the jitters – but we think if people knew how coffee is decaffeinated, they'd think twice before asking for another cup.

Decaffeination was invented by chemist Ludwig Roselius in 1905. Rselius used a dangerous hydrocarbon, benzene, to remove caffeine from green (unroasted) coffee beans. Even though many of the modern processes rely on softer methods, the great bulk of them still use chemicals whose effects we don't fully understand.
Even more importantly, a 2005 study from the Fuqua Heart Centre in Atlanta, Georgia indicated that decaf coffee drinkers are actually unhealthier than their caffeine-sipping kin! Since all decaffeination processes strip beans of their natural deliciousness, many companies use oilier beans so that the final yield will taste more like a normal cup – leading to an increase in “bad cholesterol” levels for decaf drinkers! ( Click here to read an article on the findings )

The beauty of ATLCoffeeHouse – a robust, caffeinated coffee bean whose special herbal booster seems to help balance out the “jittery” feeling many feel after too many cups of their usual brew – is that our chemical-free process compromises neither the healthfulness nor delicious taste of our products!
So, next time you think about reaching for that cup of decaf, why not drink up a cup of ATLCoffeeHouse instead? Trust us: your tastebuds will thank you for it...and so will your heart!

>>Click here to read a Scientific American article on various unnatural decaffeination processes!

Coffee has been shown to Help Manage Asthma

2009-07-06T17:46:00.000-07:00

Does Coffee Help Manage Asthma?

The incidence of asthma as a respiratory disease has increased significantly worldwide during the past twenty years. In some industrialised countries the incidence is now as high as 10% (UK) and 14% (Japan) of the population. The beneficial effect of coffee on asthma was known over a hundred years ago and coffee has been used to treat the condition in Scotland since at least 1859 (10). This benefit is confirmed by recent research findings. An Italian study of 72,284 people (11) showed that the incidence of asthma fell by 28% when they drank three or more cups a day.

Similar results were observed in the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (12) where, in a group of 20,322 Americans, the incidence of asthma fell by 29% and the incidence of wheeze fell 13%, when regular coffee drinkers were compared with non-coffee drinkers.

References:
10. Salter, H. Edinburgh Medical Journal, 1859,( 4): 1109-1115
11. Pagano, R. et al. Chest, 1988,( 94): 386-389
12. Schwartz, J. and Weiss, S.T. Annals of Epidemiology, 1992, (2): 627-635

The Addiction of Coffee

2009-07-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

Is Coffee Addictive?

No. Whilst enjoying drinking coffee regularly may be described as a habit, and coffee is known to act as a stimulant and keep us alert, in no way should this be confused with it being addictive. Regulatory agencies such as the World Health Organization, has stated that, “There is no evidence whatsoever that caffeine use has even remotely comparable physical and social consequences which are associated with serious drugs of abuse” (13).

Evidence to support the claim that coffee drinking is not addictive was confirmed in a recent study (14), which showed caffeine did not act on the brain areas responsible for reward, motivation and addiction in the same way as amphetamines and cocaine. Likewise mild withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches and lethargy, experienced by some coffee drinkers, do not seem to relate to the quantities consumed daily.

References
13. World Health Organisation (WHO). The ICD-10 classification of mental and
behavioral disorders. World Health Organisation: Geneva, 1994
14. Nehlig, A. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 1999, 23, 563-576

Does Drinking Coffee Really Disturb Sleep?

2009-07-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

Many people blame coffee for disturbing their sleep and refrain from drinking it in the evening. We are all aware that coffee gives us a boost during the day and of its well known immediate effects on keeping us alert. This may mean it takes longer to fall asleep, but studies show that the dream phase of sleep remains unaffected.

One such recent study showed that drinking up to seven cups during a day is not associated with us enjoying any less sleep (3) and in another survey, involving 760 nurses (4), results showed that other factors such as age and family issues were more important in keeping us awake. In a study involving elderly women (5), there was no difference in caffeine consumption between good and poor sleepers.

References
3. Montserrat, Sanchez-Ortuno, Sleep Medicine, 2005, (6): 247-251
4. Lee, K.A. Sleep, 1992,(15): 493-498
5. Bliwise, N.G. Psychology and Aging, 1992,(7): 83-88