Sourse:Seafood Salad Recipe

Recipes are excellent to learn how to cook, but they lose their value when the instructions don’t make any sense. VisualRecipes solves this problem by bringing you step by step recipes with photos. It is a neat website with thousands of visual recipes ranging from appetizers and sauces to lunches and dinners. You can read the recipe step-by-step along with pictures or simply view a slideshow of the recipe.

Each recipe detail also includes the list of ingredients, a little introduction and history to the recipe, as well as the details about cooking and preparation time. Each recipe can also be rated, commented on, printed or shared on any of the major social networks with a single click. A detailed category listing of recipes let you browse the website without any hassle.

Features:

• Thousands of step by step recipes with pictures.
• View the recipe as a slideshow.
• Browse by occasion or cuisine.
• Rate, comment, print or share.
• View related recipes.
• For more similar sites check out MakeUseOf “recipes” section.

Visit VisualRecipes @ www.visualrecipes.com (by Tehseen From Ijaar.com)

America's most popular tequila-based libation is having a special day: National Margarita Day (who knew?!). Although Americans need no excuse to enjoy this tasty indulgence — tequila producer Herradura claims we consume them at the rate of 185,000 per hour — here's everything you'll need to know, below.

The International Bartenders Association-certified margarita recipe consists of the following, which produces an IBA-sanctioned 7:4:3 ratio of tequila, triple sec/cointreau, and lime/lemon juice (50% tequila, 29% Triple Sec or cointreau, 21% fresh lime or lemon juice):

Served

On the rocks; poured over ice

Standard garnish
Salt-rimmed glass, lime slice

Ingredients
3.5 cl (seven parts) tequila
2.0 cl (four parts) Cointreau or Triple Sec
1.5 cl (three parts) lemon or lime juice

Preparation
Rub the rim of the glass with the lime slice to make the salt stick to it. Shake the other ingredients with ice, then carefully pour into the glass (taking care not to dislodge any salt). Garnish and serve over ice.

What's the difference between cointreau and triple sec? Jordan Mackay explains at Chow.com:

Triple Sec and curaçao are just catchall terms for orange-flavored liqueur; there aren't any official and well-policed definitions of the terms. Some people consider Triple Sec a type of curaçao, while others say that curaçao is a subset of Triple Sec. The major difference seems to be that Triple Secs are generally uncolored, while curaçaos come in neon shades… When it comes to high-quality orange spirits, basically the choices are Cointreau and Grand Marnier. Though both are brandy-based and often spoken about interchangeably, they are very different. Cointreau is clear and, according to Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh's book Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails, it's “the first and best Triple Sec. … Use generic Triple Sec only if you are short on cash.”

Best Muscle Relaxant

Rusty from SomaFM writes,

“The Space Shuttle Endeavour has taken off and is in space, traveling to
the International Space Station where it will be delivering parts
including the third connecting module known as 'the Tranquility node' to
the station. It's also bringing up a seven-windowed cupola to be used as
a control room for robotics. The mission will feature three spacewalks.”

“You can hear it all mixed with electronic ambient music on SomaFM's
Mission Control channel. Just go to somafm.com and click on
Mission Control.

“The best time to tune in is around 2pm pacific time (06:00 GMT), when
the astronauts are just getting up and starting their checklists for the
day. Astronaut sleep periods are approximately from 6am pacific to 2pm
pacific. There will be minimal mission audio at that time, but the rest
of the time all sorts of stuff is going on.”

[CC-licensed image, via Flickr: “STS-130 Shuttle Launch,” photographed on Feb 8, 2010 by Malenkov in Exile]

More contributors: Mark Frauenfelder (Editor-in-Chief, MAKE magazine), Kipp Bradford (Technical Consultant/Writer), Chris Connors (Education), Diana Eng (Guest Author),
Peter Horvath (Intern), Brian Jepson (O'Reilly Media),
Robert Bruce Thompson (Science Room)

Suggest a Site!

Why advertise on MAKE?
Read what folks are saying about us!

Click here to advertise on MAKE!

Current Podcast

Weekend Project: Gourd Lanterns
Turn hard-shell gourds into decorative party lights. Thanks go to Diane Gilleland for the original article in MAKE Volume 21. To download The Gourd Lanterns video click here and subscribe in iTunes. Check out the complete Gourd Lanterns article…
More…

Enter your email to receive Make: Online each day:

Sign up for the Make: Newsletter

Our Make: Newsletter covers news from maker Media, has original columns, Shed deals, and more! You can also read the archives of past issues.

Sourse:Seafood Salad Recipe

Grilling: Wilted Spinach and Portobello Salad

Posted by Joshua Bousel, February 26, 2010 at 7:30 PM

[Photograph: Joshua Bousel]

I told myself that after a no-holds-bared eating fest that happened over the holidays in Houston (seems to happen every time I visit that city), that I would slowly simmer down my gut-busting diet. With the cold weather and the steady stream of party foods that followed, my plan never came to fruition. Nearly two months later, it's high time I finally act, and over the weekend I decided that a salad was in store—grilled, of course.

I'm not much of a recipe follower when it comes to throwing together some leafy greens and a vinaigrette, but this particular one caught my eye because it required the grilling of spinach. Finally, an interesting way to use my underloved accessory, the grilling basket. Not only was the dressed spinach taken to the flames, but also the sage-rubbed portobellos and walnuts. This was a grilled salad through and through.

This meal fit into the season as much as a salad could. The mushrooms gave it a heartiness, the walnuts a nice toasty crunch, and the warm, wilted spinach was like a hint of the freshness that will soon come. Now the trick is to keep up some healthier eats while enduring the final throes of winter.

Grilled Wilted Spinach & Portobello Salad

Adapted from Grilling & Roasting by Chuck Williams
- serves 4 -

Ingredients

1 lb fresh portobellos, scrubbed clean and stems removed
1/4 cup safflower oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup walnuts
10 oz spinach, stems removed
2 tablespoons walnut oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

Procedure

1. Light one chimney full of charcoal. While the charcoal is lighting, brush the mushrooms with the safflower oil and sprinkle with the sage and pepper, set aside.

2. Whisk together the walnut oil, lemon juice, and red wine vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.

3. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread the coals evenly over the charcoal grate. Place a cast iron skillet on the grill. When heated up, place the walnuts in the skillet and cook until lightly browned and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes, stirring nuts frequently. Remove the skillet from the grill and coarsely chop the walnuts.

4. Place the mushrooms on the grill, gill side down, and cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Flip and continue to cook until browned and just tender, about 3 to 4 minutes longer. Remove from the grill and slice into 1/4 inch strips.

5. Place the spinach leaves in a grill basket, and sprinkle with 1/2 of the the vinaigrette. Place the basket on the grill and cook until the leave are slightly wilted, about 3 minutes on each side.

6. To assemble the salad, place 1/4 of the spinach leaves on each plate, add a few strips of the mushrooms, sprinkle with the walnuts, and dress with remaining vinaigrette to taste.

About the author: Joshua Bousel blogs about grilling on his blog, The Meatwave, and appears weekly here on Serious Eats during grilling season.

5 Comments

Favorite this!  (3)

Turn Left Over Mustard into No-Waste Salad Dressing

If you hate waste and it seems a shame to throw away a jar of spicy or exotic mustard without getting the last bit of flavor out of it, this clever trick will turn that left over mustard into salad dressing.

At MarthaStewart.com they're big fans of lists and galleries of clever and trendy things you can do around the house. In this week's “40 Good Things” list they share a great tip for using the mustard left after the last sandwich is made, to create home made dressing:

Have a tiny bit of mustard left in the jar? Toss in a few ingredients, and shake a tangy Dijon vinaigrette right in the container. A crushed garlic clove, some chopped fresh herbs and minced shallot will add the right flavor. Pour in balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper, then close the lid and shake. Add olive oil; shake again to emulsify the dressing, and then drizzle over your favorite salad. With a tightly sealed lid, it will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Sounds delicious and a perfect “after life” for the jar of Dijon mustard I've just about polished off. Check out the link below to browse through some of the other clever tips in their roundup. Have a frugal tip of your own to share? Let's hear about it in the comments.

People gets sick once in a while. Itis expected. That's why people have sick time at job. That's why there are doctors and insurance organizations. But here are a few basic things to make sure you be in principal good health. You should wash your hands. In general, not enough people do this. When taking the lavatory. Studies have been done and a shockingly low percentage of people wash their hands after taking the restroom or before meals.

I always tell you: Consume water. Liquid cures all sickness. Deprivation of water is the guilty of many common ill health such as headaches and even bloating. 8 cups of liquid is the minimum so be sure you're getting at least that much. Keep in mind that fruits and vegetable juices count towards your daily scoop of hydrating drink. Physical activity. Exercise does not have to mean hours on the treadmill sweating away to exhaustion. Exercise can be as easy as walking across the parking lot to the grocery store or doing housework. That's true! Vacuuming burns calories! The more active in general you are the more exercise you're getting. Consider getting a pedometer. Pedometer's have shown that people who wear pedometer's are more active than those who don't.

During your long journey to weight loss and ideal weight management, you will come across many different tools and methods for successfully losing weight and keeping it off. While some methods may be traditional, or completely natural, some are more procedural without compromising your well being.

While there are many ways to lose weight, one thing is certain, weight gain can be harmful to your health and even deadly. Individuals 20 pounds or more over their ideal weight at a risk of serious medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and sleep apnea.

The statistics of complications and medical conditions that can plague and over-weight individual are depressing. However there is hope in knowing that those who do lose even small amounts of weight and shed the pounds can improve their health and their overall lifestyle.

In your search for weight loss you are never alone, and there are many methods such as exercise, supplements, natural remedies and even procedures such as hypnosis that can help. Hypnosis is meant to assist you in effectively losing weight and it is a safer method than starvation or pills that can end up harming your body instead of helping you lose the unwanted weight.

There are many myths and misconceptions about hypnosis, even claims that hypnosis is just something used by street magicians and snake oil salesmen. When thinking of using hypnosis, do your part to research the benefits and risks of using this as your weight loss assistant.

As there are many claims about this method, here are some facts to consider:

1. Safety

Hypnosis is a serious method and should always be done by a trained expert. The trained professional should explain the concept and the factors behind hypnosis. Even though hypnosis is no a prescription pill or a surgery procedure, it is still a procedure that can be risky.

Hypnosis, while powerful, can also be risky if not performed properly.

2. Effectiveness

Hypnosis alone will not make you shed weight. It is meant to be a weight loss assistant to help you achieve your weight loss goal, and can easily become a part of your weight loss strategy such as dieting and exercise.

This method is meant to relax the mind, while still allowing you to be in control. It should be paired up with a weight loss program and it should never be used as a sole method of weight loss process.

3. Sessions

Hypnosis can be a gradual process of getting into the subliminal state of a person. A trained hypnotist is able to successfully get the body to respond to suggestibility because of its intense state of concentration during the “hypnotic stage”.

Hypnosis is not meant to reprogram a person and it should not be considered as paranormal or magical. This is a powerful treatment of a wide variety of conditions, and can even be used as a relaxation method.

In conclusion, hypnosis can be a very powerful friend to help you lose the weight and feel better overtime inside and out. It is not a magical transformation of one's person but a tool that can be utilized in the successful and effective process when trying to lose weight.

Hypnosis should never be used as a sole process of weight loss. It can however be successfully combined to help guide you to a better mind, body and overall a better you.

The top priority for the Milwaukee Brewers' front office this winter was to improve the worst pitching staff in the National League. By re-signing Trevor Hoffman and bringing in free agents Randy Wolf, Doug Davis, and LaTroy Hawkins, there is little doubt that the rotation and bullpen will not have similar results in 2010.

The moves have been received well by the fanbase. The Brewers have already sold 1 million tickets for the upcoming season, the second-fastest time in team history to get to that mark.

In the eyes of the fans, the most pressing need seems to be trying to lock up Prince Fielder to a long-term deal. While many feel it's a mortal lock that Fielder will bolt Milwaukee after the 2011 season, when taking a closer look, one can begin to see a way that the organization can keep the mammoth slugger for the next several years.

Fielder is entering the final year of a two-year, $18 million deal signed prior to last season. Should he put up numbers similar to the past couple of seasons, he'll be in line to make $15 million to $18 million for the 2011 season.

This won't be a problem for the Brewers to pay such a salary. The contracts of Jeff Suppan and Bill Hall come off the books after this year, giving the team more than $20 million in freed-up money.

If Fielder were the only big-name hitter in free agency that season, it would be almost impossible for the Brewers to re-sign him. The Brewers catch a break because he could enter free agency with fellow sluggers Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, and Adrian Gonzalez.

The biggest advantage going for Fielder is his age. Pujols and Howard will be in their 30s, while Gonzalez will turn 30 in the 2012 season. Fielder won't turn 30 until May 9 in the 2014 season.

Most believe Pujols will remain in St. Louis, but nothing is set in stone until a contract is signed. It's hard to imagine his talent falling off so much in the next two years that he won't be the top prize for every team in baseball.

All would be a great fit for the middle of any lineup. Each will face different questions as teams will try to cut the best deal for themselves.

Fielder's weight will be an issue, but he has proven that he can maintain it during the last few seasons and not gain any significant amount. Regardless, he will likely always have questions about his long-term playing ability because of the size of his waist.

Beginning in 2012, only Wolf and Ryan Braun are under contract. Fielder will still be only 27 and likely ask for a seven- or eight-year deal. There's no doubt the Brewers would be taking a risk, but it's a risk they need to make.

The team offered CC Sabathia a five-year, $100 million contract after the 2008 season. No one in baseball thought he would sign it, but management was at least able to tell the fanbase it offered a player $20 million a season.

Sabathia ended up signing for just a bit more than $20 million a season, but the Yankees offered three extra years—something the Brewers weren't willing to do.

Milwaukee needs to step up and do more than offer a contract that can be spun by the front office as a positive public relations move. They have already signed one star, Braun, to a long-term deal, and they must do the same with Fielder to be taken seriously as a legitimate franchise.

Braun may be the face of the franchise from the front office's point of view, but Fielder is the reason fans come to the ballpark and watch games. Fielder is a clubhouse leader, while several media outlets have reported that Braun is more of a “me” type of guy.

The duo already makes up one of the top hitting combos in all of baseball. If the two were locked up for several more seasons, the Brewers would have a legitimate shot at the playoffs every year.

The Brewers could also sign Fielder long term, then trade Braun. He is under contract through 2015 with a limited no-trade clause the last few seasons.

It is reasonable to keep both players for a few extra seasons. Braun will only make $6 million in 2012, $8 million in 2013, and $10 million in 2014.

Having two players make up a third of the payroll is a dangerous idea, but the Brewers will likely have several young players under team control making very low salaries. Angel Salome, Jonathan Lucroy, Mat Gamel, Alcides Escobar, Carlos Gomez, and Lorenzo Cain are just a few of the position players likely to see prominent roles in the next few years.

Should Fielder decide to leave Milwaukee, it would be the biggest loss to the franchise since Paul Molitor left for Toronto after the 1992 season. Even with Braun, it would be hard for the team to compete and draw the type of crowds it has for the past few seasons.

Would an eight-year, $180 million contract be enough to keep Fielder in Milwaukee? Maybe, maybe not. That's a deal very similar to what Mark Teixeira signed last winter. It would also serve as the most lucrative deal in Brewers' history by more than $130 million.

Some say no player is worth that amount of money—especially one with concerns over his weight.

Fielder has proven to be an elite power hitter and has significantly improved his play in the field. Most importantly, he is the major reason why fans come to Miller Park in droves every summer, as well as spend their money on merchandise.

Losing Fielder won't kill the franchise, but it will set it back several years in trying to build a consistent winner. The Brewers can't afford to go back to the days of drawing less than 2 million at Miller Park.

No matter the cost, Mark Attanasio and Doug Melvin need to lock up Fielder for the majority of his career to remain a Brewer. He's a once-in-a-generation player, and no franchise—even small-market Milwaukee—can afford to let a player like that leave.

 

To read more by Jesse Motiff, click here.

Have questions about the Brewers? Email us at BrewersHQ@gmail.com

The way venture capital firms are structured makes it almost impossible for outsiders to see what’s really going on inside those 1970s lodge-like Sand Hill Road offices. A firm is nothing more than a collection of partnerships around certain funds that run for ten years or more. So if a partner gets fired? Well, he or she is still technically a partner in an earlier fund, so firms don’t really have to talk about it if it isn’t in their best interest.

And if a firm was one of many that couldn’t raise a new fund last year, who needs to know they were even trying? Unlike a startup, any firm that’s been around for a cycle or longer still has enough money under management from previous funds to keep the lights on. If they failed to raise a fund in 2009, they can always try again in 2010. It could take decades for even the worst firms to “go out of business.” Like generals, bad VCs don’t die, they just fade away.

It’s an industry perfectly structured for sweeping problems under the rug, and as its fundamentals have declined over the last decade, that’s just what it’s been doing. But those big, lumpy problems are getting harder and harder to hide. Aside from rumors, it’s hard to know exactly who couldn’t raise a new fund in 2009, but we know the numbers were down precipitously. And slow economic recovery aside, it’s not going to get easier in 2010.

Limited partners, the institutions that invest in venture funds, are finally accepting what almost every VC I know has been saying for a decade: There’s too much money in the industry and it’s killing the kind of early stage investing the asset class was founded on. And that’s killing returns.

But just as we’re finally starting to see limited partners make the hard decisions to throttle back investments in private equity, so too are some VCs grappling with their own hard decision: Stick with a broken asset class and try to fix it or just leave and start anew.

Vinod Khosla was one of the first to make that decision: Leaving Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers at the peak of his and the firm’s power to get back to real, risk-taking early stage investing. Of course, his recent $1.1 billion fund flies in the face of the too-much-money argument, but it bears noting that Khosla invests in some capital intensive sectors like cleantech. Web 2.0 is a different matter. The capital needs are low, and, YouTube aside, the returns are low too.

In the last few weeks, another investor who I respect has made a similar move. Simon Levene of Accel’s UK offices has resigned the firm, despite an impressive track record that includes investments in MyHeritage, Seeking Alpha and Etsy. I spoke with Levene this week about the decision and unfortunately for me, it’s not a particularly juicy story. This wasn’t an intercontinental Accel battle royale. This wasn’t an issue where he wanted to invest in sectors the firm deemed dead. Nor was it a case where Levene wasn’t pulling his weight. And, of course, with investments in as varied and successful companies as BBN Technologies, Marvel and Facebook, Accel itself isn’t in any trouble.

It simply boiled down to the fact that, like many of the world’s best Web investors, Levene doesn’t see the best deals out there needing many millions of dollars. And structurally, a small partnership investing a $525 million fund with $1.5 billion actively under management can’t do a large number of tiny deals and still give each investment the attention it needs. As he puts it: “You see something that needs half a million or a million and you think, ‘That’s a good investment,’ but there are only so many you can do given the structure of these larger funds.”

In London, Accel takes a classic VC approach of putting at least $15 million in each company. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for the kinds of micro-deals that Levene saw netting better returns and frankly, the ones in which he had more fun investing. “I enjoy the bigger deals too, but they are fewer and far between, and they tend to be very competitive, so you have to pay up for them,” Levene says. “When it comes to early stage I’m just seeing a bigger market opportunity in Europe and Israel.”

That VC angst—while similar to what you hear about in the Valley—has a different twist in markets like Europe and Israel. In the Valley, it’s largely a reaction to more nimble angels and seed funds beating traditional VCs in the market. Funds have been forced to adapt or lose.

Witness Greylock’s hiring of uber-angel investor Reid Hoffman. Indeed, even before Hoffman’s arrival, forward-thinking partners like David Sze had been doing less-traditional deals. In 2006 Sze did two deals that didn’t seem to fit with the venture model and had peers scoffing that he’d never make money off either. One was Digg, where he could only invest $2 million, a fraction of the normal-sized series A deals at the time. The other was Facebook, where he invested at a whopping $500 million pre-money valuation. At the time, he shrugged and said, “I don’t know how I’ll make money, I just believe in the teams and believe it’ll work out.” In hindsight, he looks like a genius on both.

Sze’s approach —not just downscaling to do seed-deals, but investing without spreadsheet-induced restrictions at all — is similar to that of newer firms like Andreessen Horowitz, which does tiny deals as well as mammoth deals like the recent investment in Skype. Andreessen has said he wants a piece of the best tech companies in the world—no matter when they’re started, what stage he can get in and what price is necessary to make it  happen. (After all, it was pure, math-based investing that helped wreck the public markets.)

But in Europe and Israel, there’s not that same level of experimentation on the part of venture funds, nor are there many investors like Andreessen or Hoffman who have the clout, confidence and star power to say they’re just going to invest in what they want and trust it’ll work out.

The closest is Saul Klein’s firm Index Ventures, which has had plenty of traditional venture hits with Skype, MySQL and Last.FM, but has been open to plenty of experimentation too—much of it lead by Klein himself, a long-time angel investor and entrepreneur. Index has not only supported Klein in continuing to do investments from his seed fund, The Accelerator Group, it’s encouraged him on a project called Seed Camp, that scours Europe and Israel for good companies and makes Y Combinator-style investments in them.

So far Seed Camp has invested in 21 companies and mentored nearly 300. Klein brought a crop of them over to Silicon Valley this week to meet with investors, get grilled by the press, and get mentored by success stories like Google. “Given that the raw natural material for venture capitalists is entrepreneurs, I find it strange that the venture community does nothing to help develop those raw materials,” Klein says. (There’s much more on his blog about this topic here.)

For Levine’s part, he sees the venture industry in Europe and Israel as “still a work in progress.” He continues, “There’s more of an opportunity to pioneer and strike new ground. That’s part of what was exciting to me when I moved back here seven years ago.” Not surprisingly, Levene spent a lot of time talking with both Hoffman and Klein as he was mulling the ballsy decision to leave one of the top firms in the venture universe.

What’s he going to do now that he’s unemployed? He’s not saying yet. (My guess is he’s not saying because raising a seed fund takes some time, but that’s only a guess.) But the more investors who follow their heart in this uncertain time for the asset class, the better for startups here and in Europe and Israel. After all, that’s what top investors would advise entrepreneurs to do during a downturn.

Sources: weight control

Lose It or Lose It Motivates You to Meet Your Weight-Loss Goals by Imposing Penalties

Motivation is a tricky thing. Sure you want to lose weight for health reasons, but most of the time health is such an abstract concept that it's not a great motivator. Money, on the other hand—that's a different story entirely.

Web site Lose It or Lose It is aware of this problem, and aims to keep you motivated toward your goal by entering a much more tangible variable into the equation: money. The site works like this:

The idea is very simple – you set a goal for yourself to lose a certain number of pounds per week, choose how many dollars you are willing to lose per pound if you don't meet your weekly goals, and then make an initial payment (we like to think of this as your investment in losing weight). The process starts with an initial weigh-in, and then there are 10 weekly weigh-ins after that. If you miss a weigh-in or if you fail to achieve your weekly weight goal, as verified through the weekly weigh-ins, a “penalty” will be deducted from your investment. In other words, lose the weight or lose your investment.

Now for the weird part: If you don't meet your goals, Lose It or Lose It keeps whatever money you've wagered. In their FAQ, they explain:

But shouldn't it go to charity?

No, absolutely not. That cushions the blow. The incentive, and the point, is to lose weight!

Hmm. Okay, so this isn't the first thing we'd recommend—make a bet with a friend who you're not eager to cough up money to, if nothing else. But if you've got $100 to spare (that's the minimum buy-in) and you really want a serious motivator (I completely hate the idea of giving money to this web site), it could definitely work. Of course, if you hit all your goals, you don't lose any money.

Rather than signing up for Lose It or Lose It, let's hear how you've been motivating yourself with concrete consequences for not meeting your goals in the comments.

Losing weight and getting fit preoccupied Americans in 2009:

• Nearly one out of two American women, including high school girls, were on a diet.

• Over 40 billion was spent on branded diet plans.

• Children as young as 9 to 11 years old were sometimes or very often dieting.

Yet an epidemic of obesity continues to affect more people than ever before:

• Less than a third of adults enjoyed normal weight.

• Children were two to three times more likely to be overweight today than they were 30 years ago.

Can we begin to reverse these worrisome trends in 2010?
We can if we update our old views with new ways to look at fitness in the coming year.

Old View: It's hopeless! Efforts to lose weight are inevitably doomed to fail. Even if a person manages to lose weight, he or she will eventually regain the weight and add back even more.

New View: You can do it! Strategies for making healthier choices involving diet, physical conditioning and improved self-care are available to you and can be learned. Championing this view is Kelly Brownell, Ph. D., who heads the LEARN Program for Weight Management at Yale University. And thanks to widespread access to the Internet, peer counseling in online communities is expanding. Internet support may include food and exercise diaries, weekly counseling, online weight-loss lessons and motivational phone calls.

Old View: Thin is in! Most individuals, especially women, seek to lose weight because they have internalized the media's ultrathin ideal.

New View: Healthy is in! Health is replacing vanity as the primary reason for pursuing fitness and weight loss. In 2009, researchers reported that four healthy habits could reduce or eliminate 80 percent of major medical problems: eating a healthy diet, not smoking, exercising regularly and maintaining a normal body weight. This insight, combined with rising medical costs, is triggering a focus on fitness.

Old View: If you are fat, you are a bad person. Obesity is a personal problem caused by a lack of willpower.

New View: Obesity is a disease that is treatable. The cost of providing medical care per person has skyrocketed from $356 in 1970 to $8,160 in 2009. Moreover, in 2009, the cost of treating obesity-related medical problems reached $147 billion. Given these costs, obesity has become a public health concern requiring a multifaceted community-based approach. In response, community leaders in Albert Lea, Minnesota, implemented a comprehensive lifestyle program to improve the health and longevity of the city's residents. To increase employee productivity and reduce health insurance costs and absenteeism, corporate wellness programs are proliferating.

Old View: Low-fat diets are required to lose weight. Eating fat makes a person fat. To lose weight, a dieter needs to stick with low- or no-fat foods.

New View: Total calories actually determine weight. The total calories consumed by a person, whether from carbs, fats or proteins, determines weight. Since the goal is a balanced diet, the Mediterranean diet, which includes healthy fats, is recommended by the Mayo Clinic and the American Heart Association as a nutritionally sound and healthy eating plan. Nuts, which until recently were on dieters' “do not eat” lists, are making a comeback because of their health benefits, especially almonds, walnuts, cashews, pecans and macadamia nuts. Momentum is growing for mandating information on the caloric content of fast foods and food products.

Photo courtesy of everystockphoto.com

Old View: Medical intervention is needed. Weight-loss drugs or bariatric surgery can solve the problem of surplus pounds for many people, and advances in medicine can address obesity-related problems such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer.

New View: A healthy lifestyle is the best way. Prevention, rather than treatment of obesity-related medical problems, will move to the forefront because of the rising cost of medical insurance and healthcare. While the number of bariatric surgeries will continue to skyrocket, family physicians will increasingly write exercise prescriptions in lieu of drug prescriptions.

Old View: Ignore overweight children. Children who are overweight will outgrow their chubbiness, so kids' surplus pounds can be ignored.

New View: Help overweight children now! Dr. Robert Murray, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health, is alarmed that nearly half of kids and teens are overweight or obese and, as a consequence, children's life expectancies are lower than their parents'. Treating childhood obesity is a serious medical problem that if ignored will place the child at risk for heart disease, diabetes and other serious medical conditions.

Old View: Don't ask, don't tell. Asking employees to modify their unhealthful behavior is an invasion of privacy and violates employees' right to choose their own lifestyle.

New View: Offer help, incentives and access to experts. In 2008, medical insurance premiums reached a record $15,609 for a family of four. Employers are proactively seeking to reduce costs (medical insurance, workers' compensation claims and absenteeism) by restructuring benefit programs. In increasing numbers, employees are being offered incentives to quit smoking or lose weight. They face penalties if they refuse to change habits that drive up the cost of healthcare.

Old View: Hard-core exercise one hour daily. Going to a gym daily for a 60-minute workout on a treadmill and resistance equipment is the best way to exercise.

New View: Diversity, fun and enjoyment. Thanks to popular television programs, dancing for fitness is back, particularly Zumba, a one-hour workout that fuses Latin rhythms with calorie-burning dance movements. Exergaming, such as Wii and Dance Dance Revolution, continues to grow in popularity with young and old alike. Michelle Obama has made the Hula-Hoop popular once again. The use of technologically sophisticated feedback gadgets, from pedometers to heart monitors, will expand. To attract members to the gym during tough economic times, more fitness centers will offer cardio cinema so members can watch a movie while exercising.

Will we continue to get fatter until 2018 when, according to research by Kenneth Thorpe, PhD, of Emory University, 40 percent of us will be obese (and another 33 percent overweight)?

If we are to succeed in reversing the obesity trends and mounting medical care costs, we'll have to find new approaches. And the more readily we learn from the past and update our understanding of the complex nature and causes of obesity, the more quickly we can successfully move into a healthy future.

fast weight loss

Are you looking to lose weight? If you are, have you ever though about joining a weight reduction center? A weight reduction center membership is a pleasant way to help achieve your goal of shedding pounds. Before inspecting how it's possible for you to go about finding a weight reduction center to join, it is first necessary to know what weight reduction centers are. When examining weight reduction centers, you may find that weight reduction centers come in a few different formats.

Most ordinarily, weight reduction centers are used to explain weight reduction programs, where you go to group conferences at the center. there are a number weight reduction centers that have weekly or biweekly conferences, like for weigh-ins. There also are weight reduction centers where your membership costs give you access to onsite exercise apparatus or the option to attend an aerobics class.

Now you know precisely what weight reduction centers are, you are better prepared to go about finding one to join. Check your local yellow pages to start with as they will list many such centers for you to attend. You could be able to find the names, addresses, and phone numbers of local weight reduction centers by looking under the headings of weight loss, or health and fitness. as well as using your local telephone book, you may use the web to help find a local weight loss center to join. When using the web, you may use internet business directories or online phone books.

If you were to use an internet business directory, you will also get the address to an internet site, if the weight reduction center in query has one. If you are searching for a local center, you may wish to incorporate your town or your state into your standard net search as well. Another good way that you can go about finding a local weight reduction center to join is by asking those that you know for suggestions. This includes your friends, members of the family, co-workers, neighbors, or even your doctor as they would a great knowledge of places people can go to for help with weight lose. The best advice would be that of a friend that has attended such a class. They would not only have the experience of attending the class but would also be a great companion to go along with if you decide to take it further. Once You have found a suitable center you should then try inspecting the it. Go for an evening which normally is free for new members which will really give you an feeling of if it is right for you.

twitter upload images

Sources: buy cheap Effexor
You can get rid of pimples. If you have really bad acne, then ask your doctor about tetracycline. If you just have a few pimples, then get a pimple popping tool at the drug store. To help prevent getting pimples in the first place, wash your hair every day, along with the rest of yourself.

I had really bad acne as a teen. It started when I was 12, and I didn't get rid of it until I was 16. I didn't just have it on my face, either. My whole back was covered with pimples, too. Even though I was really skinny, I felt self conscious wearing a swimsuit. I love to swim, and we lived near the ocean, so this was a real hardship for me. All my friends hung out at the beach all summer. I went with them, because I'm too smart to be a loner, but I felt really ugly. I had good friends, though. No one teased me about my pimples.

Grownups were another story, though. They meant well, but they didn't understand just how badly I wanted to get rid of the pimples that were all over my face and back, all the time. Most of the women my mom knew told me they wished they could get pimples instead of gaining weight. I told them, “No, you don't.” One family friend told me once, “Ooh! You are sunburned so bad that you have blisters!” I told her, “No, those are pimples. I heard sunburn might get rid of them, but it didn't work.”

I read Teen Magazine every month, with all the advice they had. I tried all kinds of ways to get rid of my pimples. I tried Noxema. I tried Clearasil. I tried rubbing alcohol. I tried putting toothpaste on my pimples. I tried not eating chocolate. I tried not eating fried foods. None of these remedies worked for me.

Finally, when I was 16, my doctor noticed my acne at a routine check-up. He prescribed tetracycline. I took it for a few months, and then my pimples just disappeared! They didn't come back either. Oh, I still get a pimple now and then, even at age 46, but I've never had more than a few pimples at a time after the tetracycline made them go away. I only had to take the tetracycline pills for six months, total. I hear now you can take liquid tetracycline.

The only side effect my doctor warned me of with tetracycline is it makes your skin more sensitive to the sun. So, you can't be tan while you are on it. Big whoop! It was totally worth it to me.

When I do get a pimple - and like I said I'm 46 and I still get one now and then - I get rid of it quick with a pimple popper. My husband showed me one of these, for my first time seeing one, when I was already 30 years old. I have included a picture of one, so that you will know what to look for in the drug store. All the drug stores have them. I just hadn't ever noticed them. You just put the circle of the popper tool over the pimple, and press. The pimple pops cleanly every time. Pimples are much less noticable when they are popped. Mine go away more quickly after they have been popped, too.

For all I know, by now they have even better drugs to treat acne. Your doctor should be able to tell you, but you can suggest tetracycline and have him go from there.

The Mayo Clinic says that pimples are caused by bacteria, and by hormonal changes that cause your oil glands to overproduce, and your skin to shed irregularly. They say it is most common in teens and in women who are pregnant or on their periods.

Here is a shortened summary of what Drugs.com says about tetracycline:

Brand names for tetracycline are Ala-Tet, Panmycin, and Sumycin. Tetracycline is an antibiotic that fights bacteria. Besides acne, tetracycline is also prescribed to treat gonorrhea, chlamydia, urinary tract infections, and more.It is dangerous for pregnant or nursing mothers to take tetracycline. It can also make birth control pills less effective. It is not for children under 8. Do not take expired tetracycline. Tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney disease. Some people are allergic to tetracycline and drugs related to tetracycline.

Sources: buy cheap Lasix

Seroquel (generic name quetiapine fumarate) is a psychiatric medication used as an antipsychotic in the treatment of schizophrenia and, as recently approved by the FDA, as a mood stabilizer in the treatment of both depressive and manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder. As with all medications, there are certain risks and side effects caused by taking Seroquel and these may vary depending upon the individual.

Based on my own personal experiences with Seroquel, the most common side effect is extreme sleepiness. This goes beyond the typical “drowsiness” side effect of things like over-the-counter allergy or cold medications. This is more of a “knock you out cold” lethargy. There's also a hangover effect that makes it almost impossible to get out of bed and get moving the next morning and a feeling of sluggishness throughout the day. Fortunately for a lot of people, including myself, that hangover effect goes away once your body adjusts to the medication which is typically a couple of weeks. After that passes, the Seroquel will continue to produce the drowsiness and functions as somewhat of a sedative or sleep aid for those taking it, especially at lower dosages (in the 25 mg to 200 mg range). Oftentimes a patient will be started on a low dose and work their way up to a manageable dose. During my own process of trial and error, I started out at 25 mg, went up to 300 mg which knocked me out for about 18 hours straight, and eventually settled on a 100 mg dosage taken every night. Others have gone to levels as high as 1800 mg without feeling any sedative effects from the drug at all.

According to Astra-Zeneca's Web site, the manufacturer of Seroquel, side effects can include dry mouth, dizziness, high blood sugar, weakness, constipation, abdominal pain, sudden drop in blood pressure upon standing, sore throat, weight gain, abnormal liver tests, and upset stomach. Of these, dry mouth, weight gain, and dizziness seem to be the most common although some of those tend to be temporary as well.

Some of the most extreme, and luckily rare, side effects are neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) and tardive dyskinesia (TD). TD symptoms include uncontrollable movements of the face, tongue, or other parts of the body. NMS consists of symptoms such as a very high fever, rigid muscles, shaking, confusion, sweating, changes in pulse, heart rate, or blood pressure, or muscle pain and weakness. NMS is potentially fatal so any symptoms should be reported immediately.

For information about Seroquel, I would suggest checking the Astra-Zeneca Web site at www.seroquel.com in addition to discussing it with your physician or psychiatrist.

I get out of bed and the waves of depression almost knock me over. I want to give in and crawl back into the comfort of my covers.

I make my way to my computer and try to focus. The depression keeps crashing over me. I want to give up and go back to bed, but I know giving in isn’t an option.

I phone my husband, just to say out loud to someone, “I am soooo depressed.”

“Why?” he asks.

“No reason. Just chemical.”

And that is the curse with which I live — messed up brain chemistry.

Sure, I am stressed and sad about numerous things. But it isn’t situation that rocks me everyday as I sit down to face my to do list. It is chemical.

Like nausea in the first trimester, my depression simply is.

But want to know something even worse?

Anxiety is waiting inside me too. Later in the day it will start burning inside my chest, racing my thoughts, stressing me out.

I will have a hard time staying calm when my ADHD, ODD son starts acting out. I will feel waves of panic as my daughter has fits of tics.

SO you ask — are you TAKING anything for all of this Janice???

Yes, the answer is yes. I just started with a new psychiatrist who is trying out a new medication for me. I have been on Paxil for years. I am still taking the Paxil — but adding Seroquel.

It is messy inside me right now as we play with the dosage. I am not sure about the Seroquel. Not sure at all. But, I will give it a bit more time I suppose.

It definitely is reducing my anxiety and evening out my mood swings. But I feel sedated and weak — exhausted trying to work and be creative.

Which brings me back to the title of this post, “If I tell you I am depressed, does it make you think less of me?”

Susan has written about her anxiety and panic attacks, (she is also on Paxil and Seroquel,) and I have written about my postpartum depression, but I still resist writing about my struggles.

I worry that people will read and judge me, that they will think I am weak and incapable of doing my job.

But I refuse to give into those selfish fears.

Those of us who struggle with depression and anxiety need to know we are not alone. We need to know that there are other strong, capable people out there who are also fighting the same battles.

And those who DON’T struggle with mental illness need to know that just because some of us battle it, doesn’t mean we don’t win. It doesn’t mean we are weak. In fact, we are strong. We fight every day.

So, while some who read this may look at me differently now, I need to write anyway.

Not only does someone else out there need to read this, but in writing it, I just beat back some of those waves and I am breathing a little easier…

YOUR TURN: Do you struggle with depression or anxiety? What was your first thought when you read the title of this post?

Written by Janice, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom.

You get our feed right? And please tweet with us — we love to talk with you!

The Federal Drug Administration on Friday issued a warning to doctors that adolescents taking the drug olanzapine have an "increased potential" — in comparison with adults taking the new-generation antipsychotic drug — for weight gain and metabolic disturbances that could result in diabetes or elevated blood cholesterol levels.

"Clinicians should consider the potential long-term risks when prescribing to adolescents," the FDA said in a statement released Friday night. "In many cases, this may lead to prescribe other drugs first," the statement went on.

The agency has not approved the marketing of olanzapine — sold under the commercial name Zyprexa by the drug maker Eli Lilly — for use in children under 13 who are diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. But the medication, one of a class of psychiatric medications called the "atypical antipsychotics," is widely prescribed for young patients, despite growing evidence that call its safety profile into question for this population.

The warning comes in the wake of the October publication in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., in which a study showed that children and adolescents taking their first-ever course of Zyprexa gained, on average, more than 17 pounds over a 12-week period, as well as dramatic increases in triglycerides and cholesterol levels — all factors that put them at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease. While two other antipsychotic drugs — Seroquel and Risperdal — were implicated in significant weight gain and metabolic changes, Zyprexa was found to carry the highest risks of all three.  

The FDA said that in cases where physicians opt to prescribe olanzapine, the drug should be part of a "comprehensive treatment program," which could include psychological, educational and social counseling as well as medication therapy.

–Melissa Healy

Other information you can find at Online Pharmacy in Erie. Last news onhigh blood pressure

Buy Lipitor at Online Pharmacy in Knoxville.

Pilates studios across the nation are joining together to offer a new option in fundraising to find a cure and a prevention for breast cancer. The Fox River Pilates Center in Geneva, IL is hosting a local Pilates for Pink initiative this October, with funds going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

“We've decided to participate in Pilates for Pink because the majority of our clients are women, and some of our clients are breast cancer survivors,” says studio owner, Serena Smith. “We feel like this is a very prevalent issue in women's health and well-being and want to do our part to raise money for the research foundation.”

The Pilate Method, according to Smith, is an exercise regime focusing on breath, de-compression of the joints, and strengthening the core to create a uniformly developed body. It's an intelligent form of exercise that is appropriate for everyone, and it encourages people to take responsibility and action for their health.

Linking intelligent exercise with a program to end breast cancer just makes sense. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which focuses on raising and deploying funds to researchers as quickly as possible, recommends four steps to preventing breast cancer:

1. Commit to an hour of exercise a day, 3-4 times per week. Higher intensity workouts do the most to lower high hormone levels that have been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer.

2. Halt weight gain. Studies have shown that people who gain less weight as adults have a lower risk of breast cancer than those who have gained 55lbs or more since turning 18.

3. Quit smoking. Tobacco is a known carcinogen that promotes cancerous growth within the body. Enough said.

4. Breast feed. Nursing suppresses levels of estrogen and progesterone, which are thought to fuel the growth of breast cancer. Studies show that each additional month of breast feeding adds a protective to women's immune systems.

Fox River Pilates Center invites the public to participate in a specially scheduled Pilates for Pink mat class on Saturday, October 13th at noon, with all procedes being earmarked for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. A $20 donation is suggested, additional donations to the cause are welcomed and encouraged.

“The vision for our business has always included community involvement and this will be our first opportunity to host a fundraising event in our studio,” says Smith. We love the idea of helping to educate people about the rehabilitative power of the Pilates Method while raising funds to help prevent Breast Cancer in the near future.

The Fox River Pilates Center is located at 1 W. State Street Suite 107 Bldg. A Geneva, IL. For more information, contact Serena Smith at 630.262.8610.

http://rapidshare.com/files/324753783/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part01.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324756239/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part02.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324746505/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part03.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324747639/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part04.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324742557/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part05.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324747439/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part06.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324754177/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part07.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324754661/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part08.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324735397/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part09.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324737399/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part10.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324735699/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part11.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324750010/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part12.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324745730/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part13.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324748832/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part14.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324738912/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part15.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324749928/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part16.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324741198/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part17.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324747811/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part18.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324737335/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part19.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324755618/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part20.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324745649/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part21.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/324750026/Attitude_Ballet__Pilates_Fusion_mcr.part22.rar

Pilates was created in 1900’s by Joseph Pilates. He wanted to help the dancers and athletes to recover from physical injuries. We can`t say that Pilates is an aerobic exercise. The target of Pilates is in strengthening the body and muscles of the human. We can assert for sure that it improves the posture, also it helps to focuse on your the mind. Pilates became popular in the last twenty years. Evertbody can enjoy it. It not depends on your age or fitness level.

It would be better if you find some instructor who teaches all levels of Pilates from beginners to advanced levels. You can enjoy your Pilates exercises in a group where every body is on the same level. There are many classes all around the country where you can teach Pilates. Your Pilates class should be chosen in such way when there are experienced instructors. Besides these exercises shold be provided with the maximum of benefits for your body and mind.

Don`t be afraid to try it. Even pregnant women can enjoy it as Pilates doesn’t include some high impact moves, it is very safe sport and it is full of controlled movements. The high qualified Pilates instructors can help you to understand the changes that will happen with your body during your pregnancy. They will help you to feel enjoyed, in safe and keep your body healthy.

Sportsmen and athletes have a lot of benefits from Pilates. First of all it prevents them from injury and enhance their co-ordination. Everybody wants to be flexible, healthy. So in order to achieve it you can try this type of sport.

Most of us know how import is to be keep fit,to be in shape but always we find a lot of different excuses not to attend a fitness classes. With the help of a Pilates class you will improve your physical stamina and fitness level of your body without some unnecessary strain on muscles. It means that anyone of any age can enjoy the Pilates. You can also attract some of your friend to go to Pilates. Doing it you will help them to take the first step to a better health and posture.

As I`ve already said every person can visit Pilates classes and have benefits of it. You can be moman or man, young or old, your activity level can be high or low. Anyway visit these classes. Just try it. Pilates will help you to control your breathing, to focus on all of your thoughts and tighten your muscles in stomach. So Pilates will offer you a lot of benefits for your health and mind. You will like it from the first sight. I promise it to you.

Obviously distance running can help a lot with the general fitness and health of your body. So, if you are interested in the runners training guide or endurance training running information – please visit this site.

And never stop to gather more useful info. Right now we are living in the world where information quickly enhances the quality of our life.

That is why if you are properly armed with the information in your topic you can rest assured that you will in any case find the solution to any bad situation. So, please make sure to track this site on a regular basis or – the easiest way to take care of it – sign up to its RSS. In such an easy way you will have your hand on the pulse of the latest informational updates here. Blogs can be helpful, you just need to know how to blogging to the maximum of its efforts.