How to Save on Organic Food, 5 easy ways

Coupons! Coupons! Coupons!















According to Consumer Reports, the average American spends nearly $5,000 a year on groceries. With the organic sector showing the largest amount of growth in the food industry presently, coupons for organic foods are also becoming more common. Online coupons from your favorite organic food makers are another viable option to save some green.


Buy Whole, Unprocessed Foods















The more processed or refined food is, the less nutritional value and fiber it will have. If you just have to have that cinnamon honey whole-wheat graham cracker that’s been doubly wrapped, look for either packaging that’s biodegradable or recyclable packages such as glass, aluminum and PET (polyethylene terephthalate — the embossed number "1" indicator that you commonly see) whenever you can. Also, check out foods in the bulk aisle and buy enough so that you can enjoy them for the next couple of weeks.


Buy Store Brand Foods















If you’re still drawn to the more popular big natural and organic stores because they offer items that are not as readily found in the typical supermarket (such as exotic-tasting soups and funny-sounding figs), look for private-label items. They’re cheaper and taste just as good if not better than those products that have been marketed and packaged up the wazoo.


Learn the Dirty Dozen



















The dirty dozen are the most highly contaminated foods with pesticides and chemicals — even after washing and peeling:
1. peaches
2. apples
3. sweet bell peppers
4. celery
5. nectarines
6. strawberries
7. cherries
8. pears
9. imported grapes
10. spinach
11. lettuce
12. potatoes

Buy their organic version whenever possible. Look for savings on those fruits and veggies least likely to have pesticide residue.


Don't Shop Alone















Shopping with a friend allows for the possibility of sharing of costs on bigger items — not to mention the sharing of gas it might have taken to get to and from the grocery store. If you have a membership at a no-frills warehouse store, split large packages of food up with your buddy. You don’t really need a whole 12-pack of 10 pounds each canned organic tomatoes now, do you?

These tips will allow you to eat green, sustainable and nutritious foods — while sticking to a recession budget.

By Karen Berner, From thedailygreen.

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Stress May Raise Diabetes Risk for Obese Black Women

Stress may play a key role in the development of type 2 diabetes in obese black women, U.S. researchers say.

"Much attention has been given to the role of obesity in the development of type 2 diabetes, but stress may be as important in this at-risk population," study co-author Anastasia Georgiades, of Duke University in Durham, N.C., said in a news release.

The study included 62 healthy, non-diabetic black women who were asked to recall stressful life events. As they did, the researchers measured the women's levels of blood sugar and epinephrine, the "fight or flight" hormone that's released in reaction to stress.

Women with high epinephrine levels (25 picograms or more per milliliter of blood) while recalling stressful events and with more belly fat (33 percent or more of total body fat) had significantly higher fasting glucose scores (about 100 milligrams per deciliter) than women with lower epinephrine levels and less belly fat (85 mg/dl). A fasting blood glucose level of 100 mg/dl is considered within the low range of pre-diabetes, and a level of 125 mg/dl is the benchmark for type 2 diabetes.

Women with high epinephrine levels and more belly fat also had bigger increases in blood sugar levels during the stress test.

The findings were to be presented this week at the annual scientific meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society.

"While we don't fully understand the nature of the association, women with abdominal obesity may be more vulnerable to the impact of stress -- causing their body to increase blood sugar production and elevating their risk for diabetes," Georgiades said.

Further research is needed to determine exactly how epinephrine production affects blood sugar levels in black women. Nearly one in four black women in the United States has type 2 diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.

By HealthDay News, From MSN.

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How to Live Longer if you 50 years old

for Men who start exercising when they are 50 can extend their life span by more than two years, Swedish researchers say.

Their study found that exercising has the same beneficial effect on length of life as quitting smoking in middle age.

Nonetheless, almost half of middle-age men don't exercise, the researchers said. But Dr. Karl Michaëlsson, a senior lecturer in the Department of Surgical Sciences at Uppsala University and the study's lead author, said the study offers more proof that "it's not too late for a man after the age of 50 years to invest in health and longevity by becoming more physically active."

"Men who reported an increase in physical activity to a high level at age 60 years had, after an induction period of approximately 10 years, the same mortality risk as those who continued to have a high physical activity from age 50 to age 60 years," he said. "The magnitude of the reduction in mortality risk with increased physical activity corresponded to that of smoking cessation."

The report was published in the March 6 online edition of BMJ.

For the study, Michaëlsson's team collected data on 2,205 men who were 50 years old and then surveyed them again when they were 60, 70, 77 and 82. Each time, they were questioned about their level of physical activity as well as their weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, smoking habits and alcohol use.

After adjusting the data for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that men who led sedentary lives were most likely to die during the follow-up period, and those who had the highest level of physical activity were least likely to die during that time.

In fact, men who exercised the most when they were 50 lived, on average, 2.3 years longer, and men who did moderate exercise lived 1.1 years longer than men who reported the lowest levels of exercise. It might take five to 10 years to see, but men who exercise in middle-age live longer, the researchers noted.

And compared with smoking cessation, "the reductions in mortality risk were found to be equal," Michaëlsson said. "Everyone knows that smoking is hazardous for health and increases mortality risk, but it is not generally known that low physical activity has a similar impact on mortality risk as smoking."

Whether women might reap the same benefits remains a bit unclear. Michaëlsson said he was not aware of a similar study involving older women so, "if you are strict, our results cannot be extrapolated to women."

But, he added, "I cannot see a biological reason why there should be gender differences in effect."

Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, also noted the comparable benefits.

"When formerly sedentary middle-aged men adopted physical activity, they caught up to the benefits seen by men who had exercised all their lives after a delay of several years," Katz said. "This is a clear message that it's never too late to initiate healthful behaviors and derive a benefit," he said.

"I recommend the early initiation of routine physical activity for benefit across the life span that includes not just added years to life, but also added life to years," Katz said. "But if you haven't started yet, the science shows that any time is a good time."

By HealthDay News, From msn health.

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What happened between Rihanna and Chris Brown could happen to you, How to avoid it

The recent tragedy between Rihanna and Chris Brown has left many people scratching their heads. How could someone as beautiful as her get into such a relationship? How could he do that to her? Why would she put up with it? Why did she go back to him? Abusive relationships are difficult to explain in a simple article. Their dynamics are complex.

Abusive relationships don't start out that way. Most abusive relationships start out with candy and flowers, courting and romance. The abusive slips in, slowly and maliciously. It may not seem so obvious to the person in the relationship that things are getting out of hand because they have slowly progressed to that point over time. How can you tell if you are in an abusive relationship before someone gets hurt? What are some of the warning signs?

You might be in an abusive relationship if:

1. You're afraid to break up with them
2. You feel tied down, like you have to check-in or account for your whereabouts
3. You feel afraid to make decisions or bring up certain subjects because the other person gets too mad
4. You are afraid to contradict them
5. You tell yourself if you just try harder and love your partner enough that everything will get better
6. You find yourself crying a lot, being depressed or unhappy
7. You find yourself using more drugs or alcohol to deal with the anxiety or fear in the relationship or to numb yourself out
8. You find yourself worrying and obsessing about how to please your partner and keep them happy
9. You feel like you are walking on eggshells all the time
10. You find the physical, verbal, mental or emotional abuse is getting worse over time
11. You are being cut off from family members and friends more and more
12. You partner makes decisions about where to go or what to do with little or no input from you
13. You are being belittled and called names when the two of you are alone
14. You are being embarrassed and humiliated in front of others, or your partner talks about you as if you are not there
15. You are having sex that is forced or rougher than you prefer
16. You find the intensity you had in the beginning of the relationship quickly waning
17. You are being treated like a servant by your partner
18. You are prevented from having access to your own money or the family's money
19. Money is used to control and manipulate you
20. You are made to feel guilty about the children, being told the children need a two parent home
21. The children are used to relay messages between you and your partner
22. You are being threatened with having the children taken away from you
23. Visitation rights are being used to harass you
24. Your partner minimizes the abuse, tells you it didn't happen or that you are crazy
25. You are feeling intimidated by your partner when they hit objects, abuse pets, brandish weapons, or verbally threaten you

If you are feeling this way in your relationship, talk to someone. Call a domestic violence hotline, 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Talk to a friend or family member you can trust. See a counselor or mental health provider. It's important to deal with this before you get hurt. Love should not be about fear.

If you have children, it's even more important to get help. If a parent allows a child to be hurt by their spouse and stays in the relationship they can now be charged with failure to protect in many states. Children also learn their relationship patterns from their parents. If you are being abused, you are teaching your children to either; 1) be abuse victims or 2) be abuse perpetrators. You probably learned this pattern by watching your own parents. This cycle of abuse that is handed down from generation to generation has to stop somewhere. Let it be with you.

By Kellen Von Houser, Intent.com, Yahoo Shine.
rihanna, relationships, chris brown, abuse

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