(NewsUSA) – If weight loss and dieting are on your New Year’s resolution agenda, an unlikely food group may be the help you need.
Consuming dairy products as part of your daily diet can help keep weight down, according to several studies. Findings in the Journal of Nutrition demonstrated that higher-protein, high-dairy diets shaved off belly fat and increased lean muscle.
“One hundred percent of the weight lost in the higher-protein, high-dairy group was fat. And the participants gained muscle mass, which is a major change in body composition,” says Andrea Josse, lead author of the study and a graduate student in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University.
In addition, a Harvard study, which suggests that the food quality is more important than its calorie count, found that eating specific high-quality foods was linked with less weight gain over time. Its data showed that the more daily servings people ate of fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and yogurt, the less weight they gained. In fact, the research found that each extra daily serving of yogurt prevented 0.82 of a pound of weight gain.
The Nutrition and Metabolism journal reported a study in which participants who consumed three or more servings of dairy a day after weight loss were able to eat more calories without gaining weight than those who didn’t consume dairy.
Milk is nutritionally unique in that it is a great source of nine essential nutrients: calcium, potassium, phosphorus, protein, vitamins A, D and B12, riboflavin and niacin. It provides three of the five “nutrients of concern” that children do not get enough of: calcium, magnesium and potassium.
By combining a high intake of nutrient-rich dairy with regular physical activity, it won’t even feel like you’re trying to lose weight.
“However, as with any diet, you must be realistic. Results take time, so first commit to getting through January to establish a real routine,” says Alyssa Greenstein, a registered dietitian with the Dairy Council of Florida.
According to a National Health and Nutrition survey, 86 percent of women and 76 percent of men fail to meet the recommended dairy intake of three servings each day. That means the majority of Americans don’t have satisfactory levels of essential nutrients like potassium, zinc, calcium and folate. These levels plummet when dieters attempt to trim calories by purging dairy.
Learn more about the benefits of dairy at www.floridamilk.com.
Tasty Gifts From Home for the Holidays
If it’s truly better to give than to receive, why not give more than gifts from the store this holiday season? Home-baked treats are the perfect way to warm a heart and satisfy a sweet tooth for the people on your “nice” list.
“Take a break from the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, and spend a pleasant day in your cozy kitchen making home-baked gifts, like little loaves of Chocolate Hazelnut Fruit Bread,” said Martha White® baking expert Linda Carman. “Giving someone a homemade gift is special because it’s a priceless gift of your time.”
Gifts From Home for the Holidays
(NewsUSA) – If it’s truly better to give than to receive, why not give more than gifts from the store this holiday season? Home-baked treats are the perfect way to warm a heart and satisfy a sweet tooth for the people on your “nice” list.
“Take a break from the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, and spend a pleasant day in your cozy kitchen making home-baked gifts, like little loaves of Chocolate Hazelnut Fruit Bread,” said Martha White® baking expert Linda Carman. “Giving someone a homemade gift is special because it’s a priceless gift of your time.”
To make your gift even more meaningful, consider pairing the mini loaves with a wooden cutting board, a spreader and a small butter crock filled with a homemade spread that’s delicious and easy to make.
How to Make Your Halloween Bash Wickedly Creative
Have you ever walked into a happening Halloween party bumping music like Kid Rock or Rebecca Black? Of course not. Party throwers, beware: the right spooky playlist can take a party from yawningly decent to over-the-top spectacular in moments.
But this isn’t just any party we’re talking about – this is Halloween, and your bash needs more than candy and crepe paper to be a hit. There’s a select number of Halloween party do’s and don’ts that all hosts and hostesses should be aware of. Music is critical, but it isn’t everything.
Decorate to Make Your Holidays Shine
We all have a neighbor who goes overboard with the novelty Christmas lights around the holidays, but what if you want a more subtle, sophisticated approach to herald the season? The American Lighting Association (ALA) offers some proven tips for holiday decorating with refined style, inside and out.
“Decorating for the holidays doesn’t always have to be sparkles and glitz,” says Bruce Hathaway, national sales manager for the Vermont-based lighting manufacturer Hubbardton Forge. “Sometimes a little understatement goes a long way.
4 Tips for Local Farm Market Finds and Buys
(NewsUSA) – All over the country, people are hopping on the farm-market bandwagon. Buying local, organic food helps the environment, is healthier for your family and supports area businesses.
Here’s what to look for when you go out shopping:
Eat fresh. You’ll find only in-season fruit and vegetables, rather than those flown in from around the world. That can mean no blackberries in the winter months, and also higher quality of what is available. Expect to taste the difference with produce so fresh sometimes it’s picked the same day.
Discover more. Farm stands are kicking it up a notch in recent years, selling local products including canned salsa, smoked jerky and baked fruit pies. Taking it one step further, the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York hosts a Cheese Trail introducing visitors to area cheese makers like Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery (www.fingerlakesdextercreamery.com). While you’re in the area also look for such items as honey, jams and jellies, and even pancake mix made from locally grown grain.
Ask and learn. Farm stand employees are a wealth of knowledge. Find a vegetable you’ve never eaten? Ask staff how to prepare it, and even what to serve with it.
Among the 940 farms in the Finger Lakes is Elderberry Pond Country Foods (www.elderberrypond.com), an organic farm, store and gourmet restaurant. Because they believe in eating from the land, they teach their customers how to do that, too. If you’re in town for only a few days, a market is the next best thing to a visitor’s bureau. Ask for directions and sightseeing suggestions. You’re likely to learn off-the-beaten-path ideas that will give you a better sense of the community.
Give. Farm markets not only help you plan better meals, and save the environment, but buying things made local means less travel for everyone involved. You can also find gift ideas for loved ones. Some offer local wine to sample and buy. In the Finger Lakes (www.tourcayuga.com), for example, markets often offer wine tastings from one of the more than 100 area wineries.
Also, look for homemade soap, sweaters and crafts made by local artisans. If you are an antique or art collector, markets sometimes carry items, or they’ll know of nearby locations to find something special.
The next time you’re in town or away from home with free time on your hands, consider a farm market for gifts, ideas and fresh, local produce.
5 Tips for Safe and Healthy Travels
(NewsUSA) – Vacations should be a time of rest, relaxation and adventure. For too many travelers, they’re anything but. A double whammy of stress and anxiety on top of an already compromised immune system is a formula for disaster, sending many jet-setters home sick as dogs. Fortunately, a few essential items are all you need for a safe and healthy getaway. Be prepared for the inevitable with these five health and safety tips:
Bring a first aid kit. While you can’t guard against all accidents, you can foresee the minor surprises with some degree of probability. Have something handy to relieve headaches, diarrhea and insect bites. Your “just in case” kit should also have bandages and plenty of antihistamines. You might not know that you’re allergic to certain plants or insects until it’s too late.
Keep your hands clean. Wash your hands often, especially before eating, to ward off germs and viruses. Rely on hand sanitizer when there is no running water available. Use wet wipes to make sure the surfaces you touch frequently are kept as clean as possible.
Beware of pests. Check the seams of your mattress, cracks and crevices of the headboard, nightstand and drawers for critters or droppings. To prevent bed bugs from coming home with you, EcoSmart Technologies (www.ecosmart.com) offers a travel-size bed bug killer and repellant with natural ingredients.
“The pest control industry is trending toward using stronger products to treat bed bugs because these pests have developed resistance to some of the current chemicals,” says Steve Bessette, bed bug prevention expert. “EcoSmart incorporates over 15 years of science into a completely natural, safe and — most importantly — effective line of pest control products.”
Stay hydrated. In a plane or on the road, it’s important to stay hydrated while in transit to prevent achy muscles and deep vein thrombosis. At your destination, rely on bottled water for hydration to ward off various bacteria, viruses and other parasites that can cause diarrhea. If you need to use tap water, pack purification tablets just to be safe.
Remember your smartphone. It’s a guidebook, GPS, Internet connection, dictionary, camera, alarm clock and restaurant-business-movie theater-gas station-and more locator. It’s also a phone that can be used for emergencies anywhere you are. Don’t forget to pack yours in case of emergencies.
Bed Bugs: Tips to Stem The Invasion
(NewsUSA) – According to a recent survey, one out of every five Americans knows someone who has dealt with a bed bug infestation or has experienced one themselves.
The survey, which was conducted by the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), revealed that Americans are concerned about picking up bed bugs in different locations: hotels (80 percent); public transportation (52 percent), their own homes (36 percent); workplaces and other’s homes (32 percent).
Still, many people are misinformed. For example, 29 percent of respondents believed that bed bugs were more common in low-income households. Bed bugs do not discriminate on income, and they can be found in both unclean and sanitary conditions. Nearly half of the respondents thought that bed bugs transmit disease to their human victims. They do not, but their bites can cause itchy, red welts.
The good news? As Americans have become more aware of bed bugs, they’ve taken steps to reduce their risk of an infestation.
“Our survey shows that people are taking the bed bug resurgence seriously and are modifying their daily routines to avoid infestations,” said Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for NPMA.
The NPMA offers the following tips for people hoping to keep bed bugs out of their homes:
* Check your hotel room for bed bugs before unpacking. Check behind the headboard and carefully inspect sofas and chairs, as well as the mattress and box spring. Do not place your suitcase on the bed. If you see bed bugs, change rooms or establishments immediately.
* When you return home, inspect your suitcase before bringing it inside. Vacuum your suitcase inside and out, and wash all of your clothes in hot water, whether you wore them or not.
* If you suspect that you have bed bugs, contact a licensed pest professional. Bed bugs are notoriously difficult to remove, but a professional can perform an inspection and recommend a comprehensive treatment plan.
For more information about bed bugs, visit NPMA’ s Bed Bug Hub at www.pestworld.org/bed-bugs.
Five Ways to Succeed as a Travel Writer
(NewsUSA) – As the media landscape keeps changing around us, travel writers are following many paths to success. Some are book authors, some write primarily for magazines and others are earning a good income by blogging or running destination websites. Tim Leffel, author of “Travel Writing 2.0″ (http://travelwriting2.com), offers these tips on making it as a travel writer, whether in print, e-books, travel apps or the next media we haven’t seen yet.
1. Get the Basics Down First. There is far too much competition in this desirable field for sub-par writers to succeed. Read books on writing well, take a course at your local community college or attend workshops that include peer and teacher reviews. At a minimum, travel writers need to master the basics of reporting and writing engaging prose before blogging or getting hired by an editor.
2. Find Your Niche. Trying to be a generalist travel writer puts you into a bloody pool with incredible competition. It is far easier to make a name for yourself becoming the expert on one region or one style of travel.
3. Be Original. Ideas are your main currency as a travel writer. The ability to find good original story ideas for any destination is often more important than what you actually put on the page.
4. Be a Professional. The main complaint of editors is that so many writers are unprofessional. They send sloppy e-mails. They miss deadlines. They make promises they can’t deliver. You can rise above the pack by reading publication guidelines carefully and not wasting editors’ time.
5. Travel Every Chance You Get. It’s difficult to succeed as a travel writer, even a part-time one, if you are not traveling on a regular basis. It can be in your own region, but you need to go find the stories nobody else is writing and get past the routine vacations that have been reported on a thousand times already.
Learn more about travel writing in the book “Travel Writing 2.0: Earning Money From Your Travels in the New Media Landscape” or by visiting http://travelwriting2.com.
Charitable Gifts Bring Holiday Cheer to Children’s Organization
(NewsUSA) – The winter holidays are all about giving — giving thanks, giving gifts, giving to charity. In the past, you might have given your mother a bracelet and made a donation. Today, the line between purchasing a gift for a loved one and helping someone in need has merged.
Some people make donations to a favorite charity in a loved one’s name. Others purchase gifts that donate part of their proceeds to a worthy organization. Now, the skin care company Kiehl’s is collaborating with Jeff Koons to benefit The Koons Family Institute, an initiative of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC).
The Koons Family Institute was created by Jeff Koons, an internationally recognized artist best known for iconic sculptures such as 1986′s “Rabbit” and 1992′s “Puppy.” Koons is less well known as the father of an abducted child. Koons has fought for custody of his son on two continents without success. This experience had made him a fervent advocate for protecting children.
Koons has partnered with Kiehl’s to raise awareness and funds for child protection through the sale of the Limited Edition Creme de Corps Holiday Collection, which contains four products. Each product in the collection features the artwork of “TULIPS,” a Koons painting from his Celebration Series.
One hundred percent of Kiehl’s Worldwide Net Profits up to $200,000 will benefit The Koons Family Institute and ICMEC. Gift recipients will enjoy the skin-softening products in the Creme de Corps Holiday Collection as well as knowing that their gift raised money to help children.
The Creme de Corps Holiday Collection features three sizes of Kiehl’s Creme de Corps body moisturizer as well as a new product: Kiehl’s Creme de Corps Soy Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter. The rich, air-whipped butter delivers rich hydration for up to 24 hours with skin-soothing ingredients like shea butter, beta carotene, vitamin E and squalane — a highly refined moisturizing oil derived from the olive.
For more information, visit www.kiehls.com.
