•  Personalized Gifts – While all gifts, big or small is appreciated by mothers, one that is personally made for her and especially by her kids is something that she will definitely treasure. A song, a poem or perhaps a cake or something else that you made personally for your mom, will not only make her smile but will certainly bring her to tears, for the overwhelming joy you’ll give her when she sees that gift.
• A bouquet of flowers – there’s a reason why flowers are always used to mark memorable occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and even not so happy occasions like a visit to the hospital. A bouquet of flowers does just the same for your mom – it tells her she is special and thought of.
• An item to add to her collection – if your mother has a collection, perhaps pottery, jewelries, stamps or any items she fancies. Something to add to that will definitely warm her heart.
• A painting – A painting of her  or of her and your family will no doubt be something she will treasure.
• A day at the spa – Moms also need pampering you know. So why not treat your mom to a day of leisure and pampering by bringing her to the spa for a relaxing massage and facial and a mani and pedi to boot. She will absolutely feel loved and all dolled up.
• If you’re not the artsy type and you don’t have much cash to spend on the other items mentioned, you can just get something from the selection of mother’s day presents from redenvelope.com Oh and plus points for you if you have it delivered to her office. Moms like to brag about their kids you know.

Whatever you decide on, make sure you make her feel special.

image credits: topnews.ae

Arthritis is often an illness acquired by elderly folks. However, age alone is not the only contributing factor. You may be young but an unhealthy lifestyle could give you arthritis prematurely. So how would you know if you are a candidate for it. Well, here are some early warning signs.

•  Achy and hard to use hands. – If you are having a hard time performing simply ADL (activities of daily living) tasks like buttoning your shirt, tying a shoe lace or other activities requiring the use of fine motor skills, it is an indication that something is amiss with your health.
• Pain when climbing a flight of stairs – Arthritis is characterized by the thinning out of the cartilage in between the joints. Thus the effect is that the bones are crushing each other in each movement that we make. So when climbing a set of stairs sends a shooting pain not only on your back but as well as your knees and joints, you might want to look into it. Note that it is additionally painful for people who are over weight.
• Morning stiffness – Stiffness after a period of inactivity is a classic rheumatoid arthritis symptom. Most of us have morning stiffness but it normally fades after we stretch. For people with arthritis it could be more than 30 minutes and for advanced cases it could be hours and even to the point of an entire day of immobility.
• Extreme and sudden pain on the big toe. – this kind of main is commonly caused by gout, the second most common form of arthritis and most common form of inflammatory arthritis. Gout is caused by excessive uric acid, either because the body is producing too much of the said waste product or the body is unable to dispose of it properly.
• Intense pain causing sleepless nights – Sufferers of arthritis often complain about too much pain that they are unable to sleep or are waken up from sleep because of the pain. Sometimes it becomes too unmanageable that elderly folks refrain from attending outdoor activities.

If you notice that you have two or three of the symptoms outlined above, it may be necessary to visit your doctor and discuss it. After all, a change in diet and lifestyle may help you avoid it.

image credits: minoan.gr

So you finally decided to hit the gym and resolve to stick to it. But before you sign up on any membership there are a couple of things you would like to make sure is included in the membership. After all, you want to have your money’s worth since gym fees and memberships could be really expensive.

Here are a few items you want to make sure they gym has:

• Facility-wise, the gym should have two types of basic equipment like resistance and cardiovascular machines.
• Qualified personal exercise trainers to create customized exercise plan.
• Qualified fitness instructors to consult with on exercise and dieting.
• Basic physical assessment before starting an exercise.
• Different classes covering a wide time table.

Other than that you want to make sure that the gym is well ventilated and have wide spaces between equipment and machines to ensure accidents don’t happen. Of course, it’s a must that the place is regularly cleaned and the lockers. Sauna and pools are good to have as well. And of course you want to make sure you can afford their fees. Oh and if you find a gym that is ISO 27001, let us know!

Fortunately, there are ways to help us increase our metabolic rate and aid us in our desire to lose weight. Here are some of the tips to help anyone in their resolve to speed up their metabolism:

• Mind your calorie intake, but don’t over do it. A healthy and scientific way to reduce your calorie intake will be to take your current weight and multiply it by 11. So say you are currently 120lbs, your daily calorie intake should around 1320. A drastic reduction of say 1000 calories daily will not help. Your body will make an assumption that you are starving and will then cope by slowing down your metabolic rate. Following the safe rule, you should be able to lose about one to half a pound a week.
• Do not skip breakfast! Extensive studies have shown that breakfast eaters lose more weight than those who skip it. It is no joke when the experts said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  According to Barbara Rolls, Ph. D., professor of Penn State University and author of  The Volumetrics Weight -Control Plan - ”Your metabolism slows while you sleep, and it doesn’t rev back up until you eat again.” Ideally you should go for a breakfast with high in fiber and carbs. Try not to go for high fat though because studies show that people opting for high fat breakfast instead of high fiber tend to get hungry sooner.
• Eat six times daily. Sounds wrong? Not at all, so long as you make it in small portions. Research shows that having small frequent meals in a day supports your aim in speeding up metabolism and losing weight, more than having three large meals daily. Psychologically, it will also keep you from over eating on your next meal as you feel less deprived.
• Split your exercise routines. Try breaking it down, say instead of having a one hour work out daily, try to have one 30 minute walk or cardio exercise in the morning and another one during the night. Doing so revs up your metabolism twice in a day, making you lose more calories eventually. If you can stand up from your desk say every 2 hours and so something, even like walking for five minutes is guaranteed to up your metabolic rate.

So, hope that helps. If you have any suggestions to add to that list, feel free to hit the comments.

When it comes to the work place, we have computers completely replacing the function of a typewriter. We have answering machines that have Audix, printers, photocopying machines and scanners. These machines makes lives so much easier.

In our personal lives, some people consider their mobile phones to be something they can not part with. And why not, mobile phones now have multiple function aside from the most basic use of sending sms and calling. For one, most mobile phones can also play mp3 or mp4 files. If you’re travel time going to school or to the office is quite long, it can certainly entertain you by listening to music either its your mp3 files or the FM radio. Other phones also have television and can receive your local channels by rabbit ears antenna. Another thing that makes mobile phone pretty hard to part with is the camera and video camera function. And with most phones now having wi-fi capability, the captured photos are instantly posted on the owner’s social media site. And with the web developers coming up with new apps everyday, the number of games you can play on your phone is just endless. Oh and you can read on your phone too if you can download an ebook reader, no need for a Kindle.

Second to the mobile phone others would not let go of their laptops. For people who need to be online all the time, with the nature of their work and have numerous files to work on, a wi-fi enabled mobile phone just wont do, so that’s when their laptop comes in handy.

And for the much younger generation, their gaming gadgets like the Sony PSP, which could also play music and has wi-fi function, is also very essential.

So are you one of these people?  If so, try to tune out of it once in a while. After all, everything excessive could be harmful. You might want to research on the radiation levels of these items.

A 30-year old woman in New Zealand named Natasha Harris who passed away back in February of 2010 was said to drink large consumption of soda, particularly the Coca-Cola brand on a daily basis. The late Ms. Harris apparently consumes as much as 2.2 gallons or 10 liters of Coca-Cola everyday.As with anything excessive, Ms. Harris paid dearly for living such an unhealthy lifestyle. She was said to be suffering from excessive caffeine levels, apparently because of her soda consumption, low potassium level and many other things that is attributable from her poor nutrition.

Relatives and family members made mention of Ms. Harris’s obvious addiction to Coke, stating that it is the first thing she would drink when she wakes up in the morning and the last thing she would do at night was also to drink the said soda. Also families saw her have incidents of shaking and tell-tale signs of withdrawal syndrome whenever she rans out of the soda. They claimed to not have known it to be harmful blaming it on the soda company for not putting a warning in its label. Now they know that the old adage stating every thing in excess is not good.

Aside from a slice of chocolate cake, nothing else spells pure sweet tooth bliss than a strawberry cheesecake, where sweet and tangy takes a fiery dance in your taste buds, bringing about an explosion of flavor. So what do we know about this delectable desert?

Well a 61.1g of Strawberry cheesecake guarantees you the following:

DHA belongs in the family of omega 3 fatty acids. Research shows that DHA is also essential to brain boosting benefits to adults in the same way as it is for infants. In fact it is essential in all stages of life. What we need to understand is that the brain has fat tissues covering the wiring connections or the learning pathways, kind of acting like an insulator. A thin coating of this fat tissue could sometimes result into a short circuit. Various research studies concluded that aside from brain development, increased and consistent intake of DHA or omega 3 oils shows a decrease in incidence of heart attacks, improved brain function and, decrease in inflammation. It is in this regard that scientists are exploring what it can offer for Alzheimer’s patients.  This is also the reason why DHA is highly recommended as a supplement for children with Autism as it improves their focus and attention, as well as their brain function and cognitive abilities in the long run.

So next time you select a formula for your kid, or pick a milk for you and the other older members of your family, you might want to read the label and find out about the DHA content of that drink.

image credits: fineartamerica.com

Pets are endearing creatures, whether you do have a cat or a dog, these fur balls are in people’s care because they protect and love us, and at some point serve us. Lately, more and more pet owners are very much willing to pamper their beloved pets. Aside from regular pet grooming, a lot of pet spa are coming up with different ways for pet owners to pamper their dogs or cats, and part with their cash. Here are some high end services for the very privileged canine and felines.

• Massage – Oh yes, they have have massage services for these four-legged friends of ours. After all, they may feel a bit stressed too at the end of the week and may need the help of expert masseuse in relieving the tension and kneading their muscles.
• Gourmet cakes and food – If you’re planning to host a birthday party or simply and upscale pet play date for your pet, you can hire some pet food experts to plan the menu and whip up a liver flavored cake for your dog and his guests.
• Pet Hotel and lodging services – For the likes of Paris Hilton and other known celebrities with privileged pooches, their jet-setting lifestyle is bound to give them time apart from their four-legged friends every once in a while. In between appointments, their owners can check them in a doggie day care or a pet hotel, where they can stay for as little as an hour or extend it to a few days stay. After all, the little pooch wont be able to complain if he has a memory foam for a pet bed and a pillow.
• Customized Jewelries – Oh yes, they have that too. The very lucky ones have designer clothes and accessories to match as well. Their dog tags are of course far from ordinary, theirs are of course customized and some have even blings to boast.

There’s just no stopping some well off pet lovers from baby-ing their dogs and cats, and these lucky felines and canines are of course in no way complaining.

image credits: bajansunonline.com

In the world’s efforts to combat Cancer, being one of the most prevalent illnesses these days, recent medical discoveries pointed to a succulent fruit called Soursop. The said fruit is known to grow in Southern America, parts of Africa and Southeast Asia. 

Although substantial data has yet to prove that it indeed cures cancel, there has been a collective laboratory result spanning different 20 laboratories that states that Soursop stems and leaves were effective in combating and killing cancer cells in the year 1976.

The medical world is still divided in terms of accepting this theory or claim. Some more conservative doctors still rely on chemotherapy and radiation and are easy to dismiss this claim. Nonetheless, we all know that chemotherapy and radiation is not able to differentiate the healthy cells and the cancer cells, attacking both in the process. As such, any means whether natural or not (better if natural), in order to mitigate the damages of chemotherapy and radiation is very much welcome.

Currently, there are variants of Soursop tea and drinks that are being manufactured in order to help out cancer patients in their battle with the big C.