John Tesh’s Love 96 Blog

Here are seven ways you can slim down, strengthen your bones, and eliminate pain, all without spending over $10! Here’s a list of affordable health essentials, courtesy of Prevention Magazine.

• First up, save your bones with a $6 jump rope. Jumping rope isn’t just good cardio, it gives your legs a pounding which strengthens your bones. When you put stress on your skeleton, it reacts by getting stronger to support that stress. How about helping your bones without spending a cent? Just stop drinking soda. The amount of phosphoric acid in ONE CAN of regular or diet soda is enough to leach calcium from your bones. According to Tufts University, if you’re drinking three cans a day, you’ll have 5% lower bone density.
• Now for some cheap weight loss tricks. First, buy a peppermint plant for about $3 at your local nursery. People who sniff peppermint eat 3,200 fewer calories a week! $3 too much? Start keeping a food dairy for absolutely nothing. A recent study found that keeping track of your food can double your weight loss!
  
• If you’re fighting body aches and pains there’s cheap fixes for that too. About half of all arthritis pain is triggered by drinking cow’s milk. So switch to non-dairy milk like soy or almond; you can find it in most grocery stores for about $4.
• Now, to give your brain a boost on the cheap, play Sudoku for free online. Researchers have found that playing Sudoku can significantly increase your mental abilities. Try WebSudoku.com – or other free online brain games at GamesfortheBrain.com. Or for about a buck apiece you could pick up some cans of tuna. Eating two or more servings of tuna a week can reduce the risk of dementia by 30%!

Etiquette is alive and well in 2009- at least it should be-so here’s a handy little guide to modern manners. Real Simple magazine conducted an Etiquette Survey – polling 7,000 readers on matters of modern etiquette. The goal was to create a realistic picture of good manners in today’s society. Then the editors had the experts weigh in, too. Here’s what they learned.

• Is it OK to talk on a cell phone while you’re riding on public transportation? Most of the magazine’s readers said that it’s OK - but only if it’s a time-sensitive conversation, and you’re quiet. Robin Abrahams agrees – she writes the Miss Conduct social-advice column in The Boston Globe. Abrahams says that if you absolutely must make a call, keep it brief and speak softly.
• At a gathering of friends, do you need to stand up when someone you don’t know is introduced to you? Yes. That’s according to Nikolaus Christmann, a butler in New York City who consults on entertaining etiquette. Standing up is an important act of politeness.
• Who should go first through a revolving door? A man or woman? 52% of Real Simple readers said the woman should go first. However, Joe Snyder, a doorman at the Park Hyatt in Chicago says the MAN should go first. It’s chivalrous, because the doors are often heavy.
• You’re a houseguest. At the end of your visit, what should you do with your dirty sheets and towels? Most readers said to ask your host what they’d like you to do. The experts agree – but you can’t go wrong stripping the bed and leaving your dirty linens and towels by the washing machine.
• Is it rude to ask people how much they paid for their house? The Real Simple readers said YES. It’s none of your business. Again, an expert agreed. Barbara Corcoran is the founder of a real estate firm in New York, and she says that while it is rude to ask the cost of a home, if you’re looking to buy, you can ask, “How much are homes in this area selling for?” People are often willing to give you this information. Their answer is usually within 10% of the value of their own home.

4.  Malignant melanoma- check yourself, and look for flat, dark brown, or black lesions with irregular shapes. Find one; see your doctor.

Live longer, and you’ll have more time to share great intelligence

Wow! In an age of “more is better”, but also, recently, a time of reining in spending, here’s an eye-opening exercise you can try .

For a lot of people, there’s a silver lining in this recession. They’re finding out that a simpler life is better. According to USA Today, the combination of shrinking paychecks and environmental concerns is causing a lot of North Americans to simplify their lifestyles. Many people are finding out that not only can they live with less, their lives are actually richer for it.

A Gallup poll found that one-third of people say they’ve been spending less - and they intend to keep it that way. One-quarter claim they’re saving more - and plan to continue. Julie Morgenstern is the author of Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life. She says that people are getting back to what’s most important to them. They’re valuing material things less, and people and experiences more. Eric Dykstra is the pastor of Crossing Church in Minnesota. He came across a man named Dave Bruno who thought up the “100 Thing Challenge” – to live with only 100 possessions for an entire year. Pastor Dykstra took Bruno’s challenge – and encouraged his congregation to do the same. Dykstra says that people have taken it to heart. He collected a warehouse of items and donated them to charity. He says the purpose of the experiment is to break the spell of materialism, and it’s been very freeing. There are other signs that living with less is catching on:

• The Northwest Earth Institute in Portland, Oregon offers “voluntary simplicity” courses and enrollment has gone up more than 50% in the past year.
• Hundreds of schools are showing the short film The Story of Stuff about the environmental costs of consumerism. More than six million people have viewed it online.
• The non-profit, Simple Living Institute has seen its online traffic double in the past year.

According to Dave Bruno, who’s making do just fine with his 100 things, the recession is a good wake-up call for all of us. If you want to learn more about his “100 Thing Challenge” check out his blog GuyNamedDave.com.

Cold and flu season is HERE- we know that. But do you know that you actually have a great arsenal at your disposal to make your body stronger for what ails you? Instead of popping a pill from the drug store, you may want to head to the grocery store instead. Here’s a list of foods that can be just as effective as prescription drugs in treating certain medical conditions. These come from Rodale publishing.

• You can soothe sore joints with cooked vegetables. A recent Greek study found that people who ate cooked vegetables every day were 75% less likely to develop arthritis, compared to people who rarely ate them. Experts say the heat from cooking breaks down cell walls in the vegetables, allowing your body to absorb more of their valuable nutrients.
• You can reduce bruising with broccoli! Registered dietician Cyndi Thompson says frequent bruising is a sign that your body isn’t getting enough Vitamin K. That’s a nutrient which helps strengthen blood vessel walls, making it harder for them to break and leave you black and blue. Eating two cups of broccoli each week should supply enough Vitamin K to keep your skin looking flush and healthy.
• You can cure hiccups with a spoonful of sugar. Dr. Maria Tobin is a physician who says sugar granules under your tongue will stimulate nerve endings in the back of your throat, and block out the brain signals causing your hiccups.
• You can ward off an asthma attack with fish. Experts say the magnesium found in one serving of seafood is enough to improve lung function, and reduce the frequency of asthma attacks! In fact, research shows that asthmatics who ate fish on a regular basis spent less time in the hospital, compared to patients who rarely ate seafood.
• You can lower your blood pressure with a daily glass of orange juice. High blood pressure is often a sign that you have too much sodium in your bloodstream. Studies show the potassium and Vitamin C found in one eight-ounce glass of O.J. may be enough to protect your kidneys from excess sodium, and lower your risk of heart disease by 40%.

Lowering your grocery bill is easier than you think. Here is a list of hi-tech tricks to help you snag more savings, and simplify your shopping, without clipping coupons! These tips come from Women’s World magazine:

• Try loading all your coupons DIRECTLY onto your loyalty card. The Website Shortcuts.com offers a service that spares you the hassle of clipping or printing coupons. Just set up an account, and you can click all the coupons you want online. Then, the next time you swipe your loyalty card at the cash register, all those coupons will be automatically deducted.
• Combine all your loyalty cards into ONE card. Chances are you have at least one card in your wallet for the grocery store, another for the drug store, and several other cards for the stores where you buy your clothes and electronics. Instead of carrying all those different cards, you can create a single bar-coded card that works at up to six stores! Just click on the Website KeyRingThing.com for more information.
• Consider turning your CELL PHONE into a loyalty card. If you own a Web-enabled smart phone, the Website CellFire.com can help you send all your coupon information directly to your phone. That way, you can just hand your phone to a cashier at the checkout line, and they’ll scan all your discounts directly from the phone’s screen.
• Look for a playroom for your kids. A growing number of grocery chains – including Krogers, Shop Rite and Eagles stores - now offer supervised childcare while you shop. Why’s that “hi-tech”? The playrooms offer a place for kids to watch DVD movies or play videogames, at no extra cost to you. Research shows that parents spend 40% less when they don’t shop with kids! That’s because kids tend to talk you into buying more impulse items, like snacks.
• Double check your receipt. A recent study found that one-in-10 grocery items is scanned wrong, and usually at a higher price! So, reviewing your receipt before you carry your bags out to the car could easily save big bucks.

We all want to be healthy, but hearing things like “eat 9 servings of fruits and vegetables” and “measure everything you eat,” can send even the biggest health nut running for Cheetos. However, even SMALL changes can make a big difference when it comes to your health. So here are “good enough” guidelines that’ll help you get healthy, courtesy of Prevention magazine:

• You’ve probably heard that you should eat up to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Well, it’s “good enough” to eat 5 servings. According to a Harvard University study, that’s all it took for men and women to lower their stroke risk by about 30 percent. According to nutrition professor Rosa Mo, five servings provide significant antioxidants and fiber to reduce heart disease and cancer risk and keep your weight in check. One “serving” is equivalent to one medium piece of fresh fruit, half a cup of cut fruit, a cup of raw leafy greens, or half a cup of other cooked vegetables.
• When it comes to strength-training. The gold standard is to do it 2 or 3 times a week, but once a week is “good enough.” Research showed that people who lifted weights once a week gained nearly as much lean muscle as those who worked out 3 times a week. It took them several weeks longer, but the results were similar.
• When it comes to portion sizes: You’re supposed to measure everything you eat, but it’s “good enough” to size up grains and fats only. Nutrition professor Mo says few people become obese eating lots of fruits and vegetables. However, grains – such as pasta, and fats – such as creamy dressings – tend to be more calorie-dense. So eating oversized portions of these foods could spell trouble for your diet. So if you’re pressed for time, just measure the grains and fat on your plate. A serving of grains should be about half a baseball and when it comes to fats like salad dressing, make the OK sign with your index finger and thumb. The circle inside is about one tablespoon, and that’s THE MOST you should be allowing yourself.