Beef has a bad rap, but it can be good for you — it’s a great source of protein, iron, and heart-healthy B-vitamins. Choose lean cuts and grass-fed meat to make your meal a healthy one. Try these easy, healthy recipes with beef, from burgers and steaks to salads and sandwiches.
Steak and Pepper Tacos
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 garlic clove, minced
3 ounces steak strips
1 1/2 cups sliced green and red bell peppers
1/2 cup sliced onion
2 small (6-inch) whole-grain tortillas
4 tablespoons salsa
2 tablespoons low-fat sour cream
Make It
In a skillet, saute olive oil, cumin and garlic for 1 minute. Add steak strips and cook about 5 minutes. Add pepper and onion slices and cook for another 8 minutes. Place mixture in tortillas and fold. Top with salsa and sour cream.
Marinade
1 cup Italian parsley leaves
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
Vinaigrette
1/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and black pepper to taste
6 tablespoons canola oil
Salad
12 cups arugula
1 cup thinly shaved Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Make It
Coarsely chop the parsley leaves and the garlic. Transfer to a small bowl, mix with the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Rub marinade over the steaks and refrigerate, covered, for at least 30 minutes.
In a bowl, whisk together lemon zest, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Add oil, whisking until dressing is emulsified.
Turn the grill to medium-high heat and brush the racks with olive oil. Scrape off any excess marinade from steaks, and grill about 6 inches over heat for 3 to 4 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Transfer steak to a cutting board and let stand for 5 minutes. With a sharp knife at a 45-degree angle, cut steaks, across the grain, into 18 thin slices.
Toss arugula with dressing to coat. Divide among 6 plates. Top each with steak strips, sprinkle with cheese, and serve.
Chipotle Beef Wrap
Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 6- to 8-ounce lean steak
1 tablespoon canned chipotle in adobe, chopped
4 tablespoons fresh cilantro
2 large whole wheat tortillas
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
Lettuce and tomato
Make It
Rub olive oil in a heavy skillet. Saute steak over high heat until medium rare to medium, turning once (7 to 10 minutes). Set aside until cool; slice thinly. Stir together chipotle in adobe and mayonnaise; spread on tortillas. Add 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro to each; top with beef and lettuce and tomato. Roll up.
Make It
Preheat the broiler and coat a broiler pan with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients except steak in a small bowl; rub mixture over the steak. Broil 6 to 7 minutes per side, or until cooked. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting diagonally across the grain into thin strips. Serve with a green salad.
Hearty Beef Chili
Ingredients
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 10-ounce can chopped tomatoes and green chili peppers, undrained
2 cups vegetable juice or tomato juice
1-2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds beef or pork stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 15-ounce black beans, kidney beans, or chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Reduced-fat cheddar, low-fat sour cream and cilantro (optional)
Make It
In a 6-quart cooker, combine both cans of tomatoes, vegetable juice, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and garlic. Mix in the meat, onion, celery, and pepper. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours. Stir in the drained beans, then cover and cook for 15 minutes more (if using low-heat setting, turn to high-heat setting). Ladle chili into bowls. Garnish with cheese, sour cream, and cilantro, if desired.
Ingredients
1 pack of grape Kool-Aid
1 box of cake mix
1 1/3 cups of water
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
3 large eggs
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 and think about how you’re going to keep it together tomorrow at work. Grease pan with shortening and flour lightly. Blend dry mix, water, oil, Kool-Aid and eggs in large bowl at low speed until moistened. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes and pour batter in pans. Bake for 32-35 minutes in one 13” x 9” pan. Cool completely before frosting.
jOG is the ground breaking add-on for the Wii that lets you control your game character movement by jOGing on the spot. Simply plug it in, clip it to your belt and you’re ready to start playing your games in a new, exciting and active way! jOG uses New Concept Gaming advanced movement technology to let you control the movement of your on-screen character by your own body motion. You run, your character runs. You stop, your character stops. Amazing! jOG is compatible with all existing video games that use the Nunchuk joystick to control game character movement. Keep the joystick pushed in the direction you want to go and start jOGing to move your character in that direction. If you stand still, so does your character!
jOG is not just an accessory to the Wii, it’s a reason to get off the couch and get together with your friends and family to play the latest games. Each step that you take in the real world translates to movement in the game allowing for total gaming immersion. As an added health and fitness benefit, jOG also includes a calorie counter. An hour of using jOG can burn up to 400kcal! With this added benefit, every game you play has never been so rewarding and so much fun!
-The study by John Moores University in Liverpool revealed that one hour using jOG to play a typical Wii game involves taking 6,000-10,000 steps. 10,000 steps is the number the government recommends adults take each day to stay healthy. jOG more than tripled energy expenditure, and increased heart rate by 40% compared to seated game play, in the young adults who participated in the tests.
Launched earlier this year, the jOG is an add-on controller for the Wii that detects body motion. When the player takes a step, so does the game character on screen. Players become immersed in the game and are compelled to take light exercise. The jOG works with many existing Wii games and is a small device connected between the Nunchuk and Wii Remote that clips onto the player’s belt or waistband.
Already widely acclaimed, the jOG has been named the Gadget Show’s number one product from the UK Toy Fair 2009.It has also been rated ‘Essential Gadget’ by The Sun and featured on Jo Whiley’s show on BBC Radio 1.
Brendan Ludden, Managing Director of NCG said: “We’re really proud that we’ve achieved what we set out to do – to produce a unique accessory that adds to the sense of immersion as you play your favourite games, that is great fun and contributes to your daily recommended exercise.”
With childhood obesity on the rise and video games among the causes, the new jOGbody motion controller could be the answer. An independent study shows thatusing the jOG increases energy expenditure and heart rate.
One of the best strategies to combat excess weight in your child is to improve the diet and exercise levels for the entire family. Here are some simple exercise activities that can be completed by children, in 30 minutes or less, using a mini trampoline
Things You’ll Need:
mini trampoline
hand weights or weighted gloves
Jumpsnap jump rope
Step 1
Standing: Depending on the weight of your child, the first step it is to simply stand on a mini tramp. They will be working on balance and coordination – just standing on it!
Step 2
Bounce or Jog in Place: Once you are comfortable with balancing, graduate to a bounce or jogging in place. If children are interested in using hand weights, I suggest sticking with 1 or 2 lb weights only! That is enough to increase the heart rate and burn extra calories!
Step 3
Jumping Jacks: Jumping jacks can be dangerous if not done correctly. Work on separating you feet slightly, while you lift and lower your arms, until you get the hang of it. This requires much more coordination than simply bouncing or jogging.
Step 4
JUMPSNAP EQUIPTMENT
Jump Rope: While bouncing, rotate your arms as if you were jumping rope. They say 10 minutes of jumping rope is comparable to 20-30 minutes of jogging and with the help if a mini tramp you’ve just added the fun! I suggest you purchase the following items if you are interested in this activity: Google JUMPSNAP and check out a new a creative way to jump without the rope.
Step 5
Jumping while catching and passing a lightweight kick ball: Once your child becomes a superstar on the mini trampoline, he/she can work on jumping/bouncing while working on eye-hand coordination. Try bouncing a ball or throwing a ball back and forth and join in the fun. As a matter of fact the entire family can get involved in this activity. resource: ehow.com
healthnews.com After a recent doctor appointment and being advised to get blood drawn, a phlebotomist (blood technician) friend of mine asked if the blood type diet would be a good idea for me to try. With some investigation as to exactly what “eating for my blood type” meant, the results were interesting enough to share.
Even if you are not having health problems, knowing your blood type and being able to decipher the best health plan for your diet are good things to know. A doctor by the name of Peter J. D’Adamo was brought up by his father to learn that people have different blood types and based on those blood types specific diet patterns work better with certain types of blood. In 1996, Dr. D’Adamo published a book called Eat Right 4 Your Type (ER4YT) that won awards in the health sector including being named one of the “10 Most Important Health Books Ever Written.” After the success with ER4YT, Dr. D’Adamo followed up his book in 2007 with a new diet called The GenoType Diet, aimed at further investigation of diets based on your blood type and genotype according to your specific genes.
Dr. D’Adamo recommends a unique blend of food for each of the main blood types: A, B, AB, and O. Studies have been outstanding and one in particular shows that three out of every four people reported a vast improvement in their health. A lot of the recorded improvements have been weight loss along with better digestion, less stress, more energy, and clearer mental stability out of the 6,500 individuals who tracked their blood type diet over the course of at least one month.
People with type A blood are asked to follow a lower fat, vegetarian-based diet full of fruits and vegetables because they have thicker blood, sensitive immunity, and a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, cancer, or diabetes.
Recommendations for Type B blood include an omnivorous diet consisting of a balance between plants and meats because they have the best chance of avoiding serious diseases.
Type AB should follow a strict vegetarian program.
Type O—the most universal blood type—should consume a larger percentage of proteins, meats, vegetables, etc. and a smaller percentage of carbohydrates like pasta and breads. Type O blood should stay away from wheat, dairy, and nut products as people carrying this blood are more prone to hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid) and acidic conditions like stomach ulcers.
Although critics cite lack of scientific evidence for the reason why this program isn’t sweeping the nation, it seems that followers of the blood type diet love the idea of not having to track points, calories, fat grams, or carbs while sticking to a food and drink regimen perfect for the blood circulating throughout his or her system. Allergies, diet changes according to age, and other restrictions based on medical problems also have no basis on this diet because the rules do not apply.
However, this does not mean that Dr. D’Adamo is wrong in his hypothesis but it does mean that along with any other diet adding subtle healthy changes will most likely have positive benefits. The downside to only being able to have one type of diet is that because it is based on a specific unchanging variable (your blood) the diet cannot be changed which could cause problems such as iron or protein deficiencies down the line. I have yet to take my friend’s advice and check out the blood type diet on my own, but now I know that a primarily vegetarian diet and low-resistance exercise are suggested for my Type A blood.
Just like you, I agree that nutrition advice has become overwhelmingly confusing. One best-selling book says no carbs, another book says no fat. This expert says to skip the protein and the other expert says to ignore that advice.
Maybe I should eat according to my ancestors or my blood type? Maybe I should go with the instinct diet? That one sounds interesting…
It’s at the point now that every single food is on some guru’s “bad list.”
If I followed all of their advice, my plate would be empty every meal!
Bottom line, it’s impossible to escape the confusion, especially since every diet promises to be better than the last.
Aren’t you dreaming of the day you can stroll into a grocery store and not be terrified or torture yourself with guilt, no matter what you eat? Fact: More than ANYTHING else, you’re diet is holding you back and here is what you can do to fix it, once and for all…want to know more? Download more information here
Aspartame a substitute sweetener used in diet drinks or any sugar free foods has been linked to cause illnesses such as leukemia, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, diabetes, epilepsy, birth defects, Parkinson’s and many other diseases and disorders. Aspartame is the scientific name for brands like NutraSweet, Equal and Spoonful. Chemist G.D. Searle accidently discovered Aspartame in 1965 and tried to get FDA approval, but it wasn’t until 1981 when it was allowed for dry goods and in 1983 for carbonated sodas.
How and why did Aspartame get approved by the FDA? Do you know Donald Rumsfeld? Yes, the very same retired defense attorney that help start the Iraq war during the Bush administration, he was the CEO of G.D. Searle Company at the time. He was adamant about ensuring that Aspartame would get the FDA approval even after they said no. G.D. Searle was even taken to court for concealing facts and making false statements in regards to animal studies conducted proving that Aspartame was and is by far the most dangerous product on the market.
If you experience any of these symptoms when you drink diet soda…STOP! It is known to cause migraines, heart palpitations, insomnia, seizures, breathing difficulties, memory loss, vertigo, joint pain and nausea. These symptoms can lead to many diseases and disorders that I stated above. Airline pilots are not allowed to consume products with Aspartame because of these risks and luckily for us they do not.
Today they are thinking of taxing soda because it causes obesity which in turn increases our health insurance costs. Do you think Aspartame keeps us from gaining weight? NO, it contains a chemical that make us crave carbohydrates and as a result makes us eat more.
Aspartame is big business; just look at all the marketing campaigns with the skinny good looking models. We as consumers are ignorant to the fact that Aspartame is contributing to our health care cost and paying for it with our family’s health while Rumsfeld and his companies Searle and NutraSweet get richer and richer.
Instead of taxing non-diet sodas we should tax diet soda and any product that uses Aspartame (thus prompting the consumer to drink and/or eat less) along with the companies that make them. Spread the word.
PS. If we are worried about obesity with sugar enriched sodas especially with our children…take the soda out of the vending machines and lunch program at the schools. It’s not the consumption of sugary beverages…it’s the over consumption that makes us obese and that has to do with anything that makes us fat….white flour, dairy products, sweets, carbohydrates and soda.
Rose knows over the years of putting our own children to sleep and keeping them asleep can wear you out. Dr. Narcolepsy has counseled thousands of moms and dads on various styles of nighttime parenting to help with your baby’s sleep problems. Here are some time-tested, proven techniques. Most of these are applicable to infants and toddlers of all ages. NIGHTIME PARENTING DECISIONS
1. Develop a realistic attitude about nighttime parenting. Sleeping, like eating, is not a state you can force a baby into. Best you can do is to create a secure environment that allows sleep to overtake your baby. A realistic long- term goal is to help your baby develop a healthy attitude about sleep: that sleep is a pleasant state to enter and a secure state to remain in. Many sleep problems in older children and adults stem from children growing up with an unhealthy attitude about sleep—that sleep was not a pleasant state to enter and was a fearful state to remain in. Just as daytime parenting is a long-term investment, so is nighttime parenting. Teach your baby a restful attitude about sleep when they are young and both you and your children will sleep better when they are older.
2. Beware of sleep trainers. Ever since parenting books found their way into the nursery, sleep trainers have touted magic formulas promising to get babies to sleep through the night – for a price and at a risk. Most of these sleep-training techniques are just variations of the old cry-it-out method. And technology has found its way into nighttime babycare by providing tired parents with a variety of sleep-inducing gadgets designed to lull a baby off to sleep alone in her crib: oscillating cradles, crib vibrators that mimic a car ride, and teddy bears that “breathe.” All promise to fill in for parents on night duty. Be discerning about using someone else’s method to get your baby to sleep. Before trying any sleep-inducing program, you be the judge. Run these schemes through your inner sensitivity before trying them on your baby, especially if they involve leaving your baby alone to cry. Does this advice sound sensible? Does it fit your baby’s temperament? Does it feel right to you?
If your current daytime or nighttime routine is not working for you, think about what changes you can make in yourself and your lifestyle that will make it easier for you to meet your baby’s needs. This is a better approach than immediately trying to change your baby. After all, you can control your own reactions to a situation. You can’t control how your baby reacts. Use discernment about advice that promises a sleep-through-the-night more convenient baby, as these programs involve the risk of creating a distance between you and your baby and undermining the mutual trust between parent and child. On the surface, baby training sounds so liberating, but it’s a short-term gain for a long-term loss. You lose the opportunity to get to know and become an expert in your baby. Baby loses the opportunity to build trust in his caregiving environment. You cease to value your own biological cues, your judgment, and instead follow the message of someone who has no biological attachment, nor investment, in your infant.
Especially in the first six months, avoid sleep trainers who advise you to let your baby “cry-it-out.” Only you can know what “it” is and how to respond appropriately to your baby. Using the rigid, insensitive “let-him-cry-it-out” method has several problems. First, it will undermine the trust your baby has for nighttime comfort. Second, it will prevent you from working at a style of nighttime parenting until you find the one that works best for you and your family and third, it may keep you and your doctor from uncovering hidden medical causes of nightwaking. Nightfeedings are normal; frequent, painful nightwaking is not. (See related lessons: Hidden Medical Causes of Nightwaking, Letting baby “cry it out” yes, no?, and 4 Possible Hidden Causes of Colic.
3. Stay flexible. No single approach will work with all babies all the time or even all the time with the same baby. Don’t persist with a failing experiment. If the “sleep program” isn’t working for your family, drop it. Develop a nighttime parenting style that works for you. Babies have different nighttime temperaments and families have varied lifestyles. Keep working at a style of nighttime parenting that fits the temperament of your baby and your own lifestyle. If it’s working, stick with it. If it’s not, be open to trying other nighttime parenting styles. And, be prepared for one style of nighttime parenting to work at one stage of an infant’s life, yet need a change as she enters another stage. Be open to trying different nighttime approaches. Follow your heart rather than some stranger’s sleep-training advice, and you and your baby will eventually work out the right nighttime parenting style for your family.
4. Decide where baby sleeps best. There is no right or wrong place for babies to sleep. Wherever all family members sleep the best is the right arrangement for you and your baby. Some babies sleep best in their own crib in their own room, some sleep better in their own bassinet or crib in the parents’ bedroom, other babies sleep best snuggled right next to mommy in the parents’ bed. Many parents prefer a co-sleeper arrangement. Realistically, most parents use various sleeping arrangements at various stages during the infant’s first two years. Be open to changing styles as baby’s developmental needs and your family situation changes.
Back to top CONDITIONING BABY TO FALL ASLEEP
Sleep is not a state you can force your baby into. Sleep must naturally overtake your baby. Your nighttime parenting role is to set the conditions that make sleep attractive and to present cues that suggest to baby that sleep is expected. Try the following sleep tight tips, which may vary at different stages in your baby’s development. What doesn’t work one week may work the next.
5. Get baby used to a variety of sleep associations. The way an infant goes to sleep at night is the way she expects to go back to sleep when she awakens. So, if your infant is always rocked or nursed to sleep, she will expect to be rocked or nursed back to sleep. Sometimes nurse her off to sleep, sometimes rock her off to sleep, sometimes sing her off to sleep, and sometimes use tape recordings; and switch off with your spouse on putting her to bed. There are two schools of thought on the best way to put babies to sleep: the parent-soothing method and the self-soothing method. Both have advantages and possible disadvantages.
1. Parent-soothing method. When baby is ready to sleep, a parent or other caregiver helps baby make a comfortable transition from being awake to falling asleep, usually by nursing, rocking, singing, or whatever comforting techniques work.
Advantages: * Baby learns a healthy sleep attitude – that sleep is a pleasant state to enter and a secure state to remain in. * Creates fond memories about being parented to sleep. * Builds parent-infant trust
So-called “Disadvantages”: Because of the concept of sleep associations, baby learns to rely on an outside prop to get to sleep, so—as the theory goes—when baby awakens he will expect help to get back to sleep. This may exhaust the parents.
2. Self-soothing method: Baby is put down awake and goes to sleep by himself. Parents offer intermittent comforting, but are not there when baby drifts off to sleep.
So-called “Advantages”: If baby learns to go to sleep by himself, he may be better able to put himself back to sleep without parental help, because he doesn’t associate going to sleep with parents comforting. May be tough on baby, but eventually less exhausting for parents.
Disadvantages: * Involves a few nights of let-baby-cry-it-out * Risks baby losing trust * Seldom works for high-need babies with persistent personalities * Overlooks medical reasons for nightwaking * Risks parents becoming less sensitive to baby’s cries
Remember, in working out your own parenting-to-sleep techniques and rituals, be sensitive to the nighttime needs of your individual baby and remember your ultimate goal: to create a healthy sleep attitude in your baby and to get all family members a restful night’s sleep.
6. Daytime mellowing. A peaceful daytime is likely to lead to a restful night. The more attached you are to your baby during the day and the more baby is held and calmed during the day, the more likely this peacefulness is to carry through into the night. If your baby has a restless night, take inventory of unsettling circumstances that may occur during the day: Are you too busy? Are the daycare and the daycare provider the right match for your baby? Does your baby spend a lot of time being held and in-arms by a nurturant caregiver, or is he more of a “crib baby” during the day? We have noticed babies who are carried in baby slings for several hours a day settle better at night. Babywearing mellows the infant during the day, behavior that carries over into restfulness at night.
7. Set predictable and consistent nap routines. Pick out the times of the day that you are most tired, for example 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Lie down with your baby at these times every day for about a week to get your baby used to a daytime nap routine. This also sets you up to get some much-needed daytime rest rather than be tempted to “finally get something done” while baby is napping. Babies who have consistent nap routines during the day are more likely to sleep longer stretches at night.
8. Consistent bedtimes and rituals. Babies who enjoy consistent bedtimes and familiar going-to-sleep rituals usually go to sleep easier and stay asleep longer. Yet, because of modern lifestyles, consistent and early bedtimes are not as common, or realistic, as they used to be. Busy two- income parents often don’t get home until six or seven o’clock in the evening, so it’s common for older babies and toddlers to procrastinate the bedtime ritual. This is prime time with their parents and they are going to milk it for all they can get. In some families, a later afternoon nap and a later bedtime is more practical. Familiar bedtime rituals set the baby up for sleep. The sequence of a warm bath, rocking, nursing, lullabies, etc. set the baby up to feel that sleep is expected to follow. Capitalize on a principle of early infant development: patterns of association. Baby’s developing brain is like a computer, storing thousands of sequences that become patterns. When baby clicks into the early part of the bedtime ritual, he is programmed for the whole pattern that results in drifting off to sleep.
9. Calming down. Give baby a warm bath followed by a soothing massage to relax tense muscles and busy minds. Be careful, though, because this will stimulate some babies.
10. Tank up your baby during the day. Babies need to learn that daytime is for eating and nighttime is mostly for sleeping. Some older babies and toddlers are so busy playing during the day that they forget to eat and make up for it during the night by waking frequently to feed. To reverse this habit, feed your baby at least every three hours during the day to cluster the baby’s feedings during the waking hours. Upon baby’s first night waking, attempt a full feeding, otherwise some babies, especially breastfed infants, get in the habit of nibbling all night.
TRANSITIONING TECHNIQUES
Many infants need help making the transition from being awake to falling asleep, which is really a prolongation of the bedtime ritual that conditions baby that sleep is expected to soon follow.
11. Nursing down. Nestle next to your baby and breastfeed or bottlefeed him off to sleep. The smooth continuum from warm bath, to warm arms, to warm breast, to warm bed is a recipe for sleep to soon follow.
12. Fathering down. Place baby in the neck nestle position (nestle baby’s head against the front of your neck with your chin against the top of baby’s head. The vibration of the deeper male voice lulls baby to sleep) and rock your baby to sleep. If baby doesn’t drift off to sleep while rocking, lie down with your baby, still in the neck nestle position, and let baby temporarily fall asleep draped over your chest. Once baby is asleep, ease the sleeping baby into his bed and sneak away.
13. Rocking or walking down. Try rocking baby to sleep in a bedside rocking chair, or walk with baby, patting her back and singing or praying.
14. Nestling down. For some babies, the standard fall-to-sleep techniques are not enough. Baby just doesn’t want to be put down to sleep alone. After rocking or feeding baby to sleep in your arms, lie down with your sleeping baby next to you and nestle close to her until she is sound asleep. We call this the “teddy- bear snuggle.”
15. Wearing down. Some babies are so revved up during the day that they have trouble winding down at night. Place your baby in a baby sling and wear her around the house for a half-hour or so before the designated bedtime. When she is fully asleep (see limp-limb sign) in the sling, ease her out of the sling onto her bed. For babies who are used to nursing off to sleep in a mother’s arms, fathers can wear their baby down to sleep and give mother a break.
Wearing down is particularly useful for the reluctant napper. When baby falls asleep in the sling, snuggled with his tummy against your chest or draped over your chest once you lie down, you both can take a much-needed nap.
16. Swinging down. Wind-up swings for winding down babies are a boon to parents who have neither the time, energy or creativity to muster up rituals of their own. Tired parents will pay anything for a good night’s sleep. Once in a while a moving plastic seat may be more sleep inducing than a familiar pair of arms. Sometimes high-need babies associate a parent’s body with play and stimulation and will not drift off to sleep in a human swing. For them the mechanical one is less stimulating, if not downright boring, and therefore can be a useful part of a sleep-ritual repertoire. Yet remember, high-need babies are notoriously resistant to mechanical mother substitutes and will usually protest anything less than the real mom. Before you actually spend money on a swing, you might want to borrow one for a week or two to see if the spell of the swing will last. You may discover that you are uncomfortable with mechanical mothering and decide to get more creative. Still, swings have their moments.
17. Driving down. If you’ve tried all the above transitioning techniques and baby still resists falling asleep, place baby in a carseat and drive around until she falls asleep. When you return home and baby is in a deep sleep, carry the carseat (with the sleeping baby) into your bedroom and let baby remain in the carseat until the first nightwaking. If she is in a deep sleep (witness the limp-limb sign – hands unclenched, arms dangling loosely at her side, facial muscles still), you may be able to ease her out of the carseat into her own bed.
18. Mechanical mothers. Gadgets to put and keep baby asleep are becoming big business. Tired parents pay high prices for a good night’s sleep. It’s all right to use these as relief when the main comforter wears out, but a steady diet of these artificial sleep inducers may be unhealthy. We remember a newspaper article extolling the sleep-tight virtues of a teddy bear, with a tape player in his stuffing that sings or makes breathing sounds. Baby can snuggle up to the singing, breathing, synthetic bear. Personally, we are not keen on our babies going to sleep to someone else’s canned voice. Why not use the real parent?
STAY ASLEEP TECHNIQUES
Now that you’ve learned all the tricks of the nighttime trade to get your baby to sleep, here are some ways to keep your baby asleep. Because of the characteristics of babies’ sleep cycles and easy arousability from sleep, you will notice that we purposely omit what we call the “harden your heart” method: put your baby down to sleep awake in a crib in his own room, put cotton in your ears, and let him cry himself to sleep. When he awakens, don’t go into him. He will soon learn to put himself to sleep and back to sleep. We believe that this method is unsafe, runs the risk of baby losing trust, and, for infants with persistent personalities, doesn’t work. Try these tips to help your baby sleep increasingly longer stretches at night.
19. Dress for the occasion. Try various ways of swaddling your baby at night. In the early months, many babies like to “sleep tight,” securely swaddled in a cotton baby blanket. Older infants like to sleep “loose,” and may sleep longer stretches with loose coverings that allow them more freedom of movement. Oftentimes, dressing a baby loosely during the day, but swaddling him at night, conditions the baby to associate sleep with swaddling. A baby who gets too hot or too cold may become restless. Adjust the layering according to the temperature of the room and the sleep habits of your baby. Allergy-prone babies sleep better in 100 percent cotton sleepwear.
20. Quiet in the bedroom. Since most babies can block out disturbing noise, you don’t have to create a noiseless sleeping environment, yet some babies startle and awaken easily with sudden noises. For these babies, oil the joints and springs of a squeaky crib, put out the dog before he barks and turn the ringer off on the phone.
21. Darkness in the bedroom. Use opaque shades to block out the light, which may get you an extra hour of sleep if you have one of those little roosters who awakens to the first ray of sunlight entering the bedroom.
22. Sounds to sleep by. Repetitive, nearly monotonous sounds that lull baby to sleep are known as white noise, such as the sounds of a fan, air conditioner, or even tape recordings of womb sounds or vacuum cleaner sounds. Also, try running water from a nearby faucet or shower, a bubbling fish tank, a loudly ticking clock, or a metronome set at sixty beats a minute. (These can all be tape-recorded.) Try music to sleep by, such as tape recordings of waterfalls or ocean sounds, or a medley of easy-listening lullabies on a continuous-play tape recorder. These sleep-inducing sounds remind baby of the sounds she was used to hearing in the womb. (See 11 Ways to Soothe Fussy Babies for more sleep-inducing tips.)
23. Music to sleep by. Try a continuous-play tape recording of your baby’s favorite lullabies, so when she awakens she can resettle herself to the familiar sleep-inducing sound of the tape-recording. You can make a medley of your own lullabies that have been proven sleep-inducers.
24. Leave a little bit of mother behind. If you have a separation-sensitive baby, leave a breast pad in the cradle, or play a continuous tape recording of yourself singing a bedtime lullaby.
25. A full tummy (but not too full). While stuffing baby with a glob of cereal before bedtime seldom works, it may be worth a try. A tablespoon or two given to a baby over six months of age may get you an extra hour or two. Tiny babies have tiny tummies, a bit bigger than the size of their fist. So, your baby’s digestive system was designed for small, frequent feedings, which is why, in the early months, babies feed at least every 3 to 4 hours at night and more often during the day. (See Foods for Sleep)
26. Lessen physical discomforts.
1) Clear the nose. In the early months, babies need clear nasal passages to breathe. Later they can alternatively breathe through their mouth if their nose is blocked. Bedroom inhalant allergies are a common cause of stuffy noses and consequent nightwaking. Dust-free your baby’s bedroom as much as possible. (Remove fuzzy blankets, down comforters, dust-collecting fuzzy toys, etc.) If your baby is particularly allergy-prone, a HEPA-type air filter will help. As an added nighttime perk, the “white noise” from the hum of the air filter may help baby stay asleep.
2) Relieve teething pain. Even though you may not yet be able to feel baby’s teeth, teething discomfort may start as early as three months and continue off and on all the way through the two-year molars. A wet bedsheet under baby’s head, a drool rash on the cheeks and chin, swollen and tender gums, and a slight fever are telltale clues that teething is the nighttime culprit. What to do? With your doctor’s permission, give appropriate doses of acetaminophen just before parenting your baby to sleep and again in four hours if baby awakens.
3) Change wet or soiled diapers. Some babies are bothered by wet diapers at night, most are not. If your baby sleeps through wet diapers, there is no need to awaken her for a change – unless you’re treating a persistent diaper rash. Nighttime bowel movements necessitate a change. Here’s a nighttime changing tip: If possible, change the diapers just before a feeding, as baby is likely to fall asleep during or after feeding. Some breastfed babies, however, have a bowel movement during or immediately after a feeding and will need changing again. If you are using cloth diapers, putting two or three diapers on your baby before bedtime will decrease the sensation of wetness.
4) Remove irritating sleepwear. Some babies cannot settle in synthetic sleepwear. A mother in our practice went through our whole checklist of nightwaking causes until she discovered her baby was sensitive to polyester sleepers. Once she changed to 100 percent cotton clothing, her baby slept better. Besides being restless, some babies show skin allergies to new clothing, detergents and fabric softeners by breaking out in a rash.
5) Remove airborne irritants. Environmental irritants may cause congested breathing passages and awaken baby. Common household examples are cigarette smoke, baby powder, paint fumes, hair spray, animal dander (keep animals out of an allergic child’s bedroom), plants, clothing (especially wool), stuffed animals, dust from a bed canopy, feather pillows, blankets, and fuzzy toys that collect lint and dust. If your baby consistently awakens with a stuffy nose, suspect irritants or allergens in the bedroom.
27. A warm bed. Placing a warm baby onto cold sheets can cause trouble. Especially in cold weather, use flannel sheets or place a warm towel on the sheets to warm them, and remove it before placing baby on the warmed sheets.
28. Create the right bedroom temperature and humidity. A consistent bedroom temperature of around 70 degrees F is preferable. Also, a relative humidity of around 50 percent is most conducive to sleep. Dry air may leave baby with a stuffy nose that awakens him. Yet, too high a humidity fosters allergy-producing molds. A warm-mist vaporizer in your baby’s sleeping area helps maintain an adequate and consistent relative humidity, especially with central heating during the winter months. (And, the “white noise” of a consistent hum may help baby stay asleep.)
WHAT TO DO WHEN BABY AWAKENSWHAT TO DO WHEN BABY AWAKENS When your baby awakens, develop a nighttime parenting approach that respects your baby’s need for nighttime trust and comfort, in addition to the need for baby and parents to quickly get back to sleep. While some babies are self-soothers, being able to resettle easily and quickly without outside help, others (especially those high-need babies with more persistent personalities) need a helping hand (or breast, or whatever tool you can muster up at 3:00 a.m.). Try these back-to-sleep comforters:
29. Laying on of hands. Determine what your baby’s nighttime temperament is. Is your baby a born self-soother who awakens, whimpers, squirms, and then resettles by herself? Or is your baby, if not promptly attended to, one whose cries escalate and becomes angry and difficult to resettle? If you can get to your baby quickly before she completely awakens, you may be able to resettle her back to sleep with a firm laying on of hands. To add the finishing touch, pat your baby’s back or bottom rhythmically to match your heartbeat. Remove your hands gradually – first one and then the other – easing the pressure slowly so as not to startle baby awake. Sometimes fathers, perhaps because they have larger hands, are more successful in this hands-on ritual.
30. Honor your partner with his share of nighttime parenting. It’s important for babies to get used to father’s way of comforting and being put to sleep (and back to sleep) in father’s arms, otherwise mothers burn out. A father’s participation in nighttime parenting is especially important for the breastfeeding infant who assumes the luxury that “mom’s diner” is open all night.
31. Detect hidden medical causes of nightwaking. If you’ve tried all these techniques and your infant is still waking up frequently – and painfully – suspect there may be an underlying medical problem contributing to your baby’s nightwaking. (See Hidden Causes of Nightwaking) One of the most common hidden medical causes of nightwaking (and colicky behavior) in babies is a condition known as gastroesophageal reflux (GER). Due to a weakness of a circular band of muscle where the esophagus joins the stomach, irritating stomach acids are regurgitated into baby’s esophagus, causing pain like adults would call heartburn. Clues that your baby may be suffering from GER are: painful bursts of nightwaking fussiness, particularly after eating; frequent spitting up (although not all babies with GER spit up regularly); frequent bouts of colicky, abdominal pain; frequent bouts of unexplained wheezing; and hearing throaty sounds after feeding. Another hidden medical cause of nightwaking is allergies to formula or dairy products, either in milk-based formulas or in dairy products in a breastfeeding mother’s diet. Clues that milk allergies may be causing nightwaking (and colicky behavior) are bloating, diarrhea and a red rash around baby’s anus, in addition to many of the signs described above under GER. If your baby is not only waking up frequently, but waking up “in pain,” discuss these two medical possibilities with your doctor, since both can be diagnosed and treated, giving everyone in the family a more peaceful night’s sleep.
The above tools not only help your short-term goal of getting your baby to sleep, but, more importantly, create a healthy sleep attitude that lasts a lifetime. A baby who enjoys this style of nighttime parenting learns that sleep is a pleasant state to enter and a secure state to remain in. Therein lies the key to nighttime parenting.
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Through The Night… Every Night!! Good Day, Rose Sheepskill reference: askdrsears.com
rushlimbaugh.com RUSH: Now, from the dietitians at the op-ed page of the New York Times: “How Government Will Control Our Diet,” and this was published yesterday. Now, I want you to listen to me on this. “Big Food vs. Big Insurance,” New York Times op-ed column here: “To listen to President Obama’s speech on Wednesday night, or to just about anyone else in the health care debate, you would think that the biggest problem with health care in America is the system itself — perverse incentives, inefficiencies, unnecessary tests and procedures, lack of competition, and greed. No one disputes that the $2.3 trillion we devote to the health care industry is often spent unwisely, but the fact that the United States spends twice as much per person as most European countries on health care can be substantially explained, as a study released last month says, by our being fatter. Even the most efficient health care system that the administration could hope to devise would still confront a rising tide of chronic disease linked to diet. That’s why our success in bringing health care costs under control ultimately depends on whether Washington can summon the political will to take on and reform a second, even more powerful industry: the food industry.” The political will to take on the food industry? What the hell do they think has been happening? New York City trans fats, now they’re going to have a tax on soda?
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-quarters of health care spending now goes to treat ‘preventable chronic diseases.’ Not all of these diseases are linked to diet — there’s smoking, for instance — but many, if not most, of them are. We’re spending $147 billion to treat obesity, $116 billion to treat diabetes, and hundreds of billions more to treat cardiovascular disease.” I found a website the other day, I should have printed it out, maybe I can find it in my website history. Two guys independently of each other, two doctors dealing with diabetes back in 1961 both came to the same conclusion to control type two diabetics, an all-meat diet. Now, this was before all the warnings about cholesterol and high fat and all of the animal rights people had come along, and they just said all-meat diet, nothing but meat, long before the nation ever heard of Robert Atkins.
An all-meat diet lowered cholesterol, lowered blood sugar, people lost weight. You could no more recommend that today and stay credible in your field than anything else you could do, and this is 1961. There might have been five years separation between these two guys, but they never knew, and they were researching other things. They were not studying how to lower diabetes, erectile dysfunction, they were studying high blood pressure, and they found out that all the test subjects were having this weird thing happen to them. It was a total accident. The same thing with these two guys, were studying something else entirely, and they found that with an all-meat diet, diabetes lowered, blood sugar lowered, weight lowered, cholesterol, all these things. And so here come these clowns — this is Michael Pollan, by the way, writing this, basically this piece is, “We gotta control the food industry. We gotta get Washington to control the food industry.” Yeah, community service. Picket Big Food, picket Big Retail food, picket grocery stores, pick the slaughter houses, picket manufacturers.
The American way of eating has become the elephant in the room in the debate over health care. The president has made a few notable allusions to it, and, by planting her vegetable garden on the South Lawn, Michelle Obama has tried to focus our attention on it.” Make me gag! “Just last month, Mr. Obama talked about putting a farmers’ market in front of the White House, and building new distribution networks to connect local farmers to public schools so that student lunches might offer more fresh produce and fewer Tater Tots. He’s even floated the idea of taxing soda. … To put it more bluntly, the government is putting itself in the uncomfortable position of subsidizing both the costs of treating Type 2 diabetes and the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup. Why the disconnect? Probably because reforming the food system is politically even more difficult than reforming the health care system.” Now, the people that read the New York Times end up buying the stuff just like these skulls full of mush at these Ivy League schools. So now Big Food is the reason the health care costs are so high. Big Food! And we need Washington to control it. Reforming the food system? It goes on and on and on. Michael Pollan, by the way, is a contributing writer for the Times magazine, a professor of journalism at the University of California Berkeley. “All of which suggests that passing a health care reform bill, no matter how ambitious, is only the first step in solving our health care crisis. To keep from bankrupting ourselves, we will then have to get to work on improving our health — which means going to work on the American way of eating.” Mr. Pollan, it’s none of your business. It’s none of Obama’s business how anybody eats. It’s not my business when he grabs a quick trip to some burger joint. I don’t know what he eats in the White House. Well, I do know, he’s eating $100-a-pound Kobe beef.
But then there’s a companion story here from Newsweek called: “The Real Cause of Obesity. It’s not gluttony. It’s genetics. Why our moralizing misses the point. Despite receiving a MacArthur genius award for her work in Alabama ‘forging an inspiring model of compassionate and effective medical care in one of the most underserved regions of the United States,’ Regina Benjamin’s qualifications to be surgeon general have been questioned. Why? She is overweight. ‘It tends to undermine her credibility,’ Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, said in an interview with ABC News. ‘I do think at a time when a lot of public-health concern is about the national epidemic of obesity, having a surgeon general who is noticeably overweight raises questions in people’s minds.’ It is not enough, it seems, that the obese must suffer the medical consequences of their weight, consequences that include diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, and that cause nearly 300,000 deaths in the United States each year.”
Do you realize — this is another thing, what is our goal here? Have zero deaths a year? You know, life happens. Life happens. People live their lives, they have free will. They live their lives. But, no, no, no, we’re not going to be doing that anymore, we’re going to be living ordered lives. “In our society perhaps no group is more stigmatized than the obese.” Well, I don’t know. You ought to try being a fat conservative if you want to find out what being stigmatized is, but nevertheless. “Genetic studies have shown that the particular set of weight-regulating genes that a person has is by far the most important factor in determining how much that person will weigh. The heritability of obesity — a measure of how much obesity is due to genes versus other factors — is about the same as the heritability of height. It’s even greater than that for many conditions that people accept as having a genetic basis, including heart disease, breast cancer, and schizophrenia. As nutrition has improved over the past 200 years –” Wait a minute. The New York Times just said it’s gone to hell and we need to have Washington to control it. “– Americans have gotten much taller on average, but it is still the genes that determine who is tall or short today. The same is true for weight. Although our high-calorie, sedentary lifestyle contributes to the approximately 10-pound average weight gain of Americans compared to the recent past, some people are more severely affected by this lifestyle than others. That’s because they have inherited genes that increase their predisposition for accumulating body fat.”
Now, this could all be BS, a piece written just to give cover to the obese surgeon general, who knows with this State-Controlled Media these days. But the bottom line, he concludes, obesity is not a personal choice. The obese are so primarily as a result of their genes. Never mind. We have to have food control. We have to have Washington control and reform the food industry, agribusiness. And this is not new. The left has been trying to get rid of the meat industry for who knows how long.
By the way, is this the economy Obama says he saved? “The US poverty rate hit its highest level in 11 years in 2008.” That doesn’t even include the last nine months, then. We got the highest level of poverty in 11 years in 2008 and that doesn’t even factor this disastrous administration. “The government defines poverty as an annual income of $22,025 for a family of four, $17,163 for a family of three and $14,051 for a family of two.” US poverty rate hits 11-year high as recession bites. CNNmoney.com: “‘Word on the Street: No Job Prospects’ — The economic picture has started to improve, but those out of work see no recovery in sight.” Next story, Geithner, town hall meeting on CNBC said unemployment will absolutely be lower one year from today, even though the word on the street from CNN is that there’s no way. There’s no sign that the employment picture will improve any time soon. BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I just got an e-mail from a friend who’s reading Michael Pollan’s book. He’s the guy who wrote the op-ed in the New York Times that I just shared with you about reforming the food industry, and the name of his book is In Defense of Food. And my friend who’s reading the book tells me that Pollan makes, in the book, a very, very strong case that the reason the food system is so bad is because of government and that there’s a food movement out there called “nutritionism,” which he says is not about nutrition but is an ideology. And he says that anthropologists have, over hundreds of years, found that an extraordinary range of diets are adaptable to humans: Meat, veggies, rice, lots of grain, no grain. All humans could adapt to these diets but he says in this book only the Western diet causes all the illnesses. Even in other countries our diet has ill effects. And he says that this is all due to processed food and the food is processed mostly due to government intervention and laws. Now, I don’t know. That’s a brief summary of what he’s saying in the book. When I read his piece in the New York Times, I did not pick up any of that, but regardless. Just to be fair.
Confession: I’ve come to a point in my life when I can no longer understand TV commercials.
There’s one in particular, for the uniquely named medication Yaz, that messes with my head. A woman with a hypnotic stare and voice – who’s attending some party on a rooftop – tells us that we may have seen some other Yaz commercials “that were not clear.”
She attempts to rectify this. She fails.
“Yaz contains DRSP, a different kind of hormone,” the woman says in her rapid-fire way, “that for some reason may increase potassium too much – so you shouldn’t take Yaz if you have kidney, liver or adrenal disease because this could cause serious heart and health problems.”
OK, a lot to take in. But the sentence in most need of a diagram is this one:
“Serious risks include blood clots, stroke and heart attack, so women – especially over 35? – shouldn’t smoke, because it increases those risks.”
Wait. Slow down, lady! I suspect that adding smoking into the equation is designed to throw off us simpletons. And it succeeds. I rewound this commercial three times just to figure out all the words she was throwing at me.
But hey, drug companies have to be thorough these days. It’s the law. Which is why the commercial for sleep aid Ambien includes this nonchalant warning: “Sleepwalking, eating and driving while not fully awake with amnesia for the event have been reported.”
“Driving while not fully awake,” stated another way, is “driving while sleeping.” The voiceover guy quickly moved on to other side effects, but I couldn’t get past the horror of potential sleepdriving.
One more. Brooke Shields is now promoting Latisse, an eyelash-growing potion. But the voiceover lady warns that it “may cause eyelid skin darkening, which may be reversible. And there is potential for increased brown iris pigmentation, which is likely permanent.”
Again, I’m stopped in my TV-watching tracks. Call me old-fashioned, but I’m leery of products that permanently alter the ol’ eyeballs. Besides, they do have that thing called mascara.
There was a time, of course, when ads were much less frightening. Life was simpler, so product hawking was simpler. Information was provided on a need-to-know basis.
Take the following ad in my 1963 Family Circle.
“Donna’s DOWN,” the copy reads, showing a down-looking Donna. “Periodic Pain.” But Midol’s unnamed ingredients relieve headache, backache and “CALM JUMPY NERVES.” (No need to shout. I’m already jumpy.) It also contains “a special, mood-brightening medication that CHASES ‘BLUES.’ “
Soon, voila! “Donna’s UP with MIDOL.”
Another variation of the ad features Betty. “Betty’s BLUE. Periodic pain.” But later, “Betty’s GAY with MIDOL.”
Hey, don’t look at me. That’s what the ad says.
Other ads were just downright lies. My 1939 Good Housekeeping includes the headline, “New Type Tomato Juice Thrills Nation.” The folks at Welch’s urged all to buy it “from your dealer today.” (Wow, it must be good if you have to score it off the streets.)
But olden-times TV commercials were even more basic than print ads. “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should,” says one that’s now posted on the Internet. That’s it. No mention of any, you know, side effects. From SMOKING.
Another one went to this extreme: “Surveys show more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette. Smoke Camels – the cigarette so many doctors enjoy.”
Times, they have a’changed. We’ve gone from “just don’t tell people anything” to “OK, fine, tell them too much. That way they won’t know what to think.”
Sure, knowledge is power. But if I could spend one day in a place where tomato juice could thrill a nation, I’d take it.
In Greek mythology, Cassandra is granted the gift of prophecy after Apollo, mesmerized by her beauty, falls in love with her. But the gift turns to a curse when she doesn’t return his affection. Doomed to suffer in frustration and misery when her dire warnings of future catastrophes are ignored, Cassandra ultimately foresees her own death. For most of us, how and when our lives will end is a question we’re happy to leave unanswered. But for those who want a clue into what might do them in, a new Web site created by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University can help.
The Death Risk Rankings site allows users to sort death data by sex, race, geographical location, cause of death and age. There are many, many ways to organize the data, but just a simple search on age and sex reveals some interesting trends. For example, accidents are the leading cause of death (32.3 percent) for women 20-29, but cancer takes the top spot (22.1 percent) for women 30-39. The risk of dying from circulatory diseases nearly doubles for the older age group, as well. If getting older has a silver lining, it’s that a woman’s chance of being murdered drops by more than half from the 20-29 age range (8.7 percent) to 30-39 (4 percent).
Cancer strikes men and women about equally, but men have it worse when it comes to being murdered or dying in accidents. Overall, the numbers reflect what we already know: Old people die from heart attacks and disease; young people die in accidents.
Now that you know how to determine your risk of dying from various causes, you can also find out when you’re likely to die. Simply type “when will I die?” into Bing search to find numerous calculators. But be careful—as Cassandra found out, there’s such a thing as too much information.
I have 33 years left to live. I will die in 2042 at age 86. I am beating the average lifespan for someone my age by 3 years. To put it another way, I have the health of a 50 year old woman. I have lived 62% of my life already.
What’s her secret ? Well first of all Michelle Obama has what is known as a Mesomorph body type , same as me . A mesomorph has a large bone structure, large muscles and a naturally athletic physique . They find it quite easy to gain and lose weight. They are naturally strong . Michelle Obama’s body type affords her the luxury of not having to spend too much time in the gym before the results start showing up in the mirror . The down side of that is that unlike Ectomorphs , Mesomorphs gain weight at the drop of a hat if there not careful . A classic example is former Guess model Anna Nicole . I bet Michelle Obama reads the tabloids and some of the nasty press sometimes before a work out for a little motivation .
Michelle Obama’s arms are sexy and they seem to be getting better all the time .
Since where on the subject of sexy arms why don’t we discuss what makes a sexy arm ? To me it’s in the curvature and the balance between muscle and fat , long lines and deap slopes . You need a little fat in their to get that plump , curvy vivacious look , it talks to a man’s inner instincts , it tells a man that a woman’s healthy and would make a good mate . I never was attracted as much to the overly sinewy look that celebrities like Madonna are known for . Bottom line : First lady Michelle Obama has the sexiest arms of any first lady in history , it’s not even close , can we agree on that ? On a scale of 1-10 I would give them a 9.5
lifescripts.com Want to know what the sexiest and most discreet part of a woman’s body is? Her arms! Here’s the biggest benefit of having (Michelle Obama) toned arms: You can flaunt them in almost every outfit and in any social setting, from seductive strapless dresses to staid work blouses.
Building your triceps, which run along the back of your upper arm, will allow you to better extend your arms and will stabilize shoulders. Toned triceps also will minimize the appearance of saggy underarm fat. Try this exercise called the “skull crusher.” Let’s begin!
Step 1: Hold a pair of dumbbells and lie on the ball so that your head and neck are supported. Elevate your hips slightly, and keep your abs tight. Extend the dumbbells straight up with your palms facing each other. Step 2: Tilt your arms behind your head slightly. Breathe slowly and rhythmically as you bend your elbows and lower the weights through a count of 10 seconds. Step 3: Hold at the maximum tension point, about an inch above your forehead, for 2 seconds. Step 4: Raise dumbbells to the starting point through a count of 10 seconds. Step 5: Repeat three times without resting.
Step 1: Hold a pair of dumbbells and lie on the ball so that your head and neck are supported. Elevate your hips slightly, and keep your abs tight. Extend the dumbbells straight up with your palms facing each other.
