6 Ways You Can Reduce Cholesterol Without Medication

An Avocado a Day Helps to Keep Heart Disease Away!

Avocados are a miracle fruit: They’re super-high in fat, but the good kind! Loaded with a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat called oleic acid, avocados increase your HDL cholesterol while lowering your LDL and triglycerides. Studies have shown that eating one avocado a day can substantially lower your LDL! Plus, avocados are rich in potassium, fiber, folic acid, and vitamins C, K, and B6.

Meat Matters

Not all meat is high in fat and cholesterol! Swap your usual beef for venison or bison, which are comparable to fish in the cholesterol department. Be sure to marinate these leaner meats for optimal tenderness.Lower Your Cholesterol with Cinnamon

To supercharge your already heart-healthy oatmeal breakfast, add a half teaspoon of ground cinnamon. In a 2003 study, cinnamon was shown to lower LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar in participants with Type 2 Diabetes. When eaten as part of your daily diet, fiber-packed oatmeal (not instant) is also known to lower bad cholesterol. Combined, a cinnamon oatmeal breakfast every morning will double your dose of heart health!

Go Nuts for Nuts

No longer considered a salty junk food, nuts have become an important staple in heart-healthy diets thanks to their omega-3 fat content. Almonds and walnuts in particular have demonstrated the best cholesterol-lowering abilities, but pecans, pistachios, and hazelnuts offer great health benefits too. The FDA says an ounce of nuts per day can lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. (Just don’t go too nuts with nuts, as they’re still high in calories and fat!)

Booze for Better Cholesterol

Believe it: A moderate amount of alcohol per day will increase your HDL cholesterol (the good kind) and help decrease your risk of heart disease. Any type of booze can do the trick, but red wine is particularly healthful thanks to its antioxidant properties. However, note that “a moderate amount” translates to two drinks for a man and one drink for a woman; consuming more than that could cause negative health consequences.

The Magic of Beans

Make beans an everyday diet staple: They’re packed with soluble fiber, which absorbs cholesterol in the intestines so it doesn’t enter your blood. Navy, pinto, kidney, butter, garbanzo, or lentils—all beans are cholesterol-lowering, protein-rich powerhouses, no matter how you prepare them. One cup per day, whether dried or canned, works wonders for heart health. Try to eat three cups of beans each week. 

For more all natural remedies from all around the internet, check out our Health and Beauty Tips board on Pinterest. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram! 

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AP Style and Chicago Updates from #ACES2017

This was a big style-update year at the American Copy Editors Society (ACES) meeting. The Associated Press usually announces style book changes at the meeting every year, but this year the Chicago Manual of Style also announced updates, which only happens every once in a while. The last time Chicago made  changes, for example, was when it released the 16th edition back in 2010. 

As we’ve talked about before, there are many style books and many different reasons to use them, but people tend to use the Chicago Manual of Style when they are writing books or doing some kinds of academic writing, and people tend to use the AP Stylebook when they are writing for newspapers and websites, although, of course, there are other reasons to use both.

Chicago Manual of Style Updates

Carol Fisher Saller, the editor of the Chicago Manual of Style's online Q&A and the author of The Subversive Copy Editor (@SubvCopyEd on Twitter), gave a presentation at the ACES conference on the major updates you’ll find in the 17th edition of Chicago which will come out in September, and she didn't waste any time getting to the good stuff, announcing that the word internet will now be lowercase in Chicago style and that the word email will lose the hyphen. 

Both these changes were popular in the room and on the internet, where most people were glad to have Chicago come into line with changes other style books have been making over the last few years.

‘Ibid.’ versus Short Citations

Another significant change is that the 17th edition will recommend using shortened citations instead of using ibid. when you have multiple references in a row from the same source.  

Ibid. is a Latin abbreviation that means “in the same place,” and in the past you used it to keep from having to write out identical or similar citation information over and over again. For example, if reference 20 was for page 56 of a book, and reference 21 was from page 68 of the same book, you could write out all the information for the book in reference 20, and then in reference 21, you could just write Ibid., 68. to let readers know all the information was the same as the previous reference, except for the page number. 

This saves a lot of typing, but the problem is that in electronic documents, citations are often active, which means you can sometimes click on reference 21 and go right to it without ever seeing reference 20. So if you see ibid., then you have to go searching for the reference before it to find the information you need. That’s a pain, and it’s an especially big pain if you have a bunch of ibid. references in a row, so you have to keep going back and back until you find the first reference for all the ibids.  

To solve these problems, Chicago now recommends using shortened citations instead of ibid., and it sounds like the format for shortened citations is the same as it was in the 16th edition.

Twitter and Facebook Citation Formats

In another citation-related update, the 17th edition will include citation styles for Facebook posts, tweets and other types of social media posts, but Saller didn’t reveal what they are yet. I presume, it will all become clear when the new Manual of Style will be released in September. One thing that seems funny now is that she said when the last edition of Chicago came out in 2010, they didn’t include a Twitter citation format because they thought Twitter might be just a flash in the pan.

And yet it was on Twitter, by following the #ACES2017 hashtag that I was able to follow along and learn about all these updates even though I wasn’t able to attend the conference in person.

‘US’ versus ‘United States’

A small change that was nonetheless cheered by people on Twitter was that Chicago will now allow writers to use the abbreviation US for United States as a noun as well as an adjective. In the 16th edition, the entry on “US” versus United States said “In running text, spell out United States as a noun.”

For example, you would have written In the United States, people tend to spell the word gray with an A, but now in Chicago style it’s also OK to write In the US, people tend to spell the word gray with an A.

Hyphens in Chicago Style

Moving on to punctuation, Saller says Chicago strengthened its general aversion to hyphens, but is going to make some hyphenation-related updates and keep the huge hyphenation table, which makes me happy because I refer to that table a lot. Despite the stated hyphenation aversion, she did mention two words that will now explicitly be hyphenated: decision-making (which was previously two words, also known as an open compound) and head-hunting (which wasn’t in the 16th edition).

Comma Changes and Clarifications

Finally, Saller reviewed changes and clarifications to a couple of comma entries. 

First, commas are typically used to introduce quotations after phrases such as Squiggly said and Jeffrey asked, but the new edition of Chicago will clarify an instance when a comma isn’t needed: “When a quotation forms a syntactical part of the sentence, no comma is needed to introduce it.”

Second, Chicago no longer calls for a comma after the abbreviation etc. unless the surrounding grammar calls for it.  The current Chicago entry says that if you write something like She usually plays puzzle games such as Candy Crush, Triple Town, etc., when her kids are at soccer practice you’d put a comma after etc. But the new edition says to leave out the comma, which makes sense to me because if etc. were the name of another game, you wouldn’t put a comma there, and it doesn’t seem like an abbreviation for and other things should need one either.  

But, if the sentence itself would call for a comma if you were using something other than etc., use a comma where you normally would. For example you’d use one in this sentence: She used to play puzzle games such as Candy Crush, Triple Town, etc., but lately she’s been listening to audiobooks instead. You use a comma after the etc. in that sentence because you’re joining two main clauses with a conjunction, and whether there’s an etc. there or some other word, the grammar of that sentence calls for a comma.

So those are the major Chicago Manual of Style updates, although I’m sure there will be many more small changes to discover once the new edition becomes available in September. And note that once the 17th edition is available on the Chicago website, Saller said they will no longer support the 15th edition. In other words, online subscribers will continue to have access to the two most recent editions like they do now. 

AP Style Updates

Next, let’s talk a bit about the updates to the AP Stylebook. There seemed to be a lot more updates than there were to Chicago, or it could be that the AP is just a little farther along in the release process because these updates are on the AP website now and go into effect immediately. 

I already did a long article on the website about the updates, and I’m talking with ragan.com about doing an updated AP Stylebook web course, but I’ll still go over some of the major or more interesting changes today in the podcast.

Technology-Related Updates

The editors presented a few additions related to new or newish technology. There’s  a new entry for autonomous vehicles for example, which can also be called self-driving cars. But don’t call them “driverless” unless there isn’t a human backup driver. And reserve the terms autonomous and self-driving for cars or trucks that can monitor the road and drive for an entire trip without human help. For vehicles that can do some but not all of the driving, such as some Tesla models, use the terms semi-autonomous or partially self-driving.

Another new entry is for the term cyberattack, which is one word and the editors noted is an often overused word. Throughout the presentation, it was interesting to hear the editors talk about how they consulted with experts in different fields for certain entries, and cyberattack was one of those entries. The definition is that a cyberattack is computer operation carried out over a device or network that causes physical damage or significant and wide-spread disruption, and the presenters said that the cybersecurity experts felt strongly about the "physical damage or significant and wide-spread disruption" part—that it isn’t a cyberattack unless it meets at least one of those criteria. For example, someone who just messes with a company’s homepage is an online vandal or cybercriminal, but if someone wipes an entire data center full of computers bringing down half the internet, that person is properly described as a cyberattacker. 

Esports is another new entry, and interestingly, at least to me, I had never heard the term before, but the morning before the AP presentation, my husband was telling me about a fascinating article about how big the esports industry is and how some colleges are giving scholarships to gamers who participate in esports competitions. And then esports also showed up as a new entry in the Stylebook, which defines it as competitive multiplayer video gaming. Again, they consulted with people in the esports industry before deciding to style the word without a hyphen.

The final technology-related entry I’ll talk about today is the virtual reality, augmented reality entry, and the Stylebook treats these two terms differently because the editors believe people are more familiar with the concept of virtual reality than augmented reality. Therefore, it’s OK to use VR to abbreviate virtual reality on the second reference, but not OK to abbreviate augmented reality as AR. People are less likely to know what that means, so for now, you should continue to spell it out. 

General Updates

Next are a few general updates to existing entries.

For courtesy titles such as Mr. and Mrs, the AP now says not to use courtesy titles except in direct quotations. If you need to distinguish between people who use the same last name, such as married couples or brothers and sisters, they recommend using the first and last name in your text.

The spelling of flier/flyer got an update, and I’ve always found this to be a confusing topic because the AP didn’t match a lot of other sources, but now they do. Yay. It’s now more clear that if it’s a handbill, you spell it flyer. Frequent flyer is also spelled with a Y, which the AP says is a change it made after surveying airline industry websites. So now, pretty much the only time you need to use the flier spelling is in the idiom take a flier, which means “to take a big risk.”

Finally, we can hardly talk about stylebook updates without someone bringing up the serial comma (or Oxford comma), right? The AP Stylebook still does not recommend the comma before the final and in a simple series such as red, white, and blue, but the new entry does clarify that there are many instances where the serial comma is needed for clarity, and when it is, AP writers should use it. This was always the rule, but they felt like a lot of people weren’t getting it, so they rewrote the entry to try to make it more clear. 

Grammar Girl TED talk.

7 Signs It's Time to Let Go of a Friendship

Despite what the Spice Girls would have us believe, it’s not true that friendship never ends. Research actually confirms what we’ve all experienced: most middle school friendships don’t even last a year. And while some adult friendships last throughout life, some make us feel like we’ve been sentenced for life. So how do you know when to make a break for freedom?

Sometimes it’s obvious: a so-called friend steals your money or your partner, or in the case of Taylor Swift, your back-up dancers. Now we’ve got bad blood, indeed.

But sometimes it’s not obvious: do you tough it out with a friend struggling with addiction? Can you stay friends with someone whose values undergo a radical change? Do you leave behind a boring friend or remind yourself true friendship isn’t about entertainment?  And of course, what to do when a friendship starts off strong and just fizzles? Nothing happened, but there’s just nothing there anymore. Is it okay to let go?

Fundamentally, you don’t need a checklist of legit and non-legit reasons to end a friendship. Go with your gut and your heart. That said, here are seven questions to ask yourself to make those fuzzy situations a little bit clearer:

Question #1: Does it feel genuine, or like a transaction? Some people are friends with you because of what you can do for them. Red flags include friends who repeatedly try to sell you something, ask to borrow money again and again, or keep tabs on favors. (“You owe me housesitting because I took care of your dog.”) These friends routinely cross the line between friendship and business.

The transaction might also be more subtle—you’re friends with them because they admire you with cartoon hearts in their eyes and in return you get a shot to your self-esteem. You’re friends because they hold you back just enough that you can blame them, rather than yourself, for not accomplishing your dreams.

In sum, if you leave every interaction with an urge to wash your hands, look closer and see if you might using them or being used yourself. In the end, you want friends, not an entourage.

Question #2: Are you holding each other back from getting healthy? Back in 2007, a now-famous study in the New England Journal of Medicine tracked the spread of obesity through a “deeply interconnected social network” of more than 12,000 people, underscoring that social ties link to health behavior. 

Turns out healthy (or unhealthy) habits can circulate within a smaller friend group, too. For instance, unhealthy psychological habits like a tendency to put each other down or to complain constantly can spread from friend to friend. Or unhealthy body image or disordered eating habits might be a culture in your circle.

More seriously, if you’re battling a substance abuse problem normalized by a friend group (“If we all drink until we black out, doesn’t that make it normal?”), it’s difficult yet crucial to drop friends. Indeed, showing up at the same bar with the same people will inevitably lead to the same behavior.

Ideally, friends work together to eat better, team up to exercise, or weather the horrors of stopping smoking together. But if your friend pulls you down, pressures you to drink or smoke after you’ve made it clear you’re trying to change, or otherwise ridicules your attempts to take care of yourself, it may be time to distance yourself.

Question #3: Are you being manipulated? Manipulation, fundamentally, is managing the emotions of others, and not in a good way.  It’s sulking to get someone to feel bad, it’s being especially nice to butter someone up.

It’s really hard to put your finger on whether or not it’s happening, because being the target of manipulation is like being the proverbial frog in the slowly boiling water—it’s only after you’re out that you realize the full extent of what was happening.

But there are clues: your friendship may feel unnecessarily intricate. You’re at a loss for words when others ask you about the friendship. “It’s complicated,” is the best you can muster.

Another clue: without quite realizing it, you’ve changed for the worse as a result of this friendship (less happy, less secure, less confident) but somehow you’re the one always doing the apologizing. Or you may just feel like something is always off. You even ask your friend “what’s wrong?” but the answer (or the resulting silent treatment) just makes you more confused.

Any of these clues may be signs of emotional manipulation. Indeed, a 2016 study unsurprisingly found that manipulation hung together with lower levels of important friendship characteristics like being able to express personal thoughts and feelings, providing comfort when needed, simply being fun to be with, and always being there for each other (which, by the way, in research-speak is called “reliable alliance”). 

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Question #4: Are you friends simply because they’re similar to you? Sometimes we force a friendship when we have a similar background and similar lives. Similarity somehow makes us think we should be friends. But it doesn’t matter if you went to the same elementary school or look like spitting images of each other.

If you’re doing all the work in the relationship, you’re an employee, not a friend. Time to consider going on strike.

What’s really important? Well, a 2012 study assessed over 1,400 people; some of them had friendships with people of a different race, sexual orientation, or gender, and some of them did not. Those with cross-category friendships placed less value on having similar lives, values, and experiences as their friends. What did they focus on instead? The true building blocks of friendship: trust, honesty, respect, and being there for each other.

Question #5: Do you do all the work in the relationship? Do any of these sound familiar? You justify selfish and inconsiderate behavior: “I’m sure he meant to clean up this mess he left when he borrowed my car; he was probably just busy.” You initiate all the ideas, make all the plans, and are responsible for changing them if they’re not convenient for your friend: “Oh, you decided to meet a Tinder date tonight? Um, sure, we can reschedule.” And finally, you do all the emotional work—talking them down, shoring them up: “Of course you’re amazing. Sure, let’s talk about all the ways you rock. Again.”

If you’re doing all the work in the relationship, you’re an employee, not a friend. Time to consider going on strike.

Question #6: Can you count on each other? This one may sound cliche, but it’s important. Friends shouldn’t be like your iPod earphones—never around when you need them but getting tangled up in things when you’re not.

The research on friendship is rife with words like “reciprocal,” “mutual,” and “shared,” and if none of those come to mind when you think about a particular friendship, it might be time to back away.

Indeed, all those graduation night songs about “I’ll be on your side forevermore” and “I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on,” while cheesy, are about more than swaying with arms around each other’s shoulders. Good friendships represent an equilibrium of mutual support. Even dissimilarities between good friends manage to balance each other out.

Of course, over time the balance will shift back and forth—you will inevitably have a major life crisis at the same time your friend gets a promotion, but good friends are there to share in your successes and your struggles. You don’t have to link arms and sing, but you should feel sure than in your friendship, winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you have to do is call.

Question #7: Can you be yourself? Let’s end with the big one. You’re not the same everywhere you go—you behave differently at a job interview or visiting grandma than when hanging out with your friends, but if you feel pulled to change or hide who you are, or you feel ashamed after hanging out with your friend, it may be time to try on other friendships.

To wrap up, decades of research and millennia of common sense tell us that connecting with true friends is one of the best things we can do for our health and happiness.

Breaking up with less-than-true friends is a tough decision. Indeed, there must have been a time when you were good friends to each other, or you wouldn’t be in struggling with the question to begin with.

Now, friends will come and go from your life. Some will be context-dependent, like a work friend or a school friend. These are all fine. Not every friend needs to be a Golden Girls-style pal and confidante. But real friends shouldn’t hurt, manipulate, or use you, or pressure you to be someone you’re not. A true friend inspires you to be better, happier, healthier, and more “yourself.”

Get more savvy by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher, or get the episode delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for the newsletter. And check out the new Savvy Psychologist Twitter account for even more helpful tips.

7 Natural Remedies for Ulcers

Onions

Stock up on onions! They might give you gas, but they also prevent the growth of ulcer-causing bacteria that can increase your risk of gastritis (stomach inflammation) and, over time, lead to stomach cancer. Add sliced onion to salads and sandwiches, or toss them into stir-fries, fajitas, and pastas—just avoid frying, which can upset your stomach.

See Also: What Are Stomach Ulcers?

Yogurt

Everyone’s wild for yogurt these days, and for good reason: Most yogurts contain active cultures, lactobacillus and bifidobacterium, that can help digestion by balancing out bad bacteria with good bacteria. If you’re on antibiotics, these yogurts can be especially helpful: They replenish the good bacteria that your meds have eliminated from your body, preventing diarrhea.

Castor Oil Compress

Calm a painful ulcer with a castor oil “pack” applied to your abdomen. Castor oil can reduce inflammation, relieve pain, and heal tissues beneath the skin, and a compress is easy and inexpensive to make. Place a towel in castor oil until completely saturated. Squeeze to remove any extra liquid and avoid dripping. Cover the painful area on your abdomen, then top with a dry towel and a hot-water bottle for added pressure. Leave the pack on for up to one hour.

Cabbage

Although it’s not the flashiest vegetable, cabbage offers some amazing ulcer-healing abilities: It helps protect the lining of the stomach and intestines and wards off the bacteria that cause ulcers. Try to eat two cups of raw cabbage every day (coleslaw, anyone?), or consider making a super-potent juice: Four cups of cabbage juice per day has been shown to heal peptic ulcers in less than a week! Choose fresh green cabbages for an optimal ulcer cure.

Aloe Juice

You might use aloe vera gel for sunburns and other skin problems, but did you know that the plant’s juice can work its soothing magic on your inflamed stomach lining too? Pick up some juice at your local health-food store or drugstore, and drink a few sips before each meal and at night. Aloe juice will relieve ulcer pain and promote healing.

Garlic

Garlic is one of the world’s most effective and universal natural cures—and it can help prevent and heal stomach ulcers! If you can stand the strong taste, eat two cloves of raw garlic every day to control levels of the H. pylori bacteria in your gut. You can also chop up fresh garlic and add two tablespoons of raw, unprocessed honey. The benefits of honey are not limited to taste: Its antibacterial powers will double-team those nasty bad guys in your gut!

Tea

By now, you should know that coffee will irritate an already-existing ulcer. But not so for tea! In fact, peppermint and chamomile teas are anti-inflammatories that can soothe your ulcer pain and encourage healing. Brew your tea and allow it to cool until just warm—too hot and you’ll irritate your ulcer. Stir in some raw honey for its antibacterial qualities as well as for its sweet flavor. Note: If you have gastroesophageal reflux (or GERD), steer clear of peppermint, which can trigger or worsen indigestion and heartburn.

For more all natural remedies from all around the internet, check out our Health and Beauty Tips board on Pinterest. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram! 

The suggestions offered here are for informational purposes only.  The author and publisher do not accept liability for damages arising from the use, attempted use, misuse, or application of any of the suggestions included on this website.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

6 Clever Yet Easy Space Savers for Small Bathrooms

Shower Rod Hanger

Is your shower loaded with loofahs, sponges, and bath toys? Keep them all in one convenient place by installing a spare curtain rod in the back of the shower and hanging them on S-shaped hooks. You can also use the rod to hang-dry bathing suits, wet towels, and clothing, or as hanging storage space for cleaning supplies.

Fun Way to Store Towels

If you’re short on space in your bathroom, here’s a crafty idea for storing towels—use an old wine rack! Rolled up, they’ll fit perfectly into the bottle-sized slots intended for wine. (Rolled up magazines and newspapers also fit!)

From Spice Rack to Bathroom Caddy

Turn a wall-mounted spice rack into a bathroom caddy! Use it to store small shampoo and conditioner bottles, soaps, lotions, nail polishes, makeup, cotton balls—and any other nebulous items that collect around your bathroom sink.

A Shoe-In for Bathroom Storage

If you need extra storage space in your bathroom, one of our favorite fixes is using an over-the-door plastic shoe storage container. Available at home stores, these organizers are perfect for make-up, lotion, and even small appliances like curling irons.

Cans for Holders

We love this handy solution for storing brushes, combs, and other hair products: Repurpose large soup, bean, or other tin cans! First, cover the cans with wrapping or contact paper to match your bathroom’s design—simply cut the paper to size and glue it around the cans with white craft glue or Mod Podge. Then use in your overcrowded cabinets or apply adhesive strips (such as the Command brand) to attach the brush holders to the wall or to the inside of a cabinet door.

Fruit Baskets

Those hanging three-tiered baskets that you usually find holding fruit in the kitchen are also perfect for bathrooms. Store brushes, hair gel, Band-Aids, or whatever else is taking up too much space in your medicine cabinet. If placed out of reach of your kids, it’s also a great place to store shaving supplies.

For more household tips, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram!

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Top 10 Natural Remedies for Spring Bugs

Make Sure Mosquitoes Don’t Lay Eggs in Your Yard

The best way to keep mosquitoes out of your yard all summer? Get rid of their eggs in the spring. That means no standing water in your yard—drain whatever possible or even consider sucking it up with a shop vac that can handle water. For bird baths, solve the problem with a few drops of canola or vegetable oil. Place a few drops in your bath each time you change the water. It will keep mosquitoes from laying eggs in the water, won’t hurt the birds, and will save you from lots of itchy bites. Meanwhile, plant marigold, lavender, and lemongrass around your deck or patio this spring. It smells and looks great, and it naturally repels mosquitoes!

Get Rid of Roaches the Brooklyn Way

Jen’s favorite method for eliminating Brooklyn cockroaches is to fill a casserole dish with cheap wine, then place it under the sink or wherever you see the revolting little bugs. The pests drink the wine, get drunk, and drown.

Mothball Substitution

Hate the smell of mothballs? Just use peppercorns instead! Buy the cheapest you can find, then pour into the toe of some old pantyhose, snip off the end, and knot. Then tie around a hook or hanger in your closet.

Get Rid of Fleas Naturally

Get rid of fleas with nothing but a lamp, a bowl, and some dishwashing liquid. Read this post for specific directions and more ways to get rid of fleas, ticks, and ear mites.

Get Rid of Wasps

The best way to get rid of wasps? Make a wasp trap with a 2-liter soda bottle. To keep wasps from building a nest somewhere, spray the area with vinegar before they can build a nest, and they’ll pick somewhere else to live.

Repel Spiders

To keep spiders away, try placing walnut shells on your window sills or where you see them. Here are even more ways we have to keep spiders out of your home.

Keep Stink Bugs Away

Stink bugs are disgusting, and thanks to the smell they emit, you can’t smash them! Keep them away from your home by spraying the outside of it (window screens, jambs, foundation, and siding) with a mixture of 20 percent dishwashing liquid and 80 percent water. You can also try rubbing dryer sheets on your screens to keep stink bugs away.

Get Rid of Ants

Sprinkle cinnamon in your cabinets or elsewhere you see ants—they won’t cross a cinnamon barrier. For a bigger ant problem, mix 1½ cup water, 1 tablespoon borax , and ½ cup sugar and place in small bowl. The ants will take it back to their nest, ingest it, and die. (Just be careful, as this isn’t safe for kids and pets!)

Keep Flies from Coming Near You

Believe it or not, the easiest way to keep flies away is with a fan. Read this post for why a fan keeps flies away and other ways to repel flies naturally.

Make a Fruit Fly Trap

If you have fruit flies in your kitchen, get rid of them with this simple trap: Add a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid to a bowl of apple cider vinegar and leave it where you see flies. The smell of the vinegar attracts the flies, while the dish soap breaks the surface tension of the vinegar and causes the little nuisances to drown. You can also trap fruit flies and gnats by placing a banana peel or other piece of fruit in a bowl then covering the top with plastic wrap and punching one or two a small holes in it. The bugs will be able find their way into the bowl guided by scent, but won’t be able to find their way out. Here are more ways to get rid of fruit flies and gnats, including if they are infesting your plants.

For remedies for pest problems from all over the internet, check out our Bug and Pest Natural Remedies board on Pinterest. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Facebook!

When to Worry About Ringing in Your Ears

“Dear House Call Doctor,

Would you do a podcast about ringing in the ears in the future?”

-  W.S.

What a great suggestion, W.S. Thank you. Ringing in the ears, referred to as “tinnitus” in doctor-lingo, is quite common. In fact, approximately 50 million people in the U.S. suffer from this annoying medical condition. Let’s learn what tinnitus really is, what can cause it, and how you can treat it.

What Is Tinnitis?

If you’ve ever experienced it, you know what it feels like. Tinnitis refers to a misperceived sound that is not externally audible. Patients describe it as a “buzzing” or “ringing,” “clicking,” or “pulsating,” and even akin to a “factory working in my brain.” It can be loud or only faintly audible. It can involve only one ear or both. For most, it is intermittent but can become chronic in 1 in 4 sufferers.

It is often worse in the mornings upon awakening, at bed time, or when it is most quiet. This is because our brains are good at tuning out unnecessary stimuli. So when there are other noises in the room, the nuisance is not as well-perceived.

Most people that experience it tell me that it’s not bothersome. But on occasion, a patient will report that it is severe enough to interfere with daily activities.

Causes of Tinnitis

Most cases of tinnitus are benign and nothing serious. Most causes are due to tiny damage to the hair cells that line the inner ear. Just like arthritis and joint changes with age, this can be due to normal wear and tear through age, but other factors can also contribute.

Here are some factors that have been reported in studies to increase risk of tinnitus:

·         Age: Risk for tinnitus development increases as we get older.

·         Non-Hispanic Whites

·         Noise exposure:  Work-related noise that is chronic is a consideration. So are concerts, listening to loud music, and exposure to firearm noise.

·         Hypertension

·         Prior cigarette smoking

·         Anxiety disorder and/or depression

·         Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMJ)

·         Hearing loss

·         Meniere’s disease: These patients report a triad of symptoms, to include tinnitus, hearing loss, and dizziness

·         Medications:  Aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAID), some blood pressure medications, benzodiazepines, drugs used to treat prostate enlargement, certain antibiotics, and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)  used to treat stomach acid disorders

·         Trauma to the head and neck (secondary to trauma to the blood vessels and/or nerves in the vicinity)

·         Tumor of the vestibular nerve, or other nearby structures

·         Blood vessel disorders

·         Neurologic disorders

Tinnitis that is described as a “clicking” often (but not always) reflects muscle spasms of the muscles surrounding the ear and ear canal. And a “pulsating” description can sometimes be due to blood vessel anomalies that really warrant further investigation. Therefore, it’s important to thoroughly describe the sound when discussing it with your doctor in order to help delineate the cause.

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Evaluation of Tinnitis

Most cases of tinnitus can be observed. A thorough head and neck exam by your doctor may be all that is necessary. However, brain imaging such as MRI’s and CT scans can be used to rule out less common causes if there is concern. A hearing test is a more useful and easily accessible test to rule out one of the most common causes.

A thorough head and neck exam by your doctor may be all that is necessary. 

Treatment of Tinnitis

Unfortunately, there is no cure for tinnitus. However, it’s often manageable by learning to trick your brain into tuning it out. I would suggest white noise, a fan, clock, light music, and there are now even apps for white noise that simulate all of these sounds and more.

Treating any hearing loss can also diminish tinnitus. It does so by tricking your brain into tuning out the tinnitus since other noises are enhanced in the environment.

In a nutshell, tinnitus is most often a benign symptom that reflects any minute changes in the auditory system, including hearing loss which is the most common cause, and not a serious condition in most. However, those very infrequent causes are enough to truly warrant a thorough discussion and exam by your doctor.

Share your ideas and learn more quick and dirty tips with us on the House Call Doctor’s Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest pages! If you learned anything here today, or simply enjoy all-things-medical, you can also listen and subscribe to the House Call Doctor podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher.

Please note that all content here is strictly for informational purposes only.  This content does not substitute any medical advice, and does not replace any medical judgment or reasoning by your own personal health provider.  Please always seek a licensed physician in your area regarding all health related questions and issues.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

5 Sneaky Yet Brilliant Ways to Stuff Nutrition Into Your Kids’ Food

Calcium Boost

Sneak some calcium into your kids’ food by adding powdered milk to their meals. It’ll be inconspicuous to them in dishes such as mashed potatoes, meatballs, and peanut butter sandwiches (mixed in with the peanut butter).

When to Bring Out the Veggies

If your child never wants to eat his vegetables at dinnertime, try putting out a plate of raw veggies like carrots, celery, and broccoli right before dinner. Since he’ll be hungry (and probably pestering you in the kitchen), it will be more likely that he’ll succumb to this healthy snack.

More Ways to Sneak Veggies

If your kids refuse to eat any vegetables at all, you’ll love this clever way of getting more nutrients into them. If you have too many vegetables to use before they go bad, puree them in a blender with a little bit of lemon juice, then freeze. Defrost and add to sauces, soups, stews, enchiladas, and more—your kids won’t be able to taste the difference! The key is to make sure you don’t dramatically alter the color of the dish you’re serving. So if you’re making a white sauce, for instance, try a puree of cauliflower and summer squash. Tomato-based sauces can usually handle one part “green puree” for every four parts tomato sauce. So grind up that broccoli and spinach and get going!

What to Do About Juice

Some kids refuse to drink water, but juice is loaded with sugar. You can reduce your children’s calorie and sugar intake by diluting their apple and orange juice with a bit of water. When you open a new bottle, empty a quarter of the juice into a pitcher, then fill the original juice bottle back to the brim with water. It’ll still taste delicious, but the kids will get less of a sugar rush, and the juice will last longer to boot.

Sugary Cereal Reward

If you’re one of those super-parents who don’t let their kids eat sugary cereal, have you thought about using it as a reward? Kids not used to having a morning sugar fix normally like sugary cereal brands as much as they like candy, so why not use it instead of candy treats? That way, when kids are getting a sugary treat for being good, they’ll at least getting it from a food that is also enriched with vitamins. And if you want to wean your children off the sugary stuff in the morning, this might be a good way to start!

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8 Ways to Legally Pay Less Tax and Save Money

There are many ways to legally shelter your income from tax so you save money. But you may overlook strategies because you’re not aware that they exist or you don’t understand the often-complex rules.  

In this post, I’ll explain 8 ways to legally reduce your taxable income so you pay less tax. You can take advantage of some or all of them, no matter how much or little money you make, to keep more of your hard-earned money.

Free Resource: Ready to save more, eliminate debt, and reach big financial goals? Join Laura in the Dominate Your Dollars community now!

8 Ways to Legally Pay Less Tax and Save Money

You can't avoid taxes, but there are ways to legally pay less when you qualify for certain deductions. Try as many of the following tactics that fit your situation: 

1. Adjust your tax withholding.

If you get excited about receiving a big tax refund each year, that may be a sign that you need to adjust your tax withholding. Getting a refund means you overpaid tax during the previous year by giving too much money to the IRS. They settle your account many months later by sending you your own money.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather keep my own money throughout the year, instead of handing it over to the government as an interest-free loan. When you have bigger paychecks, you can put it to work by beefing up your emergency savings or investing it in a retirement account slowly throughout the year.

In last week’s post, How to Fill Out a W-4—Plus, 7 Reasons to Adjust Your Tax Withholding, I explain when and how to update this important tax form. To reduce your refund and increase your take-home pay, complete a Form W-4 and submit it to your employer any time during the year.

2. Claim any unreimbursed job expenses.

Do you ever spend money on goods or services related to your job that your boss doesn’t reimburse you for? Maybe it’s shelling out for expenses like:

• industry conferences 
• continuing education 
• subscriptions to trade publications 
• dues to professional organizations 
• uniforms or protective clothing 
• tools, supplies, and safety equipment 
• business licenses and fees 
• passport fees for a business trip 
• gifts for customers 
• using your vehicle (other than for regular commuting) 
• travel, lodging, and meals related to your work

Many people overlook the fact that the IRS allows you to claim a tax deduction for “employee business expenses.” These are expenses that are considered ordinary or necessary to perform your job, but that your employer doesn’t cover.

Qualified expenses don’t have to be required by your employer to be considered necessary. You make the call about whether an expense is necessary to do your job.

Bunching up deductions in a single tax year, instead of spreading them out of 2 years, may help you qualify to claim them and save more money.

Some tax deductions are subject to certain limitations, and that’s the case with these types of unreimbursed, job-related expenses. You must meet 2 requirements to claim them:

1. You must file taxes on Form 1040 and itemize deductions on Schedule A. You enter job-rated expenses in the section of Schedule A titled "Job Expenses and Certain Miscellaneous Deductions."
2. You can only claim the amount that exceeds 2% of your adjusted gross income.

For example, if your income is $50,000, 2% is $1,000. So only the amount above $1,000 would be tax deductible. If your job-related expenses total $2,500, you could deduct $1,500 ($2,500 - $1,000)—not the full amount of $2,500. If your total expenses were less than $1,000, you don’t get to claim them.

If you fall short of having enough expenses to meet the 2% threshold, delay paying as many as possible until the following tax year. Bunching up deductions in a single tax year, instead of spreading them out over 2 years, may help you qualify to claim them and save more money.

Or if you know you’ll have plenty of job-related expenses to qualify for the deduction in the current year, prepay expenses when possible. Qualifying for a tax deduction every other year is better than not qualifying for a deduction at all.

The expense examples I mentioned are not a complete list, so check out IRS Publication 529 to learn more. There are more limitations on certain types of expenses, such as meals and entertainment, which you can learn more about in IRS Publication 463.

If you have frequent or high expenses related to your job that come out of your own pocket, speak with a tax accountant about the best way to document them so you can use them as legitimate tax deductions.

See also: 5 Ways to Pay a Tax Bill You Can't Afford

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3. Start a business.

No matter if you want to create a tech startup that revolutionizes the world or just do a little freelancing work on the side, having a business is a great way to shelter more of your money from taxes.

For instance, if you start building websites or offering services as a virtual assistant, reasonable business expenses might include the cost of a computer, accounting software, and office furniture. If you’re a rideshare driver you could deduct a portion of your car payment, insurance, and cell phone bills.

If you’re trying to profit from your business—and not just engaged in a hobby—you can turn some of your personal expenses into allowable business deductions.

See also: 5 Retirement Options When You're Self-Employed

If you’re trying to profit from your business—and not just engaged in a hobby—you can turn some of your personal expenses into allowable business deductions.

4. Take the home office deduction.

If you operate a business from home, you’re eligible for even more money-saving tax deductions. You can claim a home office deduction whether you rent or own your home and no matter if it’s a full- or part-time venture.  

Maybe you use a portion of your bedroom, a large walk-in closet, or a detached garage to work, store inventory, or meet with clients. You can deduct 100% of expenses that directly affect the areas of your home used for business, such as repairs or installation of internet. But you can never deduct expenses that are completely unrelated to your home office, such as remodeling in other parts of your home or the addition of a pool.

You’ll have indirect expenses for your office that you would incur whether you had a home office or not, such as maintenance, insurance, utilities, real estate taxes, and depreciation. For these, you’re allowed to deduct a certain amount based on the size of your office as a percentage of your home, using either a standard or a simplified calculation method.

For instance, if your apartment is 1,000 square feet and you use a spare bedroom and bath that’s 120 square feet to work, then you have a home office space that’s 12%. The standard method allows you to deduct 12% of your total indirect expenses for business use.

Starting in 2013, the IRS introduced a simplified method to calculate your home office deduction. You just multiply your allowable square footage by $5. In general, you can only claim a maximum space of 300 square feet, which caps your deduction at $1,500 per year. So, if your office space is bigger than 300 square feet, or the deduction would add up to more than $1,500, you’d come out ahead using the original, standard method.

And if you’re an employee who works remotely from home because you don’t have the option to go to a local office, you can also claim a home office deduction. For more details check out IRS Publication 587.

See also: How to Make Money from Home

5. Contribute to retirement accounts.

One of the best ways to protect your income from taxes and accumulate wealth for the future at the same time is to contribute to one or more retirement accounts.

One of the best ways to protect your income from taxes and accumulate wealth for the future at the same time is to contribute to one or more retirement accounts.

There are accounts designed for individuals, such as a traditional IRA or Roth IRA. Many employees have the option to participate in a traditional or Roth 401k or 403b at work. And there are retirement accounts just for the self-employed too.

Different retirement accounts come with different rules and annual contribution limits. But the important points to remember are that traditional accounts give you an immediate, upfront tax deduction. You don’t pay any tax on traditional contributions or their earnings in the account until you make withdrawals in the future.

The other main type of retirement account is called a Roth—like a Roth IRA or Roth 401k. These have an opposite tax structure from traditional accounts because you do pay tax upfront on contributions, but the big benefit comes later when you take withdrawals of contributions and earnings in retirement that are completely tax free.

Free Resource: Retirement Account Comparison Chart (PDF download)

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6. Contribute to medical savings accounts.

The two most popular savings accounts for healthcare expenses are a flexible spending arrangement (FSA) and a health savings account (HSA).

An FSA can only be offered by employers. You and your employer can make contributions that are tax-free if they’re spent on qualified medical and childcare expenses by a certain deadline.

Anyone who has a qualified high deductible health plan, through an employer or on your own, is eligible for an HSA. It’s like an FSA, except that it doesn’t have a spending deadline. Any unused funds roll over from year to year in an HSA and eventually can be used like a retirement account after age 65.

Both accounts are fantastic vehicles to shelter your out-of-pocket medical expenses from taxes. Check out IRS Publication 969 for more information.

See also: Healthcare Q&A: Reform, Rules, and the Role of HSAs

7. Become a homeowner.

In addition to being a real shelter, real estate is a powerful tax shelter, too. When you purchase a home for your primary residence you cut taxes the year you buy it, every year you own it, and even on the back end when you sell it.

When you purchase a home for your primary residence you cut taxes the year you buy it, every year you own it, and even on the back end when you sell it.

Homeowners can deduct costs like mortgage points paid on a loan, your mortgage interest, private mortgage insurance, and property taxes from their taxable income. And if you tap into your home’s equity with a loan or line of credit, you may also be able to deduct some of the interest you pay on that debt, too.

If you decide to sell your main home, and have lived there for at least two years, you get to keep up to $250,000 of capital gains or profit on the sale tax free. If you’re married and file a joint tax return, double that amount for an impressive $500,000 you get to keep tax free.

See also: 3 Real Estate FAQs for Buyers, Sellers, and Investors

8. Hire a tax professional.

While hiring a tax pro does cost money, it’s been my experience that it’s one of the best ways to save. A good accountant can find additional tax deductions or credits you’re eligible for, help you make decisions, and keep you organized so you never pay more tax than you should.

See also: Financial Q&A: Tips to Pay Less Tax or Get a Bigger Refund

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How to Disrupt the Yogurt Business

Food has always been a passion point for Koel Thomae, the co-founder of Noosa Yogurt. She started out in the food industry working for Izze, a beverage company, and was visiting her family in Australia when she came across a tub of full-fat yogurt popping with fresh passionfruit puree in a local market. It changed how she thought about the food, which was for so long a highly processed, low-fat, diet substitute for actually tasty dairy products. She teamed up with Colorado dairy farmer Rob Graves to create Noosa, a whole milk yogurt with innovative flavors, a unique package, and a velvety texture.

Starting a food business isn't easy, and Koel ran into plenty of struggles with getting retailers on board, handling the logistics of perishable dairy production, and getting her product's name out into the marketplace.

Listen to the full episode with Koel in the top right hand player or on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

4 Tips for More Mindful Eating

Whenever I talk about foods that can help control your hunger, I’m aware  of the fact that hunger is only one if the things that drive us to eat. Frequently, we eat simply because it’s time to eat, or because food is present, or because we’re bored, or blue, or procrastinating.  I’d even go so far as to say that, for many of us, hunger is only rarely our primary motivation for eating.

If we only ate when we were hungry, then choosing foods that are good at satisfying hunger (such as those that are high in protein, fiber, and water) would pretty much solve the problem of overeating.  But because we so often eat (and overeat) when we’re not hungry, we also need strategies that address non-hunger eating.

This week, I have four strategies that can help you avoid mindless eating and overeating.

Mindful Eating Tip #1: Only Eat

Just as distracted driving is responsible for a huge number of traffic accidents, distracted eating is the culprit in a lot of overeating. Eating in front of the computer or TV, in the car, while reading, or any other time when your attention is elsewhere is an easy way to lose track of what and how much you’ve eaten.

See also: Why We Overeat

I’m as guilty of this as anyone else. When eating lunch by myself, I always want to grab a newspaper to read or scroll through my Facebook feed while I’m eating. If I get hungry while I’m working, I’m tempted to bring a snack back up to my office so that I can keep working while I nosh.

But when most of our attention is on something else while we’re eating, we barely taste our food. We get very little enjoyment out of it. We’re not in touch with how much we’ve eaten. And worst of all, because we’re not at all tuned in to our bodies, we’re more likely to keep eating past the point at which our hunger is satisfied.

The solution is simple: When you’re eating, only eat. Turn off the TV.  Step away from your desk. Put down your phone. Give all of your attention to your meal and the experience of eating it.  Something that you’d eat mindlessly while staring at your screen might suddenly strike you as not worth the calories once you’re actually paying attention.  If just eating isn’t entertaining enough for you, maybe you’re actually not that hungry!

I don’t mean to imply that you always have to eat alone—or completely ignore your dining companions—in order to eat mindfully.  Eating with others can divert some of your attention away from what you are eating and how you feel while eating it. But sharing a meal is one of life’s great pleasures—and it needn’t come at the expense of mindful eating. The next two tips can help you eat mindfully even when eating with other people.

Mindful Eating Tip #2: Mind the First Bite

Last fall, I went on a Mindfulness Retreat and at the retreat center I attended, meals are consumed in complete silence, in order to promote truly mindful eating—with every bite given our full attention. Although it was an illuminating exercise, eating all of your meals in complete silence isn’t really practical in real life. But you can get a lot of benefit simply from giving the first bite of every meal or every food your complete attention.

This tip is actually from Chade Meng Tan, best known as Google’s in-house mindfulness guru. In his book, Joy on Demand, he talks about tuning in to the “thin slices of joy” in everyday life as a way of increasing our overall happiness and contentment.

Research has shown that the very first bite or sip of a tasty food or beverage is the most rewarding, with every subsequent bite or sip delivering a diminishing amount of pleasure. So Tan’s tip is really designed to help you pay attention to the most pleasurable moment of every meal.

But really tuning into the very first bite of every food you eat can also help ensure that the decision to begin eating is an intentional one, as opposed to a reflexive or even unconscious response.

How often have you walked by a dish of candy and popped one in your mouth without even stopping to consider whether you even like that kind of candy? Or walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bit of whatever was sitting on the counter or table, just because it was there? Five minutes later, and you might not even remember having eaten it!

If you can train yourself to give your complete attention to the first bite of every food, the decision to eat something will always be a conscious choice. You’ll also notice how much pleasure you do or don’t get from it. Try this for a week and watch what happens!

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Mindful Eating Tip #3: Mouth Full/Fork Empty

This genius tip comes from Darya Rose, who has lots of great insights about mindful eating in her book, Foodist,  and in her blog on SummerTomato.com.  Darya noticed that, after taking a bite of her meal, she immediately began loading the next bite onto her fork while she still was chewing. After she pointed this out, I realized that I do the same thing.

Darya implemented a simple rule for herself that I highly suggest adopting for yourself: If there is food in your mouth, there shouldn’t be food on your fork. Wait until you’ve finished chewing and swallowing whatever is in your mouth before beginning to compose the next forkful. This simple habit can be game-changing!

If there is food in your mouth, there shouldn’t be food on your fork. 

For one thing, it will tend to slow you down, which can help prevent overeating.  You’ll also have a more vivid experience of the food because it helps keep you focused on the bite you’re currently enjoying rather than the one that’s coming up next.  I also like this practice because it can help you eat more mindfully without impairing your ability to enjoy the company of your dining companion.

Mindful Eating Tip #4: Create a Meal-Ending Ritual

The meal is over. We’ve finished what’s on our plate and are feeling pleasantly full. But somehow our brain doesn’t get the memo that the eating occasion has ended.  And so we continue to mindlessly graze. We snack on leftovers while cleaning up, or pour another inch or three of wine into our glass. On our way out of the kitchen, we might even open up the cupboard to see what’s in there—despite having just eaten!

To stop this tendency, develop a ritual that clearly signals to your brain that the meal or snack is now complete. You might brush your teeth, or wash your hands and apply a scented hand lotion. You could chew a piece of gum while you do the dishes. (Wine tastes terrible after gum!) There’s even a brand of after-dinner mint call Meal-Enders, designed specifically for this purpose.  

Whatever you meal-ending ritual is, the more consistently you invoke it, the more effective it will be. Your brain will come to associate that particular activity or sensation with the cessation of eating.

It’s the same trick I used to develop my now-ingrained morning exercise habit.  I've trained myself to put on my gym clothes as soon as I finish my cup of coffee.  And once I’ve got my gym clothes on, going to the gym is automatic. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t even consciously think about it anymore. When I see the bottom of my cup, my brain instantly pictures my running shoes. It’s weird.  But it works!

This Week: Mindfulness on the Menu

You could implement one or two of these mindful eating strategies or all four.  But try to stick with it for at least a week. Then, tell me what you think. Did any of these tips help you avoid or reduce mindless eating? Which ones had the biggest impact?  Did eating more mindfully increase your enjoyment of food?  What did you learn about your eating habits? Post your thoughts below or on the Nutrition Diva Facebook page. I’m really looking forward to hearing the results of your experiments!

More questions? Send an email or post your question on the Nutrition Diva Facebook page. Then, be sure to subscribe to the Nutrition Diva podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen, so don't miss a single episode! 

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

6 Items You Can Use to Cover Wood Scratches

Shoe Polish

Does your wooden coffee table, dresser, or dining room furniture have visible scratches? No sweat! Use a similarly hued shoe polish to fill in the offending marks, and voilà—the wood item will look like new!

See also: How To Get Rid of Scuff Marks on Your Shoes

Cooking Oil

For tiny scratches in your wooden table or floor, rub a bit of vegetable or canola oil into the surface. The oil will darken the area and help it blend in.

A Nut

If you notice a scratch in your wooden floor or furniture, try this crafty (and delicious!) solution. Find a nut that matches the color of the wood; the most common types for this purpose are pecans, walnuts, and hazelnuts. Rub the scratched area gently with the broken edges of the nuts—using the insides, not the shells. When you’re all done, enjoy a snack break.

Eyeliner

To fix tiny furniture scratches, use eyeliner in a matching color to fill in the hole.

Crayons

A crayon also works when you need to repair a scratch in wood. Just find a color that’s a close match to the wood, then rub the crayon or polish into the scratch. Wipe off any excess wax with a credit card edge, then buff with a cotton cloth.

Coffee

Cover up scratches in wood furniture or floors with coffee! Just brew a very strong pot, and then use a cotton ball or rag to apply the coffee over the scratch. It works as a stain, and will have the scratch blending in with the floor in no time!

For more cleaning tips for around the house, check out our Cleaning Tips board on Pinterest. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook for our Tip of the Day!

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

5 Clever Candle Hacks

What to Do If Your Candle is Too Big for Your Candlestick

Most taper candles are too large to fit into standard candlesticks, so you’ll have to do a little work to ensure your candle fits securely. (Do not light the candle and melt wax into the base—this is messy and dangerous!) First, try placing the bottom of the candle under hot water; this softens the wax and allows it to mold to its new surroundings. If this doesn’t do the trick, whittle down the wax around the base of the candle with a paring knife, checking the fit as you go. Stop when you get it narrow enough to fit the holder. Apply wax adhesive (or some sticky tack) around the base of the candle, and place it in the candlestick.

What to Do If Your Candle is Too Small for Your Candlestick

If your candle is too skinny for your candlestick, wrap some aluminum foil around the base of it until you get a snug fit. Or, you can use a hair rubberband.

How to Store Candles

Looking for a container to store long, tapered candles in? The best one we’ve found are the tubes that Pringles potato crisps come in. It even has a lid! You can also use paper-towel tubes to protect them. Just wrap two candles at a time in tissue paper, then slip them into the cardboard tube. Keep tubes together with rubber bands if necessary.

Remove Candle Wax

Did you get candle wax on your candle holders, table, or even your carpet? Here’s how to get rid of candle wax on any kind of surface.

Instant Outdoor Candles

As long as you stay safe, candles are great for adding light and atmosphere to an outdoor party. To keep them from blowing out, just use a clear 2-liter bottle. Cut off the top and bottom, then place the middle portion over candles that you’re using outside. The plastic will act as a shield to keep wind away and the fire lit.

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Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

How to Learn From Your Experience When Leaving a Job

Listener Quentin writes in:

"I’ve just left my job. I followed the advice in your episode on how to leave a job, so I’m leaving a good impression. What else I should do to wrap up myself?"

Quentin, your timing is perfect! Because while you search and search for a job that isn’t going to be taken over by robots within six months of your start date, you have an unprecedented opportunity to milk your former job for everything it’s worth.

Long ago, early in my career, I disagreed with a senior person at my job. I was informed in no uncertain terms that he had “30 years of experience” and thus he must be right.

Nope. I was right. He had 30 year’s experience, but it was one year, repeated 30 times. Experience only counts if you learn from it.

When leaving a job, while it’s still fresh in your mind, it’s the perfect time to use it a learning experience. No, really. Breathe. In… Out… And now say to yourself, “It wasn’t a mistake, it was a learning experience. It wasn’t a mistake, it was a learning experience.” Also, polish that oil lamp you got at the garage sale and a Genie will come out. BOOM! But seriously, you actually can learn from your experience. Set aside an hour or two for reflection and get down to it.

Make a list of all the relevant events

Start by getting a piece of engineering graph paper with a wide first column, and five narrow columns. Visit http://ift.tt/2o13Xsr to download a free PDF. In the first column, list all the major failures and conflicts you can remember from the job. No one but you will look at this, so you can abbreviate. You’ll list things like “conference hotel,” “corporate logo fiasco,” “landed the huge deal,” “the promised raise,” and “whipped cream incident.”

Some things are unknowable

Now consider each item in turn. “Conference hotel.” My friend attended a conference. Wanting to have everything prepared, he asked the front desk, “I’m planning clients up to the room. Can I make arrangements to get them let into the elevator?” The clerk asked, “Are you with the conference?” “Yes,” he replied. “We’re sorry sir, if you’re with the conference, then you’re not allowed to have business guests up to your room.”

Yes, this actually happened. If he hadn’t been at the conference, it would have been fine. But somehow as a conference guest, he couldn’t. And that wasn’t stipulated anywhere in any of the paperwork.

Put a checkmark in the first narrow column. Label that column, “WTF” which stands for “What the frack?” Any time an incident was caused by something you didn’t know, but no reasonable person could possibly have known, it gets a WTF checkmark. 

Read WTF items and remember them for the future. But don’t beat yourself up for them. There’s no way you could have known.

Some things are your fault

Next is “corporate logo fiasco.” So it’s true, you jokingly told the graphic designer “why don’t you just use a silhouette of Taylor Swift eating a banana as our corporate logo.” The graphic designer took you seriously, and Taylor Swift was not amused.

This gets a checkmark in the second column. Label it “my bad.” These are things you need to consider seriously, and decide how you’ll change your behavior next time. In this case, the solutions is obvious: make sure to tell people when your suggestion is a joke, and just to be safe, only joke about celebrities for whom the statute of limitations has expired.

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Stranger in a strange land

“Landed the huge deal.” Well, it turns out that you did, in fact, land the deal to supply brains for the zombie general’s army. What you didn’t do is recognize that the zombie general was not in your sales territory. Oops.

At your last company, salespeople were very relaxed about territory, and a cross-territory sale would have been dealt with by simply splitting the commission. At your new company, however, cross-territory sales is considered slightly worse than giving fire to the humans. Just be thankful you aren’t chained to a rock having your liver eaten by crows. 

Put a checkmark in the third column. Label this column “cultural fit.” These are things that might be fine depending on a company’s culture. Anything with this checkmark is worth checking out when you enter a new job.

The promised raise

When the Big Boss promised you a raise if you met your sales quota, you assumed that meant, well, you’d get the raise. But after hitting your numbers, your boss explained, “I meant you got the raise if we didn’t need the money for something else.” Oops. 

Sometimes we make assumptions about what a promise means, or how a contract works. It’s super-important to clarify these things by asking good questions, and then confirming the answers in an email, so you have a paper trail. Checkmark the fourth column, and label it “Shoulda asked.”

The boss is guano crazy

Then there’s the whipped cream incident. This is a g-rated podcast, so we won’t go into details. But it’s the incident that made you realize that your boss is crazy. Not like, figure-of-speech-crazy, but like, seriously bat guano crazy. Like, this-person-shouldn’t-be-allowed-to-walk-their-dog-without-a-chaperone crazy. Put a checkmark in the fifth column and label it, “Wacko boss.”

Identify successes, too

We often learn more from our failures than our successes, but success is a great teacher as well. Add one more column, label it “Success!” Any incidents that were especially good, or which had explicit lessons about what worked get a checkmark in this column. 

Categorize all of your major incidents using this grid. And now, you have your learning agenda. Review the WTF items for ad hoc things to remember in the future that you just hafta learn from experience.

The Wacko Boss items are great ideas for your first novel.

The “my bad” and “I shoulda asked” items are genuine opportunities to learn. Review them. Learn. Decide what you’ll do differently next time.

The “culture learning” become part of your due diligence checklist. When you start a new job, these highlight questions you can ask, and things that you should know early on to avoid screwing up.

The “Wacko boss” items get stored away in your idea file for your first novel, because sometimes life is genuinely stranger than fiction.

And the “Success!” column becomes a list of things you want to keep handy in the future.

Quentin, when it’s time to leave a job, make sure take everything you can. Not the stationery supplies, but the learning. Use an explicit process where you review major events. Categorizing them will help you think through which are lessons you can take with you anywhere, which will apply some places and not others, and which only apply to your prior company or boss. And when all else fails, keep a spare can of whipped cream in your bottom desk drawer. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you why.

This is Stever Robbins. Follow GetItDoneGuy on Twitter and Facebook. I run programs to help people develop the kick-ass business skills they need to create an extraordinary life. If you want to know more, visit http://ift.tt/1l2uWN6. 

Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!

How Bad Is the Air Pollution Where You Live?

The past several decades have seen some success stories in the way of cleaning up air pollution, including the once contaminated oil refinery in Mexico City and the infamous Los Angeles smog. Although southern Californians are still working toward air that will allow them to breathe easy, you can see how far they’ve come in these historic photos.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) still estimates that adverse health effects due to ambient air pollution killed 3 million people in 2012 making it one of the largest environmental risks to human health. In fact, 98% of cities in low and middle income countries do not meet WHO air quality guidelines. In high income countries that percentage is at 56% or still more than half.

The variation in air quality from country to country is even clearer in the WHO’s map of global ambient air pollution which shows the majority of the US and Canada have WHO Air Quality Guideline levels of less than the recommended maximum of 10 micrograms per cubic meter. In the United States, our clean air is due in large part to regulations on likely polluters inspired and enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency.

However, our access to clean air in the US could change. The current administration has proposed to eliminate 31% of the annual budget for the EPA, or a total of $2.6 billion. If this budget passes, 1 in 5 EPA employees (~3,000 people) are expected to lose their jobs which could lead to difficulties in assessing and enforcing current regulations.

Although the proposed budget cuts would be felt throughout the EPA, Reuters reports that the president may be drafting an executive order that will specifically work to reduce existing financial benefits in place to encourage industries to reduce their contributions to air pollution.

What causes air pollution?

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the most common sources of outdoor ambient air pollution come from the release of gases and chemicals into the air during energy use and production, like, for example burning fossil fuels like coal, gas, or natural gas by cars, trucks, factories, power plants, incinerators, and engines. The EPA breaks down the main types of air pollutants into six categories: ground-level ozone (or smog), particulate matter (or soot), carbon monoxide, lead, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Other air pollutants include mercury and benzene found in gasoline.  

Smog forms when the emissions from the burning of fossil fuels combine with sunlight. Thus, rising global temperatures will necessarily lead to an increase in the right conditions for smog to thrive. Particulate matter, or soot, describes tiny solid or gas particles of soil, smoke, dust, and allergens, like pollen and mold. Reports like those from the World Health Organization also incorporate contributions from indoor air pollution sources, like homes that use biomass fuels and coal for cooking and heating.

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Air pollution has been linked to respiratory diseases, including lung cancer and chronic respiratory problems like asthma, as well as stroke, heart disease, and bladder cancer.  Pollutants can also enter our blood stream causing longer term blood disorders and even complications with our immune, nervous, and endocrine systems. Pregnant women and children are most at risk.

How bad is air pollution worldwide?

Limit your own contribution to pollution by minimizing driving and pushing for regulation at the local, state, and national levels to protect our communities.

A recent study in the journal of Geophysical Research Letters found that more than half a million people in the country of India died prematurely in 2011 due to air pollution related deaths, a tragedy that further costs the country hundreds of billions of dollars. In China, where air pollution levels have repeatedly clocked in at levels of over 300 micrograms per cubic meter, well over the WHO’s suggested limit of 10 micrograms per cubic meter, unhealthy air is estimated to lead to 1.6 million deaths each year.

In a report from the American Lung Association, cities in the US were ranked based on both their year-round levels of ambient particulate matter and their ozone exposure from 2011 to 2013. All of the top 7 cities for high levels of particle pollution were in California, including Bakersfield and Fresno-Madera, where 9% of the population suffers from asthma. Also in the top 12 were Pittsburgh, Louisville, Cleveland, and Philadelphia.

Whether or not you live in one of these cities, what can you do to limit your exposure to air pollutants? The Natural Resources Defense Council has a helpful list of individual actions each one of us can take to protect ourselves from ambient pollution. Stay away from obvious smoke whether it’s coming from a tail pipe or a ground vent, and encourage school buses not to idle, for example, near where children play. Check the air quality reports in your area – you can sign up at AirNow.gov - and consider avoiding outdoor physical activity at times when levels are particularly high. And of course, limit your own contribution to pollution by minimizing driving and pushing for regulation at the local, state, and national levels to protect our communities.

Until next time, this is Sabrina Stierwalt with Everyday Einstein’s Quick and Dirty Tips for helping you make sense of science. You can become a fan of Everyday Einstein on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, where I’m @QDTeinstein. If you have a question that you’d like to see on a future episode, send me an email at everydayeinstein@quickanddirtytips.com. 

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

How I Healed My Low Back Pain Naturally: Part I

Hop, hop, hop … oomph.

As soon as the muscle on the right side of my low back seized up and sent me into teeth-gritting pain, I knew that my simple morning workout of practicing jump-rope double unders had suddenly resulted in a debilitating injury.

A low back strain. Sprain. Spasm. Pull. Whatever you want to call it, it hurt like heck and within twenty minutes I could barely stand.

But despite back injuries like this sticking with many folks for months, years, or even a frustrating entire life of dealing with nagging aches in the spine and hips, I was personally back in action and fully healed within just four weeks.

So how did I heal a serious low back injury so fast? You’re about to discover how I healed my low back pain naturally, and the best exercises and workouts, best treatment, best gear, best supplements and best books and resources for healing your own low back pain without surgery and medications.

See Also: When to Worry About Low Back Pain

The Best Exercises And Workouts for Low Back Pain

Contrary to popular belief, and as I discuss in my article “How to Workout With A Low Back Injury,” you don’t simply have to lay with your feet up on the couch on a heating pad when you have injured your low back. Movement will not only increase blood and lymph flow to allow your low back to heal faster, but will also keep you burning fat, maintaining muscle, and avoiding going slightly insane from being a complete sedentary slob as your low back heals.

So in addition to the link above, what are my favorite exercises and workouts for low back pain? Here’s what I do:

-ELDOA training.

ELDOA, which stands for Étirements Longitudinaux avec Decoaptation OsteoArticulaire, or Longitudinal Osteo-Articular Decoaptation of the Spine in English, is a form of deep fascial stretching that elongates the space between the discs of the low back and decompresses the spine – using nothing but your own body weight and a few simple stretch moves. To learn more about what exactly ELDOA training looks like and how it works, listen to this recent podcast I recorded with my own personal ELDOA instructor. Below are links to sample videos of how to do it (I simply did each of the exercises below once per day for sixty seconds each).

– T6-T7 – T8-T9 – L5-S1

-In addition to daily ELDOA stretching, I also recommend you do the daily Core Foundation program from Dr. Eric Goodman's book True To Form.  I actually interviewed Dr. Goodman in my podcast, and I have written an article on Foundation Training.  Check out the interview with Dr Goodman, Why Your Back Is The Most Important Part Of Your Core Workout, and read my article on Foundation Training to understand exactly how this process also decompresses your spine and “turns on your butt”, which is very important for eliminating low back pain and keeping it from happening again. I did the exercises from the book aboveonce per day, and they take a total of about 10 minutes.

-Finally, avoid the two worst positions for your low back: sitting for long periods of time or (surprisingly) standing for long periods of time. Both can compress your spine or cause your spine muscles to spasm and lock up, especially when they’re injured. Instead of sitting, adopt a lunging or kneeling position, and if you must sit, for example, in an airplane or car, then tuck a lumbar support pad, towel, blanket or pillow below your low back. If you have a standing workstation, remove pressure from the spine and discs by standing with one foot elevated on a raised platform and by frequently changing positions. Here’s a video I recorded demonstrating my own setup in my office that allows me to move in a variety of back pain relieving positions during the day at work.

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The Best Treatments for Low Back Pain

Rather than rushing out to see a back surgeon, who may prescribe back surgery that you don’t actually need, I’d recommend you first consider the following, each of which I personally did:

- Chiropractic or osteopathic adjustment. Often a low back injury results in ribs, hips, vertebra or other joints that are out of place. An adjustment can be as simple as “popping” these back into place. To learn more about chiropractic and osteopathic adjustments and how they work, listen to my interview with my own personal chiropractic physician. I had three adjustments over the course of my four week healing period.

-Deep tissue work. Foam rolling and other tools like lacrosse balls, tennis balls and the type of apparatus described in the book “Becoming a Supple Leopard” should be used not just on the area of pain around the low back, but just as importantly on the lower front of your body, in areas such as your psoas and hip flexors. By rolling and kneading and massaging these areas, along with the erector spinae, gluteus medius and the quadratus lumborum in the low back area, you will remove a great deal of pressure from your lower back. So remember: deep tissue therapy on the front of the body is just as important as working on the back of the body, even if the back of your body is the only part that hurts. Once you “free up” the muscles on the front of your body, you’ll find you can often move far more pain-free.

For the first two to four weeks of your injury, keep moving, but only with non-weight-bearing exercise. This means, in addition to the ELDOA and Core Foundation exercises above, you can keep moving with workouts such as swimming, elliptical training, cycling, easy walking with deep nasal breathing or breath holds, super slow exercising on machines, and light upper and lower body elastic band or cable work, like I demonstrate in this video. Resist the urge to engage in heavy weight training and resist the stress that you’ll somehow “lose muscle”. As I highlight in this article, light, high-repetition exercises can be just as effective as heavy, low-repetition exercise at maintaining and even building muscle. When it comes to maintaining muscle,  frequent use of a sauna or, as I discuss in this article, an infrared sauna can not only keep blood flowing and heal injuries even faster due to the release of growth hormone and other healing factors, but can also help with maintaining muscle due to the expression of something called “heat shot protein”. Just be careful with any cold thermogenesis or cold plunges afterwards so that you don’t activate your “fight and flight”, sympathetic nervous system, which can throw your low back into a spasm once you’re all relaxed!

-Yoga. Yoga is one of my favorite low back healing workouts, and during the course of my healing, I did a 30 minute yoga workout three times per week. The specific stretches that I also sprinkled in throughout my day and found to be extremely helpful for the low back included:

The Scorpion Stretch

Any lunging, lying or kneeling hip flexor or hip opener (this article highlights several of my favorites)

Kneeling back bend pose (particularly the Pigeon and the Sphinx, pictured here).

Yoga is also a great way of fighting stress, but choose your yoga wisely, as some types of yoga can also be stressful. Power yoga moves and very intense stretches should be avoided until your back is pain-free. If you take a class or use a yoga video, Hatha yoga is the one that I would recommend, as it promotes physical relaxation by decreasing activity of the sympathetic nervous system, thereby decreasing cortisol, lowering heart rate and increasing breath volume.  

-Breathwork. To lower cortisol and relax your back, you must monitor your breathing and make sure you are breathing properly. To learn how to breathe in a way that destresses the body, check out Belisa Vranich’s recently released book, called Breathe, or listen to my podcast interview with her here.

So now you have the best exercises, workouts and treatments for naturally healing a low back injury.  In next week’s episode, we’ll delve into the best gear, the best supplements, and the best books and resources you should get your hands on for healing your own low back pain.

In the meantime, if you have more questions, comments or feedback about how to heal your low back pain naturally, then you can join the conversation at http://ift.tt/1xq4tz1.