Why Weight Training Matters

Posted on April 11, 2010 by admin

It’s not just for good looks.

Your heart needs oxygen, so you do aerobics and cardio. But you should also add in some weight training to your routine. No, lifting weights isn’t just a way to beef up your pecs and make your thighs harder than granite (though weight lifting is a great way to do both). Weight training also gives your body and your brain some other perks that are equally as gratifying.

Here are a few of the reasons you need to spend some time with weights in your hands.

Reason #1: It Keeps You Balanced

Obviously, you need plenty of cardio to keep your body going strong. But to keep it going its strongest all the time, you’ll need to lift weights. You don’t have to bench 450 pounds and squat 2 tons. You just need to add weights to your routine on a regular basis. This will ensure your body and brain are well balanced and able to perform at their peak at all times.

Reason #2: It Fights Osteoporosis

At the same time lifting weights helps your muscles grow denser, it does the same for your bones. Instead of waiting for a fracture to cause you to realize your need for weight training, get started with the weights today. Grab a small dumbbell and start pumping away while you sit in your living room chair or walk around the neighborhood.

Reason #3: It Burns More Fat

In order to trim off extra fat from your body, you’ll need to get sweating with some good cardiovascular exercises. But to make your body burn more calories during your cardio and when you’re going about your regular daily routine, you’ll need to add some muscle weight to your body. The best way to do this? Lift weights.

Reason #4: It Helps You Sleep

Nearly everything you do requires an adequate amount of sleep. From mowing the lawn to writing a poem to answering the telephone to balancing your checkbook, if you don’t get enough shuteye, you won’t be able to complete these tasks as well as your well-rested peers. A great way to increase your likelihood to get a good night of sleep is to lift weights. So head to the weight-lifting section of the gym, do your thing, and get ready to hit the hay.

Reason #5: Your Body Does What It Should

More than likely, you’ve never had to chop wood with an axe or walk to school, and you can’t remember the last time you opted for stairs over the elevator. While life is more convenient than it was during the good old days, new technologies have resulted in you putting fewer demands on your muscles. Weight training allows your muscles to do what they were created for – moving and working.

Reason #6: Go Longer, Stronger

Feel worn out at the end of the day? Then you must not be lifting weights. Getting regular weight training helps you grow your stamina so you can go strong all day, no matter what you come up against. In addition to going longer, lifting weights helps you go stronger as well.

Use Your Body

Though weight training is usually thought of as requiring hard, metal plates, it doesn’t always. Actually, you carry around all the weights necessary to keep your body in pretty good shape.

If you can’t make it to the gym and don’t have room to keep a weight set at your house, you can perform exercises that pit you against your body weight. How? By performing some of the most basic exercises in your repertoire. Push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, sit-ups, and leg squats all force you to work against your body weight and give you many of the same results of using barbells, dumbbells, and strength resistance machines.

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Exercise and Stress

Posted on April 11, 2010 by admin
Can’t have one and the other!

Like some of your favorite cartoon heroes and villains, stress and exercise are archenemies, battling to take control of your mental health. When one is present, the other is likely not in the picture. Ready to do battle with the stress in your life? You’ve got to hit the gym.

A Strong Connection

From a young age, you have known that exercise does the body good. But now research has shown that it also does the mind good, and that exercise is particularly good at reducing stress. It does this by increasing your body’s production of endorphins. Known for making you feel good, endorphins are essential to happiness and a life devoid of excessive worrying.

As such, exercise has an uncanny ability to change your mood from gloom and doom to optimism and hope. A quick jog through the park or a game of basketball both require you to focus on something beyond those things currently causing you to stress out. Once you’re finished with your workout, you are able to see the stressors for what they are – small things that need to be taken care of, one thing at a time. With this new mindset, stress washes away and makes room for productivity and positivity.

Give your stress wings and let it fly away.
– Carin Hartness

Your Responsibility

Now that you know exercise can kill your stress, you have a lot of work to do. That’s right – it’s up to you to get exercise. It may seem an easy task to get to the gym, but you probably know by now that it’s harder than you think. And it can be particularly difficult if you’re being bombarded with stress around every corner.

The problem is that stress often makes you want to avoid the gym. After all, you’ve barely got time to get everything done on your to-do list, so how could you possibly squeeze a spin class into your routine? By forcing yourself, that’s how. Because if you allow stress to win the battle, you’ll never overcome the overwhelming feelings that are brought on by those nagging stressors. Getting to the gym may seem like a trial, but the perks of feeling better instantly and getting improved perspective on what is important will help more than you can imagine.

And remember – any kind of exercise is better than none. Know you won’t be able to spend an hour at the gym after work? Take 15 minutes during lunch for a walk. It may seem like a small step – which it is, but it will reap big benefits for your mental health.

Beyond the Gym

Unfortunately, exercise alone isn’t always going to help your stress melt away and never return. Sometimes, it takes a little more effort to fend off the stresses of daily life. If you find yourself unable to relax and lose your stress with exercise, it may be time to take some other steps for maximum stress reduction. Other ways to reduce the stress in your life include the following:

  • eating a healthy diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables
  • spending quality time with family and friends
  • talking with a medical professional, such as a psychologist
  • going to social gatherings when given the opportunity
  • taking a warm bath
  • practicing special breathing techniques

Regardless of what extra steps it takes to overcome your stress, don’t give up on exercise. It may not fight your stress all on its own, but keeping up a regular exercise regiment works wonders on your stress, helping it stay under control and making it possible for other stress-relieving methods to work their magic.

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The Cold Truth about Coffee

Posted on March 27, 2010 by admin

Every other day, a new study hits the coffee-drinking world by storm. “New benefits found for coffee drinkers.” “Coffee may cause problems later in life.” “Coffee boasts healing properties.” “Coffee may cause harm.”

If you’ve found yourself jumping on and off and back on the coffee bandwagon, you can finally settle down. Well, maybe.

It’s Good

While coffee’s ability to get you up and ready to go is a nice perk, recent studies have found some bonafide health benefits for coffee. In fact, so many health benefits were found that WebMD asked, “Coffee: The New Health Food?” Parkinson’s disease, headaches, sadness, colon cancer, and even diabetes can be prevented or the risk reduced with coffee. At least that’s what recent research says.

How does it work? Good question. The easiest to explain is coffee’s ability to fight cancer. This is due to coffee being filled with antioxidants, which are known to prevent cancer. Just as interesting is a handful of studies have shown that regular coffee consumption may reduce the risk of Parkinson’s by as much as 80 percent. This benefit is likely due to the high caffeine content in coffee, and the results are so convincing that researchers are looking to create a caffeine-based medication to treat Parkinson’s.

Still another study showed drinking coffee reduces the risk of diabetes. Granted, you’ve got to chug about six cups of coffee daily for a real benefit (about 50 percent risk reduction in men) and the research warrants additional study, but it looks like coffee may be just what the doctor ordered.

“Once you wake up and smell the coffee, it’s hard to go back to sleep. – Fran Drescher
It’s Bad”

Then again, there are some noteworthy dangers in making coffee your regular pick-me-up. Most of the problems with coffee are brought on by caffeine. As opposed to many other chemicals, compounds, vitamins, and minerals, your body doesn’t need caffeine to function. You may think otherwise, but you could get along fairly well without coffee.

If you drank a cup of coffee before hitting the hay last night, you may know about one of the problems with the caffeine-filled drink. It keeps you awake when you may want to sleep. On top of that, too much caffeine has been linked to nausea and vomiting, anxiety, excessive urination, restlessness, and even a fast heart rate.

It’s up to You

With so many impressive pros and unwanted cons, you may be wondering what to do. After all, if you drink enough of the hot goodness, you may greatly reduce your risk for conditions such as diabetes and Parkinson’s, but at the same time you’ll be increasing your need to go to the bathroom and may experience an increased heart rate. So should you start a coffee-drinking habit or put the coffee mug away for good? It’s a tricky question that only you and your physician can answer.

Three Other Debated Drinks

Fortunately, coffee isn’t the only liquid that’s gotten a good and then bad and then kind of good rap. Here is a list of three other drinks that have walked the fine line of fame and infamy in recent years.

Ginseng Tea – As America has turned its eye to Eastern medicine, we’ve also looked for drinks to go along with our acupuncture. Enter ginseng tea. While it may cure male impotence, too much can be a bad thing, causing insomnia, nausea, and diarrhea.

Red Wine – Long considered nothing more than a nice way to cap off the perfect meal, red wine stood front and center when research showed it may reduce the risk of heart disease. To get the benefit requires drinking a glass or so each day. Avoiding the potential risk of alcoholism requires self-control.

Milk – Does it do a body good or is it unnecessary? As people become more aware of the various ways to get calcium and vitamin D, the need for drinking cow milk seems to be diminishing. However, that doesn’t stop some from working to get their daily dose of the creamy white bone-building liquid.

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What Makes Us Overeat?

Posted on March 27, 2010 by admin

It’s the downfall of every diet you try. You’re eating the right foods, you’re exercising, but…you’re overeating. Each time you reach for a serving of apple pie, that second chicken cutlet, or another slice of pizza, you’re not thinking about how it might wreak havoc with your diet plans. But afterwards, you’ll regret it and it will leave you wondering just how much is too much.

Too many dieters fall into the trap of binge eating while on a diet. They’re not really hungry, but they can’t stop themselves from reaching for more food.

How many times have you heard a person look at someone who has some weight to lose and say they have no willpower. That must surely be the reason they are overweight, right? If they’d only stop putting food in their mouth, they’d lose weight. Others may say that the person has developed habits that they need to change in order to be successful at losing weight.

A person is overeating when they continue to eat, even when they are not hungry. Most people in America overeat, which is why obesity has grown steadily over the past few decades.

What makes a person overeat if they aren’t hungry? Is it lack of willpower, as some people assume? Or is it something that has become a habit that can be changed?

Definition of Willpower

The definition of willpower is having control over ones actions, and being able to control impulses. Willpower is not a constant thing. It changes with your emotions. For instance, when you are feeling good about yourself, your willpower may be strong. When something has happened in your life that gets your down or causes stress, you may feel that you have to struggle to maintain your willpower.

Definition of Habit

The definition of habit is an acquired behavior pattern that, when repeated often enough, becomes involuntary. A lot of people reach for food without even thinking. In fact, at the end of the day most people couldn’t accurately tell you what they ate during the day because they weren’t paying attention.

So which is it that really keeps you overeating? To some degree, both willpower and habit contribute to overeating. You need to have willpower in order to break the pattern of overeating and change the habit. But there is more at play than just these two things.

When a person is unable to stay on a diet, for whatever reason, he or she becomes depressed. This works against their willpower and changes the psychology of the mind to believe there is no reason to try any longer, making it easier for the person to fall back on old habits. Developing new habits can help sustain your willpower.

Strategies to Stop Overeating

  • Learn what a healthy portion size is and stick to it. Americans have gotten used to “super” sizes, but we don’t really need to eat that much. In fact, a healthy portion is much smaller.
  • Divide your plate into sections. Don’t deprive yourself from sampling your favorite foods. Instead of taking a big portion of lasagna to fill your plate, take a small portion and fill the rest of the plate with healthy vegetables or salad to help fill you.
  • Drink water during a meal or when you are tempted to eat outside of a meal to create a feeling of being. You may be mistaking hunger for being dehydrated.
  • Eat fiber rich foods. Fiber absorbs water and expands in the stomach, creating a feeling of being full.
  • Don’t “taste-test” your food while cooking. There are calories in those little spoonfuls you’re taking during meal preparation. You may be testing so much that you’ve had half a meal before you even sit down at the dinner table.
  • Eat healthy fruit desserts. Instead of chocolate cake, try a bowl of fruit salad. It’ll satisfy your sweet-tooth, while give you a feeling of indulgence.
  • Keep a journal. Write down every single bit of food you put in your mouth. It will be eye opening at first. After a while, your habits will change and you won’t need the journal anymore.
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Breast Vs. Bottle

Posted on March 27, 2010 by admin

For centuries, new mothers had no option but to breastfeed their babies. Whether they did it themselves or had a wet nurse fulfill the duty, breastfeeding was an expected and accepted way of life. Then along came formula. Suddenly, there was a choice regarding how babies receive nutrients the first few months of life.

And while it’s only been an option for a few decades, baby formula has changed the baby nutrition landscape forever. Wondering what’s best for you and your baby? Welcome to Baby Nutrition 101.

Breastfeeding

It’s cheap, convenient, and helps new moms drop the pounds they put on during pregnancy. Unfortunately, breastfeeding isn’t always an easy task for new mothers. Perceptions that breastfeeding should come naturally leave frustrated mothers wondering what they’ve done wrong when things don’t quite go as planned. With a little determination, most new moms eventually figure out how to breastfeed properly, though it can result in nipple tenderness and pain.

Regardless, most new moms feel confident that nothing beats breast milk. Challenge a breastfeeding mother’s choice and you’ll be blasted with a wide range of research data – and rightly so. Studies in recent years have shown an amazing number of benefits to breastfed babies, ranging from improved intelligence to a stronger immune system for fending off ear infections, allergies, and other bothersome conditions from day one. To help interested mothers breastfeed, many workplaces have even begun offering a private room for pumping breast milk during the day.

For the greatest benefit for baby, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends women breastfeed children for the first 12 months of life.

Bottle Feeding

Whereas breastfeeding is convenient since there is no preparation necessary, bottle feeding is convenient for a totally different reason. With infant formula, mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, and even older brothers and sisters can handle the responsibility of feeding the new baby. This frees mom up to perform activities that may otherwise prove difficult, including running errands in the middle of the day or returning to a demanding, high-stress job. However, the cost of formula and the fact that it isn’t quite as good for baby as breast milk makes many mothers think twice before choosing infant formula over breast milk.

Regardless of their feelings about infant formula, it’s the only choice for some mothers. When a mother has a disease that can be passed through breast milk, most physicians recommend the safe approach – formula. Diseases, such as the autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and medications for certain conditions may rule out the possibility of breastfeeding. A few children suffer bad allergic reactions to breast milk, and they must be bottle fed as well.

Baby Wins

Deciding between the bottle and breast is deeply personal. The most important thing for new mothers to remember is that breast milk and formula both offer a range of benefits for their newborns, and both have a handful of disadvantages. Choosing the option that fits your lifestyle and what you want for your new child may not be easy, but it’s necessary. Therefore, do the necessary research and make your decision with confidence. Your baby only gets one childhood, and it’s up to you to make it memorable.

They Are What You Eat

During pregnancy and while breastfeeding, your baby’s good health depends on your good health. That’s why it’s important to watch what you put in your body. Pregnant and nursing mothers should never smoke, only drink alcohol in moderation with a physician’s consent, and should avoid drinking more than a couple cups of coffee a day.

In addition, mothers-to-be and breastfeeding mothers should eat a well-rounded diet complete with plenty of fruits and vegetables. If baby gets fussy after eating, avoid spicy foods and eliminate other foods that may be causing the irritation. For persistent fussing following breastfeeding, consult your child’s pediatrician.

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Add Flavor, Not Fat

Posted on March 27, 2010 by admin

In America, the fastest route to good flavor is rarely the healthiest option. When someone suggests a healthier alternative, the idea is often shunned as being time-consuming or more expensive than other, fatty options. But these days, healthy doesn’t always mean expensive and it doesn’t have to take a lot of extra time.

Ready to make the changes that will turn your fat-filled recipes into healthy, light dishes? Grab your apron and get started!

Cook with Care

One way you can keep your dishes bursting with flavor without added fats is by cooking food properly. If you find yourself adding unhealthy flavoring because a food is dry or bland, you may have cooked it the wrong way. This problem happens easily with meats, so avoid overcooking your poultry, beef, and pork.

Remove Fried Foods from Your Repertoire

Grandma made great fried chicken and there’s nothing better than fried okra, but scientists have yet to find a healthy fried food. With so little hope for nutritional value in fried foods, do your body a favor and cut fried foods out of your recipe books. Instead, learn how to cook using boiling, broiling, or another healthy technique.

Use the Grill

Though you may consider grilling against good health sense, giving the grill a chance may be just what the doctor ordered. When cooking on a grill, excess fat simply drips off the meat, never to be seen again. You’re then left with a nice piece of meat that hasn’t been cooking in its own fat and has a wonderful flavor that can only be achieved on a grill.

Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul. – Dorothy Day
Get Steamy

To create delicious vegetables without adding butter and excess salt, get steaming. If you don’t have a fancy steamer, toss your vegetables in a perforated basket, and place the basket above a pot of simmering water. On top of securing the vegetables’ great flavor, steaming also keeps the natural vitamins and nutrients intact, so you get the healthiest vegetables possible.

Head for Herbs

Herbs are a healthy, natural alternative to the saturated and trans fats present in butter and margarine. If you choose to use fresh herbs right out of the garden, add them toward the end of cooking and use them liberally. Dried herbs, on the other hand, should be added at the beginning of cooking and should be used sparingly to avoid an overpowering flavor.

Switch It Up

In addition to changing how you cook, adding flavor healthily requires some substitutions. You may not have to say goodbye to certain flavors altogether, but you will need to go with the healthier alternatives. To keep foods full of flavor without too much bad stuff, use the chart below the next time you go to the grocery store.

If You Typically Use This Opt For This Healthy Alternative
Bacon and sausage Canadian bacon and lean ham
Whole eggs Egg whites
Beef chuck Beef loin, with external fat removed
Canned cream soups Broth-based, low-sodium soups
Regular butter or margarine Light butter or margarine; if used to spread on bread, go for jelly, jam, or honey
Whole milk Skim, low-fat, or reduced milk
Ice cream Sherbet, sorbet and ices, or frozen yogurt
American cheese Fat-free cheese
Spaghetti and other pastas with white sauce Spaghetti and other pastas with red sauce
White rice Brown rice
Oil-packed tuna Water-packed tuna
Croissants Hard French rolls
Donuts and sweet rolls English muffins, bagels, or reduced-fat muffins

By implementing these easy tactics, your food should be as flavorful as it is healthy, so you should have no hesitations when it’s time to dig in!

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Pick Colors with Confidence

Posted on March 27, 2010 by admin

If you want to make an impression with your interior walls, you’ve got to know how to pick colors. Here’s your crash course in paint colors.

The furniture is in place, the books in alphabetical order, and everything has been dusted clean. But the walls are dull, lifeless, plain. Not anymore. With a little courage and a bit of determination, you can make your house’s interior walls sing with colors. When you’re ready to take the leap into the great colored beyond, keep these tips in mind, and you’ll be choosing colors like a pro in no time.

1. Colors Have Meaning

Want to cool a room off? Blue could be what you want. Need to brighten up a dark and dull room? How about a nice yellow. Want to create an exciting environment? Something bright, such as red or green, may do the trick. Knowing what colors do to your psyche will help you determine what tint to put in what room.

2. It’s Not Just the Walls that Matter

Ever wondered why a room’s color doesn’t feel right? Look around the room. If the walls are blue and the furniture is hot pink, that may be the problem. You’ve got to consider the colors of furniture and furnishings when choosing an appropriate paint color for the walls. Make sure the colors will work well together in order to have a room that feels put together. Also, if there is a hint of maroon in your favorite rug, painting the walls a complementary color will help that maroon shine.

3. Don’t Underestimate the Sample

You may think a two-inch-square piece of paper with a certain color isn’t helpful, but paint splotches have tremendous benefit. If you’ve got a neighboring room painted, put your paint splotch on the wall in an area where you can see the painted room through the door. If you don’t like how the colors flow into one another, keep looking. If it looks fabulous, go for it!

4. Get a pint for the trip home.

Still not sure which color is going to fit your den? Get a pint of the color you’re considering. Once you get home and paint a segment of the wall, you’ll have a better feel for how the color will look in the den. You may also find that the color you thought would look perfect is a little too dark, a little too grey, or a little too yellow to fit the room’s color scheme.

5. Go with the Pros

If your colorblind side seems to kick in when choosing appropriate paint colors, contact an interior decorator or professional painter for help choosing just the right colors. After all, getting help the first time around may save you from making multiple trips to the paint store.

6. Make the Perfect Color on Your Own

Sometimes, there’s a shade of brown you simply can’t find – no matter how many stores you visit. Grab a little bit of white or black and mix it in well. You’ll soon have a shade that your neighbors will drool over, but there is no way they’ll ever have it in their homes, as it was specially made for you. Just remember to only mix flat latex with flat latex, oil with oil, etc…

Answering the Call of Mother Nature

Even the most experienced interior decorators will admit how difficult it can be to choose the right colors for inside a home. However, if you want to have a nice color palate without going too far from the beaten path, look to good old Mother Nature. There are enough rich and soothing browns, greens, reds, and yellows to cover the largest house, and nothing says “Welcome” like nature-inspired wall colors.

Now, the only problem you’ve got is choosing between a fall, spring, or winter color scheme. Good luck!

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Getting the Reins on Stress

Posted on March 27, 2010 by admin

Wake up, take the kids to school, go to work, head home, make dinner, clean the house, go to bed.

On paper, your life seems boring, dull, and routine. But you know that’s not true. Before heading out the door in the morning, you’ve got to get your kids’ clothes on right side out. Then, you have to pick up your suit at the dry cleaners across town. Finally, when you’re ready to rest and relax with the family at the dinner table, dinner comes out of the oven burned, and the kids just won’t settle down when it’s time to go to bed.

You’re living the American dream, and it’s a stress fest. Here’s what you can do to find some calm in the midst of the stress storm.

Sleep

When you’re stressed out, it’s often difficult to fall and stay asleep. Having regular sleep and wake times before stress strikes make it a little easier to get the Zzzs you need when stress comes creeping around your bedpost.

Time

In the days and months when stress after stress piles up, it often seems you just don’t have enough time to deal with any of the stressors. By writing down how you’ll tackle each stress-inducing issue, you’ll feel more in control and able to handle all of the stressors you’re dealing with, one at a time. Before you know it, your “stress” list will be eliminated.

Relax

It may seem self-evident when you’re trying to learn how to beat stress, but remembering to forget is often a forgotten aspect of reducing stress. In the event you find yourself unable to beat stress with all the other stress-reducing techniques, take a little time to sit back and take a deep breath. That breath not enough? Head to the beach or the mountains, and leave your cell phone at the office.

Exercise

Though exercise is only one of the effective stress reducer available, it is the only one that reduces tension, while toning up your physique. If you want to keep stress at bay (and not just fight off the sudden stress attacks you may experiencing), make regular exercise a part of your routine.

“When you don’t deal with stress properly, you may neglect important relationships, lash out at people without reason, or have difficulty performing up to par at work. So, if you think letting stress bother you is no big deal, think again.”

Share

Stress is often difficult to handle. Because of this, it’s common for the sufferer to keep it inside and feel isolated as a result. However, many people have found solace in talking with others about what is bothering them. Whether relying on a support group, trusted family member or friend, or priest or pastor, communication is an often used key to stress relief.

Sex

Many people are happy to learn that sex can be a great way to find stress relief. It burns calories, creates hormones that result in good feelings, and strengthens monogamous relationships. As strong relationships also reduce stress, sex offers twice the stress reduction of other techniques.

But Wait – There’s More!

Want another handful of stress-reduction tips? You’ve come to the right place.

Try the following for added relief from your stress:

aromatherapy
breathing exercises
cutting back on caffeine and alcohol
eating a healthy, well-balanced diet
listening to relaxing music
music therapy
pick up a new hobby
playing cards with friends
writing or blogging about what is stressing you out
If none of these seem to help, talk with your physician to determine how you can address the specific stresses in your life.

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5 Reasons for Philanthropy

Posted on March 27, 2010 by admin

The next time you walk outside, look around. As you drive down the street, take note of the various buildings you pass. Now, imagine a world without those various businesses and organizations in place. Your library, community hospital, and local high school gone forever. Without philanthropy, that’s exactly what would happen. In fact, many of these places wouldn’t exist in the first place without the generous giving of selfless individuals over the years.

Not sure if philanthropy is up your alley? Think again. Here are five reasons you should give giving a chance.

1. Those Who Are Less Fortunate cannot Do without It

Many organizations that assist low-income families are nonprofit institutions. These companies rely on gifts from people just like you to remain financially secure. The next time you wonder what you can do to help people in need, consider giving to your local United Way or other institution that you appreciate.

2. You Need to Give

Deep down within every human being is the desire to reach out and care for others. One way to do this is through financial donations to nonprofit organizations. Give to a hospital, and you’ll ensure quality medical care to countless individuals in the future. Donate to a struggling library, and the generations will benefit from the gift of reading.

3. It Is an Act of Passion

When giving, philanthropists often choose institutions that provide services that are near and dear to their hearts. As a philanthropist, you have the power over where you would like to give your money. You can often even choose what your donation goes toward within your chosen organization. So pick an institution that is in line with your passions and give generously! It’s one of the best ways to help your favorite organizations grow and affect others.

“No one has ever become poor by giving. – Anne Frank”

4. One Gift Today, Many Gifts Tomorrow

When one person takes a stand and decides to make a philanthropic gift to an organization, others do the same. Be a leader and begin the pattern of giving in your family, workplace, or social club. You can even organize a group donation to allow everyone to participate and enjoy the benefits of giving as a team!

5. You’ll Get Back

As already stated, philanthropy makes people feel good. On top of that, your financial gifts also help at tax time. Gifts given to appropriately designated institutions are tax deductible, making your gift give back to you. Don’t worry-if you don’t want to taint your philanthropy with tax deductions, you may make donations without claiming them on your tax forms.

Oh, the Many Ways to Give

Giving a financial donation to an organization can take many forms. The most important thing is to remember that every gift counts-no matter how large or small. Giving within your means is a financially smart move that supports your organization of choice, without putting you in a bind. By doing this, you’ll also be more willing to give in the future when the opportunity arises again.

No matter how much you plan to give, here are a few ways to do it.

A single contribution allows you to make a one-time gift with no strings attached. If you like how your gift is used, you can give to the organization in the future, but there is no obligation to do so.

For those who want to give large amounts over a long period of time, there is often the option for regular payments. These require the individual to give monthly or yearly to an organization, ensuring crucial long-term support that keeps the organization up and running.

Including an institution in your estate planning allows an organization of your choice to benefit from your accumulated wealth following your death.

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Ready to Quit Your Job? Read This First

Posted on March 27, 2010 by admin

If you’re reading this, you’re either frustrated with your job situation or know someone else who is. Who are you kidding? You’re frustrated. But before you bail ship for another job, check out this list of telltale signs to see if it’s time to quit your job.

It’s Old Hat

Boredom is one of your worst enemies. You’re not developing new skills, you’re not being challenged, and your lack of interest is obvious to everyone. When it gets so bad that you lose motivation and begin lazing around at work, you become a prime candidate for being fired. Why not beat them to the punch and move on before it gets to that point?

You Can’t Shake It

Work-related stress is unavoidable in any career. However, if work is affecting your personal life, something needs to change. Signs that stress is bogging you down include inability to sleep at night, difficulty focusing, and feelings of depression.

No One Cares

You’re a great employee. You work long hours, weekends when necessary, and you do it for the intrinsic reward of knowing you did a good job. Or do you? It can be very demeaning if your boss or company gives you a workload that can’t be completed during regular business hours without recognizing your efforts. You deserve better.

Dreams Remain Unfulfilled

You’ve got one shot at life. If all you’ve ever wanted to be is a rodeo clown, stop trading stocks and get into clown school. Otherwise, you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering “What if?” Wouldn’t you rather find out the answer to that question and silence all the skeptics who said you’d never be a good rodeo clown?

Your Pocket is Still Empty

You started at the bottom of the rung at your company six years ago, but that doesn’t mean you want to stay there financially. When a job doesn’t provide adequate compensation to keep you happy, healthy, and fed, other companies likely will. Just be careful to avoid greed. Do a little research to find out if you’re getting paid the same as others in your position in your geographic locale. If you’re getting paid fairly, you may need a complete career change to get the pay you desire.

The ship’s Going Down

Any time you’re working for a company that has filed for bankruptcy, made large layoffs, or is beginning to outsource jobs out of the country, it won’t be long until your company joins the Titanic on the bottom of the ocean floor. The best thing you can do is grab a life vest and jump. Getting out early gives you a head start landing a good job, as you won’t have to compete against all of your current coworkers who held out until the company closed shop.

Things Have Changed

You’ve had your first child. Or maybe you need to reduce your hours to care for an aging loved one. Either way, your life situation has changed. Unfortunately, your work’s compensation and benefits package don’t fit your life any more. As hard as it is, this situation makes it necessary to move on and find other employment that will better meet your goals.

Wait a Minute!

If you’re fired up about quitting your job and want to storm into your manager’s office with a resignation letter, take a deep breath. Have you discussed your concerns and looked for ways to improve your situation with your manager? Are you ready to have a rationale conversation about why you’re leaving?

Taking a few minutes to think over your presentation will keep you from storming out of the room in a huff. There’s nothing wrong with discussing your thoughts about the company openly, but do it with tact to avoid slandering anyone and saying something you may one day regret. After all, the green grass on the other side may turn brown, and burning bridges at your current job will greatly reduce your networking potential. And who knows, your current employer may take action to meet your requests, allowing you to be happy without the hassle of finding a new job.

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