Thank you all. I think I'll just continue sticking with hiding posts from certain individuals on my news feed. That's the safest option. Quick question: Can others see what's on MY news feed? I don't think so, but just thought to check. Yikes ... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Cyndi, you're making my cheeks hurt again! Thou needeth not worry. Thou WILL forever be my friend :grouphug:. No dearest one, it's not you ... Funny that you mentioned "constitutional" - I often joke about that. The British in me. :D Sorry that I tarried with my response. :lol:

will they know?

Me too. I find this whole topic fascinating. I just find it frustrating that I have too little time these days to research the way I really would like. I do have the Eat Right 4 Your Type book sitting on my shelf. I've barely opened it. I don't even know my blood type :lol:. I keep telling dh that I need at least 6 weeks locked in a room to do all the research I would so love to do.

Very informative thread and very good reminders for me. I've had intermittent knee pain for years and need to be cautious about this. I'm learning a lot right here. Sorry if much of this info is repetitive. SUPPLEMENTS Omega-3 Fatty Acids – Carlson’s Fish Oil – Omega 3s are anti-inflammatory - get a GOOD fish oil. Do not go for the cheap brands! 1500 mg Glucosamine and 1200 mg Choindrotin Sulfate 3 times a day- try it for 3 months and see if you notice a difference 40-80 mg Hyaluronic Acid (HA) – “Hyal-Joint” 5 grams of the sugar D-ribose twice daily will stimulate the production of ATP, the fuel that powers your body’s tissues and muscles. People who suffer from excessive joint and muscle pain and fibromyalgia (widespread muscle pain) often have low levels of ribose. NUTRITION Often, dehydration causes joint pain, which progresses to stiff pain. Make sure you’re drinking enough water! Omega-3 Fatty Acids – Chia Seeds, Walnuts, Flaxseeds – these are naturally anti-inflammatory Green Tea - 4 cups of green tea daily with a squirt of lemon juice. Green tea can help reduce joint pain greatly. Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory. Some studies suggest it works to ease the pain of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. It may also help with other inflammatory conditions, such as tendinitis. Try to mix turmeric with a pinch of black pepper and olive oil. You can use it in all your cooking. Eat 1 cup a day of red or purple fruits, such as berries, cherries, pomegranates, red grapes – or drink 1 cup of juice without added sugar – these food-based antioxidants help ease inflammation and joint disease like arthritis Eat cherries as often as possible. Consuming 20 a day (about 2000 mg of cherry fruit extract) has been proven to provide more pain relief than aspirin and other painkillers. Cherries—when tart—and their juice are rich in melatonin, the antioxidant hormone that regulates circadian rhythms and helps promote sound sleep—without which we’re more likely to pack on pounds and develop diabetes and heart disease. Anti-inflammatory, low-glycemic, and radioprotective, tart cherries and their juice contain more melatonin than is found in human blood, finds Russel Reiter, PhD, at the University of Texas Health Science Center. Eat them fresh or dried, and mix a bit of tart cherry juice with water, particularly when you’re working out—to lessen joint inflammation from exercise. Sesame Seeds provide plenty of copper, a nutrient essential for joint health – just don’t overdo copper ACUPUNCTURE helps with all sorts of pain CHIROPRACTIC/MASSAGE – both help immensely with pain Be aware that you should wait for any inflammation to subside before starting either. HYDROTHERAPY has been proven to help with arthritis. No medicine on the market can rival the physiological effects of water. Warm to hot water eases joint pain by reducing swelling and increasing blood flow to fight inflammation. Begin with a daily 10-minute walk, take up a gentle yoga class, or try the slow movement of Tai Chi. Doing Tai Chi twice a week reduces knee pain, as does strengthening your hips with conditioning exercises. Water aerobics, gentle yoga, and swimming help also. YOGA can provide great relief for achy knees LOSING WEIGHT is key – even 5 extra pounds of weight increases the load on your knees tenfold :glare: SLEEP - Get enough sleep. Your body needs a full night of quality sleep to fight pain. More illnesses are caused by a need for magnesium than for calcium. Arthritis and joint pain are caused by excessive calcium and insufficient magnesium. Calcium, magnesium, and many other minerals are best absorbed when they are bound to an acidic carrier such as citrate, aspartate, picolinate, or amino acid chelate. Minerals need an acidic base to break down and get used. The most absorbable forms are magnesium citrate, glycinate taurate, or aspartate, although magnesium bound to Kreb cycle chelates (malate, succinate, fumarate) are also good. Avoid magnesium carbonate, oxide, sulfate, and gluconate. They are poorly absorbed (and the cheapest and most common forms found in supplements). Side effects from too much magnesium include diarrhea, which can be avoided if you switch to magnesium glycinate. People with kidney disease or severe heart disease should take magnesium only under a doctor's supervision.

:iagree: :) Great advice. Drinking water is probably the #2 beauty tip (staying out of the sun, which we all know, is #1). Poorly hydrated skin isn't going to look good under any foundation. Ideally, your urine should be clear. NUTRITION Try to have at least 1/2 of each meal be veggies and/or fruit. I try (but definitely don't always succeed) to juice veggies and have one juice a day. My parents do this daily. One of the most conspicuous things about the diets of the five longest-lived populations is that they all include large amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables. The most important anti-aging aspect of fruits and veggies is their high levels of antioxidants. As well as host of other benefits, antioxidants protect tissues from cross-linking, a process that causes arteries to stiffen and skin to wrinkle. To test your cross-linking, put your hand flat on a table surface. Take a pinch of skin from the back of your hand and pull it upward. If it springs back, your cross-linking damage is minimal. The longer it stays raised, the more cross-linking damage you have. The amount of antioxidants that you maintain in your body is directly proportional to how long you will live. You could say that one of the commonest causes of aging is a fruit and vegetable deficiency. Another benefit of fruits and veggies is the high-fiber content. Fiber improves digestion and ensures skin-damaging toxins are flushed from the body. Spinach and other dark green leafy veggies slow down the aging process. Red Peppers are rich in Vitamin C – reduces wrinkling and dryness of the skin. Include protein at every meal. Protein provides the essential amino acids that the body uses to repair and regenerate the cells for maintaining skin’s tone and elasticity. The body can’t store protein for future use, so it’s important to consume lean protein at each meal – poultry, eggs, and low-fat dairy products. 2 tsp cinnamon daily is loaded w/manganese and helps skin look more radiant and younger Eat plenty of fish, nuts, seeds, and olive oil – these healthy fats are all necessary for radiant, supple skin. I LOVE Carlson's Fish Oil - has a ton of health benefits and I'm convinced that it helps the skin. Sunflower Seeds are rich in vitamin E, an antioxidant that helps prevent sun damage. Try sprinkling them on your salad. Refined Sugar, Highly Processed, and Fried Foods Limit these as much as possible. Sugar triggers the formation of free radicals, which damage the skin’s supportive collagen strands. Regular exercise, particularly yoga, improves blood circulation to skin, feeds skin cells, and makes the skin glow. Yoga improves skin’s elasticity, strength, and firmness. It’s also great for hair health. EXFOLIATION Wrinkles aren't typically what make a woman look old, but loss of something called "brightness". Cellular build-up and clogged and enlarged pores can make skin look dim and dull. Nothing beats having facials, but if you can't afford them, you can do stuff at home. I love Exfolia Cloth from amazon Always be more gentle than you think you need to be! Exfoliating scrubs used twice a week will help with blackheads and increase brightness. If you use one of the scrubs, the particles should be smooth and feel like sugar in your hand. If they are too big or rough, they can tear skin. Go for a gentle product with a manufactured exfoliant - like micro beads - versus a natural exfoliant like seeds or pits because the rough edges can actually cause little scratches on your skin and cause more damage in the long run than help. This is one time natural is not necessarily better! Use only your ring finger to massage a manual exfoliant on your face as it has the lightest touch - even though it feels so good to REALLY scrub! Always be more gentle than you think you need to be! Always err on the side of babying your skin. I really like: Mary Kay Time Wise Microdermabrasion– the entire Mary Kay line is said to be good

:iagree: I really want this book, but am just tired of buying books all the time. We don't have a decent library here. I've heard great things about him. :) Fabulous point. I think that I'll focus on this once again, after my hcg plan is over. I have to say that the NoS has not helped me before. But hopefully it will help me over the long-term. I can probably count on one hand, if that, the number of doctors that I have actually liked and that were helpful. This one, takes the cake. She should have been a customs officer or something. :glare: :iagree: :iagree: :iagree: Doctors really, really cover the bare-bones of nutrition. I've been around plenty of med students over the years. Most of us here know more about nutrition and health than the average med student or physician. One physician I knew, who'd been practicing for more than 20 years, had her doubts about the efficacy of fiber. Doctors are very good at two things ... writing prescriptions and ordering tests. This approach worked for me until my mid-30s. After that, my body changed. I was totally and completely shocked. All the 4-Mile daily runs, etc. were doing zero, zip, squat in the weight-loss department. Talk about a wake-up call. :confused: And no, I wasn't eating more. Maybe slightly more. But definitely not significantly more. Off to read all the other replies. Weight is a complete and total pain :confused:. I love food. I also love to exercise, but more for health reasons now. Weight is the bane of my existence.

Thanks again, Peela. :) I need to remember to stock up on more of these next time we travel or when someone we know is visiting and can bring it down for us. I WISH there was a good health store here. It can be so frustrating when we need things like this. We have enough for now, but dh's needs take priority, so the rest of us are going without, which is still okay, but not ideal. I keep wondering if I should get either of these two books or not. The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies and this one

Absolutely. I was the same way and I first left at 16. I learned more than ever and it taught me so many wonderful things. Maturity is not an age or a number. You know your son and his friends. It's a fabulous learning experience.

Love this suggestion. :)

:iagree: Math is the most essential. The rest, to me, one can be more flexible about. :) We started off with Calvert and now only do their math. Although we use a few other math programs also. Most recently, I've been leaning far more towards workbooks and living books than specific programs. I have found, that many of the programs created by and/or made for homeschoolers, just aren't the right match for us. JAG was simply THE worst purchase we ever made. There are a few others. Queen's LA was fine for a while, but all that copywork got to be very repetitive and boring. I do have a tendency to be a curriculum and book junkie. ;)

I've often wondered about WW online myself, since there is no WW here. Curious to know if anyone else has more to add or experiences with it.

Good to know. This has been on and off my wish list for over 2 years. Endings for me are everything. They don't all have to be super-happy and ride off gloriously in the sunset, but there does need to be some form of closure. I'm this way with movies also. Thanks for sharing this. Off to take it off my wish list once more. :) With the dc, we're reading The Silver Chair (almost done) and just started The Time Garden.

I do want to add that losing weight is not the hardest part. It's the keeping it off that's the ultimate challenge. 95% of those who lose eventually regain ... so frustrating. :glare:

Weight is the bane of my existence. Has been for most of my adult life - particularly since having children - and will always be. I just love food and am definitely an emotional eater. In fact, I find any reason to eat - stress, fatigue, you name it. I no longer lose weight through exercise, but it does help with overall health - it's essential for health, in fact. And it helps with depression and emotional eating issues. I just don't overdo it with exercise like I used to, since too much of it, particularly if intense, I have found, has led me to eat more. Everyone will have a different plan as to what works. I currently love hcg. Even though I'm not officially on it at the moment, but will be back on it in March. I lost 28 pounds in just over a month. I'm not usually a diet person. At. All. Hate diets and love food. But this is what has worked for me. Now that I'm soon to be 43, it's no longer a looks/vanity issue. It's health and longevity. Thinking of you and hoping you find something that works. :grouphug: This is what I did a few years ago, when I lost lots of weight. I got my calendar out and made a list of goals - things to work on. I focused on each habit/goal for about 6-8 weeks. Then I rewarded myself (non-food!). I lost a lot of weight by doing this. This sounds very encouraging. I've become a bit of a weight loss junkie - just interested in all the different plans. :D

Everyone has great advice. Agreeing with all - diet, etc. One other thing - regular exercise - anything - yoga, stretching, walking. Those who exercise regularly and consistently have far fewer painful periods and cramps. Plus, less heavy bleeding.

Lisa, good for you for reading. I think that many fail on hcg because they don't do so. I would ask on the forums about the True Orange. The ladies there know far more than I do. I really don't know that much and am still learning. I'm pretty sure it's not reasons of caffeine. I drink green or white tea in the morning. Many just stick to herb tea. I'm pretty sure, but I could be wrong, that sugar alcohols are out. Joanne, trust me, I felt EXACTLY the same way for the longest while. But have found that it works, when nothing else did. And this is coming from me, someone who never, ever likes to diet. The last diet I was on, was probably in my teens. Seriously. I'm now in my 40s ... I was extremely anti-dieting. Believed in losing weight the healthy way - exercise more, eat less ... except that method no longer worked for me. I needed something far more radical.

I'm very interested in hearing what others have to say. I never even thought that proving the existence of God could be scientifically proven.

Rosie, I have Eat Right 4 Your Type and have yet to even read it, never mind know what blood type I am ... oh well. This book doesn't really appeal to me and I don't know why I got it. :confused: :lol: Need to go and look for your thread to see what Peela recommended. I agree with you about the You Series. Even though I've never bought them. Someone would have to pay me in order to read them :lol:. They just annoy me. Mind you, Gretchen Rubin annoyed me a bit somewhat too. Sorry to sound so critical.

Yes, I really want to see this.

We all loved this movie.

Interesting, since I read "Book Thief" about 2 years ago. Wondering if I'll like Sarah's Key. I know that Book Thief is much better, so it's not as if my expectations are particularly high ... ;)

I finished Room last week and really enjoyed it. Now, I've just started a very long and heavy (as in heavy material) Baha'i book. I do plan on reading some more Elizabeth George soon. :) I LOVE this thread.

Give a bad hairdresser a second chance :glare:. Never, ever again. It's going to take MONTHS before my hair looks somewhat presentable again.

:iagree: Cyndi, my thoughts on mammos ... me personally ;), not having one yet. For now, and as long as possible, my plan is to do almost daily self-exams in the shower and have annual thermograms. I now know my own bre@sts very well and know what could be wrong. Peela has taught me so much about this. I used to only do monthly exams and would often forget. I still do a more thorough monthly one - the week after my period - but daily in the shower. Plus, annual or so thermograms. Now, I'm never one to say what anyone else should do. I do believe that everyone needs to come to their own decision and read up on the risks and benefits of each approach. Diet, lifestyle, etc. are key. Prevention is very important. As Peela says, mammograms do not prevent breast cancer. Going bra-free is great. :D I have friends in their 50s and 60s who have never had mammos. One of them - her own mother was diagnosed with breast cancer more than 20 years ago. She healed it naturally. My friend lives a very healthy lifestyle. To each her own. If all is normal for me, I will delay having a mammo for as long as possible. My mom had her first one in her 60s. Some say that it is quite possible. I believe so myself. The tighter the bra, particularly underwire ones, the worst it is for lymph flow. I have read this and things similar to this time and time again: Wearing a bra decreases circulation in the breasts. Make sure your bra fits correctly and not too tight. Remove your bra as soon as you get home. Try not to wear an underwire bra. Go braless for a few hours each day. In the book Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras, they found that women who wore a bra more than 12 hours a day had a 19 times greater risk of breast cancer than those who wore a bra fewer than 12 hours. The scientific credibility of this finding is still being debated. I don't care personally about scientific studies for everything. I believe it. It makes sense to me. A friend on another forum who lost a sister to breast cancer - her sister was convinced that it was from years and years of tight underwire bras. Who know? But to me, why not go braless as often as possible? What does one have to lose? :iagree: Hence why I have spent more than 3 years researching all this and coming to my own decision. :iagree: Brilliant advice. :iagree:

:grouphug: Thank you for your your very kind words. Sounds so interesting. I love learning about all this stuff and find it truly fascinating. Going to look into that. :)