If you’re tired of trying this diet program and then that one, stop and take time to learn the lbasics on what diet, nutrition and weight loss are all about.

You can start your education with the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) website: http://www.mypyramid.gov. You’ll want to check out the USDA Food Guide Pyramid and their physical activity level assessment tool. These two guides can give you a pretty clear picture of where you are right now.

The Food Pyramid is basic outline of the foods you should eat every day and is based on the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It will show you that your diet needs to be varied - there are many different food groups that you should be eating for your body to get the necessary calories and nutrients it needs to be healthy.

The physical assessment tool will give you an idea of how much activity you should have in your day. It might be more than you think.

Once you’ve done your research and have a plan, go ahead and get started. You’ll feel better right away.

Here’s a recipe for guacamole that uses cottage cheese to reduce the amount of avocado needed. Even though avocados are full of healthy fats, they also have a high calorie count.

Ingredients:

1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 ripe avocado, peeled and cut in chunks
1 tomato, peeled and chopped

Instructions:

In a blender or food processor mix onion, salt, lime juice, cottage cheese, garlic, cayenne pepper, and avocado. Blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl and gently fold in the chopped tomato.

Cover with plastic wrap allowing the plastic to actually touch the entire surface of the guacamole. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and serve. If storing for more than 2 hours, keep the avocado pit in the bowl to help the guacomole stay fresh looking.

Best served with reduced fat, baked tortilla chips, carrot sticks or celery.

Melanoma skin cancer is the most serious kind of skin cancer there is. It’s not something that should be overlooked because it can be deadly if not treated properly. If it’s found early enough, it can curable but the key to treatment is early detection.

About 51,000 cases are reported each year to the American Cancer Society. This doesn’t include the estimated thousands of incidences of skin cancer that are not reported or diagnosed.

The symptoms of melanoma skin cancer are listed below:

1. Growth that is dark in color and increases in size.
2. Growth that changes shape.
3. Growth that changes color.
4. Itching.
5. Bleeding from growth.
6. Growth becoming extremely inflamed.

Here’s a picture of melanoma

If you experience any of the above symptoms then it is imperative that you consult a doctor right away for treatment. If cancer is found early it can certainly be treated. Remember, early detection and treatment is the key.

Are you picky about the foods you put into your body? Moss Greene, the BellaOnline Nutrition editor, says that we need to be.

In fact, she says that healthy eating will make a difference in your happiness, appearance and even your intellect.

By reading her article, Fish, Vegetable and Brown Rice, you can see that she really knows what she’s talking about. Here’s a little of what she has to say…

Benefits of Fish, Vegetables and Brown Rice

We’ve all heard vegetables are good for us. But new research published in Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology, shows that elderly people who eat more vegetables have much less cognitive decline – that means more awareness, perception, reasoning, understanding and better judgement.

Healthy eating can be that simple and the results that important.

Other studies show that those who eat more whole grains, such as brown rice, have less diabetes and are able to maintain a lower weight.

And there’s tons of research proving that the fish oil from cold water fish provides all of the above benefits (better brain development and cognition, less diabetes and obesity) plus a whole list of other health benefits, including lower risk of heart disease, stroke, arthritis and some cancers.

Make Time for a Healthy Diet

Now, I know you’re probably a very busy person. You have limited time to plan and fix meals for healthy eating. And there are so many convenience foods available these days that it’s difficult to resist taking the easy way out and just going with fast food for dinner.

But, it’s a trap. Don’t fall for it!

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art47825.asp

In general, many people have a difficult time learning how to say no. Most of the time, we want to please other people or have others like us.

But when you agree to do everything others ask, you put their feelings before your own. And that can lead to frustration and unhappiness on your part. So, let’s work on it together. It really isn’t that difficult to say no if you don’t’ have the time to do something or you’re not interested.

Here are some ways to say no:

1. NO.
2. I can’t take this on with my present commitments.
3. I must say no, I’m too busy now.
4. I’m in the middle of something else; I don’t have time for that now.
5. I have other commitments, I just checked my calendar.
6. I could not do an adequate job right now, so I must say no.
7. No, I don’t have any spare time.
8. I can’t.
9. You didn’t give me enough notice, so I’m too busy now.
10. Try to find someone else if you can.

There are hundreds of ways to say no without being rude. It requires some time and creative effort, but it is possible to do it without hurting people’s feelings.

Remember that it won’t always go well. There are some people that feel you’re obligated to help them whenever they ask.

In fact, I can remember a friend I had about 20 years ago. She would get angry with me whenever I refused to lend her money. Can you believe that? She actually believed that because I had some extra money and she didn’t that I was obligated to lend it to her.

Notice that I said I “had” a friend. Friends like that don’t last, so don’t worry about offending them.

If you can’t do something for someone else or just don’t want to, you don’t have to. Learn how to say “NO”.

Are there any health benefits of eating cranberries?

Here’s the nutritional breakdown:

• Serving size 1/2 cup (48g)
• Calories 20
• Calories from Fat 0
• Total Fat 0g
• Sodium 0mg
• Total Carbohydrate 6g
• Dietary Fiber 2g
• Sugars 2g
• Protein 0g
• Vitamin A 0% of daily value
• Vitamin C 10% of daily value
• Calcium 0% of daily value
• Iron 0% of daily value

As you can see, cranberries are low in calories, have zero fat and are a good source of Vitamin C.

Here are some of the health benefits of eating cranberries:

• prevent bacteria in the bladder, kidneys and prostate
• supports optimum urinary tract health
• may prevent kidney stone
• deodorize urine
• have both antiviral and antibacterial properties

Here are some fun facts about cranberries:

• More than 85% of the weight of cranberries is water!
• Native Americans used a brewed cranberry mixture to draw poison from arrow wounds
• Native Americans used cranberries as a natural meat preservative.

I like to think of myself as someone who knows where I’m going and doesn’t let old habits and reactions get in my way. But the more I think about it, there are certain things that seem to run through my brain on autopilot. And, for the most part, these thoughts are very limiting.

I’m on a quest to eliminate those negative, limiting thoughts.

In other words, it wouldn’t be a problem if “Wow, you’re great - you can accomplish anything” ran through your brain 10 times a day. But if the memory of your mother scolding you and the words “I can’t believe you did something so stupid!” are running through your head on a constant basis, there’s cause for concern.

I couldn’t find much online about changing your thoughts, but I did find an excellent article about changing your habits at Scott Young’s blog “Get More From Life”.

It seems to me that we can take the same habit changing steps and apply them to changing thoughts. At least that’s what I’m going to try.

Here are the 4 steps:

• Analyze
• Form a Strategy
• Prepare
• Act

This helped give me some good ideas about what I can do to “burn” some new and positive images into my brain.

You can read Scott Young’s article here:

http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2006/04/03/how-to-change-a-habit/

When teens smoke, there’s a very good chance that they’ll become addicted. Starting any kind of habit at this young age makes it very difficult to quit later in life.

There is a lot of peer pressure to make teenagers start smoking in this day and age. There also is a lot of media attention geared toward smoking so it is easy for teens to fall prey to these pressures.

As parents, it’s essential that you monitor your kids and make sure you know what they’re up to when you’re not around. Talk to them about how serious it is to smoke and how it can negatively impact their life and their health.

Do a little research before you talk to your kids. Know the facts and share them honestly. I’m sure you won’t find any teenage girls or boys who are interested in the yellow teeth and foul breath that goes along with smoking. You might also want to show them some pictures of lip and tongue cancer - just google it - it’s not pretty.

Stay in communication with your kids and know what they’re up to. If they’re smoking, you should be able to smell it on their clothes or in their hair. A nice little hug when they come in the door should tell you all you need to know.

You should have your blood pressure checked at least once every two years. It only takes a few minutes and can be done very easily.

High blood pressure can be very dangerous and if you don’t know your pressure is high, you won’t be doing anything about reducing it.

Here are some ways to lower your blood pressure:

• Stop smoking, if you smoke it is essential to your health to stop.
• Lose weight, if you lose weight this will almost automatically lower your blood pressure and will make you feel better in general.
• Limit your alcohol intake, this is important to help maintaining your blood pressure, you should only have a couple drinks a week.
• Avoid excessive amounts of sodium. This raises the blood pressure in most everyone and should be limited.
• Lower stress levels. Be sure to lower the stress in your life, this is key to maintaining low pressure.
• Exercise more. The more you exercise the greater it improves your heart and lungs and will lower your blood pressure.