Save On Food - Ten Ways

To save on food, be an opportunist. Buy what you like, but buy on sale. Do you need oranges every day? Buy them when they're cheap, then buy grapefruit or orange juice when it's on sale. Opportunism is the key to low-cost living in general. You get everything you like, and lots of variety, because everything goes on sale once in a while. Here are ten more ways to get cheap food.

1. Stock up during sales. We recently bought 20 or 30 cans of tomato paste on sale for 10 cents per can. That's cheap food. You can do this with all non-perishables.

2. Try store brands. Some are as good as name brands and some aren't, but all are cheaper. Test them, maybe without telling the kids.

3. Buy fruits and vegetables in season. They are at their highest quality at the point where the price is the lowest.

4. Garden. Gardening can be a great way to stay in shape, and can help you save on food as well.

5. Fruit trees. Even if you don't like to garden, you can have a fruit tree or two that take care of themselves. We love to snack on the grapes and peaches that grow behind the house.

6. Double coupon deals. If a store near you doubles the value of your coupons, buy the smallest size of the coupon item. A doubled 50 cent coupon saves you $1 off a $2 package of toilet paper, but the $1 package is free.

7. Buy by pound or piece. Buy the large pieces of produce when priced by the piece, and you'll get more for the same price. Conversely, buy small pieces when priced by the pound. If you get four bananas for the price of two large ones, you'll still only eat one at a time, right?

8. Plan your shopping. Saving on your grocery bill isn't just about cheap food. It's also about not buying things you don't need on impulse.

9. Use a small cart. If you can't carry too much, you'll buy less.

10. Never shop for food when hungry. Eat a meal first and you'll save on food you don't buy. This simple idea has saved us a lot.

About the author:
Steve Gillman has been studying every aspect of money for thirty years. You can find more money saving tips and useful information on his website; http://www.EverythingAboutMoney.info

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Caffeine - I Bet You Didn't Know This! Health and Nutrition!

By Nick A. James

What exactly is caffeine? It is a colorless, somewhat bitter substance that is found in coffee, tea, chocolate and cola. It is also in many over- the-counter medicines and in many diet/weight loss supplements. It is a stimulant and it is considered a psychoactive drug. It is the most widely consumed drug in this country. Drugmakers are required by law to list the amount of caffeine in their product, however, food and beverage companies do not have to. The caffeine that is taken out of coffee beans to produce decaffeinated coffee is then sold to drug companies and soft drink manufacturers.

It can be a welcome waker-upper in the morning taken in that morning cup of coffee. It also helps give some a boost to stay awake late in the day. However, the boost isn't necessarily instant as it takes about an hour for the effects of caffeine to make it's way through the bloodstream and into the system. It has benefits and it has side effects. It helps keep us alert. It stimulates the central nervous system. Some say it improves physical and mental performance. It has diuretic activity. Some studies list is as a mood elevator, and a pain reliever. Because of the increased alertness levels of those who consume caffeine, there has been improved performance in activities such as test-taking, driving, flying and problem solving.

There are side effects of caffeine though. Those are insomnia, nervousness, increased tension and anxiety-panic attacks, just from drinking the amount of 300 mg. The amount that causes these side effects vary from individual to individual, however, children seem to have a lower tolerance of it because of their lower body weight. The Food and Drug Administration advises pregnant women to avoid it altogether. The FDA does list it as a "safe food additive", even though pregnant women should avoid it. For those that take it regularly every day, going without it a day can cause withdrawal symptoms such as, headaches, irritability, a lack of energy and of course, sleepiness. These withdrawal symptoms are short lived though.

The following is a chart and the amount of caffeine in products you use and consume daily.

6 ounce cup of coffee - 64mg to 150mg

5 ounce cup of tea- 40mg

12 ounce can of cola- 40mg

hot cocoa - 1 cup 4mg

6 ounce chocolate bar 25mg

2 Excedrin tablets 130mg

Besides weight loss products and stay awake products and energy drinks, caffeine is being tested for pesticide use and it has been laced in women's panty hose for it's constrictive effects that are supposed to shrink thighs. Love it or hate it, caffeine is and always has been a big part of American culture and probably is here to stay.

About the author:
Nick A. James offers informative tips and information on nutrition, health and working from home. Get the Exclusive Free Report! -6 Steps to Simplify Your Life, Improve Your Health & Give You Dynamic Energy! His many years of Internet Marketing expertise puts him in unique position to help others starting a home business . For free newsletter, health blog , and cutting edge info contact him at: http://www.health-goji-juice.com


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Ten unusual quit smoking tips

Tired of the same old quitting tips? How will you navigate the up to 72 hours needed to reach peak withdrawal and again reside inside a nicotine free body? The below cold turkey quitting tips are vastly different from the advice rendered by those advocating the use of weeks or months of nicotine replacement products.

1. The Law of Addiction - "Administration of a drug to an addict will cause re-establishment of chemical dependence upon the addictive substance at the old level of use or greater." Yes, just one powerful puff of nicotine and all your hard work is down the drain. Adherence to just one rule guarantees success to all ... Never Take Another Puff.

Nicotine rewired your brain, growing millions of nicotinic receptors in eleven different regions. Although your mind's nicotine induced dopamine/adrenaline intoxication is an alert high, your chemical dependency is every bit as real and permanent as alcoholism. Treating a true addiction as though it were some nasty little habit is a recipe for relapse. There is no such thing as just one puff. Nicotine dependency recovery truly is an all or nothing proposition.

2. Measuring Victory - Forget about quitting "forever." Like attempting the seemingly impossible task of eating an entire elephant, it's the biggest psychological bite imaginable. Instead, work hard at adopting a realistic and do-able victory yardstick that celebrates freedom an hour, challenge and day at a time. If you insist on seeing success only in terms of quitting forever then on which day will you celebrate?

3. Emotional Phases - Chemical dependency upon smoking nicotine is one of the most intense, repetitive and dependable relationships you've likely ever known. It has infected almost every aspect of your life and thinking. Be prepared to experience a normal sense of emotional loss when quitting that gradually transports you through six very different phases: (1) denial, (2) anger, (3) bargaining, (4) depression, (5) acceptance, and (6) complacency. This emotional journey is normal and a necessary part of recovery.

4. Do Not Skip Meals - Each puff of nicotine was your spoon releasing stored fats and sugars into your bloodstream. It allowed you to skip meals without experiencing wild blood-sugar swing symptoms such as an inability to concentrate or hunger related anxieties. Don't add needless symptoms to withdrawal but instead learn to spread your normal daily calorie intake out more evenly over the entire day. Don't eat more food but less food more often.

Drink plenty of acidic fruit juice the first three days. Cranberry is excellent and a bottle will cost you about the same as a pack of cigarettes. It will help to both accelerate the up to 72 hours needed to remove the alkaloid nicotine from your body and help stabilize blood sugars. Take care beyond three days as juices can be rather fattening.

5. Avoid All Crutches - A crutch is any form of quitting reliance that you lean upon so heavily in supporting recovery that if quickly removed would likely result in relapse (a person, product, service or activity). If you feel the need to lean upon a quitting buddy be sure that your buddy is either a sturdy long-time ex-smoker or a never-smoker.

With the exception of using extreme care with alcohol during early withdrawal, you do not need to give up any activity when quitting except for using nicotine. Likewise, successful long-term quitting is not dependent upon you engaging in any new activity either. Contrary to the junkie-thinking you've likely fed your mind, everything you did as a smoker you'll soon adjust to doing as well or better as an ex-smoker.

6. Crave Coping Techniques - You have conditioned your mind to expect the arrival of nicotine when encountering various times, places, activities, people, events or emotions. The first time you encounter each crave trigger you should expect a short yet possibly powerful anxiety episode lasting up to three minutes.

Don't fear or hide from your triggers but confront and extinguish each of them. You'll find that most are re-conditioned by a single encounter during which the subconscious mind does not receive the expected result - nicotine. Welcome and embrace every episode as each reflects a beautiful moment of subconscious healing, and the reclaiming of another aspect of your life.

Average number of craves per day

One crave coping technique is to practice slow deep breathing while clearing your mind of all needless chatter by focusing on your favorite person, place or thing. Another is to say your ABCs while associating each letter with your favorite food, person or place. For example, "A" is for grandma's hot apple pie, and "B" is for ..." It's doubtful you'll ever reach the challenging letter "Q."

7. Cessation Time Distortion - A recent study found that nicotine cessation causes significant time distortion. Although no subconsciously triggered crave episode will last longer than three minutes, to a quitter the minutes can feel like hours. Keep a clock handy to maintain honest perspective.

8. Caffeine/Nicotine Interaction - Amazingly, nicotine somehow doubles the rate by which the body depletes caffeine. Yes, your blood-serum caffeine level will double if no caffeine intake reduction is made when quitting. Although not a problem for most light to moderate caffeine users, consider cutting caffeine intake by roughly half if troubled by anxieties or experiencing difficulty relaxing or sleeping.

9. The Smoking Dream - Be prepared for an extremely vivid smoking dream as tobacco odors released by horizontal healing lungs are swept up bronchial tubes by rapidly healing cilia and come in contact with a vastly enhanced sense of smell. See it as the wonderful sign of healing it reflects and nothing more.

10. Relapse - Remember that there are only two good reasons to take a puff once you quit. You decide you want to go back to your old level of consumption until smoking cripples and then kills you, or you decide you really enjoy withdrawal and you want to make it last forever. As long as neither of these options appeals to you the solution is as simple as ... no nicotine just one day at a time, Never Take Another Puff!

Why Is Quitting Smoking So Hard?

There are a variety of reasons why quitting smoking is so hard. These reasons can be broken into medical reasons, psychological reasons and practical reasons. In one way or the other these reasons may overlap. However in order to understand a variety of reasons why people fail to stop smoking it is worthwhile to categorize them in this manner.
Due to these reasons many people spend almost their whole life attempting to quit smoking but still finding it extremely hard. A simple grasp of some of these reasons may in itself change the entire game plan turning failures into surprising successes.


Medical Reasons
Medical reasons that explain the difficulty of quitting smoking are embedded in the biological work of nicotine in tobacco. by way of background what causes tobacco to be addictive is the interaction between nicotine and a smoker's brain. Nicotine alters the brain receptors leading to total dependency. Any attempt to stop smoking will lead to severe withdrawal symptoms a form of protest from the brain using your body. Nicotine addiction is therefore the strongest and most important reason why quitting tobacco smoking is so hard. The backlash can be so severe that many people become so gripped with fear to ever try again condemning themselves to a life of cigarettes.

Psychological Reasons
There is yet another side of the story to the difficult associated with stopping cigarettes. Some people are gripped with the fear of the unknown. This makes it difficult to quit. Often this is also fed by the general knowledge that quitting is hard making a lot of people failures whilst they still have cigarettes on their mouths. This means the battle has to be worn in the brain if one is to quit for good.

Doctors often advise that quitting smoking is also a matter of the willingness to do so. Just deciding to quit without the needed accompanying will-power will go so far. The individual making a decision to quit will need to be fully mentally prepared for what follows. This is why counseling and quit smoking programs produce better results in patients than those who go alone.

Practical Reasons
Practical reasons why stopping smoking is hard are found in the practical steps one needs in order to succeed. For example, most people decide to quit smoking yet they continue hanging out with people who smoke. They expose themselves to what are known as triggers. they easily find themselves triggered into smoking relapse.

Other practical reasons include the methods people choose to help them stop smoking. people who quit cold turkey almost always fail compared to people who use medications such as nicotine replacement products. All these are a matter of choice. What is it that you choose as your way to stop smoking. Of all the three reasons the most difficult to deal with is the medical reasons followed by the psychological reasons.