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الأربعاء، 31 مايو 2017

Fidget Spinners + Cake = An Epic Cake Topper You Didn’t Know You Needed

If you’re sick of stepping over (or on) those tiny, trendy fidget spinners that your kids leave lying around your house, you’re in luck! Turns out, becoming the coolest mom on the block is actually way easier than you think. Simply incorporate one of those spinning toys into any iced dessert, and voila! You’ve just impressed kiddos and adults, alike. Plus, you’ve found a cheap and unique cake topper to boot.

But how exactly do you make them? This video gives the how-to. After you ice the cupcake, cake, or cookie (or try any of these easy desserts) push the pointy part of a golf pick through the dessert’s center. Next, place the fidget spinner on top of the pick’s round head. Once you give it a spin, these desserts will be ready to take off—into your mouth. Yum!

And if you’re feeling creative, check out even more genius ideas for adding decorations to boring desserts.



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Activated Charcoal Pizza Is Now a Thing—and Internet Foodies Are Loving It!

There’s a new foodie trend on the rise, and it’s poised to break the Internet. Behold: the charcoal pizza, a dark-crusted, low-carb, guilt-free twist to everyone’s favorite comfort food. And yes, the crust is actually infused with charcoal.

We can thank the Italians for Instagram’s latest craze. Naples native Salvatore Olivella just launched his original recipe for the pie at his New Jersey pizza joint, Olivella Restaurant. He first caught whiff of the trend back in Italy, but it’s now spread to places like Japan, Indonesia, the UK, and Canada.

Want to try it right in your own backyard? Restaurants in Florida and California are also serving this delicious dish. And if you’re willing to branch out, Olivella offers pasta and mozzarella cheese made with the same unconventional ingredient.

According to Olivella, not only is charcoal safe (and yummy!) to eat, but it offers impressive health perks, as well.

“Activated charcoal has been used to treat poisonings for years, but only recently has it been added to food, drinks, and cosmetics,” Olivella told Well+Good. “It is reputed to aid digestion, reduce gas and bloating, and absorb toxins in the body.”

But buyer beware—charcoal pizzas may not be any more nutritious than the carb-loaded kind, says Kelly Hogan, RD, CDN, clinical nutrition and wellness manager at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. While it’s true that charcoal can prevent poisons from being absorbed in the body, it can also inhibit important nutrients from being absorbed, too. Charcoal can also cause diarrhea and GI distress, according to Hogan. (For those on a health kick, you might want to try these healthy pizza crust recipes, instead.)

Nutritional doubts aside, if you’re looking to satisfy your pizza craving (and get a good photo op in the process), be sure to make the charcoal pizza your next Instagram destination.



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The Surprisingly Awful Original Titles of 10 World-Famous Books

Portnoy’s Complaint

Terrible-Titles-Rejected-for-10-Famous-Books

It’s possible that Philip Roth’s bestselling, critically acclaimed novel of a young man’s bawdy, outrageous, confessional monologue to a new psychiatrist might have won as many readers under the titles The Jewboy or Wacking Off, but it would have been a lot more embarrassing to read in public. And A Jewish Patient Begins his Analysis, which sounds more like a dull non-fiction manual, might not have made the best-seller list at all. These are the books that will change your life.



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A Coffee a Day Keeps Liver Cancer Away? New Findings Say Yes!

coffeeDid you know that coffee, a popular drink in countries worldwide, is consumed at a rate of 2.25 billion cups? That’s a lot of java. Did you also know that drinking coffee could help reduce your risk of liver cancer? That’s right—there are a number of health benefits of coffee.

Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the world, with nearly 800,000 cases diagnosed in 2012, according to the World Cancer Research Fund. It’s most prevalent in Asia and Africa, and is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.

The BMJ Open journal recently published a study in which researchers from the University of Southampton and University of Edinburgh found that people who drink coffee (both caffeinated and decaffeinated) were less likely to develop hepatocellular cancer, the most common form of liver cancer.

After examining data collected from 26 studies, involving more than two million participants, the researchers found that coffee reduces cirrhosis and liver cancer in a “dose-dependent” manner, meaning the more you drink, the greater its cancer-preventing powers. Among their findings: An extra cup of coffee was linked to a 20 percent reduction in risk; an extra two cups of coffee a day was linked to a 35 percent reduction in hepatocellular cancer risk; and up to five cups of coffee daily was associated with a halving of the risk.

According to MedicalXpress, “the compound molecules found in coffee possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic and other beneficial properties which scientists believe may explain the lower rates of chronic liver disease and liver cancer experienced by coffee-drinkers.

The authors suggest that developing coffee as a lifestyle intervention method for chronic liver disease is important, even if people consume decaf, which has a lesser effect but is still somewhat protective, according to guardian.com. Lead author of the study, Dr. Oliver Kennedy from the University of Southampton, told the Guardian, “Coffee is widely believed to possess a range of health benefits, and these latest findings suggest it could have a significant effect on liver cancer risk.”

This finding adds to the large body or research showing that coffee has numerous health benefits, but it’s not license to guzzle five cups a day, as more research is needed to understand coffee’s effects on different groups, such as pregnant women.

Whether you’re not taking advantage of coffee, there are other ways you may be hurting your liver.



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BMC reveals all new Teammachine range

17 Father’s Day Activities Your Dad Will Appreciate

Fishing

Bond with dad at a local fishing hole or make a weekend out of it at some of America’s best fishing spots. When else do you get to stand side by side and catch up on life while you enjoy the outdoors? Try this neat fishing trick: Use WD-40 to spray your lures. It attracts fish and masks human odor that can scare them off.



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The Longest-Lasting Nail Polish Costs Just $2 a Bottle!

The-Longest-Lasting-Nail-Polish-Costs-Just-$2-a-Bottle-2

With the amount of time it takes to book a manicure, you want a nail polish that will hold up to a busy lifestyle. But that does mean you have to shell out big bucks. One Consumer Reports study found that the longest-lasting nail polish on the market is sold for just $2 a bottle.

For the study, CR recruited 10 volunteers and had each person wear two brands of polish simultaneously, one on every other fingernail of each hand. On the seventh, 10th and 14th days of the manicures—which were applied by a professional manicurist—two trained testers evaluated the polishes’ wear. They found that Sinful Brands, CND Vinylux, and Revlon looked good up to day 10. Sally Hansen and Covergirl looked good at day seven and fair at day 10.

They found that Sinful Colors ($2), CND Vinylux ($5), and Revlon ($2) looked good up to day 10. Sally Hansen ($2) and Covergirl ($5) looked good at day seven and fair at day 10. As for Chanel Le Vernis, which is priced at $27 per bottle, four of the 10 volunteers said it chipped the day it was applied.

The-Longest-Lasting-Nail-Polish-Costs-Just-$2-a-Bottle-2

What’s the takeaway? A fancy label does not a perfect manicure make—and Sinful Colors, which merchandises at just $2 per bottle, was ultimately crowned the CR Best Buy.

Shop the brand online here.



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Promising young time triallist Joe Guy killed in collision with van

Cannondale adds mixed terrain capability with its SuperX SE gravel bike

Ride with… Frodsham Wheelers Cycling Club

Mark Cavendish set to return to racing at British National Championships in June

Obituary: Former world champion Graham Webb — 1944-2017

Vulpine clothing brand bought by Mango Bikes

Fernando Gaviria and Bob Jungels receive stunning custom S-Works bikes

Nine-year-old boy who climbed the Col du Tourmalet in 2016 adds London-Paris to his palmarès

The greatest time triallist that never was: Derek Cottington’s disallowed 25-mile record, 1971

Critérium du Dauphiné 2017 start list

Trek Madone 2017 range: Which model is right for you?

5 Impressive Health Benefits of Acai Berries

Acai berries are a Brazilian “superfruit.” They’re native to the Amazon region where they’re a staple food. However, they’ve recently gained popularity globally and are praised for being particularly beneficial to health and well-being. This dark purple fruit certainly packs a lot of nutrition, and it may even have some health benefits, including the 5 […] The article "5 Impressive Health Benefits of Acai Berries" appeared first on AuthorityNutrition.com

- Click the link or visit Authority Nutrition to read the article now.

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Giro d’Italia route 2018: start in Poland or Jerusalem, finish in Rome, and a return to the Zoncolan

American pro resigns from team after being accused of firing a gun while on training ride

In motion: The best images from the 100th Giro d’Italia

Castelli on the cheap: Seven great deals on Castelli spring and summer clothing

Kinesis launches Tripster AT All Terrain frameset

الثلاثاء، 30 مايو 2017

Many Unable to Participate in Senior Fitness Day

hospice-1794351_1920.jpgMay 31st marks the 24th annual Senior Health and Fitness Day. Everyone is aware of the benefits that come from regular exercise, but unfortunately many of our clients who have mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or other diseases are unable to participate. These illnesses cause chest pains, breathing difficulties, and other symptoms that often weaken the individual to a point of immobility.

What is Mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma is an incurable form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. Asbestos is a naturally-occurring, fibrous mineral once used in many products due to its strength and ability to resist heat. If asbestos is disturbed, the fibers become airborne resulting in inhalation or ingestion, which causes mesothelioma or other cancers. For many, asbestos exposure occurred while working in industries that employed tradesmen, Navy vets, and construction crewmembers.

Mesothelioma Patients Often Lose Independence

Due to the fact that so many with asbestos-related diseases are bed-ridden, they often require full-time caregivers. This is especially true of older patients who may suffer from other medical problems and have a lower survivability rate. A caregiver's responsibilities include keeping the patient comfortable, taking them to doctor or hospital appointments, and ensuring they take any necessary medications. The caregiver role often falls to the spouse, parent, or child of the patient. This can be daunting due to the heavy emotions involved and the fact that he or she will likely be needed for any financial and legal decisions as well.

Asbestos Lawsuits and Estate Planning Assistance

Our experienced attorneys have been working with families affected by asbestos for more than 30 years. We are dedicated to fighting for the rights of victims of exposure and can guide you through the financial and legal processes following the diagnosis of an asbestos-related disease.



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How One Session of Hypnotherapy Finally Ended This Woman’s Debilitating Fear of Spiders

Like many phobias, Clearwater, Florida-based general surgeon Jamie Daniel’s fear of spiders began after a traumatic event. While she was sleeping, a Jumping Spider had made a nest in a fold of the sheer curtains in her bedroom. “When I woke up there were what seemed to be a billion baby spiders crawling all over me!” she says. While the event happened when she was just 11 years old, she developed a paralyzing fear of spiders that affected her for more than 30 years of her life. Some people may scoff at this kind of fear, but phobias are very real and come in all types. “Anytime I saw a spider in the house I’d shriek and jump up on the furniture. I’d spray them with Aqua Net hair spray, and if that didn’t work, I’d use hair spray and a lighter like a flame torch.” But as with many phobias, fears, or bad habits like nail-biting, hypnotherapy ended up offering a solution.

Daniel’s way of killing a spider may have been on the extreme side, but her fear was real. Seeing a spider would send her into a panic, making her palms sweat, raising her heart rate, and causing her to flee the room. “I couldn’t sleep if I knew there was a spider in the house,” she says. If she saw a spider crawling along the interior of her car or on the windshield, she would have to pull over. “My fear was so bad that I almost wrecked my car more than once.”

Her fear was irrational, Daniel freely admits, and she lived her life trying to bury or overcome her fear of spiders on her own—with no success. In May 2016, Daniel took action by volunteering to be hypnotized on WFLA’s Daytime news show by hypnotist Richard Barker. “I had always been skeptical of hypnosis and was not sure that I would be able to be hypnotized,” says Daniel, “But I have always been arachnophobic and it was causing a lot of anxiety, so I thought ‘what the heck,’ I’ll step out of my comfort zone.”

Barker performed a hypnotherapy session with Daniel as the cameras rolled. When she was awoken from her session, she felt relaxed and calm. “I actually told the newscasters that I felt like I had been to a spa.” When a handler placed a tarantula in front of her, she didn’t flee—or reach for a lighter and a can of hairspray. She told Barker that she wasn’t worried. Daniel was able to handle the tarantula, letting it crawl across her hand. “Since the session, spiders no longer paralyze me—I see spiders at my house and I no longer get tachycardia or freak out,” says Daniel. “I don’t love them, but I can tolerate them.” As for hypnosis, it took just the one session to learn how to deal with her fear of spiders and she now considers herself a believer of the practice of hypnosis. “I learned that the brain is a powerful thing.”



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What do professional cyclists eat?

Vintage Swimsuits We Wish Could Come Back in Style

Sun bathing

Vintage-SwimsuitsToday’s swimsuit styles are either too loud, too boring, or, well, barely there. Looking through vintage pictures of what bathing suits used to look like makes us miss the chic swimwear of yesteryear. While you can obviously find some flattering swimsuits these days, there’s something about vintage swimsuits that puts them in a league of their own.  From those figure-hugging one pieces that featured shorts, skirts, and even ties, to those unique two pieces, there was something for everyone. Take a nostalgic trip down memory lane with these throwback beach photos.



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Winona Lake, IN



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7 Self-Help Books for People Who Can’t Stand Self-Help Books

You’re A Badass

Self-Help-Books-for-People-that-Hate-Self-Help-Books

Chock-full of direct language, plenty of cuss words, and simple, digestible quotes, the new book, You’re a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start living an Awesome Life, delves straight into what you need to do to ensure you live life as the best version of yourself. The self-help book is easy to read and reminds you of life lessons you know, but perhaps did not grasp the first time.



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Ben Swift sets sights on Tour de France after difficult start to season

Quick-Step Floors rider crashes into bear while training in California

This Just In: Coconut Vinegar Is the New Apple Cider Vinegar

By now you’re probably storing a bottle of apple cider vinegar in your pantry and your medicine cabinet so that you can use the natural cure-all as part of your diet and beauty routine. But did you know that there may be another vinegar that’s just as beneficial as your beloved apple cider vinegar? Meet coconut vinegar, its hipper cousin.

What-is-Coconut-Vinegar-and-Should-You-Be-Drinking-It

A popular acidic condiment in Southeast Asia and some regions of India, coconut vinegar is a natural product produced from fermentable coconut sap and the oxidation of ethanol into acetic acid. Healthwise, it has a lot going for it, according to Lynnley Huey, MPH, RD, a registered dietician and a nutritionist on Maven.

  • Since it’s fermented, coconut vinegar a natural source of probiotics, which feed our microbiome—that community of gut bugs that keeps us healthy on so many levels.
  • Because coconut trees grow in soil that’s highly rich in nutrients, the “sap” from the coconut blossoms is also rich in nutrients. Coconut vinegar is therefore a good source of minerals and vitamins, including potassium (which helps balance electrolytes, control blood pressure, and process sugar), ascorbic acid or vitamin C (an important antioxidant) and certain B vitamins, particularly B2 or riboflavin (an important vitamin that is essential in the body’s energy production, cellular function, and metabolism).
  • It’s also low on the glycemic index, so it won’t spike blood sugar.
  • Coconut vinegar contains all nine essential amino acids—the building blocks of protein that are often incomplete in plant-based foods, according to LiveStrong. Amino acids also play a role in oxygenating blood and keeping the immune system healthy, among other key functions in the body.

When it comes to healthful living, both apple cider vinegar and coconut vinegar can live amicably on your shelf. Although there’s a lot more research about the power of apple cider vinegar to lower blood sugar levels and aid in digestion, coconut vinegar is thought to have similar benefits. Huey cautions that we’ll need more scientific evidence to prove any specific health claims, and you should always ask your doctor before using coconut vinegar as part of your health regimen, especially if you already take blood pressure-lowering medication.

What-is-Coconut-Vinegar-and-Should-You-Be-Drinking-It

As a beauty treatment, coconut vinegar works similarly to apple cider vinegar, as all vinegar types have antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. You can apply it topically, but studies haven’t shown it to be a proven or safe treatment for conditions like acne or sunburn, according to Huey.

Like apple cider vinegar, coconut vinegar is too acidic to be enjoyed straight up, as it can damage your esophagus (not to mention erode the enamel on your teeth), so mix it with a little mustard and oil for a salad dressing or dilute it with water and honey and drink it as a morning cleanse. (Learn how to drink apple cider vinegar). And if you don’t want to have to think before you drink, then check out the new line of drinking vinegars from Suja, which are premixed. Huey recommends keeping your intake of coconut vinegar to 1 to 2 teaspoons and up to 1 to 2 tablespoons daily, to avoid potential side effects.

If you opt to go for plain coconut vinegar, then be sure to read the label carefully. For the full benefits, coconut vinegar should be created from coconut sap, rather than water. Coconut sap contains high levels of amino acids and probiotics and enzymes, whereas coconut water is diluted.



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These Are the Worst Jobs for Sleep. Did Yours Make the List?

Sleep doesn’t just feel good—it’s a vitally important part of your health. People who consistently don’t get seven or more hours of shuteye are more at risk for obesity, heart disease, depression, diabetes, and more. But sometimes, long hours at work make it seem impossible to get a decent night’s rest.

The CDC analyzed how many working adults failed to get at least seven hours of sleep in different jobs. They used self-reported data from 179,621 adults to find out which positions were most (and least) likely to get enough sleep.

After adjusting for age, sex, marital status, and education level, the survey found communications equipment operators had the worst jobs for sleep, with 58 percent saying they didn’t get at least seven hours per day. Right behind them were other transportation workers (54 percent) and rail transportation workers (53 percent).

These-Are-the-Worst-Jobs-for-Sleep.-Did-Yours-Make-the-List-

On the flip side, air transportation workers got enough sleep most often, with just 21 percent saying they didn’t get at least seven hours. Meanwhile, only about 22 percent of religious workers, and first-line supervisors/managers and protective service workers said they didn’t sleep enough.

These-Are-the-Worst-Jobs-for-Sleep.-Did-Yours-Make-the-List-

Surprised that air transportation jobs were the best for sleep, while rail and other transportation positions were among the worst? The Federal Aviation Administration protects pilots, limiting them to flying just eight or nine hours at a time. Pilots also need at least ten hours between shifts, with a realistic opportunity for at least eight hours of sleep. So an hour and a half commute should factor into how much time off they have.

Most of the jobs worst for sleep happened to be shift work, which could mean trouble sleeping when trying to switch “time zone” for a work shifts, says Michael Breus, PhD, clinical sleep specialist and author of The Power of When. The condition is common enough to have its own name: shift work disorder.

These-Are-the-Worst-Jobs-for-Sleep.-Did-Yours-Make-the-List-

Jobs with inconsistent hours or graveyard shifts throw off workers’ internal clocks. “The body can never really understand when it is supposed to be sleeping,” says says W. Christopher Winter, MD, president of the Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Clinic and author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It. After working a midday shift and then switching to a graveyard shift, for instance, employees might have trouble falling asleep, then feel exhausted on the job.

And shift work doesn’t have to mean late-night hours, either. It could mean working an 11-hour day, having an inconsistent schedule, or even getting a graveyard shift every other week, says Dr. Winter.

It’s not just the time clocked in that’s taxing. A commute could mean even longer hours committed to work, says Dr. Winter. “One of the worst patients I’ve seen is a train conductor,” he says. “Trains don’t leave from every city, so he had to travel to another city.” More time traveling means less time available for sleep.

Plus, graveyard shift workers often force themselves awake earlier on their days off, which actually makes things worse when they do go back to work. “They are trying to sleep when everyone else that matters in their lives is awake, so often they will ‘switch’ on their days off, and this can make sleep really tough,” says Dr. Breus.

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On the other hand, jobs like religious workers, protective service workers, and teachers might have more consistent hours. “All seem to have a definite ‘end’ to their day,” says Dr. Breus. Other than teachers, who need to bring grading home with them, most positions with the best sleep habits probably don’t need to bring paperwork home for more late-night hours, says Dr. Winter.

Even if you do need work night shifts, sticking with a consistently late schedule is actually better than taking irregular graveyard shifts, says Dr. Winter. If your job doesn’t allow the same hours every day, encourage your employer to build schedules that get gradually later through the week. “It’s a lot easier for us to push a little later than to go to bed earlier,” says Dr. Winter. You’ll find it easier to fall asleep before work, so you’ll be more alert on the job.

If all else fails and you can’t get a solid seven or more hours of sleep a night, ask your doctor about shift work disorder medications. The FDA-approved drugs will keep you from dozing off on the job. “You have a better shift and can make it home without hurting yourself,” says Dr. Winter. “Because you’re not nodding off [on the job], at home it’s easier to sleep.”



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The Real Reason Queen Elizabeth Carries a Purse All the Time

Queen Elizabeth II certainly knows how to accessorize. You’d be hard pressed to find a picture of Her Majesty without one of her signature Launer handbags. She reportedly owns more than 200 of them!

But just as the Queen has a few fascinating secrets about herself, there’s more to these purses than meets the eye. In a fashion that echoes the suave subtlety of James Bond, Queen Elizabeth uses her purse to send secret messages to her staff.

These signals help her get out of conversations at any time she pleases. If the Queen moves her classic handbag from its normal spot on her left arm to her right arm while she’s talking with someone, her handlers know that she wants to wrap it up. Putting her bag on the floor is a sign that she needs to be saved from an uncomfortable encounter ASAP. If she’s at dinner and places it on the table, that means she wants to end the event in the next five minutes.

Let’s just hope Her Majesty doesn’t send any of these signals if we happen to converse with her.

As for what the Queen keeps in her bag, royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith says the items aren’t all that different from what normal women carry with them: a mirror, lipstick, mint lozenges, and reading glasses. That just proves Her Majesty knows how to be practical and fashionable.

Want to pack your purse like the Queen? Here’s what you shouldn’t carry with you and what you should pack to be insanely more productive.



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Can a Genetic Test Help You Reach Your Weight-Loss Goals?

Genetic testing is all the rage, yet there are real questions about whether the technology is really worth it. One of the more tantalizing genetic possibilities: Could your genes suggest the right weight-loss approach for you? That’s what a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests.

The researchers looked at 683 men and women ages 18 to 73 from the Food4Me trial, a U.K.-based trial that delivers personalized nutrition and support via the Internet to adults. All the participants were screened for the FTO genetic variation, a trait that’s associated with weight gain. One group was told that they carried this variation, and they received personalized nutrition guidance. In previous research, people who carry the trait are particularly susceptible to saturated fats, benefit from increasing their intake of healthy omega-3 fats (the kind in fish and walnuts, for example), and respond well to exercise.

While the differences between the groups were small—the FTO group lost about a half-pound more and trimmed an additional inch of their waistlines compared to a control group after six months—the researchers were nonetheless enthusiastic about the results. “We think that personalized (nutrition) advice is more effective because it engages each individual better and motivates them to make specific behavioral changes and to sustain those changes,” says study author John C. Mathers, director of the Human Nutrition Research Centre at Newcastle University.

Getting tested for this genetic susceptibility probably isn’t worth the advantages suggested by these results. In fact, past research indicates genetic status as a whole may not make a major difference in weight loss. Mathers points to a larger analysis of data from eight major trials involving nearly 10,000 people published in BMJ in 2016. The results in a nutshell: “We found that FTO [gene] status did not affect weight loss,” he says.

One other positive takeaway from Mathers: “We think this is good news since it suggests that even if the genetic variation made the person a bit heavier, it would not be a barrier to losing weight,” he says. “Genetics matters but not as much as many people assume,” he says. Translation: if you’re overweight, it may not be your genes preventing you from losing it.

The bottom line: Your lifestyle matters more. The diet you eat every day makes a bigger difference in your weight, says Mathers. If you’re overweight and want to lose pounds, the advice to eat fewer fatty and sugary foods and more fruits and veggies still stands, he says. “Most people gain weight gradually over many months and years. Weight loss can take a while so patience and determination are keys to success,” Mathers adds. Plateaued? Here are 17 ways to start losing again.



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How to Use Your Vacation Photos to Make Fast Money

photographingIf you thought your vacation photos were worthless, you’re wrong. Blogger James Wheeler recently told the PetaPixel community how he made $4,000 over the last five years on just one photo.

His secret? Stock photo sites.

“In 2012, I uploaded around 300 of my best photos to five microstock sites. It was a tedious process of keywording, uploading, categorizing, and submitting but I was able to get them all uploaded in my spare time within a month,” the photographer wrote. “Some of the sites rejected about half the photos as not being high enough quality but enough got accepted for me to start making about $100 month in sales across the sites.” (Here’s how to take postcard-perfect pictures on your phone.)

And while Wheeler’s on the more experienced end of the amateur photography spectrum, he makes it clear that all it takes is one hit photo to bring in a sizable amount of cash. The photo for him is a landscape shot of Moraine Lake in Alberta, Canada, which has made $4,000.

“If someone buys your photo when searching a specific term, then your photo will rank higher for that term on future searches. As more people buy, the photo can move up to the first page. Once a photo is on the first page for a popular keyword then it will often stay there for a while as more sales come in.”

That said, the more generic your photos are, the more traffic they’ll get. “Shots of famous landmarks, landscapes, and photos people can’t find anywhere else are all safe bets to make a few bucks,” writes Travel + Leisure.

As for where to post, istockphoto.com and shutterstock.com are both great options and pay photographers around 15 percent on the sale of each photo.

h/t Travel + Leisure



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The Real Reasons Kids with ADHD Lie—and Ways to Help Them Stop

ADHD and lying

Most kids lie or avoid telling the truth on occasion. But if your child has Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), you might find yourself often asking him, “Why are you lying again?” If that’s the case, you’re not alone. Not all kids with ADHD tell frequent lies. In fact, some are impulsively honest, which can create its own problems. But for those who do lie, it can quickly become a habit. When they do consistently lie, it’s usually not about big things like stealing or cheating. (Although they may occasionally do that too, just like other kids.) Instead, they may lie about everyday things like chores and work. This type of lying isn’t about defiance. It’s about having trouble coping with challenges. Here’s what you need to know about ADHD in children and frequent lying, according to Ellen Braaten, PhD, director of the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and advisor on learning and attention issues for Understood.org.



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Everything You Thought You Knew About Dyslexia Is Probably Wrong

Myth #1: It’s a boy thing

childFact: Boys with dyslexia are more frequently identified as having dyslexia in school, according to Bob Cunningham, EdM, a teacher, evaluator, school administrator, and advisor-in-residence on learning and attention issues for understood.org. But dyslexia affects both genders in nearly equal numbers. So what explains the difference in schools? Researchers have found that girls tend to quietly muddle through challenges while boys become more rambunctious. Boys’ behavioral difficulties draw the teacher’s attention to them. Here’s how to make reading more fun for your child.



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Yes, You Can Make Extra Money While on Vacation. Here’s How

Sell your vacation photos

01-sell-Ways-to-Make-Extra-Money-While-on-Vacation-209647441-solominviktorYour Instagram followers shouldn’t be the only ones to appreciate your awe-inspiring vacation snaps. Instead, you can make money on vacation by putting those photos to work for you. List your best shots for sale with an online stock photo site such as Istockphoto.com, pond5.com, and Shutterstock.com; then those sites can sell your images to websites, creative directors, travel agencies, and people looking for background images for their blogs. You receive a percentage of the sale, which varies depending on the site listing your photo. Be sure to review the technical requirements before uploading your pictures, as most sites require higher-quality images than you can take with a smartphone. Here’s how to take amazing photos.



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14 Secrets to Never Looking Your Age—from a Celebrity Makeup Artist

You’ll only look your best when you eat your best

01-secrets-timeless-beauty-bobbi-brown-361805861-Dasha-Petrenko“When you are a freelance makeup artist working with young models, you see the difference between the ones that aren’t taking care of themselves (diet wise), and those that come in with a healthy apple or green juice—you can honestly see the difference,” says world-famous makeup artist and beauty mogul Bobbi Brown. To look your most beautiful throughout your life, you’ve got to commit yourself to a long-term, healthy diet and lifestyle. For recipes full of beauty foods, check out Brown’s latest book, Beauty From the Inside Out (available on Amazon).



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8 Ways to Make Sure You Never See a Bug in Your Kitchen Again

Thinks outside of the box

News flash: Even that unopened box of quinoa can be infested by bugs and that’s taking organic a little too far for most of us. Your best bet is to dump that quinoa, flour, or rice into a glass or BPA-free plastic container with a tight-locking lid. And don’t forget about the garbage. The right containers will not only keep pests out of your food, but our of your trash. Dispose of garbage in sealed receptacles to keep out both bugs and unwanted animals. Mr. Raccoon will have to go dumpster diving somewhere else.



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Does Butter Go Bad If You Don’t Refrigerate It?

Butter is a favorite spread and baking ingredient. Yet when you store it in the refrigerator, it becomes hard, so you need to soften or melt it before use. For this reason, some people store butter on the counter rather than in the fridge. But does butter go bad if you leave it out? This […] The article "Does Butter Go Bad If You Don’t Refrigerate It?" appeared first on AuthorityNutrition.com

- Click the link or visit Authority Nutrition to read the article now.

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Whoa! That Red Juice in Your Meat Isn’t Blood

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If you’ve ever gagged at the thought of a “bloody” steak, you might want to consider medium-rare a second try. That red liquid isn’t blood.

Practically all of the blood is taken out of meat during slaughter, according to Today I Found Out. If that red juice were blood, even poultry would have that rosy color.

The red hue comes from a protein called myoglobin, which helps muscle tissue store oxygen, like hemoglobin does in your blood. And like hemoglobin, the iron in myoglobin turns red when it binds with oxygen, giving raw meat that red hue, according to the New York Times. Most mammals have high amounts of myoglobin in their tissue, which is why they’re known as “red meat.” Learn what happens when you give up red meat.

Once you throw that fresh steak on the grill, though, the heat changes myoglobin’s chemical structure, and the food turns from red to brown. When steak is red and done rare, it hasn’t lost its moisture. But heat squeezes those juices out, so by the time the meat turns brown, that well-done steak also isn’t as tender.

As it loses its freshness, even uncooked meat will start turning an unappetizing shade of gray-brown when it’s exposed to air. That’s why some meat packers treat raw steak with carbon monoxide, which prevents it from interacting with oxygen, according to The Daily Meal. As a result, the meat holds on to that rosy color—and makes you more likely to buy. Meanwhile, cured meats like hot dogs get a nitric oxide treatment to keep them looking pink.

So if you turn down rare steak to avoid food poisoning, we commend you—just don’t claim your fellow diners are swallowing blood.

MORE: 19 Secrets Your Butcher Won’t Tell You



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الاثنين، 29 مايو 2017

Fact: Millennials Didn’t Invent Selfies—This Guy Did

selfportraitIt’s a bright, cool day in October, 1839 and you decide to take a selfie.

Your father, a Dutch immigrant, owns a profitable lamp shop in downtown Philadelphia, where you’ve learned a thing or two about silver-plating and exploiting the power of light. You decide to set up your selfie studio in the shop’s backyard. And by “studio,” you mean “box”—a tin box, sealed shut except for one hole where you’ve inserted a tiny circular lens that you wrenched out of a pair of opera glasses (you can beg mom’s forgiveness later). If all goes to plan when you remove the lens cap, the day’s modest sunlight will filter into the box and etch your image—your selfie—onto a silver-plated piece of copper inside the box, a fragile canvas treated with iodine and bromine and other magical fumes you learned about in chemistry lectures.

Does this all sound crazy? Maybe so—but science says it should work! A Frenchman named Daguerre made it work (that’s what the newest journals say, anyway) so why can’t you? What does a Frenchman have that you, a 30-year-old, privately educated American polymath, don’t have? Daguerre probably didn’t go to school for chemistry. Daguerre probably doesn’t have beautifully-tousled hair.

Your box steadily situated outside, you remove the lens cap. Action! You sprint around to the front of your homemade camera, position yourself handsomely in front of the little opera glass, and cross your arms. Then, you wait. Motionless. A minute passes. Five minutes. How long do you have to hold this pose, again? You’re pretty sure it’s less than fifteen minutes, but who’s to say? Nobody has ever done this before.

After ten minutes without so much as scratching your handsome American nose, you call it. You rush back to the camera, return the lens cap over the glass, and wipe your brow. Your selfie — the world’s first selfie — is somewhere in that box, yearning to reveal your tousled hair, your brooding eyebrows, your chill, devil-may-care style. Finally, it’s almost time to share your selfie with your social network: All you have to do first is take the copper plate inside, fume it with mercury vapor to expose the latent image, remove its sensitivity to light with a special chemical treatment you read about in your science journals, rinse it, dry it, mount it on paper, then seal it behind glass for the rest of your life lest a single fingerprint smudge its delicate surface and ruin it forever.

And so, that’s what you do.

Congratulations! You are Robert Cornelius, and you have just taken the world’s first-known photographic self portrait—the world’s first selfie. On the back of the photo’s paper mounting, you write, “The first light Picture ever taken. 1839.” Friends and strangers who see your selfie will encourage your craft. Next year, in 1840, you will open Philadelphia’s first portrait studio—the second such studio in all of America. You will take many portraits of pompous-looking men in black coats, but none of them look as cool or as chill as you do in your selfie. Perhaps you think of this each time a bespectacled old man sits down in front of your camera. Perhaps the fun was in the self-discovery. After a few years of this, you will abandon your studio and return to the family lamp trade.

You will die old and wealthy in 1893, remembered for bringing light into thousands of homes. But 120 years later, when “selfie” is declared the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year, the world will owe far more to the light you captured on that bright, cool October day, with your tin box in your dad’s backyard.



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This Family’s Epic Vacation Story Is Proof Off-Season Travel Is Underrated

Go. Stop. Go. Stop. The travel signals in my head were mixed, conflicting. “Are you sure you want to head to Greece this November with Kathleen?” asked my husband. “The weather could be unpleasant.”

A take-charge kind of person, my daughter quickly Googled “November weather for Athens.” “Temperatures will be slightly warmer than in New York City,” she said. “And rainfall for the month—in the two-inch range—doesn’t sound like a monsoon. As for rough winter seas, let’s hop on planes instead. We’ll have endless hot-from-the-oven, spinachy spanakopita, imagine that, and be fine.”

“You must go,” said my friend Larry, who raved about having spent Thanksgiving on Santorini. “Sunsets are among the most gorgeous in the world and the island is the legendary location of the lost city of Atlantis. It’s a paradise. All you’ll need is a warm hooded jacket.”

With his encouraging words, I booked our flights to Athens and included two Greek islands: Santorini (how could we resist such a place?) and Crete. Renowned for beaches and an abundance of ancient ruins that my parents had delighted in seeing years earlier, such as the Palace of Knossos, Crete was the furthest south of all of Greece’s islands. Translation: It has a high sun-warmth factor, a way to increase odds for a successful trip.

Go, go, go….

Sunshine and a brisk Saturday afternoon welcomed us to Eleftherios Venizelos Airport in Athens. During the next days Kathleen and I devoured the crispiest spanakopita imaginable; we ranked our favorite feta, cucumber, tomato and olive-studded salads, and tried unknown-to-us foods. No annoying lines of tourists either, as we saw sights on the Athens “A” list: from the Acropolis and Archeological Museum to the ancient Panathenaic Stadium. We poked around the ruins at Delphi, home of the famed Oracle and once considered the center of the universe.

And then came Tuesday. Heavy rain kept us dashing between museums and stores. The next day’s flight to Santorini was yo-yoed by wind gusts up to forty miles an hour, our stomachs bumping up and down, our view obscured by squalls. “I’m truly sorry,” the flight attendant said. “The storm has stalled.”

The cliff-top town of Fira, normally a much-photographed tourist destination, was chilly, rainy, foggy… empty. Only a darker grey fuzziness differentiated land from sea. With rain streaking our faces, wind whipping our jackets, Kathleen and I edged along a cliff to our hotel and checked in for a three-night stay, the only guests. As we stepped down steep stairs toward our bungalow dug into the cliff itself, a gust of wind suddenly pushed us toward what we’d been told was a sheer 500-foot drop into the Mediterranean, still obscured by fog.

Unnerved, unsettled, we fled into the cave-like rooms. We tried to read. We heated up tea with honey to settle our queasy stomachs. Read a little more. “This isn’t how I want to spend my vacation,” said Kathleen, who hadn’t smiled in hours. “Maybe Crete isn’t experiencing the same storm. Can we fly out later today?”

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Her question mirrored my own thoughts, and yet I felt trapped by commitments. We couldn’t leave. We’d just arrived. Payments for the hotel and rental car would be lost, and costly last-minute plane reservations needed. And, oh yeah, I could hear myself telling my husband, who’d thought the trip ill-advised, that we’d never actually seen Santorini’s famous views. Like the photo in our bungalow showing a white-walled Cycladic church with a brilliant blue dome overlooking the sea, one of the more than 250 churches on the 11-mile-long island. “Nope,” I’d have to tell him, “we didn’t see anything.”

“Let’s not decide right now,” I suggested to Kathleen, trying to put pep into my voice. “At least let’s give the place a day.”

“Okay,” said Kathleen.

What? Where did her change of heart, her sense of grace come from? To my surprise, and now sounding as cool as a Greek cucumber, she added: “Let’s give it a try. I just came to a realization. I want adventures when I travel—not predictable beach vacations. I want experiences that are awakening and exciting. So, if not too cold and rainy, I’d like to explore the island and see what makes people call it a paradise.

“But,” she continued pragmatically, “maybe we needn’t stay the whole time.”

We were a silly sight—our colorful plumage of clothing consisting of long-sleeved shirts under hooded sweatshirts, and puffy vests, pashminas and gloves. And thus warmly adorned, we sped off on adventures:

… Up a rocky hill to ruins at ancient Thira. With the rain easing, we drove to the southern side of the island and then climbed up rugged switchbacks. To reach the old hill-topper village with the remains of a few houses and the agora, or market, we had to inch cautiously over a thin slippery land bridge with an unsettling 1,200-foot precipice on one side and a jagged slope on the other.

“Can you believe this?” asked Kathleen, exhilarated by crossing safely. “We’re retracing steps Greeks made thousands of years earlier, perhaps daily since their farms were on flat land along the sea far below.”

… To another cliff-side village, Oia. Despite more showers, we stayed another day and ventured to Oia. A friendly woman corralled us on a deserted street and in excellent English asked, “Would you like to attend my church’s feast day?” The tiny Greek Orthodox church she attended was the size of a very large American kitchen. Several dozen black-clad women were singing and talking in one corner, more people than we’d seen in the entire town. They pressed glasses of sweet red mavro wine into our wet hands. Showers lifting, we stepped back outside and marveled at the town’s precarious perch on the cliff’s edge.

“The earthquake of 1956 caused immense damage,” said the woman, pointing to abandoned cliff cave houses, known as skafta. “It was the Aegean’s largest quake of the twentieth century. It wasn’t as damaging, of course, as the volcanic eruption of 1650 BC that blasted out the center of the island, but homes crumbled, some tumbled into the sea, and yet as before our lives somehow went on.”

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As we imagined such an occurrence, the woman disappeared into the church. She emerged carrying two platters. “Try these buns,” she said. They were filled with a pocket of crispy sesame seeds. Her hospitality was like a warm embrace of friendship, especially when she added, “The seeds will bring you good luck.”

… To black sand beaches. Red sand, too. The boarded-up restaurants and villas along the beach didn’t bother us. The wonderful upside of this emptiness meant the beaches were ours alone. In damp black sand our footprints edged deeper.

… To VERY leisurely meals. No reservations needed. At a restaurant named Poseidon, on our third night (yes, we stayed the full time and did see Fira’s iconic blue-domed church), we waited and waited, and waited some more, for dinner: artichoke-stuffed squid and grilled grouper with a tomato-olive sauce. “The chef is now back,” our waiter explained sheepishly. “Your dinner will be out shortly. The chef was busy studying something beautiful.”

Seeing our puzzled look, the waiter then confessed, “He went out for a smoke, saw a beautiful girl and began to flirt until the owner started to yell and, and, and….”

Suddenly, Kathleen laughed. Instead of reprimanding the waiter impatiently, she leaned back and smiled, and out came a loud, happy sound. A joyful laugh.

An attitude adjustment into grace, I realized, had been happening since our arrival. My daughter had shifted into a “going-with-the-flow” mindset. She was the one leading me. As she explained later: “You know Mom, you can’t live a positive life with a negative, critical mind. I’m learning that Greek people have their own wonderful sense of time and priorities.” The tables had truly turned. After an initial struggle with the messy weather, Kathleen had helped dispel the layer of gloom clouding my thoughts, my mood. Her own sense of grace contained a valuable realization about the unpredictability factor in travel—and life. Her new view: try to deal gracefully and affably with whatever happens.

Several days later on Crete, sunny and warm as anticipated, we continued to relish the off-season travel pleasures of uncrowded beaches, museums and historical sites. In driving merely half an hour out of the modern city of Irakleio, for instance, we visited the Palace of Knossos—in essence, time traveling back to around 1700 BC, or so it felt because again we were virtually the only ones there. Well, and the ticket-taker and four strutting, trilling, iridescent blue-green plumaged peacocks.

“Give me a pinch,” said Kathleen. We were now facing a charging bull, actually on an ancient fresco. “I can’t believe we’re in the same palace once visited by Grandma June and Grampa John,” she said. “I’m so glad we traveled to Greece in the off-season.”

Grace surrounds us. The challenge is to let go of anxieties and worries, the tendency to complain, that can hover nearby like a Greek fog. A sunny disposition—your sunny disposition, wherever you are—can let grace shine and clear the air for everyone. That and a hooded jacket!



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The Hero Who Risked His Life to Save 32 Tourists from Burning Bus

Olav Hylland should already have left for an appointment. But his wife had taken the family car and although an employee had offered his, Olav couldn’t find it. I don’t really have time for this, the jovial, busy 54-year-old Norwegian thought.

It was August 11 2015, peak season for the family’s Viking-style, fjord-side hotel-restaurant at Gudvangen, Western Norway. Olav was expecting up to 500 guests, mostly Asian tourists, to eat there before boarding a ferry. He was about to cancel the appointment when he remembered the van they’d just bought, a big Mercedes Sprinter. No-one was using it and Olav jumped in.

Leaving the hotel, he turned onto the main road with the Gudvanga tunnel 300 meters ahead. The 11.4 kilometer-tunnel is one of many that perforate Norway’s mountains. Two years earlier a truck caught fire inside it: 67 people were evacuated, many with serious smoke inhalation injuries. The tunnel’s closure for repairs was a disastrous blow to Olav’s business. The road to his hotel was blocked and the stream of tourists halted. Although it was difficult, they managed to keep their staff on.

The Gudvangen Fjordtell was his life’s work. His family ran the business before him and the current and unique “Old Norse” building was designed by his wife, Torill. The absence of bookings during this season resulted in their darkest hour but they had survived. Once business started to take off again Olav had little time to dwell on the accident.

This day was no different. Inside the tunnel everything seemed normal. When almost through, Olav spotted an unusual light some 50 meters ahead. Then he saw something burning.

Horrified, he stopped dead. A tour bus was on fire, at the back where the engine was, dozens of Asian-looking tourists were stumbling towards him, getting away from the flames. They’re going the wrong way, Olav thought, knowing the tunnel exit was just 500 meters ahead round a bend ahead of him. Then he realized the bus was now blazing so fiercely they couldn’t get round it.

A former volunteer firefighter, Olav first had to raise the alarm. Grabbing his cell phone, he entered the codes with adrenalin-shaking hands. “A bus is on fire! Close the gates!” He knew there could be many vehicles inside the tunnel already. He also knew that the automatic system would ventilate the smoke back towards Gudvangen to ease access for the fire brigade stationed near the exit ahead.

Thick smoke poured into the tunnel. Every second counted. There was no way the tourists could outrun the choking, blinding fumes.

Quickly, Olav started to turn the van round. On all sides desperate tourists blundered about, making the u-turn painfully slow. Finally in position, Olav jumped out and opened the sliding doors to the empty cargo space.

“Get in here!” he shouted, pointing and waving; the tourists were Chinese and he knew they usually spoke little English. At last they started to pile in. Olav ran round the van to make sure no-one was left behind. He pushed the last two tourists into the front passenger seats.

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The tour bus driver was still trying to kill the flames with a fire extinguisher. It was futile.

“Leave it!” Olav shouted but the man waved him off.

There was no time to argue. The smoke could black out the tunnel any minute. As he started the van, Olav noticed the tourist next to him had a torch. Instantly he made the man shine it on the tunnel roof to check the smoke. Hot smoke will first creep along the ceiling and then, as it cools, sink to the ground to suffocate anyone there and blind any driver. As he took off, the smoke started sinking to the floor of the tunnel, closing in on the van.

Racing to outrun the smoke, Olav met new challenges. Unsuspecting drivers were coming towards him. He flashed his lights, leaned out, yelled: “Fire ahead! Turn round!”

Most of the dozen or so drivers got the point and turned, including a shuttle bus with 50 cruise ship passengers. But some ignored the warnings and continued.

Packed like sardines, the tourists bumped about for a nerve-racking stop-and-go 20 minutes before the van finally left the tunnel. Olav stopped at the nearby gas station. Inside the van the shocked passengers were silent, but when he opened the doors to Gudvangen’s heavenly, postcard-perfect scenery, out they came, dazed but little by little smiling.

Olav located their guide and made him count the group. They were all there. Olav told them to walk to his hotel and wait in the lounge as they had now missed their boat to their next destination, the village of Flåm. After briefing emergency workers, then in his capacity as the local harbourmaster, Olav arranged for a charter boat to take them to Flåm. Medics had been called out to meet them there.

That’s it, Olav thought, back in his hotel, taking a breath. But it wasn’t quite over. A few hours later he was summoned to Flåm. With the tunnel closed, a helicopter hired by a TV channel took him over the mountain. Surrounded by all 32 Chinese tourists, the embarrassed Norwegian was hugged by each in turn and greeted as their hero. All their luggage was lost in the burned-out bus, including some passports, but they were alive and unharmed. As tour guide James He concluded for the local press: “He gave us a second life.”

“I just did what anyone would do,” Olav says modestly.

Torill believes the drama shows her husband in a nutshell: always determined to help people. “The locals say it’s good he took the van that day because if he’d taken the car, he’d have pushed all 32 into it!”

Another five people were later rescued from the Gudvanga tunnel. Four, including the bus driver, suffered serious smoke inhalation. Olav Hylland was awarded a Carnegie Diploma for heroism. Fortunately this tunnel fire didn’t hurt his business as much as the earlier one. Indeed, the rescue has made him a popular attraction among Chinese tourists.



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In Her Final Weeks of Pregnancy, This Surgeon Didn’t Know She Had a Life-Threatening Condition Untill It Was Almost Too Late

hospitalMary Dillhoff is used to long hours in the operating room as a surgical oncologist, but she never imagined she would miss a potentially life-threatening condition herself during her second pregnancy. The active surgeon regularly ran marathons, and ate a healthy diet, so when she began having shortness of breath, she shrugged it off as third trimester pregnancy symptoms.

“I was very active and ran a full marathon at 26 weeks pregnant. I ran a 5K even pushing my two year old in a stroller during the race, the day before my symptoms started, around my 33rd week,” Dr. Dillhoff says. “I downplayed my symptoms, attributing it to pregnancy. However, the shortness of breath was significant enough that I could no longer run, and was short of breath simply carrying on a conversation,” she recalls.

runningIt wasn’t until two weeks later that the symptom she knew she could not ignore appeared. “After traveling in a car for several hours, I looked down at my left leg and it was blue and swollen from my hip to ankle,” she explains. “I knew immediately then I had a DVT (deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot that forms within one of the deep veins in the body, usually the legs) and likely had a pulmonary embolism a few weeks prior that caused my shortness of breath. I went to the hospital for care that night and began blood thinners. At this point, I was walking with a severe limp and had debilitating hip pain.”

The swelling continued and didn’t improve over the next two weeks. At this point, given the severity of her symptoms and lack of improvement on blood thinners, her vascular surgeon and obstetrician recommended Dr. Dillhoff have a surgical treatment for her DVT, but there was a catch: Having it while pregnant would have been very dangerous for her unborn baby. So at 37 weeks (considered full term), Dr. Dillhoff was induced.

“My biggest fear that day was dying. I’m a surgeon myself and have seen many people with DVT and pulmonary embolism, but I was as scared as I’ve ever been the day I went in for induction. I was so worried about the baby and my long term health at that point.” Thankfully, the birth happened without a hitch and her newborn son, Jackson, was perfectly healthy.

After being released from the maternity ward of the hospital, Dr. Dillhoff was readmitted to a heart hospital five days after giving birth for treatment of her life-threatening DVT. A catheter was placed into the vein and medication was given to help break up the clot. “This was done for 24 hours and then a stent was placed, because I had a condition that predisposed me to getting a blood clot called May Thurner syndrome, where the right iliac artery compresses the left iliac vein.”

Since her newborn son was only days old, Jackson went with her to the new hospital and stayed by her side. “He got all kinds of attention from the nurses since they were used to a much older population and never really have babies over there,” she recalls.

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After receiving the stent, her condition quickly improved. She recalls, “The swelling in my leg was better immediately. I went home after two nights and was running within a week.” Dr. Dillhoff tells Reader’s Digest that she remains on blood thinners and will continue them until it has been six months past the original diagnosis date.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 900,000 people annually are affected by DVT, and 10 to 30 percent of those affected will die within one month of diagnosis. The risk of developing deep vein thrombosis is four to five times greater during pregnancy, and symptoms of the potentially deadly condition include sudden shortness of breath, swelling in one or both legs, chest pain during breathing or coughing (that may produce blood), dizziness and faintness, and rapid pulse. Sudden death is the first symptom for a quarter of all DVT cases, a chilling statistic that highlights the importance of awareness of the condition. DVT symptoms can often masquerade as other conditions, and awareness of the dangerous condition is key.

Dr. Dillhoff explains, “It is very serious and I knew how serious it could have been. The risk of death from a pulmonary embolism is about 10 percent, so I knew this was a big deal.” Though death is a concern, the affects of a blood clot can stay long after the condition has been resolved. Dr. Dillhoff says, “With a clot in the leg, a significant portion of patients get post thrombotic syndrome, which causes swelling and pain. I was concerned I would no longer be able to function normally and work as I had or take care of my kids, let alone run like I was accustomed to.” Today, Dr. Dillhoff is grateful for her complete recovery. She says, “Our life is really back to normal. We are so lucky to have gotten the care we got and had a great outcome.”

Although anyone can develop a deadly blood clot, pregnant women in particular need to pay careful attention to any painful swelling of the legs, as their risk is greater and pregnancy can often mask the subtle symptoms of the condition. Here are pains you should pretty much never ignore.



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The Remarkable Story of How a Town of 1,000 People Raised $45,000 to Save a Teen’s Life

brainscanOne cancer diagnosis can be devastating, but having three cancer patients in the same household can turn a whole family upside-down.

Michelle Bruce had breast cancer; her husband, Jeremy, had thyroid cancer; and their son Holden had a brain tumor. With three other children to take care of, the family moved to Michelle’s hometown of Franklin, Nebraska, six years ago so her parents could help.

portraitDoctors had found Holden’s brain tumor, pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma, when he was 12 years old. His family was living in a small town outside Lincoln, Nebraska, but there were no pediatric brain surgeons in the state. Holden had two surgeries at adult clinics in Omaha that involved removing a softball-sized piece of his skull. Both treatments were tough, and swelling left him in intensive care for about a week. (These are the 16 things cancer patients wish you knew.)

When Holden’s cancer came back again in 2012, the Omaha clinic wasn’t able to operate. But the Bruce family wouldn’t give up. They reached out to Boston Children’s Hospital, which has better equipment and surgeons with more experience operating on kids. After looking at Holden’s records, the doctor sent back her prognosis: She was confident she could remove the tumor for good.

portraitThe family was beyond relieved, until they learned insurance wouldn’t cover any of the operation’s costs. The surgery would cost $39,000—more than the parents, who’d already spent their savings, 401k, and stocks on their own cancer treatments, could afford. The Bruces were devastated.

In a town of just 1,000 people, though, word travels fast. Within days, a local woman Michelle had never met in person called to say she was planning an event to raise money for Holden. Michelle was touched, but figured a small-town fundraiser wouldn’t put much of a dent in the tens of thousands of dollars they needed.

portraitThe day of the fundraiser was frigid and icy, but that didn’t stop Franklin residents from showing up for the silent auction, free will dinner, and “Team Holden” T-shirt sale. So many people were crammed in the school cafeteria that they had to open up the gymnasium for spillover.

The event was uplifting, and the Bruce family figured it had probably raised a couple thousand dollars. Back at her parent’s house, Michelle got a call from the fundraiser’s organizer.

They’d made enough to cover the surgery.

“I just didn’t know what to say,” says Michelle. “Nobody could really believe it.”

portraitOver the next few days, even more money came in from people who hadn’t been able to attend the event in person. In all, the town raised $45,000—enough to cover not just Holden’s hospital bills, but for Michelle and Jeremy’s trip to Boston with their son.

Holden’s third surgery went much more smoothly than the first two. Surgeons only had to remove a piece of his skull only the size of a quarter, and by the next day, and he was released the next day to stay in the hospital’s hotel with his parents. “He had no swelling, no pain,” says Michelle. “It was really shocking, the difference.” Check out more incredible cancer breakthroughs that will bring you hope.

The family hasn’t gotten rid of cancer for good—Jeremy’s cancer isn’t treatable, and Michelle is in remission—but Holden is cancer-free. The now-19-year-old is attending Central Community College-Hastings on a full-ride scholarship, studying to be a diesel mechanic. After graduation, he plans to move back to Franklin, the compassionate town that supported him through his final cancer treatment.

MORE: This Small Town Raised $54,000 for a Couple’s Troubled Pregnancy



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This Bird Has a Trait Every Pregnant Woman Will Wish Their Husband Had

robinWhen it comes to choosing a life partner, as many people learn the all-too hard way, the qualities we need to be happy over the long haul aren’t necessarily the ones that attract us in the first place. In this regard, it seems that our feathered friends have a leg up on us impulsive humans. According to science, the best bird husbands aren’t the ones with superficial showy traits like flashy feathers or a strutting bad-bird attitude (sorry, blue jays!). They’re the ones that pay attention to what their partner wants and needs. In short, they’re the good providers.

According to a new report in New Scientist magazine, the best husbands are that humble harbinger of spring, the robin. This is especially true when their female partners are expecting. A group of researchers at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, studied robins, which are monogamous, and discovered that pregnant females have cravings, generally for a food they hadn’t eaten recently. Somehow the “husbands” are able to guess what their wives want to eat—whether or not they saw what the females ate last—then go out and find that particular food and bring it back to the nest. So mealworms one day, then insect larvae the next, and so on. (The human equivalent is, of course, your hubby knowing you’re craving peanut butter and pickles, and getting them for you without you having to ask. Dream come true, right, ladies?)

These findings suggest that females can somehow communicate their cravings—and that the husbands pick up their subtle signals and try to satisfy those cravings. This may be an important predictor of robins’ longterm success, influencing whether or not they stay together, says lead researcher Rachael Shaw.

So we can all take a lesson from these birds, as marriage expert John Gottman’s research has shown that the most important predictors of a happy human marriage are kindness and generosity. And a well-timed pint of Haagen Dazs goes a long way too! Learn more secrets of happily married couples.



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STOP! Don’t Leave for Vacation Without Doing These 13 Things First

Tidy up

cleaningWhile cleaning may not seem like a priority because you’re not going to be home anyway, leaving a clean house will pay dividends on your return (your nose will thank you!). Mary Cecchini, founder of Living Big, a company that creates inspired adventures for women says you should never leaves home without: Clearing the fridge and pantry of foods that will go bad while you’re away; do the laundry and make sure the washing machine is empty of wet clothes and the dryer is off when you leave; change the sheets (after a day of traveling, there’s nothing better than sliding into your own bed on fresh sheets); take out the garbage and recycling (don’t forget to ask a neighbor to please bring in the cans for you); wash the dishes or run the dishwasher; and keep stagnant water smells at bay by sprinkling a little baking soda in the toilets and down the sink drains.



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15 Best Summer Weekend Getaways You’ll Want to Book This Second

Niagara Falls, New York

Best-Summer-Weekend-Getaways-You'll-Want-to-Book-This-Second

Niagara Falls is a bucket list item for many people and summer is a fantastic time to explore this stunning example of nature’s best work. Niagara Falls is actually made of three falls—you can see all of them from the Observation Tower at Niagara Falls State Park on the U.S. side or take to the skies for a view from the cockpit of a helicopter. Plan to get wet as you ride into Horseshoe Falls on the classic Maid of the Mist or get really wet exploring Niagara’s Cave of the Winds. Bring your passport to walk over to the Canada side for a spin on the Niagara SkyWheel.



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17 Beauty Brands You’ve Been Pronouncing Wrong This Whole Time

L’Occitane en Provence

Beauty-Brands-You-Can-Finally-Stop-Mispronouncing

Say: LOX-ee-tan on pro-VAHNS. Not: lock-it-ane ehn prah-vinse. Check out more time-tested beauty products.



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You HAVE to See The Egg Recipe the Internet Can’t Stop Talking About

Feast Your Eyes on…Cloud Eggs

If cloud eggs haven’t made their way into your social feeds, just you wait. They’re fairly simple to whip up, and they turn your boring breakfast into a plate full of fluffy, floating clouds.

So how do you make this photo-ready meal? According to the Daily Mail, start off by separating the yolk from the egg white and whipping the egg whites until they are thick and meringue like. Then, cook the egg whites (separated into different clouds) on a baking sheet in the oven at 450 degrees for five to eight minutes. Take them out, place the yolk in the middle of the cloud to represent the sun and cook them for another three minutes. To add more flavor to your cloud eggs feel free to mix in ham, bacon, cheese, scallions, and other toppings.

And, yes, this tasty twist on the breakfast staple is all over Instagram, and we’ve rounded up some of our favorite takes on the food trend. (If you feel like you would rather stick to a simpler way of whipping up eggs in the morning, here are 55 delicious ways to cook eggs.)



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14 Risky Medical Procedures That Don’t Always Work

Epidural steroid injections

epiduralModern medicine isn’t perfect, and sometimes doctors prescribe medical interventions out of habit even though new evidence shows they’re not effective, too dangerous, or don’t always work. One of these is epidural steroid injections for back pain. (Could you have one of these secret reasons for your back pain?) Although these shots may work short-term, they have risky potential complications like neurological problems or paralysis. “Generally, epidural steroid injection isn’t very useful for treatment of chronic back or neck pain,” says Steven Severyn, MD, an anesthesiologist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. In addition, research has shown the injections haven’t reduced the number of back surgeries. If the pain is caused by nerve issues (sciatica) instead of arthritis, “it will often relieve nerve inflammation causing the limb pain and allow time for naturally occurring improvement to take place,” Dr. Severyn says. However, the injections’ usefulness is still only short-term. Other treatments for back pain, such as physical therapy, can be a better plan for long-term improvement.



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13 Ways to Feel More Comfortable Asking for What You Want

Find a good time

Pick a time that you know your request will be heard. “People tend not to listen if they are angry, stressed, or at the end of a long day,” explains Tara Chivukula, LCSW, a psychotherapist in Austin, Texas. “Part of asking involves timing. This is especially true when asking for a talk with your partner, a raise from your boss or even working out an argument with a friend.”



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Attention Paleo Dieters: If You Don’t Use This Spice, Your Heart Is at Risk

When Hippocrates famously said “Let food by thy medicine and medicine be they food,” he could easily have been talking about cinnamon.

On top of its many known health benefits—including protecting against oxidative damage and inflammation, reducing risk of cancer, improving sensitivity to the hormone insulin, and more—research has now found that this common kitchen spice can also reduce the harms of a high-fat diet.

Attention-Paleo-Dieters--You-Need-this-Spice-To-Protect-Your-Heart

In the study, presented at the American Heart Association’s Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology/Peripheral Vascular Disease 2017 Scientific Sessions, held in Minneapolis, MN, rats fed a high-fat diet supplemented with cinnamon for 12 weeks experienced less weight gain and developed less abdominal fat compared to rodents fed a high-fat diet without cinnamon. The cinnamon group also had healthier blood levels of fat, sugar, and insulin.

A diet high in fat—such as Paleo and Atkins—is a major contributor to heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, killing about 610,000 people every year, according to CDC data, which is 1 in every 4 deaths. Though people tend to adopt those particular diets to lose weight, eating high-fat foods such as bacon, steak, and full-fat dairy, can lead to weight gain, diabetes, high cholesterol, and various other harmful conditions.

Incorporating cinnamon into your diet, according to the new study, may be able to offset some of this risk.

Co-author Vijaya Juturu, PhD, of OmniActive Health Technologies Inc in Morristown, NJ, says that cinnamon’s ability to lower cardiovascular risk factors associated with a poor diet comes from a polyphenol that is rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

Dr. Juturu and colleagues found that, along with the cinnamon group having less weight gain and abdominal fat, they also had healthier blood glucose and insulin concentrations, as well as better lipid profiles, than the controls. The cinnamon group even had fewer molecules linked with the storing of fat, as well as higher levels of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant molecules.

Attention-Paleo-Dieters--You-Need-this-Spice-To-Protect-Your-Heart

Antioxidants play a vital role in heart health as they protect against oxidative stress—an imbalance of free radicals linked with heart disease, among other health conditions.

While it is safe to consume up to 1/2 cup of ground cinnamon each day, it’s more realistic to consider adding 1 teaspoon to an array of foods, like oatmeal, and drinks, like coffee, and aim for 2 teaspoons each day.

It’s important to note, however, that consuming a teaspoon of ground cinnamon without mixing or blending with other foods can cause the powder to enter your lungs, resulting in throat irritation and difficulty breathing. To prevent injury, mix your cinnamon with food or liquid.

While cinnamon typically doesn’t cause side effects, it may cause an allergic reaction in some people, irritating the mouth and lips, and causing sores. Those taking blood thinners may need to moderate their consumption, as the coumarin in the spice can increase risk of bleeding.

Check out 9 uses of cinnamon you didn’t know about. It can also help you lose weight!



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