The Lucky Cabin

As winter draws near, the threat of colds and the flu looms
large. If you happen to be pregnant right now, doctors say you
should be doubly careful, since even a simple virus can leave
you feeling more stuffy, as well as achier and crankier than
usual.

One reason is because the high estrogen levels present in
pregnancy cause mucous membranes to dry out, and swell - making
any congestion from a cold or even an allergy feel much worse.
As your pregnancy progresses and your baby pushes harder against
your diaphragm, lung capacity is also reduced, making it harder
to breathe. So, even a slight respiratory infection can seem
disastrous. Although pregnancy doesn’t increase your
susceptibility to the flu, if you do get sick you are up to 5
times more likely to develop a serious complication - including
pneumonia or bronchitis. If you’re like most women you may feel
a bit hesitant about using any medication while you are
pregnant, since even doctors prefer to stick with natural
treatments, particularly during the first trimester. However, in
the event that you do need more help, don’t hesitate to check
with your obstetrician, since there are a number of safe and
effective medications you can try.

Your Pregnancy Medicine Chest: What’s Safe, What’s Not

If a hacking cough or chest congestion is getting you down, talk
to your doctor about over-the-counter products like Robitussin,
Robitussin DM and Vicks plain cough syrup. These medicines are
considered relatively safe to use during pregnancy, and most
will offer at least some relief.

If you are running a temperature - particularly 101 degrees or
more - the March of Dimes says Tylenol is your best defense.
And, it might also be crucial to insure the health of your baby.
Studies show that letting a high fever languish during pregnancy
increases baby’s risk of neural tube defects, a life threatening
malformation of the brain or spine. Sustaining a temperature of
102 degrees or more during your first trimester might also
increase your risk of miscarriage.

While the recommended dosage for Tylenol is 2 regular strength
tablets every four hours, be sure to check with your doctor
first. Also important: Keep taking your prenatal vitamins,
especially while you are sick. A study of some 2,000 pregnancies
conducted at the National Center on Birth Defects and
Developmental Disabilities in England found that women who took
a multi- vitamin high in folic acid during pregnancy were able
to reduce their baby’s risk of birth defects, even if they ran a
fever.

If your flu or cold is complicated by diarrhea, don’t be
surprised if your doctor doesn’t prescribe anything for the
first 24 to 48 hours. As long as you drink plenty of fluids to
reduce your risk of dehydration, it’s usually safe to wait it
out. In the event that you do need treatment, drugs like
Donnagel and Kaopectate are often recommended. Since neither one
is absorbed by the body, they never reach your baby

What you want to avoid: Any of the newer anti-viral medications
for the flu. Most have not been tested in pregnancy . Also pass
on most decongestants unless specifically prescribed by your
obstetrician.

For all natural treatments, nothing works better than pampering
bed rest, drinking plenty of fluids and in particular, have
yourself a bowl or two of chicken soup or two. Not only is this
a great comfort food, studies have documented the soup stops the
movement of immune system cells to the site of inflammation -
which in turn helps reduce symptoms like coughing and sneezing.

You can also try hot tea with honey, particularly if you have a
sore throat. The steam from the hot liquid will decrease your
congestion, while the tea can act as a mild anti-inflammatory.
Studies have also shown honey has mild antiseptic qualities and
could help control the local growth of bacteria.

Pregnancy Cold and Flu Alerts:

While in most instances you can ride out a cold or even the flu
on your own, do make certain to call your doctor immediately if:

Your cold produces green or yellow nasal mucous, or if it
lasts more than 7 days - you could have sinusitis, a bacterial
infection that does require antibiotic. You are running fever,
even if other symptoms seem mild. Diarrhea or vomiting
continues for more than 36 hours, if cramps are severe; if
diarrhea or vomit contains blood; if you exhibit any of the
signs of food poisoning including fever, chills, and other flu-
like symptoms.

For more detailed information on all pregnancy health concerns
visit http://www.PamperingMom.com

Choosing a gift for someone is not an easy task. There are a lot
of things that you can just give away. This, however, does not
mean that people do that all the time. When people give
presents, they want it to be meaningful. If it is just piece of
bed sheet, people want it to be meaningful.

Jewelry, for example is just a perfect gift for someone.
Jewelry is special and unique. Apart from the expensive price,
it is special because jewelry is something that is useful.
Jewelry can be worn on you; it does not lay on the shelf for
years, untouched. Although books are useful, it is not the same.
You definitely cannot wear a book. Besides that, books are not
unique. It is produced in huge masses. Flowers are among the
common present people receive. They are nice to look at and
smell nice. However, it will not last and die in a couple of
days. The jewelry over last unlike chocolates and flowers. Of
course it needs maintenance once in a while but it will stay.
This will make it memorable to the receiver.

Women love new collection. They change their wardrobe
collection almost every season. Sometimes they need something
that does not go out of fashion after a certain time. so, a good
solution for this will be jewelry. All the shine and glitter
from jewelry will not go out of fashion for a long time. After
all, there is jewelry that can be passed down to your younger
sibling or even your daughter some time. The receiver will not
be as embarrassed as receiving a funky purple bell-bottom
trousers.

If you re worried that your daughter looks too boyish, try
giving jewelry to her. You do not have to necessarily start with
expensive jewelry. You can start with a simple jewelry like a
funky band. It can later be preceded with bracelet or even
chains. Let’s not scare her with glitters. Maybe a simple
plastic band will do.

If this tactic works, try getting her on silver jewelry.
Sometimes, teenagers do not like gold jewelry. They think that
gold jewelry is too made up. Who might know that you will able
to bring out the feminine side in her? She will start looking at
accessories and start acting like proper girls would do.

Jewelry is not only meant for women. Men also wear jewelry. We
have a range of jewelry that can be give to a man. Silver
jewelry for example, is a good choice. it can be made into bands
and rings.

If silver is too plain, go for platinum. This jewelry piece is
durable and can be worn while doing tough works. Platinum
jewelry is more expensive compared to gold. As its price noted,
a man’s social status are also determined based on the jewelry
material. If not, why will people spend money on fake Rolex if
not for this apparent reason? So, jewelry is not only for women.
Men love them too.

Male menopause occurs between the ages of 40 and 55 due to men becoming low on testosterone with age. Though the causes for low testosterone may present an interesting topic for discussion, for the men (and women) who suffer from it, it’s a matter of reclaiming the joy in their lives.

Although the causes of low testosterone can be very technical and difficult to understand when medical jargon is employed, this article will attempt to explain why some men are low on testosterone in while keeping the jargon to a minimum.

The cause of low testosterone is when the testes produce less testosterone. Having low testosterone is a byproduct of complex physiological, hormonal, and chemical changes.

Low testosterone starts with a complex chain of signals that begins in the brain. This chain is called the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis where a very intricate physiological sequence of events is triggered. The production of two hormones by the pituitary gland and hypothalamus decrease resulting in the Leydig cells of the testes manufacturing less testosterone.

These causes for low testosterone may come from damage to the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, or testicles inhibiting hormone production. Natural life events oftentimes makes this a difficult to avoid occurrence.

The causes for low testosterone that occur in men can also be a result of one’s lifestyle. Lack of exercise, unhealthy diet, smoking, and excessive drinking are all causes of low testosterone that can be modified by changing one’s living habits. These factors are responsible for some of the aforementioned gland damage.

Other reasons men may be low on testosterone include poor circulation, and hypertension. Use of prescription or non-prescription medications may also be a cause of low testosterone. Psychological problems, too, it is believed in some circles might cause a man to suffer low testosterone although there is no consensus on this.

Although the causes for low testosterone vary and many of them may be out of one’s control, remedies in the form of testosterone replacement therapy do exist. These remedies consist of boosting a man low on testosterone to a normal testosterone level, thereby hopefully alleviating any symptoms from which he was suffering.

Another interesting approach to treating the cause of low testosterone is through using an herb called tribulus terrestris. This practice has been taken by many different cultures as a natural way to treat men low on testosterone along with a variety of other sexual conditions for centuries.

Tribulus terrestris takes a different approach. It may address one of the other causes for low testosterone related to the pituitary gland. The secretion of Lutenizing Hormone by the pituitary gland is a cause of low testosteron because lutenizing hormone stimulates the testes to produce testosterone. When a man is low on Lutenizing Hormone, he becomes low on testosterone.

Using tribulus terrestris is a safe way to try to raise one’s body’s testosterone production because currently it has no known serious side effects. This is opposed to some forms of testosterone replacement therapy that can create undesirable side effects like male breasts in men, acne, deepening of the voice, and more.

The causes for low testosterone are complex and can only be understood in general terms by the layman. However, clear steps can be taken to remedy the situation of a man being low on testosterone thus reducing unwanted sexual problems in one’s second half of life.

Learn about natural and prescription testosterone boosting therapies at http://www.testosterone-booster-guide.com

As I sit down at my laptop with thoughts of responding to Sunday’s Headliner, “Before Spring Break, The Anorexic Challenge” in the Style section of The New York Times (April 2, 2006), a banner flashes across my home page with news of the hunger challenge facing millions of women in Africa.

The juxtaposition frightens me.

Apparently, anorexia and bulimia, advocated by teen girls throughout the northern western hemisphere and affectionately referred to as “pro-ana” and “pro-mia” respectively, have taken our daughters by storm. Thousands of teens are forcing themselves to 300-calories-a-day diets in order to fit into string bikinis for spring breaks in resorts all over the Caribbean…while millions of young girls on the other side of the world are sent to school in order to get just one half-way decent meal within any 24-hour period.

As my own daughter and I were lunching with the family on Sunday, she asked me how many pounds I thought she could reasonably lose before she went to Florida to celebrate spring break with a girlfriend and her family. We chatted about the need for daily exercise (and she spelled out their plan for daily visits to the gym as well as for long beach jogs) and the forsaking of sugary snacks (my husband at this point adding his own two-cents worth of the need to stop eating ice cream and cookies as well as to check fiber content in white vs. whole wheat bread and his estimate that she could, indeed, expect to lose seven-and-a-half-pounds in the next two weeks pre-bikini season.) With his tongue clearly in cheek, my daughter, frustrated and a little angry at his underestimation screamed: “But Mooommmm! You said I could lose ten?!?”

So what’s a mom to do when her teen daughter gets regularly bamboozled by peers who post photos of super-skinny models on their home page of Facebook.com (called “thinspiration” or “thinspo” according to the Times article) and by hosting dieting marathons of their own; by celebrity advertising using the skinniest and prettiest of human creation; and by her own mom who is desiring to get back into bathing suit season with stringent expectations of her own? (I confess to verbally, i.e. in front of my own teen daughter, dreading my need to shed the unwanted seven L.B.’s picked up post-Christmas and hidden underneath layers of New England polar fleece; my own visit to Florida in two weeks to visit my “adopted” mom brings internal freaking out about not fitting into my cutest Lilly Pulitzer skirt unless I move and re-sew the waist button.) This sounds so bizarre, even as I write it, and yet I know I am striking a nerve (or cellulite dimple) as many moms have confessed to me (and to friends whose friends have confessed to them) that we could all stand to lose at least ten ugly pounds apiece.

The New York Times article goes along to quote Dr. Margo Maine, a clinical psychologist specializing in eating disorders: “Every year spring break seems to get bigger and bigger,” adding that “body-image pressure also rises…(sic) with expectation that you have to ‘party like a rock star and be over the top” including ‘looking like a rock star, that is, fashionably, even dangerously skinny.’” (*)

Let’s face it: cultural expectations demand leanness. I read a quote two decades ago in a magazine article apparently earth-shattering as it has stayed in my long-term memory all this time, that “the ultimate status symbol is a fit and thin body.” So times haven’t changed all that much, except in the intensity and extremes with which we move toward that end.

That said, and given the enormity of the problem (which might be better understood by reading the fascinating yet deeply troubling article in its entirety…see NOTE at end of this article) here are 7 Ways in which we are weighing in on spring in our own household:

1) Continue to stress radiant health rather than compulsive weight-checking and clothing size comparisons. Granted, this is easier said than done on some days, like on Friday when I had my annual OBGYN check-up. I half-jokingly asked the doc what the deal was with the stuff around my middle, grabbing a couple inches of ugliness and looking up quizzically at my doctor’s face. He picked up my chart and reviewed my own weight trend during the past three years. “Let’s see,” he dead-panned. “The first year you saw me you refused to get on the scale, and last year you were ten pounds lighter.” While I explained to him that this was not exactly one of my lighter weeksif you get what I meanand that these heavier weeks consistently carry with them an extra five pounds of pure water weight, and that I just ate breakfast and was fully clothed so that the delta was more like two to three pounds, he did affirm that I looked “great.” While that was clearly code for “don’t feel like you need to lose weight but if you’re asking me about your middle, it’s called ‘fat,’ he did place a premium on being fit and strong over being super-skinny. The fact that I had my tennis skirt and shoes on along with a scheduled game immediately following my check-up was good enough for him. And it’s what I stress over and over with my daughter: just keep exercising and eating in a healthy manner and the rest will take care of itself…even if some weeks are “fat weeks” and some weeks are “thin weeks.” (I realize this is a foreign concept to rocket dads, but trust me on this one.)

2) Strive for a diet that is as natural as possible. Avoid processed foods, refined sugars, refined flours, excessive sodium, and chemical additives. While this might make packing the kids’ lunchboxes more challenging (those cereal bars, juice boxes and mini-bags of chips are awfully convenient) it’s far healthier to pack a piece of whole fruit, some raw nuts and a water bottle. Try to cook as many meals from scratch as is humanly possible, avoiding packaged and prepared entrees that are loaded with preservatives and artificial flavorings and coloring.

3) Drink lots of water. Forget sodas and fruit juices loaded with unnecessary refined sugars. Train your kids to drink that proverbial eight to ten glasses a day. And add a squeeze of lemon or lime whenever possible as the health benefits of doing so are tremendous.

4) Eat several small meals a day or three solid ones, never skipping breakfast or eating on the run. If it means getting up in the morning a half-hour earlier in order to get some healthy food on the table, it’s important that you put this practice into play with consistency and longevity. Just because your kids are old enough to make meals on their own does not mean that you should give up on the practice of seeing them out the door in the morning without this wonderful foundation. Sliced fresh fruit or a protein fruit smoothie is far better than a sugary doughnut or processed fruit roll-up. Make sure that when you pack snacks into lunchboxes, too, that they’re as healthy as manageable. I tend towards organic nuts, yogurt and fruit, or dark chocolate chips or whole-grain, organic cookies. (My husband is still trying to decipher the “organic” in Paul Newman’s wonderfuland my personal favoriteorganic chocolate or ginger cookies, each crme-filled and especially delicious. “Does he use organic cream to make the icing or is it the flour that’s organic?” he wonders out-loud every time I open a bag. Who cares? They’re a great alternative to the junk that’s out there being peddled as food.)

5) Recognize clear genetic differences in body style. While I subscribe to the fruit theory of women’s body shapes (you really are an apple or a pear), your DNA plays a huge role in body shape, weight, clothing size and in what you will eventually look like. Stop obsessingand teach your daughter to do the sameabout the body-type that you or she will never have. My daughter is built almost exactly like me; I can teach her about my trouble spots, as I know they will be hers, too. But I also need to teach her to treat her body respectfully, which means that she needs to give it the right fuel as well as daily aerobic workouts and regular strength training. And, given that you know your areas of weakness, try not to dissect your body. Try not to say: “I love my waist but I hate my thighs” or “I’d like my body so much better if my hips weren’t so wide.” You can’t change your basic bone structure so learn to live with the genetic hand you’ve been dealt.

6) Practice proper skin care. Teach your daughter how to take care of her skin, especially her face, so that when she’s older, the habits are well-formed and firmly in place. (And she needn’t resort to botox or chemical peels while young.) Using a high-quality olive oil soap with warm water is still the best cleaning technique possible; don’t succumb to all of the expensive glamour-puss products on the market. I confess to perking up my ears when I over-heard a friend talk about a foundation make-up she uses that she jokingly refers to as face spackle, as it apparently covers up all of one’s skin imperfections. I’ve yet to really check it out, but the word picture of spackling my facesunspots and allwas tempting. Imagine how much more tempted your teen daughter is with the plethora of celebrity and rock star advertising for beauty products in magazines, MTV, movies and billboards everywhere.

7) Focus on shining eyes, hair, teeth and nails. You can’t hide good health. If you’ve got it, your body will show it. Your eyes will sparkle and your hair will shine in the sunlight. Your nails will be strong and your teeth will be white. These have always been hallmarks of radiant health…and they should be your family’s goals. Compliment your daughter when she exhibits these signs of glowing good health. Give these things your attention. Praise her for bouncing through the day with rosy cheeks and laughing eyes and always give priority to health and well-being rather than to weight or dieting or clothing size analysis.

Bathing suit season is upon us, whether we like itor careor not. Perhaps as we struggle through “the anorexic challenge” before our nation’s young girlsas well as our collective desires to be tan and thin and able to fit into a bikini (or one-piece or heck, even a pair of shorts), we can get a grip by getting our arms around the situation…and around our own daughter’s shoulders.

* NOTES: All references to the article “Before Spring Break, The Anorexic Challenge” by Alex Williams are found in The New York Times, April 2, 2006. The online edition can be found for a limited time at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/fashion/sundaystyles/02BREAK.html?_r=1&8hpib&oref=slogin

Carolina Fernandez earned an M.B.A. and worked at IBM and as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch before coming home to work as a wife and mother of four. She totally re-invented herself along the way. Strong convictions were born about the role of the arts in child development; ten years of homeschooling and raising four kids provide fertile soil for devising creative parenting strategies. These are played out in ROCKET MOM! 7 Strategies To Blast You Into Brilliance. It is widely available online, in bookstores or through 888-476-2493. She writes extensively for a variety of parenting resources and teaches other moms via seminars, workshops, keynotes and monthly meetings of the ROCKET MOM SOCIETY, a sisterhood group she launched to “encourage, equip and empower moms for excellence.” Please visit http://www.rocketmom.com.