Lifestyle Choices

Cellars, Garages, Services

Oil tanks can leak vapors and integral garages can also create fumes which can permeate the whole house. Ideally, garages should be separate from the main house, but if this is not possible keep any doors and windows shut while warming up your car. Also make sure you keep your garage door open long enough to let out any exhaust fumes. (more…)

Fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, lean proteins, good quality fats and oils, and plenty of pure water are the basics for good skin health. These foods promote the healthy functioning of the internal organs, which is reflected in the condition of the skin. High- fiber foods move wastes quickly through the large intestine, plenty of water flushes toxins out of the body through the kidneys, and an abundance of fresh, leafy green vegetables keeps the liver working efficiently to detoxify the bloodstream. Glowing, smooth, and blemish-free skin is an indication that all is well internally. (more…)

Almost everything can cause an allergy in someone, somewhere! The medical literature is full of reports of strange skin allergies: clarinet players with lip blisters from an allergy to the bamboo reed; drivers with allergic reactions to steering wheels; chefs with allergies to pineapple juice, corn and other moist foods. (more…)

The Human Hazard

It sometimes happens, as is well known, that a perfectly healthy person can carry disease germs in the gut, nose and even on the skin without being aware of it. Those who have recently suffered such diseases as dysentery can carry the germs for several months after recovering completely from the original infection. Indeed, a famous case was that of “Typhoid Mary,” an American cook, a typhoid carrier, who was paid a pension by the U.S. Government for nearly fifty years in order to keep her away from the kitchen. She was, of course, an exceptional case. (more…)

Infection

Certain food poisoning bacteria other than staphylococci can infect food and grow in it without detectable taste or smell. Then, when the food is eaten, these germs gain access to the gut of the consumer, multiply there and cause a typical gastroenteric form of poisoning.

An example of this type of infection is that caused by the Salmonella group of bacteria. These germs are normally carried in the gut by pigs, poultry, cows, bullocks, sheep, domestic animals and rodents, and, to a lesser extent, human beings. Eggs (especially duck), egg powder and milk can also be affected. (more…)

For the protection of your family, watch for the unsuspected dangers that lurk in your kitchen

“The standard of food hygiene in this I country must be raised.” That statement has been voiced in the press, on the radio, in Parliament, even on the village green, with increasing frequency during the past few years. And rightly so, for it concerns us all. But it is the housewife particularly who has it in her power to see that the standard is raised. (more…)

Nothing can equal the joy of sitting in a happy bar. This is an unspoken wish of every bachelor who finishes the whole day work. Yet many a bar is a place where the biting winds outside are more than matched by the cold criticisms that reign within. (more…)

Every home should have some place where these beautiful bottles of wines are always handy in case of thirsty need. Your wine storage should be kept neat and orderly at all times. It need not carry a large stock wine supply. But several wine racks and simple wines are always helpful in the time of festivals.

Too many wine cabinets are filled with useless junk, such as boxes and bottles without labels, all of which should have been thrown away long ago. Some people are like squirrels, always hoarding everything. Then they are never able to find what they want! (more…)

Meditation has been practiced for centuries in many spiritual traditions as a way of purifying the mind. Basically, meditation involves quieting the mind so that the mental chatter that fills your waking consciousness can be stilled, if even for a moment. Through quieting the mind, you cultivate a sense of calm, and come to know yourself in a deeper way. Meditation helps you to become aware of habitual patterns of thinking so that you can make better choices about how you are living. Meditation is an excellent way of relieving stress, because when the mind is calm, the body naturally follows. Many people experience feelings of deep peace and clarity through meditation. Experiment with the different meditation techniques that follow and find those which appeal to you. (more…)

It is no doubt one of the oldest arts in the world. From the health standpoint it is second only to the choice of food. All through history the story has been the same. The leading nations of the world have always been those that were well fed. Napoleon’s famous remark to the effect that “an army marches on its stomach” is certainly true today. Good food, well prepared, is the main source of energy by which we live.

At the same time there is an element of danger in this art of cooking. Too much luxurious food can destroy the human race. Overeating is a frequent cause of illness. So are poor methods of cooking. Foods must not only be well prepared, but the important nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, must also be preserved. The tastiest foods have little value if these are missing. (more…)

What does cooking do to food? When properly carried out, it greatly improves the flavor. Cooking changes the chemical composition and often makes the foods more digestible. The heat helps to destroy many harmful germs. But do not overlook the fact that one serious type of food poisoning known as botulism may arise from the use of vegetables that have not been properly canned or preserved.

Under proper, germ-free conditions many foods can be preserved indefinitely, such as in canning. However, one should be careful when opening a can not to introduce germs into the food from outside. Carefully wash the container before opening it. (more…)

Tularemia Diseases

Tularemia is a disease that is carried by many wild animals. Human infections occur most frequently through contact with rabbits and hares. Sportsmen and hunters would be wise to use rubber gloves while skinning and dressing wild game.

Many different animals are found to be infected with tularemia. The disease is sometimes transmitted by insects which bite these animals and then bite human beings shortly afterward.

Mountain streams are sometimes contaminated with these germs as well. Those who drink the polluted water may contract the disease. But the chief source of human infection is through the handling of rabbits. The germs may enter through cuts on the hands and other parts of the body. Improperly cooked rabbit meat is another way the disease spreads among the public in general. (more…)

It is easy to adapt all of the recipes and meal plans. Here are some simple suggestions for making the recipes vegetarian:

• Replace the meat or fish in a recipe with Portobello mushrooms or aubergine, but remember that this will raise the carbohydrate levels in the recipe. You will also need to take extra whey-protein drinks and maybe increase your intake of nuts and high protein snacks to keep your protein levels high enough.

• Cook with tofu instead of the meat or fish. However, tofu has a quarter as much protein per gram as meat and a third as much as most fish. This means that not only should you replace the meat or fish in a recipe with a higher amount of tofu, but you should also add whey-protein powder to the recipe or supplement your meal with a whey-protein shake.

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Although money can’t buy it, anyone intelligent can learn to have good taste. You can spend like a drunken film star, but you risk an expensive clutter that hasn’t quite come off. If you pay someone else to design your home you risk something pretty expensive, lifeless and unlived in, or alternatively, an exuberantly camped-up setting with mouldings picked out in white and in which you feel uneasy.

So the first rule is Do it yourself. Because otherwise you’ll never learn.

Discovering your own good taste is an unpeeling process, eliminating the layers which other people have impressed upon you. One of the easiest ways to find out what you like is to get a pinboard and start sticking up anything which takes your fancy — a scrap of lace, photographs, postcards, a colour swatch, a cartoon. (more…)

Vacuum cleaner: Don’t bang it about, it’s a sensitive machine and not magic. Pick up hairgrips or pins by hand because they might damage the engine. Empty the bag before it’s full. Service it regularly, because repairs are expensive, and stop using it if you suspect that it’s faulty.

There are basically three types of vacuum cleaner:

1. A hand-held, heavy upright model, which will be necessary for acres of carpet.
2. A small upright model, light enough to carry upstairs (even if you currently have a flat, people move house on average once every eight years).
3. A cylinder model, easily stored, for small areas and stairs, with special attachments for curtains and upholstery.

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I took my first unconscious step towards female emancipation and away from martyrdom when I decided that, instead of teaching the au pair girl to cook for the children, it might be a better investment of time to teach the children to cook for the au pair. After all, I don’t change the children every year. For the first time they always ate what was put before them and they eventually asked to do the shopping, a task which they performed far more frugally than I.

The next step was to find a new job for the au pair, and to invest the money saved on wages in anti-drudge machines. One was the fridge-freezer, the other was the dishwasher, and any working woman with a family could regard these as business investments to offset against her wages in the family budget. The cost of both machines was equivalent to the au pair’s wages for eighteen months, not taking her keep into account. Furthermore, I’ll never have to do the freezer’s homework and the dishwasher is hardly likely to have an affair with my husband. (more…)

I’ve read a lot about women who serenely cope with the three roles of full-time working woman, wife, and mother. However, I’ve never actually met one. All the ones that I know feel inadequate.

Going back to work after having children is a practical and emotional problem and both are interdependent. You risk worrying about them when you’re at work and about work when you’re at home, and end up being happy in neither situation.

Two requisites for a working mother are stamina and an understanding family Sympathetic they may be until it comes to your interests versus theirs, but they still want their evening meal on time and they don’t want to hear about the bus queue which made you late. (more…)

There are obvious disadvantages to a child in having a working mother but there are less obvious advantages. Children with working mothers certainly don’t suffer from smother-love — over-fussing. They learn to be realistic, independent, responsible and sometimes stoical, no mean preparation for the toughness of life.

Your children risk having a mother who’s not permanently on tap for them but who is likely to have a younger outlook and be more tolerant and open to new ideas (although I did hear myself saying to my older son during that craze, `I don’t know how you can walk on those high heels’). (more…)

Training: If you have had training you can probably find job opportunities through your professional body or through reading or advertising in your professional journal.

Assuming that you haven’t had any training prior to marriage and aren’t coping with pre-school age children, what is available? Most women are unskilled. Only 6 per cent receive any further training when they leave school. However, there are suitable training courses for `mature students’, the official description of any woman over twenty- three. You can exploit a talent which you already possess and are practising in your home (sewing or cooking) or be trained by a firm who wishes to employ you, or at one of the many courses at a local technical college. Generally what is difficult to acquire isn’t really the training, or even the job, but the determination to forget embarrassment, laziness or shyness — and go out and get it. (more…)

Make your own decisions: Althoughspecialists may be useful to analyse asituation and suggest solutions, theycannot run your life for you. Onceyour choices are clarified, use yourcommon sense to make your owndecisions. Then force yourself to bepessimistic, to look for the snags inthe arrangements and face them.

Don’t opt out because you don’tunderstand your position. Make your adviser explain it all again until s you do understand it, and so can be b responsible for deciding which path e you want to take. Be prepared to be f responsible for your own decisions. y Life is a risk. Nothing is certain inthis world and there is no guaranteed le security, financial, intellectual or d emotional. Security lies in your own st self-reliance to deal with the problems of life. You will make some right decisions and some wrong ones. Pay the penalty for the wrong ones, cut your losses and start again. (more…)