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Rehab seems to definitely be the new trend for celebrities. Whether it’s their desperate need, or their publicists’ wishes, or even a publicity stunt, rehab seems to be as hot as The Ivy.

First, it is important to consider the fact that rehab might seem more popular among celebrities than it actually might be. Since they are in the public eye and often in our magazines and news stories, we always hear when a celebrity is heading to rehab, and rarely when everything is just fine.

But celebrity culture does undoubtedly add to the common stints at Promises and The Betty Ford Center. Celebrities have a lot of access to drugs, and they have a lot of money to spend on drugs. But statistically, drug use among celebrities is not too different from drug use in the general population. What sets celebrities apart is that they can also afford rehab, and when a celebrity has a drinking problem they have tons of people advising them to seek treatment, more helpful hints.

Many times, this leads to return trips to rehab. If someone goes to rehab to appease their family members or entourage, they will not get better. Rehab is really only effective when you recognize your problem and want to fix it. Since this is not true for a lot of celebrities, they will be out of rehab in a couple of months and back to their old reckless behavior soon thereafter.

Aside from genuine concerns from their peers, some celebrities use rehab to get back in the public eye. People think kindly of those who are going through rough times and trying to get better. Many actors revitalize their careers after getting clean. They are more hirable when sober and more interesting than the average actor because they have a success story to share. This sells like hotcakes.

Arguably, amidst the drug addicts that are unwilling to change there are some true innocents in Hollywood. Addiction is a disease and when a regular person suffers from alcoholism, we are quick to offer a helping hand, but when it’s a celebrity, we are often judgmental and quick to point fingers.

Being suddenly famous can be stressful and the life of an actor or touring rock star does not suit many people. If newfound fame is handled incorrectly, it can lead to drug and alcohol use. Some stars, like Drew Barrymore, use rehab to get cleaned up and go on to have a successful career without relapse.

It doesn’t look like this pattern of celebrities in rehab is going to slow down anytime soon. As long as there are drugs and as long as celebrities can afford them, rehab facilities around the country will have plenty of business.

I read a great article recently called “20 Little Ways to Drop the Pounds and Keep Them Off” by Joe Mullich from the Health Magazine. Here is the link if you are interested in reading it: www.nach-welt.com/slimy-liquid-test-helfen-die-tropfen-wirklich-beim-abnehmen

Weight gain has been one of the major concerns of our society. We gain weight when we consume more than we can burn. This statement is correct however there are other causes of weight gain due to illnesses. I am going to explain several ways to help you eat healthy and exercise right. If your weight gain is caused by other illnesses, complications, you should consult a physician.

Everybody’s life style is different. Your body may also react to certain things differently. Someone can have a few slices of pizza and get away with it, however you may end up gaining weight. For this reason the first thing you need to do is to evaluate yourself. What is your tolerance level? Do you eat healthy food? Do you exercise? If you drink a lot of soda then the first think you should do is to replace soda with water. Cans and bottles are labeled to show you what your calorie intake would be. By replacing one can of soda with water per day you will save about 140 calories. If you have read the article I mentioned above by Joe Mullich, you know that we all gain 1-2 pounds per year regardless. Consuming 140 calories less per day because you have replaced it with water, you will reverse this weight gain. If you are a coffee drinker, think about how you have your coffee everyday? Do you like it plain or with cream and sugar? Have it black. May be hard at first but you will soon get used to it. If you must add something then use skimmed milk. Also avoid the three major whites. These are sugar, salt and flour. You should eat several times throught out the day without starving yourself. Have a good breakfast and eat light at night. A single banana is a great source of energy. I highly recommend it after a workout instead of consuming an energy drink or an energy bar.

Apart from eating right, you should exercise to maximize your weight and fat loss. As I have mentioned before you should listen to your body, evaluate yourself and setup your goals. Once you have this, check out the website of Cinderhill Gym. They have a good online routine creator that customizes a fitness program for you based on your availablity and goals.

Remember to change your exercise routine often. If you like jogging, do not jog everyday. Alternate your exercises. The human body can adjust to circumstances, so by repeating the same exercises you will not be gaining anything. Switch your days, exercises, etc. Do not use the elevator all the time. Use the stairs. In your first weeks, you will see very good results because you are starting something new. But remember that your body will soon get used to it and when it does it will shut itself off. This means you will stop losing the weight even though you are exercising.

I hope you will find this article handy. Have fun and just remember to switch things around.

Caring for an elderly parent or loved one can become emotionally, mentally and physically draining. If the right resources are not accessed, caring for a senior citizen can also be expensive. However, there is help. Adult children, extended family members and other caregivers do not have to go it alone.

Senior Home Care Services

Local and national home care agencies will send therapists and other trained healthcare professionals into an elderly family member’s home. Services offered through home care agencies include:

• Hygiene support (e.g. bathing, dressing)
• Medicine administration
• Wound cleaning and dressing
• Physical therapy
• Errand running (e.g. grocery shopping)
• Light housecleaning
• Meal preparation
• Recreation

Beyond the above services that senior home care agencies provide, companionship is another key benefit that senior citizens receive from agency professionals. It is not uncommon for at home caretakers to become trusted and valued friends of their clients.

Getting Professional Senior Home Care Support

Senior home care agency administrators, volunteers and staff members realize that adult children have a myriad of responsibilities (e.g. raising their own children, work) that can prevent them from physically being with their aging parents as often as they would like. Because of this some local and national senior home care agencies will provide support after an adult child places a telephone call with them. Support can begin within 48 hours or less of the telephone call.

Volunteers and professionals who work with agencies range from:

• Registered nurses (RNs)
• Licensed practical nurses (LPNs)
• Physical therapists
• Psychologists
• Dieticians

Alzheimer care training is provided through many national senior home care agencies. Seniors who live at assisted living facilities can also receive the healthcare services at home. Costs for the care is generally less than the cost of placing an elderly loved one in a nursing home.

Background checks and criminal investigations can be conducted by the agency on professionals before they are permitted to provide care to a senior citizen in their home. Family members who are considering engaging a senior home care agency to provide additional support for an aging relative are encouraged to ensure that the caregivers are insured and bonded at the minimum. They should also discuss billing, including invoice frequency and where and to whom bills for the care should be sent to.

Senior Home Care Lengths

Home care is available on short and long term basis. For example, a loved one who recently underwent surgery and who would like to recuperate at home could receive senior home care services until they were completed healed and on their feet again. Care can also be provided to special needs children, injured young adults, etc.

Experienced senior home care professionals know how to remain calm during instances when the aging relative might be upset or confused. Their support allows aging adults to enjoy the comforts of the homes that they have spent years caring for and sharing special times with friends and family members in. The support also allows adult children, grandchildren and extended family members to feel “at home” each time that they visit with their elderly family member.

Senior home care professionals include nurses, therapists and volunteers. Care covers a broad range of areas including hygiene, housekeeping, errand running and companionship. Family members are encouraged to ensure that the home care professional who enters their aging relative’s home is at least bonded and insured. They should also communicate to the agency where invoices for the care should be sent.

Think of a focus group and you might imagine a group of children or adults in a room where they taste food, listen to music, watch a television program or movie, or any other activity where the end result is to gather consumer feedback on a product. In theory, the results of a focus group should tell the producers what may need changing or what was accepted well by the people doing the critiquing. Focus groups can also be used in a business setting to gather feedback from employees on the effectiveness of company processes, like performance appraisals, benefits or training. The idea of using focus groups to discuss company processes is not new, but the term is not widely associated for use in the business arena, great post to read.

Example of a Focus Group-worthy Business Process

Let’s use company-provided training as an example where the company surveyed upper management about what types of training they felt was needed to enhance employees’ skills to keep the company competitive. It should be noted that there may be mandatory training, like sexual harassment awareness. Voluntary participation in training that might improve employee job skills and knowledge is what perpetuated the survey and subsequent new training program, yet response to the training program has been limited.

Focus groups comprised of employees may provide insight into the less-than-successful launch of the new training program. The objective could be to gather feedback on why members of the focus group would or would not participate in company-provided training.

How Focus Group Members may be Selected

The results of a focus group are only as good as the people participating in the groups. When it comes to business practices, the group should include all levels of employees to which the process would apply and may include their managers. In our training example, the program of course offerings is directed to entry level to mid-management.

For a small organization, like less than 50 employees, you may want to bring all of them together. In larger organizations, particularly those with thousands of employees, it’s not feasible for them all to participate in focus groups. In this situation, the focus group organizers, possibly Human Resources, would work with mid-management to pull specific career levels or job positions from their departments to create a good cross representation.

What Might Happen with Focus Groups

With lack of participation in a training program as the theme, the focus group facilitator with a small team of advisors can draw up questions to present to the focus groups for discussion (there may be multiple facilitators and multiple focus groups at different office locations). Questions might include things such as: is the location of the training or the time it is being offered suitable, are the training sessions too long/short, or did the time of the training coincide with other job-critical events? The facilitator can start the discussion with prepared questions but should also be open to comments from the focus group that are outside the scope of the questions.

Participants can also be presented with the option to provide private input to the facilitator, like via email or phone call, because some participants may feel uneasy about commenting in a group. This can happen if the employee is intimidated by a manager or fellow employees, dissuading or belittling them for wanting to participate in company-provided training.

Digestive enzymes assist and speed up the chemical processes associated with digestion. In most cases, our bodies naturally produce enzymes that are capable of digesting food. However, individuals with certain health conditions and disorders may require the use of supplements to supply enzymes that aid digestion. Although many people with pancreatic disorders often require the use of prescription pancrelipase, the benefits of digestive enzymes in healthy individuals remains uncertain.

Digestive Enzymes

The following digestive enzymes are classified by the type of biochemical molecules on which they exert their effects:

• Lipase-(Fats, Lipids)
• Protease-(Protein)
• Amylase-(Sugars, Carbohydrates)

Within each group, there are many subtypes of enzymes that are naturally produced by our body. In addition, digestive enzyme may also be contained in the foods that we eat. Some of the most common digestive enzymes found in supplements are derived from fruit sources.

Bromelain Supplements

Bromelain is a protease enzyme that is harvested from the stem of pineapples. Besides assisting in the digestion of proteins, it may also stimulate the muscles of the intestinal walls. Bromelain is often included a major ingredient in many digestive enzyme supplements. Since it is derived from pineapples, it may trigger an allergic reaction in people with pineapple allergies.

Papain Supplements

Papain is also a common ingredient included in digestive enzyme supplements. In contrast to bromelain, papain is a protease enzyme that is harvested from papaya fruit. Papain is also used to aid in the digestion of proteins. However, it can trigger an allergic reaction in person with allergies to papaya.

Digestive Enzyme Benefits

Although evidence to support the benefits of digestive enzyme supplements in healthy individuals is inconclusive, certain dietary enzymes have shown to be beneficial in people with specific health conditions. Lactase is an amylase that helps to break down lactose, a carbohydrate commonly found in dairy products. It can be of great benefit for individuals who suffer from lactose intolerance. Also, patients who suffer from a disorder of the pancreas are often prescribed pancrelipase to aid in the digestion of meals.

Digestive Enzyme Side Effects

An allergic reaction can occur in those who are sensitive to enzymes derived from certain plants or fruits. An allergic reaction may include the appearance of an itchy rash. More severe cases that include swelling of the mouth and throat, or difficulty breathing requires immediate medical attention. Since digestive enzymes exert their effect in the stomach and intestines, patients may experience symptoms of upset stomach or diarrhea. In addition, patients may experience nausea and vomiting.

The use of digestive enzymes may cause a fibrosing colonopathy. This occurs when enzymes cause damage and irritation to the inner linings of the intestinal tract. Although the mechanisms causing this adverse effect are unclear, fibrosing colonopathy is a serious medical condition. In theory, digestive enzymes can interfere with the healing of intestinal ulcers or perforations. Since digestive enzymes can interfere with medications and exacerbate certain health conditions, patients should always contact a physician before using digestive enzyme supplements.

Disclaimer:The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used for diagnosis or to guide treatment without the opinion of a health professional. Any reader who is concerned about his or her health should contact a doctor for advice.

At 2600 meters above sea level, running the 21km of Bogotá’s half marathon is not a feat for those of faint heart or sea level lungs. An endeavour of this magnitude takes time, dedication and above all, acclimatisation. For those not up to competing in the 21km event there is also an alternative Bogota 10km on the same day that takes in a different route bus ends in the same place.

One glance over the top ten finishers will tell you what you already know; the list is smattered with names from traditional distance running powerhouses and high altitude experts from Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia.

The Favourites

This year’s favourite in the Men’s category to take home the 21,000,000 Colombian Pesos (US$10,800) of prize money and the Renault Logan is the Kenyan, Paul “the Gentleman” Tergat.

Tergat is the current Marathon World Record holder finishing the prestigious Berlin event in a swift 2:04:55. In addition to this he has two Olympic silver medals for the 10,000m  and in 2005 won the New York Marathon.

In the Women’s event the field looks to be more open but two serious challengers are Argentina’s Claudia Camargo and Nataliya Berkut from the Ukraine.

The Event in last year

Men’s Winner – Fabiano Joseph – Tanzania – 01:02:34

Women’s Winner – Catherine Ndereba – Kenya – 01:12:56

A total of 58,000 people participated in both the 21km and 10km courses. This year the organisers are confident that this number will have significantly increased as the popularity of the event continues to grow in this its eighth edition.

What Makes Bogota so Special?

Like most international sporting events a city’s marathon or half marathon will take in the major sites of that location. Bogota is no different. Both the half marathon and the 10km will start in the opulent surroundings of the Plaza de Bolivar, the seat of Colombian power, overshadowed by the Law Courts, the Cathedral and the Presidential Palace in the Candelaria district with Monserrate towering above, click over here.

Continuing from there down Carrera 7 will take the runners past the world renowned Gold Museum, the National Museum, past the Javeriana University and through the Chapinero district.

The route then moves west before returning back into the wealthy zones of Northern Bogota and towards the elite Country Club. The big turn for the homecoming to the finish line occurs around Pasadena and then through Salitre before the final stretch into the verdant refuge of the expansive Parque Simon Bolivar.

Here at the finish line like in next year there will be a jamboree and celebrations for the runners and well wishers with Colombian artists putting on a concert with all the dancing that can only be conjured in a Latin country.

One only hopes that the weather holds and the runners are presented with a clear and crisp Bogota day.

In the current situation of economic crisis, unemployment is raging like fire. It is the main issue haunting many individuals as they have either faced a layoff or on the verge of being handed over the pink slip. It is in this scenario that an individual gets stressed up and seems to have fallen into a tavern and not know how to escape.

The first and foremost thing that an individual should understand is that he should not panic. It is not the case of anyone individual losing their livelihood but of thousands and millions around the world. At the same time one must understand that even during this period of recession still many of them are employed and thriving in their businesses.

So what is the reason that one is employed and another is unemployed? The difference is employability skills. Those who are still employed have a higher degree of employability than those who are not. And how does an individual find out what he lacks in his own set of employability skills. It is at this juncture, the SWOT analysis comes to play.

SWOT analysis stands for analysis of an individual’s strength, weakness, opportunity and threats. A person needs to do his own SWOT analysis and focus it to get better results with more self improvement you can try this out with an ultimate goal to get out of the recession.

The first step in SWOT analysis is strength. An individual should write down in a sheet of paper what are his strengths. Rather what are his skills both technical as well as non-technical that would make him more employable? He needs to then analyze how many of them he is currently using and must devise a strategy for those skills that he is not using currently, however must put into use as soon as possible.

The next step in SWOT analysis is the weakness. After carefully writing down all his weaknesses, an individual must put in efforts to find out how he can minimize his weaknesses and make all those into his strength areas.
Next, he should think about his opportunities during his SWOT analysis and find out what are the current openings or opportunities for him to improve, to get better position and be safeguarded against recession.
Finally, SWOT analysis will reveal the individual’s threats and an individual who really has an instinct to improve and get out of recession will find them and be cautious enough to avoid them or should plan accordingly to tackle them and get out of harm’s way.

Thus, SWOT analysis is a method which every individual must implement for self-improvement and to get out of recession.