FEATURED ARTICLES

• healthy summer
• plants to avoid
• Allergy

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Written by Lisa Jillanza

Healthy Living

Spring is finally here! After a long and cold winter, everyone is in their glory with the sunshine and warm weather.

However, coming hand-in-hand with the blooming season is some people's dreaded seasonal nightmare: hay fever.

One of the best plans of action for fighting spring allergies is to avoid the things that make your sneezing, itching and watering eyes worse.  Warren V. Filley, M.D., a spokesperson for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, recently told www.health.com which plants you should avoid.

• Ragweed : It is common along riverbanks and in rural areas. Dr. Filley says that almost 75 percent of people with allergies are sensitive to ragweed.

Mountain cedar :This tree is commonly found in mountainous regions and, according to Dr. Filley, causes some of the “most severe allergy symptoms I have ever seen.”

• Maple : These trees are found along streams and in woods all through the eastern United States and Canada. The maple produces potent allergens.
• Elm : Common in the wetlands, these trees will most likely aggravate your allergies.
•  Mulberry : This pretty tree can be very deceiving. Found in woods and river valleys, it is often associated with contributing to hay fever.

• Pecan : Although it makes many good desserts, the pollen from pecan : found in woods and orchards : is second only to ragweed as the most severe source of allergens.

• Oak : It may have less potent pollen, but it produces very large quantities of it, Dr. Filley says. Avoid the woods just for this one.

Mold : Allergies acting up in the spring could be because of mold levels rising with wetter, warmer air.  Dr. Filley contributes various types of molds to producing significant allergy symptoms throughout the United States.

• Children health
• mental health
• smart child

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Written by Lisa Jillanza

In the News

Every parent wants to believe that their child is a genius or has the genius potential.  While intelligence clearly has a genetic component, there are some things you can do to boost learning and intelligence in your child.

Play brain games : Games like chess, cryptograms, riddles, and crosswords all train the brain to perform harder than other games.  These games promote strategic thinking, problem-solving, and complex decision making.  If you keep these games on hand and challenge your children with them you will help boost their intelligence, in a fun way.

Encourage them to play an instrument : While the early days of your child learning an instrument may not be the most pleasing to the ears, by encouraging your child to take up playing an instrument they learn to utilize their right brain more than others who do not play an instrument.

Avoid junk food : Cut out (or significantly reduce) the amount of sugar, trans fats and other junk food in your child's diet and replace them with high-nutrient alternatives for early childhood mental and motor development.  Pay attention to what your child is eating and good grades will come in time!

Encourage curiosity : Allow children to explore new ideas and become interested in different hobbies and interests to foster intelligence.  Ask your child about their interests and allow them to try a number of different hobbies and activities throughout the course of their childhood.

Read : While this method often gets lost in today's hi-tech world, reading to your child and/or encouraging them to read may be the oldest, easiest and one of the most effective ways to boost your child's brain power.

• Exercise
• Weight Loss
• spring cleaning
• household exercises

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Written by Lisa Jillanza

Fitness for All

It's finally time to skip the gym and dust off those mops and brooms! Spring cleaning is here : along with an easy way for you to not only clean up your house but also burns those extra calories.

In just 30 minutes of household cleaning, you can burn nearly 200 calories.  So, say goodbye to the gym and hello to the scrubbing brush!

Your actual amount of calories burned will depend on your weight, gender and age, but the following calorie burners are based on a 155 pound woman cleaning for one hour.   (You can locate calculators online to determine the exact amount of your calories burned.)

Gardening: 226 calories

Window washing: 226 calories

Scrubbing floors (on hands and knees): 291 calories

Laundry, ironing: 84 calories

Sewing repairs: 36 calories

Dusting: 97 calories

Scrubbing toilets, tub: 246 calories

Vacuuming: 317 calories

Cleaning gutters: 258 calories

Moving furniture, household items: 387 calories

Painting, papering, plastering: 317 calories

Sweeping: 194 calories

Mopping: 153 calories

Mowing the lawn: 148 calories

Washing dishes: 77 calories

• healthy eating
• Goji berries

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Written by Lisa Jillanza

Project Review

If you are looking for an energy boost, the Goji Berries contain astronomical levels of unique bio active polysaccharides, a family of complex carbohydrates bound to proteins that defends the body against illness, pollutants and free radicals.

These "master molecules” control many of the body's most important biochemical defense systems. The Goji Berries of Himalayan descent may be the richest known source of glyconutrients.

Some of the benefits include: boost in energy and strength, reduces cholesterol, helps promote weight loss, strengthens your heart, maintains healthy blood pressure and more. The one con of the Goji Berry is that you might get too much energy if you take two capsules to start.  We only recommend taking one capsule to start.

• healthy heart
• cardiac stress test
• Heart awareness

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Written by Lisa Jillanza

Heart Awareness

A cardiac stress test measures how well your heart is able to perform when it is under physical stress and it is used to help diagnose heart problems. While February was Heart Awareness Month, every month is important to take care of your heart.  That's why the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute list some of the following reasons why you may need a cardiac stress test:

• You have experienced symptoms of reduced blood flow to the heart, including shortness of breath and chest pains.
• You have arrhythmia symptoms during exercise, including a fluttering sensation in the chest, irregular heartbeat or feeling faint.
• You have shortness of breath without chest pain following exercise