Dieting Can Be a Rocky Road

When it comes to dieting, far too many people set themselves up for failure before they even begin the process. They literally dread going on their diets and before they start the process are planning their mishaps along the way. Sad to say but true, far too many would be dieters are planning their first Rocky Road mishap while eating their last bowl of Rocky Road before the big event.

I have no idea why we tend to do this to ourselves but it is something I see in dieters everywhere. The far too popular notion is that one must binge on the foods most loved and enjoyed before beginning the dieting process because these things must be completely eliminated in order to shed those unwanted pounds. If you are honest with yourself, nothing could be further from the truth. Moderation is simply a concept that many of us are loathe to embrace.

                          


You must change your way of thinking about food and your personal enjoyment of food in order for any diet you embrace to be successful. Food isn’t the enemy. And that is something that not enough people really understand. Even the ‘tasty’ foods aren’t the enemy. The enemy is your personal inability to properly portion the foods you eat. The problem is that the vast majority of us eat the wrong foods far more often than we eat the right foods. This is where the problems lie.

Our bodies need the nutrients we are lacking by not eating the five servings of vegetables and three servings of fruit each day that we should consume. Our bodies know that something is missing and we feel hungry or deprived. If we were actually consuming the proper balance of fruits and veggies each day we would find that we were far less likely to feel hungry and desire those foods that aren’t as healthy. This means we would be much more likely to enjoy them in moderation as they should be enjoyed. 

Portion control is another problem that we have. We live in a society of “upselling”. Super-sized fries and empty calories by the gallon of your favorite cola are offered with almost every fast food meal that can be bought. You must learn to say no to these things and avoid situations in which you may feel tempted to partake in these upsized orders. 

To be truly successful when dieting you need to embrace the process as building a healthier you rather than depriving yourself of something. Do not think of your weight loss plan as something negative but rather a positive force in your life to make changes for the better. When you have negative thoughts do not direct them to your diet. When you feel deprived remind yourself that you are depriving your bones of carrying around that excess weight. Remind yourself that you are depriving your wardrobe of those bulky clothes that are designed to hide the bulges. Remind yourself that you are depriving your body of years of bulges and bringing back the body of your youth.

Do not get so caught up in the dieting process that you forget to enjoy some of the goodies that life has to offer. Watching your weight and counting your calories does not mean that you can never go over your allotment. The goal, however, is to find balance. If you learn to portion your food correctly, indulge in moderation, and incorporate enjoyable calorie burning activities into your daily routine you may be amazed at the results. 

Dieting for weight loss and health is only depriving if you allow it to be. If you cannot control yourself when it comes to indulging then, by all means, avoid indulging. However, if you can learn to incorporate those small treats into your routine in moderation and burn those extra calories as well, then you should find yourself a much happier and more successful ‘dieter’ than you have ever managed to be in the past.

Acknowledge Your Depression

Depression is an illness and needs to be acknowledged as such. It is not a reason to be ashamed. The reason so many people fail to seek help for their depression is that they are ashamed. Unfortunately, this is one of the feelings associated with depression anyway and makes the illness difficult to acknowledge. 

If you are constantly feeling particularly low, well-meaning friends might tell you to “snap out of it” or even start to get irritated by your mood. Your depression will feed off this negativity and you start to wonder why you can’t just “snap out of it”. You then start to feel that there’s something wrong with you because it should be so easy and it’s just “not right” that you feel so bad all the time. Well, it’s not right and there is something wrong with you. You have a medical condition and you deserve treatment in the same way as any other patient. If you had a cold for six months would you ignore it and hope it would pass? No, you would dose yourself up with anything you could find and maybe see a doctor to find out if there’s an underlying reason for it to last so long.

Depression is sadness that lasts too long. Everyone is sad at some point in their lives but depression is more than that. It is a feeling that you can’t bring yourself up from the bottom. In the end, you give up trying. People start to avoid you. You feel worse. You need to find external help to treat the problem in the same way as you would if you had a long-lasting cold. You could try herbal remedies – there are some in your pharmacy – or you could see your doctor. There may be an underlying physical cause of your depression.

                              

If your doctor cannot help you they may refer you to counseling. Don’t be embarrassed to go for counseling but do make sure you are comfortable with your counselor. If not, try another one. Counselling should not be discounted because you don’t feel comfortable with your first choice of practitioner. In everyday life, you will naturally find that you get on with some people and clash with others. You cannot afford to have a personality clash with your counselor. On the other hand, you must be sure that it is a personality clash and not just that you don’t agree with what they are saying. A general rule is to go with your instincts. If you like the person and seemed to get on well in the first couple of sessions then stick with it because they might just have touched on the root cause of your problem.

In some cases, acknowledging depression may be difficult because you have lived with it so long that you don’t know whether it is depression or not. If you have grown up with depression it is possible not to realize that you are actually depressed because you have no concept of how normal people should feel. You may feel angry all the time or you may feel like going to the middle of an empty field and simply scream. You may feel anxious, have trouble sleeping or even sleep too much. You may think that your family would be better off without you (and actually believe that to be true) and may have considered running away or suicide. You may worry about death all the time (yours or someone else’s) and not let yourself be happy just in case. If you are feeling any or all of the above then you need to consider talking to someone. Even if it is just a friend or family member to start with, they may be able to advise you and encourage you to seek professional help.

Once you have acknowledged that you have depression please remember that it is a medical condition and can be cured. You don’t have to feel this way forever. Nobody actually thinks of you the way you think they do. Talk to someone. Seek and accept help and you will find that there is a different way of seeing life.

Balancing Hope And Reality To Plan A Dignified Death

Dealing with the end of life and the decisions that accompany it can bring critical challenges for everyone involved-patients, families, friends and physicians. In fact, "managing" the progression toward death, particularly when a dire diagnosis has been made, can be a highly complex process. Each person involved is often challenged in a different way.

Communication is the first objective, and it should start with the physicians. In their role, physicians are often tasked to bridge the chasm between lifesaving and life-enhancing care; thus, they often struggle to balance hopefulness with truthfulness. Determining "how much information," "within what space of time" and "with what degree of directness for this particular patient" requires a skillful commitment that matures with age and experience.

A physician's guidance must be highly personalized and must consider prognosis, the risks and benefits of various interventions, the patient's symptom burden, the timeline ahead, the age and stage of life of the patient, and the quality of the patient's support system.

                                
At the same time, it's common for the patient and his or her loved ones to narrowly focus on life preservation, especially when a diagnosis is first made. They must also deal with shock, which can give way to a complex analysis that often intersects with guilt, regret, and anger. Fear must be managed and channeled. This stage of confusion can last some time, but a sharp decline, results of diagnostic studies, or an internal awareness usually signals a transition and leads patients and loved ones to finally recognize and understand that death is approaching. 

Once acceptance arrives, end-of-life decision-making naturally follows. Ongoing denial that death is approaching only compresses the timeline for these decisions, adds anxiety, and undermines the sense of control over one's own destiny.

With acceptance, the ultimate objectives become the quality of life and comfort for the remainder of days, weeks or months. Physicians, family, and other caregivers can focus on assessing the patient's physical symptoms, psychological and spiritual needs, and defining end-of-life goals. How important might it be for a patient to attend a granddaughter's wedding or see one last New Year, and are these realistic goals to pursue?

In order to plan a death with dignity, we need to acknowledge death as a part of life - an experience to be embraced rather than ignored when the time comes. Will you be ready?

Mind Control in Our Lives

Mind control seems like some fantastic sci-fi idea that is in the realm of literature. In fact, mind control is something that every one of us applies to our daily living and or interaction with others. The most basic type of mind control is repetition and is a technique largely in use by advertisers.

There are people who are skilled in practicing mind control and you will find this even being practiced by children to some extent without realizing what they are doing. Have you seen the way children drop hints, suggest things that will allow them to influence their parents to buy things or get them things that they want? These are simple and often crude attempts at mind control, and many parents also use these in reverse when they want their children to do things that they find them resisting to some extent. Parents will constantly use mind control to get children to change their behavior and habits so that they are more acceptable to society.

                                  

Mind control is basically influencing the way others think so that they start acting and thinking in the way that you want them to. People may not use mind control consciously but it is a fact that everyone does practice it to some extent every day of our lives. It can be an effective way of communication that can lead t your life and its happenings becoming that much easier. Once persons are familiar with mind control it is almost certain that they will recognize when other people use these techniques on them. This can then lead to some resistance and a reluctance to being manipulated.

Practice mind control only if you are sure that you can be disciplined while doing so, and if you are sure you will not hurt the interests of others. You must especially refrain from it when you are emotionally upset and feeling hurt and feel the need to retaliate. Mind control can lead to hurting others and can lead to consequences that you must be prepared to face. Do not overdo it,, as in future every one of your words and actions will be viewed suspiciously by the people you are in constant contact with. 

Mind Power and Its Limits

What you think goes a long way in determining what you do. It is a fact that mind control can play a significant influence over everything that happens in your life, and can even decide how you feel.

The body is always aware of what your mind thinks and if you limit your thinking, it can affect your actions, and may even place a barrier on what you can achieve, even though you are physically and mentally capable of doing much more. It is possible for a person to convince himself or herself that do much more than what they have achieved to date. The only limit is the one you place on your mind power. So, in fact, the limit mind control is you.


At the same time, it is important you be careful of the control that you have over your mind, and be practical and limit its power to thinking or doing what is possible and within the capabilities that you have in body and mind. It is not possible to convince yourself that you can climb Mount Everest tomorrow. Remember, that mountaineers have to go through a lot of training, practice, and experience before they have achieved this lofty goal. What you can do, is set that task for the future and take effective steps to learn and practice about mountaineering. You may find your limits, and that you do not have a physical structure that can endure the required hardships.

Again, here it s a matter of the mind, and if you want to, you can always set yourself to improve your physical strengths so that going on a mountaineering expedition becomes a feat that is in the realm of the possible. To get over the limit that your mind has, you need to have the desire to accomplish whatever you want, and this desire must act as a motivator to allow you to propel both your mind and body to accomplish the new tasks you have set for yourself.

DIY Solar Pool Heater Kits and Installation

The Basics of a Solar Pool Heating System

Swimming pools, correctly installed, would have a circulation system which is needed to circulate constantly the pool water for filtration and cleaning. If this same system is linked up to a device that heats the water before it enters the pool the objective of having a heated pool would be achieved. Heating systems can be from gas, oil or electric heaters, but you can rid yourself of the consequent heating bill by using a free source of heating - the sun.

A basic solar pool heater would consist of water tubes containing the swimming pool water passing through a solar plate collector which is heated by the sun’s rays. Such collectors can be on the deck of the pool, the roof of the house or any area that has constant exposure to the sun. The capacity of a DIY solar pool heater kit would be determined by the square area of the swimming pool that needs heating. Other factors that could help reduce costs of such kits would be the shape of the pool. Round pools are the best.

Installing a DIY Solar Pool Heater Kit

The cheapest kits are the ones that use unglazed plastic as solar collectors. A standard collector would be 3.4 m long and 1.4 m wide with necessary piping already installed in it. You can increase the number of panels depending on the size of your pool. Decide on a location for the solar collector. The supporting structure for the solar panel should be sufficient to take the weight of the panel when it is full of water. The position should ensure constant exposure to the sun and the location should be such that the distance from your circulation pump is the least. Collectors can be installed horizontally or vertically or even positioned on the roof of the house. Connect up the ends of the solar collector piping to your pool circulation system and enjoy the benefits of the heated water through the winter.

Additions to DIY solar pool heater kits would be sensors to regulate the temperature of the water. You could also conserve the heated water by using pool covers or floating discs. The latter are easy to remove and lay on the water than a full cover.

A still cheaper form of solar collector can be made of corrugated metal sheets over which the circulated water is made to run. A piping system which would spray the circulated water on to the sheet and a method to collect the heated water can easily be fashioned out by any DIY enthusiast. Water can also be heated by running the pool water through coils of black garden hose kept exposed to the sun. If the length of the hose in the coil is sufficient, water will get heated to give you the desired comfort in the swimming pool.

Tips on Maintaining Friendships & Romantic Relationships

Always be Available Let the friend know that you are always available in the time of a crisis. This may be during real problems caused by illnesses, accidents and the like, but can quite often just be the availability of a shoulder to cry on. Never turn your back on a friend. Trust Must be Implicit Trust your friends in everything that touches your lives or times together. Always believe in their goodness and let them know that you have the complete faith in any action taken by them in any matter concerning your friendship. Do not Believe Rumors Keep an open mind especially where it concerns your friends. There are always people in this world who take vicarious pleasure in spreading half truths and lies. There is no harm in keeping an open mind and going the extra distance to find out the actual circumstances which can be quite different from what you have heard. Keep Money far Away Let any dealings with money not come in between your friendships. Good friends would always be very aware of this and would never make any monetary demands of a friend. Accept your Friends as They are Never make physical appearances or any other personal attributes any part of a friendship. While gentle suggestions to lose weight or inches can be made, they must be made with an assurance that it would benefit the friend concerned and would have no effect either way for the way you continue in the relationship. Share Confidences The stress in today’s modern day life quite often requires a safety valve for a person to have so that they can share their problems and feelings. Use your friend as some such safety valve and always remember that the need is mutual and that the friend should be aware that you are available to return the compliment any time the need is felt. Also remember that these confidences are meant for you alone and not to be shared with the world in general. Be Kind to a Friend Showing kindness to a friend is no great act of altruism. You would get back this kindness in equal measure and probably benefit from it. Never criticize a friend, unless you are asked for a definite opinion. Even when this is asked for make sure to imply that your opinion has no effect on the friendship that you have. Be Flexible Friendships can cause certain strains on time and emotions, and one must learn to be flexible enough to convince the friend that making that adjustment is no big deal. Give advice only when it is solicited. Of course if you do see the friend making a decision that you know is disastrous, it becomes your duty to point this out, however harsh the truth. A friendship requires that you give to it as much as you expect from it. And if you do make an effort to become an ideal friend, it is more than likely that your friends would be more than glad to meet you halfway and ensure that your friendship makes your life more than just an existence.

How to Fix Broken Solar Panels

Solar Panels Can Get Damaged and Need Repairs

Solar panels can get damaged by hail stones, high winds and someone deliberately pelting stones at them. Whatever the reason, a damaged solar panel can still be used as long as it is producing power and you know how to fix broken solar panels. The first thing you need to do while assessing damage of the panel is to see if it is still producing electricity and therefore worth fixing. This can save you the cost of making complete replacements, which can be quite damaging to your pocketbook. Also check the frame on which the panel is mounted and see that it is in good shape and not loose. Quite often a poorly fixed solar panel can cause distortions in the panel, which by itself can lead to the damage that you are now attempting to repair. Tighten all the bolts that have been used to fix your solar panels so that the entire unit is rigid and does not move. You would also need to check on the wiring, as any jarring which caused the damage in the first place, can loosen soldered connections which would lead to loss of power.

Repairing Glasses That Are Broken

Attempt these repairs only if your solar panel is still working. So do not be in a hurry to start repairs unless you have left the panel alone for a day and checked the amount of energy it generates. This could be lesser than normal, because the broken glass could diminish the amount of light getting through to the panels. Now that you have established the fact that the panel still produces some energy, we can get to the next job of repairing the glasses on the panel that have been broken.

Minor damage to edges and corners can be repaired by using glass tape to hold the pieces together. Glasses that are completely cracked or shattered may however require to be replaced. This is done by removing all the broken pieces, after detaching them from the frame on which they are mounted. If there are just one or two pieces of the cracked glass and they are all available, you can attempt to use stained glass tape to cover the edges of the broken glass and then soldering them. Such tape would have a copper backing and would allow easy soldering. But too much of tape can reduce the light going through and reduce the efficiency of your panel.

Other Problems That May Need Attending To

A damaged solar panel can cause soldered connections in the solar cells to work loose. To re-solder these loose connections you need to cut the silicone in which the solar cells are embedded. This will expose the back of the cell allowing you to re-solder the connection that is loose. Alternately glue that has silver impregnated in it can be used to attach the parts that have become loose. This is the easier alternative, though it may not be as effective as a soldered connection.

Tips on How to Spruce Up Interior Doors

Doors Are a Part of the Décor of a Home

An average home can have as many as 20 doors in the interior spaces, if you consider all passage and closet doors besides the room and bathroom doors. There will be doors closing up the broom cupboard or the staircase to the attic. They are all doors that make up part of the décor of your house and simple attention to them could turn your home into a much more cheery place than it now is by learning how to spruce up plain interior doors.

Get some paint remover and strip the door of its original paint. Sand down the surface and apply putty or some filler to all the blemishes and scratches on the door to cover them up. Then apply that new coat of paint. It is best if you can take down the door while you are doing this, so that you can easily paint the top and bottom, which you may not be easily able to do if the door is in position. Choose bright colors to match the room or passage the door is on. You can even paint each side with a different color. It is best to use enamel or paint that can be cleaned with a damp cloth so that the spring cleaning aspect is taken care of. You can even use the door surface to create a collage with different colors if you feel so artistically inclined. Try out the designs on your computer and get the design approved from all your family members. While you are about the job of painting, check on the door fitting especially the handles, hinges and locks to see if they could also do with a polish or replacement job. The possibilities are endless and these new fittings can give a real personality to your doors.

Use Decorative Moldings to Spruce up Plain Interior Doors

Decorative moldings in wood are available at most interior decoration stores or even at the local hardware outlet. Such moldings are also known as wood trim. These can be from ½ inch in size to bigger sizes. You can get such moldings that are curved to really add glamour to your door. Decide on how you can create a pattern on the door with these moldings. You can do this on both sides of the door or leave one side plain. Use a power nailer to nail down the trim or molding to the door. Paint the molding to give your spruced up interior door a whole new look. You can also buy this trim in PVC if you can get it. This can come in different colors and may not even need painting over. If you really wanted to spruce up those interior doors, consider a fancy plaster molding all around the door jamb. This can add real class to a door.

If the door is one that is normally kept closed, you can even use it as a backdrop to a series of framed photographs or other art work. Properly hung and even lighted, the door behind them would literally vanish from a person’s perception. Hanging up pennants or other memorabilia is also one way to spruce up interior doors. You can also use veneer glued to the door along with moldings to create a real raised look to a door. Adding a stained glass panel to a door can also be an idea.

Percentage of House Value to Spend on a Bathroom

Bathrooms Add Value to a House

Kitchens and bathrooms are what increase the value of a home. So if sufficient care is taken to have a bathroom that is well tiled and has the latest fittings, the value of the home goes up. This makes it much easier to sell or rent. A bathroom is the most expensive part of a house if you consider per unit area costs. This is because of the skilled labor required in its installation, like plumbers, tilers and probably electricians. Another factor that adds to the cost is the wide range of fittings available for the plumbing, water heating, storage cabinets and floor and wall tiles.

For those individuals that are wondering what percentage of their house value they should spend on a bathroom, experts say that you should limit the cost of your bathrooms to about 10 to 15 percent of the cost of the house. This value can be easily recouped in the sale of the house. If there is more than one bathroom in a house the percentage costs could go up, but this would in turn increase the resale value of the house.

While building a new house, it would be to your advantage to prepare detailed plans about how you intend to furnish the bathroom. This could add substantially to the cost of the house if you include fancy fittings and additions, like a spa or Jacuzzi.

Remodeling or Building New Bathrooms to Add Value to a House

Remodeling of bathrooms in an existing house can add to its resale value. Realty agents will tell you that a well maintained and equipped bathroom automatically adds to the selling point for the house. Costs of remodeling a bathroom can be from $5000 to $12000 depending on the type of fittings and gadgetry that you add to a bathroom.

Adding a new bathroom to a house would cost substantially more because of the cost of creating the room itself, with walls, foundation and roof. Sometimes homeowners decide to convert existing floor space, like a garage or attic, into a bathroom. The cost for this type of remodel would be governed by the distance required to create new plumbing for the water supply and drainage.

A well appointed bathroom would have hot and cold water plumbing, colored porcelain fittings, mixing faucets, a bath tub and sufficient storage space. Add-ons can be in the form of glass shower cabins, floor heating, forced ventilation, and anti-skid flooring. Provision of senior citizen aids can really impress a buyer.

A half bathroom in a house would have a sink and a toilet and is the general design used for additional bathrooms in a house. Costs of such bathrooms are generally much lower, but can add to the value of a house, especially if prospective clients are families with children.

Building a Golf Net

Specifications for Your Own Golf Net

Golf nets are available in a number of sizes and the one that you buy or set up would depend on the space that you have available for it. You can even set up golf nets in a room or basement as long as the height available is sufficient. Golf nets also come made up of various materials, and the thing you need to look at is the ease with which it can be built and taken down. Some people may prefer not to take down the golf net once it is set up, but if the net is in the backyard, it would get exposed to the sun, and the materials that make up the net are likely to deteriorate thus reducing the life of your net and requiring it to be replaced quite often. So a net that can be taken down and stored away is the one you should be looking at. The smaller size nets require just a couple of minutes to set up or take down and rarely require more than one or two persons to do the job.

A basic net configuration would have fiberglass or metal (generally stainless steel) poles that fit into each other with pre-molded fittings and get assembled into the basic framework that makes up the golf net. The nets are made of nylon mesh that is long lasting and has a mesh dimension of 25 mm by 25 mm. A golf ball is just a little smaller than 43 mm in diameter so the mesh proposed should easily stop balls going through. Just to make sure you can always add a back drop safety feature so that even very wild shots that miss the net altogether are captured before they get into the neighbor’s yard or onto the road. An overhanging top is also suggested if you want additional safety. Sizes of golf nets are within 3 meters by 3 meters by 3 meters though you can opt for a wider one with a 6-meter width. The nets would have clamps or other fixing devices to pin the mat to the frame or ground.

Place your golf net in the backyard or room so that you have enough space for a golf mat in front of it. You need at least a couple of meters for this. Your golf mat should have its own rubber tee so that you are actually practicing in real conditions as would exist on a golf course. Golf mats come in various sizes, and the one you choose should suit the size of your net, the size of your yard, and your own preference.

Setting Up the Golf Net

Once you have the area in your backyard marked out for the golf net, make sure that the area is clear of all materials, fairly level and in a position that does not endanger your own property or that of the neighbor through mishit balls. Make sure that there are no tree branches or other fixtures that would come in the way of your golf net once it is set up. Garden lights are a common feature in backyards and need to be removed or put in safe places. Most good nets would have their own base which makes it very easy to set up. Place the net so that it is at least half a meter away from garden walls. In case your chosen net does not have this base, you would need to first set up the base configuration of the fiberglass of steel poles on the ground and anchor them to the ground with pegs or clamps as suggested by the maker of the tent. Then erect the other vertical poles until you have the correct shape as indicated in the diagrams. Then place the net over this frame, using the clamps all over to secure the net firmly to this base structure. Nets should be loose enough so that there is no rebound. And there you have your net ready for use. Place the golf mat about 3 to 5 meters away from the net, get out those golf clubs and the golf balls, and start swinging.

Additional Features for the Golf Net

Some golf nets come with a ball retrieval mechanism or gutter in the base. Then all your practice balls get gathered at one point for easy retrieval.

Target images can be put up on the golf net so that you have something to aim at during practice.

Screens are also available which would allow you to project golf course images from a video projector.