Month: May 2005

Vegetables, fruits, and grains are normally low in
fat and have no cholesterol. Most are great sources
of dietary fiber, complex carbs, and vitamins.
The American Heart Association recommends that you
eat foods that are high in complex carbs and fiber.

Below are some tips for making healthy food choices:

– Coconut is high in saturated fat, while olives
are high in monounsaturated fats and calories. You
should use these items sparingly to avoid getting
too many calories from fat.

– When vegetable grains are cooked, saturated fat
or cholesterol is often added. For example, egg
yolks may be added to bread or even pasta.

– Processed, canned, or preserved vegetables may
also contain added sodium. With some people, too
much sodium (salt) may lead to high blood pressure.
There are some food companies that are actually
canning vegetables with less salt. You can look
for these in the market area or choose fresh and
even frozen vegetables.

– Nuts and seeds tend to be high in calories and
fat, although a majority of the fat is polyunsaturated
or monounsaturated. There are some varieties,
macadamie nuts for example, that are also high in
saturated fat.

Foods that are high in soluble fiber are a great
choice as well. Examples include oat bran,
oatmeal, beans, peas, rice bran, barley, and
even apple pulp.

Whenever you are looking for healthy food choices,
always make sure you read the nutrition label
or information about the food. You can then
determine what the food contains and how healthy
it truly is for your body. By taking your time
and making your healthy food choices wisely,
you’ll have a lifetime to enjoy the foods that
will take care of you.

(word count 285)

PPPPP

One of the most commonly encountered questions when
thinking about converting your garage for a new use is
the warmth of the floor. Whether you are choosing to convert
your garage into a spacious home office or to convert it into a
gym room, you have to take into consideration some
improvements for your floor.

Since the garage has a concrete and uninsulated floor you
should focus on making it warmer and more resilient. Furring
up the floor with wood and plywood can accomplish both
tasks. As a warning, you should use pressure-treated wood or protect
the wood which is in contact with the concrete by placing a
layer of felt paper between the wood and the concrete.

First of all measure and determine how much you want to raise the
floor. All garage floors have some amount of slope from the
back wall to the wall with the garage door in it to allow the
water runoff. To achieve a level floor you will have to adjust
the joists, for this if you are placing the joists perpendicular to
the slope in the floor each of them would have to be ripped
down or shimmed up and if the joists are parallel to the slope,
you can rip them on a taper or use shims to level them.

Ok, you finished remodeling the floors, now it’s time to
examine your walls. You might be surprised to find out that
your walls are not even with the foundation they sit on. They
may be set back from the foundation or maybe overhang it in
other areas. Only one step will solve these problems: selecting
a lumber size that is deep enough to extend the framing past the
concrete. By notching each end of the furring strip and
attaching one strip to the face of each wall stud will result in an
even wall that completely hides the foundation. Also it will be
deep enough for the R-21 wall insulation, this type of
insulation being the most common code requirement.

When remodeling the walls and the floor several obstructions
may appear. Obstructions like pipes, ducts, wires and other
impediments to smooth walls may exist. For small obstructions
such as wires or small pipes you could adjust the furring strips
enough to accommodate them. The solution for larger
obstructions is to box around them. If the obstruction is a water
heater or something that you will need access to, you can frame
it in and enclose it on three sides and then provide a removable
access panel for the fourth side.

A building permit may be required for a garage make over.
Of course all the methods presented here are purely theoretical
and only for guidance. All garages are different and some
adjustments to the used methods or materials may be required
in order to accommodate to your garage.

(word count 482)

PPPPP

All video cameras contain 3 major components – the
lens, imager, and recorder. The lens gathers and
focuses the light on the imager, which is normally
a charge coupled device (CCD) or CMOS sensor IC.
Finally, the recorder will encode the video signal
into a form that can be stored. Commonly, the optics
and imager are known as the camera section.

The optic lens is the first component in the camera
section’s light path. The optics normally have one
or more the following adjustments:
1. aperture – controls the amount of light
2. zoom – controls the field of view
3. shutter speed – captures continuous motion
In most consumer units, these adjustments are
automatically controlled by the video camera’s
electronics, normally to maintain constant exposure
onto the imager.

The imager is the “eye” of the camera, housing a
photo sensitive device or devices. The imager works
to convert light into an electronic video signal
through an elaborate electronic process. The
camera lens projects an image to the imager surface,
exposing the photo sensitive array to the light.

The light exposure is then converted into an electrical
charge. Towards the end of the timed exposure, the
imager will convert the accumulated charge into a
continuous analog voltage at the imager’s output
terminals.

The third piece, the recorder, is responsible for
writing the video signal to a recording medium,
such as magnetic videotape. The recording function
involves many steps of signal processing, and
historically, the recording process introduced
some distortion and noise to the stored video,
such that the playback of stored signal may not
retain the same detail as the original live feed.

All but the most primitive of video cameras will
also need to have a recorder controlling section
which will allow you to control the camera. You
can also swich the recorder into playback mode
for reviewing your recorded footage.

The image you recorded doesn’t need to be limited
to what appeared in the view finder. For a
documentation of events such as those used by the
police, the fields of view will overlay such
things as the time and date of the recording along
the top and bottom of the image.

As you can probably tell now, a high definition
video camera is very complex indeed. There are
several other parts involved as well, although the
above are the most important. A HD video camera
is very complex in build, making it something
that is more than worth the time it takes to create.

(word count 417)

PPPPP

Making sure that your fruit tree stays healthy is very important, but not as hard as some might think. There are several vital things you need to do: don’t harvest all of the fruit on the tree at the same time; make sure the soil is healthy; watch out for pests; plant it correctly; be sure it is protected when it is young. I will expand on all of these things.

One way to ensure that your fruit tree will remain healthy is to never harvest all of the fruit at the same time. If all of the fruit is left on the tree, it will grow to an unbearable weight. The combined weight of all of the fruit can get very heavy and snap the branches. So once the fruit starts to grow, you should always pick some of them before they are completely ready. Even if you don’t want to pick the fruit before it is ready, it will be beneficial to your tree. While you should do this to prevent it from becoming too heavy, you should also never over-harvest. This can be equally damaging.

Another part of making sure that your fruit tree stays healthy is planting it in fertile soil. If you plant anything in soil that doesn’t have the proper amount of nutrients in it, it will not grow and flourish as I am sure you would like it to. You also have to be sure that you plant the right tree in the right kind of soil, because some types of fruit trees do better in drier soil while some kinds or trees do better in damp soil. Just look up what kinds of nutrients your desired tree requires and you’ll know for sure whether to plant it or modify your soil in any way.

Another way to ensure your fruit tree’s health is to watch out for pests. To help keep the pests away from your tree, try to eliminate places by your tree that pests might be living. Always look for old piles of brush, weeds, old leaves, or any other decaying matter where pests could be hiding. Another way to keep pests away is by using bug sprays and repellents. Also, regularly turn over a little bit of soil around your tree and look for pests that could be hiding underground. Sometimes the ones that are hidden out of sight can be the most harmful.

If you don’t plant your fruit tree correctly, it could end up being very unhealthy. So to avoid this, always look for instructions before you plant trees. When you are planting a tree, make sure that your tree is perfectly vertical, so it won’t grow to be pointing off in an abnormal direction. When you are planting a tree you should also spread out the roots so that the tree will always be stable. This will help it live longer since the maximum water intake will be optimized.

The final thing to do in keeping your fruit tree healthy is to keep it protected when it is young and fragile. When you have a young tree you should tie it to a stake to help it to survive strong winds. Don’t tie it too hard, you should always allow room for the tree trunk to grow. Another thing to do when it is young is to put a small fence around it. This can help keep it safe from animals that will eat its bark if given the chance. A fence will also help to guard the base against strong wind and other weather.

If you follow all of this advice during the early years of your tree, you should have an experience that is nothing but joyful. Hopefully you’ll learn from the mistakes of others, and take great care of your tree. Just remember to always look up information on the type of tree you have, so that you can find out what exactly it requires.

PPPPP

(Word Count: 662)

Many people who maintain gardens have a large amount of organic waste, from grass clippings to leaves and dead plants. Unfortunately, many waste money and time having these wastes transported to a landfill. It isn’t just a waste of good compost; it’s a waste of everything that goes into the process of transporting it (the garbage man’s time, the money you pay for the removal, etc). It is truly a travesty.

All this garbage that people are trying to get rid of can be a better supplement for your garden than any fertilizer or chemical. If you properly facilitate the decomposition of all of the garbage, it will alter chemically until it is in such a state that it can be nothing but beneficial nutrition for other plants. Therefore you can turn all the stuff you would have thrown away into top grade fertilizer for your garden.

Usually compost is maintained in a pile somewhere in your backyard. Usually the thought of a compost heap brings disturbing images to ones mind; heaps of rotten garbage emitting a horrid odor. However, if you maintain it correctly you’ll be able to produce great compost without producing an offensive odor. When I first began my compost pile in an effort to improve environmental health, I made several major errors. These included preventing the pile from the oxygen it truly needed, and keeping it to dry. It ended up decomposing in a very non-beneficial way, and producing an odor so foul that I had government agents knocking at my door.

When you are choosing your spot where you will be putting all of these materials, you should aim for a higher square footage. Having a really deep pile of compost is not a good idea, because generally the deeper sections won’t be exposed to anything that is required for the process to work. It is better to spread it all out over a large area. If you have a shed or a tool shack of some sort, it is a possibility to spread it over the roof (with boards to keep it from falling off, of course). I have seen this done several times, and it helps keep the pile out of the way while still maintaining a large square footage.

A compost heap can consist of any organic garbage from your yard, garden or kitchen. This includes leaves, grass, any leftover food that won’t be eaten, or newspaper (no more than a fifth of your pile should consist of newspaper, due to it having a harder time composting with the rest of the materials). Usually if you have a barrel devoted to storing all of these things, it will fill up within several weeks. It is quite easy to obtain compost, but the hard part truly comes in getting it to compost.

After you have begun to get a large assortment of materials in your compost heap, you should moisten the whole pile. This encourages the process of composting. Also chop every element of the pile into the smallest pieces possible. As the materials start to compress and meld together as they decompose, frequently head outside and aerate the pile. You can use a shovel to mix it all up, or an aeration tool to poke dozens of tiny holes into it. Doing this will increase the oxygen flow to each part of the pile, and oxygen is required for any decomposition to take place.

If maintaining a compost pile sounds like something that would interest you, start considering the different placement options. The hardest part about maintaining a pile is choosing a spot that provides enough square footage without intruding on the rest of your yard or garden. While usually you can prevent the horrible odors that most people associate with compost heaps, it’s still not a pleasant thing to have to look at whenever you go for a walk in your garden.

PPPPP

(Word Count: 651)

Almost all mothers who breast feed go through a
period of questioning whether or not their supply
of milk is adequate. Some mothers simply aren’t
able to produce enough milk to meet the needs of
her baby. According to many experts, true
insufficiencies of milk are very rare.

A lot of women think their milk supply is low when
it actually isn’t. Thinking this can happen if
you lose the feeling of fullness in your breasts
or if the milk stops leaking from your nipples.
Babies that go through growth spurts may want
more milk than usual, and these more frequent
feedings may leave your breasts less than full.

Causes of it
A mother’s milk supply may diminish for a brief
period of time if she isn’t feeding her baby
often enough due to nipple pain, or a poor latch
on technique. Illnesses or estrogen containing
birth control pills may also affect the production
of milk.

What you should do
The best way to handle a low supply of breast
milk is through a doctor’s care. You should
make sure that your baby gets frequent feedings
and that nothing is wrong with your nipples or
your milk ducts. Doctors are the best ones to
ask, as they can run tests to see if everything
is fine within your body.

A low supply of breast milk can affect your
baby, although it’s more of a mental condition
than anything else. If your baby isn’t gaining
any weight or if he is losing weight, you
should call a doctor immediately. Improved
techniques for breast feeding will normally
help, although in some cases weight gain or
weight loss will indicate a serious concern.

In most cases, you can still nurse with a
temporary decrease in milk supply, although
frequent breast feeding is the key to boosting
your production of milk.

(word count 307)

PPPPP

There is no dearth of skin care creams and lotions in the market. Name an ailment, and you will find hundreds of skin care creams, lotions and other products for it. As a result of ongoing research and due to ever increasing demand, the number of skin care products seems to be on the increase. Skin care lotions and skin care creams are the most popular forms in which these products are available, and there always seems to be a debate on which form is better?

Well, there is no definitive answer to this. It seems more like a matter of personal choice. However, greasy creams are surely less popular as compared to the non-greasy (or less greasy) ones. Since the application of skin care creams is easier, they seem to be preferred (over lotions) in cases where the skin care product is not to be removed immediately after application. So, skin care creams seem more popular as moisturisers than as cleansers or toners. For toners, lotions seem to be preferred over skin care creams. There are some skin care creams that acts as toners too, but generally the toners are available in liquid form only. For cleansing, lotions and skin care creams are equally popular; however, the tilt seems more towards lotions.

Creams are known to be most effective in keeping skin moist; hence, the most popular form of skin care creams is moisturisers. Due to the same reason, a lot of people tend to associate skin care creams with dry and sensitive skin. Though it is true to a certain extent, skin care creams are not used only for dry skin, they are also used for making products for oily skin e.g. vitamin A creams and sulphur creams that help reduce the rate of sebum production.

Skin care creams are also used for products that cater to skin disorders especially for disorders that require the application of product over a small localised area. This is again due to the fact that skin care creams are easier to apply (without wastage) on the affected area. However, in cases where skin needs to be washed using a medicine/product, lotion is a better choice. Mostly, the manufacturers too realize this fact, making it easier for you to choose between a lotion and a skin care cream

Eye-creams and anti-ageing creams are other examples where skin care cream is preferred over its lotion counterpart.

Whatever your choice be (cream or lotion), knowing how to use it effectively, is more important than anything else.