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Trying to lose a few pounds before summer

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It seems that almost every where I look these days I keep seeing ads for one quick weight loss program or another. I see them on public transit ads, in the magazines I read, on TV and even hear about them on the radio.

Maybe it’s a sure sign that spring has arrived? LOL

Naturally … just about everyone wants to lose at least a few pounds before summer arrives so they’ll look good in shorts, summer dresses and bathing suits. I know I do!

I don’t think I’m going to diet though. My husband and I eat very healthy and in smaller proportions … so I think the best way for me to lose a few extra pounds is for me to step up the outdoor activities. Go for long walks with the dog, maybe bring out the bike and try to use it at least three times a week … things like that.

Hopefully that will be enough to get me in summer shape.

Are you trying to lose a few pounds before summer? If so, what are you doing to try to lose the weight?

Ah the in laws are coming for a visit

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Darn! We just got a phone call from my mother in law. They’ve decided to come to Toronto for a visit tomorrow.

It’s just supposed to be for the day, but they’re older and more than half the time when they come to Toronto to shop for things like organic foods at the Big Carrot, eye cream and other goodies that I’m sure they could get in their home town, they tire themselves out and end up staying over night.

Not only that but it’s not just my mother in law and father in law that show up. They bring along my father in laws sister too so we end up having to put up three people that totally take over the house for the whole weekend.

By take over the house I mean that they put everything they bought at the organic store in the fridge (jam packing it), move things that they have no right to move like things I use all the time, do a wash, use 10 towels and so on. Oh and they even walk into the washroom when the door is closed! Who does that?

It takes me days to recover and get my house back in order after they’ve visited.

Do you dread an in-law visit too?

Moisturizers are so expensive!

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I guess this is skin care week here at Shopping Maniac. I spent some time today doing some research on facial moisturizers and I managed to find some great eye creams, day time cream and the best night cream for my sensitive slightly dry skin.

What gets me is that there are so many choices out there and a wide price range. Since we’re on a budget I can’t go spending 50 to 75 bucks or more on a cream – especially one with just one specific purpose like a night cream or eye cream.

Why are moisturizers so expensive? Do the products really warrant those big price tags or is it just business? If it’s just business then business must be booming!

Hormone Replacement Therapy Side Effects

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The results of the second part of the Women’s Health Initiative (WIH), a federal study on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and breast cancer, were released December 13, 2008 at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The new findings show that a much higher risk of breast cancer is one of several hormone replacement therapy side effects.

HRT Side Effects

The results of this new study indicate that the risks of HRT far outweigh the benefits for most women. Hormone replacement therapy includes estrogen and progestin, which doctors though would help women to avoid heart disease, bone loss, and other post-menopausal problems.

The WIH had two parts. More than 16,000 women, matched by weight, age, and other health factors, participated in the first study. These women were randomly assigned to a group that took estrogen and progestin pills, or or to one that took a placebo.

The researchers found much higher risks of heart problems and breast cancer in women using female hormone replacement therapy. In fact, the risk of breast cancer increased by 26% among women using HRT, espcially for those women who used HRT for five years or more. This finding caused an early end to the first part of the WIH in 2002.

All the questions researchers had weren’t answered, however. Did women who started on HRT when they first entered menopause in their 50’s, and who used HRT for shorter periods of time, still face higher risks of breast cancer and heart disease? Most of the women in the first study were in their 60s and well past menopause.

In the new study, researchers followed over 15,000 women who met the new criteria through July 2005. The researchers kept track of breast cancer cases as they occurred over time.

The results? The risk of breast cancer increased when women started HRT, hit a high point when the study ended, and then fell as nearly all the women stopped taking estrogen and progestin pills. Results at the high point showed that the breast cancer risk for HRT users was twice that of the others.

Hormone Replacement Therapy And Safety?

Conventional medical practioners are quick to reassure their patients that most women won’t get breast cancer if they use HRT for a short time. They say that the increased cancer risk from using HRT for two years amounts to only a few extra cases of breast cancer per year for every 1000 women using estrogen and progestin pills.

That’s easy to say, but what if you’re one of the women who develops breast cancer. Plus the risk of breast cancer does go up the longer a woman uses HRT.

Natural Treatment For Menopause

Women have always gone through menopause. This is nothing new. It’s a normal part of every woman’s life. Menopause is not an illness and shouldn’t be treated like one.

For centuries women have used herbal remedies for menopause. These natural remedies have few, if any, side effects.

The link between HRT and breast cancer is a subject women should know more about. Natural menopause treatments are readily available and quite inexpensive. It may be possible to find relief from common menopause symptoms without increasing your risk of breast cancer.






Public restrooms – can’t stand them!

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We are the proud new owners of an HDTV. Our first Plasma! We got it on Saturday after a three week wait for the back ordered TV and we’ve been watching just about everything we can ever since!

Any other Plasma owners out there? A few people tried to discourage us from getting a plasma because they tend to work best in dark rooms, but the one we got (a Samsung PN50B850) has quite a bright picture and the room we put it in, our living room, is on the North side of the house so it’s never very bright.

We love it so far.

What I didn’t love was the wait at the store when we went to pick up the new TV. My husbands cousin kindly met us at the store with his SUV so he could help us get our new TV home and once we got in the store we had to wait for the salesman that we’d been dealing with for about an hour. Sure, I could have been served by someone else, but he’d redone our bill so our warranty would start on the day we picked up the TV rather than when we’d paid for it three weeks before and there was a mistake on the bill so I had to talk to him.

While we were waiting I had to use the washroom at the store. That’s one thing I dislike doing … using public washrooms. I don’t know why … well … ok, the fact that most of them are dirty and smelly is probably the main reason. Oh and I hate using the type of hand dryers where you have to push the button to start it. I’d rather use the ones that just start automatically. With the push button ones I kind of feel like i have to wash my hands again or use Purell to clean them.

Hey I’m a nurse and I know how many germs are out there sitting on things!

So – do you cringe when you have to use a public washroom too or am I just a little too much of a germaphobe?

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