The Weigh We Were

Men and eating disorders

Eating Disorders: Not Just a Girl Thing
By Drew Walen

I'm 6 feet tall and weigh 250 pounds. I have broad shoulders and a large rib cage that makes me look like an undersized football lineman. I've been in bars where a drunk guy wanted to mess with me while I'm sitting down but backed off quickly when I stood up. There is power in being a big guy, even when that size has nothing to do with spending countless hours in a gym pumping ungodly amounts of iron. And there is a terrible amount of shame as well.

That shame dates back to my elementary school days when I began to put on significant weight on my frame. I look at photos of me and I can't help but see that I clearly was fat. Not just fat. I was obese.

It didn't matter to me at the time, but it became a serious issue in middle school as early dating and flirting exploded among my peers. My skinny friends were already making out with their equally attractive pre-pubescent female counterparts while I sulked off to the food court at the mall or concession stand at the local ice rink. I was hauled off by my mother to Weight Watchers at age 12, and attempted countless diets throughout my teenage years.

I lost weight, then gained it back - plus some. I got wild cheers from family when I did well, and looks of pity when I failed. All the while I got the message that there was something seriously wrong with me and that it was morally imperative to fix it. This yo-yo pattern lasted until my early 30s.

It was at this time I entered graduate school for social work and began to investigate the social and legal prejudice against those who are obese in our country. I recognized the terrible cruelty of lower wages for equal job competency; the disgust engendered by many in the medical community for someone with fat rolls and male breasts; the media bias of what is an acceptable male physique, and the walls put up by the health insurance companies to get even minimal coverage for someone who has a Body Mass Index (BMI) in the obese category.

I would register as obese. I don't know what my actual body fat percentage is (though it is high), but there are football players in the NFL that have similar basic height-weight numbers as I do with less than 10 percent body fat. They would be denied health insurance, just as I have, based on their BMI. It's an arbitrary way for health insurance companies to avoid paying for obesity-related conditions like high blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. But BMI does not necessarily correlate to these issues, and it is very possible to be big and be healthy.

More frightening to me, however, is how image conscious teenage boys are becoming and the corollary rise in eating disorders in males. Recent studies suggest that men, once considered to account for one in 10 eating disorder cases, now make up approximately one in six.

Men are Affected Too Anorexia Nervosa: Characterized by the drive for extreme thinness. This is found in boys desperate to avoid the teasing they received as chubby kids, particularly if they have sensitive personalities. It's also more common in athletes where weight classes are involved such as wrestling, boxing, gymnastics and running. And doctors are seeing it more among boys and men trying to avoid the medical issues of their fathers such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Bulimia Nervosa: More common, bulimia is characterized as a food binge followed by a purge, which could include self-induced vomiting, abuse of laxatives or diuretics, fasting, or excessive exercise. The binge eating is often a method of self-medication for depressed mood, stress, anxiety, fear or anger. The drive to meet the accepted male figure stereotype leads to the use of these purging methods, which in turn become a perpetual and self-destructive cycle. Binge eating disorder is marked by the same self-medicating response with food but without the purging behavior, and is even more common among men. Reverse Anorexia or Body Dysmorphic Disorder: A new phenomenon which occurs almost exclusively in men; the belief is that one can never be big enough. This often leads to the abuse of steroids and other enhancement products both legal and illegal, all in an effort to avoid the deep sense of inadequacy of one's body.

Personally, I have a history of falling into a trap of starving myself for weight loss, binging for emotional salvation, exercising like mad to take care of the binge, then feeling like a big fat loser for not being 'normal'. The exercise binges have left me with a torn rotator cuff, early arthritis in my left hip and a bum right knee. When I felt pain in the moment of exercise, I'd fight through it because I believed it was more important to lose weight and build muscle.

I got so frustrated with the diet and exercise failures that I looked to an easier way out. I'd read articles and seen shows about bariatric surgery (a.k.a., stomach stapling), and decided to binge on food until I put on enough weight to have my insurance cover the operation. It was then that I reached my rock bottom. I realized I had an eating disorder and unimaginable issues with body image.

I got help from an eating disorder counselor, have worked with an eating disorder nutritionist, and spent the past year slowly dropping weight, normalizing food and exercise, and gaining a great deal of insight into the origins of my issues. So intrigued by my own recovery, I'm actually training as an eating disorder and body image psychotherapist.

Truthfully, I don't love my fat, and I don't suspect I ever will. But I've come to appreciate my assets, my struggle, and the struggle of men around the country who are dealing with our image-conscious culture.

---

Andrew Walen is a clinical social worker at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. While earning his masters degree from the University of Tennessee, he was a member of the Eating Disorder Coalition of Tennessee and the Nashville Psychotherapeutic Institute. He has lectured to middle and high school students on eating disorders, body image and self-esteem throughout Middle Tennessee. He can be reached at dandjwalen@comcast.net.

Can Your Mind Help Control Your Body Weight?

Most weight-loss programs focus almost exclusively on the body: Eat less, exercise more, and you'll drop pounds.

But a mounting body of scientific evidence suggests that what and how you think can also help you lose weight. And that possibility is drawing mainstream attention: Even the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., are funding studies that examine how mental techniques can help yield thinner, healthier people.

The following is a roundup of recent research on which mind-body practices best support a weight-loss program.

Yoga
We know that yoga is designed to bring inner calm, increase flexibility and even build strength. But for years, little scientific evidence existed to support yoga as a weight- maintenance activity.

In 2005, yogi Alan Kristal, D.P.H., M.P.H., and colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle reviewed data on 15,550 men and women who had reported their physical activity and weight measurements for 10 years. The researchers found that participants who were overweight when the study began and had practiced yoga at least a half hour per week for 4 or more years lost 5 pounds during the 10-year period, while those who didn’t do yoga gained 13.5 pounds.

Although weight gain was measured at the beginning and end of the study, participants self-reported how often they practiced yoga. The study did not take into account participants' social or economic status and didn't show a clear cause and effect between yoga and weight loss — it showed only an association between people who did yoga and lost weight.

"Regular yoga practice can benefit individuals who wish to maintain or lose weight," the researchers concluded. They weren't sure exactly how yoga helped people drop the pounds, but many yoga devotees have theories.

"You need to separate it from the fact that it's a calorie-burning activity and view it more as a contribution to behavioral change and lifestyle change," says Elizabeth Larkam, a certified yoga instructor and mind-body spokeswoman for the San Diego-based American Council on Exercise (ACE).

"Think of it as meditation in motion. You feel more calm, more centered and therefore less likely to reach for a high-sugar snack to try to artificially balance your body's energy or your mood," she says. 

Tai chi

The ancient martial art of tai chi combines mental concentration with slow, choreographed movements designed to focus the mind and breathing. Dozens of studies show that tai chi improves balance, stability and pain management in the elderly, but few researchers link tai chi with weight loss.

In the January-February 2004  issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, an analysis of  7 studies on the aerobic benefits of tai chi found that it "may be an additional form of aerobic exercise," especially the popular, gentle Yang style of tai chi when it's practiced regularly for a year by previously sedentary adults.

However, Wojtek Chodzko Zajko, Ph.D., a tai chi expert and head of the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says that in general, tai chi is not an aerobic exercise for most people. Instead, its weight- loss benefit is part of "a broader wellness practice," he says.

"People who practice tai chi are less anxious, depressed and nervous and have better self-esteem," he says. "You could argue tai chi is a good component to a total holistic attitude toward health, and that people who practice tai chi are more likely to engage in healthy eating behavior that encourages weight loss."

Fitness instructor Scott Cole, creator of the Discover Tai Chi for Weight Loss DVD (Goldhil, 2002), believes tai chi's "sitting posture" — in which every movement is done with bent knees — burns energy and consequently helps people lose weight. "You're moving slowly and not relying on your momentum, so you're using your muscles at the deepest level," Cole says. "Your muscles are in quite a quivering state with a lot of muscle fibers firing, which increases muscle mass and gives you a metabolic boost

Meditation

While many people believe meditation can result in weight loss, few valid studies back that theory up, says Ruth Quillian-Wolever, Ph.D., clinical director for the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine in Durham, N.C.

Quillian-Wolever and her colleague, Jean Kristeller, Ph.D., of Indiana State University, are seeking a more definite answer to the question. They are working on 2 National Institutes of Health–funded studies designed to determine if there is a clear link between meditation and weight loss. Together, the 2-year studies track about 230 people practicing vipassana, an ancient Indian form of meditation.

Vipassana teaches students to define and differentiate between their thoughts, feelings and sensations. Quillian-Wolever suspects vipassana might help people "register their body signals and learn what is physical hunger or what is emotional." Her theory is that if people could gain more insight into what drives their eating choices, they might have an easier time controlling nonphysical hunger impulses.

Quillian-Wolever says she has successfully used vipassana meditation for weight loss with individual clients. "Other forms of meditation don't change your thoughts or your relationship with the world," she says.

How often a person needs to meditate to achieve weight loss, Quillian-Wolever says, is "the magic question" she and Kristeller hope to answer. "My personal guess is 5 to 6 days a week, 20 to 30 minutes a day for 3 months, and then a couple times a week indefinitely after that" Quillian-Wolever says.

Cognitive therapy

Hundreds of studies have been conducted on how cognitive therapy can improve everything from depression to shyness. But Judith Beck, Ph.D., daughter of the pioneer of cognitive therapy, Aaron Beck, M.D., knows of only one study linking cognitive therapy to weight loss.

That study, conducted in Sweden in 2005, tracked 105 obese people. Sixty-two of them participated in 3 hours of cognitive therapy a week for 10 weeks, while the rest served as controls. Eighteen months after the therapy ended, those in the cognitive therapy group had lost an average of 23 pounds, while the control group gained an average of 5 pounds.

Cognitive therapy for weight loss focuses on identifying negative thoughts — such as "I can't lose weight" — and responding to them realistically based on evidence. "If you change your thinking, you can change your behavior," says Beck, director of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research in suburban Philadelphia and clinical associate professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. 

The author of The Beck Diet Solution (Oxmoor House, 2007), she has seen similar results with more than 75 individuals she's coached over 20 years as well as with a group of 10 obese women who have met with her since July 2006. Prior to joining the group, the women had tried an average of 8 times each to lose weight and had failed. In the first 9 months of cognitive therapy with Beck, the women lost between 10 and 45 pounds each.

Whether individually or in a group, Beck's cognitive therapy for weight-loss plan involves meeting once a week for months or even years. Patients learn 34 to 40 different skills that help identify and change thinking that sabotages weight loss. Although Beck has anecdotal evidence that her program helps people lose weight, she hasn't conducted a controlled, clinical study.

"The idea is to identify your sabotaging thinking and give yourself helpful, realistic responses that allow you to follow a nutritious diet you can basically stay on your whole life," Beck says. "If you change your thinking, you can change your behavior and learn skills like how to recognize the difference between hunger and craving."

Reviewed by: Adam Perlman, M.D., M.P.H.
Date reviewed: April 2007

©2007 Revolution Health Group, LLC. All rights reserved
Date updated: April 23, 2007
By Vicky Uhland
Content provided by Revolution Health Group

Shop to Stop MS

Strawberries $39.98 * * Holiday Tradition $29.99 * * Christmas Cookies $29.99 * * Deck the Halls $29.99 Holiday shopping helps create a world free of multiple sclerosis ProFlowers will rebate $10 of each order placed through SecretSpoonSweets.com/MSpacific, ProFlowers.com/MSpacific and CherryMoonFarms.com/MSpacific back to us. Thanks for your support! Shop2StopMS Turn savings into fundraising dollars - it's completely free! Merchants to offer up to 20% cash-back to the chapter on every purchase. All you have to do is shop through this link! Annual Meeting of Members: December 13 in Dana Point Funds raised help the National MS Society fund MS research and provide programs and services for the 18,000 people affected by multiple sclerosis in Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties. Early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can make a difference for people with multiple sclerosis. Learn about options by talking to your health care professional and contacting the National MS Society at www.nationalmssociety.org or 1-800-344-4867 (1-800-FIGHT-MS).

Copyright 2008, National Multiple Sclerosis Society

It's a great week for telling stories

StoryCorps is having a "National Day of Listening" this Friday where we're encouraged to talk to older relatives and friends and hear their stories. I love the idea and want to do my part to encourage your participation and make it a more meaningful day for you and your family.

So I encourage you to take advantage of the "National Day of Listening" this Friday and record, if only in your mind, your family's stories.

National Public Radio is also promoting the day and sharing stories from news personalities and their families. This morning's story came from Steve Inskeep and how his grandmother, the second in a family of 12, wanted to be a writer and English teacher and instead saw some of her dream come true through her daughter. You can hear that story here--it's a good listen and may give you some ideas about what to ask your older family members, too.

The Monty Python Channel on YouTube

Embedded Video

7-Year-Old Political Blogger Gets Obama Thank You Letter

This is one of those cute stories you don't expect much from when you hear about them ("Oh no, another insufferable kid story with a presidential angle"), but this one is different.

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Dieters eliminate food groups to slim down

Before you omit meat, wheat or the gluten, take a look at the pros and cons of these diets.

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54 Inspirational Quotes To Jumpstart Your Day

You can read them all at once, or separate them for each week of the year. Read them in the morning, on the weekends, or as part of a weekly review. Put a post-it note on your wall, carry them in your pocket or write them on your hand.

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What to eat when hungry after a workout

Tips for fueling your body after exercise

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10 Overused Words in Writing

All words are good words, but some are overused in writing. We created a list of 10 overused words, based on documents we have edited during the last 5 years. Which of these do you overuse?

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Top 10 Ways to Stay Energized

Even if you're a hyper-organized, task-oriented worker with an expansive mind and endless ambition, you won't get a lot done if your mind and body are demanding you curl up and doze off. Luckily, you can overcome a late night of net surfing, a rough morning, or just the post-lunch stupor without becoming an over-wired mess.

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What is a Fatty Liver?

Normally, a fat liver is associated with drinking. However, a lifetime of unhealthy eating can do almost the same amount of damage to your liver.

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75 ways to think yourself healthy

Image via Wikipedia

I found this fascinating Article today:

Thanks to Dr Mercola for this little gem of a post on the Nursingdegree.net site, entitled “It’s All In Your Mind: 75 ways to think yourself into good health.” Here they are:Balancenoosa’s Weblog, Jul 2008

You should read the whole article.

September is Yoga Month

The Yoga Health Foundation has declared September to be Yoga Month. They are sponsoring Yoga Health Festivals in 10 major cities; those remaining include New York, Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Vancouver. The festivals will bring in noted yoga teachers to teach and lecture, as well as exhibits of yoga products and concerts. Should be worth checking out if they are coming to your town.

Get Organized! Your Personal Health Record

It is important for every patient to take an active role in their own healthcare. A personal health record is designed to grow as your needs grow or your health changes, and should be updated as often as needed. It is important to record how your health changes and mark your progress. Take the first step!

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Bariatric Surgery For Morbid Obesity - BariatricEdge.com

Bariatric Surgery For Morbid Obesity - BariatricEdge.com

Tags: weight, loss, surgery, bariatric, , lap, band, roux-n-y, roux-en-y, Gastric bypass, obesity, bmi, pouch, banding, sleeve, malabsorption

Time is Our Most Valuable Asset

In my humble opinion, time is our most valuable asset.

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7 Wise Confucius Sayings

Seven Confucius sayings you should guide your life by.

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Some fantastic tips from www.Hungry-Girl.com

               Filling your diet with foods that have low energy density (high water and fiber contents) can help you eat fewer calories without even realizing it. These foods give you larger portion sizes for fewer calories. Our good pal (and master bar-maker!) Dr. Melina Jampolis is here with FIVE fantastic tips for cutting calories in HALF (which means you can eat twice as much food for the same number of calories!). Good times!                                                                                    

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

	1. You Say Tomato... Chili is AWESOME but it can be a bit dense, and so the calories add up quickly. If you want to add volume to chili and get more bang for your calorie buck, mix a large can of cooked tomatoes (stewed, diced, or chopped) with a standard-sized can of chili. And if you start out with a low-fat veggie or turkey chili, your new chili blend will be super-low-cal! Regular Canned Chili = 300 calories and 7g fat per cup Chili/Tomato Blend = 150 calories and 3g fat per cup Chili Savings - 150 calories and 4g fat per cup!

                                                                                                                                                                

			2. Sassy Salsa... Everyone knows guacamole is delicious. But avocados (the main ingredient in guac -- doy!) are super-high in fat and aren't exactly low in calories either. Yes, we know it's good fat, but cutting some of the calories from guacamole is still a good thing. Add 1 1/2 cups of your favorite salsa (either jarred or fresh, but we prefer fresh!) to 1 cup of guacamole, and your new concoction will have half the calories in each serving. Weeeeee! Regular Guacamole = 450 calories and 39g fat per cup Salsa/Guac Blend = 225 calories and 16.5g fat per cup Guac Savings - 225 calories and 22.5g fat per cup!

                                                                                                                                                                              

	3. Mushroom Mania... Mushrooms taste good and are good for you, but did you know that they can do wonders for lean ground meat? Simply add 1 1/2 cups of chopped mushrooms (feel free to put whole ones in the food processor!) to 4 oz. raw lean ground beef (or turkey) to cut calories in HALF. Use this trick to make burgers, sloppy joes, meatloaf and MORE. Cooked Lean Ground Beef = 200 calories and 11.5g fat per cup Cooked Mushroom/Lean Ground Beef Blend = 100 calories and 5g fat per cup Beef Savings - 100 calories and 6.5g fat per cup!

                                                                                                                                                                

			4. Veg Out... Mom always said to eat your veggies, but she should have insisted you toss 'em into your pasta salad! Why? Because adding 1 1/4 cups of broccoli (or another favorite vegetable) to a cup of pasta salad is yet another fantastic way of cutting calories in half. YEE-HAA! Pasta Salad = 380 calories and 20g fat per cup Broccoli/Pasta Salad Blend = 190 calories and 9g fat per cup Pasta Salad Savings - 190 calories and 11g fat per cup!

                                                                                                                                                                              

	5. Super-Duper Celery... You can definitely save loads of calories and fat grams by making your tuna (or chicken) salad with reduced-fat or fat-free mayo as opposed to the full-fat kind. But you can slash oodles MORE calories from your creations by adding one heaping cup of chopped celery to each cup of tuna or chicken salad. Don't like celery? You can achieve the same results with chopped cucumbers. YES!!! Reduced-Fat Tuna Salad = 320 calories and 12g fat per cup Reduced-Fat Tuna Salad/Celery Blend = 160 calories and 6g fat per cup Tuna Salad Savings - 160 calories and 6g fat per cup!

                                                            

		HG Note - The nutritional values listed here are based on averages. For exact nutritionals and POINTS® values, simply add the stats from the labels of the specific products you use, and then divide by the number of servings.

Skyr.is - Skyr from Iceland. Skyr.is. Healthy living. Icelandic dairy products. Thick Yogurt.

Skyr.is - Skyr from Iceland. Skyr.is. Healthy living. Icelandic dairy products. Thick Yogurt.

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Make every moment CLICK with the first and only espresso protein drink drink!

Make every moment CLICK with the first and only espresso protein drink!

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Foods You Don't Have to Buy Organic

"Of the 43 different fruit and vegetable categories tested, the following twelve foods do not have to be organic. These had the lowest pesticide load, and consequently are the safest conventionally grown crops to consume from the standpoint of pesticide contamination."

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HISTORIA-DE-UN-LETRERO-THE-STORY-OF-A-SIGN

An incredibly powerful short story that ties into your emotions and guilt.we have all seen this, but this story paints goodness in a different fashion.

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Do functional foods stack up?

How many times have you chosen a grocery product because it seemed to have "special health benefits"? Check this out!

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'Last Lecture' professor, Randy Pausch, dies at 47

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a best-selling book, has died. He was 47.

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A low-cost way to get in shape

Is it possible to get in shape without having a ton of cash?

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Easy ways to boost nutrition

Eating foods as a duo can increase health benefits

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Trim down your favorite comfort foods

I don't know about you but these foods are the first thing I go to when I am overeating.  How about ways you can cut out those unhealthy calories!!??

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Relaxation Proved to Influence Disease States in Healthy Ways

It might be time to think about getting some much needed R & R! Would you like to...Balancenoosa’s Weblog, Jul 2008

 

Top 10 Reasons to Eat Breakfast

It's often said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Find out why it's so important to get off to a good start.

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Life Balance and "A Rainbow on My Plate"

I found this fascinating quote today:

So it seems that for all animals except humans, we know that a one day fast creates good health. Yet we humans do not often apply that knowledge to ourselves. We eat and eat without thought for the consequences of our actions. We upsize, in case we don’t have enough food to fill us up. We seem to be trying to avoid ever feeling empty…. (you now what I mean) This is not the answer.. emptiness is not going to be filled with food, and a hamburger with fries and a coke will not love you back…Balancenoosa’s Weblog, Jul 2008

 

The 10 Fattest States In The Country [Map]

For 2008 Mississippi has claimed the title of fattest state for the third consecutive year, while Colorado repeats as the leanest. Delaware rose the most places in the rankings over last year, while California dropped the most, according to a new analysis by CalorieLab, Inc.

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7 Steps to Completing Your Projects on Time

Written on 7/02/2008 by Aaron Stannard, editor of Working Smarter.

My background is in software development, a field infamous for delivering the vast majority of its projects over budget. This problem is not limited to just software projects; in fact, most projects are delivered late and over budget. Why does this happen?

The answer is simple: poor project planning.

So how can you ensure that your projects, both personal and business are delivered on time and on budget? How do you learn to anticipate the obstacles, identify the exact goals, and plan for success?

Well, here are 7 simple steps I take to help properly plan my projects. Which have you tried, which do you use, and what can you improve upon?

• Organize your thoughts
  You have a general idea for a project, but you’re unsure about the specifics. Organize your thoughts and expand your idea to include the details. I use mind maps to organize and expand my ideas because they make it easy for me to share my thoughts with others and because they are a highly flexible organizational tool.


• Define clear objectives
  This sounds obvious, but there are a large number of people who get an idea and sit down and start working on a project without a clear idea of what they actually want to accomplish.

  “Making a better accounting system” is not a clear objective; what does that even mean?

  Develop specific, measurable objectives instead, such as “develop an accounting system which will automate payroll and reduce our payroll processing overhead by 30%.” Your project won’t have a prayer of being successful or on budget if you don’t have clear, measurable expectations and goals.



• Do your homework
  You might think you’re the first person to come up with a solution to a specific problem, but are you sure? Is there an existing solution which might suit your needs? Are there some components of your project that can be replaced with cheap, off-the-shelf solutions?

  Find answers to these questions before you do anything. If you’re designing a new car, don’t start by reinventing the wheel; incorporate existing solutions into your project where applicable.



• Build a clear execution plan
  Before you begin working on your project, you need to determine how you’re going to execute your project. Where do you begin? Do you set goals first? Build a team first? Or budget the project first? Figure it out and get a clear idea of when each phase of your project needs to begin. You start building a house by designing it on paper first, not laying a foundation.

  Determine each of the steps in your build process and then establish clear deliverables that must be produced before you proceed from one step to another. I use mind maps and Gantt charts to decompose my projects into smaller, more manageable deliverables; I also find that Gantt charts are quite helpful for scheduling my projects in addition to helping me budget them.



• Establish clear, material deliverables for each step
  Each project should be broken down into deliverables or milestones. Each step in the execution plan for your project should consist of one or more major deliverables to be produced after a reasonable amount of time.

  Think of a golf game as a project – rather than try to win the entire game at once, golfers break down the game into 18 holes and break each hole down into a number of strokes. Each hole is a step in the project and each stroke is a deliverable. Tiger Woods doesn’t play each of his strokes thinking about how his current stroke might affect his overall score – he concentrates on making his current stoke the best stroke possible.

  When you go about planning your project, you should establish a number of clear, material deliverables for each step. “Complete project research” is not a clear deliverable – its intangible, meaningless fluff. A clear, material deliverable is “produce a report detailing the competitive environment for our target market.”



• Break down the time required of each deliverable
  Once you break down your project into specific deliverables, the process of budgeting and scheduling a project becomes much easier; the deliverables in your project are small enough to measure accurately. Establish your project’s budget by summing up the time and money to produce each deliverable.


• Make room for errors
  The most important and easiest step in making sure that your project doesn’t go over budget is budgeting room for error! It’s only a matter of time before something goes wrong with a project; something may take longer than expected, your computer might crash, or you might have to wait on a third party, and so forth.

  It’s better to give yourself some wiggle room ahead of time than to apologize to your boss later for going over budget. Identify key areas of your project that are particularly vulnerable to error and make a reasonable assessment for how much extra time and money you are going to need in case an error occurs. Once you’ve done that, simply factor the amount into your budget.

There are millions of articles about managing better projects, but in my experience I’ve found that these seven simple steps offer the best ROI.

If you have other opinions about basic project management concepts then feel free to leave comments below.

-Aaron

.................COME ON, PARTICIPATE!.................

The IM Talkathon launches! Help us change the world by sending an Instant Message for Charity!

Hey, if you're Instant Messaging already, you might as well make it count, you know?

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Tags: development, goals, projects, goal, intention

Our Life Journey: Break Free From Limiting Beliefs

Transformation usually occurs when you are able to break free of your limiting beliefs. Limting beliefs hold you back from being the best that you can be and from being open to unlimitied possibilities. One of the most empowering thing to realise is that your belief system can be changed.

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The Importance of Google PageRank: A Guide For Small Business Executives

A simple explanation of Google PageRank and why it is important for small businesses.  A good read for small business owners looking to increase the value they get from the Internet.

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ECONOMY BUSTER - 'The Grocery Game'

It goes beyond just cutting coupons - Check it out!

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Drinking Coffee May Extend Life

Coffee drinkers, rejoice! While you might be using it for a "pick-me-up," coffee may also be extending your life.

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Oceana : Protecting the World's Oceans

To achieve real benefits for the oceans, Oceana conducts focused, strategic campaigns. Each campaign has a specific timeframe and objective that will make a significant difference to the oceans. Each campaign combines scientific, legal, policy and advocacy approaches to reach its goal. Saving the oceans may take decades!

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Edible Gardens: It's more simplier and easier than you think

Grow your own food with easy container gardens

'Real Simple' magazine on how to easily plan a gorgeous, edible garden

Want to grow herbs, tomatoes, and flowers with no fuss? All you need is a few pots and a place in the sun. "Real Simple" magazine shares important information on how to plan the ultimate edible garden:

A potted herb garden
Bring summer in by sprinkling a tasty assortment of fresh herbs onto a salad or a pasta dish. Nothing’s more convenient than simply snipping sprigs of rosemary, basil, and thyme instead of driving to the store.

What to plant: Various herbs can share the same pot, but make sure they are compatible by reading the care tags. Water-loving basil and curly parsley make good partners, whereas rosemary, sage, and oregano all prefer a slightly drier environment. Or try different varieties of one plant, such as common, lemon, and silver thyme.

Which pots to use: Classic terra-cotta pots are an excellent choice for container plantings because their porosity allows air and water to move through the walls, which is healthy for root development.

How to maintain: Most herbs are naturally low-maintenance — regular harvesting will keep the plants productive. But in the summer heat, your pots might need a drink almost every day if Mother Nature isn’t obliging.

Tip: To see if a plant needs watering, stick your finger a couple of inches into the soil. If it’s dry, add some H2O.

A potted salad garden
You don’t need a full-out vegetable patch to grow vine-ripened tomatoes or even romaine or arugula. Just six hours of sun a day will yield a robust — and delicious — crop.

What to plant: Maximize your growing space by planting varieties that are bred to be compact. Look for words like bush, baby, dwarf, tiny, midget, and patio in the plant names and descriptions. Throw in nasturtiums for color. The edible, peppery flowers and leaves are great in salads.

Which pots to use: You’ll need relatively large containers for vegetables like tomatoes, which require at least five gallons of soil to develop a root system large enough to support a productive plant. Galvanized metal tubs and buckets make terrific planters — just drill holes in the bottom for drainage.

How to maintain: Stake and tie tall growers right away, and adjust the stakes as the plants gain height. Never let the soil dry out more than an inch below the surface, and harvest regularly so the plants don’t go to seed.

Tip: To ensure optimal results for all plantings, buy potting soil with compost and organic time-release fertilizer mixed into it.

A potted cutting garden
Flowers heighten your sense of well-being and reduce anxiety, according to a study from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. So grow your own — and enjoy the benefits of living with fresh blooms every day.

What to plant: It’s best to go with annuals, which blossom all season long. Especially good are showy types, including floss flowers, zinnias, and rudbeckia. For faster blooms, buy six-packs of seedlings (or slightly more developed plants in four-inch-diameter plastic pots) at your local garden center instead of starting from seed. When planting them, mix in a time-release all-purpose fertilizer to encourage continuous blooming.

Which pots to use: If you want a lightweight, unbreakable alternative to terracotta, opt for plastic pots shaped and finished to look like the real deal. They also retain moisture well and — bonus — are more weather-resistant.

How to maintain: It’s easy: Frequently cutting blossoms for the table stimulates plants to produce more flowers. And if your plants look wilted in the early morning, that means they need a drink.

For more great gardening and home tips, check out www.realsimple.com

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Dreaming of a thin America?

What if no one were fat?

Imagine a lean and healthy America: The savings on medical, fuel, food and other costs would be enough to give every U.S. household more than $4,000.

By Shirley Skeel - Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series on financial what-ifs.

In the United States today, 66% of adults are overweight. Almost 33% of adults are obese, and 4.7% are morbidly obese, or more than 100 pounds overweight. But . . .

What if nobody in America were fat?

We'd save billions of dollars in gas. Airlines would double their profits. A dearth of diabetes and other diseases would save billions of dollars more -- and put thousands of doctors on the street. McDonald's would sell not Big Macs but little steamed chicken snacks -- or watch its profits melt away. Productivity would rise, potentially creating tens of thousands more jobs or higher wages all around.

Add up the savings up on health, food, clothing and efficiencies, and you could buy a professional home gym for every U.S. household -- or hand each $4,270 in cash.

$487 billion in gas, sweat and stretch pants

Yes, it sounds a little wild, but the implications of a leaner, meaner country add up to a weighty $487 billion. That's almost 3.5% of gross domestic product, no small sum.

Mind you, only 1.8% of that is new growth. The rest is a radical shift in resources, away from the needs of our bigger citizens to . . . well, whatever we and our overlords would spend these extra billions on.

First, let's put the meat on that $487 billion. The estimates below assume the average American adult is at least 20 pounds overweight, a figure nutritionists see as fair.

• Savings on fuel for cars and airlines due to their lighter loads would top $5 billion, according to industry studies. Researchers say each overweight driver burns about 18 additional gallons of gas a year, or just under a billion gallons altogether. Savings in the air are far greater: The jet-fuel savings alone could double North American airlines' forecast 2008 profits to $3.8 billion and maybe persuade them to stop stranding passengers because they can't afford the fuel for flights. As for oil imports, they'd be dented by less than 1%.

• Plus-sized clothing costs 10% to 15% more, so shoppers would save $10 billion on shirts, pants and dresses. And clothes might fit better too. Cynthia Istook, an associate professor in textile apparel at North Carolina State University, says the economies of making fewer sizes would be tremendous. Clothing makers could then afford to offer more variety in hip and bust sizes, rather than asking every woman to squeeze into an hourglass shape.

Overweight employees are affecting the health of corporate America, costing companies an estimated $45 billion a year.

• Because 3,500 calories translates into a pound of fat, somewhere along the way, America's 227 million adults have eaten 16 trillion calories too many. That's 14 billion Big Mac meals, with fries and a soda. Eliminate those and you wipe out $81 billion, or McDonald's past four years of sales.

• If Americans were slim and maintained their weight by eating 150 fewer calories a day (half a slice of pizza), that could snip roughly 6.5%, or $20 billion a year, off U.S. farmers' sales (assuming no extra exports). Bob Young, the American Farm Bureau's chief economist, says farmers would cope. They'd switch some land from fattening seed oils and sugar beets to fruits and vegetables. Or they might grow corn for ethanol, or even open a hunting resort.

• The medical costs of obesity-related problems such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease run near $140 billion, or more than 6% of all health-care costs. That ballpark figure was calculated by Joel Cohen, an economic researcher for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, using data from a 1998 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. Cohen reckons that if no one were fat, medical insurance costs would fall -- to everyone's delight -- and doctors and drug makers could do more preventive care. That sounds good, but Roland Sturm, a senior economist for Rand in Santa Monica, Calif., doubts anyone would pay for preventive care. More likely, he says, some doctors would be on the street. "They could drive cabs," he suggests.

• Productivity in the workplace would jump as people took fewer sick days and spent less time at work feeling unwell. Ross DeVol, the director of health economics at the Milken Institute, says the loss of productivity due to people showing up at work sick is "immense." Using a recent Milken report on the subject, he calculates that if no one were obese, the added output from workers and their caregivers would give the country a $257 billion boost. That's 1.8% of GDP, enough extra output to allow businesses to hire tens of thousands more workers or to raise wages, economists say. Or at least, that's the theory. Given bosses' love of expanding their profits and their own pay, you can count on some of this being spirited away. Just look at 2000 to 2005, when worker productivity rose 16.6% while median wages rose less than half that amount.

• "Jenny Craig would be very unhappy" if everyone were slim, says Rand's Sturm. And so she would, along with the rest of the $55 billion weight-loss industry. Trimmed-down citizens would be swapping their diet pills for bikinis and their gastric-banding for nose jobs.

What to do with all that money?

On top of these savings would be billions of dollars more. Manufacturers and builders wouldn't have to make doorways bigger, car seats wider, furniture stouter. Some even argue that global warming would slow a mite, as consumption of gas, energy, fertilizer and methane-producing cattle decreased.

Even without those extras, the $487 billion reshuffle of the economy would put us on the spot. Exactly how would we spend all this freed-up cash? Optimists sing about improving education or medical research. Others figure we'd fritter away the money.

It seems, in fact, that economists have a word for our usual behavior: suboptimal. That's what we do. We suboptimize. We think short term instead of long term, reducing our chances of living healthily and happily ever after.

So assuming we didn't behave like angels, the net effect on the economy of a slimmer population would be a lot of reshuffled resources, with a nice rise in productivity that should take our living standards up a notch.

The social gains are more difficult to predict. Research has shown that people who are not obese marry more, are paid more, are promoted more, sleep better and have better sex lives. We don't yet know whether people earn less because they're fat, or whether they're fat because they earn less. Researchers suspect it is the former because there's some evidence of discrimination against the obese.

Overweight employees are affecting the health of corporate America, costing companies an estimated $45 billion a year.

Either way, a slimmer society would, arguably, seem to be more secure and content.

But, of course, then we have the awful question: Can we all be paid more and promoted more and marry more? Only to a limited degree.

Jay Zagorsky, a sociology researcher at Ohio State University, is convinced that society would adjust. We might lose an awful lot of people to pick on, but he concludes: "They will find something else. If it's not the size of your waist, it may be the size of your nose."

Published April 23, 2008

Men’s Health Magazine names the saltiest foods in the U.S.

The 20 saltiest foods in America

Salt, salt, salt. Avoid these foods if you care about heart health, blood pressure and stroke

Intro By Lauren Murrow, Men’s Health magazine Salty food may seem like the least of your worries, especially if you're among the 40 percent of people who mindlessly shake salt on every dish. An extra dash here, a few sprinkles there--what's the big deal? A lot, when you consider the fact that a mere teaspoon of the stuff contains all 2,300 milligrams (mg) of your recommended daily allotment. Yet daily salt consumption is on the rise in the United States--from 2,300 mg in the 1970s to more than 3,300 mg today. And according to Monell Chemical Senses Center researchers, 77 percent of that sodium intake comes from processed-food purveyors and restaurants. Their motivation: Pile on the salt so we don't miss natural flavors and fresh ingredients. Why is that a problem? With ever-expanding portion sizes, supersalty foods are displacing fresh fruits and vegetables, which are rich in potassium. And a 1:2 ratio of dietary salt to potassium is critical for your health. Studies show that a high-sodium, low-potassium diet is linked to a host of maladies, including high blood pressure, stroke, osteoporosis, and exercise-induced asthma. To protect your heart, your bones, your muscles, and your tastebuds, we scoured takeout menus and supermarket shelves to expose the 20 saltiest foods in America. No need to take the information with a grain of salt. These dishes provide plenty. 20: Saltiest Side Dish Denny's Honey Smoked Ham, grilled slice 1,700 mg sodium, 85 calories Calorie for calorie, this is the saltiest dish in America. This side is steeped in salty brine before it's smoked, soaking up 70 percent of your daily sodium intake. 19: Saltiest Dessert Atlanta Bread Company Raspberry Scone 1,750 mg sodium, 360 calories This fruit scone packs the same sodium load as seven servings of bacon at Atlanta Bread Company. If you need a sweet fix, opt instead for the pumpkin bread, which has a tenth of the sodium (160 mg). 18: Saltiest Soup Baja Fresh Chicken Tortilla Soup 2,760 mg sodium, 320 calories Soup and salt are nearly synonymous in the food world, but Baja takes it to the extreme, sinking more than a day's worth of sodium into a single serving. Start with a bowl of stewed black beans with a scoop of fresh salsa instead; a serving has an eye-popping, belly-filling 26 grams (g) of fiber, with less than half the salt of the soup. 17: Saltiest Burger Hardee's 2/3 lb Monster Thickburger 2,770 mg sodium, 1,420 calories, 108 g fat More than 100 percent of your daily sodium allowance is trapped inside this burger's bun. And the three slices of processed American cheese are oozing with 780 mg sodium. Try the Low-Carb Thickburger--you'll shave 1,000 calories and 1,700 mg sodium. 16: Saltiest "Healthy" Food Chili's Guiltless Grill Chicken Platter 2,780 mg sodium, 590 calories, 85 g carbs Beware the bait and switch. Many restaurants and packaged-food producers advertise their dishes as being low in calories and fat, only to jack up the sugar and salt content. Case in point: This platter actually has more sodium than Chili's 1,890-calorie Country Fried Steak with sides, toast, and gravy. Stick with the Guiltless Salmon, the best choice on Chili's sometimes-healthy special menu. • 15: Saltiest Pasta Fazoli's Rigatoni Romano 3,180 mg sodium, 1,090 calories, 54 g fat, 101 g carbs Salt is one of the top ingredients in Italian sausage, meat sauce, and mozzarella cheese, the three items that serve as this dish's backbone. Simply order your noodles topped with marinara sauce and peppery chicken. The chicken has just 1 g fat and less sodium than the other toppings you can order for your pasta. 14: Saltiest Chinese Entrée P.F. Chang's Beef with Broccoli 3,752 mg sodium, 1,120 calories, 65 g fat Like many Chinese dishes, this ubiquitous entrée sounds deceptively healthy. Also like many Chinese dishes, this meal is swimming in a murky brown sauce made mostly of soy sauce and oil. Skip the fried rice (it can contain up to 2,700 mg sodium on its own) and send out an SOS ("sauce on the side") to your server. • 13: Saltiest Breakfast Arby's Sausage Gravy Biscuit 3,754 mg sodium, 961 calories Yes, cured meat and lard-riddled biscuits are found in this troubled Southern staple, but the coat of gravy carries 2,600 mg sodium on its own, making it the primary offender. 12: Saltiest Beef Entrée Bob Evans Steak Tips and Noodles 4,131 mg sodium, 822 calories, 43 g fat Bob lubricates his take on beef stroganoff with a huge ladleful of gravy, damning this dish before you even poke your fork into it. Try your steak without the salt bath: The regular sirloin has half the calories and a commendable 638 mg sodium. 11: Saltiest Frozen Dinner Swanson Hungry-Man XXL Roasted Carved Turkey 4,480 mg sodium, 1,360 calories, 70 g fat Yes, the nutrition data on the back suggests that the package contains two servings, but the label proudly proclaims the 1 1/2 pounds inside, and besides, how many guys are going to share their frozen dinner? 10: Saltiest Bread Dunkin' Donuts Salt Bagel 4,520 mg sodium, 320 calories, 62 g carbs This bagel is more like a giant salt-encrusted pretzel, delivering 188 percent of your recommended daily sodium intake. 9: Saltiest Sandwich Quiznos Turkey Bacon Guacamole Large Sub with Cheese and Reduced-Fat Ranch Dressing 4,670 mg sodium, 1,120 calories, 49 g fat, 116 g carbs First, skip the large sandwich. At Quiznos, few come in under 1,000 calories and 3,000 mg sodium. Next, abandon mozzarella for Swiss, which has a tenth of the sodium. Finally, choose one of the low-calorie subs at Quiznos--the Tuscan Turkey, or better yet, the Honey Bourbon Chicken. 8: Saltiest Pizza Pizza Hut Meat Lover's Stuffed Crust Pizza (3 slices of the 14'' large) 5,070 mg sodium, 1,560 calories, 87 g fat, 114 g carbs A good rule of thumb: Never order a pizza with more than a single meat topping. Because if the calories don't get you, the salt will. This problematic pie has six meats and 4,000 mg sodium too much. 7: Saltiest Comfort Food Denny's Meat Loaf Dinner (with Mashed Potatoes and Corn) 5,080 mg sodium, 1,210 calories, 69 g fat, 97 g carbs There's nothing comforting about a dinner that carries the same sodium load as 27 strips of bacon. Trade the salty loaf for the Steakhouse Strip Dinner, which has just 460 mg sodium and 390 calories (before sides). 6: Saltiest Salad Romano's Macaroni Grill Chicken Florentine 5,460 mg sodium, 840 calories, 53 g fat Salads are often the biggest blood-pressure boosters on the menu, since the innocent leaves play perfect host to a flurry of briny toppings and dangerous dressings. Here, salt-laden olives, capers, and Parmesan collide with Macaroni Grill's massive portions and its cooks' affinity for the saltshaker. The only reasonable insalata on the menu is the Mozzarella alla Caprese: It has 450 calories and 760 mg sodium. 5: Saltiest Mexican Entrée Chili's Buffalo Chicken Fajitas 5,690 mg sodium, 1,730 calories, 107 g fat, 143 g carbs Here are a few offenders to choke on: fried chicken, Buffalo sauce, blue cheese, smoked bacon, ranch dressing, and sour cream. All make this the sodium equivalent of single-handedly downing three and a half baskets of Chili's bottomless tostada chips. Add rice and beans and you've just ordered 3 days' worth of sodium and an entire day of calories. If you're salt-sensitive, avoid fajitas--any kind of fajitas--at all costs. 4: Saltiest Kids' Meal Cosi Kid's Pepperoni Pizza 6,405 mg sodium, 1,901 calories, 93 g fat, 190 g carbs Kids under 13 should max out at 1,900 to 2,200 mg sodium a day, according to American Heart Association. This pizza serves up nearly three times that much, plus an entire day's worth of calories. You could feed your child 50 turkey sandwiches at Cosi for the same sodium price tag. (But stick to just one.) 3: Saltiest Seafood Entrée Romano's Macaroni Grill Grilled Teriyaki Salmon 6,590 mg sodium, 1,230 calories, 74 g fat, 79 g carbs Think you're playing it smart by opting for fish? The slather of teriyaki, which is essentially highly sweetened soy sauce in concentrated form, sinks that strategy fast. The grilled halibut, topped with a fresh tomato-basil relish instead, has just a quarter of the sodium. 2: Saltiest Appetizer Papa John's Cheesesticks with Buffalo Sauce 6,700 mg sodium, 2,605 calories, 113 g fat, 296 g carbs If you were to split this appetizer with two friends, you'd still be close to downing your daily sodium allowance before you even reach for the pizza. Each stick packs the same amount of sodium as a small slice of cheese pizza, and that's without dipping. Your best bet? Cheese pizza. Thin crust. 1: The Saltiest Dish in America Romano's Macaroni Grill Chicken Portobello 7,300 mg sodium, 1,020 calories, 66 g fat With three items on our top 20 list, plus a slew of dishonorable mentions, Macaroni Grill earns its title as America's saltiest chain restaurant. But what makes this the saltiest dish in America? One word: demi-glace, a fancy French name for the viscous salt slick that blankets this disastrous dish. You would have to eat 32 cups of potassium-rich broccoli to compensate for this sodium avalanche.

Source: Men's Health

Updated: 1:10 p.m. ET Apr. 25, 2008

© 2008 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24313369/

How healthy are your Sugar Substitutes?

Faking It with Sugar Substitutes
Artificial sweeteners may be safe, but are they healthy?
Written by RealAge, Inc., peer-reviewed by Dr. Axel Goetz, October 2004

When you're on a diet, the "no-sugar" label on many packaged foods can be tempting. Sometimes no sugar means not sweetened. And sometimes it means the food has been sweetened artificially. As many as 75% of us in the U.S. consume artificial sweeteners. Sugar substitutes may be safe, but are they a healthy choice? Not if they are causing you to 1) overeat; 2) consume too many empty calories; or 3) neglect nutrients. And that's not considering that we don't yet know the long-term effects of consuming these artificial sweeteners. How can these sweet substances possibly cause unhealthy habits? Read on to find out. Artificial sweeteners currently on the market Sweetener Sweetness (compared to sugar) Links to manufacturer Aspartame 200x sweeter Marketed as Equal® or Nutrasweet®. Saccharin 200x sweeter Marketed as Sweet'N Low® or SugarTwin® (in the U.S.) Sucralose 600x sweeter Marketed as Splenda®. Acesulfame–K 200x sweeter Marketed as Sunette® or Sweet One®; used mainly as a food additive. Tagatose same sweetness Marketed as Sugaree® or Naturlose™; used mainly as a food and product additive. Neotame 7,000 to 13,000x sweeter Used mainly as a food additive. More about neotame®. Commercially available sugar substitutes products have been clinically tested and deemed safe for consumption for most, but not all, people. They may even be helpful for people on special diets. However, a federal stamp of safety does not indicate that something is your healthiest option, especially when it comes to nutrition. Although sugar substitutes can safely be included in your food and beverage choices, there are healthy and unhealthy ways to approach these sweeteners. Here are a few points to consider when deciding the best way to incorporate them into your diet. You'll have to guard against overeating Substituting artificial sweeteners for sugar is an easy way to cut back on calories and thus lose weight, right? Not really. Although sugar substitutes may help you maintain your weight after shedding pounds, they generally will not help you lose weight. Consuming sugar substitutes on a regular basis may cause you to develop an exaggerated craving for sweetness. In fact, some studies show they may do the opposite. The latest research on sugar substitutes has led some researchers to believe that consuming products that contain artificial sweeteners may actually encourage you to eat more servings than you would if the food or drinks were sweetened with real sugar. Animal studies have revealed behaviors that suggest sugar substitutes may interfere with the body's natural ability to count calories based on a food's sweetness. When this calorie-counting ability is skewed, you may consume excess calories. It's still too early to say that there is a definite link between artificial sweeteners and skewed appetite control. However, there is no question that regardless of the sweetener you choose, you need to be conscious of the total number of calories you consume whenever you eat or drink sweet things. Artificial sweeteners may make it easy to overdo it because you might think "no sugar" means "low-calorie." However, many artificially sweetened foods still contain fat and calories. If you're trying to lose weight, don't count on simply substituting fake sugar for the real stuff to help you shed pounds. Instead, focus on controlling calorie intake and exercising regularly. You may need to work harder to get needed nurtrients It's normal to crave sweets. Humans naturally have an appetite for sugary things. However, if the foods you typically reach for are candy and cookies, even if they are sugar-free, you're getting mostly empty calories and few, if any, beneficial nutrients. By filling your menu with sugar-free versions of muffins, ice cream, or desserts, you may still be getting too many calories and not enough vital nutrients. Instead of: * Sugar-free gelatin * Diet powdered punch * Sugar-free ice cream Try: * A bowl of strawberries * Freshly blended whole fruits sweetened with orange or apple juice * A banana dipped in milk then rolled in crushed nuts and frozen Rather than seeking out sugar-free versions of your favorite

indulgences, try replacing a few of them with whole foods that offer much more than a satisfied sweet tooth. Whole fruits and berries are great examples of naturally sweet treats that also provide many of the vitamins and nutrients your body needs to fight off illness and needless aging. Plus, with a sweet treat such as blueberries or raspberries you will get a serving of fiber instead of the empty calories that come from many processed, artificially sweetened treats. Fiber-rich fruits can help satiate your hunger and assist with weight loss. If your favorite indulgence is soda, it's certainly better for your waistline to grab a diet soda than a regular soda that is full of sugar and empty calories. Just be sure your diet sodas don't elbow out healthier, more nutritious choices such as pure fruit juice, skim milk, water, or herbal tea. You'll have to wait to see if there are any long-term consequences Because most artificial sweeteners are relatively new to the food scene—especially sucralose—the long-term effects of regular consumption are still unknown. Current studies show that consuming these products in moderation won't hurt you. However, more time is needed to determine whether there are any problems with these sweeteners when used long term. Currently, there is still a great deal of public controversy surrounding the safety of several sugar-substitutes. For example, even though there is no dependable evidence that aspartame has toxic effects at doses that would be expected in normal consumption, some people who are sensitive to aspartame have reported headache, fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, and more pronounced symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Researchers are continuing to look for any signs that aspartame, or any other artificial sweetener, may be harmful for human health. An herbal alternative to sweeteners Stevia is a popular natural sweetener extracted from the Stevia rebaudiana plant. This herb has been used in South America for centuries, is about 300 times sweeter than sugar, and is calorie-free. Although it has not been approved as a safe food additive or been classified as a sweetener by the FDA, it is sold as a dietary supplement in some health/natural food stores. It has been approved for use in food in more than a dozen countries, including Japan, Ukraine, and Thailand. Focus less on sweets and more on diversity It's fine to treat yourself to something sweet from time to time. In fact, denying yourself sweet foods may increase their appeal and cause you to overeat when you finally satisfy the craving. But because many artificially sweetened foods still contain calories (and some tend to be nutritionally weak), you should think of artificially sweetened foods the same way you think about sugar-sweetened ones and practice moderation with them. Otherwise, a healthy diet could quickly be transformed into a calorie-dense or nutrient-poor one.  RA Other sweeteners not available in the U.S. Sweetener Sweetness (compared to sugar) Links to manufacturer Alitame 2,000x sweeter A petition has been filed in the U.S. for use in a broad range of food and beverages. Approved for use in a variety of food and beverage products in several other countries. More on alitame from an association that represents low-calorie and reduced-fat food and beverage manufacturers. Cyclamate 30x sweeter At the moment, cyclamate is banned in the United States, but a petition for re-approval is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It is approved for use in more than 50 countries worldwide. Natural alternatives to sugar Stevia 300x sweeter A sweet herbal extract marketed as a supplement in health/natural food stores.

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