Change the Way You Think About Food

Here’s how to overcome temptation and guilt and forge a healthier relationship with food.

“Sarah” (not her real name) remembers one particularly argumentative telephone call from her ex-husband a few years ago, a call that really set her off. “I felt so uncomfortable and inadequate,” the 57-year-old Vermont-based social worker remembers, “the thought of candy just popped into my mind, and I couldn’t get rid of it. It was almost as if I was having two conversations. One was with him, fighting, and the other was with myself, saying, ‘When can I go out and get that candy?’” Long after she’d hung up, the visions of sweet treats remained, tempting and specific: “It was Pepsi, and three different types of candy,” she recalls distinctly. “Pull-apart Twizzlers, Skor bars and Butterfinger bars.” Though it was the middle of a workday, Sarah couldn’t concentrate on her work or think of anything else until she went out and bought the candy and soda. “I ate them all in my car, really fast,” she remembers. “And then, like always, I felt terrible about myself for being so weak.”

Continue article here.

All honor to a brave, strong and courageous woman

(CNN) -- Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated Thursday in Rawalpindi, was the first female prime minister of Pakistan and of any Islamic nation. She led Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996.

Benazir Bhutto died Thursday after a suicide bombing at a political rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Bhutto, 54, spent eight years in self-imposed exile in Great Britain and Dubai after President Farooq Leghari dismissed her second administration amid accusations of corruption, intimidation of the judiciary, a breakdown of law and order, and undermining the justice system.

She was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to five years in prison. The conviction was later overturned but she remained in exile until this year.

She returned to Pakistan in October after President Pervez Musharraf signed an amnesty lifting corruption charges.

In a September 26 interview on CNN's "The Situation Room," Bhutto said she expected threats against her life as she prepared to lead a push for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan.

"After military dictatorship an anarchic situation developed, which the terrorists and Osama (bin Laden) have exploited," she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "They don't want democracy, they don't want me back, and they don't believe in women governing nations, so they will try to plot against me.

"But these are risks that must be taken. I'm prepared to take them," she said.

Bhutto narrowly escaped injury on October 18 when a suicide bombing near her convoy in Karachi killed 126 people.

"Soon thereafter, I was asked by authorities not to travel in cars with tinted windows -- which protected me from identification by terrorists -- or travel with privately armed guards," she wrote for CNN.com in November.

"I began to feel the net was being tightened around me when police security outside my home in Karachi was reduced, even as I was told that other assassination plots were in the offing."

"I decided not to be holed up in my home, a virtual prisoner," she wrote. "I went to my ancestral village of Larkana to pray at my father's grave. Everywhere, the people rallied around me in a frenzy of joy. I feel humbled by their love and trust."

Musharraf declared a state of emergency and placed Bhutto under house arrest twice in November as anti-government rallies grew in Rawalpindi. The arrest warrant was lifted November 16.

She filed a nomination paper for a parliamentary seat on November 25 and appeared headed for a power showdown with Musharraf before she was assassinated Thursday.

Bhutto was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former president and prime minister of Pakistan, who was hanged in 1979 for the murder of a political opponent two years after he was ousted as prime minister in a military coup. Benazir Bhutto was the de facto leader of her father's Pakistan People's Party.

Her brother, Murtaza, was killed along with six others in a 1996 shootout with police at his home. Another brother, Shahnawaz, died mysteriously in France in 1985.

"I know the past is tragic, but I'm an optimist by nature," Bhutto told Blitzer in September. "I put my faith in the people of Pakistan, I put my faith in God. I feel that what I am doing is for a good cause, for a right cause -- to save Pakistan from extremists and militants and to build regional security.

"I know the danger is out there, but I'm prepared to take those risks."

Benazir Bhutto earned degrees from Radcliffe College and Oxford University and received an honorary degree from Harvard University in 1989.

She leaves her husband of 20 years, Asif Ali Zardari, two daughters and a son.

Bhutto's husband issued a statement Thursday from his home in Dubai saying, "All I can say is we're devastated, it's a total shock."

President Bush, on his ranch in Crawford, Texas, said Bhutto "refused to allow assassins to dictate the course of her country."

"We stand with the people of Pakistan in their struggle against the forces of terror and extremism," Bush said. "We urge them to honor Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life."

From cnn.com

A treat from Patti Labelle - Fantastic!!

Mad Cowboy: The Documentary

The DVD is based on the book with recent updates by Howard F. Lyman. His book entitled, Mad Cowboy: Plain truth from a cattle rancher who won't eat meat, changed the way many feel about the food they put in their mouths.

From his website:

Howard F. Lyman has brought the issue of the dangers of eating beef to light like never before. A former cattle rancher-turned-vegetarian and food safety activist, in 1996, Lyman revealed, to a national television audience, how the cattle industry potentially exposed Americans to Mad Cow Disease by feeding cows the remains of live animals - including other cows. As a result of his remarks, Lyman was named a co-defendant with Oprah Winfrey in the infamous "veggie libel" case brought by Texas ranchers in Amarillo.

In this shocking and powerful book, Lyman uncovers the dangerous and potentially deadly practices of the cattle and dairy industry. MAD COWBOY is a passionate manifesto for change from an industry insider whose firsthand experiences will alter the way you think about your food, and the people who produce it, forever. "Sure, I used to enjoy my steaks as much as the next guy," writes Lyman. "But if you knew what I know about what goes into them and what they can do to you, you'd probably be a vegetarian like me."

Check out my new amazon.com store

I am often asked for recommendations of books, DVDs and other informative and educational resources. In an effort to utilize technology and create the greatest ease for reviewing well regarded and reviewed items relevant to the work I do, that I just plain love, click the link below to take you to my new amazon.com store!

Tom's Favorites and Recommendations

Happy Holidays everyone!

Humpback freed in Canadian Waters

Humpback freed in Canadian Waters

(Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA) - A humpback whale was freed from a severe entanglement in fishing gear in Canadian waters, off of Grand Manan Island today, around 9:30 a.m.

The entanglement involved 2 body wraps with several lines twisted together around the body of the whale, approximately 7 or 8 wraps of line around the left flipper, and a line through the whale's mouth. After 60 minutes and approximately 35 cuts through thick line, rescuers were able to free the whale from the extensive entanglement.

The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) sent Scott Landry to assist Mackie Green of Campobello Whale Rescue. Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Campobello Whale Rescue, and PCCS, coordinated a plan to disentangle the whale. High seas prevented the team from reaching the entangled animal yesterday, and although temperatures were below freezing today, a small weather window this morning, allowed the rescuers to reach the whale.

The whale was estimated to be approximately 40 ft long and was tentatively identified as a known individual at time of the entanglement. Images of the flukes were taken and will be brought to the PCCS Marine Laboratory to confirm the identification of the whale. Images will be compared to the individuals identified in the Gulf of Maine humpback whale population catalogue, which the PCCS curates. Annually, between 48% and 65% of the sampled animals from the Gulf of Maine of humpback population exhibit scaring indicative of an entanglement in their lifetime. And, 10-25% of animals sampled from the Gulf of Maine humpbacks will acquire new scars from entanglements each year.

The entanglement was reported to the Grand Manan Fishermen's Association by a fisherman yesterday, who spotted the whale caught in two sets of trap fishing gear, around 1:00 p.m. The Association notified DFO and the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network (ALWDN). The fisherman stayed with the whale long enough to determine that it was anchored in place.

The fisherman who reported this entanglement is to be commended. Only three percent of all entangled humpbacks are reported to authorities annually. ALWDN which PCCS coordinates, is a network of trained responders who carry out disentanglement activities along the East Coast of the United States and Canada. The success of disentanglement operations rests largely on the cooperation and reports received from fishermen, whale watchers, researchers, state and federal agencies, and the general public.

The DFO Grand Manan program vessel was used to transport rescuers to the location and made the disentanglement efforts possible. Fishery Officers from DFO Joe Greenlaw and Cameron Ingersol also assisted in the efforts. Humpbacks remain listed as an endangered species in the United States.

The Network

The ALWDN includes 20 first responder teams along the East Coast and coordinates emergency responses to benefit the welfare of individual whales and collects scientific information about the causes and effects of entanglement. With the exception of those in Canada, all teams work under the direction and authority of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies which holds a federal permit to conduct disentanglement operations. Most team members work on an unpaid, volunteer basis.

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The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies is a private non-profit organization founded in 1976, dedicated to researching and protecting marine mammals and marine habitats in the Gulf of Maine through applied research, conservation, environmental and education programs. Our disentanglement team coordinates whale rescue efforts along the East Coast of the United States.

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Please consider a donation to this organization and support their life saving work of marine life rescue, research and protection of the ecosystem through their website.

Forget Six-Pack Abs

Have you ever stood at the mirror, sucked in your stomach and thought, "I wish I could look like this all the time?" If you grew up in the United States, your answer is probably yes. Madison Avenue has sold us the notion that taut abdominals are the quintessence of health and beauty. Rock-hard bellies are used to promote everything from underwear to cereal.

But if you yearn for the rippled look of "six-pack" abs, consider what you may sacrifice to obtain it: That look might cost you flexibility and freedom of movement. Overdoing abs exercises can lead to a flattening of the lumbar curve, creating a weakened spinal structure. "We're even beginning to see hunchback conditions because of excessive abdominal crunches," claims biomechanics and kinesiology specialist Michael Yessis, Ph.D., author of Kinesiology of Exercise (Masters Press, 1992).

Rest of story online here.

Reduce unwanted catalogs to your home and help the environment by doing so

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The Pain of Disconnection

Where and how would you intervene in this interaction in a way that supports the RELATIONSHIP?