Protect Yourself and Your Loved Ones

Carbon monoxide poisoning is responsible for at least 400 accidental deaths and over 5,000 people are treated in hospital emergency rooms per year.
Unfortunately, carbon monoxide poisoning is often misdiagnosed as flu, food poisoning, allergy/asthma or chronic fatigue syndrome.
Children, the elderly, individuals with respiratory problems and pets are at risk, even at low levels.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are; headaches, nausea, drowsiness, vomiting, tiredness, pain, cramps and sleep disturbance.
Some people experience headaches and dizziness for almost 2 years prior to carbon monoxide poisoning diagnosis.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that is highly toxic, making it impossible to detect with our senses.
Carbon monoxide is produced by incomplete combustion in household appliances like furnaces, boilers, water heaters, stoves, ovens, fireplaces as well as well as automobiles.
Tips to protect yourself and your loved ones:
1) Install carbon monoxide detectors in your home
2) Have your appliances (boilers, furnaces, stoves, water heater, fireplaces) checked and serviced by a reputable heating company.
Be sure they are equipped with a professional carbon monoxide analyzer.
If they tell you they don't have one, find another company!
3 Do not use unvented appliances (kerosene heaters, barbecue grilles) in the house.
4) If you have a garage that is attached to your home click here.
5) Any time you strengthen the insulation properties or add a ventilation fan you should have your appliances checked to ensure the upgrades have not compromised the ability of the appliances to safely draft the combustion products from the house.
By following the above guidelines, the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning can be significantly reduced.
Go to for more information about indoor air quality.

Ed Bishop is founder and president of Enhanced Living Inc., a Troy, NY-based design-consulting and contracting company. A pioneer in residential contracting, Ed is a thirty-year industry veteran trained in the “House Is A System” approach to HVAC design. He was formerly a building analyst instructor, providing certification training for New York's Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program.

Measure Your Progress

An extremely important part of your fitness program is being able to measure your progress.
Body fat testing is not painful, nor is it expensive. You can get it done at most any gym or fitness center.
Simply ask if they have an expert who can measure body composition.
It's also a good idea to take before and after photos and post them somewhere you'll see them every day.
But most importantly, measure 5 - 10 different aspects of your progress.
My most successful clients measure everything in their life that's effected by their weight loss, normally on a simple scale from 1 - 10, such as:
- their daily energy level
- their attitude
- the way they feel when they look in the mirror
- the way they fit into their clothes
- the compliments they get from people
- their level of mental focus
- their waist, hips, and thigh measurements
- their body weight
- their body-fat level
- their endurance in their workouts
- etc, etc, etc...
Make a long list of ways you can measure your progress - but be sure to include things that are truly important to YOU. If having loads of energy is important to you, than you should be measuring your energy level every day to see if your diet and/or workout routine are doing their job.
On the other hand, if you already have a lot of daily energy, than you might not want to measure that - you might prefer to measure other things that are more important to you at the stage of life your currently at.
Take time to design your list, then chart your progress in a daily journal every day for each of the categories on your list. Then take an average for the whole day, and write that average at the top of your page.

11 Steps to a Body of Your Dreams!

11 Steps that Absolutely Guarantee you'll have the Body of your Dreams in 90 days or Less!
Get these tips and more on Audio.
1. Persistence!
Violate this step and you'll never achieve permanent results. We recently concluded conducted a 10 year study which proves that persistence is the single most important aspect of any diet or exercise program. The study followed a group of people (group #1) who exercised and dieted very strictly, but sporadically and compared those results to a group of people (group #2) who exercised mildly and followed a very basic diet, but this group never varied from their routine. Even though group #2 exercised and dieted far less (but did so persistently) they got 68% better results than those who exercised and dieted VERY STRICTLY but only occasionally.
2. Workout around other people.
Working out with others will get you about 43% faster results!!!
3. Don't take bad advice.
Take ONLY the advice of those people who look strong & healthy themselves, and, whom you know to be knowledgeable about health & fitness!
4. ALWAYS keep an eye on your pulse.
When doing aerobic or cardiovascular training! Keeping your pulse inside your 80% target heart rate zone will burn up to 9 times more calories. Dropping below your target heart rate will not burn nearly as many fat calories, and going above your target heart rate may lead to muscle breakdown.
5. Surround yourself with winners.
One of the key qualities of all successful people is that they avoid negative people and they spend the majority of their time surrounded by those who have already achieved what they themselves seek to achieve. So if your goal is to weigh 135 pounds by eating healthy and living an energy full life - then seek out others who already live a healthy lifestyle and weigh 135 pounds. Hanging out with people who just talk about getting in shape but never take persistent action will ensure that you never reach your goal.
6. Know your outcome.
Have specific goals. Get a photo (or several) of what you WILL look like when you reach your goal, then focus only on that image. Quickly erase any negative beliefs or images that may enter into your mind during your day.
7. Increase you water intake.
Water is a key component to life. No living creature can survive without a fresh supply of pure water each and every day. If you do not consume enough fresh water every day, your body will age faster, appear fatter, be more susceptible to germs and colds, lose joint mobility, and much more. Generally speaking, most people who weigh under 150 pounds require no less than 8-10 glasses per day, those who weigh between 150-250 pounds require about 16 glasses per day.
8. Watch where your calories come from.
Without a doubt, we eat way too much sugar and fat. Moderation was the key in the past, now the key is moderation and the exclusion of junk food. One or two binges per year are generally OK if you are a normal healthy individual, but more is absolutely not OK.
9. Increase the number of meals consumed per day.
On average, you should be eating some form of protein and vegetable combination that's low in fat and high in fiber every 2 -3 hours of the day. Doing so will give you an almost unfair advantage over those who only eat the normal 3 meals (or less) each day.
10. Visualize Clearly and Often.
Design your new body in your mind first. You cannot achieve your idea of the perfect body if you don't have an idea of what the perfect body means to you. Take 10 minutes when you are sure not to be disturbed by people or phone calls, get comfortable, fully relax, then begin to dream about what you will look like when you have achieved your goal. Be specific, what will your calves look like, your legs, your butt, your lower back, your stomach, your chest, your upper back, your shoulders, your neck and your face. Then review this image as often throughout each day as possible (never less than 3x/day).
11. Cardio...Cardio...Cardio.
Cardiovascular exercising does more for the health and the appearance of the human body than any other form of exercise. Learn how much and what type of cardio is right for your particular body. Then refer to step #1 and do it persistently.