There are two sides of an individual’s personality- good and bad and it is these two aspects that determine his worth on whether he is worthy of living in a civilized society or not but now we are in the modern age and things are completely different than what they were in earlier times.

Today it is virtually impossible to gauge any person by his/her personality as they are pretty complex characters that are experts in hiding their true emotions and intentions while putting up a completely different façade to the entire world to fulfill their ulterior motives by manipulating innocent folks.

Such people are termed grey shaded characters and they are the most difficult to deal with as they are extremely cunning sweet talkers with a strong personality and a powerful gift of persuasion and often pose as elite members of the society, which is why they have the liberty to keep guns and other arms.

Danger Tool

Whenever you think about guns, there is an array of emotions that sweep through the mind that it reminds you of all the gangster movies of the bygone era alongwith the brave police force in our country that keep trouble at bay and catch the bad guys doing dirty work.

All in all, a gun is a dangerous tool in the wrong hands while it is a savior in the right ones like any person who has taken a pledge to protect his motherland from enemies and this is something that every citizen should be proud of.

However, it is also used by sportsmen to practice shooting and is considered a popular pastime for players that are involved in national and international tournaments where shooting and archery are extremely well known in the elite circles.

To be an expert shooter, you need a tremendous amount of practice with focus, determination, dedication and commitment as only then can you hope to shine in this field which all the expert shooters advise the same for people harboring ambitions to make it to their place someday.

Gun Cleaning

When it comes to guns, an important point of note is that they must be cleaned from time to time otherwise there is every chance that it might get rusted over time and that won’t be nice as only a person with a nice long experience in wielding guns can understand the difficulty in obtaining a license for any gun in existence which is a hard find nowadays.

Gun cleaning mats are the perfect way to clean your guns that you can learn about through https://cleangunguide.com/ and many people that own guns are following this foolproof format for cleaning their guns.

Also take care to place your gun in the gun vise while cleaning the entire surface but why most people prefer the cleaning mat is because it has the capacity to absorb oil and anything that imbibes within it and most of the mats are of extreme high quality that has a long durability to their name.

Over the years I have gone through more vacuums than I care to write about. I am so happy to share my newest find. It is called the Dyson Animal DC14. I bought this a few years ago so I don’t know the model numbers of the newer Dyson vacuums but I am excited to tell you about the one I have.

I have two dogs and a cat. My big dog weighs in at about 115 lbs and is three quarters Golden Labrador and one quarter Golden Retriever. My other dog weighs in at about 22 lbs and is a King Charles Cavalier. My cat only weighs about 12 lbs and I have no idea what breed. So needless to say I need the best vacuum out there. Did I mention that I personally have the worst allergies and asthma? Maybe having three animals wasn’t the brightest idea but I love them they are my children. With the purchase of hepa Filter Vacuums, the benefits are enormous with the person. Complete research should be done through the person to meet with the right results. 

Two years ago my husband and I built our dream house. I knew that I wanted to put hardwood down in all of the rooms but there was no way we could afford to do it all at once. The only room we ended up putting the hardwood down was the dining room. We put tile in the foyer continuing on to the kitchen, the bathroom and the mudroom. We had to put carpeting in the living room, family room, and all 4 bedrooms. I found myself breaking out into allergy attacks all the time and my asthma was pretty bad. I have started noticing that my 2 year old son was sneezing a lot as well. I needed to get a new vacuum desperately. My old one just wasn’t doing it for us anymore. As I said earlier we just built a new house and with new construction comes a ton of dirt from the outside and dust setting on the inside. I felt like I was fighting a losing battle. So I needed a solution.

My husband had heard about this new vacuum called the Dyson Animal. It was supposed to be excellent in picking up animal hair and it was never supposed to lose suction no matter how full it got. I figured it was worth a shot. The only problem was that this particular model was very expensive. It can cost anywhere from $400 to over $500 depending on where you made the purchase. There was no where we were going to spend that kind of money on a vacuum cleaner. No way. Well, as luck should have it, It turned out that my husband was able to cash in reward points with his American Express credit card for Home Depot gift cards. After work he went to Home Depot and picked up the Dyson Animal DC14. This is the one that comes in purple. The Dyson vacuums come is different colors. It depends on which one fits your needs best. The one that I have is called the Animal because it is designed to pick up all of the animal hair. I can’t believe how well this works. I was amazed after I was done vacuuming how much hair it picked up. We must have been living with tons of hair in our other house which disgusts me when I think back now.

This particular vacuum does not use bags either which is great. You don’t have the added expense of buying replacement bags every other week. This model comes with plenty of attachments to help get under the furniture and hard to reach places. I would suggest turning the vacuum over every two to three cleans and clean out the roll. I was surprised to see how much hair was stuck and wrapped in the roller. It would have eventually started to smell like burning hair.

This vacuum also works well on tile and hardwood. All you have to do is switch the button on the bottom of the vacuum from carpet to bare floors. I use this vacuum to clean my entire house. After 2 years of giving this vacuum an unbelievable workout it is still going strong. By now my other vacuums would have started to break and who wants to spend money fixing vacuums. To this day it has not lost any suction. It still picks up the dirt and hair just like the first day we got it.

I highly recommend purchasing any Dyson vacuum. My mother in law and father in law just purchased the same vacuum from Dyson.com for $400. Get this, they don’t even have any pets!

What is full coverage auto insurance? I am beginning to think that no one can really define that term in the insurance industry – – at least with any certainty. Every state has what they term as minimum coverage with regard to automobile insurance. This refers to the type and amount of insurance coverage that is required by law in that state to operate a vehicle. If you have a lien on your vehicle, the lender will require that you carry collision insurance, naming them as the loss payee so that they will receive their money if your car is wrecked. So what does full coverage car insurance really mean – – is it collision or is it state required minimums? Actually, full coverage auto insurance is a misleading term that refers to insurance coverage above and beyond what is required by your state. However, full coverage auto insurance is most commonly defined as an insurance policy that exceeds the state minimum requirements and includes comprehensive, collision, property damage and medical overages. What are the benefits of having a full coverage car insurance policy when you can pay less and only carry minimum coverage?

Many people often choose to decline collision and comprehensive coverage if they have an older vehicle or if they do not have a lien on their vehicle. They do this to save money on the insurance premium. However, there are several reasons why you should pay for collision and comprehensive insurance:

Protect your investment People reason that they are saving money by not carrying extra insurance. However, when their vehicle is involved in an accident that is their fault, without collision insurance, they will be responsible for the entire cost of repairs or replacing the vehicle.

It is impertinent to get collision insurance as vehicles are most often prone to accidents and breakdowns which is a big reason that certain individuals are careful with their savings as they know that an insurance would come in handy in the future so it is better to learn about how to get non owners sr22 insurance for reaping benefits. 

Acts of God or other Environmental Damage Not all damage to vehicles is by an accident. If your vehicle is damaged from a falling tree, flood, fire, hail or other incident and you do not have comprehensive coverage you will be paying for the repairs or a new car.

Theft of Vandalism Without comprehensive coverage, if your care is stolen or vandalized you do not receive any money from the insurance company for repairs or a replacement vehicle.

Rental Vehicles Many collision and comprehensive policies cover rental cars. This will save you money when renting cars because you will not need to purchase additional insurance.

My state requires that drivers care uninsured motorist coverage in the event that we are involved in an accident involving an uninsured motorist. Underinsured motorist coverage is not required; however, I chose to carry this insurance because its advantages outweigh the small addition to my premium by:

Protecting me from drivers who carry minimum coverage I was in an auto accident several years ago and the driver at fault only had minimum coverage. His property damage amount did not even come close to paying for the repairs to my vehicle. My underinsured motorist coverage paid for the rest of the repairs with no deductible.

Medical payments If you do not have health insurance, underinsured coverage may benefit you by paying medical expenses if the person at fault does not have sufficient insurance to cover your costs.

GAP Insurance refers to additional insurance coverage you can choose to add to your basic policy that offers you additional property damage protection with regard to your loan or lease.

Payoff of lien difference If you have a loan on your vehicle or lease your vehicle, GAP insurance is beneficial because it will pay the difference between the actual value of your vehicle and the loan payoff. This keeps you from owing more money to your lien holder than you receive from an insurance company for property damage.

There are several optional riders that can be added to your required minimum car insurance policy that offer additional benefits for full coverage.

Rental Car Reimbursement Covers the fee for a rental car if your car is not drivable or is being repaired for a covered condition.

Towing I wish I had this coverage several times when I have been forced to tow my car for various reasons. It would have already paid for itself several times over.

Roadside Assistance Pays for someone to come and change a tire or assist you if your car brakes down. This is a relatively inexpensive additional to a car insurance policy but can be very useful especially if you have teenagers driving and want to make sure they are protected while on the road if the car breaks down.

Income Loss Protection The loss of income you experience when in an accident can be devastating. This coverage will help you recoup your lost income.

Funeral Benefits This coverage will cover the funeral expenses of the policyholder and passengers in the event of a fatal accident.

Full coverage automobile insurance policies can include all, or some, of these optional coverages plus many more that are not covered above. Each optional coverage has its own cost and conditions so you should thoroughly discuss each with your insurance agent before choosing the best options for your situation.

We always want to have the best things in life especially the elite spoilt brats, who despise anything out of the ordinary and aren’t satisfied with anything less than royalty because that is what they’ve been brought up with.

The less than privileged class have to earn everything through sheer merit and hard work simply because their crime is that they aren’t as privileged as their elite counterparts and at the end of the day, it is they that emerge as the victors by being the torchbearer of struggle and hard work while the brats are deemed products of nepotism.

Speaking of talent, there are many out there and if it relates to something as sweet and diverse as music, you can be sure that the discussion is going to be an interesting one as the topic is universally adored by one and all as music makes the world go round or so the experts say.

Basic Knowledge

When the discussion is on music, it is obvious that musical instruments will find their way into the discussion but we aren’t going to mention all of them but focus on one particular instrument that doesn’t immediately ring a bell as it isn’t used in conversations or concerts as much.

So it can be said that a handpan is grossly underrated as a music instrument of excellent quality that can give the best of the best a run for their money because it is so beautiful to look at and has a pleasant sound that is easy on the ears.

It is used for a group of musical instruments and isn’t confined to just one but what is important is that it is taken under the subset group of steelpan, which can be called as its parent instrument as that is where it originated from.

Handpans are typically in the shape and size of cymbals which are taken in the hands and beaten together to produce a crashing sound that you must have seen and heard in symphony orchestras but handpan is a little different than its erstwhile counterpart and more recent.

The handpans are taken from Hang, which originated in Switzerland that was used in old times during musical nights that were quite popular and slowly started spreading throughout Europe in a big way apart from becoming a household name in North America and so much so that there are regular musical concerts with handpans involved.

Conclusion

Handpans are extremely popular in European countries like Germany, Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy and many others but steelpans have origins dating back to the French Revolution of the 18th century when the colonial leaders were fascinated by what they termed as unique plates that reverberated on contact with each other.

British colonials fell in love with the musical idiom that originated from the sound and took it back to Europe from where they devised certain unique ways about how to give the instrument a modern day outlook.

All in all, handpans are extremely useful instruments that deserve to better known than they truly are.

Are doctors that work long shifts causing harm to their patients? According to a web based survey that was conducted across the United States doctors do present a greater risk to their patients after working long shifts. This study focused on first year doctors, most of which are still in their residency.

When working shifts longer than 24 hours some of the doctors confessed that they forget things, look up wrong drugs and in one case the doctor poked herself with a needle. But more importantly is the harm that patients will suffer from this. The journal Public Library of Science Medicine suggests that doctors who work more than five long shifts in a month are seven times more likely to harm their patients and four times more likely to cause a patient’s death.

This lack of sleep will also cause the doctor to become more emotional, which will affect bedside manners. Dr. Amy Hennessy agrees and said “There were several days when I would get home and just start crying for the smallest reasons, or would just feel angry at my patients when they hadn’t done anything wrong.”

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has tried to address the problem by setting work hour limits on all residents. These limitations restrict residents from working over 30 hours nonstop and a maximum of 80 hours in a week.

However, not everyone agrees that shortening the work hours will be beneficial. Doctors say that working these long shifts is crucial to the permanence of patient care. They say it is safer for the patient who has just gotten out of surgery to be cared by a doctor that was involved rather than transfer to another resident. That way in case of a post surgical catastrophe, the doctor on duty would already be aware of what needs to be done.

Residents do not believe that the reason they work long hours is for the continuance of patient care. Dr. Scott Teranella says “The reason residents are pushed to work these excessively long shifts is that they are considered cheap labor in a for-profit system of health care that is constantly pushed to its very limits to cover ever-growing costs.”

Patients need to be aware of this situation and should be able to refuse care from a doctor who has worked longer than 24 straight hours. Sleep deprivation affects an individual’s behavior, and therefore it should not be ok for doctors to be allowed to work as a result. Doctors are humans too. Sometimes they lack sleep because of the demand of the nature of their work especially those doctors with o1 visa Medical resident who usually travel abroad for medical purposes. 

The key is to have well rested physicians, and to do that they need to work on patient transfer. There needs to be better communication between doctors during transfer to ensure the safety of the patient.

Losing weight is something that seems to be on the minds of many people these days. We have found some weight loss secrets that may get you thinking about how you approach your day. You may have heard about diet pills that help you lose weight while you sleep, or short term diets that will make the fat melt right off. The truth is that you cannot get something for nothing and that old saying “when it seems like it’s too good to be true‚Ķ” never rang as true as it does for losing weight.

So what kind of weight loss secrets is there? Some of the weight loss secrets will change the way you approach your day in small ways that individually do not seem to matter all that much. However, when you put all of them together over the course of a day, a month, or even a year, you will see some very significant results.

An example of a great weight loss secret that may seem so obvious that you will wonder why we even call it a secret is: Walk While You Talk. It is a simple strategy. When your phone rings, stand up as you answer it and pace around the room, the house or the office. We spend a lot of time on our cell phones or on calls to friends and family; if you think about it, most of the time we are seated while talking. If we walked around each time we were on the phone and made it a habit, imagine the extra calories we would burn just by doing something we would have done anyway. Since we move while we get other things done, this sort of sneaky exercise does not even take away from our day.

Another weight loss secret is to Add Spice to Your Life! Put a little zip into your breakfast, a bit of zing into your lunch and watch as the spices help heat up your taste buds and your body’s metabolism. What is the real secret here? You will eat spicy foods slower than non-spicy foods. It takes a little bit of time for your stomach to tell your brain when it is eating and when it is full. The speed in which we typically eat does not give our body the time it needs to send the right messages around, so we tend to overeat. The addition of spice to our foods slows us down, gets our body back in sync with itself, and gives a little kick to our metabolism as well.

A third weight loss secret you could try is: Water, Water Everywhere. Get yourself a good recyclable water bottle and take it with you everywhere you go. Make sure you keep it filled and drink constantly. Most people these days are walking around in a constant state of dehydration which does not allow the body to metabolize the way it needs to, thus making it harder for us to burn calories and lose weight. Water also helps to fill the belly which makes us less likely to snack on that cheesecake.

Lastly, it is also important that you take dietary supplements so you’ll have a support system in losing weight. There are several brands that you can find in the market. One of those is leptoconnect. This is one of the trusted brands that can help you achieve your body goals. 

See? This sort of weight loss secret is the kind that works and they are free. Combine these with a regular healthy diet with plenty of water and exercise, and these small changes in our day-to-day lives can assist us in getting the weight off and helping it stay off.

Through my adult life, I have struggled with weight problems, and with finding ways to regain control of my weight. My gradual weight gain started when I left school and settled into a 9 to 5 work schedule, and I could never quite understand why I was gaining so much weight. I did not change my eating habits, and I stayed very active, more physically active than most people, yet I could not stop my weight from steadily going up. Frustrated, I have tried many different weight loss approaches, from low fat diets, to calorie counting and even going vegan for a period. None of them worked, the more I exercise, the more food I seem to crave, calorie restriction leaves me feeling like I have no energy and I constantly have to battle my own strong urges to eat more food.

While all these different diets failed, I grew more and more frustrated with my own lack of self discipline and willpower, something that puzzled me a great deal since in most other aspects of my life, my self discipline and willpower are very strong. I was wondering why my body and mind felt so terrible if I was trying to eat healthy, and could not understand why my body was craving more, when I supposedly was giving it the best possible foods already.

The turning point in my long history of diet failures came from a newspaper article about an extraordinary man that had lost 100 pounds while eating nothing but meat and oils. As I read his story, I recognized many of the same patterns that I had experienced in my own weight battle and I was inspired to read more about his theories and method. The man was Sven Sture Skaldman, a Swedish writer who had just released his personal journey of defying all conventional nutritional wisdom, and in the process regained his health.

The basic theory behind his weight loss was a low carb diet, but having never heard of that philosophy, I was stunned and shocked when I read what kind of meals he recommended. Eggs, bacon, steak, as much as you want, covered in as much butter as you can handle. All the foods that I secretly loved, and always felt that I should not eat. Not only were they allowed on Skaldmans diet plan, they were encouraged!

According to the theory, people of Scandinavian decent like myself, are particularly well suited to convert fat in the food to body heat, compelling stories about the typical Inuit diet of nothing but seal meat, and firm rebuttals of most of the things you hear about the dangers of eating fat had me convinced. I would give the diet a shot.

As I started the diet, midway through the first day, I got a terrible headache. The kind of headaches I had gotten before when I hadn’t eaten in too long and my blood sugar level fell too low. A couple of days later, I felt like I had gotten a pretty harsh flu, and my stomach started acting up something awful. Had I not discovered a very helpful website with low carb information, I would certainly have ditched the diet after such a disastrous start. Reading that the symptoms I had were normal reactions when switching the body from running on sugar to burning fat for energy made it easier to stick with the plan. That the food I was eating was very satisfying and I never had to go hungry was also a big help, but most of all, seeing that I had lost 8 pounds in the first week made me start to wonder if the absurd notion that eating as much fat as you can will make you lose weight was true.

As I get better at understanding my own body and how it reacts to different foods, I find it easier and easier to lose weight and stay happy on my diet. When I first started out, I ended up eating bacon and eggs or an omelet for virtually every meal. Of course, I grew tiered of eggs and bacon under such overexposure. At a point, I started skipping meals because I did not want to eat eggs. The way out of the food rut, was once again through the experiences of other low carb dieters on the internet. As I read more about what nutrients are in foods, I started to gain a better understanding of how I could expand what I ate, and still keep to the effective diet I was on. I started adding some vegetables carefully, eventually starting to eat home made salads for many meals, salads that are more than a little heavy on cheese cubes, salami, bacon bits, hard boiled eggs, olives, avocados and more, and always with plenty of oil based dressing. Adding different foods made the diet a lot easier as I was getting fed up of all my meals being fried, and always seeming to include fried eggs in some form.

As I expanded my awareness of food, I started adding more fish and certain vegetables to my diet, using low carb principles I’ve been able to eat more varied than ever before, the few foods I miss are well worth the extraordinary benefits I’ve experienced, including losing over 30 pounds as well as many other positive affects on my health. The best part is I am doing it all without having to ever go hungry or feel guilty about wanting to eat. By replacing sugar as my main source of energy by fat, I am well on my way to regain a normal weight.

To support your diet, it is advisable to take weight loss supplement. Products like leptoconnect will help you to sustain your diet. This is also made from natural ingredients so you don’t have to worry about is effects on your body.

As it turns out, the low carb principles are not without controversy, and some suggest that not eating carbs is unhealthy. I have no medical credentials, but I go by my own personal experiences when I say that a low carb diet is the right diet for me. I believe that the positive health benefits I am experiencing, the effortless weight loss and my overall feeling of great wellbeing, is a lot healthier than the desperate hunger strikes I have attempted earlier. For me, low carb is the way I want to live.

Portable air conditioners are the systems that are helpful in cooling down any room in your house or business. These ACs are similar to window air conditioning units as both are self-contained systems created to cool a room. Both systems require ventilation to work efficiently. The biggest advantage of portable air conditioners is that they can be used in a room with or without windows. There is no doubt that windows are important to deal with the exhaust air released from the systems, but there can be ways to ventilate the portable ACs without windows. To know more about air conditioning units, you can check out the blaux portable ac reviews.

Venting a portable air conditioner in your home can be done through various ways which are as follows:

• Through a door

The portable air conditioners are designed in a way that warm air needs to go somewhere, which is ideally outdoors. It totally depends on where the unit is installed as if it is a living room, which is in the middle of the home, and then door ventilation isn’t an option. The best way to vent a portable air conditioner is through a door with sliding doors. Some ACs has kits built for a sliding door especially that allows venting the hot air outdoors.  

• Through the ceiling

Another option for venting a portable air conditioner is through the ceiling. If you have drop ceilings in your room or house, then a portable AC unit can be used. You can arrange an exhaust vent to go with the drop ceiling tile, but it causes trouble sometimes. Getting a ceiling vent kit is the best suitable option. Running a portable air conditioner vent through the ceiling is a good option and is easy to install. All you need to do is make a hole in the ceiling and ensure that the hole is of accurate size and is neat. Move the tube through the hole, which is created in the ceiling and add a sealant to keep the pipe firmly.

• Through a wall

The last option for sending the hot exhaust air from your air conditioning unit is most drastic. This option is installing a vent in the way of your home or business, which is also a permanent solution for the portable air conditioning systems. Venting through a wall can be done by the home itself, or you can hire a professional. But before this, you need to think if you are okay with putting a hole in the wall of your room. Cutting a whole can be easy, and all you need is plumbing, wiring, and studs. You also need to consider the things that are outside the wall.

Conclusion

No doubt, portable conditioning systems are great and a perfect solution for cooling your home or business. If you don’t have any window for ventilating the hot exhaust air out, then there are some amazing options mentioned above. You can know them thoroughly and can vent your portable air conditioners through any of them.

Weight loss has proven to be the hardest battle women will ever have to undertake in there lives. We live each day counting the calories in the small, tasteless portions of food we consume. While endlessly counting the minutes in between breakfast and lunch. Our grumbling tummies telling us we want to eat, we need to eat. We live out our days focused on having our small portion of cereal and juice in the mornings and forcing down the Lean Cuisine meal at lunchtime. While craving a cheeseburger and fries every moment, but knowing we shouldn’t have it. Sometimes we get lucky and stick to this starvation diet plan for a few days and lose a couple of pounds. But then we revert right back to our old way of eating, which now is even worse since we’ve denied ourselves for a few days. And not surprisingly, we gain it all right back, plus more. Since we stuff our stomachs with all those cheeseburgers, fries, chocolate cake and sodas we’ve been denied. It’s an endless, vicious cycle that never ends. But dieting really doesn’t have to be this circle we’ve been traveling around forever. Not if we use our heads and make some wise and informed choices when choosing what to eat everyday.

We first need to realize that starvation diets don’t work. Especially if your body has gotten use to being stuffed full of food every single day. You’re body will realize when it’s being deprived and it will go into starvation mode. Meaning it hordes every single calorie you consume, making it extremely difficult, if not impossible to lose weight. The sensible way to lose weight is by making wise and informed food choices. Skipping breakfast is also never the answer to losing weight. This can slow your metabolism and cause your body to store excess fat and lead you to eat more throughout the day. You should always make the most of everyday by starting it out with a healthy, substantial breakfast consisting of whole grains and lean proteins.

Some quick and healthy options would be whole grain waffles with a small amount of maple syrup and orange juice. Or, 3 egg whites scrambled with a small amount of reduced fat cheese and sliced scallions. A slice of whole grain toast and 1 cup of orange juice. Or make your own low fat and calorie sausage mcmuffin by adding a Morningstar sausage patty and a slice of low fat cheese to a Light Fiber One English Muffin. Cereals are also excellent breakfast foods when trying to lose weight. Just make sure that it’s low fat and high fiber like Fiber One with 1 cup of no fat milk and 2 cups of fruit slices. Always strive for at least 1 serving of fruit in the mornings and you might also want to consider adding a multivitamin to your daily routine for optimal health benefits. You may also consider adding lose weight and dietary supplements for your general diet. One of the best products that you can buy is leptoconnect. To help you get to know more about this brand, check these leptoconnect real reviews.

Adding water rich foods to your diet can also help you lose that extra weight. Almost all veggies will fit this bill, just make sure and include them in your daily lunch menu everyday. Some healthy examples of these foods would be 3 ounces of canned tuna packed in water, 2 tablespoons light mayo and 1 teaspoon of pickle relish on whole grain bread with lettuce and tomato. Or; 2 cups baby spinach, 2/3 cups of chick peas, 3 ounces of light tuna in water, 6 cherry tomatoes and 2 teaspoons of a light vinaigrette dressing. For the optimum health benefits drizzle your daily veggies or pasta with 2 teaspoons of healthy oils everyday for an added dose of vitamin E and essential fatty acids. Sushi is also a delicious, water rich food to add to your diet. Of course the best part of your new way of eating, besides the health benefits; are the deserts and snacks you can eat without feeling guilty.

With this new eating plan you can indulge in the treat and leave the guilt behind choosing foods that are low in fat and calories. Satisfy your sweet tooth with low calorie, portion controlled selections like low fat muffins, dried fruits, delicious or ice cold fruit bars. For those with a chronic sweet tooth there’s Hostess 100 calorie snack packs in a variety of different flavors. Raisins and sorbets are also very good snack choices. You could also consider good for you foods like fat free yogurts, fresh fruits or fruit salads, baked tortilla chips with salsa or air popped popcorn. These are all excellent, healthy options for snacking. On your new healthy eating plan its ok to snack through out the day if you make sure the foods you choose are low in fat and calories. Eating well and healthy doesn’t have to break the bank or make you feel deprived. As long as you choose delicious, vitamin rich, healthy foods which will satisfy your hunger while helping you to take off the extra weight.

Since living in the US, July 4th has become one of my favorite holidays. I love the atmosphere, the camaraderie (which, as a Brit, both amuses and delights me to be a part of), and the firecracker celebrations that you can fp3 online kaufen. I first experienced the Independence Day celebrations over the Charles River in Boston in 1993. Now I am treated with the parties of Lake Minnetonka each year. Below are my 3 highlights from 2010 which I am excited to revisit this year.

1. The Firecracker Run (10K), Excelsior, MN.

My first 10K since returning to running a few months earlier. In fact, it was my first race ever in the US. Although I tried to treat it as a simple training run in preparation for my August half-marathon, the nerves still got the better of me and kept me awake the night before! It was the perfect race to re-start my running craze though – a small, local affair; a beautiful course and enough of a crowd to keep up the motivation. Although being July 4th, the weather conditions were not ideal for running – we began in rain and finished in high heat and humidity. My target was to finish the race in under 1 hour – a chip time of 57:11 left me comfortably inside that. I was all pumped up ready to begin the July 4th celebrations on a high!

Click here to register

2. The kids’ red, white, and blue bike parade.

Many children, my own included, like to parade their bikes, spruced up with red, white, and blue to honor this special day. I met my family as I traveled back from the race. Proudly wearing my newly earned race shirt, still pink-faced, with achy legs, high on endorphins. Their enthusiasm and excitement paralleled my own as they set off (at speed) with their friends and neighbors to parade their creations past local residents who obligingly cheered as they cycled by. The cheers were as enthusiastic on the fifth lap as they had been on the first! Now we were all pumped up ready to bring on the fireworks!

3. Excelsior Firecracker display.

Following a traditional Minnesota grill gathering with friends, we loaded two families onto the boat. Each one of us as excited as the next for our first experience of the firework display from the water. Sharing drinks and appetizers, we gently made our way over to a suitable spot to anchor up in anticipation of the show. We watched and waited as other boats gradually made their way over, filling the bay with families, party-goers, couples; anyone who wanted to share this moment from the lake. Occasional mini-displays nearby whet the appetite prior to the main event. Around 10 pm, The Excelsior Commons fireworks began and the sky really began to sparkle. The calm waters lit up with each explosion treating revelers to a 360-degree display culminating in a mass of color and bangs. The lake sprang back into life as the hundreds of boats left the bay, their occupants enjoying the balmy evening and a night-cap as they journeyed back to the empty docks. The children cuddled up under hoodies and blankets, snuggled into the warmth of their parents as their eyelids grew heavier, drawing a close to the drama of July 4th, 2010.