Browsing through the pet department of your favorite store, the selection of food and treats are huge. Most times it is hard to know what is really good for your pet and what is really in the best interest of promoting a healthy pet.

I have always fed my dogs the lamb meal and rice food that has no other by-products.  I have three dogs of various ages and it’s good for all them.  It’s also a good choice for dogs that are sensitive to corn, poultry or wheat.  Another perk, is the subsequent clean-up of the yard is made easier by feeding them food with no by-products.

Has anyone tried the treats that contain glucosamine chondroitin for joint health?.  My sister feeds them to her elderly poodle. She couldn’t get him to take the pills but he’s happy to gobble up his dose now.

Mine have always been Milkbone dogs, but I have been thinking about making home-made dog biscuits.  With three dogs, the cost of the quality treats can really add up and I’d like to give them something healthy.  I haven’t yet found a recipe I like, but I would like to share two lists of common foods that are dangerous to cats and dogs.  I recommend taking the time to read them.  I have just learned that onion can be toxic to both.  I had no idea.

• Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Cat

• Common Foods That Are Unsafe For Your Dog

Are there any special treats you give your pets to maintain their health?  We’d love to hear your tips and any products that you recommend.

Unfortunately, there’s no fast-fix sunburn treatment. The most effective treatment is easing the discomfort. Here are several suggestions I found to help ease the discomfort:

• Keep it cool. Apply cold compresses — such as a towel dampened with cool water — to the affected skin. Or take a cool bath.
• Keep it moist. Apply aloe, moisturizing cream or over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream to the affected skin. Beware of sunburn treatment products containing anesthetics, such as benzocaine. There’s little evidence that these products are effective. In some cases, they may even irritate the skin.
• Leave blisters intact. If blisters form, don’t break them. You’ll only slow the healing process and increase the risk of infection. If needed, lightly cover blisters with gauze.
• Take an over-the-counter pain reliever. If needed, take anti-inflammatory medication — such as aspirin or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others) — according to the label instructions until redness and soreness subside. Don’t give children or teenagers aspirin. It may cause Reye’s syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease.
• Treat peeling skin gently. Within a few days, the affected area may begin to peel. This is simply your body’s way of getting rid of the top layer of damaged skin. While your skin is peeling, continue to use moisturizing cream.

I have also read quite a few other remedies that people have used and swear by -  ranging from vinegar and water to cold milk and even tomato juice! Do you have any trusted remedies to treat sunburn that you have used successfully in the past? If so, please share.

Thanks to host families who open up their homes for a few weeks each summer, children growing up in New York City’s toughest neighborhoods have experienced the joys of Fresh Air experiences.

Fresh Air Fund Host Families

“It is rewarding to see the smile on our Fresh Air child’s face as she enjoys the simple things we take for granted…”
Friendly Town host families are volunteers who live in the suburbs or small town communities. Host families range in size, ethnicity and background, but share the desire to open their hearts and homes to give city children an experience they will never forget. Hosts say the Fresh Air experience is as enriching for their own families, as it is for the inner-city children. There are no financial requirements for hosting a child.It should be  Volunteers may request the age-group and gender of the Fresh Air youngster they would like to host for up to two weeks. Stories about real Fresh Air host families and their New York City visitors are just a click away!

Click here to learn more about becoming a host or call (800) 367-0003! 

The Breast Cancer Protection Act was first introduced to Congress in 1996. It’s purpose is to stop “drive-through mastectomies” where women are sent home almost immediately after surgery. The Act prohibits insurance companies from restricting benefits for less than 48 hours after a mastectomy and 24 hours for a lymph node dissection. While it does not require the patient stay there that amount time, no approval is necessary if they do. After passing Congress in 2008, intense lobbying from insurance companies kept it from reaching the Senate floor for a vote. The Act has again been re-introduced. The Lifetime Channel has collected over 24 million signatures of support. If you’d like to sign the petition, here is the link. Please feel free to share your thoughts and stories.

In a zip-top bag or a nonreactive bowl, combine 1/2 cup soy sauce, 3 cloves minced garlic, 1 tbsp grated ginger, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tsp red pepper flakes and 2 tbsp canola oil.

Marinate 8 pieces bone-in-chicken (breasts, legs and thighs) in the mixture in the fridge for 3 to 8 hr. Heat grill to medium and discard marinade; grill chicken skin side down over direct heat for 5 to6 min. Turn and cook 6 to 8 min more.

Slice 1 peeled pineapple into 1/2- inch rings and sprinkle each with 1/2 tsp sugar. Grill, turning once, until marked and just soft, about 3 min; serve alongside chicken. Serves 6 to 8.

This article stated that unlike boneless breast, bone-in-chicken won’t dry out quickly. Grill parts over medium, not high, heat for juiciest results.

I would love to try out some other recipes this summer. How about you?  Do you have any summer recipes that you would like to share? We would love for you to post them here in the comment section so we could all give them a try this summer.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the maker of Tylenol and a number of other over-the-counter medicines has issued a voluntary recall of certain children’s medicines (a full list can be found here) due to quality control concerns. The recall covers 43 different products under the brand names of Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl. The company issued the recall after fielding consumer complaints over “tiny particles” found in some medicines; investigation of these complaints led to concerns that some of the medications “may contain a higher concentration of active ingredient than is specified” and “others may contain inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements,” according to a press release issued by the company.

Generic products are not affected and can be used as an alternative to the affected brands; a U.S. News and World Report article also details a few methods for treating cold and congestion symptoms without medication.

It sounds like the recall is merely precautionary, but do check to see if you have any of the recalled products in your house. And let us know your thoughts – do you generally feel safe taking OTC medicines, or have recent scares made you more wary?

Officials in Santa Clara County – the heart of Silicon Valley – voted 3 to 2 recently to ban Happy Meal toys and other similar give-a-ways  from being included with children’s meals.  Although the measure will not be implemented for 90 days to give restaurants time to come up with a voluntary program to comply with established nutrional standards for children’s meals, as it stands now, going forward restaurant proprietors will not be permitted to include toys with their higher calorie and higher fat children’s meals.

Supervisor Donald Gage who voted against the measure stated “if you can’t control a 3-year-old child for a toy, God save you when they get to be teenagers.” Supervisor Ken Yeager, who sponsored the measure disagrees. “This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes.”

You can read more about this story here.

“Learn the wisdom of compromise, for it is better to bend a little than to break.” – Jane Wells

I didn’t have a great day, kind of boring and uneventful.  I went to work.  I ran some errands.  I came home and made dinner.  I went for a walk.

The stress of an argument I had with someone the day before was still on my mind.  Still unresolved, the subject of our disagreement was harebrained.  What really bothered me was the disrespectful way I had been spoken to.  It just rubbed me the wrong way.  I felt that disagreements with this person should have come without an insolent and discourteous attitude.

As I walked I realized I was stiff as a board.  My shoulders were so tight they almost reached my ear lopes.  I was clenching my teeth like an animal ready to jump on prey.  My eye was squinting caused by the headache that was petering.  A jogger passed me but not without glancing my way.  The look on his face made me realize what I must look like.  I think he broke out into a run.

I walk a little faster trying to relax a little to relieve the tension in my neck. Correcting my posture I reminded myself to not sweat the small stuff.  Should I just let it go?  Maybe I need to ride it out for a while to show how important my position is to me.  What am I talking about, I’m right and they are wrong…that’s my position.

It’s funny how the answer to my questions came in the form of a quote.  When I arrived home from my walk and sat at my desk.  My sister gave me a daily calendar with quotes for a gift a few months back. I opened it to the page that provided me this quote by Jane Wells.

“Learn the wisdom of compromise, for it is better to bend a little than to break.”

I felt my body relax.  I took a deep breath in and out.  I told myself that I am better than this.  I’d rather get along than be right.  I’m letting this one go.

Apparently the more hours we spend awake, the more sluggish our minds become. The findings suggest that taking a nap not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter. “Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap,” said Matthew Walker, an assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the lead investigator of these studies.

The article quoted above and the research findings is an interesting read. Walker and his team are also going to investigate whether the reduction of sleep experienced by people as they get older is related to the documented decrease in our ability to learn as we age. “Finding that link may be helpful in understanding such neurodegenerative conditions as Alzheimer’s disease, Walker said.”

If you don’t have time for a power nap, try meditation; it gives your body a rest and produces slower brain waves similar to sleep. You can always set an alarm if you are one of those people like me where a 30 minute power nap turns into a 2 hour  “where the heck did my afternoon go” nap.

I guess the expression, “you snooze, you lose” is not really accurate any more. How about you? Do you have time for naps in the afternoon? Do you feel they really make a difference in your day?

Kelly Brownell, director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity noted that tobacco companies “were notorious for counteracting sales in the U.S. with exploitation of markets elsewhere, particularly in developing countries.” The World Heart Federation has been negotiating with soft drink makers to have them remove sugary beverages from schools for the past year. Pekka Puska, president of the Federation stated, ” It may be not so well known in the U.S. how intensive the marketing of soft drinks is in so many countries.” He added that developing countries such as Mexico are particularly affected by this strong marketing.

“We have long advocated for school settings to be made as conducive as possible to promoting the health of students, and we have programs under way with school authorities in several countries to do that,” PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi said in the company’s statement.

Academic researchers have pointed to sodas as being key contributors to the nation’s youth obesity problem. The soda industry has recently established a partnership with First Lady Michelle Obama to make labels more clear about a product’s calorie count. Michelle Obama has launched a Let’s Move campaign to end child obesity in a generation.

Coca-Cola made an announcement last week that it would not sell its drinks globally in primary schools unless the schools asked them to do so “to meet hydration needs,” and will continue to sell sugary sodas in high schools. The Associated Press reported that the company said school authorities “should have the right to choose what is best for their schools. Coca-Cola Co., like Pepsi, adopted guidelines to stop selling sugary drinks in U.S. schools in 2006.

What are your thoughts on this issue?  How do you feel about Coca-Cola’s global policy?