WW: Disneyland, CA

Disneyland in California during my 2 months vacation in the US

Are You Wasting Money on Multivitamins?

I guess this is a good start for the week. I just got this post in the Bulletin Board Posted by one of my friends in friendsters. Thanks a lot Merz for sharing this. This only serves as General Information. ...Continue to read if you want to know more. Who knows this might cause you to save some money and avoiding the side effects of taking vitamins...Have a great day to all!!

Date: Monday, 16 February, 2009 3:35 PM
Subject: Multivitamins....a waste??? Important , pls. read...
Message: Are You Wasting Money on Multivitamins?

Advertisements with tantalizing promises of improved health, prevention of cancer and heart disease, and greater energy have lured millions of Americans to spend billions of dollars on the purchase of multivitamins.

An article in the February 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine reported that multivitamin use did not protect the 161,808 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Study from common forms of cancer, heart attacks, or strokes. And the numbers of deaths during the 8 years of the study were the same in vitamin users as in non-users. Still, it is important to recognize that this was an observational study, not a more meaningful clinical trial. Although these findings apply only to women, other studies have failed to show benefits of multivitamins in older men.

These results are not at all surprising for several reasons. No large study has shown that multivitamins significantly benefit healthy men and women. In addition, for some years physicians prescribed folic acid and vitamins B12 and B6 in the hopes of preventing heart attacks and strokes by lowering blood levels of homocysteine. (High blood levels of homocysteine are associated with an increased risk of coronary and other vascular diseases.) A number of recent studies, however, have shown that, while these vitamins do lower homocysteine levels, they do not prevent heart attacks or strokes.

Many doctors have also prescribed the antioxidants vitamin E and beta-carotene to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Alas, studies have now proven that these supplements are not protective--and may even be harmful.

No one denies that an adequate intake of vitamins is essential; however, vitamins can and should be obtained from eating enough healthy foods rather than from swallowing vitamin supplements.
Then what about vitamins being a great source of energy? Some multivitamin ads do indeed claim that their supplements boost energy; and some professional athletes gobble handfuls of vitamin pills to increase their energy and strength. But researchers proved long ago that energy comes from calories, not vitamins. The highly touted cholesterol-lowering effects of substances added to some multivitamin supplements? Still unproven.

All this is not to say that specific vitamins supplements are never desirable. Vitamins can be valuable in certain situations:

* Folic acid supplements in women who are pregnant or plan to become pregnant can help to prevent serious neural-tube defects that affect the baby's brain and spine.
* Supplements that contain more vitamin D and calcium than is present in regular multivitamin pills can help older men, and especially women, avoid osteoporosis and bone fractures.
* Supplements of vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, zinc, and copper may slow the progression of vision loss in people with early macular degeneration.
And multivitamins are beneficial for some entire groups of people:
* those on a very-low-calorie weight-loss diet
* strict vegetarians
* heavy alcohol drinkers
* individuals who are not getting an adequate diet because they are too sick or too poor--or live by themselves and are unable to prepare proper meals for themselves
I also agree with a comment made by one of the coauthors of the Archives of Internal Medicine article about postmenopausal women mentioned above. An 8-year follow-up period may not be long enough to show that multivitamins protect against cancers that take many years to develop.
All the same, the results of the studies on vitamins so far point to one conclusion: Healthy people who eat enough calories from a varied diet do not benefit from multivitamin supplements.

Have a great Valentine's day

Enjoy your Valentine's Day!! this is my greetings to each and everyone!!

(Saint) Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world. In the West, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The day was originally a pagan festival that was renamed after two Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines". Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The sending of Valentines was a fashion in nineteenth-century Great Britain, and, in 1847, Esther Howland developed a successful business in her Worcester, Massachusetts home with hand-made Valentine cards based on British models. The popularity of Valentine cards in 19th-century America was a harbinger of the future commercialization of holidays in the United States.

The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend in average twice as much money as women. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day

Valentines' Love meme

I got this tag from a very dear friend, Twinks. Thanks a lot Sistah for remembering me in this special day of Valentines.

I also would like to greet each and everyone a Happy Hearts Day!! Hope you have a great one for today. here is the instruction for this meme.

I am tagging these great friends of mine..
Arya-Remixmax, Carlota, Ann-Wonders of a Lifestyle, Christinchen-Soapbox and Mhar's Display...have fun and enjoy this special hearts day!!

***start copy***Rules:
1) Once you're tagged, install the corner banner at your blog as a third party html code. (The corner banner need to stay at your blog for at least 2 weeks).
2) Post about this meme,Valentine's Love.
3) Add your blog/s with link/s to the Valentine's Lovers list and leave a comment at this post HERE.
3) Tag all your special friends.
4) Please remember to update your list regularly so that you would not miss out anyone in your Valentine's Lovers list.

p/s: The wordings on this banner with automatically changed to 'Tagged with Love! xoxo' on Feb 15.

Get the code of the corner banner and the instruction on how to install it in blogger ---> HERE

Valentine's Lovers

1.A Great Pleasure 2.Time Goes By 3.Listen With Your Heart 4.Glossalicious 5. Wishing on a Falling Star 6. Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 7. Simply Shinade 8. A Simple Life 9. Mommy's Little Corner 10. Ramblings of the Phat 11. 0007 Undercover TAGMEMAWARD CAT 12. Notes by Marvic 13. Maiylah's Snippets 14. Picture Clusters 15. This is a Miracle 16. purplefrogcat 17. Also Mommy 18. Both Sides Now 19. illusionaire 20. Candles, Crafts and Whatnot 21. The Brainy Bimbo 22. Sweet Nothings 23. Turn-u-Off24. Twinkletoe Writing Space 25. Simply The Best

**end copy***

Love watching TV

My husband and I always love to watch programs in the television. This is especially true if it is his favorite soccer game. Before he goes to sleep in the evening, he spent time relaxing while watching television. There are times when he want another channel and I want to watch another channel too. First come first serve. Whoever will hold the remote first will win. If I don't win, I am just lazy to go down to our living room and watch tv. I go instead to our computer room and surf the internet. This is the reason why I found this very nice site. We only have two tvs at home.

I guess we also need to change our old ones with digital tv. The small one is not working so good anymore and we are planning to change it to flat screens. I guess Save Buckets is a good place to go. Putting into consideration about price comparison, I have seen very cheap ones at Save Buckets. Imagine for a slow as 133.00 pounds, you can already have a branded LCD TV. I can't wait to have one! Are you planning to buy one? This is a great place to go! Enjoy watching your new tvs!

Must Places To Go for Winter and Enjoy Skiing

Hi everyone! I am back!! I just remember that today is Friday the 13th. For some people today is an unlucky day. For me..I can't really tell but maybe find the same also. It is unlucky day for me because I am not feeling good the whole afternoon due to migraine. It is a lucky day because we received a good news from our mailbox. 2008 Tax refund is here. Not so much money but better as nothing...probably enough for a week vacation for two. And you know what came first to my mind....dadaaannn...a winter vacation!!..It is still winter and I believed spending sometime or somewhere for a great winter vacation is still not too late. I never experience skiing in my life. It means I don't have any skiing gadgets. I know deer valley ski rentals have a lot.

I also wish that I am in Colorado or Utah right now enjoying a winter vacation. I know this will not be possible this year anymore because I was already in the US for two months last year. If I were there this time, I should be enjoying park city ski rentals with their superb ski gadgets. Sounds exciting guys..

I am not just very sure if they deliver skiing gadgets in Europe but I know for sure that Ski Butlers delivers it right to your hotel or home in places like Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, California or British Columbia. If you need great ski gadgets, beaver creek ski rentals is always a great place to go. And talking about the must places for me to go on winter include Switzerland, Austria and these States in the US that I just mentioned. I hope my husband will agree with me. have a great evening guys!! time to relax a bit..Wait a minute, got a very nice winter photo from our garden..That was from yesterday.

WW: Tower Bridge in London

the memorable trip when I visited England.