Blog Posts by Tips on Healthy Living

As a pregnant woman, you'll have to make lots of decisions about your care and eventual delivery. It helps to understand your basic rights. From The Boston Women's Health Book Collective's Our Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era

In the United States today, essential health care is not guaranteed for all women and infants, nor are scientific data about best maternity care practices consistently applied in maternity care services. More important, women are not routinely given complete information about the benefits and risks of drugs, tests, or treatments. Often we are unaware of our legal right to make health care choices for ourselves and our babies.

The statement below, adapted from the Maternity Center Association, outlines a set of basic rights for childbearing women. It applies widely accepted human rights to the specific situation of maternity care. Most of these rights are granted to women in the United States by law, yet they are not always honored.

Store shelves are lined with a dizzying array of shampoos, conditioners and styling products. Hair replacement surgeon Susan Craig Scott, author of The Hair Bible, tells you how to pick -- and even make -- the best ones for your type.

SHAMPOO
Ask yourself what specific benefits your hair type requires. Is your hair dry or damaged? Does it need more or less conditioning? Should you choose a clarifying shampoo to strip away residue that can build up on hair? Do you like the fragrance? Do you want a shampoo that will make your hair shine? Ingredients like macadamia nut, olive, jojoba oil, or shea butter have been used for years to give hair a shiny coat. Two-in-one shampoos are another option and ideal for women who want to save time, money, and space in their gym bags.

Make your own: Skip the soap, which can dry both the hair and scalp and may contain chemicals that penetrate the bloodstream through hair follicles. Instead, add a few drops of lemon juice to your regular

The Apprentice's Carolyn Kepcher describes how to become the ideal job candidate, from her book, Carolyn 101: Business Lessons from The Apprentice's Straight Shooter.

Put yourself in the place of the contestants on The Apprentice. I can't tell you how many letters and e-mails I get asking, "How can I get hired by The Trump Organization?" It isn't easy, but I will be happy to give you some tips on what I think makes a good potential hiree. Let's begin our seminar on the hiring process from the beginning.

Every new hire is a stab in the dark based on a remarkably slim body of evidence: an application, a résumé, a reference, an interview, most of which take only minutes, if not seconds, of our time. Unlike in the world of The Apprentice, in my office I don't have thirteen weeks in which to make up my mind about you. I will expend whole minutes -- as opposed to seconds -- only on candidates who, based on a good first impression and strong credentials, seem capable of making it

Shield yourself from stress with this simple meditation technique from Baron Baptiste, author of Journey Into Power: How to Sculpt Your Ideal Body, Free Your True Self, and Transform Your Life With Yoga.

Putting on Your Spiritual Armor
I try to meditate every morning and evening. When I don't, I feel it. My days just feel different. I feel less effective, less connected, more easily frustrated by little things, unable to see options. Something is just missing. But when I start my day by sitting quietly for at least ten or fifteen minutes, I've centered myself. It's like putting on spiritual armor that gives me protection from the stresses of life.

As I sit still, I'm reversing the flow of energy so that it comes from the inside out, rather than from the outside in. I know that when I start reaching for everything out there in the world -- all the distractions and temptations -- I am allowing the energy to flow from the outside in. I start to soak it up like a sponge.

Three things to consider when you begin dating someone, from Become Your Own Matchmaker by Patti Stanger, star of The Millionaire Matchmaker

Chemistry. Does he make your heart pound and your toes curl? When you're alone in bed at night, do you replay all his tender touches, the words he used to make your heart melt? At the end of a date, do you want to rip his pants off and have your way with him right there on the doorstep? If, however, you don't feel this way yet, don't worry. Remember, women are like Crock-Pots, they heat up slowly, and men are like microwaves, instantly ready to go. As long as you think he's cute and you have fun with him, he's a contender.

Compatibility. How do you "roll" together? Are you comfortable with silence? Do you feel constant pressure to prove yourself to him, or does he make you feel like you're perfect the way you are? Do you "get" each other? How do your energy levels match up? Do you love/hate the same things? Compatibility basically means

Laura Corn, author of Passport to Pleasure: Secret Sealed Seductions for Fun-Loving Couples, has a sweet idea to charm your man.

Here's how I think it started:
Caveman comes home, exhausted from another long day of hunting. The mastodon got away, and one of the other cavemen made fun of him -- "You throw spear like girl!" -- so he's a little cranky. He's wishing someone would hurry up and invent television. And beer. Cave romance is the last thing on his mind.

His cave spouse wants to show him the cool thing she gathered today with the other cave girls. It's a beehive, all nice and de-beed, and she's very excited about it, but she can tell he's just feigning interest to be polite. Suddenly, the hive breaks open. Honey spills out, making a mess all over the cave girl. At first they laugh about it, but then the cave guy gets an idea and starts to lick the honey off her skin.

And that was it. That was the invention of oral sex.

Honeylingus, in the old language.

Patricia Love, author of The Truth About Love: The Highs, the Lows, and How You Can Make It Last Forever, shares tips from couples who have managed to keep their sex life enticing through the years.

Sex often plays a vital role in reconnecting couples, but there is not enough said or written about the importance of it in long term relationships. Most of the hype is about new love, but the best life has to offer comes from true love. Public opinion is so slanted that we've been programmed to believe that deterioration of our sex life is endemic after the first two years of a relationship. However, this doesn't have to be the case, and it is not for millions of couples.

Lovemaking wanes when it takes a back seat. Time pressure from work, domestic responsibilities, commuting, and social commitments make it a challenge to find quiet, private moments with a partner. Nevertheless, if you are too busy for sex -- maybe you are just too busy.

So what can we learn from the

Maximize your body's biology and chemistry to strengthen your relationship. Learn how from Drs. Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz, the authors of YOU: Being Beautiful: The Owner's Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty.

It may seem a little odd for us to be making recommendations about how to improve your love life and your sex life. While we're not in the business of recommending battery-operated toys or suggesting that you transform your favorite yoga position into a newfangled sex position, we are certainly able to tell you how you can maximize your body's biology and chemistry to strengthen your relationships.

Reinvent Your Relationship. Many couples gradually grow apart and have to reconnect. Why? A woman marries a man because she appreciates his potential and then tries to adjust him to fulfill this potential. Conversely, a man marries a woman who is exactly what he wants, and then she goes off and changes. So in effect, as soon as you fall in love, both of you start racing