Healthy Dinner Menu for the Week

A healthy dinner menu for the week should include a balanced variety of whole, natural foods. Each dinner should have some protein, some healthy fat, a small amount of carbohydrates, and some vegetables. This will round out your day's energy intake, and provide you with vitamins, minerals and fiber.

Young couple preparing dinner. Photo Credit George Doyle/Stockbyte/Getty Images.

Start with Seafood

ChooseMyPlate.gov recommends that you eat at least 8 ounces of cooked seafood per week. Fish and shellfish contain significant amounts of protein and healthy fats, and can be included in a versatile range of meals. Grill salmon in olive oil with lemon and herbs, and serve it with roasted vegetables and brown rice. You can skewer shelled shrimp with your favorite vegetables and barbecue them, then serve with salad greens, walnuts and balsamic vinegar.

Bring Out the Beef

Beef is high in protein, and choosing lean cuts makes it a healthy dinner option. Lean ground beef can be mixed with kidney beans, canned tomatoes and herbs for a tasty chilli con carne, topped with low-fat cheese or sour cream to get in a serving of dairy. If you have the time, roast beef and roasted vegetables served with mashed sweet potato is a filling and nutritious meal that will also likely yield tasty leftovers for the next day.

Chow Down on Chicken

Chicken is a good source of protein, and it is lower in saturated fat than many other meats, particularly if you cook the breast without the skin. Dice chicken breast with your favorite vegetables, then stir-fry them in reduced-fat coconut milk and spices and serve over brown rice for a tasty main course. Or shred cooked chicken breast and combine with eggs, mushrooms, spinach and low-fat cheese for a tasty and nutritious dinner omelette.

Layer On the Legumes

If you are vegetarian, or if you want to avoid eating meat every day, legumes are another excellent source of protein. You can whip up lentils, spices and some pureed vegetables into a hearty dahl, served with crusty whole-grain bread. Or you can mash up black beans and kidney beans, then mix them with herbs, slivered onion and egg whites to make healthy burger patties. Serve with tomato, lettuce and beetroot on whole-grain buns or tortillas.

www.livestrong.com

Inexpensive Ways to Get Rid of Deep Wrinkles Around the Mouth

Overview

You don't have to pay for expensive professional treatments to reduce the appearance of deep wrinkles around your mouth. You can make a few lifestyle changes or try natural or over-the-counter remedies to get rid of deep skin wrinkles. The treatments may take a bit of effort, but you'll save money and avoid time-consuming and possibly painful visits to the dermatologist.

A woman is applying moisturizer to her skin. Photo Credit sdeva/iStock/Getty Images.

Lifestyle Changes

MayoClinic.com states that smoking can create deep wrinkles around your mouth and speed up your skin's natural aging process. Stop smoking to prevent deep wrinkles from forming or getting worse. Sun exposure can also lead to wrinkles around your mouth. If you go out in the sun, apply sunblock to your face to prevent the sun's ultraviolet rays from worsening your wrinkles or creating new wrinkles around your mouth.

Home Remedies

Purchase grape seed extract at any health food store and use the extract topically to treat your deep facial wrinkles. Grape seed extract has natural antioxidant properties and can help restore elasticity to your wrinkled skin. Massage the grape seed extract into your deep wrinkles daily to keep your skin looking young.

Topical Treatments

Choose an over-the-counter anti-wrinkle cream to treat the deep wrinkles around your mouth. Over-the-counter creams can be more affordable than prescription medications or professional treatments. MayoClinic.com states that some wrinkle creams can reduce the appearance of facial wrinkles. Look for topical creams that contain beneficial ingredients that reduce deep wrinkles such as retinol, alpha hydroxy acids, coenzyme Q10 or kinetin. Don't think you have to spend a lot to get the best wrinkle cream. Inexpensive wrinkle creams can be just as helpful in reducing wrinkles as more expensive creams.

Exercises

One of the most affordable ways to get rid of deep wrinkles around your mouth is to perform face-tightening exercises. The Genius Beauty website recommends standing in front of the mirror and performing facial exercises for 15 minutes every day to reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Start by stretching your mouth as wide as you can, as if saying "cheese." Hold the position for two seconds, then pucker your lips together tightly so that your lips almost touch your nose. Hold this pose for two seconds, then stretch your mouth back into the "cheese" position. After two seconds, stretch your lips forward and down, as if saying the word "go." Hold for two seconds, then relax. Repeat the entire routine 20 times.

wwww.livestrong.com

Popular Woodworking Magazine 1995-1999

THE WOODWORKING DESIGN COLLECTION - ONLY 69 LEFT !

Format: CD 

Five Years of Pure Woodworking Information!

With more than 2,000 pages, this CD includes a huge range of project plans in a variety of styles (bookcases, tables of all sizes, chests and many more!), essential technique instruction and so much more.

You’ll discover:

■  250+ plans for furniture, jigs, toys and more. Step-by-step instruction and drawings for good-looking beginner builds to masterpiece projects.

■  Shop projects including workbenches and tool-storage cabinets, tool stands and more.

■  Essential technique instruction in power- and hand-tool approaches for common operations, plus finishing advice, design instruction and more

■  And so much more!

BONUS: You also get “Exercises in Wood-Working” – a PDF version of this essential 1889 book in hand-tool instruction, with 39 hand-tool exercises and instruction, plus chapters on hardware installation, framing, wooden boats and more!

With 5 years of Popular Woodworking Magazine, this data CD is packed with thousands of pages of woodworking information. Browse a table of contents for each issue in a single document, and simply click to open a full issue. 

All files are in PDF format, so they’ll work on almost any computer (PC or Macintosh) and can be viewed with Acrobat Reader 8.0 (a free program).

SKU	U5542
Format	CD
ISBN 13	9781440330940

For further information log on website :

http://www.shopwoodworking.com/the-art-of-spoon-carving-dvd?source=igodigital

The Benefits of Massage for Stress

Overview

Stress occurs when a situation, event or thought becomes threatening, worrisome or anxiety-provoking. A small dose of stress is normal, healthy and helps people achieve goals and meet deadlines. According to the National Institute of Health, chronic stress causes anxiety, depression and heart disease. Massage is an effective form of stress reduction and management--it provides physical and psychological benefits that counter the symptoms of stress.

Massages reduce stress levels. Photo Credit LWA/Dann Tardif/Blend Images/Getty Images.

Triggers the Body's Relaxation Response

The emergency stress response, or the "flight-or-fight" response, is the body's physical reaction to stress. Stress elevates the heart rate, increases muscular tension, breathing rate and feelings of anxiety. Dr. Herbert Benson, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, has researched how to elicit the body's relaxation response, the opposite physical reaction of the emergency stress response. Massage promotes the relaxation response--heart rate decelerates, breathing rate slows and muscles relax.

Lowers Blood Pressure

According to the American Heart Association, research does not directly link high blood pressure with stress. However, AHA states that many behaviors that accompany stress elevate blood pressure: poor eating habits, inactivity, smoking, a high-sodium diet and high alcohol intake. A 2005 study conducted by the University of South Florida found that participants who received 10 massages over the course of three weeks experienced drops in blood pressure. Participants who did not get massages did not see changes in blood pressure. According to a Sept. 4, 2008, Newsweek article titled "Five Surprising Benefits of Massage," massage activates pressure points linked to the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve regulates blood pressure--stimulation helps lower and maintain a healthy blood pressure level.

Reduces Muscular Tension

According to Help Guide, a mental health nonprofit, Shiatsu massage and Swedish massage promote overall relaxation and encourage muscular relaxation. Headaches, jaw pain, shoulder and neck tension are common symptoms of stress. Massage breaks up lactic acid and other points of discomfort that are symptomatic of stress.

Provides Immediate Relief

While getting a massage provides immediate relief, self-massage techniques also alleviate stress symptoms. Massaging yourself relaxes your muscles and your mind. For example, close your eyes and place your fingers under your eyebrows. Applying slight pressure for five to 10 seconds helps reduce headaches and facial pain. Relieve shoulder pain by rubbing in circular motions on your shoulder blades. Relieve jaw pain by pressing your thumbs behind your ears. Applying pressure in slow, circular motions helps loosen up tight muscles that occur because of clenching or grinding the teeth--two behaviors associated with stress.

www.livestrong.com

Working Wood 3: The Cabinet Maker's Workshop An Artisan Course

THE WOODWORKING DESIGN COLLECTION - ONLY 69 LEFT !

By Simon James

Format: Paperback 

Working Wood 3 is part of the Artisan course of books and accompanying DVDs providing clear and inspiring woodwork teaching for all skills levels. Series 3 is all about getting your workshop set up for cabinet making with a great array of shop-made jigs and devices; learning the set up and use of many specialist tools, and developing a range of new woodworking skills and techniques. 

Simon James brings a fresh perspective in woodwork teaching. One that is firmly based on the skills and techniques from the past, but with a passion to communicate them to a modern audience, with some fresh new insights. Always with a pragmatic approach, to find the best way to work with, and integrate, a few modern machines with traditional hand tool methods.

In its 414 pages, Working Wood 3 covers:

• Setting Out Tools
• Edge Tools, including skew chisels, pattern maker's router, cutting gauges, match pairs of cutters, inlay slot cutter, cabinet maker's float, scratch stocks
• Planes for Cabinet Making, including No.7 try plane, Wooden try plane, block plane, badgers
Specialist Planes, including wooden and metal rebate planes, moving fillister plane, set up and tuning on Stanley No.78, and rebating methods and trouble shooting
• Grooving & Plow Planes, including wooden plough planes, metal plough planes, restoration, methods and teqchniques + larger rebate planes
• Moulding Planes, including methods of molding, use of hollows and rounds, and plane restoration
• Sharpening Curved Plane Irons
• General Workholding Devices, including saw horses, clamp bar guides, caul clamps and vice jaw protectors
• Bench Workholding Devices, including adjustable bench dogs, bench hold downs, extra bench leg, sticking boards, long bench clamp
• Other Devices, including diagonal sticks, shooting stick, winding sticks and sliding dovetail jigs
• Tapered sliding dovetail joint, how to cut these accurately by hand
• Shooting Boards, including miter and bevel boards
• Glues, Finishes, Solvents and Fillers

About the Author

Simon James, lives and works in the foothills of Snowdonia National Park, in North Wales. He has a 'no nonsense', practical approach to woodworking, and working out of a small workshop, his reputation for quality workmanship grew to the point that he took on apprentices, instilling the need for genuine care and attention to detail in every project. Teaching and training became a passion, leading to an educational degree in Design and Technology, where he naturally specialized in woodwork. He then went on to teach woodworking in Romania for five years, before returning to Wales 10 years ago.

SKU	T8849
Author/Speaker/Editor	Simon James
File/Trim Size	8.5 x 11
Format	Paperback
ISBN 13	9780956967312
Number Of Pages	414

For further information log on website :

http://www.shopwoodworking.com/working-wood-3?source=igodigital

Healthy Unprocessed Lunch Choices

A busy daily schedule might mean that you don't have a lot of time to prepare lunch -- but you can make nutritious meals from unprocessed ingredients that are also easy to make. Many common lunch options, such as canned soup, deli meats and fast food sandwiches, are highly processed -- but other unprocessed foods offer convenient, appetizing lunch options. Keeping nutritious options in mind can enable you to plan a lunch that doesn't have as many preservatives and additives as you would find in more processed foods.

Hard-boiled eggs provide provide lutein and iron.Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images.

Stay Fresh With a Green Salad

Fruits and vegetables are low in calories, but they are good sources of dietary fiber and eating more of them can help lower your risk of gaining weight. A green salad gives you the opportunity to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Use spinach leaves, lettuce or mixed greens as a base. Then, add raw vegetables such as cucumbers, onions or cherry tomatoes. Fruit, such as diced apples or pears, grapes or berries, adds natural sweetness. Cooked chicken breast and shrimp are unprocessed sources of protein. To avoid processed salad dressings, make your own vinaigrette with olive oil, red wine or balsamic vinegar and herbs, such as thyme, basil or oregano.

Make Your Own Soup

Canned and boxed soups can be high in sodium, but you can make your own soup with unprocessed ingredients. Instead of using commercially prepared broth or bouillon, make your soup base with chicken or beef bones, celery, carrots, bay leaves, onions and rosemary. Then, add the remainder of the ingredients for your soup. Make minestrone soup with kidney beans, tomatoes, green beans and bulgur, or try split-pea soup with barley. Instead of using canned beans, use dried beans, peas or lentils.

Prepare a Grain Dish in Advance

Cook a whole grain and make a cold salad with it a couple of days before you need it. Choose unprocessed whole grains such as bulgur, barley, quinoa, whole-wheat couscous and brown rice. Whole grains provide dietary fiber, magnesium and potassium, and consuming them instead of eating processed, refined grains can lower your risk for heart disease, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. Make tabbouleh with bulgur, parsley and tomatoes; mix brown rice with kidney beans, almonds, bell pepper and broccoli; or, try faro with chicken breast and beets. Eat your salad with baby carrots or cherry tomatoes and have fruit for dessert.

Turn Unprocessed Snacks Into Lunch

Snack foods can be the quickest options when you do not have much time to prepare or eat lunch. Hard-boiled eggs, raw vegetables, fresh fruit, air-popped popcorn, cooked chicken and nuts are examples of healthy, unprocessed foods. Other foods to consider are all-natural peanut butter or homemade hummus as a dip or spread. Avoid processed snacks such as potato chips, candy bars, sandwich crackers and cookies.

Additional Considerations

Not all processed foods are unhealthy. Non-fat yogurt and low-fat cheese, for example, are sources of calcium, protein and vitamin B-12. Yogurt also provides probiotics, which are bacteria that live in your gut and may provide health benefits such as preventing diarrhea. Canned tuna is a convenient source of protein as well as of omega-3 fats, which can reduce the risk for heart disease and blood pressure, according to the University of Michigan. Roasted, unsalted nuts provide heart-healthy fats and dietary fiber.

www.livestrong.com

Measurement of mechanical and physical properties of particleboard by hybridization of kenaf with rubberwood particles

ScienceDirect
Measurement

October 2014, Vol.56:70–80, doi:10.1016/j.measurement.2014.06.019

• M.T. Paridah ^a,
• A.H. Juliana ^a
• Y.A. El-Shekeil ^b
• M. Jawaid ^a,c,,,
• O.Y. Alothman ^c

• aDepartment of Biocomposite Technology, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
• bDepartment of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
• cDepartment of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Received 19 February 2014. Revised 2 June 2014. Accepted 17 June 2014. Available online 27 June 2014.

Highlights

• •
  Kenaf is an alternative potential raw materials for particleboard manufacturing.
• •
  Kenaf–RW blends particleboard manufactured at different RW loading and resin level.
• •
  Statistical analysis using ANOVA and LSD were conducted on the obtained results.
• •
  Particleboards made of 70:30 (RW:KS) with 10% resin shows over all good properties.

Abstract

Kenaf is one of the potential raw materials available in Malaysia to use for particleboard manufacturing as an alternative solution to balance shortage of rubberwood (RW) supply. In this study, particleboard manufactured from kenaf stem (KS) and RW particle blends at different RW loading (0%, 50%, 70%, 100%) and resin levels (6%, 8%, 10%). Urea formaldehyde resin is used as a binder. The effects of RW:KS ratio and resin content on mechanical and dimensional stability properties of hybrid particleboard were determined. The results indicated that particleboards bonded with 10% resin level and 50:50 (RW:KS) had the highest strength (19.08 MPa) while particleboards made of 70:30 (RW:KS) display better stiffness (2.23 GPa). Statistical analysis using ANOVA and LSD were conducted on the obtained results. The results show that RW:KS ratio has greater influence over thickness swelling (TS) and water absorption (WA) of particleboard than the level of resin content. The relationship between internal bonding (IB) and TS of particleboards were also examined and obtained strong inverse relationship between IB and TS. Hybrid particleboards made from 70% RW and 30% KS with 10% resin content display over all good properties and comparable with 100% RW (control) samples. It concluded that kenaf stem can replace rubberwood particles up to 50% but the resin level must be kept at 10% or more because lower resin level (⩽8%) significantly decrease strength of the particleboard.

Keywords

• Rubberwood
• Kenaf
• Particleboard
• Mechanical properties
• Dimensional stability

---

 Table 1

Table 1.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

 Table 2

Table 2.

 Table 3

Table 3.

 Table 4

Table 4.

Fig. 6.

Fig. 7.

 Table 5

Table 5.

Fig. 8.

 Table 6

Table 6.

 Table 7

Table 7.

 Table 8

Table 8.

 Table 9

Table 9.

Fig. 9.

Fig. 10.

 Table 10

Table 10.

Fig. 11.

Fig. 12.

• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author at: Department of Biocomposite Technology, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Tel.: +603 89466960; fax: +603 89471896.

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

For further details log on website :

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263224114002802