Can playing music to your baby or young child make her smarter? That was the claim of the much-hyped “Mozart Effect” several years ago, but the truth isn’t exactly black and white. Certainly, music is a great complement for stimulating babies’ brains and teaching toddlers vocabulary, but the jury’s out…
Gimme, gimme, gimme. If that refrain sounds familiar, then you may have a materialistic kid. With all the online and television ads — not to mention peer pressure — that bombard kids every day with the coolest, trendiest toys, it’s no wonder kids want more and more stuff. If your…
While our breasts are private parts, hidden under clothes all day long, they have a strong effect on how we’re viewed by the world. The size and shape of breasts make a difference in how our clothes fit, how our bodies feel, and how we feel about ourselves. Body type…
There are a few adjectives we associate with high-heeled shoes, whether they’re pumps, wedges, platforms or sandals: sexy, confident, hot. But you may not think of these descriptions: painful, dangerous and health hazards. Heels have always been in style, but women who wear them a lot are prone to some…
Many couples rely on the good, old-fashioned pull-out, or withdrawal, method for contraception. It’s common practice for people whose religions eschew birth control or those who also rely on the rhythm method. The withdrawal method entails the man pulling his penis out of the vagina before ejaculating. Ideally, it keeps…
Food & Recipes / Healthy Bytes
An important factor in being a good cook is to understand how to properly measure ingredients. With many recipes, the correct measurement of ingredients can either make or break a recipe. This is especially true in baking where every tiny teaspoon counts! There was a time when cookbooks did not…
I had just spent an hour with my trainer Rusty lifting weights, run 35 minutes on the treadmill, taken my Dalmatian Lucy for a vigorous 40-minute walk, and then driven to the YMCA for an hour-long stretch class. Exhausted, I had to ask why exercise was ruling my life. I…
It’s not fair that guilt became so intertwined with motherhood, but almost every mother suffers from maternal guilt about something she does or does not do. In our culture, motherhood is so loaded with expectations of perfection that it’s impossible to live up to the standard. That doesn’t mean we…
Much has been said about the health benefits of soy. Soy is a complete protein — the only non-animal product to boast that claim — and it benefits cholesterol, lowering levels of LDL, the “bad” cholesterol, and raising HDL, or “good” cholesterol. Its high calcium levels contribute to bone health,…
Want the blow-by-blow on how to get hair that looks like it’s been blown out at a salon? Here’s the way to get that great, professional-looking blowout look. Start by washing and conditioning hair, being careful to leave just a little conditioner residue in hair – this helps smooth down…