Use Words to Express Appreciation

"The deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated." noted 19th- century psychologist William James. Perhaps we value words of appreciation so highly because so much of what we do seems to go unnoticed. Often our hard work and sincere effort is taken for granted.

One woman, who has taught for 25 years, recalls the delightful experience delivered to her by a fifth-grade boy. She had spent the day as a substitute teacher. When the school day was over she was sitting at the front of the classroom making notes for the regular teacher. Once of the students approached  her and quietly waited. "I looked up, smiled and asked, 'Yes, Jeff?'" she recalls. To her amazement the boy said: "I'd like to thank you for being such a nice substitute teacher. I really appreciated your kindness."

The teacher says, "I was totally surprised-and pleased-to hear such words from a fifth-grade boy! I felt a warmth wash over me from my head to my toes as I scrambled for a response. His words left a glow in my heart that is with me even today, many months later."

Can Food Cause Disease?

Much of our money is spent eating out. Our good is processed, refined, concentrated,sugared,salted and chemically engineered to produce high calorie, low nutrient taste sensations. Our cattle are fattened in feedlots without exercise and with antibiotics and growth enhancers. The result: bigger cattle producing juicer steaks containing nearly twice the fat as range-fed cattle. And we are paying dearly for these advancements. While we eat to live, what we eat is killing us.

The statistics are pretty convincing. One hundred years ago, a small percentage of our people died from coronary hear disease and strokes. Today it's triple or maybe quadruple that figure. That's also true with those who died of cancer.

This isn't nature's way. We weren't meant to die in such numbers of hear attacks, strokes, diabetes, and colon and breast cancer. Significant cardiovascular disease began to emerge sometime ago. Soon it became really rampant as people could afford diets rich in animal products, and when the food industry began producing highly processed foods crammed with calories and emptied of nutrition.

Smoking's Effects on Weight Minimal

Up to one third of university women who begin smoking do so in a misguided effort to lose weight. The tobacco industry even names cigarettes "thins" and "slims," trying to sway weight-conscious young women. But now a new study shows that for people under 30, smoking does not prevent age-related weight gain. A seven-year project followed almost 4,000 people age 18-10 and revealed no significant difference in the amount of weight gained by nonsmokers compared to those who smoked for all or part of the study length. -Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.