lifestyle tips: Lifestyle tops list when buying a home

lifestyle tips: Lifestyle tops list when buying a home: "PURCHASING a new home is one of the most exciting yet challenging tasks that people undertake. There are so many things running through..."

Lifestyle tops list when buying a home

PURCHASING a new home is one of the most exciting yet challenging tasks that people undertake.
There are so many things running through your head about accessability, costs, suitablility of the dwelling for the period of time you intend to live in it, and the quality of your overall investment.
The best advice I was ever given, just before buying my new home, was to keep lifestyle front and centre. It is the most predominant factor that should determine the choice of where you live.
Of course, you are purchasing a dwelling as an investment. Everyone expects that their housing investment will achieve capital gains in the short to medium term, and having those capital gains invested in a dwelling is a lifestyle choice just as much as having a savings plan.
However, short term gains associated with boom property times (such as in the early 2000s) would not be a wise ongoing expectation, nor would sacrificing your lifestyle in the hope of a quick windfall gain.
The location, price and other localised factors are also very significant. In general, new estates, and newer developments have been constructed with significantly higher building standards, in desirable locations and with modern lifestyle expectations in mind.
Choose wisely and carefully, ensuring that you ask questions about building standards and the unique circumstances associated with the area in which you are planning to buy. Further advice frequently given is to carefully examine the costs associated with your choice of dwelling (eg running costs).
With utilities charges for water and electricity seemingly going through the roof, these are obvious areas where you can consider whether the property has a rainwater tank linked to toilets, for example, whether there is a solar hot water system, and perhaps whether photovoltaic cells that generate electricity have been provided for your dwelling.
It is a well-known fact that modern homes perform significantly better by way of reducing living costs than do the vast majority of existing homes.
So, in conclusion, while making this important choice, try not to get swept away with the emotion (sometimes stress), or the pressure which can be felt when your situation may have become more urgent. Explore the history of the area, and the locality, and the street in which you plan to live. Question carefully whether it will meet all of your lifestyle needs for the period of time you intend to live there and finally, explore the costs of being a homeowner in this new age of changing lifestyles and expectations.

Unhealthy diet ups heart risk for obese teens

A new study has revealed that obese teens may feel healthy, but blood tests show they have inflammation, insulin resistance, and high homocysteine levels.

"The metabolic abnormalities suggest that the process of developing heart disease has already started in these children, making it critical for them to make definitive lifestyle and diet changes," said Ashutosh Lal, senior author of the study and a pediatric hematologist at the Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland in California.

Researchers compared the diets and blood test results of 33 obese youths (ages 11 to 19) with 19 age-matched youths of normal weight.

Blood tests revealed that the obese teens had:
1 C-reactive protein levels almost ten times higher than controls, indicating more inflammation in the body.
2 Insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes, with greater amounts of insulin needed to keep blood sugar levels normal.
3 Homocysteine levels 62 per cent higher than controls. High levels of the amino acid homocysteine are related to greater heart disease risk.
4 Total glutathione levels 27.9 per cent lower than controls, with oxidized glutathione levels 125 per cent higher, indicating oxidative stress. This in turn leads to more inflammation and an increase in blood vessel damage and stiffening.

"Looking at the numbers you would think these children might feel sick, but they did not," Lal said. "They are apparently feeling well, but there is a lot going on beneath the surface."

The obese children's diets were lower in potassium, vitamin C, vitamin D, and vitamin A, found in fortified dairy products and as well as in deeply colored fruits and vegetables.

lifestyle tips: Simple entertaining at home

lifestyle tips: Simple entertaining at home: "ENJOY a night of fine wine and food without having to worry about paying the bill at the end of the evening. How? Host an event in the..."

Simple entertaining at home

ENJOY a night of fine wine and food without having to worry about paying the bill at the end of the evening.
How?  Host an event in the comfort of your own home.
The idea of inviting guests into your home, whether it's for a formal dinner, barbecue or to celebrate a special event, can seem overwhelming.
But Juliet Love, who is a stylist, interior designer and host of the Lifestyle Channel's TV show The Party Garden, said the effort could be a lot of fun.
"Sometimes people let the 'stress' of holding an event in their own home interfere with their enjoyment of the process," Ms Love said.
"With good planning, hosting an event at home does not need to be stressful at all.
"My advice to those wanting to entertain at home is always the same: have fun with it."
Preparing the home and feeding a crowd of guests can sound expensive but Ms Love said most people were surprised to hear that the process did not have to be costly.
"You just need to be a little inventive and well-organised.  Research recipes that you can prepare in advance and ones that will feed lots of hungry mouths, have friends assist by bringing something to contribute - punch or dessert for example," she said.
"Some of the best events I have been to haven't been the ones with the biggest budget.  it's all about the atmosphere."
For those on a budget, Ms Love said working out a theme first and sticking to one or two colours to co-ordinate was a great way to cut costs.
"Use inexpensive fabric in a clever way: that is, as tablecloths, to drape walls or to wrap around glass jam jars with pretty ribbon to hold flowers or cutlery.  If you use the same fabric across those elements, it will all tie together.  Candles are also an inexpensive way to add impact to an event in the evening.  Candles lit enmass on tables, in hanging lanterns or lined up pathways look very pretty and are cost-effective," Ms Love advised.
She said party hosts should also pay attention to detail and 'create a welcoming environment' for your guests.
"Make an effort with invitations and decor, and tie all of your elements together - from colour scheme and music, food and beverages.  Guests will notice these touches and appreciate the work that has gone into them," Ms Love said.
She said de-cluttering and spring cleaning the house to have it looking its best, being a gracious, well-organised host, using background music to add atmosphere, plus great food and wine were all vital to successful entertaining at home.
The owner of Noosa's The Cooking Company and Food by The Cooking Company, Jeroo Pavri, said cooking for a crowd did not have to cost a fortune.
Learning how to cook cheaper cuts of meat well was one tip Ms Pavri gave.
"With the economy the way it is, a lot of chefs are going back to cheaper cuts of meat," Ms Pavri said.
To help save time in the kitchen and help avoid experiencing stress mode before any home entertaining event, Ms Pavri listed some must-have cookware items.
She said a Kitchen Aid mixer was a useful appliance to have in the kitchen, especially for those who enjoy baking.  She said the Kitchen Aid mixer could be used for a number of different purposes, from creating desserts to making pizza dough.
Ms Pavri said a quality set of knives was another kitchen essential.  She named Kasumi knives as a great buy and, although they may cost a little more than others, a good set of knives would last at least 10 to 15 years.
As a fan of slow-cooking, Ms Pavri said Le Creuset's cast iron cookware was also handy to own, as well as a MicroPlane grater and a quality anodised frypan.

Exercising with a friend can boost your drive

More than two years ago, the Oakville, Ont. resident decided to get moving.
"I wanted to get into some sort of shape," said Roach. "I'd gone for a physical and my doctor told me I needed to stop gaining weight. The most exercise I was getting at that point was walking around a mall."
Running seemed to be the easiest way to get a good cardiovascular workout and so she opened her front door and headed out.
Her enthusiasm soon evaporated.
"If it was raining or cold or I didn't feel like it, I wouldn't go. As a result, I wasn't getting better."
But rather than give up, Roach called her friend Marian McCabe and together they joined a running group. The friends continue to run three times a week to this day and have added a core conditioning class to their exercise regimen.

There is a growing body of research illustrating the importance of social networks in affecting eating and physical behaviours, says Diane Finegood, professor of kinesiology at Simon Fraser University in B.C.
"Perhaps the best work on the topic is a longitudinal study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007 that found that behaviours relevant to obesity can be influenced by friends."
"It's not a completely new idea. There has been different work around the social facilitation of eating, so that when you eat with friends it affects what you eat. The obesity work speaks to the outcome, not the behaviours. But logically, it's the behaviours that ultimately determine energy balance and energy balance ultimately determines weight, and so there must be some impact.
"But a whole host of things in our environment affect energy balance: media, the neighbourhoods we live in, advertising, how much we commute. That is the backdrop. So if we exercise with a friend is that a good thing? My answer is, for some people it probably is, for others it isn't."
McCabe said exercising with her friend makes her accountable and serves as motivation.
"I find exercising with a friend really motivates me," she said. "On those nights when my energy is low, I know left to my own devices I'd probably miss a run. But because I know Denise will be there, I go anyway and I'm always happy I do. I feel great after a workout. In a way, exercising with a friend builds in a layer of accountability because you don't want to let the other person down."
But other people are more successful exercising on their own. When she was in her 40s, Finegood weighed 250 pounds and made the decision to live a more healthy lifestyle - but she did it without involving anyone else.
She lost 70 pounds and has kept it off.
"I don't like exercising with others because I need to set my pace and behaviour for myself and not to measure against what other people are doing. The fear of being engaged with somebody else in that exercise, and how I will feel because I compare myself to them, has too negative a connotation for me. So I don't want to go there.
"I think the take-home message here is that for some people exercising with a friend is a great thing, for others it's not. The challenge lies in figuring out how to help people have healthy behaviours."
Simon Fraser University professor Diane Finegood suggest these strategies to build exercise into a healthy lifestyle.
* Think about developing a healthier lifestyle by shrinking the challenge into small behaviour changes. The prevalent message about losing weight is driven by the weight loss industry: just follow their plan and you will have success. That's the wrong message because it leads to failure. Understand specifically what is influencing you the most and work on that piece of the problem. * Start the journey of becoming more active by determining how active you are now. If you are not at all physically active, start using a pedometer. It will track how many steps you take in a day.
* Set a reasonable, small, sustainable goal as a starting point. Finegood went from taking 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day to 10,000 to 12,500. As she added more steps, she developed new strategies. She suggests taking the stairs instead of the escalator; parking the car further to help you hit your goal; once you've done that, expand the goal.

lifestyle tips: Dog owners lead healthier lifestyle, study shows

lifestyle tips: Dog owners lead healthier lifestyle, study shows: "People who have pet dog are found to be healthier compared to those who do not own dog for a pet. The new study by Michigan State ..."

Dog owners lead healthier lifestyle, study shows

People who have pet dog are found to be healthier compared to those who do not own dog for a pet.  The new study by Michigan State University revealed healthier lifestyle among dog owners than non dog-owners.
According to the study, dog owners are able to spend 30 minutes on the average taking their dogs out for a walk or a short run. This improves the pet owners’ activity level and allows them to follow a regular exercise program.
For five days a week, dog owners are able to spend half an hour which gives them an edge over others.  The study also claims that owners of dog are 34% more likely to achieve their exercise target.
The US public health department has suggested a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise per week. This study supports the health campaign of the department in that it has made it certain that keeping a dog increases the probability of following regular exercise.
Dr. Matthew Reeves from Michigan State University responded to the study by claiming that there is no magic formula to achieve the target.  He stressed, however, that having a dog results in significant affirmative results.
Dog owners have significant edge over others, but Dr Reeves claims that there are many who still follow their strict discipline to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The lifestyle of the rich and not-so famous

I am almost 40 and live in Las Vegas, a great city to be in when about to hit midlife. Let me explain – reminisce when you fell in love for the first time, now picture that you were in Paris for that milestone in your life. There, I just gave you an ‘ah-ha’ moment, Paris is to love what Vegas is to midlife, or better still midlife crises.
Vegas is a fabulous city, it promises and delivers a great time sans guilt. We Las Vegans believe and live by our city’s popular slogan, `what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,’ and expect our visitors to live by the same rules. The casinos, vibrant nightlife and the most expensive retail mile in the world make it attractive to the bold and the not-so beautiful. Therein Hollywood, thanks to its proximity, and Pakistanis, thanks to their shauqiniat, all make great use of what surrounds them. There is truth to this statement, I once spotted Jennifer Lopez shopping at LVL, Michael Jackson – when he was alive – was seen shopping at Versace, Mike Tyson lives down a few blocks from me, I sat next to Harry Reid, the senate majority leader, touched Bill Clinton’s shoulder, nothing scandalous I assure you, had lunch with Imran Khan, and as for Shaukat Aziz, I had tea with him a few weeks ago. Name dropping, Vegas style!
The city houses grandiosity, opulence and a complete show of money – that is just the nature of the beast – and if one chooses to live with and love Godzilla, one has to keep Godzilla happy. Cue for the Pakistani-American community, a perfect blend of beauty and the beast.
The Pakistani-American community here is affluent and influential, it rubs shoulder with scholars, politicians and powerful old-time mob lawyers, and therefore the chances of hosting the good, the bad and the ugly all at one event are always possible. There are fundraisers almost every other month, if not every month. Granted, some are held to increase the much needed legitimate communication between American politicians and the local Pakistani community, but there are many who entertain the powerful to gain personal glory and a one-up on their neighbour.
Not to put the local community down, it appears that immigrants all over the world behave in a similar fashion, they leave their home to achieve a dream and a few decades down find themselves in a nightmare called the rat race. The wise Englishman worded it so aptly, `remember, even if you win the race you are still a rat’.
Who has the bigger house complete with plush European car? Check to the European car. Which private school do your children attend? Check. Any international trips during the spring, summer and winter break? Summer, check. Isn’t it time you bought a bigger
home? Who has more handbags and shoes, Imelda Marcos or Me? Imelda Marcos. I have the incessant need to go to every show ever held on the Las Vegas Strip, don’t you? Nah, only the ones that interest me! These questions are thrown in randomly during conversations, and ducking them has become a ballgame for a few good men, a game of cricket, baseball, or sometimes both.
And then there are those who Plautus would have referred to as satellites. These are, for all practical purposes, self-respecting hard-working individuals who in all realms of life and relationships perform successfully until they find themselves in the presence of their Richie Rich and social demi god. The interesting thing about satellites, in Vegas or otherwise, is that they fail to see beyond the object of adoration, they refuse to acknowledge how pitiful they appear. And as for the subject of affection, sadly they put themselves on a pedestal and expect the best of us to agree with them at all times, but tragically most communities have a band of resistants who somehow spoil the equation with unnecessary ripples and nods of disapproval. A rebel with a cause is always a good thing!
The implication here is not that having money is bad or necessarily brings out the acquisition beast in all, but generally the greener the bank account, the greener the greed. Humility has taken a backseat or better still, has decided to stay silent and watch the money mayhem.
We have many reasonable international and national charitable causes with local Las Vegas chapters that do some fine work, but being on the committee or council comes with a perk called the Power Trip. Funnily enough, all and sundry have decided to partake in these causes, eliminating the fine line between a genuine and a bogus cause or a legitimate board member and phony one. I may be guilty of that, but the jury is still out on that one.
After a quick scan of the modern-day American dream and fond memories of balmy bygone Kolachi nights, I realise that an affluent expatriate lifestyle comes at a price. It is a high price to pay for those who consider themselves dreamers and romantics and find themselves faced with a dilemma at every crossroad. The American society is so materialistic and excessive that it is easy to lose sight of the dream and somehow fall into the reality of what is Las Vegas, big, obvious, opulent, fake, merely a mirage in a desert, or on the flipside home, my home, Elvis’ home, Liberace’s home, therefore party on….. Viva Las Vegas!

Diabetes increases cancer risk - study

London - Heart disease is linked to just a few rogue genes as well as lifestyle choices, landmark research into Britain’s biggest killer has found.

The 18 genes that raise the risk of cardiac problems, from heart attacks to hardening of the arteries, have been pinpointed in three studies involving hundreds of scientists worldwide.

The breakthrough opens the door to ways of treating and even preventing heart disease, which is to blame for one in eight deaths around the world - including more than 90,000 a year in the UK.

Heart attacks alone kill one Briton every six minutes and cost the economy £9-billion a year.

The potential of the findings is so great that heart disease could be eradicated within 50 years, say researchers. The discovery, detailed in the journal Nature Genetics, more than doubles the number of known heart disease genes. Some of the newly discovered genes affect cholesterol, blood pressure and other processes important to heart health - but how many of the others damage the heart and arteries is, as yet, a mystery.

This has excited the scientists because it suggests there are important causes of heart disease yet to be found - and that drugs to combat the effects of the genes could one day make a huge improvement to health.

Dr Robert Roberts, of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Canada, said: “This is a landmark result because we have identified so many genes and most operate using completely unknown mechanisms to us right now. Now our job is to understand how these genes work, develop a new group of drugs to target them and identify people who will benefit most.”

Professor Nilesh Samani, of the University of Leicester, who co-led the largest of the studies, said: “Understanding how these genes work, which is the next step, will vastly improve our knowledge of how the disease develops, and could lead to new treatments.”

The 18 genes were discovered in three studies in which almost 300 scientists from around the world, including many Britons, analysed the DNA of more than 200,000 people.

They focused on genetic links to the narrowing of the arteries that supply the heart muscle with oxygen-rich blood. This narrowing, caused by the build up of fatty deposits or plaques, raises the odds of a host of ills, from blood clots to angina, heart attacks, heart failure and irregular heartbeats.

Dr Thomas Quertermous, of Stanford University, in the US, said that drugs tailored to stop the blood vessels from becoming clogged up could “profoundly reduce the risk of a heart attack”.

Professor Hugh Watkins, of Oxford University, who co-led one of the studies, said the first new drugs could be on the market in under a decade.

Some of the North American researchers said the breakthrough meant we were “inching closer” to a genetic test that will tell a person their risk of a heart attack.

However, for most people, other factors such as smoking, poor diet and a lack of exercise can play a much greater role in causing heart attacks.