• Some people eat when they’re happy, some when they’re sad.
• Some people cope with grief by pigging out.
• Some people have chronic pains that make exercise difficult.
• Some people exercise too much, and then binge on food.

Here are five tips to personally develop your weight loss:

1. Keep a daily list of what you eat for one week. When you have to sit down at the end of that week to see how many donuts, candy bars and pizza slices you’ve eaten, you’ll be extra motivated to get in shape.

2. Leave your debit card at home. Working at an office can mean afternoon trips to the deli to get something sweet. Without any way to pay for it, you’ll save money and calories.

3. Don’t start too hard. Sometimes motivation/shame get the best of us, and our first work out in months makes everything too sore to continue. Keep it simple and build.

4. Stay away from Chuck Norris. Infomercials make their money convincing you that a c-level celeb got totally fit by stepping up for 20 minutes, doing ab work for 8 minutes, taking a magic pill or some other silly idea. Jogging for 30 minutes a day and making one meal entirely fruits and veggies will keep your weight down more than some tonic.

5. Any progress, even slow progress, is progress. Sure, losing 20 lbs in two weeks sounds great but it’s: a. not healthy; b. not sustainable; and c. not realistic. Lose one pound a week for twenty weeks and that weight will be easier to keep off.

Here are some truths and some tips on bottled water:

• In 2003, Americans spent $7 billion on bottled water.  If you spent $10 a week on bottled water, that’s over $500 a year.  Put that into a high-yield savings account or a 401k and you can save yourself a bundle.
• In a study done on bottled water, it turns out 25% or more of the water in each bottle is actually just tap water.
• In a blind taste test done in New York, 75% of people preferred tap water taste to bottled water.
• In another test of 1,000 bottles of water, 33% of those bottles turned out to be contaminated with bacteria, synthetic organic chemicals and/or inorganic contaminants such as arsenic.
• The plastic bottle your water comes in can actually decompose over time and contaminate your water.  The longer the water has been in the bottle, the greater the risk of decomposition and contamination.

How’s that Aquafina taste now?

1. Confidence - Granted, it’s easy for a team with such historic players as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson and Alex Rodriguez to be confident, but even in the lean years the Yankees always acted like the first place team was simply keeping it warm for them.

2. Create History - Sometimes children who didn’t know their parents, or who didn’t want to know them, have a hard time being successful because there is no history of success. History begins now, and starting your own legacy will hold you responsible to a cause and a goal.

3. Know When to Spend Money - Whether it’s buying a stock, a new home or signing a big free agent, you have to know when it’s important to spend money and when it’s not.

4. Collect Monuments - In Yankee Stadium there are monuments of the great Yankees of the past, and that helps the new guys know what is expected of them. Keep pictures, sayings and other monuments of great people around you to keep in your memory what it takes to be successful.

5. Dress for Success - The Yankees invented pinstripes in Major League Baseball. You’ve got to invent a successful you, so ditch the sweat pants and dirty t-shirts and start to look successful. Don’t break the bank, but remember that image is vital.

1. Make a decision. Don’t sit back and wish you had a stronger belief in yourself. Make a decision to become more confident and then make life changes to back up that decision.

 2. Spend time with positive people. We all know a “Debbie Downer,” someone who has nothing positive to say about the world around him/her. People like this should be left in the dust. Get around those who see themselves as strong, bold or otherwise confident. Their attitude will rub off on you.

3. Allow for mistakes. The biggest blow to confidence is failure (obviously), but the greatest success stories are riddles with failure. Noah’s ark was only filled with seven people to go with all those animals (not a very good preacher), Abraham Lincoln was defeated in all sorts of elections before becoming president and Steven Spielberg was rejected from the USC Film School before becoming an Oscar winning director.

4. Find something your terrible at and get better. It’s easy to get better at something you love or something you care about. But, as a training ground, find a sport, hobby or activity that really is just a palate that’ll help you learn principals. When your passionate about something, it’s easy to lose focus. But, if you’re taking a cooking class just for the heck of it, you may learn that you’re impatient with carrots, which may give you insight into other areas of your life.

Here are some tips, insight and philosophy on how to not only dominate, but elevate your office:

1. Do what you love.

Lebron James could have been a football player, a baseball player, a salesman, etc. But, he wisely chose basketball. Choose your career based on passion and love, not on anything else. The only way to make some major achievements is to love what you’re doing enough to press through the hard times.

2. Practice, Learn, Practice and Learn

If you’re a copywriter, accountant, administrative assistant, financial advisor or office manager, get better at what you do everyday. Take classes, both at your company and at a local college or learning annex. Buy books about what you do and read them. Work on practice projects that’ll improve your skills and allow you to practice new techniques. Whatever it is, bet determined to improve your skills.

3. Work on Your Weaknesses

Lebron the rookie couldn’t hold a candle to Lebron today. Why? Because he got better, practices and doesn’t rest on his laurels. Where once he was accused of being lazy, or taking games off, he’s now known as a competitor. We each know what our weaknesses are, maybe you’re a great writing but an average administrator, so you know where you need to work.

4. Be Someone a Company Can Build Around

There are many good players in the NBA, many all-stars and even a few superstars and hall-of-famers. But, when a team looks for their top dog, they want someone they can build around. That means having the right talents, attitude, heart and charisma. Your office needs leaders, because every office does. Your office needs someone who cares about others first, but knows how to take charge. Develop not only our leadership skills through classes and books, but develop your eye on who needs help, who you can serve and who should stay away from.

5. A Winning Attitude is Key

The reason the Cavaliers chose Lebron James is that they had the worst record in the NBA and the number one draft pick. Lebron didn’t walk into a winning situation, he walked into a terrible situation with a terrible team. You may find yourself in the middle of hell, in a company that doesn’t know what it’s doing, working with people who are terrible, but true winners help others win. Keep yourself positive, keep your mind and heart focused on success, and let others see how dedicated you are to helping the company achieve it’s goals.

If you want to be able to take care of your family, your aging parents, your employees and so on, you need to manage your own health as a primary concern. Does this mean drinking all the orange juice in the house and yelling at your spouse if you get less than seven hours sleep? No, but it does mean you need to realize that your body is a machine, and machines need a certain amount of care in order to run properly.

Here are some tips to keep your own body running like a well oiled machine:

1. Quit the leaf! Whether it’s tobacco, chewing tobacco or even marijuana, these things have harmful affects on your body. Legality aside, the harmful chemicals brought into your system as a result of using these items are known to cause cancer, emphysema and other serious medical conditions.

2. Green is your favorite color. And not just for the environment, green should be the color of most of your food as well. Raw leafy greens are fantastic forms of vitamins, anti-oxidants, nutrients and more. Spinach, broccoli, asparagus, romaine lettuce and all their wacky cousins will give your body what they need.

3. Don’t be a juicer. No, I’m not talking about steroids, I mean orange, apple, pineapple and cranberry juice. Check out the sugar content on the label of your favorite drink and you’ll see that you’re ingesting high amounts of fructose, high fructose corn syrup and all sorts of unnatural items. Water, tea, natural juices (check the label) and other drinks low in sodium and sugar are where it’s at.

4. Find your happy place. You need 30 minutes of alone time a day, not matter how hard it is to find that time, you need it. Find it in your car, the bathroom, a closet, wherever and whenever you can get time to clear your head, read the bible, zone out and whatever else you need to do. There will always be needy people, but you need time to yourself as well.

5. Know your booze. A glass or two of red wine is actually healthy, even a beer now and then isn’t bad. However, three Red Bull and Grey Gooses every Thursday through Sunday is gonna turn your liver into mush and ruin just about every other organ as well. Hard liquor can be enjoyed in moderation, but moderation means high quality liquor once a month, tops.

6. Quit fast food, as fast as you can. Watch “Super Size Me.” Then, after you’ve finished cursing McDonalds, make an eating chart that you keep in your bedroom or bathroom. Keep track of every item you eat during a month and see how often you eat out, that means pizza, Taco Bell, Burger King, restaurants and so on. Eliminate as much garbage from your diet as you can, especially if it’s made by people wearing silly hats offering you fries with your meal.

7. Practice the three R’s: Reading, reading and reading. Yes, television is the cheap whore who will give herself to you as often as you want her. But, it’ll ruin your physique, cause you to lose your vocabulary and even keep you on the couch eating chips so much that you’ll forget what the sun felt like on your skin. Subscribe to two magazines you like to read, make a list of books and try to bang one out a month and set one night aside in your home to focus on reading something, maybe even out loud.

Here are some tests you can run to measure whether or not your frustration at work means you need to run the show, or if it means you need to simply find a new job:

1. The Facts of Life - Can You Pass the “Get Out of Bed Test”

Ask yourself this question “Am I Self-Motivated?”

Truth be told, most small businesses fail, so before you go renting office space, measure yourself to see whether or not you can get up on your own. When you have two hours to spare, what do you find yourself doing? Reading, watching television, cleaning the kitchen or some other activity? The answers you’ll find about the direction you should take may lie in those unconscious activities. Small business owners, or new business start-ups, need to bust their butts for at least the first few years in order to get off the ground, get out of the red and into the black and succeed. If your “me” time involves football, pizza and soda, you may not have the extra energy it’s going to take to become your own boss. However, if you always find yourself cleaning or cooking, if you have extra energy, if you’re naturally inclined to read the business section, you may have “the knack.”

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Passion Test

Where do your passions rest? What makes your blood boil, or what catches your eye when it passes across the television screen? If you watch cooking shows, cook for your family, have taken cooking classes and love restaurants, maybe you should open up your own? If you feel television and print ads stink you constantly find yourself critiquing them, maybe your the next great advertising executive. However, if you spend fifteen hours a week watching and screaming at the Mets, chances are you’re not the next Dwight Gooden or Carlos Beltran.

3. The Office - What’s Your Background, What Do You Bring to the Table?

Depending on what age you are, you must have spent 5-10 years doing something for someone else. Maybe you were a marketing executive, maybe you flipped pizza’s for Dominoes, maybe you cleaned engines and maybe you were the accountant for a pharmaceutical company. Regardless, you’ve learned a trade, a set of skills. Will this translate into something you can market as your own? During your years as a maid, did you develop any style that would give you an edge against other maid agencies? While you counted pennies for some big-wig, did you learn how to get people tons of money back at tax time? When you wrote ad copy for that software firm, were you highly regarded? These skills can lead to you branching out and opening your own shop.

4. Diff’rent Strokes - What Market Fascinates You?

Restaurants? Accounting firms? Sporting good stores? We all consider ourselves arm-chair experts on some topic or aspect of our world, gardening, journalism, dessert making, etc. These fascinations may be the things you do for a living. Again, a lot of this has to do with marketability. The Yankees already have a second baseman, a manger and a general manager, however there is always a need for better gardeners, more chefs and cooks, better writers and so on.

5. Head of the Class - Are You Willing to the Back to School?

You may need to take classes in marketing, advertising, business management, accounting, or other topics that are vital to running a successful business. You have to ask yourself, are you willing to put forth the effort it’ll take to go to class two or three nights a week and actually learn this stuff?

Don’t let kids eat raw eggs when baking holiday treats.

Kids love to eat raw cookie dough and lick the spoons when you’re making a cake, but anything made with raw eggs can give your kids Salmonella.

Follow safe cooking procedures when preparing your holiday meal.

Wash your hands after you handle meat, poultry or eggs before you touch any other food.

Wash your counters, sinks, and anyplace else the uncooked poultry came in contact with immediately.

Use separate cutting boards for meat and poultry than you use for other foods. Don’t dice your veggies on a cutting board you just used for your chicken or turkey. Realize that wood cutting boards absorb the meat or poultry juices, which may contaminate your other foods even if you wash them.

Wash utensils promptly before you use them on anything else. For example, the knife you use to cut chicken shouldn’t be used on your veggies without first thoroughly washing the knife in hot water with soap.

Cook your poultry well.

Turkeys should be cooked at a minimum of 325 degrees F. Cooking time will vary based on the size of your bird.

The inside of poultry should reach 165 degrees F.

Always use a meat thermometer when cooking poultry. Don’t rely on built-in pop-up thermometers that come with turkeys and chickens, because the breast gets cooked faster than the inside.

For optimum safety, use two thermometers. One thermometer should be placed in the innermost part of the thigh and wing, and the other in the thickest part of the breast, as these are the place that heat up to proper temperature last.

Don’t cook your stuffing inside the turkey. Stuffing should be cooked separately and should reach 165 degrees F.

You can read the USDA’s advice on properly cooking a turkey for more information:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Lets_Talk_Turkey/index.asp

Deal with leftovers promptly.

Your turkey shouldn’t be left out for very long after you’ve eaten. The longer you leave poultry out, the bigger risk you’re taking of your family getting salmonella from the leftovers.

Put your leftovers into wide, shallow containers so they cool thoroughly. Get them refrigerated within an hour.

Know the risks and symptoms of food poisoning.

E. coli and Salmonella are the most common types of food poisoning. Salmonella generally comes from poultry or uncooked eggs, while E. coli generally comes from beef or other cow meat. E. coli can also come from leafy greens, unpasteurized juice and milk.

E. coli infection usually starts with severe abdominal cramps followed by painful diarrhea (usually bloody). Vomiting may or may not occur, but there is generally no fever. Symptoms usually begin between 3-9 days after the contaminated food has been eaten, but some people experience symptoms within 24 hours. The symptoms can last a week. Healthy adults with normal immune systems often recover without hospitalization, but e. coli infection once spread to the bloodstream can cause a painful form of kidney failure (called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome). HUS often kills children and the elderly.

Salmonella infection symptoms include sudden nausea, abdominal cramping, and bloody diarrhea with mucous, and fever. Vomiting may or may not occur. Other symptoms include headache, muscle ache and joint pain. Symptoms usually begin within 6-72 hours after the contaminated food has been eaten, and usually lasts 5-7 days. In rare cases, Salmonella can cause Reiterís Syndrome, a debilitating form of arthritis.

Subtly email this article to the ones cooking

1. Goals and Rewards
If you can’t figure out what to do, or just don’t have anything to do try to figure out a goal/reward system for yourself. Hold off on buying or doing something until you have completed tasks you have procrastinated doing. The reward will give you some sense of joy, either because you have accomplished it and can get the prize, or hopefully because you found you enjoyed the process.

2. Follow Your Dreams
Many times people are not ambitious because they are doing things that they do not like. It seems obvious but when you don’t want to do something you have a lot less drive and desire to get it accomplished. Instead of doing something you don’t like, do something that you enjoy. This could be as drastic as finding a new job, or moving. Weigh your options carefully though.

Maybe now is the time to start that career in photography you have been dreaming of. It might not be the best idea to dive into it fully due to the potential difficulties of selling photos, but you could start by looking for freelance jobs, or trying to team up with a photographer that works weddings to get your feet wet.

3. Build Self-Esteem
When you’re not happy, depressed or feeling you’re ‘not worth it’ you can have a difficult time to find the drive to get things done. You’d probably think, what’s the point? To get out of this drought try some self-esteem building tactics. For example you could, start to acknowledge your positive qualities and skills, and start accepting compliments graciously instead of dismissing or ignoring them. Also, try to stop comparing yourself to other people. With a higher self esteem the want to do things will be greater and you will have more fun doing whatever it is you choose to do.

4. Read Philosophy
If you are having difficulties finding ambition perhaps turning to great minds of past or present can help you find the path for your drive. Consider reading a variety of different philosophers. By reading multiple philosophers and philosophies you will be able to build a philosophy that fits your life and views and you won’t be stuck in the grind that makes many people complacent with following others. Build your own opinions on life.

One philosopher in particular I suggest reading is Frederick Nietzsche, and in particular his concept of Amor Fati. He once said “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist” and also, as I mentioned earlier: “Amor Fati” which is Latin for “Love Your Fate”, which is in fact your life.” By combing those two quotes he is saying that there is no correct way to live, and that living in the footsteps of others in not necessarily the way to go, though it may be possible. He also means that you should embrace life and the circumstances that you are living in and want to live your life how you are living it again and again if you were to repeat life. If you don’t enjoy life the way you are living now, do what you have to do to make it worthwhile.

5. Find a Coach, Mentor or Role Model
Some people just can’t find drive or ambition on their own. If you are still having trouble with it, consider finding a coach, mentor or role model. People in these roles are great to motivate you to do things. Think of all the hard work that athletes put in. Though they would do some of that work on their own, they wouldn’t perform at the levels they do without a coach, or at the very least a work out partner.

I ran track in high school and there were many times that I didn’t think that I would be able to complete a workout. My coach would motivate me though and I would be able to accomplish things I didn’t think were possible. At the end, though sometimes sore, I would feel great. There is a strong mental high when accomplishing something you didn’t think you were able to.

Some people are lucky enough to have an undying source of ambition. That is not everyone though. If you are not one of the lucky people hopefully one of the five ways above can help you find the drive you need to get the job done and/or lead a happy life.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 33.2 million individuals are infected with HIV worldwide and 2.5 million of them are newly infected; of those one million reside in the United States. 2.1 million are believed to have died last year as a result of AIDS or AIDS related complications. There was one number that scared me the most: one-forth. Of the estimated one million infected with HIV in the United States, as many as one-forth are unaware of their HIV status. One-forth! Wow, that’s 250,000 people. Just think what if only half of them end up using protection in a sexual encounter?

As we walked to the subway station, my boyfriend and I talked about getting tested. I was tested six years prior, while in college. Yet, now I’ve had more sexual partners and unprotected sex (with my boyfriend, without a condom, but with birth control). Even though I considered myself low risk, it still scared me. My boyfriend on the other hand, had never been tested, had more partners than me, and was not worried. Wanting to get tested was first planted in my mind when my friend Ellen, who had participated in some risky behavior, got tested last year (she tested negative). Now the thought had grown into a nasty weed, cramping my good thoughts from growing. It was not that I felt I was participating in risky behavior or that I didn’t trust those who I had been with as much as a feeling of lack of control. Not knowing was killing me.

When I got to work I looked up Planned Parenthood. I called and found out I could make an appointment for that day, get the results 40 minutes after the test, but it was going to cost me $60 dollars and if both of us got tested, $120. Ugh. It’s the holiday season and I’m alright cutting it close. I figured there’s got to be a cheaper way. From the Planned Parenthood phone call I’d learned the test I wanted was called the Rapid HIV test, so I googled “Free rapid HIV test New York City”. To my surprise and delight several listings popped up. I called the first one that was close to my office and had hours on Friday.

As I was talking to the receptionist she mentioned that the test was confidential but not anonymous. So, what? Doesn’t confidential and anonymous both mean that no one finds out? Furthermore, regardless of which test you choose, your employer, insurance company or university will never know the results. So what’s the difference?

Confidential testing is treated the same as any other medical test, meaning that your identifying information is attached to it (i.e. name, birthday, etc), making it more legitimate. There is a record that you took the test, however the results of that test are confidential, unless you choose to share them. It becomes part of your medical record and can be used to help you gain treatment access. This is the test you want if you need proof of your HIV status, for instance to give to a future lover, or something you might do before consenting to unprotected sex with a current lover. Conversely, anonymous testing is given through number or code system. Your name is not given and there is no material proof so there is nothing that can link you to the test. Essentially, it is as though it never happened.

I decided I wanted anonymous. This time I googled, “Free, anonymous, rapid HIV testing New York City”. The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene popped up. They had several testing centers within the five boroughs, and the one closest to me had late night hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was Thursday. Yes, looks like we hit a winner. I called my boyfriend to tell him my plans and he said, “I don’t understand why you’re worried. With every other person I used protection and before me you never had unprotected sex. Plus, we only did it a few times.” I then asked if he was absolutely positive that he had never had unprotected sex with another person. He said, “Basically”, I said, “It’s a yes or no question, which is it?” He said, “Yes” and then I said, “But you said basically?”, then he said, “I’m at work, this is totally inappropriate, I can’t talk about this now.” I said, “Fine, I’m going to get tested, we’ll talk about this later.”

I arrived at the Department of Health a little after 5:20. There I was instructed to grab a number (it was the same machine as the one at grocery store deli counters), fill out a white card and take an information sheet. There was also a bin filled to the top with condoms, I grabbed some of those too. The white card had two sections to it, anonymous and confidential (it was also in English on one side and Spanish on the other). The anonymous section requested my birthday and my zip code-two identifiers not linked.

After about 10 minutes a counselor called me into her office. She asked what I was there for (I said rapid HIV test), whether I wanted it anonymous (I said yes), gave me an ID number (13N, uh, not my favorite) and sent me upstairs to the testing area. I dropped my envelope in the bin and sat down in a room with about 30 other people all in different stages of the testing process. There was a TV blasting no smoking information in front. I was relieved I had my book with me.

About 15 minutes later another counselor called my new number (13N). When I sat down he said, “Now I’m going to ask you a bunch of possibly uncomfortable questions to asses your risk.” I said bring it on. He asked about my previous sexual history within the last three months and my complete unprotected sex history. He told me he felt I was at low risk and then discussed the test. Here is where I found out the best news. No needles! Whoohoo!!!! This made my night. The test was going to be an oral swab. It would take about 20 minutes to get the results.

I went into the testing room next, where a tech took this plastic tongue depressor thing and quickly scraped my upper and lower gums (You are supposed to do it yourself, but I did it wrong, so the tech ended up helping).

30 minutes and 22 pages later counselor number two called 13N. I hadn’t even shut his office door before he told me, good news everything is ok. Whew. I asked about the reliability. If you test negative then it is negative (100% accuracy), however if you test positive there is only a 99.3% accuracy rate. Thus out of 1000 people who test positive, 7 of them will be false positive. Therefore everyone who tests positive will be followed up by a blood test to confirm there status. As I left the waiting room, one girl was coming out of a counselor session and said to her friend “it was a false positive.” Which just goes to show it does happen.

Walking out of the Department of Health, I felt relieved, but more I felt proud of myself. The first time I had an HIV test it really freaked me out, and I was a mess for a week (back then it took longer to get the results). This time I approached it with a calmer, more understanding attitude. That was in part due to the things I learned during the process. First, and most important, I learned about the Rapid HIV Test. Waiting is not my strong suit, especially in matters of health, and the fact that I could get my results that night immensely helped my pre-test mental state. Secondly, I found a center that fit within my schedule and location. Lastly, it was free. Taking the financial burden out made the decision to take the test so much easier for me, it was going to cost me nothing and the potential benefits…

My boyfriend called on my way home. I told him all about the test, and taught him what I learned. When asked about what he meant by “basically” he said once a condom fell off when he was with someone else. I told him I was glad he told me, and he agreed to get tested.