Join Urban Girl Squad as we learn “BollyBasics,” an introduction to the famous Indian folk dance called Bollywood, with the founder of Bollywood dance company Dhoonya Dance. Dhoonya Dance is a growing dance company that has taught Bollywood on Oprah! In our class, you’ll learn the fundamentals of Bollywood and Pop Bhangra dance in a fun, beginner’s setting. No dance experience is necessary. You’ll get a great workout, learn a new style of dance, and meet new women in NYC!

At this class, you’ll learn Bollywood Basics and receive:

• A gift bag of South Asian goodies from City Saheli, including a Bollywood CD, a pamphlet with basic Bollywood steps, a henna tattoo, and a piece of South Asian inspired jewelry. City Saheli is an online platform that brings to you New York City with a South Asian twist–you can learn more about new types of yoga, natural healing, fusion designers and more.
• 1 free class for every 4 class package you purchase from Dhoonya Dance

Dhoonya Dance is home of the best Bollywood talent, teachers and training providing simple, artistic instruction. The Dhooyna Method of Bollywood dance emphasizes strong fundamentals and choreography rooted in traditional, folk and classical Indian dance.

About Urban Girl Squad
Amanda Hofman created Urban Girl Squad, a community-based social group for women in their 20’s and 30’s in New York City, in January 2008. Urban Girl Squad creates opportunities for these women to try new things, spend time with friends, and meet new people. Our events include food and wine tastings, beauty and fashion nights, dance and fitness classes, sports events, cocktail parties and more. We provide special, discounted access to the city–you’ll meet store owners and designers, taste gourmet food and drinks, receive personal attention from popular venues, and score some amazing gift bags. The welcoming atmosphere at our events makes it easy for members to attend on their own or with friends!

Join us on February 11th as we learn the basics of Bollywood dance. Space is limited and advanced placement is required, so purchase your ticket today! Wear comfortable, workout/yoga attire. No shoes necessary.

Fast Facts:
Date: Thursday, February 11, 2010

Location: The Dance Theater Workshop
219 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011

Time: 7:00PM

RSVP/Purchase Ticket: Bollywood Dance Class

Info: Urban Girl Squad

Cost: $20 per ticket

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Cereal Health and Wellness has made some really great information on calories per-serving of major breakfast items available, which you can check out below:

I would have thought that oatmeal would be a healthier option for a child’s breakfast, but as it turns out, cereal and skim milk comes in at 20 calories less than oatmeal and skim milk, which I found really interesting.

While we may know the cliche statement that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, there is a lot of weight to it that parents need to pay a little more attention to, instead of letting children fend for themselves if they’re a little older to find something to run out the door with. Cereal is a really fast and easy breakfast and a 1998 study showed that children who eat breakfast perform better in school, compared to children who skip the first meal of the day. Children who eat breakfast also score higher on tests, are less likely to miss class or be tardy and have fewer reported discripline problems. As you can see, breakfast goes a long way!

General Mills cereal is absolutely commited to you and your child’s health and nutrition and they are offering a coupon for $1 off of your choice of General Mills cereals. Click here to get your coupon!

Disclosure: I was given the opportunity to spread the word about General Mills’ commitment to reducing sugars in cereals from General Mills and MyBlogSpark. For this post, I received VIP coupons, the online coupon link, and the information from General Mills and MyBlogSpark.

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While most people who suffer from any form of depression, whether major depressive disorder (also referred to as clinical depression and unipolar disorder), manic depression, or it’s more severe twin bipolar disorder and so on, have a chemical imbalance that affects their brains and the way they function and respond to whatever elements are around them and it is said that those symptoms and later, those diagnoses have always been a part of them genetically. This is not the case with me; at least I don’t believe it is and after checking with the whole host of psychologists and psychiatrists I have been with over the years, neither do they. I am a special case, though sadly, not that special nor rare–I have been diagnosed as having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which has also led me to adopt major depressive disorder.

I was diagnosed with PTSD after everything in my life started feeling like it was just too much. I was overwhelmed, stressed over just about everything, my life seemed to cease resembling what it had always looked like to me. I was in high school and as if high school did not impose enough stress and anxiety on my life in itself, the never-ending questions being asked by myself and others were daunting. I was being expected to know exactly what I wanted to do after high school and not just what I wanted to do, but where I was going and what school would be taking me there. These sort of pressures are already overwhelming for average teenagers, start piling these questions onto a teenager who suddenly feels like they’re crawling out of their own skin and have no idea how something like that could sprout up out of nowhere and convince themselves that they must be crazy and well, you’ve got quite the situation on your hands. I ended up dropping out of high school as a senior and moving out of my father’s house and in with my best friend and her mother. It was not the best of decisions, but it did force me to get a grasp on what was going on with me. After getting a job, living with my friend and her mother for six months and then finally getting enough money together to move into my own apartment, I started going to therapy which luckily for me, was located right across the street from my apartment because those are the kind of perks you get when you move into the middle of a high-trafficked city.

I got a hold on my PTSD. I learned to understand it and the triggers that sent me into episodes of mentally and sometimes even physically re-living abusive and traumatic events from my childhood, which is to blame for my mental illness. My mother was (and maybe still is, I don’t know, I haven’t seen her or heard from her very much at all in upwards of ten years) a drug addict and an alcoholic who kept many, many boyfriends, as well as her dealers and sometimes they were one in the same, around constantly and were the abusers who left me as another statistic of childhood sexual assault.

Janice was completely spot-on when she said that people who live with mental illness fight every day and every day, it is a struggle, but with the right knowledge (remember, in whatever situation you are in, knowledge is power), coping mechanisms and of course, support from people you trust and who do not pass judgement or look at you as being less than anything, it is something that we conquer; and then we get up in the morning the next day and do it again. However, Janis did touch upon why she had never written about this particular struggle of hers and that is because of fear of being judged, which is completely understandable and the reason why I had never brought it to light on Woman Tribune; but also of people thinking that she could not do her job well.

I have been a blogger for many years now. I started blogging on Teen Open Diary and LiveJournal when I was 13 and had just gotten a computer in our house, and I began dabbling in web design and development at 14. I have literally grown up online, which is why I can say with absolute certainty that my mental illness has little impact on my ability to blog and to effectively market and promote my blog. Sure, there are days when I absolutely, positively cannot get out of bed in the morning, which makes me pretty lucky to have a laptop that I keep set up right next to my bed for days like that. And sure, there are times when I absolutely, positively cannot blog because the words just will not come out of me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t send out a short and sweet Tweet, which does help keep your repour up with your dedicated and passionate readers who follow you on Twitter. (Shameless plug: You can follow Woman Tribune on Twitter right here.) I think the internet gives people who live with mental illness even more opportunities to excel. We don’t have to leave the house, which is why you’ll probably be hard pressed to ever see me attend a blogger’s conference, given the fact that having PTSD does make me a bit of a hermit, and we can truly “write out” our struggles, triumphs, tribulations and victories and that is the biggest coping mechanism there is.

Edited to add: I forgot a little “update” on my situation, I suppose. I’m currently 23 years old, I did end up getting my GED less than a year after dropping out of high school and as far as where I’m going and how I’m getting there, I still don’t have that figured all out. However, I can say that for the most part, while I do struggle with my PTSD and depression and while some days I do feel like a walking zombie, for the most part, I am happy. I have a loving partner, an adorable cat, two amazing stepdaughters who show me that I can have a maternal instinct of sorts, regardless of my personal vendettas and while I can’t say that I have a thriving career or a big, fancy house, I do have an apartment in a great area and as far as my “career,” well, you’re looking at it.

- – - – -

I want to thank Janice of 5 Minutes for Mom for opening up the discussion on mental illness and the fears many of us who are also living with it have about “coming out.” Thank you for the inspiration to let it all hang out.

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As very busy women are prone to do, myself included, going to the grocery store and sticking a bunch of items in your cart, dashing through the checkout and back home is a mundane and sometimes even tedious task. Very, very rarely do we think about the items we are throwing into our carts while checking our watches and making sure we’re out of the store in time to run the other errands we have on our lists. Where do these foods come from? How were the fruits, vegetables and wheat farmed? Where did our wheat come from, anyway? Well, thanks to a great new interactive, online multimedia program we can now not only find out where certain types of wheat come from and how they are planted, farmed and ultimately get to be served on our dinner tables, we can virtually see and even actively take part in the farm-to-fork process.

How Wheat Works is educating the masses on where wheat starts and where it ends up in four phases–growth, harvest, milling/baking and your local grocery store. This is all made possible by the Wheat Foods Council who are striving to shed new light on wheat education and its nutritional properties and will ultimately result in informed food choices for families everywhere.

When I first saw the website and started going through the process, I immediately thought, “This is awesome, I get to play a game!”, which is when you know a company is doing something right when it comes to educating people on making more informed choices on pretty much anything. Adults are a lot like children in that respect, because even as we have gotten older, we’re still willing to do just about anything if it means having a little fun in the process–and I am no exception.

But while there is a definite fun factor in addition to learning a lot more on where the most popular grain comes from and how it winds up on your kitchen table, the Wheat Foods Council is also giving back in a very positive way with this initiative. For each participant who signs up at How Wheat Works and plants their virtual wheat field, the Council will donate two pounds of flour, up to 90,000 pounds to Operation Homefront, a non-profit organization providing assistance to US troops and their families who are in need. That is a lot of flour and it will undoubtedly make a great difference in the lives of those who need it.

The Wheat Foods Council is also extending this program to reach the youth population with their additional website, wheatfoods.org, which is chock full of great resources about wheat, fiber and grains, Just for Kids education about wheat and even recipes and photos, a great deal of which look absolutely amazing and I know I’ll have to try!

I learned a great deal from How Wheat Works, including where certain types of wheat are grown and that my state of Pennsylvania only grows one type of wheat and my state had one, very small and lonely dot indicating wheat was grown here at all. So go check out the website, plant a virtual wheat field and above all, make a difference by getting the Wheat Food Council up to 90,000 pounds of flour donated to Operation Homefront.

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While many of us have had very hard breakups in our lives, some people do experience such heart-wrenching depression that cannot be cured with wallowing either with our best girlfriends, a sad movie, a large pizza with everything on it and copious amounts of ice cream. Because of her own experience, Alexa Ray Joel took to her Facebook page to spread the word about her “current passion”:

I have many exciting new developments for the New Year, and I hope all of you can be a part of it!! This includes new creative projects, and even more volunteer work in hopes to give back to the community and, most importantly, to help young girls with something I feel I know a GREAT deal about: Heartbreak-Related Depression. Although it does not get much attention in our society, it is a very serious and painful condition that often gets “swept under the carpet”. I hope to bring this topic more to light… I’m even going back to school for Psychology in hopes to learn more about this and many other afflictions that many of us have had to face… after all, there’s nothing more fascinating than the human mind and it’s respective conditions…

I think that it’s pretty awesome that she isn’t merely using her celebrity status and her name to blindly “educate” people who may need real help and is going back to school for psychology so she can initiate some real change for those who need it most.

[Image via INF Daily]

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In my (most humble) opinion, PETA is merely using scare tactics (or “kicking a guy when he’s down,” in a matter of speaking) in order to get people to pay attention. Sadly, their ‘punch in the gut’ tactics have worked, which is why we’re still seeing ads from them popping up again and again, all of them skirting right on by questionable and pushing up against insulting and this ad in particular, if you took PETA’s logo off of it, it could have been an ad for how to buy Viagra online.

There is absolutely no proof to be seen that supports their accusation that cow’s milk causes impotence and because so many of their ads and promotional techniques have been brought to question by several different reputable resources over the years, there are a great number of people who see them for who they truly are. People who are vegetarian and vegan and who would support PETA, had it not been for their “shock jock” nature, have seen through them for years and by using these types of marketing techniques and creating health risks that have no factual data supporting it to put on billboards, flyers and other marketing materials, they are alienating the same people who would otherwise support them and their cause.

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As soon as I heard about this new information I was instantly skeptical. Whose best interests are in mind here, those of women or those of the medical profession working in a recession and eager to cut as many costs as possible? After delving into the research about these new guidelines, I have determined that my initial skepticism was correct and that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are actually now contributing to the rise of deaths due to breast cancer that will occur as soon as women start following these guidelines because they think that this “task force” has their best interests in mind and they absolutely do not. A huge amount of breast cancer survivors have been women who have noticed lumps in their breasts by doing self breast exams and women who have been lucky enough to survive breast cancer have been women who have had their cancer detected early. If these same women who are survivors of this disease were told not to worry about having frequent mammograms before the age of 50 would be dead right now and we would have even more women dying from breast cancer than ever before just by taking the advice of this so-called task force who are giving out very bad information.

For the first time in…well, probably forever, I agree wholeheartedly with what Elisabeth Hasselbeck said on a recent episode of The View. Check it out below:

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While there are many benefits, events, charities, organizations, businesses and people who have dedicated their time, their experiences, their inspiration and their money to helping in whatever ways they can in the fight against breast cancer, there are still very limited resources for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer themselves or who are close to someone who has been diagnosed to receive the support they need most. A diagnosis like this, regardless of the stage is absolutely terrifying, gut-wrenching, heart-breaking and truly difficult to go through, especially if you don’t have a rock-solid support system of various people around you who understand your grief and frustration and people who will understand while you go through the emotional roller coaster a diagnosis and treatment will send you through. But luckily, Pink Together was created just for this purpose.

Pink Together is a national campaign dedicated to supporting those impacted by breast cancer. Their website, PinkTogether.com is a safe space where everyone can share hope and inspiration by sharing stories of breast cancer survivors and supporters within the community. Pink Together has already helped countless survivors and supporters of those survivors.

For the month of October, General Mills has come to the support of Pink Together and will be donating $2 million to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. They have also turned the packaging of some of their most trusted products pink for the month in an effort to continue to raise awareness about breast cancer.

Giveaway!

Thanks to Pink Together and MyBlogSpark, we have been given the opportunity to give away an Inspiring Hope gift basket that includes a sleeved travel mug, a running ribbon charm bracelet, a pink leather strap keychain, a pink cinch bag and a set of inspirational note cards.

All of the gifts in the Inspiring Hope gift basket are from Shop Komen, where 25% of the merchandise purchase price benefits Susan G Komen for the Cure in the fight against breast cancer. All of these fabulous gifts will remind you of how important the fight against breast cancer is throughout the entire year, and not just in October when we spread awareness for breast cancer awareness month. I can also personally attest that the sleeved travel mug is the absolute best quality travel mug I have ever found.

To win the Inspiring Hope gift basket, all you have to do is a leave a comment telling us what woman inspires you the most and why. [REQUIRED]

Extra Entries:

• Leave a comment telling us what inspired you most about the Pink Together community

• Leave a comment telling us what other things you are doing to fight against breast cancer

• Tweet about this giveaway (this can be done daily.) Feel free to copy and paste the following tweet:
  

  Win an Inspiring Hope gift basket full of great breast cancer awareness swag from @WomanTribune http://tinyurl.com/yzb4u9r

• Follow @WomanTribune on Twitter (only if you are not following us already) and leave a comment with your Twitter name

• Become a fan of Woman Tribune on Facebook (only if you are not a fan already) and leave a comment with your name as it appears on Facebook

• Subscribe to Woman Tribune videos on YouTube (only if you are not subscribed already) and leave a comment with your YouTube name

• Blog about this giveaway with a link back to this post. This is worth 3 entries so leave 3 separate comments with a link to your post.

This contest ends Friday, October 30th at 11:59PM EST. The winner will be contacted by email and has 48 hours to respond with their necessary information. If no action is taken, another winner will be picked.

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October is breast cancer awareness month and over the month we have been covering a great deal of initiatives that through people-powered activism have seen great strides in fighting against breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime–that’s 12% of all women who will be personally impacted by this disease. But because people know that with hard work, dedication and doing what they can to help fight against breast cancer, we will hopefully see an impact through research to find a cure for breast cancer and also spreading the word on how to prevent it.

While there are many different ways you can participate in the fight against breast cancer, but the simplest by far is Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives program. It’s super simple, but you will be making a tremendous impact! Over the past 11 years Yoplait has donated more than $22 million to the breast cancer cause through Save Life to Save Lives as well as other initiatives. Last year alone, participants across the country helped Yoplait meet its $1.5 million donation goal to Susan G Komen for the Cure and this year, Yoplait needs your help too and they have also teamed up with Kristi Funk, Founder of the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Beverly Hills. She has committed herself to educating women and men about the importance of breast cancer risk reduction, early detection and ways to support the cause.

How You Can Help

When you’re in the grocery store, pick up Yoplait yogurt with the pink lids. Save your lids and mail them in (don’t forget to rinse them off!) by December 31, 2009. For every lid that is mailed in, Yoplait will donate 10 cents to Susan G Komen for the Cure up to $1.5 million, with a guaranteed donation of $500,000! That is absolutely incredible! Don’t forget to also encourage your friends and family to do the same and you can even create an online lid collection team just by visiting Your Lid Matters.

Giveaway!

Thanks to MyBlogSpark and Yoplait, I have the opportunity to help a lucky Woman Tribune reader help Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives program!

When you promise to make a difference, we are giving away a Promise to Make a Difference gift which includes a coupon for a free package of any flavor Yo-Plus or Yo-Plus Light yogurt 4-pack and two other Yoplait breast cancer awareness keepsakes

To win the Promise to Make a Difference gift leave a comment on how you plan to help Yoplait in the fight against breast cancer whether it’s participating in an annual walk/run, collecting your Yoplait pink lids, donating directly to Susan G Komen for the Cure, talking to your friends and family about breast cancer or how to give yourself a self breast exam–whatever you’re doing to help the fight, what is it? [REQUIRED]

For additional entries:

• Tweet about Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives campaign and raise awareness about the importance of saving your Yoplait lids. Don’t forget to leave a comment with the URL of your tweet!

  Feel free to copy and paste this tweet:

  RT @WomanTribune Join Yoplait in the fight against breast cancer. Save your pink lids & send in by Dec 31! http://tinyurl.com/ykuanzz

• Start or join a collection team on Your Lid Matters and leave a comment indicating what you have done.

• Send an ecard to a friend or family member about breast cancer awareness and to raise awareness about Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives. To do this go to Your Lid Matters and click all the way on the bottom ‘Share Your Passion.’ Leave a comment here saying what ecard you chose to send.

• Blog about Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives campaign and post Dr. Funk’s video (above). Leave a comment here with the URL of your blog post!

This contest ends TONIGHT, October 23rd at 11:59PM

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We are all guilty of thinking and saying stuff like this–to our family members, to our friends and even to ourselves. We are all guilty of self-criticism when we look in the mirror and notice that the skirt that fit us perfectly and hugged our hips in all the right places last season but doesn’t go past our thighs this season. We have all thought we were too fat, we have all dieted in hopes of becoming skinnier, more attractive, the “thin ideal.”

Women have more pressure than ever right now to look attractive, to dazzle with our appearance, to wear all the right fashions and to strive to look like the women who grace the covers of magazines. This is especially true of younger women and teens who obsess over this thin ideal and who will stop at nothing to attain it. These thoughts that so often enter our brains and things people tell us, whether we have gained weight and they ask if we are under stress because of it or if we lose weight and we’re told how great we look because we shed five or ten or fifteen pounds. While we’ve undoubtedly thought this was normal, it actually has a very damaging impact on women. That is why Tri Delta has launched a five-day body activism campaign, Fat Talk Free Week.

Fat Talk Free Week (October 19th-23rd) draws attention to body image issues and the damaging impact of the thin ideal on women in society. This annual public awareness effort stemmed from Tri Delta’s award-winning body image education and eating disorders prevention program, Reflections: Body Image Program.

The supermodels and people we see on the covers of magazines are thinner than 98% of women and a great percentage of these women think that they too can look just like what they see on these magazine covers and on television and in movies, but often we see, especially on magazine covers, is an airbrushed and heavily-photoshopped appearance of that person. Not even the person being put on the pedestal of ideal weight and beauty looks like that! Tri-Delta is in pursuit of the healthy ideal, which has absolutely no bearing on our weight or size. The healthy ideal is all about our physical health, mental health and our quality of life and that is what truly matters. Tri Delta’s initiative this past week has been about eliminating fat talk and they believe that by eliminating fat talk, we can begin to change the way women think about their bodies and accept their bodies just the way they are because if you’re healthy, then why does anything else matter? Why do we care so much about the size that sits on the tags of our clothing or how other women and men may look at us and what they may think if they see us in a swimsuit or a form-fitting top or a short skirt.

Can you believe…

• 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat.
• 51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet.
• Research has shown that very young girls, ages 5-7 who are exposed to Barbie, the best-selling fashion doll in the world who has unattainable and unhealthy body proportions and who if was a real person, would be too thin to menstruate, have lower body esteem and want a thinner body than they have.
• As many as 10 million females are suffering from anorexia or bulimia. That’s more than are suffering from breast cancer.

Because it is the last day of Fat Talk Free Week, do something good for yourself today. Choose one friend or family member and discuss one thing you each like about yourself. Or start a journal of all the good things your body allows you to do. Learn how to take a compliment! The next time someone gives you a compliment, rather than objecting and saying something like “No, I’m so fat,” practice taking a deep breath and saying “Thank you.”

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I love this community so much because it’s exactly what the name of the community is–it is an army of women who are not going to accept the harsh truth that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer sometime in their lifetime. They are committed to doing something about it that goes beyond finding a cure; it’s essentially working to ensure that breast cancer doesn’t plague so many women with such devastating effects. They are demanding prevention research so we can prevent breast cancer in millions of women.

The Love/Avon Army of Women have recently conducted a Public Service Announcement contest hosted by Glamour magazine, open to film students from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and New York University’s Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television. Their mission with this contest was to encourage one million women of all ages and ethnicities from across the nation to sign up and be part of the Army of Women movement. In just a one-week period, more than 28,000 Glamour readers and Army of Women members voted for their favorite PSA’s among the four finalists. These PSA’s have and will continue to air on Lifetime Television for Women during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, reading millions of viewers.

The winner of their first-ever PSA contest was recently announced and I absolutely love it! The winner is “Million in the Mirror” by Marc Parees and Ryan Silbert of New York University’s Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television. For their PSA contest win, the filmmakers will receive an Apple Final Cut Studio Package and the opportunity to meet with the senior vice president of production at New Regency Productions.

Check out Million in the Mirror below:

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Babeland has posted an article containing all the information you need on how to effectively perform a self breast exam, but remember not to just pay attention to your breasts and love your body in October, during breast cancer awareness month. Breast cancer is a serious disease and it’s time to get serious about loving your body and making sure it is as healthy as it can possibly be. A self exam only takes about 10 to 15 minutes and it is important to consistently pay attention to your breasts throughout different points in the month; this way, you’ll get to know your breasts and can detect when something may be wrong a lot sooner.

Here’s how a self breast exam works:

• Lay down and place a pillow under your right shoulder, and your right arm under your head.
• Using the three middle fingers of your left hand, massage your right breast with the pads of your fingers. Check the entire breast for any lumps or abnormalities. You can move in a circular motion, or up and down–just make sure you use the same motion every month.
• Continue the motion, extending to the outside of the breast, and to your underarm.
• Repeat on left side.
• Next, repeat exam standing up, with one arm behind your shoulder as you examine each breast. Standing or sitting up allows you to feel the outside of the breast more accurately.
• For added precaution, stand in front of a mirror and squeeze each nipple. Look for any discharge.
• Take note of any dimpling, redness or swelling.
• If you notice anything unusual, contact your doctor as soon as possible; it may be nothing to worry about, but it’s far better to know than to wonder.

Tips:

• You can do a portion of the exam in the shower. Incorporating it into a normal activity can make it easier to do, and less of a time constraint. Remember to mark your calendar every month as a reminder.
• Do the self breast exam every month at the same time. Menstruating women should perform it a few days after their period. Women taking oral contraceptives should do the exam on the first day of starting a new pack of pills.
• Report any change to your physician, even if you feel it is minor.
• Remind your friends and family members to do their self-exams, too!

Thanks to Babeland for these great tips!

For breast cancer awareness month Babeland is also pitching in to help fund mammograms for women in need. When you buy any Pink October toy, Babeland will donate 20% of its sale to fighting breast cancer.

Pink October is co-sponsored by California Exotics, Empowered, Fun Factory, Jimmyjane and Lover’s Choice.

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SIDS is a medical disorder that baffles doctors as it remains unexplained; there is no known cause or cure and all possible causes of the disorder have been ruled out through autopsy, death scene investigation and medical history. SIDS claims the lives of nearly 2500 babies in the US from one month to one year of age. Luckily, researchers who are dedicated to unraveling the mystery of SIDS have made great strides in identifying deficits, behaviors and other factors that may put an infant at higher risk. Scientists are currently exploring the development and function of the nervous system, the brain, the heart, breathing and sleep patterns, body chemical balances, autopsy findings and environmental factors. People are working amazingly hard at reducing the number of babies who fall victim to SIDS every year; since 1992 when the Back To Sleep advisory was first introduced, the rate of SIDS has dropped more than 50% and has spared the lives of about 3,000 infants every year in the US.

While it’s true that any baby of any race, medical background and class can be affected by SIDS, there are some steps parents can take to reduce their baby’s risk.

• Place your baby on their back to sleep at night and naptime.
• Use a firm mattress, covered with only a sheet, in a safety-approved crib.
• Remove all soft and loose bedding from your baby’s sleep area, including pillows, blankets, comforters, bumper pads, sheepskins, positioners, toys and all other soft objects.
• Consider using a Halo SleepSack, a wearable blanket, or other type of sleeper as a safe alternative to loose blankets.
• Do not place your baby to sleep on a sofa, waterbed, pillow, soft mattress or any other soft surface.
• Keep your baby’s face clear of coverings.
• Be careful not to overheat your baby with excessive clothing, bedding or room temperature.
• Do not smoke or allow anyone else to smoke around your baby.
• Educate babysitters, day care providers, grandparents and anyone else who cares for your baby about reducing the risk of infant death.

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There are annual events that benefit breast cancer research all across the country, but if you don’t have time to take part in these events or the money to donate to the cause, you can still make a huge difference, and there’s an easy way to do it!

For every pink Save Lids To Save Lives Yoplait lid that is sent in (don’t forget to rinse them off!) by December 31, 2009, Yoplait will donate 10 cents to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, up to $1.5 million, with a guaranteed donation of $500,000. That is some serious breast cancer research cash!

Log onto YourLidMatters.com, where you can print tools for your lid-collecting and you can also start your own lid collection team and inspire your friends, family, co-workers and anyone else you think would love to help Save Lids To Save Lives. You can also download a $1.00 off coupon for YoPlus or YoPlus Light with pink lids and jump start your collecting!

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While I am normally all over politics and current events, I have been staying away from my usual news channels and publications because of the big debate that has taken over the news outlets as of late–health care reform. As you can tell from the opinion pieces that have appeared in our politics category, there is always an opinion to be had when it comes to legislation that has the power to change the lives of the people in this country.

I recently published an opinion piece of health care reform on my personal and feminist/political website, Menstrual Poetry that highlighted not only why health care reform is so important to the low-income people of this country, but also put my own personal perspective on the issue since I am currently in the middle of trying to get the health and dental care that I desperately need, which is also why I have not had the time that I have had in the past to dedicate to Woman Tribune.

I have a dental condition called Periodontal Disease that has given me a great deal of problems. Over the past few years however, my dental condition has worsened and of course, my wisdom teeth have decided that now would be the perfect time to sprout up. Apparently they did not receive the memo that I already have crowded teeth because my mouth has already produced too many teeth to fit so there is no way four additional, massive teeth are going to fit in there. But up they sprouted anyway. My wisdom teeth have been making their way into my mouth, desperate to be my best friends, for over two years now and throughout the entire time, I have spoken, saw, consulted with, and have downright pleaded with dentists to do something to help me, but to no avail. These past few years have been hell for me because my dental condition has continued to worsen, my teeth are beginning to decay regardless of how well I take care of them, and my wisdom teeth (that are coming in already pre-decayed for me) are causing me to be in constant, unrelenting pain. They are forcing pressure against all of the teeth in my mouth, causing my mouth and face to swell up and is also the source of a constant migraine headache. The pressure they are putting on my head has gotten so bad that I have woken up several times barely being able to hear and I woke up just this morning with what I am assuming is an ear infection from hell and a swollen throat.

I hardly get any good sleep where I actually wake up rested; often I wake up after 15 hours of sleeping and I am still tired. But I know that it is not me being tired, it is me being in so much pain that the only thing that my body will do is shut down.

So why, in over two years, have I not had these teeth pulled? Why am I blogging about mind-numbing pain instead of getting something done about it?

I don’t have insurance. No dental insurance, which would have helped with preventative dental work so I wouldn’t be in this position right now. No health insurance, which is what I am in need of now that my dental condition has become so bad that it is directly affecting my health. And because I don’t have insurance, I do not matter.

Dentists are only willing to do work if they know that they are getting paid, so when you call a dentist’s office to inquire about sliding scale fee options or payment plans and realize the kind of money you need in order to even get started on the process is more money than you have seen in quite a while–combined–well then you have a problem. When it comes to the uninsured, money is always the problem. Hell, money is quite often just a problem–to those who don’t have boatloads of it. While on my quest to get the dental work I need done, I have applied for medical assistance–and was promptly denied. I am still flabbergasted as to how I could be denied since my income is hilarious! Nevertheless, I have been wafting in a sea of denial and have realized that there is way too much wiggle room in the system for people, like me, who get denied for medical assistance yet can only dream of being able to afford private health insurance; especially if you work from home, like I do.

Everywhere you look in the media right now you are hearing about health care reform. Right wing extremists have dubbed it “Obamacare” and Republicans have been doing all they can to knock a public option for health care off the table. The message of their efforts is simple–All people do not deserve the right to a healthy life; just the privileged people who can afford it do. This belief has never sat very well with me. As Americans we are told that we must love our country; that we must stand by our country, fight for our country, and die for our country if we must–and we should be proud to do it. So why is it incomprehensible to think that our country should ensure that we are a healthy nation? The health care reform legislation is not trying to change anyone’s existent health insurance programs, it is merely giving people like me, who cannot afford private health insurance yet are denied for medical assistance by their state, a chance at a healthy life. It seems ludicrous to me to discriminate against people who are ill and who are low income, yet the government is allowing that discrimination to occur within the Republican and “Blue Dog” affiliations. This country will inevitably always be comprised of the have’s and the have not’s, but access to health care that people so desperately need should never be lumped into those categories. Health care reform is about people. It isn’t politics; it is something that will make it easier for people to get the care that they need in order to live. And I can attest first hand that living in pain and living with a condition that no one can or wants to help you with is not living, it is existing and barely at that.

As for me, I have finally found a sliding scale clinic that gave me a consultation for the dental work that I need done. They also gave me a referral to an oral surgeon who, of course, does not have a sliding scale option and I’m just going to assume, not very fond of the poor people. On August 25 I will go in for yet another consultation, this time with the oral surgeon to schedule getting five teeth extracted–all 4 wisdom teeth and another tooth that has pretty much decayed and that has been giving me many problems, including not being able to put anything remotely cold into my mouth because it makes it feel like my entire mouth is being attacked by super tiny ninjas with huge, sharp swords.

This is merely my personal experience within the failed health care industry right now and while I have been forced to live with incredible pain every day, there are life and death situations out there and people in those situations are suffering every day of their lives within a system that does not care about them or their well-being. Health care reform is about people and people’s lives and it’s high time that we see politicians and people look at this situation with compassion and not merely with a political agenda.

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Vitamins are so important for your body because chances are, the foods you eat are not giving you all of the vitamins your body needs every single day to be the healthiest it can be. Taking vitamins can benefit you and your body in a multitude of different ways; they can dramatically boost your immune system, which is great if you’re susceptible to illness and colds; and if you find yourself coming down with colds or getting the flu often, it’s probably because you’re not giving your body the vitamins it needs to ward off illness.

Vitamins can also prevent premature disease and aging; if you’re one of those women who find their medicine cabinets full of cold creams and anti-wrinkle serums, multivitamins and minerals could have very much the same impact on your skin. In fact, vitamins not only help your skin, but they also give you healthier hair and nails and can control heartburn and allergies.

When searching for the right vitamins, we scoured the internet, compared ingredients and labels and found the vitamins that appealed to us personally. I am a huge believer in separate vitamins for both men and women because as we get older, our bodies start working in completely different ways; what a man’s body needs and what a woman’s body needs are not the same. So I began taking women’s vitamins; one of the best women’s vitamins on the market right now is actually Centrum multivitamins because they support breast and bone health, gives you that healthy skin, hair, and nails, and they are specially formulated with key nutrients to help meet a woman’s nutritional needs.

After just a few days of taking daily vitamins I began notice that I was a lot more focused than I had been before. I completed tasks more efficiently and I was able to maintain that sense of focus for longer periods of time. Generally, I was just a happier person; I felt energetic and upbeat and that really started making me perform better with not just my career, but in my life. I don’t find myself feeling lethargic as often as I used to and that’s amazing to me. Every woman should be taking daily multivitamins; even if you are active every day and feel as if you’re the picture of health; vitamins are made to help you give your body what it needs.

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All you have to do is write an article related to health, fitness, or nutrition and submit it to Health Fitness How To. All article submissions will be judged on content quality, the average number of daily visitors your article attracts, an if you have linked back to Health Fitness How To on your own website or blog. Make sure to review the article submission terms before submitting your article to the contest, otherwise it may be rejected and that wouldn’t be good, especially since you’ve taken all that time to write a high-quality, expert article and all.

So, what kind of articles are Health Fitness How To looking for? According to them, they like “How To” articles the most (please note the name of their website!), since they tend to attract more readers. Your article can be in whatever format you like, but if you’re having trouble coming up with a topic, a “Tips” or “How To” article is a good place to start. As with any article you write, try to make your article as specific and focused as possible. Peopel don’t usually seatch for general health tips; people are focused and zero in on the information they want to know about. If you’re out of ideas for health, fitness, or nutrition articles, that’s okay! Just check out the Health Fitness How To article directory and review their extensive list of categories. I’m sure you’ll be able to come up with something that will wow the webmasters!

Because your chances of winning the contest are judged on how many visitors you bring to your particular article daily, here are some great article promotion tips. To promote your article, you should definitely submit your article to social networking and media sites that a great deal of people utilize on a daily basis: StumbleUpon, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Mixx, etc.

You are allowed to submit more than one article; each article is considered a single entry for the contest!

This contest ends on Friday, July 10, 2009 and a winner will be announced on Monday, July 20th, 2009; they will also be contacted directly to arrange payment.

Have fun all you health writers and good luck!

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Parents are very weary of medication in most cases, and for good reason. Most medications contain harsh chemicals drowsiness, and those same chemicals that are in medications find themselves in our waterways quite frequently, which end up in our drinking water supply which is never good! Thinking about being medicated just by drinking a cup of water from your tap is pretty unsettling. Luckily, there are some great herbal remedies on the market for children, thus eliminating those harsh chemicals from our water supply and also leave your child feeling great, helping them get over their colds faster without sleeping the days away and becoming nocturnal!

The FDA actually recommends against treating children under four with drugstore cough and cold medicines, warning of potentially severe side effects and a 2007 pediatric study found that kids slept better and coughed less after a dose of honey than after a dose of honey-flavored cough suppressant; just keep in mind that children under one year old should not eat honey because of botulism risk. So what better reasons are there to look into herbal remedies!?

Some children’s herbal remedies and medications to look into are Herbs for Kids Throat Spray, it is certified organic, peppermint-flavored spray with echinacea and thyme, which thins mucus. It is recommended for kids age one and up. Traditional Medicinals Just for Kids Organic Cold Care is a tea with elderflower, which treats congestion and helps break fevers. It is recommended for kids two and up. Hyland’s Homeopathic Complete Flu Care 4 Kids is an immune-boosting, dissolving tablet that relieves fever, aches, cough, and congestion. It is recommended for kids two and up.

If you’re looking for a DIY at home herbal remedy so you know exactly what you’re giving to your kids, just mix 1 cup of honey with 1/2 cup of thyme and heat on the stove for 15 minutes. Serve 1 tsp warm (not hot!) three times a day. This is recommended only for kids two and up.

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Because living frugally is key in many households, buying a new workout DVD is slotted as a splurge and not something that someone will purchase under most circumstances. That is why I was so excited to come across Yoga Today, a website that is featuring a new yoga class every single day. Every morning when you wake up, there will be a new class posted by yoga experts to help you step by step through the workout of the day, seven days a week, plus you can watch past classes if you miss a day or are just starting. Best of all, all of the classes on Yoga Today are free!

Here’s a little more information about YogaToday:

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The new law was approved last November with nearly 60% of the vote in favor of passing the assisted suicide law. Under the law, in order to end your life you must be at least 18 years of age, declared competent, and be a state resident. Two doctors would have to certify if the patient has a terminal condition and six months or less to live. The patient must make two oral requests for the procedure, 15 days apart, and make a written request witnessed by two people.

For physicians and pharmacists who are opposed to the law, they are not required to write or fill lethal prescriptions and even some hospitals have opted out of the law, which precludes their doctors from participating on hospital property.

Assisted suicide has been a controversial topic for many generations, but it is great to see a state that is giving its citizens a way to have control over their own fates; someone who has less than six months to live and who is suffering astronomical amounts of pain due to their illness, I believe, has every right to die in a manner that they see fit. We see a great deal of cases where patients are in too much pain than they can handle and who want to die; the least we can do is give them a compassionate and dignified way out.

What do you think? Do you want to see other states introduce assisted suicide laws?

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The Breast Cancer Network of Strength has helped thousands of people find the information they need to make educated and informed decisions through their 24/7 Hotline and YourShoes peer counselors. While they don’t give medical advice, they do help the women battling breast cancer and their families by explaining what they are likely to encounter in their lives due to breast cancer and beyond.

To help the Breast Cancer Network of Strength, Bumble Bee Foods will donate 15 cents up to $200,000 for every mile logged on their website, BeeWell Miles from April 1st to December 31, 2009. The BeeWell Miles program was created to make it easy for people to get active and help those in need of support and information.

With BeeWell Miles, your healthy lifestyle will go a long way. Just log the miles you walk or run in one day on their website and see how much of a difference you have made and can continue to make through the end of the year. BeeWell Miles can also help you and your journey through a healthy lifestyle, giving you the ability to interact with healthy living experts, share your favorite route with others and calculate the route’s mileage. You can also enter the meals you eat every day to see and understand your calorie intake, and you are also able to speak to other people on the path to a healthy lifestyle and who are also helping Bumble Bee Foods and the Breast Cancer Network of Strength.

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It has been hypothesized that menstrual blood contains a viable source of stem cells to be utilized or preserved for future use, providing an ideal source for a vast range of stem cell research and therapies. In November 2007 Cryo-Cell announced a discovery of stem cell technology, launching the world’s first commercial service to allow women to collect and cryopreserve their own stem cells, found in their own menstrual blood.

Menstrual blood contains millions of adult stem cells that demonstrate properties similar to bone marrow and embryonic stem cells. The stem cells found in menstrual blood rapidly multiply, turning into possibly every cell type in the human body.

Whether you agree with stem cell research or not, everyone supports the research to cure many illnesses and diseases and retrieving stem cells from menstrual blood would not infringe upon anyone’s moral code, considering that menstrual blood is something that arrives monthly for all women.

This miraculous discovery was hypothesized and put in motion by C’elle , a company that has created an easy-to-use collection kit to collect life-saving stem cells found naturally in the menstrual blood of women. You can read more about their company and work at the C’elle Blog .

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Coronary heart disease is the number one cause of death in women. This disease is highly preventable, a major controllable factor is high cholesterol, yet a great deal of women have limited access to adequate health care, making it very difficult for them to get regular cholesterol screenings and putting them at an even greater risk for heart disease.

A recent study conducted by Harris Interactive for Cheerios found that more than one-third of adults (approximately 37%) have not had their cholesterol checked within the past year. With the state of our economy crumbling, less and less women are paying attention to their heart health or may not even know that they are at risk for coronary heart disease. If these women were able to get the cholesterol screenings they need, we would see the number of heart disease-related deaths in women drop dramatically.

Now through January 31, 2010, Cheerios is helping women in need through its partnership with WomenHeart. On the inside of every specially marked boxes of Cheerios, a code is printed on the inside. For every code entered at www.cheerioshelpinghearts.com, Cheerios will donate $1, up to $200,000 to raise awareness for heart disease and provide free cholesterol screenings for women in need who could not otherwise afford to receive cholesterol screenings.

Freshwater Pearl Bracelet Giveaway

We are giving away a timeless freshwater pearl bracelet with a heart charm from Charity Charms to 3 lucky winners. Charity Charms donates a portion of the proceeds from its charms to various charities and by wearing the charm bracelet, you can show your dedication to raising awareness of women’s heart health.

To win a freshwater pearl bracelet all you have to do is leave a comment about what you do to maintain a healthy heart.

• Twitter about this contest and comment here with the URL of your update.

This contest is open to U.S. residents only and ends on March 31, 2009 at 12am EST. 3 winners will be announced April 1, 2009.

Contest Disclaimer

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The Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act is a critical step needed to end the horrible practice of “drive-through” mastectomies, which forced women to check out of the hospital sometimes only hours after invasive breast cancer surgery.

Make your voice heard and call your Representatives in Congress and urge them to be an original cosponsor of this legislation.

To reach your member of Congress, call the US House of Representatives switchboard at 202.225.3121. To find your Representative, visit the US House of Representatives’ website.

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Fake drug and food quality scandals are plaguing the country and this specific ban went into effect after numerous scandals broke out over the past two months regarding the health of Chinese people in several provinces due to fake drugs marketed by non-professional medicinal personnel.

A Chinese internet user late last month exposed 12 fake “experts” selling medicine under various disguises and named on television stations in Shandong province which sparked an online uproar over false endorsements. Earlier this month Chinese police arrested at least five people in connection with a fake diabetic drug linked to the deaths of at least two people and sold to thousands of patrons in several provinces. China has also sentenced two men to death for their role in making and selling milk tainted with melamine (an industrial compound) where at least six children died and nearly 300,000 people fell ill after drinking toxic dairy products last year.

The specifics of China’s new ban includes that non-accredited personnel would be banned from such advertisements and other health programs carried on television and further breaches would see advertisers and companies’ advertising licenses revoked and “temporary suspensions of sales for their medicinal products.”

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