Bankhead

Two widely reported studies showed a link between low testosterone and heart attacks in diabetics. This does not mean that low testosterone was the cause of the heart attacks (International Journal of Impotence Research, July 2006). It is more likely that diabetes damages arteries to cause heart attacks and it also damages the testicles to cause a low testosterone.

Men with low testosterone are far more likely to store fat primarily in their bellies, which means they also store fat in their livers. This interferes with the liver's ability to remove insulin from the bloodstream after it has done its job of driving insulin from the bloodstream into cells. These people develop high blood sugar levels which causes sugar to attach to the surface of cell membranes, in this case on the testicles, and damage them to cause low levels of testosterone.

If you are a man who stores fat primarily in your belly, check with your doctor to get blood tests for cholesterol and diabetes (HBA1C), and check for high blood pressure. If your HBA1C is high, you are diabetic and should immediately start a diet that is low in refined carbohydrates, lose weight and see if it is safe for you to start an exercise program.

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Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports -- and the FREE Good Food Book -- at http://www.DrMirkin.com.

With the tremendous success of the Print on demand industry there is now a wealth of self published books. An aspiring author can now publish a book at zero cost then purchase copies for himself and his family at steeply discounted prices. This change in self-publishing has brought a veritable revolution in the industry. And it means that there are now tens of thousands of self-published books available to the public.

This new revolution has also brought with it some negative aspects. The biggest of which is the fact that many self-published books are of an inferior quality. Let's face the facts here. Even the best writers need an editor. A book that is going to be sold in the mainstream markets goes through many iterations of writing, editing, rewriting and more editing. Writing, after all, is a very demanding skill. And it takes most writers years to gain some mastery over the craft.

So how does a potential book buyer judge the quality of the writing without actually reading the book? He or she does it by looking at the cover. It makes sense that if the cover is done well the writing will also be done well. This is a judgment call based on perceived effort. How much effort was put into this cover? Is the asked question, and from that assessment we judge how much effort was put into the writing. And even though this isnt always a good assessment it is what happens. Remember that your potential buyer has a lot of choices and he has to make quick judgments and decisions.

The self-publishing Industry offers you the writer the ability to get an adequate cover for your book by offering a host of easy cover options. All the POD (Print-on-Demand) houses have pre-made cover templates that can easily be adapted or modified for your work. You have seen these templates a hundred times and they are very easy to spot. Just browse though any of the websites that offer these books. Or try the e-book websites. You even see plenty of them on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com, although they almost always don't rank well in sales. Some authors opt to use their own pictures or artwork on the cover and this is a good creative option but how many authors are legitimately trained graphic artists?

Before we get into what you should do let's cover a few things you shouldnt do:

So what should you do?

First of all, you should spend some time on your cover. Make sure it reflects the writing inside the book. And make sure it is of a superior quality in design and printing. You have spent hundreds of hours laboring over your manuscript. The writing is good and the story is good. Does it make sense to spend an hour or two on cover design and selection? No, it sure doesn't. The cover is another aspect of your work. You should focus a lot of energy on it. I am not saying that you should spend hundreds of hours on it but the general rule applies to covers that applies to everything else. The more you put into it the more you get out of it.

Get some professional help.

Every POD house offers the services of a graphic artist or a team that will design your cover for you. If you can cover the expense and you are serious about marketing your book it would be money well spent. The improvement in quality has the potential to recoup the extra expense many times over. If you can afford it you should look up the services of a professional cover designer.

If you are adamant about keeping creative control over your novel and you want to design the cover yourself here are some rules of thumb. Keep the design simple. In general, the more complex the cover gets the more difficult it is and the less impact it makes on your potential buyer. And when creating the graphics, be sure to very carefully adhere to the publishers guidelines for cover art. And always create and save everything in the maximum allowable resolution. Something that looks good on your computer might be blurry or fuzzy when printed onto an actual book.

And finally, you should always get an advance copy of the novel before you give it final approval. You really need to get an actual copy in your hands so you can see and feel the quality of the cover. No matter how good it looks in computerized form it may look totally different in actual print.

Will Kalif is the author of two self-published epic fantasy novels. You can download free samples of his work at his personal website:
Storm The Castle - Creativity and Fantasy with an edge

Or you can visit his site devoted to fantasy on the web at:
The Webs Fantasy Guide

Okay, do you really want to make all your own backpacking clothes? More power to you, and good luck. After the first hundred tedious hours of sewing I started buying gear again. However, there are SOME backpacking clothes you can make cheaply and quickly. A few examples follow.

Making Your Own Ski Mask

Find any old thermal underwear top or bottom, preferably made of polypropylene. Cut off a sleeve or leg, pull it over your head, and mark where your eyes and mouth are with a pen or marker. Cut the holes and cut off the extra. You just made a balaclava.

My homemade balaclava weighs less than an ounce. Sew the top shut if you want, or just pin it shut with a safety pin. Making your own backpacking clothes doesn't get much simpler than this.

Hand Warmers

Put your hands inside a pair of light socks and mark where your fingertips are. Cut five holes in the end of each, and you now have 1-ounce hand warmers that leave your fingers free. Use them under other gloves or mittens in colder weather. When you need to remove your mittens to tie your shoes, you won't totally expose your hands.

A Two-Dollar Insulated Vest

You can buy 1/2" poly batting at any fabric store (I bought mine at Walmart). Unroll it and cut a piece out, roughly two by four feet. Put a hole in it for your head. You'll wear it like a tunic, but under your jacket. It will be among the lightest backpacking clothes you'll own. Mine weighs four ounces.

I took my vest, along with my homemade balaclava, over glaciers, to the top of 20,600-foot Chimborazo, in Ecuador. I also wore it to the top of Mount Shasta in California, and on many other trips. I made it as a disposable vest, but it's held together for years now.

Feel free to contact me with ideas for any simple backpacking clothes or equipment that can be made at home. However, if it can't be explained in a paragraph, it's probably too complex and time consuming for me. I prefer to backpack, not sew.

Steve Gillman is a long-time backpacker, and advocate of lightweight backpacking. His advice and stories can be found at http://www.TheUltralightBackpackingSite.com

Make Mealtime Fun time

Everyone loves food varietyand most of us love sweet alternatives to the boring food that we take everyday. Carbonated drinks like colas and packaged snack foods with preservatives might add zing to your palate but you have to pay a heavy price for their ill-effects (bad cholesterol, calcium erosion in bones and high blood pressure). While the young may escape its bad effects, why take them when you have better/smarter alternatives in tasty fruity dishes taken the natural way? Nature has blessed us with so many varieties of fruits and vegetable that its fresh vegetable and fruit juice and mouthwatering dishes/ice-creams can be easily used to get kids and elders addicted to this tastier and healthier alternative. Mealtime is an important family get-together too add the health zing by make this living foods lifestyle full of smart occasion of healthy celebration/elation.

Fruity Decision

Health is wealth is true in many wayswhile the initial cost of fruits may seem high; their heath benefits far outweigh the costs. As they keep you fitter and healthier always, your trips to doctor are minimized, your work performance improves and your looks get a boost. So give in to the joy of juicing, rejoice your submission to Mother Nature and enjoy better vitality thanks to this healthier smarter alternative. Have you noticed that organic fruit and vegetable taste just right - they are neither too sweet nor too sour as Mother Nature knows whats right for our taste buds whets best for our bodys well being too! So if you love yourself and family, make a bold fruit statement in all your meal/snack timesand enjoy the good health dividends forever!

Champion Juicer Your Health Buddy

Ok so juice is a smart healths wealth option, and the best way to have them is fresh home made juices! In fact juices got from a masticating juicer are the best option as give maximum nutrients and the juice is tastier with some yummy fibers too! For your own body sake dont get lazy and have chemical laced packaged, while the centrifugal juicers dont do the job properly as they miss out on many fibers and micro nutrients.

One of the best masticating juicers available is the Champion juicers (since 1955). Its a popular masticating juicer thats powerful and famous for its durability, reliability and real integrity. Manufactured by Plastaket Manufacturing Co. in California, this juicer range is backed-up with a 10 year limited warranty. Champion Juicers have a simple answer to every juicing problem.

Champion juicers chew the fibers and this break up the cells of vegetables and fruits. What you get is a great health drink that gives you more fiber, enzymes, vitamins and trace minerals. Your health benefits from a darker, richer color juice with a full-bodied flavor that is sweeter with more full-bodied flavor. This raw food nutrition is great to taste (see some great recipes at http://www.achampionjuicer.com/Free_Recipes.html).

http://WWW.AChampionJuicer.com is an ecommerce business marketing a masticating juicer. The Champion Juicer is a fruit and vegetable juicer. And drinking fresh fruit and vegetable juice may improve or maintain your good health.