GROWING UP SMART

Stretching Exercises for Young Women (5 of 13)

2012-02-27T12:08:00.002-05:00

Shoulder Stretch

1. Cross you right arm over your chest.

2. With your left hand, gently pull your right elbow toward your left shoulder. Keep your right arm straight.

3. Hold the stretch 10 to 15 seconds.

4. Repeat on the other side.

Stretching makes your muscles and joints flexible, preventing injuries, and stopping your muscles from cramping. Flexibility allows you to move your muscles through their full range of motion. That helps you jump higher, reach further, and run faster.

Excercise Tips (Girl's Fitness Fact #10)

2012-02-20T07:03:00.000-05:00

Here are some tips from The Girl's Fitness Guide on how to start exercising and how to keep your exercise program going:

Decide on your exercise goals. What do you want to achieve? For example, if you want to improve your endurance, emphasize aerobic exercises. If you want to tone your body, emphasize resistance exercises. Make your goals reasonable and realistic.

Develop an exercise plan based on your goals. Be sure your plan includes warm-up and stretching (flexibility), aerobic (endurance), and resistance (strength) exercises. To excel in any one requires work in all three.

Set up a regular exercise schedule and stick to it. You are more likely to continue exercising when you have a schedule to follow.

Begin slowly and progress little by little. If you’re just starting a program, start with easy exercises. Gradually work up to more advanced exercises.

Keep track of your progress by writing it down.

Get a friend to exercise with you.

Consider working with a coach or trainer to motivate you and provide instruction.

Try to exercise three to four days a week for about 30 to 45 minutes each time. It’s important to allow your body time to recover between workouts. Don’t overdo it.

Stretching Exercises for Young Women (4 of 13)

2012-02-13T06:48:00.000-05:00

Triceps Stretch
1. Start with your arms overhead.
2. Grab your left elbow with your right hand.
3. Slowly pull your elbow toward the back of your head.
4. Hold the stretch 10 to 15 seconds.
5. Repeat on the other side.

Stretching makes your muscles and joints flexible, preventing injuries, and stopping your muscles from cramping. Flexibility also allows you to move your muscles through their full range of motion. That helps you jump higher, reach further, and run faster.

Chewing With Your Mouth Open (Bad Habit #8)

2012-02-06T07:45:00.000-05:00

Sharing is good. Food is good. But sharing the sights and sounds of food in your mouth as you chew isn’t good. Smacking your lips as you open and close your jaws makes lots of noise. It’s a spectacle. Partially chewed food falls from your open mouth or is catapulted across the table. People are grossed out. So why do they even care?

Well, since you asked: how you chew is a part of etiquette, the customary code of polite behavior. Nine thousand years ago, prehistoric men had rules (manners) to determine who dipped their wooden spoons into the common cooking pot to eat first. By the way, the men were first.

Two thousand years ago, Greek and Roman manners dictated that people eat with their fingers while reclining on a couch and propped up on one arm. Today, certain indigenous peoples of the Arctic consider it proper to eat from a common cooking pot with their hands, men first, then women and children.

American table manners had their beginnings in the European courts around 1100 A.D. The rules were to make eating a more pleasant and orderly experience. People were asked not to speak with their mouths full, not to pick their teeth with their knives, or to grab food.

As time went by, diners learned not to lick their fingers, smack their lips, snort, or put their faces in their food. Forks were used for the first time during the Renaissance. People began eating from plates, and bones weren’t to be thrown on the floor anymore for the animals to eat. Everyone had his own cup, too.

While table manners have improved since then, we still have a way to go. According to Emily Post,[i] here are the top 10 bad table manners to be avoided:
1. Leaving the table without saying, “excuse me.”
2. Doing a “boardinghouse” reach to get what you want from across the table.
3. Slouching over your place setting or leaning on your elbows while eating.
4. Cutting up all your food at once.
5. Drinking while still chewing food—unless you’re choking, of course.
6. Failing to put your napkin on your lap or use it at all.
7. Picking your teeth at the table or, even worse, flossing.
8. Holding eating utensils like a shovel.
9. Slurping, smacking, blowing your nose, or making any other unpleasant noises while seated at the table.
10. Chewing food with your mouth open or talking with food in your mouth.

Table manners vary from place-to-place and culture-to-culture. What’s okay in America won’t pass muster in Rangoon, or the other way around. What’s acceptable one day may not be the next because manners are always changing to meet society’s needs. As things stand now, here are some general pointers to chew on.

Table-related Dos and Don’ts

Avoid Emily’s top 10 bad manners at all costs.
When you’re not sure what to do, watch other people and follow their lead.
Don’t bite off more than you can chew, literally and figuratively.
Set aside time to eat. It’s impossible to have good manners when you’re in a rush.

[i] Post, Peggy. Emily Post’s Etiquette (17^th Edition). Harper Collins, 2004.

Stretching Exercises for Young Women (3 of 13)

2012-01-30T06:43:00.000-05:00

Biceps Stretch
1. Lift your arms to shoulder height at your sides.
2. Rotate your wrists so your palms face behind you.
3. Hold the stretch 10 to 15 seconds.

Stretching makes your muscles and joints flexible, preventing injuries, and stopping your muscles from cramping. Flexibility also allows you to move your muscles through their full range of motion. That helps you jump higher, reach further, and run faster.

Exercise Program Tips (Fitness Fact #8)

2012-01-23T07:39:00.000-05:00

Here are some tips from The Boy's Fitness Guide on how to start exercising and how to keep your exercise program going:

Set up a regular exercise schedule and stick to it. You are more likely to continue exercising when you have a schedule to follow.

Begin slowly and progress little by little. If you’re just starting a program, start with easy exercises. Gradually work up to more advanced exercises.

Keep track of your progress by writing it down.

Get a friend to exercise with you.

Consider working with a coach or trainer to motivate you and provide instruction.

Try to exercise three to four days a week for about 30 to 45 minutes each time. It’s important to allow your body time to recover between workouts. Don’t overdo it.

Stretching Exercises for Young Women (2 of 13)

2012-01-16T07:37:00.000-05:00

Chest Stretch
1. Clasp your hands behind your head.
2. Keep your elbows straight.
3. Rotate your shoulders backward, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
4. Hold the stretch 10 to 15 seconds.
(For a greater challenge, look up while doing the stretch.)

Stretching makes your muscles and joints flexible, preventing injuries, and stopping your muscles from cramping. Flexibility also allows you to move your muscles through their full range of motion. That helps you jump higher, reach further, and run faster.

Jealousy (Bad Habit #38)

2012-01-09T07:50:00.000-05:00

Jealous, from the Low Latin zelosus, “full of zeal,” is to feel or show envy of someone or their achievements and advantages. You can be protective or vigilant of rights and possessions, as in “Nicky is jealous of his father’s authority.” Or you may feel or show suspicion of someone’s unfaithfulness in a relationship, as in “Kerry is a very jealous girlfriend.”

Jealousy is a common emotion. Everyone experiences it to some degree at one time or another. That’s why there are so many songs, books, movies, and poems about jealousy. There are even paintings of jealous lovers.

Jealousy is the strongest emotion. It’s more potent than anger, lasting many times longer before losing its passion and intensity. Almost always, jealousy outlasts the attachment on which it’s based. As Francois De La Rochefoucauld observed, “Jealousy is always born with love, but does not always die with it."

As an emotion, jealousy combines the negative thoughts and feelings of fear, suspicion, insecurity, anger, distrust, uncertainty, sadness, and loneliness. That’s a caustic mix, any one part of which can make for a very tortured and unhappy life.

Even as undesirable as it is, jealousy is difficult to avoid. It seems there’s always something to be jealous about. From your friend’s awesome video game collection to your girlfriend’s flirting ways, it creeps into your life. If not checked, jealousy ruins relationships and it makes you look weak and insecure.

So how can you get a grip on jealousy? The best way is to figure out why you feel jealous in the first place. It’s likely because you feel something is being threatened or taken from you. You’re jealous of your girlfriend because you want reassurance she’ll still be with you tomorrow. You don’t want to lose her because you’re not confident enough to be self-sufficient.

Even though they feel jealousy, some people turn it off before it becomes destructive. How do they do it? They accept themselves as they are, the good and the bad. And they involve themselves in healthy, solid relationships with everyone in their lives. Doing these things builds self-confidence.

But, building self-confidence isn’t always easy. It most often comes with age and the experience of having made good decisions along the way. Confidence in you is the key to keeping jealousy at arm’s length. Put your life in perspective by knowing that you have things others don’t, and they have things you don’t. It’s just the way it is.

Being Jealous Dos and Don’ts
· Think it through.
· Get control.
· Move on.
· Don’t look back.

Stretching Exercises for Young Women (1 of 13)

2012-01-02T08:36:00.000-05:00

Upper Back Stretch

1. Intertwine your fingers with your palms turned away from you.
2. Reach out, rolling your shoulders forward and extending your arms as far as possible.
3. Hold the stretch 10 to 15 seconds.

Stretching makes your muscles and joints more flexible, preventing injuries, and stopping your muscles from cramping. Fexibility also allows you to move your muscles through their full range of motion. That helps you jump higher, reach further, and run faster.

Overeating (Bad Habit #21)

2011-12-26T09:07:00.001-05:00

You can eat in, eat out, eat crow, eat dirt, eat humble pie, and eat your words. You can eat dust, eat your heart out, and be eaten up inside. You can also be eaten out of house and home. That’s a lot of eating. No wonder America has an obesity problem.

Let’s start with your stomach. It is, after all, the first stop for everything you eat. Your stomach is a muscular, elastic, pear-shaped bag, lying crosswise in your abdominal cavity just beneath your diaphragm. It changes size and shape depending on the position of your body and the amount of food that’s in it. Adults’ stomachs are about 12 inches long and 6 inches wide at their widest point. A fully loaded adult stomach holds about 2 to 3 pints of food and drink.

Now that it’s on the table, let’s talk about food. We’re bombarded from morning until night with choices over what and how much we eat. Everywhere you turn there are candy bars, chips, cookies, sugar cereals, and prepared meals with loads of sugar, fat, and salt. There are also fruits and vegetables available, but how often do you see them in the checkout lane at the grocery or in a vending machine?

These days there are chain restaurants specializing in everything from hamburgers to pizza to Tex-Mex. Look at the following chart. Consider the details of what you’re eating. Aside from the big dose of sugar, fat, and salt, would this one meal even fit into a 2 to 3 pint stomach all at once?

Food	Fat/ % Daily	Sodium/ % Daily	Calories/ % Daily
Chips and Hot Sauce	36 gm 55%	2590mg 108%	480 24%
Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger	71gm 109%	2070mg 86%	1090 55%
Homestyle Fries	26gm 40%	250mg 10%	430 22%
Large Classic Coca-Cola	0	5mg <0.1%	214 11%
Choc Chip Cookie Cake	64gm 98%	680mg 28%	1240 62%
TOTALS	197gm 302%	5595mg 124%	3454 173%

Pediatrician and academician David A. Kessler, M. D., believes that eating sugar, fat, and salt makes us eat more sugar, fat, and salt.[i] He observes that the food and restaurant industries dish out great-tasting, big-serving, bad-for-us food, not just because the food is profitable, but also because we demand it. According to Kessler, we demand it because we’re hooked on it; in other words, it’s a habit.

Eating Dos and Don’ts
· Think about what you put in your mouth.
· Don’t eat more calories than you burn.
· Change the way you think, and it will change the way you eat.
· Break the sugar-fat-salt cycle one food at a time.

[i] Kessler,David A. The End of Overeating: Controlling the Insatiable American Appetite.Macmillan, 2009.

Resistance Exercises (19 of 19)

2011-12-19T06:32:00.000-05:00

Calf Raise

Stand with your feet slightly apart.
Rise up onto your toes. Keep your back straight.
Slowly return to the starting position.

(Hold dumbbells at your side for a greater challenge. Or stand on a step and let your heels drop below the level of your toes for a greater range of motion.)

Resistance exercise tones your body and builds muscular strength.

Being Late (Bad Habit #36)

2011-12-12T09:13:00.000-05:00

Late, from the Old English laet, “slow, tardy,” means something taking place or done after theexpected, proper, or usual time. Certain people are so dependably andpredictably behind schedule, it’s said that when the time comes, they’ll belate to their own funeral.

Funerals aside, being late is generallylooked down on. Take a dentist appointment, for example. Think of it as anunwritten contract, a promise that you’ll both meet at 2 p.m. to have yourteeth cleaned. But, there are too many people asking too much of you, too manythings pulling you in too many directions, and too many promises to keep. Theseare the excuses you’ll hear from people who are late.

Every late arrival sends a message to the people waitingthat they’re less important than you and what you were doing. In their minds,you had a choice to make, and you chose another person or activity. Do itenough and your relationship with those people will suffer. Being late sends asignal that you aren’t dependable and not to be trusted.

Being on time takes planning and effort. If you have thereputation for always being late, here are a few dos and don’ts to help get youback on track.

Being Late Dos and Don’ts

Don’t over-commit. Prioritize your commitmentsif you have more than can be done in the time available. Say “no” to things atthe bottom of the list. Not even superman can be two places at one time.
Count backwards. If your dentist appointment isat 2 p.m. and it will take 30 minutes to get there, add 10 minutes for goodmeasure, and leave at 1:20 p.m., not a minute later.
Know how to leave. If you’re with another personwhen the time to leave comes, make a graceful exit. Just say, “I’m sorry, Ihate to cut you off, but I have an appointment and I need to get going.” Mostpeople will respect you for sticking to the schedule.
Overestimate. Assume everything takes longerthan you think. It does, after all. Being a little early is better than beinglate. You will be calm, collected, and ready to go.
Stay in touch. If you did everything rightand you’re still going to be late, call the other person and let them know. Ithappens.

Losing Your Temper (Bad Habit #23)

2011-12-05T08:38:00.000-05:00

Temper, from the Latin temperare, means a person’s state of mind in terms of being angry or calm. You can keep your temper or lose your temper. You can have a short temper or a fit of temper. It’s up to you. Here’s what we mean.

The stimulus: Parker, a guy in your neighborhood, says something insulting about you. Your response: You react angrily, threatening to “punch him out.” Checkmate. You lose.

“He made me mad,” you tell your friend. Well, that’s not how it works. Parker didn’t make you mad. You decided to get mad. Think about it. In the time between Parker’s comment (the stimulus) and your threat (the response), you chose to get angry and threaten him.

How you act—and react—is always your choice. No one makes the decision for you. One option is to put your emotions on autopilot and react without thinking. That’s what happened when you had that knee-jerk response to Parker’s comment.

People operate either emotionally or rationally. Emotional-based people rely on their feelings to make decisions. They blame their behavior on other people or circumstances and conditions outside their control. “I’m in a bad mood today because it’s raining,” they say.

Logic-based people depend on facts to make decisions. They take responsibility for their actions, making conscious decisions based on their values, rather than their feelings. The fact that it’s raining doesn’t affect their mood.

Taking responsibility for your moods—including anger—seems impossible. You want to yell at the person who left his gym locker open and on which you hit your head. But will that really help? No. Losing your temper rarely solves the problem.

The next time you feel yourself getting hot under the collar, try these ways to keep your cool.

Pause. Resist knee-jerk reactions.
Think. Don’t jump to conclusions.
Understand. Put the problem in perspective.
Respond. Focus on the problem, not the person.

Losing Your Temper Dos and Don’ts

Take responsibility for your moods.
Don’t make a habit of losing your temper.
Remember Aristotle’s words, “Anyone can get angry; that's all too easy. But the challenge is to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way.”

Resistance Exercises (18 of 19)

2011-11-28T08:04:00.000-05:00

Side-Lying Leg Lift

Lie on your side with your legs one on top of the other.
Raise your top leg as high as you can. Keep your leg straight and your hips stacked.
Slowly return to the starting position.
Switch sides after each set.

(Use ankle weights for a greater challenge.)

Resistance exercise tones your body and builds muscular strength.

Being a Know-It-All (Bad Habit #26)

2011-11-21T06:07:00.000-05:00

You can know yourway around, know a thing or two, know the ropes, and know your stuff. A know-it-all,though, is someone who puts on airs over his self-importance, especially aperson whose instructive-type conversational style is meant to show off hissuperior knowledge.

Famous know-it-alls include God, Hypocrites,Julius Caesar, and Mr. Know-It-All, aka Bullwinkle J. Moose. Deities,philosophers, and cartoon characters aside, know-it-alls are easily iden-tifiableby what they say. If you hear, “I told you, but you didn’t listen," or“Yeah, I already knew that,” you’re probably talking with one.

These run-of-the-mill, garden-variety know-it-alls,sometimes referred to as smart alecs, know everything about everything at alltimes -- or sothey would have you believe. They’re typically thought of as bombastic,opinionated, and bad listeners. Know-it-alls can pontificate ad infinitum onany subject. It drives some people crazy.

To be fair, know-it-alls sometimes have lots to offer,and, like most people, they’re generally competent. But, they can’t stand to becontradicted or corrected. A know-it-all lacks the humility to say, "I don’tknow enough about that to have an opinion," or "You may be right.”

As communicators, know-it-alls are good at giving andbad at receiving. They don’t take input well. Their rambling treatises have theeffect of putting people down. By implication, if they know everything, youknow nothing. Or at least that’s how it can make you feel.

For a little fun the next time you’re suffering at thehands of a know-it-all, ask them this question and see if they know the answer:According to the Heisenberg IndeterminacyPrinciple of quantum mechanics, what two properties of a system cannot besimultaneously determined with arbitrarily small uncertainties? The answer, of course, is position and momentum. Okay, we admit that’s ajuvenile way of dealing with know-it-alls. Instead, consider these dos anddon’ts.

Know-It-All Dos and Don’ts

Always have the facts when talking with a know-it-all.
Assumptions, estimates, and hunches don't carryany weight with them.
Be specific when asking questions of a know-it-all,lest they go off on a frustrating, counterproductive tangent.
Avoid directly challenging a know-it-all’s factsor interpretation of the facts. Best to just listen and move on -- orsimply excuse yourself and leave.
Remember that know-it-alls don’t know everythingand that you can contribute, too.
Look yourself in the mirror. If you’re aknow-it-all, fess up, and change.

George Muresan Talks About Fitness

2011-11-14T07:24:00.000-05:00

George Muresan is making the rounds talking about his books, The Boy's Fitness Guide and The Girl's Fitness Guide.

During his appearance on Our Place - a popular Fairfax, Virginia TV show for kids - George talks about exercise and eating right using examples from his NBA experience.

Joining George on Our Place were co-authors "Nik" Rares Morar and Frank Hawkins.

How to Say "No" to a Girl (Boy's Guide to Girls Fact #10)

2011-11-07T07:12:00.000-05:00

Tess sits next to you in Language Arts. You can tell she likes you in a girlfriend-boyfriend way. But, you don’t feel the same about her. The all-school spring dance is coming up and you know she’s going to ask you. You’re nervous. You don’t know how to say “no” without hurting her feelings. It’s the same feeling you got when Katie asked you to the movies last year. Why does all this boy-girl stuff have to be so difficult?

Saying “no” is hard to do. But, if that’s how you feel, you need to say so. If Tess asks you to the dance, you don’t want to lead her on by saying “yes.” That wouldn’t be fair - to either you or her. Especially when it’s Francesca you really want to go with.

Here are a few pointers to make turning down an invitation a little easier and go a little smoother. Remember, it’s not only what you say, but also how you say it.

Be honest and straightforward. “No thanks. I’m flattered you asked me, but I don’t want to” is better than “Well, uh, I don’t know. Maybe, but I don’t think so right now. Sorry.” Don’t leave her confused by sending mixed signals. And don’t say, “We can still be friends” if you don’t mean it.

Bepolite. Everyone deserves to betreated with respect. It takes a lot of guts to tell someone how you feel. Giveher your attention, look her in the eyes, and use polite words: “It’s very niceof you to ask me, but I have other plans for the dance.”

Be firm. If she doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and keepshanging around and you don’t want the attention, use stronger language to getyour point across. Try something like this: “I don’t want to hurt yourfeelings, but I’m not interested. I have to go now, and I would like you toleave me alone.”

Bediscreet. Don’t make it a big dealthat she asked you out and you said “no way.” There’s no need to talk about itwith anyone. You wouldn’t want the fact that someone turned you down spread allover school, would you? Remember, the next time you may be on the receivingend.

Resistance Exercises (17 of 19)

2011-10-31T08:46:00.000-04:00

Leg Extension

Sit on a chair or weight bench high enough so your feet don't touch the floor.
Raise your legs so they're almost fully extended.
Slowly return to the starting position.

(Use ankle weights for a greater challenge.)

Resistance exercise tones your body and builds muscular strength.

Toning Your Body and Building Muscles (Girl's Fitness Fact #9)

2011-10-24T08:50:00.000-04:00

All young women want to look and feel their best. To achieve that goal, many work on toning their bodies and building muscle mass. But when's the right time to start working out to build muscles? The Girl's Fitness Guide has the answer.

When you reach puberty, your body starts making the hormones that build muscles. Until then, exercise only tones your body. If you want to build muscle mass, wait until after puberty. In the meantime, eat healthy foods and stay active. That will keep you strong and ready to start building muscle mass when your body is ready.

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Saying No to Everything (Bad Habit #37)

2011-10-17T06:12:00.000-04:00

Some people won’ttake no for an answer. Sometimes thenoes have it. At other times, there’s notwo ways about it. Evolved from Shinto rites, No is the name of a traditional 14th century Japanese all-malemasked drama. And No is thedesignation for chemical element Nobelium. Here, however, we are talking about“no,” meaning to give a negative response. It’s the answer you’ll get if youask someone on the street for a million dollars.

How often and for what reasons do you say, “No?”I say “no” all the time, probably 20 times a day. Even as I write this, myfirst reaction is, “There’s no way I say ‘no’ that much!” But, I think I justmight.

People say “no” not just to things that deserve it, but alsoto new ideas and possibilities. For some it’s a first reaction, a knee-jerkresponse without thinking—you know, a habit. Saying “no” stifles your chance toexperience new things, make unexpected discoveries, learn, and grow.

Every day holds opportunities to try a new food or go toa movie you wouldn’t usually see. In doing these simple things, you beginlearning how to say “yes.” And saying “yes” more often will allow you to see whatlife has to offer and, in the process, discover more about yourself.

Of course, it’s impossible to say, “yes,” to everything.There are lots of times that saying “no” is the right answer. Like when thestore clerk offers you a two-for-one deal on DVDs you’ll never watch, thewaiter wants you to have dessert even though you’re not hungry, or a personcomes to your door and wants you to buy magazines you’ll never read.

Sometimes it’s not easy knowing when to say “yes” andwhen to say “no.” It takes practice and understanding to strike the rightbalance. Here are some dos and don’ts for those of us always leaning toward“no.”

Saying No Dos and Don’ts

Think before you say “NO!”
Look for opportunities to say “yes.”
Always say “no” when it’s deserved.

Check out your bad habits here!

Resistance Exercises (16 of 19)

2011-10-10T07:43:00.000-04:00

Leg Lift

Lie on your back with your arms by your side, palms down.
Bring your right leg up as high as possible.
Keep your leg straight and your back flat on the floor.
Slowly return to the starting position.
Alternate sides to finish the set.

(Bend your knees to make the exercise less difficult.)

Resistance exercise tones your body and builds muscular strength.

Resistance Exercises (15 of 19)

2011-10-03T09:13:00.000-04:00

Crunch

Lie on your back with your legs bent.
Clasp your hands behind your head.
Lift your chest toward your knees until your shoulders come off the floor.
Slowly return to the starting position.

Resistance exercise tones your body and builds muscular strength.

Passing Gas (Bad Habit #3)

2011-09-26T07:10:00.000-04:00

Farting is the act ofreleasing gas from your anus, otherwise known as the hole in your butt. Theformal word for fart is flatulence:from Latin flatus, “blowing.” Farts also are calledgassers, stinkers, air biscuits, bombers, barking spiders, rotten eggs, and wetones. You can pass gas, break wind, blast, poof, rip one, let one fly, and cutthe cheese. As Juliet said to Romeo, “What's in a name? That which we call arose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Everyone farts. The only requirement is that you havegas in your digestive tract, that is, your esophagus, stomach, small intestine,or large intestine. Fart gas comes from air that you swallow and from thenormal breakdown of foodstuff by bacteria in your large intestine.

Burping is the way you get rid of most of theair that you swallow while eating and drinking. Any gas that remains after that big after-dinner burpmoves on to your small intestine, where it is partially absorbed. Then, whatlittle is left travels into your large intestine destined for release throughyour anus.

In the end, it’s bacteria in your intestinesthat get credit for causing most of the gas that makes you fart. It all happensin your large intestine (or colon) as bacteria work to digest sugars andstarches that haven’t already been digested in your small intestine. Thosebacteria produce hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and sometimes methane as they digestfood.

The bacteria also make small amounts of hydrogen sulfideand mercaptans, both of which contain sulfur. That’s what gives gas its smell.The more sulfur-rich food you eat, the more sulfides and mercaptans your bodymakes, the worse your farts smell. Cauliflower, corn, bell peppers, cabbage,milk, bread, eggs, and raisins make for really foul smelling farts. Beans makeyou fart a lot, but bean farts usually aren’t that smelly.

Here are some facts to impress your friends. Use themwisely and only at the appropriate time; in other words, not during dinner orin front of polite company.

The average person farts 14 times a day.
Vibrations of your anal opening make fart noise, notthe flapping of your butt cheeks.
The smelliest farts, euphemistically referred to asSBDs (silent-but-deadly), are usually warmer and quieter than regular farts.
Girls fart just as much as guys, although guys takemore pride in fart-related accomplishments than do girls.
Eating stimulates peristalsis, a series of smoothmuscle contractions that pushes foodstuffs through your intestines and towardyour anus. That’s why you fart and poop right after a meal.
Holding a fart won’t make it go away. Sooner or laterit’s going to happen.
People fart in their sleep.
Farts are flammable because they contain hydrogen(spelled H-i-n-d-e-n-b-u-r-g) and methane. Be careful.

Farting at an inopportune moment can be embarrassing.When this happens, there are many different strategies to deal with thesituation. You can, of course, fess up to your indiscretion. Or if you suspectpeople may not know it’s you that farted, you can act oblivious and glanceknowingly at the person next to you. Or you can try alternative strategies todisguise your deed, like coughing or moving your chair so that people mightthink they misheard the fart.

Farting Dos and Don’ts

Try to fart only when you’re alone.
Don’t fart at the dinner table or in enclosedspaces, like elevators.
Say, “Excuse me!” if you fart by accident andeveryone knows it was you.
Don’t fart in front of girls, unless you knowthem very well.
Enjoy your farts. They are here to stay.

Biting Your Nails (Bad Habit #44)

2011-09-19T08:29:00.000-04:00

Nail biting is the habit of chewing on one’s fingernails or toenails while nervous, anxious, or bored. Fingernail biting is quite common. Toenail biting, however, is not something you see every day, as it requires a contortionist-like ability possessed by only a few people.

Nails are the horn-like covering on the upper surface of the tip of your fingers and toes and those of other humans and primates. Think of fingernails and toenails as our version of claws, hooves, and talons, all made of keratin protein like that in your skin and hair.

Nails are handy. You can scratch an itch, rip open an orange, untie a knot, and pick your nose if you want. To test the usefulness of your fingernails, cover the ends of your fingers with tape and then try to take a nut from its shell, remove cat hair from your sweater, or pick up a dime. The results will give you new appreciation for that translucent hard covering on the ends of your fingers.

Now back to biting. As a result of what you touch, there are loads of germs crammed up under your fingernails. When you bite them, the germs go directly into your mouth. The idea is that germs make you sick, and it’s best to avoid getting them inside you.

Having been taught as children that it’s a bad habit, generations of parents have simultaneously pestered and begged their children to stop biting their fingernails. The irony is that lots of adults, many of them parents themselves, regularly chomp their own nails right down to the quick.

Have you been thinking about stopping? Ask your friends for assistance. Since you probably don’t even know when you’re chewing your nails, the most helpful thing your friends can do is to bring it to your attention. If this realization and the accompanying peer pressure don’t do the trick, you might want to buy a special colorless nail polish that makes your nails taste really awful. Then, there’s always hypnosis.

Now, to satisfy your hunger for more information, here are some interesting facts to chew on.

A Few Nail Biting Facts

The name for chronic nail biting is onychophagia.

Some people consider fingernail biting as the grown-up equivalent of sucking your thumb.

Guitar players sometimes grow long nails and use them as guitar picks.

According to Freud, nail biting is a symptom of oral fixation.

Some people say that chewing off pieces of your nails and the surrounding skin is akin to self-cannibalism.

Lee Redmond, who definitely does not bite her nails, holds the world record for the longest fingernails. Her longest single nail is on her right thumb and measures 2 feet 11 inches.

Belching (Bad Habit #2)

2011-09-12T06:54:00.000-04:00

Belch, from the Old English “belcettan,” is what’scalled an onomatopoeic word; that is, it reproduces a natural sound, like fizz.Belching, also known as burping,eructation, and ructus, is the return of air from either your esophagus orstomach through your mouth. Vibration of your upper esophageal sphincterproduces the sound (you know the one) as air passes through it. In the way of belching basics, just know that air in = belches out.

Like everyone, you have two one-way valves, or sphincters, which open and close to let food and drink (and air) move down your throat, through your esophagus, and into your stomach. When you swallow, yourupper sphincter opens to let food and drink (and air) enter your esophagus. Asthe food and drink (and air—see a pattern here?) reach the bottom of youresophagus, your lower sphincter opens and allows it to pass into your stomach.

While all belches sound similar, each has a distinctpersonality. Bombshell belches, forexample, come from your stomach. They are spontaneous and involuntary. Bomb-shellshappen when they happen, and they smell like whatever it was that you last ate.This can be a problem if you’re seated at the dinner table or meeting yourgirlfriend’s father for the first time.

Backfirebelches are when you deliberately force air you swallowed while eating anddrinking back out by contracting your abdominal muscles and relaxing your upperesophageal sphincter.

Then there’s our personal favorite, the Barrage. It’s executed just like thebackfire except that you intentionally swallow a gulp of air and immediatelyforce it back up. This mother-of-all belches gives you the ability to belch atwill. With practice, you can control the belch’s duration, acoustic range, andvolume.

According to people who are interested in these things,the loudest belch ever recorded (so far) was 107.1 decibels (dB). Paul Hunnfrom the United Kingdom achieved this record of epic proportions in London onSeptember 24, 2008. And just so you’ll know, Mr. Hunn produced about the samenoise level with his belch, as does a power mower at a distance of 3 feet.

In most English-speaking countries, belching out loud isconsidered impolite. There are other places, though, where belching signals thehost that you’re finished with your meal, and a good strong belch is consideredan accolade for the cook. With these differences in mind, here are a few dosand don’ts for our little corner of the world.

Belching Dos and Don’ts

Belch quietly and cover your mouth when there’ssufficient warning of what’s coming. Keep your lips closed if you can, andquietly release the air through your nose or mouth.
Say, “Excuse me!” no matter whether your burp isquiet or loud, a surprise or planned.
Don’t drink carbonated beverages like sodas fromcans, bottles, or through a straw. (Unless you want to belch, that is!)