Toxin-Free Pest Control - Home Remedy

Do it yourself - Very economical

Equipment needed:

1. Garden hose
2. Ortho sprayer

Step 1: Mix your concentrate

1. 1½ parts Basic H² (or 3 parts Basic H Classic)
2. 1 part Basic-Germicide

Steps 2: For Outdoor Use:

1. Fill Ortho Sprayer (or similar) with concentrate
2. Set the dial selector at 2 … you will automatically spray a dilute mixture of 2 tablespoons (1 oz.) of concentrate per gallon of water

For Indoor Use:

1. Fill 16 oz. (500 ml) spray unit with water
2. Add ¾ teaspoon of concentrate

Where to Use

• On lawns for control of fleas, ticks, chiggers, and mosquitoes
• On patios & porches for control of flies, spiders & other insects
• On houses as a house wash and pest control combined
• On dog houses, dog beds, and kennel runs
• This mixture is also an effective spray to kill wasps
• Kills lice and fleas, and is effective as a fly spray on animals: cattle, horses, dogs, chickens, turkeys, pigs, cats (do not get in the animal’s eyes)
• Controls bag worms and other insects in cedar, pine, and nut trees, etc.
• Spray as frequently as needed

Most pesticides are guaranteed to work, so why not use them?

The answer is simple … agents toxic to cellular tissue can have devastating effects on the respiratory system, nervous system, and the immune system:

1. Once inside the brain, toxins can alter the ability to concentrate & can lead to nervous system disorders and permanent learning disabilities

2. Toxins overload the immune system & lead to less resistance to colds, flu-like systems, etc.

3. Toxins cause sensitivity of the respiratory system, and lead to proliferation of allergies and asthma

4. Toxins have been linked to liver & kidney damage and many forms of cancer. Recent studies by the National Institute of Health & Safety and the National Cancer Institute, show that leukemia risk increases greatly for children and adults where toxic pesticides are used in the home and garden. A cancer journal reported children under ten, exposed to toxic pesticides in the home or garden at least once a month, have a 7x higher incidence of leukemia.

5. Some toxic pesticides can produce demyelination in nerve bundles and the spinal cord - this can lead to M.S. and paralysis

What are Your Choices?

Are people actually willing to take this risk and contribute to this suffering in order to kill ants, fleas, spiders, moths, and other insects? Certainly, this is sufficient confirmation to persuade every reader of this brochure to never again purchase toxic pesticides.

Basic H² is an all organic, biodegradable wetting agent … actually making water 300 times "wetter" - it reduces water tension and also improves assimilation by chemically enabling water to bond better with anything it touches. It is concentrated and economical. It was developed in cooperation with nature, as are all Shaklee products. When mixed with water, Basic H² delivers an immediate wetting (surfactant) action, penetrating dirt and emulsifying grease and oil. For this reason, it has been used for almost 50 years as a general purpose cleaner.

Basic-Germicide, as its name indicates, is a versatile, non-polluting germicide, which is totally biodegradable and will not hurt the environment.

Does it Work?

Since 90% of insects have an oil coating, Shaklee Basic H², as a wetting agent, penetrates the outer shell and actually suffocates the insects. Insects eggs are softened by the spray, which prevents hatching.

NOTE and disclamer: Officially, Shaklee Corporation markets Basic H² as a Household Cleaner and Basic-Germicide as a Highly Concentrated Germicide. These pest control recommendations are not published or endorsed by Shaklee Corporation, but have been gathered from environmental field experts. A surfactant/germicide combination will accomplish similar results on insects. But can you find a pair which work together and are non-toxic as well as biodegradeable?
 

More information about Basic H is available as linked below: 

Basic H® Classic Efficient, powerful, safe, biodegradable, and economical, the world's most versatile cleaner. Size: 30 gallon

Basic-G® Concentrated Germicide Excellent choice for use in the kitchen, bathroom, or pet area. EPA registered Size: 32 oz.

Basic H® Classic Efficient, powerful, safe, biodegradable, and economical, the world's most versatile cleaner. Size: 5 gallon

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Progress: 20 lbs. lost in 6 weeks - Cinch Diet Plan

Started this Cinch Inch Loss Diet at 244lbs. Today: 224lbs. Almost 40% through the diet plan (4 months or 16 weeks).

And went down a waist size (at least.) Starting to see the 6-pack under that surface fat showing up. (Always knew they were there, just well insulated...)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'd shifted into a different diet and work activities. But dropping 8 pounds in a week is something new. (232lbs. last week.)

Again, what I did was to lower my calorie intake and boost my calorie burn rate. Less food, more exercise. And I still have plenty of energy for everything I want to do. Quite a bit of a difference. This seems to give me anecdotal support to the idea that all the fat you are carrying around is really just slowing down your metabolism. So the more fat you burn off, the easier it is to burn off more fat. (And so the easier it is to keep it off.)

And it meant I became familiar with what hungry was. Not ravenous, just knowing that I could eat - but didn't have to. I touched on this concept slightly in that last post, but could say more in this area. 

To my mind, a person has to be in touch with their body enough to know what thirst, hunger, and tiredness really are. And solve each according to its needs, not substituting something else. I've heard before that people eat when they are actually thirsty. And people toss back stimulating energy drinks when they are tired. You are really just putting extra calories away which will more likely turned into fat - which again slows you down.

My ideas at this point:

• When you're thirsty, drink water.
• Be hungry before every meal. If you aren't hungry, don't eat. Eat just enough to satisfy your hunger: don't overeat to feeling "stuffed". 
• When you're tired, either sleep or nap. Get up when you are rested or refreshed. 

Of course, this can play hob with any schedule. (It helps that I freelance and farm the rest of the day. I am my own boss.)

This is exactly why I took on the Cinch Transformation Challenge. I'll be seeing exactly what 4 months of this diet can do for a person. Since I blog, I'll keep this whole scene (mostly) going as a blow-by-blow. Or hope to, at any rate. 

I wanted to see if this stuff worked. It didn't hurt that I can always send back the empty boxes and get a full refund - no questions asked. So there was literally nothing to lose. Plus I got in on the special offer of the last month free - so it's a discount you can't pass up.

Again, what I changed this last week was the above. Especially in the afternoon and evening, if I wasn't hungry, I put off eating. Instead of eating the full meal bar, I'd eat half and save the remainder until later or the next day. Your snack bars are basically half of a meal bar. And different flavors. So that's another option. Oh, and the fruit I was eating in the evening was oranges. (Banana's have a higher fat content.)  This fills the need for "food" toward the evening - and the general rule is to eat essentially nothing after dinner. A low calorie fruit fits here. (I imagine celery would be another great option.)

My meals now are these:

• Breakfast is a Cinch Shake with a banana. (Occasionally, I throw in some cinnamon or use a different shake flavor - can't wait until our garden-fresh strawberries come in later this summer - and our peaches...)
• Mid morning snack (after farm chores) is my (big) mug of coffee with honey. And a peanut butter/jelly half-sandwich on whole wheat.
• Lunch is whatever, but I just watch the portions and keep it heavy on vegetables and lighter on meat portions.
• Afternoon is a tall iced glass of tea (kinda dilutes the Cinch Tea, but the flavor still comes through, as well as the energy it gives.) When I feel like it (about 3 hours or so later), I'll have a Cinch snack bar.
• Dinner is depending on how much I want to eat. It's becoming more of a half Cinch meal bar - or even none, if that snack bar was late enough in the day. (Eat only when you're hungry, remember?)
• Anything after dinner time (or within 3 hours before sleeping) is fruit - oranges.

And we'll see how this goes next week. I see my energy staying higher than before and I'm more interested in taking on various projects now which I was putting off due to lack of energy before. (I'm even considering tidying up and organizing the barn, it's gotten that extreme...) I'm not expecting to keep dropping 8 pounds a week - I figure that it's going to plateau at some level where my input and output match. Target right now is to get under 200lbs (I graduated high school at 185, mostly muscle, so that would be a good level to regain.)

Just hoping your diet is going as smoothly. Cheers!

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3 Tips to Cinch Diet Plan Success

1. Rest when you're tired.
2. Eat only when you're hungry.
3. Drink when you're thirsty.

Of course, these are common sense. And "everyone" knows these, don't they?

Well, maybe so, but do they actually listen and follow their own body's signals?

Eating has become something that's disrelated from reality. We don't have the problem (for most people) of not having food in front of us. We don't go days without a meal as our ancestors did. The problem we have is that we are on a "now we're supposed to" schedule of activities which have kept us avoiding any symptoms of hunger or discomfort.

Meals are on a schedule, regardless of whether you need to eat or not. So we too frequently simply are into the social event of eating, rather than feeding the body what it needs when it needs it. Too often I've gone to a "dinner" which winds up some 2 hours later than I normally eat. It's a long, drawn out affair which starts out with some people having wine or drinks first, then filling up with a heavy meal after, then some 3 hours after sitting down, you get up to toddle off home. If you're used to eating at 6pm, then you aren't eating until 8 or later - on top of tossing back a few just to be "sociable". So you have a heavy meal right before sleeping, which means it's going to be stored away as fat.

When we eat large portions (a habit picked up when we were teens and needed all that fuel to grow and run our bodies) we no longer utilise all those nutrients, so the body stores them as fat. But that's OK, since we get complacent with the way things are and figure that it's fine to always be full. Plus (as I went over in an earlier post) you are gaining both visceral (belly) fat and liver fat, which in turn slow down your metabolism - so you don't want to do much and you burn less calories. So you are on that slippery slope to gaining more weight where you don't need it - which then wrecks your metabolism and slows down your system. What you ultimately inherit from this is heart disease, diabetic indicators, and bad joints, gout, and many other problems.

The solution is simple prevention. Get rid of that extra fat now and live an energetic, healthy life from there on out.

But if you simply keep doing what you've been doing, then you'll keep on that slope.

One solution could be called "cinching the girth".  When a horse doesn't want to be harnessed, they'll hold their breath so the girth is loose. A smart horseman won't get in the saddle in that condition, but will make the horse let go of that air and tighten the girth up every time that horse lets some go. Ultimately, you get a tight fit which is safe to ride.

Diets are simply "eat less, burn more". So if you hit a plateau where you don't lose any more weight, you simply have to drop more calories or get more exercising done - on a daily basis. Look over what you're eating and see what you can cut out, or change to a lower calorie version. Adding a salad and vegetables, while taking a smaller portion is sensible. Skipping fried, salty foods (or the extra cheese) is another. And desserts, snacks... well you know what happens there.

And this is what I love about the Cinch Inch Loss Diet Plan. You get some great tasting food which has all the flavors and sugar taste you've been used to. But the calories are down and also you are just as full with the leucine and vitamins you need to boost your metabolism while you cut down all that mass of food you've been used to.

There's another adage which Adelle Davis used to repeat "Eat breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince, and Dinner like a Pauper."  You can see the logic in this right off. You are probably most active in the morning, and least active after dinner. So it makes since to eat less and less through the day. 

After working my breakfast (and coffee) up and down and around, I finally settled on getting a shake with a banana in it, then going out to do chores and coming back to get my coffee (I like honey in it) and a half peanutbutter/jelly sandwich (spread it half-way across for each, then fold it over). This allows my coffee not to interfere with my shake, plus gives it some bread to absorb all that side-effect  coffee has on the stomach by itself.

While the breakfast concept is a hard one to master in our current "get-up-and-get-gone" culture, I did make the one regular meal I eat with the Cinch Diet Plan to be lunch. And quit eating anything in the evening after my dinner Cinch supplement (either a shake or a meal bar) - well, I'll have fruit.

And when I'm tired, I'm ready to sleep. It's not because I had some sugar or caffiene or something else which is keeping me up. So I rest well and get up with some energy. Plus, I'm ready for breakfast.

You know what? When you're hungry, food starts tasting better. Not just good - great!

Yes, there are side-effects to this diet. You have a lot more energy and feel more like doing stuff. I quit having that after-lunch droop - now I can stay focused straight through. Well, until my body says it's time for that afternoon Cinch snack.

But the funny thing is - as I only eat when I'm hungry, that snack might be just before dinner. Since I'm not hungry again until just before bed, that fruit takes the edge off. So I'm winding up having next to nothing for dinner (that pauper concept.)

Tomorrow, I do my weekly weigh-in and I'll let you know if I'm on track again. Since I only really nailed this routine down this week, it may only be that I'm the same level.

In that case, I'm not going to let up on the girth. I'll keep this schedule in and then add more exercise to the mix. Yesterday, I added an extra mile walk at noon, to go check on a calf who's mending. Take all the supplies for the day down in the am by truck, but all the other visits are by foot - and probably come back overland, where I can check out my pastures to see where I can put my cattle next. But farmers can move their schedule around like that. It does take some attention, but exercise isn't a short suit around here.

And here's hoping your own diet is going as well.

(One girth I'm being reminded of is that my belt is a notch tighter. Means my pants are a size too big now...)

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Plateau's, Backsliding, and Cinch Diet Plan

OK, so I apologize for not blogging more. Just saw that it's been almost a month since I last raved about my Shaklee Cinch Inch-Loss Plan.

Here's a short rundown. I've been busy eating more or less what I was supposed to, and as long as I stuck right to the diet, I was going along fine.

• First week: 4 pounds lost
• 2nd week: 3 pounds lost
• 3rd week: 3 pounds lost
• 4th week: 2 pounds lost

So I was pretty happy with all this. Went from 244 down to 232 - and I went a belt size smaller (literally another notch).

Bad news - 5th week gained 2 pounds.

What happened? Got cocky and quit watching my portions. As well, I got "bored" with the diet and added a banana with my morning shake, plus moved the snack up to the mid morning, as that was when I really needed the energy  - for my farm work. (More like a workout, since it entails a variety of exercise - from walking a couple of miles cross-country in heavy boots, and lifting heavy items, such as getting a mower off a roadside loaded into the backend of a pickup truck.)

The good news is that I haven't been lacking for energy at all. And feel nicely hungry just before meals, so I feel like eating.

The culprit, as I said, was larger portions. And desserts (I have a weakness for brownies.) Added to this the fact that I spent what seemed like most of last week in the seat of a tractor all day. While this is strenuous, it isn't all that physical. Of course, I spend most of my afternoons in front of a computer screen making my living's other half - but that's not so much of the excuse. 2 days of not -so-strenuous work on a tractor dropped down my calorie consumption.

You see that pizza slice above? That was the demon I visited early in the week. All-you-can-eat buffet. And I did. Oops.

Now the solution is in an MP3 from Dr. Jamie McManus about plateaus. It's a scene of where your calories-in matches your calories-out. What you have to do then is to strictly get back onto your Cinch Diet and then simply work to improve your exercise.

One thing I noticed as I write this is that I dropped out one of my favorite things - which was to walk my pastures in the late afternoon as I went to check my cattle for new calves. That's about 1-2 miles in addition to the am. I've been treating a calf that twisted its leg and so needed to run down 3 times a day in a vehicle toting something. Better organization would simply have me getting some foresight going as to what feed and water would be needed. Do all that in one load in the early morning, then walk the other two times. Without the truck, I could then walk across the pastures and check into what the cows were actually doing - cross-country instead of giving them a lick-and-a-promise.

(That calf has been able to stand up on its own now, so we get it up to make sure it gets some exercise every day. And thanks for asking. Video here.) 

My consistent observation about Cinch and where I've seen people not get expected results: they just aren't doing the program for one reason or another.If you get the whole kit and follow the instructions, then you lose both inches and pounds each week.

Oh - and my plans for the bonus month of my Transformation Kit special - do the extreme track and see how much I can lose. Means the supplies won't last me more than about 3 weeks, but I should have an acid test for someone who really wants to drop the pounds and inches. (Or recover from a binge like my small one above.)

And I hope to post more frequently about this diet. (You see, I got this new Android Smartphone and was checking it out...)

Let's hope your pounds are coming off like mine - or better.

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Diet Plans: Our Addiction to Sugar is our fat creator

What makes any diet plan hard to keep, and what makes our extra fat to begin with are one and the same. Sugar.

This one flavoring and additive is also what sells us the fast food, treats, and so on that is causing all out pre-diabetic conditions. However, we are the ones who buy this stuff, so don't think I'm going to get on a rant about the big, bad, corporate evils out there. Our bellies and thighs are what we did to ourselves. Even if your family has a heredity factor for being heavy-set - if you know about it, you can do something about it.

My sister brought me an article the other day that actually got me to stop everything until I'd read it completely through. (Rare in these days of Internet video's and scanning web pages.) I had gone for a blood screening our local Cattleman's Association put on (before I started this diet) and we were both stumped on what "triglycerides" were in the results. (They roughly measure sugar content in your blood.) This article was an eye opener.

I searched around and found it on Free Online Library, almost exactly like it was published. And I want to take some excerpts in review of it below (emphasis added):

You've heard of a beer belly. Now there's new evidence that the fructose in added sugars may send more of your extra calories to that bulge where your waist used to be.

For years, researchers have found a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, gout, and weight gain in people who consume more sugar-sweetened beverages. Now a flurry of new
studies suggests that our out-of-control sweet tooth is connected to our out-of-control belly fat.

And it's that kind of fat that may cripple the body's ability to use insulin, setting the stage for diabetes and heart disease.

Soft drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks, energy drinks, coffee drinks, cupcakes, cookies, muffins, doughnuts, granola bars, chocolate, ice cream, sweetened yogurt, cereal, candy. The list of sweet temptations is endless.

The average American now consumes 22 to 28 teaspoons of added sugars a day--mostly high-fructose corn syrup and ordinary table sugar (sucrose). That's 350 to 440 empty calories that few of us can afford.

How much added sugar is too much? Cutting back to 100 calories (6 1/2 teaspoons) a day for women and 150 calories (9 1/2 teaspoons) a day for men might mean slimmer waistlines and a lower risk of disease.

This is the key point. Look over what you are eating and see how much of it has been "sweetened". Tons of the stuff in almost everything we eat. And the "funny" part is that we've now been conditioned to think (Westernized) that food is supposed to be sweet all the time.

Clearly, too many calories from anything--sugary beverages, beer, burgers, fries, pizza, ice cream, or dozens of other foods--explains why many American waists have been replaced by a spare tire.

And studies haven't found that you'd gain more pounds from, say, 100 calories of added sugars than from 100 calories of other foods. But calories from fructose (which is found only in added sugars and fruit) may be more likely than other calories to aim for your waist.

To find out if fructose is destined to end up around your midsection, researchers compare fructose to glucose (which is found in added sugars but is also the building block of starches).

The first solid evidence came in 2009. Researchers gave 32 overweight or obese middle-aged men and women 25 percent of their calories from beverages sweetened with either fructose or glucose for 10 weeks. Both groups gained the same weight (about three pounds). But their new fat didn't all go to the same place.

"We saw an increase in visceral fat in people fed fructose," says study author Kimber Stanhope of the University of California, Davis.

Visceral (deep belly) fat is more closely linked to a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes than subcutaneous (just
below the skin) fat.

That's the rub. This deep belly fat is what is increasing our chances of getting heart disease and diabetes.

The link between diabetes and sugars is clearest when researchers look at sugary drinks.

"We summarized the results from eight studies," explains Harvard's Vasanti Malik. All told, the meta-analysis pooled
data on more than 300,000 people. (14) The results: "For each 12 oz. serving of a sugarsweetened beverage you drink per day, you're getting about a 15 percent increased risk for diabetes," says Malik. "So it really doesn't take much to increase your risk."

"Fewer studies have looked at cardiovascular disease," she observes. "But we found an increased risk."

When Malik and colleagues tracked 88,000 nurses for 24 years, those who consumed at least two sugar-sweetened beverages a day had a 35 percent higher risk of heart attack than those who drank less than one a month.

Sugar-sweetened-beverage drinkers also have a higher risk of the metabolic syndrome, which can lead to type 2 diabetes or heart disease. (14,16) (You have the metabolic syndrome if you have at least three of the following:

elevated blood sugar, blood triglycerides, blood pressure, or waist circumference, or low HDL cholesterol.)

If you thought this was bad, it's not just the deep belly fat we have to worry about - it's also the fat we're putting in our liver from all these over-sweetened foods.

...[T]he people who drank a liter a day of sucrose-sweetened cola didn't just have more visceral fat. Their liver and muscle fat more than doubled. ...

Why does liver fat matter? When the body stores fat anywhere but in fat cells, it's called "ectopic" fat. And ectopic fat, especially in the liver, means trouble.

"When liver fat levels go up, that may trigger the sequence of events that leads to insulin resistance," says Stanhope.

That's when insulin loses its ability to admit blood sugar into cells. It's often the first step on the road to diabetes or heart disease. The liver may also explain why fructose leads to higher levels of triglycerides.

"Fructose gets metabolized by the liver very quickly," says Welsh. "When there is more sugar than the liver can process, it converts the sugar to fat. Some of the fat goes into the bloodstream, and that's why we get elevated triglycerides."

What's more, in Stanhope's study, the fructose drinkers burned less fat (and more carbohydrate). "The body doesn't make fat and burn fat at the same time," she explains.
"In our study, fat oxidation got blocked every time people drank the fructose drink because that fructose is getting turned into fat."

Here's the bottom line - the more sugar you eat, the less the body has to digest and so it stores it all as fat. That fat (both deep belly and liver types) is actually preventing your body from normal function. So you are setting yourself up for illnesses and chronic diseases which will make your retirement a living hell on earth. (No wonder health insurance is so high.)

The point is that you are better off taking control of your life and living with a decent diet to begin with. Preventative medicine is where all this is heading. All the pills and surgeries are useless when you've already wrecked your health with lack of good choices and self-control.

So I continue with my Cinch diet plan. It's not easy, but it's effective and as good as they can possibly make it. Yes, all these shakes and teas and meal bars have some sort of sweetener in them to make them taste "good". However, the point with these is that you now are learning to eat less with your portions and be aware of the calories you are putting in your body. Since the diet shakes fill you up, plus the supplements give you the energy you need, you don't need to be constantly snacking and keeping "diet" drinks around.

As this Cinch Transformation scene continues, I'm finding out more and more about myself and how these things tend to work. I'm also finding out more about how the conventional wisdom of this society we live in is slowly decreasing our life spans.

Of course, and as usual, I don't expect you to take my word for all this. It's more that you need to do your own research.

And if you are really interested, I'd suggest you try the Cinch Starter Kit and see how these shakes and bars and such agree with you. 2 weeks worth, plus the measuring tape, odometer, and what not. If you like it, take the Transformation challenge.

Up to you - like everything in your life.

More information about the Cinch Inch-Loss Diet Plan can be found as linked below:

 
Learn about the real science behind the Cinch Diet Plan | Limited time offer: get one month free!
Earn Extra Income While You Lose Weight

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Women's Income Opportunity - Turnkey Business Makes Sense

from http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500164_162-20045344-2.html

Jen Groover, author of "What If? and Why Not?: How to Transform Your Fears Into Action and Start the Business of Your Dreams," filled viewers in on some of what she deems well-worthy of consideration.

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She says making money and starting your own business in your spare time doesn't have to be daunting.

Groover explains that a turnkey company "is essentially a company that is already set up for you. The operations and the products are ready to go. You have all of the tools and technology at your fingertips, so essentially, you are given everything and just have to "turn the key" to get started. These companies are very low risk because you're working with brands that have been built over generations, so you already have the brand-value there which is one of the biggest concerns for a new business owner to create. You'll also get personal discounts on the product you're selling and, many have web support, education support and meetings with other people who are working with the organization who can help you learn and grow.

"They're really for anyone. Why I love all of the companies I'm going to talk about so much is because they can work for you and how well you do at them really depends upon the amount of time you want to put into them. You could start one of these businesses as a stay-at-home mom, but then it can turn into something that makes you a lot of money where you're doing it full time if you want to, building yourself a true business for decades to come. You could even start one of these companies as a hobby. People that go at these companies aggressively have built their own empires, hiring their own sales forces and are making good money.

Groover says there are three things every woman should consider before choosing a turnkey company:

No. 1, choose something you're passionate about. You can't sell something you don't believe in. Choose a company whose mission you believe in.

No. 2, know what it takes to get involved. For some, it's $25. For others, it might be $250. You really need to consider the costs.

Third, you really want to assess the tools that will be available to you that you feel you'll need to support you in getting things done.

Shaklee

The key thing to know about Shaklee is that it is the No. 1 natural nutrition company in the US and is focused on creating the most sustainable and effective whole health product on the planet. To get started, Shaklee offers a full kit of products for $600. They also have a less expensive kit at $300 (with slightly fewer products), but there's also the ability for new distributors to start for $40...but for that price they only receive business materials (no products). Under their compensation plan, people earn between 20-50 percent and have the ability to participate in a car payment program, trips and other cash bonuses.

Their sweet spot is women aged 35-45 that have come out of the workplace or want to come out of the workplace and create their own businesses.

These are people that have a passion for healthy living and understand that the things they put in, on and around their bodies make a difference in their long term health. Their key product categories include Healthy Nutrition (core and targeted health solutions), Healthy Weight (weight management), Healthy Home (natural non toxic cleaning products) and Healthy Beauty (personal care products).

If you're interested in starting a turnkey business, click here for more information.

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The Results are In: Facebook is a Useless Time Suck.

A Manifesto of sorts.

I am passionate about honestly helping people, and have made it my work this life to do so. If you look up my back-trail, you'll see that this is mostly all I've done. Of course, I'm made my mis-steps in following this or that trail down, but you won't find me honestly decieving people in the name of help.

That's really why I write and draw funny pictures (caricatures and cartoons). If I can help someone have a better day or improve their lives somehow, then it's worth it - completely regardless of whether I've ever earned income with it.

Scammers who come across my lines tend to get a rough time of it. Sure, I have some skin invested in getting scammers gone - but I learned that no law or government will do anything effective about it. However, when you educate someone about how scams work and how to get free from scams (free download), then they no longer fall for scams.

Before I explain why I'm quitting Facebook (again), let me tell you some facts I've figured out along the line. (Now don't take these as Gospel or anything else. Please reject them utterly. Your own truth is what you have to prove for yourself. The most expensive advice is free.)

1. The world is what you think it is. That comes from the oldest surviving philosophy on this planet. It is the basis for all self-help and religions as well. Your attitude creates the world  you live in. And as Jesus said, Heaven is already within you. So if you are surrounded by Hell on Earth, you might consider changing what your attitudes are about the people in your life.

2. Politics is a useless time suck. Government isn't actually vital or necessary. In these days, it's mostly set up so small minorities can get their way and enforce expensive requirements on everyone else. The days of the Big Steel Trusts is over - so why do we have government-sponsored and protected unions? Some "reverends" who don't have a church can get people to march all over the place and intimidate companies so that they give special favors to their chosen minority. But like the statistics show with lotteries - if you don't know how to manage money and are given a million dollars, you'll wind up poorer than you started. People who are poor have made poor choices. People who are rich have made smart choices. As I read today, "If the government gives you something, that means it took from someone else."

Tonight in our house, we decided to simply turn off the national news as it's going to be filled with political garbage from here on out. And we vote every election. But it doesn't mean we have to listen to garbage in our own home. (Local news is different, since they are going to hear from someone if they do something stupid. National news is too stupid to listen.)

3. Most people (statistically, it's 97%) out there are following conventional wisdom like sheep being chased through a pasture. That's why it's called "conventional wisdom". And any good herdsman (or "community organizer") can get a flock to go wherever they want. (As long as they have some mindful dogs with sharp teeth on the flanks.) 

Conventional Wisdom is full of lies which keep people from succeeding. And so we have the ongoing concern with "getting a job" or "getting a good education" or "affordable insurance". But if you think these through, you'll see that the highest taxes are paid by individuals with jobs. And they take it out before you see it - even if you get a refund, they don't refund the interest they made on your money while they had it.  If you want to keep your money, study books by Kiyosaki 

Every person who has ever gotten "rich" in this country did it on their own. They quit following the current "conventional wisdom" and learned by looking and testing their way.

and others, who will tell you the tax laws are the policy the government issued to tell you how to make your money. Work for yourself, on a contract basis. Have no employees. Set your business up as an LLC or corporation and then only pay taxes on profit (after you invest and pay operating costs.) [Note: check with a reputable accountant or financial planner and you'll find that they'll begrudingly tell you this is true - but don't act on what I say until you've done your own homework. Mileage can vary. Poor choices will make and keep you poor.]

Conventional Wisdom in Farming keeps farmers poor. Because they think they have to use expensive fertilizers and pesticides/herbicides to raise crops. And buy huge equipment, farm huge acres. Grass Fed Beef is the cheapest protein to raise, and can take no more acreage than the feedlots and corn/soybean fields already used. Plus, it's mostly done on marginal land that can't raise conventional crops. Takes some study, but can be gotten to the point where no inputs are required besides fencing - and checking them twice a day. But you can write off walking among them as exercise, can't you? What studies I've done on conventional crops shows that they can be farmed with organic (note the small "o" with no government trademark) and natural methods, following how Nature has done it since before history started being recorded.

And there is no logic in what stands for Conventional Wisdom in government. Smart people go there and do very stupid things. For the most part, deal with people on your own local level, as they interpret what goes on in our government centers. Never take any money or favors from someone in government is a good general policy. As above, they only can give to you by taking from someone else. And vote for the person who thinks most like you - and then hold their feet to the fire to vote the way you think they should. But don't let politics decide anything for you.

Jesus the Christ made a living with no job, no house, and didn't even own the clothes he wore. Yet changed the lives of billions forever. If you only took what Jesus actually said (as close as we can figure it) you'd do well. Not what came after, but just the "letters in red".

Spammers make their living because they figured out how to herd sheep so they could be sheared.

4. So it follows that "popular" applications like Facebook just suck time (and other things.) Statistically, they only ever reach about 50% in a given country, and then start declining. However, the majority of the people on there use it for what? Name one invention or charitable cause which has sprung as the result of interaction on Facebook. Anything which has used Facebook or some other social media to forward a cause wasn't invented or organized as part of any Facebook interaction. Only in spite of.

Facebook (and Google) make their money from advertising. Yes, that's the stuff blockers are made for - and what people have been training themselves to ignore. Advertising is based on the same points spammers abuse. People can be herded this way and that according to how they are programmed by conventional wisdom through their lives.  Advertising is just another set of sheep herders. And why (like news media) they aren't trusted or listened to very much.  With DVR's, people now simply fast-forward through the ads, even in spite of the programming some of them have to stop that. (It used to be that you could also record with out the ads, but they figured out how you had to do that at least.)

A couple of weeks of experimenting have showed me (again) that it takes an intense amount of input into Facebook to get any result from it at all. And that result isn't in terms of getting products sold, just that you get some popularity for whatever you said or did. But you can't spend popularity.

I run a site for Grass Fed Beef, which I've recently expanded to include Shaklee health supplements - a logical extension. How many people do you think ever bought beef or supplements from me by what I did on Facebook? None. Zip. Zilch.

Facebook is a lovely walled garden where you can spend time and money and get nothing. You simply return to your day job for the rest of your waking ours. It's not the real world, and it isn't the real Internet. It is another MySpace.

It is like the model of the Insurance salesperson who joined every club in town. Because by meeting all these people and gaining their trust, you would then be the one they turned to as they felt they needed insurance. (But insurance is a racket I don't even need to go into here.) The point is that you don't do deals inside Facebook, but outside, in the real world. You can meet people and chat with them and gain their trust there - but you have to take it outside FB in order to do the deal.

All the articles and studies I've done about Facebook simply tell this same story - you can't get there from here. Corporations spend money to "brand" themselves online this way. But they get a "tax write-off" for advertizing. Small businesses don't have the personnel to spend on "social activities" like this. Sure, have a page. And get your blog posts sent to Facebook if you figure it out on your own.

Facebook makes their money on you visiting and spending time there.

It doesn't make anyone money except for itself.

It's a time suck.

I don't know about you, but I've got a lot better things to do.

Contact me via one of my blogs. Don't try to reach me via Facebook - I won't be there.

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You can Succeed In Network Marketing - and Help Friends and Family TOO

Profile: Penh and Lyna Lo

The key point to the below - as you weed out all the specialized terms - is that there is at least one legitimate Network Marketing outfit which isn't simply a pyramid scheme. When you deal in real products with an actual guarantee - then you get out of the "scam" territory and into actually helping those around you to improve their lives. Do your own due diligence. Then decide for yourself. (From the Power of Shaklee, April 5th 2012)

A Dream That Can Be Shared

Penh and Lyna Lo (Senior Executive Coordinators, MN) were looking for a company they could trust. Through a friend of a friend, Penh learned about Shaklee and after a lot of questions, they joined in September 2011. Within their first six months, they were promoted to Senior Executive Coordinator and earned $9,000 in FastTRACK bonuses, two trips and a Dream Car bonus. But more than that, in Shaklee, they have found a company they can share with others.

In February of 2008 we had less than $500. Our oldest was 11 months old, our financial world was imploding and we were desperately looking for an opportunity. Penh dove into the network marketing industry and started to rebuild our family’s finances. We became involved in a travel company, and although we made quick cash, our friends and family never experienced the same success that we did. We felt that we had sold them a dream of financial freedom that would never become their reality.

After that experience, Penh promised our family and friends that he would always do his due diligence before sharing an opportunity with them and he personally apologized to everyone he sponsored and their downlines. Penh reentered into the work force and for over three and a half years, while working full time, he thoroughly researched the network marketing industry, went to a lot of presentations, and looked at a lot of companies.

Penh was introduced to Shaklee by a woman who was not in Shaklee and through her, he met Keith Snelson (Associate, MN) who introduced him to Muzafer Najfi (Senior Executive Coordinator, MN). Penh attended one of Muzafer's presentations and by chance, Bo Short (Master Coordinator, VA) was also presenting that evening. Penh was one of only two guests there, but he believes he was in the right place at the right time. The other guest left, but Penh stayed, listened and did his due diligence. After the presentation, Muzafer spent another two hours with Penh answering all his questions. Then we took another two and a half weeks to research Shaklee and made the decision to sponsor in September 2011.

We’ve made some sacrifices but it was well worth it. Almost seven months later, we’re experiencing the success we were looking for…with Shaklee. Penh was able to replace his salary, we qualified for two trips – the Dream 2012 Incentive Trip to the Mayan Rivera and the Spring 2012 New Directors Conference, and we earned a Dream Car bonus. But the best part is that other people on our team are experiencing success as well! Thanks to Shaklee, we are able to offer a real opportunity to our family and those who trust us.

Additional References:

PDF: The Dream Plan - How it Works
PDF: Rewards Brochure
PDF: First Step Brochure
Presentation: Live Your Dreams Narrated Presentation
Video: Your First 48 Hours

Shaklee Link to Join Now

Any questions? Contact Us

We want you to succeed. So if you have any questions, here's the number and name of the person to call:

Scott Batts - 573-473-6148

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Cheap and Easy Lawn Mowing with Your Steers

(Fertilizer No Extra Charge)

OK, my mother finally suggested it. And this year, our cattle have taken the job of mowing (most of) our lawn.

We have a large front and back yard. It would take 2-3 hours to mow all of it, and this was once a week during the worst of the year.

Our old mower had hit the shop the last couple of years during that worst time. Once with a broken rod, and another with electrical problems (bad starter). So the grass got long and shaggy. I suggested that since we were short on grass for the Bull and steers we had up at the house, we just let them have it. A section away from the house, just for trial. (We keep the Bull and grass-fed steers up near the house for pampering/finishing until the Bull is ready to go back with the cows and the steers are ready for harvest.)

Since they crop it close, we couldn't care. It's just lawn, anyway. And the manure is an extra. We found that the first time through, they do a great job, since there aren't any patties (much) left from the last year. Otherwise, they leave little tufts here and there. The rave results, and the improved weight of those guys, was a good seller to expand the activity.

This year, I was about to take out the mower for the first time, and my mother seemed to be astonished that I was going to mow so much, almost insistent that I let the Bull and steers do that job. So I listened to her and strung the polywire around anything we didn't want rubbed on or trimmed (a couple of out buildings, the thornless blackberries, and the dwarf fruit trees). One trick was to park an old trailer on edge of the gravel lot and wire on an insulator rather than attempting to drive a post there. And we have an oil pipe welded to a tire rim that takes up the slack in a similar area.

I still get the job of mowing around those low trees.

These bovine boys are so trained to that polywire, I don't even have to charge it all the time. If it's a wood building, I found that the polywire can go right on it, so I need less posts (as long as I keep it tight).

And this is part of our rotation by the house. They eat all this off close, and then I let them into another pasture they haven't been in for awhile. I don't have to water them in our back yard as there's a big pond there - and they trim right down to its edge, a plus. While I don't let them mow the pastures that close, lawn is still lawn.

When they are done, I take down the polywire and go through to clip off the high spots (as mentioned above - tufts) After that we leave it to grow high again. And mow anything I couldn't get to near those out buildings.

Then the lawn sits to grow up again until it gets back up to about 6-8 inches. Meanwhile, I trim off the edges and make it look like it's cared for  - and the Bull/Steers crowd gets it again.

This continued until June, when the Steers are shipped and the Bull is back to other quarters with his harem. But these boys keep the lawn trimmed through the most abundant growing season. (Later I can also let in the cows and their calves, as one of their pastures is right "next door", but have to string a double polywire to keep the calves out of the road. And it definitely is charged at that point.)

What do our neighbors think? Well, they find it amusing. We have Belted Galloway/Angus crosses, so it's a bit picturesque, especially with the yellow polywire as an "accent". And I always trim the roadsides and ditches. The cattle take care of trimming the trees and shrubs (not the evergreens by the house, which are toxic), so the lawn keeps an interesting "ambiance" all summer.

And visiting family knows what we are doing - and usually get a half from one of those steers, so usually stay mum if they have any complaints or comments. (Or get a return comment that they can come over and take over the mowing anytime they like.)

One side-benefit is our mole population gets a work-over. Not only does the pulsing effect (and fertilizer) make for more luscious lawn, but the cultivator action forces the moles to dig deeper.

FWIW - your own mileage may very. Don't try this with your corn-fed feeders, but grass-finished steers, momma cows, their calves, and grass-fed stockers seem to do fine.

PS. If you aren't close enough to take advantage of our locally-grown Grass Fed Beef, consider U.S. Wellness. They are another Missouri farming operation which sells more than just beef. (I hear their cheese is excellent!) And have next day delivery.

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News: Cinch Diet Plan Special Extended!

Over the weekend, they released an extension to the special. This means that the "4 months for 3" deal is back on.

Until July 31, anyone can sign up for this great offer and get a fourth month of Cinch free for buying 3 months-worth. That brings the monthly cost down to about $225.

Now, if you still aren't certain this diet plan is the best one for you, there are still several options:

1) Sign up with a $70 purchase and get the free Cinch Sampler pack.

2) Or get the Cinch Starter Kit to try out the diet for 2 weeks. (And get the free tape measure, odometer, and diet plan software - all included.)

3) Or - just take the dive like I did and go ahead and commit to changing your life with 4 months of filling, energy-filled supplements. 

OK, that's quite a pitch, I know. You'll have to excuse me. After ten days and seeing both pound and inches disappear, I can get excited about this stuff.

But figure that you can pay for this with the money you save on fast food, as well as the meals you don't have to buy. And if you stick to it, the only problem you will have is that those thinner clothes in your closet are going to welcome you again. (Hope they aren't out of style too much...)

And don't take my word for it. Check it out for yourself.  All the data you need is located at that last link.

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Researching Tasty Diet Shakes - Heart Healthy and Tasty

In pounding around looking to see how I could keep from getting bored with my Cinch Weight Loss Shakes, I was looking for recipes which included stuff (ingredients) I could put in them which wouldn't add calories.

The Program Guide which comes with the Cinch Tranformation Kit, has a long list of ingredients (stuff) you could add easily. Now, before I quote this list, I'll have to tell you that some of these would have to be very imaginatively added in order to make a tasty, appetizing shake:

Of course, this is all well and good. I had this data for awhile, but what prompted me to do something with it was when a friend forwarded me an email from http://www.independentlivingnews.com/category/healthedge/ which talked about the health benefits of Cinnamon.

Here's some of what they cover in this article:

Cinnamon Controls Blood Sugar

Perhaps the best known health benefit of cinnamon is its effect on blood sugar.

In studies, taking just a small amount of cinnamon a day helped patients with type-2 diabetes to better control their blood sugar. In less than two months of taking 1 to 6 grams of cinnamon each day, patients saw up to a 29 percent reduction in their fasting blood sugar.

That's an impressive improvement for such a small amount of cinnamon. For people with high-normal levels of blood sugar – a precursor to full-blown diabetes and troubling health issue on its own – that may be enough to restore you to normal blood-sugar levels and stave off further problems.

Cinnamon Lowers Cholesterol Levels, Too.

In the same study, patients taking a daily dose of cinnamon also enjoyed a significant improvement in their cholesterol and triglyceride levels. In the cinnamon group, triglyceride levels dropped by up to 30 percent, on average, and LDL cholesterol levels dropped by up to 27 percent. Patients taking a placebo saw no change in their cholesterol or blood sugar levels.

People with type-2 diabetes are at higher risk of heart disease, so the fact that cinnamon helps improve your cholesterol levels is important to know.

Getting a Daily Boost at Essentially No Cost

Cinnamon isn't just for people with diabetes. It also provides everyday health benefits.

For example, did you know that cinnamon can give you an afternoon energy boost? In a study conducted at Wheeling Jesuit University, researchers found that participants who indulged in a cinnamon-spiced treat or who even just smelled cinnamon did better on tests that demanded attention and cognitive ability.

Relief from Pain

Another everyday benefit of cinnamon is relief from arthritis pain. Arthritis sufferers who consumed a half-teaspoon of cinnamon mixed with a tablespoon of honey experienced significant relief from arthritis pain within one week of daily use. Within 40 days, they enjoyed significant improvements in overall function and could walk without pain.

And, as usual, your mileage may vary considerably. I had been using cinnamon in my morning oatmeal for to keep the sinuses and respiratory systems clear. It's just great to find out how this spice can help other things as well. The great thing is that this spice is calorie-free, so it's a great way to "spice up" your diet shake.

Chocolate Orange Smoothie 

Add a few cubes of ice and blend well in a blender. Enjoy!!!

* It is not recommended using regular milk with this recipe as diary products do not mix well with citrus fruits or juices and although they taste just fine, they tend to separate.
** Cinnamon is a well known appetite-suppressant.

More information about the Cinch Inch-Loss Diet Plan can be found as linked below:

 
Learn about the real science behind the Cinch Diet Plan | Limited time offer: get one month free!
Earn Extra Income While You Lose Weight

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My Cinch Diet Plan Weight Loss Progress

One week of regular use shows results. And some of my residual skepticism is laid to rest.

At Cinchclub.com, I recorded my measurements, a few days after I actually started the diet. (This is accessible there under Your Profile.)

Today, after 10 days on the diet, I revisited this page. (Why not a week? Because I've been busy - all that energy I have now.) And you can see by the screenshot what my progress was. (That picture can be opened in a new window - right click - to see it larger if you want.)

It's not that I lost 4 pounds, but also that some other sizes started shrinking as well. What I measure for my waist is actually my gut. That's what I want to lose. When my pants get noticeably too loose, then I'll know it already. (I have a target pair of pants I want to fit back into, BTW. A real acid test.)

The surprise was that I'd lost some inches here and there I wasn't noticing. Arm and thigh stayed the same (like I said, I work on the farm every day - and don't really want to lose muscle) but my chest got smaller as well as my hips and waist.

So this is all good news. And I'll celebrate by - staying on the diet. Well, I'm going to check out some new shake recipes and maybe invent some more.

I went ahead and got that "Magic Bullet" blender. There were others on the market, but they were either harder to clean out or more expensive with fewer features. Main reason I switched from my earlier one was that I had to use a tall (20oz.) glass and hold onto it while I mixed - since I only got a stirrer with a motor attached. With the "Magic Bullet", you simply pour everything into one of their clear plastic jars, screw on the lid and press it into the mixer. Easy to clean, plus you can do it one-handed. (So naturally, I promote what works for me.)

More information about the Cinch Inch-Loss Diet Plan can be found as linked below:

 
Learn about the real science behind the Cinch Diet Plan | Limited time offer: get one month free!
Earn Extra Income While You Lose Weight

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In any Diet Plan, Portion Sizes Matter

Figure that if you are, like me and my friends, working off some excess poundage and weight, we've been eating more than we needed to.

Regardless of how we got here, or our reasons, the bottom line is to exercise more and eat less. And why I like the Cinch Inch Loss Diet Plan is because you can use their supplements to ensure you have the nutrition you need while shrinking your physical and mental stomach size.

Yesterday's lunch brought this home to me. Of course, those potatoes in butter were great tasting - and I've started being hungry at meals again - but when I swallowed that along with the french bread dipped in coffee with honey, well it was simply too much. Just being 4 or 5 days on this diet has made me not want the big meals I used to. Mentally and physically.

The study then goes to exactly what should I be eating, and more importantly, how much at each meal?

Back to my Cinch Program Guide - well, I actually found the image in my Daily Journal that they send you in your Transformation Kit. (You'll have to excuse these scans - that Daily Journal is really small - tiny, in fact.)

Here's what they say your portion sizes should be. Figure I was eating several of those "mice" over there in the image. Way over the top.

Now I'm no small guy, so I'm used to eating enough to "keep my energy up". This is just a guideline, right?

For most of us, living and working on a real farm every day isn't an option. I can see that it's more a luxury than most people want to invest in their lives.

Personally, that BMI index is off, since I'm more on the body-building end of things as opposed to a small-framed guy who's a hundred pounds over the scale. But it doesn't mean there isnt' something to learn here, something to improve on.

And when I'm uncomfortable with how much I just ate, well, that's a sign to follow.

How we got into this mess - food quality

It's like we're on an endless treadmill which is getting harder and harder to turn. The cycle goes like this:

• Shortcuts in processing food increases profit, but decreases food quality.
• As well, by including excess fats, salts, and sugars, food becomes addictive.
• The body is missing nutrients and so we need to eat more food quantity to get them.
• We turn to our "favorite" foods which are also "convenient" and contain less of what we need and more of what we don't.
• So our bodies store the excess calories in our fat cells.
• Meanwhile, our metabolism slows down. We don't want to move much.
• So we store more excess food in our fat cells.
• But to feel better, we eat more.
• And move less.
• And get fatter.
• Finally, our health begins to fail.

The solution is to eat less and exercise more. The trick is that unless you change your diet to a healthy one, you are going to be on that same treadmill. Most diets just cut calories and don't concentrate on keeping your metabolism high as well.  So you don't feel good, and are hungry a lot of the time. So the diet "doesn't work" and you go off it.

One report has it that 90% of our diets are pre-processed food. And every time you process something, you lose nutrients. It's long been known that the best tasting coffee is fresh ground, then brewed. The best bread is ground into flour and then immediately cooked into loaves. Beef that's raised without additives (grass fed) and then processed as itself (like wholesale beef by the quarter) has the highest possible nutrient level - depending on what's in that pasture grass in terms of minerals.

This leads me right back into why I got into this Cinch Diet Plan, even though I'm not particularly overweight (well, a little goes a long way, doesn't it?)

I'm in this as a way to restore my own body's natural balance. So I have to get this excess fat off, as well as all the various stuff I've stored there. I want to keep my muscle mass intact and energy levelhigh.

So today's tip(s): Watch your portions. Make sure your food is locally cooked from whole (and preferably fresh) foods. And get those pre-processed temptations out of your home.

Follow those and you'll get your fat, salt, and sugar intake back to where it should always have been. 

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How a Farmer Gets By Without Toxic Shop Chemicals

Practically, I don't know how anyone could get by without killing themselves off from fumes. I was in the shop today, and was marvelling again at how much I can get from my 5 gallon bucket of Basic H Classic. Every farmer should have one out there.

First, I wanted to mix up some bug spray to keep the mosquitoes off me. That's an easy one (and a friend recently tested this for me while mowing his lawn - not a single bite):

Half water, half Basic H (put the water in first, or you'll have foam all over the place.

I pick up other people's trash all the time and like to re-use (recycle) it when I can. Occasionally, I find old plastic fifth's tossed out. Those hip flasks. When they are plastic, you can take a pop-top screw-on lid and you can then squeeze a squirt out, rub it on.

The Mechanic's Friend.

I work with oil and grease every day, it seems. So when I get it on my hands, it usually sinks in and is hard to get off. Usually, I have to do a two-step process to get it off, first some sort of cleanser, and then soap and water to get the cleanser off. In both cases, I'm left with something that makes my food smell different when my hand gets near my mouth and nose.I don't need another adventure when I come in for lunch.

Solution is the same bottle and mix. Just put it on before you start to work and rub it in good, let it dry. Then you simply put your hands under running water to get rid of it.

A note here: it only takes a drop in your pet water to act as a de-wormer, so don't wash your hands over something they use to drink out of - they won't use it. Wash it over some patch of lawn you can mow. The grass will soak it up and love it - but I have that problem right now with that spot of grass much taller than everything else as it's gotten the run off from my "experiments" but I can't mow right there. (Have to clip it by hand - or maybe pull out that clump and feed it to the cattle, then replace with gravel and rock. Add it to my "To-Do" list - [sigh].)

Here's another note: if you accidentally leave the pop-top open, it's only going to clean your truck seat and jeans, not dissolve them.

A Natural Degreaser without Fumes.

I use the Cattle Spray formula, which is a bit thinner. 1 part Basic H to 6 parts water. That's thicker than they recommend for just degreasing, but easier to remember. (And I'm still old school with habits like: use a lot to fix something better.)

This one I put in a spray bottle - and mark it so no one else will pick it up. (I've already had that happen.) What's great about this is that it isn't some aerosol, and you don't mind if it gets tipped over or leaks on something. It's not going to take paint or skin or lung tissue out when you use it. So you can use it more often.

The spray bottle is adjustable for a mist or a direct, focused stream about 5-6 ft. away. I went and bought one of these, as the old ones were in use or worn out.

I've even found that it does pretty well on sticky bolts or  hinges as a temporary fix. It's a bit of a lubricant as well. Since it's all natural, it will simply wash off. So it's a great degreaser, since you don't have to be concerned too much about where all that oil is going to as you do rinse it. And I've used it on projects where I didn't want to put the various gaskets at risk by putting a toxic solvent on them.

You should see my tractor oil radiator. Never could get it clean before this, mostly because I didn't trust being able to get those commercial degreasers completely off with just water. This just sprayed on, left it for a bit (did the other side of the tractor) then came back and washed it off with a garden hose. I'll post a picture when I can (camera-phone ran out of juice at the wrong moment.)

That bottle in the middle is a honey jar (empty when I started) as it squeezes out well for bigger messes, and is easy to pick up and hold with a gloved hand.

Which brings up the other use - taking it out with me to put on a cow's head (right around the horns where they like to be scratched, even the polled ones - and that honey-jar size ensures I won't run out easily.

Other Basic H uses

Well, there are a lot. Today, I took that flask (as it was in my pocket - nice size and shape, eh?) and put some on my dog where I know she couldn't lick it. I felt a tick around her ear and she didn't want me to mess with it. This stuff is also great as tick repellant and flea dip/shampoo. As well, the dogs don't mind it, as it doesn't have a perceptible smell to humans.

She's had some fleas at the beginning of winter, but didn't want me picking them off, so I just sprayed a house version of degreaser on it (2 ounces Basic H per gallon of water - divide by 8 to fit into a 16 oz. spray bottle) on her stomach and she seemed to like it. And they didn't bother her again.

For ag uses, I've got a lot more listed on my Worstell Farms site, under Agriculture News & Information. It's good as a soil conditioner, which is what I bought it for (one quart Basic H per 50 gallons water) and some even use it to both pre-treat seeds and also to fatten stock on feed. (But Shaklee doesn't test on animals, so your mileage is your own. But there have been some university studies conducted some years ago with Basic H.)

More information about Basic H is available as linked below: 

Basic H® Classic  Efficient, powerful, safe, biodegradable, and economical, the world's most versatile cleaner. Size: 30 gallon

Basic-G® Concentrated Germicide Tackles over 40 microbes, including several animal viruses. Excellent choice for use in the kitchen, bathroom, or pet area. EPA registered Size: 32 oz.

Basic H® Classic Efficient, powerful, safe, biodegradable, and economical, the world's most versatile cleaner. Size: 5 gallon

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Cinch Sampler vs. Starter Plan vs. Transformation Kit

Now what I didn't expect was all these choices. In what I read about the Cinch Package, I thought I would be getting a tape measure, odometer, mixer, and 3-month free subscription to cinchwellness.com - but that's not what happened. So I called Shaklee's 1-800 number (1.800-SHAKLEE) and found out there are two different plans and the sampler.

The Transformation Kit Offer and the Sampler both expire on March 31 - unless they extend it again (which I was told happened last year, but that's just the rumor - if you want to get in on this year's special, click on the links below.)

This post is to explain that there are 3 ways to get into Cinch Diet Plan:

"Free" Cinch Sampler:

You simply join as a member with a $70 purchase and get the Cinch Sampler for free.

What you get is:

• 1 box of Cinch Snack Bars (Assortment Pack)
• 1 box of Cinch Pomegranate Energy Tea Mix
• 1 bottle of Cinch 3-in-1 Boost™ (42 tablets)
• 1 Cinch Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Meal-in-a-Bar
• 1 Cinch Blueberry Almond Crisp Meal-in-a-Bar
• 2 packets of Cinch Shake Mix (1 Vanilla, 1 Chocolate)
• 1 Cinch Transformation Pack Brochure

• Member or a Distributor with a minimum $70 pre-tax product order
• GOLD with a GOLD PAK, GOLD Plus PAK, or Super GOLD PAK

Cinch Starter Kit:

With membership, this is under $200. And you can buy this year-round.

Your Cinch Starter Kit includes:

• Vanilla shake mix canister (15 servings)
• Assorted Cinch shake packets (14 packets)
• 3-in-1 boost™(42 count)
• Assortment pack snack bars (10 count)
• Energy tea mix (28 sticks)
• Daily journals (2)
• Cinch program guide
• Cinch logo shaker cup
• Cinch pedometer
• Cinch tape measure

Product Brief on this is here.

What you get is enough to get you started, about 2 week's worth. You'll run out of snack bars, but have extra tea left over.

Cinch Transformation Kit:

This is a special offer which also ends March 31. 

• 1 Cinch Vanilla Shake Mix canister
• 1 Cinch Chocolate Shake Mix canister
• 1 Cinch Shake Mix Assortment Pack
• 1 box of Cinch Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Meal-in-a-Bar
• 1 box of Cinch Blueberry Almond Crisp Meal-in-a-Bar
• 1 box of Cinch Peanut Butter Crunch Snack Bars
• 1 box of Cinch Lemon Cranberry Snack Bars
• 1 box of Cinch Chocolate Decadence Snack Bars
• 1 box of Cinch Pomegranate Energy Tea Mix
• 1 bottle of Cinch 3-in-1 Boost™

This is under $300 for members, and is enough stuff to keep you going for a month (more or less). When you subtract that extra month, this brings it down to around $250 per month.  Except for February, you are going to run out of most of this on the end of that last week.  That has a few solutions, most of which are obvious.

So now we are all educated on this, aren't we?

Lots of options to chose from.

If you want to just check out the quality of the Cinch Diet Plan products, then get some Vitalizer and you'll get a free sampler.

If you want to check out how the diet works by trying it for a couple of weeks, then get the Starter Kit.

If you are serious about losing weight (and saving money) then set up the Transformation Kit on autoship.

Now that I've figured all this out, it's quite simple.

Hoping it's that way for you, now, too.

PS. If you have any questions or need help, click here for contact information.

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Not close to our Missouri Farm? Buy Beef Online.

And this has led me to research for companies who do the extra step of getting their beef USDA inspected and packaged so they can ship it all over the country (interstate commerce and all those regulations.)

The one company I've found which fits our standards is U.S. Wellness. And interestingly enough, it's also based in Missouri.

This research took me into the reviews as well as to their website. You know that when you ask for "review [website/product]" and only come up with positives, you just hit a home run. Because the best most companies can get is 50% - seriously.

Now the main difference in the way they do beef is that they wet age. This isn't like the big vertically-integrated corporations - which "wet-age" on the truck going from plant to supermarket. They age their beef for 30 days, but vacuum pack the primals. And so the flavor isn't as intense as dry-aged, since the meat doesn't dry out as much. But the enzymes still go to work at breaking down the meat to make it more tender. Meanwhile, they've protected the beef from other pathogens. (See their FAQs.)

Once it's aged to their satisfaction, they then cut it into portions. Then it's frozen - unless you want their fresh chilled beef (a special order) which is never frozen.

According to Local Harvest: http://www.localharvest.org/us-wellness-meats-M24454

US Wellness Meats was founded and is operated by four family farm families who are committed to improving the quality of life for our customers by providing premium quality, health-enhancing grass-fed beef and natural meat products that meet their nutritional needs.

We offer grass-fed beef, veal, bison, lamb, and dairy products as well as certified humane pork, organic snacks, and more. We use no pesticides, herbicides, hormones or antibiotics, or chemicals. Our grass-fed beef is aged 28 days for maximum flavor and tenderness.

(This listing was last updated on Aug 30, 2011)

Location:

204 East Lafayette
Monticello, MO 63457

Contact Information:

John Wood
www.uswellnessmeats.com
(877) 383-0051

 

Mailing Address:

PO Box 9
Monticello, MO 63457

Farming Practices:

naturally grown, grass fed/pastured, animal welfare/humane certified

Review of U.S. Wellness Products

And this one review (from Real Food Whole Health) I thought to share with you, as it comes from the heart and ahe a lot of good data in it:

Working with our nutritional therapy clients and spreading the real food message of sourcing QUALITY foods, there’s something we hear quite often…” I want to eat healthy real foods, but there’s no store or farm near me that has {insert real food here}”

Grassfed beef, pastured chicken and pork, raw milk cheese from grassfed cows, bacon or sausages made from pastured animals and without nitrates/nitrites, etc. are all healthful foods that can be very difficult to locate in the typical supermarket. It’s true that, in many places it’s difficult to find any of these products even at a local farm, much less ALL from one location. And with our busy lifestyles, it can be hard to find time to go to 5 or 6 different places.

Enter U.S. Wellness Meats.

This fantastic family-run business started back in 2000, with just one goal- to provide high quality grass-fed (and grass-finished) beef to consumers. They succeeded. U.S. Wellness Meats grass-fed beef  is recognized for its exceptional taste, quality and health benefits by chefs, professional athletes, and health and nutrition experts, including yours truly.

Again, that's U.S Wellness Meats - check them out!

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Are you eating when you're hungry, or because you're "supposed to?"

I've pulled this article from Cinchclub.com as I've run into this recently. (You might have to sign in to read it.) Only when I started the Cinch diet did I actually come to the table hungry and ready to eat something. Before that, with all the various snacks I was eating, I was never really hungry - so was simply keeping some extra fat around (and I just saw another article about what is stored along with that fat.)

And that's a key point. We are over-eating ourselves to death. Literally. If you are paying to have a doctor see you every year for some illness, then you are paying for something you could have prevented. The other day I saw a lady (yes, she was overweight/obese) who pulled almost 2 dozen different pills out of her purse so she could go over her daily regimen with a technician-specialist. But we know that Type 2 Diabetes is preventable if they are just caused by diet. That coronary conditions are preventable if they are just caused by diet. And the list goes on.

If it's not hereditary, then you can probably do something to keep from having that disease (and even if it is...) Because overweight is what's causing most of these "epidemic" illnesses in our adults and our kids.

Too often we are eating because it's that time of day, not because we really need food in our system. With snack machines and coffee shops and fast food joints all over the place, it's too easy to get someone else to sell you something that the body doesn't need and isn't useful (and meanwhile adding artery-clogging fat into your system, too much high-blood-pressure salt, and/or too much adrenal-gland-stimulating sugar.)

You actually can save money by cutting out the pre-processed, junk, and convenience foods - more than you'd really need to pay for quality supplements. (See this page about how much a Cinch shake costs compared to a Big Mac meal or a Starbucks and scone, or even a Subway sandwich.)

What I realized with this diet is that food actually started tasting better because I was hungry enough to want it. And the body rewards you for treating it right, doesn't it?

But I wasn't starving, and I have plenty of energy all day - until it's time to sleep. And that is the difference I've seen with reviews of other diets. Cinch keeps you full enough to not want to have to eat something else. I wouldn't think a single shake or a meal bar would ever keep me - but they do. Day in and day out.

Satisfied.

Like it should be.

Knowing True Hunger

Are you hungry? Sounds like a simple question doesn't it? But the truth is most of us eat in response to environmental triggers instead of responding to true biological hunger. We learn early on that it's sometimes better to eat everything on the plate instead of struggle with mom or dad, or to suffer through a plate of broccoli so we can have dessert. We learn to eat because food smells good, it's "lunch time," or because we are bored. As a result, we ignore our own body signals and eat whether we are truly hungry or not.

So do you know what your biological signals for hunger are? Is it a mild stomach growling, an empty feeling inside, or something else? Take some time to identify what your body's first signs of hunger are. Use the following hunger-rating chart to assess where you usually start eating and where you stop.

10. Thanksgiving stuffed
9. so full it hurts
8. feeling quite full
7. starting to feel uncomfortable
6. slightly ate too much
5. just right, you feel comfortable
4. first signs it's time to eat
3. strong signs that it's time to eat
2. very hungry, cranky
1. extremely hungry, dizzy and weak

If you start eating at a "5" or higher, you are eating for external reasons and not because you are biologically hungry. On the other hand, if you wait too long to eat and you start eating at a "1" or a "2," you were overly hungry and most likely will end up overeating. Starting to eat at a "3" or "4" is perfect. At this level, your body is telling you that it's time for some nourishment but not to eat the entire box or bag of something.

If you stop at a "6" or above, you are overeating (when we eat because of external reasons, we tend to overeat). It's also important to remember that if you overeat even healthy foods, those extra calories will be converted to fat and stored in your body. You should aim to stop eating at a "5," when you are feeling perfectly comfortable. At this level, you have taken in the right amount of food to nourish your body, but not too much so that it will be stored as fat.

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Cinch Club - Free Online Weight Loss Center

Of the two online weight loss centers which Shaklee provides, the Cinchclub.com is the free one. And what we'll review today.

It's remarkably easy to sign up for. (Did I mention it's free?!?) And behind the login as a real wealth of data.

And we could spend all day just talking about the points that are available here. But I haven't gotten through all of them yet, myself.

Of course there the forums, where you can interact with like-minded people. But the recipes are great - to both get your weight and size down to where you want it, and also to train yourself in low-calorie-but-great-tasting ways to keep it there. Well over 60 different ones, many of them weight loss shake and smoothie recipes. Plus, they're all PDF's for easy download and printing. I hope to share many of these with you in the coming months.

The articles is another high point, however. Just that one in the image above is something else. Did you know that if you eat just before sleeping, your body tries to burn it off like you are awake? This could be the reason for all those wild dreams. And then, being tired the next day, you're wanting to eat more as your metabolism is lousy. Perfect diet-buster. Lesson? Keep to a schedule which has the last food at least 3 hours before sleeping. Again, I hope to excerpt these as I review this site later.

A next section to investigate (and there are so many options, a great site overall) is their Resources section - which is linked at the top of every page.

A really useful link is that "Meal Plans" section above. You select your goal (lose weight or maintain weight), then what type of meal (regular, no dairy, no red meat, lacto-ovo-vegetarian) and then calorie level (1200, 1500, 1800, or 2100). When you click on Get Meal Plan, then a pdf comes up, ready to download.

Recipes and articles are also linked here, only you get right to the "View All" page. 

Up at the top, you can see a "Cinch-U", which is 12 weeks worth of courses that you can take to learn all about dieting and what you need to know to succeed. The first week is open to anyone (who doesn't want to sign up free) and tells you simply how the Cinch Inch Loss diet plan works, plus why you should exercise and how to create SMART goals. And there's a simple test after each one which tracks your progress.

Again, more to tell you about later as we go through this together. (I'll stick to the diet if you keep reading this blog...)

Over further, you'll see the forum. I was intersted to see that this is a pretty active forum, with people signing up every few days. And there are many posts coming in. I see several for this month and a couple just today - as I write this. What's great about the forum is that you can help others and help yourself. Looking through the posts, I see that people are keeping this posting in as a way to hold themselves accountable.

One thing I'd suggest you check out is their Expert Q&A under the Community Section. It's huge.

If that's the only reason for signing up to this free site, it would be enough. All the rest is gravy.

Well, I'd have to give this site an "A" rating. Everything is easy to find and all the questions I can think of right off have been answered (or made easily available.)

I'd suggest you check it out, too - regardless of what diet you are on. Or if you're dieting at all. Might give you a reason to start - and definitely will give you a reason to keep going.

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My Diet Plan Starts Well with Shakes

Well, I've gotten going. A friend told me to not overthink it, just get going. Of course, I took the whole kit over to my upline Shaklee sponsor Scott and we did a video (as I blogged yesterday), so  you know I got the quick overview.

I've still yet to dig through the tiny type of their program manual, hoping I can find it online in some version. And I did - it's a Nxtbook, which Shaklee loves (as they can update it easily, so their online catalog is set up in one of these). Now, if you want your own copy, you can select print, and then either save it to your desktop or even get a PDF version.

So I'm working with that PDF version, as the original has very tiny type and my middle-aged eyes would like something easier to see in dim light. I can zoom it up as much as I need it (plus, as a web developer, I long ago learned to "harvest" content from almost any format - which means I can quote parts of this easily as I review it for you.)

Now, as I was saying that video covers a lot of ground. In this blog, I can break it down to smaller bites.

What you really get is just enough to get you through the month. Maybe.

• 2 jugs of Cinch powder @ 15 servings each, 1 box of packets with another 14 = 44 meals.
• 2 boxes of meal-in-a-bar, which are 7 servings each, so another 14 meals.
• You need 2 meals a day for 30 days, or 60 meals - this gives you 58.One day shy.
• Now, the snack bars are 3 boxes, 10 per box, so you are going to use 1 a day for 30 days. (Afternoons.)
• Pomegranate tea is 28 in a box, so you'll run out even at one per day.
• Same with the 3-in-1 Cinch capsules - 84, so thats 28 days again (3 per day). 

Every month isn't February, and many have 31 days, so this is a bit tight. Now I started almost a week late, but even then, I'll be lacking by my 4th month, meaning I'm going to have to order something extra. Probably that sampler pack of snacks and another jug of Cinch.

Just so you know.

Now, I haven't called them up, but I didn't get the tape measure, pedometer, or shaker. Thought that was part of the deal (like the picture above.) Means I need to call them. My sponsor found an extra tape measure, so that's something. The rest I can do without (although I would like to find how many steps/miles I walk daily around the farm.)

Results so far:

Very filling each meal. Very.

As I see it, the deal is that this stuff fills you up while you work on getting your mind around having smaller portions at meals.  But I haven't had any trouble being full - usually it's the reverse. 

Only drawback is that I haven't figured out how to get coffee into this scene. Now I was already noticing that coffee has a bit of heartburn going along with it. Unless you eat some bread of some type to absorb the extra acid.

1st day, I drank my usual big mug of coffee right after my shake, since I didn't "feel" full. Big mistake. Tasted it for hours.

2nd day, I still "felt" like I needed something after the shake, so I waited and drank it when I usually got my second mug, right after checking the cows. Same reaction, only less.

3rd day - figuring it was having the shake in my stomach was causing the problem, I drank the coffee solo, then had the shake when I came in. Result: coffee on an empty stomach. Not ideal, to say the least.

So, tomorrow it's going to be just the shake, and then move the tea up into the morning if I still need something. Otherwise, just stick with water. As I've noticed before, I don't "need" coffee to get going in the morning, it's just that I "like" it. (And both of those phrases can be used to describe an addiction, BTW.)

My sponsor said that the first week, I was going to be kicked around all over the place. And that is happening.

I have found that "real" food tastes much better. Much. And I'm actually hungry when I come for a meal.

It's really pointing out the problem: that we've been over-fed and undernourished. Like feeding low-quality hay to cows in the winter. You can actually starve them to death with a full stomach. Not enough energy to get them going and keep them that way.

Our fast-food mentality (I saw one reference today that our diets are consisting of over 60% highly processed food) - is what really points to the problem we have. 

A diet is the mental game as much as the physical.

And so the shakes and meal bars are a way to break off the habit with a completely different way of eating. When you are buying prepared meals, someone else is thinking through the process. So coming off the diet and back to the real world is more of a bear. By eating totally different food, you are giving both mind and body a chance to adjust. Then when you go back, your stomach is much smaller and you are now looking at being full while eating almost nothing. And after 4 months of this, you essentially are set up to succeed with smaller portions.

Of course, you are also going to need to keep your nutrition up, so this means if you haven't been sold on Shaklee products by then, get ready to be. Figure one shake a day from here on out, plus some quality natural vitamins as well. But the good thing is that they make a lot of shakes in different versions, most of which are cheaper than Cinch. Same with vitamins.

Unless you are raising some very, very healthy food in your garden, figure quality natural-based vitamins are going to be in your future from here on out.

But the great part is - once you're weaned off fast food and Starbucks, you are saving more than enough to pay for what you need to be eating instead. And if you're getting some great lean (grassfed) beef like we raise, then you can have your garden-fresh vegetables and get everything you need.

Well, tomorrow is another day.

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