More Secrets to Playing the Wine Auction Game
By KC Kudra | August 18, 2008
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The United States Illinois and Napa Valley wines sales allow commercial wine auctions. Online wine sales, Napa Valley style is allowed as well. In New York, which is a very nice place for an auction, are in the process of passing bills to permit port wine sales and auctions, but with little success. Chicago is one place where California wines and wine sales are quite rigorous and people travel from all over just to get in on the bargains. Britain, where wine auctions and wine cellars are open regularly throughout the fall and winter, have retail wine chains that have flourished. One particular chain has taken over one of the wine retailers on the American West Coast.
The British wine Trade sees the wine auctions as a way of stimulating interest in wines generally and increases sales for everybody. Of course, in Australia, you will find plenty of wine auctions, especially online. There are large online wine communities who share tasting notes and critiques amongst themselves, such as the Auswine discussion forum. You do not even need to leave the comfort of your armchair to enjoy the benefits of an online wine auction.
Bidding and Tasting Tips for Wine Auctions
Before you set out in the real world or online, plan out the items you want to bid on and the amount you are willing to pay. Research previous wine auctions to get a good idea of prices so your maximum bids will be fair and stand you in stead to win. Always try and attend the pre-auction tasting, sometimes end of line mixed cases can be a superb buy, keep an eye open for that. The trade bidders are not so interested in those.
Attend a wine warehouse tasting so that you can get a taste of the brands available, then you will get a good grasp on what you are bidding rather than bidding in the dark. You might also want to form a consortium between like-minded friends and family to buy in bulk. That way your bids will be more powerful and you can see that as a return in more bottles or reduced rates of purchase.
My preference is to do the online auctions on a paper basis first to get acquainted with the procedure. Just write down your bid for your preferred lots, write down the final selling price, and judge your own effort. Do not bid until you are confident. If you are going to a tasting, please ensure you get someone else to do the driving!
So you can see wine auctions are not about perceived social standing, they are the places to go to get bargains! A representative for a well-known international auction house recently said “I think online wine auctions are still in their infancy.” A good opportunity not to be missed, make sure you research well and just do it!
Topics: Nutrition | No Comments »
How to Make Exercising Fun for Your Child
By Joel Riley | August 18, 2008
You’ve probably heard a lot about the importance of exercise for your child. But you may be wondering how to help your child exercise when you’re competing with the TV and video games that he loves so much.
One of the few simple steps that one can take to get the child to exercise is to make it fun for him.
Play Games. Although we as adults normally exercise by following certain structured exercise routine, Kids needs more fun than that. So try to get them to play games with you. The Ultimate results will also be the same when they run around moving their muscles and increasing their heart beats more.
Games Like Frisbee, basketball, soccer tag, duck duck goose or ring around the rosy are fun. Your kids will enjoy themselves without even them knowing that they are exercising.This is better than a structured exercise routine.
Encourage Outdoor Play. When your kids play outside, they’ll naturally exert more energy. You may be able to allow your child to play in the backyard or in the neighborhood.
The park is also a good alternative as well. Let your child bring a friend or two to accompany him. By doing so, he will enjoy himself more at the same time actively exercising his body. Another alternative that can be considered is water games.
If you have a swimming pool available, encourage your child to go swimming (supervised, of course). If a pool isn’t available, try turning on the sprinkler in the yard and letting your child run around in it.
Active Video Games. Using Video game can also be a fun way for kids to be physically active. There are video games providers who had created interactive games like dance dance revolution take requires physical movements to participate in the game.
These are some of the ways, where you can encourage a child to be active physically. Even then, these encouragements should be developed into habits for it to have a permanent result on their physical well being.
Topics: Nutrition | No Comments »
How to Determine Your Child’s Ideal Weight
By Joel Riley | August 17, 2008
Coming to the issue of Obesity, we all sometimes do wonder how much our kid actually weigh. As Adults, we use the Body Mass Index for ideal weight calculation while for youngsters, we base it on length for age and weight for age percentages charts.
Those children weighing over the 95th percentile range are considered overweight. And for those above the 85th percentile range, they are considered at risk of being overweight.
You can see the growth charts for boys and girls age 2-20 by going to www.cdc.gov/growthcharts.
It’s important to remember that this is just a general guideline.You shouldn’t become too obsessed with making your child’s weight fit into a specific category. Instead, worry about his or her overall health.
If your child is approaching the 85th percentile, you’ll want to look at your family’s lifestyle and see where you can make improvements. You should also talk to your pediatrician before you make the determination that your child is overweight.
A healthy adult weight comes about from maintaining a healthy weight for your kid. Although monitoring your kid weight is important, do it in moderation. Do not be obsessed about trying to fit your child weight neatly into predefined category. This may result in more harm than good.
A little common sense can go a long way when deciding on matter regarding your child weight. Be a good role model and encourage your child to exercise regularly. Also provide him or her with a nutritious diet so that they can have a healthy lifestyle.
You can’t expect for your child to change her lifestyle while you keep the same unhealthy one. When you work to keep the whole family healthy, your child will be more likely to have a healthy weight.
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Eat Chocolate And Lose Weight
By Sean Hagon | August 16, 2008
It is possible to lose weight while eating chocolate. Don’t believe it? Let me provide some insight as to how and why this can be done.
We have all struggled with weight loss at some point in our live and we are always searching for that miracle diet pill to help us lose weight. However, there really is no such drug and if there is, you need to seriously research the side effects and health implications of weight loss drugs on your health. In direct contrast, it is possible to eat the right healthy foods each day and still lose weight. No, I don’t mean that you have to eat tofu and rice cakes everyday. What I am talking about is healthy chocolate. Yes, healthy chocolate.
The foods that we currently consume are loaded with additives and preservatives, are highly processed and are stripped away of what little nutritional value is left. The focus toward consuming organic, natural foods has continued to be an ongoing trend. As a result, it is becoming easier to obtain unprocessed, all natural organic foods.
How about all those fad diets that in the end don’t seem to work? We’ve all experienced this in some form. When trying to lose weight, we know all too well that the real solution is watching our calorie intake and making sure we partake in a daily exercise regimen.
However, we still crave that cheeseburger or ice cream sundae every so often. So you may ask yourself as to how one can eat healthy and great (especially the chocolate) when you are on a 1,500 calorie per day diet? There is a real solution. Unfortunately, in the past we have had to develop a taste for those healthy foods but by simply replacing the bad with the good, you will be amazed as to how well your body will respond once you have broken the chains of that fast food and junk food addiction. As a result, you will now be craving the healthy foods you never thought possible. It will take some effort and discipline but you can eat chocolate and still lose weight. Plus you will find yourself craving fruits and vegetables that you may have overlooked in the grocery isle.
What is the healthy alternative to the junk food, fast food menu? Let me start by saying that we are now in a trend among food manufacturers to make foods that are healthier and in addition, eliminate the trans fat. This is done by offering baked options instead of fried options and having reduced fat versions that are as much as 40-50% less than the original product. This trend in the manufacturing process has greatly enhanced your success to lose weight.
I have run across a healthy alternative that has changed my life and will certainly change yours in the weight loss department and your everyday life. Not to mention just feeling better and more energetic. The first place you can start towards losing weight is replacing your sweet treats you purchase in the store with a new product line called Xocai. Xocai makes incredibly delicious and extremely healthy dark chocolate products. These products are vegetarian and diabetic friendly, they are rich in antioxidants, flavonoids, high fiber, and have low calorie and low fat content.
If you simply replace the bad treats you buy in the store with Xocai healthy chocolate, you are on the right path towards effective weight loss, increased energy and more with the least amount of effort. As a bonus, you can enjoy your weight loss while you indulge in healthy chocolate that is 100% natural, unprocessed and does not contain all of the preservatives and additives that you find in the typical chocolate bar at the grocery store.
In closing, we are finally offered a healthy alternative to unhealthy treats and it is absolutely possible to enjoy those treats without feeling guilty. Best of all you can lose weight while doing it. Your new phrase: “A piece of healthy chocolate a day makes the weight go away”.
Enjoy your health!
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Weight Loss Diets: Health Consideration for Salad Dressings
By Joel Riley | August 16, 2008
If you are like most people you love your veggies and creamy dressing for a snack. When you think of eating healthy, you think salads and veggies are a good choice, but not when doused in thick, fatty dressing.
Salad dressings are now being made in spray bottles, these are a healthier choice over the creamy, fatty dressings that many people slather on to their salads. These tasty alternatives can save you more calories than you realize
One option is to try salad dressings made with balsamic vinegar. You can make your own at home using one part oil to one part vinegar. You can also add other seasonings for taste, to make it just like you want it
Olive oil and flaxseed oil have fewer fat and calories and contain good fats that our bodies need. Flaxseed oil has many uses in the body and is a great source of good fats.
Add some lemon, orange, or lime juices to your salad for some extra zing and flavor. It provides just a bit of extra pizzazz many people enjoy.
You can choose the salad dressings that come in a spray bottle and you can also use vinaigrette dressings to save calories. Stay away from low fat or fat-free versions of your favorite creamy dressings. Many times these are just as bad as the regular version because they are loaded with fat and sugar
When you are trying to break old dining habits, try ordering the dressing on the side of your salad. You will find this is an easy way to cut calories.
By dipping your fork into the salad dressing before taking a bite, you will get all the flavor and still save calories. You won’t use near as many calories if you eat your salad dressing this way. You will be surprised at how much less dressing you find you need if you try it this way.
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