Yes, diet soda DOES make you fat...

We all know by now that soda (aka "pop" in some areas) is one of the most evil things you can put in your body... the nasty chemicals, the gut-fattening high fructose corn syrup, and a myriad of health problems caused by this carbonated cocktail worshipped by those that don't care about their health or body. I do know that you actually do care about your health and the appearance of your body. Surprisingly, many people falsely believe that "diet" soda is in some way a good thing for losing body fat. In fact, I hear people all the time proudly state that they eat so healthy and only drink diet soda. So let's set the record straight... There is NOTHING even remotely healthy about drinking diet soda. In fact, I've even seen several studies that showed dedicated diet soda drinkers got even FATTER than their regular soda drinking counterparts. Here's some findings from an 8-year University of Texas study that I had read... An excerpt from the study author: "What didn't surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity," Fowler tells WebMD. "What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher." "There was a 41 percent increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day," Fowler says. Ok, as if we didn't already know how bad regular soda was for us, and now they're showing us studies that diet soda makes us even fatter than the already bad stuff! There's a lot of complicating factors as to why this occurs... One reason is that the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas create a negative hormonal response in the body that increases fat storing hormone production and increases cravings for more sweets and refined carbohydrates in the time period after consuming the diet drink. Another reason is that people may subconsciously think that because they are drinking a diet soda, that gives them more leeway to eat more of everything else, hence consuming more calories overall. I've said this all along, but the bottom line is that if you're serious about your health and body, soda of any kind (and artificial sweeteners in anything for that matter!) should be avoided at all times, except for very rare occasions when you can't avoid them. A future article about artificial sweeteners explains more of the problems with them and good substitutes. More about that latter. So what is a good alternative to diet sodas? The best alternatives are good old water with lemon or unsweetened iced teas... you have plenty of options with teas - green, white, black, oolong, red... be creative in making your iced teas and you'll enjoy it more. Plus, you get a greater array of anti-aging antioxidants. I just add a little of the natural non-caloric sweetener stevia to my iced teas and I love them. A future post will cover artificial sweeteners.

Affiliate Marketing And Home Business

Many of us dream of being our own bosses. The lure of big money and flexible work hours is quite attractive. However, many are afraid to venture out on their own. They fear that they do not have the capital required to get a business started or they don’t want to loose the security of their day job. The solution could be starting a home business. The truth of the matter is that you can start your home business with no money at all. Ask yourself this, do you have a spare room or space in your house. Do you have a computer with an internet connection? Do you have a phone line? If you have these three things you have the essentials of an office from which your home business can be made. Affiliate marketing can be a great way for you to get started in your home business. Affiliate marketing will provide you with the opportunity to sell either a product or a service. With low capital and little space you may want to concentrate on services. Once you have made the decision, you need to evaluate your skills. What services can you offer and what skills can you bring. Many people start of with affiliate marketing programs from major search engines. If you’re good at website design, you could register your page with someone such as yahoo publisher. This way your site will get traffic with the help of the search engine Yahoo. If yours is a sales website, your traffic could translate into increased sales. The more exposure to your site the better. The other thing you can try to do is attract traffic to other sites. Retail sites such as Amazon and EBay have affiliate marketing programs. If you can generate traffic and increase sales then you make money. Both programs offer ways to increase revenues through links and blogs. These are usually free and worth using. Remember, the more you make the more they make. Finally, your site can make money in another way. When it is posted on sites such as yahoo publisher or Google ad sense, there will be ads placed. Whenever a visitor clicks on an ad you make money. The more clicks the more cash. The operators take care of all the advertising costs and placement. They also try to place appropriate ads to your page. If you’re selling rare books ads for fish food are not likely going to get clicked. If you want to start working for yourself but feel you don’t have the money then you’re wrong. If you have a computer and space to put it then you have all you need. You can also start you home business and work it around your job. You can gradually commit more time as your home business grows. If you’re tired of your job and really want to work for yourself then stop making excuses and do it. Though affiliate marketing programs and selling services you will find that having your home business is easier than you think. All it takes is time and a commitment to succeed. By taking advanantage of the affiliate marketing programs that are currently available, you can make money and improve your own marketing skills. Remember, you can always expand into other areas and venture out totally on your own later. Right now, get marketing and get clicking.

Internet Is it Easy??

If you have tried to make a dollar on the internet, then you know the answer. I have tried and I know it is hard, VERY hard. I will try to to post articles that are helpful. Now my work is cut out for me. I will do research and get back to you soon. Fred