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Whether you are a pregnant female or not, water is the key fluid required for the healthy functioning of all body organs. During pregnancy, your body actually needs more of this fluid to withstand the demanding changes that are being placed on your body to produce and nurture a healthy offspring.

Adequate water consumption for the safety of the developing fetus, as well as the mother is one of the most important preventive health maintenance strategies recommended by prenatal health care professionals. Of which, water is the main substance for the production of breast milk and necessary for good lactation.

Drinking plenty of water during pregnancy helps the mother avoid dehydration problems that can lead to quite a lengthy list of negative health complications such as headaches, water retention, nausea (morning sickness, cramps, oedema (ankle swelling), dizziness, heartburn, and elevated blood pressure. During the third trimester, the lack of water in the body can can cause early contractions that leads to premature labor.

A common health problem, among women that are pregnant, is the risk for developing a urinary tract infection. Increased water intake helps lowers this risk considerably, by keeping urine diluted and from pooling up to long in the bladder. Thus, your entire urine excretion system stays flushed.

Although it may seem counterintuitive, the more water you drink during your pregnancy, the less water the body will try to hold on to, especially if there is water/salt imbalance (more salt than water). It will also help avoid constipation and hemorrhoids.

So, how do you know if you are drinking enough water? The best indicator that you are getting enough is by the color of your excreted urine. If it is dark yellow or orange it is a signal to increase your water intake. Light yellow to pale colored urine, and you are doing fine.

An easy way to measure how much you are drinking everyday, is to fill a two or three quart container, with a goal of trying to finish it all by the end of the day.

Summer season pregnancies require awareness on your part to add an extra glass or two to accommodate for mobile exertion that results in perspiring and equals more fluids being lost. Try to steer clear of of caffeinated beverages such as tea, cola, or coffee, and do not make the mistake of counting them as part of your regular daily water intake. Caffeine is considered a mild drug and is a diuretic. These types of drinks, although made with water, will actually cause more urination and force more water out of your body.

So, what if don’t like the taste of water, and are having a hard time making yourself drink what you should?

To help ease yourself into the healthy habit, hopefully a good habit you will keep after delivery, try one of these easy tips. Try freezing up some small ice cubes made with your favorite fruit juice. Add a few cubes to a tall glass of water. It will have a weak fruity taste, as well an eye catching appearance. Or, if you like the taste of lemon or lime squeeze a small wedge into your glass of water.

If tap water safety concerns you, you may want to invest in a home filtration system for your drinking and cooking needs. When traveling or away from home, opting to drink bottled water may be more convenient than bringing your own with you, just make sure the seal is not broken and check expiration dates closely. Avoid prepackaged water in questionable plastic containers, certain types of plastics have been linked to hormone problems.

While meeting the nutritional needs of both mother and baby are very critical issues, adequate water intake education seems to take a back seat in its level of dominance for a healthy pregnancy, delivery, and a healthy infant. In fact, dehydration problems in the general population is the single most important preventable solution in healing a very long list of degenerative health conditions in itself.

The issue of morning sickness has often been attributed to deficiencies of specific nutrients lacking in the mothers diet by many nutritional health experts. According to Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, M.D., author of “You Body’s Many Cries For Water” claims, although it is very subtle and simple by nature, morning sickness is the first sign that a pregnant female and her fetus are dehydrated.

Dr. B states in his book, page 15, “during the intrauterine stage of cell expansion, water for cell growth of the child has to be provided by the mother. However, the transmitter system for water intake seems to be produced by the fetal tissue, but registers its effects on the mother during the early phase of pregnancy”.

This very unpleasant symptom of being pregnant hinders many women from eating properly, sometimes well into mid-day. Instead of trying to figure out what type of food nutrient may be missing from the diet, why not treat the nausea with water first?

Brenda Skidmore has spent the last five years actively researching natural health care alternatives. It is her sincere desire to empower others by sharing this important information. To improve your health today visit
mywater4life.com

Once upon a time, only major corporations and Fortune 500 companies took the time to test their advertising. But as small business owners become more savvy - and the cost of advertising continues to rise - testing the effectiveness of ads, whether in print or on the web, is one of those marketing strategies that just makes sense.

First of all, you’ll want to determine exactly where you want to spend your hard-earned cash. Think about your target market - i.e., the people with the highest likelihood of being interested in the products or services you’re offering. What publications are they reading? What websites are they visiting? Depending on how targeted your market is, trade publications may be an inexpensive option in terms of print advertising, while numerous high-traffic websites are oriented around a specific profession and/or interest that may place its visitors within your target market.

Next, you’ll need to design your ads. Whether you work with a graphic designer or have the skills and know-how to do it yourself, creating a range of possible designs is key - because once you have them, you can use them to solicit high-quality input from your friends, colleagues, and employees.

Once you have 5-7 designs in hand, you’ll want to get them in front of as many people as possible. Have individuals pick out their top three designs, then hand them a red marker - to mark the things they don’t like, on each of those three ads - and a green marker - to mark the things they do.

Once you’ve used this info to select the 2 or 3 most popular designs (and strengthen them, by addressing the negatives) it’s time to submit your ads to the websites/publications you’ve chosen.

Here’s the key, though: always advertise in more than one (roughly equivalent) publication or website, and make sure to include a different contact .url and/or phone number on each ad. (This could simply be a different page off your main website - or, in the case of a phone contact, a number that routes to your main number with a different ring, a service that can be provided by your local phone company.)

That way, you’ll actually be able to track the number of impressions you’ve created with each ad, and the number of actual sales each ad has generated.

Once you’ve let these ads run for a while - three months is generally considered a minimum amount of time for an effective run - you can compile the results you’ve received from each ad. If one ad has generated at least 5% more impressions/sales than either of the other two, you’ve got a clear indication that it’s more effective in terms of design and appeal.

You may want to continue advertising in one of the publications/websites that produced lesser results for you - but switch your ad design to the one that produced a higher return, in order to make sure you’re getting the most out of your advertising budget.

Testing your advertising is a great way to get a handle on which marketing strategies have the most pull within your target market.

So go ahead - create some great, dynamite advertising, and watch those sales roll in.

Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane Out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the woman’s entrepreneur community. Discover information, networking and marketing opportunities for women small business owners by joining Jane Out of the Box for free at http://www.JaneOutoftheBox.com

It’s the hardest thing isn’t it? Finding the perfect gift idea for that hard to buy for man? Christmas is coming, or his birthday, or maybe fathers day, and you need a great gift for him.

For some reason men are extremely hard to buy for. Well lots of people are hard to buy gifts for, but men seem harder. Every birthday, Christmas or fathers day or other event where you need to buy a gift for him it gets harder and harder.

Ever seen advice on buying a gift for a man? Gadgets. That’s the most common advice I’ve seen for buying gifts for men, buy him gadgets.

And power tools. If it’s not gadgets it’s power tools. If you buy him either a gadget or a power tool, (or preferably both) for his birthday then you can’t go wrong.

Or perhaps golf gifts? Obviously for a man who’s a golfer.

Now all of these make fine gifts for the right man. But even if you’re looking for a gadget perhaps, or an idea for a golf gift for him, how do you find the really new ideas?

Every day there’s a new gadget coming out. There’s whole websites just devoted to new gadgets, including some very good gadgets. In fact there’s entire websites devoted to SPECIFIC gadgets coming onto the market, like new computer gadgets, or new golf gadgets.

For example, did you know that you can get a drumming mousepad? It’s an electronic mousepad that allows him, when he needs a break, to play up to 8 high quality peprcussion sounds, and record them, so he can drum right there at his desk?

Or a gadget that converts his old LPs to iPod MP3 format? Or a gadget that allows him to convert his old slides to digital format? Or a camcorder that’s so small it will fit into his pocket? Or binocular glasses that allow him magnification like a pair of binoculars but hands free so he can use them, say, at the football?

Have you ever thought of giving him some golf balls that have your photo on them, and perhaps on the other side a small message from you? Or perhaps a golf ball that is radio controlled so that when it’s on the green he can give all his friends a great laugh as his golf ball veers off towards the hole.

There’s a thousand and one great mens gift ideas out there, it’s just that you need to know about them and find them. The internet is the best resource we have ever had to find gift ideas, period. You can browse more gift ideas in an hour on the net than you could in a month of looking at catalogues.

You just need to know where to go to find them all, and then find yourself a hot gift idea for your man from the comfort of your own computer. And while you’re at it, you’ll probably find gifts for just about everyone else you need to buy for as well as your man, you can’t go wrong on the net.

For a website totally dedicated to mens gifts visit Peter’s Website Find That Gift For Him and find out about birthday gifts for men and more, including Christmas and Anniversary gift ideas for men

In order to ensure that the new products and services they launch stand the best possible chance for success, Corporate America employs a variety of marketing research techniques before investing time and resources in development. A little basic smarts and network know-how will allow you to do the same thing for yourself.

In this article, I’ll show you how you use powerful market research tools to save you time, money, frustration and maybe even ultimately your business. So let’s get started.

Once you have a clear idea in mind for your new product or service, you’ll want to do what Corporate America commonly calls a concept test.

First of all, you’ll need to sit down and clearly delineate exactly what your product or service is, including what features and benefits it will offer and how much it will cost. Typically, you’ll write 2-3 paragraphs describing your idea, making sure to clearly explain the benefits to the consumer. Really invest some time here and have other people read your description to make sure, A) your word choices are clear and, B) you’ve hit all the major highlights.

Congratulations! You now have a concept statement.

Next, develop a survey to gauge the reaction of your target market, covering the basics:

- Purchase interest (i.e., How likely are you to buy this product, if it were available to you? A) Definitely will buy, B) Probably will, C) I might, D) Probably will not, E) Definitely will not buy.)
- Overall Likes and Dislikes
- Value
- Uniqueness

Make sure you include a range of possible responses for each question.

From here, you’ll need to determine exactly what the target market is for your new product or service - if your product is a new all-natural diet soda, for example, your target market might be health-conscious women, ages 20-45.

Talk with friends, family, and friends-of-friends, as well as those of your employees. Anywhere from 50-200 people will work. Giving respondents an anonymous way to return your survey will help to ensure unbiased feedback.

When your surveys have been returned, decide what your minimum requirements will be in order to take the next step. (Do this even before you take a peek at your data.) Large corporations call this an action standard.

As a small business owner, an action standard that makes sense would probably be how many people are likely to buy your product.

The rule of thumb some professional marketing research firms use to gauge true demand is that 80% of the people who answered that they would ‘definitely purchase’ your product actually will - while only 20% of those who answered they ‘probably will purchase’ will do the same.

Using this rule of thumb, let’s say your data shows true demand of 20%. Now you have to take into account the role of advertising and exposure.

Let’s say there are 10 million potential customers in your market, but you’re advertising on a shoestring. With the budget you’ve got, how many people can you make aware of your product? Five percent? That means 50,000 people will become aware of your product. With 20% true demand, you might expect 10,000 buyers.

So - is 10,000 buyers enough to make your new product viable?

If not, it’s time to go back to the drawing board, using the feedback you received to strengthen your overall concept.

If so, it’s time to move confidently ahead - knowing the market is with you.

Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane Out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the woman’s entrepreneur community. Discover information, networking and marketing opportunities for women small business owners by joining Jane Out of the Box for free at http://www.JaneOutoftheBox.com

Rachel Gainer is a promising young executive with fast paced Technology Company. She has a brilliant mind and manages some of the most innovative software solutions in the world. She is rewarded handsomely by her company for her services. She likes to let people know about her success. She wears the most expensive clothing and drives top of the line automobiles.

Her daily activities are fairly routine. She drives to work parks in the underground garage grabs her purse and heads to the office. One morning as she exited her vehicle a man came running out of the shadows grabbed her purse and pulled it. Rachel found herself in the middle of a purse snatching. She always wore her purse straps across her chest because she heard that would help prevent purse snatching. He pulled the purse but the leather straps on the purse would not give. Rachel fell to the ground. The man removed her purse.

The man took off with all her identification car keys and house keys. Rachel twisted her ankle and the man was never found. Rachel was worried for weeks that the man knew where she lived and would try something else. She went through all the hassle of canceling credit cards, changing her locks and the sleepless nights that followed. Rachel was the victim and the crime lay squarely on the criminal. Things may have been different ending with a few precautions. Purse snatching is a serious crime.

The best solution to this crime is prevention. Not carrying a purse at all may completely solve this crime. Removing the temptation is the single most precaution you can take. If you must carry a purse do not throw the straps over your shoulders you may become injured if the purse is snatched. Do not keep you house and car keys in your purse keep them in a pocket.

It is also a good idea to have a few dollars in the purse and the rest in a safe place on you. Purse-snatchers are criminals of opportunity who simply wait for someone who looks like good victim. Contrary to popular belief most purse snatching happen in crowded places. The criminal knows that you are most likely not paying attention to your surrounding in a crowd or there are distractions make for easy getaway.

Hold your purse close to you but if snatched, unless you know you can successfully defend let it go. It is not worth getting hurt over. It never fails if you go to the supermarket or one of the other retailers you always see someone leaving their peruse in a shopping cart. This is an open invitation to a thief.

Only carry one credit card if any and record the one you have at home. Leave the rest in the house and have a recorded list of all of them. Purse snatching is on the increase and nations around the world understand it affect on citizens and are taking preventative measures. Some measures are more drastic that others.

A province in China has introduced the death penalty for purse-snatching. Economic good times in China have been followed by worsening crime. Southern Guangdong province, neighbouring Hong Kong, has been particularly affected, with tens of thousands of people convicted of robbery every year. Officials there have announced that purse-snatching is now punishable by death. Even those whose life is spared will still face a mandatory three years in jail.

Johnny A. Jenkins, Distribution Director of href="http://www.repellertechnology.com"> Repeller Technology,
provides self-defense and safety products, tips and advice to fit most
situations. Make your surroundings safer for you and loved ones today
at: Repeller
Technology.

Naomi was a single mother of three. She lived in an old house that she inherited from he mother. The house had a large yard and lots of shrubbery and trees. The house also had a basement with a small window facing the street. Naomi was so busy with the kids that she barely had time to make any improvements on the house. As a matter of fact she barely kept it maintained. She always hired some one to do the yard work and other jobs.

They were mostly people recommended by friends. She kept the basement to her house locked and nobody ever went down there. She had plans to develop it one day when one of the children was old enough to live there. For now it was basically closed off. She began to hear strange noises in the basement. It was mostly late at night when everyone was sleep.

It was mostly the same type of noise every night. It sounded like a squeak. Naomi knew the house was old and it made all types of noises anyway, so to her it was just another sign of settling. One night after midnight she heard a loud clang that came from the basement she knew this was not the house settling. She called the police and told them she heard a loud noise in her basement.

They came out to investigate. What they found startled her. Some one had been living in her basement. From the look of things it had been for a long time. Seems liked they entered through the window and exited the same way. Since she never went into the basement they could come and go as they pleased without being caught. There were signs that whoever it was used it as sleeping quarters and left during the day.

She bricked the window in and the noises stopped. The police figured it was a homeless person who had been watching her daily. They knew when to come and when to leave. They probably did not go through the rest of the house for fear of loosing their sleeping spot.

Windows are vulnerable spots in our home. They must be checked periodically to see if they are secure. Windows in places where we are less likely to frequent are more of security risk than others. Burglars routinely check windows for entry into your home. Burglars have probably already tested your windows and you did not even know it.

Windows are the eyes into your home. Check all the windows in your house everyday because it only takes one window left open to bring an intruder in. Never store your valuables so the are visible through a window. Windows near door locks are easy targets for burglars especially if your lock does not require a key.

When possible have locks that do not require keys behind solid walls away from windows. Glass can be easily broken to gain entry to your home. Complete an inventory on your home periodically to see where you lack security. You will find that most of the problems are inexpensive and easy to fix.

Johnny A. Jenkins, Distribution Director of href="http://www.repellertechnology.com"> Repeller Technology,
provides self-defense and safety products, tips and advice to fit most
situations. Make your surroundings safer for you and loved ones today
at: Repeller
Technology.