Chicken Salad Blues

1 9.75-ounce can premium chunk chicken breast packed in water
1 large stalk celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
4 leaves romaine or red leaf lettuce, washed and trimmed
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
1 ripe tomato, quartered (or 8 cherry tomatoes)
1 small cucumber, washed and thinly sliced

Drain chicken. Add chopped celery and mayonnaise. Mix lightly to keep the chicken chunky. Arrange lettuce in a shallow serving bowl. Put chicken salad in the middle and crumble blue cheese over it. Arrange tomatoes and cucumber slices around the plate. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves four

Each serving contains about 175 calories, 3.5 grams carbohydrate, 15 grams protein, 10 grams fat, 675 milligrams sodium, 1 gram fiber.

Health Tip: If You Decide to Breast-Feed

Try to breast-feed as soon as possible after your baby is born. In the beginning, your baby may need to be fed every two to four hours.
Let your baby feed off of both breasts, and alternate which side she feeds on first.
Burp your baby when you switch her to the other breast, and at the end of feeding.
Continue taking your prenatal vitamins. Also, talk to your doctor about whether you should continue to take prescription and over-the-counter medications. Finally, don't diet while you are breast-feeding.

Health Tip: Do's and Don'ts While Breastfeeding

(HealthDay News) -- Since a new mother's diet can affect her breast milk, what a breast-feeding mother eats can be as important as when she was pregnant.

Here are dietary suggestions for breast-feeding women, courtesy of the American Academy of Family Physicians:

Do eat a well balanced diet of plenty of fruits, vegetables, beans or meats, and whole grains.
Do get plenty of calcium via dairy foods like milk and cheese. Talk to your doctor about calcium supplements and other ways to get more calcium.
Do eat more calories than normal -- about 500 more per day -- and increase your fluid intake.
Don't take any medications without talking to your doctor.
Don't smoke.
Don't use alcohol or caffeine.
Don't eat foods that seem to bother your baby.

11 Ways to Raise a Healthy Child

As a parent, you are an important teacher of health care and health information for your child. Here are 11 recommendations to help you succeed at this important job.
1. Choose breast over bottle.
Breast-feed and you will give your baby a health advantage from day one. Breast milk provides all the nutrients a newborn needs. It also has important antibodies that help babies fight infections. Research shows that breast-fed babies have fewer ear infections and allergies and less diarrhea.
2. Be wise: Immunize.
Immunizations protect your child from serious diseases, such as measles, whooping cough, and hepatitis. Children should receive most of their shots before age 2. But older children and teenagers also need certain shots. Talk with your child's doctor to find out which immunizations your child needs and when.
You may worry that your child will have a reaction to an immunization. But when reactions do occur, they are usually mild. The benefits of immunizing your child far outweigh any potential risks.
3. Take children to checkups.
Your baby needs regular checkups before age 2. After 2, your child's doctor will recommend a checkup schedule that is appropriate for your child. At these checkups, the doctor tracks your child's growth and development. Checkups allow doctors to spot potential problems early, when they are easiest to treat. Checkups are also a good time to ask questions about how to keep your child healthy.
4. Buckle 'em up.
Beginning with your child's first ride home from the hospital, always use a car seat. Car accidents kill and injure more children in the United States than any other type of injury. Protect your children by placing them in a car seat that is appropriate for their weight and height. Be sure to read the directions so that you understand how to properly use the car seat. Most crashes are head-on, so always put kids in the backseat.
Children should use a car seat for as long as possible. Once they have outgrown car seats, they should sit in a booster seat until they are big enough to use a seat belt. For proper fit, the shoulder belt should fit across your child's shoulders, and the lap belt should lie flat and low across the hips.
5. Start dental care early.
Healthy teeth can last a lifetime. So teach kids good dental care at an early age. Even before the first tooth appears, wipe baby's gums with a clean, damp cloth after feeding.
Once the first tooth appears, begin brushing. Start flossing your child's teeth as soon as any two teeth touch. Once children begin brushing their own teeth, supervise them to make sure they are doing a good job.
Because letting food sit on the teeth promotes tooth decay, teach children to brush after meals. Bottles filled with milk or juice can also cause decay. So don't put children to bed with a bottle or let them walk around unattended with a bottle. If possible, wean kids from the bottle by age 1.
The American Dental Association recommends that you take your child to a dentist within six months of getting the first tooth and no later than 1 year old. Your child's dentist can tell you how often your child should get regular checkups thereafter.
6. Put safety first.
It only takes a second for an accident to happen. Here are a few basic safety rules:
Keep medicines and household chemical products where children cannot get to them.
Don't leave kids unsupervised, especially when they are outside, near the street, or near or in water.
Make sure your children wear helmets when bicycling.
If you have guns in the house, make sure that they are kept unloaded and locked up, and that the ammunition is kept in a separate place and locked up, as well.
7. Let kids live smoke-free.
If you smoke, quitting smoking is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children (and yourself). Kids who live with a smoker cough and wheeze more and recover more slowly from colds. Secondhand smoke increases a child's risk for ear infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, upper respiratory infections, and asthma. In addition, infants regularly exposed to smoke are at higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome. For your child's health, and your own, kick the smoking habit.
8. Offer healthy food.
Good nutrition is especially important for growing bodies. Children under 2 have special nutrition needs, and for them low-fat eating is not healthy. By age 5, however, a child's diet should be similar to a healthy adult's, with lots of fruits, vegetables, and grains, and low in fat, sugar and meat.
Make it easy for your children to eat healthfully by offering a wide variety of nutritious food choices. Also, let them help choose what foods to buy.
To promote healthy eating habits, it's important not to force a child to eat or make certain foods off-limits. Doing so may lead to poor eating patterns. A healthy diet can include any food in moderation.
9. Court a love of exercise.
Active kids are healthy kids. Children should be physically active every day. In fact, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which includes recommendations for exercise as well as for nutrition, says that children should get 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise daily. Regular exercise boosts cardiovascular fitness and overall health. Help your kids be their healthiest by joining them in physical play. Tag, swimming, bicycling, and walking can all be enjoyed as a family.
10. Keep children's skin youthful.
As great as outside play is for kids, there is a downside—sun exposure. Skin cancer later in life is directly related to sun exposure in childhood and adolescence and cumulative sun exposure over a lifetime. When sun exposure has the potential to cause sunburn, kids over 6 months should wear sunscreen, even in the water. Sunscreen should have a minimum SPF of 15. For sensitive areas, such as the nose and ears, use zinc oxide. It is a total block.
Have kids wear clothing made of tightly woven fabrics and hats that shade their face, neck, and ears. To avoid the most intense sun exposure, schedule outdoor playtime before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m. whenever possible. Also, have kids play in the shade, where the sun is not as strong.
11. Be a role model.
Children learn many of their most valuable lessons from you. In other words, choose a healthy, active lifestyle for yourself—and include your children in it. Teaching by example makes a lasting impression on your children, and creates healthy family traditions in the process.

NSO survey: Rich-poor gap in RP remains wide

The gap between rich and poor in the Philippines remains wide, with the richest 10 percent of families raking in more than a third of the country's total income, according to government data released Saturday.
According to the results of the 2006 Family Income and Expenditures Survey (FIES), released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), the richest ten percent of families in the country, representing approximately 1.74 million families, earned 35.9 percent of the total 2006 family income of P3.01 trillion, down slightly from 36.3 percent in 2003.
On the other hand, the share in the total family income of the poorest ten percent of families increased slightly to 1.9 percent in 2006, from 1.8 percent in 2003.
The total annual family expenditure, on the other hand, was approximately P2.56 trillion, or P147,000 per family on the average.
The total family income of the richest ten percent of families in the country was estimated at P1.08 trillion.
However, the 2006 FIES also showed that the gap of the income between the richest ten percent and poorest ten percent of families slightly "narrowed" in 2006, compared to 2003 figures.
In 2003, the income of the richest ten percent of families was 20 times the income of the poorest ten percent, while in the 2006 FIES the figure was 19 times that of the poorest ten percent, the statement said.
The disparity would also be seen in the 2006 figures which said that richest 30% in the country had 91.4% of total income or P2.734 trillion while the bottom 30% only account for 8.6% of total income or P258 billion.
The data placed the average family income at P173,000 a year for the country's estimated 17.4 million families, with few families having any savings.
Among the regions, the National Capital Region had the biggest share of the total annual family income, accounting for approximately one fourth of the country’s entire figure at P734 billion.
The Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, meanwhile, accounted for the smallest share with 1.6 percent of the pie at P47 billion, the statement read.
The statement also said that all of the country's regions showed increases in average annual income between 2003 and 2006, with NCR, CALABARZON, Central Luzon, and the Cordillera Administrative Region leading the rankings. ARMM, meanwhile, registered the lowest income increase among the regions.
The government says a Filipino family has about four members on average.
The survey indicated "a movement towards a widening income disparity among families" in six regions as suggested by the Gini coefficient, a global standard on measuring income equality within a population, the statement said.
A Gini coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, with 0 indicating perfect income equality among families, and 1 indicating absolute income inequality, the statement explained.
Among the six regions with increasing Gini coefficients, Central Luzon had the largest increase, from 0.3515 in 2003 to 0.3994 in 2006. On the other hand, ARMM had the least income disparity with a Gini coefficient of 0.3113, lower than its 2003 figure of 0.3578.
On the whole, the Gini coefficient of the Philippines was pegged at 0.4564, slightly lower than the 2003 figure of 0.4605.
According to the NSO, the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey is a nationwide survey of households undertaken every three years, and is the main source of data on family income and expenditure, such as levels of consumption by item of expenditure as well as sources of income in cash and in kind.
Other important results and findings regarding family income and expenditure will be presented in a data dissemination forum scheduled in January 2008, the statement read

Ara Mina: Jealous wife could end Pacman's movie career

Do you like to have update to your favorite Actress in Philippines??? here is the latest about Ara Mina and Pacman I surf this from ABS-CBN News online!!! have fun reading

A testy Ara Mina told ABS-CBN's "Entertainment Live!" on Saturday that if rumors are true that the wife of Manny Pacquiao is jealous of her, then the boxing champ should just quit making movies.During an interview with hosts Toni Gonzaga and Bianca Gonzales, the sexy actress-singer at first laughed off the so-called "sweet" publicity photos of her and the boxing champ turned movie actor.Mina however became visibly irritated when asked about rumors concerning the Pacman's allegedly jealous wife.Mina told the "Entertainment Live!" hosts that she's sick and tired of the rumors. When asked whether it was true that the Pacman's wife blocked the early release of the publicity photos, Mina declined to answer directly.Instead, she looked at the studio audience and said, "Kayo, may nakita ba kayong publicity photo? Ngayon lang di ba, kung kelan na showing na yung movie? Di ba dapat before pa lang? "Ang masasabi ko lang siguro hindi sila sanay sa pelikula. Kung totoo man na nagseselos siya, alam mo wag na lang siguro mag artista si Manny, kung pagseselosan niya lahat ng babaeng makakaksama niya. Dapat siguro siya na lang ang leading lady."(How about you? Have you seen any publicity photo? Didn't you see them only now that the movie's released? Weren't they supposed to be released before the film is shown? The only thing I can say is that maybe, they're not used to the movie business. If ever it's true that she's jealous, then maybe Manny should just quit as an actor if she's going to get jealous of all the women he'll be with. Maybe she should be his leading lady instead.)The photos that appeared in newspapers belatedly on New Year's Day, were publicity shots meant for the Metro Manila Film Festival entry "Anak ng Kumander". Pacquiao plays a rebel leader in the film while Mina stars as a reporter who becomes his character's love interest.The photos should have been released long before the film opened on January 1 but was reportedly delayed because someone had tried to stop their publication.That someone, according to the showbiz grapevine, is supposedly Jinky, the wife of Pacquiao. Even months before the film was shown, there have been persistent rumors that Pacquiao and Mina are having an affair. The actress and the boxer have denied the rumors. Jinky has stayed silent.Mina explained that her testy remarks were borne out of her own exasperation. Otherwise, she said that her relationship with Pacquiao is okay."Napagod lang ako sa issue kaya minsan ngayon nagbibitaw ako ng salita na medyo mashoray."Mina appealed to the public to leave behind the whole issue about her, Pacquiao and his wife, and move on."Tapos na wag na natin silang pakialaman. Tapos na yung pelikula. I have a new movie, I have a new show."(It's all over, let's not meddle in their affairs. The movie is over.) Ara Mina was again in the news lately after she left her old network, GMA-7, and moved to ABS-CBN to portray Cassandra, a new character on the afternoon soap "Prinsesa ng Banyera."Interestingly, Mina moved to ABS-CBN to replace actress-singer Angelika dela Cruz, who moved to GMA-7. Dela Cruz's character in the soap has already been killed off to make way for the new character played by Mina. Mina said that she made sure to iron everything out with her former network so that there wouldn't be any problems.Mina, who used to be a regular on a comedy series, even joked about the prospect of her taking on a sexy look for "Prinsesa ng Banyera".When the show's producer's asked her if she was comfortable going sexy on the soap opera, she quipped: "Sure why not? Dalaga na ako, eh. (Sure, why not? I'm a big girl now)." Mina was making reference to the fact that she started her career in the 1990s as a sex symbol, appearing in several Filipino soft porn films when such movies were still hot. When the sexy movie trend passed, Mina took up singing and comedy. For several years, she was a mainstay on the late night comedy show "Bubble Gang" which capitalizes not only on jokes, but the voluptuous charms of its buxom cast that used to include Mina.For the New Year, Mina said that she wishes to have a new boyfriend. She said that for one thing, it would end all speculation about whom she's having a relationship with."Minsan nakakaramdam ka rin ng, 'Ay sana may naggu-goodnight sa akin'," she said.