It’s time for everyone to have wholesome foods, which contains all nutrition and become healthy. Functional foods supply more than nutrition alone, they also offer health benefits beyond nutrition alone.

Omega Smart Bar is one such product. Omega combines all nutrition and offers it in bar format so that people can have it easily. It does not put artificial preservatives in their bars so the shelf life is shorter than other bars on the market today. Omega feels that it’s a small price to pay to be able to offer you a truly health promoting bar.

Leading health experts have recognized and promote Omega Smart Bars.

• It is wholesome, organic, whole-food balanced nutrition!
• Ideal balance of complex carbohydrates non-isolated proteins and Essential Fats.
• It is a snack bar, an energy booster, or a quick meal replacement

All Omega Smart bars are easily digested, help to manage blood sugar, contain over 2,000 mg. of Omega-3′s and offer an ideal ratio of complex carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy-fats.

Omega wouldn’t think of using any artificial flavors, colors, additives, chemicals, or preservatives – and they bake their bars just long enough at a low temperature to achieve signature texture.

Omega Smart Bars comes in 10 different flavours. Our Youth In A Bar offerings represent cutting-edge science, with ingredients selected for their anti-aging, antioxidant, metabolism boosting, and collagen promoting properties. Each bar in this line represents what some might consider fanatical attention to detail regarding ingredient research and selection. Frankly, Omega thinks that’s great and actually wouldn’t want it any other way! Omega is currently working on Health Bars. To know more about Omega Smart products, click here.

If you are keen to know about the healthy ingredients, visit http://www.omegasmartbar.com/store/ingredients.html

• 100% All-Natural, Whole-Grain Ingredient: Omega Smart sources only the highest quality whole-grain flaxseed, carefully selected from the cool, clean environments of the northern prairies.
• 20% Omega-3s: Omega Smarts whole-grain flaxseed represents one of nature’s richest sources of omega-3 essential fatty acids . Humans convert the omega-3s in flaxseed into the same long-chain omega-3s (EPA and DHA) otherwise obtained from fish and algae. It takes only 1.3g of flaxseed per reference serving size to claim a product to be a “high, rich, or excellent” source of omega-3s, according to the Food & Drug Administration.
• 25%-plus Dietary Fiber: Whole and ground flaxseed offer rich sources of both soluble and insoluble dietary fibers in support of health and well-being. Flaxseed’s soluble fibers also contribute beneficial pre-biotic qualities to foods.
• Rich source of Antioxidants: Antioxidants play very important roles in helping to support cellular and metabolic integrity. 100% whole-grain flaxseed ingredients provide a rich source of dietary antioxidants.
• Rich in Lignans: Lignans are especially powerful polyphenolic antioxidants that also play an important role in health and nutrition.
• Good Source of Protein: Flaxseed contains 20 – 25% protein by weight, making it a rich source of protein comparable to meat, poultry or fish.
• Low-Glycemic (or Net) Carbs: Virtually all of the carbohydrate in flaxseed is dietary fiber, only 3% is in the form of digestible carbohydrates. This makes flaxseed an especially low-glycemic (or “net” carb) ingredient.
• Good Flavor, Good Taste: good nutrition is great, but you need to make a product taste good in order to make people want to eat it! Flaxseed’s good taste and good flavor make it an especially appropriate ingredient for good nutrition, health and well being.

So, Enjoy a bar…and eat to your health!

Virginia Jawidzik
President
Omega Smart Inc

Virginia Jawidzik – A biography

At the age of 20, Ginny began her career as a restaurateur opening numerous restaurants; catering businesses as well as a fine European Bakery over a span of 20 years.

Ginny enjoyed her work. However, her husbands diabetic condition fuelled her determination to find the answers. She had concerning foods ability to cause such debilitating diseases and also foods ability to heal such diseases.

Ginny is devoted to researching the function of foods and disease and formulating the right combination of nutritious ingredients into a health promoting food bar to help those suffering from numerous ailments.

About Omega Smart:

Omega Smart, Inc is a NH company dedicated to formulating nutritious whole food bars that address numerous health issues such as diabetes, autistic spectrum disorder, celiac disease, heart health and weight management to name a few. Omega Smart, Inc is an entrepreneurial NH company at the cutting edge of a growing nutraceutical market intersecting food and medicine.

The target for the company’s product is a consumer interested in maintaining or regaining their health through lifestyle interventions, including refocusing on healthful eating. The company’s mission is to practice evidence-based formulation where scientific and health literature is monitored and evaluated to assure the most wholesome and healthful ingredients to the consumer. The bars are formulated to be the high in omega-3 fatty acids, fiber and phytonutrients (plant based nutrients) and are label-certified organic.

While stressful situations may be inevitable, the damage and side-effects of stress are not. There is a way to stop stress from affecting your body and mind. Fortunately nature has equipped our bodies with the perfect antidote to stress. It’s called the relaxation response.

Early on, Helicor decided to focus on creating a personal, affordable medical device. Typical medical-grade biofeedback systems cost thousands of dollars and require a person to be attached to a computer. Helicor team chose to create a unit that would be self-contained, portable and had no external wires or leads to attach. It is intended to be used for relaxation, relaxation training, and stress reduction.

After 4 1/2 years of design development, prototyping, testing, programming, and user feedback, the StressEraser was launched at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in August 2005. First customer shipments began in October 2005.

Biofeedback and Heart Rate Variability

The StressEraser provides a daily points-based system that allows each user to tailor the relaxation training to his schedule. The points-based system also allows the therapist to tailor the relaxation training homework to the individual treatment needs of the client.

The StressEraser personal biofeedback device is intended to be used solely for stress reduction, relaxation, and relaxation training. The device has not been clinically tested for the treatment of any psychological or physical medical conditions such as insomnia, hypertension, anxiety disorders, chronic pain, etc. The product is not intended to be used for the treatment or diagnosis of any medical condition.

The Science of the StressEraser — how it works

Your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) controls functions in the body that normally occur unconsciously, such as heart rate, respiration rate and digestion. This system is responsible for keeping your body in a regulated, balanced state. This balance is created by the constant back and forth nature of the two primary branches of your ANS: the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS).

Your SNS is involved in mobilization responses that enable “fight or flight” behaviors known as the stress response. Your PNS is involved in “rest and renew” behaviors that enable growth and restoration and are known as the relaxation response. Parasympathetic activity is regulated by your vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in your body, extending from the brain stem to the base of the spine and to several organs and your heart. When the vagus nerve activates, the relaxation response is turned on. When the vagus nerve is inactive, the relaxation response is also inactive.

Your “fight or flight” or stress response can become activated by both major and minor stressors. Even states of excitement and emotions such as anger and fear activate the SNS. The primary pacifying nerve in your body, the vagus nerve, mediates the activity of the “rest and renew” or relaxation response. Overall, activation of the PNS promotes calming so you can recuperate from day-to-day stress, keeping the ANS in balance. To know more about SNS and PNS, click here.

Ideally, the SNS and PNS operate in an evenly balanced manner, keeping your body in a state of physiological homeostasis. Although there are exceptions, in general when SNS activity increases, PNS activity decreases. In particular, when SNS activity increases, the activity of the vagus nerve decreases. SNS changes in your body are all extremely important, particularly if you are in a life threatening situation in which you have to fight or escape. When the stressful moment has passed, the PNS response kicks in to relax your body and return it to a balanced state.

Our nervous systems have not yet adapted to the type of ongoing stress we face today. Ongoing minor stresses such as traffic jams, work demands, problems at home, or financial concerns tend to build up. Emotions such as anger, fear and anxiety will cause your SNS to activate. As stress accumulates, your stress response remains active for longer than your body can handle. Your relaxation response, therefore, is less active, which throws your ANS out of balance. Over time, repeated stressors and negative emotions have a cumulative wear and tear on the body that can lead to significant health problems. This is called “allostatic load.” When you are healthy, your nervous system returns to normal functioning after a stressed situation by increasing vagus nerve activity. This helps the system to recover.

When you are faced with stress on a daily basis, however, your stress response fails to shut off in a timely manner. Allostatic load leads to reduced activity of your vagus nerve. As a result, your system becomes hyperactive or begins to burn out. Hyperactive stress responses cause your system to remain in fight-or-flight mode for an extended period of time. Burn-out inhibits both your SNS and PNS from activating. In both cases, your body becomes out of balance, making your system less flexible and less able to effectively adapt to external demands. Over time, allosatic load can cause significant health problems. There is now a large literature on the relationship to stress and disease. According to the American Institute of Stress, “it is hard to think of any disease in which stress cannot play an aggravating role.” In fact, the Institute reports that up to 90% of doctors visits are stress related.

Perhaps the two most important methods of actively triggering your relaxation response are:

1. learning to change your breathing and
2. learning to change your focus. By changing your breathing and your focus, you can increase the vagal influence on your heart—and therefore relax your body.

There is growing literature on the effects of these relaxation exercises on stress-related illnesses and performance. In particular, breathing slowly can activate the vagus nerve to help enhance autonomic control. However, slow breathing without physiological biofeedback—which provides the cues that you are doing it correctly—can actually be counter-productive because you are not breathing in sync with your nervous system.

The StressEraser is a tangible biofeedback device that was specifically designed to help you find the unique breathing pattern that maximizes RSA, maintains your focus, and most efficiently triggers increased vagal influences on your heart.

Greater variability, especially due to larger rhythmic changes associated with breathing, leads to a higher amplitude RSA wave – and therefore more parasympathetic (relaxation) activity. When there is greater parasympathetic tone, it supports health, growth, and restoration.

As you learn to find this breathing pattern, the StressEraser simultaneously guides you to focus your attention, a key aspect of proper physiological relaxation. The goal of this strategy is transform a heart rate pattern characterized by short, jagged RSA waves into one characterized by large, smooth RSA waves. The StressEraser is the only portable HRV/RSA biofeedback device that allows you to follow and manipulate your RSA wave in real time. When used properly, it enhances the state of your nervous system, while inducing feelings of calm and relaxation.

The StressEraser measures your real-time beat-to-beat heart rate via an infrared finger sensor. The finger sensor has a built-in photoplethysmograph to identify the pulsation associated with each heart beat. The StressEraser accurately identifies the time of each pulse and calculates heart rate based on the time that has elapsed between the two most recent pulses. The StressEraser plots the up and down, wavelike movement and displays the pulse rate wave on the LCD screen.

By observing the RSA wave derived from your beat-to-beat pulse rate, the StressEraser provides a window into the activity of your vagus nerve.

The StressEraser then breaks down the RSA waves to analyze the frequency of each individual wave.

Once the frequency of the wave is computed, you receive immediate feedback on whether the wave was sufficiently long and smooth to receive credit. If you are breathing in your unique optimal pattern – and have a calm, neutral mind – you score 1 point for a large smooth wave, as marked by three vertical squares. The goal is to achieve this type of wave continuously. If the wave is long enough to indicate sufficient, but not optimal RSA, the user receives 1/2 point as marked by two vertical squares. If the wave is too short, the user receives no points, as marked by one square. (Note: Seniors and beginners can set a goal for continuous two-square waves.)

The minimum suggested session is 30 points (about 5-7 minutes) with a goal of 100 points per day (approximately 20 minutes).

To achieve continuous three-square waves, you are instructed to inhale until your heart rate peaks. This point is marked by a triangle. The triangle indicates the moment that a natural burst of vagal activity is about to begin, indicating your parasympathetic response. When the triangle appears, begin your exhale and shift your thoughts to a calming focus phrase (such as counting your exhale). Then, extend your exhale until the wave begins to rise again. At the end of your exhale, inhale until the next triangle appears.

The slow breathing rate required to create this wave varies from person to person, but is usually somewhere between 4.5 and 7 breaths per minute. Your unique pattern is called your “resonant frequency.” When you attain your own resonant frequency pattern, there is a perfect phase relationship between your breathing rhythms and your heart rhythms. That is, they are in perfect sync with one another.

Breathing and heart rhythms are the two most important mechanisms involved in the neuroregulation of the heart. As with your breathing, you can consciously alter your natural heart rhythm (known as the “baroreflex”) to a certain extent. When they are in perfect sync, studies show that it helps strengthen and balance the autonomic nervous system. Once you learn to find your resonant frequency pattern, you will notice it induces feelings of mind-body relaxation.

One of the most useful features of the StressEraser is that it does not give credit if there is a disruption or “break” in the flow of a wave because of withdrawal of vagus nerve activity. These breaks might be caused by a variety of factors, including:

• Extending the exhale for too long
• Strained or improper breathing
• Excessive emotion
• Being highly distracted
• Fever or illness
• Specific medications blocking vagal regulation
• Or irregular heartbeats

The StressEraser recognizes these breaks and informs you that a disruption occurred. Since the StressEraser’s feedback is in real-time, you can immediately correct the behavior that caused the wave break. Typically, a wave break is your cue to re-focus on your breathing.

In summary, the StressEraser is a tangible biofeedback device that was specifically designed to help you find the unique breathing pattern that maximizes RSA, maintains your focus, and most efficiently triggers increased vagal influences on your heart. Therefore, the StressEraser promotes health and calmness. It can be used to reduce stress for those who have issues dealing with constant stress, brief stressors (i.e., deadlines, public speaking) or to simply enhance health, performance and overall feelings of calmness.

How to Use the StressEraser

There are two primary goals of each StressEraser session – to relax your body and to calm your mind.

1. Your first goal is to relax your body by making tall, wide, smooth waves. Because breathing directly affects your HRV, the most effective way to relax is to dramatically slow your breathing. When your waves are tall, wide, and smooth, you have engaged the natural relaxation response in your body. Repeating for 10-15 minutes at a time has a lasting effect.
2. Your second goal is to calm your mind by reducing negative emotions and thoughts. Even when you are breathing properly, negative emotions will cause your waves to get shorter or to become jagged. You can reduce negative thoughts by focusing on your waves and by counting during your exhale. This exercise will clear your mind.

Practice Slow Breathing. Before you start your first StressEraser session, it is important that you practice breathing slowly. This will give you a feel for the type of breathing you will be doing with the StressEraser. To practice, inhale for 4 seconds and then exhale for 5 seconds. Feel free to follow your watch or to simply count slowly to yourself. Continue breathing at the 4-second/5-second pace for about 2 minutes. Remember, your goal is to learn to breathe slowly – not deeply. As long as you are breathing slowly, depth will come. Your breathing should always feel relaxed, not strained. Creating a wave pattern similar to the pictures below may take a while. So take your time and do the best you can.

Your First Session

1. Press the POWER button on the right side panel (not one of the buttons on the front).
2. When prompted, insert your left index finger into the clip. Wait 5 seconds for the sensor to adjust to your pulse rate.
3. As soon as your wave appears on the screen, press the BREATHE button.
4. Whenever you are ready, inhale slowly and gently. When a new triangle appears above the wave, exhale slowly and gently. During your exhale, slowly count 1.2.3.4.5.
5. When your wave begins to rise, start your next inhale.

Note: While triangles cue your exhale, there is no cue for the inhale. If you like, you can use the squares as an approximate cue. Begin your inhale when you see the squares appear under the previous wave. Alternatively, you can count 1 second after your wave has started to rise – whichever works best for you.

Score your waves. Your goal is to consistently score 2 and 3-squares under each wave. You get no credit for 1-square waves. Each 2-square wave is worth 1/2 point. Each 3-square wave is worth 1 point. To get 2 squares, follow the instructions to create waves that are tall, wide, and smooth. Keep exhaling at the triangle and counting your exhale.

Your optimal exhale count. If 5 is an uncomfortable count for you – or if you’re not scoring 2 and 3-square waves – try exhaling for a count of 4 or 6. You can try even faster or slower, depending on your comfort level. Once you have found an exhale count that is comfortable and consistently results in 2 and 3-square waves, you have found your optimal exhale count. Continue with that count until you have scored at least 5points. (Your points accumulate in the top-left corner of the screen.)

Breathing Tips:

1. Don’t lean. For best results, find a comfortable place to sit or recline. Don’t lean forward – make sure your sitting position enables you to keep your air passages and abdominal muscles free. Breathe in and out through your nose or mouth, whichever is more comfortable for you.
2. Pursed lips. If you are having trouble breathing slowly, try pursing your lips. To do this, pucker or “purse” your lips as if you are going to whistle. This will release less air as you exhale and will help slow down your breathing.
3. Always comfortable. Remember, your breathing should always be gentle, quiet, smooth and comfortable. You should not be straining, taking long inhales, holding your breath, or doing anything that is at all uncomfortable.
4. Slow not deep. StressEraser breathing is NOT “deep” breathing. Depth will come as long as you are breathing slowly. Breathing deeply too quickly can cause you to feel dizzy or lightheaded. StressEraser breathing is like normal breathing, except it is a little slower. And of course it is synchronized with the activity of your nervous system.
5. Extend your exhale. Once you are familiar with the StressEraser and are consistently scoring 3 squares, extend your exhale as long as you can until your wave starts to rise again – then begin your inhale. Remember, you benefit from making your exhales longer and longer, as long as your breathing remains comfortable and relaxed. The idea is to extend your exhale for as long as your nervous system can handle.

If you are not able to make out the above instructions, you can watch the video to understand more.

Results may vary

The indicated use of the StressEraser is for relaxation, relaxation training and stress reduction. The StressEraser is currently being tested in numerous controlled clinical trials at leading academic institutions for stress-related issues such as Anxiety, Asthma, Depression, Insomnia, Migraine Headaches, Performance (occupational & sports), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD, Stress levels in physicians and pregnant women, etc

Several StressEraser studies have been completed and overall results indicate users both prefer and find the StressEraser more helpful than other relaxation techniques. Immediately after using the device, users report significant reductions in feelings of stress related anxiety, increases in feelings of calmness and relaxation, increases in cognitive performance and decreases in heart rate. Moreover, results indicate that the more efficient someone is at using the device, the more they report improvement in stress related symptoms of anxiety.

Studies reveal that the StressEraser reduces feelings of stress-related anxiety and anger, increases objective indicators of work performance, and increases heart rate variability. You can access more published work here.

Fred Muench
Stress Eraser

Fred Muench – A biography

Frederick Muench has a PhD in Clinical Psychology and is currently serving as the Director of Clinical Research and Development, Helicor, New York, NY where he is responsible for new project development, clinical trials and professional education and consulting for the StressEraser biofeedback medical device. He is also an adjunct Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at New York University in New York, NY.

About Stress Eraser

StressEraser is an award-winning small portable medical device, that relaxes the body and calms the mind in 15 minutes. The StressEraser can be used to quiet the mind before sleeping, rapidly relieve intense stress, and even to stay calm during highly stressful situations.

From beat to beat, your heart rate reflects the activity of your stimulating and pacifying nerves. The StressEraser displays these tiny changes as a wave. By watching your wave characteristics in realtime, you learn to adjust your breathing and mental focus. This decreases the activity of the stimulating nerves (thereby decreasing stress) and increases the activity of the pacifying nerves (thereby increasing relaxation).

The StressEraser is classified by the FDA as a Class II 510(k) exempt medical device. The indicated use is for relaxation, relaxation training and stress reduction. The StressEraser is available for $299 from the StressEraser web site at http://stresseraser.com. The StressEraser is currently available to U.S. residents only.

Here is one company called Maximized Living and a Chiropractitioner by Dr. Chris Niedzinski.  Maximized Living concept was founded by Dr. Ben Lerner and Dr. Greg Loman.   These simple tools have been practiced by many people and have been benefiting them immensely.

The main objective of Maximized Living is living fully for better health and wellness.  It is not just the concept—but also your ability to achieve that level of excellence.  The Maximized Living Health Center is a place, where people can go and receive the best care for removing the obstacles to optimal health and to achieve balance in their body and in their lives.  The goal is to demystify health and create one place you can go and not just get “better” but more importantly–get well.

In today’s world, people are more stressed or depressed due to some thing or the other.  Here are some factors that contribute stress:

• Chemical toxicity (medications, environmental, heavy metals, biotoxins, nutrition).  These all directly alter organ function and hormone production.  Most antidepressant medications significantly INCREASE depression and stress.
• Physical nerve stress will damage the nervous system directly and limits the control of organ function leading to decrease in hormones that reduce stress
• There is a deficiency of nutrition which accumulates stress on body and our internal system
• Limited exercise and movement.  This limits the oxygen ability of body, leading to cellular dysfunction and disease. It is no doubt that exercise alone can drastically reduce stress.
• Relationship and workplace stress.  Marital problems, job difficulties, etc. all create physiologic change.  Skin, heart rate, digestion, hormone, energy change with emotions.
• Improper time management skills (one of the biggest factors)—we are living in a rushed, emergency-centered world.  We are busier than we are successful.

If you look at the above causes, then it’ll only add stress and you’ll be more depressed.  So, we need to heal our brain in a systematic way to eliminate stress.  You can never eliminate stress, but can learn new techniques to build peace.

Fixing the above points one by one will not solve the problem, we require an internal biostructural changes. Maximized Living involves a unique biostructural alignment approach, and also promotes natural, drug free living and optimal nutrition for your body, allowing it to perform at optimal levels.   When your body is in this state of wellness, it becomes self-regulating. It will actually heal itself in most cases, and all you have to do is not interfere with it. That entails avoiding harmful foods and substances that will get in the way of your body’s natural processes. It also means taking care of your body, staying active and keeping fit.

Using the Five Essentials, Maximized Living helps to remove the obstacles to wellness, and restore your body to the balance it naturally seeks:

1. Minimize your exposure to toxins (Eg: medications & refined foods)
2. Maximize nerve supply.  All life and function revolves around this—all else is negligible.
3. Maximize the quality of your nutrition. Not diet, but making better choices of nontoxic fuel.
4. Maximize oxygen and lean muscle As little as 12 minutes per week! (www.12minutemakeover.com)
5. Maximize peace and relationships.  Anger Management, Peace Management, Reprogramming Perceptions (the art of overcoming, moving from pain to purpose), and Effective Time Management

Literally thousands of people across the country have transformed their lives (and stress) with these easy principles.  If you would like more information please click here.

Dr. Chris Niedzinski DC
Maximized Living Mentor

Dr. Chris Niedzinski – A biography

Dr. Chris Niedzinski is a Maximized Living Mentor in Farmington Hills, MI.  He has one of the most successful Chiropractic practices in Metro Detroit, seeing hundreds of patients each week.  He has trained with Drs Ben Lerner and Greg Loman-founders of Maximized Living.  These Doctors have written NY Times Best-Selling Books based on Stress Management, Time Management, Nutrition, Exercise, and Chiropractic (Body by God, One-Minute Wellness).  Dr. Chris is an expert on stress management and has helped many people transform their lives through the Maximized Living principles.

Maximized Living Inc. was established in 1999 and is located in Celebration, Florida, USA.    The company was founded by Dr. Ben Lerner and Dr. Greg Loman. Dr. Ben is a world-renown chiropractor, two-time New York Times best-selling author, and two-time U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team physician. Dr. Greg is a world-renown chiropractor, New York Times best-selling author, and host of the radio & television show “Ultimate Health.”

The highly skilled team consists of 12 coaches and 6 staff members with over 150 years combined industry experience. The diversity of team, and affiliation with the leading experts & companies in industry, enable them to provide you with the best training & resources to help you achieve your goals.

The mission is to maximize the lives of millions of people so that they can achieve their God-given potential through their health centers, chiropractic coaching, wellness programs, wellness products, and ministry foundation.  Over the past decade, Maximized Living has assisted hundreds of chiropractors in building successful practices and assisted thousands of people in living healthy lives.

They are committed to helping you live life to the max!

BodyMedia.

From their website:

Have you ever wondered how many calories you burn while playing with your kids? Or how active you really are over the course of a week? Now you’ll know – with BodyMedia^® FIT, the clinically proven system that turns your body’s everyday information into a tool to help you manage a healthy lifestyle.

Simply wear the BodyMedia Armband during the course of your day, then log onto your personalized BodyMedia FIT Activity Manager. You’ll get accurate, easy-to-digest information about the calories you’ve burned, plus a calorie consumption calculator and tips for how to best reach your fitness and lifestyle goals.

The BodyMedia FIT System also measures sleep duration and efficiency – so that you can begin to understand the influence your bedtime has on your overall health.

Camp is the best demonstration of moral and spiritual order—democracy is the core purpose. Children learn life skills that become habits of the heart. It is tough to be a kid these days. It is tough to be a parent. In a society where the nature of the family, the work place, and the community have changed dramatically, we can no longer assume that the natural process of growing up will provide children the experiences and the resources they need to become successful, contributing adults.

The American Camp Association, New England is dedicated to enriching the lives of children and families through quality camp experiences.

The American Camp Association, New England is a community of camp professionals who, for more than one hundred years, have joined together to share knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. ACA New England accredits nearly 350 day and overnight summer camps in the six New England states.

ACA conducts camps for all ages and offers various types of camps.

Day camp can begin as early as age three and is geared to children who get to experience camp and still return home each evening! They have the best of both worlds—the camp community which is built exclusively for kids and their own home which provides the security they need at a tender age. Day camp focuses on “what is right” than “what is wrong.” Day Camps typically serve children ages 3-15 during daytime only. For more information, click here.

Camp provides one of the very few links with a world larger than the consumer culture we inhabit—and day camp is one important choice in a quiver of options. The camp experience helps children and youth develop an appreciation of their place and their responsibility in a much larger universe. A preschooler—or even an older child who might be reluctant to go to overnight camp—can join a community that is created especially for her to practice growing up.

Specialty Camps offer a program for every interest. It can be found at day or resident camps and offer opportunities to concentrate on certain program areas such as horseback riding, the arts, travel, sports or computers, among others. Imagine a place where you get to be totally immersed in the thing you love to do (or want to try) the most . . . from being wrist-deep in cake batter or filming a movie to jamming all day with rock stars or learning to drive a race car. Specialty camps offer just that type of fantasy-come-true experience – from fine arts, performing arts, and chef camp, to learning a foreign language, science, engineering, motor sports . . . and much, much more. These camps have very focused programs, they typically have more intensive and professional-level instruction, and often include guest speakers, such as artists, musicians, and those who’ve made a career of that particular activity.

Many specialty camps have informal, hands-on, or immersion approaches to various academic subjects, such as math, science, or language, which may help children who struggle in a traditional classroom to learn material and develop confidence for the upcoming school year. For example, at Camp Motorsport, a race car driving specialty camp for kids ages ten to sixteen, campers participate in racing-related activities that convert abstract math and science concepts into hands-on applications—such as figuring out how resistance and drag impact making the car go faster.

Overnight / Resident / Sleepaway Camps usually serve children ages 6-17 for one to eight weeks at a time; children sleep at camp.

General Camps offer a range of activities. Many provide opportunities to focus on one or two activities while allowing campers to try a variety of others. General camps sometimes offer the opportunity to specialize in an activity.

Trip & Travel programs are often camp-based. Most involve adventure and wilderness. Campers spend most of their time traveling away from base camp.

Camps for Special Populations serve specific clientele such as children with particular medical conditions or diseases or individuals with special needs.

Space Car Camp deal more with real experience of space shuttle and its working.

Going Green and preserving environment:

ACA also encourages Children to go green. Camps across the country are encouraging children to put on their plates only what they will eat, then camps teach children about recycling by converting the leftovers into compost. The compost is then used to fertilize the fields that create food for the campers!

Many camps implement an environmental awareness program entitled, “Leave No Trace.” This program teaches and encourages children to clean up after themselves in nature, so as to not pollute the environment.

Camps create educational programs with local wildlife agencies or even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A Camp for Every Budget

While it’s hard to put a price tag on your child’s learning and growth, you certainly have your family’s budget to think about when you consider camp. The good news is that there is a camp program to fit nearly every budget.

For more information about fee, click here

Here are some benefits of ACA Camps:

• Every child deserves a camp experience.

The unique power of a camp experience complements and reinforces what children are taught at school, at home and at extracurricular activities — rounding out children’s development in optimal ways. Camps specialize in providing physical activity, time spent in the out-of-doors and experiences in teambuilding, athletics and the arts — activities that have been eliminated or are at risk of elimination for more and more school systems.

• Childhood is compromised without a camp experience.

Camp is vital! Camps have the capacity to change children’s lives — influencing, even transforming, their choices and chances and their characters and capabilities.

• Campers learn life lessons.

Camp memories often stay alive in people’s hearts and minds well into adulthood. Lessons include: becoming a responsible member of a group and community, personal and group decision-making, the art of compromise, resilience, how to bust out of one’s own comfort zone to try something new and many more. Campers are often attracted by a specific activity or two; they usually get an added bonus and learn something new and important about themselves at camp.

• Camp gives kids a world of good.

Expect camper growth in independence, self-esteem, leadership ability, peer relationship skills, spirituality, environmental awareness and decision-making when children attend day or resident camp. The largest study of camper outcomes in the U.S., conducted by Philiber Research Associates and ACA, confirmed these benefits of the camp experience — that camp gives kids a world of good!

ACA also offers volunteering and employment opportunities for adults.

Bette S. Bussel
Executive Director
American Camp Association, New England

Bette S. Bussel – A biography

“I had no idea when I went to summer camp at age 4 that one day I’d be in charge of thousands of campers who are looking for a positive summer camp experience, just like I was. Life is truly one big circle.”

Bette has been involved with camps since age 4, where she began as a day camper. She evolved to an overnight camper, Counselor-in-Training (CIT), Counselor, Program Director, Camp Director and is now the Executive Director of ACA New England. Bette brings a rare blend of organizational and interpersonal skills to this position, which she has held for more than 17 years. She has established herself as a person with professional competence, strong commitment and the ability to build on the established strengths and esteemed history of the regional nonprofit organization she leads.

Bette received a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Management from Ithaca College and a Master of Science in Recreation Management from the University of Maryland.

Prior to coming to ACA New England, she served as the Program Director, Teen Director, Group Services Director and Day Camp Director for the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven. In those roles she received a special citation from the Kovod Society of the JCC, and a Women in Leadership award from the YWCA.

Since taking over as ACA New England’s Executive Director in 1990, Bette has been honored with the New England AIC Award (1994), National AIC Award (1996), ACA National Service Award (1999), and ACA Special Recognition Award (2004).

Bette is a well-informed resource on legislative issues that impact camps throughout New England. She has been effective establishing positive relationships with legislative and regulatory bodies that monitor camps and has worked to strengthen respect of and input by camp professionals in legislative matters.

Bette serves as a member of the national ACA’s Technology Task Force, which advises all 24 regional offices of the association on the use of technology. Currently, Bette plays a leadership role on a committee which is reinventing ACA’s online camp search tool—the Find A Camp Tool.

Counting calories doesn’t have to be difficult; there are simple choices you can make to improve your health. For example, trading a stick of Wrigley’s Extra at five calories for a high-calorie snack containing 140 calories can save 135 calories a day.

Plus, it keeps your mouth busy, creating a diversion to help avoid those unwanted calories associated with “mindless munching.”

Research also shows chewing gum can be an effective way to manage calorie intake. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have discovered that chewing gum can burn about 11 calories per hour. Another study published in Appetite found that chewing gum before an afternoon snack can help reduce hunger, diminish cravings for sweets, and decrease snack intake by 36 calories.

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“At an average of just five to 10 calories a piece, gum can reduce overall calorie intake when substituted for a high-calorie snack as part of an active, healthy lifestyle …”

The act of chewing gum also requires some input of energy and, in fact, an extra twelve kilocalories (50kJ) per hour is burned in the process. Thus someone who chewed gum all day, everyday would burn off about 5kg of weight in a year This has actually been studied by Mayo Clinic researchers. It does require some energy to chew–an hour of chewing burns 11 calories. You would have to chew gum–sugarless gum–12 hours every day for a year to lose approximately 10 pounds. That’s doing it the hard way. But maybe chewing a piece of gum would keep you from eating a candy bar.

Most everybody loves to chew gum, whether for the flavor or just for the simple pleasure of chewing. But did you know that chewing gum also:

Provides a Low-calorie Snack
Chewing gum often satisfies the desire for a between-meals snack, yet each stick averages less than 10 calories.

Improves Concentration
One theory behind this is that the action of chewing stimulates a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which releases hormones which serve to keep us alert. At work, chewing gum helps us concentrate on the task at hand. Many truck drivers find that chewing gum helps them stay alert at the wheel.

Eases Tension
As early as 1939, scientific studies showed how chewing reduces muscular tension and helps people feel more at ease. Because it is so well-recognized for helping stay alert at the same time it eases tension, the U.S. Armed Forces have supplied chewing gum to its soldiers ever since World War I. It is still included in field and combat rations today.

Freshens Breath
Chewing gum, especially a mint-flavored gum like Wrigley’s Spearmint or Doublemint, moistens and refreshes the mouth and throat and sweetens the breath.

Helps Fight Tooth Decay
After meals, it isn’t always convenient to use a toothbrush. Chewing gum stimulates the production of saliva, which helps neutralize acids from foods that may cause tooth decay.

The popular perception is that chewing gum is bad for the teeth. However, many dentists (one source says 90%!) believe that chewing sugarless gum after meals actually has health benefits! Indeed, Wrigley’s Orbit sugar-free gum was the first sugar-free chewing gum to be awarded accreditation by the British Dental Association (BDA) in recognition of its contribution to good oral health. The benefits arise from the fact that tooth decay occurs when essential minerals are dissolved from the tooth enamel by acids produced by the bacteria in plaque. Teeth are at their most vulnerable directly after meals and snacks, when plaque acid levels can rise dramatically.

Normally, it can take up to two hours for these acids to be either flushed away or neutralised, during which time the teeth are under attack. This is why people are extolled to eat something crispy like an apple immediately after meals.

However, chewing gum removes these acids within minutes, thus slowing down the process of tooth decay. One reason for this is that chewing can stimulate saliva production by up to ten-fold, thus flushing out oral bacteria. Furthermore, saliva contains hydrogen carbonate ions, a mild alkali, which serves to neutralise plaque acids. For this reason, hydrogen carbonate is used in some toothpastes. Saliva also contains minerals such as calcium, phosphate and fluoride – all components of tooth enamel – which can be assimilated and thus help to repair early decay and also strengthen tooth enamel.

Another theory is that amylase, an enzyme present in saliva, speeds up the digestion of carbohydrates in food.

Chewing gum when travelling on an aircraft can counteract the irritation caused by changes in air pressure.

Molly Gee, M.Ed., R.D.
Ms. Gee is the project leader for Baylor College’s LOOK AHEAD, a multi-center clinical trial that examines the cardiovascular benefits of weight loss in Type 2 diabetes patients. A former health reporter, and American Dietetic Association spokesperson, Ms. Gee is a consultant with more than 25 years experience in health and nutrition communications.

Wrigley’s Benefits of Chewing
Wrigley, the world’s leading manufacturer of chewing gum (including well-loved brands like Orbit, Extra, and Eclipse), is committed to sharing emerging science on the potential health and wellness benefits of chewing gum. We are currently pursuing four key scientific areas: how gum can help reduce situational stress; manage weight; increase focus, alertness and concentration; and improve oral health.

About Wrigley:

Since its founding in 1891, the Wrigley Company has been led by four generations of the Wrigley family, each of which has made their mark on the organization. Across these generations there has been a continuous commitment to providing the world’s highest-quality chewing gum and confectionery products that are both great tasting, and make life a little more fun.

Wrigley’s brands of chewing gum have been a refreshing part of everyday life for more than 100 years. The spirit of innovation that has made Wrigley one of the world’s best known and best loved companies continues today, with exciting new products, new markets and new ideas.

Chewing gum assumed its modern formulation when, during the 1860s, chicle was brought to the United States and tried as a chewing gum ingredient by a dental technician, Dr Thomas Adams – who was actually trying to invent a new form of rubber! Chicle comes from the milky juice (latex) of the sapodilla tree, which grows in the tropical rain forests of Central America. Dr Adams owned a sweet shop, and also had the habit of chewing on his pencil, which helped him to concentrate. This gave him the idea of trying the gum to perfect the existing forms of chewing gum. Although this gum apparently tasted vile, he sold it in his shop, thus being the first person to sell chewing gum in its modern form.

At this stage, William Wrigley, a flour factory owner, bought the rights to the gum and also found a way to flavour it with mint. In 1892 he decided to give away two packs of his chewing gum with each can of baking powder he sold, and the offer was a huge success! People were buying the baking powder just to get the gum, and it was not long before chicle gum succeeded spruce gum and paraffin wax as the base for chewing gum. This was due to its smooth, springy, chewy texture and its capacity to retain flavours.

Nowadays 90% of chewing gum is manufactured by Wrigley, and the basic process has changed little since manufacture began in 1892.

Wrigley associates are proud to be a part of the Wrigley Company, and are dedicated to its long-term success. Every associate is expected to operate under the Company’s shared values and rely on these values to guide their behavior with each other, and the customers and communities of the Wrigley Company. These values form the foundation for the way we conduct our business – the Wrigley Way.

Designed for real people living in the real world, THE REALITY DIET allows people to enjoy the foods they love (carbs!), including pasta, waffles, rice, potatoes, bananas—even chocolate and wine. According to Dr. Schnur, “The Reality Diet’s one key fat-fighting ingredient, FIBER, is the single best predictor of success when it comes to weight loss. Fiber curbs hunger and significantly reduces the risk of heart disease and diabetes.” The Reality Diet outlines Dr. Schnur’s 2:90 rule, which states that for every 90 calories of food there should be at least two grams of fiber.

He will discuss why is fiber so important in weight loss and health and why low carb diets do not work. He will discuss why any quick fix solutions do not work and why even though there are thousands of diets our obesity rates continue to increase.

He will also address the role of exercise in weight loss and the role of diet pills in weight loss and which ways we can help our children avoid becoming overweight.

“Since our book was released last year, thousands of people got a dose of reality,” said Dr. Schnur. “Following our menu plans, they lost weight by eating healthy, tasty food that filled them up, but more importantly, cut down their chances of a heart attack or stroke.” Schnur went on to say, “If dieting were easy, we would be a nation of supermodels, but in reality, we’re a nation that’s 60 percent obese.”

About the Author:
Steven A. Schnur, M.D. is a board-certified internist and cardiologist and the founder of South Florida Cardiology Associates (www.heartprevention.com), the largest cardiology practice in South Florida, with 12 locations and 18 physicians. He received a fellowship in cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he was chief medical resident. Dr. Schnur is President of HPS Consulting and counsels medical practices about patient management. His research has appeared in such publications as The American Heart Journal and he is a frequent speaker at professional conferences. He lives in Miami with his wife and two children.

She suggests making healthy “xchanges” to create positive life benefits. Technology has provided us with online tools that help you record your caloric and food intake (just to keep you honest) and as well as online support groups that can help you through the tough times. There are fancy digital pedometers and heart rate monitors that enable you to track your steps and your level of cardiac fitness.

What is the down side to technology — the internet’s massive amount information much of which is erronous and leads to poor health/diet decision making.

Ashley’s website:

Welcome to the healthXchange

From Personalized Nutrition Plans to Grocery Store Tours, we provide the services you need to stay healthy… for both children and adults!

We have the background and experience to make us the best choice for your nutritional needs.

Ashley’s Bio:

Ashley Koff is a registered dietitian in private practice and on staff at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. The daughter of a surgeon, Koff saw early on the pros and cons of today’s medical world. Her interest in preventive healthcare grew from learning to develop and personalize her own health regime as well as with her involvement in the media. Koff worked in advertising for a global food company for whom the research led her to travel and meet with consumers all over the country and abroad. Koff learned what people needed and wanted nutritionally and how food products available in the U.S., at that time, were not meeting those needs. She realized her efforts would be best utilized helping people to understand and make food choices that would optimize their health as well as satisfy their personal preferences.
She was educated at Duke and New York Universities and trained at LA+USC and Columbus Children’s hospitals. Passionate about the beneficial role of nutrients, herbs, and healing therapies utilized around the world, Koff supplemented her traditional dietetic education with training in these areas. Always one to be on top of current trends in medicine, health and wellness, Koff has completed integrative medicine coursework for certification as a certified clinical nutritionist (CCN). Her continuing education also includes on-line courses such as the Program in Integrative Medicine (Univ. of Arizona) and the Institute for Functional Medicine.

It is Koff’s unique blending of nutrition and integrative medicine as well as her in-depth knowledge of supplements, herbs, and health modalities such as Traditional Chinese Medicine, Macrobiotics, and Ayurveda, that make her sought after as a consultant and speaker. In fact, so impressive is her expertise that integrative medicine gurus like Dr. Andrew Weil’s Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona (PIM), Dr. Soram Singh Khalsa, and the doctors at the world renown Tao of Wellness in Santa Monica, all utilize her services with their patients. As the dietician consultant for PIM (Dr. Andrew Weil’s Program), Koff sees referrals, and teaches their medical fellows “All you need to know about nutrition but didn’t learn in medical school.” She’s also written an online education module for healthcare practitioners as part of their Nutrition Approaches to Optimal Health series.

In 2002, Koff founded the healthXchange (www.thehealthxchange.com), nutrition counseling and consulting company. She is the author of Recipes for IBS (Fair Winds Press), a cookbook and treatment plan for digestive wellness was released in February 2007. Recipes for IBS was purchased by several pharmaceutical companies to provide to their gastroenterologists additional instruction to improve the effectiveness of drug therapy.

In addition, Koff has shared her nutritional expertise on CNN, Entertainment Tonight, The Tyra Banks Show, MY13, FitTV’s The Ultimate Goal, and in magazines such as Allure, Cooking Light, Healing Lifestyles & Spas, In Style, In Touch Weekly, Shape, Teen Vogue, Yogi Times, and Weight Watchers. She is a regular contributor to modernmom.com and thecradle.com and was ranked by City Search (www.citysearch.com) as the Best of LA’s nutritionists/dietitians two years in a row (2005, 2006).

Koff loves to travel and connect with people in different places. She is fervent about health being attainable and sustainable for all demographics. Her clients love her for her joy of life, her sense of humor, and her deep caring for their well-being. It is no surprise that this charismatic woman has an A-List Hollywood clientele and is currently in development discussion for her own television show.