If you recently started getting hemorrhoids than I am sure you have used the over the counter stuff to relieve the pain and even cure them. However, this cure has just been temporary and you might have noticed that the hemorrhoids flare ups have come more often than they did in the past.

There are many things that can cause hemorrhoids to flare up. The most common cause is due to constipation and hard stools. Others might be alcohol, too much caffeine, poor diet, and lack of exercise. Basically anything that can aggravate the thin-walled hemorrhoids veins in the rectum and cause them to swell.

Let me break down how some of these things can cause hemorrhoids flare ups.

How can Alcohol and Caffeine cause hemorrhoids? When you drink too much alcohol you tend to dehydrate the body. This can cause constipation and hard stools which causes hemorrhoids to flare up do to the added pressure from straining. Alcohol and Caffeine can also increase your blood pressure and since the hemorrhoids veins and thin-walled they can often seep blood or break and bleed from the increase in blood pressure.

• Alcohol – Now I am not saying you can’t drink alcohol all together, but you should limit your drinking to just 1 or 2 drinks at a setting. Then drink one or two glasses of water afterwards to help keep yourself hydrated.
• Caffeine – Don’t worry coffee drinkers, I am not saying you can’t have your coffee. Actually there are many health benefits to drinking coffee. However, now days a lot of people are drinking coffee, tea, or soda and then drinking several energy drinks as well. Energy drinks are very high in caffeine and if you have too much this it can cause hypertension, high blood pressure, and irregular heart beat. Some energy drinks even have a warning label about how much you should drink. Moderation is the key for coffee, tea, or soda however, I will not indorse energy drinks that’s your choice.
• How can a poor diet cause hemorrhoids to flare up? With are high pace life style it is easy to take short cuts on eating healthy. Many people these days often skip meals or eat low fiber processed foods, A low fiber diet can lead to constipation and hard stools and this is the leading cause of hemorrhoids.
• Fiber – Do not just jump into a high fiber diet to cure your hemorrhoids. This can make your constipation worse and plug yourself up. You should increase your fiber slowly over a few weeks and drink more water as well. You best bet will be to eat natural high fiber foods and stay away from the fiber supplements for the first few weeks. You might find that you won’t even need those when your eating healthy.
• How can lack of exercise cause hemorrhoids? Lack of exercise will slow down the digestive process and cause the bowel to sit in your intestine then cause constipation and hard dry stools.
• Exercise – When you exercise you increase the blood flow to your stomach and intestine and this will speed up the digestion process. This can help you have soft normal stools and make your more regular.

Many people are guilty of one or more of these things combined. Finding out what is causes your hemorrhoids to flare up is key to solving this problem for good. That is why natural home remedies are becoming so popular for dealing with hemorrhoids.

“Meme” comes from a Greek word. In terms of marketing the word describes a “packet” of information that is comprehensible in an instant. In order to cut through the noise and jumble of advertising today only the most compelling and simple-to-understand “packets” succeed.

Memes in marketing are real. They are a mind-control device. This isn’t science fiction stuff. Geoff Ayling in his book “Rapid Response Advertising” tells all about it. It is one of my favorite books.

Memes are a sort of “instant recall” template in our brains. Sometimes a meme is a slogan, sometimes it’s a jingle, sometimes it’s a visual association. Whatever the form, a successful advertising meme gets under our skin and embeds itself into our subconscious mind from where it influences our actions.

Creepy, right?

Perhaps. But I think I can convince you that a meme can be used as a force for good… and that developing the right meme for your business or product could be the difference between struggling to succeed year-in, year-out and getting filthy rich.

Here’s a classic meme:

“I like IKE!”

What’s not to like about Ike? His image was congruent, at least in public he succeeded in being likable in two elections… in part due to his charisma, appearance, and credibility – but it was all tied-together by the simple 3-word hear-it, say-it meme. Ike won by a landslide in 1953, ending a 20-year Democratic White House – even though he had NEVER HELD AN ELECTED OFFICE and thus wasn’t an experience legislator.

Ike’s election was a great triumph of populism… and it might have come off well even without the meme “I line Ike!” You can’t deny the power or the associations the slogan brings up.

Other famous memes include:

“Hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes of less or it’s Free!”

“We’re number 2. We try harder.”

In both these cases the name of the business isn’t even included in the meme but the associations are so powerful the majority of Americans recognize these memes even though they may not have see the ads in years.

Here’s another:

“Take the Pepsi challenge!”

I remember this from the 1970s and early 80s. I was a kid. I liked coke better but I did try Pepsi, as did most Coke drinkers… and Coke lost a huge market share to Pepsi in the space of a few years. Pepsi re-positioned Coke as being old-fashioned and uncool. The damage to Coke was brutal and the company spend incredible amounts of money trying to get the business back. One of the great marketing coups in history.

Let’s face it, the chances that your product or company will ever have such a successful meme as these ones is slim. Memes are powerful in more subtle contexts too. Ideally a meme will create, in the mind of your customers, a profound and compelling “reason” to buy from you. A combination of memes can even be used in layers to create the impression that your product or service is profoundly different from your competition – even though in reality it is not.

The differentiation between what you sell and what your competition sells is in the MINDS of the people who experience your products or your advertising.  Many business owners would be shocked at just how oblivious the public is to the value of their products, and how easily forgotten their advertising is.

By understanding and using Memes in your marketing messages you stand a fighting chance of standing out in a sea of “me-too” marketing… which is, despite your pride in your current marketing, probably what you are doing right now.

There are not that many great memes visible in marketing today.  Some of the companies that have them however have triumphed in the marketplace.  Avis car rental’s Meme “We’re number 2 – we try harder” actually catapulted that failing company into a number 2 position… the Meme actually created the reality they were after.

The Marlboro Man is another successful meme.  The tag line is “Come To Where The Flavor Is – Marlboro Country” – and that’s okay but the real power of it comes with the layering of the associated images of male power and rugged Americanism.  The memes embedded in the collective consciousness of America and took Marlboro from being number 22 to being number one in cigarette sales.  It took a undistinguished, failing brand and created a multi-billion dollar brand.

I wouldn’t want to be involved with a poisonous product like cigarettes but you have to admit the meme is powerful indeed, and worth studying.  A number of liquor companies have sort of tried to borrow from the Marlboro meme with some success.  In essence Whiskey is, to most drinkers, pretty similar, yet effective memetic marketing has created brand-preferences in the minds of consumers which allow some brands to dominate.  When presented at a bar with 20 brands of Whiskey the drinker knows what he likes.  He has a preference that is in fact less based on his own real personal preference and more based in the effective mind-control marketing of memetic branding.

Powerful stuff indeed.

Vodka and coke might mix, but psoriasis and alcohol definitely don’t.

Doesn’t the thought of cracking open a nice cold Heineken get you through a strenuous day of work? Well, think twice if you have psoriasis, because alcohol really dehydrates the skin, and that’s the last thing you need!

Drinking alcohol excessively can lead to a deficiency of Vitamins A and E, which are vital for maintaining glowing, nice skin. You can’t just use chew a few Vitamin A and E tablets and think that will offset a night of serious drinking, either, because your skin will make you pay afterwards!

If you want your psoriasis to heal properly, you absolutely have to stop drinking the following:

• No more champagne
• No more beer
• No more liquor
• No more piña coladas
• No more vodka
• Maybe a bit of ginger beer, if you’re good!

Otherwise, every-time you start drinking, prepare yourself for a major flare-up afterwards.

“But I’m drinking because of my psoriasis!” I hear you say.

Drinking alcohol as a coping mechanism for having psoriasis is quite counterproductive if it makes matters worse, isn’t it? Not only that, but if you’re taking medication for your psoriasis such as Methotrexate, then you could be putting your liver in danger as it has to deal both with filtering the alcohol and coping with the drugs! It’s better to just stop drinking for a while.

There is some good news in this though! You’re allowed a glass of red wine from time to time, because it contains skin-friendly anti-oxidants. Most people with psoriasis tolerate red wine well. Just remember to also drink plenty of fluids if you drink, preferably from 1.5 to 2.5 litres. When your psoriasis is really under control, you can then have a little taster of other alcohol, and see how badly you react to different types. For example, drinking vodka straight seems to be okay for some people with psoriasis, but beer is a definite no-go zone.

Ovarian cysts are known to sometimes heal themselves. In essence, your body will resolve its own issues. Not all ovarian cysts are that friendly though. Some are painful and just want to react to anything you do to your body, or put IN your body. If you have ovarian cysts, you might want to steer clear of these foods.

There are ten ‘danger’ foods that women with cysts on their ovaries need to avoid. Oddly, some of these foods are foods that common sense would tell you to avoid anyway.

As with any healthy eating plan, caffeinated and carbonated beverages are a no-no. There drinks with caffeine (like cola and coffee) are know to also aggravate and lead to more discomfort from ovarian cysts. The best idea is to drink more water than any other type of beverage in order to help your body help itself.

Alcohol is another beverage that needs to be moderated, if not avoided completely, when suffering from the symptoms of an ovarian cyst. Alcohol, and the sugar in it, is difficult for the body to process. Anything that is normally hard for your body to handle will make life extra miserable when you have an ovarian cyst.

My ovarian cysts hurt me all the time – especially when I was ovulating. I learned to stay away from any foods that were not good for my body. There were some foods that were difficult (for me) to avoid, but after a few bouts with an aggravated cyst, I learned my lesson.

Now that my cysts are gone, I can ‘slip’ and enjoy some of these foods again without incident.

Cocaine is produced from the leaves of the coca plant (Erythoxylon Coca). The plant grows almost exclusively in northern and western South America. Columbia is now the main producer of illegal cocaine with Peru, Bolivia, and Chile providing significant amounts of the drug. The coca plant grows best in the mountain and jungle areas of these countries.

Hand picked coca leaves are soaked in gasoline and other chemicals to extract the coca base from the leaves. The moist leaves are then either pressed or dried resulting in powered leaves which it is then extracted from. Some people use other substances to mix with cocaine to increase its overall weight, these are called cutting agents.

Some of the substances used to mix with cocaine are harmless, but some can be harmful and lead to health problems of their own.

The most common substances used to mix with cocaine are: Baking Soda, Teething powder (as this has no taste and numbs the gums the same way cocaine does), Baby milk, Dried Milk, Epsom salts and Quinine.

The person who mixes a cutting agent with cocaine tends to use an odorless and tasteless substance so the user is not aware that a cutting agent has been used. So substances such as Dextrose, Creatine, Glucose, Lactose and Powder Vitamins are avoided as a cutting agent as a user will taste these and believe the cocaine is not of good quality.

In very rare occasions, rat poison can be used as a cutting agent for cocaine which can be lethal. Other illegal drugs such as Amphetamine (Speed) and other powdered drugs can also be used as a cutting agent as this gives a similar high as cocaine and can lead to other side effects aside from the ones experienced with cocaine.

Cocaine is a very addictive substance and the high is very short lived, lasting from 5 minutes to 30 minutes with the user having a “come down” for hours after use, hence wanting more.

I would advise anyone with a drug addiction to seek help as soon as possible as seeking help is the first step to overcoming a drug addiction.

If you or a loved one is planning to stop using cocaine, there is plenty of help to seek on the web. You could also seek professional advise or maybe go into a rehabilitation clinic or even see your family doctor and they could point you in the right direction.

This is Article five of six in a series of lessons for small business marketers from Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink.

Wow, what a great chapter for marketers Chapter Five in Blink is. This quote on p. 160 outlines the thoughts a great marketer (Louis Cheskin) had on packaging: “Cheskin was convinced that when people give an assessment of something they might buy in a supermarket or a department store, without realizing it, they transfer sensations or impressions that they have about the packaging of the product to the product itself. To put it another way, Cheskin believed that most of us don’t make a distinction–on an unconscious level–between the package and the product. The product is the package and the product combined.”

A key concept in this chapter is that experts are often more reliable at identifying what will work–or won’t–in the marketplace than market research based on consumer surveys. For small business marketers, then, this chapter is a must-read. You know full-well you rarely have the money for consumer surveys.

Gladwell explores the New Coke debacle and the incompleteness of the market research that led up to it. Although this is a well-known marketing mistake, Gladwell supplies his typical journalistic behind-the-scenes story, and clues us in on why the marketing information that Coke marketers used to base their decision on was flawed to begin with.

Even more fascinating is his exploration of the musician named Kenna, a person music experts agree should be a smash, but can’t get Top 40 airtime on radio because market research can’t capture the same information the experts see in a Blink.

Why? Because as Gladwell points out, the “…first impressions of experts are different…more esoteric and complex.” (p. 179). Kenna’s music is different and hard to put a specific label on, so the music market research can’t adequately measure him.

Gladwell also relates the story of the Aeron chair–a new product with a completely innovative look that even experts said would fail. But with this chair, which looked so different, people didn’t know how they themselves felt about it; Gladwell says consumers “misinterpreted their own feelings” (p. 173). Market research indicated the chair would fail, but it didn’t, because it was a great product.

What’s this chapter mean for the small business owner? Two lessons.

For one, we need to understand the limits of market research. This method is not fool-proof nor will it guarantee market success or prevent market failure.

Second, the small business owner should learn to recognize in just what areas she is expert and in what subjects she is not. In areas where you know you are an expert–where your years of experience have taught you well and you can now realize something in a blink about your industry or your industry as it relates to your customers-well on those topics it’s a safe bet that you really are an expert.

However, a key pitfall is to then think you are expert in all areas of your business. You aren’t, and even your customers aren’t. They are super-savvy purchasers, but they, too, are not always aware of why they do what they do…so, where possible, study what they do, and then find out ways to alter that behavior in your favor.

Remember: Brand (who you are) + Package (your Face to the Customer) + People (customers and employees) = Marketing Success.

© 2006 Marketing Hawks

I try to address some questions in this article for you are still having problems like these one. How long does it take you guys to bounce back after you have had something that was not good for you? Also, can a diet soda be causing you problems?

The answer is definitely yes, it has many artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners etc in it. It is really bad for any one. A friend would always get a burning in her urine and it can at times move to her bowel area. Also it causes a reduced urine flow in her.

Speaking of which, someone reads a frightening report about the artificial sweetener in sodas (aspartame). It can cause serious neurological problems and should be avoided at all costs. It can be like a poison to the human body and especially the mind. So she drinks carbonated water when she misses soda pop. It’s not perfect but cold so it’s okay and it has nice bubbles.

Carbonated water is better, but because it is carbonated it is not pH neutral. I think it is very acidy, which is what we are to avoid. Also, sugars in diet drinks create carbs cravings.

Since reading all of the “stuff” on Candida, Aspartame is brought up numerous times. Anything that has Nutra-sweet in it, is Aspartame. If you do a search for Aspartame you will find lists of what effects this can have on the human body (including neurological damage). Many of the side effects listed compare to the side effects that I’ve had that I’ve ruled to be Candida.

There is someone who always wondered why when she chewed ‘sugar free’ gum she got headaches 10 minutes after beginning to chew it. She did her research on Aspartame and Candida and found that Aspartame is in ‘sugar free’ gum. Now she only drink filtered water (and take her antifungals). She does not chew gum and does not have headaches.

I myself just hope some day I will not have to take the pills and feel good at the same time. My advice is to check ingredients on anything you intend on eating and don’t eat or drink anything with Aspartame. It will make you feel better anyway!

I’ve been telling people this for several years. The admonishment, for me, began with my work teaching Quality Improvement at Chevron. In that work we found, to no one’s surprise, that people often focus on the task – solving a problem – much more than on the process – understanding its causes (and planning solutions accordingly.)

Most of us in western culture can easily focus on solving a problem or removing a barrier. After all, we know what’s wrong – just fix it! As all of us know from experience, the bias for action (a task focus) often leads to incomplete solutions, solutions that cause more problems (maybe ones worse than the original), solutions that don’t solve.

Go slow to go fast.

By taking time to focus on process – how we solve the problem – and using some sequence of steps that include understanding the causes of the problem often we achieve better results. The rub is that these steps may seem like they take a lot of time. In the moment, that time is often seen as wasted (“Let’s just solve the problem!”).

Go slow to go fast.

Several current happenings have coalesced recently to remind me of this saying (yes I hear myself telling others in my own voice!) On the flight from Chicago to Oakland recently, I was reading a book and put it down with nearly two hours remaining in the flight. This is very odd behavior for me, especially when I am truly enjoying the book. I put it down because I decided some reflection would make the book more valuable and more enjoyable.

Go slow to go fast.

After I had put it down and was contemplating what I had read, the flight attendant came by to pick up empty drinks. She mistakenly thought my Coke was empty. As she quickly started to pick it up it spilled (mostly on me!) She certainly didn’t intend to spill it and she was very helpful in my cleanup efforts. The point is, she ended up spending much more time with me than she would’ve had to if the Coke hadn’t spilled. Slow down to go fast. A trivial example? Perhaps. But often the greatest truths are seen in the simplest acts.

This phrase is also in my consciousness as I work with a colleague to build a workshop on consulting skills. This workshop will feature much time for reflection, personal learning and process. I’m hoping to impress, through my actions, the importance of process – the importance of slowing down.

There are examples, large and small, of this advice all around us. Since I started this Vantagepoints I’ve seen many! (Including my tendency to hand write notes too quickly, which make it hard for the reader to read, and may cause miscommunication, etc.)

I urge you to think about the application of this thought to your life. I am sure you will come to the same conclusion I have – that we can often improve our results simply by slowing down and focusing on process as well as task.

When you come to this conclusion, I urge you to pick one task or problem you are working on and apply this advice. Slow down. Focusing on the process you are using to solve the problem will bring clarity and help you avoid mistakes. It may be a bit frustrating, but in the long run it will be time well spent.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was an ethnic Slovak, born and brought up by Russian parents in Pittsburgh (US). Warhol is noted for his valuable contributions in the breakthrough of art from the galleries to everyday “non-art” items such as, the Soup Can or the Vinyl Records. His glorification of the Kitsch and mundane was the start of the Pop Art Movement in America, which broke the barriers of elitist art and made creativity an accessible part of day to day living for everyone. If today the Kitsch is in fashion, Lichtenstein and Warhol are no small reasons to it. They both are the Marx & Engel combine of Commercial Art.

Andy Warhol is known as a commercial artist. His actual claim to fame however, is his successful attempt at giving creative respectability to Visual Art in mass produced commercial items. Warhol started his career, designing Vinyl Record Covers. His presentation of Pop Art in the form of “Campbell Soup Cans” in New York, paved way for the glorification of the till then neglected area of product design. Often considered the crass bread butter cousin of avant garde art, Andy helped the commercial art leap out of Soapbox Covers, Soup Cans, Plastic Packing, and Advertising, into a respectable bona fide art form.

His visually “in your face” images became the iconic remainders of Capitalism and Andy Warhol defiantly worshiped the Gods of Capitalism through those images. Warhol’s motivation of this Capitalist worship was his basic and firm idea that mass production is the greatest leveler in today’s society. Andy Warhol often elucidated the fact that “a Coke Can that the President enjoys is the same as the one the bum on the street does. Therefore, the Coke Can happens to be an ultimate piece of art.”

Andy Warhol steadily worked to develop a certain style of work, distinctly different from Roy and other great players of Pop Art. Working on the subjects he loved and dealt with in routine, Andy Warhol converted the items of daily use, street objects, and tools into simplified yet intricate pieces of art. Warhol would work diligently on these regular items to yield them a new, exclusive look. The first reaction on seeing a Warhol work would be a typical pleasant and surprised exclamation.

Quintessentially brought up on a steady dose of a great American dream, Andy Warhol dabbled (often successfully) in books, films, and philanthropy. He would often make rules and then break them with impudence. Andy Warhol did everything the prim and proper Parisian Artists abhorred. He made Silkscreen Prints of Paintings and mass-produced them. He made simple sketches and sold them at exorbitant prices. Moreover, he was a Closet Homosexual who was also an Orthodox Christian.

Despite his art works being subjected to controversies, Andy Warhol successfully secured a place in the hall of fame. His selective portrayal of everyday icons and images as art, displayed his rare spark of creativity. Rest all are just the fine details, which Warhol would have otherwise trampled, as he would have walked from mortality to the pantheon of the Gods of Arts.

If you are drinking diet soda, then it is most probably because you want to reduce weight, and most importantly, to get rid of your love handles. By now, you should be aware that normal soda drinks can cause your body to have too much sugar intake, and therefore, causing your waistline to grow bigger. And sodas are extremely harmful for our health because of the fattening syrups and fructose that cause much damage to our health.

However, you and many other people think that diet soft drinks helps them loose pounds. Some say that such diet drinks has none of the harmful effect of the regular one. Some even consider it healthy.

For these people, we should clarify some things. Diet soda is far from being considered a healthy drink. Actually, there were some studies done that proved that diet soft drinks consumers are even fatter than those who drink regular sodas.

There are many reasons why diet soda is worst then the regular ones.

One of the reasons is the use of synthetic sweeteners. These sweeteners increase the production of a storing hormone that amplifies the need for more sugar right after drinking that diet soda.

Another reason is that peoples who drink diet drinks consider that since they don’t get fatter from sodas, they have the flexibility of eating more food. Therefore they drink diet soda, which in reality makes them fatter. And because of this false belief, they start eating more, which in directly causes them to accumulate more calories.

That being said, if you want to have healthy body, you should avoid consuming sodas even if they’re dietetic or regular except for those situations when you really can’t stay away from them. As long as you don’t drink sodas, you have a good chance of keeping yourself healthy and not get fatter.

You probably wonder if there are any alternatives to the diet sodas.

Probably the best choice you can make is to consume simple water with lemon and also ice teas without any kind of sweeteners. There are a lot of variety of tea that you can choose from. There’s the green tea, the white one or the black one. Drinking tea will increase the antioxidants in your body and therefore, you will be healthier and you will start to lose weight. Of course, if you like your tea to be a little sweet, there are a few natural sweeteners that you can use. One of them is called stevia and it is a very good sweetener.