For a Luckier Game

Many obese individuals have tried countless weight loss methods from fad diets and weight-loss pills to hypnosis to drop pounds. Once the price of all the expensive pills, weight-loss shakes and herbal remedies have been tabulated, individuals have spent several thousand dollars attempting to lose weight. Many of these people have tried almost every method of losing weight, and at this point consider the most dramatic weight loss approach; weight loss surgery.

Once an obese individual has made the decision to pursue weight loss surgery- whether it be gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy or lap band weight loss surgery- the next obstacle is coming up with the cash to pay for it. Weight loss surgery can be a costly approach to weight loss.

It’s becoming more common for insurance companies to be required to provide benefits for patients of weight loss surgery. Although this is determined on a state-to-state basis, there is a chance that your state will mandate insurance companies to provide some coverage for weight loss surgery. Unfortunately, the process a patient must go through is lengthy and difficult, not always resulting in assistance.

Another weight loss surgery option that is becoming more popular is weight loss surgery in Mexico. Many Americans go to Mexico to get weight loss procedures done at a much lower cost than the same surgery performed in the United States. Because these clinics and hospitals provide high-quality procedures at a lower cost, their popularity is soaring. Because the quality of these procedures is high and cost low, weight loss surgery in Mexico is giving hope to obese individuals that previously thought weight loss surgery wasn’t an option for them.

Is your stress level higher than it should be? Are you
struggling with changes in life that you neither anticipated
nor caused? If so, keep reading! Most of us carry far more
stress than did our parents and grandparents. Life seems
more complicated than ever. Nothing is certain, reality is
artificially produced, and fantasy is real. No wonder we’re
confused!

Various life changes are assigned Life Crisis Units
(LCUs). Stressors are cumulative, therefore, the more
stressful situations you face, the more dangerous your
stress becomes. The negative consequences of stress
might be the result of one big event or the cumulative result
of several smaller events.

The key is to be aware of the dangers associated with
unmanaged stress. For instance, the following life events
contribute to your stress. The number in parentheses
indicates the Life Crisis Units associated with that event.

Death of a spouse (100)

Divorce (73)

Personal illness or injury (53)

Fired at work (47)

Retirement (45)

Change of financial state (38)

A large mortgage or loan (30)

Trouble with in-laws (29)

Trouble with boss (23)

Change in church activities (19)

Christmas (12)

The list is much longer, but you get the point. Here’s the
dealpeople who score over 300 LCUs are 80% more
likely to be sick as a result of their stress. People who score
200-299 are 50% more likely to get sick. And people who
score 150-199 are 33% more likely to get sick.

So, stress has health-related consequences. What can you
do to manage stress? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Eliminate sources of stress that can be
eliminated. Don’t continue to do something that poses
a potential health risk.

2. Seek counsel to help deal with your stress. A
friend of mine recently lost his job. During his conversations
with his friends he discovered that most of them had lost
their jobs at one point. They, therefore, were able to
encourage him through a difficult time.

3. Fix what you can; ignore what you can’t fix.
Worrying about things you can’t change is a senseless
waste of time and effort. Don’t give your energies to
situations you can’t directly impact.

4. Redirect your energies away from stress and toward
positive people and activities. Sitting around thinking
about being stressed is not a solution to your stress. Begin
a hobby, clean out a closet, go for a walk, or take a trip to the
library or local coffee shop. Do something positive to help
you put the stressful situations out of your mind.

Life is plenty stressful; it’s important that we learn to
manage stress so that we can help others deal with their
stresses. Think about it!

Dr. Terry Hadaway is an author, motivational speaker, university professor, and conference leader who is recognized as a leading authority on elearning, decision-making, and adult education. Visit http://www.thinkingboxmedia.com for more information.

With an alarming increase on crime rates these days, more and more people are getting cynical about their belongings and how they can protect them against intrusion and the elements. Thus, manufacturers and entrepreneurs came up with an idea on how to safeguard man’s valuable things and properties through a device that can endure the test of time. And so, floor safes came into the limelight. Basically, a safe has three main classifications or configurations. They are the wall or wall-mounted safes, the freestanding safes, and the in-floor or simply floor safes. Without going into the details of the other two, let us discuss the compositions of floor safes.

1. The Nature Of Floor Safes

Basically, floor safes, like its two counterparts, are specially designed to provide protection and security to valuables and other pertinent documents. As it name suggests, floor safes are exclusively made to be mounted into the concrete slab of the floor. Because of its position, manufacturers of floor safes strongly suggest that the position of the safe must be carefully analysed and considered so as to maximize its potential. If mounted properly end extensively, floor safes can be the best protection against burglary and even tragedies like fire.

2. Installation

Floor safe installations are actually more complicated and more expensive compared to wall safes. When installing floor safes, you have to cut a slab out of the floor first. Then, you have to dig a hole. After which the safe is placed into the hole and more concrete is poured to cover the area. This will firmly ground the safe and prevent it from being physically removed during a burglary.

3. About Floor Safes

Floor safes are under the category of composites safes. That means that they have a combination of two functions, to combat fire and burglary. In its entirety, the floor safe has been tested against all forms of burglary. The ratings that floor safes obtain will also determine the price of the item.

One drawback that consumers find on floor safes is that it has a tick wall covering, which, by practicality, floor safes render smaller space as compared to the typical metal vaults or the ordinary filing cabinets. But people must understand that the main reason why floor safes are designed this way is because of its purpose, and that is to protect the valuables and not just be a mere storage item.

The other feature of floor safes is its electronic lock. It provides convenience to the user because they no longer have to rotate on a counting basis so as to open the safe. Plus, because it is electronic, the floor safe’s combination can be changed as often as you like.

The ironic drawback of floor safes is that, during a burglary, the burglar will have no option to try and take the safe with him, which may instigate him to be more hostile and violent with nearby hostages in hopes of obtaining the combination. Thus, the floor safe should be considered the absolute ideal safe for coverage at night and when no one is present.

For more great floor safe related articles and resources check out www.topsafes.com

Sales resistance is a fact of life for most sales people. We encounter sales resistance in 5 specific areas. In any sales transaction we must negotiate these 5 barriers. They can be real and permanent, which means no sale. Or they may merely represent perceptions that the prospect currently entertains through lack of knowledge. These perceptions can be changed through the sales process resulting in a sale.

The 5 barriers are:

1. No need: the prospect is not aware of any problem and how the type of product or service you provide can be of benefit.

2. No help: the prospect accepts the problem, but does not see why your particular product or service is the best solution.

3. No hurry: the prospect is not aware of any urgency in solving the problem.

4. No trust: the prospect is not sure that you are the right person to deal with.

5. No money: the prospect is not capable of funding the purchase.

The key to eliminating sales resistance is to quickly identify whether these barriers are real and permanent or if they are only a temporary condition. Selling is often made unnecessarily difficult by the method used by the sales person, especially when they use a “push” selling model. The traditional “push” method of selling actually increases resistance because it often does not recognise these barriers in the sales transaction. With the push approach, sales people waste much time and effort either trying to make a sale where these barriers are permanent or by using methods which increase resistance when the barriers are temporary. There is a better way – the pull (attraction) model.

The Push Sales Model

The steps of the old model look like this:

Advertise product → presentation → proposal → overcome objections → close sale.

In the push model you advertise your product (or service) to get a particular response that provides the opportunity for a sales presentation. During the presentation, you detail the features of your product and tell the customer the price and payment terms. Then you ask them to buy. Usually they will have some resistance or hesitation about going ahead (sales people call these “objections”). Then comes a negotiation phase when you try to overcome objections and “close” the sale. The prospect either says yes to your product after a bit of a battle, or tries to get you to reduce your price to the point where you don’t make a profit, or says they need to think about it. Rarely do they actually say, “No thanks.”

A number of factors make this model ineffective:

1. We suffer from information overload. It is estimated that on average we receive approximately 3,000 marketing messages daily. With so much coming at us, people are screening out advertising, making it much harder to get your message through.

2. Today’s market is more knowledgeable and there is greater choice than in the past. There is an inbuilt resistance because the customer will want to research other options before accepting your proposal.

3. The “push” approach creates resistance. I remember from school, one of Newton’s laws was “every action creates an equal and opposite reaction.” This is true in selling. When we push the reaction is resistance.

4. This resistance is even greater because people are more suspicious of sales people these days. The consequence of unethical advertising and sales practices of the past is that the market is now very wary of what advertisers and sales people say.

5. The push approach is product focused. Unfortunately, people are generally not interested in your product until they discover a need your product will satisfy. Salespeople who push the product make hard work of selling.

6. In the push approach sales people spend a lot of time trying to sell to people who have not discovered a need. They try to sell to anyone who could possibly be a prospect. This makes the job of selling very difficult and increases the level of resistance that sales people face every day.

The Attraction Model

With the pull or attraction model, there is very little need to “sell,” as selling is normally understood. In the attraction approach, the focus is on the customer rather than the product. This approach recognises that no one is interested in your product until they have identified a need. The main focus of marketing is to first highlight and identify needs, rather than inform about products. Most of the sales conversation is about the customer and their circumstances. Your job as a sales person is to identify a need, before you present your solution. You also view the customer as a long term client of your business, rather than a sales prospect who may buy today and never come back.

There are a number of clear steps in the attraction model which eliminate much of the resistance that the push approach suffers. The model looks like this:

Lead generation advertising identifying prospects with need → build credibility → fact finding → solution → clarification → agreement → open ongoing relationship.

1. Rather than marketing to everyone, we gain permission to concentrate our marketing on the people who are most likely to buy – those who need our product. It is more effective to break the sales process down into two distinct steps, lead generation and lead conversion. Our first aim in lead generation, is to eliminate non-qualified buyers from our attention. The push model tries to sell to everybody. This is expensive and wasteful. Lead generation focuses on finding prospects with a need and gets them to indicate they want to find a solution.

2. Our “lead generation” offer needs to educate the prospect about the benefits of our product and show how the product solves the problem or meets the need. This approach means that prospects can find out more about a possible solution with very low commitment. This breaks down resistance. A free sample or trial will help, as will free information about your solution. The valuable information you provide will also build credibility and help establish trust. It also eliminates prospects who do not have capacity to fund a purchase.

3. After attracting qualified leads, we can concentrate on converting them into customers. The fact finding process is the critical element of this model. The temptation when someone responds to our lead generation advertising is to try to “sell” them. We need to resist this urge. We need to do some fact finding, some probing of the customer’s circumstances to find out the extent of the customer’s problem. Because of our focus on the customer at this point, there is very little resistance. The customer feels our genuine care to find the best solution for them. This attention to the customer also builds credibility and trust. They don’t feel like they are “being sold.” They feel respected and cared for.

4. When the exact nature of the problem is identified, the sales person, who is now regarded as a knowledgeable adviser, is able to make a proposal about the best solution to the customer’s problem. If you have done your marketing well, the solution will be your product.

5. Rather than objections, if the customer has any hesitation at this point, it is normally just in the area of needing clarification of something to do with the product or payment terms, warranties etc. These queries are not difficult to answer. All you need to do is restate the details and benefits relating to the query and check that the customer understands what that means. With the attraction model you don’t need 50 different closing techniques to trick the customer into saying yes. All you need do is to check that your customer agrees that the solution you have proposed is acceptable and ask them how they want to pay.

6. In the attraction model, the focus is not on selling, or closing sales. The focus is on creating customers and opening a relationship that provides ongoing mutual benefits to both parties. This recognises that a customer has a long term value to your business, both through the initial sale and from additional sales to that customer as well as from the referrals that satisfied customer provides.

Conclusion

Which sales model does your business use? If you are struggling, finding the market is resistant, why not develop a sales model based on the attraction approach. The attraction approach makes life easier for customers and sales people, because it is a partnership approach rather than a confrontational approach. Sales resistance is minimised, you spend more time working with interested, motivated buyers than difficult customers. You make more sales in less time with less stress.

© 2004 Greg Roworth.
Greg is managing director of Progressive Business Solutions Limited, a business consultancy operating in Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand, specialising in business growth and strategic development. Greg is a qualified MBA and Chartered Accountant with over 25 years management experience. Greg is also the author of “The 7 Keys to Unlock Your Business Profit Potential,” a vital book for business owners that shows how to develop a highly profitable business that runs on autopilot, freeing the business owner to enjoy the rewards the business provides. Purchase “The 7 Keys” online at http://www.progressivebusinesssolutions.co.nz or check out our list of useful resources on our Free Resources page.

It seems that almost every day a new association between diet and health is discovered. Certain food groups have been shown in reliable studies to decrease the risk of various conditions; for example, the high lycopene content of tomatoes helps to prevent prostate cancer, and calcium-containing foods such as yoghurt and broccoli delay the onset of osteoporosis.

Other foods have been shown to cause, or aggravate, particular conditions. People with high blood pressure are routinely advised to cut down on salt intake. Gout sufferers are all too aware of the impact that some foods, especially drinks like beer (even alcohol-free beer!) have on their joints.

The problem with these food-health relationships, is that they are not very specific, or predictable. How many tomatoes must you eat, and for how long, for it to have a protective effect on your prostate? Assuming, of course, that you are a man and therefore would have one of these. And how much yoghurt and broccoli should you eat to help delay the onset of osteoporosis? Nobody seems to know the answers to these problems, and so it is generally recommended that we eat as much of the protective food types as we can, while avoiding the less favourable things like salt and saturated fats.

Recommendations like these seem to be a bit too vague for my liking. In this era of precise measurements and percentages, it could be expected that someone would be able to prescribe a daily or weekly portion of the particular food group required to decrease the risk of having a condition by a precise percentage. But this is just not possible. Confounding factors such as genetics need to be taken into account; if you have a family history of an illness you may have a genetic predisposition to having the condition yourself, no matter what you do. And genetics is generally too complex a subject to be able to make very accurate predictions. So any recommendations regarding eating certain foods to prevent disease should read something like this: ” Eat such-and-such food, and you may be able to make a slight difference to your overall risk of developing the condition, unless your genes say otherwise, and who can tell if this is the case?” Some prediction!

However, there is one condition where lifestyle and diet will always have a predictable impact on its severity and course, and that is insulin resistance.

“What?” you say. “Never heard of it.” And most people haven’t heard of it, despite the fact that it is one of the most prevalent conditions in the world today. It is more common than diabetes; in fact, insulin resistance is the cause of type 2 diabetes, and has been estimated to affect about one in four people.

So what is insulin resistance?

The answer is not a simple one: insulin resistance is a complex entity, which involves a spectrum of conditions ranging from excess weight around the waist, to type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is the single cause of conditions such as metabolic syndrome, polycystic ovarian syndrome and type 2 diabetes, and is strongly associated with high blood pressure, cholesterol abnormalities, gout, and most frighteningly, sudden death, especially in middle-aged women. In short, it is a medical time bomb.

Its origins are not always clear-cut either. Insulin resistance tends to run in families – although not everyone in the same family is necessarily equally affected. A brother may never show any symptoms of the illness, while his sister may have significant weight problems and go on to develop type 2 diabetes at the age of forty. Or vice versa. Why this happens is not always apparent, although diet and lifestyle do play very significant roles in the progression of the condition.

Insulin resistance may also be “acquired”; in other words it develops in an individual with no family background of insulin resistance and its associated conditions. This usually occurs in people who are overweight for whatever reasons. It has been estimated that half of all people who are significantly overweight have insulin resistance!

It may be because of this very obvious association between insulin resistance and excess weight that, despite the fact that insulin resistance is largely a genetic disorder, it is very responsive to dietary and lifestyle changes, especially those that result in significant (i.e. more than 2-5 kilograms) weight loss. Fantastic news for those who are not very fond of taking tablets!

In fact, exercise and diet were shown by the Diabetes Prevention Program to be almost twice as effective as metformin (a drug that is known to reduce insulin resistance) at reducing the risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes, which is more or less the end result of insulin resistance. And these benefits occur whether the person affected was overweight or not at the beginning of the lifestyle modification program. Strangely enough, some people with insulin resistance do not have a weight problem by ordinary standards. Instead, they may have a completely normal body mass index, and the only sign of underlying insulin resistance may be a slight thickening around the waist area.

Nevertheless, the end result of the appropriate dietary modification is the same… an improvement in symptoms, and a longer, healthier life. In a world where people are becoming more interested and involved in taking control of their bodies and their health, this is excellent news. A do-it-yourself cure that really works!

Having said all this, just a word of caution. Weight loss should be approached carefully. Conventional low calorie, low fat and high carbohydrate diets do not work very well for people with insulin resistance, and crash diets work well for nobody. An appropriate diet, a bit of mild exercise, and a slow, gentle loss of weight are all that is needed to make a huge difference to your health. And to the health of those around you. Please remember that family members of people with diabetes are likely to have insulin resistance too, and need to be made aware of this possibility. With insulin resistance and diabetes, prevention is always better than cure!

Are you bored with your kitchen? You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to give it a little face lift. Just follow these tips and you’ll make big changes on a little budget.

Need a colorful window treatment? Simply purchase an inexpensive basswood shade and paint it in a bright color. You can use a partially dry brush and paint randomly for an aged look.

Paint your walls a bright, sunny yellow and randomly paint over a few areas with a deeper yellow, a dark peach, and terra cotta. Mix the paints with a glazing liquid and wipe each coat with a wet cloth before the paint dries.

Paint your old cabinets with a few layers of paint using a dry brush. You can purchase pin stripe tape for automobiles and apply it just under the molding for an attractive accent.

Using a fabric panel with hook-and-loop fastening tape to create skirting around your under-counter areas. You can cover aging appliances such as dishwashers and worn cabinets with a colorful new curtain that hangs from underneath the edge of your counter tops.

Use your mismatched dishes and cups to decorate a stylish shelf hanging on your kitchen wall. Brightly colored dishes and hanging teacups make cute decorations.

Use your treasured family photos to decorate a shelf or nooks. You can use cheap picture frames and a cute shelf as an expression of your home and your life.

If your counter tops are not what they once were, remove the old surface and replace it with colorful, mismatched tiles you can purchase for next to nothing at a discount home store. If your counter tops are uneven, use a piece of plywood to even out the surface before you put down the tiles.

If your refrigerator has seen its better days, have a local supplier cut chalkboard to fit the front and glue it directly to the surface of your refrigerator. Use pine boards to make a border and you will have your own personal note center right on your refrigerator.

Decorating your kitchen need not be expensive. With a little imagination and a little work you can turn even the most boring kitchen into a work of art. Colorful curtains and paint will make a huge difference in any kitchen. No matter how small or dark the space may be.

Don’t miss http://homeorganizationhelp.com for more ways to organize and decorate your home on a budget.

Hampton Court Palace is situated to the south west of London, on the banks of the River Thames, enclosed by plants & gorgeous gardens. Hampton Court Palace, King Henry 8’s wonderful waterside dwelling can be found in more than six hundred acres of park and private gardens.

Evoking the sensations of well over 450 years of rituals, fancy dressed entertainers can be glimpsed within Henry VIII?s and King William 3’s splendid own residences. The pictures, sounds and unpleasant smells of the awe-inspiring Tudor kitchens where dinners were planned for Henry?s court of well over nine hundred guests can also be viewed.

Hampton Court Palace has been split into six different routes or trips. The Maze at Hampton Court Palace that is positioned on the Thames to the west of London is said to be the most loved hedge maze on this globe. Visit Hampton Court Palace today with Enjoy England for a great day out.

Hampton Court palace has a cruel custom & is apparently controlled by a number of ghouls, including two of Henry 8th’s dead wives & a nursemaid to his offspring. Hampton Court Palace owners & personnel will be readily available to assist visitors to their booked state house for a wine & canap?s meeting. Costumed callers will broadcast the evening meal & guests will be invited to locate their selected seats for a magnificent 2 course meal with top-quality fine red & white wines.

Hampton Court Palace has 60 acres of official gardens besides the five hundred acres of royal land. The royal gardens go back to the 16th Century, when the earliest Privy Garden was installed between fifteen thirty and fifteen-thirty eight for King Henry the eighth.

If you are a manufacturer wanting to use your business plan to attract investors, then your plan must do two things. It must:

1. Comfort prospective investors with putting their money into your hands, and
2. Show why potential customers will award business to you rather than your competitors.

Earn the Trust of Skeptical Investors…

Prospective investors want to select the best investments. For an investor, this means earning the highest return on their money for the risk they take. Besides their own research, they seek more specific information from business owners and entrepreneurs about potential investment opportunities.

The major challenge to investors is deciding what is a good opportunity. Often asked to invest funds with little reliable information, investors have difficulty deciphering information about the various investment alternatives they are evaluating. This leaves them fearful of getting into an awful deal and skeptical of the deals being presented. In addition, time pressures often force investors to decide on investing in a business when their time frames don’t align with the business’ need for funding.

To your prospective investors, the most important factors you must show are results and evidence. They simply want the opportunity that they enter to match the expectations that they have developed. They want to be educated about the investment opportunity and the investment options available to them. But, they won’t accept this education at face value; they want to see the evidence to support it. Even for niche businesses.

When investors object to investing in a business, the objection is often of the “Educate me…” type. Tell me your story, show me your numbers, and then prove it. Prospective investors want information that they can validate, options and risks that they can see, and to be educated about your specific business. Moreover, they want to know why you and your team are the ones that can produce the projected results. If your business plan doesn’t address these “educate me” objections, it will fail to win the trust of your prospective investors. When that happens your plan will not get funded. Period.

If you successfully win the trust of potential investors, then you must be able to…

Show Why Customers Will Award Their Business To You Rather Than Your Competitors…

Investors invest money in businesses based on the business’ expected cash flow. To create cash flow, you must first win business. That’s why it is important for your business plan to show investors why customers will award you their business at a price that allows you to provide investors a return on their investment.

When potential investors begin evaluating your business plan, they are likely to be skeptical of your ability to consistently win business. In their minds, there is already a manufacturer who is providing the same or similar product as yours to your prospective customers. They are skeptical as to why prospective customers with little or no time to investigate the options available to them and who are reluctant to upset their own customer base would change manufacturers.

You can expect your potential investors to understand that your customers need to move product and generate higher margins. They expect quality and general customer support to be givens, the basic requirements to win business. Therefore, their focus will be on understanding how you help your prospective customers earn more money.

To your potential investors, the biggest problems your customers face are products that stay on the shelf, don’t work properly, or carry low margins… situations that cost your customers money and the opportunity to make money on other products. Does your business plan show investors how you plan to solve these problems? It should if you want to capture their attention.

Be sure to clearly explain why you can win over prospective customers who have extensive experience in dealing with manufacturers in your market space…customers who have “heard it all.” Your business plan has to reveal to investors how you’ll protect your products from damage during transit, guarantee their availability, offer a wide range of product selection, and modify the product as needed. In short, your business plan has to leave investors feeling confident that your product will be delivered as ordered, undamaged, on time, and working properly.

You’ll also have to convince investors that you can overcome the biggest objections your customers will have in switching manufacturers, which from the investors’ perspective will involve product quality and your ability to deliver on time. If the product stays on the shelf too long or doesn’t work properly because of poor quality then that is a problem. If the product can’t be used or sold because it hasn’t been delivered then that is a problem.

Prospective investors know that to win a customer’s trust you’ll have to show them quantifiable evidence that they can earn more using your products and that the risk of changing over to you is low. Since this is what it will take to win business, it is only logical that your prospective investors will want to see this same evidence before they invest in you.

Points For Manufacturers To Address In A Business Plan

In summary, if you’re a manufacturer trying to attract investors, these are the points you must address in your business plan:

• How and why customers will earn more money doing business with you rather than your competitors.
• How and why they will have less hassles and it will be easier for them to do business with you rather than your competitors.
• How and why customers will face less risk doing business with you rather than your competition.

When you address these points with verifiable evidence to support your position, potential investors will have to conclude that they would be foolish to invest in any other manufacturer but you.

Mike Elia is a chief financial officer and an advisor to venture capitalists and leverage buyout specialists. His business plan ebook “Business Plan Secrets Revealed” shows how to make your business the most appealing investment choice to venture capitalists, bankers, and other business investors. For his free business plan guide click here.

Elliptical machines instead of bikes do have several advantages. Elliptical machines offer complete body workout including lower body muscles, upper body muscles and especially cardiovascular exercise by its low impact fitness techniques. Elliptical machines enable us to glide in elliptical motion as we would on a ski machine or, with a simple adjustment of the pedals, increase the incline to get more of a stair stepping or bicycle action. Elliptical machines are truly amazing for cardiac exercises and lots more… These elliptical machines also feature dual action arm poles and even add an upper body workout to bring to the users a complete body workout and this is elliptical machines for cardiac in action.

Now all this is certainly much more than what an ordinary bike has to provide. Isn’t it? Besides, however you have choose to use an elliptical machine. Your feet must remain flat at all times between the pedals in order to make sure that there is no strain on the back, hips or any of the joints. From this we can conclude that although it provides a high-intensity workout, an elliptical machine offers a fair amount of impact, yet it is similar to that sustained as in walking.

Elliptical Cross Trainers info.

The Fourth of July, our Independence Day, is so recognized and celebrated in the United States, it is hard to realize that other countries do not also celebrate this great day, the day we declared our independence from Great Britain. Of course, many other countries do celebrate Independence Days… they simply differ from ours.

In many countries, Independence Day is a national holiday, just like it is in the United States, celebrated with much vigor. Here are some of the Independence Days of other countries, by order of date:

Mexico – September 16th, 1810, Mexico declared independence from Spain.

Argentina – July 9, 1816… independence from Spain.

Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua – September 15, 1821. All of these countries share the same Independence Day, the day they achieved independence from Spain or Mexico.

Dominican Republic – February 27, 1844… independence from Haiti.

Bulgaria – September 22, 1908… independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Iceland – June 17, 1944… independence from Denmark.

South Korea – August 15, 1945. This Independence Day, also known as Gwangbokjeol, celebrates
South Korea’s independence from Japan. It also marks the creation of South Korea’s government in 1948, on the same day.

Belarus – June 3, 1966. This day marks the liberation of Minsk (the capital of Belarus) from Nazi Germany.

Russia – June 12, 1990. This Russian Independence Day is also known as Russia Day. It was on this date that the Russian parliament formally declared its sovereignty. This is one of the newest Independence Days celebrated by any countries.

Armenia – September 21, 1991… independence from the Soviet Union.

Bosnia and Herzegovina – March 1, 1992. This Independence Day celebrates their independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugolsavia.

Montenegro – June 3, 2006. This recent Independence Day marks Montenegro’s independence from Serbia. They voted to secede on May 21, 2006.

Many countries have Independence Days to celebrate their independence from the United Kingdom, just like we do. Here are just a few of those countries and the dates of their Independence Days… notice how recent some of them are:

Australia – January 1, 1901

Afghanistan – August 19, 1919

Jordan – May 25, 1946

India – August 15, 1947

Sri Lanka – February 4, 1948

Malaysia – August 31, 1957

The Republic of Cyprus – October 1, 1960

Jamaica – August 6, 1962

Trinidad and Tobago – August 31 1962

Malta – September 21, 1964

Guyana – May 26, 1966

Swaziland – September 6, 1968

Tonga – June 4, 1970

Bahamas – July 10, 1973

Zimbabwe – April 18, 1980

Belize – September 21, 1981