The John Tesh Blog

Put The Right Junk In Your Trunk

Not every one belongs to AAA, has a cell phone or drives a car equipped with OnStar.  In case of a mechanical breakdown, help is not always a phone call away!

Other than hailing a passing motorist or spending the night cramped in the backseat of your Toyota, here are other ways to prepare for a mechanical emergency.

Know what’s already stored in your trunk.
Most cars come equipped with a basic emergency kit: a car jack, lug wrench and spare tire.

However, you still need to learn how use a jack, be  strong enough to remove the lug nuts and have a fully inflated spare tire.  If in doubt, get a pro to help.

Keep the necessary survival items.
According to BePrepared.com, the essential items you need when stranded in a mechanical 911 are water, food and warmth.

You may be able to make it without food for a few days, but your body will dehydrate without water. Water is also good for washing wounds, sanitation and for an overheating vehicle.

Since food spoils in extreme hot or cold temperatures, Calorie Food Bars are the best thing to store in your car. These bars leave you feeling full and provide you the necessary energy.

What if you’re marooned in the winter cold?  According to BePrepared.com, to stay warm you may need 6 to 20 hour warm packs or emergency blankets. Place the warm packs in your gloves, shoes and pockets. Emergency blankets are made of a reflective material can reproduce up to 80% of your  body heat.

Create Your Own Emergency Car Kit.
Here’s a tool kit you can put together containing items prescribed in the March/April issue of Westways Magazine:  pliers, an adjustable wrench, a utility knife, Phillips and flat-head screwdrivers, work gloves, a quart of engine oil, antifreeze, a weatherproof flashlight, a Swiss Army knife, wire cutters, bottle opener, an ice scraper, duct tape to make a temporary patch on a leaky water hose and a dry fire extinguisher.

Familiarize yourself with these items before you run into a mechanical emergency. 

Have a supply of flares or triangles.
The downside of using flares is that they only burn for a short time and can create a fire hazard where there’s a spillage of fuel. 

Reflective triangles last forever and are easy to see by oncoming cars especially at night.  Be sure you purchase the ones with sides at least 17 inches long and reflective strips that are two inches wide.

Always keep a flashlight with fully charged batteries in your emergency car kit. 

Keep jumper cables stashed in the trunk.   
Don’t skimp on jumper cables. The longer the cables, the less you need to position the cars together. 

If you don’t know how to do a jump-start properly, you can do serious damage to your car’s electronics and yourself.

Take care of yourself as well. A cell phone is a must. Store a list of emergency contacts (ICE) in your cell phone. 

Packed away in your trunk, you should also carry a first-aid kit containing bandages and dressings, instant ice and heat compresses, scissors, waterproof tape, pain relieving medicine such as Tylenol or Advil, antiseptic wipes, wound ointment and a set of instructions on basic first aid.

Invest in an up-to-date Thomas Guide to help you navigate when you’re totally lost. 

Having a roadside emergency kit for mechanical breakdowns and unusual weather conditions can make the difference between getting back on the road or being stuck.

John   
Email John:  johnsblog@teshmedia.com

My new book Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth is now available in your local bookstores or you can order it online from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Watch Out For the Germ Patrol

Germs lurk everywhere.  However, they also congregate in places you might have thought were germ-free. 

In today's excerpt from my new hardcover book Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth, we're going to lift the lid off some unsuspecting places where germs are hiding out in your home.

Quick question: Which is cleaner—the average public toilet seat or the average home kitchen countertop?  If you chose the countertop, choose again! In a study reported in the London Daily Mail, 85 percent of public toilets tested were cleaner than in-home food prep areas. In fact, the average kitchen surface contains ten times more bacteria than a toilet seat!

The London Daily Mail reported that researchers say it’s mostly because people don’t wash their hands properly after working with raw meat or using the bathroom. And unwashed hands are the primary carriers of various germs and pathogens like E. coli and salmonella.

 

More than 10,000 people took part in another study according to the London Daily Mail, which focused on basic hygiene principles, including how often people properly washed their hands (thirty seconds with hot water and soap) after using the bathroom. The result? Only one out of four men and one out of two women washed up properly. Then, researchers tested for germs around each volunteer’s house. They found enough bacteria to make people ill on things like light switches, door handles, and the cutting board in the kitchen.

So what’s the absolutely germiest place in the kitchen? The tray on a baby highchair!

A staggering 60 percent of baby highchair trays were contaminated with coliform bacteria, which comes from fecal matter, raw meat, dirt, or unwashed vegetables. In fact, in every single home tested the floors were cleaner than the highchair trays. Forty percent of those floors were actually clean enough to serve food on!

So, what’s a homemaker to do? Pull out the hot water and bleach. If you want to protect yourself and your family from dangerous germs, at least once a week use hot water and bleach to clean the kitchen surfaces that come in contact with food.

John

Email John: johnsblog@teshmedia.com

My new book Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth is now available in your local bookstores or you can order it online from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Be Sure Your Pet's Food Is Safe

Last year pet owners spent $16.2 billion on food for their animals. Yet we’re not sure if the food we’re giving our pets is 100% safe.

MSNBC.com reports that in 2007 thousands of dogs and cats were killed due to a contaminated pet food recall. One manufacturer, Menu Foods, recalled about 60 million cans of dog and cat food - 91 different brands all together.

The pet food contained imported Chinese ingredients tainted with the chemical melamine and cyanuric acid. These contaminants were added to plain wheat flour, enabling it to be sold as more expensive, higher-protein ingredients.

According to the Pet Connection blog, not much has changed since the pet food scare.  The inspection of pet food plants has not improved; pet food industry standards have not been overhauled and pet food labeling has not been revised.

Legislation that has passed relies on pet food companies to voluntarily recall any contaminated product. Even China is expected to police its own product safety without outside inspection.

To be fair, some pet food manufacturers claim to be using better ingredients in their products and are more careful about where their ingredients come from.

Are our pets any safer one-year later?  Here are some questions you need to ask to make sure your pet is eating the right stuff:

•What should pet owners expect to find in animal food? The common ingredients in pet food include grains such as corn, wheat, rice and grain by-products. The meat products found in pet foods are chicken, beef, seafood and meat by-products.

•What should you look for when reading pet-food labels? The FDA informs us that ingredients must be listed is descending order by weight.  MSBNC.com informs us, “Meat and poultry are heavy ingredients that contain about 60 percent water, so it doesn’t take much to land them at the top of the ingredient list. They might be followed by wheat, wheat middlings and wheat meal run.”

Connection.com tells its readers to choose a food with meat as the primary ingredient. However, be sure the specific type of meat is listed on the packaging, such as chicken, lamb or turkey. Don’t settle for the generic word “meat.”

•Is organic pet food any safer? Feeding your pet an organic food product is definitely better for your dog or cat. However, there’s no guarantee against contamination.  Some toxins can occur naturally.

•Is our best choice to give our pets a homemade diet? Some people refuse to purchase commercial pet foods. They prepare their own, using the same meats and other ingredients they cook for themselves.

Giving your pet a home-cooked diet gives the owner the assurance their animal’s food contains no by-products or mysterious meat.  Some animal nutritionists are concerned that a home-prepared diet may not provide the animal a complete and balanced recipe.

•How do I know if a commercial pet food is contaminated? Once you open a new bag, pouch or can, check for an unusual appearance or odor.  If you find something “off,” don’t feed it to your pet. If your pet becomes sick after eating a new diet, stop feeding and get in touch with a vet.

If you suspect anything wrong with any pet food, check the packaging for the manufacturer’s phone number and contact them immediately to report a problem.

Your pet relies on you to provide it with uncontaminated food. You should be able to depend on your pet food producer to sell a product that has been tested for contaminants.

John
Email John:  johnsblog@teshmedia.com

My new book Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth is now available in your local bookstores or you can order it online from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Five Foods You Need In Your Diet

Are you confused as to what you should eat and what you shouldn't eat for your health? 

In today's excerpt from Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth, I share with you five necessary foods you need in your diet to stay healthy.

Twenty years ago supplements were all the rage. These days there’s more research than ever on the healing power of real food versus pills and tablets. If you want the real healing power of nutrition, the best way to get it is from food. Here are a few powerful foods that keep popping up in just about every diet plan.

•Cranberries.
If you drink ten ounces of cranberry juice daily, you will reduce your risk of colds, actually warding off colds and the flu, according to a Health magazine article. You will also be preventing gum disease and even certain cancers. Cranberries also help your body fight urinary tract infections. Pomegranate juice is also a good antioxidant, and it’s delicious mixed with cranberry juice.

•Walnuts.
Walnuts are a great way to get in your Omega-3s—that’s the fatty acid that helps your body reduce inflammation and increase your good cholesterol. Studies show that walnuts even fight off depression while reducing your risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

• Beans.
I can’t say enough about this tiny little food that contains magnesium, potassium, foliate, and fiber. A serving of beans each day is even thought to prevent heart disease and colon cancer. Hummus is a nice alternative, if you’d like a change.

•Tomatoes.
Pile them on your sandwiches and salads because they’re a great antioxidant and are filled with lycopene, which can cut a woman’s risk of breast cancer in half. Tomatoes also lower your blood pressure and fight bad cholesterol. They even help keep your eyesight in good working order, as you get older.

•Lemons.
This yellow little miracle fruit is a great way to clean out your fuel-burning liver each and every day. Start the day with a glass of cold or warm water and squeeze into it a quarter or half of a fresh lemon. This is also a way to start your fat-burning furnace in order to lose weight.

I've devoted a whole section of my book, Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth to the latest tips on taking care of your health.  The book is now available in your local bookstores or you can order it online from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

John

Email John:  johnsblog@teshmedia.com

Clearing Up Four Big Travel Myths

Spring is here and it’s time to start making summer travel plans.  Be on the look out for those seasoned travelers who love to give out advice about the best places to stay, how to get free airline upgrades and where to eat cheaply. However, not all travel advice is reliable.

To make your next outing worry-free, let me take apart some travel myths that often put a cramp in our plans.

Myth#1:  If you use your cell phone during takeoff, you’ll cause the plane to crash.  Once you climb aboard any plane, the  flight attendant will announce that you must turn off your cell phones, Blackberries and all other electronic devices.

The reason given for the big “turn off” is that in accordance with FAA policy,  “they [electronic devices] interfere with the plane’s navigational system.” 

However, according to Forbes Traveler the FAA has tested personal electronic devices (PEDs), including iPods, Gameboys and laptops seeking to determine whether or not they interfere with the plane’s navigational system.

FAA scientists even bumped up the Radio Frequency Interference these devices give off . . . up to 100 times their normal level.  Then these experts placed the PEDs no less than three feet from the cockpit instruments.  Nothing happened.

Why the rule if the FAA cannot prove PEDs will interfere with the operation of a plane?   

Rather than the FAA make an enforceable rule, they leave it up to each airline to set its own policy. If you use your PED and disregard the flight attendant’s instructions, you’re not violating FAA rules, but the airline’s ruling. You will be subject to arrest for interfering with a flight crew.

Myth #2:  You must be willing to make a Saturday night stopover to obtain a low fare.  For many years the airline industry locked out business travelers from the best prices on tickets by requiring them to spend a weekend night away from home. 

Budget airlines broke away from these standards and offered low fares to everyone without any restrictions!

Still, some airlines do provide better rates if you purchase your tickets two weeks or up to a month in advance.

If you run into an airline that requires you to stay overnight to get a good deal on a ticket, my advice to you is to keep shopping.

Myth #3: The cabin air circulation makes the plane a prime breeding ground for colds and flu viruses.  Modern jet planes were originally designed to bring in air from the outside at high altitudes.  The extremely cold air is then heated by the aircraft engines and circulated into the passenger cabin getting rid of the old air. 

However, the procedure costs fuel which means more money.  Many airlines decided to recirculate the air already onboard the cabin, bringing in a minimal amount of new air. 

If the person in Seat 19B has the flu, and you’re sitting a few rows back in 24E, you may be breathing his air.  The best thing to do is drink plenty of water, wash your hands and turn off the air vent over your head.

Myth #4:  Dress up when you fly and you’ll get an automatic upgrade.  Is it true that men and women dressed in well-pressed business suits, get upgraded to first class?  After all, it would be a plus for the airlines to have first class filled with cool looking suits. 

Not true.  Airlines do not give out free upgrades anymore. Thanks to the frequent flyer programs, airline carriers can use computers to look up their most profitable customers. Now upgrades are awarded in compliance with those who fly the most on that one airline. 

John   

Email John:  johnsblog@teshmedia.com

Don’t forget. My new hardcover book Intelligence For Your Life: Powerful Lessons for Personal Growth is on sale. You can purchase a copy online by visiting Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com

Three Mistakes That May Be Hurting Your Heart

Today's excerpt from Intelligence For Your Life: Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth is about doing everything you can to have  a healthy heart.   We’ve already talked quite a bit about finding the passions of your heart and pursuing them. But we’d better not forget your real heart—the one that’s pumping blood through your body. If your heart isn’t working as it should, you’re going to have a hard time pursuing your heart’s desires! Here are three big mistakes you might be making right now that increase your risk of heart disease.

Mistake #1. Grabbing that salt shaker.

According to a study in the British Medical Journal, lowering your salt intake by just 25 percent reduces your risk of heart disease by almost 30 percent. This study recommends keeping your intake below one teaspoon of table salt a day and avoiding commercially-prepared and processed foods. Take a look at the back of those boxes. They are loaded with salt (sodium).

Mistake #2. Never taking a nap. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that midday naps reduced coronary death by 30 percent. Scientists believe it’s because napping may decrease some of the day-to-day stress that wreaks havoc on our hearts.

Mistake #3. Never saying no. When you consistently agree to do things you don’t want to do, you raise your levels of stress hormones. This not only exhausts your body, but can also cause you to gain weight by raising your cortisol levels. Only say yes if the activity “feels” right.  And don’t ever let your friends or associates guilt you into agreeing to a bunch of stuff that leaves you no time for yourself. How hard is it to say no? Type in “How to Say No” into Amazon.com and see how many books have been written on the topic. We are a guilt-ridden society, and we are killing ourselves by saying yes way too often.

Diet. Exercise. Rest. Stress. Manage those four things, and protect that passionate heart of yours!

John
Email John:  johnsblog@teshmedia.com

John's book Intelligence For Your Faith: Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth is now available at your local bookstores or you can go online and order it from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Leaving Kids In Cars Alone

Leaving your kids alone in the car is a bad idea.

In some states it’s more than a poor choice but a criminal action. One California state senator is proposing a law to make it illegal for a parent to leave a child six or younger in a car for more than one minute. 

Of course, enforcement of these laws is based on the chance of an officer being present when a violation occurs.

This is not true in the recent case of Treffly Coyen.  This 36 year-old suburban Chicago mother drove to a Wal-Mart so her children could deposit the coins they collected in the Salvation Army bucket.

With her two-year-old Phoebe asleep in the backseat, Coyne parked her car in a loading zone in front of the store. The mother set the alarm, locked the car and walked with her older children to the bell ringer.

A few minutes later when Treffly returned to her vehicle, a community service officer charged her with child endangerment.   

How long does a child need to be out of a parent’s sight to constitute child endangerment?

Opponents to Coyne’s arrest argue the car never was out of the mother’s sight, so the child was not literally unattended. 

Regardless, statistics show thousands of children are injured and dozens die every year after being left unattended near or inside vehicles. In 2007 35 deaths of small children took place after over-stressed parents forgot their child was in the backseat of a hot vehicle. Since 1998 there have been 323 of these unnecessary tragedies.

Leaving children in the car alone is a hot topic. So here are some helpful answers to provide a cool perspective:

•NEVER leave your children alone in the car.  As parents we’ve all faced the temptation of leaving our kid in the car while we dash into the store for a carton of milk or to return a video rental.  You rationalize, “What can go wrong?  It’s for only a minute.” 

•It only takes a split second for a tragedy to take place. According to Consumer Reports cars heat up quickly. Even if it is only 70 degrees outside, a car can quickly heat to more than 120 degrees.

If you leave the car running, you're gambling your child won’t climb into the front seat and shift the car into “drive”.  Your kid can lock you out of the car and start playing with the dash buttons while you watch helplessly. A child could pull down the armrest in the back seat and crawl into the trunk.  Your young daughter may play with the power windows and get her head caught with the window crushed up against her wind pipe.  Even more dangerous, your child can let himself out of the car to go looking for you.

•Don’t use the weather or a sleeping child as an excuse to leave your kid alone in the car. Sure, the weather outside might be freezing cold or sweltering hot or your child is in a deep sleep.  Your errand will only take a minute or two. Even though you can rationalize your actions, you cannot undo the consequences if something tragic takes place.

•Contact the police if you notice a child left alone in a car. If the child seems to be in distress or unconscious, call 911 and ask the dispatcher to provide you instructions as to how to release the endangered child from the car and how to care for the child until the paramedics arrive.

Remember this . . . Never leave your child alone in a car, not even for a minute.

JOHN TESH
Email John:   johnsblog@teshmedia.com

Don't forget. My new hardcover book Intelligence For Your Life: Powerful Lessons for Personal Growth is now on sale. You can purchase a copy on line by visiting Barnes & Noble.

My Tribute to Dennis Miller

Greetings Tesh-Blogophiles. Please indulge me today as I interrupt our regularly scheduled blog programming and pay homage to one of my heroes in the world of entertainment.

Dennis Miller is a genius. And at the risk of kissing-up (since I'm on his show today . . . check your local listings at dennismillerradio.com) let me say that there is no smarter comedian working today. (Eddie Izzard is right up there, but he wears heels and is therefore disqualified).

Miller is cool . . . he's beyond well educated . . . and he does enough homework that I don't bother to watch the debates myself . . . I just vote for the guy HE likes. I don't even like the former N.Y. Mayor but I was ready to drink the Kool Aid for Dennis. So, at the risk of taking a step above my pay-grade, I'd like to offer up a little tribute to my new fave on the radio airwaves with:

The top 7 reasons why Dennis Miller and John Tesh were (likely) separated at birth:

1. HARD WORK
    Before his career in entertainment, Miller worked as a janitor and an ice cream scooper.
    Before his career in entertainment, Tesh worked at the Garden City Cheese Shop as a cheese-ball maker.

2. BEGINNINGS
    Miller got his start writing and delivering humorous essays for PM magazine.
    Tesh worked for rival Entertainment Tonight delivering the celebrity birthdays.

3. CAREER
    Miller partnered (brilliantly) with Al Michaels to cover Monday Night Football.
    Tesh partnered (brilliantly, albeit less noticeably) with Al's younger brother David on the Tour De France Bike Race and World Windsurfing Championship.

4. SUCCESS
    In January 2007, Miller signed a deal with Westwood One to launch a three-hour talk radio program.
    In January 2001, Westwood One cancelled the 3 hour "On the Air with John Tesh" radio show.

5. IRONY
    Miller is currently featured on "Miller Time" Wednesdays on the O'Reilly Factor
    In 1977 Tesh danced with Bill O'Reilly in N.Y.C at Studio 54

6. BABES
    In 1988 Miller married Carolyn Espley, a former hot model from Vancouver, British Columbia,
    In 1992 Tesh married Connie Sellecca, a former hot model from Bronx, N.Y.

7. WIT
    And the final reason Dennis Miller and John Tesh have (more than likely) been separated at birth:

    Tesh once said:  "What I love most about the Penn & Teller thing is that it's so smart. For me it's sort of like Dennis Miller mated with Houdini." 2007
    Miller once said: "John Tesh has the number one new age album in the country. Isn't that one of the biblical signs of the apocalypse?" 1995

    Hey Miller. We're on rival stations in Los Angeles. Guess who I listen to?
                              Love ya babe, JT

I Need Your Help

How the Intelligence For Your Life book and Alive project both became bestsellers:

When was the last time you did that . . . actually asked for a hand . . . a boost . . . a little help from someone else?  People are always surprised when they find out how well our album recordings (and now our new book) do on the charts without massive television campaigns and book tours.  My answer? “I ask my friends for help."

It turns out my staff and I have a lot of close friends we have never even met, but they are very loyal to our cause. They share the same vision and they live their lives with passion and purpose. We are of one mind . . .
all 8 million of us.

When we started the John Tesh Radio Show, we made the promise that we would be "safe for the whole family" and that we would dedicate our time on the airwaves to "moving you forward in your life," "advancing your life" and "making you the smartest person in the room".

It was a heady proposition at first . . . 10 researchers . . . a staff of 25 people with only 6 radio affiliates. Yes, we ran deeply in the red for 3 years and I took no salary. But the show has eventually grown to 290 affiliates and is now the fastest growing syndicated radio program on the planet.

One of the big reasons? We keep asking for help. “If this story is useful to you, tell a friend you heard it on the John Tesh Radio Show.” “Tell us how you're living the Intelligence For Your Life so we can spread the news." We worked hard to stay focused and loyal to our listeners and then when it was time to release the Alive CD and the Intelligence For Your Life book this year, we went to our listeners first and offered them the opportunity to get the best price on the new releases and we asked for their help to spread the news . . . to be our street team.

Why would they want to help us? Because we are now a family. We are like-minded. We believe in living an intelligent, compassionate, purposeful life. And our ‘family’ has now put the book in the number 2 spot on Amazon.com and the CD/DVD high atop the Billboard Charts. But we couldn’t have done it alone (and we didn’t have Oprah’s help). Our listeners took on the job and they did it brilliantly. 

What can YOU learn from this? Here’s an action plan.

First, find your purpose and passion in life and make sure it is honorable and lines up with what you believe God wants for you.

Second, let everyone know about your purpose and live for it every day.

Next, find like-minded people . . . and

Finally . . . and most importantly . . . ask for their HELP. Ask, and you will succeed.

 

John
Email John:   johnsblog@teshmedia.com

My new book Intelligence For Your Life: Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth is available in your local bookstores or you can order it online from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Take Care Of Your Back

Do you suffer from lower back pain?  You've taken pain medication for relief and you've had several fairly successful back surgeries. However, you never know when your back is going out next.

From today's excerpt from my book Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth I share several ways you can get more involved in taking care of your back.

Did you know 80 percent of Americans suffer from back pain at some point in their lives? They do according to a Women’s Day magazine article. If you slump, slouch, or hunch through the day, you might wind up a statistic. Whether you’re Googling your favorite sports team or sashaying down the street, you can save yourself pain down the road by taking care of your back NOW. Here’s how, courtesy of Web MD.

Forget standing at attention. Dr. Arthur White, a back surgeon and author of The Posture Prescription, says good posture doesn’t mean standing like a soldier at attention; that actually puts pressure on the spine. Instead, stand in a relaxed, balanced manner. Your shoulders should be square and down, your head held high, but your muscles shouldn’t be tensed. Check your stance throughout the day — when you’re waiting for a latte, when you’re in the elevator — and adjust as needed. When you reposition yourself, you can even look taller!

Feet before fashion.  Problems like high arches and flat feet can sabotage your posture and lead to an aching back. Women are especially vulnerable; they suffer four times as many foot problems as men. Why? Narrow, ill-fitting high heels are enemy number one! So ladies, wear those fancy shoes for meetings and parties, but for extensive walking, slip on comfortable shoes with heels no higher than an inch and a half.

Slump less, break more.  Between work, Web surfing, and TV time, most of us probably spend most of our day sitting. That’s murder on our backs! Top it off with bad posture, and we’re in for a lifetime of OUCH. A Swedish study shows that sitting increases the force on your spine by 140 percent compared to when you stand! If you slump, that number goes up to 185 percent! So, here’s how to sit:

• Line up your head over your shoulders, shoulders over your hips

• Rest on your “sitz bones”—those are the two bones in your tush.

• Put your feet flat on the floor, with your legs at a 90-degree angle.

• Also, take breaks every forty-five to sixty minutes to prevent strain.

I've devoted a whole section of my book, Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth to the latest tips on taking care of your health. The book is now available in your local bookstores or you can go online and order it from Barnes & Noble.

John 

Email John: johnsblog@teshmedia.com