Balanced Living

« Balanced Living Archive  December 2005

Hand Over the Keys

December is National Drunk and Drugged Prevention Month

Driving While Intoxicated (“DWI”) is considered a serious crime in every state. DWI and Driving Under the Influence (“DUI”) refer to the same crime. Drinking alcohol or taking drugs may affect your ability to operate cars, boats or industrial equipment in a safe manner. It is against the law in every state to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs if you cannot safely operate your vehicle. If the police observe you driving erratically or violating traffic laws, they are permitted to stop and question you for a DWI violation. If they suspect that you are intoxicated, they can ask you to submit to various tests, including a blood alcohol test.

Blood Alcohol Content

When you consume alcoholic drinks, alcohol is absorbed into your blood stream. The level of alcohol in your blood, called the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC), can be measured by different tests. In most states, you are presumed to be drunk and unable to operate a vehicle safely if your BAC is .10 or greater. This measurement means that your blood contains ten/one-hundredths percent of alcohol. In some states, legislatures have lowered the BAC level defining intoxication to .08.

If the police suspect that you are drunk, they can require you to take a breathalyzer or other test to measure your blood alcohol content. Refusal to take a test may result in an automatic suspension of your license for a long period of time, as much as six months or a year, depending upon the state.

You also can be convicted of drunk driving without the results of a blood alcohol test or if your blood alcohol test result is lower than the statutory amount. A jury may convict you based on evidence that your breath, conduct, language, and motor movements showed that you were drunk and unable to drive safely.

Keeping Holiday Drinking Under Control

It’s that time of year – your office holiday party, dinners with family to celebrate. So what harm can a little drinking do? More than most people ever imagine.

Drinking too much alcohol impairs judgment, which can lead to actions that put your health in jeopardy, including driving while drunk, going out in subfreezing temperatures improperly dressed or falling off a curb or down stairs.

The holidays can be enjoyed without drinking alcohol. But if you choose to drink, there are responsible ways to imbibe:

• Set a safe limit for yourself before you start drinking.
• Choose a designated driver—either a teetotaler or someone you can trust to stay sober.
• Give your car keys to an impartial person who won’t be drinking and give him or her permission to keep the keys if you seem incapable of driving.
• Prearrange a safe, alternative way to get home.
• Don’t drink on an empty stomach; eating something will slow alcohol’s absorption rate.
• Don’t drink when tired or taking medication.

If You’re Throwing a Party

As a party host, you could be liable if a guest drives away drunk. In the case of an office party, the company is liable. Whoever serves alcohol has some legal responsibility for the actions of those who drink too much, even after they leave. There are many ways to throw a great party, yet protect yourself and your guests from harm:

• Stay sober. The only way you can act responsibly is to preserve your own judgment.
• If you plan to drink at your own party, hire a professional bartender who is trained to recognize intoxicated people and stop them from driving.
• Serve nonalcoholic beer and wine, which are increasingly accepted alternatives to alcohol.
• Offer appealing options to liquor. Concoct a special nonalcoholic holiday punch or eggnog.
• Serve lots of unsalted food along with liquor. People busy eating won’t drink as much. Avoid salty foods, which make people thirsty.
• Never let guests mix their own drinks; you lose control of the quantity served.
• Stop serving alcohol an hour before the party ends to give guests time to sober up. Save something fun, such as gift exchanges, until last to keep guests from leaving early, when they are more intoxicated.
• Learn the signs of intoxication, which include slurred speech, aggressive or loud behavior, talkativeness, awkwardness, spilling drinks, fumbling and unsteadiness while standing.
• Do whatever is necessary to keep guests from driving drunk. Take away their keys. Make cab service available. Offer them a couch on which to sleep. Just don’t let someone who is drunk get behind the wheel, no matter how much he or she protests.

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Shop Safe

December is Safe Toys and Gifts Month

One of the neatest things about being a parent is that you get to pick out all sorts of fun toys for your children. But while that revives the child within us, it also should remind us that without our adult discretion, those joyful toys can pose a very real hazard to our children.

It may take some of the joy out of giving, but toy-related injuries send tens of thousands of adults and children to the emergency room each year. Most injuries occur when parents give their children toys meant for an older age group.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says a good toy should be safe for that child’s age, well-constructed and durable, appealing and interesting to the child, suited to the child’s physical capabilities and suited to the child’s mental and social development. Experts advise you to always supervise your children, and be cautious around:

• Toys with long strings.
• Toys with small, removable parts, sharp points or edges.
• Toys that make loud noises, like toy guns.
• Propelled toys—darts, projectiles.
• Electric toys—only give to children 8 and older.

So what’s left to give a kid? Try some of these age-appropriate toys:

• Infants to 1 year olds: activity quilts, stuffed animals without button noses and eyes, bath toys and squeaky toys.
• 1 to 2 years old: books, blocks, fit-together toys, balls, push-and-pull toys, pounding toys and shape toys.
• 2 to 5 years old: non-toxic art supplies, books, videos, musical instruments and outdoor toys like a baseball tee stand.
• 5 to 9 years old: bicycles, crafts, jump ropes, roller skates and sports equipment.
• 10 to 14 years old: computers, microscopes, board games and sports equipment.

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Healthy Holidays to You

Avoiding the Holiday Weight Gain

The average American gains four to seven pounds in the six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. This seemingly inevitable weight gain is avoidable; you can fend off added pounds during the holidays without becoming a dietary Scrooge. By making simple changes in your diet, you can enjoy many special holiday foods without gaining extra pounds.

Eat healthier foods low in fat and calories. You should also exercise regularly. Get 30 minutes of moderate exercise three to four times a week. A sedentary lifestyle is one of the major contributors to holiday weight gain.

Make simple changes

Many traditional holiday foods are loaded with fat and calories. To keep your weight manageable, substitute a lower-fat food. Or go ahead and eat a certain food you enjoy too much to give up, but conserve calories by having a little less of something that’s not as important to you.

Here are ways to cut fat from your holiday diet:

• Eat white-meat turkey, which has fewer calories and fat than dark meat. A 3-ounce serving of skinless turkey breast has 119 calories and 1 gram of fat. The same amount of dark meat has 142 calories and 5 grams of fat.
• Put gravy through a skimmer before serving, and you’ll cut the calories by 80 percent. That’s a substantial change: Holiday gravy that’s not skimmed contains 60 to 70 calories per tablespoon (a generous helping can add as many as 500 calories to your holiday dinner).
• Serve stuffing baked outside the turkey; it has half the calories of stuffing cooked inside the bird.
• Serve at least one item very low in calories and fat, such as a fresh fruit salad or steamed vegetables topped with lemon juice and herbs. A one-half cup serving of steamed green beans has only 15 calories and a trace of fat; a one-half cup serving of sautéed green beans has 50 calories and 6.6 grams of fat.
• Serve baked potatoes instead of candied sweet potatoes. A plain baked potato has 220 calories and just a trace of fat; one cup of candied sweet potatoes has 300 calories and 6 grams of fat.
• Don’t top vegetables with butter; instead, use nonfat yogurt, diet margarine or low-calorie sour cream. You’ll save an average of 100 calories and 10 grams of fat per tablespoon.
• Serve apple pie topped with vanilla frozen yogurt instead of pecan pie topped with whipped cream. Per slice, you’ll save 460 calories and 32 grams of fat.
• Substitute mustard for mayonnaise on your lunch-hour turkey sandwich. You’ll save 82 calories and 8 grams of fat.
• Pay attention to what you drink. Two mixed drinks can contain as much as 500 calories, one cup of eggnog, 380 calories. But two glasses of cider or white wine have only 300 calories.

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Avoiding Unhappy Holidays

Coping with Holiday Blues

The holidays are a time for tradition, for going home, and for sharing food, gifts, relaxation and good times with family and friends. At least, that’s how we all expect the holidays to be. The fact that they seldom are that way is what causes so much of the “holiday blues.” Add to that the demands on our time and money and it’s easy to see why the holidays can leave us feeling both stressed and depressed. Here are some tips for maintaining your sanity during the holidays.

Keep It Simple

Keep your expectations reasonable so you won’t feel let down. This includes your expectations of yourself. Avoid elaborate preparations that leave you exhausted or in debt. The holiday spirit is not about cooking the perfect meal or buying the perfect presents. If shopping is your biggest source of stress, try one or more of these approaches:

• Shop from home using mail-order catalogs, or shop online.
• Shop early or shop a little bit at a time.
• Set a time limit for holiday gift buying.
• Choose simple gifts.

Treat Yourself Right

Be kind to yourself, allowing some time for doing what you truly enjoy. Be reasonable about alcohol and rich foods. Try to get your usual amount of sleep.

Start Your Own Traditions

One source of holiday blues is the loss of meaning in many of our childhood traditions. Or perhaps families are too widely scattered to carry on family traditions. Start your own traditions that include people near you. In time, such traditions will become as cherished as those of your childhood.

Acknowledge Losses

Loss of a loved one, relationship or tradition is felt more intensely during holidays. Acknowledge the loss in some simple way, such as looking through a photo album. A holiday period following a loss is a good time to change traditions somewhat so that you’re less likely to compare this season with the ones before the loss.

Watch Out for Family Strife

Holidays are not good times for resolving family disputes or confronting relatives with grievances. If disputes arise during the holidays, agree on a time in the future to resolve them when emotions aren’t running as high.

Be a Volunteer

Volunteering your time is one holiday tradition that can be pursued even when family and friends are far away. Help out at a local service center or homeless shelter that offers holiday meals, or offer to drive seniors to shopping centers or holiday events.

Do Something After the Holidays

When the holiday rush is over, many people feel lost. Plan some activities for after the holidays. It gives you something to look forward to and provides a transition into the non-holiday mode. If, in spite of everything, holidays give you the blues, and you feel you are drifting into more serious depression, talk it over with a friend, counselor or spiritual advisor. It can make an enormous difference.

Holiday Spending

Keep Holiday Debt Under Control with a Solid Action Plan

Buying presents, flying cross-country to visit relatives, having special dinners and parties—consumers spend more money in the three months before New Year’s than at any other time of the year. In fact, retailers often make about half of their annual profit during this time, according to the National Retail Merchants’ Association.

Much of the buying will be done on credit. That’s not surprising, given that banks mail over three billion credit cards solicitations each year to American consumers. It’s also not too surprising, then, that many people get so carried away at the holidays that they can’t dig themselves out for months or even years.

To help keep your cheer intact before and after the holidays, here are a few tips on being generous without inviting disaster. If you want to save money, this is the time to make your resolutions—not after the New Year:

• Cut your gift list. The easiest way to reduce how much you spend during the holidays is to exchange gifts with fewer people than you have in the past. Be honest: Aren’t there a few people on your list that you question year after year? Make this the year you put an end to it. You might even talk to those people in advance and agree that, in the name of saving money and reducing stress, you won’t exchange gifts but will get together to do something you both enjoy.
• Find alternatives to purchased gifts. Maybe stopping cold turkey on a gift-exchange with certain people doesn’t feel right. But you don’t have to go overboard, and you certainly aren’t obligated to buy a gift. Granted, it’s a natural temptation, but try being creative with alternatives: homemade treats, a coupon for your services such as babysitting, pre-addressed and stamped envelopes so an older person can easily keep in touch, a family photo or a tax-deductible contribution to a charity are all thoughtful gifts sure to be appreciated.
• Make a budget. Once you’ve figured out who you still want to buy gifts for, you will do yourself a huge favor by determining your overall budget and having a general idea of how much you want—and can afford—to spend for each person. This will help you avoid the temptations and frustrations of last-minute impulse buying.
• Spend within your budget. Having a budget will be about as useful as melted ice on a hot day if you don’t stick to it. This takes tremendous discipline, and you may want to enlist help. Shopping with someone who can provide the voice of reason is the best way to keep from overspending.
• Look for good gifts that are also good buys. Learn about the features and options available on a particular product, especially expensive items such as cameras, video equipment, sporting goods, stereos and computers. Get specific product numbers before you shop around so you’re not comparing apples to oranges. Read up on different makes and models so you won’t be swayed by the more costly recommendations of zealous (and commission-hungry) salespeople.
• Once you’ve narrowed the field, look for bargains. Studies have shown major price variations—often 50% or more—in the same area for identical products, especially audio-video and computer equipment. Don’t assume that prices are always lower in catalogs or on television shopping channels, no matter what their ads claim.
• Know the store’s return policies before you buy. If what you thought was a perfect gift turns out to be a duplicate or doesn’t fit you’ll want the store to allow a return. Because sales help is often transient during the holiday season, and temporary employees may not be fully informed of store policies, ask the clerk to write the refund policy on the receipt. You’ll need to hold onto the receipt anyway in case you want to return the gift.
• Avoid buying unnecessary warranties. Many consumer products come with warranties, especially audio-video equipment and appliances. It may be worth the price to buy a more expensive model if it comes with an excellent performance guarantee.
• Keep records of all your purchases. To make sure you stay on track—and so you won’t be surprised by gigantic credit card bills after the New Year—keep all sales receipts.

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