Grooming Parlour: What’s your Problem?

Find the cures to all your grooming issues. No matter how much you lather, rinse, and repeat, there are some grooming problems that never seem to go away. But now you can fix them for good: Our partners at Men’s Health Magazine researched the latest products to find the best ones available. From pimples and bad breath to dry scalp and razor burn, here’s what you need to resolve all your embarrassing issues. One shower, and you’ll look like a new man.

Click on a Problem Area to Find Your Solution & Start HERE

Grooming Solutions: Start Here

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PROBLEM: Puffy Eyes and Dark Circles | SOLUTION: Kiehl's Eye Alert

Whether it's a long night or long flight, the sensitive skin around the eyes can be a dead giveaway that you didn't get enough sleep. This solution has a supercharged blend of caffeine and Vitamin E to combat dark circles and puffiness, as well as alfalfa extracts to hydrate the skin. Use it in the morning and evening. ($27, Kiehls.com)

PROBLEM:Puffy Eyes and Dark Circles | SOLUTION:Lab Series Skincare for Men Age Rescue Eye Therapy

This oil-free gel-cream is packed with natural ingredients such as grape and mulberry extract, which even skin tone, and green tea and cucumber extract, which reduce puffiness. Tip: Apply eye creams with your finger (the weakest of your digits) to prevent unnecessary pressure in this delicate area of your face. ($26, labseries.com)

PROBLEM: Wrinkles | SOLUTION: MD Skincare Alpha Beta Daily Face Peel

Loaded with alpha and beta hydroxy acids and vitamins A, C, and E, this two-step system is a cure-all to an assortment of skincare concerns - from fine lines and wrinkles to breakouts and rosacea. After use, you'll notice a tightening feeling and fresh-looking skin. It's also available individually packaged - perfect for travel or gym bags. ($80 for 30 applications, mdskincare.com)

PROBLEM: Wrinkles | SOLUTION: Anthony Logistics for Men Vitamin A Facial Treatment

A powerful dose of vitamin A combined with natural ingredients including carrot root, squalane, and shea butter, this product will help fight the signs of aging as well as smooth and moisturize skin. Tip: Use at night to help skin cells regenerate while you snooze. ($35, anthony.com)

Kiehl’s Eye Alert | Customer Review (click to open)

Lab Series Age Rescue Eye Therapy Formula | Customer Review (click to open)

MD Skincare Alpha Beta Daily Face Peel | Customer Reviews (click to open)

Anthony Logistics for Men Vitamin A Facial Treatment | Customer Reviews (click to open)

Click on a Problem Area to Find Your Solution & Start HERE

Grooming Solutions: Start Here

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PROBLEM: Huge Pores | SOLUTION: Sonya Dakar Pore Minimizer

Say goodbye to enlarged pores and a slick T-zone with this treatment. Organic silicone and silica reduce pore size, while antioxidants such as organic acai purify and minimize oil production. Tip: Apply this product after your moisturizer, focusing on the forehead and nose region. ($38, sonyadakar.com)

PROBLEM: Huge Pores | SOLUTION: The Art of Shaving After-Shave Mask

This mineral clay mask effectively tightens pores and soothes skin after shaving. It provides relief from razor burn, ingrown hairs, and skin irritations with essential oils and natural ingredients including calendula, almond, and jojoba oils. The set includes eight individual vials, perfect to toss into your dopp kit when traveling. ($50, theartofshaving.com)

PROBLEM: Oily Skin | SOLUTION: Lab Series Oil Skincare for Men Oil Control Towelettes

Men produce more oil than women, and consequently have shinier skin that needs attention. Ideal for normal and oily skin, these one-step wipes eliminate excess oil and pore-clogging sebum as well as freshen, tone, and tighten pores. Keep them in your gym bag or desk drawer for a quick, on-the-spot-touch-up. ($15 for 30 towelettes, labseries.com)

PROBLEM: Oily Skin | SOLUTION: Jack Black Deep Detox Clay Mask/Spot Treatment

This treatment is packed with natural ingredients to cleanse the skin. Kaolin and bentonite clays unclog pores, white tea and sea kelp extract dirt and grime, and witch hazel helps minimize oil for a fresh, healthy glow. Tip: Allow the mask to dry on your face for 10 minutes. It can also be used as a spot treatment for minor breakouts. ($25, getjackblack.com)

Men’s Fragrances at macy’s

Doctors, Scientists & Experts in the Field Believe Stop Aging Now Vitamins & Supplements are the Key to Living Long & Well

Top Men’s Grooming Products

What is anorexia? More than just a ‘fashion fad’ or a ‘diet gone wrong’

“I don’t let anyone’s insecurities, emotions, or opinions bother me. I know that if I am happy, that’s all that matters to me. And it’s okay to be selfish like that sometimes, when it comes to your well-being. Do what makes you happy, and don’t care what others think.”-Demi Lovato…The usual line is that young girls have their heads turned by images of celebrities with limbs like toothpicks, and they try to copy them because they want to be pretty and popular – so all we need to do is crack down on airbrushing in advertising, and the epidemic of self-starvation will be checked. Unfortunately, there is far more to anorexia than “size zero”.

Anorexia nervosa, the deadliest of all mental illnesses, is still monumentally misunderstood by the medical establishment and the public at large. It is wrongly assumed that most people who compulsively starve themselves are white, middle-class women in their late teens and early 20s, frivolously pursuing “diets that get out of hand”. But eating disorders are not just about wanting to look fashionably thin. They are a physiological manifestation of deep psychological pain, a way of asserting control over an adult world that feels out of control by punishing the body and shrinking the self, at terrible cost.

Who is affected by eating disorders?

Eating disorders can and do affect anyone. Although teenage girls are most at risk, anorexia – along with bulimia nervosa and other dangerous eating disorders with which the press is currently rather less morbidly fascinated – has claimed the lives of children and pensioners, high-flying professionals and the unemployed, lesbians and gay men, straight men and boys. It is estimated that 10% of people with anorexia are male. The notion that the disorder is merely an occupational hazard of staring too hard at fashion magazines is wearing thin.

When I first developed anorexia at age 12, I didn’t care about celebrities. I stopped eating because I was desperately unhappy and wanted to disappear. It was only much later that I started reading glossy magazines, which I found full of approving articles describing the starvation diets reputedly pursued by successful women in the public eye. Eventually, I managed to get treatment and made a full recovery, but many are not so lucky.

Anorexia treatment is poorly funded and poorly understood

The statistics for hospital admission are horrifying, but they mask the sheer scale of the problem. This week’s figures, including almost a hundred admissions for anorexia in children under eight, are known to be low estimates, and anorexia is so poorly diagnosed that many sufferers are never treated at all. Those who do make it to hospital often find that waiting lists for decent inpatient treatment are months long. Meanwhile, some doctors are getting it dangerously wrong. Many GPs still refuse to treat sufferers who do not display the “diagnostic criterion” of amenorrhoea – being so underweight that your periods stop – which hardly helps people with anorexia who are too young to menstruate, who have gone through menopause or who never had a uterus in the first place.more details

Why ‘size zero’ isn’t the problem

Articles about “size zero” illustrated with pictures of glamorous, rail-thin celebrities and models whose ribs are countable through their couture dresses may have the shock factor, but they do nothing to help anorexics and their families. The real problem is not “size zero”. The real problem is that we live in a neurotic, miserable society with a deeply disturbed attitude to food, nurture and consumption, a society which teaches children, and particularly girls, that their growing bodies and normal desires are unacceptable and must be starved away. If we want to help people with anorexia, we need to improve diagnosis and provide more funding for inpatient treatment. And if we want to stop our kids starving themselves, it’s not enough to deliver a few pep-talks about body image.

No. 10 University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban has installed a winning mentality on his squad, but the football team isn’t the only group of winners on campus. True, with one of the most successful athletic programs in the country, it’s easy for students to fall into a cycle of tailgating. But through the CampusDish program, students can get nutritional info and cooking tips online. Several Twitter feeds —like @bamadining— dole out even more healthy eating advice. The campus bike program offers students the chance to pedal to their next class and a state of-the-art fitness center features a climbing wall and indoor and outdoor pools. The staff offers body comp and movement tests, as well as personal training. There are 119 cardio machines and 100 strength-training machines, so you probably won’t have to wait long for an elliptical.more details

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No. 9 University of Nebraska Lincoln, NE

The world knows the University of Nebraska as the home of the Huskers, one of the most storied programs in the history of college football. But life on the university’s Lincoln campus doesn’t just revolve around game day. The faculty and coaches preach a philosophy of total health and wellness, and at Nebraska, that means balance. Besides standard access to the university’s gyms and athletic fields, students can take free yoga, spin and Pilates classes or visit the squash and volleyball courts and the rifle range. Steeply discounted massage therapy and personal-training sessions are also available. Athletes keep strong with a world-renowned strength and conditioning facility and an orthopedic therapy center that would rival any state-of-the-art clinic out in the real world. Nebraska’s sports nutrition program takes its student-athletes a step further with one-on-one meal design provided by in-house nutritionists.more details
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N0. 8 University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN

It’s called the Land of 10,000 Lakes for a reason, and students have easy access to skiing, lakes, beaches, hiking and mountain biking. Students at UM can register for outdoor recreation trips, which range from kayaking to cross country skiing to a five-day hike of Paria Canyon in Arizona. If you’re looking to lift weights, shoot some hoops, or take a class, UM is home to two on-campus gyms, the Minnesota University Recreation Center as well as the St. Paul Gymnasium. Students can also get their fitness level assessed using an on-campus Bod-Pod. Those looking for a more challenging workout can sign up for the Tri-U-Mah! on-campus triathlon, which actually takes place indoors. The race consists of a 30-minute swim, stationary bike ride and treadmill run. The event has both team and individual races, with the winner being determined by total distance traveled. more details
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No. 7 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

If you’re into intramural and club sports, all the usual suspects are present here, as well as underwater hockey, waterskiing, wakeboarding and a club marathon team for running nuts. You could even take a stab at UNC intramurals’ very own student football combine. There are numerous holiday-themed runs, eight different walking and cycling routes around campus, more than 5,000 square feet of indoor climbing and a Challenge Course located just a few miles from campus. And if you happen to frequent any of the many outdoor dormitory basketball courts, be on the lookout for the Tar Heels’ top basketball stars. Last spring, freshman phenom Harrison Barnes & Co. challenged students to pickup games (and will likely do so again). more details
University of North Carolina Merchandise

No. 6 Syracuse University Syracuse, NY

Never mind that Syracuse receives the most annual snowfall of all the schools we surveyed. Students don’t just hibernate, they also practice aikido and judo, play cricket on the Quad walkways and shoot hoops inside Archbold Gymnasium (sometimes against SU football and basketball athletes, who frequently stop by). If you want to shred the ice, the new Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion is free and bobsledding and skeleton at Lake Placid is a day trip away.more details
Syracuse University Merchandise

Top Tailgating Schools (click to open)

The Best of the Rest Here is the breakdown from 25 to 11

• 25. Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL)
• 24. University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)
• 23. University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA)
• 22. University of Illinois (Urbana, IL)
• 21. University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
• 20. University of Delaware (Newark, DE)
• 19. University of Georgia (Athens, GA)
• 18. University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
• 17. Iowa State University (Ames, IA)
• 16. University of Massachusetts (Amherst)
• 15. Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK)
• 14. Penn State (University Park, PA)
• 13. University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI)
• 12. University of Florida (Gainesville, FL)
• 11. Stanford University (Stanford, CA)

No. 5 University of Texas, Austin, TX

Everything’s big in Texas—except for maybe the students themselves, thanks to the Fitness Institute of Texas (FIT), which provides individualized assessments. Eight fitness and rec facilities offer Longhorns everything from dodge-ball to indoor soccer. The school’s Fitness/Wellness program has a host of group activities, such as cycling classes and small-group personal training. The campus’s Stark Center houses an extensive research library on weightlifting and conditioning and a museum named after Men’s Fitness co-founder Joe Weider and his wife, Betty.more details
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No. 4 Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

This is Hoosiers hoops country, so it’s no surprise that the campus has 15 basketball courts. Every April, IU holds the Little 500—the country’s largest collegiate bike race—which raises money for working students’ scholarships. Club sports range from table tennis to Taekwondo. There are two full size gyms, one with an Olympic size swimming pool, the other with 12 racquetball courts. An online NetNutrition plan helps students plan their meals—it even factors in allergy restrictions. IU also holds the annual Midwest Fit Fest, a conference at which students and staff can learn all sorts of fitness techniques. And portly professors can slim down with the summer-long Step Into Fitness program.more details
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No. 3 Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

The largest of MSU’s four gyms is Intramural Center West—a 175,600-square-foot behemoth of a facility that features seven basketball courts, four volleyball courts and three squash courts. MSU offers classes like kickboxing, yoga and cycling; more than 20 competitive club sports; and access to sailing and a self defense center. Lake Lansing is a quick 15-minute drive away, with additional hiking trails, kayaking and rowing classes. MSU mascot Sparty the Spartan doesn’t get any points for name originality, but he does have two tickets to the gun show.more details
Michigan State University Merchandise

How We Ranked the 25 Fittest Colleges in America (click to open)

No. 2 University of California- Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

UCLA certainly breeds fit competitors—the Bruins have won the most NCAA team championships of any school (107). The FitWell program hooks up students and faculty members with the classes, education and facilities they need to attain their fitness goals. The on-campus gym is open 24 hours from Mon day to Thursday and boasts certified personal trainers, four exercise studios and three basketball courts. The Student Nutrition & Body Image awareness campaign helps promote the proper way to lose, gain and maintain weight healthily. Off campus, students have access to more than a dozen challenging hikes, all within six miles, as well as the Marine Aquatic Center, where students can kayak, row, surf, or windsurf. Legendary Muscle Beach is located just 20 minutes away in nearby Venice, and during the winter, students can travel a few hours north to ski some of Cali’s snow capped peaks.more details
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No. 1 Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Why so fit? For starters, OSU scored a near-perfect 99.6 out of 101 for the Fitness Index (for more details on our methodology, see “How We Ranked ’Em”). Troubled football team aside, there’s nothing “improper” about the fit benefits offered here: four rec centers, a tennis center and even a skate park, all named after Buckeyes alum Jesse Owens. To boot, its nationally recognized Recreation and Physical Activity Center offers up all equipment imaginable, including video-game virtual fitness options at “The Lounge.” More outdoorsy? Hit up the ice-climbing wall, take up wake boarding, or rent a canoe and paddle or snowshoes for the day. And if you’re a part of the school’s K1 kickboxing team and/or love lifting, immerse yourself in the Columbus MMA and strongman hub. The world-renowned Arnold Sports Festival in March offers up amateur bodybuilding contests, along with participation in CrossFit, fencing, skateboarding, martial arts, arm wrestling and Ping-Pong. That’s right, Ping-Pong.more details
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Robert Downey Jr Got Ripped as Tony Stark in Iron Man 2! Using This Workout

Say goodbye to expensive home gym contraptions and cardio machines and get ready to lose body fat in the comfort of your own home with only a KETTLEBELL!!!

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Barneys New York celebrated the U.S. launch of the Italian menswear label Piombo last night with Massimo Piombo, the label’s new poster boy Max Snow, and the stylist Robert Rabensteiner. “I can’t imagine why they would ask me because I’m the least stylish person I know,” Snow told Style.com. “Everything [in my closet] is black.” Color, for those of you not in the know, is a signature part of the Piombo look, but then again, so are artists. “Normally, we work with people like Nan Goldin, so this time we chose a young artist like Max,” Piombo said of the Olivier Zahm-lensed ad campaign. Zahm himself couldn’t make it to the celebrations, but there was no shortage of revelers at the private dinner hosted at the downtown penthouse of Barneys’ Mark Lee afterward.

A few blocks away from Barneys, Uniqlo was on fire. As piercing alarms sounded on all three floors of the new Fifth Avenue flagship, thick crowds parted for a squad of firemen. Uniqlo fashion director Nicola Formichetti, who was standing near the exit downstairs, wasn’t worried. “I’m obsessed with pop-ups now,” he said, referring to his recent BOFFO project. “I’ve been talking with Tadashi [Yanai, Fast Retailing's founder] about doing a shop-in-shop here.” When the fire turned out to be a false alarm, festivities, including a traditional sake barrel breaking and a performance by Santigold, resumed. A dinner at the Monkey Bar followed. Brand campaign girl Susan Sarandon was there singing Uniqlo’s mantra: “Clothes for everyone at a reasonable price, in good quality—that’s important in this economy.”
—Kristin Studeman
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Finger Food for Babies & Toddlers: Delicious Nutritious Food for Little Hands to Hold

Faced with a perpetual mealtime battle with her baby Millie, Jennie Maizels discovered it wasn’t that Millie did not want eat, she just didn’t want to be spoon-fed by anyone else.

Faced with this independence, Jennie Maizels was forced to dream up ideas for foods that Millie could hold, like a mini pizza or a rice ball, until she was able to feed herself, and life became simple again. But all babies go through a stage when finger-held foods are the best way to feed them. Jenny Maizels has come up with a beautifully illustrated book using a wide range of healthy ingredients, cooked and uncooked, hot and cold, savory and sweet.

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Through claims and court cases, those with severe cases of anorexia or bulimia are fighting insurers to pay for stays in residential eating disorder treatment centers, arguing that the centers offer around-the-clock monitoring so that patients do not forgo eating or purge their meals.

But in the last few years, some insurance companies have re-emphasized that they do not cover residential treatment for eating disorders or other mental or emotional conditions. The insurers consider residential treatments not only costly — sometimes reaching more than $1,000 a day — but unproven and more akin to education than to medicine. Even some doctors who treat eating disorders concede there are few studies proving that residential care is effective, although they believe it has value.

“We’ve seen an increase in denials”…“We’ve seen an increase in denials,” said Kathleen MacDonald, education and prevention coordinator for the Gail R. Schoenbach FREED Foundation, an advocacy group for those with eating disorders. “Now, I go to bed every night and I can’t answer all the e-mails I get. It’s heartbreaking.”Now, I go to bed every night and I can’t answer all the e-mails I get. It’s heartbreaking…

Both sides are closely watching the consequences of a major decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which ruled in August that insurers in California must pay for residential treatment for eating disorders and other serious mental illnesses under the state’s mental health parity law.

In the last decade or so, many states enacted similar laws, and, in 2008, so did the federal government. The laws generally require that coverage for mental and behavioral disorders be equivalent to that for physical ailments like diabetes or a broken bone.

But equivalence, or parity, can be tricky to define, and the appeals court ruling is one of the first by a high federal court to interpret the concept.

Blue Shield of California, the defendant in the lawsuit, is already seeking to have the case reheard, arguing that the decision could force insurers to pay for unlimited amounts of treatment, raising insurance costs.

While the ruling applies only to California’s law, some experts think it will influence courts, state agencies and insurers elsewhere.

“You’ll see it bleed over,” said Scott Petersen, a lawyer in Salt Lake City who often represents insurance companies in parity cases.

In New Jersey, Aetna, Horizon and Claim form have agreed to end limits on the number of days of residential treatment they will cover for eating disorders, according to Bruce Nagel, a lawyer who sued the insurers under the state’s parity law.

The Parity Implementation Coalition, a group monitoring the federal parity law, has filed about 150 complaints about possible violations, according to Dr. Henry Harbin, a psychiatrist and adviser to the group. Some cases involve denial for residential treatment for substance abuse or mental illnesses by plans offered by companies like Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola Bottling.

An estimated 11 million Americans, mostly young women, suffer from eating disorders, the most serious being anorexia nervosa, in which people starve themselves, and bulimia nervosa, in which they engage in binge eating followed by purging. These disorders, particularly anorexia, have the highest fatality rate of any psychiatric disorder.

The advocates for those with eating disorders, who often cooperate or get financing from residential treatment centers, estimate there are about 75 such facilities for those specific illnesses, and many others for substance abuse and for emotionally or psychologically disturbed children.

Sam Menaged, founder and president of the Renfrew Center, which is based in Philadelphia and is one of the oldest and largest residential treatment centers for eating disorders, said only 60 percent of insurers covered the therapy and that hundreds of people were turned away from Renfrew each year.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield plan for federal employees added language to policies at the beginning of this year specifying that residential treatment for any condition would not be covered. Two months later, citing that change in policy, the Remuda Ranch closed its eastern center for eating disorders, which was in Milford, Va.

Executives at the federal plan said that residential treatment had never been covered and that the new language merely made that more explicit.

Yet Samantha Ascanio, 23, of Gaithersburg, Md., said the plan had covered her four previous stays at a residential center but denied payment this year. She instead enrolled in outpatient programs that lasted more than six months.

Most plans offered to California state employees also added language this year clarifying that residential treatment was not covered.

Advocates and some doctors who treat eating disorders say that hospitalization, which insurers typically cover, might stabilize a patient and restore weight but does not generally treat the underlying psychological issues. Outpatient treatment, which might also be covered, does provide counseling but not round the clock. Residential treatment, they say, occupies a vital niche between those two.

“I don’t think I would be alive today if I hadn’t gone there”…“I don’t think I would be alive today if I hadn’t gone there,” said Jeanene Harlick, who was the plaintiff in the recent California case.

Ms. Harlick, who is 37 and lives in San Mateo, Calif., stayed at the Castlewood Treatment Center in St. Louis from April 2006 through January 2007 to treat her anorexia. She was 35 percent below her ideal weight when she checked in and, within a month, needed a feeding tube.

With Blue Shield declining to pay, Ms. Harlick’s parents borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars against their home.

Residential treatment can cost from hundreds of dollars to well over $1,000 a day, and even though a daily rate is generally lower than a hospital’s, patients often stay much longer — for weeks or months. Insurers also say that few standards exist for these types of centers.

“There’s a wide variation in licensing across the country,” said Jena L. Estes, vice president for the federal employee program at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. “There’s a lack of oversight of many of those residential treatment centers.”“There’s a lack of oversight of many of those residential treatment centers”…

Ira Burnim, legal director of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, which litigates for better mental health treatments, said that while he was not familiar with eating disorders, “study after study” had shown that residential centers for other mental or emotional disorders were not as effective as treatment at home.

Dr Anne E. Becker, president of the Academy of Eating Disorders and director of the eating disorders program at Massachusetts General Hospital, said that despite a paucity of studies, “There’s no question that residential treatment is life-saving for some patients.”

Some insurers say that there is no treatment for physical illnesses that is equivalent to residential treatment for mental illnesses, and therefore residential treatment does not have to be paid for under parity laws.

Ms. Harlick’s lawyer, Lisa S. Kantor, argued that residential treatment centers were equivalent to skilled nursing facilities, which Blue Shield did cover.

Adam Pines, a lawyer for Blue Shield, countered that residential treatment was more akin to assisted living, which the insurer did not cover.

The Ninth Circuit Appeals judges, based in San Francisco, ruled that residential treatment was medically necessary for eating disorders, and therefore had to be covered under the state’s parity law, even if no exact equivalent existed on the physical disease side.

“Some medically necessary treatments for severe mental illness have no analog in treatments for physical illnesses,” the three-judge panel wrote. “For example, it makes no sense in a case such as Harlick’s to pay for 100 days in a skilled nursing facility — which cannot effectively treat her anorexia nervosa — but not to pay for time in a residential treatment facility that specializes in treating eating disorders.”

In Blue Shield’s request for a rehearing, it argued that the decision would require insurers to pay for treatment of mental conditions “without substantive limits.” That would mean better coverage for mental illnesses than for physical illnesses, which would be inconsistent with parity, the company said, adding that it would also increase costs “to the point where some employers may simply forgo offering plans to their employees.” Even if policies cover residential treatment, an insurer could still deny reimbursement on the ground that the treatment is not medically necessary for a particular patient.

Katie Bird of St. Paul sought residential treatment last year, saying she had been exercising vigorously while consuming no more than a single hot chocolate on some days. As a result, she said, she experienced heart palpitations and frequently passed out while trying to care for her 3-year-old daughter.

She said her insurer, United Behavioral Health, would not pay the $200,000 it cost for her four months of residential treatment because her weight was not low enough. She sued and reached a confidential settlement.

It is still unclear how much money Ms. Harlick and her parents will recover from Blue Shield.

Ms. Harlick, who lost her job and insurance and is now on disability while studying social work in graduate school, said she hoped the court decision would show people that eating disorders were not just matters of weight and appearance, but serious diseases.

“I just feel like this ruling gives a little more legitimacy to the reality of what this illness is,” she said.

They almost divided this country, ripping it from the desolate foundations it had been built upon.

They shook the foundations of the Constitution, challenged the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, and changed the procedures of the criminal justice system.

They showed that they could rip through a four-foot-thick curtain called hate, and tear open the walls that separated the races over 50 years ago, proving once again that, “All men are created equal.”

They never cease to reveal the strength of this nation, when faced with someone who wants to destroy it. They are the single greatest weapon, yet very few hold the power to control them.

Though the true secret of greatness, they are the cause of more destruction than the unleashing a contained blaze.

And what are they? They are our words and these words are the language that we use to speak and to communicate. Sometimes they communicate more than we wanted to say and sometimes there is something lost between the communication of those words. Without realizing it, every word that is spoken breathes. In seconds, it can wound more deeply than merely piercing the flesh – it can scar the soul. If lucky, that wound will not burrow further and kill its victim’s soul. Headlines continue to prove all the destruction that words can un-cage, and once they are on the prowl, they become hard to lure, trap, and cage again.

Eyes have witnessed them do more damage than the results of nuclear fission.

They have been known to pierce the heart with a knife of pain. They can part the sea of hate, bring down its walls using a single brick, yet each day twice as many walls seal it in to simmer.

They can unleash the power of hell with a single command, yet the strength from the oppressed is hardly ever mentioned.

They empower those who are strong, and leave the weak powerless still.

They evoke violence and sustain the force of a riot.

They can tear down walls with truth, and rebuild them with lies.

They stir a kettle of hate, making its soup seem sweet, but its aftertaste sour.

They spew anger and hatred, etch it on one’s brain, then fire a loaded pistol of spite.

They create fickle crowds and control them like a puppeteer.

They are more vicious than Eminem’s lyrics, relentlessly attacking without any forewarning.

Sharper than any double-edged sword, they can spear the soul being of a man and produce it on a stick.

They result in stored up emotions, which are stored in a sealed and unseen closet that explodes when full, causing a severity of damage one cannot even begin to describe.

They can produce a deafening silence in a building more crowded than The New York Stock Exchange, echo through its stillness, creep between the cracks of its walls and stun like a cattle prod – all from one person with a mission who dared to step up.

They are comprised of more angles than a diamond is capable of having.They are able to wage war quicker than the Arabs and the Jews.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt said,“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”… People seem to focus on fear, instead of seeking to overcome it. Fear is a superstition emotion that must be created by something else – as in words. However, humorously enough, it is ironic that the words that entangle one in fear come from the same place where strength is formed and kept until it perceives a command for necessity.

Unfortunately, these words know terror as well as a mother knows her own child.

They know of the self-destruction fear brings, and disguise it as candy on a stick, ready to chain the hands of any individual who falls as prey to its trap.

With a single thought, they can create an atmosphere of fear that could bring nations to their knees.

They can send a chill of ice down one’s spine, and make this world comprised of reality fall away.

Words of fear prowl like a lion searching the weak and insecure, for they know and hate the strength of opposition, because it gives them no hope to prevail.

The victorious know that the very words, which can consume one with utmost fear, never cease to stare it straight in the eyes with powerful words of strength, in order to challenge, conquer, and overcome it, for there is another fear – fear of self.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, one of many great American poets, said:“Hope is the thing with feathers — that perches in the soul — And sings the tune without words — and never stops, at all.”…

Even if one can’t see it at first, no matter what, hope always prevails. It provides the encouragement that even if the battle was lost; the war will still be won.

They have the power to calm, part the sea of despair, and wash over hurt with a wave of comfort.

They can heal a broken heart with a single breath, and seal an oath forever.

They are of more value than the oil supply of the United States of America, sometimes costing an arm and a leg, and at times – everything or nothing.Their mercy soars on the wings of an eagle, blessing those who need it with the swiftness of a cheetah, and before its source is found, the eagle is gone.

They provide hope for an unknown future, and give endurance to face tomorrow.

They endlessly display evidence that dictates how year after year, there is nothing that has been thrown at one of the most powerful countries in the world, the United States of America – this great nation – that has not made it stronger.

They prove that when the chips are down, the ropes are tied, and one’s back is up against the wall, their whisper gives that one person the strength to break through those ropes that bind them, in order to make them persevere harder.

They work with actions to determine character, yet never cease to define one’s personality.

They can dry one’s tears quicker than the desert can evaporate the rain.They can coo and soothe, like a mother comforts her crying child to sleep.They can bring love and forgiveness when the world around them said there was none.

They make one feel that not all is lost when the last soldier falls.When they cause one to fall, haunt one’s every inch of peace, and only feed a fire of self-criticism, they suddenly become someone disguised as an angel, who offers them a helping hand and encourages the individual to get back up on their feet.

They become that last thread of hope one holds on to, and although everybody else said that all was lost, within seconds that thread becomes an entire spool.

They never forget to let one know that if the person will bring the shovel, God will move the mountain.

Words can be so little, yet cost so much more than intended. They steal, kill, hurt, love, comfort, emit fear, motivate, strengthen, weaken, and hate, all at the same time. They tear down walls, build bridges, kill with hate, comfort with love, and cause fear. They can overcome fear, steal our self-worth, kill the soul, wrap their loving arms around the helpless, and show mercy to the merciless. They aspire one to achieve success, because there is no greater feeling than knowing that you have overcome all of the obstacles thrown in your path, for when you were confronted by them, you only leaped higher.

The secret of greatness is said to be many things. Some say that it means money, power, an executive position, and while this all may be true, there is one thing that people often miss – the words, that these people speak, or chose not to speak. That CEO position for a company or a seat on the Board of Directors or even being voted as District Attorney was not offered to an individual the second that they walked through the door. They had to prove worthy and prove that their words were not hollow and empty, but stronger than steel. Their words had power.

Always remember to speak as if these words were your last, talk as if this was your last breath, and communicate as if this was your last hour. Make sure that your words never cease to leave a powerful impact on those you come in contact to. Words create the stories that are told… make certain that your words leave behind an unforgettable tale.

This Is Herman Cain!: My Journey to the White House