There’s more to garages than
parking the SUV

By Lisa Bertagnoli

Earlier this month, Michael Grousd invited a few friends over to watch the NCAA basketball championship. He and his friends watched the game, enjoyed some snacks and smoked a few cigars.

Oddly enough, Grousd’s wife, Sue, didn’t mind the cigar smoke at all. That’s because the sports fans watched the game not in the family room of the couple’s Gurnee ranch house, but in Grousd’s clubhouse, which happens to be the third bay of their three-car garage.

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The goal of Cancer Control Month is to remind us of the various cancer risks we can control. Here are three things you can do.

1. See your doctor for a health review and summary of preventive tests that are suggested for your age group and gender. A colonoscopy, mammogram, or a PSA test may be among those recommended.

2. Get serious and follow the doctor's advice about general health issues such as weight control and diet.

3. Create a plan for exercise. If you don't exercise now, you only need 10 or 15 minutes a day to start. Make a point of putting activity into your life: walk up stairs; park farther away from work and the store; work in your yard. Get back to your favorite sport.

4. Put cancer-fighting foods into your diet. Nutritionists at Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans recommend the following:

• Bite into a delicious apple. Cut into chunks to use in salads or slices in sandwiches.
• Add berries to smoothies or top your breakfast cereal with them. Blueberries are highest in antioxidants.
• Artichokes have more antioxidants than any other vegetable. Chop an artichoke heart into tomato sauce or a green salad.
• Russet potatoes have the highest antioxidant count, but it's mostly in the skins. Eat them baked or in soups.
• Oregano, cinnamon, and cloves are all good cancer-fighting spices.
• Pecans have the highest antioxidant count. Crush and add them to chicken or fish before baking.
• Small red beans are best, but all dried beans fight free radicals.

Hybrids - Get the Car of the Future Today!

Popularity for the hybrid electric car is growing quickly thanks to the cleanliness of their fuel consumption, low emissions and great gas mileage. Even Hollywood gave hybrids a little push when several celebrities opted to arrive at the Oscars in a Toyota Prius rather than a stretch limo. Nearly all major manufacturers are turning out hybrid vehicles. Where there once were only small hybrids on the market, there are now luxury SUVs and family-sized minivans available. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has declared the Honda Civic GX to be the “greenest” hybrid on the market today. Also topping their hybrid list—the Toyota Prius and Toyota Corolla, along with the first SUV to be named among this top twelve—the Ford Escape Hybrid. Targeting families and long distance travelers, in 2006, manufacturers are expected to roll out hybrid versions of their most popular SUVs and minivans. Dodge will release its hybrid version of the popular Caravan, and Lexus will roll out a luxury SUV this month. Along with its luxury Lexus, Toyota is planning a hybrid version of the Highlander, one of their more popular luxury SUVs. Continue...