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Gel bras as an alternative to surgery
By Billy Jones 

Some women have smaller breasts than others, this is fine, but for some women they want to enhance their bust. Some women consider surgery as an option but what they don't know is that a wonderful alternative to surgery is gel bras. These provide the appearance of bigger breasts without the cost, worry, risks and other side effects of surgery and at a fraction of the cost. 

The gel and double gel swimsuits and bras give the look and feel of larger breasts but can be taken out at the end of the day. They are built into the items so there is no "chicken fillet" style cushions of fall out or remove at embarrassing moments. 

There are many sites which sell similar products, but one of the biggest that has gained media attention is max cleavage, run by a women who went through similar issues and battled to find a way to improve her situation without resorting to surgery and sparked a trend of gel and cushion bras and swimwear. 

The idea for max cleavages site was thought up in 2000 after she watched a documentary about a 14 year old girl saving for breast enlargement surgery. The owner of the site had considered surgery herself, and as such she knew there had to be another way. Despite surgery providing a solution, The site owner felt that the risks of surgery far outweighed the benefits. And so she began to embark upon research of her own on alternatives that were pain free and didn't have any associated risks. 

There are many problems that breast surgery can present. Breast implants can have to be replaced after 7 years and as well as that it can be hard to monitor the health of the breast whilst implants are in place which is never good. The cost is several thousands of pounds and there is no guarantee that your body will accept them. They also need to be removed and replaced every few years which can add up in cost as well as adding to the risks and dangers of surgery, which might be undergone every few years, doing the operation once is risky enough but do you want to put yourself through this risk over and over again. Gel bras can be worn and taken off with no damage or risk to you and can be worn at your convenience, you don’t even have the embarrassing problem that you get with chicken fillets where you have to find a sneaky time to remove the plastic inflatable chicken fillets before the guy you're with notices them stuffed down your top or in your bra. It really does make a massive difference with zero risk whatsoever. 

The many gel products available offer the same benefits as surgery but without the pain, risks or expense. Silicone enhancers come in many different shapes and sizes there are also gel, liquid, foam and air filled bras that provide a much fuller shape and enhanced cleavage so finding one that suits you is easy and cheap and risk free so it’s well worth looking around for one that you like and suits your body shape best 

Surely these provide a much better solution than surgery, and can enhance a women’s body image without the risks. We can only hope more women discover this alternative to surgery and consider it as an option before they undo surgery.

10 Lesser-Known Self-Help Strategies for Anxiety
By Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S.

Anxiety can be both a blessing and a curse. A little bit of anxiety can give us a nudge, elbowing us forward to accomplish our goals. Too much anxiety can be debilitating, paralyzing progress, inciting "panic"panic and forcing individuals to focus on a flurry of negative, doom-filled thoughts. And it becomes a cycle of thoughts, panic and anxiety.

Such severe anxiety affects about 19 percent of Americans. In fact, anxiety disorders are the most common of psychological disorders. But, whether you suffer from a diagnosable disorder or experience anxiety occasionally, anxiety can still wreak havoc on your self-image and daily life. Here are 10 not-so obvious strategies that can help.

Consider how anxiety affects your life. “Three of the most common characteristics of someone with an anxiety disorder are perfectionism, relying on others for approval and need for control,” according to John Tsilimparis, MFT, director of the Anxiety and Panic Disorder Center of Los Angeles and one of the therapists on A&E’s Obsessed, a show about severe anxiety disorders. Tsilimparis helps his clients explore how these three things affect their lives and what areas of their lives they apply to.

Set up some structure. Idle time often leads to over thinking and over magnifying, Tsilimparis said. In other words, if you aren’t stimulated or busy, you’re apt to zero in on trivial things and obsess over them. So he helps his clients develop daily logs to plan out their days and include healthy activities.

Tackle distorted thoughts. You might not realize just how much thoughts can feed anxiety. Black-and-white, all-or-nothing thinking is one example: You see yourself as being successful at 100 percent – and a total failure at 98. Your level of perfectionism defines your self-worth, Tsilimparis said.

Also, people who struggle with anxiety tend to talk in absolutes, using words such as always, never, should, must, no one and everyone, Tsilimparis said. “’Should’ implies that there’s a right way to do things, a manual on how to do life. It doesn’t exist,” he said. With the exception of obeying the law and not willfully harming another person, everything in life is negotiable, Tsilimparis said.

So those rigid thoughts are unrealistic. So are insecure thoughts that constantly raise questions such as “what if?” Fortunately, you can change these thoughts.

“You cannot be anxious if you don’t allow insecurity-driven thinking to steer your life,” said Joseph Luciani, Ph.D, clinical psychologist and author of Self-Coaching: The Powerful Program to Beat Anxiety and Depression.

Think of your thoughts as a wheel, Luciani said. “If you turn this wheel, you generate sparks – sparks of anxiety, ‘What if I fail?’ ‘What if I get sick?’ If you stop turning the wheel…the insecurity-driven thoughts stop.”

Identify these distorted thoughts and consider how much stress they cause you, Tsilimparis said. Then, try to replace the thoughts with something more balanced. Keep practicing; over time, the balanced thoughts become automatic.

Relinquish control. Many of us try to control life in an attempt to feel less vulnerable and insecure, according to Luciani. We’re insecure about our own abilities to “handle life now, as it unfolds, moment to moment,” he said. But trying to control life isn’t natural, and bracing yourself for potential danger creates both psychological and physiological stress, which only depletes us and leads to anxiety, Luciani said. So the key is to realize and accept that you can’t control life.

Revise your reactions. While we can’t control the world, we can control our reaction to it, Tsilimparis said. “It’s empowering to realize that you don’t have to be a victim of life, the world and the 405 highway (in California).” Realize that you’re responsible for your happiness and your life. You can change yourself.

Trust yourself. “Self-trust is the ability to believe that you can handle what life throws at you,” Luciani said. Trusting yourself means dismantling insecurity – which Luciani views as a habit we can change – and taking the risk of trusting ourselves. According to Luciani, self-trust is a muscle: “If you’re anxious, your trust muscle has atrophied, and your insecurity has become muscle bound.” Strengthen your muscle by taking small risks.

For worriers, a minor risk might be to say, “I’m going to risk believing that I can do a good job,” Luciani said. He gave another example of perfectionists accepting that they are good enough. As you practice this acceptance, your trust muscle will grow, and “you’ll begin to recognize that life can be handled more spontaneously, as it unfolds, rather than abstractly, in your mind, before anything ever takes place,” he said.

Practice yoga. Anxiety usually involves racing thoughts, recurrent worries and a revved-up body. Yoga can help manage all these symptoms by calming both your mind and body, according to Mary NurrieStearns, a licensed clinical social worker, yoga instructor and co-author of Yoga for Anxiety: Meditations and Practices for Calming the Body and Mind. Just the acts of focusing on your breath, mediating and saying a mantra have a soothing effect.

One yoga practice isn’t superior over another. Studies show that it depends on the anxiety, NurrieStearns said. If there’s significant trauma, research shows that gentle, restorative, feel-good poses are best. If there’s tension in the body, practicing strong poses or poses that take longer can dig into the deep pockets of tension in the body. If there’s trembling and an increase in heart rate, a flow yoga practice helps to release the revved-up anxiety.

Start off your practice by taking a class from a professional yoga teacher. You can also practice yoga at home. NurrieStearns suggested the following routine: Every day, sit down on your yoga mat with your favorite beverage; take a few minutes to focus on breathing; read a line from something inspirational, whether that’s a phrase from a poem, sacred text or a mantra; and commit to doing at least one yoga pose. In Yoga for Anxiety, you’ll find a list of five easy yoga poses that most people can do. NurrieStearns also recommended Googling poses or getting a DVD.

“Wink at” your thoughts. NurrieStearns talked about this in relation to yoga – while you’re sitting quietly and breathing – but you can use this technique at any time. Witnessing our thoughts helps us not get ensnared by them. “By winking at a thought, you notice the mental chatter, say ‘I see you,’ and put your attention back to the breath.” Put another way, “We acknowledge the thought, we allow it and we let it go.” As NurrieStearns pointed out, our mind is constantly generating thoughts, so why not repeat ones that “nourish and soothe us”?

Distinguish fact from fiction. Worrying is fiction. It’s “an anticipation of things going wrong in the future. Since the future doesn’t exist, except as a mental construct, then worry about a future event is a fiction,” Luciani said. He gave an example of a fiction: “I have high blood pressure; I’m going to get a heart attack.” And a fact that brings concern: “I have high blood pressure and if I want to avoid getting a heart attack, I’ll need to change my eating habits and get some exercise.” While worrying involves fictions, concern is fact-based and addresses today.

Stop people-pleasing. As Tsilimparis said, relying on others for approval can also lead to anxiety. To stop this over time, pay attention to how you interact with others and the times you people-please. For instance, when do you say yes to someone when you really want to say no? Heighten your awareness and then slowly start to change your behavior. Before attending a function where you’ll likely people-please, think about how you’re going to react, and do what you’re comfortable with. As another therapist once told Tsilimparis, “Here’s the problem with people-pleasing: There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that people don’t really give a damn; and the bad news is that people don’t really give a damn.”

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