For most families, children leave home after they reach a certain age. But, for various reasons, there are times when adult children need to return to live in the home where they grew up.

And, there are circumstances when it becomes necessary to take in one's parents - especially if they are having health problems.

Are your adult children or your parents (or both!) living with you? Tell us how that is working out for your family.

Assistant Editor Mark McLaughlin weighs the merits of a high-tech, multifunctional scale.

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The Tanita InnerScan Body Composition Monitor is certainly the most stylish scale I've ever used. It would be an attractive addition to most bathrooms - with its sleek lines and stainless steel finish, it looks like a piece of modern art.

This high-tech monitor gives you your weight, muscle mass, bone mass, percentage of body fat and more. My only complaint (a very small one) is that the controls are rather complex, and it took me about ten minutes to program it before I could even weigh myself for the first time. Fortunately, the machine had a function for saving my settings, so I don't have to reprogram it every time I use it.

Now I use the Body Composition Monitor regularly and I find it extremely helpful. Since I started using it, I've been cutting more and more fat out of my diet, so I can lower my body fat percentage. As a result, my body fat has dropped two percent.

I would recommend the Body Composition Monitor to anyone who seriously wants to keep an eye on their weight, body fat, and other body composition statistics. Bear in mind, this equipment is for home use only and is not intended to replace professional healthcare services. It is not intended to diagnose or treat any diseases, so you should use this equipment in conjunction with advice from your personal physician.

Find out more at www.tanita.com.

Contributing Editor Melina Papadakis reports on an important medical breakthrough.

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For those suffering from diabetes, there may be help in the future, thanks to the work of Dr. Marc Rose, president and co-founder of VitalCare www.vitalcaretechnology.com. Dr. Rose may have developed a potential cure for diabetes.
 
Most people think of diabetes as a blood sugar problem, but that is just a symptom of the disease. Diabetes is caused by a malfunctioning metabolism. No matter how carefully a type 1 (juvenile onset) or type 2 (adult onset) person with diabetes monitors blood sugar or measures insulin, he or she is still fighting a ticking clock. Nearly all people with diabetes will eventually have complications like kidney or heart failure.
 
VitalCare clinics use iCAT Therapy to give patients micro-pulses of insulin, mimicking the way food and energy are processed in the normal human body. Dr. Rose says that over time, the treatment stops, stabilizes and actually manages to fix damage from diabetes. To date, no negative side effects have been reported.
 
The FDA-approved, once-a-week, six-hour treatment costs one-thousand dollars. That may sound like a lot, but compared to a lifetime of medical complications this actually saves HMO's, PPO's, hospitals and taxpayers' money. "If we can cut hospitalizations for diabetes by just 50 percent - and we can - that will save millions of dollars a year," said Dr. Rose. Rose has 30 VitalCare clinics throughout the country, but foresees more.

Has diabetes affected you or someone in your family? Tell us about how you've dealt with this serious health concern.

The following is an excerpt from the book, The Mindful Woman by Sue Patton Thoele. Published by New Harbinger, April 2008. $15.95

About the Author: Sue Patton Thoele is a psychotherapist, former hospice chaplain, and bereavement group leader. She is author of eleven other books, including The Courage To Be Yourself, The Woman's Book of Soul, Growing Hope, Freedoms After 50, and The Woman's Book of Courage. Sue and her husband, Gene, live in Colorado near their adult children and grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.suepattonthoele.com.

Busy Women Can Be Mindful Too

Because women possess an innate ability to perceive an expanded range of feelings, thoughts, and experiences, we are adept at consciously handling several things at once. That doesn't mean you don't get frazzled and frustrated. It does mean you can feel even better and more productive by attentively, purposely, and nonjudgmentally staying in the present moment. Having qualities such as diffuse awareness and sensitivity means you already possess excellent tools for creating a more peaceful, loving, and mindful life. With awareness and intention, you can be mindful within your busyness - the caveat being that busyness needs to be comfortable and enjoyable, not a fear-based busyness.

Intention as Ally

Your thoughts and intentions announce your deepest wishes, desires, and goals to your subconscious mind, or inner sage, whose job it is to bring you more of what you project. It's great to have so willing a friend as long as your thoughts are positive and your intentions are set consciously. So often, however, they are neither. Many of our thoughts and intentions reflect deep-seated fears, unhealthy beliefs, and intolerances. For instance, if we fear we're not up to snuff in our job and think, "Good grief, how dense can I be?!" or "I'm never going to be able to learn all this!" sure enough, our brain, mind, and subconscious centers will obligingly provide what we ordered - feelings of inadequacy and stupidity. And, of course, such feelings make it hard for us to concentrate and keep us from learning as quickly and easily as we could if we were free from fear. Or, if we believe we're being treated unfairly, gnaw on feelings of being cheated, and long for revenge, once again the inner sage will obligingly present matching experiences and feelings.

Luckily, thoughts and intentions are equal-opportunity magnets. Actually, I choose to believe they are tipped ever so slightly toward the love and joy side of the equation. Yes, we can attract negatives, but our benevolent inner universe really seems to want to give us the good stuff more than it does the difficult. ....

It's important to know that your subconscious mind is extremely literal and unable to discern between "true" and "false," "good" and "bad," or "positive" and "negative." What you say, believe, think, fear, and assume, the subconscious will do its darnedest to provide. The wonderful news is that knowing the nature of your inner sage gives you the understanding and ability to use the power of positive to mindfully set life-enhancing intentions that unerringly help you become a magnet for your desired results.

Intentions can be both expansive and minute. You can set far-reaching intentions, such as "My intention is to be a mindful woman," or intentions for the moment like, "My intention is to pay absolute attention to my next four breaths."

Expansive: My intention is to become more loving.

Minute: I choose to respond (or stay silent) lovingly toward _____ right now.

Expansive: My intention is to be a healthy weight for my body type.

Minute: I am choosing to forgo this piece of candy right now.

Intention is an invaluable ally on your journey toward increased mindfulness. One small step that can make a huge difference is to set an intention each morning before you are off and running. I might say, "Today I will be consistently kind." A favorite intention or affirmation if I'm worried about someone I love is "I place ______ in the arms of angels today and know that she or he is loved and protected."

Intentions are like personal angels who set our course and light the way to where we want to go and how we want to be in our lives, loves, and attitudes. Of course, because we're human beings, we'll fall short of our intentions time and again. When we do, it's important that we take an accepting, angelic approach and love ourselves back into alignment. Gentle correction is much more effective than criticism and judgment.

Copyright 2008 Sue Patton Theole

Contributing editor Melina Papadakis reports on a new book that may cause people to think differently about Alzheimer's.

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Pamela McDonald, RNFA, FNP, a leading integrated nurse practitioner in San Francisco, is devoted to the prevention of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cardiovascular disease and chronic illness. In the 1990s, she began studying the gene that plays a major role in Alzheimer's and heart disease: the Apo E gene, or "Alzheimer's gene."

This year, Apo E gene testing has been making the news because many companies have started offering the test, usually priced around $400. This saliva test determines if you carry the Apo E gene variation. Unfortunately, no one is offering a solution to those people disposed to developing the diseases related to the gene. The question is: should you get tested when there is no solution to the problem?

McDonald offers a solution to preventing the onset of Alzheimer's, as well as heart disease. She has identified nutrition plans and gene-supportive environments for each variation of the Apo E gene and has seen in her practice how symptoms have been prevented or reduced.

McDonald has released this information in the book, The ApoE Gene Diet: A Breakthrough in Changing, Cholesterol, Weight, Heart and Alzheimer's Using the Body's Own Gene (Elite Books, November 2007, Hardcover, $27.95). As Larry Dossey, MD, bestselling author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things, writes, This book represents the future of medicine - an individualized, personalized approach that honors our genetic uniqueness. Pamela McDonald brings together a complete health program that honors all we are - body, mind, and spirit.

For more information, visit www.apoegenediet.com.

Do you worry about Alzheimers? Has it affected your family in any way?