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Counting Sheep Coffee: A Different Kind of Coffee

Who would have thought there was such a thing as coffee that could help you sleep? Coffee is looked at as something we use to keep us up at night or wake us up in the morning. Counting Sheep Coffee has stormed onto the scene to change how everyone thinks about coffee. Their line of coffee is geared towards helping people who like coffee get to sleep at night. Continue reading

Narcissism in children has many causes, but it can be addressed

A study released this week contends that parents who “overvalue” their children, teaching them that they are entitled to special treatment, are more likely to produce narcissistic children.

But psychologists know that narcissism in children can stem from a number of causes, including genetic and environmental ones. Though a narcissistic child may have parents who overvalue him, he can, on the other hand, be a child of abuse, both emotional and physical. A narcissistic child may employ tactics of superiority, self-love and inflation, when in reality he feels emotionally unstable and insecure.

At the core of narcissism is a form of sociopathy. So a narcissistic child may have heightened emotions, depression, criminal tendencies and an unrealistic sense of self. And because a narcissistic child overcompensates for feelings of inadequacy, he is profoundly invested in maintaining a persona of perfection and self-aggrandizement.

[How parents create narcissistic children]

Though a narcissistic child may have received parental messages that he is special, he also may have been punished by neglectful and abusive parents.

A parent of a narcissistic child may overcompensate for his own childhood’s narcissistic injuries, seeing the child as a reflection of himself. His self-worth becomes wrapped up in or projected onto the child. Or he might overcompensate for the guilt he feels, for disliking the child, by overprotecting him. According to Freud, “parents who over-evaluate are under a compulsion to ascribe every perfection to the child.”

The narcissistic child, therefore, develops a personality that must maintain his feeling of being special, having special talents and being entitled to special treatment. His need for attention and entitlement can lead to exaggerated emotional responses when those needs are not met. He is easily bruised emotionally and sensitive to any form of criticism, blame or shame. He is not empathetic and can become a bully, or act out in dangerous and aggressive ways.

[Seven ways to nip narcissism in the bud]

A narcissistic child also may have problems with intimacy. His lack of empathy and his need to be the center of attention impedes his capacity to relate to others, to see another’s point of view or to feel compassion. Unable to sustain a healthy social relationship, he may experience feelings of depression and anxiety and think about self-destruction.

But there is hope, because empathy can be taught. It requires psychotherapy, group therapy and family therapy. Narcissistic children respond especially well to group therapy, which creates an environment in which they are exposed, in a therapeutic manner, to other children like themselves.

Since the personality develops along with cognitive, social and language skills, it’s important to intervene therapeutically early and consistently, so that a narcissistic child can live a happy, self-confident and productive life. Wait too long and he will refuse therapy. His world view tells him that he must be right and perfect. He will be unable to see the perspective of others.

Gail Gross is a nationally recognized family, child development and human behavior expert, author and educator. She has hosted “Let’s Talk,” a nationally syndicated PBS program. Her books include “The Only Way Out is Through” and “How to Build Your Baby’s Brain.”

Original Article

Dr. Gail Gross

Esquire: St. Patrick’s Day Green Juiced Beer With Brew Dogs And Best Bars VIDEOS

beer

TV Picks: Erin Go Beer eh? Yes, that was for you Canada.

This is your official green juiced Esquire St. Patrick’s Day Programming Alert: Green Beer Brew Dogs And Best Bars on St. Patty’s day!

Behold:  Beer and green juicing, this is an amazing combination!

On March 17, you can watch the first episode of Best Bars In America, set in San Francisco, as well as the second episode of Brew Dogs in Brooklyn, absolutely free online.

Additionally, catch up on the entire last season of both series…

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To get you in the St. Patrick’s Day mood, here’s the snippet of the Chicago episode of Brew Dogs, from season 2, in which James and Martin brewed the greenest beer ever… all you need is the Made in the USA Champion Juicer, fresh jalapenos and some citrus green hops to juice!

Make sure to tour the booziest cities in the country with Jay Larson and Sean Patton — comedians, best friends, experienced drinkers and now hosts of Esquire Network’s Best bars In America. They have the best job in the world. The task? To explore the best bars this country has to offer, inspired by Esquire magazine’s annual rundown. Wednesdays at 9/8c on Esquire Network.

In the season two premiere, comedians Jay Larson and Sean Patton kick off their nationwide bar tour in San Francisco, where they find a detective-themed speakeasy, try their first waffle shots at a boozy brunch, and get punch drunk with Academy Award winner Nat Faxon.

Brew Dogs sees  James Watt and Martin Dickie, founders of the fastest growing brewery in the UK, makers of the world’s strongest ale, and evangelists of the craft beer movement return for a third season of craft beer anarchy. This season, the guys are taking it global to celebrate distinctive craft beers by creating locally-inspired draft in major cities throughout the world.

Brooklyn (April 8, 10/9c) — James and Martin head to Brooklyn, the craft beer epicenter of the East Coast, and team up with entrepreneurial home brewers Stephen Valand and Erica Shea of the Brooklyn Brew Shop as well as modernist chef Wylie Dufresne to create the ultimate Big Apple Beer.

**Viewers can find them via VOD on their set-top boxes or EsquireTV Now (on desktops atesquiretv.com/now, or via the EsquireTV Now App for iPhone and iPad). The entire Season 1 Best Bars and Season 2 Brew Dogs are available on demand, and the two pre-linear episodes for Season 2 of BEST BARS IN AMERICA and Season 3 of BREW DOGS will be unauthenticated, meaning anyone looking to watch can do so, even if they don’t have an account or access to Esquire Network currently.

Be sure to tune in to catch the returns of BEST BARS IN AMERICA and BREW DOGS Wednesday, April 1 at 9/8c.

Best Bars:

One Shot, Two Shot, Three Shot Score! Wellness Delivered In Potent Doses

boostenergy

There’s a trend right now in the juicing and wellness world, where one or two ingredients are combined to specifically address certain ailments and ward off disease. Think preventative, preemptive strikes against everything from cancer to diabetes, inflammation to weight gain. There’s a juice for all of that and then some. You don’t lollygag with these powerful concoctions, you shoot ’em down fast and get about your day!

That’s why I adore wellness shots – freshly pressed short list ingredients for shot glass sized slammers. Shots are quick hits of concentrated nutrition. A fantastic shot to make is of spicy fresh Ginger, Lemon, and Turmeric root.  You can vary the ratio but trust me, this powerful juice will keep you feeling great.  It does burn a bit going down initially.

Power shots like Wheatgrass or Turmeric deliver a fast burst of energy almost immediately, and boosts the immune system. You can make these shots in many different combinations to address different ailments. Wheatgrass shots require a special juicer. Don’t try using your centrifugal juicer at home. You need the (USA made solid metal constructed) Champion Juicerwhich is a masticating juicer, the best!

ChampionJuicer2000BIG

The weird looking (think ginger root marries a baby carrot) Turmeric packs curcumin which is fat soluble, so have this shot with something that has fat like avocado toast or eggs or something similar. Absorption is increased too if you dust those eggs with some old fashioned black pepper. Black pepper is reported to boost curcumin’s bioavailability by 1,000 times, “due to black pepper’s hot property called piperine,” says says nutritionist Stacy Kennedy of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

turmeric

Turmeric juice is a vivid yellow-orange, and delivers natural energy with an earthy flavor tinged with a bit of a ginger note, though not as palatable to me as pure ginger.  Curcumin is reportedly a powerful fighter in the war on premature aging, reducing depression, managing arthritis, perking up alertness and controlling blood sugar, and act as a painkiller, among other things.

Lemon is an immune system booster and provides a concentrated dose of vitamin C to the body. They are natural detoxifiers and have a diuretic effect. Lemons are alkaline in the body(crazy, as they seem so acidic in taste) which makes them great for balancing the pH of the body. Hot lemon water first thing in the AM is a great way to start the day.

My favorite for all juicing, Ginger root, is anti-inflammatory, anti-septic, anti-viral, anti-histamine, it lessens body aches and pains, and calms down an upset stomach.

Juicing is an addendum to healthy eating and isn’t a meal replacement.  Juicing is nature’s vitamin pill and should be consumed like a supplement within 20 minutes before a complete meal. A good rule of thumb to follow is to wait at least 2 hours after a meal to drink a green juice and wait 20 minutes after drinking a green juice to consume a meal.

According to the Food Babe, Vani, “Juice (and smoothies) are all food and should be chewed. It’s important to swish around the juice in your mouth or move your jaw up and down for a couple of seconds before swallowing it to release saliva that contains important digestive enzymes. The digestive enzymes are crucial in delivering key nutrients to your cells.”

Also please remember to rotate your juicing greens (kale, chard, spinach, mustard greens, collards, dandelion, arugula, etc.) in your juice each week to prevent build up of oxalic acid, which can affect your thyroid gland and worsen (or cause for some people) kidney stones. This rotation of greens provides a better balanced amount of different vitamins and minerals for your body.

Pure raw organic carrot juice by itself is rich in cancer fighting nutrients: vitamins, minerals, flavonoids and carotenoids including Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, K, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lignans (enterolactone). It also is a good natural source of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, sulfur, silicone and chlorine.

The carotenoids and vitamin A have shown a strong ability to inhibit cancer induction not only by viruses, but also by chemicals and radiation as well. At least part of the effect is from these nutrients acting directly on the genes, according to cancer researchers Silvio De Flora, Maria Bagnasco and Harri Vainio.

Now I do not want to alarm you, but getting back to Vani, the American Food Babe who singlehandedly made Subway get the azodicarbonamide out of their bread, writes: “Did you know that Campbell’s V8 Juice has possible dead animal parts inside?”

She writes:

“I thought the “V” stood for ‘Vegetables’ – but I guess I was wrong. ‘Natural Flavor’ is one of the most deceptive ingredients on a label of any product – it could mean anything found in nature, including ingredients you weren’t expecting like meat! Campbell’s confirmed their “flavoring” may include “meat/seafood/poultry/dairy” this week on Twitter and within their question chat box on their website with us. They also confirmed they don’t offer any vegan products – this means the “100% Vegetable Juice” claim on the label of V8 is just plain FALSE!”

HomemadeV8Juice

Here is her version of  Homemade V8 Juice

Serves: 1
Ingredients

  • 2 medium carrots
  • 1 small beet
  • 1 large tomato
  • 1 cup spinach (rotate your green weekly)
  • ½ cucumber
  • ½ red bell pepper
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 1 garlic clove
  • pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
  • ½ lemon, juiced

Instructions

Wash all fruits and vegetables and place into a large bowl.
Place all ingredients through a Champion juicer, except the lemon juice.
Stir in lemon juice before serving and clean juicer immediately.

Green Machine: Get in the Wheatgrass swing of things now that it’s March!

Okay it does taste like grass and is pretty powerful, remember these are not sippers, but slammers! This little shot provides a concentrated amount of nutrients like vitamins C and E, and beta carotene plus other antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s thought to have antibiotic aspects and may help individuals with Ulcerative Colitis. If you have allergies to certain grasses please avoid drinking this!

Turmeric Root Shots! Go Yellow And Prosper:

Get that Champion Juicer at the ready, you’re going to juice:

Ingredients:

  • 1 – 2 inch root of Turmeric
  • 1 – 2 inch piece(s) of ginger
  • 1/2 – 1 whole lemon
  • pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:
1. Wash ginger, turmeric and lemon.
2. Peel lemon (or leave on rind for more zesty nutrients and bitter flavor).
3. Juice ginger, turmeric then lemon in your Champion juicer.
4. Pour juice shot into small glass and sprinkle cayenne pepper on top. (Cayenne pepper contains a high concentration of beta carotene, which helps rid the body of free radicals that cause cell damage and protects against infection)
5. Drink fast!

beet drink

Turmeric + Cherry
As a shot, turmeric + cherry is loaded with anti-inflammatory compounds, especially those that may help to Ease Your Joints. Choose tart, fresh cherries for maximum benefits.

Ingredients:

  • 4 inches of turmeric root
  • 1/2 – 1 cup of fresh cherries, pitted

Directions:
1. Wash and cut turmeric.
2. Wash and pit cherries.
3. Juice turmeric and cherries.
4. Drink fast!

Basic Green Cancer Fighting Machine Juice:

Chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants, oxygenates your blood, creating increased brain function and physical energy and gets your digestive track happy, happy, happy!  Use a Champion Juicer to prepare large batches if you are making for a family:

Ingredients:

  • 1 large cucumber
  • 8 stalks celery
  • 2 handfuls kale, or spinach, or chard (rotate greens weekly)
  • 1 handful parsley
  • 1/4 lemon (with rind if organic)
  • 1-inch piece ginger
  • 1/2 medium beet

Nurse Ginger Shot: When You Think You Might Be Getting Sick:

Ingredients to juice in Champion Juicer:

  • 1 2-3 inch piece of organic ginger
  • 1/2 lemon
  • Add- 1 pinch cayenne pepper

Original Article

Champion Juicer

Zhenya Gershman, ‘Larger Than Life’

<em>Zhenya Gershman</em>

Although she stands at 5-foot-10, the artist Zhenya Gershman is not imposing. Her canvases, on the other hand, are grand, standing up to 7 feet tall, befitting their subjects: actors, musicians and celebrities who very much live up to their billing in the aptly titled new exhibition “Larger Than Life.”

The faces adorning the walls at the Bergamot Station Arts Center’s Building Bridges Art Exchange in Santa Monica should be recognizable, so much so that each portrait carries only a first name. But as intimidating as it might be initially to be stared down by a billboard-sized rendering of Jack (as in Nicholson), Bryan (as in Cranston) or Sting, the artist’s intention is to draw the viewer in, not push him away.

“I have been this height since I was like 12 years old, so I’m very conscious of my body as an artist, and I can only paint big,” the Moscow-born Gershman said during an interview at her home studio in Brentwood. “I always felt comfortable where my body fits into the work of art in a way that I can feel like I can walk into it. I have always wanted people to be able to relate physically to the works of art.”

As is the case with so much of Gershman’s work, the exhibition contains a significant tie to the artist’s family history. One hundred years ago, her great-grandfather operated photography services in Russia that advertised “portraits up to life-size with negatives carefully preserved for re-prints.” To create the “Larger than Life” works, she began not with a living model, but with a photograph. (For the celebrities, Gershman also studied interviews, films and performances. Her research time often took far more time than the actual painting.)

Gershman’s grandfather, Mikhail Lvovich Matusovsky, was a celebrated poet and composer in Russia who wrote — among other things — the well-known song “Moscow Nights.” Because his circle of friends included multiple celebrities, the young Zhenya considered them “just older people, part of my family.”

In her professional life, Gershman has met her share of celebrities, some of whom have commissioned portraits. For the past three years, she has created portraits to honor the Grammy MusiCares Person of the Year. This year’s item, a guitar featuring the eyes of MusiCares honoree Bob Dylan, was signed by all of the performers who participated at the MusiCares gala and then auctioned off. Proceeds benefit people in the music industry who have fallen on hard times.

Whether or not Gershman has met her subject in person, by the time the subjects hit her canvas, Gershman hopes these individuals have become part of her — and her viewer’s — family.

“The idea with these particular iconic faces is to break the ice, break the boundary and make them feel that in some strange ways, they reflect who we are,” Gershman said. “We are learning more about ourselves, so it’s no longer that distance, but what memories and associations come for you. So that face is part of your history.”

Anna Dusi, curator of “Larger than Life” agrees.

“The ‘portrait’ becomes a conceptual device through which the artist also looks at her own self. It is not just the mere picture of a celebrity but a visceral and psychoanalytic interpretation of selfhood,” Dusi wrote in her curator notes.

“In a way, they’re all self-portraits,” Gershman agreed. “Even Clint Eastwood.”

The exhibition’s only two women are not celebrities, but they are certainly larger-than-life figures in their importance to Gershman: the artist’s 7-year-old daughter Nikka and her 97-year old grandmother, Evguenia Matusovskaya, after whom Gershman was named and the subject of a previous Gershman exhibition titled “Baba.”

In the portrait “Secret” in “Larger than Life,” Nikka is whispering in the ear of her great-grandmother. The moment was inspired by an actual encounter that followed Baba’s return from the hospital.

“My daughter was very nervous and so excited for her to come back, and they just reconnected and had this miraculous moment,” Gershman recalled. “I had my iPhone, and I took a quick photo. I witnessed this little secret of these four generations between being passed and I wanted to paint it. I’m really excited to have it in the exhibition.”

Gershman created her first work of art — a portrait –at the age of 10. She took the red, white and black drawing to her mother, who told her daughter, matter-of-factly, “you are an artist.” The family received informal instruction for the girl from a pair of well-known Russian artists, friends of Gershman’s grandfather who were both in their 70s. They looked like “dinosaurs” to the 10-year-old Zhenya, but they reviewed the girl’s work, praising the elements that they admired rather than denigrating the ones they did not.

Gershman had her first solo show at 14. When the family immigrated to the United States, their belongings included a blanket, a set of curtains and a suitcase containing Zhenya’s art. She was not quite 15, and soon became the youngest person ever accepted to the Otis College of Art and Design, according to Gershman. Because she was not yet a citizen, Gershman had to wait for a year to enroll in order to qualify for scholarship funds.

As Gershman became an adult, her career blossomed. She earned an MFA from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and worked for 11 years at the Getty Center. She is also the co-founder and president of the nonprofit Project Aesthetics of Western Esotericism that merges magic and art and that looks to explore new dimensions to understanding and experiencing cultural icons of Western European heritage.

Next up: a spring exhibition at the Los Angeles LGBT Center celebrating Gershman’s more than 10 years collaborating with her longtime muse and model Mark Snyder. The LGBT center also will screen “The Artist’s Model,” a documentary about the Gershman-Snyder collaboration.

Viewers hungry for a sneak preview can see Snyder in the current Bergamot Station exhibition.

“He is to me what a Hollywood star would be to other people,” Gershman said of Snyder. “He is my larger than life.”

“Larger Than Life” continues through March 21 at the Building Bridges Art Exchange in Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave. Santa Monica, (310) 770-1961.

Original Article

Zhenya Gershman