Char cloth won't burn hot enough to light a log all by itself. Just like any fire, you'll need tinder (dry grass, bark shavings, newspaper), kindling (twigs and small branches), and of course the logs themselves. Char cloth makes it easy to start this chain and light the tinder. Char cloth is most useful during damp weather, when tinder is more difficult to light. . Find a fire pit or a large dirt area cleared of all vegetation. Avoid areas with overhanging branches. Stack your kindling, then the wood on top of it, allowing plenty of room for oxygen. Here are a couple straightforward methods:  For cooking: Arrange a "teepee" of vertical kindling, then a larger teepee of firewood around it. For a long-lasting fire: Lay the kindling criss-cross, then criss-cross the firewood over the kindling. Place one square of char cloth on top of a bundle of tinder. Be ready to pick up the tinder and shove it underneath the kindling once it's alight. You can light char cloth with a flint and steel or other portable sparking device (including a lighter that's run out of fluid). As soon as a spark lands on it and forms a glowing red patch, you're good to go. There are two common ways to aim the spark:  Hold the flint directly over the cloth, angled downward. Run the steel downward across the flint so sparks land on the cloth.  Or hold the cloth against a sharp edge of the flint. Run the steel along this edge. Blow on the glowing char cloth to get the heat to spread across it. Pick up the tinder bundle and gently push the sides up and over the cloth, until they start burning. As soon as the tinder starts burning, place it and the char cloth underneath the kindling. The fire should now spread to the kindling, then the wood.

Summary: Gather firewood, kindling, and tinder. Build a Fire Lay the cloth on your tinder. Light the char cloth. Spread the flame. Place the tinder under the kindling.


Unless you restrict calorie intake, you won't lose belly fat. Keep track of your daily calorie consumption by using a program such as MyFitnessPal or the USDA SuperTracker to record everything that you eat.  Remember that it takes a 3500-calorie deficit to lose one pound of fat.  That is, you have to either burn off 3500 calories through exercise or eat 3500 calories less than you burn in a week. Break this up into daily limits. To burn 3500 calories a week, you should aim to have a 500 calorie deficit every day. For example, you can exercise to burn 250 calories and cut 250 calories from your diet. Aim to lose a maximum of two pounds per week. Losing any more than that can be unhealthy and leads to a cycle of "crash" dieting, in which you rapidly gain back any lost weight. Keep a food diary. Most people tend to underestimate how much they eat.  Get an honest assessment of your eating habits by writing down everything you consume for a week. Utilize an online calorie calculator, and figure out roughly how many calories you're consuming in a day.  From there, see what you can afford to cut. Try a diet in which you consume 2200 calories (men) or 2000 calories (women) per day.  This should cause a deficit sufficient for you to lose one or two pounds per week, depending on your activity level. Some women may require lower daily calorie intake, such as 1800 or 1500 a day. Start by limiting yourself to a 2000 calorie limit per day, and lower the limit if you do not see progress. Do not consume less than 1200 calories per day. Studies suggest that a diet with a higher ratio of monounsaturated fats like avocados, nuts, seeds, soybeans, and chocolate — can prevent the accumulation of belly fat. Trans fats (in margarines, crackers, cookies, or anything made with partially hydrogenated oils) seem to result in more fat being deposited in the abdomen. Avoid these as much as possible. . Soluble fiber (such as that found in apples, oats, and cherries) lowers insulin levels which can speed up the burning of visceral belly fat. Women should aim to consume 25 g of fiber per day while men should aim for  30 g a day.  Add fiber to your diet slowly. If you are currently getting 10g of fiber a day, don't jump to 35g of fiber the next day. The natural bacteria in your digestive system requires time to adapt to your new fiber intake. Eat the skin on your fruits and vegetables. Incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet adds fiber, but only if you eat the skin, as that's where most of the fiber is. Don't peel those apples before you eat them. With potatoes, leave the skin on (with baked or mashed potatoes) or if you peel them, make snacks of them. For example, drizzle olive oil, rosemary, salt, and garlic on the peels and bake at 400 F  (205 C) for fifteen minutes for baked Parmesan garlic peels. Keeping the skin on potatoes when cooking them helps keep more vitamins/minerals in the flesh (just don't eat any parts of skin that are green). Eat more split pea soup. Split peas are a fiber "power food". Just one cup of them contains 16 g of fiber.

Summary: Reduce calorie consumption. Eat good fats. Get more fiber in your diet


Hot flashes can really do a number on your sleep. To fight them, you can find pillows that are specifically designed with cooling gel or water inserts. These can help lower the intensity of your hot flashes, making it easier to sleep through them.  These pillows are available online, as well as in some mattress and home goods stores. If you have a pillow you already really like, you could get a cooling mat to place underneath. This won't be quite as effective as a cooling pillow, but it can still help cut out some of the heat. Another way to combat those awful hot flashes is to lower the thermostat in your bedroom. If you have central air conditioning and don't want to pay to cool your whole house, look into a window-unit or portable air conditioner to cool off your bedroom without heating up your energy bills.  Start running your air conditioner at least half an hour before you go to bed to make sure your room is nice and cool when you settle in for the night. If you don't have an AC unit or you want to minimize the cost of cooling, you may be able to use a fan. Fans work best when it's not too hot in your room. For major temperature changes, AC may still be necessary. Even small amounts of light can disrupt your sleep, especially during menopause. Try hanging blackout curtains over your windows to keep any excess light out of your room.  If you have a digital alarm clock, face it away from your bed. That way, the lights from the clock face aren't glowing at you while you're trying to sleep. You could also replace your digital clock with an analog one. You could also wear a sleep mask to help block out light if you don't want to invest in new window treatments. The lights from the alarm clock aren't the only little lights that can wake you up. Keeping a tablet, phone, TV, or computer in your room can make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. Designate your room a gadget-free zone, except for maybe an e-reader without a backlight. If you feel like you need your phone with you at night for emergencies, try turning on the blue light filter and plugging it in away from your bed. That way, the light is less harsh and you'll be less tempted to use it for random browsing.
Summary: Use a cooling pillow or mat. Keep your bedroom at around 65 °F (18 °C). Use blackout curtains to block out all light. Declare your bedroom a tech-free zone.