Since each person's needs vary and depend on a number of factors, consider working with a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, who has been trained to determine your specific dietary needs. Ask your doctor to recommend a nutritionist or find a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Weigh yourself in the morning after using the toilet. Do this for five mornings and figure out your average weight. Multiply your average weight in pounds by 0.36. The result is your recommended protein intake in grams. The RDA for protein is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, which is why you should multiply your weight by 0.36.  You can also use online calculators to determine your RDA: http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/fnic/interactiveDRI/  For example, a person who weighs 120 pounds should eat 43.2 grams of protein a day (120 x 0.36 = 43.2). Another way to look at protein intake is to look at percentages. Depending on your age, gender, state of overall health, activity level and whether you need to lose or gain weight, your protein goal should be about 10 – 25% of your total daily calories. While this amount may seem high when figured as a percentage, dietitians remind that RDA is the minimum amount needed to function. Most Americans get 16% of their calories from protein, although they should be getting more. Some people need more protein than others. In general, children and teenagers need more protein (20 – 25% of calories) than adults. Men need more protein than women. And pregnant and lactating women need more protein than non-pregnant women (75 to 100 g per day). Older populations may need more protein to guard against sarcopenia, so aim for 1.2 g protein per kg. If you have kidney or liver disease, you should decrease the protein in your diet according to your doctor's recommendation. Proteins can act as hormones, becoming chemical messengers that tell cells what to do and when to do it. Proteins are also enzymes, substances that can perform chemical reactions over and over again. In addition, proteins act as antibodies which bind to infectious or foreign particles. Antibodies are one of the body's main lines of defense. Protein also makes up the structure and support of every cell in the body. Transport proteins allow substances to move in and out of the cells. When we eat whole proteins, the groups of amino acids are broken down into individual amino acids then re-sequenced into whichever amino acids our bodies need at that particular moment. The amino acids are linked and folded in different ways. There are twenty types of amino acids found in proteins which fall into three main groups:  Essential amino acids: You must get these from your diet, as they cannot be made by your body. Non-essential amino acids: These are produced by the body. Conditional amino acids: These are ones that we would normally be able to produce in the necessary amount, but during times of stress and illness we need more.

Summary: Meet with a dietitian. Calculate your recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein. Determine your RDA by percentage. Adjust your RDA. Consider how protein functions. Understand how proteins are built.


Your first drink should be something you can really enjoy and savor. Don't start off with a shot as this will throw off your pace for the night (one drink per hour). Instead, pick a beer you really love or try a new cocktail.  Enjoy your drink. Alcoholic drinks can have wonderful, complex flavors. If you drink them too quickly, you might miss out on this. It's never a good idea to drink on an empty stomach as this can prompt you to get too drunk too quickly (so you skip over that slightly buzzed phase and go straight to puking on the bathroom floor). Any food in the stomach will help mitigate the potential of a hangover, but there are a few things that can especially help. Alcohol depletes your body's store of Vitamin B-12, so you might want to eat foods that are rich in this, like hummus. Alcohol also diminishes the amount of salt and potassium, so consider eating a broth-based soup at dinner. If you know you will be drinking over the course of hours (for example, at dinner and then going out to a bar afterwards), be sure to also constantly drink water. This will help you keep a good pace with your drinking and lessen your risk of a hangover. A good, moderate level of drunkenness is when you generally feel carefree and relaxed, but still have a normal grasp on your surroundings.  If the room starts to spin or if you find you are having a hard time walking without bumping into things, sit down and stop drinking alcohol. Switch to water, eat a snack, and sit until you feel the effects of your last drink wear off. If nothing changes after an hour, you need to ask someone to help you get home. Alcohol is most enjoyable when you can associate it with other things you love. Maybe you really like to go dancing or listening to live music. Perhaps you love watching cheesy horror movies with your friends or playing party games. Do something so you're not just solely preoccupied with the next drink.

Summary: Raise your glass. Eat something. Drink non-alcoholic beverages, too. Evaluate your symptoms. Do things that you enjoy.


Many cities and towns now have recycling drop-off points or even curbside municipal recycling collection. However, every community is different, so visit your local government’s website to find out what facilities and options are available in your area. Most communities will at least have 1 or more recycling facilities, although these facilities may only accept certain types of plastic. If your community offers curbside pickup, you can leave your plastics in a recycling bin alongside your garbage bin on garbage day. In areas that don't have curbside pickup, there are often large recycling dumpsters around town, usually at public places like schools, churches, or municipal buildings. Make sure you’re adhering to your local government’s guidelines when dropping off your recyclables. Otherwise, this may constitute littering. Search online or call your local officials to find recycling centers in your area. Be sure to ask if there are any limits on what types of plastic you can bring to the center to be recycled.  For example, some recycling centers may not be able to accept plastic bags. However, you can often take these to the grocery store to be recycled. Some recycling facilities will pay a couple of cents per item that you drop off. You can make a few extra bucks by collecting recycling from your friends and neighbors and bringing it in. Some recycling centers will do the sorting and cleaning for you, so you can just dump cans, plastics and papers all together. With others, you will need to separate different materials beforehand and drop them off into select containers when you take them to the facility.  If your facility requires it, separate paper and cardboard, plastics, glass, and cans. This can be annoying, but like any household chore, it gets easier if you make a weekly habit of it. Note that you may be required to clean out your plastic and remove the labels as well.

Summary: Find out about the specifics of your community’s recycling program. Leave your recycling at a drop-off point to have someone pick it up. Take your plastics to a local recycling center if there’s no pickup option. Contact the recycling facility and ask if you need to sort your plastic.


You can do this similarly to how you would add nailhead trim to upholstery, but you should avoid kinds installed with nails. Instead, use trim with adhesive backing that can be pressed into place along the bare edges of MDF. MDF is a pretty resilient wood and, in many cases, it will cause nails to bend as they’re pounded in. If you absolutely must use nails on MDF, use a nail gun. bare MDF. Choose a color that complements your home color scheme or the content of the poster. When in doubt, black is a simple, elegant color that goes with most kinds of decor. Consider painting before you mount your poster to prevent paint from getting on the poster. This is the most common style for a plaque mount. Beveled edges will give your MDF a professionally finished appearance and make it even more prominent.
Summary: Add nailhead trim around the bare edges of the MDF mounting. Paint Bevel the edges of the MDF mounting like crown molding.