Fast foods and junk foods are high in sugar and salt. As weight gain can be a problem during menopause due to a slowed metabolism, it's best to cut out unhealthy and high-calorie foods. Try to avoid the drive thru after work and skip on dessert most nights. Keep indulgences to once or twice a week instead of making them a daily habit. Fizzy and carbonated drinks can interfere with the body's ability to absorb calcium. Avoid these drinks, especially with meals. Opt for plain water instead. To make your water slightly more appealing, try adding slices of fruit to enhance its flavor. Go for a smaller plate, bowl, or glass. When eating out, try to only eat part of your food and save the rest for later. Bigger portions contain more calories, and therefore more things like fat and sugar, so it's best to try to limit portion size whenever possible. As your metabolism slows down as you age, your body will need fewer calories. Portions that were once acceptable may now be too large. Consider calculating how many calories you should be eating each day based on your age and activity level, and talk to your doctor or dietitian about how to modify your meals to stay within your calorie limits. It may help to familiarize yourself with what one portion looks like for each food group so you can eyeball your serving size when you eat out or prepare your meals. For instance, one portion of meat or fish is 3 ounces and about the size of a deck of cards. One serving of a nut-butter is about the size of a ping-pong ball, or 2 tablespoons (29.6ml). 1/2 cup of grains, or one portion, would fill a cupcake wrapper. Sugar can contribute to weight gain and other age-related problems. During menopause, try your best to cut back on your overall sugar intake. Go for sugar-free beverages, like water, decaf tea, or water infused with fruit (like lemon or berries). Avoid adding table sugar to things like cereal and oatmeal. Flavor meals with things like vanilla, almond, and fruit extracts as well as fresh fruit instead of sugar.

Summary: Avoid fast food and junk food. Stay away from fizzy beverages. Pay attention to portion size. Cut back on sugar.

Whoever you're engaged in discussion with, getting your point across will involve different tactics and techniques, depending on the situation. Evaluate who your audience is and what their expectations of you are before deciding what tactic will work the best. If you're trying to prove a point to an authority figure, like a parent, your boss, or some other figure who has power over you, you'll want to be sure to highlight how your point will make the situation better for everyone. How will the family, company, or group benefit from your proposed point? If you're trying to prove a point to a child or a subordinate employee, it's important to explain the details and reasoning of your point without being condescending. Even if you're "teaching a lesson," don't talk down to the other person and your point will get across much better. No "because I said so" reasons. If you're trying to prove a point to a partner, spouse, or even a very close friend, someone on equal footing, it's important to maintain an even keel and speak clearly. Don't mince words. If you're talking to someone who knows you intimately, avoid the more public rhetoric you might use to talk to your boss. It's important to focus your points on solving a problem, not "winning an argument." If your goal is to get a point across, make sure that it's something that needs to be heard for the benefit of the person hearing it, or the benefit of the group, not just because you want to make it. It's a lot easier to make points that are necessary and productive. Your point should help the other person, not bring them down. To figure out whether or not your points are productive points, imagine that someone else were going to give you the same piece of feedback or advice, or bring up the same idea. How would it feel? Would it give you something concrete to do or change? It would be one thing for a boss to say, "Our overhead's too high, so you're all going to have your hours cut. Sorry." Point made, but unproductive. Instead, try out something like this: "We're really struggling with overhead costs. To be able to keep you all on board and working as a team doing the great work you do, we're going to need to cut some of your hours slightly." The most important part of getting a point across is in figuring out what exactly your point is and why it's a valid point to bring up. Provable points are points that have good reasoning behind them. Even if it's an unpleasant truth, something the listener may not want to hear, you can be sure that it's a truth that needs to be heard. Obviously it's important for your child to work hard in school. But why? It's easier to get your child to study harder if it's focused on how your child will be happier with better grades and enjoy school better, as opposed to "because I say so" or "because your friend Jimmy studies hard." Tell the truth, as straight and as simple as possible. Tell your child that studying is an important part of growing up and learning to take care of yourself. You won't always be there to help them, and it's important for kids to learn as much as they can to grow up right. If you want a rock-solid point, anticipate all the possible holes in your argument and your point that the other person might make. Before you make your point, beat the other person to the punch by bringing up their rebuttal and debunking it before they get the chance. If you tell your child to study harder to grow up into a well-rounded adult, you might be likely to hear, "But I don't want to be a well-rounded adult, I want to play video games." It's understandable that lots of parents resort to the "because I said so" at this point, but use it as a teaching opportunity. State the anticipated argument out loud: "I know right now you just want to play video games all day. I did too when I was 7. But that'll change as you get older, and you'll need more skills."

Summary: Evaluate the situation. Make your points productive. Come up with some valid reasoning. Anticipate counter-arguments.

Ideally, the color should match your teeth, but whitening toothpaste or other methods can blend most teeth in with a bright white, plastic straw. This method is quick and easy, and the fangs are easily removed and reattached. If your straw is a bendy straw, cut off the top portion, right above the accordion bend. Otherwise, cut off about 2 inches (5 centimeters) with a pair of scissors. Or, stick the end of the straw over your tooth and look in a mirror to measure twice as long a piece as you need. Fold the cut-off piece of straw in half. Use the pair of scissors to trim to the two sides into fang shapes. Leave them attached while you trim them, so you can compare the shapes and keep them symmetrical. Don't cut too close to the fold. That area of the straw will go over your tooth, and needs to be kept intact or the fang could fall apart. Cut the piece of straw in half along the fold, separating it into two fangs. Slip these onto your canines, or onto the incisors directly to either side of your large front teeth.
Summary: Find a white plastic straw. Cut off a small portion. Fold the piece and trim it into fangs. Cut the fangs in half and wear them.