By Amy McNulty

Life is 24/7. Between kids, a hectic job, and/or time for extended family, friends, and hobbies, who really has time to get all the nutrition we need? It’s easier to heat up a frozen meal, grab a burger, or make a meal-from-a-box that’s full of preservatives.

And who has time for romance? Family time with your husband or wife and the kids is as close to “together” time as you can manage—or maybe it’s just the few minutes you have with your partner to catch up with each other in bed before you pass out exhausted.

Well, it’s time to make time. Eating healthy and maintaining a vigorous, active relationship with your partner is essential to good health and happiness. If you can start eating and drinking all of the right foods, you’ll have more energy, feel better, and most likely live longer, too. If you don’t ignite the spark in your relationship at least a few times a week, you and your partner will grow bored and could start looking for sexual excitement elsewhere, which certainly is never good news.

So how do you both start getting all of the nutrition you need and turning up the heat in your romance life? By taking the time to plan a menu schedule for the week that’s both good for you and good for your romp in the bedroom!

Start by reviewing the USDA food pyramid at www.mypyramid.gov. You need to design a meal plan so that you get enough grains, vegetables, fruits, protein, and dairy servings to match your age and gender. Eating healthy doesn’t have to mean eating cardboard, either!

Research good-tasting food that’s good for you and you can ignite your senses and put yourself in the mood for romance. What kind of aphrodisiacs would turn you on? Oysters? Strawberries? Honey? And for that matter, do aphrodisiac foods really work?

If you want to get some ideas, you might want to try DivineDinnerParty.com. If you’re still not sure about your meal-planning skills or you really don’t think you can make the time to plan a healthy and romantic menu for you and your partner, why not take advantage of the professional custom menu planning services? Google custom menu planning services and an array of options will pop up.

Just tell them about your and your partner’s food and drink preferences, dislikes, and allergies as well as some information about your lifestyle, and many services will plan a week’s worth of nutritionally balanced meals guaranteed to ignite romance through the aroma and taste of pure arousal. Many services are also happy to give you their opinion on any meal plans you may have put together yourself!

You also can find resources for healthy eating, buying kitchen ware and healthy menu ingredients online, and avoiding illness by reading the latest health and food alerts at places like the Food Network. They have a healthy eating section which is packed full of information.

We’re all busy, but eating right and showing our partners how much we love them should never be cut from our daily schedules! When you can do both through a carefully planned menu of meals, you’ll find that making the time in your busy schedule isn’t as difficult as you thought!

Amy McNulty is a freelance writer and editor whose love of Japanese culture is only seconded by her passion for writing. If you spot her with dark chocolate-covered graham crackers, don’t expect her to realize you’re there until she’s finished enjoying every bite. You can reach her at mcnulty_amy@yahoo.com

By Ilex Bien-Aime

I am starting to realize something about men and women – we choose to be stupid. We have the capacity to put tons of metal into the sky and out in space without them crashing down. We put huge vessels on top of and under the water without them sinking. We think of and accomplish so many things with our minds and yet sometimes we act as if we have no sense at all. So I guess my question for today is, are we dumbing ourselves down to fit in with the rest of society?

Think about it, most of the things we do in this life are based on the reactions or ideas of others. We buy expensive cars many times because we want to show our success. We buy expensive watches, shoes, pocketbooks, and houses to sort of “one up” other people. I am not saying that we don’t do some of these things because we genuinely like them but let’s be honest – society sort of dictates what we think is hot and/or what we think is the best. That my friend, has caused us a lot of unnecessary heartache.

Fellas, how many of us are trying to buy love? Look at television and you will see exactly what I am talking about. I watch several shows where unattractive wealthy men are dating or are married to beautiful women. Their houses are huge, cars are exotic, and the gifts are spectacular. This is not just a T.V. thing though, it happens in everyday life. Men are breaking their backs to try to obtain the baddest women out there so that they can show their “arm candy” accomplishments.

Our society is all out of whack. Black Men’s Magazine, Vibe, Maxim, and our videos keep suggesting what hot is. They keep trying to define women by what they look like and not necessarily by who they are. Fellas, we often times feed into the hype. Many times guys know that the women they have are there based on what they do for a living. Who he really is also falls to the wayside because he is seen as the financier for her wants. We are willing to trade in our hearts for a big booty and a smile.

Men are usually accused of being visual creatures and for the most part it is true. That keeps us in trouble but just as many men are blinded by superficial looks, many women are guilty of materialism. Women want a handsome guy but ladies are more likely than men to disregard looks. Let’s face it, half of the MLB, the NFL, and the NBA are evident of that. Money goes a long way for some women in making men look better. Wanting to have the newest and best materialistic items have led women to sort of whoring themselves out to the highest bidder.

Tupac once said that he saw a woman in the mall who he thought was attractive. He said that she looked at him as if he were nobody. Later that day he spotted the girl with one of her friends (the friend noticed he was Tupac) and ran up to him. All of a sudden the woman was interested in him now. It’s funny but I remember when I was dating, it amazed me how things worked. Yes I would approach the most attractive girls and with regular conversation, I was not that interesting. When asked what company I worked for, they became excited because I guess they thought that I was worth more than I really was. It was a destructive two way street -me only caring about looks and them seeing dollar signs.

Maybe this article is not written for you and maybe you think that it is filled with gross generalizations but I guarantee that you know men who have issues with running after beautiful women who can care a less about them. I also bet that you know women who are caught up with materialism and choose men based on the amount of zeros on his check. Come on, we all have a little bit of these characteristics within ourselves. Have you not asked your boy, “what does she look like or who can you compare her to?” Have you ever said, “girl, you know he is a doctor”?

Some of the things that I am saying are sort of tongue and cheek and I know it. The point though is still valid. We seriously place our love lives in harm’s way because we often times purposely choose the wrong people. We sometimes get married to known gold diggers because they are fine. We don’t think about true love or where they will go if we lose all we have. We often times marry shallow people who will try to trade us in for a younger, more fit model. Maybe we don’t find real love because we trifle with it and maybe we get screwed over because we keep trying to screw others over. Nothing is wrong with wanting a beautiful woman and nothing is wrong with wanting to be financially secure but when these things are your one and only focus, that is where you fail.

My name is Ilex Bien-Aime and I live in Washington, DC with my lovely wife. I write as a man who has seen women mistreat themselves and who have allowed themselves to be mistreated. I write as a man who wants to give my future daughters a guideline on how to deal with men. Lastly I write what I write because my female friends are always asking my opinion about these situations. Connect with Ilex at Iamsayingit.blogspot.com or via email at ilexbienaime@gmail.com