We are interrupting out regular gummy program to bring you a guest post from the author of Mrs. Lieutenant, Phyllis Zimbler Miller!

When my novel Mrs. Lieutenant was published in April 2008, I was focused on sharing the fictionalized account of my experiences as a new Mrs. Lieutenant in the spring of 1970 right after the Kent State shootings.

My goal at that moment was to present the point-of-view of new officers’ wives during the Vietnam War-era.  Yet only a few months later I had become actively involved in volunteer activities to support our military personnel and their families today.

In November of 2008 Nancy Brown of YourMilitary.com asked me to be her co-host on the new BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.  I said yes, and Nancy and I were off and running. [More...]

Our show has given us the opportunity to interview an incredible range of people supporting our troops and their families.  And Nancy and I have been most impressed by the efforts of everyday Americans to step up to the plate to provide for needs that aren’t met by the government.

You can read blog posts about some of these amazing people at the Mrs. Lieutenant blog and you can listen to audio replays of show interviews at YourMilitaryLife.com.

Plus check out my two websites OperationSupportJewsintheMilitary.com and InSupportofOurTroops.com. I’m planning to add to this latter website the stories in their own words of some of these everyday Americans.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller

And in an effort to both educate the general American public about troops serving now as well as about troops serving in the Vietnam War, I’ve just launched History Through the Arts to encourage high school language arts, U.S. history and social studies teachers to use my novel Mrs. Lieutenant as an adjunct to classroom textbooks. You can read more about this project at here and here.

FYI – Nancy and I have done several BlogTalkRadio interviews to get out information about help for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There’s a free report at InSupportofOurTroops.com that everyone should read in order to recognize the signs of PTSD.

I am truly thankful that my novel Mrs. Lieutenant has led me to “meet” so many wonderful Americans. And, as Nancy ends each of our BlogTalkRadio shows, God bless our troops!

Oh sure, caffeine gets us through days, meetings, mornings…and, well, nights. But how about improving your skin?

From Yahoo Health:

Caffeine’s blood vessel-constricting benefits also make it a go-to ingredient in many eye creams (like MD Formulations Moisture Defense Antioxidant Eye Crème, for example), as it can quickly minimize redness and puffiness.

In addition to its anti-inflammatory benefits, though, caffeine is starting to get lots of attention for its antioxidant properties when used both topically and orally. (That morning cup o’ joe might not be so bad after all!)

In fact, research suggests that both oral and topical caffeine may offer powerful anticarcinogenic benefits. A series of studies performed on mice found that caffeinated green and black teas prevented sun damage and even repaired damage once it occurred, whereas decaffeinated teas did not.

One particularly promising study suggested that topical caffeine may also repair UV damage – and that it may prove to be a stronger antioxidant than certain green tea polyphenols, currently among the strongest and best-researched antioxidants around. (On a related note, coffeeberry, which comes from the fruit of the coffee plant, is also getting a lot of attention lately as the next big antioxidant.)

Caffeine Molecule

Image courtesy of TheFormOfMoney

Believe this: A staggering 80 percent of all car accidents are caused by drivers eating and drinking while driving, and we’re not talking about tequila shots. Apparently, the worst offender is coffee.

According to the New York Daily News:
“Even with a travel lid, hot coffee can find its way out of the opening when you hit a bump,” the study said.

Forget the drive-thru Starbucks. Make Jolt Energy Gum your navigator!

Image courtesy of the New York Daily News.

Check out armyvet Robbie Hall catching a wave at Surf Camp, put together by Wounded Warrior Project and Billabong.

From HamptonRoads.com

The organizations came together on July 24 to host a one-day surf camp for disabled veterans from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Fort Bragg, N.C., and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth at the south end of Croatan. “It’s pretty awesome when you catch the first wave,” said Hall of Chattanooga, Tenn. “This is the first opportunity I’ve ever had to surf, so it’s pretty exhilarating.”

The Wounded Warrior Project, which runs its sports programming through the Maryland-based Disabled Sports USA, provided surfing as a form of therapeutic recreation. The nearly dozen participants were either brain trauma victims or amputees.

That’s right. Chewing Jolt Energy Gum won’t just power you through the day (or night), it may make you smarter.

From the LA Times Health Blog:

“Studies have suggested that something about chewing gum reduces stress, improves alertness and relieves anxiety. But most of this research has been found in a laboratory setting. Now, the first study in people also supports the idea that chewing gum boosts academic performance. Now, the first study in people also supports the idea that chewing gum boosts academic performance.“

Researchers had a group of students chew gum in class (which, how unfair! I was never allowed to do that) for several weeks, and it improved their test scores.

Someone should tell that to Mrs. Brown, my fifth grade teacher (scary lady!).

Photo courtesy of the LA Times website.

Meetings at Jolt HQ usually involve such topics as, “How do we fill the marshmallow with peanut butter?” and “Wait, can we then COVER the marshmallow with CHOCOLATE?” Not a bad gig, I’ve got to say. But I know, not everyone’s as lucky.

File this one under “journalism of obvious”: “Employees Say Caffeine, Texting Key to Making Meetings Bearable”

I say, forget coffee, grab a pack of Jolt Gum before you sit down with Bob from Accounting or Diane from HR. Because you don’t want to be the “coffee breath” guy, ya know?

Nobody wants to sit next to coffee breath guy.

Check out Jolt Gum’s new duds! For every Support Our Troops pack of Jolt Gum sold, we’re donating to organizations that support wounded members of the military and their families.

We here at Jolt Gum HQ believe everyone should understand and appreciate the sacrifices made by the individuals of the armed forces and their families. Over the years we’ve gotten a lot of emails and real-life letters from servicemen and women and their families. Obviously, the letters are usually about gum — to tell us how Jolt Energy Gum helped them or how much they enjoy it.
With every letter, it humbles us to realize what they achieve and endure in support of our nation. As a small thank you, we’re donating seven percent of all sales from Support our Troops Jolt Gum packs to charities that assist wounded or fallen members of the military or their families, including the Wounded Warrior Project, The Intrepid Fund for Fallen Heroes and The Fisher House.

As we say around here: Chew more, do more…and who does more for our country than the members of the armed forces.