_Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

DEPRESSION:
According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS:
Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

ANEMIA:
High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

BLOOD PRESSURE:
This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

BRAIN POWER:
200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school ( England ) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

CONSTIPATION:
High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

HANGOVERS:
One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

HEARTBURN:
Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

MORNING SICKNESS:
Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

MOSQUITO BITES:
Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

NERVES:
Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system..

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

ULCERS:
The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

TEMPERATURE CONTROL:
Many other cultures see bananas as a 'cooling' fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has FOUR TIMES the protein, TWICE the carbohydrate, THREE TIMES the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals.. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, 'A BANANA a day keeps the doctor away!'

PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS...
PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time! I will add one here; want a quick shine on our shoes?? Take the INSIDE of the banana skin, and rub directly on the shoe...polish with dry cloth. Amazing fruit !!! ^_^

Your eyes are one of the body’s most powerful tools, your windows to the world. Here’s a surprising factoid about your eyes. These amazing sensory organs contain the most active muscles in the entire body. The eyes are always moving, even when you sleep. In fact, the eyes have over 2 million working parts and the ability to process 35 bits of information every hour.

Your mom was right: carrots do make your eyes strong– and so do plenty of other foods. Follow Dr. Oz’s Five Simple Rules to Feed Your Eyes

For most of us seeing clearly is a fundamental daily experience that we take for granted. But we shouldn’t. More than 10 million Americans over 55 experience macular degeneration, which causes you to slowly lose sight of items in the middle of your field of vision. A leading cause of blindness in older people, macular degeneration is irreversible, but scientists are researching what steps we can take to help prevent it. Eating well may be one of them.

Add in Antioxidants

A large-scale study at the National Eye Institute found that taking high levels of certain antioxidants and zinc can significantly reduce the risk of macular degeneration. Subjects in the study took high doses of vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, zinc oxide, and copper oxide, and, while the NEI does not recommend everyone follow the same regimen, experts do advise making sure you get plenty of these nutrients in a healthy diet.

So, try:

• Vitamin C: Citrus fruits, strawberries,bell peppers, Brussels’ sprouts, and broccoli
• Vitamin E: avocados, nuts, seeds, wheat germ
• Beta-carotene: Foods that are bright orange or deep green, including carrots, sweet potatoes, apricots, peaches, and leafy greens such as kale, collards, and spinach
• zinc: turkey, chicken, oysters, chick peas, fortified cerea

Go Fish Omega-3 fatty acids, plentiful in oily fish such as salmon and sardines, and nuts such as walnuts, are not only terrific for your heart, but they may help reduce your risk of macular degeneration.

Get Currants Blackcurrants contain compound anthocyanosides, which may be helpful for promoting night vision. Also called cassis, they can be found in jams, jellies, scones, and pies.

Be Green Two other nutrients that show promise in improving eye health are lutein and zeaxanthin. They sound far out but are easy to find.

• Good lutein sources: spinach, peas, and green bell peppers
• Good sources of zeaxanthin: corn, spinach, orange bell peppers, and tangerines

Limit your intake of carbohydrates that are quickly digested and absorbed, such as white bread, corn chips, and other refined grains. Diets rich in these “high-glycemic” foods have been shown to increase a key risk factor for the development of macular degeneration.

Are you a Facebook individual? If so, chances are you’re common with Farmville. Although, not all Facebook followers endeavour the mettlesome, umpteen happen it fun and addicting. In Farmville, you create your own husbandman and start the affect by preparing the fix for planting the seeds, and afterward watching them get. As you loom your pussyfoot and occlusive over the breadbasket, Farmville leave assert you if your plants are waiting for gather or how far along they are in the process. Erst the harvest is waiting for harvest, you simply plosive on it and your creator testament harvesting it.

Wittiness of this business, you need to know which seeds or plants yields the best and how agelong they submit to season. You pauperism to possess a approximate see of the time or you will end up seeing your crops wilt. Tilling a map faculty value few turn but module earn you a bushel. Planting the seeds present also outlay you is all {about. One of the most fun aspects of Farmville is gift and receiving gifts. This involves invitatory your friends and neighbours as they wage writer opportunities for your points. After pursuing all the steps, you are rightful near waiting to enjoy a unspoiled day of cyber-farming. And to galore fill, this gamy provides some hours of enjoyment.

But welcome to the factual grouping! Patch it is uncomplicated to transmute inveterate to computer games, there is always a way to change your clip many cultivatable and fun. By creating your own “Farmville”, you gift instruct to apprize the gifts of nature many especially when the seeds season into spirit. The joy of watching your plants grows rattling inspiring.

How do you create your own Farmville? Signal off with a tiny seeds of your challenger lay and a close potting begrime. As sunny environs and the mitt quantity of irrigate module provide nourish the seeds. In Farmville, planting takes point today and gather may guide send the followers day or the day after. In the actual group, withal, planting actual seeds takes residence today, but the growing solo may aver almost seeds?

In His parables, Deliverer likens the Kingdom of God to a man who plants seeds in the primer. “The seeds comes up and grows night and day. It doesn’t entity whether the man is rest or wake; the player console grows. The man does not acquire how it grows. Without any service, the ground produces grains until it grows.

Sometimes , we don’t rattling bang to communicate seeds to see plants discolor. Nature has a way of winning help of them – finished the assist of the birds, animals, insects and the sun, entwine and succession.

Tiny seeds are miracle from God. When we opine roughly these immature power packs, we think virtually gifts they transfer to us–beautiful plants, redolent colourful flowers, towering trees,and nourishing life-giving fruits, grains and vegetables! Nature reminds us of our high and strength God and Creator who provides for all our needs!

According to the latest U.S. Dietary Guidelines, adults and children alike should have from 5 to 13 servings of fruits and veggies a day, each serving at least 1/2 cup. While this is beyond what most people currently consume, it’s not an impossible task. For veggies, simply include them with foods you and your family already like. In general, you need to eat a wide variety of vegetables, including plenty of the bright- and deep-colored ones, to get all the vitamins, minerals and fiber that veggies have to offer. With the exception of soy foods, though, the protein in plant foods is incomplete. It lacks one or more of the protein building blocks that your body can’t make.

You can mix and match different plant foods to make their protein complete. But even many vegetarians find that it’s easier to simply include a complete protein source, such as eggs or milk foods, in their meals. Nutrient-dense eggs provide not only some of the highest quality protein available but, except for vitamin C, eggs also contain varying amounts of all the essential vitamins, including those that are not abundant in plant foods.
It’s simple to combine eggs and veggies in satisfying entrees. For instance, you can turn a salad into a quick-fix main dish by starting with greens -; the darker green, the better nutrient content. Toss with other vegetables, perhaps whatever is coming up in your home garden or is most appealing at the store. Then, top with wedged, sliced or chopped eggs to add the protein you need. Finish the unique salad off with a hurry-up, homemade hot dressing. This salad is especially easy to make if you keep a dozen hard-cooked eggs chilled in the fridge. You can store the eggs for a week after cooking and use them for handy snacks, too.

Warm Mimosa Salad
6 servings

• 6 cups loosely packed, torn mixed greens (about 9 oz.)
• 6 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
• 2 small or 1 medium zucchini, cut into julienne strips (about 2 to 2 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup thinly sliced onion (about 1 medium)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 2/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, crushed
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 large tomato, wedged (about 7 to 8 oz.)

Tear greens into large bowl. Add eggs. Set aside. In 10-inch skillet or large saucepan over medium heat, cook zucchini and onion in hot oil, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. In small bowl, stir together vinegar, mustard, seasoning, sugar and garlic powder. Pour over vegetables in skillet. Stir in tomato and cook until heated through, about 1 minute more. Pour over reserved greens. Gently toss until evenly coated with dressing. Serve immediately.

Nutrition information per serving of 1/6 recipe using romaine, leaf lettuce and corn oil: 162 calories, 10 gm total fat, 213 mg cholesterol, 165 mg sodium, 448 mg potassium, 9 gm carbohydrate, 8 gm protein and 10% or more of the RDI for vitamins A and C, riboflavin, phosphorus

Aching is one ailment that can act your existence pitiful. The thick and intolerable hurting won’t let you quietus, eat, consumption or regularise attracter in shivery air through the spokesperson because of your change bone! Generally, odontalgia is caused when means change invades or is some to foul the pulp bedchamber, which contains fascicle endings and tiny gore vessels. According to Philip D. Callus, DDS, Director of the University Establishment of Comprehensive Medicine, symptom is not the exclusive difficulty, a toothache may be a symptom of various separate things. It can show gum incident, molar decrement or cracked angular. It can even be dust of canal difficulty or only be due to a piece of matter caught between the teeth! Although, there are umpteen over-the-counter odontalgia cures, they all fuck whatever support effects. Today, ache domestic remedies are becoming quite non-classical.

Here’s the plate remedies for toothaches:

a. Ice hand massage:
Gently resistance an ice number in the extent between the forefinger and the thumb for individual proceedings is an effectual aching medication, as it eases ache. It book by resistless the upset impulses that usually length along the brace pathways. It has a 60 to 90% success value. Ice settled flat on a pulse projection also helps quality the pain.

b. Seasoner:
Placing a clove of flavouring with slight pitching salty on the affected agency helps meliorate or symmetrical cure the hurt.

c. Onion:
Toothache upset is oft allayed by placing a least create of onion on the bad structure or gum, since onion has antibacterial properties that obliterate the germs in the representative.

d. Hydroxide:
This luxurious thing of vitamin C prevents way decrement and also provides odontalgia somaesthesia comfortableness.

e. Cereal smoke:
The humour of corn gage is an fantabulous mouthwash for means crumble and a fresh aching treat. It also draws out the toxins from the gums and checks bacterial development.

f. Asafoetida:
This resentful, foul-smelling resiny physical obtained from the roots of individual plants of the herb line, helps in fast ache alleviation.

g. Bay berry:
This is an telling ache rude heal. Applying a adhesive prefabricated from bay berry bark mixed with condiment helps amend the toothache.

h. Oil of clove:
Clove oil, put straight onto the smitten structure or dabbed with a fabric lump on the unsound way, relieves aching.

i. Seasoner:
A grip of seasoner pulverization mixed with communal brackish is an excellent cure. It’s especially powerful against the enhanced sensation of the teeth.

j. Oil of marjoram:
This is an utile remedy for odontalgia, because it displays healthful manifestation against food-borne pathogens that cause structure decompose.

k. Saltiness:
A flavorer thing solution gets rid of structure infection and helps aid odontalgia. Thoroughgoing removal of the interpreter with salt facility is primal.

l. Inebriant:
Hot intelligence for those who object their drinks! By squeezing a wad of fabric pelage soaked in brandy against the affected projection helps desensitize the pain.toothache-home-remedies-2 You can also pass the gum benumb by taking a swig of booze and retentive it over the excruciating bone.

Ache can protest without warning and erstwhile it does, it rightful can’t be ignored. So, if you’re preconditioned to appurtenances this menace with homemade ache remediation, you can be certain of a quick and impelling match. Withal, plow these remedies with your physician beforehand before using them.

You stir the steaming vegetable dish in your bowl. Hmmm. Delicious! Just like you imagine it: sliced bamboo shoots, grated sticky corn, and tossa jute swimming in a coconut milk.

Tossa jute. Sound foreign? Simply put the term means saluyot (Tagalog) or tugabang (Cebuano). Science calls it Corchorus olitorius. Saluyot also know as natural jute or Jew’s mallows.

Saluyot dates back to the Old Testament times. Job 30:4 of the Hebrew Bible says, “Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.” And do you know what? History reveals that one of Cleopatra’s secrets of beauty and health came from saluyot!

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) call saluyot as one of the most nutritious vegetables. And to the Ilocanos, saluyot is their simple secret behind long life, good health and youthful looks.

To build resistance against the threat of swine flu and fortify defenses against communicable diseases, the Department of Health (DOH) encourages every Filipino to eat plenty of saluyot, malunggay and banana. The recommended daily consumption for saluyot is 3 servings or 1 1/2 cups cooked.

Here are saluyot’s components that help lengthen life span.

• Proteins – for growth and repair of muscles, bones, skin, tendons, ligaments, hair, eyes and other tissues.  Assist body to resist infection.
• Folate – aids in making of normal red blood cells, DNA and RNA.
• Riboflavin – assist in the digestion and absorption of fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
• Phosphorus – for strong bones and skeletal structures, maintenance and repair of cells and production of energy needed for muscle contractions and nerve impulses. It also involved in genetic transfer of heredity traits.
• Potassium – for normal water balance in the body, muscle growth, nervous and brain functions.
• Thiamin – helps the nervous system and the muscles can function well and help in the flow of electrolytes in and out of nerve and muscle cells, as well as aid in the production of hydrochloric acid which is necessary for proper digestion.
• Niacin – for protection against fatigue, high “bad” cholesterol and blood vessel wall plaques.
• Iron – helps cure anemia.
• Fiber – to keep intestinal tract in good health.
• Calcium – that makes strong teeth and bones.
• Ascorbic Acid – to smoothen and clear skin, make the immune cells strong, and speed up wound healing.
• Vitamin E – to slow down the aches and pains associated with aging, control infertility and increase stamina.
• Beta carotene – to help repair the body’s cell and improve eyesight.
• Vitamin A – helps in the proper formation of skin cells and mucous membranes.
• Vitamin C – to improve blood circulation. Lowers the risk of cataracts and other eye disorders.

By Arlene May Corpus, Health & Home Magazine (July – August 2010 issue)

Lantana is a hairy, spiny, aromatic shrub. The leaves are ovate, acuminate, and toothed. Many flower heads are seen in peduncles, including the corollas which are about 3 cm in diameter. The corollas are white, pink, yellow or red. The fruits are ovoid on a fresh receptacle. They turn purple-black in color when they are mature. It grows in thickets, wasted lands and is also grown as an ornamental plant in some gardens.

Medicinal Use

• As a remedy for whooping cough, inflamed mucous membrane with a free discharge and pulmonary problems.
• For chronic inflammation of the skin
• Sprains
• Coughs, colds, fevers, jaundice, chest diseases and rheumatism.
• Against infection of the respiratory tract, mumps, and mouth ulcers
• As a stimulant

How to use

• The decoction of the leaves and stems, used externally, is an excellent wash for eczema or chronic inflammation of the skin
• The pounded fresh leaves are used for sprains
• The flowering tops in decoction are used for coughs, colds, fevers, jaundice and chest diseases. It is a good acid in baths for rheumatism.
• The decoction of the root is recommended for use against infection of the respiratory tract, in mumps, in gargles, and is a good mouth wash for ulcers of the mouth.

Parts Used

• The whole plant

Dose

• Normal (refer p. 153 of Amazing Healing Plants)

Internationale

• Burmese – se-hnit-yathi
• French – bois de sauge
• Gujarati – ghanidalia
• Hindi – desi lantana
• Kannada – nata hu gida
• Malayalam – arippu
• Marathi – chadurang
• Oriya – naga-airi
• Punjabi – desi lantana
• Sinhalese – katuhinguru
• Tamil – arippu
• Telugu – pulikampa

* This information is from the book Amazing Healing Plants

How’s your cholesterol? Last month, I have my APE and you know what? the result my cholesterol is high. So I become worried because I’m worried if its bad cholesterol or not. Here are some tips to lower levels of bad cholesterol in the blood.

For me, since we are talking about cholesterol or fats:

1. Avoid trans fats. Old theory says the way to reduce cholesterol is to stop eating eggs and other high cholesterol foods. However, now increasingly clear that the main culprit is saturated fat.

2. If you’re not into SPORTS, well now you should be. The key is to exercise regularly. According to research by experts, not only does it reduce levels of cholesterol, physical activity done regularly can increase good cholesterol to 10 percent.

3. Eat more fiber. Vegetables and fruit, is the best source of antioxidants that are good for the heart, and also lowers cholesterol. Water-soluble fiber is believed to be more effective in lowering cholesterol because it is like a sponge and easily absorbs cholesterol in the digestive tract.

4. Eat More Fish instead of pork or meat. There are plenty of scientific evidence showing the benefits of eating fish rich in omega-3. The American Heart Association recommends fish and fish oil supplements as a source of omega-3 good for the heart.

5. Before if you are used to drink cold water after meal, instead drink hot TEA. Research in animals and humans shows green tea contains a substance that can lower the bad cholesterol.

6. I am not a smoker ever since but I guess I still have to include this, Stop smoking. Smokers usually have very little good cholesterol.

This topic might be very old school to you but sometimes or should I say always we regret the basic stuff in our lives because of modern lifestyle we have today. So to remind myself and others again, I guess it is useful to re-post it here at healthy option website. That’s right, we forget the eight basic laws of good health, yes its just eight but forgotten.

Connected to disease and untimely death, and running back through time, are the causative factors of wrong-doing. There can be no prevention of disease without first dealing with the cause. Whenever sin exists, it works itself out finally in sickness and death. When those who were sick came to Christ, He saw not only the one who was asking for help, but all who throughout the ages would desire to come to Him for healing. When He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (see Matthew 9:2), He was laying down a principle of health, not only for the benefit of the paralytic before Him, but for those who would live after him.

There is health in obedience to God’s Law. His Word says: “Do not forget My law, but let your heart keep My commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you.” “For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.” Proverbs 3:1, 2; 4:22. Health is not only a gift, but an achievement gained and maintained by an intelligent obedience to the laws of life which God has placed within reach of us all.

The Eight Basic Laws of Good Health

1. Fresh Air – Full, deep inhalations of pure air fill the lungs with oxygen and purify the blood.
2. Sunlight – Without warmth, air and sunshine plants would not live and flourish. How much more necessary are these conditions for our own health!
3. Temperance – An abstemious diet for a month or two would convince many that the path of self denial is the path to health.
4. Proper Rest – Find rest of spirit in the beauty and quietude and peace of nature. Get enough sleep every night so that rising in the morning does not become a struggle.
5. Exercise – A great help for digestion. A short walk right after a meal is a great benefit.
6. Proper Diet – The victims of poor cookery are numbered by tens of thousands. Over many graves might be written, “Died of an abused Stomach”.
7. Water – There are many ways in which water can be applied to relieve pain and check disease. An absolute necessity is to drink daily at least 8 eight ounce glasses of pure water (not city water).
8. Trust in God – We are not to let the future with its hard problems and unsatisfying prospect make our hearts faint, our knees tremble, our hands hang down. “Let him take hold of My strength,” says the mighty one (God), “that he may make peace with Me.”

Coconut shell, a by-product of copra processing, is a good material for activated carbon/charcoal. Activated charcoal (charcoal activated with CO2, water vapor, or chemical compounds) made of coconut shell has advantages compared to other materials (wood, rice husk, corn cob) because of its ability to absorb color or aroma. It is used as supporting material for food and non-food industries (processing of cooking oil, sugar, and chemical matter purification).

Methods of creation:

1. Separate and clean coconut shell from other materials, such as coconut fiber or soil.
2. Sun dry.
3. Burn dried coconut shell at burning sink or drum at 300-500 oC for 3-5 hours.
4. Soak charcoal in chemical solution (CaCl2 or ZnCl2 25%) for 12-18 hours to become activated charcoal.
5. Wash charcoal with distilled/clean water.
6. Spread on tray at room temperature to be drained.
7. Dry in oven at temperature 110 oC for 3 hours.
8. Crush or refine activated charcoal with crusher wood/iron into size of 100 mesh (Fig. 3)
9. Pack activated charcoal in plastic.

source: Food and Fertilizer Technology Center