A silent killer

There is no denying that stress can be a killer. It's ramifications on our overall health is detrimental to put it mildly since at some point the overwhelming negative emotions involved begin to manifest themselves into physical illnesses. However the good news is that armed with some sound advice one can alleviate and indeed in some cases even eliminate the need for a stressful lifestyle. Tracee Cornforth has produced a very thoughtful article tackling this modern psychological menace of city living entitled `Stress Busters'.

Sleep your way to a better memory

Further to the previous article `Power nap yourself from the sleep deficiency nightmare' comes the article `Catnaps boost our memory' by David Derbyshire reporting new studies that have been undertaken by Dr Olaf Lahl of the University of Dusseldorf, Germany which would suggest that short sleep periods can aid concentration and memory recall. I feel assured we can all benefit from a better and clearer memory, this does indeed sound like good advice to me.

Mining plant resource information

Plants have been part of humanities culture even long before we developed agriculture. Plants are as diverse in chemical properties as they are their differing species. There importance in every culture across the globe has aided in defining, impacting and shaping every culture on the planet through the ages. The subject of plants and indeed herbs and the encompassing science of biology, and of their uses is so monumental I seriously doubt any one website could tackle it as a whole.

Whilst considering this issue I searched for particular sites which were informative and diverse in their approach and came up with the following which serve well. The below mentioned sites clearly come at this topic from uniquely varying angles of expertise and cover a host of useful idea's from their application in beauty, home remedies, culinary usage to preparation and the cultivation of plus much more.

Ayerhelp
Anita's Garden - Holistic Health and Beauty
Bodychannel
My Mysterious Garden
Pioneer Thinking

Nutrition education

After reading yet another `junk food' hazard orientated article `Fast Food: The Fast Track to Organ Damage' which it seems is just one of many you can find really did make me wonder. Yes I see the merits in focusing on the negatives of this lifestyle, and indeed sometimes by doing so it can inherently show us that which can be detrimental to our health. But really, how many more do we need to see? There seems to be far to much of a fixation on what is bad rather than good, or is that just me? Is this an education to fast tracking coronary heart disease?

If the law of attraction is engaging here then this showing of what is bad only compounds the situation measurably. Personally I'd like to see more articles on the beneficial aspects of our diet. Just like the lawn that has a growing weed population; the solution is not to pull out the weeds, more so to plant more grass seeds. The result being that through the law of survival of the
fittest, nature herself will eliminate them.

The engaging 2004 documentary/movie Super Size Me by film maker Morgan Spurlock encapsulated the dangers very well albeit rather drastically but without doubt proving the point. So why more surveys are needed I will never know. There is a counterpoint to this however, which comes in the form of the Raw for Life video made by a dedicated group of film makers under the guidence of executive producers Mark Perlmutter and Keith Lyons of the Raw for 30 Days website. Here we see the opposite in which eating foods primarily in their raw (or uncooked state) can substantially cause a turnaround in health given that it was not 100% on the offset. This team gets my heartiest support in intelligent guidance and information on the monumental topic of nutrition.

Reference: 1.

Super sized dilemma

From the sublime to the outright ridiculous it may seem that I am banging at the gates of the obesity high horse once more; and indeed this article entitled `Obesity crisis calls for more heavy-duty ambulances' from the Sydney Morning Herald seems to show this but let me say one thing. If this were not actuality and nor such a serious matter it would be farcical to the extreme.

Congratulations Australia you have now earned yourself the title of being the 2nd fattest nation on the planet next to the U.S.

Take a look at these stats, are these to be proud of?

• The 1999-2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study indicated over seven million adult Australians aged 25 years and over (60%) were overweight.
  Of these, over two million (21%) were obese.
  Men were more likely than women to be overweight, with 67% of men compared with 52% of women (aged 25 years and over) being overweight.
  
• There have been significant increases in the proportions of overweight and obese Australians over the last 20 years. From 1980 to 1999-2000, for people aged 25-64 years, the proportion of overweight women increased from 27% to 47%, and the proportion of overweight men increased from 47% to 66%.
  
• On average, women in 1999 weighed 4.8 kg more than their counterparts in 1980, and men 3.6 kg more.

Statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

The latest figures published in the NSW Health Annual Report 2006/07 don't get any more promising either as shown in the article `Half NSW adults overweight or obese: report'.

Boy is this ever a wake up call, should this trend continue society will eventually restructure itself to cater for this escalation and this will bring about disastrous results bringing forth a pending meltdown in our health care system or whats left of it anyhow.

Exercise your way to better sex

With over 14 years of experience as a personal trainer and bodybuilder Raphael Calzadilla (pictured left) should know a thing or two about exercise and bodybuilding techniques. Geared towards the female libido he has formulated a series of exercises that will effectively increase fitness levels whilst spicing up your sex life in the process. There is no denying that physical fitness can vastly improve performance as Mr Calzadilla's report entitled `Exercises That Make You Feel Sexy' clearly shows. From belly dancing, cardio strip tease to belly fusion (which is a contemporary fusion of traditional and modern dance movements). All of which it seems are aimed at the adventurous and passionate at heart.

Reverse osmosis

In order to clarify a point in respect to water passed through a reverse osmosis filtration system I called upon the expertise of Heith Hodges of Aquasana. Here was his reply:

"That is correct. It removes all the natural trace minerals turning the water supply slightly acidic and aggressive. This will cause the water to begin to strip minerals from your body making your body acidic as well".

Thanks for that advice Heith. So in conclusion therein R.O. is not a good choice for home purification systems.

R.O. systems are very beneficial in as much as they will remove all organic/inorganic material from the water supply, however water treated this way ends up totally `sterile', which is fine though for industry where water purity is omnipotent plus it is the main process through which seawater is `desalinated'.

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Obesity hardwired

Further to our article `The nature of food during pregnancy' comes another related follow up article entitled Obesity 'down to faulty brain wiring' Sebastien Bouret, an assistant professor of neuroscience at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles states conclusively that appetite and obesity could well be `hard wired' into the brains of individuals from birth. The problem seems to stem from behavioral patterns within the brain that interfere with leptin production, a hunger suppressing and energy metabolising hormone that regulates appetite.

Water Revitalization with Quartz Crystals

Here is some good advice to revitalize your drinking water from my friend Angie in Sydney, it will make it taste much better and is healthy for you too. Thanks Ang

Dear David,

Want to know a little secret???????

Well what I do, is place some crystals, ie. rose quartz, clear quartz, and smokey quartz at the bottom on my glass jug.. then I fill it with spring water and let it sit overnight in the fridge... the crystals change the structure of the H2O to bring it closer to its original state.. you try it, it tastes so so so sweet!!!!!!! Then I just keep refilling the jug overnight (it requires at least 10 hours to change the structure) ... Alternatively just get your hands on some bottled FIJI WATER, its hard to get, mostly at organic supply shops, it contains natural silica and minerals straight from the earths springs.

With regards to the crystals.... you can buy them at any 'hippie/gypsy shops' or most natural therapy shops, the markets, most alternative practices use their energies, not sure in your area but try searching the net, ebay sells them.. but be careful and make sure to soak them in sea salt or wash them in the ocean prior to using them to recharge their energies :)

Now here is the quote, straight from one of my favourite books WATER AND SALT, THE ESSENCE OF LIFE by DR. MED. BARBARA HENDEL AND PETER FERREIRA you can use;

"A natural, very effective and inexpensive method to revitalize your drinking water is to use quartz crystals. Simply place a handful of quartz crystals, such as clear quartz, smoky quartz, rose quartz or amethyst in a glass decanter or jar. Fill the container in the evening with filtered or purified tap water or artesian spring water that you purchased in a bottle. Fill with only as much as you intend to drink the following day and let it sit for at least eight hours. Measurements have shown that the surface tension of crystal soaked water reaches values similar to those as from re energizing devices. The hexagonal structure of the quartz crystals can nearly rearrange the flexible structure of water to its original makeup. Oftentimes, simple quartz sand is used in the pricey energizing devices. Also crystals cannot remove the toxins from the water, they will only help the water to restore its crystalline structure."

David, when you taste the water the next day, you immediately notice the sweetness of it, I am addicted lol I have never been able to drink tap water as I can smell the chlorine and taste the toxins (that metallic like taste) and there is no sweetness whatsoever !

Brain food

Indeed the brain follows the same rules as any other part of our anatomy, simply put use it or lose it. Just as physical activity is as important to our bodies, mental exercise and stimulation is vital for our brains. Especially so as we get older wherein it becomes even more so. Learning is a life long experience and never finishes until we do. Jennifer Goddard (pictured above), director of the Buzan Centre in Australia and New Zealand and the co-founder of Mind werx International explains this importance in further detail in her article `Age proof your brain'. Jennifer puts forward some useful tips that we can engage in to keep the grey matter functioning healthier especially into later years when we can most benefit.

References: 1.2.