Info War

Your’s maybe one of the many families affected by the economic crisis which has seen the family income drop drastically. It may seem hard and sometimes impossible to adjust to the circumstances. But with a little planning you will be able to lower your food bills while at the same time eating healthy.

Make a list

Determine how much you are going to spend on your weekly groceries. Make a list of the necessities for the whole week to avoid further trips to the supermarket which will make you spend over the budget. Look for items on special and bulk buy items that can be kept for long or can be frozen.

Plan the meals

This way you will not be running out of food options which will result in costly take away. Include fresh fruits and vegetables in season which are nutritious and cheaper.

Cook in bulk

Cooking from scratch will allow you to save money but can be time consuming. When you do cook make an extra portion which can be frozen for later use such as soup or roast meat.

Overall, eating on a budget will encourage you to eat a healthier diet since you will be eating out less.

We consume grains in many forms and they form a large part of our daily diet. However are we consuming too much of the refined grains such as white rice and white bread? If the answer is yes, it is time to substitute your refined grains with wholegrain foods. The benefits offered by whole grains are many.

Whole grains provide dietary fiber, which is essential to maintain a healthy digestive system.

The low Glycemic index of whole grains ensures that you feel full for a longer period thereby reducing the urge to eat more often. This helps maintain a healthy body weight. The low Glycemic index also means that the body sugars are released to the body at a slower pace, which is helpful to control diabetes.

Whole grains are a good source of Vitamin B and many other essential minerals such as Manganese, phosphorus and iron and essential fatty acids. These help lower blood pressure.

Some whole grains such as oats have properties which can remove bad cholesterol from the arteries and help build good cholesterol while at the same time eliminating toxic material from the body. This helps keep any cardiovascular diseases at bay and promote a healthy heart.

Fresh fruits play an important role in a healthy diet. But are we maximizing the benefits that fruits offer? Unknowingly we are wasting most of the benefits of fruits we eat by eating it the wrong way. Here are some facts to consider:

Fruits take very little time to digest. If we have the fruit after a meal, the meal consisting of carbs, proteins and fats will take a long time to digest so the fruit will have to wait until the others are digested. The whole meal will ferment and turn to acid and putrefies on mixing with the digestive juices. This is the reason some people develop reflux and other conditions after having fruit. If the fruit is eaten on an empty stomach it will digest straight away and will not cause any discomfort. In fact certain fruits which you think you are allergic to will not react if eaten on an empty stomach.

Fruit should be eaten raw and not cooked as this will kill most of the vitamins. Eating the whole fruit is better than drinking juice as this contains the valuable fiber. When having juice, have it sip by sip instead of gulping it.

We grew up on the notion that you need to get eight hours sleep a night. But this can vary depending on several factors such as age and lifestyle, and these needs will vary over a lifetime. On average an adult needs 8 hours while infants and toddlers need up to 14 hours sleep.

Some people claim that just a couple of hours sleep a night is sufficient for them; research shows that this will decrease productivity. If you have been deprived of proper sleep over a period you will experience fatigue, inability to concentrate and think straight and even lead s to weight gain due to the decrease in metabolism. So if for some reason you have been sleep deprived you need to recover that by napping or sleeping early. If you are suffering from insomnia or any other medical condition depriving sleep, you should immediately seek medical attention.

Research also shows that too much sleep is as harmful as not having enough sleep. Sleeping over 9 hours a night on a regular basis has shown to decrease your life expectancy and could be the result of an underlying health issue.

Guest post by Dave Avakian of Get your Body Healthy

According to the Centers for Disease Control, as quoted by Meriter Health Services, “New research … suggests that the older you get, the happier you become.”

This finding is, of course, absolutely contrary to all of the brainwashing we have all received about old age being times of gloom and doom, and it is an invigorating departure from that tired old message.

The results are based on a study conducted by the University of Georgia, which compared two sets of interviews with the same subjects, the first when they were ages 59 to 80, the second 14 years later. Here’s how Meriter Health Services summarizes the findings: “In the earlier set of interviews, the largest percentage [of study participants] chose their 50s as the most satisfying period of their lives. An additional 18 percent picked their 60s and 70s. The childhood and teen years emerged as the unhappiest times; the 30s produced nearly equal feedback as being the best and worst years. When the same people were surveyed 14 years later, many of the responses remained the same. But 8 percent now said their 80s were their best years.”

Take that, Generation X, Y, and Z.

For more on the study, go to:
http://meriter.staywellsolutionsonline.com/RelatedItems/1,624 or to Judy Foreman’s article from Boston on page 28.

The British Columbia Center for Disease Control reports that people over 55 make up 8.7 percent of all new HIV infections in that venue, more than twice the percentage in 1995.

Dr. Perry Kendall, the province’s health coordinator, is not certain what caused the increase, but he told the Vancouver Sun that the growth in use of drugs like Viagra may have led to an increase in sexual activity in that population, and consequently greater transmission of diseases. Doctors also tend to neglect the possibility that an older person has HIV-related symptoms, mistaking such symptoms for something else.

Marcie Summers of the Positive Women’s Network told the Sun that HIV is one of the last things on the minds of older women getting back into dating after divorce or the death of a spouse. “Most middle-aged men are going to say: ‘A condom? Are you kidding? I haven’t used one of those since I was 25.’ ” She noted that the percentage of women with AIDS who are over 50 has grown from five to 15 percent in the past five years.

A problem in preventing HIV in this age group is getting oldsters to overcome their discomfort talking about sexual matters.

It sounds dangerous – stimulating your muscles, joints, and nerves with tiny currents of electricity. But, it is perfectly safe. And, for people in pain, it can feel like a life-saver.

Doctors and physical therapists all over the world use TENS units and muscle stimulators to help people who are in pain. Whether it’s due to an athletic injury, a car accident, or a chronic condition, muscles can spasm, joints can tighten, and nerves can be damaged. But no matter what caused your injury, you do not have to live in constant pain.

In fact, now you can take the power of the doctor’s office with you – with a LG-TEC Dual Combo TENS Unit and Muscle Simulator. The machine offers the same relief that the machines at your doctor’s office provide, but in a smaller, portable version that runs on rechargeable batteries. If you want, you can even carry the machine in your pocket, so that you will never have to venture out with the fear of being in pain.

And, the LG-TEC Dual Combo TENS Unit and Muscle Stimulator is just as safe as the machines your doctor uses. You can use it to increase your muscle tone and aid in your rehabilitation safely, without any side effects.

With all of these benefits, it’s easy to see why thousands of patients are turning to the LG-TEC Dual Combo TENS Unit and Muscle Stimulator!

When Chinese restaurants in the West began becoming popular, people flocked to them like bees to honey. But in 1968, several guests of these Asian restaurants, especially the ones who frequented these places, began exhibiting similar symptoms – flushing, sudden chest pains, pressure and tightening around the neck area, numbness in the mouth, swelling of the face, headaches and cold sweats. These reactions created interest among researchers who performed in-depth studies that eventually led to a conclusion:  It was the high contents of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)  in Chinese dishes that caused the reactions. But was this link proven?

More recent studies show that the shunned MSG is actually not an enemy per se. In fact, its makeup is actually very similar to the one of the human brain’s most crucial neurotransmitters (glutamate). While studies still cannot prove that MSG has some nutritional value, they do show that MSG is perfectly safe as a flavor-enhancing substance, when consumed in minimal to moderate amounts.

When folks present with these above mentioned symptoms, doctors would typically ask a series of similar questions, all leading to a diagnosis of Chinese Restaurant Syndrome – “Have you eaten any Chinese food within the last couple hours?” or “Have you consumed any foods containing MSG in the last two hours?” These questions are actually very limiting, and prevent a better diagnosis. 

Why? The symptoms mentioned are actually that of an allergic reaction, and while some people may truly be allergic to MSG, it is not fair to assume that everyone is. An allergic reaction may arise from the consumption of other allergens such as seafood, mushrooms, eggs, peanuts and the like.

Did you know that the bed bug infestation could lead to health problems as well? The site of the bite can break up in to welts and could stay irritated for a long time. In addition to the redness and itching over the bite area, there could be development of allergic rashes too. Many people may develop some swelling and edema of the affected part too. These bed bugs hide themselves away from the human eye in the daytime, and come out of their hiding places only in the night time. These bed bugs feed on human blood once in every 4 or 5 days.

Bed bugs can be found any where, irrespective of the climate or the geographical conditions. Many people seem to be under a false impression that their homes are quite hygienic, so they possibly cannot face the problem of bed bug infestation in their homes. This is a wrong notion, owing to the simple fact that the bed bugs do not thrive in dust like the dust mites do. Instead they thrive on human blood, and where ever human blood is available the bed bugs can multiply easily. So it is not strange to find a bed bug in Baltimore, Maryland

If you reside in Silver Spring, you may want to know how to get rid of bed bugs in Silver Spring, MD. There are numerous pest control services available her and you can find a good one by searching in the classified listings in the local news paper.

Osho has been regarded as one of the most original thinkers of our times, and this label (despite the scandals) has been bestowed to the man who passed away a couple of decades ago, and who presented to the world what he sincerely believed as enlightenment while exhorting those who embraced Osho sannyas to find their own path to true spirituality.

In doing so, he also rebelled against the dogmatic approach that leaders of various seemed to follow and thrust upon their followers as well. Of course, his discourses were riddled with humor while his tantra books were believed to be simple but provided great insight to people who wished to understand these ancient books of wisdom.

While the international press called him the ‘sex guru’, the Indian press did not treat him to kindly, however, this did not deter him from setting up his ashram in Pune for the remainder of his life. Apart from his discourses and books, Osho always emphasized that one must be in a constant state of meditation, and wrote several books that dealt with the subject as well.

The most popular amongst them was the Osho dynamic meditation method that made of specific Osho meditation music, and took his disciples through the five stages of preparation before they could achieve the state of meditation.

And for his efforts, Osho will always remain in our hearts for the thoughts of wisdom that he left behind.