Photo taken from mercola.com
Monday, November 30, 2015
Using Imagination as Yoga for the Mind
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I guess imagination can be very powerful for the mind. Let me explain why. The article by Sally Safadi, entitled "Imagination is Yoga for the Mind"; gives very good points as to why this is. I'll list the points.
KEY POINTS From 'IMAGINATION IS YOGA FOR THE MIND' as quoted by Sally Safadi
- "Flexing the muscle of imagination generates mental flexibility and supports adaptability, which allows us to more easily shift thought patterns, alter responses and better adjust to varying circumstances."
- "Imagination is an extension of thinking that projects our intentions and desires through creativity."
- "While knowledge is important, facts and information require imagination to result in creation."
- "Our minds generate 60,000 thoughts per day, on average; often, a mix of memories and projected future scenarios coming together to create images that influence our responses to the present moment."
- "The ability to direct and take control of our thoughts is gaining acceptance through mindfullness, meditation and yoga to produce better streams of thought."
- "The mind should ideally maintain a balance between flexibility and focus, and cultivation creativity with our imagination develops a more malleable thinking pattern."
- "A more flexible way of seeing the world, it is easier to change habits, modify environments, insight, alter our sense of awareness and broaden the perpective through which we see the world."
- "Creative exercises are mental yoga that allow the mind to stretch and pose in different postures and flexing the mind takes time, practice and persistance to succeed."
- "The framework in which we see the world should not be self-limiting."
- "Our heads are boxes that contain the neurons that allow us to think. Envision a greater world requires imagination, and this capacity can be developed with the proper tools."
- "Finding our imagination helps us live in a more powerful way. IT WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME."
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Wednesday, August 19, 2015
What The Deal With Pistachio, Nuttiest Biogas?
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Turkey has begun using tons of pistachio shells to produce biogas (methane) as a alternative energy source, instead of dumping them in the landfills. The country plans to power one of their cities with this unconventional fuel. This would be the first eco-city as well. Turkey is one of the largest producers of pistachios. The southern region near Syrian border is the where the production is, which produces 50 percent of its' pistachios.
So the plan/project for this fuel, involves 7,900 arce metropolis that is expected to house 200,000 people in the Gaziantep Province.
The project has not went through as of yet. But if the project does move forward, the plan will start within 2 years and be completed within 10 years. Therefore, the beginner phase will focus on 135 acre land and will expand into the entire city.
This might inspire other agricultural regions to look at what they consider waste, as what can be used as a energy source.
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Friday, July 31, 2015
Part 2: Vitamin E is Brain Essential
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In my last post about Vitamin E, I did not fully explain the mechanism, that makes vitamin E essential to the Brain. Therefore, I will pull out key information from the OSU article on vitamin E.
Based on OSU Research, they have discovered how vitamin E deficiency may cause neurological
damage. This is cause by robbing the brain of the building blocks it needs, to
maintain neuronal health.
The research done to make this discovery of how vitamin E deficiency works, was based on the work done with the zebrafish. So throughtout the zebrafish's life, it was fed a diet that was deficient in vitamin E. Therefore, it had 30 percent lower levels of DHA-PC. DHA-PC is apart of the cellular memebrane in every brain cell (neuron). Then it went on to say that, LYSO-PLs were a average lower of 60 percent in fish with the Vitamin E deficiency diet. The zebrafish was a year-old when participating in the study. So with the level of vitamin E deficiency that the fish had, it was EQUIVALENT TO A HUMAN LIFETIME OF A LOW VITAMIN E DIET. BUT, the fish's diet was for the zebrafish whole life that was similar to SOME humans with the Vitamin E deficiency.
In the United States, 90 percent of men and 96 percent of women do get their proper levels of Vitamin E (by the way). Also these stats are kinda surprising due to the fact that, United states citizens have higher rates of different diseases going on than in other countries in the world. For Example, diseases simliar to cancer, obesity, diabetes and etc.
Now lets get to the equally important facts in the article.
There are recent studies that indicated biomarkers for people (humans) that can predict higher
risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Because of these recent studies, it was stated that low levels of DHA-PC in blood plasma were causes of high risk alzheimer's disease. So make sure you eat your fish that has high amounts of DHA people.
But just as important as study just stated, another study states that LYSO-PLs are needed for getting DHA into the brain and serve as BUILDING BLOCKS that aid in membrane repair. Plus Lyso-PLs is a nutrient for transporting DHA. DHA is a a
polyunsaturated fatty acid, which is the most important nutrients found in omega-3 fatty acids. These omega-3s are found in fish oil and other foods.
What I found the most interesting within this article is that vitamin E in human diets is mostly provided by the dietary oil(s) like olive oil. Also the food with the highest levels of E are almonds, sunflower seeds, or almonds.
Maret
Traber who was lead author on this article had important statements said. she mention that human brains are very enriched in DHA but they can not make
it and get it from the liver. So lyso-PLs carry the specific molcules to the brain from the liver. Therefore, those compounds are vastly decrease when vitamin E intake is low. This will set the stage for cellular membrane damage and neural (neuronal) death. She also said that other research has shown that the progression of alzheimer's disease can be slowed down by increasing vitamin E.
All in all, what this article comes down to is DHA is needed and Lyso-PLs are building blocks to transport DHA which is very enriched in the brain.
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Sunday, July 26, 2015
Vitamin E is Brain Essential
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According to researches at Oregon State University, they have discovered why vitamin E is essential for Healthy Brains. When there is a deficiency in vitamin E, this may cause neurological damage by damaging the supply line of specific nutrients and robbing the brain of the building blocks it needs to maintain health. Maret Traber (PhD/lead author of the study, who was published in the Journal of Lipid Research) said,"In a sense, if vitamin E is inadequate, we're cutting by more than half the amount of materials with which we can build and maintain the brain."
But according to the National Institutes of Health, it was stated that several studies investigated to determined if vitamin E supplements might help older adults remain mentally alert and active, plus prevent or slow the decline of Alzheimer's disease. But there was not enough strong helpful research to provide whether taking vitamin E supplements can help healthy people or mild mental fuctioning probelms to maintain brain health.
First of all, taking supplements DOES NOT, compare to eating whole foods that have the same vitamin within those foods. Supplements only help half way depending on what TYPE of supplement you are taking and how it was PROCESS.
Inaddtion, to contradict my own personal assumption in the last paragraph. Life-Echancement mention that by maintaining a high intake of vitamin E from just food by itself; it is possible to avoid the 8 to 9 year cognitive aging effect caused by a decrease comsuption of E. But supplementation of E would have value. The statement that support the supplementation to a degree is as stated "Given the important role that vitamin E evidently plays in protecting cognitive function, there is hope that supplementation with this vitamin may help in preventing, or at least delaying the onset of, serious neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases".
Vitamin E ability is to protect neurons against oxidative damage MAY have important effects on healthy neurological aging.
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Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Exercising The Mind And Body May Not Protect Against Alzheimer's (Bad News?)
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There is now new research suggesting that, staying physically fit and mentally fit may help healthy people ward off the mental decline that comes with aging, BUT it does not affect the underlying causes of Alzheimer's disease. Inside people with Alzheimer's, there are abnormal, fuzzy, and cloud-like clusters of Fragments of protein called BETA-AMYLOID that surround nerve cells, plus block their signals. Therefore, this leads the person's mind function and memory to deteriorate.
Most Importantly, in the study researchers looked at Beta-Amyloid and other characteristics of Alzheimer's. This lead them to see if there were characteristics in people's brains responded (correlated) with mental and physical exericises. As a result, results reveal that exercises may possibly be disconnected from any protection against Alzheimer's diesease characteristics of the brain. This was a statement of the results by Keith A. Johnson (co-director of the Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Harvard Medical School).
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Strawberry Soup
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Directions:
- Place all ingredients (except those for garnish) in high-speed blender. Blend until smooth.
- Ladle mixture into soup bowls. Garnish, if desired. Serve chilled.
10 Minutes Prep Time
Serves 6 People
Ingredients Needed:
- 6 cup | sliced and hulled (stems removed) fresh strawberries
- 1 1/2 cup | Vanilla Yogurt
- 1 cup | Orange Juice
- 1/3 cup | Honey
- 2 tsp | vanilla Extract
OPTIONAL: ADDITIONAL SLICED STRAWBERRIES, VANILLA YOGURT, AND MINT FOR GARNISH
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