The healing power of water

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‘Drink at least two litres a day and you will soon see the difference – glowing skin, weight loss, less cellulite, better immunity and a huge boost to your energy levels’

Water is one of the most basic things on Earth and essential to good health, yet we thoughtlessly throw away gallons every day. Used properly, water can revolutionise our lives.

We need the liquid for day-to-day survival, yet we often ignore our body’s cries for more water, at a grave cost to health and well-being.

It is estimated that 90 per cent of us are chronically dehydrated. Drink just five glasses of water per day and you will cut your risk of developing breast cancer by 79 per cent. The same amount of water will make you 45 per cent less likely to develop cancer of the colon.

Many of the common complaints which plague most people’s lives, such as tiredness, headaches, dry skin, low immunity, cellulite, indigestion and weight gain, are caused by day-to-day dehydration.

If you suffer from one or more of these conditions, you may change the quality of your life immeasurably simply by ensuring you drink two litres of water a day.

Being properly hydrated will help to keep you in peak health. Our bodies are 75 per cent water, but if this level drops by just 2 per cent then we become dehydrated. As soon as this happens, our bodies slow down and begin to operate less efficiently.

A detox give the body a chance to rest so it can cleanse itself. In just 18 days on the Water Detox programme, your body can effectively start again with a clean slate, feeling fabulous.

The Water Detox will help you to tackle health problems – from niggling persistent tiredness or wrinkled skin to more long-term concerns such as weight gain and high blood pressure.

The secret of the detox is simply in the quantity of water you consume. As well as drinking two litres a day, you get an additional litre from food on a nutritional plan which contains at least 50 per cent water.

Once you begin to drink the correct amount of water, you will soon notice improved levels of energy, glowing skin, weight loss, reduction in cellulite and an improved immune system.

It does not matter whether you drink bottle or tap water, but bottle flavoured waters are not permitted on the Water Detox because they almost certainly will be full of sugar and artificial flavours.

It should take you only two or three days to get used to drinking the correct amount of water. To get the best results, you will need to follow a few simple rules:

· Drink at least two litres of water a day.
· On a hot day, increase the daily amount by at least half a litre. Make sure at least one-and-a-half litres of the water is still (not sparkling) water.
· The water should be fresh and, ideally at room temperature.
· Spread your water intake over a day, ideally drinking a glass an hour.
· When you exercise, drink throughout the workout and afterwards. This extra water is in addition to your two daily litres.
· Coffee, tea, alcohol and fruit cordials do not count as water.
· As soon as you get up, drink a glass of water to rehydrate you from the night before.
· Drink a glass of water before lunch and supper to dampen your appetite and to stop you from drinking water with your food, which decreases the absorption of nutrients.
· Make sure you have had at least 1½ litres of water before 6pm.

The 18-day Water Detox Programme

It is vital to drink enough water and to eat the right foods to get the most benefit from the detox.

Certain food types contain up to 50 per cent water, and in some cases up to 95 per cent. Concentrating on these foods will lead to the best nutrition and hydration, though you still need to drink at least two litres of water a day.

You should not eat anything that is not on the programme because this may slow the process or even reverse it. You should particularly avoid diuretics, as they could cause you to lose the same volume of water and more. These include alcohol and drinks containing caffeine, such as colas, coffee and tea.

Exercise is important because it speeds up the cleansing process – but drink throughout your workout and consume at least an extra litre of water per hour of exercise.

When we sleep, we lose water through sweating and the normal metabolic processes. So start the day with a large glass of water, followed by a breakfast which is high in water content. Yoghurt and fruit are excellent. Make the first meal of the day ‘high hydration’.

It is also advisable to exclude certain herbs, such as juniper, dandelions and nettle teas, which encourage the body to expel fluids.

Also avoid foods such as curries and spices which increase body heat and use more fluids than normal.

During the 18-day water detox, you can eat oily fish, oils, yoghurts, potatoes, beans and pulses, vegetables, fruits, rice and salads.

For each of the 18 days, you should drink at least two litres of plain water and eat at least three full meals or five small meals a day. You must eat at least five portions of fruit, five portions of fish, beans or pulses, one portion of rice, and one portion of oil or cheese per day.

You can eat as much as you like of any food which is permitted, but this is the minimum that you should consume.

The cheeses and oils do not always have a 50 per cent water content, but I have included them to ensure that you get a balanced diet. I recommend sheep’s and goat’s products rather than those made from cow’s milk because they are much more easily digested by the human body and much easier to tolerate.

Eating raw foods will maintain fluid levels and help to preserve the nutrients. Aim to eat half of your foods each day raw.

To keep food succulent and with the right level of water, you must use the right cooking methods. Always try to use any of the juices, essences or fluids that come out of the foods for dressings, sauces or gravy to pour back over them. Steaming will also leave your food moist and juicy.

The best way to ensure you don’t lose fluids during cooking is to add them. Choose stews, soups, smoothes and long drinks. Select the foods which you like best and find easier to prepare.

Eat your main meal during the day and not late in the evening. It is better to have four or five light meals a day than to have a huge plate of food three times a day, which can cause big surges and drops in energy and blood sugar.

If you are tempted to snack, remember that 75 per cent of hunger pangs are requests from our bodies for water. Each time you feel hungry, have a glass of water. If, after 20 minutes, you are still peckish, then eat something, as long as your snack is one of the food allowed. Yoghurt, hummus and crudités are a good idea.
The Water Detox diet is not a diet, but a healthy way to cleanse your body. It will also help you to lose any excess weight.
Extracted from Water Detox: Total Health and Beauty in 8 Easy Steps by Jane Scrivener

THE FACTS ABOUT H20

· 75 per cent of our hunger pangs are signals of thirst
· Our brain is 75 per cent water
· Blood is 92 per cent water
· Bones are 22 per cent water
· Muscles are 75 per cent water
· Brain cells are 82 per cent water
· Moderate dehydration can cause headaches and even dizziness
· On hot days, sweating can cause you to lose up to 16 glasses of water a day
· The body loses as much water when asleep as when awake
· Mild dehydration slows the metabolism by as much as 3 per cent
· A 2 per cent drop in hydration can slow mental recall

HOW IT CAN EFFECT YOUR BODY

Drinking water improves the efficiency of all major body organs. The liver, lungs, skin, kidneys and intestines all use water as a vehicle for cleansing. Inadequate quantities of water slow the system down and can causes you to suffer from constipation, grey skin, infections and swollen glands.

Dehydration
Simple day-to-day dehydration can cause tiredness, bad circulation, high blood pressure, headaches, dizziness, aching joints, dry skin, urinary infections, slow metabolism, low immunity, stress, cellulite, weight gain and indigestion.

The Liver
The largest internal organ, the liver works to detoxify the body by taking in ‘poisons’ such as additives and alcohol. A severely overtaxed liver can lead to lethargy and, in extreme cases, jaundice.

The Kidneys
The kidneys cleanse the blood and regulate potassium and sodium levels. Overworked kidneys can cause tiredness, or, more seriously, kidney infections and kidney stones.

The Intestines
Food passes through the stomach into the intestines. The goodness is absorbed and waste eliminated. Digestion takes about eight hours from consumption to elimination in a healthy body, but more than 24 in a dehydrated one.

The Lymph System
Lymph, absorbs dead cells, excess fluids and other waste products and takes them to the lymph nodes, which are under your armpits and in the areas of your groin and knees. Here, the waste is filtered and eventually fed to the eliminatory organs – skin, liver or kidneys – to be passed out.

The Lungs
The lungs filter pollution and toxins, including cigarette fumes and chemicals from the air we breathe. The lungs are full of little air sacs which fill with inhaled air. The lungs then expel carbon dioxide and waste water.

The Skin
The skin sweats out waste products such as salt, uric acid, ammonia and urea. Its condition is an excellent indicator of the condition of internal organs. Spots and a pale skin can be one of the first signs that we have not been taking care of ourselves.

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Reference:http://campaignfortruth.com/Eclub/170402/healingpowerofwater.htm

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Scientists probing what happened before big bang

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By Robert S. Boyd|McClatchy Newspapers

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WASHINGTON — When the huge subatomic-particle smasher under the Swiss-French border starts running, it’s supposed to reveal what happened the instant after the big bang, the theoretical beginning of our universe 13.7 billion years ago.

The Large Hadron Collider, which suffered a temporary setback last week, might find some answers. But it will leave other questions on many people’s minds, such as what happened BEFORE the big bang, and even whether there was a “before.”

A scientific mini-industry has popped up as deep-thinking physicists and cosmologists bat around various guesses as to what may have happened in a “pre-big bang.”

Some of the top minds in this field gathered at Columbia University earlier this month to debate these questions.

“What banged? Where did it come from?” was the question raised by Laura Mersini-Houghton, a cosmologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“Is ours the only universe? If so, how did it come to exist?” asked Paul Davies, a cosmologist and authority on science and religion at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Respected scientists have proposed a flock of theories to describe what might have happened before the birth of our familiar universe of space and time.

The concepts have fanciful names such as “the big bounce,” “the multiverse,” “the cyclic theory,” “parallel worlds,” even “soap bubbles.” Some propose the existence of multiple universes. Others hold that there’s one universe that recycles itself endlessly, rather as Buddhists believe. Judeo-Christian theologians may have difficulty accepting any of these notions.

Most of the hypotheses are variations on an older idea that the universe has no beginning and no end, contrary to the big bang theory, which says that our universe originated at a specific point and will end sometime in the distant future.

“Neither time nor the universe has a beginning or an end,” two leading cosmologists, Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University and Neil Turok of Oxford University, wrote in their 2007 book, “Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang.”

“The evolution of the universe is cyclic, with big bangs occurring once every trillion years or so, each one accompanied by the creation of new matter and radiation that forms new galaxies, stars, planets and presumably life,” they wrote. “Ours is only the most recent cycle.”

Some scientists contend that observational evidence may be found to back up the speculation. They say that no scientific theory can be considered valid until it’s been tested.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that multiverse models grounded in modern physics can be empirically testable,” Max Tegmark, a theoretical physicist at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, wrote in “Parallel Universes,” a chapter in a 2003 book “Science and Ultimate Reality.”

Some researchers hope that the Large Hadron Collider will provide evidence to support or refute these conjectures. They say the particle smasher might discover extra dimensions, beyond our familiar three spatial dimensions plus time. More dimensions are the basis of several pre-big bang theories.

Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, proposes that gravity, unlike light and matter, could travel between parallel universes and cast a “shadow” that scientists might be able to detect.

The shadow might take the form of “gravitational waves,” faint ripples in the fabric of space and time caused by violent explosions such as the big bang. Detectors in the United States and Europe are seeking such waves, and in the future satellites will watch for evidence of them in space.

Turok says his cyclic theory predicts a “distinctive pattern of gravitational waves that is very different from the one expected in the big bang theory . . . and may prove or disprove our theory within the next few years.”

Last August, ground and satellite observations revealed what appeared to be an enormous “hole in the universe,” a mostly empty region of the sky, 900 million light-years wide — about 5 billion trillion miles — in the constellation Eridanus. Mersini-Houghton, a believer in multiple universes, interpreted the empty spot as the “footprint” of the gravitational tug of another, smaller universe parked at the edge of our own.

“It’s like someone took a giant scoop and scooped all the matter away,” she told the Columbia cosmology conference. “All these universes are interacting with each other.”

Mersini-Houghton’s interpretation of the “hole” is controversial and so far lacks independent confirmation.

The oldest and most popular of the pre-big-bang theories is the multiverse. As outlined by Martin Rees, the British astronomer royal, in his 1997 book, “Before the Beginning: Our Universe and Others,” the theory declares that our universe is only one of many — perhaps an infinite number — of other worlds, each differing slightly from the others. These universes are continually forming new offspring, sprouting off from each other rather like soap bubbles.

The big bounce hypothesis — sometimes known as the big splat — contends that our universe was preceded by a twin that expanded to a certain limit, then contracted, collapsed and gave birth to our world. A leading proponent of this theory is Martin Bojowald, a theoretical physicist at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, who published it last year in the journal Nature.

In 2005, Kaku published a book titled “Parallel Worlds” in which he hypothesized that there may be millions of different, parallel universes, some that look like our own. They’re invisible to us because they lie outside our universe.

The big bang theory found favor with the Roman Catholic Church because it implied that the world has a single beginning at a definite point in time, as portrayed in Genesis. At a Vatican conference in 1951, Pope Pius XII said the big bang was consistent with church doctrine.

“Creation took place in time, therefore there is a creator, therefore God exists!” the pope declared.

The Rev. John Haught, an authority on science and religion at Georgetown University in Washington, said the idea that there might be many worlds and many beginnings, not just a single big bang, wouldn’t undermine Christian theology.

“Even if the universe, or multiverse, were around forever, this would not challenge the theological explanation of the world’s existence,” Haught said. “The biblical doctrine of creation . . . lies at a different level from scientific understanding. The world, theologians say, still gets its finite being from an infinite being.”

According to Francisca Cho, a professor of Buddhism and East Asian religions at Georgetown, these pre-big bang cosmologies are similar to the Hindu belief in a universe that cycles endlessly through creation and destruction.

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reference:http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20081027/sc_mcclatchy/3082054_1

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Can money buy happiness

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By Tim Weber
Business Editor, BBC News website, in Davos

If getting rich makes us happy, then why don’t countries as a whole get happier as they grow wealthier? A workshop at the World Economic Forum in Davos tried to find out.

Are you happy? Really, truly happy?

Yes? Oh good! But why? Is it because you are rich, healthy, successful, have a family, or are you just having a good time?

So far, so easy. Even better, neuroscientists could tell me whether you are lying.

They can check whether the right parts in your brain get active when you claim to be as happy as a bunny.

And one thing they have discovered is that money tends to make us happier, says Lord Layard, professor at the London School of Economics and author of the book Happiness.

The conundrum

Now comes the hitch: when a whole society gets richer, there is no overall increase in happiness.

Instead, rich Western societies are plagued with high levels of depression and envy.

Unfortunately, it takes more than an entrepreneur, a media executive, a musician, and two economics professors to find an answer for the conundrum.

At least they gave it a try: “serial entrepreneur” Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Imax co-chief executive Richard Gelfond, Senegalese music legend Youssou N’Dour, Yale professor Robert Shiller and Lord Layard.

Pay taxes, be happy

Are you satisfied earning one million dollars if your neighbour rakes in two million?

Money may make you happier, says Lord Layard, but when you judge your wealth (and thus your happiness) you measure it against the people around you.

Even worse: Western societies make this “terrible error” of telling people they should work ever harder to compete.

What a waste, says Lord Layard (possibly tongue in check) and suggests that only higher taxes can force people to stop competing and restore a healthy, happy work-life balance.

The lesson: pay high taxes, don’t work yourself to death, and live happily ever after.

Play football, be happy

Not so, argues Stelios Haji-Ioannou, boss of Easygroup and amongst many other things founder of budget airline Easyjet.

People quickly get used to their wealth, just as they get used to their own beauty.

As a result, having tons of money won’t make you happy, and as proof there are plenty of unhappy rich kids, says Mr Haji-Ioannou (and he should know – he once was one himself).

Instead we should take a Greek lesson: never was his home country happier than after Greece won the European Football Championship and hosted the Olympics last year.

The lesson: play football, and “don’t try to fix happiness with taxes or wealth”.

Be competitive, be happy

But being an achiever and rising out of poverty surely must bring happiness, argues Richard Gelfond.

And once you are rich you can afford the “creature comforts” that make life pleasant and happy.

The lesson: “wealth plays a bigger factor in being happy than we all would like to admit.”

In surveys, people consistently give three reasons for their personal happiness: wealth, family and health.

Being richer affords you better health, and in all likelihood better relationships as well, believes Professor Robert Shiller.

The lesson: “we can use increased wealth to create happiness,” but if we aren’t happy yet, we just don’t go about it the right way.

Get grooving, play football, be happy

Forget money entirely, says Youssou N’Dour.

There is plenty of happiness in Senegal, even though its people are not wealthy at all, says Mr N’Dour.

“Just see the joy that music and entertainment can bring to the boys in the poorest parts of Dakar.”

But he concedes that one thing was even better: the moment when Senegal beat France in the 2002 Football World Cup.

The lesson: if you’re happy and you know it…

The happy factor

The audience was not convinced.

“What about values?”… “Why are deeply religious people usually so much happier?”… Are “television programmes about the rich and famous”, is the “pop culture celebrity cult” the source of all unhappiness?

Maybe happiness is like a forest that from time to time needs a fire – or suffering – to grow happily?

There was agreement on just one thing: governments will find it difficult to legislate for happiness, although they can clear some of the obstacles out of the way.

As the discussion wrapped up, Youssou N’Dour grabbed the microphone and sang us a song about happiness.

And so we went back into the bitter cold of the Davos night.

Feeling strangely serene, even happy.

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reference:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4211413.stm

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9 Great Breakfast Ideas for Kids of All Ages

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“Consumer Reports” finds that many cereals are more sugary than doughnuts. What to do?

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By Nancy Shute

Posted October 1, 2008

A bowl of cereal can be less healthful than a doughnut, according to a new ranking of kids’ breakfast cereals published by Consumer Reports. Eleven cereals ranked by the venerable group had more sugar than a glazed Dunkin’ Donut. The culprits include Kellogg’s Honey Smacks (nee Sugar Smacks) and Post Golden Crisp, both of which get almost 60 percent of their calories from sugar. Talk about a sugar high!

What’s a parent to do? Registered dietitians know how to eat smart at breakfast—without denying your sweet tooth. This is good news not just for kids but for the many grownups who still love sugared cereal. Sarah Krieger, a registered dietitian who teaches kids how to make a wholesome breakfast at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., is among them. Right now she craves Cocoa Krispies, which she attributes to being pregnant. Otherwise, her sugary fave is Frosted Mini-Wheats. Here are nine ways to build a breakfast that’s both healthful and satisfying:

• Go for protein. Study after study has shown that eating breakfast makes for better cognitive performance through the day and less weight gain over time. To make that happen, a key ingredient is protein, which provides lasting energy. One good choice: peanut butter on a whole-grain English muffin.

• Fiber up. Consumer Reports considered fiber one of its key ranking criteria, right up there with the amount of sugar. Its winners among cereals marketed to children: Cheerios and Kix, both with 3 grams of fiber per serving, and Life and Honey Nut Cheerios, both with 2 grams. Step outside the realm of cereals marketed to kids, and there are lots of good choices, including Raisin Bran, with 5 grams of fiber per serving, Grape-Nuts, with 7 grams, or Kashi Go Lean Crunch, with 9 grams. Children need at least their age plus 5 in fiber; a 5-year-old should eat at least 10 grams of fiber a day. Adults need 25 to 35 grams, and cereal is a great way to get it.

• Sugar can help the fiber go down. Some cereals that have added sugar also have real health benefits: A serving of Frosted Mini-Wheats, for instance, has a whopping 6 grams of fiber, which dietitians say helps make up for the 12 grams of sugar per serving.

• Look for whole grains. Not only do whole grain cereals have more fiber, but they also have more natural vitamins and minerals. Finding good whole-grain cereal can take some detective work. For instance, oatmeal in the round box has more fiber than single-serving packaged oatmeal because the instant oatmeal is more highly processed. It almost always has added sugar, too. Better to microwave old-fashioned or quick oatmeal, and drizzle on honey or add dried cherries if you like it sweet.

• Be unconventional. Leftover pizza or pasta makes a great breakfast choice, according to Krieger. Add a piece of fruit and a glass of milk, and you’re good for the morning.

• Keep an eye on sodium. Consumer Reports dinged Rice Krispies, but not because it has a lot of sugar—it’s got only 4 grams per serving, which is next to nothing compared with Froot Loops, with 12 grams. Instead, Rice Krispies was faulted for being higher in sodium than is necessary, at 135 milligrams, and having almost no fiber (it’s puffed white rice). Other cereals heavily promoted to children have up to 270 mg of sodium in a serving, which is a real concern at a time when increasing numbers of children are being diagnosed with high blood pressure.

• Use sweetened cereals like a condiment. Layer a little Cap’n Crunch, with 12 grams of sugar and 1 gram of fiber, on top of shredded wheat, with no sugar and 5 grams of fiber, and you’ve got a not-so-bad bowlful. Krieger likes her Cocoa Krispies atop plain shredded wheat or Cheerios.

• Beware of sneaky sugar substitutes. Some cereal companies are replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners so they can say their product has less sugar, according to Tara Gudis, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. You wouldn’t know that unless you read the fine print in the ingredients. Eating supersweet food, even if artificially sweetened, is a bad idea, Gudis says, because once people are used to really sweet tastes, they’re less likely to eat a varied, healthful diet.

• Eat breakfast every day. Consistently eating breakfast turns up in study after study as a key part of healthful living, particularly for kids. “I like cereal,” says Gudis. “It’s a good way to get people to eat breakfast, and if you pick a high-fiber one, you can get half your fiber knocked out for the day.” Eat it with milk, and you’re getting protein, calcium, and Vitamin D, too.

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reference:http://health.usnews.com/

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Genpets™ – Pets Of The Future

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Adam Brandejs, a 24 year old Sculptor/programmer with a BFA from the Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto, Canada has created Genpets™.

These little creatures have been displayed in numerous Toronto galleries as well as a retail store (Iodine & Arsenic on Queen Street), and they will soon be headed to Alberta as well as over to Europe to show in Basel Switzerland. So what exactly what are these little creatures? The Genpets™ are pre-packaged, bioengineered pets. They are living, breathing genetic animals and come in 2 base configurations, a 1-year model, and 3-year model.

“We use a process called “Zygote Micro Injection” which is quickly becoming a favourable method to combine DNA, or to insert certain proteins from different species. Most notably it was used in 1997 to splice mice with bioluminescent jellyfish and has since been used to create glowing rabbits, pigs, fish, and monkeys.

Since then, human DNA has been injected into rabbits, chimpanzees, spider DNA into sheep, and now, Genpets have arrived!” (Genpets) Each Genpet™ comes with a color-coded personality (7 in total). If you want a very energetic pet then you would choose a Red Genpet™.

Their packages really set them apart from other products on the market today. Each package has a microchip that monitors that state of the Genpet while it is asleep and it comes with a fully functioning heart monitor with green LED lights and a speaker. These guys do have limited mobility and must be cared for on a constant basis.

So here’s the question then – Are we as a society responsible enough to move into the realm of bioengineering?

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reference:http://www.gushmagazine.com/article/genpets-pets-of-the-future/

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read more:

http://www.genpets.com/

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/genpets.asp

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