(BEAUTY OF MALIK )

Dreamy Wallpaper 2012

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:13:00 +0000

Awesome and Beautiful Art of Science

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Mixing the staggering beauty of pure art with a precision and dedication of great science.

It reads contradictory and conflicted: the art of science/science of art – the mixture of the logical and methodical with the imaginative and emotional.

But science and art – or, if you’d prefer, art and science – have held hands, if not as close friends, for a very long time. Greek and Roman artists followed often strict guidelines considering the correct mathematical proportions of the figures in their frescoes and sculptures, Japanese woodblocks were as much about mechanical precision as they were about the subject being printed, the Renaissance was all about using science to bring a literal new dimension to painting, and then you have the work of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka.

Everything you see below is made from glass...
No, you haven’t heard of Leopold or Rudolf Blaschka – but you certainly should have. Unlike the Greeks and the Romans, the Japanese Ukiyo-e artists, Michangelo and Leonardo, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka aren’t well-known outside of either esoteric or scientific circles.

Which is what makes them so remarkable: they mixed the staggering beauty of pure art with a precision and dedication worthy of great scientists.

Recreating Nature in Glass - Looking Through a Glass, Darkly

Leopold and Rudolf were glass artisans – possibly some of the greatest, ever. They weren’t concerned with platters and goblets, lampshades and windows. Nope, Leopold and Rudolf created nature.
Simplified, here’s the story: Harvard Professor George Lincoln Goodale wanted examples to help teach botany, but the problem was plants have a tendency to … well, die. Sure, you could preserve some specimens but lots of species just don’t look the same after being dried – the plant version of stuffed and mounted. Yes, you could try using paintings or even photography but plants are – and here’s a surprise -- three dimensional. So what Professor Goodale did was ask the Blaschkas to create detailed glass plants to help him teach his students about real ones.
What the Blaschkas did, was more than just recreate plants: they created astounding works of not only scientific accuracy but pure, brilliant, art. Even the simplest of their efforts is deceptively unencumbered… a sign of their genius as their reproductions don't resemble the botanical model – they look EXACTLY like them, created by hand, in fickle and fragile glass, and all in the period 1887 to 1936.
What’s even more impressive is how many they created - more than 3,000 models of some 850 species – many of which can be seen on display at Harvard while many others are being painstakingly restored. But the Blaschkas didn’t stop at mere plants. Plants are relatively simple subjects and there are much deeper challenges out there - creatures so rare and fragile that very few men have ever seen them in their delicate flesh (even more frail than the glass the Blaschkas used to recreate them).

When the reproductions below were conjured in the late 19th century only a few marine explorers and a few lucky seaman had seen any of them. Octopi, urchins, sea cucumbers, anemones, jellyfish, cuttlefish – they were too rare, too fragile, to be seen outside of their briny homes. That is until the Blaschkas.

I wish there was some way to request a moment of silence. I wish there was some way to ask you to stop reading this and look at the pictures here and at other places of the web. I wish there was some way for you to have a nice glass of wine, put on some nice music – maybe Bach, who also mixed science and art – and just admire the care, the craft, and the pure art the Blaschkas created.

Other Astonishing Amalgams of Science and Art

The Blaschka brothers left an inspirational legacy. Josiah McElheny – a recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant – is a kindred spirit to the Blaschkas, another mind-blowing artist who works in the whimsical and temperamental medium of glass … and the disciplined domain of science.

McElheny’s works -- like that of the Blaschka brothers -- take inspiration from the universe around us, and there is no better example than the key moment seen below. In many ways this is a perfect place to stop: the Blaschka brothers created perfect artistic reproductions of nature to teach science, and McElheny created a sculptural interpretation of the ultimate act of creation, as discovered by science: the Big Bang.
Dale Chihuly also makes incredible glass sculptures, but these are more surreal than scientifically correct:
Physics Fusion With Art?

When physics get too complicated (or obscure) the whole exercise may start to resemble abstract art patterns:
Fabric Brain Art: This is Your Brain on Wool

Neuroscience and art mix beautifully at "The Museum of Scientifically Accurate Fabric Brain Art" - click here. Some examples are somewhat unnerving, and others are plainly tongue-in-cheek:
Fabric MRI - slices, slices everywhere:
Street art can be educational too: here is a lesson in anatomy and graffiti skill, seen somewhere in Russia:
The Dark Side of the Moon is Buried in the Wall - and Mystery... for Another 70 Years

Perhaps one the most striking examples of astronomy science visualisation is this humongous model of the Moon from 1908, almost a surreal doorway to another world, a snapshot of bizarre art/science history:

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Top 20 World’s Beautiful Body Painting

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:50:00 +0000

World Body Painting Festival 2008 in South Korea

Daegu in South Korea is playing host to the World Bodypainting Festival, it’s the largest bodypainting event on the planet.

The main festival is held every year in Seeboden, Austria, but expanded into Asia for the first time this year with a bonus exhibition. It lasts until 31 August.
The World Bodypainting Festival is the biggest annual event of the body painting culture and community. The festival is the first of its kind in the world and has become the “Mecca of Bodypainting” . It draws over a hundred artists and models, and thousands of visitors, from all over the world every year.

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The Fleet of NATO

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Here is the fleet of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which aims to maintain peace and order in the world. Very powerful and really impressive

Top 10 Anti-Cancer Foods

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:34:00 +0000

Insure Your Long Term Good Health by Adding the Following Foods to Your Diet

Many common foods are known to have cancer fighting properties. Numerous medical sources list the ones they feel have the most protective benefit. The experts aren't in total agreement here, but there is a great deal of overlap amongst these lists. Here are the ten foods most doctors believe will protect you:

Seafood: Fish, shellfish and seaweed or kelp all contain every known mineral.

Flax: Contains two cancer fighters, omega 3 fatty acids and lignans. Omega 3s support immune function while lignans are phytoestrogens, similar to but weaker than the natural hormone. They are believed to bind to a woman's estrogen receptors and block excessive estrogen activity in the cells, reducing the risk of hormone driven cancers (breast and uterine). Lots of plants contain lignans; but flaxseed is, by far, the richest source.

Green Tea: Studies have shown that the catechins in green tea suppress the growth of cancer cells. It also contains the strongest known antioxidant, EGCC.

Cruciferous Vegetables: This group is comprised of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collards, kale and all their kin. All are rich in anti-cancer flavonoids, but the richest source in the lot is red cabbage. All of the aforementioned are also great sources of calcium which is believed to prevent the growth of precancerous polyps that can lead to colon cancer.

Spinach: Several studies have found that folk who eat spinach twice a week or more have lower lung and breast cancer rates.

Tomatoes: One of the richest sources of lycopene, a flavonoid proven to defend against cancers of the lung, cervix, mouth and prostate. The nutrient only becomes biologically available when the fruit is cooked, so raw tomatoes (though they provide other benefits) will not work.

Organic Peppers: Better source of vitamin C than citrus fruit. Scientist have discovered that animals whose bodies produce vitamin C rarely develop cancer. As the human body does not produce this nutrient, we must ingest it. The prevailing wisdom is that 500-1,000 milligrams per day in a divided dose should produce the protective benefit. Peppers, particularly the red, orange and yellow varieties, also contain high levels of bioflavonoids. Be sure to buy organic as the others are sprayed with a pesticide which is a potent neurotoxin.

Citrus: Oranges contain more than 170 phytochemicals, many, potent cancer fighters. In addition, a bitter-tasting compound in citrus pith appears to be a highly active anti-cancer agent. Grapefruit is high in fiber at 18 grams per large fruit. This fiber binds with carcinogens in the intestine and carries them out of the body before they can cause harm.

Berries: A Harvard School of Health study found that people who eat lots of strawberries enjoy a greatly reduced incidence of cancer. Many other studies have drawn the same conclusion about cranberries, blueberries and raspberries.

Beans: Protease inhibitors are compounds that make it difficult for cancer cells to invade healthy tissue. Beans are loaded with them. They are also loaded with fiber which blocks cancer in the digestive tract.

Unfortunately, there's no way to guarantee you won't develop cancer at some point in your life, but increasing your intake of at least a few of these super-foods should greatly reduce your risk

Foods You Never Knew Were High in Sugar

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:33:00 +0000

5 Super Sugary Foods

Sugar is one of those ingredients that shows up where you least expect it. For example, you may do everything possible to avoid fruit drinks that aren't 100% juice, but 100% juices contain a lot of sugar as well. You just never know where sugar may be hiding. The following foods are just some of those that have a shockingly high sugar content.

Foods You Never Knew Were High In Sugar #1: Ketchup

If you've ever made homemade pasta sauce, this may not be that shocking, but most people don't realize just how acidic tomatoes can be. Sugar is added to products like ketchup to even out the acidic taste. Before buying items that you know contain ketchup (like barbeque sauce or pork and beans) look at the nutrition label to see how high the sugar content is. Also check other tomato based products like spaghetti sauce.

Foods You Never Knew Were High In Sugar #2: Sports Drinks

Sports drink companies have led us to believe that we need these drinks after a workout. These drinks are supposed to replace electrolytes that are lost while we exercise. The problem is many of us are not exercising as much as the athletes who these drinks were invented for. For this reason, the average person does not need these drinks and water would be a much better option. A quick look at the nutrition label of a popular sports drink brand reveals that a 20 ounce bottle has 35 grams of sugar. A leading brand of cola has 35 grams per 12 ounces.

Foods You Never Knew Were High In Sugar #3: Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt

How could yogurt be unhealthy, especially when it has fruit in it? Yogurt is one of those items that require you to look at the label closely. Just because it says its fat free does not mean it is also low in calories. Fruit on the bottom yogurts happen to be very high in sugar. A popular brand name, fruit on the bottom blueberry, yogurt contains 40 grams of sugar in an 8 ounce container. If you're on a 2,000 calorie a day diet, you should only be eating 32 grams of sugar a day, which is 6% of your calories.

Foods You Never Knew Were High In Sugar #4: Cranberry Juice

We've all seen the commercials about how great cranberry juice is. The health benefits are numerous, but so are the grams of sugar in the healthy beverage. An 8 ounce glass of 100% cranberry juice contains 35 grams, the same amount of a 12 ounce can of cola. A healthier way to reap the benefits of cranberries is to take cranberry pills.

Foods You Never Knew Were High In Sugar #5: Honey

Honey is another one of those ingredients that is shockingly high in sugar. One tablespoon of honey contains 17 grams. This means that honey might not be the perfect sugar substitute that we once thought it was. This doesn't mean you should toss away all your honey. Honey does a wonderful job at curing a cold when added to hot tea with a squeeze of lemon.

Benefits Of Fruits ( A-Z)

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:29:00 +0000

Apple

Key benefits of apples

Apples, known as a cleansing food, contain fibre, antioxidants and fruit flavonoids. The most important of the flavonoids contained in apples is quercetin, which has anti-inflammatory as well as anti-cancer actions. Apples contain vitamin C as well – more so in green apples than in red ones. Apples can reduce blood cholesterol levels, counter constipation and diarrhoea, help joint problems and help prevent diseases in general.

How much apples should you eat?

Apples can be eaten freely, but more than two or three a day does not increase the health benefits. Large quantities of apple juice can encourage tooth decay and diarrhoea.

Maximising the benefits of apples

Apples are best eaten raw, as cooking them can reduce the flavonoids by as much as 70 percent into the cooking water. It is also a good idea to eat the apple unpeeled as flavonoids are contained in or near the skin.

Nutritional values of apple

Calories	57
Fibre	1,8 g
Potassium	120 mg
Vitamin C	10 mg
Vitamin E	0,6 mg
Quantities per 100 g

Apricot

Key benefits of apricots

Apricots are rich in the antioxidant beta-carotene and rich in iron and potassium. It can help regulate blood pressure and is also high in soluble fibre, which helps maintain regular bowel function.

How much apricots should you eat?

Dried or fresh apricots can be eaten freely. A handful of dried apricots supplies one fifth of an adult's daily potassium needs and between 10 and 20 percent of an adult's iron needs.

Maximising the benefits of apricots

Dried apricots should be eaten with foods that are rich in Vitamin C so that iron absorption can be increased.

Nutritional values of apricots

Calories	188
Carotenes	323 mcg
Fat	1 g
Fibre	8 g
Iron	4 mg
Potassium	1880 mg
Carbohydrates	37 g
Starch	0
Sugars	37 g
Protein	4 g
Glycaemic index high
100 g Dried apricots

Avocado

Key benefits of avocado

Avocados reduce cholesterol and so reduce the risk of atherosclerosis. These fruit also have antioxidant ability and contain vitamins E, C and B6, as well as potassium and folic acid.

One avocado provides 40% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for folic acid, which makes the fruit particularly beneficial for pregnant women. Research shows that folic acid helps to prevent birth defects in babies.

While avocados are quite high in monounsaturated fat, the good news is that this type of fat is good for you. What's more, including avocados in your diet can help you to cut out other unhealthy fats.

Avocados are also a good source of dietary fibre.

How much avocado should you eat?

Intake of avocados should be moderate, as they are high in calories. A whole avocado weighs about 130g and has about 240 calories (1008 kilojoules). Eat no more than a quarter of an avocado per day.

Maximising the benefits of avocado

To ripen avocados at home, keep them at room temperature.

A good way of ensuring that they don't go brown once cut open, is to sprinkle a dash of lemon or orange juice on the exposed part of the fruit.

Nutritional values of avocado

Calories	190
Potassium	450 mg
Fibre	3,4g
Vitamin E	3,2mg
Per 100 g raw

Banana

Key benefits of bananas

Bananas are a good source of both potassium and vitamin B6. They not only help to maintain bowel health, but are also good energy-boosting snacks. As bananas ripen, their starch is converted into sugar. Bananas help to maintain blood sugar levels and it is also a fruit which is easily digested.

Here's another reason to eat bananas: too little vitamin B6 in the diet can hamper our immune systems by depressing the white blood cells' ability to mature. This could make you more prone to infections like colds and flu.

How much banana should you eat?

Bananas can be eaten daily, within limits. A banana weighing 100g contains about 384 kilojoules, and a big banana counts as two fruit portions.

Chronic stress takes its toll on our vitamin B6 stores. So, eat more bananas when you're stressed.

And eat your bananas ripe - the ripe fruit contain more nutrients.

Maximising the benefits of banana

Fresh, ripe bananas are a very good source of fruit sugars and can give a quick energy boost.

Nutritional values of banana

Calories	62
Potassium	270 mg
Vitamin B6	0.19 mg
Vitamin C	7 mg
Niacin	0.5 g
Per 100g ready-to-eat, weighed with the skin

Blackberry

Key benefits of blackberries

Blackberries are a good low fat source of vitamin E and it helps to fight infection. It also contains salcylate, which is thought to lower the chance of heart risk. It also contains vitamin C, phenolic acids and folate.

How much blackberries should you eat?

Blackberries can be eaten in many forms, from juice to desert or just fresh.

Maximising the benefits of blackberries

Blackberries are best eaten fresh, but the cooked variety still contains high quantities of vitamin E.

Nutritional values of blackberries

Calories	25
Fibre	3,1 g
Folate	34 g
Vitamin E	2,4 mg
Per 100g serving

Blackcurrants

Key benefits of blackcurrants

Blackcurrants have a high vitamin C content – four times as much as oranges of an equivalent weight. They are rich in antioxidants and flavonoids and help to relieve inflammation as well as urinary tract infections. It is also a good source of potassium.

How much blackcurrants should you eat?

Blackcurrants can be eaten freely, either raw, or cooked. Blackcurrant juice often contains very little fruit.

Maximising the benefits of blackcurrants

Blackcurrants in all forms work as antioxidants, as anti-inflammatories and theanthocyanin flavonoids counter the bacteria that cause food poisoning and urinary tract infections.

Nutritional values of blackcurrants

Calories	28
Carotenes	100 mcg
Fibre	3,6 g
Iron	1,3 mg
Potassium	370 mg
Vitamin C	200 mg
Vitamin E	1 mg
Per 100g uncooked serving

Blueberry

Key benefits of blueberries

Blueberries have many health benefits, including the highest antioxidant ability of all fresh fruit. They also have effective anti-inflammatory, anti-blood clotting and antibacterial effects. In the past they were often used to combat diarrhoea and food poisoning. They are also thought to have anti-ageing properties.

How much blueberries should you eat

About thirty berries per day (65 g) is considered beneficial.

Maximising the benefits of blueberries

Blueberries are not sour and can be eaten raw, so preserving their vitamin C content. Lightly cooked fruit retain their therapeutic properties.

Nutritional values of blueberries

Calories	30
B vitamins	Good range
Fibre	1,8 g
Vitamin C	17 mg
Per 100g uncooked serving

Cherry

Key benefits of cherries

Cherries contain the powerful antioxidant anthocyadin. Cherries are believed to relieve gout if at least 225 g are eaten daily. They are also thought to have a mild laxative action.

How much cherries should you eat?

Cherries can be eaten freely.

Maximising the benefits of cherries

Although fresh cherries have a very short season, cherries that have been bottled, canned or cooked seem to retain their beneficial qualities.

Nutritional values of cherries

Calories	39
Potassium	170 mg
Vitamin C	9 mg
Carbohydrates	12 g
Starch	0
Sugars	12 g
Protein	1 g
Fat	<>
Glycaemic index low
Per 100g fresh

Cranberry

Key benefits of cranberries

Cranberries may reduce bladder infections. They also help to maintain a healthy heart and also may have anti-inflammatory benefits, as they have anti-fungal and antiviral properties. It is also thought that small amounts of cranberries may benefit kidney stone sufferers. The condensed tannins in cranberries have strong antioxidant properties.

How much cranberries should you eat?

To combat urinary tract infections, 300 ml of cranberry juice can be drunk daily.

Maximising the benefits of cranberries

Condensed tannins which are found in cranberries are not destroyed in cooking. These tannins are powerful antioxidants.

Nutritional values of cranberries

Calories	15
Fibre	3
Iron	0,7 mg
Vitamin C	13 g
Per 100g raw

Figs

Key benefits of figs

Dried or semi-dried figs are a good snack with which to increase energy and raise blood sugar levels quickly. They are also known for their laxative properties. It is thought that they also have cancer-discouraging action.

How much figs should you eat?

As figs are very high in sugar content, not too many of them should be eaten.

Maximising the benefits of figs

Figs can be eaten fresh, dried or semi-dried. Figs are a source of potassium, calcium, iron and magnesium.

Nutritional values of figs

Carbohydrate	53 g
Starch	0
Sugars	53 g
Protein	4 g
Fat	2 g
Glycaemic index high
Per 100g raw

Grapefruit

Key benefits of grapefruit

All citrus fruit are excellent sources of Vitamin C, which helps to maintain the body's defences. The flavonoid narigenin is found in grapefruit. It is thought to reduce the risk of some cancers. Grapefruit can improve blood circulation and lower blood cholesterol levels.

How much grapefruit should you eat?

Citrus fruit can be eaten freely. Two or three citrus fruits can provide the body with 20 percent of its potassium requirements.

Maximising the benefits of grapefruit

Grapefruit is best eaten peeled and raw. This is more beneficial than grapefruit juice. It is important also to eat the skin around the segments. Grapefruit is best eaten when fresh and chilled as this maximizes its vitamin C content.

Nutritional values of grapefruit

Calories	20
Vitamin C	24 mg
Fibre	0,9 mg
Folate	18 mcg
Carbohydrate	9 g
Starch	0
Sugars	9 g
Glycaemic Index high
Per 100g

Grapes

Key benefits of grapes

Both red and black grapes contain powerful antioxidants and resveratrol, which helps to prevent both the narrowing and hardening of the arteries. Ellagic acid, which has anti-cancer properties, is also contained in grapes. They do, however, have a very high sugar content.

How much grapes should you eat?

Grapes have many health benefits, but have a high sugar content and should therefore be eaten in moderation.

Maximising the benefits of grapes

Grapes are a good source of potassium.

Nutritional values of grapes

Calories	60
Carbohydrate	15 g
Starch	0
Sugars	15 g
Protein	<1g
Fat	<1>
Glycaemic Index medium
Per 100g

Kiwifruit

Key benefits of kiwifruit

Kiwifruit is one of the world's most nutritious fruit and it contains very high levels of vitamin C, potassium and chlorphyll. It contains a wealth of nutrients and antioxidants. It has anti-cancer effects.

How much kiwifruit should you eat?

An average kiwifruit weighs 75 g. It is a very healthy fruit and can be eaten in many different ways.

Maximising the benefits of kiwifruit

Kiwifruit should be eaten as soon as they are ripe, and sliced just before being eaten, as leaving them standing could decrease their vitamin C levels.

Nutritional values of kiwifruit

Calories	42
Fibre	1,6 g
Potassium	250 mg
Vitamin C	51 mg
Glycaemic Index medium
Per 100g

Lemons

Key benefits of lemons

Lemons have a very high vitamin C content. Lemons help to lower cholesterol levels and also have anti-cancer effects, because of lemons' limonoid phytochemicals.

How much lemons should you eat?

Lemons are low in calories, but because they are generally quite sour, they tend to be eaten in dressings, sauces or drinks, rather than on their own. A daily portion of citrus fruit is recommended.

Maximising the benefits of lemons

Limonoids and limonene are found in the whole lemon – pith and peel included. It is therefore best to make use of the whole lemon.

Nutritional values of lemons

Calories	7
Fibre	0,1 g
Potassium	130 mg
Vitamin C	36 mg
Per 100g juice

Mango

Key benefits of mango

Mango is thought to bring about a reduced risk of colon and cervical cancer. It is a rich source of beta-carotene, which the body can convert to vitamin A. It also contains beta-cryptoxanthin.

How much mango should you eat?

An average mango weighs about 150 g. They can be eaten just as is, or mixed into fruit salads.

Maximising the benefits of mango

As beta- cryptoxanthin is best absorbed by the body when eaten with fat, it is a good idea to eat mangoes as part of a meal, rather than on their own.

Nutritional values of mango

Calories	57
Fibre	2,6 g
Vitamin C	37 mg
Vitamin E	1 mg
Glycaemic Index medium
Per 100g

Melons

Key benefits of melons

Melons are good sources of beat-carotene and vitamin C. They may have an anti-clotting action on the blood. Melons are also thought to lower cancer and heart disease risk.

How much melon should you eat?

Melons are reasonably low in calories and can be eaten freely. They also have a very high water content.

Maximising the benefits of melons

Melons with a lighter yellow or green colour as well as watermelons contain less vitamin C and beta-carotene than orange melons do.

Nutritional values of melons

Calories	35
Per 100g

Orange

Key benefits of oranges

All citrus fruit are excellent sources of Vitamin C, which helps to maintain the body's defence. Flavonoids are found in oranges. These are thought to reduce the risk of some cancers. Citrus fruits can improve blood circulation and lower blood cholesterol levels.

How much oranges should you eat?

These can be eaten freely. Two or three citrus fruits can provide the body with 20 percent of its daily potassium requirements.

Maximising the benefits of oranges

Citrus fruits are best eaten peeled and raw. This is more beneficial than drinking fruit juice. It is important also to eat the skin around the segments.

Nutritional values of oranges

Calories	20
Vitamin C	24 mg
Fibre	0,9 mg
Folate	18 mcg
Carbohydrate	9 g
Starch	0
Sugars	9 g
Glycaemic Index high
Per 100g

Papaya

Key benefits of papaya

Papaya is thought to bring about a reduced risk of colon and cervical cancer. It is a rich source of beta-carotene, which the body can convert to vitamin A. It also contains beta-cryptoxanthin.

How much papaya should you eat?

Papaya can be eaten just as is, or mixed into fruit salads.

Maximising the benefits of papaya

As beta- cryptoxanthin is best absorbed by the body when eaten with fat, it is a good idea to eat papaya as part of a meal, rather than on their own.

Nutritional values of papaya

Calories	57
Vitamin C	37 mg
Fibre	2,6 mg
Vitamin E	1 mg
Per 100g

Peaches

Key benefits of peaches

Peaches are low in calories and one 100 g peach provides almost three quarters of the daily vitamin C requirement. The fruit has a gentle laxative effect. Peaches are also rich in iron and potassium.

How much peaches should you eat?

Fresh peaches are low in calories and can be eaten freely. If canned in syrup, however, their calorie counts increase significantly.

Maximising the benefits of peaches

Weight for weight, dried peaches contain six time the calories of fresh peaches. It must also be remembered that when peaches are canned, they lose 80 percent of their vitamin C content.

Nutritional values of peaches

Calories	43
Per 100g

Pear

Key benefits of pears

Pears are very unlikely to trigger allergic reactions, so can be used in exclusion diets. They contain hydroxycinnamic acids, which act as antioxidants.

How much pears should you eat?

Pears make good energy-boosting snacks and a medium pear weighs about 160 g. They are reasonably low in calories and can be eaten quite freely.

Maximising the benefits of pears

Eat pear with the skin, not just for the fibre, but also because chlorogenic acid tends to accumulate in pear skin.

Nutritional values of pears

Calories	59
Fibre	2,2 g
Potassium	150 mg
Vitamin C	6 mg
Per 100g

Pineapple

Key benefits of pineapples

Pineapples are a source of vitamin C and potassium. Pineapples may also have anti-inflammatory effects. It contains the enzyme bromelain, which is thought to aid digestion. Pineapple reduces blood-clotting and could also help to remove plaque from arterial walls.

How much pineapple should you eat?

Pineapple is healthy and should be eaten often. A thick slice weighs around 80 g.

Maximising the benefits of pineapples

Cooked pineapple loses its bromelain, so it is best eaten fresh. Tinned pineapple also has a very high sugar content.

Nutritional values of pineapples

Calories	41
Potassium	160 mg
Vitamin C	12 mg
Fibre	1,2 g
Per 100 g

Plums & prunes

Key benefits of plums

Plums and prunes have a high antioxidant ability and offer a high level of defence against free radicals. They are also a source of both iron and potassium and also contain vitamin E. Prunes are also known for their laxative effect and are a good source of fibre.

How much plums should you eat?

Three small plums or prunes equals one portion of fruit.

Maximising the benefits of plums

Both fresh and dried plums offer antioxidant benefits.

Nutritional values of plums

Calories	36
Potassium	240 mg
Fibre	1,6g
Per 100 g

Strawberry

Key benefits of strawberries

Strawberries raise the antioxidant levels in the body and are also a rich source of vitamin C. The ellagic acid they contain appear to inhibit the growth of tumours. They are also a good source of salicylic acid.

How much strawberries should you eat?

Strawberries can be eaten freely as they are very low in calories.

Maximising the benefits of strawberries

Strawberries should be eaten when fresh, as their antioxidant values as well as their vitamin C content drops the longer they are kept.

Nutritional values of strawberries

Calories	27
Vitamin C	77 mg
Folate	20 mcg
Fibre	1,1g
Per 100 g

Tips for a Healthy Diet and Better Nutrition

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:25:00 +0000

Healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, and keeping yourself as healthy as possible – all which can be achieved by learning some nutrition basics and incorporating them in a way that works for you.

Choose the types of foods that improve your health and avoid the types of foods that raise your risk for such illnesses as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Expand your range of healthy choices to include a wide variety of delicious foods. Learn to use guidelines and tips for creating and maintaining a satisfying, healthy diet.

Healthy Eating: Strategies for a healthy diet

Here are some tips for how to choose foods that improve your health and avoid foods that raise your risk for illnesses while creating a diet plan that works for you.

Big picture strategies for healthy eating
Eat enough calories but not too many. Maintain a balance between your calorie intake and calorie expenditure—that is, don't eat more food than your body uses. The average recommended daily allowance is 2,000 calories, but this depends on your age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity.
Eat a wide variety of foods. Healthy eating is an opportunity to expand your range of choices by trying foods—especially vegetables, whole grains, or fruits—that you don't normally eat.
Keep portions moderate, especially high-calorie foods. In recent years serving sizes have ballooned, particularly in restaurants. Choose a starter instead of an entrée, split a dish with a friend, and don’t order supersized anything.
Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes—foods high in complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, low in fat, and free of cholesterol. Try to get fresh, local produce
Drink more water. Our bodies are about 75% water. It is a vital part of a healthy diet. Water helps flush our systems, especially the kidneys and bladder, of waste products and toxins. A majority of Americans go through life dehydrated.
Limit sugary foods, salt, and refined-grain products. Sugar is added to a vast array of foods. In a year, just one daily 12-ounce can of soda (160 calories) can increase your weight by 16 pounds. See suggestions below for limiting salt and substituting whole grains for refined grains.
Don’t be the food police. You can enjoy your favorite sweets and fried foods in moderation, as long as they are an occasional part of your overall healthy diet. Food is a great source of pleasure, and pleasure is good for the heart – even if those French fries aren’t!
Get moving. A healthy diet improves your energy and feelings of well-being while reducing your risk of many diseases. Adding regular physical activity and exercise will make any healthy eating plan work even better.
One step at a time. Establishing new food habits is much easier if you focus on and take action on one food group or food fact at a time

Eating smart: A keystep towards healthy eating

Healthy eating begins with learning how to “eat smart”. It's not just what you eat, but how you eat. Paying attention to what you eat and choosing foods that are both nourishing and enjoyable helps support an overall healthy diet.

Take time to chew your food: Chew your food slowly, savoring every bite. We tend to rush though our meals, forgetting to actually taste the flavors and feel the textures of what is in our mouths. Reconnect with the joy of eating.
Avoid stress while eating: When we are stressed, our digestion can be compromised, causing problems like colitis and heartburn. Avoid eating while working, driving, arguing, or watching TV (especially disturbing programs or the news). Try taking some deep breaths prior to beginning your meal, or light candles and play soothing music to create a relaxing atmosphere.
Listen to your body: Ask yourself if you are really hungry. You may really be thirsty, so try drinking a glass of water first. During a meal, stop eating before you feel full. It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eat slowly. Eating just enough to satisfy your hunger will help you remain alert, relaxed and feeling your best, rather than stuffing yourself into a “food coma”!
Eat early, eat often: Starting your day with a healthy breakfast can jumpstart your metabolism, and eating the majority of your daily caloric allotment early in the day gives your body time to work those calories off. Also, eating small, healthy meals throughout the day, rather than the standard three large meals, can help keep your metabolism going and ward off snack attacks.

Healthy eating simplified

Despite what certain fad diets would have you believe, we all need a balance of carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins, and minerals to sustain a healthy body. But what exactly does that mean? What are good carb, protein, and fat choices for developing your own healthy eating plan? Below you will find more details on each of these topics.

Carbohydrates clarified

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates – food composed of some combination of starches, sugar and fiber - provide the body with fuel it needs for physical activity by breaking down into glucose, a type of sugar our cells use as a universal energy source.

Bad carbs are foods that have been “stripped” of all bran, fiber, and nutrients. They have been processed in order to make cooking fast and easy. Examples are white flour, refined sugar, and white rice. They digest so quickly that they cause dramatic elevations in blood sugar, which over time can lead to weight gain, hypoglycemia or even diabetes.
Good carbs are digested more slowly. This keeps your blood sugar and insulin levels from rising and falling too quickly, helping you get full quicker and feel fuller longer. Good sources of carbs include whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables, which also offer lots of additional health benefits, including heart disease and cancer prevention.

Whole Grains for long-lasting, healthy carbohydrate energy

In addition to being delicious and satisfying, whole grains are rich in phytochemicals and antioxidants, which help to protect against coronary heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes. Studies have shown people who eat more whole grains tend to have a healthier heart. Make whole grains an important part of every meal.

Make sure you're really getting whole grains. Focus on including grains that are in their whole form, such as whole grain brown rice, millet, quinoa, and barley in your meals. When you want to eat healthy grains in the form of breads or cereals be aware that the words stone-ground, multi-grain, 100% wheat, or bran, don’t necessarily mean that a product is whole grain. Look for the new Whole Grain Stamp from the Whole Grains Council. If there is no stamp look for the words “whole grain” or “100% whole wheat,” and check the ingredients to make sure each grain listed is specified as whole grain. Some good sources are dark breads and toasted wheat cereals.

Avoid: Refined grains such as breads, pastas, and breakfast cereals that are not whole grain.

Fiber

Dietary fiber is found in plant foods (fruit, vegetables and whole grains) and is essential for maintaining a healthy digestive system. Fiber helps support a healthy diet by:

Helping you feel fuller faster and longer, which can help prevent overeating.
Keeping blood sugar levels even, by slowing digestion and absorption so that glucose (sugar) enters the bloodstream slowly and steadily.
Maintaining a healthy colon - the simple organic acids produced when fiber is broken down in the digestive process helps to nourish the lining of the colon.

The two types of fiber are soluble and insoluble:

Soluble fiber can dissolve in water and can also help to lower blood fats and maintain blood sugar. Primary sources are beans, fruit and oat products.
Insoluble fiber cannot dissolve in water, so it passes directly through the digestive system. It’s found in whole grain products and vegetables.

A healthy diet should contain approximately 20 to 30 grams of fiber a day, but most of us only get about half of that amount.

Vegetables and Fruits: Vitamin, antioxidant and fiber powerhouses

Fruits and vegetables are low in calories and are packed with vitamins, minerals, protective plant compounds and fiber. They are a great source of nutrients and vital for a healthy diet.

Fruits and vegetables should be part of every meal, and be your first choice for a snack. Eat a minimum of five portions each day. The antioxidants and other nutrients in these foods help protect against developing certain types of cancer and other diseases.

Greens: Dark leafy green vegetables are a vital part of a healthy diet since they are packed with nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, and Vitamins A, C, E and K. Greens help to strengthen the blood and respiratory systems. They are currently the most lacking food in the American diet. Be adventurous in your choice of greens: kale, mustard greens, broccoli, Chinese cabbage are just a few of the many options.

Sweet Vegetables: Naturally sweet vegetables are an excellent way to add healthy sweetness to your meals and reduce your cravings for other sweets. Some examples of sweet vegetables are corn, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes or yams, winter squash, and onions.

Fruit: Eating a wide variety of fruit is another very healthy part of any diet. They provide us with beneficial properties such as natural sugars, fiber, Vitamins and antioxidants. Choose fresh or frozen, and focus on variety. Berries are cancer-fighting, apples provide fiber, oranges and mangos offer vitamin C, and so on.

Go for the brights: The brighter, deeper colored fruits and vegetables contain higher concentrations of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Avoid: Fruit juices can contain up to 10 teaspoons of sugar per cup; avoid or dilute with water. Canned fruit often contains sugary syrup, and dried fruit, while an excellent source of fiber, can be high in calories. Avoid fried veggies or ones smothered in dressings or sauces – you may still get the vitamins, but you’ll be getting a lot of unhealthy fat and extra calories as well.

Support your health and the environment by eating locally-grown food

Eating fresh food is an important part of a healthy diet. It has become standard practice for fruits and vegetables to be shipped across the country or even across the world before they arrive on our supermarket shelves. Locally-grown food is fresher than what you'll find in the supermarket, which means that is tastier and more nutritious. And since the food travels a shorter distance to get to you, it is better for the environment and helps us reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Following are some ideas on easy ways to increase your consumption of fresh local foods.

Visit a local farmer’s market. Farmer’s markets are springing up all over the U.S. They usually offer a wide variety of products such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, baked goods, eggs, and meat. Small farmers care about their land and the health of their farms, so even if they are not “certified organic” the food they produce is of a very high quality.
Join a Community Supported Agriculture group (CSA). A CSA is partnership between a local farm and its members who sign up and pay in advance for a box of goods that they will receive on a regular basis (typically once a week). These partnerships help farms receive a better price for their products while giving you a wide variety of fresh local produce.

By supporting your local farmers you are also supporting the local economy. To find local growers, farmer's markets, and CSAs in your area, visit Local Harvest.

Putting protein into perspective

During digestion, protein in food is broken down into the 20 amino acids that are the basic building blocks our bodies use to create its own protein. Our bodies need protein to maintain our cells, tissues and organs. A lack of protein in our diets can result in slow growth, reduced muscle mass, lower immunity, and weaken the heart and respiratory system. Protein gives us the energy to get up and go –and keep going. Keep in mind that it is vital to eat healthy protein that is free of hormones and antibiotics. Also, the majority of people in the U.S. eat more protein than is necessary. So focus more on getting higher quality versus more quantity. Each person is individual and may need different amounts of protein depending on their body and activity level.

A complete protein source is one that provides all of the essential amino acids. Examples are animal-based foods such as meat, poultry, fish, milk, eggs, and cheese.
An incomplete protein source is one that is low in one or more of the essential amino acids.
Complementary proteins are two or more incomplete protein sources that together provide adequate amounts of all the essential amino acids. For example, rice and dry beans. Similarly, dry beans each are incomplete proteins, but together, these two foods can provide adequate amounts of all the essential amino acids your body needs.
Do complementary proteins need to be eaten in the same meal? Research shows that your body can combine complementary proteins that are eaten within the same day.

Nuts, Seeds, Beans, and Tofu: alternative sources for healthy proteins

Beans, nuts, nut butters, peas, and soy products are good sources of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Many of the foods in this group provide iron, which is better absorbed when a source of vitamin C is consumed with the meal

Choose: Black beans, navy beans, garbanzos, lentils, and other beans. Nuts like almonds, walnuts and pecans. Soy products like tofu, soymilk, tempeh and veggie burgers. All of these are great sources of protein for vegetarians.

Avoid: Salted or sugary nuts; refried beans.

Dairy products and other sources for calcium and vitamin D

Dairy products provide a rich source of calcium, necessary for bone health. Most are fortified with vitamin D, which helps the small intestine absorb calcium. Calcium can also be found in dark green, leafy vegetables, such as kale and collard greens, as well as in dried beans and legumes.

Recommended calcium levels are 1000 mg per day, 1200 mg if you are over 50 years old. Take a vitamin D and calcium supplement if you don’t get enough of these nutrients from your diet.

Choose non-fat or low-fat dairy products that do not contain rBST (bovine growth hormone). If you're lactose-intolerant, choose lactose-free and lower-lactose products, such as lactose free milk, hard cheeses and yogurt.

Avoid full-fat dairy products or products from cows treated with rBST.

Fats: avoid the bad fats and enjoy the good fats

Fats are another vital part to a healthy diet. Good fats are needed to nourish your brain, heart, nerves, hormones and all your cells, as well as your hair, skin, and nails. Fat also satisfies us and makes us feel full. It’s the type of fat that matters in addition to how much you consume.

Saturated fats, primarily found in animal sources including red meat and whole milk dairy products, raise the low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad") cholesterol that increases your risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Substitute lean meats, skinless poultry, and low-fat or nonfat dairy products, fish and nuts. Other saturated fat sources include vegetable oils such as coconut oil, palm oil and foods made with these oils.
Trans fat raises low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad") cholesterol that increases your risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), as well as lowering HDL, or good cholesterol. Trans fats are created by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of hydrogen gas, a process called hydrogenation. Primary sources of trans fat are vegetable shortenings, some margarines, crackers, candies, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, baked goods, and other processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Monounsaturated fats - People following traditional Mediterranean diets, which are very high in foods containing monounsaturated fats like olive oil, tend to have lower risk of cardiovascular disease, Primary sources are plant oils like canola oil, peanut oil, and olive oil. Other good sources are avocados; nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans; and seeds such as pumpkin and sesame seeds.
Polyunsaturated fats – These includes the Omega-3 and Omega-6 groups of fatty acids which your body can’t make. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in very few foods – primarily cold water fatty fish and fish oils. Foods rich in certain omega-3 fats called EPA and DHA can reduce cardiovascular disease, improve your mood and help prevent dementia. See below for more on Omega-3. Other sources of polyunsaturated fats are sunflower, corn, soybean, and flaxseed oils, and walnuts. It is important to know that these oils become unhealthy when heated due to the formation of free radicals, which can lead to disease.

How much fat is too much? It depends on your lifestyle, your weight, your age and most importantly the state of your health. Focus on including Monounsaturated fats and Polyunsaturated fats in your diet, decreasing Saturated fats, and avoiding Trans fats as much as possible. The USDA recommends that the average individual:

Keep total fat intake to 20-35% of calories
Limit saturated fats to less than 10% of your calories (200 calories for a 2000 calorie diet)
Limit trans fats to 1% of calories (2 grams per day for a 2000 calorie diet)
Limit cholesterol to 300 mg per day, less if you have diabetes.

Managing all fats in your diet

Dietary cholesterol is also is a very important form of fat that has its own set of considerations.

Healthy Fats and Oils to support brain and body functions

Foods rich in certain omega-3 fats called EPA and DHA can reduce cardiovascular disease, improve your mood and help prevent dementia. The best sources for the EPA and DHA omega-3 fats are fatty fish such salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and some cold water fish oil supplements. Canned albacore tuna and lake trout can also be good sources depending on how the fish were raised and processed.

You may hear a lot about getting your omega-3’s from foods rich in ALA fatty acids. Main sources are vegetable oils and nuts (especially walnuts), flax, soybeans, and tofu. Be aware that our bodies generally convert very little ALA into EPA and DHA, so you may not get as big of a benefit from these foods.
Some people avoid seafood because they worry about mercury or other possible toxins. But most experts agree that the benefits of eating 2 servings a week of cold water fatty fish outweigh the risks.

The role of sugar and salt in a healthy diet

Sugary Drinks and Sweets

It is natural to like sweets. And it is okay to enjoy them as an occasional treat, but it is vital to keep consumption to a minimum. Refined sugar is one of the bad carbs mentioned above. Not only does it cause problems with our blood sugar level, but it also uses up stored resources within our body (such as minerals and enzymes) in order to process the sugar. In addition there are many negative health effects that sugar contributes to including: hypoglycemia, suppression of the immune system, arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, headaches, and depression.

Choose sweet treats that are home made or have naturally occurring sugar, such as fruits. Try making your favorite dessert with half or one-third less sugar than usual. Make dessert a special event once a week. Many foods have naturally occurring sugars, such as fruits, vegetables, grains and beans. Incorporate naturally sweet foods into your diet to help crowd out unhealthy sweets. Strawberries, apples, sweet potatoes or winter squash are all great options.

Avoid or severely limit sugary drinks – they are an easy way to pack calories and chemicals into your diet without even noticing it. One 12-oz soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar in it! And just because a soda is sugar-free doesn’t make it healthy. Recent studies have shown that the artificial sugar substitutes used in soft drinks may interfere with your body's natural regulation system and result in your overindulging in other sweet foods and beverages. Try water with a squeeze of lemon or water with a splash of 100% fruit juice.

Salt

Once again the problem with salt comes with the over-use and over consumption of processed salt most commonly used. It is best to limit sodium to 2,300 mg per day – the equivalent to one teaspoon of salt. Most of the salt in our diets comes from processed, packaged, restaurant, and fast food. Processed foods like canned soups or frozen meals can contain hidden sodium that can quickly surpass this recommended amount. Many of us are unaware of how much sodium we are consuming in one day.

Salt itself is not bad. A high quality sea salt can have up to 90 minerals, which are healthy for our body. Look for sea salt that has a reddish or brownish tint, has no coloring, additives, chemicals and has not been bleached.

The following table lists the sodium of common foods, versus their lower-sodium versions:

Regular vs. Low Sodium
Adapted from University of Wisconsin’s Online Fact Sheet: Sodium
Regular	Sodium (mg)	Low sodium	Sodium (mg)
Bouillon, 1 cube	960	Bouillon, unsalted	3
Peanuts, salted, ¼ cup	246	Peanuts, unsalted	2
Corn, canned, salted, ½ cup	192	Corn, unsalted, fresh	1
Pickle, large	1425	Cucumber	1
Tomato juice, 1 cup	878	Tomato juice, unsalted	14
Garlic salt, 1 teaspoon	1480	Garlic powder, 1 teaspoon	1

You can see how quickly you could consume the 2300 mg recommendation – maybe even before dinner! Cooking with sea salt at home and substitute lower-sodium versions of your favorite foods to ensure a healthy diet.

Tips and Techniques for Getting Anger Under Control

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:24:00 +0000

Are you famous for your short temper? Do you have a short fuse or find yourself getting into frequent arguments and fights? Anger is a normal, healthy emotion. But it’s unhealthy when it flares up all the time or spirals out of control. Chronic, explosive anger has serious consequences for your relationships, your health, and your state of mind. The good news is that getting anger under control is easier than you think. With a little insight into the real reasons for your anger and some effective anger management tools, you can learn how to express your feelings in healthier ways and keep your temper from hijacking your life.

Understanding anger

The emotion of anger is neither good nor bad. It’s perfectly healthy and normal to feel angry when you’ve been mistreated or wronged. The feeling isn't the problem—it's what you do with it that makes a difference. Anger becomes a problem when it harms you or others.

If you have a hot temper, you may feel like it’s out of your hands and there’s little you can do to tame the beast. But you have more control over your anger than you think. You can learn to express your emotions without hurting others—and when you do, you’ll not only feel better, but you’ll also be more likely to get your needs met. Mastering the art of anger management takes work, but the more you practice, the easier it will get. And the payoff is huge. Learning to control your anger and express it appropriately will help you build better relationships, achieve your goals, and lead a healthier, more satisfying life.

Myths and Facts about Anger

Myth: I shouldn’t “hold in” my anger. It’s healthy to vent and let it out.

Fact: While it’s true that suppressing and ignoring anger is unhealthy, venting is no better. Anger is not something you have to “let out” in an aggressive way in order to avoid blowing up. In fact, outbursts and tirades only fuel the fire and reinforce your anger problem.

Myth: Anger, aggression, and intimidation help me earn respect and get what I want.

Fact: True power doesn’t come from bullying others. People may be afraid of you, but they won’t respect you if you can’t control yourself or handle opposing viewpoints. Others will be more willing to listen to you and accommodate your needs if you communicate in a respectful way.

Myth: I can’t help myself. Anger isn’t something you can control.

Fact: You can’t always control the situation you’re in or how it makes you feel, but you can control how you express your anger. And you can express your anger without being verbally or physically abusive. Even if someone is pushing your buttons, you always have a choice about how to respond.

Myth: Anger management is about learning to suppress your anger.

Fact: Never getting angry is not a good goal. Anger is normal, and it will come out regardless of how hard you try to suppress it. Anger management is all about becoming aware of your underlying feelings and needs and developing healthier ways to manage upset. Rather than trying to suppress your anger, the goal is to express it in constructive ways.

Why learning to control your anger is important

You might think that venting your anger is healthy, that the people around you are too sensitive, that your anger is justified, or that you need to show your fury to get respect. But the truth is that anger is much more likely to damage your relationships, impair your judgment, get in the way of success, and have a negative impact on the way people see you.

Out-of-control anger hurts your physical health. Constantly operating at high levels of stress and tension is bad for your health. Chronic anger makes you more susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol levels, a weakened immune system, insomnia, and high blood pressure.
Out-of-control anger hurts your mental health. Chronic anger consumes huge amounts of mental energy and clouds your thinking, making it harder to concentrate, see the bigger picture, and enjoy life. It can also lead to stress, depression, and other mental health problems.
Out-of-control anger hurts your career. Constructive criticism, creative differences, and heated debate can be healthy. But lashing out only alienates your colleagues, supervisors, or clients and erodes their respect. What’s more, a bad reputation can follow you wherever you go, making it harder and harder to get ahead.
Out-of-control anger hurts your relationships with others. It causes lasting scars in the people you love most and gets in the way of your friendships and work relationships. Chronic, intense anger makes it hard for others to trust you, speak honestly, or feel comfortable—they never know what is going to set you off or what you will do. Explosive anger is especially damaging to children.

Anger control and management tip 1: Explore what’s really behind your anger

If you’re struggling with out-of-control anger, you may be wondering why your fuse is so short. Anger problems often stem from what you’ve learned as a child. If you watched others in your family scream, hit each other, or throw things, you might think this is how anger is supposed to be expressed. Traumatic events and high levels of stress can make you more susceptible to anger as well.

Anger is often a cover-up for other feelings

In order to get your needs met and express your anger in appropriate ways, you need to be in touch with what you are really feeling. Are you truly angry? Or is your anger masking other feelings such as embarrassment, insecurity, hurt, shame, or vulnerability?

If your knee-jerk response in many situations is anger, it is very likely that your temper is covering up your true feelings and needs. This is especially likely if you grew up in a family where expressing feelings was strongly discouraged. As an adult, you may have a hard time acknowledging feelings other than anger.

Clues that there’s something more to your anger

You have a hard time compromising. Is it hard for you to understand other people’s points of view, and even harder to concede a point? If you grew up in a family where anger was out of control, you may remember how the angry person got his or her way by being the loudest and most demanding. Compromising might bring up scary feelings of failure and vulnerability.
You have trouble expressing emotions other than anger. Do you pride yourself on being tough and in control, never letting your guard down? Do you feel that emotions like fear, guilt, or shame don’t apply to you? Everyone has those emotions, and if you think you don’t, you may be using anger as a cover for them.
You view different opinions and viewpoints as a personal challenge to you. Do you believe that your way is always right and get angry when others disagree? If you have a strong need to be in control or a fragile ego, you may interpret other perspectives as a challenge to your authority, rather than simply a different way of looking at things.

If you are uncomfortable with many emotions, disconnected, or stuck on an angry one-note response to everything, it might do you some good to get back in touch with your feelings. Emotional awareness is the key to self-understanding and success in life. Without the ability to recognize, manage, and deal with the full range of human emotions, you’ll inevitably spin into confusion, isolation, and self-doubt.

Top 10 Healthy Drinks That Can Help You Lose Weight

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:22:00 +0000

When it comes to weight loss, substituting healthy drinks for those sugary sodas and energy drinks can have a drastic effect on your weight loss goals. Most people don’t realize how many calories they take in each day from drinks alone. For instance, a caffe mocha with all the fixings can pack in over 500 calories! So as you can see, switching to healthier drinks and ditching the “junk drinks” will greatly reduce your daily caloric intake and in return start shredding those unwanted pounds. Check out this list of the top 10 healthy drinks that can help you reach your weight loss goals…

Vegetable Juice

Vegetable juice is every bit as nutritious as fruit juice but with about half the calories. Most vegetable juices are also rich in fiber which can help make you feel full and in turn eat less.

Fruit Smoothies

Mix-up a delicious batch of smoothies using your favorite fruits and a little bit of skim milk. Do not consume smoothies with added sugar, whipped cream, honey, or other sweeteners that can add hundreds of calories – in other words, don’t eat smoothies from your favorite local restaurant or ice-cream shop and think that you’re eating healthy because you’re not!

Fruit Juice

Fruit juices have loads of vitamins and nutrients, but it’s important to make sure that there’s no added sugar…sorry Sunny D and Tang! Also remember that the pulpier, the better. Fruit juice with lots of pulp contains added fiber that can help you feel more full and eat less.

Black Coffee

Coffee has plenty of positive health benefits and best of all, it contains no calories! Black coffee is rich in antioxidants that can help boost your mood, improve concentration, reduce the risk of diabetes and cancer, as well as many other benefits. Keep you coffee consumption at 4 cups or less per day – as with anything, moderation is the key.

Green Tea

Like coffee, green tea has a plethora of positive health benefits and contains plenty of helpful antioxidants. It also helps to boost your metabolism if consumed on a daily basis, which can help to speed up your body’s fat-burning mechanism – as much as a 40% increase in some cases!

Milk

The calcium in Low-fat or skim milk can help contribute to the breakdown of fat cells in your body. Too much milk, though, can pack on the pounds because it does contain a lot of calories, so stick to 3-4 small servings per day in order to benefit from milk’s weight loss benefits.

Protein Drinks

Protein drinks, such as from powders or pre-mixed varieties, can have a great effect on your weight loss regiment, because lean muscle is very efficient at burning fat. In other words, the more muscle you have, the more fat your body will burn. Protein is a big part of this equation, because it’s the building block of muscle growth.

Fiber Drinks

There’s many fiber-rich drinks on the market today, and they can be a great tool for any weight loss program. Fiber helps to make your body feel full, and it also has plenty of other positive health benefits as well.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Sounds a little gross, and it may be too gross for some people to try, but apple cider vinegar is a sort-of “old school” health drink that was very popular in the ’70s as a weight loss tool. Although there aren’t any scientific studies that actually prove it works, many fitness gurus swear by it, saying that it greatly boosts your metabolism if taken regularly…Hey, it’s worth a try!

Ice Water

Probably the most powerful weight loss tool at your disposal, and also the cheapest, is plain old ice water (who’d a thunk!). Drinking plenty of water is great for your body because it helps you feel full, boosts your metabolism, and it contains zero calories. Furthermore, some studies suggest that drinking just two extra glasses of ice water per day can help boost your metabolism by as much as 30%. This equates to about 5 pounds of fat loss per year!

We trust in the Lord but we still take pills for our health, say classical stars The Priests

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:21:00 +0000

When you hold the record for the fastest-selling classical debut album ever and have become global superstars almost overnight, you could be forgiven for a little bit of diva-like behaviour. A stretch limo at your beck-and-call, scented candles everywhere you turn, maybe even your favourite sofa flown in to sit in your dressing room for those between concert moments.

But there's not so much as a bottle of Cristal on ice for The Priests. Instead, the singing clergymen are sipping bottled water and herbal tea and discussing whether their diet will allow them one of the hand-made biscuits served by the smart London hotel where they are staying.

They may have signed a £1.4million record deal with Sony BMG last year, but there's nothing of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle about this jolly trio.

By the book: Father Martin O'Hagan, left, had to give up rich food and fine wines after tests revealed dangerously high cholesterol levels. Father David Delargy, centre, has endured a lifelong struggle with asthma, after an attack as a baby almost killed him. Father Eugene O'Hagan, right, swims half a mile a day in a bid to avoid the heart failure that killed his mother

When they pop a pill it is as likely to be for cholesterol or acid reflux - and the only substance regularly inhaled by the ensemble's baritone is asthma medication. Because, alongside God and singing, health is something these three men in dog collars have good reason to take very seriously.

Father David Delargy, 46, almost died as a baby after an asthma attack left him fighting for breath, turning his lips blue, while Father Martin O'Hagan, 46, had no idea his cholesterol level was dangerously high until a routine check-up warned him that his love of rich food and fine wines was putting him at risk of a heart attack.

And his brother, Father Eugene O'Hagan, 50, fearful of dying from heart failure like their mother, Joan, swims 64 lengths of a 25-metre pool at least four times a week to keep fit.

'Stress is a big factor for all of us because we have the demands of our parishes in Ireland and our singing career, which involves travelling all over the world,' says Father Eugene.

'We love what we do but as middle-aged men with hectic lifestyles, we'd be foolish not to try to take care of ourselves.'

No one knows this more than Father David who, until eight years ago, had a 30-a-day smoking habit - rather surprising given that he suffers severe asthma attacks.

'I was a few months old when my grandmother was bathing me one night and suddenly I started having breathing difficulties,' he says. 'I don't know how she did it but she was able to resuscitate me and took me to hospital. The doctors managed to stabilise me but told my grandmother that if she hadn't acted so fast, I would have died.

'I was back home again in a couple of days. They didn't diagnose it as asthma then, presumably because I was too young. It was just assumed to be one of those things.

'It wasn't until I was a toddler that it became obvious that ordinary things such as cat hair, house dust or feather pillows would make me short of breath.

'By the time I was at school, vigorous exercise such as football or running left me gasping for air. I was given a foul-tasting yellow syrup called Tedral once a day, which opens up the air passages of the lungs and increases the flow of air through them. It was absolute torture.

'The attacks were vicious and even when they subsided I would be left feeling drained. It took hours for me to get over it. As a result, I felt excluded from my peers socially. I was the boy who couldn't join in and I felt isolated in my school years up to the age of 11.

Abbey habit: The Priests recreate the famous Beatles image

'Then I went on holiday to the family caravan in Cushendall, Northern Ireland, and met a boy who also had asthma but when he had an attack he took a puff from an inhaler and he was back to normal in minutes.

'It was amazing to see the instant, positive effect it had. I couldn't believe it - his asthma disappeared as quickly as it arrived. I'd never heard of Ventolin [the drug in the inhaler dilates the bronchial airways by relaxing the surrounding muscles, making it easier to breathe].

'It changed my life - one puff and I was pretty much over an attack. But I felt resentful that my doctor had not told me about it before - I'd missed out on so much in those early school years.'

Father David had always had an interest in music, with regular family sing-songs around the piano, and realised that the deep-breathing exercises to train his voice also helped expand his lungs, allowing more air into them and lessening his bouts of asthma.

He went on to attend St MacNissi's College, a boarding school in Antrim, at the age of 12, where he met Martin and Eugene, both tenors, and they began their collaboration as singers.

They completed their seminary training at the Gregorian University in Rome, where their voices earned them an invitation to perform the sacred liturgy for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.

They would have continued as a part-time local act but a scout from Sony found a demo tape of the trio while searching for individual male voices for a Latin Mass album. Almost immediately, executives were muttering about potential and The Priests were launched on to the world stage.

Partly as an act of rebellion and partly to look cool and finally fit in at school, Father David admits he took up smoking at 17, and for the next 21 years was seen with a cigarette in one hand and an inhaler in the other.

'I'd wake up in the morning, take a puff of inhaler then have a cigarette. I tried to give up - sometimes I'd do it for six months, maybe a couple of weeks.

'I spent a fortune on nicotine patches and self-help books. Then, in 2001, I made a New Year's resolution. I saw my doctor and begged for help, and he put me on a drug called Zyban.'

The anti-smoking drug works in the brain to help break addiction by modifying two neurotransmitters involved in nicotine addiction and withdrawal. It is usually prescribed for two months.

Early promise: As youngsters, brothers Eugene O'Hagan, far left, next to Martin, used to hold 'little concerts' for their family, including dad Francis and mum Joan

Zyban is a controversial drug - available on the NHS since 2000 - and can have serious side-effects such as seizures and has been implicated in suicides.

'The side-effects were terrible. I couldn't concentrate, which made it impossible to write my sermons. I'd lose my train of thought in a conversation and look like an idiot, and I couldn't sleep properly.

'I came off it after a week but I haven't smoked for eight years now,' he says, proudly.

Similar to many former smokers, however, Father David's weight ballooned from 11st to nearly 15st, so he joined a gym. A year of aerobic exercise and, he says, a WeightWatchers cookbook helped him get back to the 12st he still weighs.

He believed his health was finally under control until he began suffering from a burning acid pain in his throat five years ago. 'It disturbed my sleep, was physically painful and no matter how much over-the-counter antacid medicine I took, nothing helped.'

Doctors prescribed Omeprazole to help reduce the amount of acid produced in the stomach and stop the acid reflux that was making his life a misery. He takes a tablet twice a day.

'I have also cut out coffee, tea, red wine and tomatoes, because they seemed to trigger the reflux. It may be stress-induced. I'm the worrier of the group.'

The trio have it in their contract that their parish duties must always come first. They take a small percentage of the profits of their record sales - their debut album sold two million copies - and the rest goes to their parishes and charities that help retired priests.

While make-up artists may come with the territory and state-oftheart mobiles keep them in touch with their parishioners, the priests have not had their heads turned.

'The glare of publicity has been more than we ever imagined,' says Father Eugene. 'Being on tour can be challenging because it is a bit of a frenzy of interviews and rehearsals and concerts each day.

'We've learned that we have to take time out for ourselves, whether it's going for a walk or having half an hour in our rooms alone,' he says.

Like his brother Eugene, Father Martin credits his mother Joan, whom the duo affectionately refer to as 'Mummy', for their musical talent. 'She loved the piano, played the organ and had a wonderful voice. She had a terrific ear for music,' says Martin.

'When she had me and my twin sister Martina at the age of 26, she suffered a blood clot in her foot which travelled to her lung. She spent almost a year in hospital.

'She loved to hear us sing and, when we visited her in hospital, the other patients would sit up waiting for us to start, as if we were putting on a little show. Music was her life-line - I think it's what helped her pull through.'

Eugene adds: 'When we were youngsters, she'd take us to the local hospitals and nursing homes and we'd sing and put on concerts. I think it was a real tonic for a lot of the patients.

'Mummy later developed heart problems in her early 60s. She was overweight and needed to have her carotid arteries unblocked and a triple heart-bypass operation.

'She had to lose 3st before the surgeons would operate. She had the two operations and life then improved for her for a while but, by the age of 71, she needed to be fitted with a pacemaker and unfortunately a year later she died of heart failure,' says Father Eugene.

Their father, Francis, a former civil servant, is a sprightly 94, despite having a pacemaker fitted when he was 91.

'I'm hoping we've inherited my father's gene pool but with a history of heart problems on my mother's side - her father died of a heart attack at 65 - I felt the need to look after my health, and so far I've had no problems,' says Father Eugene.

'I don't diet but I try to eat sensibly, with plenty of fruit and vegetables, although I enjoy a glass of wine now and then.

'When I'm on tour, I try to get a good night's sleep. I started swimming when I was 20 because my sister was going out with a swimming instructor at the time. But in the past five years I've become passionate about it and I find it very addictive.'

Father Martin has not been so blessed. When he changed parish in 2003, a routine health examination revealed his cholesterol level was nearly seven instead of a more normal recommendation of five or below.

'The doctor wanted me to reduce the level by diet, cutting out fatty foods, alcohol and red meat and eating more fish and vegetables,' he says.

By 2004, his level had dropped to five but when he moved and changed doctor again his level had jumped back to seven.

'I think that, like Father David, stress can be a factor. Part of my job was being the adviser for religious education in 150 schools. It meant a lot of driving and rushing around and it had a knock-on effect on my health.

'My doctor prescribed a statin called Crestor but I had a terrible reaction almost immediately - a searing pain around my liver. It was agony. The doctor put me on another statin, Ezetrol.'

The two most widely recognised side-effects of statins are muscle pain and weakness (myopathy) and damage to the liver, but this is said to be rare.

'I've had to cut out all the rich sauces, cheese and wine that I love. Now it's porridge for breakfast, less tea and coffee and more juice. I love walking, so I try to go for a long walk when possible, and my cholesterol level has dropped to almost five. I think it is about getting a balance in your life,' he says. 'We're all looking for harmony, aren't we? Spiritual and physical.'

7 Weird Ways To Not Get Sick

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:20:00 +0000

Don't stop dosing yourself with Vitamin C, but don't overlook some of the other more fun ways to stay healthy this sick season.

You know about antioxidants and you've been religious about your daily dose of Vitamin C, but what else can you do to keep that tickle from creeping up the back of your throat or waking up in sweat-wet sheets and a chill shivering along your spine? Here are some of the weirder, but equally efficient ways to keep those sick bugs at bay:

1. Kiss (and while you're at it, have Sex)!

Yes, kissing can help you fight off colds and flu! By exchanging bacteria back and forth, you are actually enhancing your body's natural defenses and boosting your immune system. But that's not to say you should go out and give a big smooch to any sicky around you... Up the ante and have sex! Performed once a week, sex has been shown to increase immunoglobulin A (IgA) production, an immune-boosting protein that helps keep pathogens at bay.

2. Listen to Music

Research has shown that those same sex-boosted IgA proteins also rise when listening to music like jazz, bluegrass or soft rock for 30 minutes, particularly during some of the most elevated sick-inducing moments: stress. Even after the beat is turned off, the IgA production goes on for another 30 minutes.

3. Walk Really Fast, But Don't Run!

Research has revealed that a brisk walk 45 minute walk, four or more days a week can improve your immune system and minimize sick days. But don't run! Overexerting yourself (particularly if you're already feeling slightly under the weather) can do you in and send you straight to bed.

4. Don't Blow Your Nose

When you're sick you nose tends to get stuffed up with mucus. Instant of fulfilling your urge to do a big hearty blow, take a decongestant or gently blow each nostril individually. Why? Blowing hard can actually push the mucus up into your sinuses, risking getting even more sick!

5. Get Hot

Studies show that, similar to drinking lots of water when you're sick, sitting in a hot sauna can detox a cold right out of your system.

6. Avoid the Desert (or any hot and dry climate)

Dry desert air is a breeding ground for colds and flu. The reason? Viruses then to survive longer in moisture-sapped air, making airborne illnesses more readily present. Have a sicky in your house? Get a humidifier.

7. Hit the Snooze Button

Viruses, in particular that gross Swine that's going around, take about 3 days to incubate (in your body) before you know you've come down with the dreaded flu. Drinking hot liquids, including coffee (!!!) can help wash the virus out of your mouth and down into your stomach where it can't grow due to the acids. Chicken soup, tea, or just hot water have the same effect. Not a coffee drinker, gargling with very salty warm water can also derail a virus. The other place a flu likes to incubate is your nose. Doing a nasal flush or even just swabbing your nostrils with rubbing alcohol can kill the virus before it takes you down.

Pictured: The scars that show how miracle soldier escaped sniper's bullet that passed through his helmet and back

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:15:00 +0000

A British soldier serving in Afghanistan has told how he cheated death when a sniper's bullet passed through his back, neck and helmet - but miraculously avoided all his vital organs.

Lieutenant Paddy Rice was described as 'the luckiest soldier in Afghanistan' after he was passed as fit to return to active duty only two weeks after being shot in Helmand province.

Lt Rice, of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was kneeling on the roof of a British compound in the Chah-e'Anjir area of central Helmand when a Taliban sniper opened fire on him.

Lt Rice went back to his duties just two weeks after a bullet entered his back whilst leaning over a radio, skimmed along under the skin above his spinal cord, exited just below his skull finally penetrating and exiting his helmet

The 25-year-old officer said: 'I climbed on to the roof of Compound 23, where my soldiers and I were based, and was trying to move a radio into a sangar (a defensive bunker).

'It was an exposed position so I was wearing my body armour and helmet.

'Then I felt a thump in the back, as though I had been kicked, and I knew immediately I had been shot.'

Lt Rice's hunched kneeling position meant that the bullet, after entering his body, tracked along his back, into his neck, before blasting out through his helmet.

Stitch marks on his body clearly show how the round travelled upwards, alongside his spine, before coming out just below his left ear.

He told the Sunday Telegraph: 'I put my hand up to the back of my head and I could see blood and I think I said something to my platoon sergeant, Gert Botha, such as "I've been shot".

Lt Paddy Rice of 1 Grenadier Guards miraculously avoided death after a bullet narrowly missed his spinal cord and skull

'I was helped down from the roof and I radioed company headquarters, gave a contact report and said, "There is one casualty and it's me - I've been shot".

'I wasn't panicking. I had considered how I might react if I was shot or injured but because everything seemed to be functioning normally I think I realised I would be OK.'

He said he phoned his girlfriend in Clapham, South London, who was shopping at the supermarket.

'She was a bit startled to hear me saying I had been shot while she was buying her supper, but after I assured her that I was fine she relaxed a bit.'

After the attack on October 26, Lt Rice was flown to Camp Bastion where he received 29 stitches.

He was described as the luckiest soldier in Afghanistan by Captain James Swanston, who was in charge of the operations room when the attack happened.

The captain said if the bullet had hit a millimetre either side of where it did, Lt Rice would be either dead or seriously injured.

Google Earth during the Second World War: Amazing aerial images taken by the daring Allies which revealed Hitler's weapons

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:14:00 +0000

Precise as a hole punch through a sheet of paper, craters surround a Nazi doodlebug factory in an extraordinary image showing the devastation wreaked by an Allied bombing raid.

The date is September 2, 1944 and the place Peenemunde, a village on the Baltic, where the terrifying weapons Adolf Hitler hoped would win the war for Germany were designed and tested.

The image is astonishing enough, but how it was taken is even more startling.

Craters surround a site at Peenemunde in Mecklenburg-Vorpommem, Germany on September 2, 1944, following an Allied bombing raid on the site where the V weapons were designed and tested

For it comes from an archive of aerial photographs snapped by daring pilots - sometimes flying as low as 50ft - during secret reconnaissance missions in the Second World War.

Others in the collection convey the human suffering experienced amid the fighting, including rare shots of a Nazi slave labour camp and of the notorious Colditz prisoner of war camp.

Devastation: An unidentified urban part of Germany, pictured on May 7, 1945 .

Bombs descend during an airfield raid at Berck Sur Mer, Pas-de-Calais in France.

Colditz Castle (circled) in Saxony, Germany on April 10, 1945, just three days before U.S. forces overran the area.

In the close-up , prisoners can be seen in the courtyard of the high security prison

Until now the pictures have been kept behind closed doors. But they are revealed to the public for the first time today via the internet amid a painstaking cataloguing process.

Alan Williams, manager of the National Collection of Aerial Photography which houses the photos, said: 'The archive literally shows the world at war.'

Long before the days of Google Earth, the highly skilled airmen who took them flew alone, by day and night, in unarmed Spitfires relying on their wits as they risked their lives to capture the images on their plane-mounted cameras.

Targetted: This image of Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France was taken by daring pilots during secret reconnaissance missions in October 1944

Sometimes their planes were painted pink, as the unusual colour proved very good at hiding the aircraft against a background of low cloud. For high altitude missions, the planes were painted a dark shade of blue.

But often they still found themselves targeted by anti-aircraft missiles. Hundreds of them never returned home.

Those that did brought with them photos vital to the war effort.

Central Caen in Normandy in France on October 2, 1944. While the pilots were all men, a large proportion of interpreters were women, including Winston Churchill's daughter Sarah

Expert photographic interpreters studied the pictures using optical instruments such as stereoscopes to view them in 3D to build up detailed information for intelligence reports and models used in military planning for operations such as the D-Day landings.

The 'detective' teams, who were headquartered in a stately home in Buckinghamshire at RAF Medmenham - MI4's Allied Central Interpretation Unit - included Oxbridge academics, geographers and archaeologists.

A small part of Operation Market Garden in September 1944 - the largest airborne operation of all time. Gliders are visible on the ground

While the pilots were all men, a large proportion of interpreters were women, including Winston Churchill's daughter Sarah.

Other famous names attached to the unit included actor Dirk Bogarde.

Peenemunde was a key strategic site where the doodlebugs - or V1s, as they were called by the Nazis - were built. The 2,000lb bombs were pilotless planes powered by a jet motor.

The Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany on March 14, 1941

on the Bundesautobahn 7 near Hessen in Germany on April 17, 1952

First launched from ski-slope ramps by powered catapults in northern France, they killed more than 6,000 people in south east England.

Winston Churchill ordered Operation Crossbow - a plan to destroy V1 production and launch sites - and some 36,000 tons of bombs were dropped on

Bridges over the River Mae Klong (later renamed Kwa Yai in 1960) and Tamarkan POW camp, at Tha Ma Kham in Thailand. The picture was taken by 684 Squadron, Royal Air Force, on January 2, 1945

The photo of the destruction this caused at Peenemunde comes from the Aerial Reconnaissance Archives (Tara), which contains more than 10million photographs, including pictures taken by the RAF up to the 1990s and by the Luftwaffe.

The photo of the slave labour camp near Mainz in Germany, taken on June 2, 1945, is one of only a handful of images that remain of the factory site because it was dismantled quickly after the war.

Slave labour camps were concentration camps where interned inmates had to do hard physical labour under inhumane conditions and cruel treatment. This one provided workers for a heavy machinery company.

A raid on an airfield at Berck Sur Mer, Pas-de-Calais in France

D-Day on June 6, 1944, vehicles can be seen as they disembark from the landing craft

In the photos of Colditz - the high security castle where Allied officers who had repeatedly escaped from other camps were held - prisoners can be seen in the courtyard of the high security prison on April 10, 1945, just days before US forces took over the area.

Other images show vehicles disembarking from landing craft on D-Day, and the so-called bridge over the River Kwai, part of the Thai-Burma railway project that cost the lives of thousands of prisoners of war.

A Zwangsarbeiter, slave labour camp, at Gustavsburg near Mainz, Hessen in Germany

The camp provided workers for the neighbouring heavy machinery company

Mr Williams said: 'The skill of the photo reconnaissance pilot was incredible - they were among the best pilots in the air force.

'As so many of them lost their lives, the archive has become a memorial to them and the events on the ground they photographed.

'How they could take the photos they did is astonishing. When you remember they were taken in combat, and often being shot at - it's astounding.'

Mulberry B created by the British at Arromanches, Normandy in France taken on October 2, 1944

All the photos were stored for more than 50 years at Keele University before Tara was moved to Edinburgh last year to join The National Collection of Aerial Photography.

Specialist staff are continuing the lengthy task of researching, cataloguing and digitising the images, which is expected to take many years.

Around 4,000 images from the archive will go online initially with more to be added.

The archive can be viewed at aerial.rcahms.gov.uk

Port Said, Egypt on 17 November 1956 during the Suez Crisis. The image was taken by the French Air Force during Operation Musketeer - the Anglo-French-Israeli plan for the invasion of Egypt to capture the Suez Canal during the Crisis

Top 10 Weirdest Prescription Drug Side Effects

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:03:00 +0000

Most of us take prescription drugs -- drugs that, by law, must be prescribed by a doctor -- at some point in our lives. If all goes well, the drug works for you as it's supposed to. But there's no "magic bullet," or drug that works the same for everyone without any risks or side effects. A side effect is basically an unintended occurrence that results from taking a drug. Side effects can be good or bad, depending on how you use the drug. For example, antihistamines, used to help with allergy symptoms like itchy eyes and sneezing, have the side effect of making you feel very sleepy. If you're having trouble sleeping, this side effect is great. If you need to deal with your allergies as well as drive your car or function at your job, however, it's bad.

When you pick up a prescription at a pharmacy, you get a list of common side effects. Regardless of the drug, the most common side effects are nausea and vomiting, allergic reactions, drowsiness, insomnia, heart problems (such as heart palpitations) and dependence. Often, there's something that you can do to help lessen the possibility of unwanted side effects. Some medications can make you feel nauseated if you take them on an empty stomach, for example, so it's a pretty simple fix to eat something.

There are some prescription drugs, though, that can cause side effects that are wildly different from those listed above. In some cases, the side effects were discovered during FDA trials and were deemed acceptable risks. In others, the side effects turned out to be catastrophic but weren't well-known until after the drug was widely used.

Weird Side Effect 10: Amnesia

Amnesia is a condition right out of movies and soap operas; a character suddenly appears somewhere with absolutely no memory of who he is or where he came from. Sometimes it's caused by a head injury (and another knock on the head miraculously brings all of the memories back) while other times, it's caused by a traumatic event. In real life, some prescription drugs can also cause amnesia, although total amnesia is incredibly rare.

This is the case for some users of Mirapex (generic name pramipexole). Mirapex was developed in 1997 to control the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and is also prescribed for people with Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS). You'll see it several more times in our top 10 due to the wide range of weird side effects that its users can experience. One of these weird side effects is amnesia. Some patients reported short-term memory loss, such as not remembering what they did the day before. Going off Mirapex seemed to get rid of the problem.

This side effect can also happen with patients who take statins, a class of drugs that are supposed to lower cholesterol. Duane Graveline, a former astronaut, reported coming back from a short walk and not recognizing his wife while he was taking Lipitor. Then he lost memories of any events beyond his high school graduation. Thankfully, the memory loss was only temporary.Some researchers theorize that the statins may work almost too well, blocking the creation of cholesterol necessary for neurological function. However, they still believe that the benefits of statins like Lipitor outweigh the risk of this rather scary side effect.

Weird Side Effect 9: Aches and Pains

There are many prescription drugs to help with different types of bodily aches and pains, but some drugs that have nothing to do with pain relief can actually cause pain instead. Then you have to take something to combat the pain -- and that's how people can end up on multiple drugs for multiple conditions. People who take the antihistamine Allegra (generic name fexofenadine) are trying to get rid of their hay fever and other allergic symptoms like sneezing, coughing and itching eyes. They may end up with muscle pain and backaches, however.

Patients who take Lipitor (generic name atorvastatin) can experience pain and stiffness as well as weakness in their muscles. In 2004, some patients began reporting that their weakness and pain was severe, and they were also experiencing loss of muscle control and coordination. Going off Lipitor seemed to alleviate these symptoms.

Lipitor's maker, Pfizer, cautions patients experiencing pain and weakness to alert their doctor, especially if they're already not feeling well. Some patients have filed lawsuits, claiming that the drug caused permanent muscle and nerve damage.

You won't believe your eyes when you read about the side effect that's number eight on our list.

Drugs of "Dune"

Frank Herbert's epic novel "Dune" (and the films based on it), included several drugs with interesting visual and aural side effects:

Elacca turned people's skin orange while destroying their self-preservation
Sapho turned mouths and skin red while strengthening psychic powers
Semuta produced ecstatic feelings that were amplified by listening to a certain kind of music
Spice melange turned eyes completely blue and eventually distorted bodies while granting the power of forethought (among others)

Weird Side Effect 8: Vision Problems and Other Screwy Senses

Have you ever swallowed a pill and been left with a nasty taste in your mouth, especially if you didn't drink water immediately afterward? Unless they're meant to be chewed or dissolved, most pills don't taste all that great. But some pills don't just leave a bad taste -- they can completely distort your sense of taste. And taste isn't the only sense that can be affected by pill side effects.

Vasotec (generic name enalapril) is a drug designed to treat high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. However, it can affect almost all of your five senses. Vasotec can cause you to lose your sense of smell (a condition known as anosmia) and taste, as well as have ringing in your ears (tinnitus) and eye problems like blurred vision and dry eyes. All of these are referred to as minor side effects, but if you were experiencing them all at once, you might consider them major.

An unrelated drug, Viagra (generic name sildenafil citrate), can also cause strange things to happen to your vision. Viagra is used to treat erectile dysfunction. Patients taking it have reported experiencing not only blurred vision, but also blue vision and problems distinguishing between the colors blue and green. In 2005, researchers at the University of Minnesota theorized that Viagra users can experience permanent vision loss due to blood flow to the optic nerve being cut off, known as nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).

Weird Side Effect 7: Colored Urine

Rainbow urination might sound kind of cool. But in some cases, if your urine is any color other than clear, yellow or yellowish-orange, you could have something seriously wrong with you. Very dark orange, reddish or brown urine, for example, probably has blood in it and could indicate an infection. Some prescription drugs, though, can turn your urine different colors just by virtue of passing through your system. Red urine can also be caused by taking drugs such as phenazopyridine, used to treat urinary tract infection pain, or deferoxamine, used to treat iron poisoning.

Here are some other potential urine colors and some of the drugs that can cause them:

Black - can result from taking Flagyl (generic name metronidazole), furazolidone and several other antibiotics. Aldomet (generic name methyldopa), used to treat high blood pressure in pregnant women, can make urine appear to be black because it darkens upon contact with bleach -- often used to clean toilet bowls.

Purple - can be a side effect of taking phenolphthalein, used for a long time as a laxative but falling out of favor due to concerns that it may cause cancer.

Green - can result from taking Elavil (generic name amitriptyline hydrochloride), an antidepressant also used to treat bed-wetting in children, or Robaxin (generic name methocarbamol), a muscle relaxant used to treat muscle spasms.

Blue - can be a side effect of taking Dyrenium (generic name tariamterene), a diuretic, or methylene blue, a chemical compound used in medications like Urised to help reduce irritation caused by bladder infections.

Weird Side Effect 6: Hallucinations

You might expect to see or hear something that isn't actually there if you were taking an illegal drug like LSD or even a heavy painkiller like morphine. However, some of the most unlikely prescription drugs have "may cause visual and auditory hallucinations" as one of their side effects, and it's probably not the ones that you'd expect.

Mirapex, along with its many other potential side effects, can also cause hallucinations. Parkinson's disease patients have reported seeing everything from snakes crawling the walls to people hiding in their closets.Though it's frightening and disturbing to have these hallucinations, reducing or even ceasing the medication often leads to the return of their tremors and other impairments.

Lariam (generic name mefloquine) was invented by researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research to prevent and treat outbreaks of malaria in the U.S. Army. Until recently, it was given routinely to soldiers deployed overseas as well as many tourists. Lariam carries some serious side effects -- one of them being hallucinations. Both soldiers and tourists have reported experiencing frightening hallucinations as well as violent psychotic behavior soon after taking the drug.Since the early 2000s, the FDA has required that patients be screened for a history of depression and psychosis before taking Lariam.

Weird Side Effect 5: Strange Sleep Behaviors

We all have weird dreams at times, right? Some prescription drugs give patients disturbing dreams every time they go to sleep, and others can actually cause users to sleepwalk and behave violently while asleep. One of the lesser side effects of Chantix (generic name varenicline), a prescription drug designed to help people stop smoking, is nightmares and night terrors. Night terrors aren't just scary dreams; people who experience them are struck by fear and partially awaken out of sleep, sometimes screaming or moaning. They don't usually wake up completely, and they don't always remember that the incident even happened.

Some drugs with this side effect are directly related to sleeping; that is, they're designed to help people with chronic insomnia. Lunesta (generic name eszopiclone) is a hypnotic drug -- meaning, it induces sleep -- prescribed for sleeplessness with directions to take on an "as needed" basis. But its users, as well as those of Ambien (generic name zolpidem), have also reported night terrors and nightmares. Both Lunesta and Ambien patients, though, have experienced an even weirder effect: performing activities in their sleep.

These activities include not only sleepwalking, but eating, making phone calls, having sex and driving -- yes, driving. Patients taking these sleep aids have woken up while backing their cars out of driveways or while shopping at all-night grocery stores. Some "Ambien drivers" have been arrested for driving while impaired and causing accidents.Both drugs' makers include warnings about these side effects and emphasize that they shouldn't be taken with alcohol (which can exacerbate the effect).

Weird Side Effect 4: Bowel Control Problems

Weight loss: it can be an embarrassing subject. But is it more embarrassing than fecal incontinence? Many people would do just about anything to shed their excess weight, and it shows. All of the products sold that claim to assist in weight loss add up to a billion-dollar industry. This includes prescription drugs designed to help during dieting. One of those prescription drugs has a particularly nasty side effect.

Xenical (generic name orlistat, now sold over the counter in a lower dosage as Alli) is designed to prevent the body from absorbing fat and therefore decrease the actual calorie intake of its users. During Xenical's clinical trial, researchers found that up to 30 percent of ingested fat was excreted unabsorbed by subjects.

Patients must follow a low-fat diet of around 15 grams of fat per meal. If they don't, there can be disastrous results. According to Roche Laboratories, side effects of Xenical include "gas with oily discharge, an increased number of bowel movements, an urgent need to have them, and an inability to control them, particularly after meals containing higher amounts of fat than are recommended".Alli came on the market in 2007, and although it's a lower dosage of orlistat than Xenical -- 60 mg instead of 120 mg -- it still has the same side effects (which Roche calls "treatment effects"). Roche's Alli Web site states that "it's probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work" when you first begin taking Alli.Alli was initially very popular with dieters. Sales have declined sharply, however -- quite possibly due to this rather weird and gross side effect.

Weird Side Effect 3: Compulsive Behavior

Not all drug side effects are physical; some drugs can cause people to radically change their behaviors. Many patients taking Mirapex started noticing behavioral problems that they'd never experienced before. People who had only been occasional drinkers started drinking heavily, becoming alcoholics. Others who had never been interested in gambling found themselves at their nearest casino multiple times in one week, or sitting for hours in front of gambling Web sites. Some people became shopaholics, going thousands of dollars into debt because they couldn't control their spending habits. Others became hypersexual or constantly binged on food.In short, Mirapex can lead to compulsive behaviors in some patients.

Mirapex works by increasing the production of dopamine in the brain, which helps the basal ganglia regulate movement of the body. Parkinson's disease is usually diagnosed in people 50 and older, and these people naturally have lower levels of dopamine. Mirapex binds to some of the dopamine receptors in the brain that also involve behavior, reward and moods.

Since 2005, Mirapex prescriptions have come with warnings about these potential side effects. Some claim this was a case of "too little, too late," and several lawsuits are in the works. In August 2008, a man who claimed that Mirapex caused his gambling addiction won an $8.2 million lawsuit against its makers, Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Weird Side Effect 2: Suicidal Ideation

In addition to causing hallucinations, Lariam has been blamed for the suicides of some soldiers and has also been named as the reason behind the murders of several soldiers' wives.

It hasn't been officially established that Lariam can lead to paranoia and suicidal ideation (the medical term for suicidal thoughts) in patients. However, its manufacturer, Roche Pharmaceuticals, added, "Some patients taking Lariam think about killing themselves, and there have been rare reports of suicides" to its list of potential side effects. In 2005, the Army stopped routinely distributing Lariam to its overseas troops.

Lariam is not a drug that one would routinely associate with mental instability, but Paxil (generic name paroxetine) is. Paxil is an antidepressant, used to treat everything from depression to post-traumatic stress disorder. But many patients have reported suicidal ideation while taking Paxil. In 2003, the FDA advised that children and adolescents under the age of 18 shouldn't be prescribed Paxil to treat major depression, due to this potential risk.The advisement was later expanded to include adults up to age 30. There are currently numerous lawsuits alleging Paxil's role in suicides and suicide attempts (as well as the severe withdrawal symptoms that some patients have experienced). Documents in one of these lawsuits revealed that Paxil's maker, GlaxoSmithKline, may have hid data demonstrating the link between the drug and increased thoughts of suicide.Chantix can also lead to suicidal ideation. In February 2008, the FDA issued a warning which included not only the possibility of suicidal thoughts but actual suicide. It reports that at least 40 suicides and 400 attempted suicides have been linked to the drug.

We'll end our list with something so terrible that one of the drugs that can cause it is still well known today -- and was mentioned in the history-spanning Billy Joel song, "We Didn't Start the Fire."

Weird Side Effect 1: Birth Defects

When a woman becomes pregnant, her doctor usually gives her a huge list of do's and don'ts. She should stay away from certain medications, for example, because they can cause problems during pregnancy. There are several prescription drugs that work very well at resolving the condition they were prescribed for, except that they're teratogenic. That means that they can interfere with fetal development and lead to birth defects.

Thalidomide is one of the most infamous teratogenic drugs. First synthesized in Germany in the 1950s, this drug was prescribed as a sleeping aid and anti-nausea pill to thousands of pregnant women in nearly 50 countries (although it hadn't been approved in the United States). Unfortunately, it was never proven to be safe for pregnant women. Between 1956 and 1962, nearly 10,000 women who took Thalidomide gave birth to babies with phocomelia.Often referred to as "flipper babies," these children were born with extremely short or missing limbs.

Thalidomide was taken off the market and drug testing and approval practices across the world were tightened. Surviving victims of Thalidomide, whose families received compensation from the drug's manufacturer, Grunenthal, are currently seeking additional compensation from both Grunenthal and the German government.Thalidomide has recently returned, with strict controls, for treatment of a certain type of leprosy lesion as well as multiple myeloma, a type of cancer.

Accutane is a drug used to treat severe acne that can also cause phocomelia. Because of this, women who are prescribed the drug must commit to following a strict regimen so that they don't become pregnant while taking it. This includes certifying that they will use two methods of birth control (and have an emergency backup) and also have their blood drawn monthly to test for pregnancy before receiving a prescription refill. They also agree not to donate blood so they don't pass the drug on to other women.

Ultimately, all drugs have some side effects, and most of them aren't as weird as the ones we've discussed here. Always read the side effect information that comes with your prescription drugs and discuss them with your doctor.

How can alcohol be good for your heart?

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:49:00 +0000

From the time we're old enough to understand the word "alcoholic," we learn about the evils of alcohol. They're myriad: addiction, drunk driving, cirrhosis of the liver, high blood pressure, alcohol poisoning, kidney disease and so on. The strange thing is not that there are endless ways to die from a beverage. The strange thing is that this deadly beverage might actually be good for you under certain circumstances.

Alcohol has for decades been considered bad for your heart. It's linked to high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and heart attacks, for a start; and people with heart disease, especially heart disease associated with high blood pressure, are almost always counseled to abstain completely. Recent evidence, though, suggests that people with heart disease might benefit considerably from drinking particular types of alcohol in particular dosages.

So where might alcohol fit in with reducing the risks associated with heart disease?

It's a snug fit, for sure, but research implies it's definitely there. The results have to do with a condition called atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is also known as clogging or narrowing of the arteries, and it's the primary cause of heart attacks. Cholesterol is a major contributing factor in atherosclerosis.

Cholesterol is a sticky, fatty substance, and when there's too much in the blood, it gets stuck to the artery walls. This ends up turning into a sticky plaque. Particles in the blood called platelets in turn get stuck to this plaque. Platelets cause your blood to clot so you don't bleed to death whenever to cut yourself. But this clotting ability can be deadly when it happens in the heart. Blood clots in arteries restrict blood flow, so oxygen-rich blood can't get to the heart. That's when a heart attack happens.

In a strange twist to conventional wisdom, it seems alcohol might decrease the chances of developing atherosclerosis and having a heart attack. It seems to have something to do with cholesterol.

In this article, we'll find out how alcohol might be beneficial to the heart, explore the particular circumstances that could lead to this benefit and find out what the heart experts have to say about it.

First, some quick background: There are two types of cholesterol that affect your heart, LDL and HDL. High levels of LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) and low levels of HDL cholesterol ("good" cholesterol) can lead to plaque buildup in the heart's arteries. High levels of HDL cholesterol, on the other hand, can prevent this plaque buildup. That's where alcohol comes in.

Does Alcohol Have a Plus Side?

It seems that having a couple of beers after work can raise your level of HDL cholesterol -- that's the good stuff -- and possibly prevent clotting, too. No one's exactly sure why this might be, but a study published in the journal "Circulation" set forth a possible reason why HDL levels might be boosted: Ethanol might increase the speed at which HDL proteins can travel through the blood.

Whatever the reason for the positive effects on the heart, those effects seem to be legitimate. One of the most recent studies to find heart-healthy results from drinking was published in January 2008.

Danish medical researchers tracked 12,000 men and women for two decades to see how alcohol and exercise affected their hearts. The first finding was to be expected: In both men and women, regular exercise decreased the risk of heart disease by about 32 percent. The surprise came when they looked at the effects of alcohol.

People who were active and did not drink alcohol at all had the 30 percent drop in heart disease. People who were active and consumed at least one alcoholic beverage a week had 50 percent fewer occurrences of heart disease than the people who exercised and drank no alcohol.

The benefit also applied to people who didn't exercise: Nonactive people who drank were 30 percent less likely to develop heart disease than the nonactive people who didn't drink. Of course, exercise alone also decreased the risk of heart disease, but exercise and drinking some alcohol produced the lowest heart-disease numbers overall.

Don't go out and get drunk just yet. The "some" distinction is a crucial one. The people in the Danish study who had a 50-percent decreased chance of heart disease were drinking one alcoholic beverage per week .The importance of moderation is backed up in every study on this topic. A 2007 U.S. study focusing on men found that those who drank one to two drinks a day had fewer heart attacks than those who drank less and those who drank more.In 2001, a University of Buffalo team looked at the drinking habits of women who already had heart disease and found that those who had one drink per day were less likely to have heart attacks than those who drank nothing In that study, wine was found to be more heart-healthy than liquor. The University of Buffalo scientists point out in their results that alcohol consumption increases a woman's chances of developing breast cancer.

That's the problem with the healthy alcohol concept: It's just not. Whatever benefits might be achieved by drinking between one and 14 alcoholic beverage per week, they're outweighed by the downsides of alcoholism, cancer, liver disease, obesity and, yes, heart disease. While alcohol might reduce clogging of the arteries under certain circumstances, it almost always raises blood pressure, causes weight gain and boosts triglyceride levels in the blood, all risk factors for heart disease. Triglycerides are fatty substances than can build up in the liver if the body doesn't break them down properly, and even small amounts of alcohol inhibit the body's processing of triglycerides.

The American Heart Association does not recognize alcohol intake as a legitimate heart-healthy activity. It advises against it, not only because alcohol is inherently unhealthy (it's a poison, after all), but also because the AHA doesn't believe the studies have proved that moderate alcohol consumption -- and not the drinkers' lifestyles -- leads to healthier hearts.

Even those scientists who published the studies do not recommend that any nondrinker start drinking to avoid heart disease. What to do, then? The same old boring, heart-healthy things: eating a low-fat diet, reducing salt intake and getting out for some exercise every day.

11 foods that can make you happy

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:43:00 +0000

You’ve had a bad day. You’re feeling cranky and lonely. What to do? Aside from finding ways to fix your problem, try these comfort foods to make you happy. The secret is in choosing foods rich in omega-3 fats, folic acid, selenium, and vitamin B12. These nutrients can lift your mood, so let’s check them out:

1) Milk, preferably skim milk. Milk products are rich in tryptophan, an amino acid our brain needs in order to make serotonin. Serotonin is a natural chemical that makes us happy and calm. Anti-depressants work in a similar way by conserving the brain’s serotonin. Milk also contains antioxidants, vitamin D, and vitamin B12 that help fight stress and aging. Have some skim milk every day. It’ll make you happier and the calcium content is good for your bones, too.

2) Chocolate. Who needs an excuse to eat chocolate? Not me. Chocolate contains anadamine, a brain chemical that helps brighten our mood. Scientists believe that other chemicals in chocolate cause anadamide to stay longer in the brain, thus enhancing its positive effect. The sugar in chocolate also boosts our levels of endorphins, another hormone that makes us happy. Don’t eat too much, though.

3) Rice, bread, noodles or pasta. Here’s our favorite comfort food – carbohydrates. Don’t believe all those low-carb diets; they can actually make you crabby and gloomy. Eating carbohydrates can increase our serotonin levels, which has a calming effect. But to prevent sudden jumps in your blood sugar, choose healthier carbohydrates like brown rice, wheat bread, and vegetables. These good carbos are digested more slowly and make you fuller and possibly happier for a longer time.

4) Oily fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines. Oily fishes are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, which can lift our mood. A study in Finland shows that people who eat more fish are less likely to be depressed. High doses of omega-3 may even be used to treat clinical depression. Most fish are also packed with vitamin B6 and B12, which are involved in the production of serotonin. As an alternative, you can try omega-3 supplements. Foods rich in omega-3 will not only make you happier, they’re good for the heart and brain, too.

5) Bananas. Bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin. And we know that serotonin is a hormone that makes us cheerful. Bananas contain carbohydrates as well to boost our energy. Its high potassium content also prevents cramps and it’s good for exercising individuals. Experts believe that bananas are one of the world’s healthiest fruits. So take two bananas a day to keep the doctor away.

6) Broccoli. Broccoli is another amazing food that is full of vitamin Bs, the vitamin that helps fight stress. Studies show that folate or folic acid in broccoli can improve our temperament. Aside from lifting our spirits, broccoli is a potent anticancer food, proven in laboratory studies to inhibit cancer cells.

7) Spinach. Popeye’s favorite food! If you want to be so full of zest like Popeye, it pays to eat your spinach. Like broccoli, spinach is packed with folic acid, an important B vitamin for making serotonin, the body’s feel-good chemical. It’s about time we taught our kids about this incredible vegetable. Eat a cup of cooked spinach to obtain approximately 250 micrograms of folic acid. This amount is enough to make you feel like Popeye, full of vigor to face the day.

8) Blueberries. Blueberries are abundant in antioxidants and vitamin C, which are known stress-busters. Antioxidants help remove toxins (called free radicals) that circulate in our body. These free radicals damage our organs and cause us to age faster, that’s why we need to remove them. Blueberries are also loaded with fiber, which is good for digestion. Some studies show that blueberries and strawberries may prevent cancer by removing these destructive free radicals.

9) Beans and soybeans. Beans are packed with soluble fiber, folic acid, and omega-3 fats, the three ingredients known to improve our mood. Beans are also excellent sources of iron and calcium, which can increase our red blood cells, and are good for the bones. Moreover, soy contains genistein, a weak estrogen-like substance, which may prevent prostate and breast cancer. If you like soy milk and taho, they’re good for you, too.

10) Nuts. Nuts are nutritional powerfoods, rich in protein, minerals (especially selenium), and omega-3 fats. Nuts also contain vitamin E, an antioxidant to fight stress. Locally, we have nilagang mani (boiled peanuts) and cashew nuts. Studies show that Brazil nuts are the number one source of the mineral selenium. Seafood is another good source of selenium. Aside from lifting our mood, nuts are considered as “brain food” because of their high content of omega-3 fats. Omega-3 helps improve the blood flow in our brain. (Students, take note.) Take an ounce of nuts every day. Don’t eat too much of them though, because nuts are salty and high in uric acid, which can be bad for those with high blood pressure and gout.

11) Coffee. A study from Brazil shows that people who drink coffee with milk every day are less likely to suffer from depression. Caffeine is probably the world’s most popular mood-enhancing drug. But it has its pros and cons. Coffee boosts your energy levels, makes you feel more alert, and can improve your memory. A single cup of coffee with milk in the morning can jumpstart your day. However, too much coffee can also wreck your disposition, cause heart palpitation and anxiety, and make it difficult for you to sleep. A cup or two a day is okay. Small doses of caffeine can improve your mood but too much coffee can be bad for your health.

Finally, any food you crave can be considered your own personal comfort food. Eating anything delicious stimulates the production of endorphins, making us happy. Endorphins can reduce pain sensation, too, and is like the brain’s natural painkiller.

What Does a Smart Brain Look Like?: Inner Views Show How We Think

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:25:00 +0000

A new neuroscience of intelligence is revealing that not all brains work in the same way

Key Concepts

Brain structure and metabolic efficiency may underlie individual differences in intelligence, and imaging research is pinpointing which regions are key players.

Smart brains work in many different ways. Women and men who have the same IQ show different underlying brain architectures.

The latest research suggests that an individual’s pattern of gray and white matter might underlie his or her specific cognitive strengths and weaknesses.

We all know someone who is not as smart as we are—and someone who is smarter. At the same time, we all know people who are better or worse than we are in a particular area or task, say, remembering facts or performing rapid mental math calculations. These variations in abilities and talents presumably arise from differences among our brains, and many studies have linked certain very specific tasks with cerebral activity in localized areas. Answers about how the brain as a whole integrates activity among areas, however, have proved elusive. Just what does a “smart” brain look like?

Now, for the first time, intelligence researchers are beginning to put together a bigger picture. Imaging studies are uncovering clues to how neural structure and function give rise to individual differences in intelligence. The results so far are confirming a view many experts have had for decades: not all brains work in the same way. People with the same IQ may solve a problem with equal speed and accuracy, using a different combination of brain areas.

Men and women show group average differences on neuroimaging measures, as do older and younger groups, even at the same level of intelligence. But newer studies are demonstrating that individual differences in brain structure and function, as they relate to intelligence, are key—and the latest studies have exposed only the tip of the iceberg. These studies hint at a new definition of intelligence, based on the size of certain brain areas and the efficiency of information flow among them. Even more tantalizing, brain scans soon may be able to reveal an individual’s aptitude for certain academic subjects or jobs, enabling accurate and useful education and career counseling. As we learn more about intelligence, we will better understand how to help individuals fulfill or perhaps enhance their intellectual potential and success.

For 100 years intelligence research relied on pencil-and-paper testing for metrics such as IQ. Psychologists used statistical methods to characterize the different components of intelligence and how they change over people’s lifetimes. They determined that virtually all tests of mental ability, irrespective of content, are positively related to one another—that is, those who score high on one test tend to score high on the others. This fact implies that all tests share a common factor, which was dubbed g, a general factor of intelligence. The g factor is a powerful predictor of success and is the focus of many studies.

In addition to the g factor, psychologists also have established other primary components of intelligence, including spatial, numerical and verbal factors, reasoning abilities known as fluid intelligence, and knowledge of factual information, called crystallized intelligence. But the brain mechanisms and structures underlying g and the other factors could not be inferred from test scores or even individuals with brain damage and thus remained hidden.

The advent of neuroscience techniques about 20 years ago finally offered a way forward. New methods, particularly neuroimaging, now allow a different approach to defining intelligence based on physical properties of the brain. In 1988 my colleagues and I at the University of California, Irvine, conducted one of the first studies to use such techniques. Using positron-emission tomography (PET), which produces images of metabolism in the brain by detecting the amount of low-level radioactive glucose used by neurons as they fire, we traced the brain’s energy use while a small sample of volunteers solved nonverbal abstract reasoning problems on a test called the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices.

This test is known to be a good indicator of g, so we were hoping to answer the question of where general intelligence arises in the brain by determining which areas showed increased activation while solving the test problems. To our surprise, greater energy use (that is, increased glucose metabolism) was associated with poorer test performance. Smarter people were using less energy to solve the problems—their brains were more efficient.

The next obvious question was whether energy efficiency can arise through practice. In 1992 we used PET before and after subjects learned the computer game Tetris (a fast paced visuospatial puzzle), and we found less energy use in several brain areas after 50 days of practice and increased skill. The data suggest that over time the brain learns what areas are not necessary for better performance, and activity in those areas diminishes—leading to greater overall efficiency. Moreover, the individuals in the study with high g showed more brain efficiency after practice than the people with lower g.

By the mid-1990s we were focusing on efficiency as a key concept for understanding intelligence. But then, in 1995, we discovered a difference in the way male and female brains work, giving us our first clue to what we know today: the concept of efficiency depends on the type and difficulty of tasks involved, and there are individual and group differences in brain function during problem solving, depending on who is doing the thinking. In the 1995 study we tested a specific mental ability—mathematical reasoning. We selected college students with either very high or average SAT-Math scores and used PET to investigate their brain function while they solved mathematical reasoning problems. Unlike the g studies, this study showed the people with high math ability using more brain energy in a certain region (the temporal lobes), but this was true only for the men and not for the women—even though both men and women performed at the same level on the test.

Gender Matters

These observations have now been replicated by us and other researchers, especially in studies using advanced electroencephalographic (EEG) mapping techniques. In addition to these experiments showing differences in brain function, brain structure also seems to play a role—studies have suggested that other gender differences in cognition, such as the tendency for men to have better visuospatial ability, may be rooted in architecture.

For example, in a series of papers published in NeuroImage starting in 2004, we used structural MRI scans to investigate correlations between gray and white matter volume and scores on intelligence tests. Gray matter, made up of neuron cell bodies, does the computational work of the brain. White matter enables communication among regions of gray matter via axons, brain cells’ long, wirelike appendages. Our studies point to a network of areas distributed throughout the brain where more gray or white matter is related to higher IQ scores. The specific areas in this network are different in men and women, suggesting there are at least two different brain architectures that produce equivalent performance on IQ tests. In general, we found that in women more gray and white matter in frontal brain areas, especially those associated with language, was correlated with IQ scores; in men IQ scores correlated with gray matter in frontal areas and, especially, in posterior areas that integrate sensory information.

Children also show different developmental brain patterns related to IQ, depending on their gender. In a series of imaging studies with large samples, published from 2006 to 2008, neuroscientist Vincent J. Schmithorst of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and his colleagues found that as girls age they show increasing organization—that is, well-defined paths between disparate brain regions—in their right hemisphere. Boys, in contrast, show this developmental trend in their left hemisphere. We do not yet know how these findings relate to behavioral or learning differences, but the research points the way for future studies to determine how brain development relates to boys’ and girls’ cognition and academic achievement.

A New Definition

Gender differences were merely the first indication that not all brains work the same way. In 2003 we investigated whether we could observe functional variations during passive mental activity without a task assigned. Again we used PET in two groups of volunteers selected for high or average scores on the Raven’s test. Both groups watched the same videos passively with no problem solving or other task demands. The group with high test scores showed different brain activations in posterior visual-processing areas as compared with the average group. The data suggest that early stages of information processing are more engaged in individuals with higher intelligence, perhaps suggesting that the smarter people in the study were not watching the videos “passively” after all—they were actively processing what they were seeing.

Although more and more evidence shows that problem solving and even passive sensory processing does not look exactly the same in every brain, we still are able to identify a network of areas that seem to give rise to intelligence in general. In fact, defining the crucial regions and connections will help us delineate exactly how each person’s brain works—every individual uses some combination of these areas in a unique way.

In 2007 neuropsychologist Rex E. Jung of the University of New Mexico and I reviewed the 37 neuroimaging studies on intelligence that existed at that point. In the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences, we identified salient brain areas found in both structural and functional studies with some consistency. The 14 areas are distributed throughout the brain, refuting the long-held notion that the frontal lobes alone are the primary location for intelligence. In particular, parts of the parietal lobes, located under the crown of the head and known to be involved in sensory integration, play a significant role. Because areas in the parietal and frontal lobes were most represented across the studies we reviewed, we called our theory of intelligence based on this network the parieto-frontal integration theory (P-FIT). The 14 P-FIT areas are involved in attention, memory, language and sensory processing.

Identifying the P-FIT network implies a new definition of general intelligence based on the brain’s measurable characteristics. Both the amount of gray matter in certain P-FIT areas and the rate of information flow among these areas are likely to play key roles in intelligence. Earlier this year studies at University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing used functional MRI to determine the efficiency of connections throughout the brain, pinpointing P-FIT areas where connectivity was especially associated with IQ scores. The findings support the idea that general intelligence not only arises from gray matter volume but also depends to a large extent on the white matter connections between crucial gray matter areas. More efficient connections allow information to flow faster—and quick processing times seem to go hand in hand with a high IQ.

Everyone Is Unique

But IQ scores do not tell the whole story—not even close. Intelligence seems to arise from varying combinations of the P-FIT brain areas in different people, which may explain each person’s individual strengths and weaknesses. The challenges of identifying these patterns are well illustrated by the extremely rare cases of autistic savants. Daniel Tammet, for example, is an autistic young adult with uncommonly high IQ scores. He sees numbers as colors and shapes, which allowed him to memorize the value of pi to 22,514 digits. He also learned to converse fluently in Icelandic after only seven days of instruction. Tammet leads an independent life and wrote a best-selling autobiography describing his extraordinary numerical and language ability. What would his “brain profile” show?

Although we are not currently able to deduce from a scan of Tammet’s brain how his extraordinary abilities arise, the most recent wave of neuroimaging studies has given us clues to how we might one day do exactly that. New studies have found correlations between gray matter in certain areas and specific intelligence factors.

In March psychologist Roberto Colom of the Autonomous University of Madrid and his collaborators (including me) reported on the relation between gray matter volume and different intelligence factors in 100 young adults. Each person completed a battery of nine cognitive tests known to indicate different intelligence factors, including g, fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence and a spatial factor. We found a positive correlation between scores on the g factor and the amount of gray matter in several areas predicted by P-FIT. And once we accounted for the common g factor, we found that gray matter volume in certain brain areas was related to the other specific intelligence factors.

One of the most tantalizing ideas to come out of this recent research is the possibility of matching an individual’s gray and white matter pattern to his or her g and to other specific intelligence factors. In other words, the tissue in P-FIT areas may predict a person’s unique pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses across a range of mental abilities. These differing brain profiles may explain why two people with an identical IQ score may show very different cognitive abilities. The data from Madrid illustrate this idea nicely. The person in our volunteer group with the highest g score showed far more gray matter than the group’s average amount in several P-FIT areas—perhaps not surprisingly. But it is interesting to note that two people with identical g scores of 100, the average for the group tested in the study, exhibited different cognitive profiles, suggesting different cognitive strengths and weaknesses.

The idea that we all have our own pattern of variations in brain areas that contribute to different intelligence factors is underscored dramatically by a structural MRI study in March of 241 patients with brain lesions. Psychologist Jan Gläscher of the California Institute of Technology and his colleagues showed that the site of each lesion was correlated with specific factor scores. For example, perceptual organization suffered—patients had trouble consciously understanding raw information from their senses—when their right parietal lobe was damaged.

A Smarter Future

These most recent studies suggest that neuroimaging could one day become a supplement or even a substitute for traditional paper-and-pencil intelligence testing. An individual brain profile could be valuable. In education, for example, a learning program could be tailored for an individual student, at any age, based on that student’s brain characteristics. Perhaps vocational success could also be predicted—are there patterns of gray matter across some areas, for example, that make for the best teachers, fighter pilots, engineers or tennis players? People seeking a better life with vocational and career consultation certainly will want the choice of having a brain assessment if there are data to support its usefulness.

But it is worth remembering that, contrary to older dogma, the brain is not set in stone or in genetic immutability. Exactly the opposite is true. The brain is plastic—it changes. A brain profile detailing a person’s strengths would offer a guide rather than a prescription—perhaps suggesting ways to practice skills or improve education so that a person could become better suited for the activities or careers he or she is most interested in. Fascinating recent studies show that learning to juggle increases the amount of gray matter in brain areas relevant to motor activity. When the training stops, the additional gray matter disappears. Because regional gray matter is related to intelligence, can training beyond conventional education approaches be directed at specific brain areas to increase intelligence? We do not yet know, but the prospect is exciting.

The next phase of neurointelligence research may include studies designed to answer such questions, including education experiments to determine whether different strategies produce specific brain changes and whether students selected on the basis of their individual brain characteristics are more likely to maximize learning in a particular subject with one educational strategy versus another. The goal would be to enhance current educational decision making by adding customized information about each student’s brain. How any specific brain characteristic develops and how it may be influenced are critical, but separate, questions for research.

Whether everyone agrees on precisely the same definition of intelligence or not, progress in neuroscience is inexorable. We will continue to discover how the brain manages the complex information processing that undoubtedly underlies all notions of intelligence. Given the ravages of brain disease, aging, the technical needs of modern societies, the challenges of education and the joy of experiencing the world through intellect, there is some urgency to understand how smart brains work. It is not too early for discussion about the implications of the search for neurointelligence and our willingness to go where the data lead.

Boosting Healthy Brains

The latest research into the neural roots of intelligence may lead to better drugs and tools for cognitive enhancement. In the future, drugs may enhance the neurotransmitters that regulate communication among the salient brain areas underlying general intelligence or more specific mental abilities. Other drugs could stimulate gray matter growth or white matter integrity in relevant areas. Certainly such advances would be welcome as potential treatments for mental retardation and developmental disabilities. They may also be welcome by any individual looking for more intelligence.

If an effective “IQ pill” becomes available, are the societal and ethical issues the same as for performance-enhancing drugs in sports, or is there a moral imperative that more intelligence is always better than less? Apparently, many scientists agree with the latter. An online survey of 1,427 scientists conducted in 2008 by Nature found that 20 percent of respondents already use prescription drugs to enhance “concentration” rather than for treating a medical condition. Almost 70 percent of 1,258 respondents who answered the question said they would be willing to risk mild side effects to “boost their brainpower” by taking cognition-enhancing drugs. Eighty percent of all the scientists who responded—even those who did not use these drugs—defended the right of “healthy humans” to take them as work boosters, and more than half said their use should not be restricted, even for university entrance exams. More than a third said that they would feel pressure to give their children such drugs if they knew other kids at school were also taking them. Few appear to favor the “ignorance is bliss” position.

Intelligence is a critical resource for the development of civilization. As the global economy evolves and small countries compete with larger countries, assessing, developing and even enhancing intellectual talent may well become the neuroscience challenge for the 21st century.

DOMINIC O'BRIEN: How stress can seriously harm your memory

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:22:00 +0000

Brain food: Exercising your memory will strengthen it

Mislaying your car keys, climbing the stairs and wondering what for, making a cup of tea and forgetting to drink it - all signs that your memory is not quite up to speed.

Then there are all those PINs, passwords and other codes we must memorise. Surely life was less stressful a few years ago?

I have noticed that most of my clients coming to me for magical reversals of memory impairment lead highly stressful lives.

Researchers are now convinced that stress is one of the biggest factors contributing to memory impairment. Exposure to prolonged or excessive stress is highly damaging to memory.

Don't get me wrong, we need stress. As humans, not only are we well equipped to deal with it but without it, life would become drab. But numerous studies show that those with continuously high levels of the stress hormone cortisone perform poorly in memory tests. As a rule of thumb, if you allow yourself three to five years of over-exposure to stress, expect some form of deterioration in your memory. The good news is that memory impairment due to stress can be reversible.

The answer is to direct one's efforts at both reducing stress and stimulating the brain - with memory, it is a case of use it or lose it.

The more I memorise, the more capacity I feel I have to store information. Why should that be? The brain consists of billions of cells or neurons. Most of these cells are just floating around in a saline solution waiting to be stimulated so that they too can transmit and store data.

It's reasonable to suggest that the more of these cells that can be switched on, the greater the processing capability of the brain.

So what's my best advice? Exercise your memory regularly. Play games with it. Try to memorise ten playing cards, ten shopping items, ten names.

Foods That Improve Your Brain Function

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:20:00 +0000

The right brain nutrients

The brain uses carbohydrates for energy and omega-3 fatty acids for the formation of its cell structure. B vitamins play an essential role in brain function. Clinical observation strongly links folic acid to brain development. In combination with folic acid, vitamins B6 and vitamin B12 help manufacture and release chemicals in the brain known as neurotransmitters. The nervous system relies on these neurotransmitters to communicate messages within the brain, such as those that regulate mood, hunger, and sleep.

In addition, foods rich in antioxidant nutrients, such as vitamin A, C and vitamin E and beta-carotene, help protect brain cells from free-radical damage caused by environmental pollution. They are known as free radical scavengers and defense from free radicals is important to protecting the brain well into the golden years. Studies suggest that taking supplements of vitamins C and E can prevent the risk of Alzheimer's disease and slow the progression of memory loss.

How brain foods help you think sound?

The brain utilizes 20 percent of the body's carbohydrate supply. When the brain receives a steady supply of sugar for fuel, it chugs along smoothly at a steady pace. But when levels of sugar in the blood fluctuate, the brain doesn't get its steady fuel supply. As a result, you may experience mental confusion, dizziness and if severe, convulsions and loss of consciousness. Foods with a low glycemic index provide brain friendly carbohydrates because they do not push the pancreas to secrete excess insulin, so the blood sugar tends to be steadier. Vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fruits and dairy products are foods with best brain sugars.

Sugars with high glycemic index can adversely affect the thinking and actions of some children. The sugars at fault include glucose, dextrose, and sucrose, and the highly refined, highly processed junk sugars found in candy, icings, syrups, packaged baked goods, and table sugar. The roller-coaster affects produced by these sugars affect moods and concentration in some children and adults, leading to sugar highs and sugar blues.

Proteins in the diet affect brain performance because they provide the amino acids from which neurotransmitters are made. The two important amino acids, tryptophan and tyrosine, are precursors of neurotransmitter. Fats are major components of the brain cell membrane and the myelin sheath around each nerve. So, our diet must include adequate amount of fat and the right kinds of fat can greatly affect brain development and performance.

Minerals are also critical to mental functioning and performance. Magnesium and manganese are needed for brain energy. Zinc is essential in protecting your mind and brain from the aging symptoms of forgetfulness. Sodium, potassium and calcium are important in the thinking process and facilitate the transmission of messages. Iron is also required to carry oxygen to the brain cells and aids in the formation of brain neurotransmitters, which affect attention and learning capacities.

List of foods that improve your brain function

Nuts

Nuts contain protein, high amounts of fiber, and they are rich in beneficial fats. They also contain plenty of vitamin B, E, and magnesium which are essential to cognitive function. They can clear up that brain fog and enable you to think clearer and are positive mood enhancers. Filberts, hazelnuts, cashews, and walnuts are great choices, with almonds being the king of nuts.

For those avoiding carbohydrates, macadamia nuts are much higher in fat than most nuts. Peanuts are not a good choice as many people are allergic to peanuts and have less healthy fat than many other types of nuts.

Seeds

Try seeds like sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, and tahini (a tangy, nutty sesame butter that tastes great in replacement of mayo and salad dressing). Seeds contain a lot of protein, beneficial fat, and vitamin E, as well as stress-fighting antioxidants and important brain-boosting minerals like magnesium.

They boost your mood and brainpower. Sunflower seeds contain tryptophan, an important amino acid that the brain converts to serotonin, which is a natural way to relieve mild depression and insomnia. Additionally, sunflower seeds are high in thiamine, an important B vitamin, which increases memory and cognitive function.

Eggs

Eggs are a precious source of high-quality proteins and rich in vitamins and minerals. The selenium in organic eggs is proven to help your mood. Nutrient called choline, found in eggs, can help boost the memory center in the brain. Choline increases the size of neurons, which helps them fire electrical signals more strongly and rebound faster between firings.

Two antioxidants found in egg yolk called lutein and zeaxanthin help prevent the risk of age-related cataracts and macular degeneration, two of the most prevalent age-related eye conditions.

Avocado

For brain health, avocados are nearly as good as blueberries. Avocados contain mono-unsaturated fats, which contribute to healthy blood flow, the main requirement for a healthy brain. To include avocados to your diet, add 1/4 to 1/2 of an avocado to one meal daily as a side dish. Start each day with a mix of high-quality protein and beneficial fats to build the foundation for an energized day. Avocado with scrambled eggs are a great combination that serve the above purpose.

Berries

Berries contain antioxidants that help boost cognition, coordination, and memory. Blueberries are high in fiber and low on the glycemic index, thus they are safe for diabetics and they do not spike blood sugar. Blueberries are possibly the best brain food on earth as they boost the potency of neuron signals. They are also known as the "brain berry", and are considered a super food when eaten in their natural form. They are also known to protect the brain from oxidative stress and may reduce the effects of age-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Antioxidant-rich strawberries can prevent age-related neurological declines by improving brain cell abilities to send and receive the ’signaling’ molecules. The brain uses these signaling molecules to communicate. Blackberries are rich in nutrients called anthocyanins that help protect our brain from oxidation stress, which in turn fights degenerative brain diseases.

Pomegranate

Pomegranates contain blueberry-like levels of antioxidants, offering brain and memory protection. It carries a lot of vitamin C, A and E as well as fiber, iron and potassium and anti-inflammatory attributes help in strengthening the immune system.

Coffee

Coffee is good for your brain. You can safely enjoy 2 cups daily. Coffee is rich in antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Recent findings show it to be one of the best brain foods, reducing the risks of mental decline including diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's.

Green tea

Green tea enhances memory and focus and fights mental fatigue. It contains catechines, which help you relax mentally and maintain your focus as well.

Green tea also helps maintain positive mood states and fights against many brain disorders. Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants found in green tea that can boost the availability of the important signaling brain substance dopamine in brain circuits.

Brown rice

Whole grains like brown rice are essential for maintaining concentration throughout the day and improving memory. That's because they contain the perfect mix of carbohydrates and fiber to fuel your brain while keeping you full. The low-glycemic complex carbohydrate present in brown rice is excellent for people sensitive to gluten who still want to maintain cardiovascular health. Wholegrain breads and cereals are also rich in folate and Vitamin B6, an important brain vitamin.

Chocolate

Dark chocolate has brain boosting compounds; it’s rich in antioxidants and contains several natural stimulants which increase the production of endorphins while enhancing focus and concentration. It also releases dopamine, to enhance cognition and mood. It is also rich in fiber. It has high content of flavanol epicatechin that facilitate blood supply to the brain and enhance cognitive skills.

Milk chocolate jump starts impulse control and reaction time. It has also been known to improve visual and verbal memory.

Garlic

Garlic is one of the most potent nutritious foods. It is fabulous for reducing bad cholesterol and strengthening your cardiovascular system, and it exerts a protective antioxidant effect on the brain. It can potentially help against stroke, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Green leafy vegetables

Spinach, kale, chard, romaine, arugula, lolla rossa and other green vegetables should be consumed on a daily basis. These vegetables are high in iron (slightly less "green" iron sources include beef, pork and lamb). Folate and vitamin B6, found in broccoli and kale, help convert tryptophan into serotonin, a brain chemical that boots mood alertness.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are fantastic brain foods as there high content of lycopene make them an ideal source of unique of antioxidants. Lycopene is particularly good for brain - helps protect against free-radical damage to cells, which prevents brain from ageing and is believed to be a primary factor in cases of dementia, and particularly, Alzheimer’s disease.

Broccoli

Broccoli is a super food with high overall nutrient content. High levels of chemicals called homocysteines are linked with cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. In order to break themselves down, homocysteines require folate and B12 or B6, vitamins found in vegetables like broccoli. It is a great source of vitamin K, which enhances cognitive function and improves brainpower.

Wholegrain foods

Vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid are essential in protecting your memory. Wholegrain foods, such as whole grain breads and wheat germ are part of the best brain foods. Whole grain breads, cereals, barley, popcorn boost blood flow to the brain.

Wild salmon

Higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood go hand in hand with higher levels of serotonin, a mood-enhancing brain chemical. Thus, these fatty acids are responsible for improved cognition and alertness, reduced risk of degenerative mental disease (such as dementia), improved memory, improved mood, and reduced depression, anxiety and hyperactivity. Wild salmon is a premium source of these beneficial fats. Salmon is also rich in protein, calcium and vitamins A, D and B group.

Tuna

In addition to being another rich source of DHA (docosahexanoic acid), a type of omega-3s; tuna, particularly yellow fin, has the highest level of vitamin B6 of any food. Generally, the B vitamins are among the most important for balancing your mood. B6 in particular influences dopamine receptors, the "feel good" hormones along with serotonin.

Olive oil

A diet rich in healthy fats is essential to clear thinking, good memory, and a balanced mood. Olive oil is rich in antioxidants for healthy brain function. The extra virgin organic variety is best because the oil is produced naturally without chemical treatment. Raw unprocessed organic olive oil also contains fibers, and proteins.

Avoid processed fats as eating the wrong fat can literally alter your brain’s communication pathways.

Things that drain your brain

There are some foods that will cause a brain drain and work against your efforts.
It is advised to stay away from foods with high-fructose corn syrup; sugary drinks, colas, and juices; refined white sugars; items with trans fats and partially-hydrogenated oils, and other processed foods. Alcohol and nicotine are also known to cause reduced brain function.

A high carbohydrate meal

A high carbohydrate lunch makes you feel sleepy and sluggish. It is advised to opt for a light meal with some quality protein, such as a salad with grilled chicken breast or vegetables and hummus or wild American shrimp and avocado.

Corn syrup and sugar

They lead to health problems like diabetes and obesity, and are terrible for your brain. Don’t eat sugar except on special occasions or as an infrequent treat. Sugary fruit drinks, colas, and juices are among the worst offenders.

Nicotine

It constricts blood flow to the brain, so while it may soothe jittery nerves, smoking can actually reduce your brain function severely and the effects are cumulative.

Alcohol

Alcohol interferes with dopamine production. Moderate amounts of alcohol, particularly resveratrol-rich red wine, can help improve your health, but any alcoholic drink beyond a glass or two of wine daily is a recipe for reduced brain function and energy loss.

British scientists create new drug that 'kills' leukaemia - even in worst affected adults

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:18:00 +0000

Laboratory experiments on a new drug found it killed malignant cells from patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia but left normal cells

Scientists have discovered a drug which they say can kill malignant leukaemia cells.

Tests show PBOX-15 can even destroy cancerous cells from adults whose health outlook is poor because of the disease's resistance to existing treatments.

Laboratory experiments found it is effective at killing malignant cells from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, but spares normal cells.

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin, in partnership with University of Siena, Italy, say the findings show 'significant potential' as the first agent of its kind.

Professor Mark Lawler, of TCD's school of medicine, said: 'We are still at an early stage. We have to move it on to see if there are any side effects and bring it forward as a potential therapy for patients. But it's very exciting. We want to give hope to cancer patients.'

He warned, though, that it could be another three to five years before the drug is used as a lifesaving treatment.

In the UK around 3,700 patients a year are diagnosed with CLL. It is the most prevalent form of adult leukaemia, affecting more than a quarter of patients.

The disease may progress slowly, causing problems over months or many years, but some patients respond very poorly to current drugs.

The new study, published in the international journal Cancer Research, shows that PBOX-15 works by interfering with the structure of cancerous cells.

It activates a mechanism which induces death in the cells, even those which have become resistant to chemotherapy.

Professor Lawler, lead investigator on the study, tested PBOX-15 on samples given by 55 patients.

He said it was more effective than fludarabine, the current medication used to treat the disease, and also killed CLL cells that were resistant to treatment.

The professor said the advance was made possible by cooperation across the different disciplines of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular medicine at TCD, together with colleagues in Siena, St James's Hospital, Dublin, and Belfast City Hospital.

He said: 'The complementary expertise allowed us to approach the problem of killing CLL cells from a number of angles'.

The professor added: 'The need for novel treatments is acute in CLL, especially for the sub-group of patients with poor clinical outcome and drug-resistant disease.

'This study identifies a novel agent with significant clinical potential.'

Why daily aspirin could be a danger: Stop giving it as routine protector, doctors told

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:17:00 +0000

DOCTORS should stop prescribing aspirin to ward off heart attacks in people without heart disease, a leading doctor has said.

Giving aspirin to these patients can do more harm than good, raising the risk of dangerous stomach bleeding while having a 'negligible' effect on curbing death rates, he warned.

Thousands of people with high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes are prescribed low-dose aspirin in line with medical guidelines because their doctors consider they are at high risk of heart attack.

Risk: Healthy people taking aspirin could actually be doing more harm than good

In addition, hundreds of thousands of healthy middle-aged people - the 'worried well' - regularly take aspirin, many of them daily, in case it does them some good.

This is based on its established role in reducing the risk of repeat heart attacks and stroke by up to a third, even though doubt persists over whether aspirin has the same benefit in patients who have never suffered an attack.

Growing evidence in recent months has increased the view that giving aspirin for primary prevention - where patients do have symptoms of heart disease - is counter-productive. Now Dr Ike Iheanacho, editor of the respected Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, says the practice should be 'abandoned' because the evidence does not back it up.

Some 2.3million Britons have type 2 diabetes, which is closely linked with growing levels of obesity, and they are up to five times more at risk of heart disease than the general population.

Several guidelines issued between 2005 and 2008 by professional health bodies recommend routine use of aspirin for people aged 50 and older with type 2 diabetes and those with high blood pressure. 'But current evidence makes it hard to recommend starting aspirin for primary prevention,' said Dr Iheanacho.

'We believe the evidence is against low dose preventive treatment in these patients,' he added.

A British study released in September found aspirin can double the chances of dangerous internal bleeding in people without a history of heart disease, while having no effect on the rate of heart attacks or strokes.

Dr Iheanacho said patients taking aspirin for this reason should not stop without consulting a doctor.

He urged doctors to review all their patients taking low-dose aspirin for primary prevention whether prescribed by themselves or whether it was bought overthecounter by the patients.

'The decision about whether to continue or stop treatment should be made only after fully informing patients of the available evidence. Some patients may see a small risk of harm as worth taking because they gain a small degree of possible benefit,' he added.

June Davison, of the British Heart Foundation said: 'It is well established that aspirin can help prevent heart attacks and strokes among people with heart and circulatory disease. They should continue to take it as prescribed by their doctor.

'But for those who do not have heart and circulatory disease the risk of serious bleeding outweighs the potential benefits. We advise people not to take aspirin daily, unless they check with their doctor.'

Want to quit smoking? Switching to mild cigarettes will NOT improve your chances

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:11:00 +0000

Smokers who hope to kick the habit by first switching to a low-tar or mild brand of cigarette may actually find it harder to quit, researchers said today.

They found that smokers who traded to light cigarettes were 50 per cent less likely to kick the habit.

'It may be that smokers think that a lighter brand is better for their health and is therefore an acceptable alternative to giving up completely,' said study author Dr Hilary Tindle from the University of Pittsburgh.

Her study of 31,000 smokers found that 12,000, or 38 per cent, had switched to a lighter brand.

Nearly half of these said they had switched brands because they wanted to smoke a less harmful cigarette and hoped to give up smoking completely.

And although they were far more likely to have tried quitting between 2002 and 2003, they were 60 per cent less likely to actually succeed, according to Dr Tindle's team.

'Forty-three percent of smokers reported a desire to quit smoking as a reason for switching to lighter cigarettes. While these individuals were the most likely to make an attempt, ironically, they were the least likely to quit smoking,' Dr Tindle said.

Research published in The Lancet revealed smokers compensate for low tar cigarettes by taking deeper puffs more often.

And a study in the British Medical Journal found all current smokers had a far greater risk of lung cancer than people who had never smoked no matter what the tar level of their brand.

20 reasons why vitamin D is better than a swine flu vaccine

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:07:00 +0000

The news is out: Vitamin D is better than the swine flu vaccine at halting H1N1 infections. In fact, without vitamin D, chances are that a vaccine won’t generate much of an immune response in the first place.

That’s because vitamin D is essential for healthy, active immune function. That’s just one of the reasons smart people are choosing vitamin D instead of the swine flu vaccine. Here are nineteen more reasons:

#1 Vitamin D activates your immune system to respond to any viral exposure (not just one virus).

#2 Vitamin D naturally belongs in your body.

#3 Vitamin D has been functioning as medicine in the human body since the beginning of the human species.

#4 Vitamin D is available right now and there’s no shortage of it.

#5 Vitamin D won’t cause your brain to swell and put you into a coma.

#6 Vitamin D doesn’t require an injection with a scary needle.

#7 Vitamin D is found naturally in many foods such as sardines or salmon.

#8 Vitamin D has a perfect safety record. No one ever died from consuming it.

#9 Vitamin D is affordable. You can even get it for free (from sunlight).

#10 Vitamin D doesn’t contain viral fragments from diseased animals (like vaccines often do).

#11 Vitamin D doesn’t contain thimerosal or other chemical preservatives.

#12 Vitamin D doesn’t need a warning sheet describing possible side effects.

#13 Vitamin D doesn’t hurt your arm when you take it.

#14 Vitamin D also improves sugar metabolism, bone density and healthy moods.

#15 Vitamin D is safe for the environment.

#16 Vitamin D doesn’t contain squalene or other inflammatory adjuvant chemicals.

#17 Vitamin D works on everyone and is safe for everyone, including infants and children.

#18 Vitamin D is made in nature, not a laboratory.

#19 Vitamin D is found naturally in breast milk.

#20 You can walk, and chew gum, and generate vitamin D from sunshine all at the same time!

Skip the vaccine. Get more Vitamin D!

7 Myths About Sleep

noreply@blogger.com (WORLD'S BEST SNAPS) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:05:00 +0000

1. To function best, you need to get eight hours.
There's nothing magic about that number. Everyone has different sleep needs, and you'll know you're getting enough when you don't feel like nodding off in a boring situation in the afternoon, says New York University psychologist Joyce Walsleben, Ph.D., co-author of A Woman's Guide to Sleep .

2. If you can get it, more sleep is always healthier.
You wish. Some studies have found that people who slept more than eight hours a night died younger than people who got between six and eight hours. What scientists don't know yet: Whether sleeping longer causes poor health or is a symptom of it, says Najib Ayas, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia. Long sleepers may suffer from problems such as sleep apnea, depression, or uncontrolled diabetes that make them spend more time in bed.

3. Some people function perfectly on four hours of sleep.
Legendary short sleepers — including Bill Clinton, Madonna, and Margaret Thatcher — don't necessarily do better on fewer Zs. "They're just not aware of how sleepy they are," says Thomas Roth, Ph.D., sleep researcher at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Too little sleep is bad for your health and your image: It can make you ineffective (it impairs performance, judgment, and the ability to pay attention), sick (it weakens your immune system), and overweight. In fact, women who slept five hours or less a night were a third more likely to gain 33 pounds or more over 16 years than women who slept seven hours, according to a Harvard Nurses' Health Study. Oddly, cutting too much sleep and getting less than six hours is associated with the same problems as sleeping too long: a higher risk of heart problems and death. And, of course, cheating on sleep hurts you behind the wheel: "Wakefulness for 18 hours makes you perform almost as though you're legally drunk," says Walsleben.

4. Waking up during the night means you'll be tired all day.
Au contraire: It might be our natural cycle. Many animals sleep this way, and there are a lot of indications that our ancestors did, too, perhaps stirring nightly to talk or have sex, says Thomas Wehr, M.D., scientist emeritus at the National Institute of Mental Health. When 15 people in one of his studies lived without artificial lights for a few weeks, they wound up sleeping three to five hours, waking up for one or two, then sleeping again for four or more hours — and they said they had never felt so rested.

5. You need prescription drugs if you have insomnia every night.
Sleep meds are designed for short-term sleep problems, caused by stressful events like the loss of a job or taking a transatlantic flight. People with longer-term problems benefit more from cognitive behavioral therapy — essentially, retraining your perceptions of sleep and learning better sleep habits, such as going to bed at the same time every night, avoiding TVs and computers before bed, staying away from caffeine at least six hours before sleep, and other lifestyle changes. In fact, in 2005, the National Institutes of Health concluded that this type of therapy is as effective as prescription drugs for short-term treatment of chronic insomnia. In many cases, a sleeping pill may not even solve your sleep problem. "About half the people who think they have insomnia may have anxiety or depression," says Daniel Kripke, M.D., a University of California at San Diego sleep expert.

6. You can make up for lost sleep on weekends.
Bingeing on Zs over the weekend and not sleeping during the week — what Harvard sleep expert Robert Stickgold, Ph.D., calls "sleep bulimia" — upsets your circadian rhythms and makes it even harder to get refreshing sleep. Sleeping until noon on Sunday generally prevents you from hitting the sheets by 10 that night. So instead of correcting your deficit from the week before, you set up a no-sleep cycle for the week to come. "The body loves consistency," says Donna Arand, Ph.D., spokeswoman for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Best to rise around the same time every day, even on weekends.

7. Tylenol PM is better than a prescription sleep med for an occasional bout of insomnia.
Not if the bout lasts longer than a few nights, says Helene Emsellem, M.D., of the Center for Sleep & Wake Disorders in Chevy Chase, MD. Tylenol PM is no better than a prescription drug for people who have trouble falling asleep, and may be less effective than some prescription drugs, she says. The active ingredient in Tylenol PM is an antihistamine, and its side effect is that it makes you drowsy. Some have reported a greater possibility of feeling "hung-over" after taking antihistamines than after taking prescription drugs. If you do decide to take antihistamines, don't do it in the middle of the night: They may stay active in your system for eight hours or more. Another difference: Prescription sleep drugs are thought to allow you to go through all stages of the sleep cycle; no word on whether antihistamines do the same.