The bee, feared for its nasty sting, comes as an unwelcome visitor in our gardens. People often scamper away when they see the buzzing insect approach their direction. Scary as the bee is, it brings a product enjoyed for its sweet natural taste and its number of alternative uses – honey. As a practical soul, you can make your domestic life a bit more convenient with such a useful item. Purchase a jar of honey and discover all of its benefits.

Honey, aside from being a tasty snack, can be used for a variety of home and health-related applications. With its natural formulation, it is used as a treatment for some illnesses and a vitamin supplement. It is also known to moisturize and disinfect the skin, making it an unconventional moisturizer, antiseptic and antibacterial solution. For years, vegans have used honey to promote good health. Now it’s your turn to reap the rewards in using the bee’s healthy byproduct. Here are 15 unconventional uses for honey.

1. Skin Moisturizer – Honey, when mixed with eggs and some flour, is an effective skin moisturizer. Best of all, it is gently formulated, so it can be used by people with sensitive skin. Mix four tablespoons of honey with a couple of egg whites and a few tablespoons of flour, depending on your desired consistency. Stir the mixture until it thickens. When the mixture is ready, you can use it as a hand and body lotion or a moisturizing face mask, eliminating the effects of dry skin.
2. Antiseptic – Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical used for cleaning wounds and helping them heal quickly. Honey happens to contain a good amount of the chemical. It only needs to be released by diluting the substance in water or body fluids. When applied on an open wound, the glucose, contained by honey, is diluted and gradually releases hydrogen peroxide. The substance facilitates your wound’s faster healing. Due to its viscous consistency, it also prevents wounds from sticking to the dressing and the appearance of scars.
3. Acne Remover – Honey might be a gentle skin moisturizer but it is certainly tough on acne. With constant exposure to the bee fluid, pimples eventually wither and fade. Apply a small amount of honey on the pimply regions of your face. Cover them with adhesive bandages. Soon, your zit attack will be nothing more than a distant memory.
4. Energy Booster – Why buy palpitation-inducing energy drinks when you already have honey? Mix honey with some water then drink the solution. Honey’s glucose content will be absorbed by the brain and in the bloodstream, reducing fatigue in the process. You’ll be healthy and quite happy just by consuming the simple solution.
5. Immune System Booster – Health buffs are known to drink a teaspoon of honey daily, along with their morning vitamins. Though still not scientifically proven, the daily consumption of honey is said to strengthen your immune system. You can give it a shot, you’ve got nothing to lose anyway.
6. Enhances Vitamin A – Vitamin A is the nutrient that fosters better eyesight, especially when consumed in significant quantities. If you mix items that are rich in Vitamin A with honey, the effects are slightly increased.
7. Improves Blood Flow – Honey, being rich in glucose, is known to improve the blood flow through the fortification of blood’s formation. Glucose provides energy in the bloodstream, which is distributed throughout the body. As a result, the blood produced has the proper consistency, flowing smoothly through the blood vessels. Glucose is believed to prevent capillary damage due to its ability to improve your blood flow.
8. Treatment for Sore Throat – Some people believe that honey is an even better treatment for coughs and colds than over-the-counter medicine. To create the sore throat-relieving serum, squeeze the juice from a lemon and mix it with some honey. Stir the mixture until both ingredients blend. Drink the solution. After a few moments, you will realize that your sore throat has been cured, or at least reduced. Just continue to make more rounds until you are finally free from colds.
9. Colon Damage Prevention – Colitis, a disease that damages the colon, induces much discomfort for the afflicted. You can minimize the effects of the disease if you drink some honey daily. The antioxidants found in honey is said to strengthen and improve the resistance of the colon. In addition, it is used in folk medicine as a means for curing colon-related conditions.
10. Parasite Remover – Honey, when mixed with vinegar and water, can remove worms and other parasites in your body. The combination of vinegar’s acidity and honey’s therapeutic components is more than enough to kill or expel bodily intruders. When you suspect that you have worms in your body, drink ample amounts of the solution regularly. The parasites might build a resistance if you don’t manage to get rid of them all as soon as possible.
11. Remedy for Burns – A burn is not only painful, the marks also last for a good number of days before healing up. By applying honey on your burn, the hydrogen peroxide released cleans the wound and soothes the inflammation. As a result, the burn marks will heal in a few days with less pain. Use honey as a dressing for maximum results.
12. Antibacterial Solution – Bacteria and germs won’t survive when covered in honey, given its acidic pH balance and viscous base. The microorganisms will be trapped in the sticky acidic base, which is too abrasive for their exteriors, killing them off eventually. Apply honey on a wound, scratches or an inflamed region, in conjunction with an antiseptic. You’ll be astounded at how fast your injury heals after.
13. Relaxant for Anxiety and Nervousness – Anxiety and nervousness are the enemies of a healthy mind. Once both conditions swarm your thoughts, your actions are tantamount to produce negative results. Free yourself from any of the two states of mind by eating porridge mixed with honey. Honey’s nutrients produce a calming effect, especially when taken in significant amounts. No wonder some consider it a part of the breakfast of champions. Honey can also be mixed with a suitable beverage for a good night’s sleep.
14. Cancer and Heart Disease Prevention – Heart disease and cancer are diseases that have claimed the lives of millions of people. Both conditions have a multitude of causes, some of which are hard to identify. You must have some sort of protection from these diseases and that protection comes in the form of honey. Honey’s antioxidants prevent the formation of cancer cells and preserve the quality of the produced blood, preventing heart disease in the process. Though, engaging in acts that promote cancer, such as smoking and excessive drinking, will still trigger the diseases, so be watchful.
15. Diabetic Ulcer Remedy – Curing ulcer entirely is largely done by modern medical techniques. Though, you can speed up the healing process if you use honey as a topical solution. It’s ability to heal wounds will certainly come in handy when other ointments are not advised to use.

Honey is a medical resource used before modern medicine became established. It may not replace many of the technological methods currently practiced in hospitals, but it can certainly match some of the medicine prescribed by physicians. The bee fluid, as it turns out, is a miracle drug that cures quite a number of ailments and diseases. Use it and get good health for a fairly low price.

The key to a strong memory may be rest. Resting after learning something new appears to help create a stronger, more vivid memory.

Information comes from a study by NYU assistant professor of psychology Lila Davachi and doctoral candidate Arielle Tambini. The study’s purpose was to examine the relationship between two parts of the brain related to memory—the hippocampus and neocortex—and the long-term storage of memory following rest.

Resting after gaining new information allows the mind to process that information, and store it into long-term episodic memory. While former studies have shown that this process is highly effective in sleep, this experiment tested the effects of “awake rest”–rest without sleeping.

The hippocampus is responsible for regulating emotion and memory; the neocortex for language, conscious thought and emotional response. Researchers used object-face and scene-face encoding, the brain’s process of changing information from one form to another, to determine how these two areas of the brain reacted to form memories.

Participants were shown images of people coupled with either objects or scenery (called encoding tasks), and asked how likely these images were to go together. Testing began 40–50 minutes after the first encoding task and 70–80 minutes after the second.

According to Davachi, brain regions remained active during rest, which suggests that memories were being replayed and reinforced. Participants with stronger relationships between the hippocampus and neocortex had better memory, especially of the face-object pairing.

“It will be essential for future studies to assess how connectivity during post-task offline periods (rest) relates to more extended measures of long-term memory consolidation,” authors wrote. “It will be interesting to explore the relationship between longitudinal measurements of enhanced connectivity and behavioral measures of memory consolidation.”

source

I think one of the main reasons it’s so hard to quit smoking is because all the benefits of quitting and all the dangers of continuing seem very far away. Well, here’s a little timeline about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW.

* In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.
* In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.
* In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.

* In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
* In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.
* In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.
* In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
* In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
* In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
* In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.

So, you have more immediate things to look forward to if you quit now besides just freaking out about not being able to smoke. Quit now!

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Your legs have tan lines from your stomach blocking the sun

Inanimate objects know what you’re thinking

Your neck is wider than your head

6 girls should, but only 5 girls fit in the picture

Your boobs impair your vision on the road

You look like the Michelin Man

No one can tell if you’re a man or a woman

Your penis is sandwiched between your nuts and stomach

You need help putting on your pants

You weigh more than your motorcycle

Even your unitard has stretch marks

Your stomach hangs out from under your dress

In all that cases… you can find solution on our blog… Pick some diet and start loosing your weight!

Man should be always strong and healthy enough to feed family. Or maybe smart enough to think about helping other (the real man do so). All these physical and moral abilities come from good food. So what foods every man should have in fridge?

1. Frozen orange juice concentrate
The vitamin C content of OJ plunges as soon as it leaves the factory — if it’s in a carton. Buy the frozen kind, and you stay ahead of your daily C needs.

2. 1% milk
Loaded with Vitamin D and calcium. Sport your milk mustache with pride.

3. Almonds or walnuts
An ideal midday snack high in vitamin E and fiber.

4. Berries
Fresh or frozen, berries – choose your favorite kind – are loaded with antioxidants. Add them to a bowl of low-fat yogurt for a healthy, refreshing snack.

5. Cranberry juice
The all-purpose mixer can keep your internal plumbing clean, thus helping to prevent urinary tract infections. When you’re not thirsty, go for dried cranberries..

6. Romaine lettuce
Sounds ridiculously simple, but it’s an ideal base for your salad, especially if it’s of the Caesar variety. And this phytonutrient-dense leaf makes a great bread substitute if you’re cutting down on carbs.

7. Eggs
The least expensive, most easily digested, highest-quality protein source out there: egg whites.

8. Avocado
They’re high in total fat, but it’s mostly the good kind: monounsaturated. They’re also a great source of vitamin E.

9. Canned anchovies, sardines or herring
A cheap, quick source of omega-3 fatty acids. Add the little fish to a salad or stuff them into a whole wheat pita sandwich. Good food, fast.

10. Broccoli
This salad stalwart is a key cancer fighter and is loaded with fiber and phytonutrients.

Source: revolutionhealth.com

These and other functions fall to serum cholesterol, which is a waxy, fat-like compound, that circulates in the bloodstream (also called lipid). Your liver makes about a gram each day, which is all your body needs.

Dietary cholesterol is found only in animal products. Your body doesn’t need this cholesterol, and with the exception of strict vegetarians you’ll eat varying amounts of it.

Many factors like exercise, genetics, gender, and other components of your diet contribute to how your body processes dietary cholesterol.

Some people can eat large amounts and have normal blood levels, while others eat very little and have high blood cholesterol.

What you eat seems to account for about 20% of the cholesterol in your body, with the remaining 80% produced by your liver.

Good Vs. Bad Cholesterol

The two major transporters of cholesterol are low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) and high-density lipoproteins (HDLs).

LDLs tend to drop cholesterol in your artery walls, which leads to atherosclerosis (hardening of your arteries) and an increased risk of heart disease.

HDLs, collect cholesterol from the artery walls and other tissues and take it to your liver to be metabolized and eliminated from the body.

This is why LDLs are called the “bad” cholesterol and HDLs the “good.”

Eating To Keep Your Cholesterol In Check!

There’s no surprise that what you eat influences the levels of cholesterol and other fats in your blood.

Dozens of studies state that a diet high in animal products and other saturated fats tend to elevate cholesterol levels, when compared to the low levels found in people whose diet are largely made up of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Foods That May Raise Your Cholesterol

• Hard margarine and vegetable shortening, which are high in saturated fats and trans-fatty acids.
• Cookies, cakes, pastries, and chocolates, especially those made with saturated tropical oils, or partially hydrogenated oils.
• Full-fat dairy products, such as cheese, cream, and butter; all are high in saturated fats.
• Fatty meats and meat products, such as marbled beef, pork and lamb chops, hamburgers, bacon, frankfurters, salamis, and other cold cuts.

source: marcilall

Natural vitamins are found in food substances, like plants and animals. The human body cannot make all vitamins by itself, they need to supplemented with a diet rich in vegetables, fruits and fresh meat. Vitamin deficiency is a major health concern in America. More than 65% of Americans fall below the recommended dietary allowance (RDA), as they rely more on processed food than a fresh intake of fruits and vegetables, which could furnish the daily vitamin requirements. Most processed foods provide no real nutrition to the body and are extremely low on the recommended daily vitamins. Processed food is responsible to increase fat build-up that is known to cause many diseases.

Vitamins are essential for growth, vitality, health, general wellness, and for boosting the immune system against many health problems and diseases. There are mainly two kinds of vitamins, that is water-soluble vitamins and fat-soluble vitamins. Water-soluble are absorbed by the intestine and carried through the bloodstream, and have to be taken in daily, as they cannot be stored by the body. Fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the body, and need not be taken daily. While most humans require the same amount of vitamins; men, women, and children need different amounts to lead a healthy life. Recommended vitamins are measured through different ways: milligrams (mg), micrograms (mcg) 1,000 mcg = 1 mg, and International Units (IU).

Recommended Daily Vitamins

The above table contains generic information about the recommended daily vitamins intake, and can differ from place to place, as well as medical opinion to another. Although people are aware of health repercussions caused due to inadequate vitamin intake, they tend to ignore it. Many dietitians recommend vitamin supplementation in form of powder, or capsules. However, an overdose or excess vitamins in the body is also harmful. It is best to consult a medical practitioner, before deciding to supplement the loss of essential vitamins in the body. A good healthy dietary intake that comprises of numerous amounts of fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat, is all it takes to meet the body’s daily vitamin requirements.

Source: Buzzle

Whenever you see models puffing away on their Marlboro Lights or even school girls sneaking a cigarette, the excuse more often than not is that it helps them lose weight either by suppressing their appetite or speeding up their metabolism. But does smoking really increase your metabolic rate and enables you to control our weight more easily?

Some studies have shown that smoking does indeed increase our basal metabolic rate – the rate at which calories are burned by the body each day as it takes care of essential functions such as the rhythm of the heart, breathing, digestion, thoughts and movement.

Around 60-75% of our daily calorie expenditure can be accounted for by basic bodily functions and experts believe that one way smoking raises metabolic rate is by stimulating the nervous system to produce catecholamines – hormones which cause the heart to beat faster, thus making the body burn more calories. Nicotine also produces more thermogenesis, the process by which the body produces heat. This too, causes the body to use up more calories.

Some research suggests that the increase in metabolic rate during smoking could equate to smokers burning up to 200 extra calories a day more than non-smokers.

Examining all the evidence together it would seem that each cigarette smoked will contribute to a temporary increase in the metabolic rate and that the more you smoke, the higher a proportion of the time you will be experiencing this faster running metabolism. But does this actually help you control your weight more easily?

Many believe that smoking suppresses the appetite and that smokers eat less than non-smokers. In fact, most studies comparing the calorie intake of smokers and non-smokers show that smokers actually eat as much or more than non-smokers. The reason they are sometimes able to manage their weight more easily is not that they eat less but rather that they burn off more of the calories consumed due to their metabolism running faster when they smoke.

The increase in metabolism while smoking may also explain why some people gain weight when they quit. It is true that many ex-smokers reach for more food than they are used to just to fill the gaps created by not using cigarettes, but even those who maintain a steady amount of food will run the risk of increasing in weight due to the fact that their metabolism is now running at normal speed for most of the time now rather than being artificially boosted by smoking.

So, rather than smokers being their ‘normal’ weight when they smoke and then gaining weight when they stop, it may be more accurate to say that smokers may be artificially slim while they are smokers and then they return to what is a more natural weight when their metabolism is allowed to regulate itself without interference from nicotine. Longer term studies comparing people who smoke for a period and then give up with people who never smoke show little difference in weight gain at the conclusion of the studies though those who smoke experience periods of being thinner.

Having said all that, smoking does not rank highly as a weight management strategy. Exercise and healthy eating will guarantee you positive results in this area by speeding up your metabolism but without any of the potentially fatal and critical negatives such as lung cancer, emphysema, leg amputation, heart disease, clots in the lung, stroke, infertility……the list goes one. And of course, shortened life span.

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The prestigious journal Science today published the results of a research study demonstrating for the first time that mental activity can alter the biochemistry of the human brain. Conducted by researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, the study used Position Emission Tomography (PET scans) to monitor the brain activity of subjects using Cogmed Working Memory Training. The results reveal that the training impacted the brain by increasing the number of dopamine receptors in the cortex.

The research represents the latest in a growing body of peer-reviewed studies involving Cogmed Working Memory Training. The study was led by Torkel Klingberg, a professor of neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute and co-founder of Cogmed. In 2001, Klingberg first discovered that working memory could be improved through computerized training. He later co-developed Cogmed Working Memory Training, a proven program to help children, adolescents and adults who are constrained by the inability to focus attention.

“The Karolinska Institute is taking a lead role in advancing research that delivers valuable new insights into the workings of the brain,” said Jonas Jendi, president and chief executive officer of Cogmed. “As working memory continues to be a focus of the scientific community, we are proud that our program is able to aid new studies. Our close collaboration with leading researchers in Europe and North America affirms our commitment to adhere to the highest standards of scientific rigor.”

Today’s article comes from Glastonbury, Connecticut. Dr. Bellinger of CT Spine and Disc Center shares a story from Decembers monthly patient newsletter. New research is showing that Vitamin D may improve your mind and health in many wonderful ways. First, let’s talk about SLEEP… Benjamin Franklin is famous for many things. Maybe you’ve heard of that little kite flying incident. He is also famous for saying, “WASTE not life” and “There will be sleeping enough in the grave.” More than 200 years later, the attitude towards sleep in America has not changed. Many people are up at the crack of dawn or answering emails at 3 a.m. on their “crack-berry!” Franklin’s quote has even been modernized to read…

“I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead!”

“There is a cultural bias against sleep that sees it as akin to shutting down, or even to death,” explains Dr. Jeffrey Ellenbogen, a Neurologist at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Sleep Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital. Most people, Dr. Ellenbogen says, think of the sleeping brain as similar to a computer that has “gone to sleep” — it does nothing productive. Wrong. Sleep enhances performance, learning and memory. Most of all, sleep improves creative ability to generate aha! moments and to uncover novel connections among seemingly unrelated ideas. Dr. Ellenbogen’s research at Harvard indicates that after sleep, people are 33 percent more likely to infer connections among distantly related ideas, and yet, as he puts it, these performance enhancements exist “completely beneath the radar screen.” In other words, people are more creative after sleep, but they don’t know it.

Changing Attitudes

Business attitudes toward sleep may be starting to shift. Claire Stapleton, a spokeswoman for Google, says “grassroots” interest in sleep led to an on-campus talk by Sara C. Mednick, a napping expert. Google also installed EnergyPods, leather recliners with egg-like hoods that block noise and light, for employees to take naps at work. But there is something much more important than just a nap and the total number of hours slept. Even more important is the…

Circadian Rhythm

The circadian rhythm is an internal clock that guides our daily cycle from sleep to wakefulness – and back to sleep again. But now researchers at Stanford think it may be doing much more. Working with Siberian hamsters, biologist Norman Ruby has shown that having a functioning circadian system is critical to the hamsters’ ability to remember what they have learned. “Without it,” he said, “They can’t remember anything.” Like all other animals, Siberian hamsters normally develop what amounts to street smarts about their environment. But when Ruby interrupted their circadian system, the hamsters failed to demonstrate the same evidence of remembering their environment as hamsters with normally functioning circadian systems. Until now, it has never been shown that the circadian system is crucial to learning and memory. This finding has implications for diseases that include problems with learning or memory deficits, such as Down Syndrome or Alzheimer’s disease. The work is described in a paper published Oct. 1 online in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ruby is lead author on the paper.

“Losing Their Rhythm Cost Them A Lot”

And here’s something very interesting: According to one of the researchers, “We thought it might be possible to wipe out circadian rhythms and eliminate the rhythm in learning, but that the animals could still learn something. But they don’t. That is what was so surprising. They actually can’t remember anything. Losing their rhythms costs them a lot.” And it is not about the overall number of hours slept. It is about WHEN: “What our data are showing is that these animals still performed terribly on a simple learning task, even though they’re getting loads of sleep. What this says is that the circadian system really is necessary for something that is deeply important: learning.” More and more research is showing how important not only the amount of sleep you get – but also when you get it. But first… onward to…

The Health Benefits Of Vitamin D!

Once linked to only bone diseases such as rickets and osteoporosis, Vitamin D is now recognized as a major player in contributing to overall human health, emphasizes UC Riverside’s Anthony Norman, an international expert on Vitamin D. In a paper published in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Norman identifies Vitamin D’s potential for contributions to good health in the adaptive and innate immune systems, the secretion and regulation of insulin by the pancreas, the heart and blood pressure regulation, muscle strength and brain activity. In addition, access to adequate amounts of Vitamin D is believed to be beneficial towards reducing the risk of cancer. Norman also lists 36 organ tissues in the body whose cells respond biologically to Vitamin D. The list includes bone marrow, breast, colon, intestine, kidney, lung, prostate, retina, skin, stomach and the uterus. According to Norman, deficiency of Vitamin D can impact all 36 organs. Already, Vitamin D deficiency is associated with muscle strength decrease, high risk for falls, and increased risk for colorectal, prostate, breast and other major cancers. “It is becoming increasingly clear to researchers in the field that Vitamin D is strongly linked to several diseases,” said Norman, a distinguished professor emeritus of biochemistry and of biomedical sciences who has worked on Vitamin D for more than 45 years. “Its biological sphere of influence is much broader than we originally thought. The nutritional guidelines for Vitamin D intake must be carefully reevaluated to determine the adequate intake, balancing sunlight exposure with dietary intake, to achieve good health by involving all 36 target organs.”

How Much Vitamin D?

“To optimize good health, you must have enough Vitamin D,” Norman said. “Vitamin D deficiency is also especially of concern in third world countries that have poor nutritional practices and religious customs that require the body to be covered from head to toe. Ideally, to achieve the widest frequency of good health by population, we need to have 90 percent of the people with adequate amounts of Vitamin D.” The recommended daily intake of Vitamin D is 200 international units (IU) for people up to 50 years old. The recommended daily intake of Vitamin D is 400 IU for people 51 to 70 years old and 600 IU for people over 70 years old. Norman’s recommendation for all adults is to have an average daily intake of at least 2,000 IU. While deficiency of Vitamin D impacts health negatively, ingestion of extremely high doses of Vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia, a condition in which the blood’s calcium level is above normal. The highest daily “safe” dose