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Can You Drink Your Way To Good Health?
Many years ago I became convinced of the need to take vitamin and mineral supplements. Although I tried to eat healthy meals, mixing salads, fruits and vegetables, proteins and grains as wisely as I could, numerous studies pointed out the need to add nutritional supplements to my diet.
Major Study
The major study that caught my attention most strongly was the 1977-1978 USDA National Food Consumption Survey (Crocetti and Guthrie, 1982). This study surveyed the 3 -day dietary records of over 21,500 individuals. Among other findings the study showed that not one person consumed 100% of the Recommended Daily Allowance for the top ten nutrients.
That was a rather shocking finding. Not one single person! I prided myself in eating well, but I decided that it would be a good idea to supplement my meals with additional vitamins and minerals.
Taking Tablets
I started out by taking a single multivitamin daily. Then, over the years I added additional tablets of antioxidants, namely vitamin C and vitamin E. In more recent years I added calcium tablets and B vitamin tablets to my routine. As you can guess, the result was that I was taking 5 tablets of supplements twice a day.
Does that sound familiar to you? That’s a lot of tablets to swallow. Taking that many tablets each day was never pleasant for me. Many times I wished that there was an easier way to take the supplements that I felt I needed.
Liquid Supplements
Then a friend introduced me to a nutritional supplement that I could drink. Now that made sense. A good, potent liquid nutritional was certainly much easier and much tastier than a handful of tablets.
The convenience and good taste of the liquid was enough to convince me to abandon the tablet delivery system. But I learned further that the liquid form of the vitamins and minerals was more apt to be easily absorbed by my body than were the old tablets.
Absorption
Unfortunately tablets do not always digest fully in the stomach. Sometimes they only digest partially as they pass through the digestive system which allows only part of their potency to be absorbed by the cells. In fact, the Physician’s Desk Reference, a highly respected reference book, once reported that the absorbency of vitamin tablets can be as low as 10%. What that means is that very little of the available nutrients are actually utilized by the body and its cells.
By contrast, vitamins and minerals in a liquid form can be absorbed by the body’s cells at a much higher rate. As high as 95%. The liquid is more easily digested and absorbed by the digestive system than tablets are. Further, the absorbency of the liquid vitamins starts at the tongue and beneath the tongue. This sublingual delivery helps to get the nutritional benefit to the cells much faster.
How does this work? Take nitroglycerin for example. Nitroglycerin is effective for combating anginal chest pains associated with heart disease. An effective way to deliver the nitroglycerin is to place it beneath the tongue at the first sign of chest pain. This sublingual delivery gets the nitroglycerin into the bloodstream and to the chest pain much faster than it would if it had to be swallowed, digested, and absorbed into the bloodstream through the digestive system.
Similarly, vitamins and minerals will absorb into the bloodstream and to the cells much faster in liquid or spray form. For example, vitamin B-12 is an important vitamin, but as we get older we lose the stomach secretions necessary to digest and absorb the vitamin through the normal digestive process. The solution to the problem is to deliver vitamin B-12 in either a spray or a sublingual form. That way the potency of the vitamin is delivered quickly to the cells and the digestive system is bypassed.
The Secret Of Silver Jewelry
When we talk about precious metals we usually mean gold, platinum and another pure metal, fine silver. Silver is one of the original materials of value mentioned in the Bible, together with other originals such as precious gemstones that existed from the beginning of time.
This explains part of the attraction associated with these 'non-virtual' commodities - they existed for a very long time in human history, and presumably even before. Used throughout all generations and nations they have been and are one of the preferred ways to display symbols of value and are used as objects of beauty and style in jewelry. As a form of personal expression and 'street art'.
Thinking of fashion styles we tend to look at clothing, hair styling and makeup first. However accessories are a major part of the outfit. Jewelry one of its coolest forms.
Why then is silver jewelry one of the constants that remain throughout history? What is the real mystery and the secret of silver? It's not only its cool attraction -- it is one of the commodities that existed before paper money, and it will retain it's value after currencies are gone.
In a world that goes more virtual by the minute we keep a few valuables that have their own pre-set value outside our current reality. Currencies will go virtual, jewelry will not.
To give you an idea about the differences of investments in tangible and intangible products and how it works out in real life, let me give you an example that nearly did cost me $25.000 in the past.
During the first oil crisis I lived in New Zealand for a few years and had to invest my assets in appropriate channels at that time. Because back then not only oil prices went up, also other commodities such as gold and silver increased slightly in value and I decided to invest some money in metals.
After locating a company that advertised selling of gold bullion, I went to their downtown store and asked a clerk to purchase gold for about $25.000. I never did this kind of investment before and was a bit unsure about where to keep it save from curious people and for the possible event of burglars in the house.
Knowing what was on my mind the clerk asked me that memorable question "would you like to have this in gold options, stocks or physical bullion?" He went through great lengths to explain me the advantages of "gold papers" that follow the value of gold at any time, so increase in value if the gold price further increases. There would be no necessity to actually touch physical things, and I could cash in the papers at any time.
I almost agreed to his offer, when suddenly a small yet bright thought of warning flashed my mind. Something that a goldsmith I met before told me years earlier, he said: "If you ever buy gold, remember the reason why you buy it, and do not buy virtual gold, but the real thing only".
This thought won in the end because my adviser taught me many basic things about jewelry and metals, and I highly respected his opinion. Turned out he was right. Less than 6 months later, the company I bought the bullion from faced bankruptcy and all their options, shares and other papers lost all of their value. I still had my physical gold however, that increased in value by about 10% at that time.
With that example fresh in mind, I personally still make distinctions when I buy personal products that enhance my lifestyle today.
Yes I invest a lot in software for example that enhances my virtual PC desktop, and helps websites function the way they should, and also loose a lot of it every few years when a harddisk or server crashes. I also enjoy the latest designer clothes, however they wear out and generally get damaged by usage over time.
However I keep a small collection of silver and gold jewelry in the same fresh looking condition as I originally bought it many years ago. These items never wear out, never go out of style. And never loose their value. It's the real thing.
The Magic in Believing
Why is it that some people always succeed in whatever they do and others continue to fail? How come some people drift through life trying to find the energy to go on, and others have abounding energy? Is there some magic potion that the successful have access to that the rest don’t have?
The answer is yes. The magic potion is faith. Successful people have learned to believe in themselves. They know that everyone has God given talents and that they will be successful if they find what they are. How do you find your talent? Examine the things you love to do, and do well. To make life worth living you must do what brings you joy.
To fulfill a dream, you must have a plan; it’s called a goal. Those without goals have no direction for their life and little energy. The ones struggling to fulfill a dream, have abounding energy because inspired living is energy giving.
J..C. Penny once said, “Show me a stock clerk with a goal and I will show you the future head of the company. Show me a person without a goal and I will show you a stock clerk.”
The majority earn a living by relying on what they can see, the check coming in from their employer when they work a regular job. There is nothing wrong with that except the limitations. There are only twenty-four hours in a day and trading hours for dollars can only earn a limited amount.
Those who make it big look beyond what they can see with their eyes to the unlimited possibilities of believing. We are limited in what we can do working with our hands. When we make full, use of our mind, the sky is the limit.
Before anything worthwhile can be accomplished, you must believe that you can do it. If you are going to do big things, you can’t depend on what you see. You have to rely on what you believe. Great inventions are developed in this manner. Many giant corporations were started by one man with a dream.
The faith you have determines your whole outlook on life. What you believe that you can do, gives you the confidence to try. It is difficult to attempt what you can’t see yourself doing, but you don’t know if you could succeed until you try. Nat King Cole thought he couldn’t sing. He made musical history when he tried!
With faith we can dream of doing great things. Everyone dreams but only those that plan and work to overcome the obstacles in the way, fulfill their dreams. Dreaming without planning and working will fail to produce successful results.
Faith resembles dreams in that both involve what the eyes can’t see. Often problems are solved by our sleeping mind that elude us while awake. If you can't find the answer, put it on the back burner of the subconscious mind, and discover the magic.
Your subconscious mind will work for you if you can convince it that you truly believe you are going to succeed. If you continue having doubts, it will be confused and won’t know what to do. The successful, are people who have learned to control their thoughts. They refuse to think of failure; it is not an option.
Thomas Edison taught us a great lesson about achieving success in life. He dreamed of creating the light bulb. He planned, worked and failed, or so his friends thought. He was not discouraged because he knew he hadn’t failed, but had merely found things that don’t work. Edison didn’t fail, because his motivation was not what he saw, but what he believed.
Glen Miller had a dream of what he wanted his band to sound like. He was not discouraged when he failed several times but kept trying until he succeeded. He was not inspired by what his band sounded like, but by how he believed they could sound.
The secret to success is to keep working for what you believe. Don’t be discouraged, by difficult problems and slow progress, but concentrate on your dream. Of course you must have reasonable goals; make them reachable. Have short term goals to eventually achieve the long term ones.
If you learn from your mistakes, you can make them the stepping stones to your success. People fail when they become distracted with their problems and take their eyes off their goals. Success will come when you learn to remove or go around obstacles in the way. Multitudes give up, when success is just around the next problem.
Is Your Health Portfolio Balanced?
We are all aware of the need to balance our financial portfolio so that in times of hardship or when disaster strikes -- stock market drops, pink slips, etc -- we will be affected by financial challenges as little as possible. Having a substantial bank account allows us many opportunities that people with lesser financial savvy and preparation must forego.
Perhaps you are at a “comfortable” financial level, able to pay off bills and credit cards timely, and have enough disposable income to enjoy a good quality of life. Perhaps you enjoy an “extremely high” financial level, with unending “toys”, travel when and where you want, and other opportunities for the “good life”. Either way you are able to handle sudden financial challenges and able to take advantage of financial opportunities as they come your way. Feels good, doesn’t it?
But what about your health portfolio? When faced with challenges such as a cold, flu season, children’s ear infections, etc. do you just accept them as part of life? What about when disaster strikes in the form of a serious health challenge to you or a family member. Is your health bank account equipped to fight back?
In the United States, the average age of disability (when quality of life becomes so poor that you need help for daily activities of living) is 65 years old. Modern medicine is providing miracles in keeping us alive longer -- increasing our “lifespan”. But what about the quality of our lives? If we want to continue our “healthspan” along with our “lifespan”, it is imperative to raise the level of our health bank account as well as balance our health portfolio.
If you think the cost of health care has gone through the roof now, wait until the majority of baby boomers reach the “age of disability”. Now is the time to take a serious look at your own health bank account and ask “Do I have all the energy I need each day?”, “What is my ‘cushion’ in case of serious illness?” and “Does my health portfolio need balancing?”
الأثر الايجابي للسَّلطات في صحة الصائم
بعض الشعوب الإسلامية تفطر في رمضان على حبات من التمر والماء ثم الشوربات والسَّلطات، وبعض أنواع الطعام الخفيفة، ثم يذهبون لصلاة المغرب في المسجد، ثم يتناولون بقية طعامهم بعد عودتهم، أو قبل صلاة العش. . .
هل يمكننا تحسين قصر القامة بهورمون النمو
دراسة حديثة شملت 68 طفلا ( 53 ولدا و15 بنتا ) وبأعمار بين 9-16عاما من العمر، كانوا قصيري القامة، بالرغم من أن مستوى هرمون النمو لديهم كان طبيعيا (تُشخَّص هذه الحالة على أنها قصر قامة ذاتي idiopathi. . .
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