Andhra Vantalu

MIRCH KA SAALAN
Ingredients:
250 gms. Large long green chillies
1 stalk curry leaves
2 1/2 tbsp. oil
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
1/2 tsp. dhania (coriander seed) powder
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
salt to taste
2 lemon sized balls tamarind, soaked in 1 cup water
1 tbsp. grated dessicated coconut
2-3 pinches asafoetida
Roast and grind to a powder:
1 tbsp. peanuts
1 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds

Grind to a fine paste:
1 large onion
1 large tomato
1 tsp. garlic grated
1 tsp. ginger grated
1 tsp. chironji




Method:

Deseed and remove stalk of chillies.

Put plenty of water to boil, adding a little salt.

Put chillies in boiling water, and cook till whitish in colour.

Drain, chop into large sections or keep whole.

Heat oil in a large frying pan.

Add chillies, fry for 1 minutes, remove. Keep aside.

Add cumin seeds, allow to splutter.

Add curry leaves to oil, asafoetida, ground paste, coconut.

Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add ground powder, masala powders, simmer till oil seperates.

Add salt and tamarind water, and 1 cup water.

Add chillies, boil till gravy is thickened and oil floats on top.

Serve hot with sheermal, khuskha or parathas.

Making time:30 minutes
Makes: 5-6 servings

Sivana samudra falls

Sivana samudra falls

The Real Story of Christmas

I. When was Jesus born?
A. Popular myth puts his birth on December 25th in the year 1 C.E.
B. The New Testament gives no date or year for Jesus’ birth. The earliest gospel – St. Mark’s, written about 65 CE – begins with the baptism of an adult Jesus. This suggests that the earliest Christians lacked interest in or knowledge of Jesus’ birthdate.
C. The year of Jesus birth was determined by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian monk, “abbot of a Roman monastery. His calculation went as follows:
a. In the Roman, pre-Christian era, years were counted from ab urbe condita (“the founding of the City” [Rome]). Thus 1 AUC signifies the year Rome was founded, 5 AUC signifies the 5th year of Rome’s reign, etc.
b. Dionysius received a tradition that the Roman emperor Augustus reigned 43 years, and was followed by the emperor Tiberius.
c. Luke 3:1,23 indicates that when Jesus turned 30 years old, it was the 15th year of Tiberius reign.
d. If Jesus was 30 years old in Tiberius’ reign, then he lived 15 years under Augustus (placing Jesus birth in Augustus’ 28th year of reign).
e. Augustus took power in 727 AUC. Therefore, Dionysius put Jesus birth in 754 AUC.
f. However, Luke 1:5 places Jesus’ birth in the days of Herod, and Herod died in 750 AUC – four years before the year in which Dionysius places Jesus birth.
D. Joseph A. Fitzmyer – Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at the Catholic University of America, member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and former president of the Catholic Biblical Association – writing in the Catholic Church’s official commentary on the New Testament[1], writes about the date of Jesus’ birth, “Though the year [of Jesus birth is not reckoned with certainty, the birth did not occur in AD 1. The Christian era, supposed to have its starting point in the year of Jesus birth, is based on a miscalculation introduced ca. 533 by Dionysius Exiguus.”
E. The DePascha Computus, an anonymous document believed to have been written in North Africa around 243 CE, placed Jesus birth on March 28. Clement, a bishop of Alexandria (d. ca. 215 CE), thought Jesus was born on November 18. Based on historical records, Fitzmyer guesses that Jesus birth occurred on September 11, 3 BCE.

II. How Did Christmas Come to Be Celebrated on December 25?
A. Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the weeklong celebration. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.
B. The ancient Greek writer poet and historian Lucian (in his dialogue entitled Saturnalia) describes the festival’s observance in his time. In addition to human sacrifice, he mentions these customs: widespread intoxication; going from house to house while singing naked; rape and other sexual license; and consuming human-shaped biscuits (still produced in some English and most German bakeries during the Christmas season).
C. In the 4th century CE, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it. Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians.[2]
D. The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday.
E. Christians had little success, however, refining the practices of Saturnalia. As Stephen Nissenbaum, professor history at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst, writes, “In return for ensuring massive observance of the anniversary of the Savior’s birth by assigning it to this resonant date, the Church for its part tacitly agreed to allow the holiday to be celebrated more or less the way it had always been.” The earliest Christmas holidays were celebrated by drinking, sexual indulgence, singing naked in the streets (a precursor of modern caroling), etc.
F. The Reverend Increase Mather of Boston observed in 1687 that “the early Christians who first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian ones.”[3] Because of its known pagan origin, Christmas was banned by the Puritans and its observance was illegal in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681.[4] However, Christmas was and still is celebrated by most Christians.
G. Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city. An eyewitness account reports, “Before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators. They ran… amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.”[5]
H. As part of the Saturnalia carnival throughout the 18th and 19th centuries CE, rabbis of the ghetto in Rome were forced to wear clownish outfits and march through the city streets to the jeers of the crowd, pelted by a variety of missiles. When the Jewish community of Rome sent a petition in1836 to Pope Gregory XVI begging him to stop the annual Saturnalia abuse of the Jewish community, he responded, “It is not opportune to make any innovation.”[6] On December 25, 1881, Christian leaders whipped the Polish masses into Antisemitic frenzies that led to riots across the country. In Warsaw 12 Jews were brutally murdered, huge numbers maimed, and many Jewish women were raped. Two million rubles worth of property was destroyed.

III. The Origins of Christmas Customs
A. Christmas Trees
Just as early Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, so too worshippers of the Asheira cult and its offshoots were recruited by the Church sanctioning “Christmas Trees”.[7] Pagans had long worshipped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them, and this observance was adopted and painted with a Christian veneer by the Church.
B. Mistletoe
Norse mythology recounts how the god Balder was killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting for the female Nanna. Druid rituals use mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victim.[8] The Christian custom of “kissing under the mistletoe” is a later synthesis of the sexual license of Saturnalia with the Druidic sacrificial cult.[9]
C. Christmas Presents
In pre-Christian Rome, the emperors compelled their most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January). Later, this ritual expanded to include gift-giving among the general populace. The Catholic Church gave this custom a Christian flavor by re-rooting it in the supposed gift-giving of Saint Nicholas (see below).[10]
D. Santa Claus
a. Nicholas was born in Parara, Turkey in 270 CE and later became Bishop of Myra. He died in 345 CE on December 6th. He was only named a saint in the 19th century.
b. Nicholas was among the most senior bishops who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE and created the New Testament. The text they produced portrayed Jews as “the children of the devil”[11] who sentenced Jesus to death.
c. In 1087, a group of sailors who idolized Nicholas moved his bones from Turkey to a sanctuary in Bari, Italy. There Nicholas supplanted a female boon-giving deity called The Grandmother, or Pasqua Epiphania, who used to fill the children's stockings with her gifts. The Grandmother was ousted from her shrine at Bari, which became the center of the Nicholas cult. Members of this group gave each other gifts during a pageant they conducted annually on the anniversary of Nicholas’ death, December 6.
d. The Nicholas cult spread north until it was adopted by German and Celtic pagans. These groups worshipped a pantheon led by Woden –their chief god and the father of Thor, Balder, and Tiw. Woden had a long, white beard and rode a horse through the heavens one evening each Autumn. When Nicholas merged with Woden, he shed his Mediterranean appearance, grew a beard, mounted a flying horse, rescheduled his flight for December, and donned heavy winter clothing.
e. In a bid for pagan adherents in Northern Europe, the Catholic Church adopted the Nicholas cult and taught that he did (and they should) distribute gifts on December 25th instead of December 6th.
f. In 1809, the novelist Washington Irving (most famous his The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle) wrote a satire of Dutch culture entitled Knickerbocker History. The satire refers several times to the white bearded, flying-horse riding Saint Nicholas using his Dutch name, Santa Claus.
g. Dr. Clement Moore, a professor at Union Seminary, read Knickerbocker History, and in 1822 he published a poem based on the character Santa Claus: “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in the hope that Saint Nicholas soon would be there…” Moore innovated by portraying a Santa with eight reindeer who descended through chimneys.
h. The Bavarian illustrator Thomas Nast almost completed the modern picture of Santa Claus. From 1862 through 1886, based on Moore’s poem, Nast drew more than 2,200 cartoon images of Santa for Harper’s Weekly. Before Nast, Saint Nicholas had been pictured as everything from a stern looking bishop to a gnome-like figure in a frock. Nast also gave Santa a home at the North Pole, his workshop filled with elves, and his list of the good and bad children of the world. All Santa was missing was his red outfit.
i. In 1931, the Coca Cola Corporation contracted the Swedish commercial artist Haddon Sundblom to create a coke-drinking Santa. Sundblom modeled his Santa on his friend Lou Prentice, chosen for his cheerful, chubby face. The corporation insisted that Santa’s fur-trimmed suit be bright, Coca Cola red. And Santa was born – a blend of Christian crusader, pagan god, and commercial idol.

IV. The Christmas Challenge
• Christmas has always been a holiday celebrated carelessly. For millennia, pagans, Christians, and even Jews have been swept away in the season’s festivities, and very few people ever pause to consider the celebration’s intrinsic meaning, history, or origins.
• Christmas celebrates the birth of the Christian god who came to rescue mankind from the “curse of the Torah.” It is a 24-hour declaration that Judaism is no longer valid.
• Christmas is a lie. There is no Christian church with a tradition that Jesus was really born on December 25th.
• December 25 is a day on which Jews have been shamed, tortured, and murdered.
• Many of the most popular Christmas customs – including Christmas trees, mistletoe, Christmas presents, and Santa Claus – are modern incarnations of the most depraved pagan rituals ever practiced on earth.

Many who are excitedly preparing for their Christmas celebrations would prefer not knowing about the holiday’s real significance. If they do know the history, they often object that their celebration has nothing to do with the holiday’s monstrous history and meaning. “We are just having fun.”
Imagine that between 1933-45, the Nazi regime celebrated Adolf Hitler’s birthday – April 20 – as a holiday. Imagine that they named the day, “Hitlerday,” and observed the day with feasting, drunkenness, gift-giving, and various pagan practices. Imagine that on that day, Jews were historically subject to perverse tortures and abuse, and that this continued for centuries.
Now, imagine that your great-great-great-grandchildren were about to celebrate Hitlerday. April 20th arrived. They had long forgotten about Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen. They had never heard of gas chambers or death marches. They had purchased champagne and caviar, and were about to begin the party, when someone reminded them of the day’s real history and their ancestors’ agony. Imagine that they initially objected, “We aren’t celebrating the Holocaust; we’re just having a little Hitlerday party.” If you could travel forward in time and meet them; if you could say a few words to them, what would you advise them to do on Hitlerday?
On December 25, 1941, Julius Streicher, one of the most vicious of Hitler’s assistants, celebrated Christmas by penning the following editorial in his rabidly Antisemitic newspaper, Der Stuermer:
If one really wants to put an end to the continued prospering of this curse from heaven that is the Jewish blood, there is only one way to do it: to eradicate this people, this Satan’s son, root and branch.
It was an appropriate thought for the day. This Christmas, how will we celebrate?
AUTHOR: LAWRENCE KELEMEN

ANDHRA VANTALU

Ingredients:

1/4 kg purple brinjals, slice them into thin small slices

big pinch turmeric pwd

1 tbsp oil

salt to taste

For seasoning/poppu/tadka:

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

12-15 curry leaves

Make a coarse paste:

2 small onions

3-4 green chillis (adjust)

3-4 garlic cloves

1″ ginger piece

2 tbsp coriander leaves

1 tbsp mint/pudina leaves (optional)

1 Heat half a tbsp of oil in a cooking vessel. Add the sliced brinjals and stir fry them till they are three-fourth cooked. Constantly stir fry to ensure they don’t burn or stick to the pan. Add salt and turmeric pwd and remove.
2 In the same pan, add the remaining oil. Add the mustard seeds and let them pop. Add cumin seeds and curry leaves and toss about for 8-10 seconds.
3 Add the ground paste and saute for 8-10 mts or till the rawness of onions disappears.
4 Add the stir fried brinjal pieces and combine well and let it simmer for 10 mts. Stir inbetween. Adjust salt.
5 Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve with hot rice.

Brinjal - A Low Calorie Vegetable

Brinjal - A Low Calorie Vegetable




The Brinjal, the popular vegetable of the masses, is native to India. The most common variety, the glossy purple Brinjal is a familiar component of Indian curries. This inexpensive vegetable was known as Malayan purple melon in China. There it was a common food item since 600 BC. May be the shape of first varieties that English speakers came across prompted them to call it as eggplant.

The botanical name of Brinjal is Solanum melongena. The other names are begun in Bengali, ringna in Gujarathi, baingan in Hindi, badane in Kannada, waangum in Kashmiri, vazhuthinanga in Malayalam, vange in Marathi, baigan in Orriya, kathiri in Tamil, venkaya in Telugu and the other names are Aubergine and Eggplant.


Nutritive value
The raw vegetable contains only 24kcal per 100 gms. Even though it is a low calorie vegetable but its caloric value rises steeply when it is fried. It provides small amounts of calcium, phosphorous, fibre, folic acid, sodium and vitamin C. It has good amounts of potassium. 100 gms of edible portion provides 200 mgs of potassium. It is high in water content and has about 92 % of moisture. Due to its low calorie content and high potassium content, it is suitable for diabetes, hypertensive and obese patients.

Nutritive value per 100 gms of Brinjal
Nutrients Value Nutrients Value
Moisture 92.7 gms Protein 1.4 gms
Fat 0.3 gms Minerals 0.3 gms
Fibre 1.3 gms Carbohydrate 4.0 gms
Energy 24.0 kcal Calcium 18.0 mgs
Phosphorous 47.0 mgs Vitamin C 12.0 mgs
Sodium 3.0 mgs Potassium 200.0 mgs


Varieties

There are different varieties available but varies in colour and shape. The most commonly seen are with dark purple skin. The other popular variety is in light green colour. The shape varies from oval, pear, round to finger shape. They are slightly longer and are tastier when young and firm. Some varieties are bitter so they need salting before cooking to draw out the bitter juices and reduce the moisture. This makes the flesh denser so that less fat is absorbed during cooking.


To prevent discoloration of the flesh while preparing brinjal, make slice or cube with stainless steel knife and sprinkle with salt if not cooked immediately. Brinjal is considered to be having medicinal properties even though non of these properties have any scientific base. In few countries in Africa the brinjal is as medicine to treat epilepsy and convulsions. In South East Asia it is still used to treat stomach cancer and measles.

Preparation
This low cost vegetable, brinjal is used in many types of cooking methods, like sauteing, grilling, baking, frying, and even barbecuing. It can be prepared by itself or in combination with other vegetables. The most favourite and delicious dish prepared by this vegetable are enjoyed by the people of northern part of India is the baigan ka bhartha. Brinjal forms one of the main ingredients of the sambhar of south Indians.

Good eating habbits

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
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

ANDHRA VANTALU

GONGURA PACHADI
Ingredients:

Gongura leaves- about 4 cups
a handfull of peanuts
dry red chilles- 5
tamarind juice - 1tsp (adjust depending upon how tangy the gongura is)
onion- 1/4th
Tempering/ Talimpu:

oil- 1tsp
mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
chanadal, urad dal, cumin seeds- 1/4th tsp each
few curry leaves
dry red chille-1
pinch of hing
In a pan put the oil, once hot add the mustard. Once the mustard starts to dance, add the other ingredients and fry till light brown.

Procedure:

In a pan put a teaspoon of oil and fry the peanuts till light brown. Remove and keep it on the side. In the same pan add the dry chille and fry. Remove, now add two teaspoons of oil and the gongura leaves with little bit of salt. cook in low heat till gongura becomes soft. Let cool.

In a mixer grind the peanuts and red chille coarsely. Now add the gongura, some salt, tamarind juice and very little water. Grind till its smooth. Now add some chopped onion and grind it just one more time. You should still be able to see some chunks of onion.

Finally add the tempering and enjoy the pachadi with hot rice and some ghee.

Home remedies

To get immediate relief from an irritable cough, take a thin slice of freshly cut onion and pour two teaspoons of honey on it. Keep aside for 3- 4 hours and then remove the onion and lick the honey to get substantial relief from an irritable cough.
Chew raw guava leaves to get quick relief from diarrhea. Try it and enjoy relief the natural herbal way.
To cure acidity after meals, drink a glass of water with a piece of jaggery (raw brown unprocessed sugar) dissolved in it, after meals. Try this natural way, to get relief from a very common complaint in the modern world.
Hiccups Problem? Roast some peppercorns and breathe in deeply. This will stop hiccups promptly.
Another quick cure for a loose stomach… Try fenugreek seeds in a glass of semi warm water.
Improve the health of your liver by eating a refrigerated fresh pineapple piece dipped in honey, once a day. Experience a marked improvement within 15 days.
To get relief from chronic constipation, try eating half a cup of blanched spinach.
Chewing cloves is a good way to protect your teeth and get rid of bad breath.
Do you need relief from muscular pain? Try a mustard bath! Take 15- 20 grams of mustard powder, tie it in a piece of cloth, dip it into a bucket of hot water for 10- 15 minutes and then bathe with that water. Get relief from muscular pains and cramps.
Do you know raw cabbage and cabbage juice helps to regenerate the frayed mucosal, inner stomach and intestine linings.
To reduce the sting of a bee bite, apply one tsp of onion juice to the affected area. Then remove the stinger with a tweezers.
To cure bad breath, boil a few (4-6) fenugreek leaves in one glass of water and then gargle with this semi warm water. Try it for 7 days, twice a day, to see substantial improvement.
Soak one teaspoon of wheat in 150 ml of water over night. Drink this water in the morning after filtering out the wheat to get immediate relief from acidity and stomach problems. Try it for 3- 4 days to find substantial improvement.
Add a pinch of asafetida to semi hot water (warm water) and drink it to get relief from menstrual cramps. This is a safe natural remedy to an age old problem and works well with most women.
Chew five basil leaves first thing in the morning daily to keep away infection of the throat, mouth and gums. Make this a regular habit and avoid throat problems.
Indigestion any one? One teaspoon of mint juice mixed with an equal amount of honey and lemon juice is a good cure for this problem. Try it for three days after heavy meals and enjoy the difference.
To get rid of bruises quickly before an important engagement, dip cotton wool in undiluted vinegar and bandage the bruised area with same till dry. Find instant relief.
You can use the white of an egg as an emergency burn ointment.
Asthma patients can get some relief by drinking a teaspoon of honey mixed in a cup of boiled water daily.
To get rid of a persistent cough, eat a guava that has been baked in an oven or over charcoal. Try this home remedy for four to five days to obtain relief.
Rub an aspirin tablet on a bee sting to stop pain. The aspirin acts as a local anesthetic!
Tender coconut water applied on a skin regularly for six months reduces and removes small pox scars.
Drinking wheat grass juice is a health tonic. Drink a glass every alternate day to find an increase in vigor.
For immediate relief from aches in your legs or hands, immerse the affected limb in hot water mixed with salt.
One teaspoon castor oil taken with semi hot (warm) water early in the morning on an empty stomach is an excellent cure for indigestion. It also helps alleviate muscular pains.
To get relief from menstrual cramps, peel a few garlic flakes, fry them in clarified butter, cool add sugar and swallow a couple. Find relief in 15 minutes.

Super Foods for health
by Janice Kumar

In this short article I touch on some foods which are easily available but ignored by people as they do not find them maybe tasty / interesting or attractive to eat. However these everyday foods and fruits provide tremendous natural benefits and eaten right, can add to health and healthy living. It makes a lot of sense to include these foods in one's diet to enjoy their benefits over the long term. Not all of them can be eaten everyday, but try and include them in your diet pattern so as to enjoy their benefits over the long term, especially in your middle and old age.

The first food is a herb - Cinnamon. This herb is a must have for all. It helps control blood sugar levels, lowering the risk of diabetes and heart disease. The spice's active ingredients- especially thylhydroxychalcone polymers - increase the human cells' ability to metabolize sugar by up to twenty times. Increase usage of this herb, by adding it to your coffee, tea or breakfast cereal. Sprinkle this herb and add value to your foods. Cinnamon has been found to significantly reduce bad cholesterol levels and is a must add on for people with a penchant for eating out, eating fast foods and generally unable to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Enjoy the natural protection provided by mother nature and stay fit.
The second food is a fruit juice - Pomegranate Juice. This juice is a super health drink and helps fight blood pressure and health problems. Drinking just two ounces of this juice daily, helps decrease systolic blood pressure and improve blood flow to the heart. It also provides a significant portion of the daily vitamin C requirement. It makes sense, to drink a little everyday or if the bottled juice is not easily available, simply eat the fruit.
The third food is a vegetable - Cabbage. This not a much loved food in many households. But one cup of chopped cabbage has only 25 calories but enough valuable nutrients such as sulforaphane, which increases the body's production of enzymes, which disarm cell damaging free radicals and reduce cancer risk. It therefore makes eminent food sense to munch some cabbage salad along with your meals daily.
The fourth food is a root - Beetroot. This is one of the best sources of folate and betaine. They work together to lower the blood levels of homocysteine, which reduces damage to arteries and helps prolong life. Beetroot is also a natural cancer fighter and a little of this root taken every other day helps keep the body fit. The root can be taken as a salad or as a side dish, lightly sautéed and cooked.
The fifth food is a fruit- Guava. This is an excellent source of lycopene. Lycopene is an antioxidant that helps fight prostrate cancer. It also has a lot of potassium and vitamin C. Enjoy it whole along with the skin, which is where most of the vitamins are hidden.

These five foods help in keeping the heart healthy, fight cancer and also fight age related debilitation. Enjoy a healthy, long life with them. It makes sense to add them to your diet and cut out the red meat and heavy salt intake.

Making a Great First Impression!
It takes just a quick glance, maybe three seconds, for someone to evaluate you when you meet for the first time. In this short time, the other person forms an opinion about you based on your appearance, your body language, your demeanor, your mannerisms, and how you are dressed.
With every new encounter, you are evaluated and yet another person’s impression of you is formed. These first impression can be nearly impossible to reverse or undo, making those first encounters extremely important, for they set the tone for the all the relationships that follows.
So, whether they are in your career or social life, it’s important to know how to create a good first impression. This article provides some useful tips to help you do this.
Be on Time
The person you are meeting for the first time is not interested in your “good excuse” for running late. Plan to arrive a few minutes early. And allow flexibility for possible delays in traffic or taking a wrong turn. Arriving early is much better that arriving late, hands down, and is the first step in creating a great first impression.
Be Yourself, Be at Ease
If you are feeling uncomfortable and on edge, this can make the other person ill at ease and that’s a sure way to create the wrong impression. If you are calm and confident, so the other person will feel more at ease, and so have a solid foundation for making that first impression a good one. See our section on relaxation techniques to find out how to calm that adrenaline!
Present Yourself Appropriately
Of course physical appearance matters. The person you are meeting for the first time does not know you and your appearance is usually the first clue he or she has to go on.
But it certainly does not mean you need to look like a model to create a strong and positive first impression. (Unless you are interviewing with your local model agency, of course!)
No. The key to a good impression is to present yourself appropriately.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and so the “picture” you first present says much about you to the person you are meeting. Is your appearance saying the right things to help create the right first impression?
Start with the way you dress. What is the appropriate dress for the meeting or occasion? In a business setting, what is the appropriate business attire? Suit, blazer, casual? And ask yourself what the person you'll be meeting is likely to wear - if your contact is in advertising or the music industry, a pinstripe business suit may not strike the right note!
For business and social meetings, appropriate dress also varies between countries and cultures, so it’s something that you should pay particular attention to when in an unfamiliar setting or country. Make sure you know the traditions and norms.
And what about your personal grooming? Clean and tidy appearance is appropriate for most business and social occasions. A good haircut or shave. Clean and tidy clothes. Neat and tidy make up. Make sure your grooming is appropriate and helps make you feel “the part”.
Appropriate dressing and grooming help make a good first impression and also help you feel “the part”, and so feel more calm and confident. Add all of this up and you are well on your way to creating a good first impression.

Things to do everyday


Follow these ten golden rules and enjoy every moment of living.

~ Greet your family members first thing in the morning. If you are not used to this, they will be surprised with your sudden and nice gesture.

~ Greet your peers, subordinates and boss once you enter the office. Smile at even the 'security' personnel standing at the gate, who takes care of your safety.

~ Greet your friends along the way and do not ignore them.

~ Continously reciprocate to breed communication. If you do not reciprocate at least with a 'thanks' when you get information or a source on your online network or your offline network, you will not be remembered for a long time. If you are not remembered, you are out of your network.

~ Be a proactive listener and empathise with others to command respect.

~ While talking to others, your voice, tone and tenor must be audible and soothing. It should not be aggressive or in a shouting mode.

~ Dress well to suit your profession and to create positive vibes in your workplace. If you are a sales representative, do not go out with printed shirts and jeans, which may turn down your customer.

~ Political and religious comments must be avoided at all costs in the workplace, when you are in a group.

~ Your communication should not provoke others.
~ Do not speak ill of others if you can help it.

"The proper function of man is to live - not to exist."

"The proper function of man is to live - not to exist." -- Jack London
Too often we go through life on autopilot, going through the motions and having each day pass like the one before it.That's fine, and comfortable, until you have gone through another year without having done anything, without having really lived life.
That's fine, until you have reached old age and look back on life with regrets.That's fine, until you see your kids go off to college and realize that you missed their childhoods.It's not fine. If you want to truly live life, to really experience it, to enjoy it to the fullest, instead of barely scraping by and only living a life of existence, then you need to find ways to break free from the mold and drink from life.
What follows is just a list of ideas, obvious ones mostly that you could have thought of yourself, but that I hope are useful reminders. We all need reminders sometimes. If you find this useful, print it out, and start using it. Today.
1. Love. Perhaps the most important. Fall in love, if you aren't already. If you have, fall in love with your partner all over again. Abandon caution and let your heart be broken. Or love family members, friends, anyone -- it doesn't have to be romantic love. Love all of humanity, one person at a time.
2. Get outside. Don't let yourself be shut indoors. Go out when it's raining. Walk on the beach. Hike through the woods. Swim in a freezing lake. Bask in the sun. Play sports, or walk barefoot through grass. Pay close attention to nature.
3. Savor food. Don't just eat your food, but really enjoy it. Feel the texture, the bursts of flavors. Savor every bite. If you limit your intake of sweets, it will make the small treats you give yourself (berries or dark chocolate are my favorites) even more enjoyable. And when you do have them, really, really savor them. Slowly.
4. Create a morning ritual. Wake early and greet the day. Watch the sun rise. Out loud, tell yourself that you will not waste this day, which is a gift. You will be compassionate to your fellow human beings, and live every moment to its fullest. Stretch or meditate or exercise as part of your ritual. Enjoy some coffee.
5. Take chances. We often live our lives too cautiously, worried about what might go wrong. Be bold, risk it all. Quit your job and go to business for yourself (plan it out first!), or go up to that girl you've liked for a long time and ask her out. What do you have to lose?
6. Follow excitement. Try to find the things in life that excite you, and then go after them. Make life one exciting adventure after another (with perhaps some quiet times in between).
7. Find your passion. Similar to the above tip, this one asks you to find your calling. Make your living by doing the thing you love to do. First, think about what you really love to do. There may be many things. Find out how you can make a living doing it. It may be difficult, but you only live once.
8. Get out of your cubicle. Do you sit all day in front of computer, shuffling papers and taking phone calls and chatting on the Internet? Don't waste your days like this. Break free from the cubicle environment, and do your work on a laptop, in a coffee shop, or on a boat, or in a log cabin. This may require a change of jobs, or becoming a freelancer. It's worth it.
9. Turn off the TV. How many hours will we waste away in front of the boob tube? How many hours do we have to live? Do the math, then unplug the TV. Only plug it back in when you have a DVD of a movie you love. Otherwise, keep it off and find other stuff to do. Don't know what to do? Read further.
10. Pull away from Internet. You're reading something on the Internet right now. And, with the exception of this article, it is just more wasting away of your precious time. You cannot get these minutes back. Unplug the Internet, then get out of your office or house. Right now! And go and do something.
11. Travel. Sure, you want to travel some day. When you have vacation time, or when you're older. Well, what are you waiting for? Find a way to take a trip, if not this month, then sometime soon. You may need to sell your car or stop your cable bill and stop eating out to do it, but make it happen. You are too young to not see the world. If need be, find a way to make a living by freelancing, then work while you travel. Only work an hour or two a day. Don't check email but once a week. Then use the rest of the time to see the world.
12. Rediscover what's important. Take an hour and make a list of everything that's important to you. Add to it everything that you want to do in life. Now cut that list down to 4-5 things. Just the most important things in your life. This is your core list. This is what matters. Focus your life on these things. Make time for them.
13. Eliminate everything else. What's going on in your life that's not on that short list? All that stuff is wasting your time, pulling your attention from what's important. As much as possible, simplify your life by eliminating the stuff that's not on your short list, or minimizing it.
14. Exercise. Get off the couch and go for a walk. Eventually try running. Or do some push ups and crunches. Or swim or bike or row. Or go for a hike. Whatever you do, get active, and you'll love it. And life will be more alive.
15. Be positive. Learn to recognize the negative thoughts you have. These are the self-doubts, the criticisms of others, the complaints, the reasons you can't do something. Then stop yourself when you have these thoughts, and replace them with positive thoughts. Solutions. You can do this!
16. Open your heart. Is your heart a closed bundle of scar tissue? Learn to open it, have it ready to receive love, to give love unconditionally. If you have a problem with this, talk to someone about it. And practice makes perfect.
17. Kiss in the rain. Seize the moment and be romantic. Raining outside? Grab your lover and give her a passionate kiss. Driving home? Stop the car and pick some wildflowers. Send her a love note. Dress sexy for him.
18. Face your fears. What are you most afraid of? What is holding you back? Whatever it is, recognize it, and face it. Do what you are most afraid of. Afraid of heights? Go to the tallest building, and look down over the edge. Only by facing our fears can we be free of them.
19. When you suffer, suffer. Life isn't all about fun and games. Suffering is an inevitable part of life. We lose our jobs. We lose our lovers. We lose our pets. We get physically injured or sick. A loved one becomes sick. A parent dies. Learn to feel the pain intensely, and really grieve. This is a part of life -- really feel the pain. And when you're done, move on, and find joy.
20. Slow down. Life moves along at such a rapid pace these days. It's not healthy, and it's not conducive to living. Practice doing everything slowly -- everything, from eating to walking to driving to working to reading. Enjoy what you do. Learn to move at a snail's pace.
21. Touch humanity. Get out of your house and manicured neighborhoods, and find those who live in worse conditions. Meet them, talk to them, understand them. Live among them. Be one of them. Give up your materialistic lifestyle.
22. Volunteer. Help at homeless soup kitchens. Learn compassion, and learn to help ease the suffering of others. Help the sick, those with disabilities, those who are dying.
23. Play with children. Children, more than anyone else, know how to live. They experience everything in the moment, fully. When they get hurt, they really cry. When they play, they really have fun. Learn from them, instead of thinking you know so much more than them. Play with them, and learn to be joyful like them.
24. Talk to old people. There is no one wiser, more experienced, more learned, than those who have lived through life. They can tell you amazing stories. Give you advice on making a marriage last or staying out of debt. Tell you about their regrets, so you can learn from them and avoid the same mistakes. They are the wisdom of our society -- take advantage of their existence while they're still around.
25. Learn new skills. Constantly improve yourself instead of standing still -- not because you're so imperfect now, but because it is gratifying and satisfying. You should accept yourself as you are, and learn to love who you are, but still try to improve -- if only because the process of improvement is life itself.
26. Find spirituality. For some, this means finding God or Jesus or Allah or Buddha. For others, this means becoming in tune with the spirits of our ancestors, or with nature. For still others, this just means an inner energy. Whatever spirituality means for you, rediscover it, and its power.
27. Take mini-retirements. Don't leave the joy of retirement until you are too old to enjoy it. Do it now, while you're young. It makes working that much more worth it. Find ways to take a year off every few years. Save up, sell your home, your possessions, and travel. Live simply, but live, without having to work. Enjoy life, then go back to work and save up enough money to do it again in a couple of years.
28. Do nothing. Despite the tip above that we should find excitement, there is value in doing nothing as well. Not doing nothing as in reading, or taking a nap, or watching TV, or meditating. Doing nothing as in sitting there, doing nothing. Just learning to be still, in silence, to hear our inner voice, to be in tune with life. Do this daily if possible.
29. Stop playing video games. They might be fun, but they can take up way too much time. If you spend a lot of time playing online games, or computer solitaire, or Wii or Gameboy or whatever, consider going a week without it. Then find something else to do, outside.
30. Watch sunsets, daily. One of the most beautiful times of day. Make it a daily ritual to find a good spot to watch the sunset, perhaps having a light dinner while you do so.
31. Stop reading magazines. They're basically crap. And they waste your time and money. Cancel your subscriptions and walk past them at the news stands. If you have to read something, read a trashy novel or even better, read Dumb Little Man once a day and be done.
32. Break out from ruts. Do you do things the same way every day? Change it up. Try something new. Take a different route to work. Start your day out differently. Approach work from a new angle. Look at things from new perspectives.
33. Stop watching the news. It's depressing and useless. If you're a news junky, this may be difficult. I haven't watch TV news or read a newspaper regularly in about two years. It hasn't hurt me a bit. Anything important, my mom tells me about.
34. Laugh till you cry. Laughing is one of the best ways to live. Tell jokes and laugh your head off. Watch an awesome comedy. Learn to laugh at anything. Roll on the ground laughing. You'll love it.
35. Lose control. Not only control over yourself, but control over others. It's a bad habit to try to control others -- it will only lead to stress and unhappiness for yourself and those you try to control. Let others live, and live for yourself. And lose control of yourself now and then too.
36. Cry. Men, especially, tend to hold in our tears, but crying is an amazing release. Cry at sad movies. Cry at a funeral. Cry when you are hurt, or when somebody you love is hurt. It releases these emotions and allows us to cleanse ourselves.
37. Make an awesome dessert. I like to make warm, soft chocolate cake. But even berries dipped in chocolate, or crepes with ice cream and fruit, or fresh apple pie, or homemade chocolate chip cookies or brownies, are great. This isn't an every day thing, but an occasional treat thing. But it's wonderful.
38. Try something new, every week. Ask yourself: "What new thing shall I try this week?" Then be sure to do it. You don't have to learn a new language in one week, but seek new experiences. Give it a try. You might decide you want to keep it in your life.
39. Be in the moment. Instead of thinking about things you need to do, or things that have happened to you, or worrying or planning or regretting, think about what you are doing, right now. What is around you? What smells and sounds and sights and feelings are you experiencing? Learn to do this as much as possible through meditation, but also through bringing your focus back to the present as much as you can in everything you do.
- Leo Babauta

Every Day Is Recess

By Robert A. Schuller

"Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall." – 2 Peter 1:10
When kids burst out the doors at a typical grammar school and head for the playground at recess, what do they do? Whatever they want . . . as long as they stay within the bounds of the playground and play according to school rules. Without telling them what to do, some run for the swings, some for the jungle gym, some for the slide, and some for the merry-go-round. Others jump rope, play jacks on the sidewalk, or throw a Frisbee. Still others race for the ball fields to play softball or kickball. Some shoot hoops. Why do they make the choices they do? Because it's what brings them joy at recess and they know they're free to choose how to spend their precious thirty minutes of freedom. Okay, peer pressure and friendships may steer some of the kids one direction or the other, but let's assume they are fulfilling their longings by the activity they choose at recess. I believe this is the way God wants us to think of life. School children have a designated area in which to play and general guidelines of courtesy and safety to follow. Within these two limitations they can do whatever they want. Our playground is planet Earth and our guidelines are God's moral stipulations that are for our own good. Within these boundaries, we are free to do whatever we want! That doesn't negate the idea of God's purpose or calling for our lives. Just as a teacher might come alongside and influence a student to adjust his or her activity, God is perfectly capable of working within our choices to cause us to fulfill the purpose He knows will suit us best. Our challenge is to look at life as our playground and every day as recess – to take off the blinders and dream bigger and farther than we've ever dreamed before.
God loves to creatively work within our "fun" to accomplish His purposes.

A Master Fisher of Men

Mr. J. Bosinger of Conoor who died in 1906, 85 years of age, and who came to India in 1847, as the first Industrial Brother of the Basel Mission, having spent more than sixty years in India without a furlough, told me much about Mr. Hebich whom he knew intimately for more than a decade, having sometimes ac­companied him on his mission tours. In answer to my question concerning the stability of Hebi­ch's converts he replied:
“The majority of them proved themselves true Christians, many of them having also become great soul-winners. Mr. Hebich knew how to sound the deepest depths of men's hearts. He would give no peace nor rest, until they had made a full surrender to Jesus.
“His method with men often seemed harsh, but then he would say, 'I must first kill them with the hammer of the law, before I can comfort them with the Gospel.' Let me relate to you an in­stance of his way of dealing with men:
“One day we were out taking a walk, and we came to an en­gineer's bungalow. 'Come,' said Mr. Hebich, 'let us call and see this man.' I reluctantly entered the house of the gentleman, for I was a stranger to him. As soon as Mr. Hebich saw him, he said, ‘I have called to tell you that you ought to be ashamed of yourself, for disgracing your God and your country by your sinful life.’
“The gentleman replied, 'That is none of your business!'
“Mr. Hebich then shouted in a loud, almost angry voice, so great was his zeal: 'That is my busi­ness. As a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, I must denounce all sin and unrighteousness. I have now called to demand of you, in the name of our Righteous Jud­ge, that you repent of your sins.'
“This denunciation made the engineer very angry. ‘Leave my house, Mr. Hebich!’ he shouted, ‘I did not ask you to call, and will not listen to your violent ti­rades in my own house!’
“‘No, never,’ the old man rep­lied, ‘I will not leave you, until you confess your sins and beg God's pardon on your knees for leading such a disgraceful life. You are a bad man, and ought to be ashamed of yourself. Get down on your knees and confess, or you will go to hell, to the de­vils whom you serve. I will not leave you, until you hear my message!'’
“Then the man jumped up in a rage and said sarcastically: 'If you don't leave, then I will!' Or­dering his boy to have his horse saddled, he left us without ano­ther word, and soon we saw him riding away at a furious gallop. Then we left the house.
“I felt annoyed at Mr. Hebich’s abruptness and remarked to him: ‘Now you have spoilt all by your hard words. It is not necessary to break down the door, if you would enter a house.’
The old man only smiled and said, ‘I have fastened a hook in him that he will not get away from.’
“He was right. Before he called to see such men, he would always spend much time in prayer for them. Only when he had the assurance of victory in prayer, the witness of the Spirit, would he call to see them, but then he came as a victor.
“Three days after this stormy visit to the engineer’s bungalow, the gentleman wrote Mr. Hebich a chit: ‘Dear Mr. Hebich, for God’s sake come to see me at once! I have not slept a wink since you were here. I am all undone. I can find no peace nor rest. My conscience condemns me. I am in hell. What must I do to be saved?’
“Then Mr. Hebich brought Jesus to the man and the man to Jesus. Soon the engineer saw Jesus on the cross, and could believe that the bleeding Saviour had with His own precious blood also washed his sins away.
“This engineer, in after years, proved by his pure, consistent, humble life that he had truly repented of his sins, and that he had become indeed a true disciple of Jesus.”

The Problem in The Post Office

I was received into the mem­bership of the Christian Church by the Rev. Arthur Harries, and it was he, my first pastor, who told this story to his congregation.
The post office officials were much interested as they read the words on an envelope which had just arrived from Japan . “To the man of God, -- Monmouthshire, England .”
"Who can that be?" asked the sorting official; but his colleagues were unable to answer his ques­tion. Then one man exclaimed, "Well, it's not the parson, any­how," and instantly they all ag­reed. The local clergyman did not fit the description. One by one, the names of the other ministers were mentioned; but in spite of the fact that several of these men were nice fellows and exceeding­ly popular, they did not fit the description on the envelope.
The problem of delivering the letter was becoming acute, when rather abruptly a member of the staff said, "I know. Yes, I know who he is. He's old Mr. - . If any man in this town has earned the right to that title, he is the man." The listeners agreed, and one was deputed to take the letter to the man's house.

The old Christian marvelled that the post office staff should think him worthy of such a compli­ment; but when he opened the letter, he discovered that their choice had been sound. The letter had been written to him by a Ja­panese student whom he had en­tertained months earlier.
The young man had been stu­dying in Wales , and had been re­ceived into the home of his new friend. When he returned to Japan , he desired to send a letter of appreciation; but alas, he had lost the address of his former host. However, that presented no pro­blem for he had gained the impression that he had stayed with a man of God. He smiled and was reassured, for in his own country, a man of God was kn­own near and far.
Surely this would be the case in other lands. Everybody would know the man of God, and if he addressed the letter in that fash­ion, it would reach its destina­tion. It did; and in so doing, paid tribute to one whose conse­crated service had charmed a Community. One wonders what would happen if such a letter were addressed to the man of God - in my town. Would the postal officials think of me?
Paul wrote in Philippians 1: 20, 21, “…that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, wheth­er it be by life or by death. For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul's reference to the magnifying glass is most interest­ing, and its connection with "the man of God" is obvious.
A magnifying glass does not actually increase the size of any­thing: it only seems to do this. Actually the object at which a man may be looking is exactly the same size, but the glass br­ings it into bold relief, and the watcher is able to see it more cl­early. It is not possible to make Christ more wonderful, for “He is the Altogether Lovely One, and the chiefest among ten thousand.” Yet, if by God's grace we can become magnifying glasses - ­in perfect alignment with the Master and men - they will be able to see Him more clearly when they look at Him through us. All the details of His superb glory may be brought into de­lightful relief if we are what we ought to be.
Most probably, St. Paul had a similar thought in mind when he wrote, "Ye are living epistles, seen and read of all men." We read the Scriptures to learn more of Christ. Likewise, people read us in order to achieve identical results.
The fact that the letter addressed to the man of God reached its destination, suggests that the honoured Christian had been a magnifying glass. He had so magnified his Lord that even the people in the post office had been able to see Him.

They had also read his every­day actions, and had recognized in them the presence of the Lord. The old man had been a living epistle of righteousness.

And ever since my old pastor told that story, I have wistfully longed to reach that standard of holiness. It is the Christian’s Mount Everest !

Unexpected Showers of Tenderness

By Robert H. Schuller

"I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy." - Psalm 116:1 (TNIV)

At the darkest time in life, and at the weariest moment of our existence, when it appears that God has forsake or forgotten us, when we cannot comprehend or see evidence of the goodness of God, He will come and bestow mercy and tenderness.

If, in your time of tragedy, you will cling with a childlike faith to God, He will visit you with a tender kiss of mercy.

I remember a day when I endured a weird assortment of irritations, conflicts, and tensions. I finally arrived home at five-thirty, went to my bedroom, tried in vain to relax, and prayed without any apparent relief.

Then suddenly God answered my prayer in a most remarkable way. My bedroom door opened. Slowly, cautiously, my little girl peeked through the opening of the doorway. Her big brown eyes appeared through the slot in the door and, judging that it was safe, she suddenly threw the door wide open, ran to the edge of the bed, and the next thing I knew her soft silky hair was flowing over my eyelids and caressing my lips.

Her soft cheek was on mine. She kissed and hugged me, then drew swiftly back as if she was expecting me to say, "What do you want?" And she said, "I just wanted to kiss you, because I love you, Daddy."

And abruptly she whirled out, skipping and running, and the door closed behind her. She was gone, but I found myself relaxed. I drew strength from this unexpected invasion of affection.

So God comes to us at the trying times in life with an unexpected shower of tenderness.
An unexpected shower of tenderness can soften even the hardest heart.
* * *
My Father, thank You for hearing the silent sobs of my heart, and for knowing the unexpressed needs of my life that leave me very much in need of Your tender and loving touch. Your goodness surrounds me. I love you, Lord.

Here's today's proven step to success!

Step 4. Integrity

Not doing what's wrong is a given, most people understand this. If you're not doing this already, it's probably a good idea to start.Integrity is more than that though. It is also doing what you consider to be right.Keeping your word is an important part of integrity.

To be asuccess you will need the help of people. Who would you rather want to help? Someone who is unreliable? Makes excuses? Goes back on their word? Or, someone who reliable and trust worthy? Being known as a person of your word will get you farther than almost any thingelse on the path to success.

Take responsibility.

If you make a mistake, the right thing to do is admit it.

A person of integrity does even more; they try to fix it.

Taking responsibility does not mean making excuses. Just saying you are wrong may not be enough either. Take charge and do your best tomake it right.

Act with integrity and you will attract those with a similar mindset to your own!

Just to recap, we've discussed the following proven steps to lead you to never-ending success: Step1. Honesty

Step2. Seek Proper Advice

Step3. Enthusiasm

Step4. IntegrityStep

5. ...check your Email tomorrow!

To your success,

Gary EvansGood

To Feel Good http://www.goodtofeelgood.com/

Step 2: SEEK PROPER ADVICE

The second proven step to success is knowing where to seek GOODadvice... Everyone's got an opinion these days, but why should youlisten to their opinion?

Step 2. Seek Proper Advice

Most people feel advice is worth what it costs - nothing. This is probably true in most cases. Do you want to know the ultimate secret about seeking advice?

It is very simple, but often overlooked. Here it is. Ask the right person for the right advice. Don't let the sheer simplicity of this statement trick you. It is very powerful, but also easy to overlook. This technique works in any field - health, spiritual matters, business, finances,relationships, and so on.Let's say you are having some small problem with your spouse. Would it make sense to complain to a divorced friend and then ask for their advice? Or, would it make more sense to seek the advice of acouple who has been happily married for 30 years?

Obviously, if youwant to have a successful marriage, the latter choice makes a lot more sense, yet people tend to be care free in asking for and giving advice. Here is some advice that may actually be worth something. Starting now, try to ask yourself this question before seeking advice."What makes this person qualified to give me advice".To be fair, when someone asks you for advice that you are less than qualified to give, let them know and try to steer them in the rightdirection to someone who is well experienced with the subject.Be warned though! If you are asking someone who has "been there and done that", then you have to be willing to follow their advice.

After all they've already mapped out a route that successfully worked for them. Should you seek a second opinion? Yes! Take advice from the professionals in that field and take advice from many of them. If the response is congruent with the majority of them then you know you've just found some good advice.

It is easier to be carefree in seeking advice, but it is alwaysmore productive when you seek it from experts.

Until tomorrow...Wishing you much success,

Gary Evans

Good To Feel Good

CORRI TEN BOOM

God is Always with You

By Robert A. Schuller

"As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." -Joshua 1:5b

Even if you are traveling alone in this life, you are never really alone - God is with you. I was reminded of this one day as I sat visiting with Corrie ten Boom in her home in Southern California.

Corrie was a marvelous Dutch Christian woman whose family hid Jews and others and was imprisoned for it in a Nazi concentration camp for several years, survived and was eventually released. As we sat visiting, Corrie pulled a blade of grass from her pocket and told me this story: "There was a point in my life in the concentration camp when I didn't feel like I could go on another day. I woke up one morning and said, 'God, where are You? Are you alive or are You dead?' All day I wrestled with the existence of God.

When I went to sleep that night I was filled with anger toward Him because of all the evil and horrors of the concentration camp. When I awoke the next morning, a beam of light was shining down through a tiny crack in the ceiling. I followed the stream of light and saw it was shining on a blade of grass in the corner of my cell.

It hadn't been there the day before - or at least I hadn't noticed it. When I saw that tiny sign of life, I knew God was there with me and that He hadn't forgotten me." Corrie was the only one in her family to survive the Nazi persecutions and one of the few who lived to tell her story. But as Corrie's story demonstrates, in the deepest struggles of life and in the most hellish of circumstances, God is with you!
Just because you can't see God in your life doesn't mean He's not there.

First step to success

Success is something you have to practice and so these seven important proven steps will provide the perfect foundation for you to build upon. So, to get you started immediately, here's your first success principle!

Step 1. Honesty

Lying for personal gain always ends up being counter-productive in the long run. Why? Because truth is the foundation upon which our dealings with others are built. Being a person of your word is a vital element to success. In the words of William Shakespeare: "The good I stand on is my truth and honesty".

Success is not achieved entirely by yourself. On your way to success you will undoubtedly be aided by other people. If you are not honest with them you will only create feelings of bitterness.If you are not honest with yourself you will wonder why you are where you are. Any success you achieve using dishonesty will be artificial.

What is really surprising is that sometimes the truth is just as easy to tell. For whatever reason, people still choose to lie.

The first step to shifting to a more honesty centered self is recognizing the lie and correcting it right away. Ask yourself, "How does this impact my life?" If you are being honest with yourself, you will see that you probably have a lot of work to do. I feel it is easier to be objective than it is to be honest. You should consider adopting the approach that your words are gold.As a deliberate creator you must realise that in order to create your world just as you want it, your words and thoughts will play a huge roll in that.

If you are using your words without any real meaning behind them, then why should the universe take your words as serious requests?Statements such as:- I'll call you back tomorrow- I'm too busy to chat right now- I can't see you tonight, I have too much on All of these can cause the power of your word to weaken, if you say them without attaching any truth to them. When you give your word and don't mean or honour it, you detract from your power to deliberately create your own experiences.The concept of being truthful with others is promoted from a very young age; sometimes successfully, sometimes less so.

What about white lies? What about lies of omission? What about truth that is delivered without tact? What about truth that is intended to harm? These questions are all valid and point to the apparent difficultyof what real truth is.

The answer can be summed up with this intentionally thought provoking and vague statement: "It is always best to tell the truth, sometimes".So, your first proven step to success is to be more careful withyour words and only ever make statements that you truly believe to be true.

From Broken to Beautiful

By Robert H. Schuller

"But the pot He was shaping from the clay was marred in His hands; so the Potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to Him." - Jeremiah 18:4

I have toured royal palaces around the world, but to my knowledge the Royal Palace in Tehran, Iran, is like no other I've ever seen. The grand entrance of the palace is resplendent with glittering, sparkling glass. For a moment you think that the domed ceilings, side walls, and columns are all covered with diamonds... until you realize that these are not diamonds or even cut glass; they are small pieces of mirror. The edges of a myriad of little mirrors reflect the light, throwing off the colors of the rainbow.

It's spectacular! And you'll never believe how this was created. When the Royal Palace was planned, the architects sent an order to Paris for mirrors to cover the entrance walls. The mirrors finally arrived. But when they took the shipping crates apart, they discovered to their dismay that all of the mirrors had been smashed during travel.

The builders were going to junk the broken mirrors but one of the men spoke up and suggested, "Maybe the wall will be more beautiful because the mirrors are broken." And that man took all the small pieces of the mirrors and fit them together like an abstract mosaic. Were you to visit the Royal Palace today, you would notice the enormous distortion in reflections and how the walls sparkle with diamond-like brilliance. Broken to beautiful. Have you been hurt? Do you feel broken? God can take the broken pieces of your life and make something beautiful of them.
God can transform your broken life, but you must give Him all the pieces.
* * *
Master Designer, like an expert craftsman You lovingly transform my shattered hopes and dreams and fit the pieces of my life back together in a way that is brilliant and beautiful. Thank you!

what to eat for good health?

An optimum diet containing an abundance of high-nutrient, low stress foods is the basis for good health, energy, and a sense of well-being. During nearly two decades of working with thousands of women patients, I have been continually impressed by the health benefits that good nutritional habits provide. As a result, I spend a great deal of time counseling my patients nutritionally. It is important to me that women have the knowledge and information that they need to effectively plan and prepare their own meals.
Chapter 1 discusses the foods that we need to eat to assure good health: whole grains, legumes, raw seeds and nuts, fish, poultry, fruits, vegetables, sweeteners, herbs and spices, and water. This chapter covers not only the nutrient benefits of these foods and how best to include them, but also their role in relieving and preventing a variety of female health problems and other health issues. Be sure to incorporate these foods abundantly in your daily diet while enjoying their good flavors and textures.
Whole GrainsWhole grains are the seeds of various grasses and are often referred to as "cereals." They have been the mainstay of the human diet for thousands of years, as our body's main source of fuel and energy. While the grains consumed in different societies vary greatly wheat in the United States, rice in the Orient they provide the backbone for all diets. In fact, a meal without grain often feels incomplete and somehow lacking.
Whole grains are almost complete meals within themselves, containing fiber, protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins such as B and E complexes, and many minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, copper, and manganese. There are three main parts to each kernel of grain: the endosperm, or central core, which is about 80 percent of the entire kernel; the germ, which comprises about 3 percent; and the bran, which encompasses 15 percent of the kernel. Whole grain products contain all three parts of the grain and have a high concentration of nutrients. However, when grain is refined in milling to produce white flour products, the germ and bran are removed, leaving only the endosperm. As a result, most of the essential nutrients of the grain are removed, leaving a devitalized product.
The nutrients of whole grains help promote good overall health. They also have a tremendous effect on relieving the symptoms and reducing the risk of a wide variety of female related health problems. Whole grains have a very potent effect on regulating estrogen levels in the body, through their high levels of phytoestrogens (natural plant estrogens), their fiber content, and their high levels of vitamin B complex and vitamin E.
Many whole grains are excellent sources of phytoestrogens. Whole grains contain lignans, cellulose like materials that provide structure to plants. Lignans have been found to be weakly estrogenic and can bind to the estrogen receptors of cells. As a result, they can provide additional nutritional support to menopausal women deficient in this hormone. In addition, certain plants like buckwheat are excellent sources of the bioflavonoid rutin. Like lignans, many bioflavonoids are estrogenic and can help to regulate the effects of our own body's estrogen on sensitive target tissue like the breast and uterus. Rutin is particularly helpful in its ability to strengthen capillaries and reduce heavy menstrual bleeding in transitioning menopausal women. Studies attest to this. Bioflavonoids have been used, along with vitamin C, to reduce heavy bleeding in transitioning menopausal women and women with bleeding due to fibroid tumors and spontaneous abortions. In fact, an early study done at the University of Tennessee Medical School in 1956 found that the bioflavonoid vitamin C combination allowed 78 percent of high risk women to carry their pregnancies to full term.

Vegetarian Food PyramidNote: this is not a vegan pyramid, as it contains recommendations for dairyIf you are concerned about eating the healthiest diet possible, then pleasesee the Vegan Food Pyramid and the New Four Food Groups, and realize that to enjoy the strongest protection against cancer and heart disease, avoid dairy and eggs as well as meat!See also What People Are (Unfortunately) Really Eating!

Diet

Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are major risk factors for chronic diseases.Reports of international and national experts and reviews of the current scientific evidence recommend goals for nutrient intake in order to prevent chronic diseases.
For diet, recommendations for populations and individuals should include the following:
achieve energy balance and a healthy weight
limit energy intake from total fats and shift fat consumption away from saturated fats to unsaturated fats and towards the elimination of trans-fatty acids
increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, and legumes, whole grains and nuts
limit the intake of free sugars
limit salt (sodium) consumption from all sources and ensure that salt is iodized
These recommendations need to be considered when preparing national policies and dietary guidelines, taking into account the local situation.
Improving dietary habits is a societal, not just an individual problem. Therefore it demands a population-based, multisectoral, multi-disciplinary, and culturally relevant approach.
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Fruits and Vegetables

“Eat your fruits and vegetables.” You’ve likely heard this statement since childhood. Research shows why it is good advice:
Healthy diets rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.
Fruits and vegetables also provide essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and other substances that are important for good health.
Most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories and are filling.
Need some new ideas for adding more fruits and vegetables to your daily diet?
Check out Fruits & Veggies Matter for tips, recipes, and more! You can find easy ways to add more fruits and vegetables into your daily eating patterns. Visit the fruit and vegetable of the month pages to find seasonal fruits and vegetables, preparation tips, and great recipes.
In addition, you can find many new ideas in our recipe database. The database enables you to find exciting fruit and vegetable recipes that fit your needs. Searching by meal, by ingredient, or by cooking needs is easy.
Not sure how many fruits and vegetables you should be eating each day?
Visit Fruits & Veggies Matter's fruit and vegetable calculator. Here you can calculate your fruit and vegetable recommendations based on your calorie needs for your age, sex, and activity level. This site also has helpful tips and photographs of 1/2 cup and 1 cup fruit and vegetable examples.
You can also visit MyPyramid.gov to find more information about vegetable sub-groups and tips and ideas for fitting healthy foods into into an overall eating plan.
Curious as to whether fruits and vegetables can help you manage your weight?
Take a look at this How to Use Fruits and Vegetables to Help Manage your Weight brochure and learn about fruits and vegetables and their role in your weight management plan. Tips to cut calories by substituting fruits and vegetables are included with meal-by-meal examples. You will also find snack ideas that are 100 calories or less. With these helpful tips, you will soon be on your way to adding more fruits and vegetables into your healthy eating plan.

Since the mid-seventies, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased sharply for both adults and children. Data from two NHANES surveys show that among adults aged 20–74 years the prevalence of obesity increased from 15.0% (in the 1976–1980 survey) to 32.9% (in the 2003–2004 survey).
The two surveys also show increases in overweight among children and teens. For children aged 2–5 years, the prevalence of overweight increased from 5.0% to 13.9%; for those aged 6–11 years, prevalence increased from 6.5% to 18.8%; and for those aged 12–19 years, prevalence increased from 5.0% to 17.4%.
These increasing rates raise concern because of their implications for Americans’ health. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of many diseases and health conditions, including the following:
Hypertension Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides) Type 2 diabetes Coronary heart disease Stroke Gallbladder disease Osteoarthritis Sleep apnea and respiratory problems Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon) Although one of the national health objectives for the year 2010 is to reduce the prevalence of obesity among adults to less than 15%, current data indicate that the situation is worsening rather than improving. This site provides a variety of information designed to help people understand this serious health issue and the efforts being made to address it.