THE MEANING OF LIFE
Now Playing: Rebirth is not a one time thing...
I seek the meaning of life. I seek to live that life. This is my theory of everything. It includes every aspect of my being and essence. It includes my body, mind, soul, spirit, and all the countless words that help describe the who, what, where, when, why, and how of me.

Even if I tell you the story of my life, and you come to a better understanding of who I am, you would fall short of why I am. Even if I use all the words of the languages of the world, I could not fully describe a lifetime of actions, thoughts, words, deeds, omissions, hopes, dreams, experiences, and the parallel essences of me; because you too would have to live my life to understand it, and that may not even be fully possible for me to do.

"The unexamined life is not worth living." Yet it is not wise to prefer not living or death, before I have fully experienced all the good things of life that life offers.

I begin with my outline of the universe that you can know, and better understand by studying what all the best authorities say about it. I include what all the theologies, philosophies, and sociologies tell us, with what all that the cultures, customs, political, economic, and educational systems have to say about the universe too.

First I begin with religion, because it leads me to God who created everything, and his design is what I am telling. Although no one can fully know the mind of God, God wants us to know everything about him. He loves us so much that besides knowing all about him, he wants us to be one with him.

It depends how well I am being brought up that I will become who I am to be. It takes the universe to raise a person. The best level to be is where I am fully aware of what I am doing, and what God wants me to do.

I act freely to make the world a better place, and I work with God to create a perfect universe. I know the world is not perfect, because there would be no use of creation, if it was perfect. God needs us to help him finish creation. Since God is eternal, what he made is also perfect. His being is his essence. This means that which he is, is who he is.

Second I explain very simply how my life encompasses everything. I attempt to live the true way of life. I act deliberately with little deep reasoning, because I have come to embody the example of Christ. Knowing right from wrong is the main lesson of life, moreover, doing right over following the easy path that is often the road less traveled is the correct thing to do.

Religion teaches me what I need to fulfill my life. It teaches me how to get to heaven. It tells me how Jesus saved me, and how he is my personal savior. When I pray I talk to God. I not only talk to Jesus; but also to the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Plans and schemes are not needed when you walk with Jesus.

The biggest obstacle to happiness is sin. Life is not a temptation; neither is the opposite sex. Learning how the body works is not wrong. God helps us overcome every temptation. He offers salvation to everyone, no matter what they have done; if they are truly sorry for their sins.
Life has the lesson of knowing how to live with temptation and how to avid it. Do not allow temptation to become too great, before you turn away from it. Avoid the first signs of it. Learn how to be happy by being good to everyone. Repent of all of your sins, and ask forgiveness from all that you have offended. Pay what you owe others, and return what you have of theirs. Make a good and complete confession. Now is the time, do not wait before it is too late.

Everything works for perfection. Jesus did not come to earth for us to fail. Every thing we do is a lesson. We can learn from it no matter if it goes badly or if it goes well. We learn from our parents, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, teammates, classmates, and others. We learn from books, teachers, and the media how to be good. We learn in every waking state and in our dreams. God reveals the truth to us in many ways to fulfill our destiny.

I dream of being an angel. I fly all around the neighborhood helping everyone who needs help. I never get lost, because my guardian angel is by my side, and he has immediate contact with all the other angels and saints to help me. I need very little sleep, because my sleep is very restful. No matter how much the world needs help; we only do what we can, as the Holy Spirit guides us.

What we dream follows through the day. We help our neighbor, when he needs it. We ask him if he needs our help and we let him know that we are willing to help him. Jesus showed us all the ways we can help others, and in this way we all can make the world a better place to enjoy, like our Lord created it. Be nice to all you meet. Smile, and say hello to them every time you see them. Make sure you know what Jesus taught, and what the church teaches. Go to church and do all you can to make a better place for everyone.

Life is the shared process of participating in it. The only way we can affect change, is by being part of everything we can do for good. What one person does, affects the whole universe. "The truth is simple, if you understand it." Love God with your whole heart, all your body, mind, and all your strength. Love your neighbor, as you love yourself. Greater works than these, you will see, because the time is drawing near when he will come again.

Linux Log: The High Quality OS

Linux Log is now a regular column in Troubleshooting Professional Magazine, authored by Steve Litt. Each month we'll explore a facet of Linux as it relates to that month's theme.

Car enthusiasts demand quality. Their cars are well designed and well maintained. Some enthusiasts drive stripped down muscle machines, others have scores of accessories and amenities, but all are built on top of robust, well functioning vehicles. There's a computer operating system like that. It's called Linux.

All Linux installations have power and reliability. On almost any given CPU/memory/disk space setup, Linux outperforms Windows. Linux is rock solid. It's so solid that you almost never need to reboot it. Even when changing your configuration. That's another Linux advantage over Windows.

Like most young parents, my folks had little money when I was a little kid, so our car was an old beater 48 Ford handed down from my grandparents. I still remember it getting vapor lock and stalling several times a day. Every couple miles, the car would stall and my Dad would run out, pop the hood, and lay wet rags on the intake manifold. My parents carried a bucket of water in the car, because this ritual would repeat itself hourly on hot days. If you are a Windows "power user", I think you know how my parents felt. Yes, rebooting is easier than laying wet rags in traffic, but it's a similar annoyance.

Linux is more like today's Buicks, or, if you prefer, yesteryear's slant 6 and 318 Dodge Darts. It just runs. Always. Every time. Forever.

Linux comes with a wide variety of options. You can install a "stripped down" command-line only Linux. No graphical user interface, no accessories and amenities, just a command line driven OS that can serve web pages, files, and DNS resolution, as well as run some astonishingly heavy processes, on a piece of hardware with surprisingly little in the way of CPU, memory or disk space. Personally, I use Red Hat Linux for such stripped down uses, but any Linux distribution can be used this way.
 
You can also get the luxury package. A complete graphical interface very much like Windows (but without the hourly vapor lock -- scuse me, blue screens of death). GUI assisted email, web browsing, and internet connection. Netscape Navigator and Netscape Composer (for creating web pages) are standard options of such systems. Windows comes with a rudimentary word processor, Wordpad. Likewise, most Linux distributions come with rudimentary word processors. And of course, for about $70.00, you can get WordPerfect for Linux, which compares very favorably to Microsoft Word.

My favorite luxury Linux is Caldera OpenLinux, which is sort of the "Buick Lasabre" of Linuxes. If you want the "Lincoln Towncar" of Linuxes, get Corel Linux. The look and feel is identical to Windows. The only Windows features missing are the hourly crashes and the blue screen of death. The driver (scuse me, user) has everything at his or her fingertips. If you buy the $89.00 package, you get an official copy of Wordperfect to go with it. And now even Red Hat includes many of these same luxury features. And you get the best of both worlds. Because you can press Ctrl-Alt-Function key and get a stripped down command line interface on your luxury Linux, while at the same time running GUI software on the GUI screen.
 
Linux distributions vary widely in price, as long as you define "widely" between 0 and $100.00. If you forego the customer support and warrantee, most of these Linuxes can be delivered to your door for $5.00 plus shipping -- often $2.00 plus shipping. A further advantage of the $5.00 CD deals is that they should contain only redistributable software, meaning it should be perfectly legal to install that same CD on your machine and the machines 100 of your closest friends. Or 1000 -- copying redistributable- only CD's is perfectly legal. No software police will show up at your door. I think a good strategy is to make your first Linux full priced (still much less than Windows) so you get some tech support. Once you're familiar with Linux, go with the $5.00 CD's.
 
Linux isn't as forgiving of oddball hardware as Windows. Here's why. Because Microsoft has had an illegal monopoly for so long (this is Judge Jackson's opinion, the URL of which is in the URL's section of this magazine), hardware vendors were forced to make sure their equipment worked with Windows. Only in the last year have they had any incentive to make their hardware work with Linux. As a result, you need to take a little more care selecting your hardware. You should look at the Linux hardware compatibility at... I have some additional suggestions:

If you want an easy life in Linux audio, choose only a genuine Soundblaster or an Ensoniq, which were made by the same company, Creative Labs. Other sound cards often require some fairly heavy Linux expertise to set up.

Use an external modem. External modems have a very thin interface to the computer (a serial cable). This limits the problems you have with things like interrupts, plug and pray, and the like.

Use a monitor with known horizontal and vertical refresh rates. With monitors not in your Linux installation program's database, you get a much cleaner and more flicker free display if you explicitly specify these parameters.

The Wishing Well
My family bought a house when I was 7. The days of money problems and vapor lock were over. My parents liked the neighborhood, the school system, and the house. I liked the wishing well.

Of course it wasn't a real wishing well. It was just a three foot space between the garage and the fence. Densely overgrown with weeds, it inspired fear and curiosity. I went in, and kept going in. Because every time I went in, I came out holding something cool. A marble, a ball, whatever I wanted. Once I wished for a scooter, and sure enough there it was, 10 feet back in a heretofore unexplored section of the wishing well.

Of course any adult knows what happened. The last several owners had children, each of whom left things behind. I was a teenager when we moved out of that house. Surely the child of the new owner found the cool toys I abandoned in that overgrown space. Only a kid could think of it as a wishing well. A magical source of found dreams. It was the magic of childhood, all too brief -- never recaptured. Until I found Linux.

I wished for a web server and found one on my Red Hat Linux CD. Soon I found an email server and DNS server, and complete networking software. I networked my office.

The more I worked with Linux, the uglier Windows seemed. I wished for a Windows replacement. What should I find on the Red Hat, Caldera and Corel distibutions (as well as many others), but something called KDE, a graphical environment that mimics Windows so closely that you can put a Windows user on a KDE equipped Linux box and he'll know what to do. There's another graphical environment called Gnome, with a different set of benefits. If you install both the KDE and Gnome libraries, you can run programs designed for either. I felt like a kid again, crawling through the weeds and pulling out a scooter. But the fun had just begun...

I didn't like the way they had changed a particular feature of the Samba file server software. I wished there was a way to make it behave like the old version. Because Linux and other Opens Source software (including Samba) come with source code, I was able to find the location of the changed feature, and change it back. It was a simple modification of two lines of source code. I recompiled and copied the newly made files, and boom, it worked the old way. I changed the actual software to suit my liking. Your wish has been granted.

Once you install Linux, you'll see the wishing well. It won't look like an overgrown space between the garage and fence. Instead, it will be the Internet. Wish for fax software, and download HylaFax free of charge (yes, legally!). Wish for a word processor? Download free AbiWord, StarOffice, or go to the store and buy Wordperfect for Linux. Free software called word2x converts Word docs to various other formats, which can be helpful. Want a graphics program with the power of Photoshop? It's called Gimp, and comes on most Linux distribution CD's. Want a simple vector graphics program? How about tgif? It has a zero cost license. Or maybe you'd prefer Canvas, a full-featured proprietary ($375 full license) vector graphics program.
 
Where do you find out about available software available for Linux? The best place is the Freshmeat website at http://www.freshmeat.net. They have a search feature enabling you to pretty much find any Linux compatible software. There's also the Linux section of Tucows, whose URL is in the URL's section of this issue of Troubleshooting Professional Magazine.

How would you like an audio player than manages playlists and plays all different formats? I won't lie to you -- it will take a little research and programming, but you can do it free with Linux. Your windows buddies will ask you why you took all that trouble. You can no more explain it to them than you can explain your weekly maintenance of your 440 68 Charger to your neighbor with a Toyota. Your Charger leaves the Toyota in the dust, and your Linux audio player leaves the Windows music programs in the dust. And if it doesn't, you can soup it up until it does.

Linux isn't for everyone. More than ever before, trade magazines hype the computer as an "appliance". The person wanting an appliance buys a Windows computer. Linux computers aren't appliances. Neither are 68 Chargers.

URLs Mentioned in this Issue
Car URL's
http://www.troubleshooters.com: Steve Litt's primary website.
 
Linux URL's
http://www.redhat.com: Website of Red Hat, makers of the Red Hat distribution of Linux.
http://www.caldera.com: Website of Caldera, makers of the Caldera distribution of Linux.
http://www.corel.com: Website of Corel, makers of the Corel distribution of Linux, and the WordPerfect word procesing software.
http://www.kde.org/index.html: Home page of the free KDE desktop environment.
http://www.gnome.org: Home page of the free Gnome desktop environment.
http://www.samba.org: Home page of the free Samba file server software.
http://www.hylafax.org: Home page of the free HylaFax faxing software.
http://www.abisource.com: Home page of the free AbiWord word processing software.
http://www.sun.com/staroffice: Home page of StarOffice, word processor free from Sun.
http://word2x.alcom.co.uk: Homepage of free Word2x, the MS .doc conversion tool.
http://www.gimp.org: Home page of Gimp, the free heavy duty graphics program that works under Linux.
http://bourbon.cs.umd.edu:8001/tgif: Home page of tgif, a free vector graphics program that works under Linux.
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO.html: The Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO.
http://www.freshmeat.net: The Freshmeat site, the best starting place for finding Linux software.
http://download.tucows.com/perl/linuxRegion.html: The Linux section of Tucows, which provides links to much software available for Linux.
Other URL's
http://www.troubleshooters.com: Steve Litt's website.
http://usvms.gpo.gov: This page, the US V Microsoft (usvms) page of the US Government Printing Office, has links to Judge Jackson's finding of fact and Judge Jackson's conclusions of law and order.

Ten Herbs To Spice Up Your Meals
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: You are what you eat; so eat what you want to be!

The real secret is almost always herbs and spices, which most beginning cooks seem to forget about, underestimate, or are intimidated by them.

The truth is that adding a few dashes of an appropriate seasoning to a dish can really make it flavorful - and make you forget about takeout. Here are ten utilitarian herbs and spices you should have in your cupboard for general use; once you’re familiar with these, you can try expanding your repertoire (knowing my readers, they’ll likely throw up several suggestions in the comments). 

The dried herb and spice section at your store is the best place to start: most grocery stores sell small containers of each of these for less than a dollar. I’d recommend trying them one at a time in appropriate dishes before mixing them very much, because awkward herb and spice mixes can be atrocious, even if they’re quite good on their own.

Bay Leaves Get some of these if you grill or prepare stews. Almost every grilled meat is wonderfully accented with some crushed bay leaves pressed into the meat before grilling, and they’re also great in soups and stews.

Chives You can add these to almost any vegetable dish (especially steamed vegetables) to pop a good deal of extra flavors. Unsurprisingly, they’re also great on potatoes, along with sour cream, and can also mix well with eggs.

Cumin This is an essential ingredient for making any Mexican dish pop, plus it’s good as a general spice for meats and cheeses.

Marjoram A healthy dose of marjoram is one of my most vital secret ingredients in my spaghetti sauce. It also adds “Italian” flavor to pretty much any meat or vegetable.

Oregano Oregano goes well with any dish that uses a substantial amount of tomato in it, particularly anything Italian. It’s another key ingredient of a great homemade spaghetti sauce, for example.

Pepper (coarsely ground black, preferably) This stuff is fantastic on almost everything I’ve ever tried, from soups to meats to sauces. Don’t skimp on this, though - get some coarsely ground black pepper to start with and you’ll eventually find yourself wanting your own pepper grinder and making your own pepper mixes. Or maybe I’m just a crazy foodie.

Rosemary This is the stuff dreams are made of for both chicken and potatoes. That is all.

Sage This goes good on any poultry and any type of pork, and is also a great ingredient for hearty stuffings. It creates a very rustic and hearty “soul food” flavor.

Tarragon If you ever eat scrambled or fried eggs, buy a small container of tarragon to add to the mix. It also goes good on salads, on chicken, and on seafood.

Thyme It basically goes with just about everything: meats, vegetables, and especially in any soups you might prepare.

New Oral Chelation with PCA-Rx
Now Playing: Call It CLA-THRA-TION

What is Chelation & Clathration?

Chelation (pronounced key-LAY-shun) is a term derived from the Greek chele, meaning "claw." A chelation agent is a chemical agent that, like a claw, grabs and chemically bonds with metals or other minerals and toxins. Simply put, chelation is the process in which chemicals bind with minerals. While chelation is a naturally occurring biological process (hemoglobin binds with iron to provide oxygen to tissues), synthesized chelation agents were first developed during World War II as a way to clear toxic metals from the body. Chemists discovered they could create a heterocycling ring of molecules which surround or "sequester" mineral molecules and carry them from the body through normal elimination.

This process of chelation actually removes unwanted metals from the bloodstream. In fact, chelation therapy is the only way to treat lead poisoning. But lead is not the only metal cleansed from the body through chelation. A chelation agent will also bind with most metals, mineral deposits, calcium-based plaques and other chemical toxins. Because of its positive impact on the bloodstream, chelation therapy has proven to benefit a number of medical conditions, including atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis.

At Awaken Nutrition, we consider oral chelation therapy a vital step toward cleansing the body of contaminants. However, we believe there must be a more effective product to complete the toxin-removal task efficiently. We also believe that oral chelating will soon become a primary frontline treatment for severely and chronically ill patients. Our research and development has resulted in the creation of PCA-Rx oral chelation, a breakthrough peptide clathration formula and our solution to physiological toxicity.

Laboratory studies have shown it to effectively clear heavy metals, toxins, plaque, pesticides, chemicals, and residuals from prior bacterial and viral infections. It also seems to target the liver for detoxification and to lower both elevated enzyme counts and mercury levels in children with autism.

What is Chelation? Chelation is a well-known method of heavy metal and toxin removal in which a special chemical compound called a chelate - such as dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), dimercaptopropane sulfonate (DMPS), or ethylene diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) - is given, usually intravenously. The chelate finds and forms a single attachment to the toxin with one reversible ionic bond. With that bond intact, the toxin is grabbed onto, pulled off the cell and carried from the body. However, the toxin is not neutralized during this process and is potentially able to attach to other cells on its way out.

Conventional chelation also has a harder time clearing heavy metals from cells (due to having only one method of bonding to the toxin) and some chelating substances even remove needed minerals from the body with the toxins, resulting in some adverse side effects. What is Clathration? Clathration is a unique form of chelation therapy in which the clathrating substance - such as PCA-Rx - is given orally.

This clathrate then finds and encloses the toxin in a three-dimensional cage-like inclusion complex (also known as a lattice structure or matrix) using three different types of irreversible bonds. These bonds attach to and completely envelop the toxin - essentially neutralizing it - to keep it from coming into contact with any other bodily tissues as it is carried from the body.

In this way, the unnatural contaminant has no way of re-attaching to and damaging the body as it is flushed out. This method is especially effective against heavy metals. Herein lies the power of PCA-Rx. For more on how PCA-Rx and clathration work in the toxin removal process, see Learn More About PCA-Rx.

Sense Currents

There are sense currents. One current for each and a holistic current that brings all the perceptions of body, mind, soul, and spirit together with the universe.

 The visual current is a point of light that works with the mind and the questions it asks.

The sense of touch can read colors, and below the surface of objects.

The sound current is a high pitch sound that everyone can train to hear and work with other sounds and higher electro magnetic frequencies.

The sense of smell can be trained to distinguish many combinations of the basic odors and it can be trained to become much stronger.

The sense of taste can also be trained to distinguish many combinations of the basic tastes and it too can become much better at telling what makes up a basic substance.

Humans can process sensual input and project sensual output. The senses work together to form a process or projection.

 

Our Universe the Cosmos
Now Playing: Map of the Cosmos

I often wonder how many stars are there in the sky!

I heard that we can see about 4,000 stars on a clear night in the country; but this all depends on where you live and how good are your eyes.

 http://www.stargazing.net/David/constel/howmanystars.html

That table helps you uncover the mystery of how many stars we can see in the sky without and with magnification.

That site is also a good one to begin to learn all about astronomy. 

An easy way to remember the stars is there are about 200 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy and there are about 200 billion other galaxies in the cosmos, or in the universe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter 

All this matter makes up only 4% of the cosmos; for there is also 22% dark matter and 74% dark energy that makes up our total universe.

The universe is about 13.7 billion years old and the earth is about 4.567 billion years old. ¹Wikipedia.com

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MAP OF THE EARLY COSMOS, OUR UNIVERSE

 

Our Milky Way
Now Playing: It has a hugh black hole in the center (brightest area)

Size and Shape of the Milky Way

The Milky Way is a large galaxy comprising an estimated 200 billion stars (some estimates range as high as 400 billion) arrayed in the form of a disk, with a central elliptical bulge (some 12,000 light-years in diameter) of closely packed stars lying in the direction of Sagittarius.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_way_galaxy

It is surrounded by a flat disk marked by six spiral arms—four major and two minor—which wind out from the nucleus like a giant pinwheel. Because of these arms, the Milky Way was classified as a spiral galaxy. However, increasing evidence indicates that the Milky Way probably has a bar or barlike structure of new, bright stars in its central region.

This would modify its classification to a barred spiral or an intermediate type between barred and “normal” spiral. Our sun is situated in one of the smaller arms, called the Local or Orion Arm, that connect the more substantial next inner arm and the next outer arm. The sun lies roughly two thirds of the way from the center of the disk, which is some 28,000 light-years distant, and in the galactic plane.

When we look in the plane of the disk we see the combined light of its stars as the Milky Way. The diameter of the disk is c.100,000 light-years; its average thickness is 10,000 light-years, increasing to 30,000 light-years at the nucleus.

Large pic of Milky Way: http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/philcutrara1/20c0nl-wKQUpbzF4PUDR471tOEMVxafzJ-Jb/large/

Course on Astro Physics: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~korista/phys325.html

Black Holes: http://journals.aol.com/philcutrara1/Our-Milky-Way/

 A black hole "shines" with Hawking radiation. The escaping member of a virtual particle pair carried away energy from the black hole, and the black hole loses mass as a result. Eventually the black hole loses all its energy, or equivalently mass, and evaporates.

Math of the above:                         http://library.thinkquest.org/C007571/english/advance/english.htm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Many Parallel Universes: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/paralleluni.shtml

Branes Crashed Into One Another: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20010922/bob9.asp

 

Vitamin B-3

Vascular Cleanse  4th Day Niacin Flush on Skin Obtain Ultimate Cardiovascular Health With Vascular Cleanse!  Daniel Chapter One views a healthy cardiovascular system as optimal to health. What is Vascular Cleanse? Vascular Cleanse is Vitamin B-3 (niacin) with Vitamin C combined in our proprietary base. Why Vascular Cleanse? When lipids - fats and cholesterols - build up in the blood vessels, there is an increased chance of disease. A build-up of lipids can lead to a variety of illnesses i.e. diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), arteriosclerosis, acidosis, ketosis, fatty liver disease and capillary blockage. These may lead to further problems for your vascular system such as stroke, arrhythmias, heart attack and even death. The desired goals of Vascular Cleanse The desired goal of Vascular Cleanse is to remove the fats from the vascular system, especially those that have accumulated in the tiny capillaries throughout the body. Blocked capillaries impede cardiovascular health and jeopardize heart health. How does Vascular Cleanse Work? Vascular Cleanse allows for the oxidation (burning) of lipids, fats, triglycerides and cholesterol. As a result you may initially experience some symptoms. The oxidation of lipids by Vascular Cleanse produces heat and energy, a process known as thermogenesis. This chemical reaction may cause the skin to turn red, even blotchy in appearance. This is normal as the capillaries in the skin dilate, expand, so that the heat created from the burning of these fats can be released into the air. Some individuals may also experience itching as well. This is also a normal response that is short lived and may never occur again. This response is simply due to the normal nerve sensations and from enhanced circulation. How should Vascular Cleanse be taken? Take 1 Vascular Cleanse Capsule daily until the flush (desired reaction) ceases. Then continue daily for one week. If there is a large accumulation of lipids in your vascular system the flush may still continue after one week. If this is so then you should continue until the flush no longer occurs. At this time you may increase the daily intake to 2 capsules and follow the same procedures as you did while taking one or go to maintenance levels. It is important to know how you are responding to the Vascular cleanse. Many other companies want to sell you products and therefore sell you niacinamide and/or flush-free niacin. This does not allow you to assess your cardiovascular condition. The so-called side effects are really important desired reactions that allow you to assess your vascular condition. Once you have taken Vascular Cleanse for an initial phase you can start a maintenance program that is to your liking. Most individuals will use 1 to 2 Vascular Cleanse capsules per week to prevent future capillary lipid blockage. Health Conditions What health conditions require special emphasis on vitamin B3? Vitamin B3 may play a role in the prevention and/or treatment of the following health conditions: Alzhiemer's disease and age-related cognitive decline (August 23, 2004) Cataracts Convulsions Depression Diabetes Gout Hallucinations Headaches HIV/AIDS Hyperactivity Hypothyroidism Inflammatory bowel disease Insomnia Intermittent claudication Menstrual pain Multiple sclerosis Osteoarthritis Pellagra Rheumatoid arthritis Smelling disorders Taste disorders Vertigo Niacin Protects against Alzheimer's Disease and Age-related Cognitive Decline Niacin (vitamin B3) is already known to lower cholesterol. Now, research published in the August 2004 issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry indicates regular consumption of niacin-rich foods also provides protection against Alzheimer's disease and age-related cognitive decline. Researchers from the Chicago Health and Aging Project interviewed 3,718 Chicago residents aged 65 or older about their diet, then tested their cognitive abilities over the following six years. Those getting the most niacin from foods (22 mg per day) were 70% less likely to have developed Alzheimer's disease than those consuming the least (about 13 mg daily), and their rate of age-related cognitive decline was significantly less. In addition to eating the niacin-rich foods, another way to boost your body's niacin levels is to eat more foods rich in the amino acid tryptophan. Your body can convert tryptophan to niacin, with a little help from other B vitamins, iron and vitamin C. Foods high in tryptophan include shrimp, crimini mushrooms, yellowfin tuna, halibut, chicken breast, scallops, salmon, turkey and tofu. As you can see, several foods rich in tryptophan provide two ways to increase niacin levels as they are also rich in the B vitamin.(august 23, 2004) http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=83 http://www.danielchapterone.com http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/diseasemanagement/endocrinology/flushing/flushing.htm

http://www.shanti.com.au/cleanses/niacin_flush.htm

Four Secrets to a Flat Stomach
Now Playing: I don't know anyone who doesn't by Jessie Cannone

 

If your goal is to thin your waistline and have a nice flat stomach, the first thing you need to do is decrease / eliminate the layers of fat that are on top of your abs. The most effective way of flattening your stomach is a combination of strength training (with a extra focus on mid-section), cardiovascular exercise (short, hard workouts), and stable blood sugar (keeps you from adding additional fat and makes it easier for the body to use body fat for fuel).

1. You must do some form of progressive strength training
The primary function of the ab muscle is to flex your torso forward. However, there are also muscles that flex your torso to the side and muscles that rotate your torso. Often times you see people on their ab roller every day doing hundreds of crunches or sit-ups.If you want to effectively strengthen your stomach you need to incorporate the following types of exercises:1-2 forward flexion exercises (crunch, sit-up, etc.)1-2 side flexion exercises (side bends, side crunches, etc.)1-2 rotational exercises (trunk rotations, standing twists, etc.)The abs, are muscles just like any other and should be worked at most 3 times per week.

* You also want to make sure you are training them progressively, working them harder each time.

2. Use short, hard cardio workouts to increase metabolism
Cardio workouts are important because they CAN, if done correctly, increase your metabolism for 4-24 hours or more! This means you are less likely to store any excess calories as body fat because they are more likely to be used by your elevated metabolism. Plus, you are more likely to burn off some excess body fat.Below is a sample interval workout that can be done with just about any activity (walking, bicycling, swimming, stair climbing, etc.).Warm up at easy pace 2-5 minutes then:

* perform 30 seconds of hard work (almost as hard as possible)
* perform 1 minute of moderate work (recovery time-catch breath)
* repeat this process 6-10 times ¿ Cool down at an easy pace for 2-5 minutes

3. Stable blood sugar is the key
And most importantly, you must stabilize your blood sugar! This is by far the most important factor when it comes to burning away that excess body fat and keeping it off! To effectively stabilize your blood sugar you must feed your body frequently; like every 2-3 hours. The key is to give your body only what it needs at that time. Your body burns calories 24 hours a day, so, why would you only feed it once or twice a day? Give your body the fuel it needs: vegetables, fruits, nuts, berries, whole grains, and lean proteins (chicken, fish, lean beef, eggs, etc.).

Many people are too hung up on how much fat is in food, or how healthy of a choice it is. Calories are calories and it doesn't matter where they come from. If there's extra. where's it going? Yup, you guessed it, body fat!

This is not to say that what you eat is not important because it is, it just doesn't have that much of an affect when it comes to fat loss. Try to make healthy choices whenever possible, but don't feel like if you eat a cheeseburger it is guaranteed to be stored as fat.

4. Get the help of a professional
Unfortunately, most people don't know enough about the human body, nutrition, or effective exercise to meet their health and fitness goals. Ask yourself this one question, "Am I happy with my current progress or condition?" If you're not, you should consider getting the help of a qualified personal fitness professional. Don't depend on the information you get from magazines or from your local gym/ health club. A qualified fitness professional can help you achieve your health and fitness goals, and in less time than you would imagine. If you are serious about your health and fitness goals, and you are ready for that flat stomach, I recommend you start implementing the 4 strategies listed in this article. These 4 strategies can help you take control of your metabolism and burn off that excess body fat and having you looking and feeling great!

See: http://menshealth.about.com/cs/fitness/a/flat_stomach_2.htm

Six Things Not To Do!

SIT UPS:

Sit ups, especially when your feet are anchored and you do the exercise rapidly, heavily recruit the hip flexor muscles, making sit ups mediocre at best, and dangerous at worst. The pull on the lumbar spine can aggravate an existing back injury or even create a new one.

AB ROLLERS:

These gizmos are pitched as a safe way to “protect your neck” and improve your form. The irony is that supporting your neck and head ultimately causes the opposite - your neck muscles never get used, so you get weaker and more prone to a painful and debilitating cervical injury.

INFOMERCIAL ABDOMINAL MACHINES:

Every time a new ab contraption comes out, I get bombarded with emails… “This one looks different… What about this one David?” Just Fuggetaboudit! No ab machine has EVER been proven more effective than exercises you can perform with your own body.  Ab machines simply do not work your muscles in a functional manner and they do NOTHING to remove fat from your stomach (THAT is achieved through diet and a small dose of cardio).

ENDLESS REPETITIONS OF FLOOR CRUNCHES:

The crunch is a decent, but totally overused exercise. If crunches are your primary exercise, you’re settling for mediocre results.  Excessive floor crunching can shorten your abdominal wall, pull your head forward and encourage poor posture.  Unless you like the hunchbacked Neanderthal look, you must integrate crunches into a more complete abdominal program.

STARVATION DIETS:

Forget about starvation and crash diets… Flat abs come from proper nutrition as a lifestyle. And remember, nutrition goes hand in hand with exercise like two wheels on a bicycle. If one wheel is flat, the other wheel won’t take you anywhere.  Although FIRM AND FLATTEN YOUR ABS is not a “Diet” it will teach you how to combine exercise with nutrition to get the waistline you’ve only dreamed of before.

FAT BURNING PILLS:

How much money have you flushed down the toilet on these “miracles in a bottle?’  If you’re like most people, your tab is well into the hundreds or thousands of dollars. The entire concept of taking pills to “burn fat” is misguided because pills only treat symptoms – they don’t remove causes. Without lifestyle changes, even the most powerful fat loss drug on the planet can’t help you in the long run…Eventually, you’ll always gain back what you lost, plus interest.

The Heart Healthy Lifestyle Program -- Dean Ornish, MD.
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Ornish Lifestyle Program

The Programs from Web Md. http://www.webmd.com/content/pages/9/3068_9408.htm

What It Is

Unlike other diet books that make big promises, Eat More, Weigh Less, by Dean Ornish, MD, soft-pedals the health claims for this diet for the masses, adapted from his regimen to reverse heart disease. Ornish is well known in the medical community because of his success in reversing blockages to the heart, once thought impossible without surgery or drugs. Ornish also runs his own health and diet site here at WebMD which can give you additional details about his plan.

Unlike other books that are full of scientific-sounding theories and explanations without clinical studies to back them up, Ornish's explanations are simple and well supported. His main point is that eating a high-fiber, low-fat vegetarian diet will not only help you stay healthy, or get you there, but also will help you lose weight.

This is accomplished, according to Ornish, by a combination of diet and exercise that allows the body's fat-burning mechanism to work most effectively.

What You Can Eat

Ornish counsels that we will find success not by restricting calories, but by watching the ones we eat. He breaks this down into foods that should be eaten all of the time, some of the time, and none of the time.

The following can be eaten whenever you are hungry, until you are full:

• Beans and legumes
• Fruits -- anything from apples to watermelon, from raspberries to pineapples
• Grains
• Vegetables

These should be eaten in moderation:

• Nonfat dairy products -- skim milk, nonfat yogurt, nonfat cheeses, nonfat sour cream, and egg whites
• Nonfat or very low-fat commercially available products --from Life Choice frozen dinners to Haagen-Dazs frozen yogurt bars and Entenmann's fat-free desserts (but if sugar is among the first few ingredients listed, put it back on the shelf)

These should be avoided:

• Meat of all kinds -- red and white, fish and fowl (if we can't give up meat, we should at least eat as little as possible)
• Oils and oil-containing products, such as margarine and most salad dressings
• Avocados
• Olives
• Nuts and seeds
• Dairy products (other than the nonfat ones above)
• Sugar and simple sugar derivatives -- honey, molasses, corn syrup, and high-fructose syrup
• Alcohol
• Anything commercially prepared that has more than two grams of fat per serving

That's it. If you stick to this plan, you will meet Ornish's recommendation of less than 10% of your calories from fat, without the need to count fat grams or calories. Ornish suggests eating a lot of little meals because this diet makes you feel hungry more often. You will feel full faster, and you'll eat more food without increasing the number of calories.

Ornish's regimen is more than mere diet, he claims. He is a stickler about incorporating at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day, or an hour three times a week, and using some kind of stress-management technique, which might include meditation, massage, psychotherapy, or yoga.

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How It Works

Ornish suggests that our metabolism was set back in Fred Flintstone's era, when we didn't know where our next meal was coming from and there were times when little food was available. The body naturally wanted to hang onto all the energy it could and would try to store any extra energy as fat. Nowadays, most of us have almost continuous access to food, but our bodies haven't adapted to this new way of living.

Because the rate at which you are burning calories can decrease when you consume fewer calories, you may hit a plateau soon after you began a new, lower-calorie diet. For most of us, the pounds seem to melt away for a delightful week or two, but then that scale doesn't budge. Our weight stays the same, sometimes for a week, sometimes much longer.

But Ornish argues that with this eat-all-you-want, eat-as-often-as-you-are-hungry routine, your metabolism stays the same, or better yet, even increases. The high-fiber content also slows down the absorption of food into the digestive system, so you feel full longer with small portions than you would eating calorie-restricted small portions. The complex carbohydrates don't cause your blood sugar, the level of glucose in the blood, to yo-yo. It remains more stable, and so do you.

Ornish gives more than a passing nod to physical activity, encouraging long, slow exercise that uses body fat as fuel. Moderate exercise done on a regular basis revs up your resting metabolism, while some have suggested that short periods of intense exercise decrease metabolism.

Although he doesn't claim that meditation will make the pounds dissolve, his regimen incorporates it as a way of quieting your mind, increasing self-awareness, and coping with stress. He calls it food for the soul. "When your soul is fed, you have less need to overeat," he writes in Eat More, Weigh Less. "When you directly experience the fullness of life, then you have less need to fill the void with food."

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What the Experts Say

Mostly, Ornish gets kudos from the medical community for his highly restricted diet and healthy lifestyle routine. His documented studies showing a reversal of coronary blockage are indeed impressive. Neal Barnard, MD, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, says: "His diet is one of the only popular diet plans that is firmly rooted in science. It not only brings weight loss without counting calories, but it also brings good overall health. It reverses heart disease, cuts the risk of cancer, makes diabetes and hypertension more manageable, and sometimes even makes them go away."

The drawback is that the plan requires learning completely new eating habits, which many consider drastic. Barnard, the author of Food for Life and several other books on health, adds, "But after the first week or two, the plan becomes self-rewarding, because the weight loss is virtually automatic. People have better energy and they just want to stick to it."

On the other hand, Robert H. Eckel, MD, chair of the nutrition committee of the American Heart Association and a professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, is doubtful. He suggests that only the most committed will stick to Ornish's routine: "Because it is so rigid and doesn't allow a lot of food choices for those used to the Western diet, not many people will stay on it for the long term. Many people get tired of eating food with such a low fat content."

Frank Hu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at the Harvard School of Public Health, is critical of how severely fat is limited on the diet. "The data from numerous studies show that it is the type of fat, rather than the total amount, which is related to cardiovascular health," he says. "Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated oils actually protect against cardiovascular incidents, but Ornish doesn't distinguish the good fats from the bad fats -- such as trans fats, which come from margarine sticks and cookies and crackers, and animal fats." For example, Hu says, Ornish advocates limiting the consumption of fish and nuts, and Hu adds, "There is strong evidence that the fat in them is protective against coronary heart disease in both epidemiological studies and clinical trials."

Food for Thought

Vegetarians, or those willing to become so for the long term, may be the only dieters who will find success with this plan. The recommendation to eat smaller, more frequent meals requires that dieters change their eating schedules, which could be difficult for some. Other than that, this plan has what it takes to lose weight and keep it off, and receives high marks from nutrition experts.