How much value would you put on a machine that is so special that there are no others like it, no spare parts and yet it must run continuously without stopping for up to 100 years?
The machine, of course, is your body. The value assigned to it is up to you. But before you decide how much your body is worth, you should appreciate a few things about it. You ask it to do some phenomenal things, including process huge amounts of information, both input and output, on a daily basis; interface with others on many different levels; produce another human machine for continuity of the species; and under certain circumstances, perform feats of strength and courage.
Those things your body does because you tell it to; but what about all those things your body does every day, day after day, year after year, with little or no thought or decision on your part? Consider this for a moment - if you are an adult of about average weight, here's what you do in 24 hours:
Your heart beats 103,689 times.
Your hair grows .01714 inches.
You breathe 23,040 times.
You eat 3 pounds of food.
You perspire 1.43 pints of liquid.
You speak 4,800 words.
You turn 25 to 35 times in your sleep.
You lose 7.8 pounds of waste weight.
Your blood travels 168,000 miles.
Your nails grow .000046 inches.
You inhale 438 cubic feet of air.
You drink 2.9 pounds of liquid.
You move 750 major muscles.
It pays to take care of this fantastic, one-of-a-kind machine, since there are no spare parts!
Now that you have some idea of what this superb creation does, do you properly take care of it? It relentlessly performs its daily functions and asks only periodic attention, proper fuel, some rest, exercise, and an occasional checkup. Now that you know a little bit about what your body does and its minimum requirements, what is it worth? Of course, it is priceless, so be sure to maintain it with the basic requirements of proper nutrition, sleep and daily exercise.
--- Source: Vitality Labs Newsletter
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
Great Quotes to open your mind :)
Genesis 1:29 "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food."
-God
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
–Albert Einstein
“To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana.”
-Buddha
"If man wants freedom why keep birds and animals in cages? Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live by the death of others. We are burial places! I have since an early age abjured the use of meat."
-Leonardo Da Vinci
"As we talked of freedom and justice one day for all, we sat down to steaks. I am eating misery, I thought, as I took the first bite. And spit it out."
-Alice Walker
"The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion."
-Socrates
"I am conscious that meat eating is not in accordance with the finer feelings, and I abstain from it whenever I can."
-Dr. Albert Schweitzer -1952 Nobel Peace Prize recipient
“If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That’s the single most important thing you could do. It’s staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty.”
-Sir Paul McCartney
"There will never be any peace in the world as long as we eat animals."
-Isaac Bashevis Singer
“Many things made me become a vegetarian, among them, the higher food yield as a solution to world hunger.”
-John Denver
“I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals…”
-Henry David Thoreau
“Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you anymore.”
-Franz Kafka while looking at a fish.
“The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, rather, can they suffer?
-Jeremy Bentham
"I have been a vegetarian for a few years. Fred Dryer of the Rams has been one for ten years. It shows you don't need meat to play football."
-Joe Namath, Legendary NFL Quarterback
“To consider yourself an environmentalist and still eat meat is like saying you're a philanthropist who doesn't give to charity”
-Howard Lyman, Ex-cattle rancher, and author of Mad Cowboy
"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."
-Pythagoras
"If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals."
-Albert Einstein
"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian. We feel better about ourselves and better about the animals, knowing we're not contributing to their pain."
-Paul and Linda McCartney
"If you visit the killing floor of a slaughterhouse, it will brand your soul for life."
-Howard Lyman, Ex-cattle rancher, feedlot operator, author of Mad Cowboy
"It has just stopped me cold from eating another hamburger."
-Oprah Winfrey, interviewing Howard Lyman
"I know, in my soul, that to eat a creature who is raised to be eaten, and who never has a chance to be a real being, is unhealthy. It's like...you're just eating misery. You're eating a bitter life."
-Alice Walker
"It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind."
-Albert Einstein
-God
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
–Albert Einstein
“To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana.”
-Buddha
"If man wants freedom why keep birds and animals in cages? Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live by the death of others. We are burial places! I have since an early age abjured the use of meat."
-Leonardo Da Vinci
"As we talked of freedom and justice one day for all, we sat down to steaks. I am eating misery, I thought, as I took the first bite. And spit it out."
-Alice Walker
"The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion."
-Socrates
"I am conscious that meat eating is not in accordance with the finer feelings, and I abstain from it whenever I can."
-Dr. Albert Schweitzer -1952 Nobel Peace Prize recipient
“If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That’s the single most important thing you could do. It’s staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty.”
-Sir Paul McCartney
"There will never be any peace in the world as long as we eat animals."
-Isaac Bashevis Singer
“Many things made me become a vegetarian, among them, the higher food yield as a solution to world hunger.”
-John Denver
“I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals…”
-Henry David Thoreau
“Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you anymore.”
-Franz Kafka while looking at a fish.
“The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, rather, can they suffer?
-Jeremy Bentham
"I have been a vegetarian for a few years. Fred Dryer of the Rams has been one for ten years. It shows you don't need meat to play football."
-Joe Namath, Legendary NFL Quarterback
“To consider yourself an environmentalist and still eat meat is like saying you're a philanthropist who doesn't give to charity”
-Howard Lyman, Ex-cattle rancher, and author of Mad Cowboy
"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."
-Pythagoras
"If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals."
-Albert Einstein
"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian. We feel better about ourselves and better about the animals, knowing we're not contributing to their pain."
-Paul and Linda McCartney
"If you visit the killing floor of a slaughterhouse, it will brand your soul for life."
-Howard Lyman, Ex-cattle rancher, feedlot operator, author of Mad Cowboy
"It has just stopped me cold from eating another hamburger."
-Oprah Winfrey, interviewing Howard Lyman
"I know, in my soul, that to eat a creature who is raised to be eaten, and who never has a chance to be a real being, is unhealthy. It's like...you're just eating misery. You're eating a bitter life."
-Alice Walker
"It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind."
-Albert Einstein
Monday, November 5, 2007
The Evolution of Medicine
Complaint: "Doctor, I have an earache..."
Response:
2000 BC Here, eat this root.
100 AD That root is heathen; say this prayer.
1850 AD That Prayer is superstition; drink this potion.
1940 AD That potion is snake oil; swallow this pill.
1980 AD That pill is ineffective; take this antibiotic.
2000 AD That antibiotic is artificial; Here, eat this root and say this prayer!
Response:
2000 BC Here, eat this root.
100 AD That root is heathen; say this prayer.
1850 AD That Prayer is superstition; drink this potion.
1940 AD That potion is snake oil; swallow this pill.
1980 AD That pill is ineffective; take this antibiotic.
2000 AD That antibiotic is artificial; Here, eat this root and say this prayer!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Black Bean and Vegetable Stew
from A Taste of Vitality
Stew
1 1/2 t olive oil
2 large onions, diced
5 carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 T cumin powder
2 t dried oregano
1/4 t cayenne (or more to taste)
3/4 t ground fennel seeds
2 T dried basil
2 C black beans, cooked (include liquid)
1 C corn, frozen
14-oz tomatoes, low sodium
8 oz prepared seitan, cubed (optional)
1 1/2 C water
1/4 t sea salt
1 T tamari soy sauce
Garnish
3 T cilantro, finely chopped
3/4 C green onions, finely chopped (6 stalks)
Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and add oil. Sauté onion, carrots, celery, red bell pepper, and garlic, sealing one at a time (about 30 min. total).
Add the cumin powder, oregano, cayenne, fennel seeds, and basil, and cook another 2 min.
Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, seitan (including the liquid), water, and salt, and simmer for 10+ min.
Before serving, stir in tamari. Garnish each bowl with cilantro and green onions.
Variations: Use less black beans and / or seitan if less protein is desired; substitute tempeh for seitan to eliminate gluten from dish; use a fresh, low-salt vegetable broth in place of water for fuller flavor; add chopped collard greens near end of cooking; use chili powder in place of the cumin, oregano, and cayenne.
Stew
1 1/2 t olive oil
2 large onions, diced
5 carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 T cumin powder
2 t dried oregano
1/4 t cayenne (or more to taste)
3/4 t ground fennel seeds
2 T dried basil
2 C black beans, cooked (include liquid)
1 C corn, frozen
14-oz tomatoes, low sodium
8 oz prepared seitan, cubed (optional)
1 1/2 C water
1/4 t sea salt
1 T tamari soy sauce
Garnish
3 T cilantro, finely chopped
3/4 C green onions, finely chopped (6 stalks)
Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and add oil. Sauté onion, carrots, celery, red bell pepper, and garlic, sealing one at a time (about 30 min. total).
Add the cumin powder, oregano, cayenne, fennel seeds, and basil, and cook another 2 min.
Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, seitan (including the liquid), water, and salt, and simmer for 10+ min.
Before serving, stir in tamari. Garnish each bowl with cilantro and green onions.
Variations: Use less black beans and / or seitan if less protein is desired; substitute tempeh for seitan to eliminate gluten from dish; use a fresh, low-salt vegetable broth in place of water for fuller flavor; add chopped collard greens near end of cooking; use chili powder in place of the cumin, oregano, and cayenne.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Sunlight cuts risk of many cancers
By Roger Dobson
Published: 21 October 2007
Sunbathing, considered risky by skin cancer experts, may actually reduce the risk of breast and other cancers, new research has found.
Some women who had higher sun exposure had their risk of advanced breast cancer reduced by almost half, according to the scientific study.
The researchers from Stanford University , who report their findings in the American Journal of Epidemiology this week, said: "This study supports the idea that sunlight exposure reduces risk of advanced breast cancer among women with light skin pigmentation. ''
The Stanford cancer specialists measured 4,000 women aged 35 to 79, half of them diagnosed with breast cancer, for the effects of long-term sun exposure.
Sun exposure may also protect against a number of other cancers, according to a second research team who studied more than four million people in 11 countries, including 416,000 who had been diagnosed with skin cancer.
These results, reported in the European Journal of Cancer, show that the risk of internal cancers after skin cancers was lower among people living in sunny countries.
The researchers said: "Vitamin D production in the skin seems to decrease the risk of several solid cancers, especially stomach, colo-rectal, liver and gall- bladder, pancreas, lung, female breast, prostate, bladder and kidney cancers."
Sunlight plays a vital role in the production of beneficial vitamin D in the body. Although food provides some vitamin D, up to 90 per cent comes from exposure to sunlight.
Published: 21 October 2007
Sunbathing, considered risky by skin cancer experts, may actually reduce the risk of breast and other cancers, new research has found.
Some women who had higher sun exposure had their risk of advanced breast cancer reduced by almost half, according to the scientific study.
The researchers from Stanford University , who report their findings in the American Journal of Epidemiology this week, said: "This study supports the idea that sunlight exposure reduces risk of advanced breast cancer among women with light skin pigmentation. ''
The Stanford cancer specialists measured 4,000 women aged 35 to 79, half of them diagnosed with breast cancer, for the effects of long-term sun exposure.
Sun exposure may also protect against a number of other cancers, according to a second research team who studied more than four million people in 11 countries, including 416,000 who had been diagnosed with skin cancer.
These results, reported in the European Journal of Cancer, show that the risk of internal cancers after skin cancers was lower among people living in sunny countries.
The researchers said: "Vitamin D production in the skin seems to decrease the risk of several solid cancers, especially stomach, colo-rectal, liver and gall- bladder, pancreas, lung, female breast, prostate, bladder and kidney cancers."
Sunlight plays a vital role in the production of beneficial vitamin D in the body. Although food provides some vitamin D, up to 90 per cent comes from exposure to sunlight.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
EGGLESS BANANA PANCAKES
EGGLESS BANANA PANCAKES
(Serves 2)
1/2 cup rolled oats (120 ml)
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached white flour (120 ml)
1/2 cup cornmeal (white or yellow) (120 ml)
1 Tablespoon baking powder (15 ml)
1-1/2 cups water (360 ml)
2 large ripe bananas, peeled then mashed
2 teaspoons oil (10 ml)
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Use about 1/4 cup
of batter per pancake, poured into lightly oiled preheated
frying pan. Fry over low heat on one side until light brown, then flip over and fry on the other side until done.
Variations: Add chopped apples, raisins, or blueberries to the
batter before frying.
Total Calories per Serving: 482
Fat: 8 grams
Protein: 12 grams
Iron: 4 mg
Carbohydrates: 97 grams
Calcium: 306 mg
Dietary Fiber: 9 grams
Recipe is from Meatless Meals for Working People. If you
don't have a lot of time to cook, you may be interested in
this book. See http://www.vrg.org/catalog/meatless.htm
(Serves 2)
1/2 cup rolled oats (120 ml)
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached white flour (120 ml)
1/2 cup cornmeal (white or yellow) (120 ml)
1 Tablespoon baking powder (15 ml)
1-1/2 cups water (360 ml)
2 large ripe bananas, peeled then mashed
2 teaspoons oil (10 ml)
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Use about 1/4 cup
of batter per pancake, poured into lightly oiled preheated
frying pan. Fry over low heat on one side until light brown, then flip over and fry on the other side until done.
Variations: Add chopped apples, raisins, or blueberries to the
batter before frying.
Total Calories per Serving: 482
Fat: 8 grams
Protein: 12 grams
Iron: 4 mg
Carbohydrates: 97 grams
Calcium: 306 mg
Dietary Fiber: 9 grams
Recipe is from Meatless Meals for Working People. If you
don't have a lot of time to cook, you may be interested in
this book. See http://www.vrg.org/catalog/meatless.htm
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