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The Importance of a Nutrient-Packed Breakfast Ryan Cote

It’s been proven that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The reason for this is simply due to the fact that, for the typical person, the longest duration of time passes between dinner (or an after-dinner snack) and breakfast. Your body is like a machine that needs to be fueled. The more time that passes between feedings, the worse your body performs- that’s why you feel so sluggish if you haven’t eaten in 5-8 hours. Come breakfast time, your body is screaming for food and will soak up anything you feed it. In addition, your metabolism is fastest at this time. It should now be obvious why breakfast is so important- your body is in the ideal state to supply it with healthy, nutrient-packed food. There are many great breakfast combinations that you can eat to start your day off right. As a good example, I am going to share my usual breakfast combination with you. This has been starting my day off right for months. It’s a combination of breakfast foods that are packed with vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber. The main part consists of Kashi Granola cereal, Dannon light yogurt, and fruit (please note that I am not mentioning these brands for the sake of advertising- they just happen to be the brands I enjoy eating). I mix the three together, with the fruit being mandarin oranges, strawberries, or bananas. The Kashi Granola cereal is packed with nutrients, fiber, and protein; the Dannon light yogurt is packed with calcium; and the fruit provides some vitamins and fiber. The second part of my breakfast usually consists of one hard-boiled egg or a small bran muffin. The egg provides a little bit of protein and fat, while the small bran muffin provides some carbohydrates and fiber. For a liquid (aside from the cup of orange juice I enjoy with my breakfast), I mix some protein powder with water and crushed ice to make a shake, which is entirely for the healthy dose of protein it delivers. I feel this low-calorie drink helps to keep hunger at bay and definitely is good nutrition for my muscles. This is just one combination of breakfast foods you can eat to supply your body with great nutrition. The most important thing to look for breakfast in cereals is a low fat and sugar content, abundance of nutrients, fiber, and protein. Protein shakes are a matter of taste preference, but from my own experience I have found Designer Protein to be an overall solid protein shake- but experiment and find the one you enjoy. I also prefer yogurt over milk because of the consistency, but that is again, a matter of personal preference. So start looking at breakfast as an opportunity to kick your body into overdrive because, unlike later in the day, in the morning your body is begging you to feed it nutritious food which it will soak up! -Ryan Cote Webmaster of www.simplehealth123.com?article. Visit now and download your FREE copy of Simple Health, an ebook that shows the average person how to live a healthy lifestyle.

A Trip to Hong Kong,  Jenny Hoolihan, U.K.

I have just returned from fabulous Hong Kong where we have spent the last ten days slowly destroying the bank balance. Now I am trying to re-establish some sort of normal sleep pattern - I have been sitting at the keyboard since about 5:00 a.m. bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Our drive from the beautiful and efficient new airport was on a superb new freeway which took us across a huge suspension bridge which is quite a bit longer than the Golden Gate Bridge in San Franciso. It was my first time back in Hong Kong since the mid 60´s so I saw big changes. Everyone in HK, bar none, appeared to have a mobile phone permanently grafted to his/her ear. I have never seen such abundance of modern technology so visible. A Brisbane friend commented that that was her impression 12 years ago when she was there! I noticed that the harbour had shrunk quite dramatically as land is being reclaimed for expansive building projects everywhere. The harbour carries few junks and no sampans any more. Hong Kong / Kowloon is much cleaner, busier, friendlier, denser, and modernized with a completely unfathomable spaghetti-like high-speed road system. There is now much more English spoken. Alas, and most distressingly, they have a really, really bad smog problem that is getting worse and causing serious concern. The smog is generally blamed on dense industry in mainland China, though the Chinese seem hotly to deny that. Sadly, the smog posses problems for photography. We stayed at a harbour-side hotel on the H K side, and there were days when we could only vaguely see Kowloon through the thick haze. The shopping is still wonderful, something the new Chinese regime seems to have been wise enough to promote and, whilst there are an over-abundance of huge glittering, modern shopping malls for mostly designer name outlets, the old street shops and stalls are easy to locate. Mind you, many traces of that old colonialism are subtly being erased, but the energetic modernization of H K is so breathtaking and boundless, it makes your head spin. About the only things I could still easily recognize were the Peak Tram, the Star Ferry and the old HK Shanghai Bank Building, now dwarfed and looking slightly insignificant amongst a multitude of towering skyscrapers. Fortunately, we were recommended two main essentials - a brilliant tailor and an honest jeweller; we had wonderful service from both. I had two beautifully lined, tailored jackets and two pairs of slacks made and delivered to the hotel within five days. Oh, and yes, girls, I scored a beautiful diamond ring as well as a Burmese jade ring and a pair of earings, so didn’t I do well?! There are any number of people accosting you to buy shirts/suits/rolex/cameras, etc. the minute you step off the Star Ferry. “Trawlin for customers” is quite a bonus. The food was always excellent, safe, varied and available from the steaming aromatic stalls at the fun Gala Point Night Market which we kept going back to. We enjoyed the ubiquitous Yum Cha, Dim Sum and the Noodle Bars, as well as the many thousands of other eateries of every description, flavour and taste to lure you. No added calories, of course. We were so fortunate with the weather. Every days 17° - 22°C, no rain and a comfortable humidity. We were lucky to witness the build-up to Chinese New Year which was celebrated the week of February 1 with planned colorful festivities to welcome the year of the goat. Traditionally there are loads of bargains being offered at every outlet - in Chinese; it is good luck to clean out old stock and start afresh. A very good time to visit indeed. Public transport was incredibly inexpensive as were the taxis. We took trains, trams, busses, ferries, cable cars, taxis and the underground subway in order to see as much as we could. Through it all, the knees held up extremely well, thank God. We also had a ride on the world’s longest escalator from beside Central Market in HK’s Central District which went literally straight up to the residential Mid-Levels. The escalator only goes in one direction once, from 6:00 a.m. until 10:30, then up for the rest of the day. There was no shortage of taxis back once you reached the top. If you were in good physical condition, you could take the steps which ran along side the escalator. The steep ascent enabled us to peep into the private homes and businesses along both sides of the escalator - a great source of interest! Anyway, here we are, and do we know we are home again! It’s blowing a gale outside and the temperature has plummeted overnight. Still, it is wonderful to be home safe and sound in this troubled world. I’ll get to my Emails in the next day or two - the ones that are not trying to sell viagra, mortgages or anti- virus/spam programs . . . A certain irony there, I feel.

No Dig Potatoes By Guest Writer, Ron Williams You can grow an enormous crop of potatoes without any of the backbreaking effort of digging. Just follow the steps below. There is no need for fork or spade in any way, shape or form. This is ideal for those who have problems bending and lifting heavy loads. It is also a good project for a school or aged home gardening group. Mark out an area of lawn: 1. Lay down some weed suppressing material like carpet underlay, cardboard or thick layers of newspapers. 2. On this put a layer of compost and/or earth. 3. Put seed potatoes, or pieces of potato with eyes directly onto this layer of compost, exactly where you want them to grow 4. Cover this with a fairly generous layer of mulch or hay/straw, roughly 30 cm (1 ft) deep. 5. Water this in well. Green plant shoots will come through this layer of material. 6. Add mulch as required to cover any tubers, which may grow on the surface of the mulch. 7. Water and treat pests and diseases regularly as required 8. With this method you can pull back part of the mulch to access some of the small potatoes for early use. 9. When the Haulms (Plants) have died back, you can pull back the remaining mulch to find a big crop of clean big potatoes. Which probably won't even need to be cleaned. 10. Next growing season, lay the seed potatoes directly onto the broken down layer of mulch to start again. This method of growing potatoes requires little effort, on the part of the gardener. You are able to grow potatoes anywhere on the lawn, on a rooftop or in a driveway. This method of growing potatoes, helps teach youngsters about where and how some of the produce actually comes from and grow, rather than it simply coming from a greengrocer. So why not get out there today, and grow your own potatoes. Credits/Acknowledgements: Ron Williams is a Freelance Writer as well as being a Horticulturist and a Rehabilitation Therapy Aid at a Psychiatric Hospital in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He writes ezines for wz.com. He also owns a discussion group about Australian Gardening, called austgardens at www.groups.yahoo.com http://wz.com/homegarden/bio/ContainerGardening.html

Diet Scams By Carl Weisbrod, Ph.D. On the topic of diets: Here are some facts that can't be denied: Over 70% of all deaths in developed countries are diet related. Population groups that live a physically active life with a diet high in fibrous carbohydrates seldom suffer from chronic degenerative diseases such as coronary heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and osteoporosis. There is a consensus within the medical and scientific community that the high fat/protein diet does not support good health; although many best-selling books carry the opposite message. Why would anyone write such a book? The reason the high fat/protein diets remain popular is simple: best-selling authors have made MegaBucks ghost-writing books with the following theme: "That which we are doing is healthy if we just make a couple of tiny changes." Can you swallow that? Millions do. Unfortunately, there has never been much money made telling folks they need to make huge changes in their food choices. Quite the contrary, people often become hostile when told that the foods they have grown to love are bad for them. If the truth hurts does that mean it's not the truth? Credits/Acknowledgements: By Carl Weisbrod, Ph.D. email: askcarl@aloha.com http://askcarl.net

25 Health and Confidence Signs Which Tell You "You’re Getting There" By Gail Miller 1; Looking at yourself in the mirror brings a smile to your face 2; You run for the bus and don’t collapse in a heap on the ground 3; In clothes shops and you actually have a choice 4; You don’t blame the world, or other people for your problems 5; You aren’t afraid of your partner seeing you in the nude. 6; When the alarm goes off in the morning you jump out of bed instead of groaning and turning over. 7; Now, you don’t bother yourself worrying whether people like you ... You just assume they do! 8; You dress for yourself and not how other people expect you to 9; People pigeon hole you because of your job or achievements, not the size of your backside 10; Saying "no" holds no fear for you any more 11; Your teenage children start to raid your wardrobe 12; Friends now consist of people from all walks of life, not just ones who are fatter or uglier than you! 13; You start doing good turns for people, not because you want anything in return, but just because you want to. 14; You feel proud of your achievements instead of running yourself down 15; Laughing at yourself comes easy when you make a mistake 16; People say you look fantastic, but they can’t put their finger on exactly why 17; You set regular goals now you are not worried that you might not achieve them 18; Your intuition has been fine tuned to tell when you are starting opportunity in the face 19; You start to introduce changes into your routine and way of thinking 20; If your romantic relationship isn’t working, you have the courage to either change it or discard it 21; You don’t feel the need to put things off any more, you are raring to go 22; You know the directions to the nearest gym - because you are a regular there 23; "Bad Hair Days" aren't as frequent as they used to be 24; You stay cool for longer periods and find yourself sweating less 25; Your life feels ‘on track’ and you instinctively know you are heading in the right direction -------------------------- Credits/Acknowledgements: Gail Miller is author of "WILD CHILD - A Mother, A Son & ADHD" The true story of a mother driven to despair by her unruly son, and her fight with the authorities for recognition & treatment for his condition. ISBN 1 872229 24 7 Patten Press http://home.freeuk.net/theadhdgazette/wild.html She also publishes "The ADD / ADHD Gazette" the on - line ezine accenting the positive side of ADHD. http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/ADDGazette

The Ultimate Natural Health Kit  by Gail Miller   If you are tired of going off to your doctor time and again and either being prescribed medication which is of little use to your symptoms, or more frequently these days, being sent away without any at all, never fear. Here are some of the most effective remedies for all those niggling little ailments which can often ruin the Summer for sufferers. Heat Rash For rashes and itchy skin, try bathing in an infusion of camomile. A couple of camomile tea bags added to your bath water can ease symptoms considerably. Another remedy is a cupful of cider vinegar. Don’t use soap on the skin as it can often aggravate irritation. Sunburn It is believed that the healing properties of gel extracted from the aloe plant is excellent for sunburn. Many hospitals use aloe for the treatment of burns, and apart from burning from the sun, it is an excellent treatment for minor scalds too. Bites and stings If you are bitten by any insects, before you treat, drop a few drops of Bach’s Rescue remedy under the tongue. This will reduce shock in the first instance. If you have been stung and can extract the sting easily, do so. Ease the discomfort of a bee sting by bathing in one pint of tepid water with 2 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda. Wasp stings can be eased by soaking in diluted cider vinegar which is believed to reduce inflammation and clean the wound. Headaches By using reflexology, you can ease the symptoms of bad headaches by massaging around the base and over the top of your big toes. Press quite firmly, but don’t be surprised if these areas are painful. Afterwards, lie down and relax in a darkened room breathing deeply. A few drops of Lavender oil on a handkerchief or in an oil burner is also a good remedy for headache. Insomnia The herb Valerian is one of the best natural aids for settling down stressed out or over aroused sufferers. You can purchase Valerian tablets from any pharmacy and there are some which are specifically for night time use, for example Valerina Night-time. For settling over excited children off to sleep, try mixing one drop of frankincense essential oil with some baby oil and massage into the feet and calves. Travel sickness An important worry if you are travelling. Ginger is known to calm the digestive and nervous systems so choosing a travel sickness tablet containing ginger is good idea. Also, a lump of fresh ginger root, which you can chew on should the need arise, can always be kept in the vehicle you are travelling in. Alternatively keep some ordinary ginger biscuits to hand. Hay fever The scourge of Summer for many sufferers, when fumes, pollen, dust and other allergens make life a misery for many. Dampen down symptoms with the homeopathic remedy Pollinosan, available in tablet or tincture. For a quick pick me up and to reduce puffy, irritated eyes place a dampened camomile tea bag on each eye and rest for 15 minutes. Finally, did you know .... Stress can be alleviated by massaging the feet with a mixture of unscented body lotion and a few drops of Lavender essential oil. Vitamin C is excellent for boosting the body’s immune system. Chewable tablets, in addition to ordinary ones, are available for children too. Juniper or Eucalyptus essential oils are excellent for alleviating the effects of Summer colds. For clearing thick heads add a few drops to a bowl of hot water and leave in the bedroom when you retire. For puffy ankles brought on by water retention or being on your feet too long, try massaging the feet and ankles. Cola supplies the body with essential fluids and boosts blood glucose. Therefore, for an emergency remedy for travel sickness or diarrhoea take a few slugs to help. NB; When using or taking any remedy, read all the instructions as given on the packet. Do not exceed any recommended doses given. Have a super Summer! -------------------------------- Gail Miller is author of "WILD CHILD - A Mother, A Son & ADHD" The true story of a mother driven to despair by her unruly son, and her fight with the authorities for recognition & treatment for his condition. ISBN 1 872229 24 7 Patten Press http://home.freeuk.net/theadhdgazette/wild.html She also publishes "The ADD / ADHD Gazette" the on - line ezine accenting the positive side of ADHD. http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/ADDGazette