Hidden Sources of Sugar in Foods

Human beings love sugar. Scientists speculate that we developed a love for sweetness because most of the sweet foods we ate early on were safe foods that nourished and did not kill us. Others say that our sweet tooth is naturally inborn and that we will suckle because breast milk contains lactose, a form of sugar.

We also love fat. Fat generally tastes very good and we eat a lots of it. Stored on our bodies, we use it as fuel to keep us alive until the next big meal. Fat and sugar work like hardwiring. But it is hardwiring for a time before our environment changed. Now we are scoring antelopes and apple pies all day long, and we are wearing them all over our body, mostly on our bellies. Processed food is loaded with sugar and fats.
Increasing Hidden Sugars

You can compare the ingredients of simple crackers which were made in the past and the ingredients those are being used now:
Ingredients used in past for making crackers:
Flour, water, Baking Soda, salt.

Ingredients used today:
Enriched flour, soybean oil, defatted wheat germs, sugar, corn starch, high fructose corn syrup, salt, corn syrup, Monoglycerides, barley malt syrup, leavening, vegetable color.

You might have noticed that besides fat and chemicals, the modern crackers have four kinds of sugar. There is sugar in your ketchup and even in the french fries that you buy. Americans now eat 114 pounds of sugar per year. That is over a quarter pound per person per day, totaling 500 calories a day in sugar. All this added sugar has a priming effect on our bodies. Besides creating toxic belly fat, sugar has been related to hyperactivity and emotional distress in teens, especially among those drinking four or more soft drinks a day.

Balancing Your Diet

In order to remain fit, you should nourish your body with high quality foods that will help you to sustain you over the long haul. There are all kinds of healthy options. Our bodies need healthy, whole fit macronutrients: carbohydrates, fats and protein to sustain them over time.

You need 20 to 30 percent of calories from protein. Protein is key to being lean and strong. Protein helps you feel full and fight carb cravings. They enable you to build muscles. Good proteins are lean meats, fish, chicken and turkey; low or fat free dairy products (yogurt, cheese and milk) nuts (almonds,walnuts,cashews, reduced fat peanut butter without added sugar) and beans.

You need 40 to 60 percent of daily calories from fit carbs. Fit carbs are high in fiber, vitamins and minerals and low in calories. Fiber has been shown to help stop the development of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart diseases and reduce risk of obesity. Fruit and veggie intake will improve the health of your bones, no matter what your age is. People who eat the widest variety of vegetables with the deepest colors have been shown to live longer and have the lowest prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer’s. The deeper the fruit or vegetable’s color, the richer and higher the level of antioxidants. When picking fruit, remember that the vitamins and fiber are great for you, but fruits are high in fructose, a natural sugar. Just be careful with the calorie-dense fruit like berries and grapes. Make sure to stick to half to one cup at a time, no more.

You need some fats as well. Include 20 to 30 percent high-quality fats, no more than 10 percent should be saturated fat and absolutely no trans fats. Trans fats are made from partially hydrogenated fats. They are perhaps worse than than the saturated fats. The fats good for our body are olive oil, canola oil and fats from nuts, omega fatty acids from fish and coconut oil.

Avoiding Hidden Sugars

Avoid products with the words ending in “-ose” including sucrose, fructose, glucose, maltose, and dextrose. These are all varieties of sugar, which can add up to a lot of empty calories that the body may convert into and store as fat. Cane juice, honey, syrups, molasses and fruit juice concentrate are other, less refined, ingredients that manufacturers use to add sugars to food.

Source-http://www.greendivamom.com/author/savneet/

Support Mood with Nutritional Supplements and Herbs

Depression can be damaging to the brain and other sensitive tissues. Some recent studies suggest that depression is related to an overly sensitive immune system response and the excessive inflammation that results. A number of inflammatory hormones and other substances are elevated in the bodies of depressed people. Nutritional and herbal supplements can help you deal with depression in a very effective way with minimal side effects. Use supplements to boost you mood and energy levels. Get the help of your doctor to find the right dose for yourself. These supplements are required in three situations:

During stressful times: When you feel that you are under stress, you can take vitamins, antioxidants, minerals and essential fatty acids in moderate doses. It will help you to ward off the likelihood that stress will bring on depression. The amino acid precursor 5-HTP helps ward off excess stress.
Please note: Consult your doctor before you include any supplement in your diet. You should be particularly careful about you diet during these times. Don’t expect supplements to compensate for poor diet. They can boost but can not be a total remedy.

For prevention: Vitamins, antioxidants, minerals and essential fatty acids can be taken in lower dose as a general preventive measure. People with a good diet or with high resilience may not need to use supplement in this way, ut people with less resilience may rely on these supplements. Supplements will never make up for consuming too much sugar, caffeine and refined carbohydrates, however, nor will they make up for insufficient healthy carbs.

During depressive episodes: The highest amount of nutritional supplements can be taken when you are having a depressive episode, but never forget to take a good diet particularly in this time.

Vitamin B
The B vitamins are thought to be “antistress vitamins.” If you are having strain from work, a hectic and tough family situation, or a series of setbacks in your personal life, you might consider adding B-Complex to your daily diet. Beverages containing caffeine like tea, coffee and sodas tend to erode your store of Vitamin B. Vitamin B is recommended to people with low resilience. In addition to the B Vitamins’ extraordinary assistance with stress and depression, in the brain, they help transform amino acids into such neurotransmitters as serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine.

Folic acid
People having psychiatric problems and some elderly people are found to be deficient in Folic Acid. Patients with depression responded very well when they added Folic Acid supplements. They were better able to function and enjoyed better sleep, appetite, mood, motivation, concentration and energy. They showed improvement in their social functions with reduced tendencies to withdraw or isolate themselves and increased ability to communicate and sustain relationships.

Antioxidants
Antioxidant have ability to combat oxidation, the process by which the byproducts of oxygen metabolism may destroy the body’s cell structures. Antioxidants help prevent heart diseases, cancer and possibly Alzheimer’s disease. Antioxidant intake may help counter harm from the brain’s exposure to stress hormones. Antioxidants dampen the inflammatory response and protect brain tissue. You should boost you antioxidant intake if you are suffering from acute depression or if you are prone to inflammatory diseases like asthma, arthritis, heart diseases, diabetes or gum disease, or if you have other signs of heightened inflammation like aches and pains in joints from aging or injury that don’t heal fully.

Include a wide range of vegetables, particularly bright red, purple or dark green vegetables. Supplement your daily diet with following antioxidants when you are undergoing excessive stress:

•Vitamin E
•Vitamin C
•Beta-carotene
•Selenium
Minerals
In 1950s, an amazing discovery found that lithium, a mineral found in some kind of soil had a profound effect on the mood, especially agitated states like mania. Our food supply has become relatively mineral deficient because of modern agricultural practices. Some minerals including calcium and magnesium are directly involved the in process whereby neurotransmitters affect our cells. The most important minerals are:

•Calcium
•Magnesium
•Chromium
•Copper and Zinc
•Manganese
Essential Fatty Acids
It has been found that some kind of inflammatory substances are elevated in major depression. These elements promote inflammation, which may effect brain tissues as well. Omega-3 fatty acid can prove to be effective in this situation. Evidence also shows that fatty acids have more effect on neurotransmitters. Boosting Omega-3 levels creates a healthy environment in the brain and central nervous system. Some good sources of essential fatty acids are:

•Fish oil
•Flaxseeds
•Ground flaxseeds
•Evening primrose, borage seed or black currant oils
Herbal therapies
The world has found herbs and herbal therapy therapy very effective in treating depression, anxiety and mood variations. Some of these traditional medicines have come into use among alternative and complementary physicians and some conventional physicians.

Some herbs have properties similar to prescription medications. They are effective but must be used with caution. In general, they are milder and have no or a few side effects. But there are exceptions. For examples, kava kava has recently been taken off the market because of its association with liver failure.

The most notable herb currently in use to treat depression and anxiety is St. John’s wort, though some others, including gingko biloba and valerian root- may also be effective.

Please note- While herbs are considered to be safe but there may be a few side effects or negative effects. They are natural, but natural does not mean safe always. Therefore, it is advised that you must work with a qualified herbalist or other health professional trained in uses of herbs.

Source-http://www.greendivamom.com/author/savneet/

Tips for Cleaner, Greener Laundry

Since we all like neat, clean clothes, we need to do laundry. While laundry is a cleaning process of cleaning, the process itself may not be clean enough. Our clothes may be soiled with germs, soil, oil and other matter that is not water soluble. Water alone can not be used to remove all of them, so we need some type of laundry detergent when washing our clothes.

Detergent isn’t the only point of concerns associated with laundry. The cleaning products we use contain potentially hazardous chemicals including bleach, solvents, chlorine and ammonia. Moreover, a dryer can use up to five kilowatts of electricity per hour and a top-loading washer uses approximately 40 gallons of water per load.

Some simple and far less hazardous alternatives can be used to make cleaning a far less harmful household chore. Keep in mind these tips to save water, electricity, environment and money when next time you head to the laundry room :
Washers

Wash clothes on the “cold” or “warm” settings rather than “hot” whenever possible. A washer uses maximum power to heat water. Detergents available in local stores can be used for cold-water washing.

Try to wash full loads to make the best use of the energy required to run the machine. If you need to wash a smaller load, adjust the water level accordingly.

Sort out clothes according to fabric type, color, weight, and degree of soiling to improve efficiency.

Wash heavy clothes such as curtains, towels and denims separately from light clothes like shirts.

If you are planning to buy a new washer, go for an Energy Star-rated model. These Energy Star washers use less water per load . Some machines use 18 to 25 gallons on an average. There are front-loading models that may use as little as five gallons of water. These kind of machines extract more water from clothes and thus reduce drying time.

Dryers
Choose a dryer with a moisture sensor that automatically shuts the machine off when clothes are dry.

Choose a warm location for the dryer so that less energy is needed to heat the air.

Clean the lint filter before each new load. It will improve air circulation and efficiency.

Use full loads to make the best use of the energy required to run the machine, but keep in mind not to fill the dryer so much that air can’t circulate around the clothes.

Laundry Products
Laundry routines can be made even “greener” by using environmentally friendly detergents, fabric softeners, and stain removers.

Boost the power of your detergent safely and inexpensively using white distilled vinegar. You can use vinegar for stained white socks, removing perspiration odor and stains, preventing yellowing and lifting stains like mustard, spaghetti, barbecue sauce or ketchup stains. Vinegar acts as a fabric softener as well. All you need to do is to add about 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar to the last rinse. Don’t worry; the acid present in in white distilled vinegar is mild and does not harm fabrics, but it is strong enough to dissolve the alkalis in soaps and detergents.




Make Your Own Environmentally Friendly Liquid Detergent
Ingredients:

•1/2 cup sodium carbonate (washing soda)
•1/2 cup borax
•2 oz natural soap
•3 pints tap water and a bucket of hot water
Equipment:

•water bucket
•oven
•containers with lids
•grater
•saucepan (use a dedicated pan for this to avoid borax residue in food)
•lavender oil
Instructions

1.Grate the soap in a saucepan.
2.Add the tap water and mix the ingredients until the soap melts and forms a solution.
3.Add the sodium carbonate and borax and stir the solution until it becomes consistent and thickens.
4.Remove the pan from the oven stove and let the solution cool for awhile.
5.Take one quart from the bucket of hot water. Pour it in the empty water bucket.
6.Add the saucepan’s contents in the bucket and mix well. add and mix about 60 drops of lavender oil.
7.After mixing thoroughly, fill the bucket with hot water and let it settle for about 24
8.Pour the detergent in the containers. Keep the containers covered when not using the detergent.

Making Stress Management Routine

Stress - either you can eliminate it with a bubble bath, or you have to live with your stresses weighing on your mind with the weight of a cement truck, right? The truth is that stress management is not about eliminating stress; it is all about regulation-turning the dials of your emotions so you can best handle what life tosses at you. Stress–which is really a complex mix of emotional, physical and behavioral responses–doesn’t have to sideline you from life or send you straight to the ice cream tub. Here are some tricks to avoid letting your worries burden go away.

Identify the source of your stress
Though some sources are easy to identify, it can be difficult to really determine what is bothering you. Lashing at your kids be a reaction not to what your kids did but to an extra assignment piled on at work. The first step to managing your stress is pinpointing the culprit.
Every emotion has an “urge to act” that goes wit it. When you feel afraid or anxious, we avoid things. When we are depressed or sad, we withdraw. When we are angry, we want to lash out or yell. Unfortunately, each of these mood-inspired behaviors actually increases an emotion rather than decreasing it. However if you can act in an opposite way, you can decrease the emotion. Angry at someone? Do not lash out, but rather be empathetic. Similarly, if you are depressed, instead of shutting down yourself in, go out. Rather than letting your emotions determine what you do, take control and choose how you feel.

Focus on the moment
Though it can be hard, you will have better stress management by being mindful- that is, really paying attention to the present and trying to get out of the gears of the past and the future. That means especially noticing the things that you ignore, like your breath, body sensations, and emotions. One way to practice living in the moment: the body which will help you to relax:

1.Lie down
2.Close your eyes and notice your posture.
3.Think about the natural flow of your breath, focusing on air filling and leaving the lungs.
4.Notice your toes-any tension, tingling, or temperature change?
5.Move to thinking about your feet, heels and the ankles, all the way up through the knees, thighs and pelvis.
6.Continue with each body part, going through both the front and back of your body as you work your way up, finishing with the throat, jaw, tongue, face and brow.
7.Go through your health checklist. Stress is much more manageable when the other aspects of your life-from your general health, to your sleep patterns, to your eating habits-are in good order. When you do not get enough sleep, for instance, your body produces more stress hormones, making you more vulnerable to the damaging effects of stress. Evaluate what areas in your life your attention, and work on fixes.
Get Physical
Walk thirty minutes, stretch, do yoga, anything. Just get up and move. Exercise is one of life’s greatest stress relievers.

Focus on your muscles. By tensing and relaxing your muscles, you can help relieve some of your stored physical stress. While sitting of lying down, tense the muscles of your feet as much you can and then release the tension. Tense and relax different muscle groups of your body one at a time. Focus on your legs, stomach, back, neck, arms, face and head. When done, relax for a few minutes.

Two Spicy Healthy Recipes from Burma

People of Burma lay a great emphasis on contemplation and meditation, both in daily life and taken to their kitchens and eating tables. Burmese cuisine is sometimes taken as a fusion of Indian, Thai and Chinese cuisine, but it is not true. Burmese cuisine is influenced by its neighbors, but the dishes get their flavors from the thousand-year-old culture. Burmese spend time over each meal. No “fast food” is gulped here. The food is complex in a way so that each morsel is focused, and Burmese let the flavors reveal themselves slowly rather than expecting them to be immediately realized by the taste buds.

The meals are elaborated but small. The family gathers for lunch or dinner at a low table. Each dish is then passed around, followed by the bowl of rice. The appropriate accompaniments or condiments are then passed. The rice, mixed with all the items on the plate, is eaten with fingers. Although Burmese have begun using chopsticks as well. Burmese meals include an assortment of salads as well.

The common accompaniments are garlic, onions, ngapi (a shrimp-based paste), and balachaung which is a crispy combination of shrimp and several raw vegetables including cabbage, and mini-eggplants.

Two Burmese favorites are ta-yet-tea-tow which is a green mango onion salad, and khwauk swe, a chicken and noodle dish.

Ta-Yet-Tea-Tow
4 green mangoes
2 tablespoons shrimp powder
2 medium onions, sliced
4 green chiles
1 teaspoon shrimp paste
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons shrimp powder
2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds
3 cups fried onions
1 tablespoon fish sauce
Salt, as needed

Peel mangoes and soak in water. Cut or break lengthwise and sliver into small, thin pieces. Squeeze slivered mango dry. Cut green chillies finely, discarding seeds if you wish. In a small dish, mix baked shrimp paste with cooked oil till smooth.

Into a bowl put mangoes, sliced onions, shrimp paste in oil, shrimp powder, green chillies, sesame seeds, 1/2 of fried onion, and sauce, and mix well. Taste and add salt as needed. Serve garnished with remaining fried onion. Serves 4-5.

Khwauk Swe
Serves four to five people
Ingredients

2 pounds chicken, boiled and cut into strips
1 pound rice noodles
2-3 onions, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste
1 sprig of coriander
1/2 teaspoon chopped ginger
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed peanuts
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cook noodles till tender. Remove from heat, drain and set aside. Combine garlic, ginger and salt in a large bowl. Add chicken strips, and coat each piece with the spice mixture.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and tomatoes, and cook, stirring and sprinkling with pepper, salt and turmeric. Cook until onions soften and mixture thickens, for about 5 minutes. Add chicken and a cup of water, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for about 10 minutes, or until mixture thickens. Serve chicken over noodles. Garnish with coriander and crushed peanuts.

A dash of lemon juice accentuates the flavour of the spices

Source-http://www.greendivamom.com/author/savneet/

Five Ways You Can Reduce Air Pollution

America needs to reduce transportation emissions. America’s cities face numerous problems because of the polluted air released by increasing number of vehicles on highways. Within the past few years, Americans have become more dependent on car travel and have more cars per capita than any other nation in the world. This has lead to problems like traffic jams, pollution and global warming.

Traffic congestion alone costs America’s economy approximately $78 billion. Transportation in America produces more carbon dioxide emissions than any other country in the world except China. Studies have found that, bus travel is 79% safer than driving your own vehicle. In addition, sedentary, car-dependent lifestyles contribute to health problems from lack of exercise.
Changing our commute patterns can decrease America’s effect on global climate change. Roads dominated by vehicles can be reclaimed and put to better uses. We can improve air quality at the same time as we build a sense of community cohesion. We should give people more reason to walk in their neighborhoods. Here are five ways you can play an important role in reducing the traffic jams and air pollution.

Carpool
Joining a carpool to work can lessen the carbon footprint by reducing the number of cars on the road. Fill the three empty seats in our car with new friends and go to your work place together. Carpooling helps you save money by not driving your car as often, and you may possibly qualify for employee benefits. Parents can set up carpools to take kids to school and activities.

Use Public Transit
Scale up from the carpool and take public transportation. Most metropolitan areas have comfortable, convenient public transport systems available,. Train systems are thought to be the most efficient of the mass transit systems, as they carry a large number of passengers at one time. In addition they also use less fuel than other transport like buses. Buses are also a good option, especially ones using bio-diesel or other eco-friendly alternative fuels.

If public transit is available, get a monthly pass. It will help you to make your commute more cost-effective. Monthly passes and smart cards let you avoid buying tickets every day. Many times, commutes are easier and faster by bus or other mass transit options than sitting in a traffic jam, and you can have pleasure of reading newspaper on your way to work.

Public transit isn’t just for the daily commute, though. You can use Google Maps to arrange multiple errands on your local public transportation system. Alternatively, many mass transit system websites have trip planners that allow you to plan the most efficient route between multiple stops.

Motivate Children to Walk
Try to inculcate the habit of walking wherever it is feasible. You can walk down to nearby market place with kids and pets rather than using a car. You can easily get children used to the idea of commuting with their legs while they’re young.

Use Bikes
Bikes can be really helpful and prove to be good for your health. They are great connector between transportation modes. You can use them easily if distance is less than a mile. Get a foldable bike that you can carry anywhere. You can even carry them in public transport system. All you need to do is to learn the rules of the roads. Get a helmet and stay safe. Do not forget to have lights so that drivers can see you.

Work from Home
If possible, work from home. Working from home for even a single day can reduce your transportation-based pollution emissions by a significant level. Countless software applications–such as Skype, Google Applications and IM–can keep you connected with your office, boss and co-workers even if they are all working remotely.

Source-http://www.greendivamom.com/author/savneet/

Harness Renewable Energy with a Home Wind Power System

Increasing prices of fossil fuels and the environmental pollution associated with them have forced homeowners to opt for cleaner and cheaper sources of electricity. A very good option is energy generated by wind. It has been estimated by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) that a small residential wind turbine can eliminate 1.2 tons of smog-forming pollution . A small wind system capable of generating 5 to 10 kilowatts of electricity under optimal conditions can actually lower the average electricity costs of your home by 50 to 90 percent. Thus, wind energy which is a clean and natural source of power will prove to be helpful in a long run.

When determining if a home wind system is for you, consider your power needs, available space, the wind conditions and local regulations. You need an acre or more of open property for a residential wind power system. Home wind systems require a minimum average wind speed of 10 miles per hour. State and municipal regulations may restrict the size and placement of a residential wind turbine.



Siting a Home Wind Power System
The wind turbine should be located so that it gets a wind at a moderate rate. The turbine should be sited upwind of any buildings and trees. The tips of the turbine’s blades should be at least 30 feet higher at the lowest point of their arc than any trees or structures within 300 feet. Keep in mind that local zoning ordinances might have some height restrictions.

Home Wind Power System Options
If you are planning to have horizontal wind turbines they must be mounted on tall towers so that they can catch the the wind. Vertical wind turbines do not need any tower. They can catch wind from any direction. Take the time to research wind energy, and see which option works best for you and your area.

Interfacing a Home Wind Power System with the Grid
Inter-tied or grid-tied systems are connected to the electrical grid. This helps in feeding energy you use into the grid. This may earn you a few extra dollars because of the this excess electricity. In addition, this inter-tied systems also give you the option of drawing power from the grid if your wind system is not generating enough power for your current needs.

You can also get interfaced systems connected to the grid where the excess energy is stored in batteries. In this case you will have a backup power. Keep in mind that a home wind power system with batteries may require you to deal with the operation, maintenance, and eventual disposal of the batteries.

Off-Grid Home Wind Power Systems
Off-grid systems are better for remote locations. These are not connected to the power grid, so they don’t feed excess power into the system or have the grid as a backup when wind power doesn’t meet demand. Homeowners who want to be completely self-sufficient have to make sure the system the have is sized to meet the maximum anticipated electricity needs because you will not be able to tap into the grid.

Costs of Home Wind Power Systems
Compared with solar photovoltaic panels, residential wind power systems are 50 percent less expensive to install. According to AWEA, the upfront costs are still high, at about $3,000 to $5,000 per kilowatt, including installation. You can reduce the upfront costs of wind power systems by making your home as energy-efficient as possible. Some states and utility providers have incentives for residential renewable energy systems.

Source-http://www.greendivamom.com/author/savneet/