Sunday, November 20, 2016

Mormon's Do A Lot Of Good Work Around The World!

15 NOVEMBER 2016
Contributed By Camille West, LDS.org Church News

https://www.lds.org/church/news/church-encourages-small-and-simple-acts-on-worldwide-day-of-service?lang=eng&_r=1&cid=HP_FR_11-11-2016_dWEL_fEVT_xLIDyL2-1_

The video above encourages you to serve anyone you want anyway you want beginning December 1 and continuing daily until Christmas. “Serve anyone you want, any way you want” this December 1. That’s the message of the Church’s Worldwide Day of Service, which kicks off a month-long “Light the World” Christmas initiative. The church is encouraging members to share the light of Christ through small, but meaningful acts of service on each of the 25 days before Christmas.

“Christ taught ‘Ye are the light of the world,” and we hope that through small and simple acts of service, we can spread the light of Christ—helping others to feel the love of the Savior through genuine kindness.” —Bruce Muir

“When people think of Christmas, they often think of lights,” said Bruce Muir, director of emergency response for the Church. “Christmas lights, lighted store windows, tree lights. Christ taught ‘Ye are the light of the world,” and we hope that through small and simple acts of service, we can spread the light of Christ—helping others to feel the love of the Savior through genuine kindness.”

Light the World. In 25 Ways. Over 25 Days
Detailed on Mormon.org/Christmas, this year’s Christmas message from the Church—“Light the world. In 25 ways. Over 25 days”—is all about service, especially serving the way Christ did.
Closer to December, a Christmas video will be shared on Mormon.org demonstrating how simple acts of service can emulate the many ways Jesus cared for others during His earthly ministry. In addition, a calendar of the first 25 days in December encourages various Christlike acts of service on each day. For example, day 5 features the message, “Jesus fed the hungry and so can you,” and provides simple suggestions for service like: donate to a food bank, or invite a neighbor over for dinner.

Watch and share the Light the World video released November 25 on Mormon.org This year’s Christmas theme happens to fall on the 80th anniversary of the Church Welfareplan. “Much of what Christ did to serve others, is what the welfare program is all about,” said Steven Peterson, managing director of the Welfare Department for the Church. “Jesus healed the blind, the lame, and ministered to the hungry, poor and the needy,” he said. Our eorts ̀with vision care, wheelchairs, food banks, refugee efforts and more are all attempts to follow the example of the Savior and do what He did.”  Five years ago, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Church welfare plan, a day of service was held where Church units around the world organized service projects for the poor and needy in their communities.

The Church's Christmas initiative—“Light the world in 25 ways over 25 days”—is all about service, especially serving the way Christ did.“As this year’s day of service falls in December, the Church is simply issuing an open ended invitation to serve,” said Sharon Eubank, director of LDS Charities. “We recognize that Christmas time is busy and we don’t want to over burden individuals with large-scaled efforts. We hope that people will serve in small ways, close to home, then simply use #LIGHTtheWORLD to share their stories, either as a giver or a receiver of kindness.”The Church’s goal to is to have more than 100,000 individuals provide service on December 1. “We’ve heard that 100,000 people serving across the world would represent the single largest service event in the world, said Sister Eubank.“We’re not looking for any record—but it’s our hope that a goal like this will help to motivate participation.” To help with that goal, the Church is marshaling its worldwide force of 70,000 missionaries to provide service to someone in their community on December 1. “Some will be serving at local food pantries, community centers, parks, or at a single home. Missionaries provide service all the time, but it is exciting to think of such a large group of people all doing good at once,” said Brother Peterson.“ Christmas time is about celebrating the birth, life and ministry of Jesus Christ,”said Brother Muir. “What better way to do that, than to be a light in the lives of others.”

© 2016 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Probiotics and Your Healthy Gut

Source from text below: http://blog.renewlife.com/what-should-you-look-for-in-a-probiotic/

What Should You Look For In A Probiotic?

You already know probiotics play an important role in supporting digestive and immune health.* But with so many products to choose from, what factors are important when it comes to choosing an effective probiotic supplement


Here are a few quick basics:


  • Look at the culture count to determine the strength or potency of a probiotic. Did you know there are 100 trillion bacteria inside your digestive tract? To keep that complex system thriving, a high-potency probiotic will contain billions of live, friendly cultures per serving to provide more of the good-for-you bacteria that occur naturally in a healthy gut
    .* Total live cultures will often be determined at time of manufacture, but very few remain at full strength through their expiration date. Look for a probiotic that guarantees potency through the expiration date. 
  • Pay attention to the number of strains. Supporting a good balance among all the diverse microbes in your gut is key to well-being, but stress, aging, diet, and other issues can upset this delicate equilibrium.* The strains, or specific types of probiotics (plus the culture count of each) should be listed on the label. And because more than 1,000 strains of beneficial bacteria can be found in the human gut, it makes sense to choose a probiotic supplement that reflects this natural diversity
    .
  • Look for lots of Ls and Bs. When you scan the label of a good probiotic you will see strains that begin with Ls and Bs, such as Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria. These are the beneficial probiotic bacteria that reside in a healthy human intestinal tract.* To help you remember, the L strains are more native to the little (small) intestine and the B strains are generally found in the big(large) intestine, or colon. Lots of Ls and Bs are important because each person’s body uses certain probiotic strains differently than others.
Choose delayed-release capsules for targeted delivery. While probiotics are also utilized in the upper digestive tract, the majority of bacterial populations exist in the small and large intestines. Because probiotics must travel through the harsh stomach environment and be delivered to the intestines to colonize, choosing delayed-release capsules (which are designed to survive stomach acid) helps ensure more friendly probiotics reach your intestinal tract.*

Written by Renew Life

At Renew Life, we believe a healthy gut is a happy gut. For nearly two decades we have been formulating superior quality digestive care supplements to help people achieve optimal health from the inside out.* We proudly stand behind the quality, purity, and potency of every product we make. Sign up for our emails to receive new product announcements, company news, and exclusive offers!


watch this very short video about probiotics

https://youtu.be/MyKS4yIjAnU

Probiotic foods:

One of the most popular probiotic foods is live-cultured yogurt, but be sure to read the ingredients list, as not all yogurts are made equally. Look for brands such as Brown Cow and Cascade Fresh, which include lactobacillus, acidophilus and other probiotic cultures.

KEFIR:
Similar to yogurt, this fermented dairy product is a unique combination of milk and fermented kefir grains. It has a slightly acidic and tart flavor with a hint of bready-yeastiness (but that is usually more noticed in the smell than the taste). Kefir is similar to yogurt, but because it is fermented with yeast and more bacteria, the final product has more probiotics.

SAUERKRAUT:

Made from fermented cabbage and other veggies, sauerkraut is not only extremely rich in healthy live cultures, but also aids in reducing allergy symptoms. Sauerkraut -- and the similar but spicy Korean dish, kimchi -- is also loaded with immune-boosting vitamins that may help ward off infection.

SOFT CHEESE:

Goat's milk and soft cheese are particularly high in probiotics, including thermophillus, bifudus, bulgaricus and acidophilus.

DARK CHOCOLATE:

Probiotics can be added to high-quality dark chocolate, up to four times the amount of probiotics as many forms of dairy. This is only one of the health benefits of chocolate.

MISO SOUP:
Miso is one the main-stays of Japanese traditional medicine that can really get your disgestive system moving. Made from fermented rye, beans, rice or barley, adding a tablespoon of miso to some hot water makes an excellent, quick, probiotic-rich soup, full of lactobacilli and bifidus bacteria. Beyond its important live cultures, miso is extremely nutrient-dense.

PICKLES:

Believe it or not, the common green pickle is an excellent food source of probiotics. When looking to pickles for probiotics, opt for naturally fermented varieties where vinegar wasn't used in the pickling process. A sea salt and water solution encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria and may give sour pickles some digestive benefits.

TEMPEH:

A great substitute for meat or tofu, tempeh is a probiotic-rich grain made from fermented soy beans. A great source of vitamin B12, this vegetarian food can be sautéed, baked or eaten crumbled on salads. If prepared correctly, tempeh is also very low in salt, which makes it an ideal choice for those on a low-sodium diet.

KOMBUCHA TEA:

Kombucha is an acquired taste due to its sour flavor and fermented odor. It's been around for more than 2,000 years and has a rich anecdotal history of preventing and fighting cancer, arthritis, and other degenerative diseases. In fact, according to a Los Angeles Times article, those suffering from HIV made kombucha popular in the 1980s. People drank it to boost their immune systems, increase energy, improve their skin and nails and strengthen thinning hair. These health benefits have not been scientifically proven. However, research shows antioxidant properties in kombucha help boost immunity and energy levels. As a probiotic beverage, it may improve digestion.

“The A Food, B Food Lecture"

How To Get “Good Grades” On Your Food Choices

By Tom Venuto


Tom Venuto
Embracing “You Are What You Eat”

The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said that you can’t step in the same river twice. What he meant was that, even though it may look the same every day, it’s always a different river because of the never-ending flow of new water running through it. The same is true of the human body. This very minute as you’re reading this, old cells in your body are dying and new ones are replacing them. Some experts say this cellular turnover occurs at a rate as high as 50,000 cells per second. As you ponder that incredible thought, ask yourself, “Where does the raw material for all these new cells come from?” Everyone has heard the old maxim, “you are what you eat” – it’s the most clichéd nutrition saying of all. But what if it were really true? If you accepted it as literal truth, you would start to get very, very careful about what you put in your body every day. You would start to think before you eat. You would feel an overwhelming desire to put a higher grade of fuel in your body and provide better raw materials for cell construction. You would make your food choices much the way body builders make their food choices – very carefully. Most people take their food choices very lightly, not realizing that everything they eat has an impact on their health, energy, performance and body composition, especially over time. Even worse, some people give no thought at all to what they eat every day – they eat purely for pleasure and convenience, without giving any consideration to the long term consequences. But even if you already agree with these ideas, the big question is, how do you know what foods to choose? Something that should, by all rights, be very simple – eating - seems impossibly complicated today. When you walk down a supermarket aisle or 
look at a restaurant menu, you’re faced with a dizzying array of choices. Label claims like “low cholesterol,” “free-range”, “30% less fat,” “all natural,” and “100% organic” grab your attention and seem to scream, “pick me!” Not to mention how food gurus are everywhere – on TV, on the internet, in the best-selling books – all telling you something different, usually claiming that one food or food group is the source of all our problems and another is the miraculous cure. How do you make a simple assessment of food quality (that doesn’t require a PhD in nutrition?) How do you know a food is not only healthy, but will also help you get leaner? Worry no more, because you now have in your hands a simple and logical rating system you can use to “grade” your food choices.

Why Sort Your Foods Into “Grades?” 

This rating system is set up in grades for two reasons. One is because grades are a concept everyone can relate to. Everyone went to school, and year after year, was graded on their performance, so everyone understands this. Two, because the overwhelming belief held by most people is that a food is either good or bad – and this belief is reinforced by the “gurus” with their rigid diet philosophies. The truth is, food choices don’t fall neatly into two categories; “pass” or “fail.” Food quality runs across a spectrum, similar to temperature and color. At what temperature does hot become cold? Where does black become white? Black and white or hot and cold are simply two ends of a spectrum. It’s the same with food choices. Food quality can range from highly processed with zero nutritional value and very high calorie density on the low end (an “F”) to all-natural with high nutritional value on the high end (an “A”). Here's an example: An apple is an A grade food. An apple is a raw food found in its natural state, un-tampered with by man. Now, what about applesauce? It too is nothing but apples, but since the apples have been pureed and are not in their most natural state, it has dropped to a "B" - still a good "grade," mind you, though if it’s sweetened with sugar, you’re a B- or C+ at best. Turn it into apple juice and you're down to a "C" (still a passing grade, but now you’ve lost fiber, increased caloric density and turned a whole food into a liquid). Then if you add sugar (sweetened apple drink), you're down to a "D". Finally, if the apples eventually become a fat and sugar-filled apple pie, your grade has plummeted to an "F" (yes, you flunked!). You could take nearly every food through this type of scale to grade it. After you assign a grade, then your goals are simple: First, look for places in your current meal plan where your grades have room for improvement, then improve them. If you have straight A’s already, or even A’s and B’s, the chances are good that you’re in great health. The chances are also good that you’re at or near your ideal weight, as long as you’re also diligently tracking the quantity of food you eat, not just the quality. A second goal is to avoid including any low grade foods as staples in your daily meal plan. Any food can be worked into your plan occasionally in moderation (I wouldn’t dare take away your apple pie completely). No foods are totally forbidden, unless you have some kind of allergy or health reason that you must avoid them. What I’m suggesting is that you place the greatest care in choosing the foods you eat every day – your “staple foods.” What you eat in small amounts or on rare occasions is of little consequence. Your daily habits are what make or break you. Your goal is to make the high grade foods the ones you eat every day, over and over again, day after day.  Obviously, this grading system is quite subjective, and there are no clearly drawn lines between grades. This isn’t a scientific system, nor is it intended to be – it’s a simple decision making tool and a mindset toward food. Therefore, take the food lists with a grain of salt – they are merely illustrative, not definitive. Despite the difficulty there may be in assigning a grade in some cases, and the fact that this list is not technically perfect, the reason I still teach this concept to my clients and readers is because of how much it has always resonated with them. It makes people stop and think before they eat it, it’s easy to understand, it’s fun and it changes behavior in the direction of positive habits. Although there’s room for personal interpretation, just as a one teacher might assign a different grade than another teacher when grading a student’s paper, there are some surefire signs of a low grade food. A low grade food has two distinct characteristics: One, it’s man made, aka refined or processed. Two, it’s also calorie dense. That gives you a food that is both unhealthy and fattening when eaten often. So always be asking yourself, “is this food refined and is this food calorie dense?” The more refined food is, the lower the grade. The more calorie dense a refined food is, the lower the grade. The worst foods of all - the “D’s” and “F’s” - are the foods that are highly refined and very calorie dense.

The easiest way to improve your food grades

Okay, “so far, so good,” you’re thinking, “but how do I know if a food is refined or processed?” Well, probably the easiest way is to focus on eating natural foods as much as possible. Even this has been a fuzzy subject in the past because there’s no legal or technical definition of natural, so it’s open to a lot of interpretation (or misinterpretation). We can fix that problem by establishing our own, very clear definition. How do you know if a food is “natural” or not? You simply ask: “Did this food come out of the ground or off the tree / plant this way?" If the answer is yes, then it’s natural and it’s a high grade food. To take it a step further and include protein foods, you could expand on this definition and say, “If it grew from the ground, walked, flew or swam, it’s natural.” (vegetarians, no hate mail please; you can stick with the first definition). When you eat natural, unprocessed foods, you are usually giving yourself foods that are higher in nutrient density. In most cases, they are also automatically lower in calorie density because food refining has a way of packing more calories into a small amount of food. There are exceptions, such as the healthy fats like fish oil, avocado, coconut, walnuts and olive oil. These are high in calorie density, but also high in nutrient density. A lot of people miss out on these nutritious foods because they judge a food’s grade based on caloric density alone. With natural foods that are high in calories, you simply have to keep the quantity in check. Yes, you can get fat on healthy, natural foods if you eat too much of them. A-grade foods should make up the majority of your calories, but if you only ate A-grade foods and nothing else, your diet would be somewhat restricted and limited (a straight A’s diet is a strict diet). It might also make it difficult to gain (lean) body weight or fuel high volume training, because many A-grade foods such as green vegetables and lean proteins lack the caloric density required to achieve and stay in caloric surplus. That’s one of the reasons it's ok for most people use “B" foods like whole wheat bread or whole grain pasta sometimes - especially on a muscle-gaining programs or endurance training programs. Another reason that B’s are ok is because it expands your nutritional variety tremendously, and that can help improve your compliance rate. Your nutrition plan is still very high in quality, but not so strict that you can’t stick with it. Many people allow their grades to be more relaxed for year-round maintenance (more B foods), but when they’re pursuing a serious body composition goal, they tighten up their diet and aim for the highest grade possible.

A-Grade Foods 

An A is the highest grade a food can receive. To earn an A-grade, a food must be 100% natural (not refined or processed in any way). A-grade foods must also be extremely nutrient dense. These top-of-the line “super-foods” are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, carotenoids, phytochemicals, essential fatty acids, fiber and other bioactive compounds that provide health benefits. For example, red peppers are the only food with an entire days worth of vitamin C. Tomatoes contain cancer-fighting lycopene. Spinach is rich in calcium and vitamin D. Orange veggies like carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash are packed with carotenoids. Asparagus is loaded with vitamin K. Deep leafy greens like spinach are nutritional powerhouses with ample quantities of Vitamin K, Carotenoids, Calcium, Iron, Potassium and Vitamin C. Almost all fibrous carbs and green vegetables get an A grade. Some would even quality for an A+ because they have extremely high nutrient density with extremely low calorie density, making them ideal foods for reducing body fat. Some dieters are afraid of starchy carbohydrates because they’ve been led to believe they’re fattening. However, starchy carbs are not inherently unhealthy, nor are they inherently fattening, an excess of calories is what’s fattening. The A-grade starchy carbohydrates like yams, brown rice and old fashioned oatmeal are staples for athletes, bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts. Other A-grade starches include black eye peas, lentils, beans (navy, pinto, kidney, garbanzo), quinoa and barley. It’s true that some people are carb intolerant and don’t do as well with large amounts of grains and starches, but don’t fall for the “all carbs are fattening” myth. There are plenty of A-grade starchy carbs that are 100% natural, eaten almost exactly the way they came out of the ground. Fruits, although they are considered a “simple carb” (fructose), are also on the A-list because they are natural and high in nutritional value. Fat-burning nutrition isn’t as black and white as complex carbs and simple carbs. Simple versus complex is one consideration, but the far more important selection criterion is whether a food is refined or natural. Many people in the low carb community recommend avoiding fruit. Some gurus in the bodybuilding field do as well. There’s a common belief that fructose is fattening. But think about it: the fructose in whole fruit is not high fructose corn syrup like you’d find in soda - this is fruit sugar – exactly the way it came out off the plant or tree. Fruit is an A-grade food all the way. Dried fruit perhaps might be a B due to the extremely high calorie density (when water is removed from food, the caloric density increases) Rounding out the A-grade food category are A-grade proteins, which are the lean, complete proteins (those containing all the essential amino acids) and the A-grade fats, which are those high in omega-3’s and other healthy essential fatty acids. Foods such as Salmon, which are high in protein, and other heart-healthy natural foods high in omega-3 fats could arguably even be graded an A+ food because of the amazing health benefits of this type of fat. 

A-grade fibrous carbs:

Spinach 
Kale 
Broccoli 
Cauliflower 
Brussel sprouts 
Green Beans 
Asparagus 
Collard greens 
Green and red peppers 
Mushrooms 
Tomatoes 
Onions 
All other fibrous carbs, green vegetables or salad vegetables.

A-grade starchy carbs:

Yams 
Sweet potatoes 
Barley 
Oatmeal (Old fashioned unsweetened) 
Beans, all types
Black eye peas 
Brown rice
Long grain slow cooked rice 
Lentils 
White potatoes 
Red potatoes 
Quinoa 
Carrots.

A-grade simple carbs:

All fresh fruits (not including canned, sweetened, or juice).

A-grade fats:

Flaxseed oil 
Essential oil blend supplements 
Fish Oil 
Fatty fish (salmon, trout, herring, sardines) 
Nuts & seeds 
Nut butters (natural/ unsweetened) 
Coconut 
Olives
Extra virgin olive oil 
Avocado.

A-grade proteins:

Chicken breast 
Turkey breast 
Extra lean ground turkey 
Ostrich 
Buffalo/Bison/lean game meats 
Fish, all types 
Shellfish 
Egg whites 
Whole eggs 
Top round steak (leanest cut of red meat).

B-Grade Foods 

A “B” is a not the best grade, but it’s a good grade nonetheless – very good. Physique athletes (bodybuilders, fitness models and figure competitors) often drop out B grade foods prior to competitions or photo shoots, opting for 100% A-grade choices. This makes the diet more restrictive. If you’re a perfectionist, you might strive for “straight A’s,” and that’s a noble sentiment. But keep in mind that it’s not only okay for you to eat some B grade foods most of the year, it might actually be a good thing because it makes your nutrition plan much easier to maintain. Adherence to your nutrition program is much easier when you give yourself more options. On the other hand, if you’re preparing for a physique competition or you’re on a fat loss peaking phase, then it makes sense to “tighten up” your diet and choose as many Agrade foods as possible. There are many good B-grade foods to choose from. Allowing products that are 100% whole grain, yet slightly processed (whole wheat bread, cereal or pasta, for example), opens up a whole new category of options and adds great variety to your nutrition program. Why doesn’t whole wheat bread get an “A?” Aren’t whole grains top shelf nutrition? The main reason is whole wheat and whole grain bread products don’t a get an A is because they’re processed. Although it may be whole grain, and not white, enriched, bleached flour, a loaf of bread doesn’t grow on a tree does it? It’s unsweetened (except for a tiny amount of corn syrup) but it is slightly processed. An all-natural food is one you eat in the same form that it came from in nature. Also, there are a number of people who don’t respond as well to grains or wheat products due to allergies, intolerances or other health or gastrointestinal issues. B-grade proteins include those which are still low in fat, but are not as lean as their A-grade counterparts. For example, flank steak is a favorite of many fitness and physique athletes, but it’s not quite as lean as top round steak, so the top round gets an A and the flank gets a B. The food with the lower calorie density grades higher – and that’s especially true when you’re talking about weight control (there are a handful of calorically dense fats and oils that are extremely nutritious, so they make the A list, but when weight control is the issue, you have to keep the calories in check, regardless of where they come from). Dairy products first appear in the B grade list, because most of them are at least somewhat processed foods. Also, as the fat content goes up, the caloric density goes up. Full fat cheeses for example, while containing quality milk proteins, can add very large amounts of calories to meals. 

B-grade Carbohydrates:

100% whole grain, unsweetened boxed cereals 
100% whole grain cooked cereals 
100% whole grain pastas 
100% whole grain breads 
100% Whole wheat pitas 
Quick brown rice 
Quick oatmeal (unsweetened).

B-grade Proteins & dairy products:

Flank steak 
Extra Lean top sirloin 
Extra lean ground beef 
Very lean cuts of pork 
Low Fat ground turkey 
Nonfat or 1% low fat sour cream 
Nonfat or 1% low fat cheese 
Nonfat or 1% low fat cream cheese 
Nonfat or 1% low fat, sugar free yogurt 
Nonfat or 1% lowfat cottage cheese.

C-Grade Foods 

A “C” is an average grade; not poor, not failing, but not good either. If most of your diet consists of “C” grade foods, the nutritional quality of diet will be lower and it’s more likely that your calorie density will be automatically higher. C-grade carbohydrates are those which are processed or sweetened slightly, but most of them are still made from a whole grain. Starches that are processed (white rice) also get C’s because even though they are complex carbohydrates, they are stripped of some of their original nutritional value. Most boxed cereals such as Cheerios only get a C because even though they’re made from whole grain oats, they’re sweetened with white sugar. If you go to a health food store you can often find generic brand sugar free “Cheerios” (usually called “oat o’s or “Oat circles,” etc.) This might bump the grade up to a B. Any cereal sweetened with refined sugar automatically gets bumped down to a C. If the cereal is mostly sugar (think Fruit Loops or Sugar Smacks), it’s more like a D or even an F if the calorie density is high. C-grade carbohydrates also include very calorie dense carbs, like fruit juice. Fruit juice might be considered a fairly healthy food were it not for the high calorie density and the fact that liquid calories are not handled in the body like solid food. The satiety mechanisms in your gut and brain do not register liquids the way they do solid foods. That gives liquid calories of all kinds a mediocre grade at best, and when calorie dense, a low grade. C-grade proteins are those which are still relatively unprocessed, but higher in fat, which brings up the caloric density. Very low fat lunch meats are C foods, but generally lunch meats are not good choices because they’re processed foods (not real meat, but a meat “product.”)

C-grade carbohydrates:

Grits 
Cream of rice 
Cream of wheat 
White rice 
Pasta made from enriched flour (durum semolina) 
Whole grain, low fat snack foods (pretzels, crackers, etc) 
Bagels 
Sweetened and /or flavored oatmeal 
Boxed cereals, sweetened (sugar sweetened raisin bran, etc) 
Enriched wheat bread 
Unsweetened fruit juice 

C-grade proteins:

Turkey thighs or dark meat 
Chicken thighs 
Ground turkey 
Sirloin steak 
Other moderately high fat red meats 
Very low fat sliced chicken breast (lunch meat) 
Very low fat sliced turkey breast (lunch meat) 
Very low fat sliced ham (lunch meat) 
Low fat ham or pork 
Low fat 2% cheeses 
Low fat 2% cream cheese 
Low fat 2% cottage cheese 
Low fat 2% sour cream 
Low fat 2% unsweetened yogurt 

D-Grade Foods

A “D” is a poor grade, no doubt about it. If you’re eating a lot of D-grade foods, you’ve seriously compromised the nutrient density of your meal plan. You’re getting calories without much health value. You’re also very likely to be getting too many calories. D foods are those that are high in refined sugars or made primarily from bleached white flour. Dgrade foods also include proteins that are moderately high in total fat, saturated fat or trans fats and proteins that are highly processed and refined. You might think you’re doing well by eating “low fat hot dogs,” but refined meat products – even those low in fat – should not be a regular feature in your daily meal plan. High saturated fat content also lowers your grades. The role of saturated fat in disease is controversial, and to some degree saturated fats have been exonerated from the sole responsibility for heart disease. It’s more complicated than that. Saturates should definitely make up a portion of your dietary fat calories. However, a high saturated fat intake at the expense of omega-3 fats or healthy monounsaturated fats, especially in the context of a high sugar diet as well, is not a nutritionally optimal. Also remember that fat and carbs together can be an extremely calorie dense combination. The lower your carbs, the more fat you can eat, but in this grading system (in the context of a low or moderate fat diet), foods high in fat get lower grades (C or D), because of high calorie density, with only a handful of exceptions we’ve previously discussed. 

D-grade carbohydrates:

Sweetened boxed breakfast cereals with no whole grains 
Snack foods made from white flour (pretzels, crackers, etc.) 
Bleached, enriched white bread (i.e., “wonder bread”) or white bread products 
Muffins and baked goods made with white flour, sugar and or hydrogenated oils 

D-grade proteins & dairy products:

Low fat sliced chicken breast (lunch meat) 
Low fat sliced turkey breast (lunch meat) 
Sausage Low fat ground beef 
Reduced fat beef jerky 
Reduced fat hot dogs 
Reduced fat bacon 
Cream cheese, full fat 
Cottage cheese, full fat 
Sour cream, full fat 
Cream, half and half 
Butter (butter is arguably a neutral fat, but it’s very calorie dense) 

F-Grade Foods 

F foods (and arguably the D foods), are the foods you should not eat as part of your regular daily meal plans. If you eat them at all, save them for free meals or special occasions (holidays, birthdays, celebrations, etc). These are the foods that not only spell disaster for your physique; they’re almost always bad for your health. 

F-grade foods include the following categories

1) Foods containing trans fats
2) Foods high in saturated and total fat
3) Highly processed or refined foods
4) Highly sweetened foods or foods that are mostly pure sugar
5) Foods that are high in refined sugars and fats
6) Processed, high fat meats.

Foods very high in saturated fats and or trans fats:

Hydrogenated tropical oils (Palm oil, palm kernel oil) 
Hydrogenated vegetable oils 
Anything deep-fried 
Margarine 
Very high calorie and high fat cuts of pork 
Very high calorie and high fat cuts of red meat 
Ground beef (full fat) 
Foods made mostly of white sugar or other refined carbohydrates (corn syrup, etc) 
Candy Sweets 
Milk chocolate or chocolate candy 
Cookies 
Soda 
Sugar-sweetened beverages 
Pastries and 
Baked goods high in both fats and sugars 
Pies 
Doughnuts 
Croissants 
Éclairs 
Cinnamon buns 
Cakes 
Foods high in both refined carbohydrates and fat 
Fettuccine alfredo 
Potato chips 
Fast food 
Cheeseburgers on white buns (worse with bacon) 
Sweetened peanut butter 
Meats that are processed and high in fat 
Sliced full fat ham (lunch meat) 
Sliced full fat turkey breast (lunch meat) 
Sliced full fat chicken breast (lunch meat) 
All other full fat luncheon meats and cold cuts 
Hot dogs 
Salami 
Beef jerky 
Beef sticks.

Your Score? 

So how did you do? Did you pass? Did you get straight A’s? Did you flunk? Don’t worry, if your “grades” weren’t so good, it doesn’t matter. What’s in the past is done. What matters now is that you look ahead and make an effort to improve your grades. In fact, you can give yourself kudos every time you simply move up a grade, just as if your report card at school was a C, but you moved up to a B. Don’t feel like you must get straight A’s. If you get mostly A’s & B’s, you’ll get fantastic results. There’s no time like the present – you can start with your very next meal.

-Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com 
www.BurnTheFatBlog.com 
PS. Join us online for more nutrition discussions at: http://www.burnthefatinnercircle.com 

Brain jelly - design and construction of an organic, brain-like computer

Full-fledged massively parallel organic computing at the nanoscale use extremely low power. Will brain-like evolutionary circuits lead to intelligent computers? In this work, the researchers created a process of circuit evolution similar to the human brain in an organic molecular layer. This was the first time that such a brain-like 'evolutionary' circuit had been realized.The research team, led by Dr.Anirban Bandyopadhyay, a senior researcher at the Advanced Nano Characterization Center at the National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba, Japan, has now finalized their human brain model and introduced the concept of a new class of computer which does not use any circuit or logic gate.Over the past decades, digital computers have consistently increased in speed and complexity – China's Tianhe-2, currently the fastest supercomputer in the world, can execute a blistering 33.86 petaFLOPS, or 33.86 quadrillion floating point operations per second. Nevertheless, these machines are limited by their reliance on sequential processing of instructions; i.e. no matter how fast they are, they still process only one bit at a time.By contrast, individual neurons in our brain are very slow: they fire at only about 1000 times per second; however, since they are operating in a massively parallel way, with millions of neurons working collectively, they are able to complete certain tasks more efficiently than even the fastest supercomputer. Another important distinction of our brain is that, during computing, information processing circuits evolve continuously to solve complex problems. Bandyopadhyay and his team now describe the fundamental computing principle of a frequency fractal brain like computer."Our artificial brain-building project differs from all others in the world for several reasons," Bandyopadhyay explains to Nanowerk. He lists the four major distinctions:

1) We do not use logic gate based computing within the framework of Turing, our decision-making protocol is not a logical reduction of decision rather projection of frequency fractal operations in a real space, it is an engineering perspective of Gödel’s incompleteness theorem. 
2) We do not need to write any software, the argument and basic phase transition for decision-making, 'if-then' arguments and the transformation of one set of arguments into another self-assemble and expand spontaneously, the system holds an astronomically large number of 'if' arguments and its associative 'then' situations. 
3) We use 'spontaneous reply back', via wireless communication using a unique resonance band coupling mode, not conventional antenna-receiver model, since fractal based non-radiative power management is used, the power expense is negligible. 
4) We have carried out our own single DNA, single protein molecule and single brain microtubule neurophysiological study to develop our own Human brain model. 

The kind of CMOS based integrated chip that forms the core of existing supercomputers will not be used in this kind of computer. Bandyopadhyay uses the term brain jelly to describe the purely organic computing architecture.The first step of constructing the brain jelly is to construct a protein-like molecule which – if triggered by an electromagnetic signal – starts self-assembly.

(a) Every single seed of the brain architecture has a helical symmetry just like the human brain; (b) The complete design of the organic supramolecular architecture based human brain. The egg-shaped complete brain has two parts (left), the upper part holds 'brain jelly', the spinal cord and the mid brain is inside this egg, shown separately in the right. (c) The experimental set up where the researchers study the circuit evolution of a brain jelly; (d) The microscope image capture of a video when 7nm seed creates visible brain circuits.

"Recently, we have succeeded in self-assembling such an architecture, where a 7 nm organic molecular seed expands to another seed of 20 nm, which then is automatically coupled with several others to trigger another self-assembly of helical nanowire," says Bandyopadhyay. –In this way, the self-assembly continues, this is one of the finest examples of multilayered hierarchical self-assembly." 

Once the basic neuron structure is synthesized, different versions of synthetic neurons are also created. Modified versions of neurons are used only for self-assembling them in the form of a wire, spiral, glia like spherical, or semicircular assemblies. 

The sensors for the artificial brain are also different from the existing world of sensors. 

"We use a new kind of wireless sensor technology," notes Bandyopadhyay. "In this technique, we use resonant oscillations of the sensing molecules following mechanical, chemical or electromagnetic energy in creating pulses of different kinds and then convert all complex-shaped pulses in to a wave train of rectangular pulses but with different time gaps. Thus, all kinds of sensory data are converted in terms of one and only one parameter that is frequency. There exists a universal coding protocol for all sensors as far as the global time gaps are concerned, which isolates multiple distinct frequency signals." 

Power supply for this brain-like computer comes from a chemical nano-battery. 

The researchers emphasize that their organic molecular systems are not alive. For computation, they do not even require to switch on and off the conducting states just like conventional computer; they simply need power to maintain a potential difference between the protein molecule and every single oscillator. 

"This is a simple condition, however, it is a critical challenge," says Bandyopadhyay. "In the biological brain, we have neurons firing and the membrane potential helps all oscillators in the layers below and above the neuron scale, at every layer. Attaching a small battery to individual oscillators is an impossible task. Instead, we follow the same trick developed by nature for our artificial brain, too. Inside the spherical cavity of the neuroglia and in the neuron we implant the nano-batteries, alternately, ionic conduction protocols could also be implemented just like the real biological brain." 

The brain jelly architecture has negligible power consumption. While existing supercomputers have enormous power requirements, a brain jelly computer works on a few watts only. The reason for the extremely low power consumption is the use of resonant coupling and decoupling of electrical pulses as the basic event of computation. There is no electrical wiring, no logic operation, hence no power loss. 

There is no need to write any software. 

This is very much like our human brain. In a normal computer a software engineer types instructions, and the computer follows these instructions. The hardware has no intelligence to cook logic and combine multiple different logic to generate something new, that never existed before. 

"In our system, the sensors capture the 'if-then' arguments and self-assemble the arguments," Bandyopadhyay explains. "This is new – 'self-assembly' replaces software engineers. Thus, for every new input, the computer itself creates unforeseen sets of arguments and projects the solution considering every single parameter." 

A beyond Turing path of computation. 

"The problem with the Turing tape based computing is that all possible arguments should be known beforehand and the entire processing scheme should be defined strictly, as an output of step-by-step logical reduction process," says Bandyopadhyay. "But all traditional computers work within the domain of Turing." 

"However, in our case this is an adventure to the higher order logic that could not be converted in terms of set theory," he continues. "We find our computer a perfect example of Russel's paradox, which proved that higher order logic could reach a situation when set theory would collapse." 

"Note that existing world of technologies follow only first-order logic, which follows only sets of 'if-then' statements. Therefore we do not have a truth table like a conventional computer, rather a infinitely tall columns of arguments connected by their properties." 

Spontaneous reply-back – performing a search without searching. 

The biggest problem of the existing world is the data deluge, when we do not have time and the computing power to analyze a large amount of data due to quantity and complexity of the situation. To address this issue, the research team introduced the concept of spontaneous reply-back which supersedes even the exponential speedup promised by a quantum computer. 

"This is like the 'needle in a hay-stack' problem" says Bandyopadhyay. "If you search, you'll never find it. But if you take a strong enough magnet, then the needle will come out of the haystack. In a way, the needle spontaneously replies back to the magnet. In a huge data situation, where searching becomes impossible, then, if we could use this technique – spontaneous reply back – then we can solve the problem." 

"In our case, we are making a pattern-based computer, which means all kinds of information are stored in the computer like a complex 3D pattern (the 'hay')," he elaborates. "Now, every problem is just like a small 3D pattern (the 'needle') and we need to find a match for it in the large pattern." 

The team's brain jelly – which basically is an organic jelly of oscillators – stores 3D patterns by learning. Now, when you 'ask' these oscillators a question – by sending another small 3D pattern – only those oscillators which are holding the same or a similar pattern respond. 

Though the researchers are using an organic supramolecular system for brain-like computing, their brain-building task has been largely simplified because they are not using chemicals. The brain jelly does not require the massive complexity of hormones, enzymes, and vital tasks that the human brain employs to safeguard the living body. 

"Our exploration would deliver a human-like brain for robots or sophisticated industrial machines," concludes Bandyopadhyay. "At the same time, it would open up a new physical world of biology squarely parallel to the chemical-only genetic and molecular biology that exists today."

Posted: Feb 10, 2014
By Michael Berger . Copyright © Nanowerk

Brain Like Computing

Information processing circuits in digital computers are static. In our brains, information processing circuits -- neurons -- evolve continuously to solve complex problems. Now, an international research team from Japan and Michigan Technological University has created a similar process of circuit evolution in an organic molecular layer that can solve complex problems. This is the first time a brain-like "evolutionary circuit" has been realized.

This computer is massively parallel: The world's fastest supercomputers can only process bits one at a time in each of their channels. Their circuit allows instantaneous changes of ~300 bits.

Their processor can produce solutions to problems for which algorithms on computers are unknown, like predictions of natural calamities and outbreaks of disease. To prove this unique feature, they have mimicked two natural phenomena in the molecular layer: heat diffusion and the evolution of cancer cells.

The monolayer has intelligence; it can solve many problems on the same grid.

Their molecular processor heals itself if there is a defect. This remarkable self-healing property comes from the self-organizing ability of the molecular monolayer. No existing man-made computer has this property, but our brain does: if a neuron dies, another neuron takes over its function.

Published 26 April 2010.


Michigan Technological University.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

The Best Computer Repair guy in the Phoenix Area!

This guy only charges $15 an hour! No joke! And he does great work! Backs up your PC/Mac, Works on your tablet, phone, TV, Internet connection, gaming system, and networking. He works with Hardware and Software (meaning that he deals with the physical parts and the software)!

Sunday, September 25, 2016


Overeating, or undereating, is a thing that I do quite often throughout the day. I need to stop doing that. I go throughout the day, not eating much. At dinner I eat a lot. Sometimes it could be late a night too. I have to set my alarms for me to eat now. This is a big problem for a lot of people! I hope that all of you who read this take note. I try, but I'm not perfect. Stick to your guns and eat healthy, eat often, but eat less per meal. Also it's a good idea to keep a balanced diet. That means: not too many sweets and not too often.

I for one do the Paleo Plan. It is really easy for me. I'll include a photo of the plan. It's simple. All you do is not eat anything that a promagden man/woman wouldn't eat. That's pre-agricultural. I love the Paleo Plan, but choose for yourself, and keep your options open. Nothing too extreme (like a juice fast for a month or two). Those are crazy, and make you grumpy... I wouldn't recommend those.