From the monthly archives:
December 2005
Strengthen Your Brainpower
Mysteriously, Alzheimer’s disease is affecting 4.5 million Americans today. Researchers are hard at work finding ways to help those who are suffering as well as find ways to prevent more from joining them.
A new batch of research sheds light on some simple ways that we can begin protecting our minds today to avoid problems tomorrow.
- Drink more fruit and vegetable juice. Those who drink juice at least three times a week had a 75% lower risk of dementia. 75%!
- Sing as you workout. It sounds kind of, forgive the pun, off-beat, but singing while working out boosted brain retention for 70% of the participants in a Japanese study. Exercise sends blood to the brain, improving memory….and singing, perhaps, simply makes the exercise more enjoyable.
- Floss daily. There’s a connection between gum disease and Alzheimer’s. Bacteria from the mouth may cause chronic inflammation, which could impede blood flow to the brain.
When we make our New Year’s Resolutions, we should most definitely list strengthening our ”Mental Fitness” at the top of the page. Without that, what need would we have for the others on the list?
~Joi
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Saturday’s Quote of the Day
“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” ~ Dolly Parton
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Getting by Giving
“One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.” ~Sidney Howard
I’ve been thinking about the quote above all day. There’s a great deal of truth in the words - truth that I’d never really thought of before. If we want something that we don’t currently have, the odds are pretty good that we’ll have to give something up to get it.
- If we want to lose weight, certain foods are going to have to get the kiss off.
- If we want more hours in the day, there are probably specific time-wasters we’ll have to send packing.
- If we want to be more organized, clutter has to go. Yeah, I know, I felt that one, too.
Whatever it is we DON’T HAVE is missing for a reason. And if we keep motoring along, as is, we’ll never have it. After all, if we we’re drawing it to us with our present actions, wouldn’t we have it?
So, as we’re all fine-tuning our resolutions, we’d be well served to say so long to anything that’s holding us down. After that, there’ll be only one way to go…..up!
Have an awesome and safe New Year’s Eve!
Joi
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Friday’s Quote of the Day
“If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” ~Lawrence J. Peter
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Fun Reading Test
How fast do you read? Wanna find out? Mind Bluff.com has a slick reading test that’ll tell you just how fast your peepers can process what’s printed before them. Click HERE to see for yourself.
I’ve got to go back and see how my story ends, time ran out just as I was getting invested…
Joi
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Thursday’s Quote
“It is not death that man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” - Marcus Aurelius
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Memoirs of a Geisha
Below are a few pictures I’ve found of the ridiculously beautiful Chinese actress, Gong Li. Apparently she is to China what Julia Roberts is to the States. I’m not sure what other movies she has been in, but I have to round them up and see them all - at least the ones in English! She was amazing as the bad
I generally judge movies as:
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A waste of time - I’d have been better served by watching The Weather Channel
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A good movie - Glad I saw it, walked away smiling.
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A great movie that I’d love to see again. (
Pride and Prejudice ) -
An awesome movie that I WILL see again (
Walk the Line ,Memoirs of a Geisha )
Off to scourge the internet for Gong Li information. Hmmmm, I don’t have a celeb blog…
Joi
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Why Tea is So Hot Right Now
For a couple of years now, I’ve been reading everything I could get my hands on about tea. I’ve also been drinking every tea I could get my lips on. Both pursuits are serving me nicely!
Fortunately, the varieties of tea are nearly endless, so it’s never hard to find a new flavor to try out….though, admittedly, I keep returning to Chai, Green and White Pear. My favorite way to make tea at home is by the pot, using our coffee maker. I put the bags into the carafe, then allow the hot water to flow down over them - creating a whole pot. After it has set for a few minutes, I remove the bags. If it’s Green tea, I add sugar, honey and lemon. If it’s Chai, just a little sugar and sometimes a cinnamon stick. (White Pear also takes a bit of sugar, in my opinion; kind of aaaak without it!)
I’d love to get a special tea maker, because even after washing the carafe in the dishwasher, sometimes the Chai leaves a little flavor behind for the next pot of coffee. I don’t mind it, really, but my husband always detects it and makes a face like he just licked a highway. Not good, so I’m pricing tea makers!
In addition to just being darned good, there’s another reason to drink tea - for your Health. The healing properties of tea are so potent, it’s like having a supplement in a cup.
Both green and black teas have strong antioxidants, and appear to help prevent a variety of diseases and conditions, including heart disease, cancer, ulcers, inflammatory diseases, and even gum disease and cavities. Green tea has also been proven to aid weight loss. That alone is making it alot of friends!
Rooibos (red) tea is also high in antioxidants and may reduce the risk of cancer. Yerba maté, (an herbal tea from South America) is rich in polyphenols and has antioxidant properties comparable to green tea.
Chai tea, something I can’t go a day without, contains herbs and spices that are used traditionally to soothe gastric distress and warm the body. If you compliment your tea with a rolled-up stick of cinnamon bark while it’s steeping, you give yourself a bonus shot of healing properties. Cinnamon has antibacterial, anti-fungal and antiviral properties, which make it a perfect companion for bolstering immunity.
Herbal Brews
In addition to the teas above, there are a lot of herbal brewed teas that are also juiced up with healing properties.
A few miseries and the herbal teas that can alleviate them are:
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Colds, Flu and Allergies: Licorice root helps treat throat irritation; Elderberry relieves common discomforts associated with the flu; Hyssop heals congestion, coughs and hoarseness; Stinging Nettle is used for hay fever and other allergies.
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Coughs and Lung Disorders: Thyme is useful for bronchitis and lung congestion; Ginger acts as an expectorant to treat congestion and mucous buildup; and Fenugreek helps treat bronchitis, and clear coughs and congestion. (I once actually took Fenugreek as a tablet supplement and noticed a decrease in problems with my asthma.)
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Detoxification: Oregon grape root, Yellow Dock Root and Boldo each support liver function which aides the elimination of toxins.
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Lack of Energy: Ginseng, Ginger and Peppermint are awesome energizers. Peppermint tea is incredibly good - especially with butter cookies or pound cake.
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Headache: Rosemary is said to relieve headaches. Ginger and Peppermint teas are also said to be good for headaches. I can’t say that I’ve ever tried any for this ailment, I always run to my Tylenol bottle!
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Memory Loss: Rosemary is also believed to improve your memory.
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Indigestion: Peppermint and Fennel are said to improve and stimulate digestion, and a lot of people swear by Ginger for helping with motion sickness as well as morning sickness. I remember morning sickness all too well, however, and the thought of even smelling ginger would have been an invitation to the paper sack. The thing that always helped me, actually, was just regular tea - at room temp.
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Insomnia: Valerian, Hops, Passionflower and Skullcap are each believed to help promote sleep.
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PMS: Try Fennel Seed, Black Horehound, Cardamom and Caraway Seeds, Lemon Balm and Chamomile to help calm the beast known as PMS. I’m seeing alot of products on the market for different hormonal maladies that contain Black Horehound - there must be something to it.
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Stress: Chamomile, Lemon Balm and Catnip are said to have very calming effects. Catnip is even reported to be really close to being a sedative. There’s a bit of irony, given the fact that it jacks my cats up to other worlds.
Try each out for yourself - and when you come across one that alarms your taste buds, move on to the next one. Far more flavored and herbal teas are good than bad.
Joi
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Welcome to Self Help Daily!
Welcome to the newest blog in our network. I’m really excited about this particular blog because it’s shaping up to be unlike any of our others.
Self Help Daily was the brainchild (certainly not an only child!) of Paul Short. He graciously allowed me to have the domain name, and I grabbed it and ran before he changed his mind. Fortunately, he was gracious to the end and I now have a grand new toy to play with.
SHD has very big plans. It doesn’t even think of itself as a blog, it fancies itself more of an online magazine, a blogazine if you will. The people on this side of the blog blogazine are thoroughly addicted to magazines - (between us I’d say we pretty much cover half of the ones in circulation!) - so it seemed like a pretty cool idea to take what we love about this particular addiction and put it on the web.
Health, fitness, inspiration, education, family life, relationships, movie reviews (deep breath), CD reviews, entertainment, self help, news, restaurant reviews, beauty, fashion….. Now might be a good time to modify the big in “big plans” - let’s make that “mungo fat plans.”
Tons of additions will be coming into place over the next few weeks. We really hope you’ll bookmark us and check back often. We promise to have something for everyone. It’s part of our mugo fat plan.
Joi
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Everything I Know About Relationship Success I Learned At The Playground
It happened again!I was enjoying an evening with my little 2-yr. old son at the playground when, BAM, it happened. You ever have one of those moments in life when you know you are being taught an important lesson?
Picture in your mind a chaotic atmosphere of over fifty little children battling for their turn to play on a handful of playground rides and objects.
Recipe for disaster, huh? That’s what I thought, too, until my observations quickly picked up something else.
( Continue Reading )
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