Researchers suggest alternative to banning junk food

(NaturalNews) Federal and state governments have been toying with ideas about banning junk food in schools, but a recent study out of Cornell University has a better idea: move the junk food and put healthy food in its place. Not only does moving junk food to obscure locations discourage children from buying it, but placing healthy food in convenient and attractive locations -- often in place of junk food -- actually makes children want to eat it more.

"It's not nutrition until someone eats it," explained Chris Wallace, Food Service Director at the Corning, New York School District. "You need to have foods that kids will eat, or they won't eat -- or they'll eat worse." And part of getting students to eat better is simply presenting healthy food in attractive and more convenient ways.

Presented at the School Nutrition Association's New York conference, a series of studies on over 11,000 middle and high school students revealed that when healthy foods like apples are placed in attractive bowls in easily-accessible spots, many children opt for one rather than a dessert. And making changes like this costs virtually nothing, which means that food service directors everywhere can very easily implement them.

Among their findings, researchers found that:
-Reducing bowl sizes from 18 to 14 ounces cut average serving sizes of cereal by 24 percent.
-"Healthy express" checkout lines for children not purchasing desserts and chips doubled sales of healthy sandwiches.
-Putting ice cream in freezers with opaque rather than clear tops significantly reduced overall consumption of ice cream.
-Asking children if they wanted a salad increased sales by 30 percent.
-Simply moving chocolate milk behind plain milk led to students buying more plain milk.

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Sesame Street promotes incorrect nutritional advice (Opinion)

(NaturalNews) Apparently, Sesame Street will be hosting new characters called "The Superfoods" Muppets. It is being sponsored by the pharmaceutical company, Merck. "The Superfoods" are broccoli, a banana, a whole wheat bun and cheese. This is an effort to teach children about better choices in eating and to help fight obesity. Although this list includes foods that have some nutritional value, do they qualify as superfoods? Are they the best foods for most children? What might the "superfoods" characters be named if healthy pre-modern cultures around the world were to name them?

Superfoods generally are considered the superstars of nutritionally healing foods, or supplements, amongst the "healthy foodie" groups. Foods/supplements that meet this criteria: Spirulina, Bee Pollen, Butter (raw, grass fed on rapidly growing green grass), High-Vitamin Butter Oil, Cod Liver Oil, Colostrum, Glandular and Organ Extracts, Evening Primrose and Noni Juice are some of the most highly esteemed.

These items, and those like them, will not likely ever be found as a "superfoods" character on Sesame Street. This may be because they are not known by the general public; but more importantly, pharmaceutical companies, like Merck, have no interest in them. Many superfoods, from nature, leave no room for patents and profits for these companies.

A banana, although enzyme efficient when very ripe, is healthy, but not quite a superfood; whole wheat, if not properly soaked, can cause digestive problems, and many children have sensitivities to it; and, lastly, cheese, unless from pastured animals and unpasteurized, is another highly allergenic food to many children.

Pre-modern cultures, that were not exposed to modern foods, ate many "sacred" foods that helped them "make healthy babies". Many of these foods were full of vitamins and minerals, enzymes and probiotics. Their drinks were mostly fermented, for a probiotic benefit, and their milk was served raw, for all the live enzymes. They used grass fed butter, the color of an orange (today`s consumer believes butter comes only in pale yellow), in abundance and ingested fish eggs, shellfish and organ meats to produce glowingly healthy humans.

Their "Superfoods" Muppets might have had names that followed their dietary principles: Liver, Kefir, Egg Yolk and Butter! A far cry from the names of today`s version. Their version would most certainly deserve the title "superfood", however.

Traditional people's knowledge of healthy foods was passed down from generation to generation. Most of the foods touted as health food today are backed by an industry that wants people to eat them. Wheat and soy are both traded in the stock market as commodities, and the dairy industry is heavily lobbied.

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One in seven Americans now on food stamp

(NaturalNews) A new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture reveals that about one in seven Americans receives food stamps. Although the percentage of food stamp users seems to have increased in February of this year, 14.3 percent of the population still needs assistance in order to put dinner on the table. While a recovering economy might be the reason for this increase, the USDA's research does not take into account seasonal changes that might affect the rise or fall of food stamp user statistics.

Not only does this astonishing report point to increased reliance on state and federal assistance, but it also confirms that problems surrounding the nutritional content and availability of healthy foods for food stamp recipients remain unsolved. For many struggling individuals and families, healthy food options are the most expensive options. Buying a variety of vegetables in order to make a casserole, for example, costs considerably more than frozen lasagna. Families are forced to buy processed, packaged foods in order to stretch a dollar. Additionally, the program does not cover nutritional supplements that are necessary for children - and adults - who aren't getting daily recommended values of nutrients and vitamins from the unhealthy foods they must subsist on.

A 2009 study in the Economics and Human Biology journal also revealed a discouraging link between obesity and food stamps. Researchers who followed Food stamp users for 14 years found that the average food stamp user had a Body Mass Index (BMI) that averaged about 1.15 points higher than those who were not on food stamps. Even more concerning was that participants' BMIs increased more quickly while on food stamps and continued to rise the longer they stayed in the program.

Considering government statistics that show most food stamp users receive about $100 a month for groceries, it's not difficult to understand why people in the program are faced with two options: buy healthy foods or starve.

In New York City, mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to fight the obesity and diabetes epidemics by banning food stamp users from buying soft drinks or other "sugar-sweetened beverages." According to Bloomberg, "This initiative will give New York families more money to spend on foods and drinks that provide real nourishment." While his intentions are clearly good, Bloomberg's plan of banning unhealthy foods doesn't solve the underlying issue at hand: food stamp users are caught in a system that make it impossible for them to stay healthy.

Until the food industry scale is tipped in favor of fresh, locally-grown, unpackaged and unprocessed foods, the cheaper options will always be the unhealthiest options - they are most cost effective to make and produce. With one in seven Americans now requiring support just to eat, however, it's clear that fewer and fewer individuals have the option to be picky when it comes to their food choices. It's time to stand up for the consumer's right to eat healthy - regardless of income.

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Chocolate as a Health Food?

Nothing beats a good piece of chocolate. It’s rich, smooth, creamy and makes us feel good, until the guilt sets in. Chocolate’s mood-enhancing qualities are an obvious reason why it is so strongly associated with Valentine’s Day, as a gift for lovers and loved ones.

Chocolate's Dark Secret

There’s no getting around the fact that chocolate is a high fat food. But there is growing evidence that, in small quantities, some kinds of chocolate may actually be good for you. Dark chocolate is naturally rich in flavonoids (or more specifically, flavanols, a sub-class of these antioxidants). These compounds are thought to lower blood pressure and help protect against heart disease—among other things. Recent studies conducted both in the U.S. and Europe seem to support chocolate’s beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system, encouraging chocolate manufacturers, such as Mars, to develop proprietary methods of processing cocoa beans aimed specifically at preserving flavonoid content. Traditional roasting and fermentation methods are thought to destroy up to three-quarters of these compounds. Mars uses its Cocoapro trademark on some of its products, indicating the use of this method, and Swiss premium chocolate company Barry Callebaut uses Acticoa.

What about the Fat?

It’s still hard to think of chocolate as a health food. Part of the allure is the guilty pleasure of eating it. But before we raid the candy store, it’s worth remembering that chocolate is not a low calorie food. A serving size of Dove dark chocolate (40 grams) contains 210 calories and 13 grams of fat, 8 of which are saturated, although some of this saturated fat is in the form of stearic acid, which is converted by the liver into a "healthier" monounsaturated fat.

Cocoa Powder

Cocoa powder, which is low fat, would surely be a healthier way to get both our chocolate fix and our dose of flavanols. Alkalizing cocoa (or Dutch processing) produces a milder flavor and darker color but destroys most of the flavonoids. Since flavanol-rich cocoa is naturally bitter, Mars has worked hard to make it palatable. First, it sold a flavanol-rich series of snack bars and small chocolate bars. These bars were shown in one small study to actively lower total and LDL (bad) cholesterol in those with elevated cholesterol levels, bolstering Mars' claim that its flavanol-rich snack bars were heart healthy. More recently, Mars Botanicals launched CirkuHealth, a cocoa-extract supplement that can be added to drinks and cereals, and Barry Callebaut offers a high-flavanol cocoa powder, which gives chocoholics a healthier, low-fat alternative to high-fat chocolate bars. Still, when the urge to eat chocolate strikes, it's fine to allow ourselves an occasional ounce of flavanol-rich dark chocolate. It'll make us feel good, and it may even do some good.

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Healthy Foods to Eat

There are several fad diets that will lead to successful weight loss if you follow them exactly as they are designed. That doesn't mean every food that fits into a diet is a healthy food, but it does mean you have to change your eating patterns to fit the diet's rules.
Rather than worry about following a fad diet, think about your health and your lifestyle instead. Start by learning which foods are good for you.

Healthy Foods to Eat

The closer a food is to its natural state, the better it is for you. Fresh fruits and berries are great and will satisfy a craving for sweets. Whole vegetables have lots of vitamins and minerals, so eat more green, orange and yellow vegetables. Steam them to retain the most nutritional value and be careful with sauces, they may be high in calories and fats that aren't good for you.

Any pasta or baked goods should be made from whole grains. Avoid sugary snacks and pastries as well. An apple is good for you, an apple pie really isn't.
Shop for lean meats and don't forget the fish. The omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in ocean fish are often deficient in our diets, so serve seafood two or three times per week. Baked fish and chicken are healthier than fried, and lean meats like bison or venison may be healthier than higher fat beef.
Processed lunch meats, hot dogs, bacon, and sausages have a lot of saturated fat and nitrates in them you don't want in your body. If you love these meats, you can find healthier versions sold at health food stores.
Remember to eat a variety of foods to get all of the vitamins and minerals you need to be healthy.
Stick to water, milk and 100% fruit and vegetable juices as your main beverages and limit sugary soft drinks. If you get tired of plain water, add a slice of lemon or lime to add a touch of flavor. For kids, try some fruit juice jazzed up with carbonated water.

 

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Chocolate – Heart Medicine

An every day ratio of dark bitter chocolate could help prevent heart diseases, according to a study realized by a team of Swiss researchers. The Swiss researchers say that the anti-oxidants from chocolate could prevent the blood veins to become smaller and less wide.
The research team came to this conclusion after testing on a group of 20 volunteers, which were smokers without health problems. The subjects were asked not to eat any types of aliments rich in anti-oxidants such as apples, onion and cabbage and after that they were given 40 grams of different types of chocolate.
Two hours after consuming the chocolate, the echo-graph showed that black chocolate, with a cocoa percent of at least 74%, significantly improved the blood flow. Additionally, ulterior tests showed that the risk of encountering blood accidents and blockages has been decreased to half of the initial risk. However, white chocolate did not achieve similar effects. The researches that performed the study say that dark chocolate contain the biggest quantity of anti-oxidants for one gram than any other products like red vine, green tea or forests fruits.
Chocolate is indeed an aliment that has many anti-oxidant elements in it. But it also contains fats and glucoses in huge quantities. So, it can cause weight problems if excessively consumed.
The best thing to do is to adjust your chocolate portion to your actual weight and to the amount of physical effort you make everyday. Persons that are involved in a great deal of effort can consume chocolate without fearing weight problems. But the ones that don’t, like people working in offices, sitting all day on a chair and not doing any kind of sports are confronted with a big problem if they eat too much chocolate. If the organism doesn’t call for sweets, like it does when we are cold, tired or worn out, then the chocolate use should be reduced to a minimal portion a day.

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dangerous sick

Mesothelioma Cancer
Mesothelioma in itself is one of the deadliest diseases ever to have been discovered by mankind. Medically, Mesothelioma as a word itself means a tumor that is more likely to transform in a fast proliferating cancer which affects the mesothelial cells of an organ, which form the protective thin covering over the organs like heart, lungs and abdomen.
Whatever is the verbal definition given out to this deadly disease, but those can never for sure weigh the deadliness of this fatal disease. It is an absolutely fatal disease which has taken many a people into its deadly grip. The maximum period of survival after the disease has been diagnosed, has come to the most of a year or two. It is worse form of cancer which is not curable. However, recent studies have suggested that if the disease can be diagnosed at a very early stage then the life of the individual who gets affected by this deadly disease, can be stretched till at the most of 5 years. The treatment of this disease is very expensive but the treatment doesn’t assure life but a few more days, to procure the huge lump-sum required for the treatment, people also file lawsuits to cover the huge incurring expenses for the treatment.
Hypertension
It seems as though many Americans are living a life that leads to high blood pressure or hypertension. As people age, the situation gets worse. Nearly half of all older Americans have hypertension. This disease makes people five times more prone to strokes, three times more likely to have a heart attack, and two to three times more likely to experience a heart failure.
The problem with this disease is that nearly one third of the folks who have hypertension do not know it because they never feel any direct pain. But overtime the force of that pressure damages the inside surface of your blood vessels.
However, according to experts, hypertension is not predestined. Reducing salt intake, adopting a desirable dietary pattern losing weight and exercising can all help prevent hypertension.
Obviously, quitting bad habits and eating a low fat diet will help, but the most significant part that you can do is to exercise. And just as exercise strengthens and improves limb muscles, it also enhances the health of the heart muscles.
Diabetes
Now a day’s diabetes treatment has become a common disease among people. It is caused due to mismanagement of carbohydrate metabolism inside the body. Diabetes is identified with the excessive production of urine, hunger, thirst and excessive loss of weight, blurred vision, and delay in healing of skin, repeated infection, and excessive fatigue. Diabetes has got a serous issue of human health. It denotes sugar in blood and urine very excessively. So, when it comes to treatment of diabetes the main concern should be given to control blood sugar, which is main cause of diabetes. Managing blood sugar is the stepping-stone of this diabetes treatment program. To remove the complications of diabetes one must take it seriously and adopt some good diet process or healthy exercise. Apart from doing so some take insulin and any other type of medication program to be cured to some extent. Frequent testing of blood sugar can denote you how much you have improved on your part to manage suitable measure of sugar in blood. It is very important to learn the right range of glucose in blood unless and until you cannot have the idea about the complication you are facing about this disease. It depends on age mainly such as in younger age assuming not much complication is there the suitable range of glucose is 80-120 mg/dL and in older age it is 100-140 mg/dL.
Namun  pada intinya semua jenis penyakit itu berbahaya jika tidak segera diobati.

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Computer Viruses that Come a Callin’

Every day new computer viruses are created to annoy us and to wreck havoc on our computer systems. Below are ten viruses currently cited as being the most prevalent in terms of being seen the most or in their ability to potentially cause damage.   New viruses are created daily.  This is by no means an all inclusive list. The best thing you can do is to remain vigilant, keep your anti-virus software updated, and stay aware of the current computer virus threats.
Virus:  Trojan.Lodear
A Trojan horse that attempts to download remote files. It will inject a .dll file into the EXPLORER.EXE process causing system instability.

Virus:  W32.Beagle.CO@mm
A mass-mailing worm that lowers security settings.  It can delete security-related registry sub keys and may block access to security-related websites.
Virus:  Backdoor.Zagaban
A Trojan horse that allows the compromised computer to be used as a covert proxy and which may degrade network performance.
Virus:  W32/Netsky-P
A mass-mailing worm which spreads by emailing itself to addresses produced from files on the local drives.
Virus:  W32/Mytob-GH
A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan for the Windows platform.  Messages sent by this worm will have the subject chosen randomly from a list including titles such as:  Notice of account limitation, Email Account Suspension, Security measures, Members Support, Important Notification.

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Become Your Own PC Repairer

If you are like me, you have probably owned quite a few personal computers. You are sure to have had the occasional problem, and rushed the machine off to the repair shop. At the time, the cost of repairs may have seemed a bit high in proportion to the original cost of the machine, and you might not have been quite sure what was actually done.
You can learn to do your own diagnosis and repair work. It is worth while knowing what is going on inside the box, even if you do not do the work yourself. With a good understanding of the likely causes of the hardware problems, you can be a lot more confident that the repairs carried out were reasonable and necessary.
To begin with, a good source of technical information is necessary. You can always ask at your local electronics shop, but if you really don’t know what you are talking about, the embarrassment can be a big turn off. There is an excellent book available called ‘Upgrading and Repairing PCs’ written by Scott Mueller. This is the most complete and most readable ‘how-to’ book I have found, and if you only buy one book on the subject, Scott’s is the one to get you hands on.
The next step is to choose a few projects to get familiar with the hardware. The best way to begin building up your skills is to pull a computer completely apart, and then put it back together. If it still works after that, then you have made a pretty good start.  At this stage, you may be thinking ‘hang on a minute, I paid a lot of money for my system – No way am I going to risk messing with that baby’.
No, as a beginner, you definitely should not. You can get hold of some old computers to tear apart and rebuild. Old computers are seen as worthless, and you will find Pentium 1 and 2 machines being discarded as rubbish, even though they are still in good working order. Even a Pentium 3 can be bought very cheaply, and most of these are pretty good performers. A word of warning – be careful how widely you spread the news of you new interest in old computers. You will be surprised how many 486s and older are sitting in cartons in garages and basements; your friends and family will really be delighted to give you an amazing collection of electronic junk.
Get familiar with the various parts, and how they fit together. Learn to identify the different styles of processor chip, RAM, disk drives and other components.
As always, safety is paramount. The computer components themselves operate at low voltages, but you still have the mains strength voltage coming into the back of the computer. Always power off and unplug when you are working on the computer, and be suspicious of any signs of overheating or of burning smells. Enjoy your tinkering.

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The Random Hang-up Problem

You may have experienced having your computer intermittently hangs-up, or may re-boot itself for no apparent reason. This can be annoying, and can mean you have lost valuable work that you we in the process of creating. If this has happened once, then your chances of explaining the cause are remote in the extreme. If you find it happening regularly, then it is clearly in your interest to find and fix the problem.
There are a few things you can check for yourself that may save you a trip to the repair shop. With most modern computers, the system comes with built in circuitry to monitor the state of the computer. One of the checks built into your system is to test the operating temperature. The computer may shut down if this moves outside the desirable operating range. For your system to run at the correct operating temperature it is important that air circulates freely in and around the case. If you have the computer case installed inside an enclosure, then this may be the first thing to consider changing. Similarly, I have seen computers covered with books, manuals and paper documents. These again can hinder air circulation, and these items should be removed. Take a look at the slotted vents in the sides of the case. These slots can become blocked by an accumulation of dust. Because the computer is usually always drawing some power, it has a constant electrostatic charge. A computer is second only to a vacuum cleaner in its ability to suck in dust and fluff.
Taking the cover of the case will also show the dust build-up inside the computer. Be careful removing dust accumulations from internal components. This is probably best done with a soft artist’s brush or an aerosol can of compressed air.
Next, take a look at the internal cooling fans. Modern computer usually have a cooling fan perched on top of the processor. This fan should be clear of dust, and running freely, without obvious scraping noises, when the computer is operating. It is OK to start the computer with the case cover removed, just be careful not to poke things into the various components. There will also be a cooling fan inside or attached to the power supply. This again should be free of dust and running freely. Some computers may also have an additional case fan. This will be screwed on over one of the slotted case vents, and typically be running from a cable connected to the mother board. Not all machines have a separate case fan, but if it is there, it is there for a reason. Apply the same checks to this fan. If you have identified faults with your cooling fans, this may require a trip to your local repair shop. The repair technician may also suggest that the CPU heat sink be removed and re-placed with fresh heat transfer compound, which is a straightforward job for an experienced repairer.

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The Random Re-Boot Problem

You may have experienced your computer intermittently re-booting for no apparent reason. This can be annoying, and can mean you have lost valuable work that you we in the process of creating. If this has happened once, then your chances of explaining the cause are remote in the extreme. If you find it happening regularly, then it is clearly in your interest to find and fix the problem.
There may be a simple explanation. With most modern computers, the system comes with built in circuitry to monitor the state of the computer. One of the checks built into your system include testing the power supply levels. The power supply is not a component most people expect to fail. Most are concerned that their disk drives will be the major cause of failures, but in fact power supply problems are relatively common. The power supply will communicate to the mother board with a power good signal if the power output is within specification. If this power good signal is not present, the computer will simply not start up. This seems simple enough, however things do not always fit into the good or not good categories. Where you have a power supply that is failing, its outputs can fluctuate.
The computer may then boot up correctly, but a little later when the power supply falls out of range the computer will detect this and activate the reset logic. The reset logic shuts the machine down, thus relieving the load on the power supply, which can then support a re-boot.  It is the same as if you pushed the reset button yourself, but it appears to you as a random re-boot. To test the power outputs, you really need access to a multimeter, and know how to use it. This might be something you may prefer to leave to an experienced technician. Alternatively, you can try replacing the power supply with a spare that you know to be working.
If this corrects the intermittent re-boot, then you have solved the problem. When replacing a power supply, select a known brand, and I suggest you choose one that is rated to at least 400 watts. This, of course, depends on what load your computer is supporting. Upgrading to a faster processor, installing additional or faster disk drives, or adding other devices can all add to your computer’s power requirements.

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Get to know what is cancer

All over the world, cancer is known to be as one of the most deadly disease ever to have affected the human race. Most of the medical researchers all over the world, consider cancer to be a “metabolic disease”. Metabolic diseases are those diseases, which are known to affect the metabolism rate of the human body. As already said, we know that cancer has been concluded as to be a “metabolic disease” and that conclusion has been drawn from the fact that, cancer as a disease affects the human cells in the body.
Cells are microscopic living units in the body, which together form all living organs in the body. At any given time or state, the human body is made up of a billion cells, which together constitute the human organs. Cancer as a disease is considered to be a very deadly disease, just because of the fact that the disease affects the human cells. In cancer, abnormal and unusual cells crop up in the human body and they grow and spread in the human body at an alarming and fast rate.
The abnormal cells grow and star spreading at a very fast rate. Usually, the normal cells divide and grow up to a certain level and then they die after a little time, unlike the unusual cells which do not follow the normal rate of growth and division. The cancer cells keep on dividing and continue growing on unlike the usual cells. The cancer cells unlike the usual cells do not die and start getting clumped together, which in turn forms a tumor.

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