A Banana a Day keeps the Doctor Away!

Surely, you are familiar with a quote that says: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away". I don't who created such line. Why an apple? Is it just because it sounds better than strawberry, mango or orange? I guess so, because knowing what a single banana could do to our body, you agree if I say: "A banana a day, keeps the doctor away! After reading this article, you won't be looking at banana in the same way again.A certain post authored by Lula Vecchi, from the internet has given me enough interest about bananas. Personally, I hate bananas. However, after reading this, I had banana during my lunch right away. She said:Bananas which contain three natural sugars (sucrose, fructose and glucose) and fiber give an instant, sustained, and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous, 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Reducing Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier. PMS: Forget the pills -- eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood. Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia. Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it the perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: Two-hundred students at a Twickenham (Middlesex, UK) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood-sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito Bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system. Overweight and at Work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood-sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every 2 hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature Control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer, tryptophan. Smoking Cessation: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6 and B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress Relief: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. They can be re-balanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Stroke Risk: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Wart Removal: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

Splinter Removal: For those hard-to-remove wood splinters, rather than poking and prodding with tweezer and needle, take a small piece of banana skin, large enough to cover the splinter wholly, yellow side out, and carefully tape it over the splinter with a band-aid or tape. Overnight the banana and its enzymes will work the splinter out, dissolving it and sealing the wound. So in the morning, when you remove the band-aid, the pad will be yucky brown mush and no more splinter!

CONCLUSION: So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around! So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say: "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

SLU geriatrician shares secrets of staying young.

Eat chocolate, drink wine, add fun to life!

Little lifestyle changes can pay big dividends to aging baby boomers who want to stay vibrant, says John Morley, M.D., director of the division of geriatric medicine at Saint Louis University, in a new book that outlines a 10-step program to improve quality of life as we age.

“Living well and feeling good enough to do whatever you want to do throughout your lifetime is priceless,” says Morley, who is coauthor of “The Science of Staying Young.”

“I suggest little changes that involve good eating, such as including dark chocolate in your diet, drinking wine, socializing and adding simple exercises that anyone can do. It’s more fun than most people think. Being proactive about living well and feeling better for the rest of your life, regardless of your current chronological age, doesn’t have to be a chore.”

Morley, who co-directs Saint Louis University’s Center for Aging Successfully, pushes those who want to stay young to add a little SPF – spontaneous physical fun -- to their lives.

He advocates fidgeting in your office chair to burn calories, spending time walking from your car to the mall rather than driving to find a close parking space, working in your garden, taking the stairs instead of the elevator or going dancing once a week.

“Spontaneous physical fun is such a logical thing, and so appealing,” he says.

Morley and coauthor Sheri Colberg, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist and professor of exercise science at Old Dominion University in Virginia, are clear that their book is not a guide to living longer. Rather it is a passport to living better, packed with practical tips to stay young, healthy and vital.

"We both fervently believe that enjoying life is far more important than adding years, particularly if those additional years are spent in poor health,” Morley says.

“Quality of life is more important than quantity of days. Do you want to have more energy, be healthier, feel mentally sharper and rev up your sex drive? All of these are quality questions.”

In his book, Morley blends advice for living better with a prescription to detect medical problems early, when they are most easily treated. “It’s all about being proactive. Boomers like to ask questions, and we’re giving some answers so they can take control of their lives,” he says.

The book breaks the science of staying young into 10 steps.

“The process of getting older, although inevitable, can be a difficult one, both physically and mentally,” Morley says. “But take heart, because you can do many things to keep yourself feeling and looking younger than you really are.”

Source: Saint Louis University

Versace Spring 2008 Couture Collection!

Latest Fashion Trend, Elegant Fashion Design!

Fabulous Fashion Designer!
Glamorous Fashion Week for Celebrity Fashion!
Spring Couture Collection!

Have A Watchful Eye With These Women!

They say, we should "learn from our mistakes". If we made wrong decisions "charge it to our experience", because "experience is the best teacher." Just like with romantic relationships. Most men, (even women) have been conned, duped and dazed by physical attraction. Worse? Some men have made themselves fools by kissing the feet of females who treated them like dirt. The result? -wasted countless hours and spent small fortunes chasing after women who lied to and used men, and turned out to be rotten.

But do men learn from their experiences? No. Every time we think it's going to be different. We think if we just try harder, or do one little thing differently, the result will change.Well, it's not going to be that way if you keep on pursuing the same kind of women, you'll just get your heart broken over and over again.

Keep a watchful eye out for the following list of women, and you'll be one step closer to curing yourself of habitual heartbreaks:

Credence: Women are angelic creatures who would make the world a UTOPIA if only men would allow them to take over.
Her Way: Miss Feminist postulates that all the ills of society are orchestrated by men and the best things a man can do to improve himself is cut off his testicles and grow a pair of ovaries. Her incessant mantra is "All men think with their penises."

Credence: Men should finance her entire life because she is biologically female. Men should pay for drinks, dinner, trips, flowers, and jewelry, while she feels absolutely no guilt or compulsion to reciprocate.
Her Way: She’s out for money –pure and simple.

Credence: “I am a princess.” Miss Romance is trapped in a fantasy world of Lifetime Channel movies and Romance novels.
Her Way: Every night she goes home alone to spend hours flipping through her bride magazines, imagining that, at any moment, Prince Charming will ride up on his white horse, sweep her off her feet, and offer her a problem-free existence for the rest of her life.

Credence: “Walking-wounded” –she’s been hurt with past relationships and so new relationships in the present should be subconsciously avoided or sabotaged.
Her Way: Miss Elusive is the queen of mixed messages. She will flirt with you and date you, but you'll never get past "friend" status. What you will get is a million excuses for her unavailability, all calculated to deceive herself that she just doesn't have time for a relationship. At first she shows great interest in you, but very quickly runs away.

Credence: There's no such thing as a nice guy -- they're all "jerks," "creeps" and "pigs”.
Her Way: Scorn the male gender and can rattle off all the wrongs and misdeeds of every man they've ever encountered. Simmering anger with men is just waiting to explode at any moment like a volcano.


Credence: “There’s always someone better than me”
Her Way: She's calls you 10 times a day, asking to see "where the relationship is going," or because she "just wants to hear your voice." She seeks constant reassurance that she's attractive, and worries incessantly about her makeup, hair and the alignment of her clothes. She's clingy, needy and compulsive.

Credence: “I am the most beautiful, classy, sulker, pouter and ball buster of the female world"
Her Way: Miss Bitch treats their fellow humans poorly, cares only about herself, and isn’t concerned at all if they hurt you or anybody else. Miss Bitches are usually good-looking and well dressed, and you can easily identify them by the scowls on their faces as they imperiously strut through the world.
Credence: “Me, myself and I”. Miss Me needs to be the constant center of attention no matter what she does or where she goes.
Her Way: Miss Me is entirely focused on herself. She is a selfish, self-indulgent, self-serving narcissist who was raised as "daddy's little girl," and expects the same from guys.


Credence: She doesn't care who the guy is or what he does -- as long as he's got a penis she can drag him to the altar.
Her Way: She wants to get married ---now.


Credence: Sweet little girl turns into a demanding, greedy, mercenary harpy who will browbeat you into submission if she doesn't get her way.
Her Way: Miss Turncoat will tell you exactly what you want to hear until you're hooked deep into the relationship (or married) and then the truth comes out.

Credence: You can't trust her because she craves male attention and if somebody better comes along, she'll dump you in a heartbeat. She flirts with anything in pants and flaunts her sexuality at every opportunity.
Her Way: Sometimes she sponges off older men; sometimes she's a ball-buster who enjoys getting men sexually excited and then walking away; and sometimes she just basks in her sexual power by attracting men like bees to honey.

Credence: Nasty one who will wind up directing every phase of your life.
Her Way: She is a subtly. She will tell you what to wear, where to go, who to talk to, what friends you can have, what you can eat -- everything. And if you try to stand up for yourself, she will cut off intimacy, cry, scream, pout, or use any other deceptive female tactic until you give in and succumb to her demands.

Apparently, there are a lot of good women out there who share only portions of these negative qualities. So why get involved with the worst of them?

[Source: askmen.com]

The Perfect Swimsuit!

TOO SMALL BUST
Look for decoration on the top where the bust is. The more "intricate"the top part is, the more proportioned you will look. Look for sweetheart, V-neck, or scoop necklines. There are some lightly padded bra suits for swimsuit, but be careful. You don't want to look like a 12-year-old who's stuffed their top.

TOO THICK WAIST
Look for vertical lines or shapes that angle up and down swimsuit. Stay away from horizontal stripes bathing suit. They cut you and your height in half, and will make you look thicker. Keep to solids or small prints. Need extra tummy taming? Some swimsuit even come with special tummy panels that help hold you in.

TOO THICK THIGHS
Look for vertical lines or shapes that angle up and down bathing suit. Stay away from horizontal stripes. They cut you and your height in half, and will make you look thicker. Keep to solids or small prints. Need extra tummy taming? Some suits even come with special tummy panels that help hold you in.

PREGNANT
Count yourself lucky! You have the best figure and can wear anything! From vertical to horizontal stripes, high-cut straight tops, V-neck, sweetheart, and scoop necklines, hour glass figures can have their pick of all the variety of swimsuit.

HOUR GLASS
Many of us will be pregnant during the summer months. Now there are really cute maternity swimwear that flatter while you carry your little one. Most of the cuter ones have full skirts, like this one below, so they don't hug tight around your larger belly. Choose a color you will be comfortable in. Don't pick "school bus" yellow if you don't want to stand out.

Your bikini swimsuit should flatter your body type and accentuate your body's features:
  • fit well on both top and bottom
  • compliment your skin tone
  • reflect your fashionable personality
  • feel comfortable when wet or dry
  • compliment your activity of choice
  • be durable, and easy to clean
  • be affordable
  • Anna Sui Spread Beauty!

    Anna Sui grw up in Dearborn, Michigan. was born to Chinese immigrant parents; her father Paul was an engineer who graduated from The Sorbonne in Paris, at which her mother, Grace, also studied painting. According to photographer Taka Kawachi, as Sui was growing up, she "began clipping fashion-magazine pages and filing in now what she calls her Genius Files, which have been an inspiration to her throughout her career. During her senior year of high school, Anna Sui received a scholarship to attend Parson's School of Design in New York. While there, she became close friends with photographer Steven Meisel who is today widely recognized as the industry's leading photographer.

    Now, Anna dresses real dolls for very real events. The International designer became involved with fashion at an early age. It was in 1992 that she took a chance with a personal clothing line and opened her first boutique shop at 113 Greene Street in New York City's Soho District. The first of Sui's freestanding boutiques in Asia opened in May 1997 in Tokyo. The second opened in Osaka in the fall of that same year. In following years, the popular stores soon expanded to over 200 independent locations all over Japan. Anna Sui opened her Los Angeles boutique in 1998 in Sunset Plaza, in West Hollywood. Sui also made headway with the international markets as boutiques sprang up in countries like China, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines.

    Some of Ann Sui's Cosmetics and Fashion:

    Easy Bath Bombs


    Ingredients:
    • 1 cup baking soda
    • 1/2 cup corn starch
    • 1/2 cup citric acid
    • 1 tablespoon distilled water
    • 1 teaspoon melted cocoa butter
    • 3-4 drops food coloring
    • 3-4 drops fragrance or essential oil of choice

    Procedure:

    1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Make a "well" in the middle of the ingredients. Set aside.
    2. In a separate container, combine the wet ingredients together. Pour them into the well of dry ingredients.
    3. Mix everything together well using a large spoon, then pour the mixture into a food processor to remove all of the lumps and distribute the color evenly.
    4. Once mixed, pack the mixture tightly into large plastic molds, each large enough to hold half of the mixture (or just use one big plastic mold of any shape that will hold the mixture). I find that the easiest way to get the product out of the molds without breakage is to line the molds with a bit of cooking spray first. They tend to break up less this way.
    5. Leave them in a dry place overnight and once they've hardened, they're ready to go!!



    See also:
    Natural and Home Made Body Scrub
    Brown Sugar Body Scrub
    Do-it-yourself facial is just a kitchen away

    Brown Sugar Body Scrub

    Ingredients:
    • 1-1/2 cups brown sugar
    • 1/2 cup olive oil (canola oil can be substituted)
    • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

    Procedure:

    1. Pour the brown sugar into a bowl and pack it tightly using the back of a spoon. Add the olive oil and mix together to form a paste.
    2. Add the vanilla extract last for a hint of scent. To use, scoop some into the palm of your hand and massage gently from limbs to torso, avoiding broken skin and face.


    See also:
    Easy Bath Bombs
    Natural and Home Made Body Scrub
    Do-it-yourself facial is just a kitchen away