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  • Raili 10:40 am on March 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply
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    High Fructose Corn Syrup Makes You Fat?! 

    I’ve been waiting for this headline for a while.  Turns out eating large amounts of high fructose corn syrup can make you fat!

    A Princeton University research team showed that rats given access to high fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than rats given access to table sugar even when their overall caloric intake was the same.  In addition to the weight gain, long term consumption of high fructose corn syrup led to abnormal increases in body fat, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides.

    “Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn’t true, at least under the conditions of our tests,” said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction. “When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they’re becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don’t see this; they don’t all gain extra weight.”

    Time to start reading food labels, high fructose corn syrup is in almost all processed food (ie- 90% of stuff at the grocery store).   Avoiding high fructose corn syrup is easy by eating whole foods, fruits, vegetables, and reading food labels.  Also, avoiding soda is always best but if you feel the urge many companies are now selling sodas that don’t have high fructose corn syrup.

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  • Raili 1:58 pm on March 17, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Biking, , ,   

    Google Maps Now Includes Bike Routes 

    Google had just added biking direction for more than 12,000 US bike trails.  According to Google the new biking features will “include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling to encourage folks to hop on their bikes.”  The routes will also try to steer riders away from traffic congested areas.

    The option is easy to use.  Simply use google maps to get directions and select “Bicycling” from the drop down menu that also has car, public transit and walking.

    There is also a “Bicycling” option that you can turn on under the “More” tab in Google maps.  Selecting this will display all bike trails on the map.  Dark green lines mean bike only, light green means there’s a bike lane, and dashed green means no bike lane but biking is decent.

    Right now this is not included in mobile apps but should be in the future!

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  • Raili 1:06 pm on March 11, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , meditation   

    Pranayama Breathing 

    Pranayama is normally used in yoga to prepare for meditation, asanas, postures and focusing the mind. It creates alertness and makes the respiratory system function at its best. The different types of Pranayama are Bhastrika Pranayam, Anuloma/Viloma, Kapalbhati, Bhramri, Sitali, Sitkari, Ujjayi, and Vedhene Bandh.

    Bhastrika Pranayam
    1. Sit in a comfortable position.
    2. Breath forcefully but evenly in through your nostrils until your lungs are full. You should feel your diaphragm move down, the midsection of your chest expanding and finally your collar bone rising.
    3. Breath out forcefully but evenly through your nostrils. Your collar bone should drop, your chest deflate and your diaphragm move up. Your exhalation should be faster than your inhalation.
    4. Repeat the process for five minutes.

    Anuloma/Viloma Pranayam
    1. Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
    2. Close your right nostril with your right thumb.
    3. Inhale slowly through your left nostril until your lungs are full.
    4. Close your left nostril with your right middle and ring fingers and open your right nostril.
    5. Exhale slowly through your right nostril until your lungs are empty.
    6. Inhale through your right nostril until your lungs are full.
    7. Close your right nostril with your right thumb.
    8. Open the left nostril and breath out slowly completing one round of Anulom/ Vilom Pranayam.
    9. Continue for fifteen minutes.

    Kapalbhati Pranayam
    1. Sit straight.
    2. Inhale through your nostrils a little and exhale through both nostrils forcefully.
    3. Inhale again through both nostrils followed by another forceful exhalation.
    4. Continue doing about 60 strokes/minute.

    Bhramri Pranayam
    1. Close your ears with your thumbs, rest your index fingers on your forehead, and the rest of your fingers on the base of your nose touching your eyes.
    2. Breath in then breath out through your nose while humming like a bee.
    3. Continue for ten minutes.

    Sitali and Sitkari Pranayam
    1. Sit in a comfortable position.
    2. Draw your tongue about one inch outside your lips rolled up on the sides to form a channel.
    3. Breath in through your mouth, close it, hold your breath and breath out through both nostrils.
    (If you can’t roll your tongue, open your mouth a little keeping the tip of your tongue touching your lower front teeth and suck air in with a hissing sound. Hold your breath and then exhale through your nostrils. )

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  • Raili 12:23 pm on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Reply
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    Protein Combining Myth 

    I am always surprised when I read recently written articles about vegetarian/vegan nutrition that still claim plant proteins need to be combined because they are not complete. The theory was originally presented in 1971 in Francis Moore Lappe’s Diet for a Small Planet. In 1981 Lappe changed her position and said there was no reason to “combine” protein.”

    “In 1971 I stressed protein complementarity because I assumed that the only way to get enough protein was to create a protein as usable by the body as animal protein. In combating the myth that meat is the only way to get high-quality protein, I reinforced another myth. I gave the impression that in order to get enough protein without meat, considerable care was needed in choosing foods. Actually, it is much easier than I thought. With three important exceptions, there is little danger of protein deficiency in a plant food diet. The exceptions are diets very heavily dependent on 1. fruit or on 2. some tubers, such as sweet potatoes or cassava, or on 3. junk food (refined flours, sugars, and fat). Fortunately, relatively few people in the world try to survive on diets in which these foods are virtually the sole source of calories. In all other diets, if people are getting enough calories, they are virtually certain of getting enough protein.”

    In 1988 the ADA released a paper on vegetarianism and said that it was not required to combine proteins for a healthy diet.

    Eating a well rounded diet with adequate calories will provide enough protein for most people. Endurance athletes have increased protein requirements. Vegetarian endurance athletes need to eat an increased amount of carbohydrate calories and also emphasize high quality plant protein sources – certain grains, dried peas and beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, seitan and soy such as tofu and tempeh. The most important thing is to eat enough calories from a variety of sources.

    Protein Tips for Vegetarians:

    1. Use nut butters, hummus, and cheeses (soy or regular).
    2. Drink milk or soy milk. Chocolate milk has been shown to be a great recovery drink.
    3. Learn to cook with tofu, tempeh and seitan.
    4. Learn to make a variety of dishes with bean – burritos, casseroles, salads, etc.
    5. Make soups with beans and lentils.
    6. Tofu can substituted for chicken in almost all recipes.
    7. Use vegetable broth in place of chicken or beef broth.
    8. Although not for everybody meat replacement products are becoming available for just about everything – what used to be just veggie burgers is not veggie chicken, chicken nuggets, hotdogs, luncheon meats, sausages, hamburger etc etc.

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