5 Best Foods For Healthy Kidneys

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Jovy F.

www.healblog.net

How to take care of our kidneys is probably one of the important health concerns most of us have when it comes to good health. Considering two of its essential functions are to keep our urinary system on track and to maintain the balance of our body’s electrolytes.

Here are some of the foods that could make our kidney healthier;

  1.  Fruits With High Water Contents

 Foods including fruits and vegetables with great amount of water content flushes out   toxins from the body. 

 Berries, grapes, and oranges are fruits with high water content and is great  for healthy kidneys. 

2. Vegetables with phytochemicals

Cabbages which is a good source of phytochemicals  are also known to combat cancer and maintains cardiovascular and kidney health. 

3.  Fishes that contain omega 3 fatty acids

 Most fishes are high in Omega-3 fatty acids which helps in  maintaining good cholesterol level and blood pressure.

 Fishes like salmon, mackerel, etc. are best sources of nutrients for preventing kidney disease and promoting healthy kidneys. 

 4. Olive oil

 Virgin olive oil contains polyphenols, antioxidants and monounsaturated fats that are essential  to preserve and maintain healthy kidneys.

 5. Other great foods for healthy kidneys.

 Red bell peppers, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Garlic,Onions, Apples,Raspberries,Blueberries,Cranberries,Strawberries,Cherries,Grapes,Oranges,Lettuce,Celery,Melons,Tomatoes,Sweet potatoes, Eggs, Cayenne Peppers, Olive oil, Apple cider, Fish, Salmon, Tuna, Herring, Mackerel, Asparagus, etc.

 

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4 Amazing Ways To Find Happiness

Posted on April 27, 2012 by admin

happy-face

Let us admit the fact that one cannot be feeling happy all the time in a world that is full of struggles and vast miseries…Would you be able to recall when was the last time you did really feel happy? Recognising happiness, in our life’s journey as a feeling state that is never exacting…Somewhat our reasons  would rely on material things for happiness, yet we get frustrated as the feeling fleets fast and left us hanging…I take it that everybody, like me, wants to experience true happiness and in my pursuit I came across these life lessons;     

 

 1. Happiness cannot be bought

 

Happiness is never an issue of money. We get a temporary feeling of pleasure when we have money getting the things that we want…however this feeling will fade, and it fades fast.

 

According to a study at University of Illinois, the Forbes 400 (the wealthiest billionaires in America) and the Maasai tribes of East Africa (simple, pastoral herdsmen) exhibit the same levels of happiness, regardless of their monetary differences. “Il denaro non può comprare la felicità…”In plain English words: Money doesn’t buy happiness. After all, if you could really buy happiness, everyone would have bought it.

 

2. Connect with friends and have a fun night out

 

Seeing a movie and going out with friends saves us from loneliness which raises the risk of depression and heart disease and that can be a life-threatening condition. Here’s another thing…connecting with friends counteracts stress and spurs the release of oxytocin, a neurotransmitter that soothes and calms.

Interesting isn’t it? Apparently, it helps to have a close group of friends but it’s also important to interact with people outside that circle. Every kind of positive interaction, from smiling at the waitress to chatting with your neighbor, can boost your mood.

 

3. Forgive Yourself

 Airlines have a limit when it comes to carry-on luggage. Pity we can’t set limits on ourselves when it comes to emotional baggage. Dwelling on past mistakes only prevents us from being happy in the present.

 

“Focusing on the past is a trap,” says Alan Gettis, Ph.D., author of The Happiness Solution: Finding Joy and Meaning In An Upside Down World (Trafford, 2006). The key to forgiving yourself is to understand and accept your own history and to learn from your mistakes. How have they made you stronger and wiser? Use the lessons of the past to make better decisions today.

 

Forgiveness is an ongoing process. It can take months, even years. But in the meantime, “focus on creating a fulfilling life in the present,” suggests Gettis.

 

4. Make a date with Mother Nature

 

This is one of the reasons why I always take with me photos of my holidays. To recall the time that I have retreated and interacted with nature. I like nature tripping. It lowers our stress levels, strengthen the immune system and leave us with tranquility.

In one picture, I can compare the happiness brought by nature in Claude Monet’s impressionists art. He once said, “The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration.”

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Some Tricks About Men’s Fashion

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Jovy F.

Who says that fashion are just for women? Though most men are not really keen on exploring high streets and couldn’t just be bothered with their fashion image,  they do want to look good in fact probably more vain than women.

Most men would think that picking the right clothes in the shops and fitting clothes are just enough hassles to consider, not to mention they are annoyed by sales staff that dresses better than them and repeatedly ask if they are buying or pick clothes that  they can afford but would not buy as they find it ‘unreasonable.’ They would rather rely on the same pairs that their mothers say look very good on them- ten years ago.

 

Men are not as patient as the women and just couldn’t be bother to hit the shops and do endless coordination, considering the style and the price of what could make them look smart enough to be noticed, but heck they do want to look gorgeous.

 

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Emotional Intelligence (EQ)…How it matters to Business People

Posted on April 6, 2012 by admin

eq2eq3  

It has been a decade since we have all heard of a breakthrough in studying emotion as a separate subject from activity of our brain and intellect.   Thanks to Yale psychologists, Peter Salovey, and the University of New Hampshire’s, John Mayer, who devoted their research on emotions, coining the term Emotional Intelligence (EI). The two psychologists have defined EI as “the capacity to reason about emotions, and of emotions to enhance thinking. It includes the abilities to accurately perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth” (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2004, p. 197).

This notion has been a subject of conversation and debate further yet, one Harvard psychology Ph.D. and a New York Times science writer, Daniel Goleman came out with his own theory on Emotional Intelligence or EQ as digestible to ordinary people.  As Goleman relates, EQ is about the abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one’s mood and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize and to hope.

According to Goleman, the person’s intelligence or IQ matters less in determining success in life. As such, among the ingredients for success, researchers now generally agree that IQ counts for only about 20% of life’s success. Some people are gifted with both high IQ and EQ, but  what researchers have been trying to understand is how they complement each other; how one’s ability to handle stress, for instance, affects the ability to concentrate and put intelligence to use. Goleman also believes that those people with high EQ do well in dealing work and family.Despite the controversy, it has gained popularity especially in the corporate arena. 

In the corporate world, according to personnel executives, “IQ gets you hired, but EQ gets you promoted”. Goleman likes to tell of a manager at AT&T’s Bell Labs, a think tank for brilliant engineers in New Jersey, identified his top performers as not the ones with the highest IQs; they were the ones whose E-mail got answered. Those workers who were good collaborators and networkers and popular with colleagues are more likely to get the cooperation they needed to reach their goals than the socially awkward, lone-wolf geniuses. 

In David Campbell and others’ study of “derailed executives” at the Center for Creative Leadership, the researchers found out that these executives failed most often because of “an interpersonal flaw” rather than a technical inability. Based on the interviews made with top executives in the U.S. and Europe, an outcome of so-called “fatal flaws” turned up. This happened to be classic emotional failings, such as “poor working relations, being authoritarian or too ambitious and having conflict with upper management.” Executives should have an incentive to listen as customers are telling businesses, “I don’t care if every member of your staff graduated with honors from Harvard, Stanford and Wharton. I will take my business and go where I am understood and treated with respect.”

In sales, the idea of being able to predict which salesmen are most likely to prosper was manifested by Metropolitan Life (U.S.). It took them to hire 5,000 salespeople in a year and trained them at a cost of more than $30,000 each. Half quit on the first year, and four out of five within four years. The reason: selling life insurance involves having the door slammed in your face over and over again. Was it possible to identify which people would be better at handling frustration and take each refusal as a challenge rather than a setback?

MetLife seek the help of psychologist Martin Seligman at the University of Pennsylvania.  They tested some of his theories about the importance of optimism in people’s success. When optimists fail, he has found, they attribute the failure to something they can change, not some innate weakness that they are helpless to overcome. And that confidence in their power to effect change is self-reinforcing. Seligman tracked 15,000 new workers who had taken two tests. One was the company’s regular screening exam, the other Seligman’s test measuring their levels of optimism. Among the new hires was a group who flunked the screening test but scored as “superoptimists” on Seligman’s exam. And sure enough, they did the best of all; they outsold the pessimists in the regular group by 21% in the first year and 57% in the second. For years after that, passing Seligman’s test was one way to get hired as a MetLife salesperson.

Today researchers are still up to endless debate on emotional intelligence, thus manifestations on Goleman’s theory remains to be in the limelight.   

Source: Time Magazine Australia;  Emotional Intelligence(EQ) by Daniel Goleman :Emotional Intelligence (EI) Journal,Peter Salovey&JohnMayer

 

 

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A Letter To Dad

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Jovy F.

Hi Dad,

We hope you and mom are both happy. It has been four years since you lived with God and we know that you are always watching us over. Oh well, we are all fine and happy. There were times that we wished you were here with us to celebrate but we are not bothered because we know that you are in a much better place and celebrate with God everyday. Besides, you did not miss a lot. We are still the same kids that you raised well. We may have some glitch every now and then and there are stories that we never got the chance to tell you, but you know that we can handle it for sure. You have trained us to handle situations as it turn out.

Dad, thank you for all the love you have left us with. We know that we have not spent that much time together. Thank you that you sacrificed working far from us, to provide for our education and a bit of comfort that others did not probably have. By the way, your friends miss you and please tell mom that her friends miss her as well. We love you and mom, and we will always do.

Happy Birthday and we hope that you enjoy your special day with God and mom.

With lots of Love,

Your Children

Special post: In loving memory of my father who passed away on 22nd of March 2008

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8 Top Reasons Why You Like FACEBOOK

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Jovy F.

Photo by www.21stcenturywire.com

Photo by www.21stcenturywire.com

Looking back in 2004 when facebook was introduced, I was one of the first aficionados. I thought facebook as more of a hype than being impressive back when blogging and  Friendster was a social media (now it’s a game site- I haven’t understood) were were still at their heist. Eight years, and boom! there are more than 645million¹ users of Facebook. A bit less than the whole population of Africa and slightly higher than that of Europe. Facebook has taken over the world of social media and perhaps the world, sooner with it’s inluence. For some people, Facebook has become ‘a way of life.’ I could come up with some reasons why facebooking has rapidly influenced our lives;

1. Communicating becomes so easy as all mobile networks support Facebook.

You are aware that you can find Facebook in almost all mobile communication gadgets available in the market. One important feature they use well, primarily for marketing. We are encouraged to benefit from Facebook, 24/7.

Some of you consider Facebook as your ‘imaginary friend’. You could spend more time with Facebook more than talking or hanging out with friends and family in actual sense. You can track your friends on where they are by ‘checking-in.’ You get comforted by expressing your thoughts initially on ‘status update’-whenever you are happy, sad, angry, scared or anxious about anything. Some even write what they do on a dayoff -first thing in Facebook, even if it is merely ironing or doing the laundry. Sometimes a husband and his wife who live under the same roof, will converse on their pages through writing ‘comments.’ Others complain if there was a bad traffic or if they’ve had a delicious or horrible dinners. These are harmless, cute things one could go for, but not- when you pick a fight, slander, or organise a protest and chaos using Facebook (for Heaven’s sake!) don’t go this far. You could write and post almost everything (literally everything!), but know that when you do, you should also own the responsibility for doing so.

2. Facebook recognises your individuality

We could be who we are in facebook. It will not judge you for putting your wackiest or funkiest, (not to mention-annoying) photos or videos in your page for the world to see. It won’t criticize you for your color or for languages you speak. It allows you to let lose as long as it will not infringe others’ rights or lead people to danger. You are safe to show your ‘jumping-in-the-air’ photos a hundred times in all angles (please do not take this literally) and so your model-like portfolios in best poses you perfected in the course of time, as long as these are somewhat decent to show to the general public. Whether people within your list of Facebook friends like it or not and dared saying it, you can always choose which one to post. Afterall, it’s your page! You may not be supermodels but in your page, you are the stars and you can flaunt your X-factor look (yes, with enough clothes please!)

3. It helps you sympathise at times and write inspirations

When you feel blue and alone, and there is nobody physically present to listen to you, about 79 out of your probably 1,658 friends and family members whom you can say hi to, would be there (online) for to reflect on things and bear the weight of the world with you. Funny it may seem, on the other hand, your misery may be caused by one of your friends in the list but you know what to do later if that’s the case – ‘unfriend’ this person.

4. It allows you to get in touch with people you haven’t heard of, for a long time

Highschool friends, long lost relatives, old crushes, teachers and other people you miss are most likely to be one amongst the 645 million or more users of Facebook. Chances are high. I, personally found quite a few cousins just recently, after thirty odd years or some I haven’t even met-this, I could have never done it, if not for Facebook.

5. It helps abridge information from the source

Since when did you last turn to facebook to ask information about places, things you want buying or selling, recipes, books, movies, music and many other things? Valuable information that you give is not a risk if it directly comes from the source, when it is certainly true, if it is not confidential, and that the person who asked for it genuinely needs it. Interestingly, some of us are also curious to know what turned out after so and so years…It is convenient, personally speaking (just don’t make it a habit).

6. Organising events has never been easier…

Event organizers would agree that the number of reunions, parties and meetings have gone up since facebook was introduced. This is true especially for reunions or homecoming parties.

7. You come to learn every important announcements in ‘status updates.’

Aside from birthdays, engagements, wedding announcements,pregnancy, separations, awards, achievements, and even sad news on loss and bereavement…And yes, even who was voted on top and who was voted out in American Idol, you read it in Facebook.

8. Ah, amazing places…

Pictures that paint a thousand words…photos that will take you to places you’ve never been are enough to keep your eyes glued to pages of photo albums in Facebook…Just beware of stalkers!

Photo by www.telegraph.co.uk

Photo by www.telegraph.co.uk

There are a myriad of reasons why 645million users of facebook are still very much attached to it. Most of you will probably agree that there are more to life than facebook which make us happy. Others insist that using facebook reduces our productivity at work…Well, it may have its drawbacks but I’d say that an hour or so , will not hurt (as long as you don’t get addicted to it!) It helps you feel good and makes you informed, better persons. I’d say that Facebook makes a difference to all who use it.

A day without Facebook won’t be that bad, but it is already here. Why deprive yourselves with one good thing in life that is ‘still’ free?

Any other reason why you like facebook?

Disclaimer: Above article is solely of the author’s opinion. Special thanks to Facebook Inc.

¹Wikipedia.com

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Cadbury Chocolate Cupcake Delight

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Jovy F.

DSCN0080These sumptuous moist chocolate cupcakes, freshly baked were made even more mouth-watering by adding lumps of Cadbury fruit and nut bar that is just right to suit your sweet palate…

Dean's Chocolate Cupcake

Ingredients

25g/1oz Self-Raising Flour

25g/1oz Cocoa Powder

50g/2oz Caster Sugar

50g/2oz Butter or Margarine

1 Egg, beaten

Few Squares of Cadbury fruit and nut chocolate

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 190C, 375F, Gas mark 5 and place 10 paper fairy cake cases evenly on a baking tray.

2. Place all the cupcake ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric beater or a wooden spoon until well blended. The mixture should be soft enough to drop easily from the spoon when tapped.

3. Place a heaped teaspoon of cupcake mixture in each paper case put one square of Cadbury fruit and nut chocolate square and bake towards the top of the oven for 12-15 minutes, until the cupcakes are well-risen and firm to the touch.

4. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

5. The chocolate filling will appear soft and will glaze the cupcakes without putting icing on top.

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What You Should Know About Self-Image

Posted on March 11, 2012 by admin

bbyHave you been to a place or a situation wherein it seems everybody tends to disagree about anything? Someone who banter wits to anyone yet exudes hate of different levels in everything that they do?

When we have disagreements with people, or there are others who couldn’t just help but to treat us badly deliberately, we probably ask ourselves…what have we done that we should deserve such disrespect? It makes us feel really unhappy…and we think that some “people” are just simply insensitive not to mention, annoying…We start to build hate and look for things that will take away the blame from ourselves. Hence, each of us has our own level of tolerance…On some situations that others can still muster, the rest may already been hitting the roof; but what determines our threshold? Where do we get such amount of reasons to actually HATE someone?

Based on the book written by Andrew Matthews, Being Happy! , he wrote that “the World is a reflection of ourselves. When we hate ourselves, we hate everybody else. When we love being who we are, the rest of the world becomes wonderful.

Our self-image is the blueprint which determines exactly how we will behave, who will we mix with, what we will try and what we will avoid; our every thought and every action stem from the way we see ourselves.

The picture we have of ourselves is coloured by our experiences, our successes and failures, the thoughts we have had about ourselves and other people’s reactions to us.

Our self-image determines how much we like the world; how much we like living in it; and exactly how much we will accomplish in life.”

We can assess our own self image by looking at the people around us. We form relationships with people who treat us the way we believe we deserve to be treated. People with healthy self-images demand to be respected by people close to them, they treat themselves well, and so set an example to other people as to how they should be treated.


Eat And Look Good! Healthy Eating And Super Food Will Guide You Becoming And Stay Attractive, Good Looking Than Ever

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Far Away from Home

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Jovy F.

‘The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.’ -Maya Angelou


The experience of visiting home recently was humbling and different from other previous trips. Mind you, each one has it’s own share of memories to ponder about, both happy and sad. In most of which, the greatest things you learn from each adventure are most importantly that of self- realisation, family belongingness and friendship. We all have our share of what we call “moments” and when you do, it leaves you pieces to collect to put yourselves together.

To all that I missed visiting this trip, please bear with me. You are always in my thoughts and you all made me who I am. There will always be next time.

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Which side of the brain you use?

Posted on November 29, 2011 by admin

Photo from www.fireflyfoundation.com

Experimentation has shown that the two different sides, or hemispheres, of the brain are responsible for different manners of thinking. The following illustrates the differences between left-brain and right-brain thinking:

Left Brain: Logical, Sequential, Rational, Analytical, Objective…Looks at “parts”

Right Brain: Random, Intuitive, Holistic, Synthesizing, Subjective…Looks at “whole”

Most individuals have a distinct preference for one of these styles of thinking. Some, however, are more whole-brained and equally adept at both modes. In general, schools tend to favor left-brain modes of thinking, while downplaying the right-brain ones. Left-brain scholastic subjects focus on logical thinking, analysis, and accuracy. Right-brained subjects, on the other hand, focus on aesthetics, feeling, and creativity.
source:Psychology today
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