Spice found in curry could help the brain heal itself

Researchers at the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in Julich, Germany, have discovered that a compound found in the spice turmeric could stimulate the growth of nerve cells in the brain. 

Rats that were injected with aromatic turmerone showed increased activity in parts of the brain associated with nerve cell growth, Time reports. Although this could lead to the generation of more brain cells, researchers do not know if it could be used to halt or reverse symptoms of degenerative diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's.

In a separate trial, the same researchers found that the neural stem cells of rodents grew when bathed in a solution of aromatic turmerone. "It is interesting that it might be possible to boost the effectiveness of the stem cells with aromatic turmerone, and it is possible this in turn can help boost repair in the brain," Dr. Maria Adele Rueger, one of the researchers, told the BBC. - - Catherine Garcia

10 Signs You're Exercising Too Much

10 Signs You're Exercising Too Much by Chelsea Bush

Think you need to push harder if you're tired, sore, or sluggish? Think again!

Regular workouts are supposed to increase your muscle mass and decrease your body fat, right? Well, yes, with a caveat. Some folks ramp it up too much especially when they start a new training regimen to prepare themselves for, say, a grueling marathon or triathlon. However, overdoing your workouts can actually lead to diminished strength and increased body fat, your body's way of begging for a break. While your body can handle a particularly tough workout, it also needs time to recover from the stress overload, says Corey Stenstrup, performance development trainer at IMG Academies.



The best way to recover from that particularly tough workout? A day or two of rest followed by a light bout of exercise, recommends Stenstrup. Also make a point to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, which your body will need to repair those tiny muscle tears that occur during workouts and enable your body to build new muscle. Good nutrition is also key: Think lean protein (fish, skinless chicken breast, tofu), generous servings of vegetables, moderate fruits, and whole grain products.  Here are the 10 ways your body will let you know if you're headed for exercise burnout.



1. Fatigue. Persistent, otherwise unexplained mental or physical grogginess is a hallmark sign of overtraining, says nutritional biochemist Shawn M. Talbott and author of Natural Solutions for Pain-Free Living, based on his research on over-stress patterns in professional athletes. "The knee-jerk reaction to sluggishness is to exercise for an energy boost, but it's a catch-22," he says. "Another workout might wake you up short-term, but you'll be worse off later on."



2. Weakened immune system. “If you keep trying to push through the funk, Talbott warns, "you'll keep sliding down—to a weakened immune system, inflammation, and outright injury." Not a good thing. Prolonged overtraining can take weeks, even months, to recover from, and can put your health at risk. Chronic inflammation, for example, has been linked to diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Bottom line: Nurture your body and give it a much-deserved break when it needs to rest after that tough workout.



3. Decreased performance. A drop in your workout performance is one of the earliest signs of overload, according to Jini Cicero, a conditioning specialist based in Los Angeles, Calif. Altered performance levels are often more apparent in endurance activities such as running, swimming and cycling, she says.



4. Delayed recovery time. Persistent muscle soreness that lasts for days after your workout (or never quite goes away) is a sure sign you need more rest, according to Joseph Ciccone, a physical therapist at Columbia Doctors Eastside Sports Therapy in New York City.



5. Fat gain. If you've lost weight but noticed an increase in body fat, you could be in the later stages of exercise overload. The body responds to prolonged stress by elevating levels of stress hormones, including cortisol, Stenstrup says. Over time this will lead to increased storage of adipose tissue, as well as inhibit steroid-like hormones that normally help increase muscle. A decrease in muscle mass can cause you to shed a few pounds, but the wrong kind of pounds (your muscle). This isn't a good thing since it means your body will lose strength and become less efficient at burning fat.



6. Declining interest in exercise. A significant decrease in motivation or enjoyment of the activity can be a major sign of burnout, Cicero says. This more often occurs in those who are driven by speed, power, and big pushes towards ambitious performance goals.



7. Mood changes. Depression, anger, confusion, anxiety and irritability are common when your body is overstressed physically. Those same stress hormones you release when you're emotionally stressed are also released when you're physically overloaded, Cicero explains.





8. Elevated resting heart rate. "When you put more stress on the heart, it has to work a lot harder," Ciccone says. An increase in your normal resting heart rate, say, from 50 beats per minute to 65 beats per minute, could indicate that you're placing excessive stress on your body.


9. Insomnia. Being in a state of overload often comes with disrupted sleep patterns, so instead of getting that much-needed rest, Talbott says, "you become restless and can't fall asleep."



10. Diminished appetite. "A decrease in appetite can occur in the middle to later stages of overtraining, and goes hand in hand with feelings of fatigue and lack of motivation," says Stenstrup. By slowing down bodily processes like metabolism, the body attempts to force a reduction in its workload.



Chelsea Bush writes for AskFitnessCoach, a blog that promotes fitness and weight loss for "real" people.

Ghost Stories

Over the past couple of months, I have become a follower of Seth Andrews at The Thinking Athiest, and have listened to a number of his privious podcasts. I suspect as I continue to listen, you will occasionally be seeing links to some of them here. His relaxed and informative style makes for good listening.

As Halloween approaches, I felt appropriate to include a couple of his old podcasts from youtube on things that go bump in the night.

The first is called:

Ghouls and Bats in the Belfry

The second is called:

Ghost Stories 2012

I hope you find these entertaining. Most of us like a good ghost story, so kick back and enjoy these.

Have a great Halloween!

ObamaCare Condensed to Four Sentences

Here are the 10,535 pages of ObamaCare condensed to four sentences...

As humorous as this sounds.....every last word of it is absolutely TRUE!

1. In order to insure the uninsured, we must first uninsure the insured.

2. Next, we require the newly uninsured to be re-insured.

3. To re-insure the newly uninsured, they are required to pay extra charges to be re-insured.

4. The extra charges are required so the original insured, who became uninsured, and then became re-insured, can pay enough extra so the original uninsured can be insured, which will be free of charge to them.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is called "redistribution of wealth".

Everything You Need to Know About the Milk You're Drinking

Most of us drink one form of milk or another, and there are lots of choices and lots of reasons why you should. One type may be great for one person, but for a multitude of reasons, not good for another. I've consumed several different kinds in my life, but they each offer one form of advantage over the other, if you look closely. Cholesterol, fat content, protein, calcium, calories, and above all taste, are all important elements to consider.

I've found that almond milk is a super milk form, but it also does not do everything well. Use it to drink and mix it into things to drink, but when it comes to cooking, especially in sauces, it fails to supply the proper chemistry. As a result, we usually have at least one other kind of milk handy as an alternative.

It's good to know what the choices are and this article attempts to lay them out for you, although it doesn't cover all of them. There's some good information here, but there is also some elements of contention. Use this article as a start, but if you're really interested, don't stop here. Investigate further find out the kind of milk which not only meets your needs, it provides the flavor and the nutrition you desire to keep your body healthy and happy.

The adventure starts here.

Bottom's up!

Internet Radio

I don't know how many of you out there listen to internet radio, but there a couple of sites I have been enjoying for many years.

One of them is Digitally Imported. They offer nearly 80 channels of music and worth exploring. It's mostly a wide range of techno categories, but also one called Space Dreams, which I use to keep me cool when I have to concentrate aand still drown out the ambient noise around me.

The other was called Sky.fm, but they have just changed their name to RadioTunes. This another slice of music covering music ranging from R&B, Classic Rock, Bollywood, Meditation, to Russian Pop, and everything in between.

You can listen for free, but a subscription will give you 24 hours a day commercial free music. If you haven't heard of them, give them a try. They are there waiting for you.

Food Traps: Reasons You're Still Hungry Even When Full (Revised)

Consider the following information by K. Aleisha Fetters, for Health.com. It's another data point to consider in you quest to make good nutrition decisions.
I've added 7 thru 11 for your reading pleasure. More to consider to be sure.
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Do you ever get the feeling that your stomach's a bottomless pit? Certain foods might actually be the problem, and can make you hungrier than you were before you dug in. It's a more common conundrum than you might think. "Hunger is a result of many complex interactions that occur in the stomach, intestines, brain, pancreas, and bloodstream," says weight-loss specialist and board-certified internist Sue Decotiis, MD. Problem is, it's a circuit that's easily hijacked. Here are 11 foods that can make you feel like you're running on empty—even when your stomach is stuffed.
 

1). White bread : The white flour used to bake white bread has been stripped of its outer shell (the bran), which depletes the grain's fiber, and robs it of its feel-full content. Eating it spikes your insulin levels, Dr. Decotiis says. In a recent Spanish study, researchers tracked the eating habits and weights of more than 9,000 people and found that those who ate two or more servings of white bread a day were 40% more likely to become overweight or obese over a five-year period compared to those who ate less of it.

2). Juices: Juicing is all the rage, but these "healthy" drinks contain all the sugar of your favorite fruit, but none of the fiber and nutrient-containing pulp or skin. That means drinking a glass of juice can shoot your blood sugar levels up—and then back down again—bringing on hunger, according to Mitzi Dulan, RD, author of The Pinterest Diet: How to Pin Your Way Thin. Your better bet: blend a smoothie using whole fruit instead, and mix in a scoop of protein powder, nut butter, and or plain yogurt, to help balance your blood sugar and boost satiety. (Just be sure to steer clear of sugary fro-yo or sherbet.)

3). Salty snacks: There's a reason why you crave something sweet after polishing off a bag of potato chips. Chips, pretzels, and salty snack mixes are little more than quick-digesting simple carbs, which can spur insulin highs and subsequent lows, Dulan says. And since your taste buds and brain link fast-acting energy with sweet foods, it's common to have a craving for something sweet once you finish your salty nosh. What's more, thanks to a phenomenon known as sensory specific satiety, you can fill up on chips and feel like only your “salty stomach” is full, but your “sweet” one can still feel empty, Dulan says. So get ready to eat two stomachs' worth of food.

4). Fast food: Pretty much every ingredient behind a fast food counter is designed to make you supersize your meal. For instance, trans fat inflames the gut, potentially impairing the body's ability to produce appetite-controlling neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, Dr. Decotiis says. Meanwhile, the GI tract absorbs high fructose corn syrup (commonly found in sodas, buns, condiments, and desserts) quickly, causing insulin spikes and even bigger hunger pangs. Lastly, fast food's huge helpings of salt can spur dehydration. And with symptoms that closely mimic those of hunger, it's easy for dehydration to trick you into thinking you need to go back for seconds.

5). Alcohol: Alcohol doesn't just lower your healthy-eating resolve, it downright makes you hungrier: According to research published in Alcohol & Alcoholism, just three servings can slash your body's levels of leptin—a hormone designed to squash hunger and keep you feeling full—by 30%. "Alcohol can also deplete your body's carbohydrate stores (called glycogen), causing you to crave carbs in order to replace what was lost," Dr. Decotiis says. And if you find yourself craving salty snacks, dehydration and a loss of electrolytes may be at work.

6). White pasta: White pasta packs all of the same problems as white bread, but it does deserve its own mention as a hunger-offender because it's so easy to eat far too much of it. A standard serving size of cooked pasta is just half a cup cooked, but restaurants regularly serve up 4 cups in a single entrée. When you overload your body with simple carbs, your pancreas goes into overdrive churning out insulin, and soon you've produced so much of the sugar-managing hormone that your blood sugar levels are low and you're ravenously hungry. And consider this: What are you pouring over your pasta? If it's a store-bought sauce, then it probably contains even more hunger-spiking sugar along with a heap of salt.

7). MSG: MSG (aka monosodium glutamate) is a flavor-enhancer best known for being added to Chinese food, and may also be found in other foods including canned veggies, soups, processed meats, and even beer and ice cream. One animal study from Spanish researchers suggests the chemical triggers a 40% increase in appetite, and according to research published in the journal Obesity, people who consume the most MSG are nearly three times more likely to be overweight than those who don't eat it at all. "The effects of leptin (a "satiety hormone" made by fat cells) may be blunted by the damaging effects of MSG on the hypothalamus," Dr. Decotiis says. What's more, the effects can compound over time, so the more frequently you eat MSG, the more you'll eat, period.

8). Sushi rolls: You might intend to load up on good-for-you fish, but you're really eating more rice than anything else, says dietitian Susan M. Kleiner, RD, PhD, a scientific consultant with USANA Health Sciences. Case in point: the California roll. Loaded with 30-plus grams of carbohydrates, it's like eating three slices of white bread. "If you don't eat anything else, sushi rolls are fairly rapidly digested and emptied from the stomach without a high level of satiating properties like fiber or protein," she says.

9). Artificial sweeteners: Whether they are in your diet soda or sprinkled in your coffee, artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, and others) excite your brain cells, making them think they are about to get a sweet serving of energy (aka calories), and then let them down—hard, Dr. Decotiis says. The upshot: You may crave—and eat—more sweets throughout the day, trying to make up for the letdown. Over time, this process can actually affect the hunger control centers of the brain, she says. And get this: It has been proposed that artificial sweeteners cause insulin spikes just like real, calorie-packed sugar.

10). Kids' cereals: White flour with a generous dusting of table sugar, these morning starters may cause blood sugar and insulin swings. "Eating such a high carbohydrate load in the morning when cortisol levels are at their highest is a double assault to your metabolism," Dr. Decotiis says. During the night and into the morning, your body pumps out huge amounts of cortisol, which is believed to be a natural part of your body readying itself for the stresses of the day ahead. "Higher cortisol levels mean a lower ability to metabolize ingested sugars. Therefore blood sugar may be high, but still not reach the tissues where it is needed, leading to fatigue and hunger." Cereal can be an ok way to start your day—look for whole grain or bran cereals that contain at least 5 grams of fiber and less than 5 grams of sugar per serving.

11). Pizza: You know you can't eat just one slice—no matter how big it is. That's because your favorite pizza joint's combination of white flour dough, hydrogenated oils, processed cheeses, and preservatives can throw off your blood sugar levels, production of satiety hormones, and hunger-regulating regions of the brain, according to Dr. Decotiis. That said, if you make pizza at home with whole-wheat dough and top it with lean meat, lots of veggies, and just a sprinkling of cheese, then you'll have a fiber- and protein-packed meal that's less likely to have you reaching for more food in an hour.

As if we didn't need another reason to not text and drive...

On September 1, 2014, this bit of news came from Colorado.
‘I’m a miracle': Pole impales woman while she’s texting and driving
Read the link.

And Another one... on August 30.
Son reports Jenny McCarthy to Police
This has become my biggest hot button.
Statistics reveal that at any given time 11% of people behind the wheel are using their cell phones.
If you feel the need to do this, think about what you're doing.
Please stop.