Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Some Food Combinations Work Well Together Others Don't

For Digestive Bliss Eat Foods that Don't Fight

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 by: Barbara Minton, Natural Health Editor
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Key concepts: Food, Digestion and Fruits

http://www.naturalnews.com/025651.html

NaturalNews) How we eat may be just as important as what we eat. The diets eaten by most Americans are based on the belief that any number of different foods can be digested at the same time. This belief may be why more than half the population suffers from some sort of digestive distress for which there seems to be no remedy. As sales of antacids soar off the charts, maybe it's time to rediscover the art of food combining.

Indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome are modern phenomena

Our ancestors did not eat the way we do. Their diets were composted of one or two foods at a time as they came across them, with many meals consisting of nothing but animal protein. With the advent of agriculture, a more varied diet became available, but it was still based mainly on the consumption of meat, and dairy products. Vegetables and fruits were available only in their season, with the exception of a few root vegetables that could be stored. The food processing so taken for granted today had not yet been invented, and processed carbohydrates were not a part of the diet. Rolaids hadn't been invented either, and it appears that our ancestors did not suffer from the digestive problems so prevalent in modern times.

Dr. Hay used theory of food combining to regain his own health

The art of food combining is the brain child of Dr. William Hay who after several years of medical practice found his own health in shambles. Suffering from high blood pressure, heart disease and weight gain, he decided to take a close look not only at what he was eating but how he was eating it.

His discoveries and dietary changes brought him remission of symptoms and reduction of weight by 50 pounds in just a few months. And like most theorists who have come up with an idea that really benefits people, Dr. Hay was ridiculed by his peers. Today, the scientific community is finding evidence that Dr. Hay was onto something. Research is showing a connection between carbohydrates and allergies, diabetes, skin problems, migraines, depression, chronic fatigue, and psychiatric disorders.

Food combining reflects the principles governing digestion

The theory of food combining is based on the idea that good health results from a body that is slightly alkaline and attuned to the basic principles of digestion. It is a scientifically based system of selecting foods that are compatible from all that are available. By grouping the right foods together people can be assured of effortless digestion and more complete assimilation and use of nutrients by the body. When foods are correctly combined, nutrients from them can be used to their fullest extent to promote good health.

Digestion is facilitated by juices and enzymes produced in response to a cue from the food that has been eaten. The juices can be alkaline or acid depending on the requirement of the enzymes they contain. These enzymes are active only in a suitable media with well defined acid-alkaline ranges. They are destroyed by variation in those ranges. Carbohydrate foods stimulate the secretion of enzymes made specifically to break down carbohydrates, while protein foods require the secretion of enzymes made specifically to break down protein. Fats too have specific enzymes needs to facilitate their breakdown.

For example, the salivary enzyme, amylase, is produced in response to eating carbohydrates, and its job is to break down carbohydrates for digestion. Amylase is only active in an alkaline medium and is destroyed by a mildly acidic environment. The gastric enzyme, pepsin, is produced in response to eating protein, and its job is to break down protein for digestion. Pepsin is only active in an acid medium and is destroyed in an alkaline environment. While the body will produce juices and enzymes specific to any type of food that has been eaten, it is unable to do so when a variety of foods are eaten together. According to Dr. Hay, it is the combining at the same time of foods requiring both acid and alkaline medium for digestion that is responsible for 90 percent of digestive problems.

Good digestive outcome requires meals comprised of similar food types

When foods are improperly combined, fermentation in the digestive tract and digestive distress is the likely outcome. When foods eaten at a meal are of the same type, there is no fermentation and proper digestion is allowed to take place. The best way to avoid fermentation is to avoid mixing high protein foods with high carbohydrate foods. While almost every food contains some amount of protein, those with high concentration of protein remain in the stomach for several hours while the gastric juices and enzymes do their work. Depending on the complexity of the protein eaten, this time can be up to six hours.

Here are the basic rules of food combining:

Number one: Protein and carbohydrate concentrated foods

Breakdown of protein requires an acid medium, and digestion of protein dense animal products requires high levels of hydrochloric acid. Since digestion of carbohydrate dense foods requires an alkaline medium in order to be broken down, high carbohydrate foods that have been mixed with high protein foods will not digest but will sit there fermenting, producing indigestion, bloating and gas. And since this fermentation of carbohydrates will inhibit the digestion of the protein, more gas, bloating and discomfort will be produced. This makes the typical American meal, composed of a large hunk of meat along with potatoes and bread, a recipe for digestive disaster.

Dr. Hay's research found that most protein foods are best digested when accompanied by a fresh green salad. Other concentrated protein foods like nuts and seeds combine well with acid fruits such as oranges, pineapples blackberries, or strawberries. They also work fairly well with sub-acid fruits such as apples, cherries, mangos, or peaches. The vitamin C in these fruits aids digestion of the mixture.

Number two: Eating two concentrated proteins together

Each type of protein requires a specific character, strength and timing of digestive juice secretions. This means that no two types of concentrated protein should be consumed together at a meal. Nuts, meat, eggs, cheese, or other protein foods should not be eaten together. And no two types of animal protein should be eaten together, a rule that may be hard to swallow by the surf and turf crowd.

Number three: Protein and fats

Fats inhibit the secretion of gastric juices needed to digest meat, fish, dairy products, nuts, and eggs by as much as fifty percent. When fat concentrated foods are eaten with protein concentrated foods, the digestive breakdown of the fats is delayed until gastric juices complete their work on the complex proteins. This means fats will remain undigested in the stomach for a long period of time. Although some high protein foods also contain high amounts of fat, these fats will be held in suspension awaiting breakdown without impeding gastric action. However, free fats such as oil, butter and milk fat will coat the gastric mucosa, inhibiting gastric juice. This is why fried chicken is so hard to digest.

Number four: Acid fruits with carbohydrates

The enzyme in saliva that begins the breakdown of starch concentrated foods in the mouth does the important job of converting complex starch molecules into more simple sugars. In order to work, the enzyme requires a neutral or slightly alkaline medium, the natural condition found in the mouth. When acid foods are eaten, the action of the enzyme needed to break down starch is halted because the medium needed has been altered. Thus acid fruits should not be eaten at the same meal as sweet fruits or other starches. This combination is what makes spaghetti and other dishes combining tomatoes with starch so bloating.

Number five: Acid fruits with protein

Oranges, tomatoes, lemons, pineapples and other acid fruits can be easily digested and produce no distress when eaten away from starchy and protein foods. However, when included in a meal that contains a protein concentrated food, the acid fruits seriously hamper protein digestion. This is in part what makes the typical American breakfast of orange juice, bacon, eggs and toast such a digestive nightmare

Number six: Starch and sugar

Eating starches that have been disguised as sweets is not a good way to eat starch. Although the "treat" produces an abundance of saliva, the saliva contains none of the enzyme needed to digest the starch because the sugar has turned the environment acidic. This is why such items as fruit filled Danish settle on the digestive tract like a sack of bricks. The carbohydrates are fermenting in the body, producing noxious gases.

Number seven: Consuming melons

Melons should not be consumed with any other foods. Watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and the more exotic melons should always be eaten away from mealtime and alone. Melons are meant to decompose quickly in the digestive system, which is what they will do if there is no interfering with the process.

Number eight: Consuming milk

Milk is best left to babies who traditionally consume it alone, away from other foods. Milk does not digest in the stomach, but in the duodenum, so the presence of milk in the stomach does not promote secretion of gastric juice. The use of acid fruits with milk does not cause any digestive difficulty, although the benefits of the antioxidant potential of the fruits may be lost due to the affinity they have for the protein in milk.

The goal of food combining is digestive bliss

If all this seems overwhelming, especially at first, here is the bottom line. Starches, fats, and green vegetables may be eaten together as they require either an alkaline or neutral medium for their digestion. Similarly, protein foods, green vegetables, sugars and acid fruits may be eaten together as they require an acid or neutral medium for their digestion. Starches and proteins, fats and proteins, proteins and acid fruits, starch and acid fruits, and starch and sugars should not be eaten together for those people looking to attain optimal digestion and gastric comfort.

Meals that contain the smallest number of courses will produce better digestive results. A one course meal is ideal. As a general rule, simple meals are more conducive to good health than are more elaborate meals, no matter how much attention the person planning the meal has devoted to food combining.

As the typical American meal consisting of protein, carbohydrates and fats may remain in the stomach for up to six hours, the potential is there for several hours of digestive misery. And remember, carbohydrates are always the last to be digested. If another meal is eaten before the first one has completely digested, the protein is again digested first, leaving the carbohydrates to be stored as fat. This is why weight loss is a secondary benefit to food combining. When foods are properly combined, they are not stored in a line waiting to be digested.

On the other hand, carbohydrates eaten without proteins remain in the stomach for about one hour or even less. A fruit meal remains in the stomach for an even shorter period of time. The ideal regimen of food combining would be a fruit meal for breakfast, a starch meal with a vegetable salad or non-starchy vegetables for lunch, and a protein meal with a salad and non-starch vegetables for dinner.

References:

Grant, Doris, Joice, Jean, Food Combining for Health.

Food Combining, The Internet Health Library 2000.

Food Combining Diet for Weight Loss, healthylifestyle.com.

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Thursday, February 5, 2009

4 Trillion Bailout Bigger Than Wars Of 20th Century & Counting

http://eastcoasteconomics.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/putting-things-into-perspective-the-bailout/

Putting Things Into Perspective: The Bailout

with 5 comments

The government is adding to the bailout tab almost daily, and no slowdown is in sight. The total cost of equity infusions for financial institutions, guarantees and lending facilities to date is estimated anywhere between $4 and $8 trillion, depending on which programs are included in the count. The following chart shows some of the biggest ticket items in the US budget over the last 200 years, adjusted for inflation (i.e. in today’s dollars).

bailout-comp1

Below is the same chart, this time including the 2008 / 2009 bailout package (using the most conservative end of the range with an estimated total cost to date of $4.3 trillion). For reference, the total cost of World War II to the US was roughly $3.6 trillion.

big-budget2

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Freedom And Happiness Is Participation In Power - Having a Voice Makes People Happy

add power to the happiness equation

Maximizing happiness ... requires engaging citizens in changing the rules and norms so that more and more of us are empowered participants.

joining with others in this exhilarating pursuit

freedom and happiness ... virtually synonymous

Freedom is participation in power.
+++

Having a Voice Makes People Happy by Frances Moore Lappé

Read this article in Spanish. Lea este artículo en español



	Dave Newton, left, is a Voter Empowerment organizer for the citizens’ group Kentuckians For The Commonwealth. Carl Matthews, right, was among 70 participants trained in voter registration on the day of this photograph. Matthews, a former felon, had his own voting right restored just hours before the training. He is now an electoral organizer for the group. Photo by Beth Bissmeyer

“What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome.” So wrote Friedrich Nietzsche in 1895.

I’m guessing that many of you would feel uncomfortable embracing this definition of happiness, especially coming from one of history’s most famous curmudgeons. If so, maybe in part it’s because too often we’ve nodded in agreement with Lord Acton’s catchy caveat, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” And who would want to risk corruption?

But what if we were to dig to the root, Latin meaning of power, “to be able”? Suddenly the word’s hard edge dissolves; power simply means efficacy—our capacity, as philosopher Erich Fromm put it, to “make a dent.”

Over the last decade the happiness quest has spawned bestselling books, college courses, retreats, and even a “happiness conference.” Most seem to offer similar advice: Once our basic physical needs are covered, more stuff does little to boost our happiness. Friendships, family, self-acceptance, and meaning in our lives are the core determinants of our happiness.

I’m happy we’re talking about happiness, but disturbed, too, because I’ve noticed that most happiness gurus fail to mention power. And why is that a big mistake? Because most human beings are not couch potatoes and whiners. We are doers and creators. In fact, the human need to “make a dent” is so great that Fromm argued we should toss out René Descartes’ “I think therefore I am” and replace it with “I am, because I effect.”

Even much of what we call “materialism” is, I think, not about “things” at all. It is a distorted, ultimately unsatisfying attempt to feel powerful, with status through possessions forced to stand in for power. If true, then addressing powerlessness is a direct way both to foster happiness and to overcome planet-destroying materialism.



Students Anda Weaver and Tianna Williams participate in a Voter Empowerment training session on the Berea College campus. More than 50 people turned out, including students, faculty, staff, and members of the Berea community. Photo by Beth Bissmeyer

There’s just one pathway to happiness in which this deep, human need for power is given pride of place: democracy. By this I mean democracy as a living practice that enables us to have a real say in every dimension of our public lives, from school to workplace and beyond.

Such power is expanding in part through a growing number of largely unseen citizen organizations. Among them is Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC), whose 5,000-plus members address concerns ranging from toxic dumping to open government.

Jean True, a leader in KFTC in the 1990s, told me, “I was home raising kids for 10 years. I didn’t know anything about politics. I thought my only job was to vote.”

When I asked Jean to tell me why she joined KFTC, she responded, “It’s just the fun! That you can get together some regular people, go to the capitol, and make changes in state policy. … We have a great time doing what we do, going toe to toe and head to head with state legislators. We sometimes know more than they do! It’s the fun of power—the ant knocking over the buffalo.”

On the other side of the world in the year 2000, I danced with women in a Kenyan village, feeling their exuberant happiness in their newfound power as village tree planters and organizers of women’s groups tackling problems from alcoholism to hunger.

Walking Through Fear

Listen to Sarah van Gelder’s interview with Frances Moore Lappé…

That same year, I stood on a railroad platform in rural India with desperately poor people lying only a few steps away on grimy concrete. I turned to Jafri, the young Indian researcher traveling with us—he was helping some of his country’s poorest farmers escape the debt-and-toxins trap of chemical agriculture—and I asked: “How do you keep going?”

“I have to feel I am doing something to address the roots of suffering,” he replied, “or I couldn’t be happy.”

Including power in our definition of happiness changes everything.

If happiness lies in covering basic needs plus satisfying personal ties and finding meaning, society’s role is limited. It need only ensure that essential needs are met and provide opportunities to pursue personal relationships and meaning. Even a largely totalitarian government could do that.

But, if we add power to the happiness equation, our agenda shifts. Maximizing happiness then requires engaging citizens in changing the rules and norms so that more and more of us are empowered participants. And, of course, joining with others in this exhilarating pursuit we achieve a double whammy: Such activity furthers the widely appreciated relational and meaning aspects of the happiness puzzle.

If, from our nation’s founding onward, we Americans have treated freedom and happiness as virtually synonymous, my point is a really old one. We might do well to replace the maxims of Acton and even Nietzsche with one uttered by Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero 2000 years ago: “Freedom is participation in power.”

Frances Moore Lappé wrote this article as part of Sustainable Happiness, the Winter 2009 issue of YES! Magazine. Frances is the author of many books including Diet for a Small Planet and Get a Grip, co-founder of Food First and the Small Planet Institute, and a YES! contributing editor.

Interested? Walking Through Fear: interview with Frances Moore Lappé.

More articles by Frances Moore Lappé

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

High Fructose Corn Syrup Contaminated with Toxic Mercury, Says Research (opinion)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 by: Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor
Key concepts: Mercury, HFCS and Corn

http://www.naturalnews.com/025442.html

(NaturalNews) New research published in Environmental Health and conducted in part by a scientist at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy has revealed that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is contaminated with the toxic heavy metal mercury.

That means that many of the products using HFCS may also be contaminated with mercury. Carbonated sodas are sweetened with HFCS, as are candy bars, bread, salad dressings, pizza sauce, fruit drinks and thousands of other grocery items.

Mercury is so highly toxic that it causes severe neurological disorders. It can also result in the loss of hair, teeth and nails as well as muscle weakness, loss of kidney function, emotional mood swings and memory impairment. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercur...) (P.S. Somebody please update this Wikipedia page with this latest research about HFCS being a source for mercury exposure, too.)

The highest level of contamination found in the study was 0.57 micrograms of mercury per gram of HFCS. The EPA says that an average-sized woman should consume no more than 5.5 micrograms per day of mercury, meaning that the average American consumer may be eating five times the upper safety limit of mercury every day due to high-fructose corn syrup consumption if they consume the foods tested in the study.

That's because the average American consumes 12 teaspoons of HFCS every day! So just by eating the standard American diet of processed foods, consumers are right now potentially exposing themselves to exceedingly high levels of mercury that far surpass the safety limits set by the EPA.

Buy groceries, get free mercury!

High-fructose corn syrup is used in almost everything, it seems. A second study conducted by the same researchers reveals that nearly one-third of all grocery items sweetened with HFCS were contaminated with mercury.

Eating some sweetened yogurt? Mercury!

How about some salad dressing with HFCS? Mercury!

Want some ketchup on that burger? Mercury!

In fact, mercury is found in thousands of grocery products sold across the world right now. And it's no exaggeration to say that mainstream consumers of popular food items are likely suffering from widespread mercury poisoning (especially if you add in the mercury exposure they're getting from dental fillings).

Where does all the mercury come from?

Most people don't know how high-fructose corn syrup is really made. One of those processes is a bizarre chemical brew involving the creation of caustic soda by exposing raw materials to pools of electrified mercury in a large vat. Through this process, the caustic soda gets contaminated with mercury, and when corn kernels are exposed to this caustic soda to break them down, that contamination is passed through to the HFCS.

Another toxic chemical, glutaraldehyde, is also used in the production of HFCS. It's so toxic that consuming even a small amount of it can burn a hole in your stomach.

But don't worry: The Corn Refiners Association insists that HFCS is a "natural" ingredient, and their Chicago-based PR firm Weber Shandwick is now also claiming that HFCS has been declared "natural" by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It hasn't really, of course, but that doesn't stop the press releases from claiming it has. (If you think a liquid sugar processed with glutaraldehyde and contaminated with mercury is "natural," then you've been duped. There's nothing natural about a processed food ingredient made with toxic chemicals.)

A Weber Shandwick representative calls me every time I post an article about HFCS, by the way, usually with demands that I remove the entire article. I've invited the Corn Refiners Association to a phone interview to defend their position that HFCS doesn't cause diabetes or obesity, and to answer questions about whether HFCS is really "natural." So far, they have declined to be interviewed. It seems they don't want to face real questions from an honest journalist who refuses to be censored by powerful corporations.

One thing I've got to say about the Corn Refiners Association is that they have a well-funded PR machine running around the internet trying to make everybody remove stories that say anything negative about HFCS.

I've noticed that the Corn Refiners Association is a master at spinning the truth. For example, the president of the CRA, Audrae Erickson, said this in a statement responding to the mercury findings: "Our industry has used mercury-free versions of the two reagents mentioned in the study, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, for several years."

Well sure, that's true. But what is Erickson NOT saying? She's not saying that ALL the HFCS is made without mercury. She just says that somewhere in the industry, somebody is using a mercury-free version of the caustic soda. That doesn't mean all the HFCS is mercury free, yet if you don't read her statement carefully, you might be misled into thinking that. Her statement, in fact, leaves open the possibility that 99% of all HFCS might still be manufactured using mercury.

Note carefully that Erickson does not say all HFCS sold in the U.S. is free from mercury. Instead, she makes a clever statement that results in most readers assuming that's what she means. The CRA is well known for using this kind of language spin tactics.

NaturalNews challenges the CRA to state that all HFCS is free from mercury (see below).

The HFCS fairy tale

The CRA isn't just in the business of pushing HFCS, by the way. It's also in the business of denial. For example: Virtually everyone who understands holistic nutrition agrees that HFCS promotes diabetes and obesity. But in much the same way that Big Tobacco executives once swore that "nicotine is not addictive," the Corn Refiners Association insists that high-fructose corn syrup does not promote diabetes or obesity.

So don't worry about the mercury in your HFCS. Or the other toxic chemicals used in the manufacturing process. That's all natural, we're supposed to believe. And high-fructose corn syrup is a healthy, wholesome, all-American sweetener grown without pesticides by poor Midwestern farmers who have given their lives and souls to create a sweeter, happier America.

Or at least that's the fairy tale version of the story. In reality, HFCS is created by corporate agriculture giants using toxic pesticides and herbicides on the crops who subject their corn to numerous toxic chemicals in the creation of this potentially mercury-contaminated processed sweetener that promotes tooth decay, obesity, diabetes and possibly even neurological disorders thanks to the mercury.

Yum. I can't wait to gobble down another chocolate candy bar sweetened with this stuff...

Politics at the FDA

There's an angle on this story that nobody is yet reporting. The lead author of this study, Renee Dufault, used to work for the FDA. In fact, she investigated the use of mercury at chlorine plants, where the manufacturing process results in the chlorine being contaminated with mercury. With chlorine being dumped into the public water supply, this is obviously a health concern.

Renee Dufault retired from the FDA last year. Only now, nearly a year after her retirement, has she dared to release her findings about mercury and high-fructose corn syrup.

Can you guess why? As an employee of the FDA, there's little question she would have been pressured into silence about the HFCS mercury contamination issue. A lot of powerful corporations that wield steady influence over the FDA would not be happy to see the truth come out about HFCS and mercury. So she waited until after retiring from the FDA to go public with these findings.

In fact, Reuters is now reporting that Dufault told the FDA about her findings, but the agency did nothing to act on them. Is anybody really surprised?

Lies about mercury

The Corn Refiners Association, predictably, is attacking these study results, claiming "This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance..."

That's because the samples used in the study were taken in 2005. The CRA seems to imply they've cleaned up their act since then and are now using a mercury-free process (see statement from Erickson, above). But note that the CRA carefully avoids claiming all HFCS is free from mercury. Their official reply to the Environmental Health article is a perfect example of corporate doublespeak: http://www.corn.org/mercury-HFCS-st...

Specifically, note that the statement avoids promising that all HFCS meets the FDA's definition of the term "natural" or that all HFCS is free from mercury.

NaturalNews challenges the honesty of the Corn Refiners Association in making these seemingly deceptive statements. We request that if the CRA is really to be believed, it must publicly state that all HFCS sold in America today is free from mercury and that all HFCS meets the definition of "natural" as described by the FDA.

Don't hold your breath on that. I can already tell you the CRA will never make such statements because it knows they would be provably false. The truth is that last thing the CRA wants to make public, in my view. I think it's really in the business of creating the illusion of truth through clever P.R. tactics.

Did the CRA know about the mercury contamination of HFCS?

But let's give the CRA the benefit of the doubt for a minute here. Let's suppose that right up to 2005, HFCS was routinely contaminated with mercury, but now suddenly it's all mercury free.

Doesn't anybody wonder why didn't the CRA recall the mercury-contaminated HFCS when it became aware of the issue?

If all HFCS is now manufactured in a mercury-free process (which is highly doubtful, by the way), then that means at some point the CRA must have realized HFCS was contaminated with mercury and it made a decision to switch to a mercury-free process. Why was the public never warned about the pre-2006 mercury in HFCS? And why weren't foods containing HFCS recalled from store shelves due to their mercury content?

If the CRA's present-day statements are to be believed, it means the group must have been aware of the mercury contamination of HFCS through 2005 and yet it did nothing to make that fact known to the public.

So even if HFCS is free from mercury today, the CRA has a lot of explaining to do. The group either knew about the mercury contamination and did nothing to warn the public, or it didn't know about the mercury contamination, putting it in a position of remarkable ignorance about the safety of a product it has routinely claimed to be "safe" and "natural" for many years.

So which is it? Is the CRA run by liars, or just fools?

My offer for a phone interview with a CRA representative remains open. If anybody from the CRA wants to get on the phone with me and defend HFCS, the door is wide open. You know how to reach me.

Disclaimer: This article is an opinion piece. All statements are my own opinion and are obviously not agreed to by the CRA, which vigorously defends the safety of HFCS. Almost as if their jobs depended on it, come to think....

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Thursday, January 8, 2009

Wash Hands Reduce Sick Days For Self And Others

School-Wide Handwashing Campaigns Cut Germs, Absenteeism
http://www.education-world.com/a_admin/admin/admin431.shtml

Studies reveal that school-wide handwashing programs can make a difference in the health of students and staff and, as a result, improve school attendance. If your school does not have a program in place, are you aware of how many resources -- including many free ones -- are available to help get you started?

Did you know...

Nearly 22 million school days are lost each year due to the common cold?
52.2 million cases of the common cold affect children under 17 years of age each year?
Children have about 6-10 colds a year?
Adults average 2-4 colds a year?
Some viruses and bacteria can live from 20 minutes up to 2 hours or more on surfaces like cafeteria tables, doorknobs, and desks?
(Sources: 1, 2, 3)

The CDC reports that addressing the spread of germs in schools is essential to the health of our youth and our schools. "The most important thing that you can do to keep from getting sick is to wash your hands," acccording to the CDC's official statement on handwashing.

And many studies document handwashing's impact on student and staff attendance: school-wide handwashing programs reduce absenteeism.

A study of 305 Detroit children found that youngsters who washed their hands four times a day had 24 percent fewer sick days due to respiratory illness and 51 percent fewer days lost because of stomach upset. (Source)
A study of 290 students in 5 schools (two in Ohio and one each in Delaware, Tennessee, and California) revealed that handwashing education and the use of hand sanitizer resulted in 51 percent less absenteeism. (Source)

When Should You
Wash Your Hands?

You should wash your hands often. Probably more often than you do now, according to the CDC. It is especially important to wash hands

before and after handling food,
after using the bathroom,
after touching animals,
when your hands are dirty, and
more frequently when someone in your home is sick.

Source: CDC

Those statistics about student absenteeism are a strong argument for introducing handwashing into the school curriculum. Inspite of that data, "we have had experience with several principals who have given our handwashing curriculum a lukewarm reception," says Carol Schreiber, a consultant with the Minnesota Department of Health.

On average, teachers are absent from school more days than students are, says Schreiber. Multiply the number of teacher sick days per year times the daily fee for a substitute, and then you're talking money. "That's why we decided to put our handwashing curriculum into the context of the cost of absenteeism to schools," added Schreiber. "Making that connection to the costs to the school district gets their attention!"

PRINCIPALS ADVOCATE HANDWASHING

The availability of hand sanitizer has cut down on the spread of colds at Transfiguration School in West Hazleton, Pennsylvania, according to principal Sherry Ambrose. Each year, Ambrose and the school's teachers send home a list of items that are frequently used but not always in supply, and willing parents respond to those requests.

"A few years ago we began requesting bottles of hand sanitizer along with our request for tissues and other items," Ambrose told Education World. "Now every classroom has a large bottle with a hand pump right inside the classroom door.

"Students never miss the chance to use the hand sanitizer -- they love it! And all our teachers and I keep a bottle handy on our desks."

In Arlington, Virginia, schools used to rely on parents to supply sanitizer gel, but now the district has installed hand-sanitizer dispensers in all classrooms and made large supplies of the gel available. "Now when children are coming in from recess or going to lunch without time for a restroom break, they get a squirt of the gel," said Lolli Haws, principal at Arlington's Oakridge Elementary School.

Haws also shared that her school is home to an in-house TV studio, and students have produced and directed tv segments on handwashing for their peers.

"When a number of children in a classroom are absent, teachers often stop and have everyone pitch in to wash down desks and other things with antibacterial detergent," added Haws.

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Have you created or used a program in your school to educate students about the importance of handwashing? What steps did you take to educate students? What impacts did you witness as a result? Share news of your school's handwashing efforts so that others might benefit from your experience.

At the start of cold and flu season, principal Karen Hodges asks her school nurse to visit each classroom to teach a lesson on the importance of handwashing. "Even though many of us have the anti-bacterial solution in our rooms, the best antidote for germs is wash, wash, wash with soap and water," explained Hodges, principal at Brockton (Massachusetts) Christian School.

"We teach our students to sing the ABC song while they're washing their hands," added Hodges, noting that washing for the length of the song will be long enough to kill most germs. Another principal suggests having students sing "Happy Birthday." Each song means students wash their hands for 15 to 20 seconds.

At Edenrose (Ontario, Canada) Public School, principal Deepi Kang-Weisz says the regional health department provides a curriculum that reviews handwashing techniques with students. "We also hang handwashing posters in all student and staff washrooms," she added.

HANDWASHING PROGRAMS AND RESOURCES

So what are you doing in your school to actively promote student handwashing? Programs abound for teaching students about its importance and its positive impact on their health. Many such programs can be found online. That's why Education World recently "scoured" the Internet in search of handwashing materials that you and your teaching staffs might use to educate your students, cut down on illness, and improve attendance. Most of the programs below offer free components -- lesson plans and activities, posters, games, and more.

Handwashing Initiative
The Border Health Education Training Center (New Mexico) offers a collection of activities for each grade level Pre-K to 5. Also included: three handwashing games - Handwashing Uno, Handwashing Clue, and Handwashing BINGO.

It's a SNAP
SNAP (School Network for Absenteeism Prevention) is a hands-on hand-cleaning initiative for middle schools. The program offers a free educational poster/tool kit that makes it easy to incorporate clean-hands education into middle school curricula. The program also fosters student teamwork.

Wash Your Hands: Educating the School Community
This program developed by the National Food Service Management Institute and the USDA includes a booklet (which includes activity ideas, lesson plans, clip art, and more), training video, and many posters in English and Spanish.

Handwashing Tool Kit
This tool kit from the Minnesota Department of Health provides many informational handouts. Also included are lessons and projects ideas for grades Pre-K through 12 and a list of picture books on the topic of handwashing.

10 Quick & Quiet Steps to Handwashing Success
A school nurse and preschoolers in Dubuque, Iowa, put together this 5-minute video (download it from your computer). If your students learn to sing the video's song, you might be well on your way to clean hands.

GloGerm's Handwashing Program
This commercial program presents lesson plans for grades kindergarten through six that utilize Glo Germ Gel and a UV light. Use the gel and the light to show kids the active presence of germs and bacteria on their own hands.

Healthy Hands, Healthy Kids
This program offers free lesson-plan packages for grades Pre-K through 2 and Grades 3 through 6. The program is sponsored by GOJO Industries, producers of Purell hand sanitizers.

Henry the Hand
Many resources that are part of Henry the Hand's Champion Handwashing Program are available online. Others (coloring books, stickers, T-shirts…) are available for a small cost.

The Scrub Club
This heavily animated Web site for kids presents E.Coli, Bac, Sal Monella, and other villains to good health. The site includes games, songs, and more.

Germs on Their Fingers
A brightly illustrated, bilingual book teaches children of all ages to wash their hands. Comes with an optional audio CD for teachers.

Clean Hands Coalition
Not much here in the way of resources, but they do offer some "Fun Ideas" for celebrating National Clean Hands Week in September.

WashUp.org
Not a lot of content here either, but the colorful poster and fact-filled brochure might make nice handouts.

Food Safety and Handwashing
If you're looking for more resources than we've introduced above, check out this site, which offers links to Web sites, fact sheets, posters, slideshows, and more. Click the "Children" link for information about an abundance of special health-related programs.

LESSON PLANS

A recent study of the handwashing habits of high-school students revealed that 58 percent of girls and 48 percent of boys wash their hands after using the bathroom. A teacher might try to duplicate this study in their own school by investing their students with the responsibility of being "restroom spies." Have them watch students from other classrooms and report back on the results of their study. Track the results to determine whether boys or girls in your school have good handwashing habits; and what percent of boys and girls wash their hands after using the restroom.

Education World recently "spied" these additional handwashing lesson plans online:

Handwashing Initiative
Pre-K to 5 activities, plus three handwashing games.

Handwashing Curriculas and Student Project Ideas
K-12 lesson ideas from the Minnesota Department of Health.

Wash Your Hands: Educating the School Community
Activity ideas, lesson plans, clip art, and posters in English and Spanish.

Down With Germs
A couple dozen pages of lesson plans for grades Pre-K through 6.

Project Handwashing
Information and resources for use in grades K-6.

Sink Those Germs
A game and handouts for teaching young children.

GloGerm's Handwashing Program
This program offers K-6 lessons. (The program requires the purchase of Glo Germ gel.)

Healthy Hands, Healthy Kids
Free lesson plans for grades Pre-K through 6; some commercial elements.

It's a SNAP
A hands-on hand-cleaning initiative for middle schools.

It Might Come in Handy: Learning About Handwashing
The New York Times Learning Network offers this lesson for grades 6-12.

Caught Dirty-Handed
This activity could be adapted across the grades.

Handwashing Experiment
Activities and discussion questions for older students.

Handwashing Laboratory Activities
These college-level activities could be used in high school.

Scrub Club for Kids
And lots of downloadables for teachers too.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Validating The World One Smile At A Time


Dec 26, 2008
		Magic of Free Parking Composer turned filmmaker Kurt Kuenne calls it "a fable about the magic of free parking." A short film about one parking attendant named Hugh Newman is really the story of small acts of goodness and everyday smiles.

KarmaTube is a repository of inspiring online videos coupled with small, be-the-change actions that everyone can engage in. Our weekly videos reach 23191 active subscribers. about us \| more videos

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Vegetarians Healthier In Study Of Seventh Day Adventist Diet

lifestyle factors increase longevity and quality of health.

more variation in longevity between vegetarian Adventists and non-vegetarian Adventists

evidence showing protective associations between nut consumption and deaths due to coronary heart disease.

Seventh Day Adventists lived longer

high physical activity, frequent consumption of nuts, vegetarian status, and medium body mass index each result in an approximate 1.5- to 2.5-years gain in life expectancy

those who consume more nuts have been shown to have 35% to 50% lower rates of coronary events in other studies.

cholesterol–lowering effects of nuts, and perhaps to their unusually high content of antioxidant vitamin E.

Increased physical activity is associated with important reductions in the relative risks of coronary events, stroke, and cancers of the breast and colon.

the longest lives were the vegetarians.

is better for one’s heart to eat less meat.

life choices and further increases their longevity.
+++

Study of Seventh Day Adventist Diet Means Good News For Vegetarians
Wednesday, February 06, 2008 by: Cathy Sherman, citizen journalist
http://www.naturalnews.com/022599.html

Articles Related to This Article:
• Smart kids more likely to go vegetarian later in life
• Red meat consumption doubles risk of colon cancer, says study; is it time to go vegetarian yet?
• Debating Pescatarianism: To Fish or Not to Fish for a Protein Source

(NaturalNews) A study of Seventh Day Adventists, published in 2000, showed that several of their lifestyle factors increase longevity and quality of health. The study was conducted among 34,192 self-identified California Adventists. Subjects were asked to complete questionnaires that pinpointed demographics, medical history, diet, physical activity, and a few psycho-social variables. Subjects were evaluated for 12 years in regard to deaths and hospitalizations.

Comparisons were made among the subjects according to several lifestyle choices, and secondly, the Adventist statistics as a whole were compared to the vital statistics of non-Hispanic Californians in general. It was found that there was more variation in longevity between vegetarian Adventists and non-vegetarian Adventists than between Adventists as a whole and non-Adventists. It appears that some of the factors studied are those which can add years to one’s life if adopted.

The factors evaluated for the study were: vegetarianism, body mass index, past smoking (there were no current smokers), exercise, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in women, and eating of nuts. A vegetarian diet was defined as meat consumption, never or less than once per month; and semi-vegetarian as eating of meats more often than vegetarians, but less than once per week. All others are non-vegetarians. Few Adventist vegetarians are vegan. Meat was identified as beef (hamburger, steak, other beef, or veal), pork, poultry, and fish. Nut consumption was included in these analyses because of previously published evidence showing protective associations between nut consumption and deaths due to coronary heart disease. Unfortunately, the article did not define what was considered a nut for the purposes of this study.

Generally it was found that among the non-Hispanic Californian population, those identified as Seventh Day Adventists lived longer, on the average of 7.3 extra years for men, and 4.42 more years for women.
Among the Adventist population itself, it was found that high physical activity, frequent consumption of nuts, vegetarian status, and medium body mass index each result in an approximate 1.5- to 2.5-years gain in life expectancy. Hypertension accounts for the loss of 4.2 and 3.2 years and diabetes for the loss of 4.6 and 8.6 years in men and women, respectively.

The effects ascribed to "non-vegetarian status" are probably related to the greater intake of foods high in saturated fat and the lower intake of foods higher in unsaturated fat, fiber, antioxidant vitamins, and other phytochemicals. This may affect mortality due to cardiovascular causes and cancer. Similarly, those who consume more nuts have been shown to have 35% to 50% lower rates of coronary events in other studies. This is probably due in part to the blood cholesterol–lowering effects of nuts, and perhaps to their unusually high content of antioxidant vitamin E. Increased physical activity is associated with important reductions in the relative risks of coronary events, stroke, and cancers of the breast and colon.

The mechanisms are not entirely understood, but probably include effects on blood lipid levels, sex hormones in women, blood insulin level, the immune system, obesity and on the reduced risk of diabetes and hypertension. Whatever the mechanisms, it seems apparent that half of Adventist men and women are losing more than 4 years of life, apparently due to their less than optimal behavioral choices which are also not in adherence to their faith’s dietary guidelines.

Of the 5193 observed deaths, 1373 (26.4%) were ascribed to coronary heart disease, 1074 (20.7%) to cancer, and 531 (10.2%) to stroke. Almost half died of other causes which were not listed.

The subjects of this California study enjoying the longest lives were the vegetarians. Other studies have shown health benefits from vegetarian diets, so one conclusion is that it is better for one’s heart to eat less meat. A UK study found, for example, in comparison with regular meat eaters, mortality from coronary heart disease was 20% lower in occasional meat eaters, 34% lower in people who ate fish but not meat, 34% lower in lacto-ovo-vegetarians, and 26% lower in vegans. There were no significant differences between vegetarians and non-vegetarians in mortality from cerebrovascular disease, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, or all other causes combined.

A further note on the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) philosophy: The SDA organization is evidently very concerned with health in general. Their university at Loma Linda, California, does much in the way of medical research. It is possible that this concern filters down into its followers’ life choices and further increases their longevity. Smoking and alcohol consumption are discouraged. In other ways, though, SDA followers are like the rest of their neighbors. For example, they follow the requirements of their state in regard to vaccinations for their children. The author found no evidence that SDA parents complained against the inoculations provided by SDA schools, nor sought waivers for their children to opt out of vaccinations.

The results of this study and others do strongly suggest that behavioral choices influence the expected age at death by several years, even as much as a decade. The study shows that commonly prescribed recommendations to improve diet, increase physical activity, stop smoking, and reduce body weight are relevant to increasing life expectancy and quality of life. The addition of nuts to the diet is a less prescribed habit that seems to provide increased health benefits as well.

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Monday, November 3, 2008

How Girls (And everyone else) Can Unprogram Themselves To Be More Awake Use Intuition

Listening with Heart 360: The New Paradigm for Women [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

[This is focused on girls living in the media dominated high tech worlds. The skills that can be learned are useful for becoming more awake to making better choices each instant of one's life - instant by instant - without the usual unconscious programming and conditioned habits of life.

The periodic negative and simplistic projections of the author leave a lot to be desired. The idea of positive ways of individuals setting aside their conditioning, becoming aware of their unconscious behaviors and finding more appropriate ways can be very useful. The use of intuition - acting with wisdom for the situation and circumstance can be a great alternative to the usual dysfunctional standard programming.]

by Elizabeth Diane
Link here to the book info

Here is the website:
http://www.listeningwithheart.com/home.cfm

Here are YouTube videos:
http://www.listeningwithheart.com/home.cfm

CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION

Listening With Heart is not another self-help book. It is a help the world book, “by you helping.”

...

It is important to make the following point right from the very beginning. Listening With Heart is not against anything. We are simply interested in raising the consciousness of women. This book is not about making the media, advertisers or big business the scapegoat and the root of all women’s problems.

Listening With Heart is about making more women aware of where our thinking as a whole is. And where the female consciousness is at the moment, it is hurting and holding far too many women back for it to remain at its present level. And at this point in time our thinking is resonating far too strongly with what is called programming.

WHAT EXACTLY IS PROGRAMMING?

http://www.listeningwithheart.com/helpyou.cfm

Programming consists mainly of two parts. The first part is the media, advertisers, and big business. This type of programming is a system solely designed for the purpose of making money. The second type is the demands and expectations placed upon us by others. In other words, the second type of programming encompasses all of the roles that we play out in this thing called life.

In the beginning the programming does your thinking for you. When the programming is making your decisions , your thinking automatically becomes limited. We run into difficulties in our lives, particularly as women, because we honestly believe that the programming is our only option. There have probably been instances in your life where there have been new possibilities and the freedom to begin again, but you remain distracted. You begin to live to the rhythm of the programming and forget the value and worth in yourself. In no time at all, your natural stride is replaced by another’s walk and you begin to wonder why you feel out of step.

Programming is anything and everything that takes you away from your natural self and makes you believe and feel that you have to be something that you are not. Many times you can’t see it, but the programming is continuously floating around and you are battling it all of the time. The programming makes you feel like you just don't belong, that you are simply are not enough. You see if you are contented and happy with the way you are, then you will not be all that interested in the programming. On the other hand, if you are feeling incomplete and looking for something to make you happy, then GOTCHA! The programming is anything that makes you believe that you have to be a square but deep down in that real place you call home you are most definitely and without a doubt a circle.

Much has been written to educate women on the negative impact that the programming has on us. But unfortunately ladies, in many cases, all it has left us with is simply more information. There has been no significant shift in our thinking and the female consciousness has been stalled in a holding pattern. This is leaving far too many of us not only confused but also frustrated by the fact that we are not moving as fast or as far forward as originally anticipated.

THE MAJOR SIDE EFFECT OF ALL OF THE PROGRAMMING

The major side effect of all of the programming is the question:

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?"

How will this glass half empty type thinking ever lead you to feeling good about yourself? Remember that the first part of the programming is a system solely designed for the purpose of making money. Repeat. It is designed to make money not to progress your thinking. If this type of programming was interested in making you feel good, so that your thinking could be freed up to explore other areas, then we would see many more size 12-14 models. More women could then declare, “Hey I look similar to her, I could look good in that outfit and I don’t have to change a thing about myself to do it” The programming consists of an endless assembly line of “New and Improved” products that supply a myriad of answers to the side effect question, “What is wrong with me?” So they keep making money, (can’t fault people for making a living) but in the meantime too many of us continue to feel stuck or trapped because the programming is working and we are not accepting ourselves as we are.

And ladies, if we are not being ourselves, we are being someone else.

read more about programming

---

CHAPTER TWO - WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

Listening With Heart can help you if you are living somebody else’s idea of life. It could the media, the magazines, your spouse, your boyfriend, your mother, your father, or your employer. It does not matter. What matters is that you have and have always had the ability to become the rudder of your own ship; to be on your own path living life on your own terms. On our own terms sounds good, eh? Just be prepared to hear your friend comment that you have indeed changed and that you don't sound like yourself. Your answer will be something like this. “I was tired of doing what everyone was telling me to do. I have decided to do things the way I want to do them. You know what? I get more done and have some spare time for myself. I do things in the order I want to rather than in the order others would have me do it. So everyone can start to take a number and I will get to it, in my own time.” When you can say that, and those around you accept you and love you; you are back in charge. The programming in this area has lost its grip.

What is an alternative to the programming? THE HEART. You see our heads can be programmed but the heart cannot be because the heart is where wisdom dwells. The heart is a reminder of what we once knew but carelessly did not commit to memory; each and every one of us has what it takes. It’s in our D.N.A. If this idea doesn’t resonate well with you, don’t worry, the programming is still working.

...
But the programming can never shut down that deep down place where we belong, the home of being enough. THE HEART.

The world gives us many wonderful roles: Daughter, student, sister, mother, career women, and wife. Please add in anymore that exist in your life. We not only cherish most of the roles bestowed upon us but more importantly we learn from them. But where we seem to get confused and it is very easy to get mixed up here; we are not those roles. Cue and enter the second type of programming that consists of all the expectations and demands placed upon us by others; the roles that we play.

it is not what we are doing but

WHO WE ARE NOT BEING

that is taking up our valuable energy.

---

CHAPTER FOUR

NATURAL WEIGHT: A LINE WOMEN CAN PUT IN THEMSELVES

Listening With Heart defines “Natural Weight” as:

A balance point (homeostasis) that the body will maintain ... as long as eating is primarily based in response to natural hunger. The balance point to a very large extent is determined by DNA.
---

CHAPTER NINE

THE SITUATION WHEEL

The situation wheel is designed for the purpose of taking away some the frustration of life’s circumstances you find when working on a problem. How many times do you think about a relationship you are in, ... any relationship concerning someone else and each time you do, you find yourself in the same spot? Say if someone said something or did something to you, even if it was months or even years ago. It is like opening a book, turning to the page and there it is. In other words, you have not moved since the last time this situation was at the front of your thinking.

Since you have not moved and would like to, we have designed the Wheel to help you along. You understand a car will not move if it did not have wheels, therefore let’s use the same principle to move your thinking along. In the physical world we invent things to help carry the load and make life more bearable. However, in our thinking, our six inch universe, the powerful space between our ears, we don’t seem to have the same help and find ourselves getting stalled far too often. The wheel is here to help you.

HOW TO USE THE WHEEL: A MOTHER AND DAUGHTER EXAMPLE

The following section will help prepare you to get your thinking more in line with the wheel. Look at it this way. Far too many women think about things as being right or wrong, happy and unhappy. Keep in mind your mind is not just two levels- upstairs and downstairs but more like a skyscraper with 100 plus levels. And this is the way to fill out the wheel. Each piece of the pie represents 100 levels. There are eight pieces to the wheel, seven situations and one for the overall performance.(OP) Here is an example of a mother and daughter working on their situations.
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CHAPTER TEN - I WISH I MAY I WISH I MIGHT

Wishful thinking. Let’s begin by suggesting that you do your best not confuse wishful thinking with dreaming. This is a line that is blurred by far too many women.

A dream is a possibility fueled by forward momentum. Forward momentum that is provided by living with what is rather than wishing they be otherwise. In other words, dreaming has its seeds in authentic action or more simply, in the truth.

On the other hand, wishful thinking camouflages the truth. Although, wishful thinking may be a couple of notches above negative type thinking, the results unfortunately are very similar. INERTIA. STAGNATION. GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS. STUCK. Why? It seldom progresses, same wishful thinking, different day. There is a very important point to be made here. Without the programming we wouldn’t need wishful thinking because we would be too busy out there living. How much of our lives are dedicated to wishful thinking without going out and doing something for ourselves?

Wishful thinking is an attractive option because in this place your husband is going to change after you have children, your child isn’t doing “those” things, and you are definitely happier now that you have lost the weight. Virginia Woolfe so succinctly wrote, “It is much more difficult to slay a phantom than a reality.” Wow! Did she ever understand the essence of the programming! Ladies, the programming is our phantom, cleverly and consistently disguised as our reality. And the programming initiates wishful thinking. Wishful thinking is tricky because it is extremely difficult to pinpoint. On the surface it doesn't present as threatening. But soon, a the lie begins its slow, seductive dance as the truth and you end up drawing your answers from there instead of from what is real. Please don’t make the mistake of assuming that you can relegate the truth to the back of your thinking in one area of your life, and not run the risk of having it impact on all other areas. Ladies, life is passing us by because it’s in motion and we are stuck. Stuck in the wake of wishful thinking that is leaving too many of us gasping and gulping for air. And the programming, well the programming has us all convinced that this is breathing!

Take a look behind the roles and there you are. As we progress through life what many of us do not realize is that our roles are only temporary, a fleeting part. But tightly we hold on, all the while not realizing that we are slipping right through our own hands. As one day rolls into another, some of us can’t help but feel that something is missing, a palpable emptiness. This is the space where we use to be. We wish that we could write that some other force was responsible for this loss, this vacuum, but the reality of it is no one is taking it from you, you are giving it away. And since you are the one giving it away, it is therefore very much in your power to take it back. The six-inch universe is just that, a universe. And in a universe a thought can travel as far as you want it to. We have become short sighted not because we lack a keen eye but mainly because our vision has been obscured. Let’s take a good look around. There has to be more to it, doesn’t there? We start off as young girls, who cannot imagine looking like anything other than a manufactured image, and end up as women twisting and turning, unable to face forward and simply be ourselves.
---

CHAPTER ELEVEN - GET INTO THE GROOVE

Thoughts are our mode of transportation through this life. Our six- inch universe, that ever-powerful space between our ears, is the place where we do all of our living. We don’t live “out” there somewhere, but our lives are either consistently propelled by the momentum of our thoughts or stalled by the inertia of them. Our thoughts are alive and literally have the power to take us anywhere and everywhere. So where is it exactly that your thoughts are taking you? Are you going places or just being programmed? Whatever we choose to think about becomes part of our world. And with each thought we are making a distinct impression on our six- inch universe. These impressions are called GROOVES.

Let us consider a thought or thought patterns to be very much like each separate song on a CD. You play cut one and of course get the first song, cut two the second song and so on. So how is it that our thoughts and thought patterns become grooves? Well, say that you have a favorite song on the CD and you press the repeat function so that you will hear the song over and over again. Each time that you have the same or similar thought a small groove is formed. Of course it makes sense that the more you have a particular set of similar thoughts the deeper and wider a groove will become.

So, who or what is responsible for the grooves of your thinking? Now this is a tough question because most sane women would say who the heck do you think is in charge of my thinking? I am. But are you really?

You see we live in a world that if you intentionally break someone’s leg you are most likely going to get charged and go to jail. Most of us must see the harm in order to understand it. However, when someone breaks a person’s spirit they are off the hook. The damage has been done to the person’s thinking, their six-inch universe. The injury has taken place in that invisible place where our grooves are spinning. What we need to begin to understand is that the programming is operating on this level. It would be beneficial if someone could come up with a physical way to protect our thinking so that the programming could not get in. But a visible, physical barrier doesn’t block the invisible programming. So we must arm the six-inch universes with our own thoughts.

It’s an interesting concept, women thinking for themselves. It’s a new millennium and it’s time ladies!

---

CHAPER TWELVE - DEPROGRAMMING: HOW TO TUNE INTO YOUR HEART

Intuition is a smooth flowing response to situations and people in our lives. It is a quiet voice that is there all of the time. We think that it originates in the head but it comes from the heart. When the heart speaks we hear it as wisdom and intuition is simply a flash of this wisdom that we are able to tune into. Intuition isn’t attached to anything; it just is. Intuition doesn’t fear; it just calls you to act. One of the reasons why intuition is so hard to define and explain is that you can’t force it or will it to come. You can’t even plan it. Intuition just comes to you in its own time and in a way that many times only you will understand.

There is no set pattern to follow and specific things to expect with intuition, as there is when we use our logic. But, because logic and rational thought are definitely needed to get by in this world, they remain at the front of our thinking for most of our day. If intuition simply got placed to the back of our thinking for safekeeping, we would still be aware of it. However, for most, intuition has become something that is very unfamiliar, something reserved only for the spiritually evolved gurus meditating in their caves. But we all have it. Intuition is our built in ability to listen to our hearts, to eavesdrop on eternity. It has no set curriculum, no definite right or wrong, no black or white in its thinking, just a reservoir of answers and a hope that you pick one.

Getting in tune with our intuition is very much like learning how to drive a car. At first you must concentrate a lot on the task, locating the indicators, the lights, focusing on the road ahead. Soon, however, we realize that we are driving and the tasks that once required concentration are more automatic. The more we use and act on our intuition the more it will seem like it is not intuition at all. Your intuition will become automatic and soon becomes a larger part of your thinking. You are beginning to remember what we are all born with. Our intuition invites us to take back all of the parts of ourselves that we have given away. You will know that intuition is a part of your life when things seem to be working out and the world seems a better place.

Whole and complete women can offer up a lot of strength and resistance to all that life and the programming can throw at her. Our hearts complete the picture. Without spirit we fall vulnerable and depend on society to give it to us. We become dependent on manufactured spirit like alcohol, drugs, and food to name just three. Soon our bodies become use to these and simply want more. But what we must keep in mind is that when our spirits are down, so are our emotions and this lowers our resistance to life and its daily knocks. We simply become bodies going through the motions and calling that a life.

---

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - LET'S KICK IT UP A COUPLE OF NOTCHES!

...

Love is a sphere of wonderment, very much like the sun, with billions of rays emitting from it. Much of the world’s thinking is weighed down and stuck in disagreement as to the ways that are best to get there. But if we could all realize that one size don’t fit all, we could relax and take comfort in the fact that we are all going to get there.

... Love is like a young child knocking gently at the door and if you are not in a peaceful frame of mind, you are not going hear it. You are too distracted.

Face it, most of us can drown out a full blast television set with all of the internal arguing and worrying that we do on a daily basis. So love remains at the door and we complain that it has become an orphan. In reality love hasn’t gone; the location of your mind is holding it at a precarious distance. To change the location of your mind, find time in your day to just be. It is in this stillness and quiet that doesn’t judge your name; that you can get to know yourself.

Listen, hear the gentle knock and let love in. The “ah ha” notion rushes in; everything that you ever wanted is right here, in front of you, and has been all of this time.

...

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

...

First our thoughts are full of fresh and distinct possibility. But our six-inch universe is far too large a circle to fit into the ever- shrinking square of the programming. “Why isn’t it easy being me?” It is not easy because you are being someone else.

... The power of the six-inch universe has been underestimated. This is where we give the programming a life but it is also where we live. Where there is a different thought, there is another way. Where there is a new idea, there is a distinct path that wants its say. Express it in your own way. ...

[Being] somebody else is no longer the best person to live out your life. This is your life and the rest of it that we are talking about.
+++

Here are reviews from Amazon:

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Change your life by listening, September 19, 2008
By     Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
Reviewed by Danelle Drake for Reader Views (9/08)

"Programming is anything taking you away from your natural self and making you think you have to be something you are not." Ok, I admit, I had to re-read this sentence more than once to understand it. I really didn't get it. "Life is too short for unnecessary sadness." No misunderstanding there - I get it - man, do I get it.

"'Listening with Heart' is all about building bridges over troubled spots after the red flags are flying." It's about thinking positive, not letting fear rule your life, and being happy with yourself. "Thinking more positive can be done from anywhere." `Listening with Heart 360" will help search deep inside yourself and assist you in becoming more aware of your self-perception. Step out of the mold and take a risk.

Many of the issues females face in the world today are dealt with inside the pages of this book. Troubled by a poor body image, you are introduced to negative and positive pounds. Write down what you eat, if you can't cut anything out, cut back. Change your habit - you can do it.

Weathering the storm of adolescence is always a challenge. Dealing with daughters experiencing puberty and having a positive response to your child is a definite challenge. You will be led to better prepare her for adulthood in ways that will help her become a strong, independent women.

Marriage and happily ever after, yes it can be realistic. Getting past the fantasy and living in the real world. You are expected to behave in one manner, and have many responsibilities. You are shown how you can still be a wife but also be a happy individual. If your marriage is not happily ever after, you are shown how this experience can have a positive outcome and make you stronger. Divorce is compared to childbirth; until you experience it, you have no idea.

"Listening with Heart 360" is designed to be read in conjunction with using their website. It will give you useful tools to help you analyze different life situations. As a parent of four daughters, I have read chapter 5: The Storm and chapter 6: The Hormonian Age several times and would highly recommend the book solely based on these chapters alone.

"Listening with Heart 360" by Elizabeth Diane and Andrew Marshall will activate your consciousness and lead you to think things you may never have considered. Opening your eyes about things you would never have thought will have a very positive impact on your self-perception. Regardless of the phrasing, you are given information to help you lead a more positive life.

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5.0 out of 5 stars The Enchanted Self, a Positive Therapy finds a paradigm friend in Listening With Heart, May 27, 2008
By     Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein "Dr. Barbara" (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
The Truth: I'm a Girl, I'm Smart and I Know Everything As a positive psychologits who has developed a new paradigm for the treatment room, explained in The Enchanted Self, A Positive Therapy, designed to encourage hope, optimism and to specifically help women and girls use their strengths, talents, copins skills, and potential, even lost potential, to build happiness, purpose and meaning into their lives, I was thrilled to come across Listening with Heart. This book is filled with the wisdom that women need to hold on to themselves, their dreams and the 'songs of the soul' that they wish to sing. The book carefully explains how we are all influenced by programming that happens outside of ourselves in society and can so easily give up the destiny that is rightfully ours. In particular, girls are given help, via the ways that Ms. Diane and Mr. Marshall, teach their mothers, to understand the 'storm' of growing up as a teenager and how not to give in to the passions of that period of time that may not serve them well emotionally, socially or physically.
This is a very dense book with a tremendous amount of social and emotioanl material, plus a spiritual perspective that is uplifting. I would suggest that women, guidance counselors, therapists, junior and high school teachers, all take the time to read this book. As the authors say, "The Lady is on Stage and se is Getting Ready to Sing" on p. 104. Let's make sure us women and the next generation of girls, all sing!

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This book introduces two authors who get it! Instead of inundating women with statistics and yet another strategy of how to cope with life's imbalances, Elizabeth Diane and Andrew Marshall address the root cause, not the symptom. And the root cause of imbalance experienced by girls and women alike is called programming.The book not only introduces the ahead of the curve concept called programming but also an innovative relationship tool called The Situation Wheel designed to help women improve upon any relationship in which she maybe struggling. With revolutionary insight into the 'de-programming' process, authors Elizabeth Diane and Andrew Marshall trigger new angles of thinking for girls and women. Whether it is in their attitudes toward their bodies or in relationships; this book can help women find their own authentic lives. A wonderful Mother/Daughter gift can be found between the covers of this innovative book. The book is a must read for all women because it is The New Paradigm For Women!