Elderberries Boost Night Vision and More
By Susannah Singer | July 29, 2008
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The elderberry is a dark purple or blue berry growing on the elderberry bush or elder tree. It is found across Europe and North America where temperate climates make it thrive. Often found along steams or roadways, the hardy plant is in no danger of extinction
The hardy nature of the elderberry is seen in the fact that some live to be 80 to 100 years old! The American elder, slightly sweeter than the European elder, grows most anywhere east of the Rockies. The European Elder however, is the one most often used in extracts and syrups. They produce a white flower in the spring and clusters of dark blue berries in the late summer.
For centuries, elderberries have been used in folk medicine for a variety of ills, including arthritis, asthma, constipation, and as a cure for the common cold. In 400 B.C., Hippocrates referred to the elderberry as his “medicine chest.”
Elderberries are a rich source of vitamin C and potassium, and have shown to be effective in strengthening the immune system.
Elderberries also reduce the risk of atherosclerosis by keeping platelets from adhering to the blood vessel walls. This reduces risks caused by bad cholesterol. But perhaps its most famous benefit is providing the body with anthocyanins. These are antioxidants that protect the body cells from damage caused by stress, poor diet, or environmental toxins.
We all have heard that carrots help us see better. Elderberries actually help us see better at night. They aid the body in producing rhodopsin, or visual purple, a substance in the rods of the retina that aid in seeing in reduced light.
The white flowers of the elderberry bush may be pressed into tonics, lightly battered and fried into fritters, or stirred into muffin or sponge cake mix for a light, sweet flavor. Elderberry may be purchased either as a juice or juice ingredient, and as a dietary supplement. Suggested dosage is 400 mg of a 6 percent anthocyanin extract daily.
Elderberries are only good cooked. First, they have a bitter flavor alone and are often either sweetened or cooked with pears or apples to naturally sweeten them. Second, the berries contain toxins that are removed when they are cooked. But once cooked, elderberries are used for pies, jams, syrups, extracts, and for garnishing, dying, or flavoring other food.
The red-berried elder contains toxins and is best avoided. Stick with blue, black, or dark purple elderberries, and leave the reds alone. And remember, the leaves, twigs, stems, roots, and unripe berries of all elderberry plants are not edible, and contain toxins that can make a person quite sick.
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The Right Way To Develop A Wide, Muscular Back
By Ricardo Daryans | July 29, 2008
It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly misguided the vast majority of the population is in the gym. Everyone is desperate for that wide, powerful and muscular physique, yet very few understand how to properly channel their efforts to get there.
It’s obvious why most lifters neglect the back muscles. 1) The back is not a “showy” muscle and you can’t see it in the mirror. 2) Back training is far more stressful and taxing to the body than chest or arm training. 3) Most lifters are simply unaware of how important the development of these muscles really is.
Allow me to let you in on a little secretIf you want to appear as wide, thick and powerful as you possibly can, nothing will allow you to achieve this goal faster than a well developed back.
If you want to succed and have a wide back, just follow these simple steps.
1) Deadlifts. There is not a single exercise out there that can even come close to matching the effectiveness of a basic, bent-legged barbell deadlift. This should be the most important part of your routine.
2) Vertical pulling movement. To get the most bang for your buck I recommend a basic overhand chin-up. This is the bread and butter of vertical pulling movements and will stimulate growth in the lats like no other exercise. Examples: v-bar pulldowns, chin-ups, lat pulldowns, etc.
3) Horizontal pulling movement. For maximum results, stick to a basic freeweight rowing movement. I usually recommend bent over barbell rows, but bent over dumbbell rows are an acceptable choice as well.
4) A shrugging movement. A basic barbell or dumbbell shrug will be enough for this part. Why is it necessary to perform this movement after your workout? To develop that mountainous, diamond-shaped look from behind.
Okay, let’s put it all together Deadlifts - 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps. Overhand Chin-Ups - 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps. Bent Over Barbell Rows - 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps. Barbell Shrugs - 2 Sets of 10 to 12 reps.
It may not seem like a lot, but as long as you take every set to muscular failure and focus on quality rather than quantity, this routine provides more than enough stimulation for maximum back growth. I’ve used this same routine for many years and continue to see steady progress in both back size and strength.
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All Your Effort Gone In 60 Seconds
By Ricardo Daryans | July 29, 2008
In the same way a small fraction of a second is crucial in a sprinter’s race during a 100 metre dash, fractions of seconds can mean success or failure in a bodyduilding process. That seconds will make or break your body’s muscle growth response in the gym.
There’s more…although each entire workout will last for about an hour, only about 60 seconds will determine what kind of gains you achieve. That’s right, how you choose to handle that 60 second time period could means great, mediocre or poor muscle building effects.
How does it works? Well, the first reps in your set means just a little bit than nothing in terms of muscular growth. However, they play an important role.
If a given set consists of 6 reps, then reps 1-4 are only performed in order to get to reps 5 and 6. Reps 1-4 will do very little in terms of stimulating muscular growth, but are necessary to perform in order to overload the muscles on reps 5 and 6.
The important thing is to overload your muscles in the last reps. Muscles respond to stress, and there is no more stressful moment for your muscles than the moment at the end of your set.
The best way to trigger your body’s adaptive responses is training until your muscles cannot move the weight another inch. Drop the weight some seconds before the guy next to you and you will see the difference between his and your muscles after some weeks.
Let’s do some math. If you perform 10 sets per workout, and have a margin of 6 seconds between success/failure per set, then it means that the way you handle that 60 seconds could mean a significant muscular growth…or a total waste of time.
So, your success will be measured by this really short period of time, and the amount of effort you are willing to exert during this time.
The closer and closer that you can come to muscular failure, the more dramatically your body will respond. Two seconds, five seconds, maybe another one rep, or two, would actually mean a great difference.
If you can force yourself to train to all out muscular failure, you’ll achieve the best results possible. If you drop the weight 3 seconds before muscular failure, your growth will be compromised. If you drop the weight 8 seconds before muscular failure, your growth will be compromised even further.
If you can’t move the weight another inch, if your muscles ache and you feel them burning, you are going in the right direction to true muscular failure.
If you stop short, even a second short, your gains will be compromised. Keep this in mind at all times in the gym and you’ll experience better results than ever before.
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The Cabbage Soup Diet
By Joel Riley | July 29, 2008
Being overweight is a problem for many people and with that they will try to find any mean possible to drop that weight. However, people don’t always consider how damaging a diet might be; all they are concerned about is getting rid of those extra pounds.
One of the healthiest, effective and fast ways to loose weight is the cabbage soup diet. This diet is a low fat high fiber diet that helps to get rid of excess weight. The cabbage soup diet should be followed for seven days only and not longer than that. When you are following the diet you should drink lots of water and follow the diet religiously
While on the cabbage soup diet it is recommended that you take a vitamin supplement and you should eat as much soup as you can and as often as you want. Keeping your stomach full is the key to the success of this diet; if you don’t eat enough of the soup, you might be tempted to eat something else.
The soup itself, for the cabbage soup diet consists of cabbage, tomatoes, and onions, which are all high in fiber and help to burn fat. You can add any vegetables you wish, such as peppers or celery and season with whatever spices you have available. To add a little more flavor you can also add some chicken broth. Along with the soup you can have fruits of all kinds except for bananas, because they are high in sugar. On the first day of the cabbage soup diet you should drink unsweetened tea.
The second day of the cabbage soup diet you can also have vegetables but no dry beans or corn; you may also have a baked potato in which you can spice up. On the 3rd day add fruits and vegetables along with the soup.
On the third day of your cabbage soup diet you can have fruits, vegetables and soup. On the fourth day you can have banana and milk and not to forget the cabbage soup. The fifth day would include tomatoes, meat or fish and the soup. On the sixth day you can have soup, meat and lots of green leafy vegetables.
On the last day of your cabbage soup diet you can have soup, rice, fruit juice and vegetables. During you diet you can?t have bread, alcohol, carbonated beverages or even diet soda. What you can have is black coffee, black tea, unsweetened fruit juice, cranberry juice and skimmed milk. By following this diet you can easily loose 10 to 15 pounds in a week.
The healthiest way to do this diet is to follow it for a week and then take a minimum break of one week and if you wish you can start your diet again. The cabbage soup diet is surely a successful and quick way to loose the unwanted fat.
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What Is The Cause Of Eczema?
By The Alternate Medic | July 29, 2008
Quite often eczema is a debilitating condition which is hard to live with as there is no known cure for it at present. However there are ways to minimise the effects the condition can have on your daily life.
Naturally one of the best ways to cope with the condition is to try and find out what the cause of eczema is. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a single root cause for all cases of eczema (at least none that has yet been found), but there are certain factors which seem to aggravate the condition.
Trying To Find The Cause Of Eczema
It is well known that many eczema sufferers are also prone to suffering from allergies (hay fever is an excellent example of this) therefore some doctors believe it is a good idea to take an allergy test.
Unfortunately, an allergy test won?t magically reveal the cause of eczema, however, it will reveal what kind of allergens produce an adverse reaction in your body ? a reaction that could cause your eczema to flare up.
An example is dust in the house which is a common allergen, so eczema sufferers who test positive for this should consider buying hypoallergenic bedding to minimise the amount of dust mites and other irritants that may be the cause of eczema flare ups.
In other words, the results of an allergy test can point to irritants you can try to exclude (or at the very least minimise) in your everyday life. By doing this, you may find that the cause of eczema in your own life can be isolated and the effects reduced.
Believe it or not stress is another common cause of eczema which occurs in everyone’s life at some point or another. Stress can be a big trigger however, not many people realise it can have such a big effect on an eczema sufferer.
If you notice that you become easily stressed and that it affects your eczema then you should find ways and means of reducing your stress, Make some time for yourself each day to simply relax and enjoy something, whether it?s reading a good book or reclining in the bath. Meditation is an excellent method of stress release.
Naturally, reducing your stress levels won?t happen overnight, but if you recognize it as being the trigger for your eczema flare-up, persevering towards a more relaxed lifestyle will yield big benefits in the long run.
As they say ?every cause has an effect?, therefore finding the cause of eczema in your life even though it may appear to be unrelated at first, could lead you to the solution to your problem. Take this source away, and your eczema should improve.
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