Yes! Friendly-tips has taken a “U turn” today & we are taking about the benefits of smoking.

I started with the intention to write on Tips to Quit Smoking, but soon realized that it is easier said than done.  Especially people who smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day will find it extremely hard to kick this habit.

A good friend once joking said : “ It is so easy to quit smoking, I have quit so many times.”

Here is a boon for such friends & for their friends ( passive smokers like me) – Green Cigarette. Commercially these products are known as Electronic cigarettes or alternative cigarettes. The benefits of this modern day wonder are:

• No tar or carbon monoxide to darken your lungs
• No ash, no second hand smoke (passive smoke) & also no risk of fire.
• No offensive smoke, can be had even in “No smoking areas”
• Produces a smoke like vapour which is harmless to the ozone layer.
• ( Yes it does have nicotine) & you can choose between 0-16mg nicotine levels of cigarette.
• These electronic green cigarettes can be used to even kick the habit of smoking.

Now for the obvious question “ where can I buy these e-cigarettes ?” The best quality green cigarettes can be bought here “ Buy cigarette online“

For all those readers who  would  rater still quit smoking here are few tips for serious trier.

• Go Physical : 30 minutes of moderate physical activity will distract you from early morning cigarette craving.
• Try Yoga/ breathing exercises/relaxation techniques :  Improved breathing increases will power & will be a great asset in your battle against tobacco.
• Chew…chew..: Give some activity to your mouth:  chew gum, carrot sticks or bar . Do anything that distracts the urge to grab the next puff.
• Publicity stunt: Announcing publicly that you have quit smoking will increase your chances of sticking on to your decision.
• Nicotine replacements: Try nicotine substitutes like nicotine patch/ gum. It is here that green / alternate cigarettes will be most useful.

To discover more about electronic cigarettes visit “ Cigarettes on line”

The famous chili is back in news. This time it’s not for bringing tears in your eyes or for burning your tongue, but for its health benefits.

We had long known chili to be Rich in Vitamin A & C ( Did you know that chilies have more vitamin C per gram than Orange ?). Another astonishing fact about chili is that it’s rich in beta carotene too. The best know benefit of chilies is its ability to reduce pain. Eating chilies will aid release of endorphins which in turn reduces pain.

The famous chili is back in news for another good reason- “ Eating chili will help in weight loss.”

Dr. K. D. Ahuja and Dr.M. J. Ball of the University of Tasmania (Australia) found that a “freshly chopped chili” eaten daily slowed the oxidation of cholesterol even more effectively than taking vitamin E and antioxidant supplements. The same team, along with Dr. I. K. Robertson and Dr. D. P. Geraghty, also found that consuming chilies for a month lowered resting heart rate in men.

This week, there came further evidence that chilies indeed aid fat loss. Scientists are reporting that the compound capsaicin (found in chilies), helps in weight loss by triggering certain protein changes in the body. The lab experiments were done on rats by feeding them fatty food & fatty food with chilies. Rats on a diet of fatty food with chilies lost an astounding 8% body fat ! Click here to read the complete details of this research

No article on Chili can be complete without a recipe. So here is my famous Chili salsa recipe:

Recipe of chili salsa:

Ingredients:  1 red capsicum, 1 green capsicum, 1 cucumber, 4 tomatoes, 4-5 spring onions or 1 medium onion, 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, juice of 1 lemon, 2 tsp of red vinegar, 1 bunch coriander & 1 bunch of mint leaves.

Method :

Char the capsicum over flame & remove skin & seeds.

Blanch tomatoes to remove skin.

Remove the skin & seeds from cucumber.

Roughly chop the other vegetables & herbs.

Blend all the ingredients in a blender. ( you can chop them fine too.. I prefer blended)

Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Now enjoy this salsa with pack of favorite wafers or bread.

Chili lovers can click here to discover the book “600 Chili Recipes for Chili Lovers.”

Best Training Strategies

If you ever been to a doctor, the first thing they do is convince you to do low to moderate intensity aerobic training. This is also referred to as cardio. They suggest you do about 30-60 minutes of steady pace cardio for about 3-5 times in a week. They claim this helps maintain your heart rate at a moderate level.

Before you get involved in such a routine, consider some recent scientific research that gives concrete facts to prove such cardio workouts may not work that well after all.

Our bodies were designed to perform physical activity in bursts of exertion followed by recovery. According to the research study, physical variety is a key variable in your training. If you examine most sports, you will find that most of them go with this burst of exertion, or stop-and-go movement, as it is also called.

Another factor to keep in mind when it comes to varying your physical workouts is the effects to your body internally. Scientists have known for years that any excessive steady state endurance exercise that is anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour, only trains the heart rate at a specific level. You don’t get the heart fully involved.

This kind of workout causes muscle wasting, and can even create a condition in your body that can lead to chronic diseases. But if you do stop-and-go type movements, you will find that your body reacts to it in a better manner. Your body will be able to increase anti-oxidant production. Your body will also provide a more anti-inflammatory affect and your metabolic rate will increase. Also, stop-and-go training trains the heart to respond to and recover from a variety of demands and stress levels.

This is what you need. The kind of exercise that trains your heart to rapidly increase and rapidly decrease is the condition that will benefit you more fully. And it has another benefit. It is much more interesting to do and has a better success rate. This means those who used this method, did not drop out.

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If you want to find a better way to exercise that will give you tremendous results, you need to pick up a copy of my e-book How to Create a Lean and Healthy Body Quickly. Once you do this, you will learn the right way to exercise and will get your body into peak physical condition in no time. Just go to www.prosecretstofatloss.com to  learn more.

Flax seed health benefits are established beyond any doubt. If you are looking for preventive medicine, flax seed benefits are second to none.

Here is a look at 5 benefits of flax seed:

1. Flax seed is fiber rich & adding a little flax to ones meal will improve your colon.
2. Flax seed stabilizes blood sugar in the body; this is a great boon to diabetics.
3. These in enough evidence in various researches done to suggest that flax seed aids in the shrinkage of cancerous tumors.
4. Flax seed oil is sweet smelling compared to its closest competitor (fish oil). Flax seed also wins against fish oil with respect to calories per teaspoon.
5. Flax seed has omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids are sure to improve your life span by:

• Strengthening the immune system
• Reducing the risk of heart disease
• Help in combating depression.

You can source best quality flax seed oil here by clicking the link here Highest Lignan Flax Oil by Barlean’s Organic Oils

Omega 3 fatty acids are also an anti-inflammatory food because they help in reducing joint pain.

Despite all the nutritional benefits of flax seed, if you are trying the flax seed for the first time you may not like it due to its bland taste. The best way to consume it is by sprinkling a little flax seed on top of your favorite dishes & using flaxseed oil. A gentle reminder that too much even good things are bad, please use flax seed in moderation till your body gets used to it & live a long healthy life.

Organic flaxseed is the best flax seed you can get for your family’s health Buy best quality organic flax seed at an offer prize here.

You can instantly download 100′s of summer recipes here

In this article we are going to see two delicious summer recipes, a simple cold soup & a fantastic drink; both of which can be made with simple ingredients available in the summer season.

Quick summer recipe No 1 : Indian Raw Mango Cooler ( Aam Ka Panna)

My mom used to prepare this drink during my summer vacations. This is probably the summer food which kept the summer flu at bay.

Ingredients :

Raw Mango : 2  Nos

Cumin Seeds: ½ tea spoon

Salt : A Pinch

Sugar : ¼ cup

Mint leaves : A Sprig

Method : Wash the raw mango & dry it fully. Boil the mango , cool it & extract the pulp. This extracted pulp can be refrigerated for almost 10 days in an airtight container. Powder the cumin seeds & flavor the pulp with cumin powder, crushed mint leaves & salt to taste. Mix water & sugar. Refrigerate & enjoy this cool summer drink. Some like to spice up this drink with ginger powder, but ginger is a heat inducing food. I prefer to sweeten this summer food with honey instead of sugar.

If you are interested in vegan ways & curing vegetarian recipes, click this link

Simple summer Recipe No 2 : Gazpacho Soup ( Cold Spanish soup)

Ingredients:

Tomato: 6 Nos

Cucumber : 1 No

Onion : I No

Garlic : 2 Pods ( optional)

Cumin Seeds : ½ tea spoon

Vinegar : 2 spoons

Olive oil : 6 spoons

Bread : 3 slices

Capsicum : 1 small

Black pepper : 2 corns

Slat : to taste

Method : Blanch the tomatoes, remove the skin & deseed them. Dry ground the cumin seeds & black pepper. Add garlic & capsicum, blend the mixture, add all the remaining mixture into the blender & blend into a smooth paste. Chill & enjoy this vegetarian summer recipe. You may garnish this soup with chopped cucumber & croutons.

Click Here! for fantastic ebook on vegetarian recipes & vegan way of life.

Selected related articles from the net.

Summer of 2010 is just settling in. Yahooanswers are already getting clogged with questions on nose bleeding, sleeplessness & indigestion.  Such questions get many sympathetic responses but very few address the root cause of the problem i.e. body heat. We need to eat differently in summer as compared to winter. In fact one needs to eat cooling foods in summer

Tell tale signs that your body is heating up is when you notice any of these symptoms:

• Nose bleed
• Dark yellow urine
• Mouth Ulcer
• Sleeplessness
• Acne

Let look at some healthy summer foods:

1)      Vegetarian food is best to prevent your body from heating up. Especially avoid red meat. Even fish will generate more heat or pitta (as called in Ayurveda).

2)      Eat food at room temperature. So called cool food like Ice-cream & cold water will also generate heat in your body. Refrigerated foods will initially cool our body but after 15 minutes of intake generate excess heat.

3)      Fully ripe sweet fruits like mango, cherries, avocadoes & watermelon are good to cool your body. Avoid salty & fried food. A simple clue to eat fruits of the season.

4)      Avoid carrots, beets & tomato. Instead of these feast on green leafy vegetables, cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, pumpkin & beans.  Chinese have a very simple definition of yang ( heat inducing food). They say that vegetables that grow in sun are cooling & vegetables that grow without sun are heaty food.

5)      Surprisingly, milk & white butter are considered good for clearing pitta/ reducing heat from the body.

As a very basic guideline let’s eat food stuff with lots of water in them. These food items help us to sweat which further cools our body.

Watch out for next article -  “Summer food recipes”

Click here to read the latest research paper on jogging & walking…

Let’s look at some benefits of walking:

• Weight loss. (I say that walking & weight loss are directly proportional)
• Increased muscle mass
• Lower risk of cancer diabetes, cancer & stroke
• Improved cholesterol levels
  

I prefer walking to jogging because of the convenience. It is easier to walk for one hour than jog 30 minutes. I split the one hour to different time zones. Walk to the market/ park, climbing the staircase, conscious walking up & down the aisle during breaks, usually does it for me.

Here are some tips to get the maximum weight loss benefit from walking:

1. Beginners should focus on distance covered rather than the speed of walk. The walking speed can gradually be increased.
2. Swinging arms like race walkers (walking running) actually preserves energy (calories). Walk in way that comes naturally to you rather than aping the race walkers.
3. If walking on a treadmill, set it on an inclined position. There will be more treadmill calories burned this way.
4. Start & stop kinds of walk are best. This style expends more energy. In a continuous walk your momentum takes you forward instead of you making an effort. This extra effort resulting in more calories burnt.
5. Do not be tempted to keep longer strides. Shorter, quicker steps are the correct walking technique for weight loss. I call this method “calorie walking”.

As a parting gift here is a research paper that compares walking on treadmill & walking in water. http://ptjournal.apta.org/cgi/reprint/67/10/1501.pdf

Here are some related articles from web that you may enjoy:

The old theory of drinking lots of milk & eating soya daily may not be enough! Americans are known to eat a lot of calcium rich diet, despite this osteoporosis & the resulting back pain is a major health problem there.

Newer research methods have suggested change in dietary habits which is as important as calcium for our bone health.

• Eating alkaline food is better for bone as high acid environment leeches calcium out of bones.

( You can read all the research on this area here , especially the research by  Dr Bess Dawson-Huges here)

• Vitamin K is vital to bone health as it glues calcium to cells & bones. Vitamin K coupled with Vitamin D is great to increase bone density.
• Apart from calcium & vitamins our bones will thank us for taking L-lysine(amino acid) too. L-lysine acts as a net that connects collagen fibers. Collagen in turn, acts as a building block for tissues & bones.

Now comes the million Dollar question; How to input these bone friendly elements into our diet ?

Here are few friendly tips to provide relief from osteoporosis & thus relief from back pain. If these eating habits can be adopted at an earlier age, one can completely prevent osteoporosis.

1. Substitute sodas with fruit juices.
2. Get your proteins from tofu instead of meat & poultry
3. Spend your evening with wine instead of beer !
4. Replace your favourite snack “peanut” with “raisins”
5. Green leafy vegetables are a storehouse of vitamin K. This vitamin can be got from olive oil.
6. One can  get the all important L-lysine from beans, peas, soy, fishes ( cod & sardines), Parmesan cheese & fenugreek seeds.

One can still enjoy the good thinks & tastes in life without suffering from back pain.

Related articles from friendly-Tips:

Tips to relieve back pain ( I) &  Part II

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I am a big fan of Indian breakfast. Most popular Indian breakfast items are a combination of cereals & pulses. This combination provides carbohydrates & protein; both of which are important at the start of the day. To top this, these breakfast items are fermented too. Fermentation coverts carbohydrates & sugar into beneficial acids, thereby increasing the nutritive value of these breakfast items.

Despite these benefits I feel that certain changes can make these recipes even healthier.

A simple dosa is a combination of rice & urad dal. This can be made healthier by addition of soya powder , griddling with olive oil, using brown rice & adding some lentils to the above mixture.

Here are two power packed healthy Indian Dosa recipes:

Mixed Dal Dosa / Adai : Adai is a dosa made with a mixture of dals.

Recipe: ( serves four adults)

• 100 gms of split red gram dal (toor dal)
• 150 gms of split green gram dal (moong dal)
• 100 gms of Bengal gram dal (channa dal)
• 50 gms of urad dal (black gram dal)
• 400 gms of brown rice (brown rice is a much better source of unrefined carbs than polished rice)

Soak rice for 4 hours & the lentils for 2 hours. Grind the mixture into a thick paste. This batter needs to be fermented for 4 hours & refrigerated overnight. Herbs & spices like coriander, ginger, pepper / red chilli & cumin seeds can be added during grinding for additional taste.  Add salt according to taste & pour the batter into a thin pancake over a hot griddle. Use olive oil to moisten the griddle plate & enjoy the delicious healthy breakfast.

Green dosa / Pesarratu : This is a specialty from the state of Andhra Pradesh & simple to make too.

Recipe:

• 1 cup whole green dal ( whole moong dal )
• ¼ cup soya
• I cup finely chopped mixture of onions, ginger & coriander.
• Salt & green chilies as per taste.

Soak soya & dal for 4 hours. Grind the soaked mixture into a smooth paste . Add the chopped vegetables & herbs. Prepare the dosa in the same manner as Adai.  The batter needs to spend about 2 ½ minutes on the griddle.

Additional Friendly healthy recipe tips : Mixed vegetables can be added to almost any Indian  breakfast item to make it healthier. Some examples  are ; vegetable paratha  instead of aloo paratha, grated vegetable idly/ rava idly  or even vegetable poha !

Readers of this blog are encouraged to share their secret healthy recipe with other readers.

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“Preventive maintenance is better than breakdown maintenance” – any good management school will teach you that. The statement is true for living healthy too. The good news here is that we can be our own maintenance engineer! Let’s look at some healthy living tip !

One just needs to monitor these 4 elements daily to be in the pink of health. I call it the “4 F’s”

Fiber:  Monitor your fiber intake. Eat a little more fiber than what you think your body needs. Just this one eating habit can keep modern ailments like diabetics & heart diseases away. Fiber also gives a feeling of fullness which makes us less likely to overeat. Breakfast is the best time to load your fibers. Good source of fibers are dry fruits, whole grains & vegetables.

Fluids : Enough has been written in this blog about the benefits of drinking water. One is advised to monitor the colour of urine. It should be clear & straw coloured. Strong odor or dark urine is an indication that you are not getting sufficient water. I will go to the extent of recommending you to keep a water alarm every hour as a reminder to drink water.

Fruits : A recent study established the fact that high antioxidant food  are also low fat foods. Other than being rich in antioxidants, fresh fruits keeps us healthy by reducing the risk of cancer, blood pressure & type 2 diabetics. This isn’t so difficult. It is recommended to eat 2 servings of fresh fruit daily. One serving equals 1 medium sized fruit or two small sized fruit. This fruits will also give the first 2 F’s; fiber & good quality water. That what I call hitting two birds with one stone !

Fun: You could be monitoring the above three & still not be in good physical shape. Then it’s time to exercise the vital organ of your body; your funny bone! Fifteen minutes of fun in a day is what you probably lack. Laughter is one infection I do not mind spreading. Laughter releases endorphins (The feel good chemical) this relaxes our body & may even relieve pain. A good laugh can relax our muscles up to 45 minutes. The most beneficial effect of laughter is that of reducing the stress hormone & increase in the immune cells, this in turn improves our resistance to diseases.

Here are some related articles from the web that you may enjoy: