Top 10 healthiest foods for kids

Optimal Oats  A fabulous breakfast food, full of B vitamins, iron, zinc and calcium. Old-fashioned oats and porridge offer quick energy for busy kids with its carb load and fibre count.

Egg 'em on Eggs are a great source of protein and a host of other nutrients, including the B vitamins, vitamin E and zinc (to name but a few). The Food Standards Agency doesn?t give a limit on how many eggs we should consume but do advise that a healthy diet will include moderate amounts of all protein sources including meat, fish and alternatives such as eggs, pulses, nuts and beans. Remember that young children should not be given raw eggs or eggs with runny yolks.

Nuttin' better Nut butters are great fast foods for kids. Kids need the fat (it's a good fat if it doesn't have hydrogenated oils mixed in it) and they need the protein. And while peanuts can be problematic and even life threatening to allergic kids, other nut butters may be okay (but definitely check with your doctor first). Almond butter is a personal favourite and you can make this simply by crushing or grinding up almonds or other nuts of your choice.

Culture club Kick your child's milk consumption up a notch and include yoghurt on the menu. A great source of calcium, yoghurt is easier to digest than regular milk, and the cultures (check the label for LIVE to make sure they're in there!) are very beneficial to good colon health... especially if your child has been on antibiotics. Watch it on the sugar content though. A better idea is to buy plain yoghurt and sweeten it yourself with fresh fruit.

Top10healthiest-foods-for-kids

Mmmm, mmmm melons! My personal choice would be cantaloupe in the melon department. Vitamin C, beta-carotene, bits and pieces of B vitamins and trace minerals and calcium fill every juicy bite. Melons are not to be missed when they're plentiful and in season.

Tree cheers! Kids like to call broccoli "trees" and sometimes you can get picky kids to eat "trees" rather than broccoli. Broccoli is one of the best vegetables for anyone, especially growing kids due to its calcium content and a whole host of other nutrients, such as potassium, beta-carotene and B vitamins.

Terrific tubers Sweet potatoes contain 30mg beta-carotene per serving. It would take 23 servings of broccoli to get that same amount! And with 3 grams of fibre per serving, sweet potatoes deserve a place at the table.

Protein power The fact is that growing kids need protein to keep growing. How you're going to give it to them can vary widely, according to your preferences. Good choices include legumes, beans (combined with a grain to make a complete protein), soy products like tofu, or meat, fish or poultry.

The whole truth The best nutrition is found in the whole grain. Brown rice and whole wheat bread are a quantum leap over their white counterparts and offer necessary fibre, minerals and vitamins. Don't short-change your kids with the white stuff.

OJ is OK Kids can drink too much juice. However, that doesn't mean they should never drink juice. Just don't give it to them in place of water. Orange juice is full of vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium, folate and zinc. You can buy calcium-fortified orange juice, too - it's great stuff in moderation.

10 Brain Damaging Habit

10Brain Damaging Habit

1. No Breakfast - People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level. This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.

2. Over-eating - It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.

3. Smoking - It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease.

4. High Sugar Consumption - Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.

5. Air Pollution - The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air deceases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.

6. Sleep Deprivation - Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells.

7. Head covered while sleeping - Sleeping with the head covered, increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging fects.

8. Working your brain during illness - Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.

9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts - Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage.

10. Talking Rarely - Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain.

TO QUIT SMOKING

 TO-QUIT-SMOKING

1. Quit cold turkey! In the long run it's the easiest, quickest, least expensive and most effective technique of smoking cessation. It only takes 72 hours before your blood becomes nicotine free and the symptoms of physical withdrawal reach their peak. There are over one billion "comfortable" ex-smokers on earth today and almost all of them quit cold turkey.

2. Our minds will quickly forget most of the reasons that made us want to quit smoking. Take the time now to write yourself a loving letter that will fully remind you of all your reasons for quitting. Keep your reasons letter with you and read it often.

3. Get rid of all your cigarettes. All of them! Tell friends and family that you've started a new nicotine free life. Commit completely to your healing!

4. Quit smoking one day at a time. Do not concern yourself with next year, next month, next week or even tomorrow. Concentrate on not smoking from the time you wake-up until you go to sleep. Be patient with your healing. Baby steps!

5. Attitude is extremely important because we are what we think! If we allow our mind to dwell upon negative thoughts like "quitting is hard" and that we're "depriving ourselves of smoking" we can make ourselves miserable. If we allow our mind to dwell upon positive notions like our freedom and healing are wonderful and glorious, or that we're doing ourselves a favor, our journey home can be awesome.

6. Be proud of yourself for not smoking! Don't rely upon others for your self pride.

7. Symptoms such as headache, inability to concentrate, dizziness, time perception distortions and the ubiquitous sweet tooth encountered by many, can be the result of a blood sugar drop that occurs after quitting. Help your body adjust by avoiding white sugar products and by putting small amounts of food (fuel) into your body at least every three hours. Always leave room for more food but never allow yourself to feel hungry. Get your sugar from juices and fruits (cranberry juice is excellent).

8. Be aware that many routine situations will trigger a crave for nicotine. Situations which may trigger a response include: after meals, talking on the phone, driving, drinking, reading, coffee, alcohol, setting in a bar or pub, social events with smoking friends, or even activities like card games. Try to maintain your normal routine while quitting. If any event seems to tough, leave it and go back to it later. Do not feel you must give up any activity forever. Everything you did as a smoker, you will learn to do at least as well, and maybe better, as an ex-smoker.

9. Drink plenty of fruit juice the first three days. It not only helps flush nicotine from your system it will also help raise your blood sugar level. Also, divide your body weight by two. Use the resulting number as the number of ounces of daily water that your body and lungs need for proper healing and flushing.

10. To help avoid weight gain, eat vegetables and fruit instead of candies and pastries. Celery and carrots can be used safely as short-term substitutes for cigarettes. Smoking was your bodies old cue that your meal had ended. Find a new cue.

11. If you are concerned about weight gain, do some moderate form of regular exercise. If you have not been exercising regularly, consult your physician for a practical exercise program which is safe for you.

12. If you encounter a crisis, (e.g. a flat tire, flood, argument, family illness, finances) while quitting, remember, smoking is no solution. Smoking will just complicate the original situation while creating another crisis - full and complete nicotine relapse.

13. Be honest! Truly see yourself as "addicted to nicotine" because you are! Just one puff and you will either immediately or shortly thereafter experience full and complete relapse back to your prior level of nicotine use or higher. Don't look at it as taking just "ONE" puff, look at it as taking them all back. Picture them all.

14. Don't debate with yourself how much you want a "cigarette." You don't crave a cigarette any more than the heroin addict craves a needle. The cigarette and needle are simply drug delivery devices. What you want is the drug inside.

15. Save the money you usually spend on cigarettes and buy yourself something you really want after a week or a month. Save for a year and you can treat yourself to a vacation.

16. Practice deep breathing exercises when you have a craving. Breathe slowly and deeply into the bottom of each lung while clearing your mind of needless chatter.

17. Visualize the challenges ahead (stress, tremendous joy, weight gain, boredom, an accident, a serious illness, the death of a loved one, a funeral, financial problems, the end of a relationship, drinking, extended periods of time around a smoker) and picture yourself successfully overcoming each of them.

18. Climb out of your deep smoker's rut and begin living your new life. Engage in activities that require more than an hour to complete and challenge your new body.

19. Ask yourself how you'd feel about going back to your old level of consumption. Quitting smoking is one of the few propositions in the world where being 99% successful means 100% defeat. It's an all or nothing proposition.

20. Remember that there are only two good reasons to take a puff once you quit. You decide you want to go back to your old level of consumption until smoking cripples and then kills you, or, you decide you really enjoy withdrawal and you want to make it last forever. As long as neither of these options appeal to you - NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!

For Better Life

1. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. 

 For-Better-Life

3. Sleep for at least 7 hours.

4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

5. Play more games.

6. Read more books than you did last year.

7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.

8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.

9. Dream more while you are awake.

10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

11. Drink plenty of water.

12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

13. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.

14. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his / her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.

15. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

16. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

17. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.

18. Smile and laugh more.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Don't 

compare your partner with others'.

24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

25. Forgive every one for every thing.

26. What other people think of you is none of your business.

27. GOD heals everything.

28. However good or bad a situation is -- it will change.

29. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Friends will. Stay in touch. 

30. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

31. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

32. The best is yet to come.

33. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

34. Do the right thing !

35. Call your family often.

36. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

37. Each day give something good to others.

38. Don't over do. Keep your limits.

39. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.

40. Please Forward this to everyone you care about.

                     TAKE CARE...... LOVE YOURSELF.....

10 tips for good night's sleep

10tips for good night's sleep

Stick to a schedule. Erratic bedtimes do not allow for your body to align to the proper circadian rhythms. Mum was right when she set a time we always had to go to sleep as kids. Also, make sure you try to keep the same schedule on weekends too, otherwise the next morning, you’d wake later and feel overly tired.

Sleep only at night. Avoid daytime sleep if possible. Daytime naps steal hours from nighttime slumber. Limit daytime sleep to 20-minute, power naps.

Exercise. It’s actually known to help you sleep better. Your body uses the sleep period to recover its muscles and joints that have been exercised. Twenty to thirty minutes of exercise every day can help you sleep, but be sure to exercise in the morning or afternoon. Exercise stimulates the body and aerobic activity before bedtime may make falling asleep more difficult.

Taking a hot shower or bath before bed helps bring on sleep because they can relax tense muscles.

Avoid eating just before bed. Avoid eat large meals or spicy foods before bedtime. Give yourself at least 2 hours from when you eat to when you sleep. This allows for digestion to happen (or at least start) well before you go to sleep so your body can rest well during the night, rather than churning away your food.

Avoid caffeine. It keeps you awake and that’s now what you want for a good nights sleep. We all know that.

Read a fiction book. It takes you to a whole new world if you really get into it. And then take some time to ponder over the book as you fall asleep. I find as I read more and more, regardless of the book, I get more tired at night and so find it easier to fall asleep. Different for others?

Have the room slightly cooler. I prefer this to a hot room. I prefer to turn off the heat and allow the coolness to circulate in and out of the windows. If I get cold, I wear warmer clothes. It also saves on the bills as you’re not going to require the heat all night long.

Sleep in silence. I find sleeping with no music or TV on more easy and restful. I guess others are different, but sleep with no distractions is best for a clearer mind.

Avoid alcohol before bedtime. It’s a depressant; although it may make it easier to fall asleep, it causes you to wake up during the night. As alcohol is digested your body goes into withdrawal from the alcohol, causing nighttime awakenings and often nightmares for some people.

How to stop cough in 5 minutes

This is a must try....

We have all been kept awake by our own or someone else's cough. Try this and pass it on. The tip and not the cough. ANYTHING is better than antibiotics. Even babies could benefit from this and the parents wouldn't worry about the safety of their child. And of course, it is harmless and free from any type of side-effects.

WOW! I was raised, and raised my kids with Vicks. How come I never knew this? I can't wait for my next cough. Amazing!

READ IT ALL. It works 100 percent of the time, although the scientists at the Canada Research council (who discovered it) aren't sure why.

Treatment:

How to stop cough in 5 minutes

To stop night time coughing in a child (or an adult, as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapor Rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime and then cover with socks.

CANCEROUS FOODS / PRODUCTS

INSTANT NOODLES

Dear instant noodle lovers,
Make sure you break for at least 3 days after one session of instant noodles before you eat your next packet! Please read the info shared to me by a doctor. My family stopped eating instant noodles more than 5 years ago after hearing about the wax coating the noodles - the wax is not just in the Styrofoam containers but it coats the noodles. This is why the instant noodles do not stick to each other when cooking.

If one were to examine the ordinary Chinese yellow noodles in the market, one will notice that, in their uncooked state the noodles are oily. This layer of oil prevents the noodles from sticking together.

Wanton noodles in their uncooked state have been dusted with flour to prevent them sticking together. When the hawker cooks the noodles, notice he cooks them in hot water and then rinses them in cold water before cooking them in hot water again. This process is repeated several times before the noodles are ready to be served. The cooking and rinsing process prevents noodles from sticking together.

The hawker then "lowers the noodles in oil and sauce to prevent the noodles from sticking if they are to be served dry. Cooking instructions for spaghetti require oil or butter to be added in the water when boiling the spaghetti to prevent the pasta from sticking together. Otherwise, one gets a big clump of spaghetti!

There was an SBC (now TCS) actor some years ago, who at a busy time of his career had no time to cook, resorted to eating instant noodles everyday. He got cancer later on. His doctor told him about the wax in instant noodles. The doctor told him that our body will need up to 2 days to clear the wax. There was also an SIA steward who after moving out from his mother's house into his own house, did not cook but ate instant noodles almost every meal. He had cancer, and has since died from it.

Nowadays the instant noodles are referred as " cancer noodles ". 

CANCEROUS FOODS / PRODUCTS

SATAY LOVERS (BARBECUE)
If you all eat Satay, don't ever forget to eat the cucumber, because eating Satay together with carbon after barbequing can cause cancer.
But we have a cure for that... Cucumber should be eaten after we eat the Satay because Satay has carcinogen (a cancer causing element) but cucumber is anti-carcinogenic. So don't forget to eat the cucumber the next time you have Satay's.


PRAWNS (SUGPO) & VIT C
DO NOT eat shrimp / prawn if you have just taken VITAMIN C pills!!
This will cause you to DIE in ARSENIC (As) toxication within HOURS!!

SHAMPOO
Cancer-causing substance in shampoos. Go home and check your shampoo. Change before it's too late... Check the ingredients listed on your shampoo bottle, and see they have a substance by the name of Sodium Laureth Sulfate, or simply SLS. This substance is found in most shampoos; manufacturers use it because it produces a lot of foam and it is cheap. BUT the fact is, SLS is used to scrub garage floors, and it is very strong!!! It is also proven that it can cause cancer in the long run, and this is no joke. Shampoos that contains SLS: Vo5, Palmolive, Paul Mitchell, L'Oreal, the new Hemp Shampoo from Body Shop etc. contain this substance.

The first ingredient listed (which means it is the single most prevalent ingredient) in Clairol's Herbal Essences is Sodium Laureth Sulfate. Therefore, I called one company, and I told them their product contains a substance that will cause people to have cancer. They said, Yeah we knew about it but there is nothing we can do about it because we need that substance to produce foam. By the way Colgate toothpaste also contains the same substance to produce the "bubbles". They said they are going to send me some information.

Research has shown that in the 1980s, the chance of getting cancer is 1 out of 8000 and now, in the 1990s, the chances of getting cancer is 1 out of 3, which is very serious. Therefore, I hope that you will take this seriously and pass this on to all the people you know, and hopefully, we can stop "giving" ourselves cancer-causing agents.