Why coconut oil is good for you 

Coconut oil is arguably the healthiest oil to use in frying, and it can transform the most humdrum of dishes 

• Rosie Sykes's coconut and parsnip cake recipe

Photograph: Jill Mead for the Guardian

By Joanna Blythman , recipe by Rosie Sykes

Forget scented candles – there's nothing quite like the aroma of gently warming coconut oil to transport your mind to a Mutiny on the Bounty island with lapping waves, golden sand and swaying palms.

Don't buy the odourless, flavourless "pure" type that has been industrially refined. Go for the raw, cold-pressed, virgin sort. Its fragrance and tropical opulence can elevate even a humdrum weekday dal into something special.

Coconut oil lends a convincing authenticity to a whole host of Asian dishes, from beef rendang to Thai green curry, but its use needn't be restricted to oriental recipes. It's fantastic for frying fish, for instance, or for sauteing onions for a rice or grain-based pilaf.

Why is coconut oil good for me?

White and solid at room temperature, coconut oil is slower to oxidise and less damaged and chemically altered by heat than other cooking oils. So it's arguably the healthiest oil to fry with.

Coconut oil is one of the best sources of heart-healthy medium-chain fatty acids, notably lauric acid, which enhances the immune system through its antiviral and antibacterial effects. These acids also stimulate metabolism, and some research suggests they can aid weight loss.

Where to buy and what to pay?

Coconut oil isn't cheap, but then a small amount makes a big impact. You'll find attractively inexpensive coconut oil in Asian groceries and Chinese supermarkets, but usually only the industrially refined sort. Look for it in wholefood shops where 500g of cold-pressed, virgin, organic coconut oil costs £8.50-£10.50. It stays fresh for ages, so if you can afford a big jar it should be much better value.

• Joanna Blythman is the author of What To Eat (Fourth Estate, £16.99). To order a copy for £11 with free UK p&p, go to guardianbookshop.co.uk

Coconut and parsnip cake 

Parsnip and coconut have some similar flavour notes, so they compliment each other well in this dairy-free cake. It's great with coconut icing, and delicious warm with coconut ice-cream.

For the cake
175g coconut oil, warm enough to spread
200g caster sugar
100g soft brown sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 large eggs at room temperature, beaten
250g parsnip, peeled and coarsely grated
50g desiccated coconut
250g self-raising flour
1½ tsp baking powder
Flavourless oil to grease the cake tin

For the icing
20g desiccated coconut
150g coconut oil, warm enough to spread
150g icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice with 1 tbsp warm water

1 Preheat the oven to 160C/320F/gas mark 3. Spread out the dessicated coconut for the icing out on a baking tray, and place into the warming oven until golden brown. Leave to cool.

2 Grease a 20cm cake tin. Line the base with baking paper. Put the coconut oil for the cake in a mixing bowl and beat until soft and light. Add the sugars and lemon zest and blend together. Add the eggs gradually; if the mixture starts to curdle, add a bit of flour. Carefully fold in the parsnip and coconut, then the flour and baking powder. Loosen with the lemon juice.

3 Turn the mixture into a tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes then turn out of the tin to cool completely.

4 Ice the cake when cold. Beat the oil in a mixer and gradually add the sugar, beating with each addition. Once smooth and thick, drizzle in the lemon juice mixture. Beat for 2 more minutes, leave to sit for 10 minutes, then spread over the cake. Once iced, sprinkle over the toasted coconut. Give the icing 30 minutes to set before eating.

• Rosie Sykes is head chef of Fitzbillies (fitzbillies.com ) and co-author of The Kitchen Revolution (Ebury Press, £27.50). To order a copy for £19.99 with free UK p&p, go to guardianbookshop.co.uk

 

Why Google Glass Could Be Bad For Your Eyes

Samantha Murphy 18 hours ago

Google Glass isn't even out yet, and people are heralding the part-camera, part-mobile device as the future — a revolutionary product that will surely change the way we use (and view) technology.

But some vision specialists are worried the high-tech specs, which you'll be able to wear on your head, could lead to health issues, including eye strain, headaches and neck pain.

"While Google Glass is a brand new interactive heads-up display (HUD) technology, there are some things we can presume based on the information Google has released," said Dr. Nathan Bonilla-Warford, a VSP optometrist forBright Eyes Family Vision .

"Consumers may experience a physiological impact while wearing these glasses, such as increased eye-strain and dry eyes from reduced blinking," he added."This could ultimately cause headaches and neck pain and are the symptoms of computer vision syndrome or digital eye strain."

SEE ALSO: Conan Makes Google Glass 'Butt' of the Joke

Most people who spend long hours in front of the computer or mobile devices know the discomfort associated with prolonged eyestrain. That could also be compounded by the fact that Google Glass will be extremely near the eye, increasing the chances of irritability.

"The glasses themselves are too close for the eyes to focus, so the display alters the light so that the perceived image is located up and to the side, about two feet away from the user," said Warford, adding that despite the effect, it will still cause straining.

A Google spokesperson told Mashable that the company has studied design comfort and safety very closely, and hasn't found a cause for concern. They said it plans to continue to watch this area carefully.

Meanwhile, Dr. Michael Ehrenhaus of New York Cornea Consultants believes eyestrain isn't going to be as much of a concern as the distraction it can cause users on the street.

"We still need to learn more about the technology and what exactly people will be seeing, but there may not be a lot of eye straining at all," Ehrenhaus said.

"The bigger issue is that you don't want to fall into a manhole while trying to look at an image in the glass."

"The bigger issue is that you don't want to fall into a manhole while trying to look at an image in the glass."

Research has been conducted on pilots and drivers in the past reveal that when a person is mentally focused on the HUD, they are not paying attention to the world around them.

Warford agrees, noting clinical studies will eventually evaluate concentration factors, as well as visual skills and ocular physiology before and after extended use of Google Glasses to see its impact.

"For now, we can extrapolate what we know about visual processing of HUD data, the eye movements needed to use the glasses and the effects of prolonged digital screen usage," he added. "Consumers should also keep in mind the experience will not be like the original concept video or the holy-grail of augmented reality. It will be more like a phone you can see without having to hold."

What do you think about the possible health concerns surrounding Google Glass? Would you be nervous to give it a try or can you not wait to get your hands on it? Let us know in the comments.

Google Glass: How It Will Look 

"OK, Glass ..."

More than a catchphrase, "OK, Glass" is how the wearer will engage the headset, enabling it to listen to commands.

Show As List

Three Insightful Quotes on the Power of the Menstrual Cycle

We negate a vital part of our intelligence and power as women if we are unable to appreciate the menstrual cycle as a key dynamic in our spiritual evolution.--Chim Li Yen

“For our ancestors the menstrual cycle was a source of wonderful creative, spiritual, sexual, emotional, mental and physical energies. It was a gift that empowered women to renew themselves each month, to manifest and create the world around them, to connect deeply with the land and their family, and to express deep wisdom and inspiration. This ancient female teaching is still available to us in our mythology and nursery tales,” explains Australian author Alexandra Pope.

Photo Source and credits

The power of the menstrual cycle goes beyond its role of baby–making. Getting in touch with her cycle opens a woman to different levels of awareness:-Chim Li Yen
From:The wisdom of menstruation on http://publichouse.sg/categories/health/item/89-the-wisdom-of-menstruation
See also Meditation in Motion

Wisdom of the Menstrual Cycle

Wisdom of the Menstrual Cycle - Health Conditions and Advice - Dr. Christiane Northrup

The menstrual cycle is the most basic, earthy cycle we have. The macrocosmic cycles of nature, the waxing and waning, the ebb and flow of the tides and the changes of the seasons, are reflected on a smaller scale in the menstrual cycle of the individual female body. In many cultures, the menstrual cycle has been viewed as sacred.

Even in modern society, where we are cut off from the rhythms of nature, the cycle of ovulation is influenced by the moon. During the new moon, ovulation and conception rates are decreased overall, and an increased number of women start their menstrual bleeding. ¹ The timing of the menstrual cycle, the fertility cycle, and labor also follows the moon-dominated tides of the ocean.Environmental cues such as light, the moon, and the tides play a documented role in regulating women’s menstrual cycles and fertility. In one study of nearly two thousand women with irregular menstrual cycles, more than half of the subjects achieved regular menstrual cycles of twenty-nine days’ length by sleeping with a light on near their beds during the three days around ovulation.

The menstrual cycle governs the flow not only of fluids but of information and creativity. We receive and process information differently at different times in our cycles. Many women find that they are at their peak of expression in the outer world from the onset of their menstrual cycle until ovulation.One woman, a waitress who works in a diner where many truckers stop to eat, has reported to me that her tips are highest at midcycle, around ovulation. Another man described his wife as "very vital and electric" during this time of her cycle.

Picture credit: http://thebraveclass.blogspot.com

The menstrual cycle itself mirrors how consciousness becomes matter and how thought creates reality.

Our creative biological and psychological cycle parallels the phases of the moon; recent research has found that the immune system of the reproductive tract is cyclic as well, reaching its peak at ovulation, and then beginning to wane.From ancient times, some cultures have referred to women having their menstrual periods as being "on their moon." When women live together in natural settings, their ovulations tend to occur at the time of the full moon, with menses and self-reflection at the dark of the moon.

If we do not become biologically pregnant at ovulation, we move into the second half of the cycle, the luteal phase—ovulation through the onset of menstruation.

Studies have shown that women’s dreams are more frequent and often more vivid during the premenstrual and menstrual phases of their cycles.
Read full article  http://bit.ly/YCSyZJ

Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom  by Dr. Christiane Northrup

The Wisdom of Menopause (Revised Edition): Creating Physical and Emotional Health During the Change  The Wisdom of Menopause (Revised Edition): By Dr. Christiane Northrup

Chronic stress strongly linked with addictive tendencies, quality of life

by Global Good News staff writer
Global Good News  
1 February 2013


'One of the most important factors in determining the quality of a person's life is simply how well their stress response works,' explained Dr William Stixrud at a recent conference on Stress, Meditation, Addictions, and Self-Recovery.

Dr Stixrud, a clinical neuropsychologist who has served as consultant to the National Institutes of Health Division of Neuropsychology, spoke to the attendees about the deleterious effects of stress on managing addictive tendencies.

'We live in a chronically anxious society,' he said.

How well people cope with stress and how they respond to challenges in life play a major role in predicting addictive tendencies.

'It is assumed that we have the same fight or flight response . . . as our ancient ancestors did,' Dr Stixrud said. An animal in nature might encounter a predator and choose to run or fight. Either way, the scenario would be short-lived and stress hormones would basically normalize in about 45 minutes.

However, Dr Stixrud added, 'In a modern life, we can keep our stress response turned on for hours at a time, days at a time, weeks and months at a time.

'It turns out that chronically high levels of stress hormones are always deleterious and it also turns out that stress powerfully affects the development of the brain. . . . Kids who have a lot of stress early on, basically their stress response stays turned on long enough that the amygdala* gets bigger and it gets more interconnected with the rest of the brain.'

The amygdala, explained Dr Stixrud, is a threat detector. It is necessary, but when it gets bigger and more interconnected, it often alerts the brain to false threats.

'People will become hypervigilant—always looking over their shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop.'

Continuing to discuss effects on the brain, he explained that chronic stress will actually shrink the hippocampus, which is the major memory centre, because it kills cells in the prefrontal cortex.

On the other hand, Dr Stixrud spoke about the powerful stress-neutralizing ability of Transcendental Meditation, which has been shown to increase coherent brain activity in the prefrontal cortex.



* The amygdala is one of the basal ganglia in the brain that is part of the limbic system, and described as involved in emotions of fear and aggression.

Copyright © 2013 Global Good News Service

Could going veg lower your risk of heart disease?

by Genevra Pittman Reuters 2 February 2013 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Vegetarians are one-third less likely to be hospitalized or die from heart disease than meat and fish eaters, according to a new UK study.
 Earlier research has also suggested that non-meat eaters have fewer heart problems, researchers said, but it wasn't clear if other lifestyle differences, including exercise and smoking habits, might also play into that. Now, 'we're able to be slightly more certain that it is something that's in the vegetarian diet that's causing vegetarians to have a lower risk of heart disease,' said Francesca Crowe, who led the new study at the University of Oxford. Still, she noted, the researchers couldn't prove there were no unmeasured lifestyle differences between vegetarians and meat eaters that could help explain the disparity in heart risks.

 Crowe and her colleagues tracked almost 45,000 people living in England and Scotland who initially reported on their diet, lifestyle and general health in the 1990s. At the start of the study, about one-third of the participants said they ate a vegetarian diet, without meat or fish. Over the next 11 to 12 years, 1,066 of all study subjects were hospitalized for heart disease, including heart attacks, and 169 died of those causes.

 After taking into account participants' ages, exercise habits and other health measures, the research team found vegetarians were 32 percent less likely to develop heart disease than carnivores. When weight was factored into the equation, the effect dropped slightly to 28 percent. The lower heart risk was likely due to lower cholesterol and blood pressure among vegetarians in the study, the researchers reported this week in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

 Meat eaters had an average total cholesterol of 222 mg/dL and a systolic blood pressure—the top number in a blood pressure reading—of 134 mm Hg, compared to 203 mg/dL total cholesterol and 131 mm Hg systolic blood pressure among vegetarians. Diastolic blood pressure—the bottom number—was similar between the two groups.

 Crowe said the difference in cholesterol levels between meat eaters and vegetarians was equivalent to about half the benefit someone would see by taking a statin. The effect is probably at least partly due to the lack of red meat—especially meat high in saturated fat - in vegetarians' diets, she added. The extra fruits and vegetables and higher fiber in a non-meat diet could also play a role.

 'If people want to reduce their risk of heart disease by changing their diet, one way of doing that is to follow a vegetarian diet,' Crowe told Reuters Health.

 However, she added, you also don't have to cut out meat altogether—just scaling back on saturated fat can make a difference, for example. Butter, ice cream, cheeses and meats all typically contain saturated fat. 
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/YGvv40 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, online January 30, 2013.