health (21)

Grape Benefits Yum Yum

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/benefits-of-grapes#TOC_TITLE_HDR_14

looks like grapes are a must for anyone's diet, they are in mine 

 

great article on the benefits of grapes

 

i am growing a few grapes at the ranch, I think I need to take it a bit more seriously 

 

Sources include: USDA
Amount Per1 cup (92 g)
 
Calories 62
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.3 g 0%
Saturated fat 0.1 g 0%
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 1.8 mg 0%
Potassium 175.7 mg 5%
Total Carbohydrate 16 g 5%
Dietary fiber 0.8 g 3%
Sugar 15 g  
Protein 0.6 g 1%
Vitamin C 6% Calcium 1%
Iron 1% Vitamin D 0%
Vitamin B6 5% Cobalamin 0%
Magnesium 1%    
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
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Turmeric Tips

I started eating Turmeric in my morning smoothie, it's a bit spicy , as I learn about it's benefits I am glad I have added this to my diet. Along the journery I am learning how to grow this interesting plant. So turns out we are eating the right stuff, our package is organic, so it should be able to sprout, it's from Peru, I understand the original would be from India. Check in the comments for more updates and research. 

Cheers !

TLR

 

https://homesteadandchill.com/how-to-grow-turmeric/

 

How Does Turmeric Grow?

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a perennial herb, closely related to ginger. That said, most all of these growing tips apply to ginger as well! Though ginger can be a little more finicky. Turmeric doesn’t have typical tiny “seeds” that you imagine for most plants. Instead, pieces of the root system called rhizomes are planted, which in turn produce above-ground foliage as well as more, larger rhizomes in the soil below. Those precious rhizomes are the very thing we after when growing turmeric! Each seed rhizome is often referred to as a “finger” – because when fresh turmeric is harvested, the cluster of rhizomes around a center node resembles a hand!

 

 

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Going for 100 Plus

"Everyone wants to live longer but no one wants to grow old"

 

Larry Lewis (1867-1974) - Find a Grave Memorial

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/162125436/larry-lewis

 

I spoke of running to play golf earlier my good friend the well-known golfing writer Gary wiring tells the man in San
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Francisco who jogs 6.7 miles every morning as the distance around Golden Gate Park he also walks five miles to
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and from work he works as a banquet waiter boxes a couple of times a week and toss it in eight or nine games a
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handball as you can imagine he's in magnificent physical condition he's also 103 years old
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his name is Larry Lewis and he began running in 1876 at the age of nine and he's been running and keeping as active
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as he was at that early age ever since he's made the comment that you should never refer it to a person as being so
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many years old since old often means something dilapidated Larry Lewis doesn't intend to become dilapidated
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especially during his second 100 years Gary wiring suggests that each of us should ask himself these questions are
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my muscles getting soft and flabby do I feel chronically tired and dragged out Emma clumsy performing physical tasks
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which once were relatively easy for me can I feel and see unsightly bulges of
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fat on my body do I have to stop and catch my breath after climbing one or two flights of stairs is my physical zest for Life
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missing or rapidly failing if you agreed to more than a couple of those questions you may well become a victim of
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premature aging here's another great contributor to the cardiovascular plague I mentioned earlier it isn't that we
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want to live forever even as old as Larry Lewis maybe although I think it's a great idea if you're enjoying life but ...
 
 
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Blueberry Sandbox

Blueberries are spherical or semispherical or semispherical, tiny, soft, and sweet blue fruits ranging from 0.7 to 1.5 cm in diameter.

These fruits can be consumed without peeling or cutting and contain glucose and fructose. Blueberries were popularized as a “super fruit” due mainly to their high antioxidant activity and abundant bioactive compounds.
Despite the benefits of blueberries, they are seasonal fruit.
Lowbush blueberries are typically grown for processed blueberries used in baked goods, yogurts, and fresh and processed organic fruit.
Highbush blueberry fruit is used fresh and frozen for use in processed foods.

In countries that are large blueberry producers, blueberries not intended for fresh consumption are most often frozen in fluidized tunnel freezers. In the world markets, fresh blueberries are sold in retail packages, and frozen blueberries are sold in bulk packages.

The latter, as half-products, are used for processing, that is, for making jams, conserves, or juices. Fruit collected by machine is sorted and stored, and most of it is later sold for industrial processing. The advantage of such a procedure is the effective use of almost the entire crop. Even unripe and defective fruit can be processed.
Healthy but damaged fruit is processed as an ingredient for yogurts or ice creams, whereas unripe fruit is treated as a source of selected biologically active compounds.

Generally, blueberries in a fresh form consist of water, carbohydrates, proteins, and fat. Blueberries are a good source of dietary fiber that constitutes 3% – 3.5% of fruit weight, which may be varied depending on the horticultural practices.
Besides the taste, the main interest in this fruit is due to the moderate vitamin C content and other vitamins like vitamins A, D, and E. One hundred grams of blueberries provide, on average, 10 mg of ascorbic acid, which is equal to 1/3 of the daily recommended intake.
Moreover, blueberries have bioactive compounds such as flavonoids (especially anthocyanins), tannins, and phenolic acids, as well as various beneficial health properties attributed to blueberries.

*The active compounds may be varied depending on the horticultural practices of the plantation.

#crop #crops #botany #agriculture #agricultureandfarming #farm #farming #horticulture #plant #plants #plantfact #plantfacts #blueberry #berry #berries #anthocyanin #nutrition #nutritionalfact #vitamin #fiber #minerals #health

Wow, gleaned from AgTech FoodTech Group on LinkedIn, by Chang Hong Eyu

 

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Mental Health Deep Dive

I came across Mark Goulston while listening to an interesting conversation yesterday, check it out for your self. I am hoping to put some of the mental health info that I come across to the comments for future resourse and review. This topic touches us all, for some it is so pain full. Mark Goulston discusses things mental health-related. They got into the ins and outs of dealing with depression, his own techniques and tips on how to cope, and the Michelangelo Mindset. Mark Goulston is the Creator/Co-founder of Michelangelo Mindset, exec coach, best-selling author of nine books, and host of My Wakeup Call Podcast. He was originally a UCLA professor of psychiatry for over 25 years, and a former FBI and police hostage negotiation trainer.  

 

https://www.chooselife.org/film

 

This is the interview , the mental health is not the headline, its in the deep dive

 

https://www.chooselife.org/faq
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Fasting Sandbox

 
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Step 1: learn not to eat or snack at night. Tell yourself no more food after 7pm. Don’t eat again until at least 7am. 12 hours is easy - you will be sleeping for most of it. But this will get you used to the idea of there is a period of time each day where eating is off limits. After a while, it will become natural. To minimize transition pain and hunger, do this for 2 weeks before extending the fasting window.

Step 2: after 2 weeks of a 12 hour fasting window, begin to simply skip breakfast. Lunch will be your first meal. I like to do 7pm to 12 noon the next day to get a 17 hour fast each day. That gives me 7 hours to eat. There are several ways I like to do this. Some days, I’ll have lunch, a mid-afternoon snack, dinner and and after dinner snack. While this gives me better meals than if I were eating 6 small meals a day, I will sometimes just do 2 meals: lunch and dinner in my eating window. This way, both of those meals can be satisfying meals while I still stay at a calorie deficit. Or I will do 1 snack instead of 2.

Step 3: After you are used to the 16–17 hour fasting window for some time, at least a month, you should occasionally do a 20 to 24 hour fast. By the time you are used to the 16 hour window, extending it will actually be easier than you think. There will not be hunger or fatigue because you will be well fat adapted. How “occasionally” should you do this? Usually a couple of times a month. You will know when you should. Maybe you were on vacation and had a major cheat day or three and didn’t care what you ate. An extended fast can quickly get you back on track.

The main thing to understand as you integrate IF into your daily routine is that there will be a transition period of a couple of weeks to a couple of months. During the transition period, you may get hungry or you may feel fatigued. This will go away as you become fat adapted. In fact, once you get used to IF, you will have less hunger and cravings if any and you will have more energy than before.

 
 
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Senior Engineer - IBM Corporation
Senior Engineer at IBM (company)1992–present
M.S. in Computer Engineering, Purdue UniversityGraduated 1991
Lives in Austin, TX1993–present
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Avoiding Burnout

From The Hustle , avoid burnout is an excellent decsison, here is some helpful tips.

Tim

 

The 3 P’s of burnout

How to use priorities, positive constraints, and psychology to do more while working less

BY Ethan Brooks

Meet Bob.

Like you, Bob thinks his job is to juggle things.

He takes pride in being one of the best jugglers in the business: When someone asks him to throw an extra ball into his routine, he never says no.

Graphic: Sheoli Chaturvedi

If he doesn’t have time to get something done during the workday, Bob is always willing to do it at night, in between bites of dinner. His day often begins at 8am and doesn’t end until 10pm.

When he works late, he has the courtesy not to complain about it to his team (though he will occasionally hint at it).

Graphic: Sheoli Chaturvedi

Bob’s managers think he’s one of the best employees at the company. They celebrate his juggling skills, tout his willingness to take on new projects, and tell other employees they should follow his example. 

What they don’t realize is that Bob is putting himself, his team, and even his entire company at risk.

Because Bob is on the brink of burnout.

Graphic: Sheoli Chaturvedi

Medical professionals define burnout as “a psychological state of physical and emotional exhaustion” thought to be induced by work-related stress.

There are many theories as to what prompts burnout, but some of the more common job-related causes include:

·  A lack of social support at work (especially common among remote workers) 

·  Extremes of activity, or burning the candle at both ends

·  Unclear or undefined job expectations

·  Work-life imbalance

A Gallup survey found that 76% of employees have experienced some form of burnout. These employees are:

·  63% more likely to take a sick day than a non-affected worker 

·  23% more likely to visit the emergency room

·  2.6x more likely to look for a new job

Graphic: Sheoli Chaturvedi

Bob has been teetering on the edge of burnout for a while. If he continues grinding himself down, he won’t just end up being nonproductive: He’ll become anti-productive, making mistakes that the rest of his team must spend time fixing.

To make matters worse, Bob is now juggling all of his tasks from home, where it’s harder for his colleagues to gauge his stress levels.

Graphic: Sheoli Chaturvedi

Luckily, Bob has a little furry friend named Hamster Jack, who just so happens to be a burnout expert.

After years spent spinning around in the wheel of burnout, Hamster Jack knows just what it’s going to take to prevent Bob from fizzling out. 

And it all starts with defining what’s truly important.

Graphic: Sheoli Chaturvedi

Priority: When everything is important, nothing is

In Hamster Jack’s estimation, Bob’s first problem is that he thinks of his work in terms of priorities.

Bob juggles a lot of different tasks and considers them all to be critically important. But the very idea of multiple “priorit-ies” (in the plural sense) is relatively new.

A search through the world literature on Google N-Gram shows that the term “priorities” was practically nonexistent before the factory boom following World War II.

Before that, only the singular version of the word — priority — was widely used.

Graphic: The Hustle

As Hamster Jack reminds Bob, the idea of multiple priorities is an illusion: Two things can be important, but they can’t both be the most important.

When people say they have multiple priorities, what they’re really saying is that they have a hard time prioritizing. They are unwilling to make difficult, potentially uncomfortable decisions about what should take precedence over everything else.

The first step to catching and reversing burnout before it does damage is learning to take time to figure out which proverbial balls are actually important — and which need to be dropped.

Hamster Jack implores Bob to look at the things he’s juggling each day, and ask himself the following questions:

1.    Is this task still important, or has the situation changed? Often we commit to tasks or projects that are important at the time, but become less important as situations evolve.

2.    Am I really the only person who can do this? Many top performers think that doing something on their own is easier than teaching someone else how to do it. Trust your colleagues, and give them the chance to surprise you.

3.    Is this the most important thing right now? Or am I using it to avoid something else? Deep down, you know when you’re doing this.

4.    If this was the only thing I completed today, would I be satisfied with my day’s work? Part of avoiding burnout is focusing on work that will give us a sense of accomplishment.

As Bob himself starts juggling fewer things, it clears space for him to focus.

Graphic: Sheoli Chaturvedi

Positive constraints: Doing less to accomplish more

On its own, prioritizing won’t prevent burnout.

For someone like Bob, who’s grown accustomed to working nights and weekends, it doesn’t matter how much tasks are minimized: He’ll find ways to fill his time with more work.

Hamster Jack senses that Bob is a victim of Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

The implication of this is simple, yet profound: To avoid working all the time — yet still get his work done — Bob needs to limit the amount of time he allots for work.

Graphic: The Hustle

Some companies and institutions have been experimenting with this very idea and seen positive results:

·  A New Zealand firm tested a 4-day workweek and found that it actually boosted productivity, creativity, and job satisfaction.

·  In 2019, Microsoft Japan closed their offices every Friday, and saw a ~39% increase in YoY sales per employee.

·  A 23-month study in Sweden found that nurses who worked a 6-hour workday had higher productivity levels and lower absentee rates than those with a longer workday.

But a mere “commitment” not to overwork won’t lead to sustainable change.

In order for this constraint to work, Bob needs to face real, unmovable barriers that force him to finish his work and leave the office — like scheduling a long-overdue date with his love interest, Roberta.

Graphic: Sheoli Chaturvedi

Psychology: The foundation for change

Lastly, Hamster Jack knows that without the right psychological approach, Bob will quickly fall back onto the hamster wheel of burnout.

Part of the problem stems from the common misconception that being a great employee means working hard. Hard work is part of the equation — but to be truly effective, Bob actually needs to do 2 things:

1.    Perform at the highest level

2.    Protect his ability to perform at the highest level

Doing the first while neglecting the second is only setting Bob and his team up for more problems down the line.

Hamster Jack — ever the fuzzy fountain of wisdom — suggests 2 rules to help him navigate his workday:

1. The 80% Rule

As Hamster Jack is fond of saying, “There are two types of hamsters in this world: Those who give 110%, and those who understand math."

The 80% rule suggests that a superb employee plans to devote 80% of their energy and focus for the day to their job. The remaining 20% should be reserved for hobbies, family time, and everything else that isn’t work-related.

By leaving some energy in the tank each day, Bob creates the space he needs to avoid toxic work-life imbalance. Still, Bob often feels guilty putting work away, which is why Hamster Jack shares another secret with him:

2. Diffuse Problem-Solving

The brain has 2 modes of problem-solving: focused and diffuse.

The focused mode, which is most familiar to us, is when we give our full attention to a problem and try to reason our way through it. It can be very effective — especially when the problem is relatively familiar.

But the diffuse mode is where the problem-solving magic happens. This is when we allow our mind to wander, allowing it to connect disparate ideas at a level the focused mode doesn’t allow for.

When Bob chose to step away from work and go live his life, he unlocked his mind’s ability to solve creative and complex problems.

And in the end, this did more for his career, his team, and his company than a few extra hours of juggling.

Graphic: Sheoli Chaturvedi

Editor’s note: This story was inspired by a presentation on burnout that Ethan gave to The Hustle's editorial team.

 
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Healthy Eating ImprovingFutures 101

 PEAK Disclosure - click for a feast of info

Great article , got some of them under my belt , a few more to work on, a basic frame work that we should get right, class 101, foundation stuff, get this and then you can tweek it for greater performance. 

Healthy Eating Habits

 

Simple advice, eat better, you will feel better, live longer, will add that to the list and sounds like a good place to be  #ImprovingFutures   

Always check out the comment section of my blogs for interesting articles that usually relate to the main blog article  on the topic going forward. Join the community and make some of your own reccomendation if you like, we can all learn from one another. 

Tim

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Hummus

I came across this delicous looking receipe for Beet Hummus this morning on one of my newsletters. It looked so good I printed and saved here and am starting my post on Hummus. Hummus is something we have in our diet very regularly, typically we make it on the ranch from chick peas.  So I will endvor to expand on this when I can. In the mean time try this out.  :)

Tim

https://atfortyfive.com/colorful-tasty-beet-hummus/

 

Collective Dictionary Defined

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummus

Hummus (/ˈhʊməs//ˈhʌməs/;[1][2] Arabicحُمُّص‎, 'chickpeas'; full Arabic name: ḥummuṣ bi-ṭaḥini Arabicحمص بالطحينة‎, 'chickpeas in tahini') is a Levantine dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas or other beans, blended with tahiniolive oil, lemon juice, salt, and garlic.[3] It is popular in the Middle East and Mediterranean, as well as in Middle Eastern cuisine around the globe. It can also be found in most grocery stores in North America and Europe.

 

Nutrition

Chickpeas, the main ingredient of conventional hummus, have appreciable amounts of dietary fiberproteinvitamin B6manganese and other nutrients.[28]

As hummus recipes vary, so does nutritional content, depending primarily on the relative proportions of chickpeas, tahini, and water. Hummus provides roughly 170 calories for 100 grams, and is a good to excellent (more than 10% of the Daily Value) source of dietary fiber, vitamin B6, and several dietary minerals.[29][30]

Fat content, mostly from tahini and olive oil, is about 14% of the total; other major components are 65% water, 17% total carbohydrates, including a small amount of sugar, and about 10% protein.[29][30]

 

 

A great treat that I have come to enjoy, is breaking a piece of kale off the stalk and rolling it up and then dipping that in to the hummus and eating like that, a great way to ingest the Kale!

Tim

 

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Once a week challenge

https://vimeo.com/131743701

 

52 Hike Challenge Documentary Kickstarter Video from Sea to Summit Productions on Vimeo.

 

52 Hike Challenge Documentary Teaser from Sea to Summit Productions on Vimeo.

 

great idea ! 

https://www.52hikechallenge.com/

My personal aha thought, awesome idea guys! There is a guy in South Africa doing this with food , going to farmers and filming production, finish with a meal. I invited him to Canada to do a tour coast to coast, nothing came of it. Just brain storming and typing s it flows, Be cool if we could get a corporate sponsor to do this for you in the future, I am moving my business to a new company Peak Financial, they are coast to coast, I've climbed with some very amazing people. Tie in a food champion, save some bucks feeding you, expand the challenge, make some new friends "Be The Adventure" I'll supply the "Natures Energy Water" let's follow through with this over the next year as we get settled
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Just Breathe

https://youtu.be/hnjeMwxFuBA

Just Breathe, an up beat song, reminding us to Just Breathe 

one of the most important part of my physical training is to breathe properly. 

That is critical to progress and recovery. 4 in , pause, 8 out, pause , breathing from your gut through your nose. Not your mouth, not your chest. Don’t forget to breathe. Slow it down, get the oxygen in and out. Your body , every cell needs the life giving oxygen flowing through the blood. 

So when life is going fast, feels a little crazy, just breathe and thank God for ever breath. 

TLR

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Use That Breath

Take a breath and Use That Breath 

 

A simple first step to become a better listener? Breathing. Many of us can’t help ourselves but jump into a conversation, offering our pearls of wisdom to anyone willing to listen. Psychologist Kenneth Miller says we should take a breather instead. When we breathe before speaking, we give others room to reflect on what they have been saying. It’s an act of generosity. That extra breath also gives us time to think of insightful questions that might truly help the people we are speaking with. •”

 

 

Proper breathing is an obvious next step. I have been working this the last month with my ARP Practionair as we work through my shoulder pain. Remapping years of miss use and bad posture. The pain is leaving and I can do more movements and feel almost normal and stronger and healthier now. Every exercise requires the proper breathing technique otherwise it is simply more difficult and not as effective, without the breathing done right I can often not complete the activity or make progress.  Mike has taught us big belly breathing. Expanding our belly to create capacity for inhaling and exhaling through our nose. Four in with belly expanding, pause, Eight count out with belly contracting, pause, repeat. This simple yet sometimes difficult to achieve method helps to oxygenate and expand our breathing capicty.  It helps work through the pain and exhaustion and helps the mind think better. Litany of other benefits I am sure. 

 

I am up to two sets of our regime and had a person best of a 60 second hang yesterday. Small steps make a profound difference. Remember to breath properly. Stand properly, feet straight ahead , turn those toes so you are properly aligned , keep your head up , eyes forward, arms by your side and of course smile. 

 

The note above reminds us of the of the importance of breathing. It’s free and has huge benefits.  

Cheers!

Tim

#ImprovingFutures

“Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.
Praise ye the Lord.” Psalm 150:6

 

Just Breathe and just be

https://youtu.be/hnjeMwxFuBA

 

Breathe by Johnny Diaz

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