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Archive for December, 2013

Superior People!

Superior people, aren’t better than average, because they have more money, come from an exclusive bloodline, possess above average beauty or have an elite education, rather superior people are better than average because they live with integrity, honor, virtue, courage, benevolence, discipline and restraint. In other words, superior people live their lives in a superior way… that’s what makes them superior.

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Violent Video Games, Movies and Television!

Children who are the least aggressive in nature, but are exposed to violent mass media, are more likely to get into fights, altercations and trouble than children who are very aggressive but avoid this kind of toxic exposure.

Anyone who still believes that violent video games, movies and television have no negative effect on our children or even many adults for that matter, are simply misinformed or totally uninformed.

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Enlightenment, not entertainment!

The entertainment value and escapism associated with mass media, such as the vast majority of movies and video games in our culture today, is a grand waste of time; we should be concerning ourselves with enlightenment, not meaningless entertainment.

It’s fairly easy to judge a man or woman accurately by simply knowing the standard of entertainment they enjoy and the amount of it.

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Anxiety, Stress and Food!

Food has a natural calming effect on us physiologically, which is one of the primary reasons many of us overeat as a coping strategy; cutting through the psychological layers is important in order to gain control of our eating. We can work on that here.

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Finished Reading: Modern Bushido

Living A Life of Excellence

Modern Bushido is all about living a life of excellence. In this enlightening prose, Dr. Bohdi Sanders covers 30 essential traits that will change your life. Modern Bushido expands on the standards and principles needed to live a life of excellence and applies these traits directly to life in today’s world.

Readers will be motivated and inspired by the straightforward lessons and wisdom in this exceptionally unique book. If you want to live a life of excellence, this book is for you. This is a guidebook to living life to the fullest, with the character that defines the true human being. The advice discussed in Modern Bushido is sure to benefit your life in a positive way and lead you to a deeper understanding of what it means to live a successful life of honor and integrity.

In Modern Bushido, you will learn:
*  How to live a life of character
*  How your thoughts affect your life
*  What it means to be a true friend
*  The true meaning of honor
*  The benefits of meditation
*  What true respect means
*  Your ultimate responsibility in life
*  How to balance your life
*  How to be at peace the death
*  What true courage is
*  And much, much more…

Modern Bushido is a must read for every martial artist and anyone who seeks to live life as it was meant to be lived – with honor, character and integrity.

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Two New Studies Debunk Benefits of Multivitamins

Lauran Neergaard – The Associated Press

There’s more disappointing news about multivitamins: Two  major studies found popping the pills didn’t protect aging men’s brains or help  heart attack survivors.

Millions of Americans spend billions of dollars  on vitamin combinations, presumably to boost their health and fill gaps in their  diets. But while people who don’t eat enough of certain nutrients may be urged  to get them in pill form, the government doesn’t recommend routine vitamin  supplementation as a way to prevent chronic diseases.

The studies  released Monday are the latest to test if multivitamins might go that extra step  and concluded they don’t.

“Evidence is sufficient to advise against  routine supplementation,” said a sharply worded editorial that accompanied  Monday’s findings in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

After all,  most people who buy multivitamins and other supplements are generally healthy,  said journal deputy editor Dr. Cynthia Mulrow. Even junk foods often are  fortified with vitamins, while the main nutrition problem in the U.S. is too  much fat and calories, she added.

But other researchers say the jury’s  still out, especially for the country’s most commonly used dietary supplement —  multivitamins that are taken by about a third of U.S. adults, and even more by  people over the age of 50.

Indeed, the U.S. Preventive Services Task  Force is deliberating whether vitamin supplements make any difference in the  average person’s risk of heart disease or cancer. In a draft proposal last  month, the government advisory group said for standard multivitamins and certain  other nutrients, there’s not enough evidence to tell. (It did caution that two  single supplements, beta-carotene and vitamin E, didn’t work). A final decision  is expected next year.

“For better or for worse, supplementation’s not  going to go away,” said Dr. Howard Sesso of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in  Boston. He helps lead a large multivitamin study that has had mixed results —  suggesting small benefits for some health conditions but not others — and says  more research is needed, especially among the less healthy.

Still,  “there’s no substitute for preaching a healthy diet and good behaviors” such as  exercise, Sesso cautioned.

As scientists debate, here are some questions  and answers to consider in the vitamin aisle:

Q: Why the new focus on  multivitamins?

A: Multivitamins have grown more popular in recent years  as research showed that taking high doses of single supplements could be risky,  such as beta-carotene.

Multivitamins typically contain no more than 100  percent of the daily recommended amount of various nutrients. They’re marketed  as sort of a safety net for nutrition gaps; the industry’s Council for  Responsible Nutrition says they’re taken largely for general wellness.

Q: What are the latest findings?

A: With Alzheimer’s on the rise  as the population ages, Harvard researchers wondered if long-term multivitamin  use might help keep older brains agile. They examined a subset of nearly 6,000  male doctors, age 65 or older, who were part of a larger study. The men were  given either multivitamins or dummy pills, without knowing which they were  taking.

After a decade of pill use, the vitamin-takers fared no better  on memory or other cognitive tests, Sesso’s team reported Monday in the journal  Annals of Internal Medicine.

Q: Did that Harvard study find any other  benefit from multivitamins?

A: The results of the Physicians Health  Study II have been mixed. Overall it enrolled about 15,000 health male doctors  age 50 and older, and the vitamin-takers had a slightly lower risk of cancer — 8  percent. Diet and exercise are more protective. They also had a similarly lower  risk of developing cataracts, common to aging eyes. But the vitamins had no  effect the risk for heart disease or another eye condition, Sesso said.

Q: Might vitamins have a different effect on people who already have  heart disease?

A: As part of a broader treatment study, a separate  research team asked that question. They examined 1,700 heart attack survivors,  mostly men, who were given either a special multivitamin containing  higher-than-usual doses of 28 ingredients or dummy pills. But the vitamins  didn’t reduce the chances of another heart attack, other cardiovascular  problems, or death.

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New Research Disputes Fat but Fit Claim

NBC News Contributor: Linda Carroll

If you’re overweight or obese, it may pay off to shed even just a few extra pounds.

Excess weight can knock years off your life even if your cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar are in the healthy range, a new study suggests.

Scrutinizing the combined data from eight earlier studies, Canadian researchers have concluded that there is no such thing as “healthy obesity,” according to a report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Just having good metabolic numbers doesn’t protect you from fat’s deleterious effects, said study co-author Dr. Bernard Zinman, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and director of the diabetes center at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

Some health professionals have “coined the term ‘healthy obesity,’” Zinman said. “When we performed a systematic review of studies that followed people for more than 10 years, indeed, even in those who were metabolically pristine, there was still an increased risk of cardiovascular death and heart attack. Healthy obesity is a myth.”

To take a closer look at how excess pounds affect heart health, Zinman and his colleagues combed through the scientific literature searching for studies that looked not only at life expectancy and body mass index, but also at metabolic measurements such as blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol. They chose to focus in on eight studies that when combined included information from a total of 61,386 volunteers. Four of the studies included in the researchers’ meta-analysis had follow-ups of more than 10 years.

When Zinman and his colleagues looked only at data from studies with long-term follow-up and focused just on individuals who were “metabolically healthy,” they found that obesity raised the risk of death, heart attack, and stroke by 24 percent. Similarly, they found that people who were metabolically healthy but overweight had a 21 percent increased risk, but that finding was not statistically significant.

By the same token, people who were “metabolically unhealthy,” had a higher risk of death, heart attack and stroke, whether they were fat or thin.

The report seems to contradict a study published earlier this year, which had concluded that overweight individuals might actually be healthier than those with normal weights.

But the differing results may simply be due to the fact that the new report looked at different data and at long-term outcomes, experts said. Conclusions can be skewed when young, muscled up men are included because even though they have little body fat, they will have a high BMI, said Dr. David Heber, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles. And most studies are using BMI as a proxy for body fat.

The conclusions of the new study fall in line with other research that’s shown that fat, in and of itself, is a risk factor for heart disease, Heber said.

The new study shows that we can’t be complacent about our weight, said NBC News health and diet editor Madelyn Fernstrom. Still, a population study like this one can’t predict an individual’s risk, Fernstrom added.

The only way to know how worried you should be about your weight is to have “a frank discussion with your doctor,” Fernstrom said. Mitigating factors could include your family history and fitness, she added.

People who might be jolted into action by the new study should realize that even small changes in lifestyle can result in big differences, experts said.

You don’t need to be pencil thin, said Dr. Rexford Ahima, a professor of medicine and director of the obesity unit at the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center.

“There is such a thing as healthy weight,” Ahima said. “But it’s not going back to where you were in high school. If you’re overweight or obese, you should aim to be 5 to 10 percent less than you are today. Many studies have shown that a 5 to 10 percent weight reduction can impart benefit.”

And for those who have trouble losing weight, improved fitness may be the key to healthier living, said Dr. Vicki March, medical director of the Healthy Lifestyle Program at Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and co-director of BodyChangers, also at Magee.

“You’re not doomed if you don’t lose weight,” March said. “In this study, they didn’t take exercise and other habits into consideration. We’ve known for a long time that someone who is physically fit is healthier than someone who is not, no matter what weight they are.”

Even people who are obese can find ways to exercise and can become fitter, March said. “People who have high BMIs can ride bikes or swim,” she added.

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