An Apple a Day…is Less Beneficial Than Ten!

Many researchers have recommended for years that you need five a day in order to stay healthy. That’s five fruits and vegetables every day. Now, however, they appear to be upping the ante, claiming that you actually need ten in order to get the full benefit of your fruits and vegetables.

Researchers at Imperial College London have found that ten 80gram portions of fruits and vegetables might actually help you to cut the risk of cancer by 13% and heart disease by 24%.

The lead author Dr. Dagfinn Aune explained, “Fruit and vegetables have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and to boost the health of our blood vessels and immune system. This may be due to the complex network of nutrients they hold. For instance they contain many antioxidants, which may reduce DNA damage, and lead to a reduction in cancer risk.’


While analyzing the data from 95 studies on fruits and vegetables, they found that people who had 10 a day were able to cut the risk of dying prematurely by almost a third. The study was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology and also isolated which fruits and vegetables were the most desirable.

Of course this information may fall on deaf ears, since most people don’t follow the five a day rule, let alone have plans to up it to the ten a day one.

3 Ways to Have a Successful Day

More than we could probably ever read in a lifetime has been written about how to be successful and what makes for success. This short list from Prevention.com, however, is unique and interesting for a few reasons. It’s quite short and offers concrete activities at a focused time. They found that successful and wealthy people do three main things when they get up in the morning, before even having breakfast.

Maybe they will make a difference for you, too.

The things are:

* Make that to-do list: Yes, before they even have their coffee, they make their to-do list and set their goals for the day. They detail tasks that need to get done and deadlines that need to be met – and they tick them off throughout the day.

* Turn on the music: This is interesting. They listen to uplifting playlists and enjoy this energy for their morning commute or at home before they head to the office.

* Get the mantra right: They read inspirational quotes and mantras from others to light that fire that they need for the day.
None of these ideas take very long and they don’t require too much brainpower. Try it. You just might like it.

Creative Ways to Say I Love You on Valentine’s Day

It’s not always easy to come up with something creative to do for that loved one on Valentine’s Day. Here are some great ideas…many of which won’t break the bank! Have a great day with your loved one and be creative.

Ode to the Inventor of Pac-Man

For those of you who love Pac-Man, today is a sad day. And that’s because Masaya Nakamura, the founder of Namco, has died. Namco is the Japanese company started in 1955 that that was responsible for Pac-Man.

Pac-Man was designed by the video game engineer Toru Iwatani and first came to the market in 1980. It was named, by Guinness World Records, as the world’s most successful coin-operated video game.  The company has actually estimated that Pac-Man has been played more than 10 billion times.

The spin-offs of Pac-Man have been never-ending. Pac-Man has been adapted for cell phones and Nintendo, for Xbox and PlayStation, for animated films, for TV series and for loads of merchandise.


And where did Pac-Mac’s classic design start? According to Bandai Namco, it was inspired by none other than pizza. The name comes from the Japanese phrase that describes the Pac-Man eating the dots. It’s called “paku paku” and from that we got Pac-Man.

 

3 New Ben & Jerry’s Flavors for 2017

Who doesn’t want to know about new Ben & Jerry’s flavors? And these three that are rolling out this year sound amazing. Here is the new line-up.

Urban Bourbon: This is going to be showing up in the grocery store aisles in mid-February and combines burnt caramel ice cream with almonds, fudge flakes and a bourbon caramel swirl. Yum!

Truffle Kerfuffle: This is a vanilla ice cream that will have roasted pecans in it, fudge chips and a salted caramel ganache swirl.

Oat of this Swirled: This one includes a buttery brown sugar ice cream and fudge flakes with oatmeal cinnamon cookie swirls.

This isn’t the first time that Ben & Jerry’s has thought of adding an alcoholic flavor to its concoctions. They had Tennessee Mud for awhile that included jack Daniels whiskey and roasted almonds with coffee ice cream and amaretto. They also had a White Russian ice cream that was in the market from 1986-1996.

Now it’s bourbon’s turn to shine.

Warning: The Digital Age May Damage Your Eyes

Here’s another reason to be worried about your kids staying in front of their screens too much during the day – the habit might just make them blind. A study, conducted at University Complutense of Madrid in Spain with lead researcher Dr. Celia Sanchez-Ramos has found that the high energy light that is emitted from the digital screens will cause irreversible damage to the eyes through the deterioration of the retina.

This study actually studied the results of two previous studies. In one of them, the retinas of rats that were evaluated to tablet screens with white LED light was evaluated. One group had filtered light and the other group did not. After three months of exposure, the rat group that did not have filters had a 23% increase in retinal cell death. Those rats that had a filter experienced no cell death.

As Dr. Ranchez-Ramos explained, “These results are important because LED screens are being used by the majority of the population, adults and children, for work, school and entertainment.”


In the second study, the amount of light that entered the eye was evaluated based on the device being used, the user, the diameter of the pupil and how far the device was from the eye. The results found that children receive more light of shore wavelengths than do adults because they have shorter arms and have the devices closer to them.

There is certainly more research that needs to be done. But parents should take note of these findings. Experts recommend, as well, that you use the 20-20-20 rules. For every 20 minutes that you are looking at a screen, you should then look 20 feet away for 20 seconds to let your eyes relax.