I LOVE BANANAS!!!

A friend of mine sent me this piece on bananas, and since its my favorite fruit, along with strawberries, I found it brilliant and thought it a good idea to share it with you. Read on and be amazed:

Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!!
This is interesting.

After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit.

It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.


Depression:
According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS:
Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia:
High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure:
This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.


Brain Power:
200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school ( England ) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation:
High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers:
One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn:
Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.


Morning Sickness:
Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites:
Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves:
Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.


Overweight:
and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers:
The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control:
Many other cultures see bananas as a 'cooling' fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.


Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD):
Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking &Tobacco Use:
Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress:
Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels.. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes:
According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts:
Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!


So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around. So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, 'A banana a day keeps the doctor away!'

PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS

PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time! I will add one here; want a quick shine on our shoes?? Take the INSIDE of the banana skin, and rub directly on the shoe....polish with dry cloth. Amazing fruit.

What's your take on bananas, and if its not your favorite what fruit is?

5 Simple Changes to Build Muscle Fast

If your goal is to get 100% better at something, what would
be the best way to go about it? I can think of two ends of
the continuum. The approach you select will be somewhere
along this continuum: doing one thing twice as good (or 100
percent better), or performing 100 activities 1 percent
better. I think that most people attempt the first approach,
but the latter is much more realistic.

Taken a step further, to make each of these small building
blocks more effective, you could also focus on things that
occur outside of your workouts. So you concentrate on
modifying your habits and making tiny improvements in many
areas that will stack on top of one another to bring you
massive benefits.

So here are 5 simple lifestyle changes you can make to help
you build muscle fast.

1) Replace Traditional Cardio with Interval Training

Aerobic exercise has a negative impact on muscle gaining
because it burns branched chain amino acids (BCAA) and
glycogen. Rather, concentrate on HIIT sessions for fat
burning, e.g. a 400-meter sprint followed by a 400-meter
recovery jog, repeated for a total of four times.

2) Increase Total Time Under Load (TTL)

Instead of focusing on the number of reps, concentrate on
the total time your muscles are under load. Try spending 2
seconds on the negative contraction, 1 second at neutral
(bottom of the exercise), and 1 second on the positive
contraction. Emphasizing the negative is an easy way to
overload muscles and promote muscle weight gain.

3) Eat More Fish

Not only is fish high in protein, it is also a natural
source of essential fatty acids, which are vital for both
your muscular health and your overall health. Omega-3's make
your muscles more sensitive to insulin, so they aid glycogen
storage and increase the absorption of amino acids into your
muscles, while also preserving glutamine storage.

4) Mix up your Total Time Under Load

One really easy way to add variety to a workout, confuse
your muscles, and build muscle up is to switch up your
repetition tempo by adding an explosive day once per week,
or an explosive set once per workout. It looks like this:
2-second negative contraction, 1-second neutral, explode as
fast as you can on the positive contraction and repeat.

5) Cheat on your Diet

If you haven't yet read the Cheat to Lose Diet, you should.
It's a pretty interesting theory into how the body
metabolizes food. The short story is that your body burns
fat in response to the presence of a hormone in your body,
and that hormone comes as a direct result of overeating! So
once a week, cheat, and follow your cheat day with two very
low-carbohydrate, high protein days. You'll enjoy the cheat
day and burn more fat to boot.

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The 4 Worst Fad Diets

The insanity regarding weight loss has affected every overweight
person out there, and why not? After all, Christmas is
coming, and people want to lose weight fast so that they
look their best at parties. A decision to lose weight is a
good one, but you need to do it healthily. Unfortunately,
most people take to the unhealthy weight loss method called
'fad dieting' or 'crash dieting' and end up losing muscles
rather than fat.

Keep in mind that a fad diet cannot offer you a permanent
weight loss solution; only a healthy food plan can. So don't
focus on how to lose weight fast; rather, focus on how to
become healthy through weight loss. In this article I will
tell you about the top four fad diets you mustn't follow.

1. Liquid Diet

Under this diet plan, you are required to eat only liquids
and avoid all solid foods. Liquids such as milk, protein
shakes, and fruit juices are recommended. If you follow this
diet only for a few days, you will become weak and limp.
This is definitely not a practical diet to go with since you
won't be able to follow it for the rest of your life.

2. Grapefruit Diet

Have you ever heard of or followed this diet? If you have,
you will know that this diet plan restricts your food intake
to a ridiculously low level, probably to that of a baby.
Under this diet plan, you need to eat only grapefruit and
protein-rich foods at every single meal of the day. This
diet is based on the belief that when protein is combined
with grapefruit, it accelerates a person's fat burning
process by enhancing his metabolism, thereby helping him
lose weight.

Now this might be true, but ask yourself - could you eat
grapefruits all your life, everyday? I would surely get bored.
Plus the weight loss you achieve through this diet would be
just temporary. Obviously, this is not a diet plan for you.

3. Egg Diet

This is basically a stem of the Atkins diet. This diet is
based on the concept that if you eat a protein-rich diet and
avoid all carbs, your body would be forced to burn fat to
produce energy since it won't find any carbohydrates. For
this reason you are encouraged to eat as many eggs as you
can, along with cheese and meat.

In reality though, the concept doesn't work. When your body
doesn't get an adequate supply of carbohydrates, it won't
burn your fat deposits; instead, it would start burning your
lean muscles. Gradually, you will turn into a smaller
version of your former self, albeit with the same huge
potbelly you had. But far from that, your metabolic rate
would be reduced to a very low level as well. Do you still
think it is a good idea to go with this diet?

4. Banana Diet

Yet another crazy diet, which asks you to eat only bananas
for your breakfast. Of course, you could eat anything for
the rest of the day. The rationale behind this is that
bananas help in quicker digestion, thereby preventing the
body from absorbing all calories and turning them into fat
deposits. There is no scientific study or proof to backup
this claim, so I am not sure if this diet works at all.

When choosing a diet plan, you need to choose one which is
not only healthy but also viable; plus it should help you
achieve permanent weight loss. None of the above fad diets
fit this criteria, so they are definitely not for you. If
you are just looking forward to losing a few pounds, then
definitely go with any of the diets above, but don't be
surprised if those pounds come back as soon as you quit
dieting.

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