Peace Invades

A king once offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. There were only two from the many which he really liked. But the choice was difficult.

One picture was of a calm lake, a perfect mirror for towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. A perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains too but rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky with lightening and thunder and it poured furiously! Down the mountain side, a foaming waterfall hammered on rocks below.

The king had a close look at both the pictures. He chose the second to the surprise of all.

The close quick look saw behind the intimidating waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush, a mother bird had built her nest where she sat in perfect peace nursing the babies.

The King explained his choice, "Peace does not mean just a quiet place where there is no noise, danger or hard work. Peace found by the bush and the bird in the depth of their hearts in the midst of all that lightening and thunder and the rock-and-roll water fall has also true meaning of Peace.

Peace does not dwell in the outward things but within the soul. We may preserve it in the midst of bitterest pain if our will remain firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs from acquiescence, not in an exemption from suffering…. Fenelon

Reduce the Load on Knees

To keep our mobility intact beyond Sixties into our Nineties, we need to start building up quadriceps (Front of thigh) and hamstring muscles (Back of thigh) right from childhood. To keep them in trim with age, we need to do the following exercises regularly within the framework of staying power and comfort levels.

Weak Inflexible Sluggish Quadriceps and Hamstring Muscles will increase the load on Knees for worse.

SQUATTING for QUADRICEPS AND HAMSTRING MUSCLES

1) Stand upright with feet slightly apart and hands stretched upwards.

2) With straight back in line with head, slowly bend knees (not waist) controlling movement down within comfort level.

3) Ensure that knees follow the same line as toes.

4) Return smoothly to starting position with ease.

5) Breathe in as you go down, out as you come up.

6) Graduate slowly to 5-10-15… ups and downs.

7) Graduate slowly keeping feet raised on toes both ways.

FOR HAMSTRING MUSCLES ONLY

1) Lie flat on your back with stretched legs.

2) Bend right knee with bottom of foot flat on the floor.

3) Raise left leg straight in air supported by hands if need be.

4) Softly straighten left leg from knee.

5) Feel the hamstring stretch within comfort limit.

6) Repeat exchanging legs.

SUGAR FREE ??? We are being Cheated..

Most crash diet programs are high in proteins and low in carbohydrates. Water in the body attaches itself to a substance called glycogen, and the level of glycogen in the body is controlled by carbohydrate intake. Thus when a crash diet reduces drastically intake of carbohydrates, body's level of carbohydrates drops and so also level of body's water/fluid level. Once the normal diet of carbohydrates is resumed, body regains.

we are cheated into believing that weight loss was fat? As a matter of fact, loss in weight was due to loss of water in body and/or muscle tissue and not because of loss of fat. Once the crash program is over, water replaces itself automatically with body getting back its weight.

If crash diet is continued for long, may be some fat too is lost. But along with that is lost also lean tissue of some vital body muscles and organs. And that is dangerous. After the crash diet program is over, fat tissue will be regained but not lean tissue. Hence it is paradoxical that a person will gain more weight once the crash diet program is over.

Better to follow our instinctive basicS > balanced staple meals-program with balanced intake of protein, carbohydrates and fiber augmented by Daily Walks, Free Arms/Aerobic Exercise, Deep Breathing and Yoga which should account for loss of fat. And strengthen immune system. Why lose organ / muscle tissue through crash dieting? Diet programs do not highlight these facts as they would want to play on our sentiments of embarrassment, sense of helplessness and lack of strength of will and thus win us over to their crash calculations.

1) Anything labeled at the grocery store as "low fat", "sugar free", "low-carb", or "whole grain" are no good for you as you're being regularly deceived by the clever marketing of huge multi-million food corporations...

2) Most foods labeled as "sugar free" or "low-carb" actually contain artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, and other additives that create a hormonal mess inside your body, actually stimulating your body to STORE more belly fat and stimulate cravings!

3) In fact, doing excessive exercises also actually works against your results because you are stimulating excessive cortisol production in your body and breaking down lean muscle tissue... all of which leads to the slowing down of your metabolic rate over time and deposition of even more belly fat on top of what you already have.