My Sweet MoonBeam

So many people adore eating chocolate, so it’s easy to see its positive impact on people. But add health benefits to this amazingly delicious food, and you’ve got a perfect combination!

Why is chocolate good for our health?
The last couple of years have seen a whole host of studies conducted to determine the potential health benefits of chocolate. In addition to identifying the beneficial vitamins and minerals found in chocolate, including potassium, copper, magnesium, and phosphorus, we also know that chocolate can act as an antioxidant and can stimulate the production of endorphins and other feel-good chemicals in our bodies. Here’s what they’ve found so far.

Disease-fighting antioxidant flavonoids
Dark chocolate that’s milk-free and eaten without milk is very high in antioxidants according to a study done by Italy’s National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research in Rome (milk seems to interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate). The antioxidant flavonoids specific to chocolate are called flavanols (procyanidins, catechins, and epicatechins).

Why are antioxidants important for a healthy body? Well, they eat up free radicals which are destructive molecules that have been connected to ailments such as cancer (lung cancer, prostate cancer), asthma, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. In particular, these antioxidants have several health effects on the heart:

• Lowers cholesterol: Dark chocolate high in flavonoids will reduce LDL (“bad” cholesterol) oxidation and boost HDL (“good” cholesterol) concentrations in the blood. The higher the level of antioxidants in the blood, the lower your LDL oxidation will be.
• Decreases blood pressure: Procyanidins trigger the production of nitric oxide which keeps arteries flexible and increases bloodflow. Additionally, these antioxidants may keep blood platelets from clumping together. Together these factors lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

To obtain these chocolate benefits, you’ll need to consume dark chocolate which has a higher concentration of antioxidants. A chocolate made with 70 percent or more cocoa is ideal.

Feel-good endorphins and anti-depressants
Eating chocolate also has the benefit of stimulating the release of endorphins, those “feel good” chemicals that naturally occur in your body. These can help to lift the spirit, even with just a little bite.

Plus, chocolate is a known antidepressant and aphrodisiac. A chemical called phenylethylamine are responsible for these positive emotions. They may even be responsible for making you feel that you’re in love. No wonder chocolate is such a romantic food!

Beneficial stimulants
Chocolate also contains stimulants such as caffeine (although in small quantities), giving it another way to boost spirits and increase feelings of happiness and energy. Plus, if you eat chocolate that’s made with 70 percent cocoa or higher, you’ll be consuming a food that’s low on the glycemic index. This means that it will prevent wild fluctuations in your blood glucose and insulin levels. Compared to other high-sugar foods, dark chocolate is quite a bit healthier.

Milk versus dark chocolate
Unlike dark chocolate, milk chocolate cannot really make any health claims. Given milk chocolate’s low levels of cocoa, it lacks the antioxidants found in dark chocolate.

Likewise, with white chocolate. Although white chocolate contains cocoa butter (which is sometimes replaced by other vegetable oils instead), it does not contain any cocoa solids. As a result, white chocolate contains no flavonoids, making it devoid of the antioxidant health benefits of dark chocolate.

To even be considered “dark” chocolate, a product must contain at least 65 percent cocoa. By comparison, the European Union requires that milk chocolate have 25 percent cocoa solids (there is no such regulation for milk chocolate in the US). According to a US Department of Agriculture study, “cocoa powders have the highest flavonoid content, followed by baking chocolate and dark eating chocolates.”

How much is too much chocolate?
So we know that chocolate can have some wonderfully positive benefits on our human bodies, but how much is enough chocolate? And more importantly, how much is too much?

Recommended daily intake
Let’s be totally clear: although chocolate does benefit the body by adding antioxidants and improving mood, it is no superfood. Pound for pound, dark chocolate can still be a high-calorie, high-fat food. It should therefore never be substituted for healthy, antioxidant-rich foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables.

Nevertheless, when eaten in moderation, chocolate can be a great addition to an already healthy diet. Various experts tout different numbers when talking about the ideal amount of dark chocolate in the healthy diet. While some contend that 100 calories is enough to receive the benefits without adding too many calories, other argue that you can eat up to 100 grams (about 500 calories) of dark chocolate daily (this would be the maximum amount).

The key to knowing how much dark chocolate you can eat on a daily basis is how you balance the calories. Knowing how many calories you should aim to eat in a day is the first step. If you can have 1,800 calories daily, and you eat 100 calories worth of chocolate, then you know you can only eat 1,700 calories from other foods the rest of the day. Keep to that formula and you can’t go wrong.

Remember, too, that you need to eat your dark chocolate milk-free. That means avoiding dairy products while eating your chocolate indulgence in order to get the full benefit of the antioxidants you’re taking in.

And here’s another tip for truly enjoying the health benefits of chocolate: eat it slowly! Chocolate contains over 300 compounds that each affects your body in different ways. Savor each bit of chocolate so that you eat in moderation and can sincerely appreciate all the good you’re doing for yourself.

Consequences of over-indulgence
Without a doubt, dark chocolate has some wonderful health benefits. We can all enjoy a healthier existence with controlled consumption of chocolate. But we also know that too much chocolate can lead to weight gain, which would totally cancel any of the health benefits gained by eating this food. So be careful how much you consume on a daily basis. Too much of a good thing can turn into a health hazard.

“Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies.”…very true to the saying, you will seldom come across a person who doesn’t like chocolate. If you don’t know what to gift your valentine on Valentine’s Day, a box of chocolate can never let you down. There is nothing like saying those golden words ‘I Love You’ with chocolates. Chocolate is mysterious in its own way…the process of unveiling the gift wrap, opening the box and unwrapping the papers to reveal dark brown smooth structures….mmm…it even feels delicious to think about it!

People say valentine chocolates have long association with love and passion. It is believed to have a seductive and unique power. Critics say chocolates are not good for health…they have calories. Well, what else can be done but to agree to a chocolate lover who says “I don’t understand why so many “so called” chocolate lovers complain about the calories in chocolate, when all true chocoholics know that it is a vegetable? It comes from the cocoa bean, beans are veggies, ’nuff said.” Whatever said and done, it works in its strange ways to impress people. It is really cool to gift your partner a box of chocolates even if you have something else to go with it.

Valentine chocolates come in different shapes and sizes. Select from the wide range available in the market. There are dark chocolates, milk bars, sweet chocolates, chocolate puddings, candies, truffles and pies available in the market for you to choose from. You can also go for chocolate cakes this year on Valentine’s Day. To be a bit innovative, go for the customized ones this year. They come with love messages and Valentine’s Day quotes imprinted on it. You can also order your own chocolate box and get your beloved’s name imprinted on it. A gift basket filled with all the favorite chocolates of your beloved can be a great gift for Valentine’s Day this year.

This year wish your beloved a lip smacking Valentine’s Day with those dark little devils named ‘Chocolates’ and win her/his heart.

Developing fight skills is the crudest pursuit of the martial arts. That is just one area of the entire spectrum of ‘Low Tech Combat’. There are many other, much more beneficial attributes a serious martial artist needs to develop.

The following 13 things a martial artist needs to know are areas a serious practitioner needs to look at and fill holes in his/her arsenal.

1. The first priority should be to learn how to defend yourself against an unskilled attacker as that is the most likely threat.This can take some time depending on natural skill and talent and any relevant experience. This is the area most martial artists exist. Many will never leave this area.

2. Understand that there are just two types of attacker. The Alpha Male and the Predator. The Alpha Male wants to fight you. He is typically intoxicated and wants to prove his manhood to all who are watching. His intentions will be obvious, he makes no attempt to hide it. The Predator wants something from you. Often this could be a wallet, laptop, phone or shoes or anything. He will loiter and attempt to blend in. The Predator is an ambush attacker. The attack will be sudden, and the Predator will try to finish it very quickly to get away.

3. Know what to look for. With an understanding of the above, the serious martial artist needs to learn what to look for with each type of attacker. Learn the signs and pre attack indicators for each.

4. Know your environment. Know that the street is the highest risk area for robberies (committed by Predators) and Assaults mostly happen at home and in entertainment areas (by Alpha Males).

5. Know how to diffuse a situation and use verbal tools and body language to prevent approaches going physical. While appearing confident and like someone who will fight back may deter a predator, it will likely antagonise and aggravate an Alpha Male.

6. Understand that an edged weapon (knife) is the most likely weapon you will face on the street. Except in the US where a handgun is the most likely weapon you will face, followed by a knife. You need to learn how to use and defend against these common weapons.

7. Engage in the full spectrum of fight skills. Against the most likely attacker as well as the worst case scenario. Also learn how to fight skilled opponents. Go to an MMA gym and have a few wrestling sessions and sparring matches. Learn from it.

8. Stress testing. Its one thing to spar in a relaxed learning environment but another thing altogether to spar when under hard pressure against one fresh opponent then another fresh opponent and so on. It involves stepping outside your comfort zone or being pushed out of it. This is mental training.

9. Scenario training aims to closely replicate the environment and situation that a likely encounter will happen in. It involves role players and starts at the pre-attack stage of an encounter. What happens during the pre-attack determines what happens in the attack stage, much like the real thing.

10. Advanced first aid is a priority. If you can cause damage, you should be able to treat damage. It is also a good balancing skill to have. Advanced first aid includes treating burns, fractures, bleeding as well as resuscitation methods. You never know, it may just save someone’s life one day.

11. Learn about home security. Do you have the numbers of utilities and the local police station up on the wall near the phone or on your mobile? Do you have a peep hole through your front door? What will you do if someone claims to be from the electricity department and wants to talk to about some matter relating to the electrical supply and wants to come inside? Where is your home most vulnerable to forced entry? Do you know where that is and what have you done to strengthen it? Consider home security issues carefully. Your home is your last stand.

12. Safe overseas travel. The best thing to do before going overseas is to go to your federal government website (like the CIA World Fact Book, British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Smart Traveller). They are treasure troves of information. Simple things like not wearing your expensive watch and other accessories, not flashing a lot of cash around at shops and toning down the clothing are all universal tactics to limit the attention of a countries underbelly.

13. Your Health should be looked after. Why go to all the trouble to learn how to defend yourself for years and years, in order to live a long and drama free life, when you let your health deteriorate and die at the age of 45 from a heart attack? Pointless.

This list of 13 things is not exhaustive. If you have only been doing one or two of these things, hopefully this article will open your mind up to different areas to learn and fill your chinks in your armor.

The number of people who collect sports memorabilia throughout the world continues to increase at a staggering pace. It is currently a 4 billion dollar industry worldwide. Getting a wide-ranging, exciting selection of sports memorabilia from favorite sports stars and legends to get pleasure from with your friends and family is a fulfilling as well as a very cool hobby. To begin getting involved in collecting autographs, you need to initial choose which athletes, entertainers, or historical figures you are enthusiastic about collecting.

You don’t have to carryout in depth research – just stay with what you really are most interested by and possess a passion for. Boston Red Sox devotees will most delight in collecting Boston Red Sox baseball memorabilia, just as sports fans with an appreciation for history will in all probability cherish collecting old sports memorabilia. You should never just collect sports memorabilia for the financial aspect. While that is certainly a great aspect of collecting sports memorabilia, its also a very slippery slope. If you start collecting for the love of the sport, then even if your collection loses its dollar value, you are left with something that has person value to you.

Sports memorabilia collecting forums contain a wealth of hints that can assist you in figure out current trends, so talk to other people who collect autographs in addition to reading internet resources. Discover all about the hottest items in the autograph collecting world and understand what might grow to be hot in the coming months or decades, and how much certain autographs price and you can also make big money.

You can find autographs on most every possible item that you could ever think of collecting. . Personal correspondence and business related paperwork are another hot new type of sports memorabilia. Letters and contracts signed by MLB greats like Babe Ruth, Joe Dimaggio, and Mickey Mantle can fetch tens of thousands of dollars on the open market. It’s even better to find a letter that is historically significant. Typically these paper based, flat surface items are the most popular on which to obtain signatures. This is because they hold the signature really well for a long period of time, and are easy and convenient to display. In addition, they are useful for Thru The Mail Autograph Collecting. Commonly referred to as TTM collecting, this process involves mailing items to players requesting their autographs

Storing your collectibles correctly is very important regardless of whether they are on display or not. All sports memorabilia of value should be stored in climate controlled environments which protect their exposure to excessive amounts of UV lights. Open bookshelves can harbor parasites that feed on anything made out of paper, like silverfish and lice, so be careful about this method of storage. Autographs are quickly devalued when they are exposed to tape or glue, or are laminated, as these things are considered damage.

All successful business owners and financial managers want to stay on top of profit, as it is essential to the firms long term success and growth. We all know the basics of profit – i.e. it’s what left after expenses are paid and ultimately it’s a measure of how successful we are in operating our company efficiently. Over time a company that has less and less profit will be unable to pay bills and buy materials. Also both lenders and investors will of course view the business as problematic, leading to an outflow of capital. And of course those profits allow us to grow our businesses to even new heights of success.

Let’s take a look at some basic ways that business can measure profits, from the view point of are they enough, and how can we improve and control them.

A great way to start is for a business owner to understand and be able to address ‘gross margins ‘. It is simply the gross profit deiced by net sales, and we then multiply by 100 to express the number as a percentage. What does this number tell us? It allows us to see the difference between our sales and the cost of those sales. (Keep in mind that doesn’t reflect our administrative expenses also) A higher gross margin is good, as it allows bills to be paid and leave a reasonable profit for the owner. Business owners from small start ups to major corporations watch the gross margin very carefully.

How does the business owner address and interpret gross margin – Essentially it reveals that material costs are too high or sales are too low. Steps must be taken to fix both or either!

We need to note that that gross margins are different in every industry. In the grocery business margins are very low, but sales and turnover are very high. Products are essentially a commodity in the grocery industry. Don’t forget also, using our grocery business as an example, that there are a large number of products in that store. Each product delivers a different gross margin to the business owner, some more, some less. Therefore we can glean from this that we must watch the mix of products and the margin they deliver back to our company.

Another takeaway from our gross margin analysis is that overall risk to the business increases when we are in a low margin business – there is simply little room to move when things go wrong! Business owners have the option, and many do, of maintaining their margins by a pricing strategy – let’s say a business owner has a budget goal of achieving a 25% gross margin. As his material costs and inventory costs change he simply re prices his product to achieve that desired margin.

In summary when managers understand their gross margin they can more effectively buy goods and price them correctly. That’s important.

“Before you drink from a skull, your must first find the right corpse,” Manisha Ma Bhairavi says even as her dreadlocked partner, Tapan Sadhu sitting at the back of the hut with a radio clamped to his ear shouts excitedly, “England are 270 for four!” This is the India British author William Dalrymple writes about in his latest book, Nine Lives. This is the India where mysticism cohabits with modernity, where even the fallen are worshipped, the outcasts form communities and where even a sadhu can be a MBA!

In his ‘first book after a decade’ author-historian-journalist Dalrymple unravels the many paradoxes that make up the very fluid fabric of Indian society. With the help of nine lives, he taps into the soul of the nation.

Nine Lives is a collection of linked non-fiction short stories, with each life representing a different form of devotion, or a different religious path. A Buddhist monk takes up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet – then spends years trying to atone for the violence by hand-printing prayer flags in India. A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend starve to death. A middle-class woman leaves her family to live as a tantric in a remote cremation ground. A prison warden in Kerala becomes, for two months a year, a temple dancer and is worshipped as an incarnate deity. An idol-maker from Tamil Nadu, the twenty-third in a long hereditary chain stretching back to the great bronze casters of the Chola Empire, worries if the next generation will take on this art “in the age of computers”. A triple refugee from Bihar finds her place as the Red Fairy in a Sufi shrine in Pakistan even as the threat from Islamic fundamentalism looms over. A devdasi initially resists her initiation into sex work, yet pushes her daughter into a trade she now regards as a sacred calling.

Dalrymple’s journey takes him from Sravanabelagola in Karnataka to the deserts of Rajasthan to the temples of Tanjore and Kerala and madrassas of Sindh before culminating in the lakeside country villages of West Bengal. He documents the oral histories of not just these nine lives but even of the cults and religions to which they belong, some going back to the time of the Rig Veda.

Each life acts “as a keyhole into the way that specific religious vocation has been caught and transformed in the vortex of India’s metamorphosis during this rapid period of transition, while revealing the extraordinary persistence of faith and ritual in a fast-changing landscape.” Yet, in spite of all the development India boasts of, Dalrymple finds his holy men and women discussing and agonising “about the same eternal quandaries that absorbed the holy men of classical India thousands of years ago” – the quest for material wealth against the claims of the spirit, personal devotion against conventional religion, textual orthodoxy against the emotional appeal of mysticism and the age-old war of duty and desire.

That Dalrymple is an accomplished writer is a fact. But it’s remarkable journalism that makes this book a must-read. He steps aside and let’s the people be the focus of the story. He brings himself him as only the thread that holds the stories together. The author has done well to add a glossary and a very note on the origin of the font type (Linotype Stempel Garamond) used in the book.

Nine Lives isn’t just another travel book. It’s a window to contemporary India – the one that remains forgotten or hidden, but is very much out there on the road, quite literally. As Dalrymple puts it, “The water moves on, a little faster than before, yet still the great river flows. It is as fluid and unpredictable in its moods as it has ever been, but it meanders within familiar banks.”

Agencies were set up to provide nurses for areas that had seasonal populations and would need to boost their nursing staff according to those times. Such states as Arizona, California, Texas, and Florida became major factors in the growth of travel nurses. This was due partly to the large migrant population that moved from state to state, depending on the season, to find work or from people that would come south during the winter months. Now the demand for travel nurses is higher, because of the staffing problems that exist across the United States. It is most likely to become even higher in demand as the baby boomers grow older. They will be leaving the medical field, and will be placing more demand on the medical field. To take advantage of this growth, you will need to make sure that you are ready. If you have foreign language skills, you may even be able to travel abroad.

Training
You need to have achieved a RN (Registered Nurse) degree, at the very least. This can be achieved a number of ways. You can go through a traditional four-year BSN, a hospital based diploma (typically taking three-years), or a two year ADN program. Even after schooling, you will need one year of work experience, at a minimum. Make sure that this experience is in your specialty, or you may not be eligible for travel assignments inside your specialty.

Finding the Travel Job
The first step is to find a travel nursing company. There are hundreds of these available. They may handle local, national, or even global assignments. The traveling nursing agency is essentially a job recruiter. They help you with handling the details of your assignment, including relocation or registering with any local authorities. They offer guidance in location and focus. Most assignments last 13 weeks, but you can usually renew your contract if you wish to stay longer. Some of the leading travel nursing companies in the United States are the Cross Country TravCorps, American Mobile Healthcare, Preferred Healthcare Staffing, Medical Express, O’Grady Peyton International, and Nurses Rx.

What are the benefits
Lodgings are typically provided for the traveling nurse. These are located near the facility and are normally fully furnished. Salaries are very competitive, in some cases up $40 per hour. There are often bonus programs, not to mention comprehensive medical and dental insurance. Traveling nurses can spend as little as 4 weeks to 52 weeks on an assignment. You can move with the seasons, move where the best pay is, or try out a city that you think you may be interested in living in. There are often sign on bonuses with the companies, referral bonuses, travel reimbursement plans and so much more. Over seas jobs are available as well. Imagine being able to spend your summers in Europe before returning to Florida or California to get through the Winter Season. From large cities to the smaller towns, traveling nurses are in demand and you can join in.

The Internet has opened up a whole new world of discoveries for many of us and amateur cooks, from around the world, are grateful! Think of all the wonderful and varied recipes that have now become available – all with a few clicks of the keyboard.

For those who love to try out new recipes from different countries and ethnic backgrounds, this has certainly been a gift! Few would argue that Mexico and its flavorful and colorful foods certainly offer a huge variety of absolutely yummy foods. However, for some reason, cooking and creating Mexican recipes have been viewed, by some, as time consuming and difficult. Well, the good news! – that is simply not true. As with any type of regional cuisine, there are some intricate dishes, but there are also some quick and easy recipes that are fun to make and take no time at all and, more importantly, taste heavenly!

Although Mexican food is thought to be mainly about the spices, this is not entirely correct. Yes many different and flavorful spices are used to create Mexican dishes, however there are also a variety of other ingredients such as fresh vegetables and, of course, beans that go into making that special Mexican dish that tastes so authentic and wonderful.

One of the joys of creating your own Mexican dishes, from scratch, is the availability of many of the ingredients. You can find the basic ingredients, for most of your Mexican recipes, right at your local supermarket. Of course, if you really want to benefit from the flavors these recipes promise, making a special trip to your local market to pick up fresh ingredients is an excellent idea.

Now that you have the ingredients, you can easily create some quick and easy recipes for any occasion. Are you looking for a fast dip? Why not make a salsa recipe and serve it with nachos? Salsa is fast and nutritious and you can certainly make it with a variety of ingredients including sweet tasting mango.

If you are looking for a more filling dish, how about a Bean and Cheese Quessadillas recipe? This is a filling meal that is both authentic and flavorful and can be served at a party or brought as a lunch as it is quite versatile.

If you are looking to broaden your cooking “horizons”, impress your friends and keep your palate happy, then Mexican cooking with easy and fast Mexican recipes is the way to go.

As the beginners of yoga practice, you may have the benefit of it and be in full of zeal and also with lot of questions in the mind. You might probably look out for some of the valuable and remarkable information about the yoga, being a beginner in order to give confidence for your practice. At the start of this, it is very important to know for each and everyone that one should consider themselves as very much a beginner, even after practicing yoga for about 2 or 3 or even 5 years. To get expertise in yoga it is very much imperative to try and carry out different forms of yoga as a beginner itself and do a lot of reading.

Enrolling yourself in yoga classes, learn from the instructors and glance through the diverse instructional programs are the extremely superior way to begin with. If you are able to involve yourself completely in a yoga class then it is full fine. But if you are un able to adapt or do not like to take a yoga class then the yoga books, tapes, videos and DVD’s for the beginners serve as the best solution for this problem. Also available are the various internet websites that often endow with an ample range of knowledge for those who are trying to collect information about the yoga and meditation.

Some of the major facts and benefits of joining yoga classes or start doing exercises at home are:

* Yoga serves as the excellent stress buster and provides relaxation. It also helps to subside a physical exertion for those muscles that are very much stressed. When the entire body relaxes whole of your muscles also relax separately from those muscles, which are used only in particular movements. So it becomes easy for you to concentrate on a specific movement and find out to relax the particular muscle.

* Old-aged people and other persons suffering from diseases can always employ yoga exercises devoid of any kind of strain.

* You will not put huge amount of calories due to the reduced intake of food quantity and also the digestive power is improved.

* Yoga is also recommended to reduce body aging and immune-logic aging process. Generally yoga is composed of very leisure and balanced movements and does not involve even a single speedy movement.

* Most importantly it helps to accomplish relaxation which in turn reduces stress and strain in the body. Once employed it often becomes our lifestyle, including our way of thinking as it is a kind of philosophy.

There are many different forms and styles of yoga which beginners are supposed to know at the start and follow the major guidance. Always employ the appropriate style of yoga for yourself. Usually it is recommended that Iyengar style of yoga is a very effective form to start with as a beginner of yoga practice. This style often results in voluminous use of properties such as the straps, cushions and blocks. For a beginner this style also helps to incorporate different postures in a very effective way.

Hatha yoga is another popular style of yoga because of its intelligibility for the western cultured person. It is also a well-known form as many people use this style of yoga when compared to the other styles.

Yet another form of yoga which serves in a excellent way for beginners is the Kripalu yoga. It can often be described as “meditation in motion”. It gives more consideration to the philosophy, mental and intellectual development by combining the rational and emotional states.