Onion juice also good for coughing: One onion, 50g candied sugar. Slice
onion and mix with sugar, place outside for several hours. The remaining juice
will cure coughing .
Brussels
Sprouts and BroccoliBrussels sprouts and broccoli may not tingle your taste buds but they
contain compounds which may raise the level of enzymes that detoxify
carcinogenic chemicals in the body and stimulate cancerous or precancerous cells
to self destruct. (Source: Sunday Times 21/2/99)
DietingDieting can slow down memory . Women dieters almost always performed
worse than non-dieters in tests of memory and reaction speed according to the
British Institute of Food Research . (Source: Sunday Times 21/2/99)
Vegetables or SaladsPeople who eat raw vegetables or salads three or four times a week, halve
their risk of getting heart disease and cancer . It makes no difference how much
of meat they eat. No specific food is certainly to cause any cancer . (Source:
Sunday Times 21/2/99).
The British Medical Research Council found that heart attack sufferers
who ate herring, mackerel sardines or salmon twice a week cut by 29% their risk
of dying within two years. Oily fish is the richest source in Vitamin D while
vegetable oils are the best source of Vitamin E, both thought to be protective
against heart disease. (Source: Sunday Times 21/2/99).
Researchers at the Copenhagen University Hospital have reported that men
who drank wine on a monthly basis had a 16% lower incidence of stroke, while men
who drank wine on a weekly or daily basis had a 34% lower incidence of stroke.
PastaPasta, bread and other food made from grain should remain the foundation
of American’s diet in nutritional guidelines being revised by US regulators.
Grain foods now occupy the biggest portion of the so-called "food pyramid"
devised by the US agricultural Department (USDA) to guide daily eating habits.
Grains are wholesome nutritious foods said to prevent chronic disease. (Source:
Business Times, 8th March 1999)
Asparagus
The ancient Greeks first discovered the aphrodisiacal powers
of asparagus. Asparagus is eaten usually after steaming and
dipping into a sauce of melted butter or processed cheese.
Make sure you only choose the tender young shoots of asparagus
since the tougher, older ones have the opposite affect to what
you are trying to achieve.
Bananas
The sexually stimulating powers of the banana are thrown away
with the peel. The white pithy substance under the skin
contains the same hallucinogen found in magic mushrooms. You
can collect this by scraping it with a spoon before disposing
of the peel. To make an appetizing aphrodisiacal meal, serve
baked bananas and mix the juices with the scrapings. Flavor
this dish with a little orange juice or a lot of rum.
Onions Aphrodisiac?
Most cultures have long appreciated the revitalizing powers of
the onion. Egyptians banned their celibate priests from eating
onions because of the potential outcome. The French used to
take onion soup to newlyweds after their wedding night to
revive their libido.
Depression
Clinical depression usually involves one or more of the following symptoms
consistently for at least a two-week period: feelings of sadness, hopelessness,
or pessimism; lowered self-esteem and heightened self-depreciation; a decrease
or loss of ability to enjoy daily life; reduced energy and vitality; slowness of
thought or action; loss of appetite; suicidal ideation; and disturbed sleep or
insomnia. Depression differs from simple grief or mourning, which are
appropriate emotional responses to the loss of loved persons or objects. Where
there are clear grounds for a person’s unhappiness, depression is considered to
be present if the depressed mood is disproportionately long or severe.
Depression is probably the most common psychiatric complaint; the rate of
incidence increases with age in men, while the peak for women is between the
ages of 35 and 45 (women in general suffer from depression more often than men).
Most professionals now agree that biological, social, and psychological factors
all contribute to depression. The chief biochemical cause seems to be the
defective regulation of the release of one or more naturally occurring
monoamines in the brain, particularly norepinephrine and serotonin. Reduced
quantities or reduced activity of these chemicals is linked to depression.
Treatment of depression has been a controversial topic in recent years as new
drugs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Many types of
psychotherapy, both individual and group, are used to treat depressed patients;
the medications most often prescribed are selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitors (SSRIs), which regulate serotonin. A combination of psychotherapy and
medication is generally the preferred choice for treatment. Hospitalization may
be necessary if a patient is contemplating suicide. Although most depressed
individuals are only mildly suicidal, poorly monitored administration of
medications may actually increase the risk of suicide. The energizing effects of
an anti-depressant can empower patients to act on suicidal thoughts, whereas
they previously lacked the energy or will to do so; an inadequate or incomplete
trial of a medication has also been correlated with increased suicide rates. An
alternate or complementary approach to the treatment of depression involves the
use of self help techniques, including depression-oriented support groups.
Internet resources:
www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depressionmenu.cfm
.