The Salt of Life

WEDNESDAY, March 11 (HealthDay News) -- If Americans cut just one gram of salt from their daily diet, there would be 250,000 fewer new cases of heart disease and more than 200,000 fewer deaths over a decade, a new study suggests. Read the rest of the story Here

The body actually needs sodium to regulate many of its functions, including heartbeat, nerve impulses and circulatory volume. It's only when consumed in excessive amounts that it reportedly contributes to high blood pressure, kidney disease and fluid retention.

Very little salt is required—perhaps less than a third of a teaspoon a day— to get the sodium necessary for good health. For this reason, avoid salt in highly processed snacks and convenience foods.

Use these tricks to reduce your salt intake:

* Substitute herbs, spices or citrus zest for salt.
* Rinse high-sodium foods like pickles, olives and canned vegetables and beans in fresh water before eating.
* Eat more fruits and vegetables. These foods are high in potassium, which complements sodium and contributes to a healthy balance of the two elements in the body.

Tip: Consider replacing iodized fine salt with a more pure coarse salt such as kosher or sea salt. Place a small bowl of it near the stove to measure out with your fingers. You'll consume less sodium and your food will taste better.

More about salt Here

How Is Your Balance?

Do you ever feel like you're standing on a very small ledge? What do you do? With all the shifts happening in our world today, many people are finding themselves trying to balance on a very small ledge.

Balance is commonly seen as being a condition of stillness and rest. Yet, people cannot reasonably find a fixed point of balance in their lives because life is not static.The changing nature of existence means that we need to be re-adjusting constantly.

This process of continual re-adjustment, or 'dynamic balancing' occurs in relation to the changing nature of our lives and our environment. We cannot expect to be 'balanced' because nothing in our lives will ever remain stable and fixed.

What can you do? Stay focused on what you want to have in your life. What you focus on is what shows up!

Happy New Year

The most amazing thing just occured. I had just walked outside into the cold brisk air and was looking toward a building in the not too far distance with the sun shinning on the mountains rising majestically behind it when suddenly the images of faces and flowers on the side of the building became the most astonishing burst of luminous color display of radiant rust and orange, raw umber and shades of deep greens. And just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone. The images were again just outlines on a grey building wall. I would have thought I imagined it except for the gasp of delight from all the people on the sidewalk around me. But that never happened. I must have dreamed it. I'm not in the mountains and it's the dark of night. But does that make it any less real? Or the amazement of the experience any less joyful?

And then my friend stepped inside the building and came out in a bikini, went thru a gate and jumped on a rather wildish black beauty of a horse and rode it till it was calm. But that didn't happen either. But I remember it as having happened. So is the memory any less real?

Maybe it's the fever I have which I know is real because I have had the thermometer in my mouth as I write this and it reads 100.5.

Isn't the brain amazing?

Let the Magic Happen!!!

Oh well, anyway! Happy New Year!
( I wasn't that fond of 2008 anyway! )

As my friend JD says "Rise and Shine in 2009"! ...or something like that. I may be paraphrasing.



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