Eat Until Eight Parts Full

Hara hachi bu (腹八分), or hara hachi bunme (and sometimes spelled hari hachi bu), is a Confucian teaching that instructs people to eat until they are 80 percent full. Roughly, in English the Japanese phrase translates to, "Eat until you are eight parts (out of ten) full".


Canto, left, a 27-year-old rhesus monkey, is on a restricted diet, while Owen, 29, is not. The two monkeys are part of a study of the links between diet and aging. 

A long-awaited study of aging in rhesus monkeys suggests, with some reservations, that people could in principle fend off the usual diseases of old age and considerably extend their life span by following a special diet.

Known as Caloric Restriction, the diet has all the normal healthy ingredients but contains 30 percent fewer calories than usual. Mice kept on such a diet from birth have long been known to live up to 40 percent longer than comparison mice fed normally.

Would the same be true in people? More than 20 years ago, two studies of rhesus monkeys were begun to see if primates responded to caloric restriction the same way that rodents did. Since rhesus monkeys live an average of 27 years and a maximum of 40, these are experiments that require patience.

The results from one of the two studies, conducted by a team led by Ricki J. Colman and Richard Weindruch at the University of Wisconsin, were reported Thursday in Science. The researchers say that now, 20 years after the experiment began, the monkeys are showing many beneficial signs of caloric resistance, including significantly less diabetes, cancer, and heart and brain disease. “These data demonstrate that caloric restriction slows aging in a primate species,” they conclude.

Some critics say this conclusion is premature. But in an interview, Dr. Weindruch called it “very good news.”

“It says much of the biology of caloric restriction is translatable into primates,” he said, “which makes it more likely it would apply to humans.”

In terms of deaths, 37 percent of the comparison monkeys have so far died in ways judged to be due to old age, compared with 13 percent of the dieting group.

Dr. Weindruch and his statistician, David Allison of the University of Alabama, Birmingham, said the dieting monkeys were expected to enjoy a life span extension of 10 percent to 20 percent, based on equivalent studies started in mice at the same age.

Few people can keep to a diet with 30 percent fewer calories than usual. So biologists have been looking for drugs that might mimic the effects of caloric restriction, conferring the gain without the pain. One of these drugs is resveratrol, a substance found in red wine, though in quantities too small to have any effect.

Dr. Weindruch said the study data offered “very encouraging” signs that resveratrol could duplicate in people some of the effects of caloric restriction.
Critics, however, are not yet ready to accept that the rhesus study proves caloric restriction works in primates.

If caloric restriction can delay aging, then there should have been significantly fewer deaths in the dieting group of monkeys than in the normally fed comparison group. But this is not the case. Though a smaller number of dieting monkeys have died, the difference is not statistically significant, the Wisconsin team reports.

The Wisconsin researchers say that some of the monkey deaths were not related to age and can properly be excluded. Some monkeys died under the anesthesia given while taking blood samples. Some died from gastric bloat, a disease that can strike at any age, others from endometriosis. When the deaths judged not due to aging are excluded, the dieting monkeys lived significantly longer.

Some biologists think it is reasonable to exclude these deaths, but others do not. Steven Austad, an expert on aging at the University of Texas Health Science Center, said some deaths could have been due to caloric restriction, even if they did not seem to be related to aging. “Ultimately the results seem pretty inconclusive at this point,” Dr. Austad said. “I don’t know why they didn’t wait longer to publish.”

Leonard Guarente, a biologist who studies aging at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also had reservations about the findings. “The survival data needs to be fleshed out a little bit more before we can say that caloric restriction extends life in primates,” Dr. Guarente said. In mouse studies, people just count the number of dead animals without asking which deaths might be unrelated to aging, he said.

The second rhesus monkey study, being conducted by the National Institute on Aging, is not as advanced as the Wisconsin study. The researchers have not yet reported on the number of deaths in the dieting and normal monkey groups. But there are signs that the immune system is holding up better in the dieting group, said Julie Mattison, the leader of the institute’s study.

The outcome of the rhesus monkey studies bears strongly on the prospects of finding drugs that might postpone the aging process in people. Although people are similar to mice in many ways, they differ in other ways, notably in how many cancer treatments are effective in mice but do not work in people.

Even if caloric restriction extends longevity in people as well as in mice, the extent of the effect remains unclear, though Dr. Weindruch believes the effects will be in the same general range. His monkeys were not started on the diet until 6 to 14 years of age, and seemed to be doing as well as mice that were started at equivalent ages. The most striking extensions of life span occur when the mice are put on the diet from birth.

Dietary restriction seems to set off an ancient strategy written into all animal genomes, that when food is scarce resources should be switched to tissue maintenance from breeding. In recent years biologists have had considerable success in identifying the mechanisms by which cells detect the level of nutrients available to the body. The goal is to find drugs that trick these mechanisms into thinking that famine is at hand. People could then literally have their cake and eat it, too, enjoying the health benefits of caloric restriction without the pain of forgoing rich foods.

Sirtris, a company based in Cambridge, Mass., is conducting clinical trials of resveratrol. It has developed several chemicals that mimic resveratrol and can be given in much smaller doses. On Wednesday, another such compound, the drug rapamycin, was reported to extend life span significantly in elderly mice, though it is not yet clear whether rapamycin sets off the same circuits as those that increase longevity in caloric restriction.

Dr. Weindruch joined the rhesus monkey experiment in 1990. He said he was used to being introduced as a man of incredible patience by biologists who study aging in laboratory roundworms, which live about three weeks. Dr. Weindruch will need the patience: he says he has another 15 years to go before the last monkey is expected to die.

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Across The Universe



All You Need Is Love
The Beatles

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you
in time - It's easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.


***

Skin Nutrition - Lisa Drayer


NUTRIENTBENEFIT TO SKINFOODS CONTAINING
Beta-caroteneFundamental to maintenance of tissues that make up surface of skin.
  • Apricots
  • Cantaloupe
  • Carrots
  • Spinach
  • Sweet Potatoes
CopperNecessary for collagen synthesis.
  • Nuts
  • Shellfish
Lean Proteins
  • Protein which are made of amino acids, enables production of collagen, the connective tissue that provides support to skin
  • Contains zinc, which is a mineral necessary for the synthesis of collagen and one that may provide protection against wrinkles and at high levels, may help to reduce acne
  • Beans
  • Fish
  • Poultry
Mono-unsaturated fats
  • Protects against wrinkles
  • Reduces oxidative damage
  • Helps in absorption of fat-soluble antioxidant nutrients, such as vitamin E and lycopene found in many antioxidant-rich vegetables
  • Canola Oil
  • Olive Oil
Niacin (Vitamin B3)Works together with iron to deliver oxygen to skin cells, giving them the support they need to live and multiply into new skin cells.
  • Dairy
  • Eggs
  • Fish
  • Poultry
Omega-3 Fats
  • Essential because you can only get them in your diet and your body can not produce them on its own
  • Maintains oil barrier of skin, which protects the body from fluid loss and infection
  • Reduces internal inflammation
  • Avocados
  • Fatty Fish (Salmon, herring, sardines, tuna and trout)
  • Flaxseed
  • Green leafy vegetables like spinach
  • Walnuts
Omega-6 Fats
  • Maintain oil barrier of skin, which protects the body from fluid loss and infection
  • Essential because you can only get them in your diet and your body can not produce them on its own
  • Seeds
  • Nuts
  • Vegetable Oils (sunflower and safflower oils)
PolyphenolsProtects skin against oxidative stress that contributes to aging and disease.
  • Apples
  • Eggplant
  • Garlic
  • Onions
  • Tea
Selenium
  • Rids body of harmful free radicals that contribute to skin cancer and the aging process
  • Provides tissue elasticity
  • Brazil nuts
  • Brown Rice
  • Chicken breast
  • Eggs
  • Shrimp
  • Tuna
  • Turkey
Vitamin A
  • Helps to keep skin smooth
  • Helps protect against sunburn
  • Egg Yolks
  • Fish
  • Fortified milk
  • Is converted from Beta-Carotene
Vitamin BWork together with iron to deliver oxygen to skin cells, giving them the support they need to live and multiply into new skin cells.
  • Fortified cereals
  • Whole grains
Vitamin C
  • Protects against free radicals (highly reactive oxygen molecules generated inside your body from environmental pollutants, smoking, sun exposure and stress, among other agents)
  • Synthesis of collagen
  • Broccoli
  • Oranges
  • Peppers
  • Strawberries
Vitamin E
  • Keeps skin moist and smooth
  • Protects against wrinkles
  • Asparagus
  • Avocados
  • Nuts
  • Seeds
  • Spinach
  • Vegetable Oils
  • Whole Grains
WaterWater sufficiency: Hydrates skin, helping it to keep soft, smooth and moist.Water deficiency: Skin becomes dry and more susceptible to wrinkles.

Emotional Walls - Dr. Bradley Nelson

Walls built upon negative experiences do initially protect oneself from further emotional harm. But the same walls will ultimately harm oneself and others arising from prolonged disconnection. Break down the walls and be encourage to connect emotionally again.


Most people think of the brain as the core of a human being, housing emotions, memories and thoughts, and controlling all bodily functions. But consider this:

* The heart generates 60-to-1000 times more power and electromagnetic energy than the brain, making by far it the most powerful organ in the human body.

* When a fetus is in the womb, its heart forms first, before the brain.

* If the heart's connection to the brain were severed, it would keep right on beating, pumping blood to the rest of the body. No other organs are capable of this.

It is your heart that defines you. Your heart is the core of your being, not your brain.

In the 1970s, a new branch of medicine called neurocardiology was created when scientists discovered that the heart has its own elaborate nervous system. It sends information to the brain and the body with each and every heartbeat.

Fascinating new research proves the heart produces a powerful magnetic field that extends out from the body up to twelve feet in diameter. Using sophisticated magnetic measuring devices, scientists have shown that when one person is feeling love or affection for another person, their heart-waves become instantly measurable in the brain-waves of the other person.

It appears the heart has its own powerful and unique intelligence, which tells us that it's not simply the organ that pumps our blood and keeps us alive. Take the large number of heart transplant recipients who've reported incredible changes after transplant surgery. There have been reports of odd new cravings, handwriting changes, musical preferences, and even strange new memories that don't seem to be their own. These are simply transplanted along with the heart, and the recipient experiences them as if they were his own, just like the heart's previous owner did.

Scientifically speaking, these cravings, preferences and memories are made of energy, just as all other things around us are. Emotions are no different. Emotions like "heartache" and "heartbreak", describe the physical sensations that occur in the heart during strong emotional situations; they are made of pure energy, and named after their physical effects on the body. In fact such as "anger", "grief" and "fear," often get stuck in the body's energy field; these are called Trapped Emotions. When Trapped Emotions gather around the heart, they form what is called a Heart-Wall, a protective energetic barrier created by the subconscious mind. Heart-Walls are invisible, just like ultraviolet light or the vast majority of the electromagnetic spectrum, but their energy is very real and quite powerful, and can have an incredible effect on people's lives.

So the phrase "putting up a wall" actually has a basis in reality! Heart-Walls are protective, but the problem is this: the wall is made up of negative emotions- negative energy. Because of this, anyone with a Heart-Wall can't give or receive love fully, since all messages coming into the heart or going out are muffled by the negative energy of the Trapped Emotions. Someone could be sending out pure love to you, but that love has to somehow get past the barrier of "sadness" and "anger" that envelops your heart. As a result, the message gets muddled, and you can go through your entire life without feeling what it really is to love with all your heart, or even simply identify with others. You could be continually insulated from other people forever, even your own family.

Heart-Walls are responsible for a host of problems. They cause depression, divorce, abuse, misunderstanding, and even prejudice, hatred and brutality. On a global scale, Heart-Walls lead to ethnic cleansing, nation against nation, terrorism, and war. Our world could be a much different place if all people could feel pure love without the muffling barrier of the Heart-Wall!

Like so many of our natural defenses, a Heart-Wall can be helpful, but only in the short-term. The subconscious automatically creates the Heart-Wall to protect you from unbearable emotional pain. But until you get rid of it, your heart will be somewhat blocked and you'll be less able to reach out and connect with people - even the ones you love most. If your city is being bombed, it's a good idea to hide out in a bunker until it's all over. But you wouldn't want to live there permanently, or you'd miss out on life! The same is true for your Heart-Wall. No matter how valuable it was when created, you will live a happier, more full life when you can rid yourself of its negative energy. Releasing the Heart-Wall can truly make the difference between living a life of disappointment, and living happily ever after.