Sometimes I like to dream. I’m not just talking about casual daydreams that revolve around your future house or dream vacation, I’m talking about the big-time. The life changing dreams like quitting gluten, sugar, and alcohol. It seems impossible, but humans are more than capable of surviving without it, and the outcome is filled with nothing but rewards.

Sugar, Alcohol, and Gluten.

The problem with these substances is that gluten, sugar, and alcohol don’t have immediate tangible effects on your body. The real dangers sit in the medium to long term effects.

Not only do they negatively affect your health and bodily functions, but they also contribute to the deterioration of your mind.

It’s obviously much easier to abandon habits that are conclusively “bad” for you. For example, eating something that you know makes you nauseous or ties up your digestive system. Imagine a lactose-intolerant person eating a pint of ice cream. It tastes good, but it makes a negative effect on the body.

The Harm:

It can be harder to give up substances like gluten, sugar, and alcohol because of their indirect effects. However, don’t be fooled, these products will harm you slowly.

Gluten, although controversial, has adverse effects on your digestive system and your brain.

Continue reading →

“This article will show you how to live forever.”

OK, maybe not forever… but at least boost your health so that it’s highly likely you will live longer, and have a better quality of life.

And who knows, in 80 years we might all be immortal cyborgs filled with healing nano-robots, cruising around in flying cars while tripping on some superdrug made by our Artificial Intelligence Overlords.

Whatever the future holds, these 11 tips have the potential to enhance the quality of your life.

Eat Curcumin

To list all the benefits of curcumin would require its own article. This bright yellow chemical, well-known from the herb turmeric, has been well studied. Its effects includes anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant, anti-cancer, longevity [1], painkiller, digestion-aid, and cholesterol-regulation, to name a few.

Curcumin boosts the release of both dopamine and serotonin, two brain chemicals that will boost your mood.

As a spice, you can sprinkle turmeric on almost anything you eat. Use it together with black pepper to enhance its bioavailability. [2]

Eat Flax Seeds

Flax seeds are nutrition bombs with many health benefits. And they are easy to incorporate into your diet.

For an instant health boost blend them into your smoothie; sprinkle them on pasta, wok, or stew; bake them into bread, or cookies; add them to oatmeal, or yoghurt. Continue reading →

Why do we have food coloring?

What is it about America that differs from other countries in the way we dye our food?

Many health-conscious people are already aware of the dangers of certain food dyes like red No. 40. That’s always the one where, if you look at a label and it says Red 40, you know to put that item back.

If you didn’t know that, well now you do, and here’s why. Red 40  actually comes from petroleum distillates or coal tars, sounds tasty right? Along with Yellow 5 and Blue 1, these artificial food colorings are linked to organ damage and even cancer in animals.

In humans, two large studies found that children had increased hyperactive activity after ingesting Red 40 and Yellow 5. In 2007 they evaluated six dyes that seemed to link to behavioral problems in children.

“Red 40 contains p-Cresidine, which the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says is “reasonably anticipated” to be a human carcinogen.” Source

Things weren’t always this way though, up until mid 19th century, natural food dyes were commonly used. Colors from plants, animals and different minerals were used to color food in the US. This all changed when companies found out artificial dyes were a lot more profitable. Continue reading →

Sheril Kirshenbaum, University of Texas at Austin

Scientists in the Netherlands have reported that we share about 80m bacteria during a passionate ten-second kiss; a finding that makes puckering up seem cringe-worthy – and downright unsanitary at the start of cold and flu season.

But take heart: we’re more likely to get sick by shaking hands throughout the day than through kissing. And the science behind this behaviour reveals that along with all of those germs, we share plenty of benefits with a partner as well.

Kissing is not all about bacterial exchange or romance. Our first experiences with love and security usually involve lip pressure and stimulation through behaviours that mimic kissing, like nursing or bottle feeding. These early events lay down important neural pathways in a baby’s brain that associate kissing with positive emotions that continue to be important in throughout his life. Continue reading →

Choice. Every day we make a choice to be grateful and happy, or we choose to see the bad in everything and be miserable. No matter what may come our way, we choose how to react and how we allow it to effect us. It’s okay to be sad and unhappy sometimes, but it’s not okay when it becomes a habit.

This state of mind unfortunately does becomes a habit if we allow it. Many times, unhappy people are stuck in that way of life, thriving on the pity and sympathy of others.

When someone is unhappy or just plain miserable it’s pretty hard for them to see the good around them or even see that they are in this negative cycle caused by only themselves.

Instead, they blame, complain and moan at every chance they get.

They are the victim

In every story an unhappy person tells, they are the victim. To them, their lives are too hard to tolerate or control, and that’s everyone else’s fault. They will never accept responsibility for their actions. Feeling helpless doesn’t make things better and subconsciously, unhappy people start to thrive on others pity and sympathy.

They love to complain

Unhappy people love to moan about how terrible their lives are. In fact, almost all they ever do is complain. Continue reading →

Lucky charms and superstitions, despite being challenged by naysayers have stood the test of time – and with good reason.

While the objects and expressions vary, from “break a leg” and “fingers crossed” to rabbits feet and four leaf clovers, the science behind the psychological powers of lucky charms have gained mainstream attention. Namely, for their proven ability to boost confidence and expectation, and by extension, performance, and situational outcomes.

 Evidently, superstitious people despite being criticized for ill-believing in ‘magic’ or the ‘supernatural’ may be onto something.

Scientific Proof in Favor of the Power of Superstition

In a study of golfers’ superstition, researchers told half of the golfers on a putting green that they were playing with a lucky ball, and the remaining half that they were playing with a normal one. Amazingly, those with the lucky ball sank 6.4 putts of out a possible 10, nearly two more putts on average than the others.

This proved to be an increase of a whopping 35 percent! This study, while specific in its test subjects and simple in its applications sparked huge interest among behavioral psychologists on the mental power of superstitious beliefs and objects. Continue reading →