The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated – William James
Psychology keeps trying to vindicate human nature. History keeps undermining the effort – Mason Cooley
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today – Dale Carnegie
On a recent trip to California I paid a visit to an amazing vitamin store but was bewildered trying to decide which of the supplements in question would be right for me. I’m familiar with the basic ABC’s of vitamins but wanted to experiment with two new products that we’ve been hearing a lot about (namely Garcinia HCA and Green Coffee Bean Extract). It was difficult to decide amongst all the countless choices and confusing even when consulting the store health expert. Which is the safest and most effective to help shed a few pounds? Then I saw this timely post taken from Goop.com – Gwyneth Paltrow’s weekly online publication which offers first looks at exclusive collaborations, delicious recipes, personal travel notes, shopping ideas, wellness tips and much more.
Here’s the vitamin aisle—crowded, confusing, and overwhelming in its promises. Some of these are empty, and some are too powerful to be tested without guidance. After all, what is L-Theanine? Do I need it? And, at what dose? For answers, we decided to turn to frequent goop contributor, Dr. Frank Lipman, who distilled the offerings down to a handful of vitamins and supplements he frequently prescribes. He counts some as no-brainers—and others as little-known trade secrets—but all pack a veritable punch.
Q:We often hear that if you eat well, you shouldn’t need supplements. What’s your take?
A: “Supplements are essential health-boosters that can help fill in nutritional gaps and protect your body against the occasional diet slip-up. While I recommend everyone eat whole, preferably organic foods, I also believe that high-quality supplements are important as well. While they won’t make up for a bad diet, think of them as your nutritional pit crew, standing at the ready to make those quick adjustments, tweaks and fixes to your internal engines to get you back out on the road.”
Q:Is it possible to take too many vitamins?
A: “While it is possible to take too many vitamins, it’s extremely rare. One should be careful with fat soluble vitamins like Vitamin A, D, E and K. Almost all of the vitamins I recommend taking regularly are safe and hard to take too much of. However, because most people are deficient in Vitamin D, and since it’s easily measurable, I do often recommend taking that with the supervision of a doctor.”
THE VITAMIN & SUPPLEMENT KEY
FAB FOUR
1. Multivitamin
2. Vitamin D3
3. Fish Oils
4. Probiotics
*Dr. Lipman’s top recommendation for everyday use, covering our most basic health bases.
Stressed Out
1. B Complex
2. Magnesium
3. Acetyl Glutathione
4. L-Theanine
Sleep Deprived
1. Acetyl Glutathione
2. CoQ10
3. Magnesium
Feeling Low
1. B Complex
2. Powdered Greens
3. Acetyl Glutathione
Living in a Cold Climate*
1. Magnesium
2. Powdered Greens
3. B Complex*It’s also essential to have your Vitamin D levels checked in case you are deficient.
Don’t miss listening to “TRANSFORMING HEALTH” with host BRAD KING for the most evocative and informative up-to-the-minute interviews with leading health professionals – LIVE every WEDNESDAY @ 12PM-PST/3PM-EST on VoiceAmerica.com – #1 internet radio station in North America.
about basic Human Instincts and wondering what makes us the way we are. Are we really hardwired? Many of us share the same beliefs and that’s great as long as our general beliefs are decent and well meaning. I just came across an article on the subject that I’d like to share.
Can Human Instincts Be Controlled?
Abstract. Like all animals, humans have instincts, genetically hard-wired behaviors that enhance our ability to cope with vital environmental incidents. Our innate fear of snakes is an example. Other instincts, including denial, revenge, tribal loyalty, greed and our urge to procreate, now threaten our very existence. Any attempt to control human behavior is bound to meet with resistance and disapproval. Unless we can change our behavior, humans are facing the end of civilization. Our problem has several elements. (1) We have invented economic and social systems that encourage greedy behavior, and we have actually institutionalized runaway greed. (2) We are in a state of complete denial about the growth of human populations. (3) Earth’s finite resources simply cannot support 7 billion of us in the style to which we’d like to live. (4) We must make a choice between quantity and quality of human life. (5) To head off the inevitable collapse, we can no longer wait and merely react but we must become proactive. We must find ways to control dangerous human instincts, especially denial, revenge, tribal loyalty, greed and our urge to procreate.
As a wise woman from a third world country once said at the UN: “If the rich countries refuse to share their wealth with us, we will certainly share our poverty with them.”
Then I came upon this enlightening article from India’s “The Art of Living.” I am not a religious person but in this case we can equate the relation to “God” as the divine within each of us. Eat, Pray Love? Which reminds me I must make a trip to India.
There are two basic instincts in human beings and these have been with you in all your lifetimes:
There are two basic instincts in human beings, one is food, and the other is sex. These have been with you in all your lifetimes, when you were an animal and now as a human being. You are born out of these two – food and sex.
It is so beautiful that in this country (India) they connected both of these with the Divinity. Food is connected with God. In the Upanishads, it is said ‘Food is God’. When you consider food as God you will not over eat. You don’t simply stuff food, but you eat food with so much honor. No festival in India goes without food. And when you go to temple the first thing they give is some Prasad. Prasad is just a little bit of food that is given. Without Prasad there is no pilgrimage and no festival. Food is connected with God.
Similarly, sex is also connected with God. Otherwise you keep sex separate and think this is my material life and think of God as different. But here in India, the ancient people, they linked sex to God so that no aspect in you remains away from God. A basic instinct doesn’t remain away from God. So when you honor sex and consider it as part of the Divinity, then your obsession disappears, lust disappears and sacredness dawns. And the basic instinct, from being an aggressive lust, gets transformed into a submissive love.
This is the ancient thought. But some people are misusing yoga for their enjoyment of the carnal instincts, this is wrong. This is a blunder. It should be the other way around. Whenever there is a carnal instinct transform that into a Divine inner experience. There is a beautiful word in Sanskrit called Atma Rati, union with one’s being, oneself; rejoicing in one’s own self.
There are two things, Prakriti (nature) and Purusha (consciousness). Nature and consciousness inter play all the time. Your body and soul – your body is female and your soul is male. So their coupling is happening all the time, and seeing that union within oneself is Samadhi.
That is why Samadhi is considered to be a thousand times more joyful than the carnal instincts. Whatever joy sex gives, Samadhi is thousand times more joyful because there is no effort, and there is no action there. It is only Being and just Being. So just the Being consciousness, the play and display of consciousness comes to one’s awareness, comes to one’s experience. This is very beautiful.
Don’t keep any corner of your existence away from Divinity. The Divine should be interwoven into every aspect of your life and this is called Brahmacharya, which means moving with the infinity, uniting with the infinity.
Isn’t that so beautiful?! It is very deep and very high knowledge. If you don’t get it in one time, never mind, keep listening and keep understanding and one day you will say, ‘Ah! That is what Guruji was talking about.’
So here (in India) when you go to any temple anywhere you find both aspects – Shiva and Parvathi which symbolize Prakrati and Purusha, consciousness and matter. This is to first recognize the duality and then see the unity. They are not two, they are not different but they are two sides of the same coin. You are complete.
What does this mean? You are both man and woman. Coming out of this label, ‘I am man’, ‘I am woman’ – Getting out of your identity, this is Vedanta; the highest philosophy of the universe.
We keep identifying ourselves, ‘I am a man’, ‘I am a woman’, ‘I am old’, ‘I am young’, ‘I am educated’, ‘I am illiterate’. Throw away all these labels. What remains is pure consciousness. Do not even say, ‘I am consciousness.’ Just know that you are consciousness and not even say it. Don’t go around saying I am nothing.
Adi Shankar once said, ‘One who labels themselves as something is a fool and one who labels themselves as nothing is a bigger fool.’ One who is nothing does not talk, so just keep quiet. How can you say, ‘I am nothing’, when you are saying something?! There cannot be somebody there saying, ‘I am nothing.’ So keep quiet.
So when you consider the basic instincts of food and sex as sacred then aggression in you disappears and surrender dawns in you. Gratefulness and love dawn in you.
That is when it is said the devotee and the Divine have become One. They have merged into One!
Want to recreate the sunkissed radiance of summer? Do it it with the peachy-pink shimmer of the iconic Orgasm blush combined with the sheer light brown shimmer of the Laguna bronzer which help to create a natural sultry glow. I have bought both individually in the past but this limited edition palette with its sleek thin packaging is great for weekends away or just to keep in your purse. Available at Sephora.
What it is: Racy as always, NARS’ Orgasm/Laguna blush and bronzer have been called the “holy grail” of face powders. Both go on with a little bit of shimmer and are extremely pigmented, so you don’t need to use much.
Recommendation: NARS face products are hands down absolutely the best money can buy. They go on smoothly, they’re long lasting and easy to blend. If you buy just one blush or bronzer in your life, I would make it either of these two. But the palette is a good deal while they last. **They also make some of the very best lipsticks and eye liners.
7 ESSENTIAL PRINTS EVERY WARDROBE NEEDS – 4 all ages.
So you’ve stocked up on solid T-shirts, dark wash jeans and other wardrobe basics —now it’s time to talk about prints!
All these prints can be incorporated into your wardrobe all year long depending on the fabric and how you wear them.
1) Flirty Florals – Buds are showing up on everything from dresses to shoes to purses. And you don’t have to be a teenager to wear this playful pattern. Today’s florals come in a wide variety of age-friendly colors, sizes and prints, from artsy brushstroke buds to abstract blooms in black and white. To translate this trend from runway to real-way, start by choosing separates. Hone in on one piece or detail.
2)Houndstooth – From masculine styling to minis, from large and bold to small and subtle, houndstooth was the woven pattern of the 2013 season. Designers presented more iterations than previously thought possible — and you can change your mind about what you considered old-school textile. How do you get in on the good looks? Search for traditional houndstooth patterns in vintage shops which are ideal if you’re not into spending thousands on high fashion (or can’t).
3) The Power of Plaid:
This bold, rugged print is a perpetual fall/winter favorite. Some automatically associate it with lumberjacks, Scotsmen, and farmers but these girls don’t look like either. The pattern can be surprisingly versatile once you know how to wear it – the trick is to limit the amount. Avoid overwhelming your look with too much of it. Either stick with one prominent plaid piece or several small plaid accessories.
Above: Arielle, Danielle, and Michaela Nachmani, the sisters behind the online shopping destination Shop Grl. You may recognize Arielle from the hit street-style fashion blog Something Navy. Danielle, the site’s creative director, is a celebrity fashion stylist. And Michaela, the youngest sister, is the muse for the site. They’re pros at styling trends to fit their own unique vibes. I have the shirt on the left.
4) Legendary Leopard –
Abeginner’s guide to wearing Leopard: When it comes to leopard print, you prefer a purr to a roar – a little of this bold look can go a long way. One way to ease yourself into wearing the print is to simply throw on a lightweight leopard scarf or gloves.
The always chic, Alexa Chung elevates a simple black and gray outfit by carrying an oversized leopard tote -essentially, the easiest way to spice up an otherwise basic look.
5) Pretty in Polka Dots– bold 1950’s-inspired prints like polka dots help to bring a retro vibe to your wardrobe. This is a traditional print so while polka dots may seem like a juvenile trend (Minnie Mouse, anyone?) the truth is that they can be done in a playful, yet grown-up way that’s perfect for work or the weekend.
Not sure? In the same way that animal prints are best kept in small doses, polka dots are a fashion treat that can work best as an accessory to your look. Pick one signature piece and work your look around that. Or just wear a dotty lingerie set even if you’re the only one who sees it.
6) Stripes– When paired with the right pieces, stripes can really enhance your figure and keep you looking up-to-date. The horizontal stripes always reminds me of St-Tropez or French style in general. On the runways this season, designers were mixing wide and thin stripes or pairing stripes with florals; such matchups generally don’t work for day-to-day looks. The key to wearing stripes in the real world is to always wear just one print matched with a solid. For example, a vertically striped blouse looks great with white trousers or jeans. Vertically striped pants or skirts can make you look taller and styish when worn with a solid-colored tee.
7)
A Bold Wildcard Option – think of it as your weapon
when faced with a wardrobe crisis, this statement piece (you choose) will make an outfit of basics seem more special. Even if you aren’t a “print person,” it’s good to have at least one. I like lips, birds and other animal prints.
1934. This popular dinner salad originated as a midnight snack for Robert Cobb, owner of the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles. There’s a replica of the famous restaurant at Disney World.
photo – Johnny Miller for Food Network Magazine
Ingredients:
8 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
4 large eggs Kosher salt
2 6-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Zest (in wide strips) and juice of 1 lemon
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground pepper
2 avocados
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
1 large head Bibb lettuce, torn into pieces
2 heads romaine lettuce, cut into pieces
4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Directions: Cook the bacon in a medium skillet over medium heat, stirring, until crisp, 15 to 20 minutes; transfer to paper towels to drain.
Meanwhile, place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water by about 1 inch. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then cover, remove from the heat and let stand, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, then run under cold water to cool. Peel under cold running water. Chop the hard-cooked eggs and season with salt.
Combine the chicken, lemon zest and juice, bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns and a large pinch of salt in a medium saucepan; add enough cold water to cover the chicken by 1/2 inch. Bring to a bare simmer over medium heat (do not boil) and cook until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken registers 160 degrees F, about 7 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let rest 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the dressing: Whisk the vinegar, shallot, mustard and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a serving bowl. Whisk in the olive oil in a slow, steady stream until emulsified; season with pepper. Dice the chicken and toss with 1 tablespoon of the dressing in a separate bowl.
Halve, pit and dice the avocados. Season the tomatoes with salt. Add the Bibb and romaine lettuce to the serving bowl on top of the dressing. Arrange the bacon, hard-cooked eggs, chicken, avocados, tomatoes and blue cheese in rows on top of the lettuce. When ready to serve, toss the salad and season with salt and pepper.
Next week – I’ll post a recipe for Classic Niçoise Salad. I’m really into salads more and more these days and it’s nice to incorporate some oldies but goodies into the salad mix.
If there’s a specific recipe you’re looking for please let me know.
Many of us still don’t realize quite how much our ads and magazine spreads are being manipulated. This was taken from a very recent article in the Huffington Post.
A former editor at Cosmopolitan, Leah Hardy, recently wrote an exposé about the practice of Photoshopping models to hide the health and aesthetic costs of extreme thinness. Below is an example featuring Cameron Diaz:
The story about Diaz, in The Telegraph, includes the following description of the image’s manipulation:
Face: Cheeks appear filled out
Bust: Levelled
Thighs: Wider in the picture on the right
Hip: The bony definition has been smoothed away
Stomach: A fuller, more natural look
Arms: A bit more bulk in the arms and shoulders
Another example was posted at The Daily What. Notice that Karlie Kloss‘s (model in photograph) prominent rib cage has been photo-shopped out of the photograph on the right, which ran in the October 2012 issue of Numéro.
Hardy, the editor at Cosmo, explains that she frequently re-touched models who were “frighteningly thin.” Others have reported similar practices. Jane Druker, the editor of Healthy magazine — which is sold in health food stores — admitted retouching a cover girl who pitched up at a shoot looking “really thin and unwell.” The editor of the top-selling health and fitness magazine in the U.S., Self, has admitted: “We retouch to make the models look bigger and healthier.”
And the editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, has quietly confessed to being appalled by some of the models on shoots for her own magazine, saying: “I have found myself saying to the photographers, ‘Can you not make them look too thin?‘”
Robin Derrick, creative director of Vogue, has admitted: “I spent the first ten years of my career making girls look thinner — and the last ten making them look larger.” Hardy described her position as a “dilemma” between offering healthy images and reproducing the mythology that extreme thinness is healthy:
At the time, when we poured over the raw images, creating the appearance of smooth flesh over protruding ribs, softening the look of collarbones that stuck out like coat hangers, adding curves to flat bottoms and cleavage to pigeon chests, we felt we were doing the right thing… We knew our readers would be repelled by these grotesquely skinny women, and we also felt they were bad role models and it would be irresponsible to show them as they really were.
But now, I wonder. Because for all our retouching, it was still clear to the reader that these women were very, very thin. But, hey, they still looked great! They had 22-inch waists (those were never made bigger), but they also had breasts and great skin. They had teeny tiny ankles and thin thighs, but they still had luscious hair and full cheeks.
Thanks to retouching, our readers… never saw the horrible, hungry downside of skinny. That these underweight girls didn’t look glamorous in the flesh. Their skeletal bodies, dull, thinning hair, spots and dark circles under their eyes were magicked away by technology, leaving only the allure of coltish limbs and Bambi eyes.
Insightfully, Hardy describes this as a “vision of perfection that simply didn’t exist” and concludes, “no wonder women yearn to be super-thin when they never see how ugly super-thin can be.”
It’s bad to police people’s bodies, no matter whether they’re thin or fat. This is an important point (made well here) and while I agree that some of the language is harsh, that’s not what’s going on here. The vast majority of the models who need reverse Photoshopping aren’t women who just happen to have that body type. They are part of a social institution that demands extreme thinness and they’re working hard on their bodies to be able to deliver it. This isn’t, then, about shaming naturally thin women, it’s about (1) calling out an industry that requires women to be unhealthy and then hides the harmful consequences and (2) acknowledging that even people who are a part of that industry don’t necessarily have the power to change it.
I don’t like being labeled. I’m left-handed which means being a creative and thoughtful type instead of detailed oriented and logical like my right handed, left-brained counterparts.
That’s because a left-handed person is ruled by their right brain; and a right-handed person is ruled by their left brain or so we’ve been told. But according to a new book “Top Brain, Bottom Brain,”coauthored by leading psychologist Stephen Kosslyn PhD, we’re really top-brain/bottom-brain users. How so?
In the book he explains that in practically any brain-imaging study, you’re going to see activation in both hemispheres. The two are different in very precise ways, but the broad generalizations people have been encouraged to believe about them aren’t true.
His team analyzed a tremendous amount of research and found that the top is exclusively involved in creating and monitoring plans. The bottom, meanwhile, classifies and interprets information. The striking difference is that people who made high use of the top brain could use the bottom brain minimally, a lot, or at some level in between. And this could happen vice versa.
Each part of the brain influences and interacts with the other. Kosslyn came up with four modes of thinking – mover, stimulator, perceiver, and adaptor – that emerged from the interactions he saw between the top and the bottom brain that go beyond basic function. People who tend to operate in stimulator mode make extra use of the top brain; perceivers make extra use of the bottom brain; movers make strong use of both top and bottom; and adaptors don’t utilize either in any additional capacity – instead they let external circumstances guide their actions. Interesting, no?
The Four Modes:
MOVER – extra use of both top and bottom brain. You’re good at making plans and anticipating consequences. You likely play a leadership role in some capacity – company manager, school principal, head of your community board.
PERCEIVER – strong use of bottom brain, little extra use of top brain. You’re a natural at seeing the big picture. You may be quiet, but you’re always tracking what’s happening and can often offer a perspective others miss.
STIMULATOR – strong use of top brain, little extras use of bottom brain. You’re an out-of-the-box thinker who’s good at making plans, but not so good at coming up with new ones when things go wrong.
ADAPTOR – Little extra use of top or bottom brain. You may not be the one pitching new ideas, but that doesn’t make you any less hardworking or efficient. You’re often one of the strongest team players when it’s time to execute a plan.
I’m familiar with the basic ABC’s of vitamins but wanted to experiment with two new products that we’ve been hearing a lot about (namely Garcinia HCA and Green Coffee Bean Extract). It was difficult to decide amongst all the countless choices and confusing even when consulting the store health expert. Which is the safest and most effective to help shed a few pounds? Then I saw this timely post taken from Goop.com – Gwyneth Paltrow’s weekly online publication which offers first looks at exclusive collaborations, delicious recipes, personal travel notes, shopping ideas, wellness tips and much more.
Then I came upon this enlightening article from India’s “The Art of Living.” I am not a religious person but in this case we can equate the relation to “God” as the divine within each of us. Eat, Pray Love? Which reminds me I must make a trip to India.
Buds are showing up on everything from dresses to shoes to purses. And you don’t have to be a teenager to wear this playful pattern. Today’s florals come in a wide variety of age-friendly colors, sizes and prints, from artsy brushstroke buds to abstract blooms in black and white. To translate this trend from runway to real-way, start by choosing separates. Hone in on one piece or detail.
From masculine styling to minis, from large and bold to small and subtle, houndstooth was the woven pattern of the 2013 season. Designers presented more iterations than previously thought possible — and you can change your mind about what you considered old-school textile. How do you get in on the good looks? Search for traditional houndstooth patterns in vintage shops which are ideal if you’re not into spending thousands on high fashion (or can’t).
This bold, rugged print is a perpetual fall/winter favorite. Some automatically associate it with lumberjacks, Scotsmen, and farmers but these girls don’t look like either. The pattern can be surprisingly versatile once you know how to wear it – the trick is to limit the amount. Avoid overwhelming your look with too much of it. Either stick with one prominent plaid piece or several small plaid accessories.
A beginner’s guide to wearing Leopard: When it comes to leopard print, you prefer a purr to a roar – a little of this bold look can go a long way. One way to ease yourself into wearing the print is to simply throw on a lightweight leopard scarf or gloves.
– bold 1950’s-inspired prints like polka dots help to bring a retro vibe to your wardrobe. This is a traditional print so while polka dots may seem like a juvenile trend (Minnie Mouse, anyone?) the truth is that they can be done in a playful, yet grown-up way that’s perfect for work or the weekend.
– When paired with the right pieces, stripes can really enhance your figure and keep you looking up-to-date. The horizontal stripes always reminds me of St-Tropez or French style in general. On the runways this season, designers were mixing wide and thin stripes or pairing stripes with florals; such matchups generally don’t work for day-to-day looks. The key to wearing stripes in the real world is to always wear just one print matched with a solid. For example, a vertically striped blouse looks great with white trousers or jeans. Vertically striped pants or skirts can make you look taller and styish when worn with a solid-colored tee.
How so?
Girl Who Would be KING on Life, Style and INSPIRATION. 
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