Prahlad Jani, an Indian yogi of 83 years of age, claims that he has not eaten for the previous 70 years!

Do you believe him?

Recently a group of  some 30 doctors observed him over a two-week period in a hospital in the western India state of Gujarat.

“During the period, he neither ate nor drank and did not go to the toilet”, they reported.

Full story here

“We still do not know how he survives,” exclaimed neurologist Sudhir Shah. “It is still a mystery what kind of phenomenon this is.”

What is your opinion of fasting? A way to health…enlightenment…saving the world’s hungry…or madness?

How long could you go without food?

Fresh (ish) from my New York trip I unfortunately didn’t get to catch up with the gang from Sesame Street as I was’nt sure if it was set in the Bronx or Queens! The trip was a success as an East Coast publisher requested the manuscript of GO! Smell the flowers so we’ll have to wait & see.

With the U.S  of A’s hearty food portions (tick tock diner filled me up) I was never short of energy enjoying walking around the east side, meat packing district, MOMA, Bryant Park and the theatre district. 

Central park by horse, Manhatten island by boat and the subway wherever possible I really got back into the New York way of life (beep, beep)

Back to the topic in hand – FOOD! I was impressed to find this clip of one of the most powerful women in the world preaching healthy foods on Sesame street, brough to us, of course, by the Childrens Television workshop:

Good old Elmo, taking it in his stride and I wonder if cookie monster is now surplus to requirements?

Comments welcomed on the state of healthcare situation in super-sized America in conjunction with sharing who your favourite Sesame street character is!  Try and link the two in your answer and let’s see where this one GO’!s

This post was brought to you by the number 8 and the letters F, Y & I.

Why'd it have to be pineapple?

You’ve seen the film, you know the line by heart.

So I too had an ‘Indy moment’ this morning at breakfast.

What with my peppermint tea and wholewheat toast (with a slight – oh well – generous spreading of honey), I reached for my yoghurt. A yoghurt I believed to be my other favourite indulgence – black cherry flavour.

So to say I was a tad disappointed when I tucked in and was greeted with Pineapple is an understatement.

Creature of habit (nearly spelt that hobbit), my day has not started well. Will it improve? Tune in during the next few days to find out.

After all, all great adventure stories have a sequel.

In the meantime, what gets your day off to a bad start and how quickly can you recover or what do you do to recover?

Picture from Photobucket.

A disturbing report from a researcher in New Zealand suggests that milk may not be as good for you as you have been led to believe.

Professor Keith Woodward, a professor of farm management and agribusiness at Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand, has published material suggesting that a mutant protein (known as A1 Beta-casein) may have serious health implications.

“While most dairy companies, trade groups and government agencies consider it harmless, a growing body of research implicates A1 beta-casein in diabetes, heart disease, autism and schizophrenia,” says a report by AlterNet’s Ari LeVaux.

The book that Woodward has written on the subject is fraught with government and corporate cover-ups and denials about the health risks. Not much wonder in an industry that has built its reputation on the benefits of drinking what to all intents and purposes is one of the most natural, healthy beverages in the world.

The biggest problem that Woodward has in proving his claims is that human health trials, (a necessary step to prove or disprove any scientific health claim), would be unconscionable on the off-chance that he is right. Although some tests performed on rats found a correlation between A1 and the development of diabetes.

Interestingly there in an alternative that involves switching production to a different protein content known as A2 beta-casein. The problem is it takes about 10 years to switch the herd, which is not an attractive option to most dairy producers or the industry as a whole.

The only other option (for those who are concerned) is to switch to goat or sheep milk, neither of which contain the mutant protein.

Whether or not Dr. Woodward is correct it begs the question: just what is safe to eat, drink and do?

The answer: Eat only in your imagination; drink only your own saliva and do absolutely nothing at all. Then you should be safe!

Are you scared to drink milk now?

Oh dear! Sky news reported today how a Belgium teenager is sueing a tattoo artist who decorated her face with FIFTY SIX stars after she fell asleep during the process. Kimberley Vlaeminck claims she only asked for THREE.

Here is Kimberley on Sky news and to make her feel a bit better here’s a selection of some freaky tattoos from around the world:

The Tattooist insists she asked for 56 stars on her face, she denies all knowledge of wanting that many!

What is the next step? Demand a refund, get a few moons stencilled on or laser them off? What would you do at a time when ultimately service exceeded your expectations? Do tell and please keep out of the sun until it has healed.

Do you take vitamins and if so do you think taking them REALLY works?

Here is recent evidence against taking them:

I’ve had spells on multi vitamins, glucosamine, cod liver oil, milk thistle and Vitamins C over the years and at the time I felt better for taking them. Real benefits of mind over matter?

Feel free to share your positive vitamin experiences right here in comments. Placebo’s optional.

According to the New York Times it turns out that skin is a very diverse ecosystem!

Dr. Segre, of the National Human Genome Research Insitute, and her team reveal in a paper in Science, it’s really an assortment of mini-ecosystems, with the bacterial diversity varying depending on location. They found, for example, that the most diverse spot, the middle forearm, has more than twice as many species than the least diverse patch, behind the ear.

I’d never thought of it like that and always taken my skin for granted. Any other skin facts welcomed right here!

Hi from Dubai where it appears we’ll be fine if swine flu makes it’s way to these shores?!?

Some statement after the virus has reportedly claimed the lives of more than 150 people in Mexico which has not been detected in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said its Health Minister Humaid Mohamed Al Qutami. He told the media here that the country was ready for any eventuality and advised the people not to panic. The Gulf state, he said, had adequate antiviral medication to cope with the disease.

For image credit click on the picture

Meanwhile a ‘cure laboratory’ in North London is preparing to receive samples of the deadly swine flu virus from the US. Surely if Dubai has the cure then we can spread the antidote?

New cases are revealed in New Zealand &  Germany where victims are taking antiviral drugs and are under self-imposed quarantine. How far will this go and to see the latest map on where swine flu is taking hold just click here.

Do share you comments on this latest outbreak and how it is effecting where you live and while you’re at it here’s 10 key things you need to know.

Hi from Dubai folks where I’m merrily mind-mapping away!*

*This post could change you life – no money back, no promises, no nothing BUT….

I recently had the pleasure of being a guest of the xerox corporation who hosted an evening with British author Tony Buzan – the inventor of modern mind mapping. His idea was inspired by Alfred Korzybski‘s general semantics as popularized in science fiction novels, such as those of Robert A. Heinlein and A. E. van Vogt.

Buzan argues that while ‘traditional’ outlines force readers to scan left to right and top to bottom, readers actually tend to scan the entire page in a non-linear fashion.

He uses popular assumptions about the cerebral hemispheres in order to promote the exclusive use of mind mapping over other forms of note making. Left brain & right brain working together!

A mind map is often created around a single word or text, placed in the center, to which associated ideas, words and concepts are added.

Great for summarising key points and improving our memory……

Read the rest of this entry »

For my post this week, I have decided to share something very personal in the hope that it will either help or inspire a few others.  When I answered my profile questions, ‘When did you last cry?‘ was an easy answer for me.  That morning, I discovered something very wrong with my right breast. A lump.  Every woman’s nightmare. 

I knew that I had to do something about it and for a split second considered ignoring it and hoping that it would go away. Two days ago I went to the doctor, who immediately gave me a mammogram and a sonogram to find out what was going on.

Lying there on the bed during the sonogram I could not take my eyes off the screen and so I saw, not one, but two dark masses very clearly.

Today, I should get the results and know (and hope in my heart) that they could be benign cysts.  But the last few weeks of not knowing made me think.  The mind can be a cruel thing when you do not know.

During the two weeks, my mind ran riot and thought about all the things I would do, haven’t yet done and may not ever do.  So I will be living my life rather differently from now on, doing the things I want to do rather than those things I feel I ‘should’ or ‘have to’ do.

When I saw the two dark areas on the screen, I felt all the uncertainly vanish to be replaced by calm.  Strange I know, but for me, the worst fear is not knowing.  Now I can do something about it.

What is your worst fear and how are you going to face it? What are you avoiding?

Life really is too short; we never know just what is around the corner.