Seven Foods That Help in Losing Weight

Don’t get sucked into the idea that food is your enemy when you’re trying to lose weight. In fact, it’s just the opposite: Befriend the right foods, and the pounds are much more likely to peel off than if you just try to cut calories across the board. Here, five foods known by nutritionists to boost your body’s fat-burning potential

1. Oats

Wait a minute; aren’t oats a carb? Yes and no. Oats are a whole grain, and they’re high on what nutritionists call the “satiety index,” meaning oats have tremendous power to make you feel full. Not only that, they’re also high in soluble fiber, so they cut cholesterol and blood fat. Oats digest slowly, so they don’t raise your blood sugar, and they keep you feeling filled up well into the late morning. Old-fashioned steel-cut and rolled oats, with up to 5 grams of fiber per serving, are best, but even instant oatmeal has 3 to 4 grams of fiber per serving.

2. Eggs

Nutritionists have been trying for some years to restore the reputation of the lowly egg. No longer thought to be a cholesterol-booster (eggs contain a different type of cholesterol than that in humans), eggs are a concentrated form of animal protein without the added fat that comes with meat. Dietary studies have repeatedly found that when people eat an egg every morning in addition to (or instead of) toast or cereal, they lose twice as much weight as those who eat a breakfast that's dominated by carbs.

3. Skim milk

Studies in reputable publications such as the Journal of Obesity (in addition to the controversial ones funded by the National Dairy Council) show that the combination of calcium, vitamin D, and low-fat protein in skim milk and nonfat yogurt trigger weight loss and help build and maintain lean muscle.

4. Apples

To keep the pounds at bay, eat an apple -- or two -- a day. Numerous studies have found that eating an apple a half hour to an hour before a meal has the result of cutting the calories of the meal. Why? The fiber in the apple makes you feel full, so you eat less. Recent research suggests eating apples has other benefits, too; the antioxidants in apples appear to prevent metabolic syndrome, the combination of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and prediabetes that tends to accompany thickening around the waist. Also, apples are high in pectin, which binds with water and limits the amount of fat your cells can absorb.

5. Red meat

Not exactly what you think of as a diet food, right? But research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared diet results for women who ate red meat and those who didn't, and the meat-eaters lost more weight. Experts think the dense protein in lean red meat helps you maintain muscle mass -- but of course this assumes you're exercising to build that muscle.

6. Cinnamon

This simple spice appears to have the power to help your body metabolize sugar, according to surprising data that came out of a USDA study involving diabetics. Eating as little as 1/4 to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon a day was found to reduce blood sugar levels and cut cholesterol from 10 to 25 percent. So add cinnamon to smoothies, sprinkle it on your cereal, or flavor your coffee with it -- particularly if you take your coffee with cream and sugar. The cinnamon will boost the health benefits of the coffee while helping your body rid itself of the added sugars.

7. Almonds and almond butter

Another counterintuitive choice; aren't nuts and nut butters supposed to be incredibly fattening? Well, almonds are calorie-dense, but they also pack a huge nutritional punch -- and they're particularly effective in counteracting cholesterol and triglycerides. One study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating almonds was as effective as taking a statin. Spreading almond butter on your morning toast gives you a nice protein boost while preventing the carbs in the toast from spiking your blood sugar.

Originally Posted

22 Uses for Lemon Peels

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But what to do with all those lemon peels? Don’t toss them; put them to work.  Lemon juice is about 5 to 6 percent citric acid and has a pH level of between 2 and 3. This low pH acidity makes lemon juice a great ally in breaking down rust and mineral stains, but gentle enough to not dull finishes. There is generally sufficient juice left in used lemon halves to tackle small tasks, and it all comes with its own applicator (the rind itself). Plus, the oil in the peel is perfect for clever culinary applications, and not bad in the beauty department either. Here’s what you can do:

#  Around the House
1. Clean greasy messes
Greasy pans? Splattered stove tops? Messy counters? If your kitchen has been the victim of some sloppy sauteing, try using lemon halves before bringing out possibly toxic chemical cleaners. Sprinkle some salt (for abrasion) on a juiced lemon half and rub on the greasy areas, wipe up with a towel. (Be careful using lemon on marble counter tops, or any other surface which may be sensitive to acid).

2. Clean your tea kettle or coffee pot
For mineral deposit build up in your tea kettle, fill the kettle with water, add a handful of thin slices of lemon peel and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let sit for an hour, drain, and rinse well. For coffee pots, add ice, salt and lemon rinds to the empty pot; swish and swirl for a minute or two, dump, and rinse. Hello, sparkly.

3. Clean your microwave
All it takes is one exploding bowl of food to render the interior of your microwave officially gunked, sometimes gunked with cement-like properties. Rather than using strong chemical cleaners, try this: Add lemon rinds to a microwave-safe bowl filled halfway with water. Cook on high for 5 minutes, allowing the water to boil and the steam to condense on the walls and tops of the oven. Carefully remove the hot bowl and wipe away the mess with a towel.

4. Deodorize the garbage disposal
Use lemon peels to deodorize the garbage disposal (and make your kitchen smell awesome at the same time). It is a great way to finally dispose of spent lemon peels after you have used them for any of these applications.

5. Polish chrome
Mineral deposits on chrome faucets and other tarnished chrome make haste in the presence of lemon–rub with a squeezed lemon half, rinse, and lightly buff with a soft cloth.

6. Polish copper
A halved lemon dipped in salt or baking powder can also be used to brighten copper cookware, as well as brass, chrome, or stainless steel. Dip a juiced lemon half in salt (you also use baking soda or cream of tartar for the salt) and rub on the affected area. Let it stay on for 5 minutes. Then rinse in warm water and polish dry.
7. Clean a stainless steel sink
Use the same method described to polish chrome, applied to any stainless sink.

8. Keep insects out
Many pests abhor the acid in lemon. You can chop of the peels and place them along thresholds, windowsills, and near any cracks or holes where ants or pests may be entering. For other ways to combat pests naturally,.

9. Make a scented humidifier
If your home suffers from dry heat in the winter, you can put lemon peels in a pot of water and simmer on the lowest stove-top setting to humidify and scent the air.

10. Refresh cutting boards
Because of lemon’s low pH, it has antibacterial properties that make is a good choice for refreshing cutting boards. After proper disinfecting give the surface a rub with a halved lemon, let sit for a few minutes, and rinse.

#  In Eatting
11. Keep brown sugar soft
If your brown sugar most often turns into brick sugar, try adding some lemon peel (with traces of pulp and pith removed) to help keep it moist and easy to use.  


12. Make zest
Zest is the best! Zest is simply grated peel, and is the epitome of lemon essence–it can be used fresh, dried, or frozen. If you don’t have an official zester, you can use the smallest size of a box grater. (If you know you will be using lemons for zest, it is easier to grate the zest from the lemon before juicing them.) To dry zest, spread it on a towel and leave out until dried, then store in a jar. To freeze, use a freezer-safe container. Use zest in salads, marinades, baked goods, grain dishes, etc.

13. Make Vegan Lemon Biscotti
Once you’ve made some zest, make these Vegan Lemon Biscotti cookies. De-li-cious!

14. Make twists
Strips of peel, aka twists, are good in cocktails, sparkling water, and tap water. Use a vegetable peeler to make long strips, or use a knife and cut the peel into long strips, cutting away the white pith which is bitter. These can also be frozen in a freezer-safe container or bag.

15. Make lemon extract powder
Make zest or twists (above) making sure to remove any of the white (bitter) pith–and dry the strips skin-side down on a plate until they’re dried, about 3 or 4 days.  Put in a blender (or spice grinder) and pulverize into a powder. Use the powdered peel in place of extract or zest in recipes.

16. Make Lemon Sugar
You can make lemon extract powder (see above) and add it to sugar, or you can use fresh twists, put them in a jar with sugar and let the peel’s oil infuse the sugar.

17. Make Lemon Pepper
Mix lemon extract powder (see above) with freshly cracked pepper.

18. Make candied lemon peel
Orange or grapefruit peel can be candied too.  Yum. Candied peels are pretty easy to make, and can be eaten plain, or dipped in melted chocolate, used in cake, cookie, candy, or bread recipes. These recipes for candied citrus and ginger use Sucanat, the most wholesome sugar you can buy.

# For Beauty
19. Lighten age spots
Many folk remedies suggest using lemon peel to help lighten age spots–apply a small piece to the affected area and leave on for an hour.

20. Soften dry elbows
Use a half lemon sprinkled with baking soda on elbows, just place your elbow in the lemon and twist the lemon (like you are juicing it) for several minutes. Rinse and dry.

21. Use on your skin
Lemon peels can be very lightly rubbed on your face for a nice skin tonic, then rinse. (And be careful around your eyes.)

22. Make a sugar scrub
Mix 1/2 a cup of sugar with finely chopped lemon peel and enough olive oil to make a paste. Wet your body in the shower, turn off the water and massage sugar mix all over your skin, rinse, be soft.

Originally posted by Melissa Breyer

Inner Superpower within us.

You’re Healed If You Think You Are

We hold within us self-healing superpowers that are stronger than any chemotherapy and more effective than any surgery. This week, a CNN headline reported on a fascinating study from Harvard University which was also just published in the New England Journal of Medicine.This study investigated 39 asthma patients and rotated them through four treatments – an albuterol inhaler (standard treatment for asthma), a placebo inhaler, sham acupuncture (the patients thought they were getting real acupuncture, but the needles were just placed willy nilly), and nothing. Every week, they got a different treatment, but the patients didn’t know some of the treatments were fake.

So what happened? Unsurprisingly, 50% felt better after getting the albuterol inhaler. But lo and behold – a similar percentage felt better after getting a placebo inhaler (45%) and sham acupuncture (46%). Even among those who received no treatment, 21% felt better.

Although those who received the albuterol inhaler had more dilated bronchi, symptom improvement between the albuterol group and the two placebo groups were not statistically different. Which brings up an interesting phenomenon.

So what is actually happening?

I’ll be digging deep into this issue in my book, but suffice it to say that something very powerful happens when you BELIEVE you are being treated with something that will heal you. In all but the “do nothing” treatment group, patients believed they were being given real treatment, and the combination of the belief in getting well and the support of a therapeutic relationship has been proven, time and time again in clinical research trials, to result in powerful symptom relief.

In fact, in clinical trials across the board, the placebo effect ranges from 30-75% efficacy. And it’s not just symptom relief. Although this study showed 20% improvement in lung function in those receiving albuterol, compared to 7% in those receiving placebo, some studies show even more marked physiological effects in the placebo group. Which means that it’s not just in your mind. Your body is actually responding physiologically. Through a series of physiological shifts, your body is actually activating a cascade of healing mechanisms that can improve your asthma, relieve pain, increase energy, and even – sometimes – cure cancer.

Regarding the Harvard study, study author Ted Kaptchuk said, “It’s clear that for the patient, the ritual of treatment can be very powerful. This study suggests that in addition to active therapies for fixing diseases, the idea of receiving care is a critical component of what patients value in health care. In a climate of patient dissatisfaction, this may be an important lesson.”

Yes, I agree with that. But I would argue that it goes beyond the active therapy and the idea of receiving care. I think hope is a powerful healing force, and your state of mind greatly affects the state of your body.

What do you believe?

So what do you believe about your body? Has a doctor told you that your illness is “incurable?” Do you believe you’ll have to take medication for the rest of your life? Do you BELIEVE you might be able to heal yourself, not just from a physical health condition, but from an emotional, sexual, professional, financial, interpersonal, or other type of whole health issue?

Originally Posted by Lissa Rankin

Obesity-a life long Curse

If you are fat, you can't get slim, say experts. 

Scientists have confirmed that the majority of overweight people who try to lose weight either by cutting calories or exercising will return to their former size.

They said fat people really can't keep the weight off.

Fewer than 10 percent of the 12 million Britons who go on a diet each year succeed in losing significant amounts of weight, and most of those who do put it all back on again within a year, the Daily Mail reported Monday.

The study of 25,000 people provides further evidence of the prevalence of 'yo-yo dieting' where slimmers get into a cycle of losing weight and regaining it.

The scientists, from the Medical Research Council's National Survey of Health and Development, followed 5,362 men and women from their birth in 1946 and 20,000 from birth in 1958, measuring their weight and blood pressure and assessing their lifestyles.

The researchers found both groups began gaining weight in the 1980s and have steadily increased in size ever since.

Rebecca Hardy, the council's programme leader on body size, said: 'Once people become overweight, they continue relentlessly upwards. They hardly ever go back down.'

'A few lose weight but very few get back to normal. The best policy is to prevent people becoming overweight,' the Mail quoted Hardy as saying.

Source

Top Ten Misconceptions About Islam

MISCONCEPTION #1: Muslims are violent, terrorists, and extremists.

This is the biggest misconception in Islam, no doubt resulting from the constant stereotyping and bashing the media gives Islam. When a gunman attacks a mosque in the name of Judaism, a Catholic IRA guerrilla sets off a bomb in an urban area, or Serbian Orthodox militiamen rape and kill innocent Muslim civilians, these acts are not used to stereotype an entire faith. Never are these acts attributed to the religion of the perpetrators.

Yet how many times have we heard the words ‘Islamic, Muslim fundamentalist. etc.’ linked with violence. Politics in so called “Muslim countries” may or may not have any Islamic basis. Often dictators and politicians will use the name of Islam for their own purposes.

One should remember to go to the source of Islam and separate what the true religion of Islam says from what is portrayed in the media. Islam literally means ‘submission to God’ and is derived from a root word meaning ‘peace’. Islam may seem exotic or even extreme in the modern world.

Perhaps this is because religion doesn’t dominate everyday life in the West, whereas Islam is considered a ‘way of life’ for Muslims and they make no division between secular and sacred in their lives. Like Christianity, Islam permits fighting in self-defense, in defense of religion, or on the part of those who have been expelled forcibly from their homes. It lays down strict rules of combat which include prohibitions against harming civilians and against destroying crops, trees and livestock.

NOWHERE DOES ISLAM ENJOIN THE KILLING OF INNOCENTS.. The Quran says:

“Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits. God does not love transgressors.” (Quran 2:190) “If they seek peace, then seek you peace. And trust in God for He is the One that heareth and knoweth all things.” (Quran 8:61) War, therefore, is the last resort, and is subject to the rigorous conditions laid down by the sacred law. The term ‘jihad’ literally means ‘struggle’. Muslims believe that there are two kinds of jihad. The other ‘jihad’ is the inner struggle of the soul which everyone wages against egotistic desires for the sake of attaining inner peace.

MISCONCEPTION #2: Islam oppresses women.

The image of the typical Muslim woman wearing the veil and forced to stay home and forbidden to drive is all too common in most peoples thoughts. Although some Muslim countries may have laws that oppress women, this should not be seen as coming from Islam.
Many of these countries do not rule by any kind of Shari’ah (Islamic law) and introduce their own cultural standpoints on the issue of gender equity. Islam on the other hand gives men and women different roles and equity between the two is laid down in the Quran and the example of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Islam sees a woman, whether single or married, as an individual in her own right, with the right to own and dispose of her property and earnings.
A marriage gift is given by the groom to the bride for her own personal use, and she keeps her own family name rather than taking her husband’s. Both men and women are expected to dress in a way which is modest and dignified.
The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said:

“The most perfect in faith amongst believers is he who is best in manner and kindest to his wife.”

Violence of any kind towards women and forcing them against their will for anything is not allowed.A Muslim marriage is a simple, legal agreement in which either partner is free to include conditions. Marriage customs thus vary widely from country to country. Divorce is not common, although it is acceptable as a last resort. According to Islam, a Muslim girl cannot be forced to marry against her will: her parents simply suggest young men they think may be suitable.

 MISCONCEPTION #3: Muslims worship a different God.

Allah is simply the arabic word for God. Allah for Muslims is the greatest and most inclusive of the Names of God, it is an arabic word of rich meaning, denoting the one and only God and ascribing no partners to Him.
It is exactly the same word which the Jews, in Hebrew, use for God (eloh), the word which Jesus Christ used in Aramaic when he prayed to God. God has an identical name in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; Allah is the same God worshiped by Muslims, Christians and Jews.
Muslims believe that Allah’s sovereignty is to be acknowledged in worship and in the pledge to obey His teaching and commandments, conveyed through His messengers and prophets who were sent at various times and in many places throughout history.

MISCONCEPTION #4: Islam was spread by the sword and is intolerant of other faiths.

 Many social studies textbooks for students show the image of an Arab horseman carrying a sword in one hand and the Quran in the other conquering and forcibly converting. This, though, is not a correct portrayal of history. Islam has always given respect and freedom of religion to all faiths.

The Quran says:

“God forbids you not, with regards to those who fight you not for [your] faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them; for God loveth those who are just. 60:8)

Freedom of religion is laid down in the Quran itself:

“There is no compulsion (or coercion) in the religion (Islam). The right direction is distinctly clear from error”. (2:256)

Christian missionary, T.W. Arnold had this opinion on his study of the question of the spread of Islam: “.. of any organized attempt to force the acceptance of Islam on the non-Muslim population, or of any systematic persecution intended to stamp out the Christian religion, we hear nothing. Had the caliphs chosen to adopt either course of action, they might have swept away
Christianity as easily as Ferdinand and Isabella drove Islam out of Spain, or Louis XIV made Protestanism …” It is a function of Islamic law to protect the privileged status of minorities, and this is why non-Muslim places of worship have flourished all over the Islamic world. History provides many examples of Muslim tolerance towards other faiths: when the caliph Omar entered Jerusalem in the year 634, Islam granted freedom of worship to all religious communities in the city.
Proclaiming to the inhabitants that their lives, and property were safe, and that their places of worship would never be taken from them, he asked the Christian patriarch Sophronius to accompany him on a visit to all the holy places. Islamic law also permits non-Muslim minorities to set up their own courts, which implement family laws drawn up by the minorities themselves. The life and property of all citizens in an Islamic state are considered sacred whether the person is Muslim or not.
Racism is not a part of Islam, the Quran speaks only of human equality and how all peoples are equal in the sight of God.

“O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God’s sight is the greatest of you in piety. God is All-Knowing, All- Aware. (49:13)

The Quran says:

“God forbids you not, with regards to those who fight you not for [your] faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them; for God loveth those who are just. 60:8)

Freedom of religion is laid down in the Quran itself:

“There is no compulsion (or coercion) in the religion (Islam). The right direction is distinctly clear from error”. (2:256)

Christian missionary, T.W. Arnold had this opinion on his study of the question of the spread of Islam: “.. of any organized attempt to force the acceptance of Islam on the non-Muslim population, or of any systematic persecution intended to stamp out the Christian religion, we hear nothing. Had the caliphs chosen to adopt either course of action, they might have swept away
Christianity as easily as Ferdinand and Isabella drove Islam out of Spain, or Louis XIV made Protestanism …” It is a function of Islamic law to protect the privileged status of minorities, and this is why non-Muslim places of worship have flourished all over the Islamic world. History provides many examples of Muslim tolerance towards other faiths: when the caliph Omar entered Jerusalem in the year 634, Islam granted freedom of worship to all religious communities in the city.
Proclaiming to the inhabitants that their lives, and property were safe, and that their places of worship would never be taken from them, he asked the Christian patriarch Sophronius to accompany him on a visit to all the holy places. Islamic law also permits non-Muslim minorities to set up their own courts, which implement family laws drawn up by the minorities themselves. The life and property of all citizens in an Islamic state are considered sacred whether the person is Muslim or not.
Racism is not a part of Islam, the Quran speaks only of human equality and how all peoples are equal in the sight of God.

“O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God’s sight is the greatest of you in piety. God is All-Knowing, All- Aware. (49:13)

MISCONCEPTION #5: All Muslims are Arabs

The Muslim population of the world is around 1.8 billion. 1 out of 5 people in the world is a Muslim.
They are a vast range of races, nationalities, and cultures from around the globe–from the Phillipines to Nigeria–they are united by their common Islamic faith. Only about 18% live in the Arab world and the largest Muslim community is in Indonesia. Most Muslims live east of Pakistan. 30% of Muslims live in the Indian subcontinent, 20% in Sub-Saharan Africa, 17% in Southeast Asia, 18% in the Arab world, and 10% in the Soviet Union and China. Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan make up 10% of the non-Arab Middle East.
Although there are Muslim minorities in almost every area, including Latin America and Australia, they are most numerous in Russia and its newly independent states, India and central Africa. There are about 6 million Muslims in the United States

 MISCONCEPTION #6: The Nation of Islam is a Muslim group.

Islam and the so called “Nation of Islam’” are two different religions. Muslims consider this group to be just one of many cults using the name of Islam for their own gain. The only thing common between them is the jargon, the language used by both.
“The Nation of Islam” is a misnomer; this religion should be called Farrakhanism, after the name of its propogator, Louis Farrakhan. Islam and Farakhanism differ in many fundamental ways. For example, Farakhan followers believe in racism and that the ‘black man’ was the original man and therefore superior, while in Islam there is no racism and everyone is considered equal in the sight of God, the only difference being in one’s piety.
There are many other theological examples that show the ‘Nation’s teachings have little to do with true Islam. There are many groups in America who claim to represent Islam and call their adherents Muslims. Any serious student of Islam has a duty to investigate and find the true Islam. The only two authentic sources which bind every Muslim are 1. the Quran and 2. authentic or sound Hadith.
Any teachings under the label of “Islam” which contradict or at variance with the direct understanding of fundamental beliefs and practices of Islam form the Quran and authentic Hadith should be rejected and such a religion should be considered a Pseudo-Islamic Cult. In America there are many pseudo-Islamic cults, Farrakhanism being one of them.
An honest attitude on the part of such cults should be not to call themselves Muslims and their religion Islam. such an example of honesty is Bahaism which is an off-shoot of Islam but Bahais do not call themselves Muslims nor their religion, Islam. In fact Bahaism is not Islam just as Farrakhanism is not Islam.

MISCONCEPTION #7: All Muslim men marry four wives.

The religion of Islam was revealed for all societies and all times and so accommodates widely differing social requirements. Circumstances may warrant the taking of another wife but the right is granted, according to the Quran, only on condition that the husband is scrupulously fair. No woman can be forced into this kind of marriage if they do not wish it, and they also have the right to exclude it in their marriage contract.
Polygamy is neither mandatory, nor encouraged, but merely permitted. Images of “sheikhs with harems” are not consistent with Islam, as a man is only allowed at most four wives only if he can fulfill the stringent conditions of treating each fairly and providing each with separate housing etc. Permission to practice polygamy is not associated with mere satisfaction of passion.
It is rather associated with compassion toward widows and orphans. It was the Quran that limited and put conditions on the practice of polygamy among the Arabs, who had as many as ten or more wives and considered them “property”. It is both honest and accurate to say that it is Islam which regulated this practice, limited it, made it more humane, and instituted equal rights and status for all wives.
What the Qur’anic decrees amount to, taken together is discouragement of polygamy unless necessity for it exists. It is also evident that the general rule in Islam is monogamy and not polygamy. It is a very tiny percentage of Muslims that practice it over the world. However, permission to practice limited polygamy is only consistent with Islam’s realistic view of the nature of man and woman and of various social needs, problems and cultural variations.
The question is, however far more than the inherent flexibility of Islam; it also is the frank and straightforward approach of Islam in dealing with practical problems. Rather than requiring hypocritical and superficial compliance, Islam delves deeper into the problems of individuals and societies, and provides for legitimate and clean solutions which are far more beneficial than would be the case if they were ignored.
There is no doubt that the second wife legally married and treated kindly is better off than a mistress without any legal rights or expermanence.

MISCONCEPTION #8: Muslims are a barbaric, backwards people.

Among the reasons for the rapid and peaceful spread of Islam was the simplicity of its doctrine-Islam calls for faith in only one God worthy of worship. It also repeatedly instructs man to use his powers of intelligence and observation. Within a few years, great civilizations and universities were flourishing, for according to the Prophet (pbuh), ‘seeking knowledge is an obligation for every Muslim man and woman’.
The synthesis of Eastern and Western ideas and of new thought with old, brought about great advances in medicine, mathematics, physics, astronomy, geography, architecture, art, literature, and history. Many crucial systems such as algebra, the Arabic numerals, and also the concept of the zero (vital to the advancement of mathematics), were transmitted to medieval Europe from Islam.
Sophisticated instruments which were to make possible the European voyages of discovery were developed, including the astrolabe, the quadrant and good navigational maps.

MISCONCEPTION #9: Muhammad was the founder of Islam and Muslims worship him.

Muhammad(pbuh) was born in Mecca in the year 570. Since his father died before his birth, and his mother shortly afterwards, he was raised by his uncle from the respected tribe of Quraysh. As he grew up, he became known for his truthfulness, generosity and sincerity, so that he was sought after for his ability to arbitrate in disputes.

The historians describe him as calm and meditative. Muhammad (pbuh) was of a deeply religious nature, and had long detested the decadence of his society. It became his habit to meditate from time to time in the Cave of Hira near Mecca. At the age of 40, while engaged in a meditative retreat, Muhammad(pbuh) received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. This revelation, which continued for 23 years is known as the Quran.
As soon as he began to recite the words he heard from Gabriel, and to preach the truth which God had revealed to him, he and his small group of followers suffered bitter persecution, which grew so fierce that in the year 622 God gave them the command to emigrate. This event, the Hijra ‘migration’, in which they left Mecca for the city of Medina, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
After several years, the Prophet and his followers were able to return to Mecca, where they forgave their enemies and established Islam definitively. Before the Prophet saw dies at the age of 63, the greater part of Arabia was Muslim, and within a century of his death Islam had spread to Spain in the West and as far East as China. He died with less than 5 possessions to his name. While Muhammad(pbuh) was chosen to deliver the message, he is not considered the “founder” of Islam, since Muslims consider Islam to be the same divine guidance sent to all peoples before.
Muslims believe all the prophets from Adam, Noah, Moses, Jesus etc. were all sent with divine guidance for their peoples. Every prophet was sent to his own people, but Muhammad(pbuh) was sent to all of mankind. Muhammad is the last and final messenger sent to deliver the message of Islam. Muslims revere and honor him (pbuh) for all he went through and his dedication, but they do not worship him.

“O Prophet, verily We have sent you as a witness and a bearer of glad tidings and a warner and as one who invites unto God by His leave and as an illuminating lamp.”(33:45-6)

MISCONCEPTION #10: Muslims don’t believe in Jesus or any other prophets.

Muslims respect and revere Jesus, upon him be peace, and await his Second Coming. They consider him one of the greatest of God’s messengers to mankind. A Muslim never refers to him simply as ‘Jesus’, but always adds the phrase ‘upon him be peace’ (abbreviated as (u) here).
The Quran confirms his virgin birth (a chapter of the Quran is entitled ‘Mary’), and Mary is considered the purest woman in all creation. The Quran describes the Annunciation as follows:

“Behold!” the Angel said, “God has chosen you, and purified you, and chosen you above the women of all nations. O Mary, God gives you good news of a word from Him whose name shall be the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, honored in this world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near to God. He shall speak to the people from his cradle and in maturity, and shall be of the righteous.” She said: “O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me?” He said: “Even so; God creates what He will. When He decrees a thing, He says to it, “Be!” and it is” (Quran 3:42-47)

Jesus (u) was born miraculously through the same power which had brought Adam (u) into being without a father: “Truly, the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust, and then said to him, ‘Be!’ and he was.” (3:59)
During his prophetic mission Jesus (u) performed many miracles. The Quran tells us that he said: “

I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breathe into it and it becomes a bird by God’s leave. And I heal the blind, and the lepers, and I raise the dead by God’s leave.” (3:49)

Neither Muhammad (pbuh) not Jesus (u) came to change the basic doctrine of the brief in One God brought by earlier prophets, but to confirm and renew it. In the Quran Jesus (u) is reported as saying that he came:

“To attest the law which was before me. And to make lawful to you part of what was forbidden you; I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear God and obey Me. (3:50)

The Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) said: “
Whoever believes there is no god but God, alone without partner, that Muhammad(pbuh) is His messenger, that Jesus is the servant and messenger of God, His word breathed into Mary and a spirit emanating from Him, and that Paradise and Hell are true, shall be received by God into Heaven. “(Hadith related by Bukhari).

 Courtesy

Media Criticized For First Blaming Muslims For Norway Attacks

A memorial service in the Oslo cathedral for the 93 killed in the Oslo bombing and the massacre on the island of Utøya took place on Sunday and was attended by, among many others, the King and Queen of Norway and the prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg. 97 are reported injured and six people aged 14 – 20 are still known to be missing. Several more who have yet to be named are also missing; a full list can be found at the Norwegian news site NRK.
32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik has been charged with both the bombing and the shooting and, while confessing to both attacks, denies criminal responsibility and says the attacks were “gruesome but necessary.” He says he was the lone gunman and had planned the attacks for a long time; prior to the attacks, he had posted a 1500-page ideological manifesto online, “2083 – A European Declaration of Independence,” that is heavily based on that of the so-called Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski. Counter-terrorism police have raided an apartment in Oslo belonging to Breivik and arrested six people, but released them without charges.
Many initial reports which attributed the attacks to Islamists have come under fire, the Guardian points out. An opinion piece by Ahmed Moor on Al Jazeera says that the Western media’s response “demonstrates the extent to which reactionary bigotry,” and anti-Muslim sentiment, have “infected mainstream thought.” Writes Moor:

As Glenn Greenwald helpfully pointed out [on Salon], the editors of the NYT – America’s allegedly liberal newspaper – reserve the word “terrorist” solely for use in conjunction with the word “Muslim”.

When news emerged that the perpetrator of the murders – the terrorist – was a man whose religion and skin pigmentation closely resembled those of the editors of the NYT, the story changed. The terrorist became a deranged “Christian extremist” whose tactics clearly mirrored “Al Qaeda’s brutality and multiple attacks”.  In that way, the paper linked the terrorist with Muslims, despite his strong antipathy for them.

ThinkProgress also critiques an op-ed in the Washington Post by Jen Rubin, saying that “some pundits, mostly right-wing neoconservatives, proclaimed that this bore all the hallmarks of Islamic terrorism” and that the “jihadist” attack was grounds for the US not reducing military spending.
Equally inflammatory — and very much in error — was the front -page headline of Saturday’s The Sun: “‘Al Qaeda’ Massacre: Norway’s 9/11.” A cartoon referring to the twin attacks in Norway in The Sunday Times offered a cruel and tasteless parody of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch’s famous painting, The Scream. The cartoon and criticism of it can be found here; considering the phone hacking scandal surrounding Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which owns both The Sun and The Sunday Times, one would think (but what am I thinking? these are sibling publications of the likes of Fox News) that these papers would think twice about displaying such insensitivity. Charlie Brooker on the Guardian comments on how, even after the gunman’s identity was reported,

Some remained scarily defiant in the face of the new unfolding reality. On Saturday morning I saw a Fox News anchor tell former US diplomat John Bolton that Norwegian police were saying this appeared to be an Oklahoma-style attack, then ask him how that squared with his earlier assessment that al-Qaida were involved. He was sceptical. It was still too early to leap to conclusions, he said. We should wait for all the facts before rushing to judgment. In other words: assume it’s the Muslims until it starts to look like it isn’t – at which point, continue to assume it’s them anyway.

The Norwegian media themselves are “anxious” about becoming the messenger as it were in publicizing Breivik’s beliefs. The Guardian quotes Knut Magnus Berge, who has been covering the events for NRK’s television team:

In his manifest he declared that he wished to set the agenda for people. And we have to admit that he has certainly achieved that the last two days. But Breivik has also said, through his lawyer, that at his arraignment on Monday he wants the proceedings to be open. This is a dilemma for every media organisation, who will be providing Breivik with a theatre stage.

I know discussion and debate about Breivik’s unspeakable acts are inevitable. I have been trying rather to read as much as I can about the victims and their families, whose lives been irrevocably changed by unspeakable pain and suffering. On NRK, Andrian Pracon, who was shot but survived, recounts his own terrifying experience — including pleading with the gunman — on Utoya. He also describes an 11-year-old boy who, saying that Breivik had already shot his father, ordered him not to kill him too and lived.
NRK has more accounts of those who endured the terror on Utøya and in Oslo: Even if you cannot read Norwegian, Google Translate or another translating program can help you read some of these accounts — stories which must be heard.

Originally Posted by Kristina C.

Media Reacts to News That Norwegian Terror Suspect Isn't Muslim

Yesterday's first reports on the massacre in Norway suggested that there was a link between the horrific attacks, which left 92 dead at latest reports, and Muslim extremists. Only later was the news released that the suspect taken by police, Anders Behring Breivik, was apparently a conservative, right-wing Christian with strong anti-Muslim and anti-immigration beliefs. Many in the media were left reeling over the fact that others were so quick to report and comment that Muslims were involved, before there was clear evidence. Rupert Murdoch's newspaper The Sun had as a headline on the front page, "Al Qaeda Massacre: Norway's 9/11." The Wall Street Journal posted an editorial on the bombings that begins with references to Islam. It starts:

When cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad appeared in a Danish newspaper in the fall of 2005 and sparked a full-blown jihadist campaign against Denmark, then-Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen responded with a telling remark. "We Danes feel like we have been placed in a scene in the wrong movie," he told the German newsweekly Der Spiegel."

Joe Weisenthal, deputy editor of Business Insider, tweeted: "It is pretty bewildering that the first 3 paragraphs of this WSJ editorial on Norway are about Al-Qaeda/Islam." And Eric Umansky, a senior editor at ProPublica tweeted: "You can almost see the tracked changes in this WSJ editorial blaming Islamists for Norway attacks."
The most controversial piece, however, seems to be an editorial at The Washington Post by "Right Turn" columnist Jennifer Rubin, who quoted the Weekly Standard that:

We don’t know if al Qaeda was directly responsible for today’s events, but in all likelihood the attack was launched by part of the jihadist hydra. Prominent jihadists have already claimed online that the attack is payback for Norway’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

She added, in her own analysis, that:

Moreover, there is a specific jihadist connection here: “Just nine days ago, Norwegian authorities filed charges against Mullah Krekar, an infamous al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist who, with help from Osama bin Laden, founded Ansar al Islam – a branch of al Qaeda in northern Iraq – in late 2001.”
This is a sobering reminder for those who think it’s too expensive to wage a war against jihadists.

The editorial remains up on the Post, "sixteen hours after its claims were shown to be false and hysterical, it's still there, with no correction or apology," according to James Fallows at The Atlantic. Fallows responded to Rubin's piece, in a blog post titled, "The Washington Post Owes the World an Apology for this Item," writing that:

No, this is a sobering reminder for those who think it's too tedious to reserve judgment about horrifying events rather than instantly turning them into talking points for pre-conceived views. On a per capita basis, Norway lost twice as many people today as the U.S. did on 9/11. Imagine the political repercussions through the world if double-9/11-scale damage had been done by an al-Qaeda offshoot. The unbelievably sweeping damage is there in either case.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, in another Comment at The Atlantic, echoed Fallow's comments on Rubin's piece:

As for this case, my golden rule is that as terrible as it is to be wrong, it many times more terrible to pretend that wrong is right. As of this wring, Rubin has issued no correction in any form. That is shameful.

Glenn Greenwald took issue not merely with Rubin's editorial, but also with a statement by President Obama that suggested, in Greenwald's interpretation, that an international terrorist group was responsible, and the New York Times coverage, which attempted "to pin some form of blame, even ultimate blame, on Muslim radicals." Greenwald writes:

Al Qaeda is always to blame, even when it isn't, even when it's allegedly the work of a Nordic, Muslim-hating, right-wing European nationalist... we've seen repeatedly: that Terrorism has no objective meaning and, at least in American political discourse, has come functionally to mean: violence committed by Muslims whom the West dislikes, no matter the cause or the target.  Indeed, in many (though not all) media circles, discussion of the Oslo attack quickly morphed from this is Terrorism (when it was believed Muslims did it) to no, this isn't Terrorism, just extremism (once it became likely that Muslims didn't).

Furthermore, Greenwald took to Twitter to point out another turnaround, this time by John Podhoretz, who wrote a post for Commentary Magazine yesterday where he said that the attacks "have stirred in me a kind of rage I haven’t felt this viscerally since the days after 9/11... If we respond with dispassion, we are ceding to them part of the animating force that makes us human." Then, Greenwald noted, Podhoretz seemed to dramatically shift his tone, by tweeting: "Brevik appears to be precisely whom the left wanted Jared Loughner to be."
In an op-ed at Jadaliyya, Shiva Balaghi calls the events a "Tragic Day for Norway; Shameful Day for Journalism." She summarizes her own view of the reports:

I read a story in the New York Times that squarely pointed to jihadi groups angered at the war in Afghanistan...The Financial Times was no better. From the start, it reported allegations of Islamic terrorism, continuing with this view well into its evening reporting by which time an arrest had already been made in the case... Judy Woodruff’s interview with a Norwegian journalist that aired on PBS’s Newshour followed a similar scenario.
In this 24/7 news cycle driven even more mad by terror experts who conduct research using google and tweet a mile a minute, journalists should exercise caution... Perhaps today the neo-Nazis in Europe count Muslims among the problems that drive their madness. But to a large degree, these right wing extremist views shaped twentieth century Europe.

Additionally, Ibrahim Hewitt writes an editoral at Al-Jazeera, where he observes that once media outlets noted that the suspect was not Muslim, they disassociated connections between the suspect's beliefs and his alleged violent actions.

...the perpetrator was a "blond, blue-eyed Norwegian" with "political traits towards the right, and anti-Muslim views." Not surprisingly, the man's intentions were neither linked to these "traits," nor to his postings on "websites with Christian fundamentalist tendencies." Any influence "remains to be seen"; echoes of Oklahoma 1995. Interestingly, this criminal is described by one unnamed Norwegian official as a "madman."
...Anyone who claims therefore, that the perpetrator's "right-wing traits" and "anti-Muslim views," or even links with "Christian fundamentalist" websites are irrelevant is trying to draw a veil over the unacceptable truths of such "traits" and expecting us to believe that right-wing ideology is incapable of prompting someone towards such criminality. Of course, that idea is nonsensical. Right-wing ideology was behind the Holocaust; it has been behind most anti-Semitism and other racism around the world; the notion of Europe's and Europeans' racial superiority - giving cultural credibility to the far-right - gave rise to the slave trade and the scramble for Africa leading to untold atrocities against "the Other"; ditto in the Middle and Far East.

Courtesy:-The Atlantic Wire

Israel’s Evil Designs “Deporting Jerusalem Legislators"

Part of Israel’s Ethnic Cleaning of Palestinians

Arab member of Knesset of the National Democratic Assembly party, Dr. Jamal Zahalka, stated that the kidnapping of the Palestinian legislator from Jerusalem, Mohammad Abu Teir, and the Israeli decision to deport him is part of Israeli political and ethnic cleaning of the Palestinian people.

Dr. Zahalka added that this move violates international law, that forbids deportations and expulsions, and also violates agreements signed by Israel allowing Palestinian legislative elections to be held in Jerusalem as well as the rest of the Palestinian territories.

Israeli TV Channel 2, reported that no charges were filed against Abu Teir, and that the deportation aims at targeting Hamas and its presence in Jerusalem.

Abu Teir was kidnapped as he and Palestinian legislator, Ahmad Attoun, were driving in Sur Baher in East Jerusalem.

Attoun told Reuters that the soldiers kidnapped Abu Teir and took him to al-Maskobiyya prison.

He also said that a security officer told him that he too has only two more days to leave Jerusalem.

Israel ordered the expulsion of four Palestinian officials from Jerusalem; one minister and three members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Abu Teir was given until last Friday to leave the city.

Zahalka further stated that this arrest is politically motivated as no charges were filed against Abu Teir, and demanded the Palestinian Authority to provide a serious response to this violation, and to stop the talks and security coordination with Israel.

“This arrest is the first phase of expelling all Jerusalem legislators and more than 300 Palestinian figures from Jerusalem”, Zahalka said, “Israel wants the Palestinians and their elected officials out of Jerusalem; this issue requires us all to act and to unite all of our efforts locally and internationally”.

Source

Children of Jerusalem

A song by American Singer/Songwriter David Rovics. 

Children of Jerusalem

Did you see them praying
And the Army marching in
As they clubbed old women
Did you see the general grin
Watch the stones fly
And the snipers taking aim
On Shatila's birthday
It's a calculated game
They're gunning down the children of Jerusalem

Did you hear the screaming
See the horror on his face
As he hid for cover
In a tiny, unprotected space
Did you hear his father pleading
"There is a child here"
Trying to protect his son
Who yelled in terror and in fear
That they're gunning down the children of Jerusalem

Did you feel the wind blow
From the helicopter blades
Did you smell the tear gas
See the demolition raids
Did you see the rockets
And the dum-dum bullets fly
Did you feel the horror
To watch one more young boy die
As they're gunning down the children of Jerusalem

Did you see the roadblocks
Letting nobody go past
Watch the blood flow
As time is running fast
See someone's brother
Taking his last breath
So close to the hospital
But closer still to death
And they're gunning down the children of Jerusalem

Did you hear the fatcats
Say "It's not what it appears
"It's an armed uprising
"A realization of our fears
"Do you hear them chanting
"That this is their homeland
"They want what's ours
"And we've got to make a stand
"So we're gunning down the children of Jerusalem"

Some want power
And it seems the world's theirs to give
Some just want peace
And a decent place to live
Some talk of destiny
And what their God has willed
And a mother weeps
That her nine-year-old's been killed
They're gunning down the children of Jerusalem

Free download mp3 @320kps
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=759597 

Courtesy:- Mary's Sharebook

Anti-whaling Group Sea Shepherd may lose flagship

Needs to raise $US1.4 million to save its flagship vessel the Steve Irwin, which is caught up in a lawsuit. 

The group says the Steve Irwin has been detained by a court in the United Kingdom which is hearing a civil lawsuit brought against Sea Shepherd by a Maltese company, Fish & Fish Ltd (F&F).

Sea Shepherd president and founder Paul Watson says the dispute began in June 2010 when the Steve Irwin rescued endangered bluefin tuna from F&F nets.


"They are claiming damages," Captain Watson said in a statement on Wednesday.

"We believe these fish were caught illegally - after the season closed, without an inspector on board, and without any legal paperwork for their catch."

Captain Watson said the group would "aggressively defend the case" but in the meantime needed to post a bond for $US1,411,692 by next week or the ship would be held or possibly sold.

"The Steve Irwin must sail immediately to protect endangered pilot whales in the Faroe Islands," he said.

"Then we sail on to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to stop the murderous Japanese whaling fleet."

Sea Shepherd Australia director Jeff Hanson said that, if the group lost one of its three ships, it would be a huge financial and environmental loss.

"At the moment there have been a number of donations but we still have a long way to go and we're urging all our supporters to get on board," he said.

Source

Twelve Favourite Foods of Prophet Mohammad (S.A.W.W)

 Favourite Foods of Prophet Mohammad (S.A.W.W)

1. Barley
Good in fever, while use in a soup form.

2. Dates
The Prophet (S.A.W.W) said that a house without dates has no food. It should also be eaten at the time of childbirth.

3. Figs 
It is a fruit from paradise and a cure for piles.

4. Grapes
The Prophet (S.A.W.W) was very fond of grapes - it purifies the blood, provides vigour and health,strengthens the kidneys and clears the bowels.

5. Honey
Considered the best remedy for diarrhoea when mixed in hot water. It is the food of foods, drink of drinks and drug of drugs. It is used for creating appetite, strengthening the stomach, eliminating phlegm; as a meat preservative, hair conditioner, eye soother and mouthwash. It is extremely beneficial in the morning in warm water.

6. All types of Melon
The Prophet (S.A.W.W) said: 'None of your women who are pregnant and eat of water melon will fail to produce off spring that is good in countenance and good in character.


7. Milk
The Prophet (S.A.W.W) said that milk wipes away heat from the heart just as the finger wipes away sweat from the brow. It strengthens the back, improves the brain, renews vision and drives away forgetfulness.

8. Mushrooms
The Prophet (S.A.W.W) said that mushroom is a good cure for the eyes; it also Serves as a form of birth control and arrests paralysis.

9. Olive Oil
Excellent treatment for skin and hair, delays old age, and treats inflammation of the stomach.

10. Pomegranate 
The Prophet (S.A.W.W) said it cleanses you of Satan an evil aspirationsfor 40 days.

11. Vinegar
A food Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W) used to eat with olive oil. (That's now a fashion in elite Italian Restaurants.)

12. Water
The Prophet (S.A.W.W) said the best drink in this world is water, when you are thirsty drink it by sips and not gulps, gulping produces sickness of the liver.

Muslims make these part of your life.
Thanks Mary P (Revert Muslim) for sharing these Information.

Tajikistan Govt. passed New Anti-Muslim Law

Last month, the government of Tajikistan passed a new law “on parental responsibility for educating and raising children,” which bans children under the age of 18 from attending religious services at mosques except for holidays and funerals. Praying is okay, but skipping school to attend a prayer service is not. And if a child is caught, parents can either face a steep fine or even jail time. The law may also give authorities the power to stop parents from giving their children Arabic names.

“We have observed in recent years attempts by extremist movements to influence the world views of our children,” Tajikistan’s president Emomali Rakhmon announced in a speech last April. “The leaders of various extremist groups and currents have started appearing in academic institutions, recruiting inexperienced youth.”

Yet “independent experts say there is little evidence that militant Islamic groups have found much of a following in Tajikistan,” The New York Times reported. “Rather, they say, regional leaders often use the threat of Islamic extremism as a pretext to crack down on political opponents and their supporters.”

This is not the first of many religious crackdowns by the forced secularist government. Already, bearded men get detained at random, women are not allowed to attend religious services, and private mosques and Islamic websites have been shut down. The remaining mosques are government-run, which allows censors to monitor Friday sermons.

“This law was passed so that the parents of these children fulfill their responsibilities for raising them,” said Mavlon Mukhtorov, deputy chairman of the Religious Affairs Committee. “Schoolchildren should be in school. If they all go to the mosques for prayers and cast aside their schoolwork they will not be able to learn.”

To which I ask, learn what? Repression, censorship, restriction, intolerance, denial of basic freedoms? Secularism is not the denial of religion, but rather the separation of faith and politics. When the two can co-exist, you have a democracy. But when you turn them on each other and force the two to battle it out like a divorce gone wrong, then all you have is Soviet residue with a McCarthy-esque legislation. Extremism doesn’t just encompass religion; it can apply to the lack of faith as well.

The root cause of terrorism is not religion, but poverty. It’s not Islam that teaches Muslims to hate America; it’s the uneven wealth distribution between the United States and third-world countries. Tajikistan has a high literacy rate, but it is also the poorest nation in central Asia and of all the previously Soviet countries. “Suicide bombers aren’t being recruited for dastardly acts on the lure of 72 virgins as much as they are promised their families will be cared for,” Muna Khan wrote in Al Arabiya. “Children attend madrassahs not because they espouse to be learned scholars as much as the school feeds them and clothes them.”

“The failure of a secular society with a large Muslim population has been that it has been unable to show that it can co-exist with religion. It’s almost succumbed to the the evil definition of secularism by Islamists- t0 be secular is to be without faith, when that is not the truth.”

You can’t fight extremism with monomania, because at the core, Tajikistan’s secular fundamentalism has nothing to do with religion or even terrorism, but power. Restrictions don’t maintain control; they either breed opposition or, in the case of Iran, push the people to thrive on an underground culture. Dialogue is how you break the cycle of radicalism. Allah is not the enemy here; it’s independence.

Originally Posted by Safa S.

Surprising Health Benefits of Nuts & Seeds

Five Benefits of Nuts and Seeds:

1. Best plant sources of protein. The American Cancer Association is recommending a plant-based diet for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer. An ounce of nuts provides 6 g of protein on average.
2. Filled with heart healthy fat. They contain healthful mono- and polyunsaturated fats which are essential in managing inflammation and maintaining the normal structure of every body cell.   People who consumed nuts five times a week had a 35 percent reduction in heart disease risk according to a British Medical Journal study in 1998.
3. High energy foods. They are filled with lots of calories; for example 1 ounce of almonds contain about 165 calories; 1 ounce of brazil nuts contain about 190 calories. So do not eat too many or you will gain weight.
4. Powerful minerals. They contain many minerals such as magnesium, zinc, calcium and phosphorus needed for bone development, immunity and energy production. In a study of almost 400 men (age from 45-92) published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition they found a correlation between low dietary intake of zinc, low blood levels of the trace mineral and osteoporosis at the hip and spine.
5. Needed vitamins. They are great sources of B Vitamins and Vitamin E.

Proof of the Power of Nuts and Seeds

• A study published in the April 2002 Journal of Nutrition had people replace half the fat in their daily diets with almonds for six weeks. Researchers found that the almond eaters’ bad cholesterol went down six percent, and good cholesterol went up six percent. In addition, blood fat dropped 14 percent.
• These studies show it’s the combination in nuts of monounsaturated fats and protective plant compounds known as flavonoids that reduces the risk of heart disease.
• According to research at the University of Toronto, eating heart-healthy foods, including almonds, can help reduce LDL, or the bad cholesterol levels, as much as a first-line statin drug.
• Research at Tufts University found the flavonoids in almond skins work in synergy with vitamin E to protect artery walls from damage reducing the risk of heart disease.

Posted by Diana Herrington

love letter posted in 1958 to arrive 53 years late



A love letter 



A love letter to a US college student from the girlfriend who was to become his wife is finally on its way to him - 53 years after it was written in 1958.

The letter surfaced in a Pennsylvanian university mailroom earlier this month.

It was addressed to Clark C Moore, who has since changed his name to Muhammad Siddeeq, making it hard to trace him.

But a friend saw a TV report about it and contacted the sorting office. Mr Siddeeq, 74, says he is still eager to read it, despite now being divorced.

'Shocked'

The letter mysteriously arrived at the California University of Pennsylvania, in the north-eastern state of Pennsylvania, 10 days ago

Written to Mr Moore, the two-page letter was postmarked 20 February 1958 and signed "love forever Vonnie".

Mr Siddeeq, a retired teacher who is now living in the mid-western city of Indianapolis, said he was shocked when he was contacted by the university.

"We have a system here in America where if something is for you and if they find it, it gets to you, that's beautiful," he told US TV station WTAE.

He and his girlfriend wrote to each other when he was studying science, he said.

They did eventually marry and have four children.

Romance was different then - with no computers, letter writing was the only way to stay in touch and remains more romantic than emails, he said.

He admitted to having mixed emotions about the letter as he and Vonnie are now divorced.

But he told Washington's Observer-Reporter paper that he was keen to read it as it was "a testament of the sincerity, interest and innocence of that time".

University officials said the letter was now on its way to him along with a T-shirt from the university.

"He said if he didn't get that package within the next 53 years, he would call to complain," university spokeswoman Christine Kindl told Reuters news agency.

Photo WikiCommons

How to reduce the chance of getting stung and/or save a bee.

Following are the points that reduce the chance of getting stung  and save  bees from being killed.

1. Wear light-colored clothing.
2. Don’t use perfume or soaps, shampoos and deodorants with fragrance.
3. Avoid bananas and banana-scented products.
4. Wear clean clothing and be clean—our sweat makes bees angry.
5. Stay clear of flowering plants.
6. Keep your outside areas clean. Bees and wasps thrive in places with food trash: Picnic tables, grills and other outdoor eating areas.

Photo:-wikimedia commons

Rabbis justifies killing innocent non-Jewish babies, children and adults.

King's Torah

Occupied West Bank Settlement Rabbis New Book "The King's Torah."

The marble-patterned, hardcover book embossed with gold Hebrew letters looks like any other religious commentary you'd find in an Orthodox Judaica bookstore - but reads like a rabbinic instruction manual outlining acceptable scenarios for killing non-Jewish babies, children and adults.

The prohibition 'Thou Shalt Not Murder' applies only "to a Jew who kills a Jew," write Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. Non-Jews are "uncompassionate by nature" and attacks on them "curb their evil inclination," while babies and children of Israel's enemies may be killed since "it is clear that they will grow to harm us."

"The King's Torah (Torat Hamelech), Part One: Laws of Life and Death between Israel and the Nations," a 230-page compendium of Halacha, or Jewish religious law, published by the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar, garnered a front-page exposé in the Israeli tabloid Ma'ariv, which called it the stuff of "Jewish terror."

Now, the yeshiva is in the news again, with a January 18 raid on Yitzhar by more than 100 Israeli security officials who forcibly entered Od Yosef Chai and arrested 10 Jewish settlers. The Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency, suspects five of those arrested were involved in the torching and vandalizing of a Palestinian mosque last month in the neighboring Palestinian village of Yasuf. The arson provoked an international outcry and condemnation by Israeli religious figures, including Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, who visited the village to personally voice his regret.

Yet, both Metzger and his Sephardic counterpart, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, have declined to comment on the book, which debuted in November, while other prominent rabbis have endorsed it - among them, the son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Sephardic Jewry's preeminent leader. Also, despite the precedent set by previous Israeli attorneys general in the last decade and a half to file criminal charges against settler rabbis who publish commentaries supporting violence against non-Jews, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has so far remained mum about "The King's Torah."

"Sometimes the public arena deals with the phenomenon and things become settled by themselves," Justice Ministry spokesman Moshe Cohen told the Forward.

A coalition of religious Zionist groups, the "Twelfth of Heshvan," named after the Hebrew date of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, has asked Israel's Supreme Court to order Mazuz to confiscate the books and arrest its authors.

"You open the book, and you feel that you read a halachic book. And it's a trap," said Gadi Gvaryahu, a religious Jewish educator who heads the coalition. It was, in fact, "a guidebook [on] how to kill," he charged.

Family members who answered phone calls placed to the homes of both authors said they did not wish to comment.

In 2008, author Shapira was suspected of involvement in a crude rocket attack directed at a Palestinian village. Israeli police investigated but made no arrests.

Co-author Elitzur wrote an article in a religious bulletin a month after the book's release saying that "the Jews will win with violence against the Arabs."

In 2003, the head of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, was charged by then-Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein with incitement to racism for authoring a book calling Arabs a "cancer."

In 2006-2007, the Israeli Ministry of Education gave about a quarter of a million dollars to the yeshiva, and in 2007-2008 the yeshiva received about $28,000 from the American nonprofit Central Fund of Israel.

"The King's Torah" reflects a fringe viewpoint held by a minority of rabbis in the West Bank, said Avinoam Rosenak, a Hebrew University professor specializing in settler theology. Asher Cohen, a Bar Ilan University political science professor, thought its influence would be "zero" because it appeals only to extreme ideologues.

But the book's wide dissemination and the enthusiastic endorsements of prominent rabbis have spotlighted what might have otherwise remained an isolated commentary.

At the entrance to Moriah, a large Jewish bookstore steps from the Western Wall, copies of "The King's Torah" were displayed with children?s books and other halachic commentaries. The store manager, who identified himself only as Motti, said the tome has sold "excellently."

Other stores carrying the book include Robinson Books, a well-known, mostly secular bookshop in a hip Tel Aviv shopping district; Pomeranz Bookseller, a major Jewish book emporium near the Ben Yehuda mall in downtown Jerusalem; and Felhendler, a Judaica store on the main artery of secular Rehovot, home of the Weizmann Institute.

The yeshiva declined to comment on publication statistics. But Itzik, a Tel Aviv-area book distributor hired by the yeshiva who declined to give his last name because of the book's nature, said the yeshiva had sold 1,000 copies to individuals and bookstores countrywide. He said an additional 1,000 copies were now being printed.

Mendy Feldheim, owner of Feldheim Publishers, Israel's largest Judaica publishing house, said he considered this a "nice" sales figure for a tome of rabbinic Halacha in Israel. He said his own company, which distributes to 200 bookstores nationwide, is not distributing "The King's Torah" because the book's publishers did not approach the company.

Prominent religious figures wrote letters of endorsement that preface the book. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, son of former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, blessed the authors and wrote that many "disciples of Torah are unfamiliar with these laws." The elder Yosef has not commented on his son's statement.

Dov Lior, chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba and a respected figure among many mainstream religious Zionists, noted that the book is "very relevant especially in this time."

Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, one of the country's most respected rabbinic commentators, initially endorsed the book, but rescinded his approval a month after its release, saying that the book includes statements that "have no place in human intelligence."

A handful of settler rabbis echoed Goldberg's censure, including Shlomo Aviner, chief rabbi of Beit El and head of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim, who said he had "no patience" to read the book, and spoke out against it to his students.

Previously, Israel has arrested settler rabbis who publish commentaries supporting the killing of non-Jews. In addition to Ginsburgh, the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva head, in 1994, the government jailed Rabbi Ido Elba of Hebron for writing a 26-page article proclaiming it a "mitzva to kill every non-Jew from the nation that is fighting the Jew, even women and children."

"The atmosphere has changed," said Yair Sheleg, senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, who specializes in issues of religion and state. Previous governments took a tougher stance against such publications, he said, but "paradoxically, because the tension between the general settler population and the Israeli judicial system is high now, the attorney general is careful not to heighten the tension."

It is not uncommon for some settler rabbis, in the unique conditions of West Bank settlement life, to issue religious decrees, or psakim, that diverge from normative Jewish practice. In 2008, Avi Gisser, considered a moderate rabbi from the settlement of Ofra, ruled that Jews may violate Sabbath laws and hire non-Jews to build hilltop settlements. And In 2002, Yediot Aharanot reported that former Israeli Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu sanctioned Jewish harvesting of Palestinian-owned olive tree.

Death row killer forgiven by his Muslim victim

Mark Stroman, due to be executed for going on a killing spree, now describes hate as "pure ignorance"

In the nine years Mark Stroman has been on death row in Texas, he says he has watched 208 people walk past him on the way to be executed.This week it is his turn.But fighting to save his life is the man he shot in the face and blinded in one eye.In the days following 11 September, 2001, Stroman attacked three people, killing two of them.

Rais Bhuiyan after the attack The attack left Rais Bhuyian blind in his right eye

He was targeting anyone he considered an "Arab", calling it revenge for 9/11.

"What Mark Stroman did was a hate crime, and hate crimes come from ignorance," said Rais Bhuiyan, 37, the only man to survive the shooting.

"His execution will not eradicate hate crimes from this world, we will just simply lose another human life."

'Uneducated idiot'

It was a Friday lunchtime when a gunman walked into the petrol station shop and pointed a double-barrelled shotgun at Rais.

He had been robbed before and knew what to do. He offered the money from the cash register, but that didn't appear to be what Mark Stroman had come for.

"He asked me 'where are you from?' and that's a strange question to ask in a robbery. As soon as I said 'excuse me?' I heard an explosion and felt the sensation of a million bees stinging my face."

Rais Bhuyian, a Bangladeshi-born naturalised US citizen, played dead until his attacker left.

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If I can forgive my offender who tried to take my life, we can all work together to forgive each other and move forward”

Rais Bhuyian Victim

He needed many operations, has lost the sight in his right eye and still carries shotgun pellets in his face, but is now campaigning hard to prevent his attacker from being put to death.

Mark Stroman killed two other men in a similar way - Vasudev Patel, an Indian immigrant who was Hindu, and Waqar Hasan, a Muslim born in Pakistan. They were both shot as they stood behind a counter.

"I was an uneducated idiot back then and now I'm a more understanding human being," Stroman said through the black telephone handset, from behind a thick pane of glass in the death row visiting room at the Polunsky Unit, Livingston, Texas.

It was a week before the death sentence was due to be carried out, and his last opportunity to speak publicly about what he did, why he did it, and what he thought about the man he shot who was now fighting for his life.

"At that time here in America everybody was saying 'let's get them' - we didn't know who to get, we were just stereotyping. I stereotyped all Muslims as terrorists and that was wrong."

Stroman is shaven-headed and covered in tattoos. He made a point of putting up a small American flag on the counter behind the thick glass as the camera started rolling for the interview.

Mark Stroman on Death Row Mark Stroman is due to be put to death by lethal injection

At 41, he has lost some of the muscle he had when he appeared in court nine years ago, when he proudly held up an American flag and gave the thumbs up to the courtroom cameras.

"I had some poor upbringing and I grabbed a hold of some ideas which was ignorance, you know, and hate is pure ignorance. I no longer want to be like hate, I want to be like me," he said.

"No matter what I do or say is going to change the fact that even you are going to view the Muslims as suspect," he told me.

"If you get on the airplane and you see one, you might not be wanting to, but you are going to watch that person - we live in different times now, but it's not right to stereotype them and I'm the first to admit I did that."

Offering forgiveness

Rais Bhuyian is a Muslim, and on what he feared was his deathbed, he promised Allah he would make a pilgrimage to the Hajj in Mecca. There he thought more deeply about what had happened and what he wanted to do.

"This campaign is all about passion, forgiveness, tolerance and healing. We should not stay in the past, we must move forward," he said.

"If I can forgive my offender who tried to take my life, we can all work together to forgive each other and move forward and take a new narrative on the 10th anniversary of 11 September."

He had been in touch with Stroman, who he would like to see as "a spokesperson, an educator, teaching a lot of people as ignorant as him what is wrong".

Stroman says he has asked himself the question a thousand times - would he be able to forgive the man who shot him in the face? He said he would find it very hard.

"I tried to kill this man, and this man is now trying to save my life. This man is inspiring to me.

Rais Bhuiyan Rais Bhuiyan says Stroman could have a role as an 'educator'

"Here it is, the attacker and the attackee, you know, pulling together. The hate has to stop - one second of hate will cause a lifetime of misery. I've done that - it's wrong, and if me and Rais can reach one person, mission accomplished.

"If this is what my purpose in life is, let's do it - rock on, saddle up it's rodeo time as we say in Texas."

It seems very unlikely that the governor of Texas will issue a stay of execution - the state is known for its regular use of the death penalty - but Stroman seems resigned to it.

"To be honest, the closer I get to death the more at peace I am," he said.

Rais Bhuiyan's desire to forgive and to stop this execution is a small step towards bringing communities together.

"He did what he did, but now he is a different person, and can talk to the people - those who are as ignorant as him - so there is a chance we can live in a better society. Execution is not a solution in this case."