Food For Thought
A Healthy Revolution
There is a revolutionary school of thought about what kind of diet is best for humans to consume.
Surprisingly it is not some radical new blend of supplements, energy shakes or an Atkins meat diet, but instead it is the simplest and most natural diet imaginable – living whole foods. It is not as surprising as it might sound, to find out that there are a whole number of proven health benefits of abandoning the modern diet and replacing it with a ‘back to basics’ diet that is not full of salt, processed sugars, and all sorts of other additives.
It is also not surprising that this is not becoming common knowledge, as if everybody suddenly changed to a healthy diet, the food industry giants would be out of business and they are not going to let that happen anytime soon!
Forks Over Knives – Statistics that Shocked the Professionals
Forks over Knives, is a great film out that addresses all of the issues surrounding this diet, and gives some really astounding figures on the health benefits of a whole food diet. I would advise everybody to go and check it out and watch the film, however dubious you may be. In the film it details the results of some huge studies that took place in China, where the results speak for themselves in terms of the negative effects of eating meat, dairy and processed sugars.
Provinces that did not have access to meat, dairy, and processes sugars as part of their diet had recorded levels of cancers and heart disease, which were less than 17 times what they were in areas where these food types were present. This kind of evidence was found all over the world and it begs the question – why are we not all aware of such facts?
The truth of the matter is that cutting out meat, dairy, additives, processed sugars, sweeteners and other processed foods from your diet can significantly improve your health. Eating living whole foods has been shown to slow down, stop and in some cases even reverse the effects of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. This is something that many people would never believe unless they saw the evidence for themselves. This is why it is so important for those of you who are already aware of the situation to take action for yourself and to spread the word.
The Most Caring Thing You Could Do
It is not going to be easy to change the minds of the masses, but we can all try to make a difference to those in our sphere of influence.
If you imagine all of those in your circle of family and friends that are actually causing damage to their bodies by eating a poor diet, which is subscribed to them by the countless adverts and media pressure, you could have a positive effect on their health by educating them the truth about living whole foods.
This is not an easy thing to do, as many people, especially older people, are very set in their ways. The most caring thing you could do for someone is to try and improve their health situation, in any way that you can.
Many people seem to think that eating a living whole foods diet may be boring and tasteless, but in reality they could not be more wrong. There are a whole variety of flavours and textures to enjoy, and your taste buds will thrive when they are not being bombarded with sweeteners, and fake processed sugars.
Enjoying the natural gifts of the earth is the most exciting culinary experience possible, and it is the way things were intended to be.
The film Forks Over Knives traces the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.
Dr. Campbell, a nutritional scientist at Cornell University, was concerned in the late 1960′s with producing “high quality” animal protein to bring to the poor and malnourished areas of the third world.
While in the Philippines, he made a life-changing discovery: the country’s wealthier children, who were consuming relatively high amounts of animal-based foods, were much more likely to get liver cancer.
Dr. Esselstyn, a top surgeon and head of the Breast Cancer Task Force at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, found that many of the diseases he routinely treated were virtually unknown in parts of the world where animal-based foods were rarely consumed.
http://www.forksoverknives.com/
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Celebrating 200 Years of Charles Dickens
Tuesday 7th February 2012: There have been global celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Charles Dicken’s birth. Prince Charles laid a wreath on the author’s grave in Poet’s Corner, at a service at Westminister Abbey.
There was also a ceremony in Portsmouth, where Dickens was born. with readings by actor and biographer Simon Callow and actress Sheila Hancock.
A 24-hour readathon, organised by the British Council is taking place from Albania to Zimbabwe, reaching the UK at 9pm on the evening of Tuesday 7th with readings by author David Nicholls from Great Expectations, at the British Film Institute.
The Dickens Anniversary was also celebrated by the charity NewstrAid – a charity which was founded n 1854 to help men and women from the newspaper industry who were in need, and of which Charles Dickens was President from 1854 until his death in 1870
Google celebrated the day with one of its Google Doodles, and the artist Mike Dutton points out some details about the work on the Google Doodle site.
Dutton says: “We have quite a number of characters who showed up today to help celebrate Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday. Twelve recognizable ones at least. This naturally made for a pretty busy doodle, and while we managed to squeeze in a few extra pixels to make the logo slightly larger than usual, we thought it’d be kind of nice to show you a couple close-ups here. ”
“Of course, arriving at the final image was a slight technical challenge (as crowd scenes depicted at 500 pixels wide tend to be). So I worked a bit at making the overall shapes and gestures of each character recognizable even at small sizes.
For example, Scrooge’s back is drawn exaggeratedly hunched over. Tiny Tim looks even smaller compared to the ghostly apparitions in the sky behind him. Pip’s arm is tucked behind him, and he looks meek compared to Estella, who towers over him.”
Read MoreThe Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Year Launches
2012 is a year of celebration for the UK – not only is it the first time the Olympic Games will be held here since 1948, but Queen 
Elizabeth celebrates her Diamond Jubilee this year.
The Official Jubilee Emblem design (left) for The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is based on an original illustration drawn by Katherine Dewar.
It was selected from 35,000 entries submitted by children aged 6 to 14 years from all over the UK in response to a Blue Peter competition.
The official launch of the Diamond Jubilee Year is the 6th of February 2012, celebrating the day she came to the throne on 6th February 1953. The only other British monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee was Queen Victoria in 1897
This special year is being celebrated in many different ways with many events, ceremonies and entertainment for all to enjoy, as well as with many charitable and long-term projects such as the Jubilee Woods Project, launched in February 2011 which aims to plant six million trees across the UK, creating hundreds of new woodlands, including 60 “Diamond Woods” of at least 60 acres each to mark each year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign.
Some of the events and activities to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee are:
MAY
Diamond Jubilee Pageant at Windsor Castle
“Around the World in 60 Years and 90 minutes”
Dancers, musicians, military and equestrian displays from around the world will come together for three nights in the private grounds of Windsor Castle on 10, 11 and 13 May
In a show consisting of seven acts, visiors will be treated to a spectacular journey around the world, reflecting The Queen’s State and Commonwealth visits during the course of Her Reign. Starting from London the journey goes West visiting The Americas, Australasia, Asia, The Middle East, Africa, Europe and finally Great Britain.
The Diamond Jubilee Pageant is a not for profit event with all surplus going to selected charities to help the disadvantaged and disabled.
JUNE
The Big Jubilee Lunch
Sunday 3rd June 2012
This will be the fourth annual Big Lunch and is part of the main progrmme of events over the Diamond Jubilee celebrations over the special 4-day bank holiday.
The Big Lunch is a very simple idea from the Eden Project that aimd to get as many people together as possible across the UK to have luch with their neighbours in a simple act of community, friendship and fun.
Jubilee Beacons
Monday the 4th of June, 2012 will see thousands of beacons lit across the world to celebrate Queen Elizabeths 60 year reign over the UK, and as head of the Commonwealth.
4th June
Concert at Buckingham Palace
Also on the 4th June is a concert at Buckingham Palace, organised by the BBC with tickets are available to UK residents by public ballot.
JULY
Thames River Pageant
The Thames River Pageant on the afternoon of Sunday 3rd July 2012 will be one of the largest flotillas ever assembled on the river.
Left: The Royal Barge at Tower Bridge, by Joseph Bennett.
The armed forces, fire, police, rescue and other services are all afloat and there are an exuberance of historic boats, wooden launches, steam vessels and other boats of note.
In addition to this, the center of the river will have up to thirty thousand flag-waving members of the public on passenger boats, moored mid-river for an eye-level view of the pageant.
There will be music barges, boats spouting geysers and pyrotechnic barges spitting smoke and daytime fireworksas well as specially constructed elements like a floating belfry, with its chiming bells answered by those from riverbank churches.
The Official Emblem for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
The Official Emblem for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is by 10-year old Katherine Dewar, from Chester, and is the winning design in a national competition for children between 6 and 14.
