Across West Africa, families struggle to provide young children with sufficiently diversified diets composed of the nutritious foods needed to provide the essential amino acids as well as micro- and macro-nutrients required for proper growth and development.
Getting the right nutrients in the right quantity is of utmost importance for children’s health and nutrition. Good nutrition is therefore not just a matter of sufficient quantity, but also adequate quality of food. Without the right type of nutrients in the right quantity, a child’s body fails to grow properly, which can lead to stunting, wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies. The first two years of a child’s life are a particularly important period; because this is a time of rapid growth, children’s nutrient needs are high.
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When the Shaker Heights company PurUS Health LLC launched its Good Greens bars last year, they were filling a need in the market for a bar with a fairly small and recognizable ingredient list, one that was low in sugar and fat and reasonable in calories, plus high in antioxidants. It’s a bar that tastes pretty good, too.
The market responded. Three of the Good Greens flavors hold the No. 1, 2, and 3 rank in nutrition bar sales in the Cleveland metro area. Good Greens says its bars offer 100 percent of the daily fruit and vegetable requirement through its proprietary Z-52 superfood powder, which contains vitamins, dehydrated fruits and vegetables.
The bars — which are raw, vegan, gluten-free and low-glycemic acquired a fan in Dr. Roy Buchinsky, wellness director for University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center. He considers them healthy and likes how they taste, so he introduced them in the cafeterias at University Hospitals.
“Some of the components of the bars have been shown to have clinical benefits with regard to how the body functions,” Buchinsky says. “It’s something I can comfortably recommend to my family and my patients.”
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Jeanne Louise Calment (21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) was a French supercentenarian who had the longest confirmed human lifespan in history, living to the age of 122 years, 164 days
Calment’s remarkable health presaged her later record. At age 85 (1960), she took up fencing, and continued to ride her bicycle up until her 100th birthday. She was reportedly neither athletic, nor fanatical about her health. Calment lived on her own until shortly before her 110th birthday, when it was decided that she needed to be moved to a nursing home after a cooking accident (she was having complications with sight) started a small fire in her house. However, Calment was still in good shape, and continued to walk until she fractured her femur during a fall at age 114 years 11 months (January 1990), which required surgery.
Calment smoked from the age of 21 (1896) to 117 (1992), though according to an unspecified source, she smoked no more than two cigarettes per day. After her operation, Calment needed to use a wheelchair. She weighed 45 kilograms (99 lb) in 1994.
Calment ascribed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance for her age to olive oil, which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed onto her skin, as well as a diet of port wine, and ate nearly one kilogram of chocolate every week.

Many of society’s most devastating diseases — cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s, to name a few — share a common denominator: faulty angiogenesis. William Li presents a new way to think about treating cancer and other diseases: anti-angiogenesis, preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting foods that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game.

Make the stove and the insulating bricks.

Build a pulse-sensing headband that flashes a heart-shaped LED display to the beating of your heart!

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Arduino project for catching my cats on the kitchen counter, while they’re up there doing food intelligence work 🙂

Arduino nano in iPod Touch box. Switch arms toy gun, Knob controls trigger distance. Opto-isolators fire toy gun.

Maxbotic ultrasonic rangefinder senses distance and determines if sonar field has been interrupted ( by cat). The gun just makes a silly little ‘p-tang’ sound and flashes a red LED in it’s barrel. The cats seem to completely ignore this 🙂

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Dear Folks,
Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk. — The Dalai Lama
One who is Venturesome derives great please from the new, and difficult, experience. There is risk in life, and if we can assess it in a Merry light, we may be able to take it as it comes. No matter the experience, we learn from it.
Peace,
Jim
        MERRY
Definitions: (1) full of fun and laughter; lively and mirthful; joyous; (2) marked by cheerfulness or festivity
Synonyms: blithe, jocund, jolly, jovial, sportive, sprightly, vivacious, merry‑andrew
Note: The term “merry‑andrew” <one whose business it is to make fun of others> is said to have originated with one Andrew Borde (c. 1 490-1549 ) , a physician in the time of Henry VIII (1 491-1547 ) , who attracted attention and gained patients by making facetious speeches.
Saying: Gaudeamus igitur (Latin): “Let us then be merry.”
Proverb: A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance. — The Bible, Proverbs 15:13
Mythological Figure: Momus , the Greek god of laughter
        VENTURESOME
Definition: prone to taking risks in spite of possible danger or loss; eager for adventure; daring
Synonyms: bold, brave, courageous, intrepid
Compatible Quality: lucky
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Our bodies are heat-generating machines that depend on oxygen to carry out basic metabolic functions. One of the by-products of this use of oxygen, or “oxidation,” is oxygen molecules that have been transformed into what are known as “free radicals.” Free radicals are generated by the body’s own metabolic systems. In addition, the environment is teeming with them in the form of cigarette smoke, pollution, certain foods, and chemicals. Even your drinking water and the sun that warms your face on an April morning are creating free radicals.
These free radicals, which are constantly proliferating throughout our bodies, are missing an electron. This makes them highly unstable. Driven to restore the missing electron, they seek out replacement molecules from whatever neighboring cells they can attack. Sometimes their targets are DNA, sometimes enzymes, sometimes important proteins in neighboring cells, and sometimes they attack the cell membrane itself. It’s been estimated that each cell experiences ten thousand free-radical hits each day.
Clearly, no living being could survive for long without some powerful system of defense against free radicals. Antioxidants are the foot soldiers in the battle to disarm free radicals in our bodies. They neutralize free radicals, and, in effect, minimize their threat by giving up an electron in an effort to stabilize them. Stabilized, the free radicals are no longer a threat to cellular health.
Our bodies produce many antioxidants on their own, but the antioxidants in foods play a critical role in keeping free radicals in check.
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His was a positive influence. And as the world morns the loss of Stephen Covey we have highlighted his Seven Habits in the hope that you will make them your own. We highly recommend buying his book and digging a bit deeper into the qualities that have changed the lives of so many who value personal growth.
1) Be Proactive
As human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. We have the independent will to make our own choices and decisions, and the responsibility (“the ability to respond”) to make the right choices. You have the freedom to choose your own fate and path, so having the independent will, imagination and self-awareness to make the right move makes you a proactive, and not a reactive, person.
2) Begin With The End In Mind
Mental visualization is extremely important. Covey says that all things are created twice: first, the mental conceptualization and visualization and a second physical, actual creation. Becoming your own creator means to plan and visualize what you’re going to do and what you’re setting out to accomplish and then go out and creating it. Identifying your personal statement and your principles will help.
3) Put First Things First
With your power of independent will, you can create the ending you want to have. Part of that comes with effective time management, starting with matters of importance. Then tasks should be completed based on urgency after you deal with all the important matters. If you deal with crises, pressing problems and deadline-driven projects first, your life will be a lot easier.
4) Think Win/Win
If you believe in a better way to accomplish goals that’s mutually beneficial to all sides, that’s a win/win situation. “All parties feel good about the decision and feel committed to the action plan,” Covey wrote. “One person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others.” If you have integrity and maturity, there’s no reason win/win situations can’t happen all the time.
5) Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood
If you’re a good listener and you take the time to understand a concept, it will help you convey your opinions, plans and goals to others. It starts with communication and strong listening skills, followed by diagnosing the situation and then communicating your solution to others.
6) Synergize
Synergistic communication, according to Covey, is “opening your mind and heart to new possibilities, new alternatives, new options.” This applies to the classroom, the business world and wherever you could apply openness and communication. It’s all about building cooperation and trust.
7) Sharpen The Saw
Sometimes you’re working so hard on the other six habits that you forget about re-energizing and renewing yourself to sharpen yourself for the tasks in front of you. Some sharpening techniques include exercise and nutrition, reading, planning and writing, service and empathy and commitment, study and meditation.

For those considering an in depth exploration of Positive Qualities, we also recommend the work of Jim Downs. His Positive Qualities Chart and the companion book are essential references. The Positive Qualities Company website gives an overview of the attributes embraced by Covey and others making the most of this life.
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