Sunny Saturday GOKI Readers, I hope your weekend is going well and the weather is cooperating wherever you may live.

April 30 & May 1, 2o11 Health Tip Of The Day

TRY RAINFOREST HERBS

Rainforest plants are complex chemical storehouses that contain many undiscovered biodynamic compounds with unrealized potential for use in modern medicine. Following are some of the most important healing medicinal plants, as listed in Herbal Secrets of the Rainforest by Leslie Taylor. You can learn more by reading Kava: Medicine Hunting in Paradise by Chris Kilham, who conducts research on medicinal plants around the world.

Acerola-Contains vitamin C. Promotes a healthy circulatory system.
Boldo-Detoxifies the liver; rids liver of fat. Promotes healthy bile flow.
Cat's Claw-Aids intestinal immune system and chronic arthritis.
Damiana-Used for hormone regulation in men and women.
Guarana-Promotes health and energy.

On a personal note, I can vouch for Boldo, having taken the herb in tea form over the years.

As Always, To Your Health! 

P.S.  I came across this video while searching for more info on rainforest herbs and found this connection with the Royals, Prince Charles, William and Harry, check it out.

Friendly Friday GOKI Readers, so my question to you is: Did you get up early to watch the Royal Wedding of William and Kate, or should I say Catherine, this morning?
 I saw some of the highlights on the news, yes, the bride was lovely, but looking a little too thin in my opinion. Hopefully the media attention will not cause any of the eating disorders that tend to plague celebrities of this status.

April 29, 2011 Health Tip Of The Day

FOLLOW VEGETABLES PROPORTION GUIDELINES

Vegetables are tasty and crunchy, they can add color and flavor to meals. Vegetables are naturally low in calories. They have little to no fat, are cholesterol free, and are packed with fiber. Eating a variety of colors and types ensures a better intake of all these nutrients. The Food Guide Pyramid suggests consuming 3-5 servings from the vegetable group each day.

One serving equals: 1/2 cup chopped raw, non-leafy vegetables; 1/2 cup cooked vegetables; 3/4 cup vegetable juice; 1 cup leafy, raw vegetables; one small baked potato (3 ounces); or 1/2 cup cooked legumes (beans, peas, or lentils). 

As Always, To Your Health!

P.S.  Here's a how-to video for all you folks who want to go a step further and not only eat your veggies, but actually grow your own garden.
   

Thoughtful Thursday GOKI Readers, let me begin by saying that my thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the super cells of tornados that passed through the southern states. I was recently watching ABC News with Diane Sawyer and the correspondent was in Alabama, literally in a mountain of debris that was an entire neighborhood. I can only imagine the feeling of loss these residents are experiencing at this moment.
With so much media attention on the Royal Wedding of William and Kate, we all need to stop and reflect on what is truly important in life.

April 28, 2011 Health Tip Of The Day

EAT A SWEET POTATO

Sweet potatoes have high amounts of beta-carotene, equal to that of carrots; and for 90 calories per sweet potato you get a huge amount of health building nutrients. Beta-carotene is a major fighter against cancer, heart disease, asthma, and rheumtoid arthritis. The bright orange flesh of the sweet potato contains carotenoids that help stabilize your blood sugar and lower insulin resistance, making cells more responsive to insulin, and aiding your metabolism. Sweet potatoes have four times the USDRA ( U.S. Daily Recommended Allowance) for beta-carotene when eaten with the skin on. In fact, it would take twenty cups of broccoli to provide the 38,000 IUs of beta-carotene (vitamin A) available in one cup of cooked sweet potaotes. They are a source of vitamin E, vitamin B6, potassium, and iron, plus they're fat-free. Cup for cup, sweet potatoes have been found to provide as much fiber as oatmeal.  

As Always, To Your Health!

P.S.  F0r all you foodies who like to know as much
info about the foods you eat, check out this video from the Food Network's own Alton Brown. 
   

Wise Wednesday GOKI Readers, Take 2.
This post concerns a subject that has been in the headlines for the last few years, the housing market, more precisely, new home construction, especially "green" homes. With so much focus on the collapse of the banking industry with relation to mortgages, the economy downturn, the increase in gas prices, let alone the cost of living in general.
Every so often someone comes along and causes a stir in his approach to creating affordable housing, the truth is his approach is not necessarily novel, especially in other parts of the world, where shelter is built out of whatever materials can be found. This is what home builder Dan Phillips does.
Here is an aticle and video that was originally posted on AOL Real Estate.

  Home Builder Turns Trash into $10,000 Green Homes 
Candy Evans | Posted Apr 25th 2011 11:59AM  

     Dan Phillips is one of the most unconventional home builders you'll ever find. In fact, he's more an ecological social messiah than a home builder (see video below). For $10,000, he builds affordable homes for low-income people that are attractive, energy-efficient and save landfills. Most builders purchase building materials -- piles of wood, sheet rock, nails, bricks, and tiles -- that are used in construction and then, when the house is finished, the waste is discarded to the dump. Phillips, 66, salvages those materials, hauling them from the trash or even picking them up on the road, to build or remodel homes for low-income buyers.
He says he's just doing what people have been doing for years -- using whatever they can scrounge up to to build shelter.
"And if you ponder what could be used," says the Huntsville, Tex., resident, "then building materials are everywhere."
Phillips himself has been "everywhere": He worked as an intelligence officer in the Army, then as a dance instructor, an antiques dealer and a puzzle maker. Fourteen years ago he started a new career: Creating affordable homes for low-income families out of trash. He is a self-taught carpenter, electrician and plumber. His motivation came from the disparity he saw between landfills overflowing with discarded building materials and a lack of affordable housing. He started Phoenix Commotion, a for-profit company that hopes to solve the world's social problems associated with housing.
Phillips builds homes for as little as $10,000, making them energy-efficient with tight insulation, solar hot water and even a rainwater catchment system. He hires unskilled workers, teaches them marketable construction skills and then helps them find jobs when the project is complete. He keeps the landfills shallow by using truckfuls of leftover building materials such as lumber, tile and granite. Locals even hand off their old fixtures and doors to Phillips when they remodel, which he keeps in a warehouse and distributes free to low-income and needy people and organizations.
Huntsville officials say he is saving costs as well as Mother Earth. In fact, his materials warehouse has inspired a spin-off in Houston, the nation's third largest metropolitan area. The Houston warehouse opened in October, 2009 and within the first six months diverted 200 tons of building materials.
So far, Phillips has built 13 homes that are highly unusual, especially in Huntsville, a town of 35,000 north of Houston whose main industry is the huge high security prison that houses Texas death row inmates.
There's the "Bone House," which features a stairway made of bones, floors covered in wine corks and beer bottle caps, and a skylight made from -- are you ready? -- a Pyrex baking dish.
There's the Storybook House that has that medieval Hansel and Gretel feel. There's the Budweiser House with an exterior of red, white and blue. There's the 600-square-foot Doll House, built for Gloria Rivera, a doughnut-shop cashier who put her own thumbprints in the bright yellow stucco walls, which was constructed of almost 100 percent salvaged, donated or recycled materials.
To Phillips's dismay, about half the homes he has built in Huntsville have been lost to foreclosure. As he told the New York Times in 2009, "You can put someone in a new home, but you cannot give them a new mindset."
Undaunted, he is continuing to spread the story of what he does to others and preach his philosophy: You may not save the world anytime soon, but you can help tidy up your own backyard.

See photos of other amazing green homes here.
Gallery: Slideshow: Incredible Green Homes

Wise Wednesday GOKI Readers, How is your week progressing? Getting a lot of work done, watching your favorites on DWTS, or did you check out the premiere of "The Voice"? Myself, I missed this new show, although I will probably check it out on Hulu. For those of you who may have watched it, was it any good? Were the singers "better" than on American Idol? Well, if you wish you can share your thoughts on that subject below, but now onto the topic of the day.

April 27, 2011 Health Tip Of The Day

ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR FIRST

Don't ever self-prescribe without a professional diagnosis. Even healthy adults should always consult their physician before taking herbs for medicinal purposes. Never discontinue conventional treatment or use any herbs in conjunction with it without the approval of your medical advisor.

Caution: Although many herbs can safely be given to children, always check with a qualified pediatrician before administering herbal remedies to a child. Ditto for pregnant women-never take herbal preparations without consulting your obstetrician. 

As Always, To Your Health!  
  

Thoughtful Tuesday GOKI Readers, another day another tip.

April 26, 2011 Health Tip Of The Day

MUNCH ON PUMPKIN SEEDS

Pumpkin seeds, also known as pepitas, nestle in the core of the pumpkin encased in a white yellow husk. This super seed contains a number of minerals, such as zinc, magnesium, manganese, iron, copper, phosphorous, along with proteins, monounsaturated fat, and the omega fatty acids 3 and 6. Today the super powers of pumpkin seeds have been found to help prevent prostrate cancer in men, protect against heart disease, and also have anti-inflammatory benefits. 

As Always, To Your Health! 

Mindful Monday GOKI Readers, today I am continuing with my mission to offer you one tip a day, these tips being acquired from my desk calender titled: 365 Ways To Boost Your Brain Power, written by Carolyn Dean, M.D., Valentine Dmitriev, Ph.D., and Donna Raskin.

April 25, 2011 Health Tip Of The Day

UNDERSTAND HOW CHLORIDE WORKS

Chloride is another electrolyte that works closely with potassium and sodium. Chloride also helps regulate body fluids in and out of body cells. Chloride joins sodium in surrounding the fluids outside the cells. This mineral is a component of stomach acid that helps with the digestion of food and the absorption of nutrients. Chloride also helps to transmit nerve impulses. As stated earlier, many salt substitiutes also contain chloride in the form of potassium chloride. Deficiencies are rare.

As Always, To Your Health!

Happy Easter Sunday GOKI Readers, I hope and pray all is well wherever you may be today, and should you be celebrating the religious holiday today, that is truly is a happy, healthy and blessed day for you, your family, and friends!

In celebration of this day, as well as a nod to any readers who may have participated in musical theater, be it high school, college or regional, myself, I was involved both in my sophmore as well as my senior year in high school, "Our Town" (part of the chorus) and in "Godspell" (castmember). One of my fondest memories was in performing the musical of "Godspell" with its' great songs and inspiring message.   

There are so many songs to choose from and I debated between the opening song of "Prepare Ye The Way Of The Lord" and the finale, but I chose this song which is within the movie, titled "Bless The Lord". I hope you enjoy it. 

Soulful Saturday GOKI Readers, I hope all is well, and that everyone who has been preparing for their holidays this week are not experiencing any delays or setbacks to their final destinations.

April 23 & 24, 2011 Brain Boost Tip Of The Day

EXPRESS GRATITUDE

Focus on what you love about your life and your emotional brain fires up. You are more coordinated. Write out five things you're grateful for today. Focus on what is making you feel lucky and good about your life. This trains your brain to focus on the love and pleasant experiences in your life. Do it long enough and you'll effectively create a positive groove in your brain that will create ripple effects in your life.  

As Always, To Your Health!

P.S.  Here is a video to help you in expressing your gratitude.

Good Friday GOKI Readers, for all my readers who are of the Christian faith, and who today may have attended church services to commemorate the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion, I wanted to share with you this video of a renditon of the Prayer Of St. Francis, better known as, Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace.

There have been many versions made of this song by various artists, however, I was looking for one with the lyrics added, which, I believe, are so pertinent to the times we are living in now, possibly more than ever before.

Take a moment to contemplate the words as they show on your screen and reflect their significance in your own life; should this at all resonate with you, do share this with your family and friends, even with those you are not so friendly with.
After all, is that not what this day truly means, if we are to call ourselves Christians?