By Elson Haas, MD

It seems like stress is just an unavoidable part of today’s fast-paced, competitive world. But is it really? Stress is the body’s instinctive response to external environmental cues, as well as to one’s inner thoughts and feelings. It is how you react to perceived danger — the “fight or flight” response, for example. But you do have some control over how stress operates in your life. Below, see the 7 different types of stress and read on for 9 methods for combating it.

1. PHYSICAL: intense exertion, manual labor, lack of sleep, travel
2. CHEMICAL: drugs, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and environmental pollutants such as cleaning chemicals or pesticides
3. MENTAL: perfectionism, worry, anxiety, long work hours
4. EMOTIONAL: anger, guilt, loneliness, sadness, fear
5. NUTRITIONAL: food allergies, vitamin and mineral deficiency
6. TRAUMATIC: injuries or burns, surgery, illness, infections, extreme temperatures
7. PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL: troubled relationships, financial or career pressures, challenges with life goals, spiritual alignment and general state of happiness

There are plenty of effective (and mostly pleasant) things you can do to minimize and manage stress. Here are some of my recommendations:

1. HAVE MORE FUN. Schedule in and actively pursue activities that you enjoy and that help you relax.
2. EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS. Emotions need regular venting and evolution. Stuck, unexpressed emotions are the building blocks of pain and illness.
3. GET ENOUGH SLEEP. Poor sleep habits interfere with your body’s ability to rest, heal and recharge. If you have trouble sleeping, seek out the causes and get some help addressing them!
4. EXERCISE. Regular physical exercise is one of the best ways to clear away tension and build energy. It also helps you to adopt a better life perspective and to feel more in control of your circumstances.
5. PRACTICE RELAXATION EXERCISES. Breathing, meditation and visualization exercises help you let go of mental worries and allow you to experience precious moments of calm and inner peace. I believe that this quiet, “nothing happening” space is where the healing process begins.
6. DEVELOP GOOD RELATIONSHIPS. It is important to have authentic friends in whom you can confide and find support. Those who love and accept you — people who will listen and advise, but won’t judge — are your true friends. It can also be very fulfilling to be a true friend to someone else.
7. EXPERIENCE LOVE AND SATISFYING SEX.  A primary relationship that’s loving, sensual and sexual can also be a major stress reducer. Having an understanding, accepting companion to receive your hardworking body and mind can be the best therapy available. That said, if you do not currently have such a relationship in your life, turn to the other helpful therapies. If you are lacking touch, consider getting massage or another form of healing bodywork (you can always trade hand and neck rubs with a friend).
8. CHANGE PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES. When ideas or views are not serving you, it’s wise to examine and adapt them. It’s important to learn to respond to life’s situations and not just react. This is a true “response-ability”! Hanging onto frustrations, holding grudges, and playing the victim/blame game are not in your health’s best interest. When you can, step back from the little struggles and look at the big picture. See challenges as opportunities for growth and learning. Many people find that applying spiritual principles to sticky life situations offers direction as well as greater peace of mind and heart. But whether it’s a spiritual practice or a daily yoga or journaling ritual, do what you need to do in order to find and experience self-love, self-respect and true self-worth.
9. EAT RIGHT. Eating nutrient-poor foods that are high in sugar or filled with chemicals and unhealthy fats puts an unnecessary stress on your system, reducing your immunity, overloading your liver and forcing your body to work overtime just to maintain balance. If you use up too many of your body’s resources on handling high-stress food-and-drink operations, there’s not much left over for emergencies. Eating nourishing food, on the other hand, supports your body’s natural immune and healing systems, helping your body to cope successfully with other sources of stress.

Experience Life magazine is an award-winning health and fitness publication that aims to empower people to live their best, most authentic lives, and challenges the conventions of hype, gimmicks and superficiality in favor of a discerning, whole-person perspective. Visit www.experiencelifemag.com to learn more and to sign up for the Experience Life newsletter, or to subscribe to the print or digital version.

To me, healthy eating simply means removing, or limiting the foods in your diet that could be harming you and eating enough of the foods that contain the nutrients essential to your health. It is always preferable to get your nutrients from food itself rather than supplements, although replenishing nutrients using supplements is necessary, too. Most importantly, eating should be a pleasurable experience. If you are not enjoying your meals because you feel deprived or bored, your diet is not right for you. There is no one right diet, or way to eat, different people thrive on different foods.

1. Try doing some of your shopping at local farmers markets if possible. Here is a great link to find one near you.

2. Never go shopping when you are feeling hungry. This will help prevent impulse buying – usually something junky – to satisfy your hunger.

3. Most of your shopping should be in the outer aisles – the produce, the meats, fish, eggs. The inner aisles are usually full of processed foods (which you want to avoid) – the ones full of sugar, trans fats and other preservatives that extends their shelf life. Processed foods also tend to have a lot of the healthy protective micronutrients missing and are high in sodium and low in fiber.

4. Buy fresh food whenever possible – the fresher the food, the more nutritious.

5. Buy organic fruits and vegetables whenever you can and if possible, locally grown. Locally grown fruits and vegetables are less likely to have been sprayed with pesticides and chemicals. It’s also a great way to support local farmers.

6. Choose the most colorful fruits and vegetables, the more varied the colors, the better. This way you will get as many different phytonutrients as possible.

7. Choose simple whole foods – those closest to mother-nature. The more refined or processed, the less the nutritional value.

8. As a general rule, if there are ingredients that you cannot recognize, pronounce or spell, you should not be putting those into your body. And no cartoon characters either.

9. Become a label reader – though most of the foods you should be eating do not require labels. If you do buy packaged or boxed foods, know what is in them.

10. Be wary of “all natural” labels. Although I recommend an all natural way of eating, “all natural” on a label is often meaningless and deceptive and a guise for hidden sugars.

11. Look for sugars in all its different forms on the label. A variety of different versions of refined sugars are often used to trick you into thinking that there is not much sugar in the product. Here are some of the different versions of refined sugar – cane sugar, brown sugar, beet sugar, date sugar, grape sugar, glucose, sucrose, maltose, maltodextrin, dextran, dextrose, sorbitol, corn syrup, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, corn sugar, fruit juice, fruit juice concentrate, barley malt, caramel, carob syrup and sorghum syrup.

12. Look for the number of grams of sugar on a label – 4 grams is equivalent to 1 teaspoon. If possible buy foods that contain 3 grams or less.

13. Try to buy grass feds meats and free range chickens. Organic meats and poultry without hormones would be next best and if you cannot find them, then chose lean cuts of meats and remove the skin from chicken as this is where toxins are stored.

14. Limit buying fish with a high mercury content. Choosing ocean caught fish is generally better than farm raised fish which are usually full of PCB’s.

15. Lastly, bring your own shopping bags with you to the supermarket.

Follow Dr. Frank Lipman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lipmo .

Frank Lipman MD, is the founder and director of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in NYC a center whose emphasis is on preventive health care and patient education. His personal blend of Western and Eastern Medicine combined with the many other complimentary modalities he has studied has helped thousands of people recover their energy and zest for life. He is the author of the recent Revive: Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again (2009) and Total Renewal; 7 key steps to Resilience, Vitality and Long-Term Health (2003).

Who wasn’t inspired by the impressive efforts put forth by the Olympic athletes over the past few weeks? There were the amazing performances of the American athletes who pulled together for the highest medal draw at the Games. Canadian athletes broke Olympic history by having the highest number of gold medals in a single Olympics. Slovenian athlete Petra Majdic won a bronze medal even after she suffered a massive fall and the resulting broken ribs and punctured lung. And countless other athletes demonstrated near superhuman speed, endurance, and spirit. Other than the obvious drive they must have, what foods fuel these incredible feats? And, which foods can we eat more of to help us experience the best strength, endurance, and disease resistance?

Here are the top 10 picks that show the greatest antioxidant capacity, based on the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scores by the USDA. Athletes are particularly prone to free radical damage, making the foods high on the ORAC chart excellent choices for them. But, these foods are not just good for athletes. We can all benefit from eating more of the top 10 foods on the ORAC chart. The number in brackets after each food item is the ORAC score it obtained…

Unsweetened dark chocolate (14479): Anyone who ever said healthy eating couldn’t taste great hadn’t considered the antioxidant capacity of dark chocolate. For anyone who is used to sweetened chocolate, it may be an adjustment to taste the bitterness of dark chocolate. Eating one square of baker’s chocolate daily offers tremendous antioxidant powers.

Elderberries (10655): Not only do raw elderberries rate high on the ORAC scale, they have proven antiviral ability, making them an especially good choice if you’re fighting off a cold or flu virus, or a more potent virus like HIV or Epstein Barr (linked to chronic fatigue syndrome). One half cup of raw elderberries was the amount used to determine its impressive ORAC score. It may be difficult to find elderberries in some communities. They are also available in dietary supplement form.

Apples (Red Delicious, 7781 and Granny Smith, 7094): Maybe there is truth to the old adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” One raw red delicious or Granny Smith apple daily packs a potent punch against free radicals.

Pomegranate Juice (100 percent pure pomegranate juice, 5923): For me, the taste of pure pomegranate juice rivals chocolate for the top-tasting antioxidant food on this list. As with all juices, be sure to dilute it 50:50 with water and sip slowly to prevent a sugar rush.

Prunes (dried plums 1/2 cup uncooked, 5700) and Prune Juice (one cup, 5212): Not just good for keeping the bowels moving, prunes are excellent superfoods with the ability to destroy age- and disease-related free radicals. Be sure to choose prunes that are free of sulphites. And, dilute juice 50:50 with water.

Red Wine (5693): While red wine is not the best choice for everyone (those suffering from brain disorders, hormonal imbalances, diabetes, among others should avoid alcohol), 5 ounces of red wine ranked high on the USDA ORAC table. Grapes and grape juice are an excellent alternative to red wine for those who want to avoid the alcohol or sulphites.

Artichokes (boiled 1/2 medium, 5650): Barely eaten in North America, these Mediterranean staples are a delicious and nutritious addition to any diet. I found 20 excellent recipes on Canadian Living’s site if you aren’t sure how to add artichokes to your diet.

Cranberries (1/2 cup raw 5271): It can be tricky to add raw, unsweetened cranberries to your diet, but these nutritional powerhouses are worth the effort. They are particularly good for anyone suffering from a urinary tract infection thanks to their proven antibacterial properties. I juice or blend them with some apple and add a bit of water to reap their benefits.

Pears (one medium, 5235): Not only are pears high on the ORAC scale, but like apples they contain an important type of fiber called pectin which has been proven to bind to harmful heavy metals in the body to escort them out through the bowels.

Pecans (1 ounce, 5086): Choose raw, unsalted pecans to reap the best antioxidant powers of pecans. Pecans are also high in the B-complex vitamins: thiamine, pantothenic acid, folate, and B-6, all of which are important for energy levels and balanced moods.

While few of us will have the opportunity to partake in the Olympics, we can all enjoy high performance foods that help us live life to the fullest.

Copyright Michelle Schoffro Cook.

Michelle Schoffro Cook, RNCP, ROHP, DAc, DNM, is a best-selling and six-time book author and doctor of natural medicine, whose works include: The Life Force Diet, The Ultimate pH Solution, and The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan. Learn more at: www.TheLifeForceDiet.com.

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, seven 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. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

Caring.com was created to help you care for your aging parents, grandparents, and other loved ones. As the leading destination for eldercare resources on the Internet, our mission is to give you the information and services you need to make better decisions, save time, and feel more supported. Caring.com provides the practical information, personal support, expert advice, and easy-to-use tools you need during this challenging time.

Source: Melanie Haiken, Caring.com

Do soft drinks cause pancreatic cancer? Does chocolate prevent stroke? Two nutrition studies just swept across the newspapers and airwaves. Did you see them? Here are the short-and-sweet headline versions:

1. Soda pop causes pancreatic cancer.
2. Chocolate prevents stroke.

These studies got a lot of attention because these are popular foods. One study warns of a serious disease we all fear, while the other gives you another reason to eat something you want to eat anyway. But are they true? To be honest, even after taking a look at the actual data, I’m still not sure, and I’m not sure the experts know either. But they make sense and fit with what we already know about nutrition, so they do make important points.

The Problem with Soda
Most soft drinks are made with highly concentrated sweeteners, like high-fructose corn sweetener. Even the “healthier” versions made with good old-fashioned sugar deliver it in a highly concentrated dose. The job of the pancreas is to secrete insulin when needed to process sugar, so when you hit your body with a wallop of sugar, the pancreas goes into overdrive. Experts at the University of Minnesota followed 60,000 people in China and found a link between those who drank large quantities of soda and the incidence of pancreatic cancer. The researchers theorize that stressing the pancreas repeatedly with high doses of sugar leads to inflammation, which in turn sets up a vulnerability to pancreatic cancer.

Their study found that people who drank two or more sodas a week had an 87 percent increase in their risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Since pancreatic cancer is rare, and the overall risk of developing it is low, even an 87 percent increase is not as big as it sounds. But pancreatic cancer is a particularly deadly type of cancer, killing most of those who get it within a few years. So protecting our pancreas is something we all need to take seriously.

Is Chocolate Really Good for You?
Yes, say researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, who released data showing that dark chocolate lowers your risk of stroke, and lessens the likelihood of death after a stroke, as well. It’s not the chocolate that’s so healthy; it’s a flavonoid called epicatechin, which is present in the original cocoa beans from which chocolate is made. (It’s easy to forget that chocolate comes originally from plants.) The plant-based chemical relaxes blood vessels and clears cholesterol, easing blood flow to and from the heart.

Flavonoids are present primarily in dark chocolate; the process used to create milk chocolate dilutes them. So the M&Ms and Hershey’s milk chocolate kisses don’t count.

But here’s the rub: To offset the bitterness of the cacao beans, chocolate contains a lot of sugar, and sugar’s not good for you. So yes, chocolate is good for you, but only dark chocolate. And it’s only good for you in small doses, so don’t overwhelm your body with a blood sugar spike. (See previous item about soda pop, insulin, and the health of your pancreas.)

So What’s the Answer? Moderation in All Things.
Limit yourself to the occasional soda — one a week or less. Drink water or fruit juice the rest of the time; the study found no link between juice and pancreatic cancer. Even better, drink milk — it builds bone and contains vitamin D, which is turning out to be the greatest cancer-preventative of all time.

Allow yourself a two-inch square (3-4 ounces) of dark chocolate a day; it makes a great late-afternoon pick-me-up. Then put away the rest of the bar and get out the fruit. This month has also seen the publication of studies demonstrating that blueberries prevent colon cancer, mangoes and pomegranates prevent breast cancer, and the combination of yogurt and blueberries together cures intestinal disorders.

None of this is news, of course; experts have been saying for years that blueberries and other colorful fruits are rich in the phytochemicals that prevent cancer. But the evidence just keeps mounting, with new antioxidants isolated and documented in lab studies each year. I’m sure next week will give us a new ingredient to add to our fruit salads.

Caring.com was created to help you care for your aging parents, grandparents, and other loved ones. As the leading destination for eldercare resources on the Internet, our mission is to give you the information and services you need to make better decisions, save time, and feel more supported. Caring.com provides the practical information, personal support, expert advice, and easy-to-use tools you need during this challenging time.

By Steve Savage, Green Options

The industry that has been providing us with high quality coffee may seem to be doing well today, but it actually faces a combination of issues that may well render our lattes and cappuccinos a very expensive indulgence in the future.  We will probably stop worrying about whether it is “Fair Trade” or “Organic” and worry about whether we can get it at all.

“Arabica” Coffee - the Good Stuff

Any coffee aficionado will tell you that ‘arabica‘ coffee (Caffea arabica) is far better than the lowly ‘robusta’ coffee (Caffea canephora) that made up the Folgers-style “cup of Joe” that I grew up drinking.  These are actually two different species of coffee and arabica only does well in a limited range of environments - mainly consisting of higher elevations in the tropics. At lower elevations the pests (insects and diseases that ‘robusta’ can tolerate), devastate the more delicate, arabica types.

Coffee Production Problem One

The places where arabica coffee can grow are shrinking. Even subtle temperature increases caused by climate change raise the elevation limit for successful arabica cultivation. Mountains get smaller as you go higher so you can imagine the issue. There is less and less land suitable for arabica production. If this was the only problem it might be fixable, but it isn’t coffee’s only challenge.

Coffee Production Problem Two

Arabica coffee production is not well suited to mechanization, both because it is often grown on difficult terrain, and because it doesn’t have a normal, “crop” cycle. Coffee has many “flushes” of flowers triggered throughout the year by precipitation. At any given time there are coffee berries of different levels of maturity on every branch. That is why it needs to be hand-harvested if you want good quality. That feature of the coffee industry puts it on a collision course with demographic trends in many coffee producing regions of the world. As fertility rates fall and populations age, there are going to be less and less people who are able or willing to do this sort of difficult, low-paying work. One major coffee company commissioned a survey of coffee growers in Central America asking what changes they would like to see to make coffee growing better. The overwhelming response was the desire to grow something other than coffee. “Fair Trade” or not, most people who grow coffee are not thrilled about doing it and there are going to be fewer and fewer folks willing to make that effort in the future. So this part of the coffee industry is not only facing a smaller growing area, it is facing a lack of growers.

Why Plant Breeding Won’t Save the Day

If you have read my previous blogs you know that I am a big believer in technological solutions to agricultural problems or challenges.  In this case I don’t believe that will happen. My friend, John Vendeland, explained the problem to me (he should know, he got an achievement award from the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) for his work on developing the coffee industry in Kuawi in the 1980s). John explained that while it is possible to use some rather extreme “conventional breeding” methods to move pest resistance genes from ‘robusta’ coffee to arabica lines (it requires chromosome doubling of the ‘robusta’ and many back-crossings), the process is so slow that it won’t really help. The old picture below is of John with Dr. Alcides Carvahlo, a very influential coffee breeder who did this sort of difficult work for his entire, 52 year career. He died in 1993 and some of what he was working on has still not been commercialized because the process takes more than 20 years. Breeders are still working, but these issues are arising too fast.

Could Biotech Help?

John was asked to give a talk to the SCAA last year about the potential of biotechnology to help the coffee industry (an industry that pledged not to allow any biotech back in the 1990s). His message was blunt. “Don’t either worry about biotech coming in to the coffee industry or hope that it will.” He explained that no company is going to invest the $30-60 million it would take to do the research and regulatory work to commercialize biotech coffee because it just doesn’t “pencil.” Yes, there is a lot of coffee grown (>10 million hectares), but very little is planted in a given year, and maybe 50 to 100 ha would be the accessible part of the market in a given year.  At that rate there would be no way to recover the investment.

Not surprisingly, none of the companies that develop GMO crops are even thinking about coffee today. It isn’t even clear whether it would be possible to deal with arabica’s pest or ripening issues with transgenic methods. In any case it does not matter because it isn’t going to happen. That conclusion would stand even without factoring-in the “marketing uncertainty” of GMO coffee.

What To Do as a Coffee Drinker?

I wouldn’t start hoarding supplies of premium coffee beans in your freezer. These are trends that are going to play-out over decades, not years. Even if it happens faster, life could go on without good coffee, right? (well, maybe not in Seattle…)

You are welcome to comment on this post or to email me directly at feedback.sdsavage@gmail.com.

Green Options Media is a network of environmentally-focused blogs providing users with the information needed to make sustainable choices. Written by experienced professionals, Green Options Media's blogs engage visitors with authoritative content, compelling discussions, and actionable advice. We invite anyone with questions, or simply curiosity, to add their voices to the community, and share their approaches to achieving abundance.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Is there a holiday that causes more anxiety than St. Valentine's Day?
The pressure is on to come up with something decadent, romantic, luxurious...but all of that can be pretty expensive. How about something different this manufactured holiday? Instead of overpriced flowers and cards, costly boxes of candy, or an hourlong wait for a pricey restaurant meal, how about a homemade card and a home-cooked meal, eaten by candlelight?
Make it extra special by topping it off with something sweet: Here are some recipes -- some chocolate, some not -- that should do the trick.
--Rene Lynch

Read the rest

Ahhh, Feburary 14. The day of love. The day that Cupid works for all year. The day Hallmark cashes in on our emotions.

For some people, February 14 is just another day. And this year, just another Sunday. Whether you’re indifferent, upset, or excited, there are some things you just shouldn’t do on this lovers’ holiday:

1. Go on a first date.
I would like to shake my fist at whoever suggests this as a way to spend Valentine’s Day. First dates are hard enough as it is without the added pressure of taking place on a holiday like this. Chances are you’ll either spend the evening with false expectations, hoping he’s “The One,” or you’ll spend the night miserable and wishing you were home in your pajamas. Valentine’s Day is NOT the day to take a dating risk. Reschedule for the next day and question his sanity if going out on Valentine’s Day was his idea.

2. Complain.
There is nothing worse than hearing someone spend all day complaining about their lack of prospects, heartache, or ticking biological clock. Save yourself some dignity, throw out a few snarky jokes about being single if you must, and then save it for your journal. Negativity begets negativity and you will feel the effects of being a downer all day. And so will everyone around you.

3. Call your ex.
ABORT! I repeat, ABORT! If you are considering this as you look tearfully out your bedroom window with The Holiday soundtrack playing in the background, ABORT! On a day like this it’s natural to have your thoughts drift to the last person you were with, but you broke up for a reason and even Cupid can’t create a day big enough to change that. Avoid the Valentine’s Day emotional hangover and don’t attempt a reconnect.

4. Reenact MTV Spring Break.
The last thing you need to do is drink your way out of this holiday. While it is perfectly acceptable (and fun!) to dress up and go out with your girlfriends on V-Day, don’t channel your inner “Senior year spring break.” Remember, this is just another day on the calendar and you taking four tequila shots is not going to fix anything about your love life.

5. Take yourself for granted.
This is a big one. Do whatever it takes to get perspective on life amidst the flower, candy, and romance-induced mayhem. Your worth and value as a human being and sister, daughter, friend is in no way influenced by your relationship status. Keep your chin up and focus on what you have accomplished this year or what you hope to accomplish in the future. You are loved and valued for more than your ability to snag a significant other.

6. Be alone.
The chances of the above “not to-dos” occurring is exponentially higher if you’re alone on Valentine’s Day. Gather with friends over dinner. Get some pals and go see a flick. Open a bottle of champagne with your best friend. Do whatever it takes to surround yourself with love. This is one of the best ways to ensure you spend the night having fun and focusing on the wonderful, non-romantic loves in your life.

7. Overlook the good in your life.
This one goes along with the “taking yourself for granted” no-no. Although it’s easy to be swept up by romantic comedies, candlelight dinners, past lovers, roses, chocolates, teddy bears, and diamonds, there is much in life that is equally–if not more–important. Try making a list of blessings in your life. From “roof over my head” to “amazing nail polish collection,” pen all of the things in your life that make it excellent. We need reminders of this every day and not just Valentine’s Day.

At the end of the day, what really matters is a healthy perspective on February 14 and all that comes along with it. In no way do I mean to imply that this should be a day of doom and gloom to those of us who are not currently in a relationship, but I offer this list as an opportunity to maintain perspective amidst a wildly commercial day focused on romantic love. Cheers to a day full of love–in whatever way it reveals itself to you!

At DivineCaroline.com, women come together to learn from experts in the fields, of health, sustainability, and culture; to reflect on shared experiences; and to express themselves by writing and publishing stories about anything that matters to them. Here, real women publish like real pros. Together, with our staff writers, they’re discussing all facets of women’s lives from relationships and careers, to travel and healthy living. So come discover, read, learn, laugh and connect at DivineCaroline.com.

By Marco Visscher, Ode Magazine

Could changing cafeteria menus be the solution to cutting crime and violence?

At first glance there seems nothing special about the students at this high school in Appleton, Wisconsin. They appear calm, interact comfortably with one another, and are focused on their schoolwork. No apparent problems.

And yet a couple years ago, there was a police officer patrolling the halls at this school for developmentally challenged students. Many of the students were troublemakers, there was a lot of fighting with teachers and some of the kids carried weapons.

Several years later, the atmosphere at the school had changed profoundly. Fights and offensive behaviour are extremely rare and the police officer is no longer needed. What happened? The vending machines have been replaced by water coolers. The lunchroom took hamburgers and French fries off the menu, making room for fresh vegetables and fruits, whole-grain bread and a salad bar.

Is that all? Yes, that’s all. Principal LuAnn Coenen is still surprised when she speaks of the “astonishing” changes at the school since she decided to drastically alter the offering of food and drinks eight years ago. “I don’t have the vandalism. I don’t have the litter. I don’t have the need for high security.”

It is tempting to dismiss what happened at Appleton Central Alternative as the wild fantasies of health-food and vitamin-supplement fanatics. After all, scientists have never empirically investigated the changes at the school. Healthy nutrition—especially the effects of vitamin and mineral supplements—appears to divide people into opposing camps of fervent believers, who trust the anecdotes about diets changing people’s lives, and equally fervent sceptics, who dismiss these stories as hogwash.

And yet it is not such a radical idea, that food can affect the way our brains work—and thus our behaviour. The brain is an active machine: It only accounts for two percent of our body weight, but uses a whopping 20 percent of our energy. In order to generate that energy, we need a broad range of nutrients—vitamins, minerals and unsaturated fatty acids—that we get from nutritious meals. The question is: What are the consequences when we increasingly shovel junk food into our bodies?

We already know obesity can result if we eat too much junk food, but there may be greater consequences of unhealthy diets than extra weight around our middles. Do examples like the high school in Wisconsin point to a direct connection between nutrition and behaviour? Is it simply coincidence that the increase in aggression, crime and social incivility in Western society has paralleled a spectacular change in our diet? Could there be a link between the two?

Stephen Schoenthaler, a criminal-justice professor at California State University in Stanislaus, has proven that reducing the sugar and fat intake in our daily diets leads to higher IQs and better grades in school. When Schoenthaler supervised a change in meals served at 803 schools in low-income neighbourhoods in New York City, the number of students passing final exams rose from 11 percent below the national average to five percent above. He summarizes his findings this way: “Having a bad diet right now is a better predictor of future violence than past violent behaviour.”

Recent research by Bernard Gesch, physiologist at the University of Oxford, showed similar conclusions. In a prison for men between the ages of 18 and 21 in England’s Buckinghamshire, 231 volunteers were divided into two groups: One was given nutrition supplements with their daily needs for vitamins, minerals and fatty acids; the other group got placebos. Neither the prisoners, nor the guards, nor the researchers at the prison knew who took fake supplements and who got the real thing.

The researchers, then tallied the number of times the participants violated prison rules, and compared it to the same data that had been collected in the months leading up to the nutrition study. The prisoners given supplements for four consecutive months committed an average of 26 percent fewer violations compared to the preceding period. Those given placebos showed no marked change in behaviour. For serious breaches of conduct, particularly the use of violence, the number of violations decreased 37 percent for the men given nutrition supplements, while the placebo group showed no change.

The experiment was carefully constructed, ruling out the possibility that ethnic, social, psychological or other variables could affect the outcome. Prisons are popular places to conduct studies for good reason: There is a strict routine; participants sleep and exercise the same number of hours every day and eat the same things at the same time. Says John Copas, professor in statistical methodology at the University of Warwick: “This is the only trial I have ever been involved with from the social sciences which is designed properly and with a good analysis.” As a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, Gesch provides convincing scientific proof that poor nutrition plays a role in triggering aggressive behaviour.

Indeed, the study proves what every parent already knows. Serve soda and candy at a children’s birthday party and you’ll get loud, hyperactive behaviour followed by tears and tantrums.

It works like this: Blood-sugar levels jump suddenly after you eat sugar, which initially gives you a burst of fresh energy. But then your blood sugar falls, and you become lethargic and sleepy. In an attempt to prevent blood-sugar levels from falling too low, your body produces adrenalin, which makes you irritable and explosive.

If these findings prove true, and they do look convincing, then we should be sounding an alarm about good nutrition. What are the long-term implications of the fact that the quality of our farmland has sharply declined in recent decades? The use of artificial fertilizer for years on end has diminished the levels of important minerals like magnesium, chromium and selenium, therefore present in much lower concentrations in our food.

The link between food and health is better understood by most people than the relationship between food and behaviour, so health has become the driving force behind many public campaigns to combat overweight. A discussion has arisen in a number of countries about introducing a tax on junk food, the proceeds of which would be spent on promoting healthy eating.

Yet with crime a major political issue almost everywhere, it’s surprising more leaders have not embraced the idea of healthy eating as a recipe for safe streets and schools. After Gesch published his findings in 2002 in The British Journal of Psychiatry, the study was picked up by European and American media. The newspaper headlines were clear: “Healthy eating can cut crime”; “Eat right or become a criminal”; “Youth crime linked to consumption of junk food”; “Fighting crime one bite at a time.” Then the media went deafeningly silent.

Perhaps that’s because the relationship between nutrition and violence continues to be controversial in established professional circles. During their educations, doctors and psychologists are given scant training in nutrition, criminologists provided little awareness of biochemistry, and nutritionists offered no hands-on experience with lawbreakers or the mentally ill. As a result, the link between food and behaviour winds up in no-man’s-land. Even researchers interested in the subject are discouraged—not least of all because you can’t get a patent on natural nutrients like vitamins and minerals. Far more effort goes into pharmaceutical, rather than dietary, solutions.

The Netherlands currently is the only country where Gesch’s research is being explored. Plans to test the findings about nutrition supplements and behaviour further are being set up in 14 prisons, with nearly 500 subjects. Ap Zaalberg, leading the project for the Dutch Ministry of Justice, remembers how he and his colleagues reacted when they first heard of Gesch’s study. “Disbelief,” he states resolutely. “This was surely not true. But when I looked into the issue more closely, I landed in a world of hard science.”

Zaalberg knows diet is not the only factor that determines whether someone exhibits aggressive behaviour. “Aggression is not only determined by nutrition,” he states. “Background and drug use, for example, also play a role. Yet I increasingly see the introduction of vitamins and minerals as a very rational approach.”

“Most criminal-justice systems assume that criminal behaviour is entirely a matter of free will,” Gesch says. “But how exactly can you exercise free will without involving your brain? How exactly can the brain function without an adequate nutrient supply? Nutrition in fact could be a major player and, for sure, we have seriously underestimated its importance. I think nutrition may actually be one of the most straightforward factors to change antisocial behaviour. And we know that it’s not only highly effective, it’s also cheap and humane.”

Cheap it is. Natural Justice, the British charity institution chaired by Gesch, which is researching “the origins of anti-social and criminal behaviour,” estimates it would cost 3.5 million pounds (5.3 million euros or 6.4 million U.S. dollar) to provide supplements to all the prisoners in Great Britain. That is only a fraction of the current prison budget of 2 billion pounds (3 billion euros or 3.6 billion U.S. dollar).

It seems the link between nutrition and antisocial behaviour shows great promise as both political issue and human-interest story. How much longer will politicians concentrate on police and stricter surveillance as the answer to crime? When will they realize healthy food can help create a healthier society? After all, people would not only be more productive, but the cost of health care and of the criminal-justice system would decline. As is the case for a man’s love, the way to safety may be through the stomach.

As Bernard Gesch notes, “Few scientists are not convinced that diet is fundamental for the development of the human brain. Is it plausible that in the last 50 years we could have made spectacular changes to the human diet without any implications for the brain? I don’t think so. Now, evidence is mounting that putting poor fuel into the brain significantly affects social behaviour. We need to know more about the composition of the right nutrients. It could be the recipe for peace.”

Ode, the magazine for Intelligent Optimists, is an international independent journal that publishes positive news, about the people and ideas that are changing our world for the better. Click here for your FREE issue.

(CNN) -- Eating a diet rich in healthy fats and limiting dairy and meat could do more than keep your heart healthier. It could also help keep you thinking clearly.

New research shows that sticking to the Mediterranean diet, previously shown to reduce heart and other health issues, also may help lower the risk of having small areas of dead tissue linked to thinking problems. Known as brain infarcts, they're involved in vascular dementia, the second most common form of dementia, after Alzheimer's disease.

"We've got these diseases of aging that cause disability, cost a ton of money to treat and  manage, and wreck people's lives," said Dr. Gregory Cole, a professor of medicine and neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in this new study. "You've got to get in there and figure out what actually works for prevention, and not have people guessing."

A Mediterranean diet includes a lot of fruit, vegetables and fish, olive oil, legumes and cereals, and fewer dishes containing dairy, meat, poultry, and saturated fatty acids than other diets. It also involves small to moderate amounts of alcohol.

The study relates diet to strokes, said Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, a neurologist at Columbia University Medical Center and lead author of the study. The research will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in April.

An infarct, a kind of stroke, happens when the passage of blood is slowed or completely blocked by clotting. This study looked at people who had never had a clinical stroke, but may have had smaller strokes that went unnoticed. An MRI brain scan can detect these small strokes.

The study looked at 712 people over the age of 65 living in New York. Participants were asked about their diet and then, about six years later, underwent an MRI. In general, dietary patterns are consistent for at least seven or eight years, Scarmeas said.

Researchers found that people who most closely followed a Mediterranean-like diet were 36 percent less likely to have areas of brain damage, compared with those whose eating habits were furthest from the diet.

The study shows association, not causation, meaning there could be some other factors linking the Mediterranean diet to resilience against this form of brain damage. For example, other research has found that higher adherence to the diet seems to protect against hypertension, also associated with these brain problems.

But in this new research, when the scientists controlled for hypertension, the diet was still linked to a lower risk of brain damage. It is possible that the diet protects the brain vessels themselves, irrespective of other problems such as high blood pressure, Scarmeas said.

The participants who followed the Mediterranean diet the least had an increased risk for having strokes that was similar to people with hypertension. Those who most strongly adhered to the dietary regimen had a level of protection similar to people who did not have hypertension.

Scarmeas' previous research has shown that the Mediterranean diet may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Looking at 2,250 individuals from the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project, researchers found a 40 percent lower risk among those who stuck to this diet, scientists reported in the Annals of Neurology in 2006. The people involved in the brain infarcts study are a subset of that original group.

As many as 2.4 million to 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, according to the National Institute on Aging. Between 1 and 4 percent of people over the age of 65 have vascular dementia, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Other studies have suggested that this food regimen may help in preventing second heart attacks, lowering cancer risk and stopping the need for diabetes drugs in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The new study "gives you better evidence than ever that this is actually protective, and protective against the development of dementia," Cole said.

The risk factors for vascular disease overlap with those of Alzheimer's disease, he said. These include high blood pressure, high-fat diets, type 2 diabetes and low folate intake. People who have both Alzheimer's and vascular disease -- a condition called mixed dementia -- have a more rapid progression of Alzheimer's disease, Cole said.

A subsequent issue to address is whether a person must follow the entire Mediterranean diet in order to reap these benefits, or whether there are portions of it that contribute positive effects, Cole said. It would be easier for people to focus on adding particular elements to their diets -- for example, by taking fish oil capsules -- rather than trying to readjust their eating habits altogether.

Cole's own research deals with fish oil, which is relevant because fish is a component in the Mediterranean diet. The bottom line for dementia is that fish oil may help in the very early stages, but more research must be done to confirm this, he said.

In a study, his group found that DHA fatty acids from fish oil could delay or deter the onset of Alzheimer's disease in rats or older mice that had been genetically altered to develop the condition. Also, a recent study found that the DHA component of fish oil from algae helped people with minor memory impairment, but this needs to be replicated in order to be more definitive, he said.

When Scarmeas' group looked at the individual components of the diet, they found a stronger association between the overall diet and brain damage prevention than with any individual food in the diet, suggesting that the combination all of the elements may be producing the effect, Scarmeas said.

Researchers will continue to follow the participants in the study and check in on them every year and a half, Scarmeas said.

The next step would be to have controlled experiments concerning food and dementia in which participants are randomly assigned to follow a diet, Cole said. It is complicated in general to compare the benefits of a particular diet with the benefits of not following a different food regimen.