Vitamin C Day

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By Diane Forrest, RN

It was in 1984 when I first became introduced to Vitamin C.  I was never much of a fan of vitamins.  When I was younger my mother used to give me these multivitamins, not the good chewable Flintstone vitamins, but these little orange multivitamins from Upjohn.  It tasted like cod liver oil (or what I imagine cod liver oil would taste like) and every morning when she gave one to me, I would make a trip to the bathroom and flush it.  However, when I was away from home, going to college I had started to develop that "you are fixing to get a cold" feeling.  You know the one, scratchy throat, watery eyes, and sniffles.  I was at the home of my future mother in law, who happened to also work part time as a pharmacist assistant, and she gave me some Vitamin C.  She instructed me to take one a day until the cold symptoms passed.  I followed her instructions, and the full blown cold never occurred, and I have been a believer ever since.

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Many sources disprove the benefits of Vitamin C and the common cold, but I have always had positive results when using it.  Vitamin C is also beneficial with other health problems.  Scurvy, a disease caused by the depletion of Vitamin C, has been around for centuries.  In 400 B.C Hippocrates wrote about it.  It mainly affected travelers on the seas, because do to their long voyages; they were not able to transport fruits and vegetables without them spoiling.  Scurvy was not related to vitamin C deficiency until 1932.  Other benefits of Vitamin C include, but are not fully supported, treatment of pneumonia, lowering uric acid levels for the treatment of gout, and decreasing the chance of strokes.

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When I take Vitamin C, I normally take 1000 milligrams in the morning and at night, however consult your doctor for your personal dosage.  Supplements are a good way to monitor your intake; however Vitamin C is found naturally in Citrus fruits, dark green leafy vegetables and even small amounts occurring in meat and dairy.

Plant source	Amount (mg / 100g)
Kakadu plum	1000-5300
Camu Camu	2800
Acerola	1677]
Seabuckthorn	695
Mica Muro	500
Indian gooseberry	445
Rose hip	426
Baobab	400
Chili pepper (green)	244
Guava (common, raw)	228.3
Blackcurrant	200
Red pepper	190
Chili pepper (red)	144
Parsley	130
Kiwifruit	90
Broccoli	90
Loganberry	80
Redcurrant	80
Brussels sprouts	80
Wolfberry (Goji)	73 †
Lychee	70
Persimmon (native, raw)	66.0
Cloudberry	60
Elderberry	60
Papaya	60
Strawberry	60
Orange	50
Kale	41
Lemon	40
Melon, cantaloupe	40
Cauliflower	40
Garlic	31
Grapefruit	30
Raspberry	30
Tangerine	30
Mandarin orange	30
Passion fruit	30
Spinach	30
Cabbage raw green	30
Lime	30
Mango	28
Blackberry	21
Potato	20
Melon, honeydew	20
Tomato, red	13.7
Cranberry	13
Tomato	10
Blueberry	10
Pineapple	10
Pawpaw	10
Grape	10
Apricot	10
Plum	10
Watermelon	10
Banana	9
Carrot	9
Avocado	8
Crabapple	8
Persimmon (Japanese, fresh)	7.5
Onion	7.4
Cherry	7
Peach	7
Apple	6
Asparagus	6
Horned melon	5.3
Beetroot	5
Chokecherry	5
Pear	4
Lettuce	4
Cucumber	3
Eggplant	2
Raisin	2
Fig	2
Bilberry	1
Medlar	0.3

Today is Vitamin C Day, a great way to start the day is with a nice ice cold glass of orange juice!  It tastes good, and is good for you.

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For more information about Vitamin C, click here: http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/the-benefits-of-vitamin-c

Emotional Overeating Awareness Month

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By Diane Forrest, RN

Have you ever watched a movie, more specifically a "chick flick" where a female is upset about something and grabs a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and a spoon to help make her feel better?  Do you know newlyweds who have added extra pounds during their first year of marriage?  Were you a college student who added some weight your first year away from home?  These are all examples of Emotional Overeating.  Emotional eating is the practice of consuming large quantities of food -- usually "comfort" or junk foods -- in response to feelings instead of hunger.

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Several emotions can trigger a round of overeating.  These include:  Depression, anger, stress, boredom, loneliness, frustration even happiness can ignite the need for comfort foods.  Some situations that can lead to overeating include:

• Unemployment;
• Financial pressure;
• Health problems;
• Relationship conflicts;
• Work stress;
• Bad weather; and or
• Fatigue.

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Emotional overeating can quickly develop into obesity which can lead to other health problems such as diabetes and hypertension.  The purpose of becoming aware of this problem is to first identify that you have an emotional eating problem, then seek alternative methods to eliminate the problems besides eating the "comfort foods".  Here are some alternative solutions to eating:

• Read a good book or magazine or listen to music;
• Go for a walk or jog;
• Take a bubble bath;
• Do deep breathing exercises;
• Play cards or a board game;
• Talk to a friend;
• Do housework, laundry or yard work;
• Wash the car;
• Write a letter;
• Or do any other pleasurable or necessary activity until the urge to eat passes.

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April is Emotional Overeating Awareness month.  For more tips on how to end this cycle, click on this site:  http://health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/brain-and-behavior/articles/2010/07/01/5-ways-to-end-emotional-overeating

If you feel that you need help with these issues, seek help from a professional, either a doctor, therapist, or psychiatrist.

SOCIAL SECURITY NOW CALLED 'FEDERAL BENEFIT PAYMENT/ENTITLEMENT'

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By Akindman

(I received this email earlier today, verified with Snoops to be true and wanted to share it with you.)

SOCIAL SECURITY NOW CALLED 'FEDERAL BENEFIT PAYMENT/ENTITLEMENT'

Have you noticed, your Social Security check is now referred to as a "federal benefit payment"?

Remember, not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too. It totaled 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only $30K over your working life, that's close to $220,500.

If you calculate the future value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer's contribution) at a simple 5% (less than what the government pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you'd have $892,919.98.

If you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years (until you're 95 if you retire at age 65) and that's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.

The folks in Washington have pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madhoff.

Social Security is not an entitlement. We paid cash for our Social Security insurance!!!! Just because they borrowed the money, doesn't make our benefits some kind of charity or handout!!

Congressional benefits ---- free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, now that's welfare, and they have the nerve to call our social security retirement entitlements?

They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives and now when it's time for us to collect, the government is running out of money. Why did the government borrow from it in the first place?

Really sad isn't it?

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Chocolate Mousse Day

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Chef Diane

On Sunday afternoons, after church, I always eat lunch with my parents.  Normally we eat at their home, sometimes we go out to lunch, and occasionally I even bring lunch or take them out.  One Sunday, when I happened to take them out for lunch, we went to a restaurant that had a buffet, Sunday brunch.  This is a very nice place, I would say one of the best restaurants in our small town, and today was no exception.  I couldn't even tell you what we ate, but I can tell you what I will never forget.  As I finished my lunch, I went to browse the dessert table.  It was there I saw this wonderful sight.  Chocolate cake!  This wasn't any ordinary chocolate cake, there were three layers of moist delicious cake, and between the layers was a substance that I was sure came straight from heaven.  The cake was layered with light creamy sweet chocolate mousse.  It was so delicious that I took my time savoring each bite.  I am sure I could have eaten the entire cake, but since I was fortunate to have snagged the last piece, I wanted to make it last.   I stretched it out as long as I could, and I am glad I did.  I have never been able to find it again.

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Chocolate mousse is like pudding, only lighter and fluffier.  Mousse, which means "foam” originated in France in the 18th century.  The first written record of Chocolate Mousse in the United States occured in 1892 at a food exposition at the Madison Square Gardens in New York City.  According to extremechocolate.com, Mousse became as we know it with the introduction of egg whites, separated from the yolks. The introduction of electric mixers made the foaming process much, much easier. Whipping egg whites by hand is not as effective or efficient.  The success of making the chocolate mousse is to use the best chocolate available.  Below is a recipe from Alton Brown that received rave reviews.

Today is Chocolate Mousse Day.  If you can't find any at a local restaurant, you can try your hand making it from scratch, or using a box mix available in the boxed pudding section at your grocery store.  They even have some premade in the refrigeration section where the other premade puddings and jellos are.  So you have no reason not to celebrate this wonderful day, it only comes around once a year, so enjoy!

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Chocolate Mousse Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups whipping cream
• 12 ounces quality semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 ounces espresso or strong coffee
• 1 tablespoon dark rum
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon flavorless, granulated gelatin

Directions

Chill 1 1/2 cups whipping cream in refrigerator. Chill metal mixing bowl and mixer beaters in freezer.

In top of a double boiler, combine chocolate chips, coffee, rum and butter. Melt over barely simmering water, stirring constantly. Remove from heat while a couple of chunks are still visible. Cool, stirring occasionally to just above body temperature.

Pour remaining 1/4 cup whipping cream into a metal measuring cup and sprinkle in the gelatin. Allow gelatin to "bloom" for 10 minutes. Then carefully heat by swirling the measuring cup over a low gas flame or candle. Do not boil or gelatin will be damaged. Stir mixture into the cooled chocolate and set aside.

In the chilled mixing bowl, beat cream to medium peaks. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining whipped cream in two doses. There may be streaks of whipped cream in the chocolate and that is fine. Do not over work the mousse.

Spoon into bowls or martini glasses and chill for at least 1 hour. Garnish with fruit and serve.

(If mousses are to be refrigerated overnight, chill for one hour and then cover each with plastic wrap)

International Children’s Book Day

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"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." ~ Frederick Douglass

By Akindman

International Children's Book Day encourages reading, and promotes the love of books for children. The best and fastest way to develop our young children into intelligent human beings is by teaching them to read. Instilling a love of reading promotes a lifetime of learning and enjoyment.

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"Reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read." — Marilyn Jager Adams

International Children's Book Day is a yearly event sponsored by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), an international non-profit organization. Founded in 1967, the day is observed on or around Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, April 2. Activities include writing competitions, announcements of book awards and events with authors of children's literature.

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 "The things I want to know are in books. My best friend is the man who'll get me a book I [haven't] read." — Abraham Lincoln

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 "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go." — Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!"

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 "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents." — Emilie Buchwald

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"Indeed, learning to write may be a part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading." — Eudora Welty

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 "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." — J. K. Rowling

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"So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall." — Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

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"I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." — Jorge Luis Borges

Laugh at Work Week

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By Diane Forrest

I love to laugh Ha Ha HaHa

Loud and long and clear

I love to laugh

Ho Ho Ho Ho

It’s getting worse every year

The more I laugh

Ha Ha Ha Ha

The more I fill with glee

And the more with glee

He He He He

The more I’m a merrier me!

April Fool's day was a great way to start Laugh at Work week.  You can start the day sharing some of the funny pranks you heard, saw, or performed.  A little laughter is a great way to start the day.  Some folks have stressful jobs, and joking around may not be appropriate.  One job that comes to mind is a funeral director.  I have seen some movies and television shows however, where someone gets those unstoppable giggles during a funeral service.

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Life however is different from the television shows we watch.  Shows like The Office, or 30 Rock do not depict the average work locations.  I was talking to my cousin about her job, and if they ever have laughs or fun there.  She said sure, when we LEAVE work.

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Jacki Kwan, humor therapist and author of Almost Home: Embracing the Magical Connection Between Positive Humor & Spirituality offers some tips on things to do to bring a little laughter into your workplace.  They include:

• Listen to a funny audiotape or radio show on your drive to work. Then, remind yourself of the jokes you heard throughout the day.
• Clip a comic from the newspaper and post it on your desk or workspace. Pick a new comic every day to keep your spirits high.
• Share a joke with a co-worker. Make sure it’s appropriate, of course, and it will keep you both in a good mood for the whole day.
• Take a walk on your lunch break. Moving your body will lift your mood, get your blood pumping, and relieve tension.
• Get some funny props: a clown nose, a rubber chicken, an outrageous wig… whatever keeps you laughing. Keep the props in a desk drawer and break them out when things get too serious.

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How to spice things up at work:

Play the Office Game

Here's a way to spice up your office. Pick two or three colleagues and agree to play the Office Game which awards points as follows:

ONE POINT

Run one lap around the office at top speed. Walk sideways to the photocopier.

Find the vacuum and start vacuuming around your desk.

When they're not looking, pour most of someone's fresh cup of coffee into your mug leaving them with an inch of brew.

Ignore the first five people who say 'good morning' to you.

Phone someone in the office you barely know, leave your name and say "Just called to say I can't talk right now. Bye."

To signal the end of a conversation, clamp your hands over your ears and grimace.

While riding an elevator, gasp dramatically every time the doors open.

THREE-POINTS

Babble incoherently at a fellow employee then ask "Did you get all that, I don't want to have to repeat it." - Double points if you do this to a manager.

Kneel in front of the water cooler and drink directly from the nozzle.

Shout random numbers while someone is counting.

FIVE POINTS

At the end of a meeting, suggest that, for once, it would be nice to conclude with the singing of the national anthem (extra points if you actually launch into it yourself).

Walk into a very busy person's office and while they watch you with growing irritation, turn the light switch on/off 10 times.

For an hour, refer to everyone you speak to as 'Bob'.

Announce to everyone in a meeting that you "really have to go do number two".

After every sentence, say 'mon' in a really bad Jamaican accent. As in, "the report's on your desk, mon". Keep this up for one hour.

While an office mate is out, move their chair into the elevator.

In a meeting or crowded situation, slap your forehead repeatedly and mutter, "Shut up, all of you just shut up!"

In a colleague's diary, write in 10 am: "See how I look in tights".

Carry your laptop over to your colleague and ask "You wanna trade?"

Repeat the following conversation 10 times to the same person: "Do you hear that?" "What?" "Never mind, it's gone now"

Come to work in army fatigues and when asked why, say, "I can't talk about it"

Speak with an accent (French, German, Porky Pig, etc.) during a very important conference call.

Tuck one pant leg into your sock and when queried, answer, "not now" and walk away.

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