Drinking habits, when, where, what to drink
Posted by Dan | Filed under awearnes, body, health, sports, earth, water, air, weather, feelings, senses, perceptions, food, animals, plants, Immaterial Things, life, energy, resources, Material Things, Natural, products, services, maintenance, relationships, communication, interaction, Unnatural, what is important, work, activities
In my previous article i was discussing about our everyday eating habits and how to eat.
I started that article thinking about the fact that eating is something we do every day and has a big impact on our life and health. But seems i overlooked something that we do more often than eating and that is having an even bigger impact on us … that is drinking. We are made out of water in a big proportion, in fact any life form relies on water to live. So we do know that water is the primordial drink and that all drinks contain water in a smaller or bigger proportion.
But before we begin i will tell you that i will be using from now on in my articles references to Wikipedia or other information sources in places where i don’t want or is not needed for me to explain terms further. So you can click on the available terms and one new page will open displaying the external source. Me and my website has no responsability whatsoever on external sources and the informations other display.
We drink because we have to … or because we want to. As any other thing, we should drink as much as we need to and only because we need it. Drinking because we want to become “drunk” is not an natural thing thus is not very good from the start.
The only time when is not a good time to drink is before and during a meal as i wrote in the previous article.
Serving drinks … hot or cold?
In recent years the way we serve drinks changed a lot due to the new technologies of refrigeration that made ice readily available in all the public places. Now we can choose … either we drink our drink hot or cold… In my opinion the choice should be made based upon our body condition … not our wishes :-). If you come from outside in winter and your body is cold i would probably choose a hot drink. On the other hand if you have good winter clothes and you are not feeling cold than you can opt for a cold drink also even if outside is cold. If outside is hot … and your body is hot is probably a good ideea to take a normal to low temperature drink. If you sweat a lot that means the body looses temperature easily and you don’t have to drink a cold drink to balance it … you can even drink some hot stuff in this situation. On a normal day with normal temperatures … let’s say 26 degrees Celsius you can choose both hot and cold drinks depending on your choice.
How to clasify drinks?
Although all that we drink has an impact on all your body i consider the classification from the point of view of their impact on your mental/brain functions more usefull than any other forms of drinks classification. After all if your perceptions are flawed why make any other classifications :-). Not to forget… the brain is in fact controlling all your body functions. If the brain is not working properly all your body will be afected after some time.
Psychoactive drinks ( drinks that contain substances that in turn affect/alter your brain functions/perceptions )
I will not name any drinks or try to list them in any exact form. We all know what are the alcoholic drinks types, what coffee flavors there are etc. I will concentrate more on what they contain and how this affects our health.
– caffeine ( coffee’s main chemical compound ) – stimulant
* coffee – higher quantities of caffeine
* tea made from Camellia sinensis plant ( not to be mistaken with “herbal tea” – low quantities of caffeine
* soft drinks with added caffeine
* energy drinks
* cola type drinks
In my opinion short term usage ( caffeine ) is fairly ok … and can help you get through some important tasks.
Long term can create anxiety and sleep disorders. There are no recognizable long terms effects that i know or i have felt so i think you should drink coffeine drinks only when you need them it … if not at all. Is it worth it?
While i don’t accept coffe as a drink ( thow i am still drinking it from time to time ) what would I choose? Cappuccino, Plain black bad taste coffee, Espresso, Café au lait, Frappé, Flavored coffees (mocha etc.) or Latte ? I’m thinking the best answer is plain black bad taste coffee ( usually this is the “Americano” type ). Everytning other than plain coffe i think contains to many substances that can power a rocket or kill a dog … see the next substance. Also i’m guiding myself using the “try to drink normal concentration drinks” because any concentrations other than normal/natural has at least unknown effects on my body if not bad. Taking into condideration this “conclusion” i think tea is in fact the only coffeine product that people should drink, either for the psychotropic ( brain changing ) effects and for the everyday effects ( more energy in daily life ). Just don’t drink tea before going to sleep 🙂
– theobromine ( chocholate/cacao ) – stimulant
* chocholate drinks
* kola nut
* cola type drinks
While chocholate is not so addictive as coffe it has almost the same reactions as coffe. Good to know it that theobromine can cause death of your favourite pets ( dogs and cats ) . If this happens to this animals why we are so different?
– ethanol ( alcohol ) – partly stimulant
* this include any form of alcohol drinks as the basic underlying substance is the same.
Some forms of alcohol have smaller concentration ( beer ) while others like spirts have a bigger concentration. The fact that some drink containing alcohol is “good” or “bad” depends mostly on the other ingredients of the drink but remember that alcohol is BAD in ANY conbinations even if our perception is somewhat distorted by other good things that the alcohol mix can have. Read a little about other usages of alcohol and then think about what you are drinking. You will see alcohol is used for powering rockets, cars, as solvent ( cleaner ) etc.
Other substances that have an similar effects on the brain ( functional effects ) are: ketamine, PCP , DXM, Nitrous Oxide. I have read the materials from wikipedia about PCP and almost all other substances i could find similar to alcohol as function and it was quite a disturbing disovery. Not only that alcohol creates dependence and bad behavoir but high consumption can lead to even worse outcomes.
Some say … and i quote: “drinking beer and alcoholic beverages in the local pub is a very cultural tradition”. Tradition and culture are 2 different things… Do we have to accept and to become a part of that tradition? If my grandmother traditionally didn’t have a normal toilet in her countryside house that means is better to follow tradition? Culture… i think is about subculture and not knowing the effects of alcohol.
So why do we drink all this stimulants ? We know that stimulants stimulate our brain functions … we feel better, we are stronger … etc. Why we need them? Aren’t we good enough without them? You know what happens with a battery if you use it at a “faster rate” ? It will deplete faster… In my opinion stimulants don’t do anything special other than deplete our resources, life faster …
Non-Psychoactive drinks ( drinks that don’t affect much your brain functions )
* tea made from plants have usually only benefits to ones health as it contains the substances that the plants have in an easily to ingest ( drink ) form
* some herbal tea types can have psychoactive effects … most of them moderate
* take care of the plants you are using to make the tea, some plants that are bad for health in normal form are bad also in infusion form. Ask more experienced people, doctors if you are not sure.
* water used to make the infusions is important … althow boiled tap water is basically ok you should use better some fresh spring water if you have one available 🙂
– soda water / soda syphon / carbonated water
The adition of carbon dioxide to normal water does not pose significant health problems. “Sparkling mineral water is a negligible cause of dental erosion; also known as acid erosion.” the Wikipedia article states. ( )
In latest years people almost forgot about this type of water … making place to “soft drinks”. I believe sparkling water is the best available alternative to soft drinks and to the more expensive natural efervescent water.
– mineral water / natural mineral water / sparkling mineral water
* natural mineral water as the name states will contain minerals
* in normal quantities minerals are good for the body and even help the body recover from some types of dizeases
* hard to check what is true and what is not and it’s hard to put a correct price on this type of water. Prices are based more on Brand and less on quality… So unless you have a trusted source don’t drink too much. Kidney stones are a problem if you drink too much of this water.
– juice – naturally contained in fruit or vegetable tissue
* varieties – apple, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, tomato, passion fruit, mango, carrot, grape, cherry, cranberry, guava, and pomegranate
* don’t be fooled into buying juice from the stores. If you really want the juice to be good for your health then make it yourself. Buy oranges, apples, etc and make your own juice in many countries. If you need to buy juice from the shop as you don’t have the time to make it yourself at least check the labels for High-fructose corn syrup as is in direct link with obesity levels as the Wikipedia article describes. Many companies ( almost all from US ) add this syrup to drinks, using it as an sweetener. Don’t drink juice that does not taste like the juice you can make yourself at home. Is probably bad for you.
– “soft drinks” – first of all i don’t agree with the term of “soft drinks” being assigned to this category of drinks. We are easily fooled by the connotation of the English word soft. In fact it’s the same as selling “mild” cigarettes. The name somewhat implies that this drinks are better for your health when the reality is the opposite.
* the most common soft drinks are colas, flavored water, sparkling water, iced tea, sweet tea, lemonade, squash and fruit punch
* about health “benefits” read the Wikipedia article
There are no conclusions to this article as it’s far from being complete or correct by my own standards. Feel free to form your own conclusions and comment.
Tags: alcohol, animals, cacao, caffeine, carbonated water, chocholate, coffee, cola, diseases, drinking tea, drinks, energy, food alternatives, food ingredients, food, animals, plants, habits, herbal tea, juice, life, medicinal products, mineral water, our body, plants, plants and benefits, soda syphon, soda water, soft drinks, sparkling mineral water, sports, tea types, water
Eating habits & how to eat
Posted by Dan | Filed under awearnes, body, health, sports, earth, water, air, weather, food, animals, plants, life, energy, resources, Natural, what is important, work, activities
In this article i am presenting my views and opinions regarding the eating process seen as an experience (“how to eat”). Another article will cover the “what to eat” perspective.
Eating is something what we do rather often and is amazingly one of the things that we are bad at. How many of us wondered how and why we can do to improve eating ? I guess very few.
I read everyday reviews of food, good vs. bad food comparison but i read less on how to eat them. The eating experience is what defines us more than the food itself. The eating experience decides if the food we will eat will deposit in our body as fat or will be used for other purposes … creating muscles, aiding memory & brain functions.
We already know some things like … eating at regular times is better, never eat too late in the night etc. What we don’t know or don’t realize?
Here are some of my opinions about the eating as an experience:
General considerations
– everything is about balance, balance anything you eat. If you eat during one meal more sugars, refrain from eating the same during the next meal. If you eat too much meat in afternoon don’t eat meat in the night, etc.
– do eat in the morning and remember … coffee is not food !
– eat 3 times per day. I don’t advise you to at more times or less times unless your body is already out of balance.
– feeling tired all day ? it might be because of eating … consult a doctor. I once felt bad a whole week … until i realized that my body was not receiving the quantity of useful substances it needs even if i was eating a LOT. Some kids have worms when they are young … and worms are doing this. For grownups like me certain stomach problems can prevent food from being completely digested so go and consult a doctor. Your stomach don’t have to hurt to go to a doctor. If the stomach hurts is already something bad or you are already too late!
– read the labels on products and don’t buy to many things that you don’t know how to prepare yourself
– compare products ( you can even buy both and try them in the same time ), don’t believe anybody but you
– packing does not make a good product ( give a chance to small companies that don’t afford or cannot make fancy packing for their products )
– check any expiry date on any product you buy
Before eating
– make a little bit of sports especially the ones that involve stomache muscles. This way we “pave” the path for the new food to enter our body. I noticed that after and during swimming for example i can exhale easily the gases built up in my stomach and feel less stomach swelling. We already “eat” too much gases ( sparkling water, soft drinks – by the way … why do people reffer to carbonated drinks as soft drinks ? … this mislabeling for sure hurts our understanding of drinks and makes us accept easily bad drinks for our health ) while eating … the digestion would be much better and pleasant without them
– don’t drink too many liquids as the liquids will lower your stomach acidity thus lowering your body ability to completely digest food and in turn you will eat more food and have less energy after
– prepare yourself mentally for eating, switching your thoughts from other things, in turn this will signal to your body to start preparing itself for what is to come. Some religions got this right 🙂 People are thanking for what food they will eat thus concentratng on the food and on the whole process. On the other hand this can happen in the opposite way to some of us. I am sure you have experienced this: if we talk a lot about food and about some food types in particular we become hungry even if we are not very hungry. So our brain has a very big impact on how and why we eat. Let’s control our brain the same way as we do with reasoning ( maths, exact sciences ) and we can accomplish a lot of things. We won’t eat unless we are hungry, we will be able to control our eating and be less prone to gaining weight. We know now this: it’s better to think of food before eating and while eating and not to think to much about food in between meals.
– if you are really, really hungry you can eat some fruits. Start eating other foods types at least 10 minutes after eating fruits. Why we can eat fruits ? Because fruits contain basic sugars and other components that are easily ( thus faster about let’s suppose … 10-20 minutes for an apple ) digested by our body and don’t have a big impact on the food that will come after.
– washing hands. I consider this very very important yet myself i fail to do it every time. Need not for me to explain why… again religion thought some of us to wash before eating based on the need to be ‘ritually’ clean while consuming foods. ( http://asimpledesire.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/dont-wash-before-eating/ )
While eating
– eating location and time is an important thing. Sometimes we need to eat on the road. Sometimes we need to eat at wrong times. This is perfectly ok as long as you don’t make a rule out of it. Don’t do other things meanwhile. Stop any other distractions that will give your body wrong signals about what to do with the food. In a word … awareness!
– think more about the food you are eating
– talk more about the food you are eating than anything else ( and don’t talk about things that make you uncomfortable or angry )
– eat the soup at the beginning of the meal. Why? Because i consider the order of eating food being of utmost importance. In Europe we tend to eat the soup among the first courses, right after the appetizer. In some Asian countries soup is served at the end of the meal. I believe that if we eat the soup at the beginning it will have a “bad” impact of our stomach flora and acidity ( PH ) and we will eat less food during that meal. In fact any liquids are having the same effect on digestion. If we drink soup at the end will have a smaller impact on the quantity of food that we can consume. Don’t think that by eating soup/liquids you will eat less and you will loose weight! Maybe you will in fact eat less / meal … but you will be hungry faster and eat more than the normal 3 times / day.
– mixing ingredients and food types. Sometimes the best foods are prepare by mixing a lot of ingredients so it’s ok to mix. If you do this you should learn how to.
Don’t mix too much fresh food ( salad for example ) with fried food. Digestion for this 2 types of food is different and mixing them will leat to possible bad results. You should eat similar cooked foods instead, preferably cooked using steam cooking that makes the food softer and dosen’t destroy all the good vitamins and nutrients.
– less water/drinks during a meal put’s less pressure on your body to generate enough acidity to digest the food. While you will feel hungry faster after a meal without too much water intake this is the best way for our stomach
After eating
– immediately after eating take a few moment to rest, it will for sure help digestion as the body needs more blood for this purpose
– don’t do sports immediately after eating
– don’t think at things that make you angry just for few minutes. Let the body use blood for different purpose.
– don’t change the temperature too fast, especially don’t heat up your body. Some example is foot bath. If you put your feet into hot water the blood will tend to go to your feet. In the same time your body needs blood to digest the food … so guess what will happen ? You will faint or at least feel very bad because your brain you won’t have enough blood available to function properly!
– don’t forget to wash your teeth, or use some chewing gum, after all teeth are our own lifetime eating tool.
– don’t continue eating snacks or fruits immediately after eating… this will have a bad effect on your digestion … wait some time … around half an hour for light foods and more than 1 1/2 hours for slightly uncooked meat products ( beef ).
In between meals
– don’t use too much chewing gum
– try not to think at eating
– if you feel like eating … eat fruits ( eat acid fruits – apples for example separately from sweet fruits – banannas for example ) – if you want to read more indepth information about fruits visit http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/fruit-article.html
– drink as much water as you can and as you need. Our body is more than 80% water so it only normal to drink a lot of … water.
We know that nowadays food quality depends mostly on how much money we have or we want to pay for it. This aspect has changed radically as people even 100 years ago wore spending a bigger part of their income on food and less on other things. Now we tend to spend less and less means … of course for less quality, less natural products and much more preservatives to keep the food fresh longer so the supermarkets won’t have to throw it away very fast. So think more about the quality and less about the price when comes to this important thing what we take for granted… food.
But no matter how cheap is it or how expensive we can do something good about it. We can spend some time finding good quality ingredients, we can learn some basic denominations and food types. For example did you know that Valencia oranges have more juice than Navel kind ? The type is printed onto the small sticker.
I myself follow only a part of this advices but this are also my goals, i want as much to improve as any of you. Do you have any other opinions? I would be happy to listen to them.
Dan
Tags: animals, diseases, drinking tea, drugstores, eating, energy, food alternatives, food ingredients, food, animals, plants, good vs. bad habits, habits, life, medicinal products, our body, places to eat, plants, plants and benefits, sports, tea types, water
Using iPhone and similar devices as a learing tools
Posted by Dan | Filed under education, skills, news, information, products, services, maintenance
In the past months i have been using my iPhone for something different than i previously used any mobile devices. I’m learning write & speak Mandarin Chinese in a different way than i would previously have.
Why is iPhone is so useful for learning new languages ?
- it’s touch enabled, giving me the chance to practically test the new Chinese characters i learn – using eStroke application i learn how to write them and i also test my writing skills, this also applies for other languages
- it has a wide variety of dictionaries available, for my specific task i use KTdict-C-E
- it has a wide variety of applications that can be used to learn pronunciation – i personally use the DianHua Audio addon
- you have access to different games to complement learning and make it more fun – like use for example Chinese Word search application whenever i want some fun :-). You can choose better than me for sure !
- last and not least the ability to access this features fast and when i need them gives me great freedom of movement and faster and more natural learning. I am folowing my “need to know” now. I don’t have to learn things that i don’t want when i don’t need them. I use iPhone to learn … when i get bored, when i travel, when i have nothings else to do … basically any moment that i would have previously loose doing nothing.
I guess everything i am telling you here applies for a greater number of learning subjects, making platforms like this useful for everybody. I would imagine myself learning geography, history, and other social sciences with ease.
As any learning activity you should also take into consideration the preparation needed. You need to find the appropriate tools ( in this case software applications ), give them a try, select the information that you need to learn ( prepare web pages filled with information so you can browse them using the built in browser, lists with information, books in electronic format – PDF’s to be used with PDF readers, etc. ), arrange everything into an appropriate form, and extend your learning methods to include games, quizes and basically anything that makes your subject more fun.
Happy learning !
Tags: chinese, iPhone, languages, learning, mandarin, technology
Topics for “money & wealth” category
Posted by Dan | Filed under money, wealth
Here are the main topics for “money & wealth” category. Feel free to recommend others!
history and future, currencies, cost of living and other useful statistics, sustainable & long term business ideas, trading ( goods, monetary tips, how we are affected, what to do, prices comparisons )
Things that i consider useful to learn and to do:
Use “money” in my conversations as little as possible and when i use i try to be as concise as possible not to be misunderstood! If you thing somethings is not worth it you are probably right.
Do you know other ? Please share with us!
Tags: cost of living, future of money, history of money, money, prices, sustainable money, trading
Topics for “work, play, activities” category
Posted by Dan | Filed under work, activities
“work, play, activities” category is filed under Natural things as it’s parent. Some might disagree with this choice and some might agree. Unless i get a very good reason we will keep it that way for the moment.
Here are the main topics for “work, play, activities” category. Feel free to recommend others!
tools, service industry, product industry, workplace hazards, team work, workplace interaction
What i think?
For some work is the most important thing in life. It’s the only way to live in fact. Some see work as a burden, some enjoy it. The truth is that work is both necessary both useful. We get greater advantages from work than just money. We get to interact with people, to maintain out mental health, to feel useful. Balance you work time with your leisure time and work until you feel you need to stop. Think as the advantages of work not as a burden!
The best way to discover life is through playing. We play from the moment we are born up to our end. Never stop playing as you will stop living!
Tags: games, play, product industry, service industry, team work, tools, workplace hazards, workplace interaction
Topics for “awareness” category
Posted by Dan | Filed under awearnes
As unimportant as some consider i believe that awareness is the most important tool that we have. We need to know how to use this tool in our advantage.
what is awareness, mental health, knowing our place, balancing, evolving
My opinion is that awareness comes directly after senses as a filter. We loose awareness we loose the contact with external world. We loose ourselves!
What’s your opinion?
Tags: awareness, balancing, evolving, mental health, our place
Topics for “what is important” category
Posted by Dan | Filed under what is important
Why this category ? Because there will be always important and less important things. Knowing how we choose the important things defines us. Important is a concept that differs in most people and understanding this can help us throughout our lives.
Here are the main topics for “what is important” category. Feel free to recommend others!
important things and why?, life path, dreams, wishes, celebrations, security and feeling secure, hardest things
What i think?
Important things are important also for our way of thinking and acting. A good selection of such will have a bigger impact on how we think than any other things. Please try to select your memories to reflect the things you think are important! Don’t use other person’s important things as your’s. You might find you are lost if you do so! Guide your children to select their own important things based on their qualities!
Tags: celebrations, dreams, feeling secure, hardest things, important things, life path, security, wishes
Topics for “new & unknown” category
Posted by Dan | Filed under new, unknown
Here are the main topics for “new & unknown” category. Feel free to recommend others!
how to deal with the unknown, how to accept the new, getting old and understanding the new, death
My main opinions on this?
Unknown for some is seen as a bad thing, for others is similar with fear. We can always treat unknown as new and here we go, we have a different possible better perspective. I think we should never treat unknown or new things with fear or rejection. Just think at how many things wore unknown to you 3 years ago. … how many people, how many places, how many experiences … and balance this with the “joy” of not knowing. Face life with knowledge and you will have an easier path.
Last but not least comes a time when we need to say good by to this world and depart to our next adventure. We choose not too talk about this too much … yet we think of it greatly. We need to talk about our fears to overcome them. We need live every day like it will be our last!
Tags: death, new, old age, unknown
Topics for “education, skills, news, information” category
Posted by Dan | Filed under education, skills, news, information
One of the broadest category that can include thoughts about almost anything:
books, book shops, science, technology, computers, learning, schools, languages, areas, basic skills ( planning ), advanced skills, administration, latest news feed, newspapers, gossip, magazines
What do i think?
A better undestanding of our world will help us be a better us than the nature has created! We need not think BETTER as in a BETTER COMPUTER, a faster car … we need to think as a BETTER US and how we can improve our life and other people life’s. We may not know the names of all the people walking on the street but there are bigger chances that we know what they feel, we can be one of them so treat them accordingly!
The topic being so vast i could also talk about the influence of technology, in particular computers about the way we think. Remember … Things that you do most often have the greatest impact on your life. What do we know about the impact of computers, software on us? I guess too little.
What do you think?
Tags: administration, advanced skills, areas, basic skills, book shops, books, computers, gossip, languages, latest news, learning, magazines, newspapers, schools, science, technology
Topics for “memories, keeping memories” category
Posted by Dan | Filed under memories, keeping memories
Here are the main topics for “memories, keeping memories” category. Feel free to recommend others!
time spent, trips, places to visit, augmenting memories ( pictures, videos, sounds ), collective history
What is my opinion?
Memory is man’s most important tool yet is the most unpredictable and unreliable of all! But this unreliable factor is what makes us unique! Even if you have visited the same places as i did you will remember very different things about that place. Enhance your memory with available methods ( keep both pleasant and unpleasant things in mind, you don’t want to repeat bad experiences! ). Lear from the mistakes of others !
What do you think?
Tags: augmenting memories, collective history, pictures, places to visit, sounds, time spent, trips, videos
