Don’t take this the wrong way though, this study seems to serve more as a reminder too much of anything can be bad for you. It’s also nice to contrast the information we hear, which is usually positive related to fish oil — omega-3 fatty acids. The fact of the matter is that the amount of omega-3 fatty acids we need for optimal functioning is still not known, so don’t go crazy with the supplements.

Fenton cautions people may not need to avoid fish oil; what the research shows is needed are guidelines on dosing. With any nutrient, there is a “bell curve” effect. On the left of the curve are those deficient in a nutrient; on the right are those in excess.

She said people already receiving enough omega-3 fatty acids through their normal diet and foods have no need for added supplementation.

[ScienceDaily]

The researchers created a healthy lifestyle index using internationally accepted public health recommendations from the World Health Organization, World Cancer Research Fund and the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations.

These included being physically active for at least 30 minutes a day, having no more than seven drinks a week for women and 14 drinks a week for men, being non-smoker, having a waist circumference below 88 cm for women and 102 cm for men and consuming a healthy diet

If all participants had followed all five recommendations, then 23% of the bowel cancer cases could have been avoided.

The researchers conclude: “Our study reveals the useful public health message that even modest differences in lifestyle might have a substantial impact on colorectal cancer risk and emphasises the importance of continuing vigorous efforts to convince people to follow the lifestyle recommendations.”

[BMJ]

In information packed and research backed dose of fun interesting …A quick, easy, and especially interesting way

weeding through thousands of researches published in the last year and selecting out the most interesting, practical, and groundbreaking findings from what the latest nutritional science has to offer.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYLRKa9p0Rs

A Georgia Tech College of Computing Ph.D. candidate, Andrea Grimes Parker, has shown that playing health-related video games on a mobile device can help adults learn to live more healthfully by making smart diet choices.

OrderUP! seeks to educate players about how to make healthy eating choices in situations nearly everyone encounters regularly in their lives. By casting players as virtual restaurant servers, Order UP! forces players to make healthy — and fast — menu decisions for a group of demanding, impatient customers.

“We found that, after playing OrderUP! for just three weeks, we saw people engage in behaviors and thinking consistent with the processes of change identified by the TTM,” Parker said. “In particular, we found that people learned how to make healthier choices when eating out, reassessed the healthiness of their current eating habits, began having productive conversations about healthy eating with people in their social network and, finally, actually started introducing healthier foods into their diet.”

“The most important finding from the OrderUP! project was how the game was integrated into conversations players had with other players and non-players about things that they had learned, particularly things that confronted their assumptions about healthy choices.”

The game works like this: One at a time, 10 virtual “customers” approach the counter with three possible food choices; for example, the choices could be a fried chicken thigh, a jerk chicken breast or gumbo. They’re then asked to make the healthiest choice, with only a few moments to pick before the customer gets impatient and leaves. Players start with 1,000 health points, and as they make unhealthy choices for their customers (or as the customers get tired of waiting and leave) their health points drop. The object of the game is to continue serving food as long as possible.

OrderUP! fits into a larger research profile within the College of Computing of trying to determine how the ubiquity of mobile devices can be leveraged to improve users’ health.

Future development of OrderUP! will include a longer study to measure player behavior change over an extended period of time, as well as an expanded game with more levels, more food choices and more nutritional information available to the player.

[Sciencedaily]

In this post I have gathered five of the lifehacks I find the most useful and which I have come to use every day. I hope they will be useful to you as well.

If you have any lifehacks you are using on a regular basis, leave a comment below and share it!

Let’s get started on the list:

1. Tie your shoes with a knot that holds all day

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc4H6goKFB0

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2. Sharpen your razor blade and use it forever

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ADaRIqy0Dc&feature=player_embedded

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3. Peel a banana like a monkey

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBJV56WUDng&feature=player_embedded

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4. Create some easy to remember & strong passwords

– (where you can’t use LastPass that is)

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5. Let your kid make a mess in the dishwasher

Set a bowl on top of the open dishwasher door which should be just the right height for your toddler.  Let her help cooking by adding ingredients and stir, and the pile of flour and sugar that usually ends up on the counter will end up on the dishwasher instead, making clean up as easy as closing the door 8-)  When you clean of the counter, make sure to sweep the dirt into down of the counter and into the dishwasher, it’s easier.

Congratulation to the guerrilla photographer JR who is the winner of the TED Prize award 2011. This award grants him $100,000 and a wish to change the world with the support of the TED community. While a seemingly unconventional recipient, his work matches the creativity and innovative spirit of TED’s community, and his art inspires people to view the world differently –- and want to change it for the better. His latest exhibition called “Women Are Heroes,” is a project underlining the dignity of women who are the target of conflict.

TRAILER ” WOMEN ARE HEROES” from SOCIAL ANIMALS on Vimeo.

JR creates “pervasive art” where he mounts enormous black-and-white photos on buildings in areas such as the urban slums of Paris, the Middle East, Africa, and the favelas of Brazil. These images become part of the local landscape and capture people’s attention and imagination around the world.

People in the exhibit communities, those who often live with the bare minimum, discover something absolutely unnecessary but utterly wonderful. And they don’t just see it, they make it. Elderly women become models for a day; kids turn into artists for a week. In this art scene, there is no stage to separate the actors from the spectators.

As he is anonymous and doesn’t explain his huge full-frame portraits of people making faces, JR leaves the space empty for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/ interpreter.

This is what JR is working on. Raising questions…

An interview with JR can be found at the TED site.

[TED]

Most people, including myself, eat very little in the morning and then increase amounts of meals throughout the day. The pyramid method suggest to swap this around so that your first meal is the largest and then size decreases for the rest of the meals throughout the day.

I haven’t really managed to follow it strictly, but it’s been in the back of my mind lately and so I have adjusted my meals somewhat according to it. It seems better to get more energy early on, which I guess should be logical. The big thing causing some hiccups in my trial is the delicious dinners I’m served by my wife!

In addition to structure meals like a pyramid the method also emphasize:

• Getting enough proteins early on
• Eating low glycemic index foods
• Eat frequently
• Drink enough water
• Keep track of your energy levels

To read more in-depth about it head over to Lifehacker and have a look at the article.

[Lifehacker]

I think it’s a great idea which can get you started of on a healthier pattern. Even if you don’t do it every day of the week, try at least a Meatless Monday. Everything helps;  for your own health, the environment and the animals.