Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Thoughts
1. Passengers on the bus
Visualize yourself driving a big red bus. There are passengers on the bus, and as you drive around, some get on and some get off.The passengers represent your thoughts. Now imagine yourself talking to them. This is a great way to become more mindful of your thinking, while at the same time, distancing yourself from your thoughts.
What you need to remember is that you are the driver of this bus, the one who calls the shots. The passengers are only temporary. They will come and go.By doing so, you can take control of the bus — your mind-bus — by saying things such as,
“Thank you for your feedback, but this is my bus,” or “Hey, this is your stop, time to get off.”
You can use this technique for any type of negative thinking, but research shows it is particularly effective for improving self-control.
2. Clouds in the sky
Imagine your thoughts as clouds floating through the sky. Sometimes they’re dark and angry, sometimes they’re light and calm. But you are not the clouds.
You are the blue sky who notices the clouds, without engaging. You simply observe them until they pass. This is the practice of self-observation, which means mindfully observing how you think.
Consider this example. If I asked you what you were thinking, you might notice that you’re kicking yourself over a missed opportunity, worrying about money, or calling yourself stupid. The idea is to take a step back and observe these thoughts until they will pass. The good news is — they will pass. Everything passes, good and bad.
When you practice this regularly, you will create a sense of detachment when challenging thoughts arise. More and more, you’ll realise you are not your thoughts, and instead of feeling overwhelmed, there will be a space, and you will be able to respond in a rational manner.
3. First and second darts
First darts are inescapable pains that life throws at us.It might be a tough breakup, a lost opportunity, or the death of a loved one. These unavoidable pains are the essence of human existence, and if you live and love, some of these will fall on your doorstep.In reality, however, most of our problems are not caused by first darts. They are caused by how we respond to them.
Second darts are the darts we throw at ourselves.These are our reactions to first darts, and this is the source of much of our suffering.These second dart reactions are more common than you think.
How often have you argued with your boss, before you’ve even gotten out of the shower?
How many times have you brought the morning traffic into work?
How often have you brought work frustrations home for dinner?
This is the essence of suffering, secondary reactions to painful events, which are often more destructive than the original experience.
Next time you recognise first darts, instead of resisting them, you should accept them completely. If you do get stuck in traffic, or frustrated in work, accept it and move on because it’s our resistance to pain that causes our suffering.
Take away message
By holding the most truth in the least amount of space, metaphors can help you to cope with abstract psychological concepts such as overthinking.
Next time your mind is busy, you don’t have to feel overwhelmed. You could kick those troublesome passengers off the bus. You could observe those dark angry clouds as they float by — without engaging. Or you could accept those first darts before they turn into suffering.
You can’t stop thinking, no matter how hard you try, but you can distance yourself from problematic thoughts — then they won’t feel so loud.
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Brassica oleracea aka Broccoli 🥦
It's no coincidence that more than 300 research studies on broccoli have converged in one unique area of health science—the development of cancer—and its relationship to three metabolic problems in the body. Those three problems are (1) chronic inflammation (2) oxidative stress, and (3) inadequate detoxification. While these types of problems have yet to become part of the public health spotlight, they are essential to understanding broccoli's unique health benefits. Over the past 10 years, research has made it clear that our risk of cancer in several different organ systems is related to the combination of these three problems.
The Cancer/Inflammation/Oxidative Stress/Detox Connection
In health science research, there is a growing body of evidence relating cancer risk to a series of environmental, dietary, and body system factors. Understanding this set of factors can be very helpful in making sense of broccoli and its health benefits.
Anti-Inflammatory Benefits of Broccoli
When threatened with dangerous levels of potential toxins, or dangerous numbers of overly-reactive, oxygen-containing molecules, signals are sent within our body to our inflammatory system, directing it to "kick in" and help protect our body from potential damage. One key signaling device is a molecule called Nf-kappaB. When faced with the type of dangers described above, the NF-kappaB signaling system is used to "rev up" our inflammatory response and increase production of inflammatory components (for example, IL-6, IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, iNOS and COX-2). This process works beautifully in temporary, short-term circumstances when healing from injury is required. When it continues indefinitely at a constant pace, however, it can put us at risk for serious health problems, including the development of cancer.
Isothiocyanates (ITCs) in Broccoli
Research studies have made it clear that the NF-kappaB signaling system that is used to "rev up" our inflammatory response can be significantly suppressed by isothiocyanates (ITCs). ITCs—the compounds made from glucosinolates found in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables—actually help to shut down the genetic machinery used to produce NF-kappaB and other components of the inflammatory system. These anti-inflammatory benefits of ITCs have been clearly demonstrated in lab and animal studies. However, it can sometimes be tricky to translate the results of these lab and animal studies in practical take-away recommendations for everyday eating.
The primary anti-inflammatory ITC provided by broccoli is sulforaphane. This ITC can be directly produced from broccoli's glucoraphanin content. Numerous anti-inflammatory mechanisms for sulforaphane are well known, including inactivation of the NF-kappa B pathway. In this context, it is interesting to note that the predominance of sulforaphane in broccoli is limited to the heading version of this vegetable. Also widely enjoyed worldwide is "non-heading" broccoli, often called sprouting broccoli, broccoli raab, broccoli rabe, or rapini. In these non-heading varieties of broccoli, iberin is the most common ITC, and it is derived from glucoiberin, which is one of the more common glucosinolates in non-heading broccoli). Yet another anti-inflammatory compound present in both heading and non-heading varieties of broccoli is glucobrassicin. (And in this case the corresponding ITC derived from glucobrassicin is indole-3-carbinol.)
Omega-3s in Broccoli
Lack of omega-3 fat is dietary problem that can cause over-activation of the inflammatory system. The reason is simple: many key anti-inflammatory messaging molecules (like PGH3, TXA3, PGI3, and LTE5) are made from omega-3 fats. While we are not accustomed to thinking about non-fatty vegetables as sources of omega-3 fats, it would probably be a good idea for us to change our thinking in this area. While there are limited amounts of omega-3s in low-fat vegetables like broccoli, it is equally true that their levels of omega-3s can still play an important role in balancing our inflammatory system activity. In 100 calories' worth of broccoli (about 2 cups) there are approximately 400 milligrams of omega-3s (in the form of alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA). That amount of ALA falls into the same general ballpark as the amount provided by one soft gel capsule of flax oil. While we would not want to depend on broccoli as our sole source of dietary omega-3s, we still get important anti-inflammatory benefits from the omega-3s it provides.
Other Anti-Inflammatory Benefits of Broccoli
Broccoli is a rich source of one particular phytonutrient (a flavonol) called kaempferol. Especially inside of our digestive tract, kaempferol has the ability to lessen the impact of allergy-related substances (by lowering the immune system's production of IgE-antibodies). By lessening the impact of allergy-related substances, the kaempferol in broccoli can help lower our risk of chronic inflammation.
Broccoli's Antioxidant Benefits
Vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients all contribute to the antioxidant benefits provided by our food. Broccoli is a premiere example of a vegetable providing all three types of antioxidants. In the vitamin category, among all 100 of our WHFoods, broccoli represents our 3rd best source of vitamin C,10th best source of vitamin E, and 16th best source of vitamin A (in the form of carotenoids). It also serves as our top source of chromium, a very good source of manganese, and a good source of selenium and zinc. But it is the phytonutrient category in which broccoli's antioxidant benefits stand out. Concentrated in broccoli are flavonoids like kaempferol and quercetin. Also concentrated are the carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin, and beta-carotene. All three of these carotenoids function as key antioxidants. In the case of lutein and beta-carotene, broccoli has been shown not only to provide significant amounts of these antioxidants but to significantly increase their blood levels when consumed in the amount of 2-3 cups per day.
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