Is Coconut Oil Healthy?
Some sources, in particular Bruce Fife, N.D. and Joseph Mercola, D.O. promote coconut oil as the healthiest oil to use.
Not everyone agrees. Dr. Andrew Weil believes coconut oil has no positive role in the diet, while Dr. Mehmet Oz believes coconut oil has some positive health benefits but shouldn’t be overused.
According to the George Mateljan Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation with no commercial interests, most coconut oil health research has been done on animals or in a laboratory using cells and other tissues. For this reason, solid conclusions about the role of coconut oil in everyday human diets are not possible.
A practical benefit of coconut oil is that it has a higher smoke point than many other oils, meaning that you can cook with it and have less concern about unhealthy oxidation. According to the Mateljan Foundation, the smoke point for lightly refined coconut oil is about 450ºF (232ºC) while the smoke point for unrefined virgin coconut oil is about 350ºF (170ºC).
If you want to use coconut oil, choosing organic virgin coconut oil is a good way to make sure you get a high-quality oil.
One company that makes organic virgin coconut oil is Tropical Traditions. They provided me with a free sample of this product to review, but I was under no obligation to review it or do so favorably.
I don’t really know how to review coconut oil. In the past, I used two other brands, and they all worked fine in my cooking. I do like Tropical Traditions attention to quality detail and their selection of products. So, if coconut oil interests you, take a look at what Tropical Traditions has to offer.
August 14, 2010
· 
Carol · 
No Comments
Tags: benefits of coconut oil, coconut oil, tropical traditions · Posted in: health
Write a Guest Blog Post – Win a Prize
The Search Engine Marketing Group is sponsoring the The Bad Ass SEO Guest Blogging Contest. My entry is at The Value of In-Content Keyword Links.
Lots of prizes:
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Whitney Segura Whitney Segura’s Internet Marketing Blog
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Other prizes: Non-Cash Sponsors
Hostgator.com 1 year Business Hosting plan. Includes toll free phone number and SSL $179.40 value Business Web Hosting
David Harry A full years membership at SEO Dojo, a value of $250. SEO Training Dojo
Special thanks to the contest media partner: My Blog Guest. MyBlogGuest.com is the free guest post exchange community where users meet to exchange guest posts and network.
August 9, 2010
· Carol · No Comments
Tags: guest post contest, writing guest posts · Posted in: Internet
Is Chocolate Healthy?
Is chocolate healthy? It depends on how the chocolate is processed. Roasting and fermenting tend to decrease the amount of healthy antioxidants in the cocoa bean. Also, ingredients added to chocolate, such as sugar and milk, are not healthy.
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Most sources recommend a minimum of 70% dark chocolate to get the benefits of chocolate without an abundance of the non-healthy ingredients. In moderation, of course.
Good reading about chocolate research and how chocolate is made: Chocolate: The New Health Food or Is It? (downloadable PDF)
Another person’s thoughts on chocolate: Chocolate: A Health Food? by Jay S. Cohen, M.D.
Fun Chocolate Facts
Chocolate is made from the beans of the cacao tree. Chocolate-making companies purchase these beans and then crush, mix, roll, and mold them in machines to make the chocolate you eat.
Cocoa nibs are simply roasted cocoa beans separated from their husks and broken in to small bits.
August 5, 2010
· Carol · No Comments
Tags: cacao nibs, chocolate, is chocolate healthy · Posted in: health
Quotes About Centering
Centering in Pottery, Poetry, and the Person
Here are some quotes from the book:
“Wisdom is a state of total being, in which capacities for knowledge and for love, for survival and for death, for imagination, inspiration, intuition, for all the fabulous functioning of this human being who we are, come into a center with their forces, come into an experience of meaning that can voice itself as action.”
“When we act out of an inner unity, when all of ourselves is present in what we do, then we can be said to be ‘on center.’”
“We can receive only what we already have! We can become only what we already are! We can learn only what we already know! It is a matter of realizing potentialities. It is not a matter of ‘adding to’ but of ‘developing,’ of ‘evolving.’ We contain in ourselves a world of capacities, of possibilities, which the outer world summons forth, speaks to, releases.”
“It takes all one’s courage to be the person one is, fulfilling one’s odd and unique possibilities.”
July 31, 2010
· Carol · No Comments
Tags: becoming centered, centering, quotes · Posted in: quotes, self improvement
Choose a Path with Heart
My favorite quotes about choosing a path with heart, from Carlos Casteneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge
“Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, your are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.”
“But how will I know for sure whether a path has heart or not?
“Anybody would know that. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path.”
“A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. on the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it doesn’t not make you work at liking it.”
July 27, 2010
· Carol · No Comments
Tags: Carlos Casteneda, path with heart, quotes, teachings of don juan · Posted in: quotes, self improvement, spiritual growth
The Wealthy Freelancer
If you are a freelancer or thinking about freelancing, The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle
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The Wealthy Freelancer is not about a specific type of freelancing but provides principles and action steps for building any type of freelance business. The authors, Steve Slaunwhite, Pete Savage, and Ed Gandia, are all successful freelance writers and marketing professionals.
The authors define a wealthy freelancer as someone who has
- the projects you want,
- the clients you want,
- the income you want, and
- the lifestyle you want.
To help you become a wealthy freelancer, the authors provide over 50 ideas that you can choose from to develop an action plan for your particular business. Here are just a few of the topics covered:
- marketing your services and finding clients (of course),
- setting goals and envisioning your ideal day,
- living a balanced life,
- pricing and setting standards for work you will and will not accept, and
- setting up alternative streams of income.
The book also has work and productivity tips and addresses common obstacles and questions that come up in a freelance business. If you are serious about being a successful freelancer who also has a life outside of work, read The Wealthy Freelancer
July 18, 2010
· Carol · One Comment
Tags: freelance writing, freelancing tips, setting up freelance business, wealthy freelancer, writing resources, writing tips · Posted in: books, writing
Writers: Are You Using the Resources that Your Tax Dollars Support?
The United States government is the largest publisher of information in the world. Not only is the information free, all government-produced information is in the public domain.
National Institutes of Health
Talk about a treasure trove of information for health and medical writers! The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and conducts and supports medical research. The more than 15 institutes include:
- the National Cancer Institute,
- the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases,
- the National Human Genome Research Institute, and
- the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Find the complete NIH list here.
The NIH, in conjunction with the U.S. National Library of Medicine, also publishes the encyclopedia-like Medline Plus. The entries usually contain basic information about a topic with links to lots of other reputable sites for more detailed information.
Facts and Information
CIA World Factbook: Information about the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.
U.S. Census Bureau: Demographic and economic information about people, business, geography, and more. Check out the “Facts for Features & Special Editions” page, which provides collections of statistics for anniversaries or observances, such as Grandparent’s Day and Women’s History Month.
U.S. Small Business Administration: Information on starting, managing, and growing a small business.
To find even more government information sources, see the U.S. government’s official web portal.
July 16, 2010
· Carol · No Comments
Tags: government resouces for writers, writing research, writing resources, writing tips · Posted in: free things, writing
