ARE YOU A SAVVY CONSUMER OF SUGAR SUBSTITUTES?

Did you know that artificial sweeteners are just one type of sugar substitutes? The other types include sugar alcohols, novel sweeteners, and natural sweeteners. Here is the information you need in order to make healthy choices in your day to day life.

I. Artificial Sweeteners

• Are synthetic sugar substitutes
• May be derived from naturally occurring substances including herbs and sugar itself
• Are known as intense sweeteners and many times sweeter than sugar
• Are not carbohydrates and have no calories
• They don't raise blood sugar levels
• Are regulated by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as food additive

Artificial sweeteners include the following:

1. Acesulfame K (Sunett, Sweet One): is 200 times sweeter than regular sugar, is used in many food products
2. Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet): is non-saccharide, used in foods and beverages, should be avoided by persons with genetic presence of Phenylalanine metabolites in their urine.
3. Saccharin (Sugar Twin, Sweet 'N Low): is 300 times as sweet as regular sugar, is used in food products as well as medicines and toothpastes.
4. Sucralose (Splenda): is 320 - 1000 times as sweet as regular sugar, twice as sweet as Saccharin, three times as sweet as Aspartame, is used in food products that require longer shelf life.
5. Neotame (Sucralose): 7000 - 13000 times sweeter than regular sugar, is not directly available to consumers but is used in hundreds of food product.
6. Advantame: is a high intensity sweetener, 20000 times as sweet as regular sugar, is a Japanese product, has been under research for 10 years, is for general use in food products.

II. Sugar Alcohols

• Are organic compounds that occur naturally
• Are low calorie carbohydrates
• Diabetic patients should calculate the carbohydrate amounts
• Are used in food products as thickeners and sweeteners
• Are used in combination  with high intensity artificial sweeteners
• Despite their name they are not alcohols
• Are found in processed foods and other products
• Food labels will mention the use of sugar alcohols
• Can have laxative effect
• Sugar alcohols are: Erythritol, hydrogenated starch, Hydrolysate, Isomalt, Lactitol, Maltitol, Mannitol, Sorbitol, and Xylitol.

III. Novel Sweeteners

Are combination of various types of sweeteners including:

1. Stevia: a highly refined plant extract, 300 times sweeter than sugar, has negligible effect on blood sugar
2. Tagatose: occurs naturally in some dairy products and other foods, is a low carbohydrate sweetener, foods containing Tagatose are not considered sugar-free
3. Trehalose: is found naturally in mushrooms

IV. Natural Sweeteners: 

Are considered healthier but they undergo processing as well. They include:

1. Agave Nectar: is chiefly a Mexican plant also native to the southern and western United States, has high fructose content even more than corn syrup
2. Fruit juice, nectars, honey, molasses, and maple syrup are generally considered safe by FDA
3. Date sugar: is found in natural food stores, is less processed, can be quite expensive

In brief:

1. Know that sugar substitutes are not magic bullets for weight loss
2. Be savvy consumers and read the food labels
3. Use in moderation
4. Know that sugar-free does not mean calorie-free and you can still gain weight
5. Know that processed foods often contain sugar substitutes
6. Know that whole foods such as fruits and vegetables offer the most health benefits

#Sugar-substitutes  #Healthy-choice

WHICH TRACK ARE YOU ON?!

"When we are able to  look at our lives and our worlds without fear or judgments, we realize that this dream we are dreaming - reality - can be whatever we want it to be". 

The above mentioned quote is from teachings of Don Miguel Ruiz the author of The Four Agreements who believes that fear is the source of all negative agreements we've made with life. Love is opposite of fear and before we can achieve The Mastery of Love, we must move beyond fear. We can imagine two tracks, one of love and one of fear. By comparing them, we can see which track we are on.

Love

Has no expectations

Has no obligations

Has respect for self and others

Is patient

Does not pity

Is detached

Is kind

Fear

Is filled with expectations

Is full of obligations 

(Acting from obligations brings suffering, and failing to act leads to the feeling of guilt)

Respects nothing even self

(Feeling sorry for self or others means no respect)

Is impatient

Is filled with pity especially self-pity

Is filled with attachments and dreads having to let go

Is too self-absorbed to be kind

Which track are you on?!

#fear #love #DonMiguelRuiz

LIVING IN AWE

The Concept:

If you look at something without labeling it as good or bad, you will have a sense of awe. This is how the artists feel and how Vincent Van Gogh – a post-impressionist painter felt when he painted the “chair” in 1888. His painting of chair was worth more than twenty five million dollars a few years back and probably more now.

Dictionary defines awe as “an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc. produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like”.  According to Paul Pearsall, the well-known neurobiologist and positive psychologist, awe is “an overwhelming and bewildering sense of connection with a startling universe that is usually far beyond the narrow band of our consciousness”. He refers to awe as our eleventh emotion, the other emotions being love, fear, sadness, embarrassment, curiosity, pride, enjoyment, despair, guilt, and anger. Research findings indicate that nature and art/music were frequently cited as the eliciting stimulus for positive awe, and the awe response is indeed our maximum state of full and total observation.

Paul Pearsall contends that living an awe-filled life does not mean avoiding pain; awe can be felt in the face of death as well as in watching a birth. Awe makes a difference between languishing and flourishing, by consciously engaging and reflecting on the world outside of the self. He reminds us that "We are all riding around together on one of the universe’s billion fragile, cracking, exploding, rocks, on which even our existence is statistical fluke beyond one in billions. Sucked to our gas-covered rock by an invisible force, we’re being spun around seventeen miles per second while at the same time whizzing at nineteen miles per second around a nuclear exploding fireball that, even though it’s ninety million miles away, holds our rock in its orbit with its invisible force, and, if our rock got too close, could cook us all in a nanosecond”. He asks – are you not in awe? We have indeed allowed our awe response to atrophy from disuse!

Background of unhappiness

According to Eckhart Tolle almost everyone carries in his or her energy field an accumulation of old emotional pain called pain-body. The pain-body is not just our individual pain but also includes the pain suffered by countless humans throughout the history of humanity (the collective psyche of humanity) and it is in every human DNA. Pain bodies like to both inflict and suffer pain. Examples include:

1. Falling in love or attraction of pain bodies
2. Media and human addiction to unhappiness
3. Women's collective pain bodies as they have been killed and suppressed by all cultures and religions
4. Countries and nations' collective emotional pain
5. Children's pain bodies which manifest as moodiness and is affected by parents' pain bodies

                   

It is a common wisdom that negative thoughts have lower vibrational frequency and they resonate with and feed our pain bodies. On the other hand the voice of ego constantly disrupts the natural state of our well-being with negativity and superficial labeling of everything and everyone. When we stop doing that the depth comes back to our lives and we can experience the sense of awe. In other words, we should not seek the happiness but the freedom from unhappiness which is the negative interpretation of life situations.

In brief

When we are in a negative state of mind we should remind ourselves that negativity is always ego. Once we are aware of this, our identity will shift from ego to awareness. Being aware is knowing that we are experiencing and applying our full and deepest consciousness to where, with whom, and why we are, and that’s what can inspire profound awe. We can then stop the darkness by bringing in the light of living an awe-filled life.

#Awe  #VanGogh #11thEmotion

SEVEN BEST WAYS TO COMMUNICATE AND EXPRESS YOURSELF

I usually spoke in a low voice and almost always I was asked to repeat what I had said, forcing me to get out of my comfort zone. I also had developed a sensitivity to people who raised their voices in any situation or under any circumstances. I was really surprised when I learned from a coach that my childhood experiences had something to do with this. 

As a child I felt dominated by the people around me so talking in a low voice became my way of not dominating others. In fact, this was a payoff for me at the cost of my own self-expression. A real eye opener!

One day as part of a communication training program we were asked to go out in the street and interact with complete strangers by establishing a conversation about the topic of our choice. 

For me that was the hardest part of my training and I was feeling extremely inhibited to do the assignment. However, the assignment was successfully carried out and I faced no rejection from the strangers and no difficulties to open a conversation with people whom I did not know at all. Most of all I learned that my fears had no basis and most of the limitations and anxieties I felt were self-imposed.

The training was in relation to self-expression in the context of communication, and I learned that self-expression is an intention and it involves speaking and acting together. The coach told us:

1. Express yourself in a way that frees the best in others
2. Speak clearly and loudly
3. Do not seek anyone’s approval
4. Be unafraid of being judged by others
5. Show your emotions and allow yourself to be vulnerable
6. Don’t care to be always right
7. Dare to say no, and accept no for an answer

At the end of the training we were asked by the coach to make a new declaration about who we are and he wanted us to be loud and clear and talk with conviction. It was truly an empowering and emotional experience to stand together with others and declare that – we are part of the grand design of life!

#communication #self-expression 

ONE MESSAGE

This is a presentation of three poems from my favorite poets who lived during the 12^th, 13^th, and 14^th centuries but their poems carry the same message, message of oneness and peace.

  

12^th Century

1165 – 1240

Mystic, philosopher, poet, sage Ali Ibn Arabi is one of the world’s great spiritual teachers. He was born into the Moorish culture of Andalusian Spain and died in Damascus. His poetry and extensive writings provide a beautiful exposition of the unity of Being. His wisdom has much to offer us in the modern world in terms of understanding what it means to be human.

Light of Sacredness

The inner space inside

that we call the heart

has become many different

living scenes and stories.

A pasture for sleek gazelles,

a monastery for Christian monks,

a temple with Shiva dancing

a kaaba for pilgrimage.

The tablets of Moses are there,

the Qur’an, the Vedas,

the sutras, and the gospels.

Love is the religion in me.

Whichever way love’s camel goes,

that way becomes my faith,

the source of beauty, and a light

of sacredness over everything.

13^th Century

1207 – 1273

Poet, Sufi, and mystic RUMI, known as planetary poet and the first seeker of Truth, was born in Balkh ancient Persia. According to the experts, his words carry a broad range of religious awareness - the meditative silence and no-mind of Zen, the open heart and compassion of Jesus, the stern discipline of Mohammad, the convivial humor of Taoists, the crazy wisdom and bright intelligence of the Jewish and Hassidic masters. He wrote poetry to transform his listeners and readers in order to take them out of themselves and lead them to greater awareness.

Only Breath

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu,
Buddhist, sufi or zen. Not any religion

or cultural system. I am not from the East
or West, not out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not an entity in this world or the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is place-less, a trace
of the trace-less. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.

14^th Century

1320-1389

The beloved Persian poet, sufi master and mystic HAFIZ was born in Shiraz, Iran and was known as the tongue of the invisible. He came one hundred years after RUMI and in his poems he reveals a God that would never cripple us with guilt or control us with fear. His words are a music that comforts, empowers and enlightens. He invites you to join him in his fantastic applause of life.

I have learned

I
Have
Learned
So much from God
That I can no longer
Call
Myself

A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim
A Buddha, a Jew

The Truth has shared so much of itself
With me

That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel,
Or even pure soul.

Love has befriended Hafiz so completely
It had turned to ash
And freed
Me

Of every concept and image
My mind has ever known

***

#poets #oneness 

ONCE UPON A TIME, NEPAL

A Temple

Our small plane was flying over the Himalayas, and looking from the window, I was in awe while staring at the beautiful chain of mountains covered with snow against the clear blue sky. At that time I was working with the World Health Organization and I lived in Bangladesh in South Asia. I was on my way to Katmandu, Nepal which was not very far from where I was stationed.

Himalayas

The Federal Republic of Nepal is the world’s largest country by land mass, and is located in Himalayas bordered to the north by China, and to the south, east and west by India. The 27+ million population of the country are mostly Hindu and Buddhist. Nepal is separated from Bangladesh by a narrow stretch of land. The capital city and the largest city of Nepal is Katmandu. The country’s agriculture sector employs about 76% of the workforce.

The Watching Eyes

People love to visit Nepal for its natural beauty and for being almost like a mystical place but they also go there for mountain climbing especially if they are professional mountaineers. The mountains north of Nepal have eight of the world’s ten tallest mountains, including the highest point of Earth, Mount Everest.

 

A beautiful scenery in Katmandu

My whole experience of being in Nepal felt like a dream especially when I took a tour to see the surrounding skirts of mountains. The air was fresh and cool and I felt I have stepped into a new planet. I saw local women and children in colorful cloths waiting around and talking with each other. When I asked the tour guide about them he said that many of them are relatives of Sherpas who guide the mountaineers.

Sherpas are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal in the Himalayas who are regarded as elite mountaineers and expert in their local terrain. In April 2014 the avalanche of massive chunks of ice and snow killed 16 Nepalese guides, mostly Sherpas. There are reports that many Sherpa climbing guides have left their jobs because of frequent deaths and injuries.

Colorful Spices

I experienced Nepal as a beautiful and colorful country with an spectacular landscape. The diverse and exotic cultures of Nepal attract a lot of tourists. The people of Nepal are extremely kind, serene and helpful in spite of the hardship and apparent poverty. I never forget the view of Himalayas and the country’s beautiful sceneries and temples.

In Katmandu

#Himalayas #Nepal #Katmandu

CHOOSING TO ENJOY LIFE

We are all observers and we do not know how things really are, we only know how we observe them or interpret them to be. Each human being experiences the world from a unique perspective and is a certain observer of the world. However, changes in life can shift the observer that we are, and can help us gain new insights. If we were able to observe ourselves from outside we could see how we create our own realities.

Let’s explore this together:

1. We all have a cognitive blindness which means we don’t know what we don’t know and once we accept that, we will be more open to learning and increasing our personal effectiveness.

2. We constantly judge others based on our beliefs, feelings, emotions and moods. Judging as such prevents learning and the person who is being judged will gradually disappear from our sight. In the meantime, we isolate ourselves too.

3. Sometimes what we say is not the real reason for what we claim it to be. The real reason is the choices we have made but we are not conscious about or present to our choices. We have the habit of blaming it on other people or other things.

4. Humans are linguistic beings and language is generative not merely descriptive. According to the experts, language is action and to speak is to act, it is a representational system of the unconscious. The five linguistic acts are - (1) assertion (2) declaration (these two set the context for actions to follow) (3) request (4) offer (5) promise (these three are the generative part of language and they produce results). True leaders solicit promise and make requests. They are good at enrolling others because they are seen as possibility. The question each one of us has to ask ourselves is – how effective is my language?

5. According to behavioral experts, being aware of our emotions and feelings, play an important role in our ability to control our own behavior. Examples of emotions and feelings are – being sad, happy, eager, hurt, angry, fearful, doubtful, affectionate, afraid, etc. When feelings remain at an unconscious level they can take control of our behavior which can lead to acting-out. Examples of acting-out are – eating when anxious, yelling at a child when we have had a bad day, getting drunk, forgetfulness, etc.  At some point the mind can direct the emotions back in the body and the person can develop psycho-somatic diseases. At the pathological level a person can show criminal behaviors. The feeling remained at an unconscious level can also lead to direct or indirect expression of emotions such as criticism, loaded questions, accusations, name-calling and judgments. In such situations the best thing to do is not to get defensive or counterattack. Staying in touch with our emotions and feelings and bringing them to our conscious level prevents acting-out and destructive behavior.

6. It is commonly believed that emotions reflect intentions and we have the power to choose our intentions. Intentions of love expand the loving part of our personality but if we yield to fear and negative emotions we lose power.

In brief, we can start by trying to stay conscious and centered and by doing that; learn to appreciate even the difficult experiences of our life. As a result our happiness will not be conditional to outside world or to our own preferences, and we can choose to enjoy our life as best as we can.

#observer, #intentions, #acting-out, #enjoying, #choice, #judgment