Tap Water vs. Bottled Water – Which Should You Drink?

Glug, glug, glug-that’s the sound a ginormous number of us make as we sip bottled water in our cars, at the gym, behind our desks. The sound you DON’T hear is the thwack of 60 million bottles a day being tossed into U.S. landfills, where they can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.

If that’s not enough to turn your conscience a brighter shade of green, add this: Producing those bottles burns through 1.5 million barrels of crude oil annually-enough fuel to keep 100,000 cars running for a year. Recycling helps but reusing is even better. Invest in a couple of portable, dishwasher-safe, stainless steel bottles like Klean Kanteens that won’t leach nasty chemicals into your water. (Don’t get into the habit of refilling the water bottle you just emptied; the polyethylene terephthalate it’s made of breaks down with multiple usings.)

4 REASONS TO TURN ON THE TAP

1. Tap water is tested daily
Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, water suppliers are required to provide an annual report on the quality of your local water and to test tap water daily. By comparison, the FDA examines bottled water only weekly, and consumers can’t get the agency’s results. You can easily get the lowdown on your state’s drinking water quality at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/index.html

2. Tap water is a bargain
Bottled water costs about 500 times more than tap. If you’re into really fancy labels, up to 1,000 times more.
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You Learn Something New Everyday. Mudras?

So I was using StumbleUpon earlier this evening. And I ran across this page HealthMad.com

According to Wikipedia:
A mudrā (Sanskrit, मुद्रा, literally “seal”) is a symbolic gesture, used in the iconography of Hindu and Buddhist art of the Indian subcontinent. They are usually made with the hand or fingers. Along with āsanas (seated postures), they are employed in the yoga meditation practice of Hinduism. Each mudrā has a specific quality that is said to be imparted to the practitioner. Common hand gestures are to be seen in both Hindu and Buddhist iconography. Other regions, for example Thailand and Laos use different but related iconographic conventions.

The Mudra above is called: Prithvi Mudra [Earth Mudra]

Method:
Tip of the ring finger touches the tip of the thumb, with the other three fingers stretched out.
Specialty:
It reduces all physical weaknesses.
Time Duration:
It has no particular time duration. You can practice it any time you want.
Benefits:

* It helps to increase the weight for weak people
* It improves the complexion of skin and makes the skin to glow
* It makes the body active by keeping it healthy

Check out the rest of the Mudras. They feel great!

Fundamental Tips for Longevity in the Gym

By: Dave Draper

I have a friend from Muscle Beach who is three-quarters of a century old this July. He lifted weights when not fighting the enemy in Mindanao during WWII and can no more give up his workouts than a dummy can give up his ventriloquist. His advice is to figure out what exercises don’t hurt and do a lot of them.

It’s called wisdom from the Chief. You might scribble that down on a napkin for future reference while we seek out other alternatives to put into motion. We have a head start.

A word to the young and the wise: Don’t ignore or read with less intent the tedious information that appears to be constructed exclusively for the adult sporting streaks of gray and a creased brow. The lessons apply to all of us, for at any given time we share a fight bearing similar threats: accident, injury, illness, despondency, boredom, fatigue. The fray assumes many forms and bites at the heals of men, women and kids. Gird thy loins.

Just Like Old Times
My training today is fundamentally the same as it was when I trained for contests in the ’60s and ’70s, hard, long, supersetted and volume accented. I advocate working with the weights three to four times a week for 75-90 minutes, each muscle group two times per week. This is the outside margin for the ready rascal who can match the training with his lifestyle and still keep his friendships and pay the bills. He or she leads the parade.
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8 Ways Soda Fizzles Your Health

We would wager money that many of you are “doing the dew” or “doing what tastes right” this very moment. Before you take another gulp from your soft drink can, here are 8 facts about soda to consider that may drastically affect the quality of your health.

pH of Soda = pH of Vinegar
For one, soda, no matter who makes it, is the most acidic beverage you can buy, with a pH of about 2.5, about the same as vinegar. Why does that matter? Acid oxidizes whatever it comes in contact with. If you put soda or vinegar on metal, it will rust it quickly. Check out this table of acid levels of your favorite sodas.

Drink Soda, Leach Calcium
If you drink soda, which also contains high levels of phosphorous, you will leach calcium from your bones. Dr. Michael Murray from the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine concluded, “It appears that increased soft drink consumption is a major factor that contributes to osteoporosis.” Furthermore, Dr. Elson Haas, author of The Detox Diet states, “Tooth loss, periodontal disease, and gingivitis can be problems, especially with a high phosphorus intake, particularly from soft drinks.”

Soda Will Dissolve your Tooth Enamel
Weak bones is just the beginning. According to Dr. James Howenstein. author of A Physician’s Guide to Natural Health Products That Work, the high sugar content of soda is awful. He states, “”In an interesting experiment the sugar from one soft drink was able to damage the white blood cells’ ability to ingest and kill bacteria for seven hours.” Dr. Marion Nestle from his book Food Politics states, “Sugar and acid in soft drinks so easily dissolve tooth enamel.”

Each Additional Soda Increases Risk for Obesity by 1.6 times
So now we’ve got weak bones, weakened immune system, and dissolving teeth. What’s next? Weight gain! Dr. Nestle also concluded, “The relationship between soft drink consumption and body weight is so strong that researchers calculate that for each additional soda consumed, the risk of obesity increases 1.6 times.”
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