What's New?
(Sept. 15 - 19, 2008)

How Much Does Soy Help Lower Cholesterol?

"Can the soy protein really give something more than a healthy dietary pattern could do for you? The answer is no. Why give soy protein an advantage over, say, other beans, nuts, fish, poultry, other sources of protein?" Dr. Sacks said. Soy, alone, won’t lower cholesterol significantly, especially if the other foods in your daily diet consist of greasy hamburgers and polyunsaturated fat soaked fries. But soy helps if it is used as a substitute for unhealthy foods – replacing a hamburger with a soy burger. Or ordering either a vegetarian or a lower-fat chicken chili, instead of a fatty hamburger style chili. If you don’t like soy, then opt for another food that lacks cholesterol as a substitute.

Part of the trick to cutting cholesterol is eating fewer foods that contain cholesterol, supporting the adage 'you are what you eat'. For instance, all meats contain cholesterol, but eggs and organ meats have the most. But vegetables simply do not have any cholesterol in them. At the very least, cut-off the cholesterol-rich fat from meat.

Source: http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SU/


Nature and the Golden Ratio

Plants grow new cells in spirals, such as this pattern of seeds in the beautiful sunflower.

The spiral happens naturally because each new cell is formed after a turn.

"New cell, then turn,
then another cell, then turn, ..."

So, if you were a plant, how much of a turn would you have in between new cells?  It should be 1.61803... the Golden Ratio, and the Sunflower knows it.


Source:
http://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/nature-golden-ratio-fibonacci.html