Once You Go Black - You Wont Go Back

Black rice is low in sugar but packed with healthy fibre and plant compounds that combat heart disease and cancer, according to scientists. Black rice - revered in ancient China but overlooked in the West - could be the greatest 'superfoods', scientists revealed today.

The cereal is low in sugar but packed with healthy fibre and plant compounds that combat heart disease and cancer, say experts. Scientists from Louisiana State University analysed samples of bran from black rice grown in the southern U.S. They found boosted levels of water-soluble anthocyanin antioxidants.















Anthocyanins provide the dark colours of many fruits and vegetables, such as blueberries and red peppers. They are what makes black rice 'black'.

Research suggests that the dark plant antioxidants, which mop up harmful molecules, can help protect arteries and prevent the DNA damage that leads to cancer.

Food scientist Dr Zhimin Xu said: 'Just a spoonful of black rice bran contains more health promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than are found in a spoonful of blueberries, but with less sugar, and more fibre and vitamin E antioxidants.

'If berries are used to boost health, why not black rice and black rice bran? Especially, black rice bran would be a unique and economical material to increase consumption of health-promoting antioxidants.'

Centuries ago black rice was known as 'Forbidden Rice' in ancient China because only nobles were allowed to eat it.













Today black rice is mainly used in Asia for food decoration, noodles, sushi and desserts. But food manufacturers could potentially use black rice bran or bran extracts to make breakfast cereals, beverages, cakes, biscuits and other foods healthier, said Dr Xu.

When rice is processed, millers remove the outer layers of the grains to produce brown rice or more refined white rice - the kind most widely consumed in the West.

Brown rice is said to be more nutritious because it has higher levels of healthy vitamin E compounds and antioxidants. But according to Dr Xu's team, varieties of rice that are black or purple in colour are healthier still.

They added that black rice could also be used to provide healthier, natural colourants. Studies linked some artificial colourants to cancer and behavioural problems in children.

The scientists presented their findings today at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston .

Victoria Taylor, senior dietician at the British Heart Foundation, said: 'In reality, it's unlikely there's a single food out there that will have a great impact on lowering your risk of heart disease. Healthy eating is about a balanced diet overall.

'It's great if you can eat more of some groups of healthy foods, like having five portions of fruit and vegetable a day, but there is still no conclusive evidence that 'super foods' alone make a real difference to your heart health.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1306356/Black-rice-new-cancer-fighting-superfood-claim-scientists.html

Who Is Yeo Yi Lin

Yeo Yi Lin - age 17 - lost her left leg to bone cancer and is now battling lung cancer - has shown the world that she never gives up hope by displaying her great fighting spirit and positive outlook in life. She even harbours hopes to further her music studies in England.

This Malaccan lass also brings out another very important message to all fellow Malaysians, especially the younger generation: not to lose hope and easily despair in life, especially when facing difficulties and challenges. Nurture your confidence and always be brave and strong and live life to the fullest!

Worthy Leadership

As parents and professional adults, we must recognize that today’s students will grow up to be tomorrow’s social, business, and political leaders, therefore, we must help them to develop the necessary skills of leadership.. Does there need to be a basic level of leadership ability within every person? Yes, because even if a person does not lead others, he or she must lead him or herself.

It is common to think of a leader as someone who is very verbal, outgoing, and visible, makes their opinions known, and has plenty of them! But, leaders can be quiet people, too. In fact, some people will be more inclined to follow the strong, quiet types who lead by example, rather than by words.

Some people are "born" leaders and some have follower tendencies due to innate personality characteristics.

What is leadership? Leadership is defined as one’s ability to guide, direct, or influence people. To provide a more encompassing definition of true leadership, however, Grahek, Phillips, & Thompson (2008) refer to “worthy” leadership. The word worthy is defined as having adequate or great merit, character, or value. Therefore, worthy leadership is the ability to guide, direct, or influence people in a way that has great merit, character, and value.

In worthy leadership a person or organization must have the capacity to lead, the commitment to lead, and the character to lead.

So, how can we help young people to develop worthy leadership skills? A good first step is to teach them that the highest courage they can have is to dare themselves to be true to who they are in the face of adversity and challenges by life and others. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity are the choices that will add up, define who they are, and measure their life. Remind them that it is important for all of us to live a life of integrity without regret and looking back because there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

Following are a few other points to teach young people about leadership.

The Power of a Leader: True leaders are not those who strive to be first but those who are first to strive and do all possible to contribute to the success of the team of which they are a member. True leaders are first to see a need, envision the plan to answer the need, and empower the team to action. Because of the intensity of a leader’s commitment to the task at hand or principle employed, the power of those others involved can be catapulted into action.

The Essence of Leadership: A true leader has the confidence to stand and act alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He or she does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality and integrity of his or her actions and intent. Leaders are a lot like eagles in that they do not flock together, rather are likely found one at a time.

The Essence of Character: A person’s true character is usually revealed by the clarity of his or her convictions, the choices made and the promises kept. By holding strong to one’s principles and refusal to follow the path of convenience, the essence of a person’s character can be evidenced! Both what one says and does defines who that person is, and who they are…they are forever.

Candidates For Insurance

So how do you know if you’re a candidate for life insurance? Here are five signs you need the coverage.

1. You’re Married with Kids
If you’re hitched and have one or more children, life insurance is crucial. If you or your spouse died, the surviving spouse would need the money to keep up with car payments, buy food and clothes for the kids, save for college and retirement, and cover all the other everyday expenses the deceased person would no longer be around to help with. It’s not something anyone likes to think about, but it’s good to know money would be less of an issue if something happened to you or your spouse.

You might both want to buy life insurance even if you don’t have kids yet or don’t ever plan to. The sooner you get the coverage, the cheaper it’ll be. Besides, you’d probably want your spouse to be taken care of if you died prematurely, even if there weren’t any kids in the picture

2. You’re Single but Caring for an Aging Parent
Like couples with children, singles who are the main caretakers of an elderly and/or ill parent would probably feel much better knowing the parent is taken care of financially in the event of the caretaker’s premature death. That’s especially true if the parent would have no other way to pay for a professional replacement, which is extremely expensive. The services of a licensed home health aide, for example, now cost $19 an hour, on average. So the bill for even just a few daily hours of those services a day could easily surpass $20,000 in the course of a year.

3. You Have a Mortgage
You may have heard of at least one case in which somebody’s husband or wife died and they had to sell the house and move because they could no longer afford the mortgage. Life insurance can prevent that by providing cash to keep up with mortgage payments or perhaps even pay off the entire loan in one shot, if the policy is big enough.

4. You Own a Business and Have Partners
Business partners should always have life insurance on each other in case one of them dies, which can devastate a business because the deceased partner’s daily contribution to its success is lost. Insuring the partners’ lives can provide cash to help keep the business running in the event of someone’s death.

5. It’s Your Only Way to Give to Charity
Some people are well off enough that their death wouldn’t cause undue hardship for loved ones, but they don’t have anything extra to leave to a charity they want very much to help. They can solve this dilemma by purchasing life insurance and naming the charity as a primary beneficiary of the policy.

The Bottom Line
Don’t let the constant barrage of bad economic news and concern about your investments distract you from other important personal finance issues such as life insurance. At this point, getting adequate life insurance might actually be a higher priority for you than investing. Strongly consider purchasing coverage if there’s anybody who would suffer financially if you died.

Raise The Deads

It is well known that the Election Commission has the capabilities to resurrect dead voters come polling day and to register phantoms at home addresses without the occupants knowing about it. Just ask PKR deputy president Azmin Ali.

11 phantom voters were registered to his mother’s residential address. His mum who lives alone apparently did not approve of the other 11 phantoms, and she lodged a complaint.

Another Corruption

Jun 30: Abdul Rahman Bakri (Sabak Bernam UMNO Member of Parliament) ordered to enter defence. He is accused of making RM80,000 in false claims when he was Sungai Ayer Tawar assemblyperson.

Next PM of Thailand

Puea Thai Party candidate Yingluck Shinawatra (second left) gestures during a campaign stop in Bangkok June 30, 2011. Thailand will hold a general election on July 3.