Alexa: Thank You !!! I just recieved another Email about Banana's. Guess it is Diet related. Always wondered where my Brain power came from. I eat banana's almost every day. It is also high in Fibre. Might help some Grouchy people. LOU - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bananas A professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about bananas. He said the expression "going bananas" is from the effects of bananas on the brain. Read on: Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!! This is interesting.. After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again. Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose & glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained & substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses & conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet. Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood & generally make you feel happier. PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood. Anemia : High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood & so helps in cases of anemia. Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food & Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure & stroke. Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school ( England ) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, & lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert. Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives. Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach &, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes & re-hydrates your system. Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief. Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up & avoid morning sickness. Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling & irritation. Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system. Overweight & at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate & chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady. Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture & smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity & reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach. Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical & emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan. Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium & magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal. Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain & regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack. Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%! Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin & place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape! So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A & iron, & twice the other vitamins & minerals. It is also rich in potassium & is one of the best value foods around. So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!" PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time! I will add one here; want a quick shine on our shoes?? Take the INSIDE of the banana skin, & rub directly on the shoe...polish with dry cloth. Amazing fruit !!!

grainlady, Re: your last post, I have tried several different started cultures. The cultures were much more of an issue when I was incubating regular yogurt. Some produced more whey than others. The required incubation time could vary dramatically also. I didn't like the taste of whey at all, and when I realized about the high carb content in regular yogurt, stopped trying to improve my homemade regular yogurt. I have found it much easier to make greek yogurt. Since the whey is drained, the resulting yogurt tastes better. The taste of whey is really repellent to me. The goal is to improve the protein to carb ratio of my yogurt. In theory, if I drained more whey, I could remove all the carbs without removing all the protein, and thus have a nearly infinite protein to carb ratio :) However, I have done the math and I don't think that's possible. If 85% of the weight of the yogurt was drained as whey, the resulting yogurt would have 256 calories per cup, 47.7g of protein and 18.24g of sugar. Ie. a 2.6:1 ratio of protein to carb. About the same as the store yogurt, yes, but also with 2x as many calories. My guess is that would be some inedible thick yogurt ! However, I just don't think it's possible to remove that much whey. There has to be some process through which more sugar is removed than just by straining the whey. That, or I'm using the wrong nutritional information for the liquid whey. Adding protein like gelatin would work, it would increase the protein : carb ratio, it but would also increase the calories to an amount much higher than the amount in store brand yogurt. Right now my home made yogurt has the same calories as store brand - only the protein : carb ratio is off.

I travelled up the Oregon Coast not long ago. Being a sailor I was poking around some of the yacht harbors and such and found a grated area near where the fishing boats were docked. I poked around looking for things to photograph, and found a HUGE pile of fish remains with flies buzzing around and slime coming from the bottom. I asked the fisherman what the pile was being used for, since I am also a gardener I figured the remains would be used for that. He said they sell to pet food companies. I will never forget that. So - that is what I mean by junk fish. As far as human grade food - I dont mean a nice piece of filet mignon, although I am certain your dog would love that. I mean food that is not just extras body parts thrown in a heated bin and made into a soup and processed into dog food. As far as human grade food Im talking about meat which is regularly tested for pesticides, herbicides, and other contaminants. As far as high protein goes, I know from working at a vet that you add dog biscuits or something crunchy - not for the teeth of the dogs but to help them process all that meat, I know high protein diets can slow the digestive process and I also know that dogs and other wild animals supplement their diet naturally ie:BARF type diets. Even zoo's give their charges food they would not normally get in the wild, cantelope and watermelon to bears and tigers etc....Those are my concerns, that any pet get a good quality food and not junk food, and that food is tested for contaminants. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Be careful about low-carb high-protein diets. It may be okay to eat like that for a little while to lose some weight, but it is definitely not a healthy long-term diet. Carbohydrates are very important for cell activity throughout the body. The secret is to keep the blood sugar levels as steady as possible. If it is too high, the excess carbohydrates are turned into fat. If it gets too low, you won't be able to effectively burn any fat. "Good" carbs don't cause a quick raise in blood sugar levels. The glycemic index and glycemic load are definitely worth looking at. They give you a very good idea of which carbs to eat and which ones to avoid. For people who are not diabetic, I wouldn't recommend strictly counting all the carbs or indexes or calories. That would tke all the fun out of eating. Potatoes and whole wheat/grain pasta, brown rice and other not too refined products are very healthy and don't make you fat. They give you much more fiber than a high-protein diet will give you. The problem with eating too much protein is that the digestion of protein yields in large amounts of uric acid and the kidneys have to work hard to get rid of it. Animal proteins are worse than plant proteins. Too much uric acid in the blood can lead to gout. The recommendations for a well-balanced diet are 40% carbs, 40% protein and 20% fat in regards to the total calorie intake. 40-30-30 like RoxieL states above is close to that, but a little too high in fat. The daily recommended amount of fiber is 35 gram which is quite a lot. Most people, including vegetarians, get too much protein and fat, but not enough fiber. By the way, fiber is also a carbohydrate!