Thin Slices of Joy
Comments
-
0 -
I'm very lucky to have my husband who cooks and goes to the grocery store. I tend to take too long when shopping because I read all the ingredients. When I accompany him to the grocery store, he will have me pick up a few items to get me out of his way. Once he gave me a list. It took me a few minutes to realize one item did not exist! Adventure had.
0 -
-
Beautiful!
0 -
Gorgeous day today, but poor pup had a vet appointment. She was a good dog. I missed her appointment last year. Glad to be able to go this year.
0 -
Serenity - Thanks for the BBC links!
0 -
Celia - They always have good pics/videos!
Coffee good.
7 surprising health benefits of coffee
You don't have to feel guilty for grabbing another cup when you have this much to gain.
IF YOU'RE CONSTANTLYresisting down the urge to hit your bloodstream with caffeine, relax. It's really okay to get a steady stream of java—so long as you're stopping at a reasonable time before bed (typically 2 p.m., since coffee has a half-life of 8-10 hours), not swallowing a pot a day, and avoiding syrups and artificial sweeteners (check out these 15 ultra-healthy add-insinstead). And we're not just saying so because the energy jolt is just that good. Coffee also has a slew of health benefits.
We've compiled a list of, arguably, the 7 best science-backed reasons you should have your coffee—and drink it, too.
1. Coffee reduces disease-causing inflammation
We're not talking about the inflammation caused by a killer workout, we mean the type of disease-causing inflammation that's spurred and worsened by old age.Caffeine has an amazing influence on your immune system—so much in fact that nearly all the other health benefits below could be explained by its ability to fight and ward off disease (like type 2 diabetes and heart disease), according to research published in Nature Medicine. In short, caffeine blocks certain receptors on brain cells, which is how coffee has its stimulating "wake-up" effect. In impeding these receptors, caffeine also blocks pathways that product inflammatory molecules, the researchers found. So, as you age, don't be wary of coffee. In this study, the older men and women who drank more caffeine had fewer inflammatory molecules; they also had lower blood pressure and more flexible arteries, more relatives who lived past age 90, and were healthier overall.
2. Promotes mental sharpness
You may not be entirely powerless to prevent mental decline, but, according to one study, coffee may be able to bolster your brain. Researchers discovered participants who drank 3 to 5 cups of coffee per day had about a 65% decreased chance of developing Alzheimer's disease or dementia later on in life.
3. Protect your ticker
Anybody who's serious about health knows the importance of a healthy cardiovascular system. What you may not know is by simply drinking 1 to 2 cups of coffee per day, you could significantly reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease-related death. According to a Japanese study of more than 76,000 participants, men who hit this sweet spot (1-2 cups per day) consuming one to two cups of coffee daily reduced their risk of dying from a cardiovascular disease by as much as 38%. Of course, this still doesn't excuse you from doing actual cardio. (And if you really hate it that much, check out 8 cardio workouts for the guy who hates cardio.)
4. Ward off the grim reaper
Want to lower your risk of death? A National Institutes of Health – AARP Diet and Health study of more than 400,000 people revealed that drinking coffee might be the answer. Between 1995 and 2008, male participants drinking even just one daily cup reduced their risk of death by 6%. Drinking either 2-3 cups or 6+ cups reduced the risk by 10% during the timeframe of the study. The greatest reduction of death risk was 12% in the group drinking 4-5 cups.
5. Build your diabetes defense
An alarming 11.8% of American men over the age of 20 have diabetes. Needless to say, it's a growing concern and one receiving a great deal of attention in the medical community. Between 1986 and 1998, Harvard researchers tracked the coffee consumption and occurrence of type-2 diabetes of more than 40,000 men. They discovered that long-term coffee drinkers had a significantly reduced risk of developing type-2 diabetes and statistics indicated the risk decreased the more they drank. Just remember to limit your sugar!
6. Limit your everyday pain
Are you in pain during the course of a typical workday? It's not that unusual. But, what is surprising is the degree to which many people feel rejuvenated following a coffee break—there's a reason why. Norwegian researchers observed 48 people performing office work and found those who consumed coffee only declared a pain-intensity level of 41, whereas participants who didn't drink any coffee reported having a score of 55.
7. Promote weight loss
If your focus is weight loss, green coffee extract could be an effective aid. Following a 22-week study of 16 overweight adults, researchers discovered participants given green coffee bean extract had undergone significant weight loss with 37.5% of them transitioning from being at a pre-obesity weight to a normal weight range. If you're battling the bulge, consider complementing your workouts by looking at the green bean capsule aisle of your local health nutrition store.
0 -
KB - Sounds wonderful! What do you do with them?
Worked on a rainy day. I get a new smartphone from work. I'll try to pick it up later in the week when there are fewer people in the office. They haven't seen me in almost a year, but I don't feel like being seen.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/phot...
0 -
Serenity- Thanks for all the good news and happy pictures. I know exactly what you mean about not being seen at work. We need invisible cloaks.
My thin slice for the day: an old friend bought me a concert ticket.
0 -
Gypsy, what concert will you be attending?
Serenity, imo, a good cup of coffee is one of life's simple pleasures.
KB, baby turkeys sound simply adorable.
i had a busy weekend with family at my house. One thing that brought me joy was how much nicer our back yard was without that blight of a duplex across the alley from us. The grandkids drew chalk art all over the driveway, we kicked a ball around with them, we sat on the porch, and it was all subtley but wonderfully nicer because there is just a grass field where a disgusting house once stood.
A couple weeks ago, I bought a very larger poster of a world map. Dh and ds were so negative about it; ds said if I stuck it to the wall the family room would look like a college dorm. Hmph! Dh said it needed some kind of frame. It is 55 x 39 so no frame available. But......I bought some wood lattice strips and painted them today. Dh will help me cut them to size and attach the strips around the poster to frame it. I didnt want to get that involved with it, but I was willing to compromise and devise a frame...it will take some time to center the poster and get the frame just right but I wasn't going to just not hang it. Anyway, the progress towards getting it hung is bringing me joy.
0 -
Very, very creative, Divine.
The Tedeschi Trucks Band!
0 -
My Thin Slice - At the office, there was a silent auction for 2 tickets in an excellent location to the Opera La Boheme and I won! DH and I both love this Opera and looking forward to a special date night.
0 -
Divine - That's a great way to spend the weekend!
GG - Yay to your friend! Love that kind of gift. The people at work are nice, but sometimes they don't understand it drains me to be there even before cancer. I even hate to be in conference calls if I feel a simple email is enough.
Celia - Woohoo! That will be a wonderful evening!
KB - They are beautiful! I love the mom and kids. She literally has them under her wings. Yeah, don't tell me what happens to the poor quality ones. One of my clients has items deemed poor quality, and they tell me I don't want to know the details.
My older daughter has been enjoying pear, brie, and cranberry sandwiches while downtown. It sounded too good, so for an at-home snack, I had my lazy version with brie, pear, and dried cranberries. Have no bread or crackers, but a lemon Perrier was a nice addition. Yum!
House of Cards has a new season on Netflix today. They thoughtfully released this executive order. Think my boss will accept it?
0 -
I do love Quebec cheese, but the cheese I love the most is from Italy. It's an espresso cheese. We don't get it all the time because it is expensive yet often goes out-of-stock.
0 -
Expresso OMG. I am stuck on these local (close to Quebec) alpine cheeses: )
0 -
The cheeses sound good. Ds and his girlfriend made a delicious cheese plate this weekend with pecans, pistachios, apples, dried cranberries, olives and some kind of cheese but I can't remember the name. All very tasty!
My little joy today was finding a movie I wanted to watch available free at the library. It is about Nora Ephron who wrote movies like Sleepless in Seattle and Heartburn. Her son did a sort of documentary on her life after she passed and it was aired on HBO which I don't get and which means it isn't available to rent from a Red Box video kiosk. It cost $10 on Amazon, which I hated to pay for something I'd view once. So....free! Happy 'bout that.
0 -
A joy that is a relief: it has been about 15 years since ds got a couple small turtles. Ds is in his 20s now, had been at college four years plus now on his own for two years. Dh was still taking care of those turtles all this time, cleaning the aquarium every two weeks, what a royal pain. We tried to get rid of the turtles several times over the years but ds couldn't bear to give them up.
FINALLY, the time was right and we advertised them and a woman with an 11 year old son who loves turtles bought them yesterday. Voila! They are gone, plus to a good home. Thank heavens!
0 -
Divine - Glad the turtle found a new home!
I woke up this morning to the sound of the pup wailing. When I came downstairs, she was on the floor yawning. Good thing she's cute.
I would mark my mugs like this, but I haven't taught her to read.
0 -
I need more dogs just so I can do this.
0 -
The nature magazine I get wrote that this type of local wildflower spreads through underground root extensions, so if you see a clump about 2 meters across, it is probably one singleorganism about 300 years old!
0 -
tessu - So pretty and interesting! I love it!
0 -
Serenity - Love all the pups, but most especially the first one of the Scotties. Scotties are the "family dog breed" on my paternal side of the family.
Tessu - Thanks for the lovely wildflowers photo!
0 -
Twitter knows me.
0 -
Celia - Those Scotties are adorable and made a well-formed pinwheel!
Wired has some nice space photos.
https://www.wired.com/2017/05/space-photos-week-sa...
0 -
I had a dog who loved to try to lick my upper palate when I yawned. Learned to always cover my mouth. Still do even though my current pup has never tried.
0 -
Got a little walk in today. Went to the local grocery store and ran into two friemds I haven't seen in awhile. It is always fun to catch up on small town gossip. One of my friends had just gone to a bakery for fresh Italian bread, and when I told her I was making an Italian chicken with sauce served over pasta for dinner, she went to her car and came back with one of the loaves of bread to give me for the meal.
0 -
Divine - I do love fresh bread!
Wonder Woman was awesome! I had the old Wonder Woman theme in my head all day until we saw the movie. This Wonder Woman is fierce!
0 -
Are you OK, pup asks?
0 -
Got my new phone all set up. I had to go to the carrier's store to get a new SIM card because the new phone takes a smaller size. At first they wanted me to pay for the new SIM card, but when I mentioned that this was an upgrade on a business account, he waived the fee. Woohoo! Saved $17.25!
My old phone goes to the older daughter. It's her turn.
0 -
Actual guy in Alberta mowing the lawn, but keeping an eye on that twister behind him.
0
