Basic Pursuits

We've already noted here that Vitamin D is a possible performance enhancer for athletes.

Here's a recent study that adds credance to that view. Austrian scientists

"...examined the blood of 2300 men with an average age of just over sixty. Only eleven percent of them had sufficient vitamin D in their blood. And indeed: more vitamin D in their blood had the men, the higher their testosterone and unbound testosterone concentration."

This from an editorial on the Life Extention website.

"There are 920,000 heart attacks suffered in the United States every year.4 According to the American Heart Association, the annual cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity related to these heart attacks is over $156 billion.4

The annual retail cost of all 300 million Americans (including children) supplementing with 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day is $6.6 billion.

Run/walk Backwards

Find yourself a field or track or empty parking lot. Set your course before you start. Walking or running backwards is not a good time to explore. I like to find a big circle, but back and forth will do.

Walk or run (you pick your speed) backwards. Glance over your shoulder from time to time to make sure you chose a good course. Keep our knees slightly bent for extra conditionaing in the knees.

A few months ago, I traveled with one of my sons. He showed me a tiny, black plastic vial that he said contained shaving oil. "You should try it," he said.

I did and loved it. Soft whiskers and my razor slid like a sled. I headed for the drug store and bought my own black vial. It was nearly $5.00 for 1/2 ounce. Wow. Someone's making money. That's $80.00 per cup.

Some good folks in Norway have devised a calculator to figure how much sunshine produces how much Vitamin D. It takes into account latitude, altitude, race, and local reflectivity.

Freyda Siegel, 100, shares 18 tips on how to live well.

18 tips for living a long life well

A recent study suggests that the best way to cook vegetables is to
microwave them. Researchers measured the free-radical eating
anti-oxidants before and after various methods of cooking. Vegies
cooked in the microwave retained the most anti-oxidants.

I've tried this with broccoli and it works pretty good. Put your broccoli in
a microwavable dish with a little water and you have very green
broccoli with a nice texture.

One of the greatest benefits to any meditation practice it the abilility to experience presence.

Presence is merely the state of your mind being present in the space and time that you are currently in. Sounds simple and it is. But it's really hard.

The mind usually churns out thoughts about the past, the future and what could be happening somewhere else. Being able to bring the mind to the present surely has advantages. We all pursue these advantages every night in the state of dreamless sleep.