Wednesday, January 25, 2012

23 MINUTES IN HELL (DVD full length video) by Bill Wiese Testimony of hell, 23 questions about hell



Find out answers to:
• Who is Jesus?
• Isn't God mean for making hell?
• You Christians are narrow-minded; isn't there more than one way to heaven?
• Wouldn't God be mean and unloving for not allowing a good person into heaven?
• Where was God when the disaster (earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, etc.) struck?
• Can't God overlook my sins?
• Isn't everyone God's child?
• What about the person in the remotest part of the jungle who never heard of Jesus?

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

7 creative logo designs with hidden symbols

Companies use logos as a medium for branding to earn recognition . Here are some logos which take it to the next step by implementing subliminal symbols and messages in their logo designs :

7) Goodwill Industries :

Goodwill Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

Goodwill Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

Goodwill industries is a North American nonprofit organization which aids people with disadvantages . At first glance their logo looks like a face with a smile , but with a closer look you will notice the lower case ‘g’ in their logo .

6) Sun Microsystems :

Sun Microsystems Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

Sun Microsystems Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

Ok . May be its just me , but I didn’t notice the diamond shaped logo at the right actually had the alphabets S-U-N in it until recently . Talk about symmetry . Now that’s creative.

5) FedEx :

Fedex Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

Fedex Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

The hidden symbol in this logo is known to many . Just in case you haven’t seen it , there is a hidden white arrow between the orange alphabets “E” and “x”.

4) Yoga Australia :

Yoga Australia Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

Yoga Australia Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

I love this one . The illustration of the Australian map in between her bent leg and stretched out arm is perfectly subtle . It would have been cooler though if the map was made on the lower part of her body posture … as Australia is refereed to as the land “Down under” .

3) Toblerone :

Toblerone Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

Toblerone Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

Toberone originated from Bern , a city in Switzerland that is rumored to mean as “The City of bears” . Now do you see the yellow bear in the logo of Toberone’s Swiss Alps ? Pretty sneaky eh ? Its nice to see a little known fun fact being hidden in such a popular logo .


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2) Amazon.com :

Amazoncom Amazon Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

Amazoncom Amazon Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

Amazon.com is a perfect example of powerful yet simple logo . The yellow arrow that points out from “a” to “z” neatly represents that they sell everything from A to Z . The subtle smile of the arrow’s curve is an added bonus reflecting customer satisfaction .

1) Cluenatic :

Cluenatic Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

Cluenatic Logo Subliminal Hidden Message

This logo is designed for a puzzle game that involves unraveling four clues . Hence the letters C-L-U-E are arranged to give a maze like appearance . Another cool part of this logo design is that it looks like a key when viewed from a distance . Now that’s what I call sheer brilliance .


http://www.smileosmile.com/creativity/7-creative-logo-designs-with-hidden-symbols/

25 Logos With Hidden Messages

Body Wisdom

It is a logo design for a high end day spa… the hands effectively convey relaxing massage integrated with the proximity of the “owl eyes” to clearly say “wisdom”.

Forkwire Logo

Designer - Bojan Stefanovic

Being an Online Food Delivery service, its logo shows a fork formed into an @ symbol! Such a easy logo to remember.

Big Ten Logo

The Big Ten collegiate conference has eleven schools but they didn’t want to change their name. However, they used their logo to hide the numerical “11” in the name.

Amazon Logo

This famous logo is extremely clean and simple but this arrow might not look like more than a smile to you. Before, coming to any conclusions I would like you to know the concept behind this…it says that amazon.com has everything from a to z and it also represents the smile brought to the customer’s face.

ED Logo: Gianni Bortolotti

Designer - Josiah Jost

The designer of ED Logo – “Elettro Domestici -Home Appliances” in English, changed the concept of traditional logo designing through this logo. The designer has amazingly used the negative space to demonstrate the letter “E” and “D” making the logo look like an electric plug.

Eight Logo

This logo is too good to be ignored….it is very cleverly designed with a typeface where every letter is a variation of number 8. Nothing better have been thought.

Elle Hive Logo

Designer - Toni
It is a company which designs compact tractors. The letters “E” and “H” make up the image of a tractor.

Toblerone Logo

One of my favorite chocolates…yummy!! But trust me I never noticed the brilliant logo while enjoying my bar. You must be thinking what is there to find out as it clearly shows the Swiss Alps? Let me explain…Toblerone originated in Bern, Switzerland - A city whose name is rumored to mean, “City of bears”. When you look at it again you will find a bear in the logo.

Marriage Logo

What better logo can be used to symbolize a marriage with two mirrored “R” in the middle. No frills, no shadows, still so powerful and meaningful.

Heart Beats

Although it is quiet evident but still I liked the concept a lot. Two musical notes are bent in a way to make a heart and and headphns. The softness of this logo expresses "Love for Music"

Logo !N3K8

The complexity of this logo is its beauty. It is a business and IT consulting company based in the UK and the logo is a combination of numeric and alphabets to explain the word “intricate”.

FedEx Logo

You would say you have seen it thousand times but just to make you notice an arrow formed between the letters “E” and “X” conveying speed, direction and reliability of this amazing courier service.

Review Logo

Designer - Sean Farrell Logo Design:
When you take off a piece of the “v” in the word “review” it forms a check mark (for review). Simply amazing!!

Lafeyette Logo:Even

If you’ve ever visited one of the famous stores in Paris - Galeries Lafayette, you will notice that it’s logo represents Paris with its joined letters “t” to form Eiffel Tower. C’est magnificique!

Pakuy Logo

Designer - Maumer
As “Pakuay” is a packaging company, so the logo shows a broken down box in the shape of the letter “P

Hartford Whalers

The logo shows 3 concepts at the same time. A whale’s tail, letter “W” in green and the white space forming an “H” for Hartford.

ZIP Logo

Designer - Mike Erickson
Zip - The “I” has been replaced with a zipper to connect the Z & P

VIA Rail Canada Logo

Notice carefully…the VIA rail Canada logo makes two train tracks with the letters” V” and the “A”. The alphabet “I” is the division between the two. A simply brilliant logo.

Mosleep Logo

You will notice here how cleverly designer have integrated a bed with the letter “M” to come up with a logo for an organization of doctor’s dealing with sleep issues.

Fuga

It is a logo for Architecture Center Of Budapest and looks more like a maze but if you follow the white space, the four lettered company name will become evident.

Piano Forest Logo

Designer: Jason Cho
The designer gives the message in a subtle but evident manner by shaping piano keys like trees to resemble a keyboard/piano.

NorthWest Old Logo

The logo reflected a clever way of splitting the alphabets, N and W (north west) along with a location pointed to by the red triangle in the upper left corner. The redesign lost the charm of the original.

Horror Films Logo

Designer:Josiah Jost
This could be defined as real creativity…A regular film reel turned to look like a scary ghost for a production house.

Yoga Australia Logo

At first glance the logo may look like a simple picture of a young girl doing her yoga exercise but if you watch it carefully the body posture is creating the Australia Map.
http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/hidden-logos-in-graphic-designing/


The Man Behind the FedEx Logo

The Man Behind the FedEx Logo


Not long ago, I posted about the subliminal arrow in the FedEx logo. I received several emails regarding it, including one from design student Bobby Dragulescu. Thanks to Bobby and his typography professor Leah Hoffmitz, I was put in touch with the logo's creator: Mr. Lindon Leader of Leader Creative.

Lindon kindly agreed to the following interview, which is comprised of 8 fairly intelligent questions, and 3 fairly dopey ones...


When did you design the logo?

1994, as Senior Design Director at Landor Associates, San Francisco.

Has the logo won many awards?

To my knowledge, over forty worldwide and they continue. In its May 15, 2003 35th Anniversary �American Icon� issue, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it as one of the 8 best logos of the past thirty-five years. Along side Apple, Coca-Cola, Nike, IBM, Starbucks, McDonald�s and Playboy.

Is this the most �famous� logo you have designed?

In terms of sheer ubiquity, absolutely. Though the logos for Ryder trucks, CIGNA, the NCAA and Latin America�s largest bank, Banco Bradesco (Sao Paulo, Brazil) are familiar in their own right.

Do you get free FedEx deliveries for life now?

I wish. But I did get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to command an MD-11 flight simulator at the Memphis hub. Unfortunately, I crashed the plane into the sand dunes at LAX on approach from Hong Kong. Nobody hurt, though.

At what point in the design process did you realize you could create an arrow with those letters?

First of all, by the time we�d gotten to this point we�d already created and reviewed over 200 designs; some close-in to the �old� Federal Express logo and others progressively more daring (though all the while retaining the enormous cache of the famous orange and purple (despite the fact that many respondents in focus groups thought the Federal Express colors were �red and blue�). The current design was one of six semifinalists that were being refined for a presentation to very senior management.

If you put a lower-case �x� to the right of a capital �E� (Ex) you can begin to see a hint of an arrow, though it is clumsy and extremely abstract. I thought that, if I could develop this concept of an �arrow� it could be promoted as a symbol for speed and precision, both FedEx communicative attributes. And, by the way, different kinds of arrows were utilized with some of the other semi-final candidates, though none of those were �hidden.�

Once I decided to refine the concept of the embedded arrow, I found that, to make the arrow more legitimate and identifiable, one needed to actually reconstruct the letterforms in order to make the arrow happen. This leads to your next question:

Did you have to manipulate the font in anyway to create a perfect arrow?

Yes, indeed. I was studying Univers 67 (Bold Condensed) and Futura Bold, both wonderful faces. But each had its potential limitations downstream in application to thousands of FedEx media, from waybills and embroidered courier caps to FedEx.com and massive signage for aircraft, buildings and vehicles. Moreover, neither was particularly suited to forcing an arrow into its assigned parking place without torturing the beautifully crafted letterforms of the respective faces. To avoid getting too technical here, suffice it to say I took the best characteristics of both and combined them into unique and proprietary letterforms that included both ligatures (connected letters) and a higher �x-height,� or increased size of the lower-case letters relative to the capital letters. I worked these features around until the arrow seemed quite natural in shape and location.

Why choose to keep the arrow so subtle? It seems to show remarkable restraint. Weren't you or the people at FedEx ever tempted to make it more obvious with an outline or a different color?

A good question and one that I am frequently asked. An arrow, in and of itself, is one of the most mundane graphic devices in visual communications. Truly, there is nothing unique or particularly strategic (marketing-wise) in using an arrow as a brand identifier. Early on, before the brand rollout in mid-1994, FedEx�s public relations agency was preparing to emphasize the arrow as a secondary graphic to underscore the �speed/precision� positioning. They proposed to leverage this in their FedEx communications. Landor put its foot down and said, �No way.�

The power of the hidden arrow is simply that it is a �hidden bonus.� It is a positive-reverse optical kind of thing: either you see it or you don�t. Importantly, not �getting the punch line� by not seeing the arrow, does not reduce the impact of the logo�s essential communication. The power of the logo and the FedEx marketing supporting the logo is strong enough to convey clearly FedEx brand positioning. On the other hand, if you do see the arrow, or someone points it out to you, you won�t forget it. I can�t tell you how many people have told me how much fun they have asking others �if they can spot �something� in the logo.� To have filled in the arrow, or to somehow make it more �visible� would have been like Henny Youngman saying �Please take my wife� instead of �Take my wife. Please.� Punch lines that need to be explained are neither funny nor memorable.

Is there anything else interesting about the creation of the logo that you can remember?

Well, in �selling� an identity into a company it always comes down to the CEO. Fred Smith is a marketing genius and understands the vital role of design in brand building. A smart, intuitive man. After a year of worldwide focus groups and brand strategy revitalization, Mr. Smith accepted the strategy to change the communicative name of the company from Federal Express to FedEx for a whole host of reasons I won�t get into here.

In authorizing us to commence the next phase of developing a graphic identity for this �new� name, he sent us off with these charges: 1), �If you come back and tell me our colors need to be pink and green just give me very good reason to do it and 2), �If I�m standing on a street corner, I need to see a FedEx truck from five blocks away.� Meaning that the brand expression needed to be large, impactful and differentiating, which was accomplished with this specific design system, one of five presented to Mr. Smith and his executive team on April 23, 1994 in Memphis. And, in the process, we made the orange more orange and the purple less blue.

What separated this candidate from the others? Among other reasons,
Mr. Smith was the only executive in a room of 12 that spotted the arrow right away.

Are you like a rock star in the world of logo design now?

Well, we Fortune 1000 identity guys and gals are behind the scenes most of the time. We do get our individual recognition from design competitions, but generally speaking, the design public only hears of the branding firm that created the design; in this case, Landor Associates. And the public at large doesn�t know who designs something or even cares to know. So, these days you won�t find me ducking crowds screaming for my autograph. No.

Have you ever been asked to autograph a FedEx truck?

I�ve never been able to find a Magic Marker big enough for the job. But I have signed FedEx letter envelopes and boxes. And, of course, my autograph is on my monthly check to FedEx.

What's it like to see something you came up with, all over the place?

Fabulous. And very gratifying. It takes me back to my very first employer out of Art Center in Pasadena, the renown Los Angeles designer Saul Bass. Toward the end of his career in 1980 or so, an interviewer asked him if still got out a thrill out of it all after some 40 years and a million awards in the corporate identity and film industries. Saul said he had been in a car one day recently with his 5 year-old daughter who exclaimed, �Look Daddy! There goes one of your [AT&T] trucks!� And Saul said to the interviewer, �You know, seeing that truck coming down the road still makes me proud after all these years.�

You can visit the website of Leader Creative right here.

http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000273.php

Monday, June 15, 2009

Oatmeal - Everything You Wanted to Know about Oats

Oatmeal - Everything You Wanted to Know about Oats

"Marzidoats and dozidoats and little lamzidivie,
A kiddeldie divey too, wouldn't you?"

A Counsel On Oats...

A tough, old cowboy once counseled his grandson that if he wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a pinch of gunpowder on his oatmeal every morning.

The grandson did this religiously and lived to the age of 110.

He left four children, 20 grandchildren, 30 great grandchildren, 10
great great grandchildren and a 50 foot hole where the crematorium used to be.

Don't forget the Oats.

There are a few times in my life that I consider "... next to God experiences" and when I found out about oats and began eating them, this was one of those times. I had been vegetarian for a few months at least, maybe a year, eating nothing but raw veggies, salads, fruit and fruit juices. I took a course on "whole foods" and learned about Steel Cut Oats. I began eating them and everything just "straightened out" in my life. Blood sugar was more balanced, I became even more regular and I began to put on some muscle. I began with "Bob's Steel Cut Oats" which take about 20 minutes to prepare. Now I eat "Bob's Scotish Oatmeal" which is a much faster cooking time.

To this day, I begin each morning with scottish oatmeal and on my re-feed days, have up to 4 servings of oatmeal. Oatmeal is my friend and it should be yours too!

Ode To Oats

We have not succeeded in answering all your problems. The answers we have found only serve to raise a whole set of new questions. In some ways we feel we are as confused as ever, but we believe we are confused on a higher level and about more important things.

If you come across a good recipe using oats or more "Oat Facts" that I have failed to list here, let me know and I will be happy to post it!

So to start off, here is all I have learned to date about this wondrous little grain:

Oats are the third leading cereal crop produced in the United States (after wheat and corn) and the fourth most important crop world-wide. They were once considered a weed which grew right with the barley and wheat. One day farmers decided to "join 'em rather than fight 'em," and oats started being planted as a crop by itself. It fares best in cool, moist climates, which is why they are such a popular staple of the British Isles like Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The grain was introduced into the Americas in 1602 by a sea captain who planted them in one of the islands off the coast of Massachusetts. They were a popular grain, but corn had a better yield per acre crop, so their popularity wasn't as great as corn. Today, nearly half of the world's oat crop--more than 4 billion bushels a year--is grown in the United States and Canada.

While we feed most of our oats to our animals, a look into Scottish cookbook to see the variety of ways that oats are presented to eat to get your mind off having to have it only in the form of oatMEAL. That is what we will do below here.

Nutrient Values and Virtues of Oats

Oat kernels look very much like wheat in structure. They have an outer covering of bran which protects the starchy endosperm and the germ that sits at the bottom of the grain. Because the oat kernel is soft, the nutritious bran is not removed. Whole grain oats contain seven B vitamins, vitamin E, and nine minerals, including iron and calcium. The quality and quantity of the protein in oats is far superior to that of wheat and most other grains. One ounce of oats has TWICE the protein of wheat or corn flakes. But the most important nutritional advantages are the soluable fiber and the GLA (gamma linoleic acid).

The soluable fiber is what gives it the gummy texture, and it helps lower cholesterol levels in the blood. GLA is considered an "activated" essential fatty acid. Very small amounts of it fill the metabolic pipelines and allow the body to make other essential fatty acids, and all this is part of the hormonal control aspects of the Zone Diet as described by Dr. Barry Sears in his first book, "Enter the Zone" (pp. 119-134, Reagan Books, Harper Collins, 1995).

Sears reccomends eating 3-5 bowls of oatmeal a week. This reccomendation has been the driving force in all the discussion questions, like "Is INSTANT oatmeal okay?" and "Do I have to eat it every day?" and comments like "I HATE oatmeal!" I think that the limitations on our imagination for the use of OATS has been part of the problem, and I hope that this will be a continually growing page to fill your mind and imagination with more ways to get your GLA than in a bowl with brown sugar and milk!

Forms of Oats

Oat grains are enclosed in two tough husks that must be removed. The grains are cleaned and toasted, husked and scoured, resulting in whole oat kernels called GROATS. These contain nearly all the original nutritional value of the grain. Oat groats are much softer and quicker cooking than wheat berries, and can be used in many other meals that breakfast, which I hope to demonstrate through the recipes found here. They are not refined before or after processing, so they retain most of their nutrients regardless of the form in which they are eaten (according to Jane Brody in her book "Good Food Book." Sears says this is not so. It is up to you to decide from the information that follows.

Here is where everyone goes nuts. What is a groat, steel cut, Scotch, Irish or instant oat? Or a GROAT, for that matter??? Whenever anyone asks the question from now on, send them here for the answer! Remember, 3 Tbs. uncooked ROLLED OATS equals one carbohydrate block,but because STEEL CUT OATS are more dense, they only require 2 Tbs.--but check your package just in case, remembering that you have 9 grams of carbohydrates to one carb block AFTER you subtract the dietary fiber ! 1/3 cup cooked also equals one carbohydrate block.

Oat Groats - Whole grain of the oat, with only the outer hard husks removed, then toasted.

Oat Flour - You can make it yourself by grinding rolled oats in a food processor or blender. Oat flour adds lovely flavor to breads and because of certain natural preservative in the oats themselves, it improves their shelf life. Oats contain no gluten, which is needed for bread to rise, so it must be mixed with a gluten-containing flour such as wheat. Substitute 1 of every 5 parts of wheat flour with oat flour. If your recipe is for a quick bread, no addition of other flours is necessary.

Oat sprouts - oat groats are very easy to sprout! Sprouting increases their nutritive values. Add them to sandwiches, salads, stir-fry and soups. Chop them and add them to your bread dough.

Steel Cut Oats or Scottish Oats or Irish Oats- These are groats which have been cut into two or three pieces. Cooking time is considerably longer than for rolled oats. This is the variety that I began with but have now switched from

Old Fashioned Rolled Oats - These are made by steaming the groats and flattening them with a roller. The Quaker Old Fashioned Rolled Oats are very thinly rolled, as are the store varieties by the same title. If you look hard, however, you can often find rolled oats that are twice as thick as the Quaker variety, and these make a lovely, less creamy version of oatmeal than the Quaker ones do. Quaker sets the industry standard, so theirs is considered REGULAR Old Fashioned Rolled Oats. If they are thicker, they are called THICK Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.

Quick-cooking rolled oats -- These are made by flattening pre-cut groats. They cook in about 5 minutes.

Instant Oats - are usually packaged with salt and sugar. Don't indulge in the empty calories!

Commercial Cereals - Amazingly, Cheerios are made from oat flour and wheat starch, and Brody contends that they too are a nourishing cold cereal. A bit high in sodium (330 mg in 1-1/4 cup (1 ounce) compared to 1/4 cup cottage cheese which has about 440 mg sodium), there is only 19.6 grams of carbohydrates in one ounce serving with 2 grams of dietary fiber. The only cereal that leaves me hungrier faster is Grape Nuts by Post, so there is a lesson in there somewhere. Remember that as with everything, the better the quality of the food that you put into your body, the better your body. I buy organic as much as possible. Bob's products come in organic as well as non-organic versions.

Granolas are simply overrated if you buy the commercially produced one. They just have way too much sugar and way too much trans fatty acids.

Which form of oats should I buy?

Anytime you do ANYTHING to a food besides "pick it off the stalk," you have processed it. Sears uses the term and says some of the oats are too processed, while Brody contends that oats are NOT processed, Brody meaning that the nutrients are not removed like they are in other grains. Our concern should be how much is done to the food item to break down the cell structure of the carbohydrate food. One way this can be done by cooking the food item. Cooking means that you have subjected it to heat, water or chemicals to break down the cell structure or inactivate certain enzymes. You can "cook" a food by chemically altering it (like fresh seafood being "cooked" by adding lime juice to it). The longer the cooking time, the greater the breakdown of the cell walls, and the faster that food can enter your blood stream and the faster your body will react to it by producing insulin to break down the carbohydrates (sugars) into simple, readily useable forms.Some grains you can begin the "cooking" process by soaking them, but even with the increase in size because of rehydration, the starch in the carbohydrate has not broken down and the food item will still taste...green. Raw.

What you are looking for is breaking down the starches just enough to make them tasty and easy to digest, but not so long that they become unfavorable, i.e. high on the glycemic index. So in Zoning terms, this means that the same food, cooked for longer periods of time, will have a higher glycemic reaction (insulin producing) than that same food cooked for a short time or not at all. The higher the glycemic response, the higher the insulin level and blood sugar level will rise, and since what goes up must come down, your blood sugar level will fall equally as low. The idea of Zoning is to keep your blood sugar level fairly stable: not too high, not too low. The low blood sugar is what will start up your cravings. The over production of insulin is what is going to slap that fat onto your thighs (and belly and fanny...). Therefore the less you break down your foods, the less the glycemic reaction will be, the more stable your blood sugar will remain.

So what form of oats should you buy? Sears says that it should be the kind that cooks in nothing less than 30 minutes. That would be groats, steel cut (and the various names) and Thick Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.

Simple Cooking Instructions for Oats

Oat Groats - Use two cups liquid -- water, milk, broth, stock -- and bring to a boil. Add one cup of oat groats (the whole kernel) and lower heat, simmer for about 45 minutes. This may also be done quite successfully using a rice cooker. 3 Tbs. raw equals one carbohydrate block. These cook well in a crockpot on low overnight, but you may want to increase the liquid 3 to 1, liquid to oats.

Old Fashioned Rolled Oats - Following package directions, you can cook them 2 parts liquid to one part oats, and simmer for about 5 minutes. If you are in a hurry in the morning, try mixing them up with liquid the night before with Vanilla and Cinnamon. Then it takes less than a minute to heat them in the microwave.

Steel Cut Oats - Package directions will tell you to cook them for 15 minutes, but you may want to try bringing them to a boil for 5 minutes, then turning off the heat and covering them for an additional 10 minutes. These also do well in the crockpot on low, overnight. Add liquid 3 to 1.

Oat FAQ's

1. Can I eat oats RAW? Yes. They will not be as "sweet" as cooked oats, because heat breaks down the starch in oats into a sugar, but if you like them that way, they still have the same nutritional value. The fact is that you can add rolled oats into water that is no hotter than 110 degrees and they will still be considered "raw", i.e. a live food with all it's enzymes intact to aid in digestion and nutritional assimlation.

2. What's the difference between instant, rolled, Old Fashioned, and thick rolled oats? How far apart the rollers are set. No other prep work is done to the oat. The thinner the rolling, the quicker the oats cook because of the greater surface area of the grain. That's why my favorite way to cook oats is not to boil the grain itself, but to boil the water, add it to the oats and cover them, letting them set for 3-5 minutes. 1 part boiling water to 1 part rolled oats is a good ratio to start with. Add more or less water to suit your tastes.

Conclusion

One of the single best decisions I've ever made is to eat oats. It's been going on 15 years now since I began and I dont' think it will ever stop. Years ago, I did a bunch of research into oats and oatmeal and found a very funny quote that I now repeat whenever someone brings up oatmeal:

An Englishman and a Scotsman were discussing oats. The Englishman, with his nose in the air said "In England we feed oats to our horses, and in Scotland you feed oats to your men...", to which the Scotsman replied "...that's why in England you have such fine horses and in Scotland we have such fine men!"
and just to dispel any misconceptions, I'm of English, Scotish and Irish heritage.

Other Oats information

Bob's Red Mill - Oats and other whole grain products
Oats and blood glucose
Oatmeal Pancake Recipe - a healthy version from bodybuilding.com
Granola Bar w/ Protein Recipe - scroll down a bit for the recipe

http://www.formerfatguy.com/articles/oatmeal/oats.asp

Natural Cure For High Blood Pressure

Are You A Walking Time Bomb?
High Blood Pressure, The Silent Killer:

Tom Venuto Interviews Frank Mangano About The Best Natural Ways To Lower Your Blood Pressure, Reduce Your Waistline And Take Back Your Health, Part One

Weight Loss Expert Tom Venuto

Tom Venuto,
Weight Loss Expert
Author & Success Coach

Blood Pressure Expert Frank Mangano

Frank Mangano,
Blood Pressure Expert
Author & Researcher

Tom Venuto: Today my guest is Frank Mangano, who is the author of The Silent Killer Exposed, which is the best selling e-book on the net on the subject of natural ways to reduce your blood pressure, and that website is: www.TheSilentKillerExposed.com

Now this is a subject I’m passionate about for a couple reasons. First, because the issue goes hand in hand with the obesity issue, which is my primary area of research and expertise and second, because I’m not only an advocate of losing fat and developing your body without drugs, but also an advocate of improving your health in natural ways without drugs, whenever that is possible.

Your health is absolutely your greatest wealth because everything else in your life is meaningless if you don’t have your health. You have to put your own health at the very top of your life priority list. You can’t spend quality time with your family or advance your career, or enjoy anything else in life if you’re laid up in a hospital bed… or worse.

As a natural bodybuilder and fat loss coach, I’m interested not only in being muscular and having six pack abs and so on, but also feeling great and enjoying great health. What good is it to look great on the outside when you’re a mess on the inside, right? So when I say the word natural, I’m referring not only to saying no to steroids and weight loss drugs, but also staying away from other drugs, if those drugs are being used as a means of treating symptoms and not addressing causes, and if there’s an alternative.

First off, before we get into talking about this problem of high blood pressure, how it relates to the obesity problem and what are some natural approaches to fixing it let, me just back up for a minute and explain how I found out about Frank.

For many years, I was the manager of a chain of health clubs here in the New Jersey and New York Metropolitan area, and I met Frank because coincidentally, he was a member of one of our health clubs located in Brooklyn. At the time, I had no idea he was a natural health book author and expert on blood pressure, he was just one of the guys at the gym. It was only later that he found my
Burn The Fat website by accident and mentioned that he also had a website dedicated to natural approaches to better health, and that’s how we originally connected.

So Frank, thank you for this interview and why don’t we get started by you telling us about your background. Specifically, what made you take an interest in researching this subject – was it an academic interest, or was it personal, like did you or a family member have high blood pressure, or was it something else?

Frank Mangano: Hey Tom, it’s a pleasure to do this interview with you. Before I answer that, I just want to add that I couldn’t agree more with what you said about “Health is wealth.” The statement is so important and so true.

I also want to point out something before we get started. What we're going to talk about here is purely intended as reference material and as a way to open the door to a discussion between patients and their doctors about alternative ways to manage blood pressure. It's my honest opinion that if someone with hypertension wants to lower their blood pressure, it can be done in a natural way and without the same side effects you often get with drugs. The advice I give isn't intended as medical or professional advice but only a way to give people the tools they need to make informed decisions about their lifestyles and their health. The information we talk about tonight should not be used as a substitute for any treatment that has been prescribed or recommended by a doctor. If someone is currently taking medication for high blood pressure then they should continue to do so unless they are advised by their doctor to do otherwise. The same is true about the information in my book. I am not a healthcare professional. If you've been told by a healthcare professional that you have high blood pressure, or if you've taken a blood pressure reading at a pharmacy or at home that is within the range of what's considered high blood pressure, then it's imperative that you get medical attention and the advice of your healthcare provider. You should never begin a diet or exercise program without first consulting with a qualified healthcare professional.

As for my research, Tom, it all started when my mom was diagnosed with high cholesterol. She was afraid of taking statin drugs, and with good reason. She came to me for help and asked what I thought she could do to avoid taking prescription medications. And so my research began. But I didn’t go right out looking for a solution, I first wanted to know everything there was to know about high cholesterol, so I started reading and studying all the information I could find on the topic. Once I understood it completely, my research expanded into what specifically could be done to lower it naturally.

I took what I learned and created a plan for my mom based strictly on hard science. The end result is that her LDL – which is the bad cholesterol - dropped almost 40 points. Because of this she was able to avoid taking prescription drugs. This was very exciting for me – obviously – because this was my mom, but also because this led to my first book which is called, “The 60 Day Prescription Free Cholesterol Cure.”

According to my research, I discovered that many times, although not always, people who had high cholesterol also had “hypertension”, better known as high blood pressure. At that point I wanted to be sure my mom wouldn’t develop high blood pressure and so I started researching again.

Ever since I released my first book, I’ve been on a mission to find solutions for people who want to improve the quality of their lives, without chemical drugs. Often times, doctors will write a prescription for some drug that the profit-minded pharmaceutical companies are pushing when the drug isn’t even necessary! Whatever happened to good nutrition and exercise?

Tom Venuto: Good nutrition and exercise - AMEN to that! When was the last time your doctor took out that prescription pad and wrote: weight lifting 3 times a week, and do cardio or go for a walk every day for 30 minutes? Okay, would you give a real quick definition of what high blood pressure is and how someone would know if they have it?

Frank Mangano: Sure. High blood pressure is simply the amount of force the blood puts on your arteries as it passes through them. Your blood pressure doesn’t stay steady throughout the day - it rises and falls. When your blood pressure stays elevated over time, you are said to have high blood pressure. Here’s the disturbing part, Tom. Although some people may get headaches, dizziness, or blurred vision, high blood pressure often has no signs or symptoms. That’s why it’s also known as “The Silent Killer.”

Tom Venuto: So what is the best method for detection, aren’t there any outward warning signs or is the only way to check in with your doctor at regular intervals and or get your blood pressure taken regularly?

Frank Mangano: The surefire way to find out is to get tested. Your doctor can easily tell if your blood pressure is high by using what’s known as a sphygmomanometer, which is the instrument for measuring blood pressure in the arteries. This device consists of a pressure gauge and a rubber cuff that wraps around your upper arm and inflates to constrict the arteries.

Tom Venuto: Is it a good idea to test your own blood pressure at home and if so is there any special equipment you recommend?

Frank Mangano: Home testing is a very good idea, especially if you are concerned that you might have high blood pressure or if you have a family history of it. I highly recommend home testing. Although the digital (wrist cuff) blood pressure monitors are the easiest to use, I recommend using a manual blood pressure monitor for home testing. The manual monitors are similar to those that your doctor may use and usually they are more accurate than the digital (wrist cuff) monitors. A manual monitor, also known as a sphygmomanometer, will include an arm cuff, a squeeze bulb, stethoscope and a gauge to measure the pressure.

Tom Venuto: Ok, let me ask you another question. I see a lot of attention in the media about the obesity problem, quite a bit about diabetes, but not nearly as much about high blood pressure. Is it not that serious in comparison? Just how bad and how widespread is the high blood pressure problem?

Frank Mangano: Tom, it’s very serious. I hope you’re sitting down because what I’m about to tell you is going to shock you. The fact is that nearly one billion – yes, I said 1 billion - people worldwide have high blood pressure! A recent study predicted that this number will increase to 1.56 billion people by 2025. Those are staggering numbers, to say the least.

Tom Venuto: Scary, actually, that puts it right up there with obesity – 1 billion people. I guess one reason that obesity gets more headlines and even reality TV shows – and high blood pressure doesn’t, is because with obesity, you wear your problem and it’s a deeply emotional problem, whereas high blood pressure is not a cosmetic problem – like you say in the title of your book – it’s silent, but it’s still a killer. That probably makes it even more dangerous. If someone has high blood pressure and they don’t do anything about it what are the potential consequences?

Frank Mangano: Left untreated, high blood pressure will increase the risk of kidney damage, eye damage, hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis or arteriosclerosis), heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases. The cause of 3 out of 5 cases of heart failure in women is high blood pressure.

Tom Venuto: Let’s talk about causes. I think one of the huge mistakes people make in their journeys to lose weight and to become healthier is that they see symptoms and then they only take steps to treat the symptoms, without addressing the causes. What causes high blood pressure?

Frank Mangano: Well Tom, high blood pressure doesn’t discriminate and it can happen to anyone at any age. Since several factors and conditions play a role, it’s difficult to identify a specific cause. The healthcare profession doesn’t claim to know the cause of high blood pressure, but they do know that certain factors play a contributing role in its development.

Tom Venuto: Okay, so what are some of the factors that would give us some clue about whether you’re at risk and just how much risk?

Frank Mangano: There are a lot of factors that that contribute to high blood pressure including but not limited to smoking, lack of physical activity, obesity, high sodium intake, high cholesterol, excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages and of course, heredity. Diabetes patients are also at greater risk for developing high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases. Also, African-Americans seem to be at a greater risk of developing high blood pressure at an early age.

Tom Venuto: How much of this is genetics? If you have the predisposition are you just – to put it bluntly – basically are you screwed?

Frank Mangano: Your family history plays a role, but there are many things you can do to prevent or reduce high blood pressure even if you have genes that might make you more likely to have it.

Tom Venuto: I read something recently that you could say is pretty depressing and it came straight from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Pressure Institute (NHLBPI), and let me read this word for word, it said, “Once high blood pressure develops, it usually lasts a lifetime.” Well, the reason I say that’s depressing is because from my studies on the mind and psychology I know that when someone believes their problem is permanent, they tend to feel hopeless and then act helpless.

I’ve been working in the weight loss business my entire life and I’ve seen so many overweight men and women with high blood pressure lose weight, and then watch their blood pressure come down and it stayed down as long as they maintained a healthy weight. So why would the NHLBPI say something like this? What’s your take on this? Can high blood pressure be permanently cured or only controlled and what does the word “controlled” mean anyways?

Frank Mangano: What the NHLBPI is implying is that blood pressure is usually something that, if you are treating it only with medication, you’re likely to be on medication for a lifetime. That’s not to say you must be on medication. If people work to maintain a healthy weight, they can significantly lower their blood pressure and often go off the medication. This is why early monitoring and detection is important. You can control many of the risk factors before your blood pressure gets to dangerously high levels. Blood pressure itself is not a disease that needs to be cured, but high blood pressure is reaching epidemic proportions. We need the right amount of pressure to circulate the blood throughout the body. It does, however, need to be controlled so that blood pressure that is too low doesn’t deprive the body of oxygen and nutrients and blood pressure that is too high doesn’t strain the heart and blood vessels.

Tom Venuto: What is the actual relationship between high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease? Is high blood pressure literally the direct cause of strokes or heart attacks?

Frank Mangano: There’s a strong link between the two. The extra work the heart must do to push the blood through the body will eventually take its toll on the heart and arteries. High blood pressure creates a buildup in the arteries and therefore damages the arteries. As a result this greatly increases the risk for cardiovascular disease.

Tom Venuto: What’s the relationship between age and high blood pressure? Should we automatically assume that our blood pressure is going to go up as we age?

Frank Mangano: Age is a major contributor, but getting high blood pressure is NOT considered a normal, healthy part of aging. It may just be the result of a diet lacking in essential nutrients and/or a sedentary lifestyle.

Tom Venuto: I agree. I co-authored a book on healthy aging called Fit Over 40, and I have a lot of interest in this topic. People seem to think that everything automatically goes downhill after age 40, but muscle loss and gain in body fat that comes with age actually isn’t so much a result of age after all. It’s the same thing you said with blood pressure – it’s mostly a result of poor diet and inactivity - basically use it or lose it. Alright, next topic. Stress. Even when you just say the word stress, you get images or feelings of your blood boiling, and that’s an interesting aphorism too, isn’t it, blood boiling? What does stress have to do with blood pressure?

Frank Mangano: It’s important to understand that when stress is ongoing, so is the higher blood pressure level. In other words, by keeping stress at an elevated level, you’re keeping your blood pressure elevated also which, over time, will cause some serious health issues.

Tom Venuto: I agree 110%. Stress is a normal part of life - it’s the nonstop stress without recovery that causes the problems. The next question is what should we do about stress? What are some practical steps we can take today to reduce the stress in our lives, and what can someone who is hypertensive expect by making these changes?

Frank Mangano: In today’s day and age, it’s almost impossible to live a stress free life, but there are plenty of steps you can take to reduce stress such as walking, meditating or listening to relaxing music to take the edge off a stressful day. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of making time for decompressing each and every day. The key is consistency. Follow these simple steps on a daily basis and you can expect to see improvement in the numbers.

Blood Pressure Interview with Frank Mangano Continued...


Weight Loss Expert Tom Venuto

Tom Venuto is an NSCA-certified strength and conditioning specialist, lifetime natural bodybuilder, freelance writer, success coach and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, Burn The fat, Feed The Muscle (BFFM): Fat Burning Secrets of the Worlds Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models

Tom has written hundreds of articles and has been featured in IRONMAN magazine, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Muscle-Zine, Olympian's News (in Italian), Exercise for Men and Men's Exercise. You can visit Tom on the web at www.BurnTheFatBook.com and get more information about his Burn The Fat program at www.BurnTheFatBook.com


Blood Pressure Expert Frank Mangano

Frank Mangano is a health advocate who dedicates his life to finding solutions for people interested in reducing their risk of health problems and improving their overall quality of life naturally without the use prescription medication.

As an active member of his community he works diligently providing assistance to senior citizens and probing as a health advocate to discover new and innovative ways to promote well being. The hard work and persistence that Frank has invested in recent years is reflected through his writings. He is the author of The Silent Killer Exposed, The Truth About Hypertension, which can be found on the web at: www.TheSilentKillerExposed.com


http://www.formerfatguy.com/articles/blood-pressure/natural-cure-for-high-blood-pressure.asp

Whole Grains

Whole grains are cereal grains that contain bran and germ as well as the endosperm, in contrast to refined grains, which retain only the endosperm.

Types of oats

Oats are the seeds from the cereal grain plant Avena sativa. Once the hard outer hull is removed from the oat grains they are known as ‘oat groats’.

Whole grain oats are made by toasting and rolling the whole oat groat, which includes the nutrient-rich bran part of the cereal. They have a coarse nutty flavour.

Rolled oats are usually steamed or toasted and then rolled. These are fragmented to different degrees; a more fragmented product will cook more quickly as it absorbs water more readily. The amount of bran retained in rolled oats also varies.

Scotch oats are oat groats that have been cooked and then milled into smaller flakes, retaining some of the bran layer.

Oat bran is produced from the bran (outer) layer of oat groats.




Groats are the hulled grains of various cereals, such as oats, wheat, barley or buckwheat. Groats from oats are a good source of avenanthramide.

Groats are nutritious but hard to chew, so they are often soaked and cooked. They can be the basis of kasha, a porridge-like staple meal of Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Roasted buckwheat groats are also known as kasha or kashi, especially in the United States.

Wheat groats, also known as bulgur (bulgar) are an essential ingredient of the middle eastern kitchen, including some salads like tabbouleh.

Brown rice (or "hulled rice") is unmilled or partly milled rice, a kind of whole grain, a natural grain that remains unbleached. It has a mild nutty flavor, is chewier than white rice and becomes rancid more quickly. Any rice, including sticky rice, long-grain rice, or short-grain rice, may be eaten as brown rice.

In much of Asia, brown rice (Chinese: 糙米; pinyin: cāomǐ; Korean: 현미; hyeonmi Japanese: 玄米; genmai; Thai: ข้าวกล้อง; Vietnamese: gạo lứt) is associated with poverty and wartime shortages, and in the past was rarely eaten except by the sick, the elderly and as a cure for constipation. This traditionally denigrated kind of rice is now more expensive than common white rice, partly due to its relatively low supply and difficulty of storage and transport. Today brown rice is a staple for health conscious eaters who believe food should be consumed in its most natural state.


Brown rice and white rice have similar amounts of calories, carbohydrates, and protein, although many types of brown rice contain more fat than white rice. The main differences between the two forms of rice lie in processing and nutritional content.

When only the outermost layer of a grain of rice (the husk) is removed, brown rice is produced. To produce white rice, the next layers underneath the husk (the bran layer and the endosperm) are removed.

Several vitamins and dietary minerals are lost in this removal and the subsequent polishing process. A part of these missing nutrients, such as Vitamin B1, Vitamin B3, and iron are sometimes added back into the white rice making it "enriched", as food suppliers in the US are required to do by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)[citation needed].

One mineral not added back into white rice is magnesium; one cup (195 grams) of cooked long grain brown rice contains 84 mg of magnesium while one cup of white rice contains 19 mg.

When the bran layer is removed to make white rice, the oil in the bran is also removed. Rice bran oil may help lower LDL cholesterol.[1]

Among other key sources of nutrition lost are small amounts of fatty acids and fiber.

In addition to having greater nutritional value, brown rice is also said to be less constipating than white rice. Although this effect also depends on natural adaptation to the product by its users and whether or not the rice has been washed prior to cooking, brown rice generally allows better digestion

Barley is a cereal grain derived from the annual grass Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting (in beer and whisky) and in health food. In 2007 ranking of cereal crops in the world, barley was fourth both in terms of quantity produced (136 million tons) and in area of cultivation (566,000 km²)

Hulless or "naked" barley (Hordeum vulgare L. var. nudum Hook. f.) is a form of domesticated barley with an easier to remove hull. Naked barley is an ancient food crop, but a new industry has developed around uses of selected hulless barley in order to increase the digestible energy of the grain, especially for swine and poultry.[11] Hulless barley has been investigated for several potential new applications as whole grain, and for its value-added products. These include bran and flour for multiple food applications.[12]

http://www.eatmoreoats.com/recipes.html#OatmealWheatGermCoconutCookies