The Wellness in Green

Even before, green has become one of my identity. I have green shirts, green shoes and even green underwear (oohh...that was long long ago! Hahaha!).

I browse over the Internet yesterday to find some interesting articles related to GREEN so I can share it to you. Luckily, I found one. An article written by Dr. Maoshing Ni , an anti-aging expert, doctor of Chinese medicine and the author of the best-selling book, "Secrets of Longevity." The article was entitled Leafy Greens for a Long Life. Read it below and discover how important GREEN is in our lives.

Leafy Greens for a Long Life

Looking for another way to go green? Start with your salad — there is much more in the produce section than just iceberg lettuce. With benefits ranging from a healthy immune system to strong bones, dark leafy greens will add fantastic flavor to your salads — and years to your life.

Greens: A Great Source of Folate
There is no way to predict who will contract fatal age-related conditions such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease, but one way to lower your odds may be to raise your daily folate intake. Scientists have found that older people have a tendency to be deficient in folate, which enables vitamins B6 and B12 to aid in hormone secretion, synthesize DNA, and manufacture the protective coating around nerves.

These three tasks are considered to be major factors in our bodies' defenses against these diseases. Folate is found in numerous foods — spinach, kale, beet greens, chard to name a few — but it is destroyed by heat, so these foods must be eaten raw or lightly cooked. This is one rare instance in which the synthetic form of folic acid is more easily absorbed by the body than the natural one. For people over the age of 50, a dose of 800 micrograms per day is recommended.

Can't Beat Beet Greens
Beets are an all-in-one superfood! The colorful beets contain powerful nutrients that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and cancer, especially colon cancer. And studies show that beets protect liver cells from harmful chemicals with a compound called betacyanin, one of the flavonoid families of antioxidant nutrients. So while roasted and boiled beets are a tasty and nutritious addition to any salad, consider that the beet greens are more nutritious than the beets themselves!

Beet greens are delicious and are rich in vitamins and minerals as well as beta-carotene and lutein. They have almost twice the potassium of beets and contain high levels of folic acid, which can help ward off certain birth defects and lung cancer. Beet greens can be prepared like any leafy green vegetable — sautéed in olive oil, steamed on the stovetop, or thrown into soups to up the health content.

Spinach Makes Health a Cinch
Spinach — packed with iron, beta-carotene, and vitamins C and K — is an essential food for strong bones and a healthy immune system. And it is rich in the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin, which protect the retina from age-related macular degeneration, making spinach crucial for healthy vision.

Before using, swish the spinach in a bowl of cold water until all grit is gone. Curly spinach will require cooking but the more readily available flat-leaf spinach is sweeter and works well in salads. Baby spinach is tender and mild, making it great to use raw in salads. To get healthy benefits for your eyesight, sauté your spinach in a little olive oil, since fat can increase lutein absorption. Keep in mind that fresh spinach decreases dramatically in volume when cooked. One pound will cook down to 1 cup — but you will be getting a hearty helping of nutrients in this small portion!

Fine and Dandelion
Disdained by gardeners as a pesky weed, this leafy green has been revered by traditional Chinese medicine as a powerful liver tonic. Dandelion is said to enhance the flow of bile in your body, improving the function of your liver, and remedying liver conditions such as hepatitis, gallstones, and jaundice. A daily cup of dandelion tea is recommended for anyone who feels run-down, sluggish, and over-stressed.

Aside from its herbal merits, dandelion greens are also an incredibly healthy food — chock full of vitamin C, higher in beta-carotene than carrots and richer in iron and calcium content than spinach. Toss a few raw dandelion leaves in your salad to add a hearty flavor. For the bigger, bitter-tasting leaves, blanch in boiling water for 45 seconds to soften the bitterness. Or sauté them for about 15 minutes with onions and garlic in olive oil.

I hope you find the life-giving properties of greens! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

-Dr. Mao

Top 10 New Species Named

During 2007, thousands of new plant and animal species were discovered. And from this thousands, only 10 lethal and bizarre enough had garnered their way to be in the New Top Ten List released by the International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) at Arizona State University. FYI, IISE is annually releasing top ten new named species discovered from the previous year!

Without further ado, open your eyes and see the freshest addition in the flora and fauna world!

Top 10:

Tecticornia bibenda

This new species made the Top 10 because of its charismatic appearance; according to press releases, it looks like the Michelin Man™. It has been also the subject of media releases on the lack of support for taxonomic work in Western Australia, a biodiversity hotspot. There is a huge backlog of new plant species awaiting description, ironically generated by environmental impact surveys for mining companies. It is one of 298 new plant species described from Western Australia in 2007.

Top 9:

Megaceras briansaltini

Rhinoceros beetles are named for the horn-like structures on their heads. According to the author, this charismatic new species has a unique form of horn that is otherwise similar only to the one on Dim, the blue rhinoceros beetle in the Disney/Pixar animated film "A Bug's Life." This makes for a rare instance of Nature imitating art.

Top 8:

Malo kingi

The new species is the second known species of the dangerous box jellyfish genus Malo, one of several genera of irukandji jellyfish. It is named after American tourist Robert King, who apparently died after being stung by the species while swimming off northern Queensland, Australia. King's death was a pivotal point in irukandji management, raising public awareness about safety.

Top 7:

Xerocomus silwoodensis

This new mushroom species was discovered on Silwood Campus, a campus of Imperial College, London, although it is also found elsewhere (two additional sites in England and one each in Spain and Italy). The discovery of a new species in one of the most intensely studied floras in the world and on the campus of a leading education center for biologists illustrates how poorly species are known.

Top 6:

Styloctenium mindorensis

This large and charismatic fruit bat species is known only from the Philippine island of Mindoro. It is only the second known species in the genus; the other species is known only from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and nearby Togian Islands, and was originally discovered (and named after) Alfred Russell Wallace. Wallace was a colleague of Charles Darwin and coauthor of their famous paper On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection. Among other important contributions, he noted the distinctive faunal break separating Asian and Australian biotas, which is now known as Wallace's Line. Ironically, the new species occurs on the west side of Wallace's Line whereas its sister species is on the east side. The new species is threatened by habitat loss and hunting. Its discovery highlights an increasing understanding of endemism on Mindoro, and the need for species exploration and conservation.

Top 5:

Oxyuranus temporalis

This is perhaps one of the most venomous known snake species. Its two closest relatives, the inland taipan (or fierce snake) and the coastal taipan, are ranked first and third most venomous snakes in the world, respectively. The discovery of the new species (known only from a single specimen) highlights how little is known of even relatively large animals in harsh, poorly collected habitats (in this case an isolated arid region of Australia). It also emphasizes the need for accurate taxonomy of venomous species for proper treatment of bites.

Top 4:

Philautus maia

This species was described from a single female museum specimen collected around 1860. It and a number of related species from Sri Lanka are almost certainly now extinct. Its discovery demonstrates the importance of museum specimens in determining baseline information on biodiversity and in documenting the natural heritage of nations. Had this specimen not been collected in the 19th century, it would possibly have never been known.

Top 3:

Desmoxytes purpurosea

Millipedes (relatives of centipedes) are highly variable in appearance and coloration, but this shocking pink stands apart. The authors suggest that its gaudy coloration and habits (it sits openly on the ground and vegetation during the day) probably indicates to would-be predators that it is not edible (spiny and toxic).

Top 2:

Gryposaurus monumentensis

This new dinosaur species was discovered by a team from Alf Museum, the only nationally-accredited paleontology museum on a high school campus. It is one of the most robust duck-billed dinosaurs ever found, and probably the largest dinosaur in the 75 million-year-old Kaiparowits Formation fossil ecosystem.

Top 1:

Electrolux addisoni

This new genus and species is the largest known member of the electric ray family Narkidae, and made the Top 10 because of its unusual and amusing generic name. According to the authors: "The name alludes to the well-developed electrogenic properties of this ray (collectors and photographers have experienced the shocking personality of this bold, active and brightly patterned electric ray first-hand), the discovery of which sheds light (Latin, lux) on the rich and poorly known fish diversity of the Western Indian Ocean. And the vigorous sucking action displayed on the videotape of the feeding ray that was taken by Stephania and Peter Lamberti may rival a well-known electrical device used to suck the detritus from carpets, furniture, and other dust-gathering surfaces in modern homes."

See how amazing Earth is? Well, let's just say that Earth is a home for us, Human Beings and them, mmhh..AMAZING BEINGS and we'll keep this planet spinning!