#very happy to be around a variety of nuts are dried here.

[sbnkalny]

I agree with them for a variety of nuts are dried here.

[somethingclevermahogony]

Happy STS! What are some common forms of entertainment for regular, non-noble people in your world?

Thank you for the question! As per usual, I will be sticking to Kishetal for this one, and more specifically the region around Labisa. These are just a few of the things that common people might do for fun! Common people find a number of ways to entertain themselves.

Beer halls (beer is the drink of commoners, as opposed to wine which tends to be more high class or else reserved for special occasions) are very numerous and form one of the main hangout spots for commoners of all ages. Throughout Kishetal, beer has traditionally been brewed and sold by women. Labisa alone has 19 beer halls, all but one of which are run by women. These halls typically serve five varieties of beer along with various food items.

Aruhakishar/Akishar: (Aruha- Dry, Kisharu- Beer) Unadulterated, typically plain beer, this sort of beer is the basis for the other varieties. These vary from brewer to brewer and can differ greatly in terms of strength, flavor, color, etc. This tends to be the cheapest option. Ishkishar: (Isha- Sour/Bitter Kisharu- Beer) Aruhakishar typically with the addition of various herbs, nuts, and even minerals. This beer is typically seen as invigorating, good for lifting the energy and strengthening the resolve against wicked spirits. Few people drink this casually. Wakishar: (Wawa- Sweet, Kisharu- Beer) Similar to the above but rather than the addition of herbs to promote bitter and sour flavors, this variety of beer is typically sweetened with the addition of various sweeteners, most often date syrups, honey, and fruits like fig. These tend to be the most well-liked variety of beer and fall in the middle when it comes to price. Olikishar/Olkishar: (Oli- Blood/Red, Kisharu- Beer) This variety of beer is similar to Wakishar but is flavored specifically with the addition of red fruit, like pomegranate, cherry, and various mountainous berry, giving it that crimson appearance. Some beer halls may add other additives to increase this sanguine appearance. Depending on the quality, this may be the most expensive variety of beer sold at a hall. Ihikishar/ Ihiki: (Ihi- Giggle (haha), Kisharu-Beer) This particular variety of beer is not sold in all halls and tends to be the most expensive, and is viewed among the common folk as more of a treat. This beer can be any of the above with addition of the treated oil of the magical Kasikur plant, also known as jit(from a Forestfolk word). Drinking jit mixed with wine may cause various effects, most commonly a slight high, similar to cannabis. However the use of jit is highly regulated as its magical effects, when consumed in sufficient amounts can have dangerous and bizarre effects.

Storytelling, relating tales of Kishetals history and of the various happenings of the outside world, takes a very robust place in the lives of Kishite people of all walks of life.

Temples often put on performances, mostly reenacting the exploits of legendary heroes. Typically these events are free though a donation is expected. The most extravagant of these performances may also include shows of sagecraft, some of the only magic that common folk are exposed to.

Poets and bards are likewise quite ubiquitous, performing on street corners or else found in the beer halls, competing for the attention, and appreciation of their audiences.

Poetry battles and rhyming contests, in essence thinly veiled battles of insults, are common spectacles and the best poets may even earn some degree of fame amongst their peers.

Gambling with dice or on the outcomes of fights are also quite common. Thiefs dice is particularly common among the enslaved population of Labisa as it only necessitates small gambles.

Suru was on the deck arranging some sort of game atop a wooden crate. " Come down here, Ninma." He called up to her.  Ninma shimmied down the mast and sat at the makeshift table. The crate had on it a pile of dried figs and two dice carved from bone; two of the sides were painted red, one blue, one black, one yellow, and one remained white. " What is this?" Ninma asked, inspecting one of the dice. " Something to distract us while we wait. Narul and I used to call this thief’s dice, no idea what it is actually called. I borrowed the dice from one of the crew. We used to play it in the slave quarters, don’t know if you ever played it up in the palace, doesn’t seem like it. The rules are simple. We take turns rolling the dice. If you get blue, you take a fig. If you get red, it becomes my turn. If you roll yellow, you must put a fig back in the pot. If you get white, you can take one of my figs, but if you get black, I can take one of yours. The game is over when someone rolls a blue, but there are no figs in the pot to take. Back home, we used the money your father gave us at festivals, but I respect you too much to take all your money, princess." He grinned.

Hunting for small game like birds and rabbits is popular among rural populations, though not so much among urban ones. Though, rat-catching is not unheard of among young and adult alike in certain parts of Labisa and other large cities.

Duels, or more accurately brawl matches with sticks and fists, are not at all uncommon, though technically illegal. When such fights do break out, they attract much attention, and typically, much gambling. The city guard, at least under Hutbari, does little to stop this and may even join in on the wager.

Wrestling, boxing, foot races, competitions of skill with slings, and other similar physical activities are popular, and may take place at just about any time. For those rare few that know how, swimming in Lake Shebali is a fun bit of leisure, though not always entirely safe as the depths of the lake can be dangerous. Dance and music are common as well, perhaps most famous is Storm Step. This style of dance theater is almost entirely non-verbal and rather is dependent on facial and bodily expression. The dances are performed on hollow wooden platforms, producing loud thundering sounds, thus giving the style of theater its name. Unlike most styles of theater in Kishetal, Storm Step is entirely dominated by women, and more often than not pairs of sapphic lovers. In some instances entire troupes may form polyamorous unions.

I could keep going, but I think that gives a good picture for now. Let me know if you would like to know more!

[chrysaliseuro2018]

In-Side

When my brother Dougal married Genevieve in 1982 who would have thought it would indirectly lead us to the Turkish beach city of Side (pronounced Sidday) on the Mediterranean 36 years later.

The link? Genevieve’s sister Barbara and her friend Penny when travelling in Turkey during the late ‘70’s met and went on to marry Turkish men. While Barbara and her husband Hasan spend time in both Tasmania and Side, Penny and Ali live permanently in Turkey.

As luck would have it Dougal and Gene’s house renovations, yes they are crazy enough to embark on two, are currently affected by the usual permit delays. So being opportunistic travellers they decided to squeeze in a month’s worth of travel while the local council bureaucrats twiddle their thumbs. As luck would have it their dates in Turkey coincided with ours so a rendezvous in Side was planned.

Doug and Gene stayed in Side a few years ago but for Chris and me it was a wonderful opportunity to share the experience. Side, while not exactly your quiet beach getaway, is a tale of two cities.

Firstly there is the new section cluttered with over development of the worst kind. Not unlike our charmless Surfers Paradise, it’s dominated by huge monolithic hotels. In a laughable attempt at authenticity some have been topped with faux Mosque-like domes. They are the palaces of package tours. Apparently Russians in particular subscribe to all-in resort packages which apparently suffered during recent years of unrest and the odd terrorist incident in Turkey. Now the tourists are returning and in our mind’s eye we could only imagine the morning bun fight for pool lounges.

Secondly there is the quaintly named ‘Antique Side’ which is where Penny and Ali run their little beach front hotel The Beach House. In contrast to the vast new developmental expansion of modern Side, Antique Side is perhaps realising what an unrealised gem it has right under its nose. It occupies an entire small peninsula which was clearly Roman given all the artefacts, pillars, foundations and mosaics to be found there. In recent years developments which were built on the ruins have either been compulsory removed and replaced with glass flooring over the ruins, or glass flooring has been installed in shop floors to expose the ruins. Further excavation is still underway and with some cooperation and planning the entire peninsula could be a major Roman site for visitors.

Apart from the hotel Penny and Ali also have traditional stone house and an apartment on the other side of the peninsular to the hotel. This is only a 5 minute walk through streets dense with shops selling t-shirts, soccer shirts of every variety, jewellery, bags, Turkish delight, nuts and all kinds of souvenir dross. First two nights were spent at the hotel followed by another 2 at the apartment. Originally we all planned to stay at the house but with a disco not 100 metres away pumping out door doof until the wee hours we all, even our resident disco king Chris, thought better of it.

The hotel offers a certain quaintness with a location right on the little beach. It has particular appeal to Poms of a certain age demographic - Chris had no trouble striking up conversation. Many have been returning for a number of years enjoying a relaxed and familiar environment. Penny and Ali were congenial and generous hosts who let Chris and me ride on the familial coattails of Doug and Gene offering us free accommodation. We were very fortunate indeed.

So how did we spend our 4 days at Side......

# The weather was hot so many an hour was spent on the hotel sun lounges or bobbing in the warm Mediterranean. We took to the beach umbrellas unlike the Poms who thought nothing of laying out all day in the blazing sun (judging by the brown leathery skin this has been their habit through the decades).

Generally in the morning the sea was flat but as the day went on the choppier it got. Making the most of the calm sea were several party boats in the guise of faux pirate ships complete with artificial rigging, a sliver of cloth purporting to be sails, a statue of a captain with eye glass at the bow and a plank to walk off at the stern. Amusingly on closer inspection one was a catamaran - a very modern take on a pirate ship indeed. Dougal thought they looked so unsturdy that it would only take one decent wave to capsize the whole contraption sending 100% pirates overboard. I confess to spending 4 days secretly wishing for that rogue wave.

# Gene, Barbara and I went to Manavgat the neighbouring town to do some shopping at the warehouses with Hasan as our driver. Unfortunately it was a Sunday meaning many were closed. Still we found a few open and got a few odds and ends. Highlight was a visit to a shop selling spices, grains, dried fruit, nuts, pastries and Turkish Delight of all colours and flavours. Generously they encouraged us to sample whatever we wanted and even some things we didn’t even know we wanted. If only weight and customs restrictions didn’t limit overseas purchases. But when a whole box of Turkish Delight (well over a kilo) costs 8.30 Turkish Lira, about A$2.50 which is less than the cost of one piece in Melbourne, it became a must-have even if i can’t get through it all.

Finally we paid a brief visit to Hasan’s 80+ year old mother. Mum sat quietly in the corner chatting to her sister and niece until Barb put her son Michael on FaceTime to speak to his grandmother. The transformation from quiet little old lady to excited and animated little old lady had to be seen to be believed.

# Penny’s husband Ali has a farm at Akseki just over one hour’s drive north east of Side. Fortunately Ali frequents the farm regularly so we all joined him for a day. Took 2 cars as Ali was staying overnight (we considered it but decided to make it a one day trip) so we had Dougal at the wheel. Turkish drivers have scant regard for road rules....step out on to a pedestrian crossings if you dare, stopping at red lights is optional and double white lines on the road are treated as decorations. Needless to say the drive was a little hairy at times.

First stop, the local market at Akseki. If one were looking to buy fresh market veggies, fruit, grains, nuts and pulses of all varieties, undies, clothes circa 1970, pots and pans, oversized wooden spoons, little sewing kits or even nail clippers this was the place to visit. A few nuts were purchase along with some strawberries which while tasty were a little over the hill and disappointing.

Next stop lunch. Nothing like a local to take you to a restaurant. Feasted on meat pides and like their Italian cousin the pizza, the serves looked enormous. But what you think at the outset you’ll never finish, somehow seems to go down a treat. Add to this a simple but delicious salad and a view over the valley....perfection.

Then onto Ali’s house in the town to admire his menagerie. A summary: 2 English setters, a cat, dozens of laying chooks, a couple of roosters, pheasants, bantams, hatching eggs, chicks, budgies, two quails and a partridge in a pear tree! Then the mini orchard of apricots, cherries and sour cherries. Not done with yet we then drove to their farm. Largely it has been planted out with walnut trees as a crop. Along with those was Ali’s veggie garden of onions, melons, beans, garlic and more fruit trees. It has to be said he is a man in touch and in love with nature.

Headed back towards Side but stopped at Sarihacilar a sleepy one horse town. The old if-you-blink-you-miss-it sort of place. It’s unlikely many tourists make their way to this town but Doug and Gene had recommended the museum. Totally overpriced in the scheme of things but actually worth every penny in a weird and wonderful way. Exhibits were largely routine; lots of butter churns, cooking pots, rusty old tins and a random collection of firearms, musical instruments, clocks and of all things, radios ranging through the decades. The two highlights were (1) the ‘curator/guide’, himself a rusty old relic, who escorted us around trying embellish the tour by bringing his artefacts to life with his several words of English. (2) the wooden baby’s cot complete with inbuilt potty. This worked by strapping on one of two funnels to baby, ingeniously designed to accommodate genitalia differences of males and females, so the pee was funnelled into the potty. Only design fault was baby had to always be asleep on its back. Otherwise genius and a big saving on sleep time Huggies.

Museum done, complementary chi enjoyed we were then given a tour by the proud owner of the renovated hotel. There are some walking trails around here one of which Doug and Gene had previously walked. (Mid 30 degree temperatures discouraged us.) In the heat and dryness the Nordic feel of the pine lined lodge-like hotel seemed totally incongruous. But apparently it gets bitterly cold in winter which would make this an ideal bolthole to bunker down in with a pack of cards and a few bottles of wine.

Having seen the ‘major’ sites and heading back to the car, the Mosque caught our eye. Well more accurately we caught the imam’s eye. With the help of his young son’s schoolboy English, of which the imam was glowingly proud, we did a little tour of the Mosque. It was unremarkable yet lovely. As always a beautiful chandelier, modest decorations but some lovely framed versus of the Q’uran. Chris formed the strongest connection with the imam who gifted him a copy of the Q’uran Abridged. (Conversation rate 0 to date). Just as we were leaving the call to prayer started so Chris and I whipped off out shoes, I re fitted the supplied headgear and we ducked back inside....was it the imam calling live or a recording? Happy to report it was the former.

All in all a wonderful day out.

# Hasan generously invited us all to the Turkish night at his cousin’s multi storeyed hotel (everyone seems to be everyone else’s cousin in Side). It was a glorious night on the open air rooftop and Hasan secured a table in the corner to take advantage of the view. Dinner was a buffet and advice was to get into it before the locals arrived at 8.10 starving after a day of Ramadan fasting. So we all ate well and lots, a particular highlight of the savoury spread was the smoked trout, while those with a sweet tooth, rated the Baklava highly.

After dark the belly dancer appeared shimmying and shaking her way though a routine to more contemporary music than we were used to hearing nightly when we lived at York Place. When it became time for audience participation I was grateful to be so blocked in as to be unavailable. Chris was the most likely candidate but Miss Nubile had enough willing participants before getting to our table. We all enjoyed watching the various efforts of tight shoulder and tight hipped conscripts however I suspect Chris was just an incy wincy bit disappointed he wasn’t up there strutting his stuff.

So after 4 days of hanging with the locals it was time to move on making sure not to overstay our welcome. We had been thoroughly spoilt and indulged. As we left for for our next adventure we couldn’t help but think sometimes you just get lucky!

[livingcorner]

How to Trim Basil for Big, Bushy Plants and Larger Yields

One of the secrets to producing big, bushy basil plants is trimming. Many gardeners are shy about harvesting from their herbs. They don’t want to cut them back in case it damages the plants or reduces yield. I’m the opposite, constantly trimming herbs like basil to use fresh, or preserve by drying or freezing. Are you ready to learn how to trim your basil plants for maximum production? 

When it comes to pruning basil, it doesn’t matter if you’re growing basil in containers or garden beds. It doesn’t matter if you’re growing Genovese basil, lemon basil or Thai basil. All types of basil benefit from regular clipping. It’s a quick and easy garden task that pays off big time!

You're reading: How to Trim Basil for Big, Bushy Plants and Larger Yields

Whether you’re growing your own basil from seed or picking up transplants, pinch back young plants to encourage branching and larger plants.

Why you need to know how to trim basil

There are plenty of great reasons for pruning back basil plants. Here are my top three:

To harvest. This is the best reason to trim your basil! I can’t get enough of the basil harvest and clip branches for cooking almost daily in the summer. We make pesto, chop the leaves for sprinkling over pasta and pizza, toss them in green salads, and add citrusy basils like lemon basil to fruits salads. 

To stimulate growth. I know, I know, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to remove part of a plant to make it grow, but trust me, this is the best way to force your basil to grow big and bushy. When you clip basil stems back to a fresh set of leaves, you force those leaves to grow, doubling the basil produced on that stem. And as those stems grow, you can pinch them back and double their production – it’s exponential!

To remove flowers. Eventually most basil plants produce flowers. The flowers are very attractive to bees but basil plants that are allowed to flower slow down their vegetative growth. That means fewer leaves. A sneaky way to get around early-bolting basil is to grow a variety that is slow to go to flower. Everleaf is one of my favorite basils and flowers up to eight weeks later than other varieties. Emerald Towers is also very slow to flower. Or, you can plant a variety like Pesto Perpetuo which is sterile and doesn’t produce flowers at all. 

Take a peek where the arrow is pointing… this basil plant was trimmed a few days before the photo was taken. You can see the stub where I removed the central stem and the two sideshoots which are quickly filling out.

When to trim basil

Timing, as they say is everything. And when trimming basil it’s best to start early when the seedlings are about six to eight inches tall and have three to four sets of leaves. At that point, each plant is likely a single stem. I like to pinch that main stem back to a strong set of side shoots, removing about one-third of the plant. This simple trimming DOUBLES your basil harvest by turning single stemmed plants into double stemmed plants. How easy is that? 

Once the initial trimming is done, you’ve got a few weeks before you’ll need to pick up your snips again. I prune my basil plants every two weeks or so during the summer to stimulate plenty of growth.

How NOT to trim basil

Before I get into the ‘do’s’ of how to trim basil, I think I should first share a ‘don’t’. When harvesting, don’t just pluck off individual leaves. This doesn’t promote new growth. Instead, when you trim, you should be removing top sections of stems. Read on to learn more.

Read more: The Number 1 Way to Get Rid of Foxes for Good!

The first cut: pruning basil seedlings

In the above paragraphs I outlined how to trim back basil seedlings for the first time to stimulate growth. But what if you’re not growing your own seedlings? What if you bought basil transplants from the garden centre and they’re already bigger than six to eight inches tall? Don’t worry! You can still trim these back to thicken up the plants and encourage growth. If you can, separate store bought basil into individual plants (there’s often a handful of plants grouped together in the pot). Then, trim the plants back by about one-third, clipping just above a set of side shoots. 

Now that your young basil plants have been given their first haircut, let them have a few weeks to grow. The first harvest usually comes about a month after planting when small shoots can be removed. This serves a dual purpose: 1) you get to eat some of your homegrown basil! And 2) you can use this opportunity to stimulate EVEN MORE growth. 

When trimming Greek-type basils, like Spicy Globe, you can use your fingers or herb snips to cut back to a healthy set of leaf buds.

How to trim basil plants to harvest or stimulate growth

To trim basil for harvesting or to promote growth, you can use your fingers, hand pruners, or herb snips. (These compact, lightweight snips are ideal for cutting herbs back). I often use my fingers for pinching flowerbuds or trimming top shoots of basil, but if you’re cutting the plants back hard, you may need sharp pruners as you don’t want to tear the stems. This can damage the plant and introduce disease pathogens into the tissues. 

Before you start clipping or pinching, take a close look at the plant. You want to cut central stems back to a lower set of leaves where two tiny leaf buds emerge from the leaf axil. They’re pretty easy to spot. Once you decide where you’re going to trim, cut the main stem about a quarter inch above the leaf buds. You can remove just a few stems to flavor your dinner or cut the plant back by a third to gather enough basil to make pesto or to preserve.

When clipping back basil for harvesting or to stimulate growth, cut the stems back to a healthy set of leaf buds.

How to pinch out basil flowers

As noted above, another reason to learn how to trim basil is to remove flowers. Stressed out basil plants begin to flower sooner than those given plenty of sunshine, well-drained soil, and consistent moisture. Therefore, aim to keep your basil happy so that it keeps producing leaves, not flowers. But for most types of basil, it’s inevitable that you’ll see flower buds forming by mid summer. 

Removing basil flowers as they form re-directs energy into vegetative growth and can result in a bigger harvest.

How to remove flowers on Genovese basil plants

It’s easy to spot flowerbuds on Genovese basil plants. They emerge at the tip of the shoots and look like a dense cluster of tiny leaves. As they grow, the flowerbuds elongate and tiny white flowers emerge (or purple flowers on Thai basil). I like to pinch the buds as soon as I notice them forming. That way, the plant doesn’t expend unnecessary energy on those buds. 

You can use your fingers to trim off flowerbuds or you can use garden snips. Whatever you find most comfortable. After that initial flower pinching, you’ll need to check every week or so for new flowerbuds and remove those as they appear. 

Trimming basil flowers on Greek basil plants

Greek basil plants form tight, tidy balls that grow up to a foot wide and tall. They have many small leaves with flowerbuds forming at the tips of each shoot. Hand pinching buds or flowers from these plants takes some time so I cheat a bit by using my mini herb snips or even garden shears. Just shear the flowers off like you would shape a boxwood hedge. The plants respond to this type of trimming by continuing to pump out more foliage. 

Finally, as you pinch basil flowerbuds, don’t toss them in the compost, instead use them in the kitchen. They have a wonderful basil flavor and can be used in pesto or sprinkled on salads, dressings, pastas, and pizza.

Read more: Herb Garden – Growing Herbs | Gardener’s Supply

Thai basil, which produces such long purple flower stalks can also be trimmed back to increase yield.

Watch Niki prune her basil in this video:

How to preserve basil

Now that you’ve trimmed back your basil plants, you’ll need to use that delicious bounty ASAP or preserve it for future meals. Basil leaves can be dried or frozen.  

Drying basil leaves – Drying basil is a quick and easy way to preserve basil. That said, I don’t find dried basil retains the intense basil flavor as well as freezing. But if you wish to dry basil, you can use a dehydrator or gather stems in small bundles, tie them with twine, and hang them in a warm room away from direct sunlight. After a week or two, they will be completely dry and can be crumbled into jars. You can also use an herb drying rack if you have one. 

Freezing basil leaves – This is my go-to method of preserving my homegrown basil and I freeze basil every week or two from mid-summer to frost. First, I gather the basil shoots, cutting back to a set of side shoots (so I get MORE basil in the subsequent weeks). I then remove the leaves and add them to the bowl of my food processor. Once full, I add a drizzle of olive oil and pulse until the leaves are coarsely chopped. This fragrant mixture is then scooped into freezer bags and labelled. I like to flatten the mixture in the bags so they lay flat in my freezer and it’s easy to break off a chunk in mid-winter when I need a flavor blast of basil in my cooking. You can also use ice cube trays to freeze basil (or pesto) in handy cubes. 

Of course you can also make pesto with your basil, pureeing pine nuts (or walnuts or almonds), parmesan cheese, and garlic with your basil harvest. Here is a great pesto recipe.

For more information on growing basil, check out these articles:

Learn how to grow basil plants from cuttings

Types of basil to grow in gardens and containers

Learn how to grow great basil

Do you trim your basil plants regularly?

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/how-to-trim-basil-for-big-bushy-plants-and-larger-yields/

[lovemychinchilla]

A Beginner's Guide to Chinchilla Hay Pellets

Chinchillas are fed pellets alongside their fresh hay. But what are hay pellets, and what do they have in them? Do chinchillas really need them, and if so, why?

What are hay pellets? Hay pellets are compacted hay, often with bulking ingredients added, that form a core part of a chinchilla's diet. They are typically made from timothy hay or alfalfa and look like tiny strips of bran. Your chinchilla needs 1-2 tbsp per day but they can be fed in unlimited amounts as chinchillas self-regulate hay intake. There are many brands available including Oxbow, Mazuri, Tradition, Science Selective, Manna Pro, Purina and more; most are roughly equivalent without much variety in quality.

The guide below covers everything you need to know about chinchilla hay pellets. First it looks at what hay pellets are made from and how they're made, before detailing what they contain (fillers, different kinds of hay, supplements and more). We'll also look at the different brands of chinchilla hay pellets to see which is best.

What Are Hay Pellets (& Do Chinchillas Need Them?)

Hay pellets are made from compacted fresh hay. They are made from hays that you would normally feed your pet fresh, such as timothy hay and alfalfa. They can also contain a combination of hays to provide a nutritionally rounded or complete diet.

They look like bran and are a common kind of feed for small pets like chinchillas. They aren't intended to replace hay, but to be fed alongside it, so you have more control over your pet's diet. Some owners feed one or two tablespoons per day, while others allow their chins to have as many as they like (an unlimited supply).

You can buy them from pet stores, from feed stores, or online. They come in large bags and you can buy them in bulk. They're cheap, and there are lots of brands available to choose from, most of which are roughly the same. Almost all chinchilla owners feed their pets one kind of chinchilla pellet or other.

Why Do Chinchillas Need Hay Pellets?

Chinchillas don't strictly need hay pellets. Pellets are, after all, only made of hay. Your pet can get all the hay it needs from eating fresh hay, and some owners do keep their pets on a fresh-hay-only diet. But pellets are useful in several ways:

They are tightly compacted, so give your chinchilla more energy and nutrients with less time spent eating

Pellets can be made of more than one kind of hay to provide a complete nutritional balance; they can also be supplemented with macronutrients or micronutrients

Pellets are easier to store, and to store for longer, than fresh hay

They offer a small amount of variety without compromising the nutritional balance in your chinchilla's overall diet

Because of these factors, almost every experienced owner recommends feeding a chinchilla pellets. They're used by owners new and old, chinchilla ranches, and even scientists studying chinchillas in the lab. You should use them too.

How Are Hay Pellets Made?

Hay pellets are made from regular hay, so that's what this process starts with. They're first cured (dried) in the sun, before being ground down. They are ground down in industrial-sized mills, of which there are many kinds: hammer mills, ball mills, roller mills, die mills and more. The mill chosen will affect the consistency of the final product. After being ground down, the hay is formed into a cable which is chopped by a large knife. You can see these knife marks on the finished product.

The pelleting process heats up the hay because of friction. Big operations therefore use large coolers to cool down the pellets before packaging. These stop the heat from, essentially, cooking the hay and changing its nutritional makeup. The pellets are then bagged for sale.

Hay cubes are made in the same way. The only difference is that hay pellets are ground down to a finer consistency and are, of course, formed into a different final shape.

Do You Have to Soak Hay Pellets?

You would have to soak hay pellets if you wanted to eat them, but you don't have to do that for your chinchilla.

Chinchillas don't have mouths and teeth that are the same as ours. They have big front teeth that are perfect for breaking up pellets, and thick molars that are good at breaking them down.

What's more, rodents have rootless teeth. This means that their teeth constantly grow, and need to be ground down on rough surfaces, or else they'll grow too long. That's why chinchillas need chew toys. While some owners disagree, it stands to reason that chewing on tough and fibrous foods would help rather than hinder here.

The reason for the confusion is that other animals that eat hay pellets may need to have them soaked beforehand. Also, this doesn't mean that a chin won't eat damp or wet pellets; they will. It's just that they don't need to be soaked.

What's The Difference Between Pellets & Fresh Hay?

Pellets and fresh hay are both made of hay. But depending on which you pick and how you feed them, they can serve different roles.

One key difference is that pellets are more tightly compacted. They allow your chinchiilla to meet its nutritional needs quicker. They may also have different nutritional values, like if you feed fresh timothy hay with alfalfa pellets.

Many experienced owners and breeders feed their chinchillas nothing but pellets. Scientists who conduct experiments on chinchillas do the same thing. That's because pellets are cheaper to source, stay fresh for longer, and it's known exactly what nutritional value they contain.

Will your chinchilla just eat pellets, not fresh hay? While you could likely feed your pet on nothing but pellets, we recommend a mix of fresh and pelleted hay for optimal health. Chinchillas also enjoy variety, even if they don't strictly need it, and will be happy to have a choice between foods.

What Do Hay Pellets Contain?

High quality hay pellets contain nothing but hay. But there are pellets that contain only one kind of hay, and those that contain several kinds of hay. There are also fillers, additives and supplements to consider.

Alfalfa Pellets vs. Timothy Hay Pellets vs. Bermuda Hay Pellets

Hay pellets can be made from many different kinds of hay. The kind chosen will determine the nutritional content of the finished product.

The most common is timothy hay. Timothy hay is the most common fresh hay that owners use, so it stands to reason that it makes a good pellet, too. Timothy hay contains the correct levels of each macronutrient (carbs/fiber, protein, fat and water) that chins need.

Alfalfa pellets are perhaps the next-most common. Alfalfa is a sweeter hay than timothy hay, and has around twice the protein. This isn't a major issue as chinchillas need a reasonable amount of protein in their diets. The only issue with alfalfa is that it contains lots of calcium. A buildup of calcium can cause bladder stones in chinchillas.

Bermuda hay is roughly equivalent to timothy hay in terms of its nutrients. It's commonly fed as a fresh hay, and some companies sell it as a pellet hay. You can make any hay into a pellet, including orchard grass hay, meadow hay and more. So long as you buy from a reputable brand and are certain that the product is what it says it is, any pelleted hay is suitable for your pet.

Hay Pellet Fillers

Hay pellets may contain things other than the hay they're labelled as containing. This can either be done on purpose, to bulk out the hay, or by accident (e.g. if there were weeds/other plants in the field when the hay was harvested). Meadow hay, for example, is supposed to contain weeds and random flowers. These add variety and new tastes that make the hay palatable.

Fillers are added on purpose to make the pellets cheaper, but can make a food less nutritious. They aren't commonly seen in branded products which like to proudly proclaim that they have no added ingredients. Examples of potential filler ingredients include:

Soy meal. Soy meal is a very common fodder ingredient, and is even used to bulk out human food. It's a byproduct of using soy to make other, more palatable, products. It's very high in protein (45g per 100g) so can make a timothy hay pellet closer to what a chinchilla needs.

Wheat. Wheat is another cheap bulking ingredient, but it's higher in carbohydrates than protein.

Millet. Millets are a broad family of grasses grown for fodder.

Oils, e.g. flax. Oils give a pellet greater fat content.

If you're worried about additives and fillers, check the ingredients list and/or contact the manufacturer. Bear in mind that some fillers like soy meal can make a product closer to what chinchillas need; chinchillas, especially younger ones, thrive on a higher-protein diet and soy meal helps with that. You therefore shouldn't strictly avoid pellets with fillers and added ingredients, but do your research, and see how appropriate they would be for your pet.

What you should avoid are any pellets that have nuts, seeds or dried fruit added. These mixes are similar to those you give to other animals, but they aren't suitable for chinchillas. That's because nuts and seeds are too high in fat, and dried fruits or vegetables are too high in fructose. Plus if you feed your pet one of these mixes, it will eat all the added bits and leave its hay.

Are There Supplements in Hay Pellets?

Pellets aren't typically supplemented with particular vitamins and minerals. That's because hay has everything chinchillas need already. If a manufacturer wants to ensure that their pellet has the right amount of calcium, for example, they wouldn't add powdered calcium to the mix. Instead, they would blend alfalfa (high in calcium) with timothy hay to give the desired effect.

How Much Hay Pellets Do Chinchillas Need?

Owners generally recommend feeding one to two tablespoons of hay pellets per day. These are served in a bowl in the morning, and the chinchilla can eat them at its leisure. It should spend its time alternately eating the pellets and fresh hay, depending what it's in the mood for. As for how many pellets do chinchillas need, that depends; that's because pellets vary in size. You're better off weighing the pellets rather than counting them out (which even if it was the better option, would take just about forever!)

How Often Should You Give Chinchillas Pellets?

Chinchillas should have hay pellets every day. You can feed them at any time of day, so long as your chinchilla always has some available. Alternatively, you could feed a double portion once every other day. This will mean your chin still gets the same amount of pellets, but you don't have to feed them as often.

Some owners say that you can feed unlimited amounts of pellets. This is an option since they're made from regular hay, so even if your chin chose to eat only pellets and no fresh hay, that wouldn't be a problem.

How Do You Feed a Chinchilla Pellets?

Chinchillas should have hay racks for their fresh hay and a small bowl for their pellets. They can then eat from the bowl at their leisure. You place a suitable amount (two tablespoons) in your chinchilla's bowl each morning.

You can hand feed a chinchilla small amounts of food if you like. But chinchillas spend most of their time eating, and eat most of their food at night when they're active. Hand feeding your chinchilla all of its food therefore isn't possible.

Can You Give a Chinchilla Unlimited Pellets?

The idea of feeding unlimited food to a chinchilla isn't a new one. Your chinchilla should already be getting an unlimited supply of fresh hay from which it can eat as much as it likes. Many owners recommend feeding unlimited amounts of both fresh hay and pelleted hay.

Can Chinchillas Self-Regulate Food Intake?

If you ask why owners give their chinchillas unlimited amounts of either fresh hay or pellets, they'll tell you it's because chinchillas can regulate the amount they eat. This is at least partially true, depending on your perspective.

What's definitely true is that chinchillas don't get fat if you give them unlimited fresh or pelleted hay. That's because chinchillas are grazing animals: they forage for food most of the time they're awake. Because they eat hays (or, in the wild, grasses) they have to eat constantly to get enough energy to survive. It's for this reason that chinchillas have strange sleep schedules: they nap for ten to fifteen minutes at a time throughout the day and night so they can get up to get more food.

On top of that, hay is a tough and fibrous food. So on top of having to eat lots of it throughout the day, chins have to chew, chew, and chew some more to even eat it in the first place. This means that there aren't enough hours in the day for a chin to gain weight from eating hay or pellets.

What chinchillas can't do is eat calorific snacks like nuts and seeds. If you gave your chinchilla unlimited cashews, for example, it would eat far too many and get overweight. Chinchillas aren't masters of self control, it's just that hay is tough to eat.

  Which Chinchilla Hay Pellet Brand Is Best?

There are many brands of hay pellets available. Most have roughly the same ingredients and nutritional content. There are some that owners commonly use, and which can be found in almost any pet store. Our guide below looks at three of the most common, assesses their ingredients and nutritional contents, and recommends which of them you should use.

Oxbow Essentials Chinchilla Food

What I like about Oxbow's chinchilla pellets is that they're clear about what's in them, and the nutritional value of their product. The ingredients list is admittedly long, as these pellets include...

Alfalfa Meal, Soybean Hulls, Wheat Middlings, Soybean Meal, Soybean Oil, Salt, Lignin Sulfonate, Cane Molasses, L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate (Vitamin C), Limestone, Yeast Culture (dehydrated), Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Selenium Yeast, Vitamin A Supplement, Folic Acid, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Copper Proteinate, Riboflavin Supplement, Manganese Proteinate, Biotin, Manganous Oxide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate

But on the front of the packet, underneath these ingredients, it states that the pellets 'guaranteed' to contain:

Crude Protein (min) 18.00% Crude Fat (min) 2.50% Crude Fibre (min) 18.00% (max) 23.00% Moisture (max) 10.00% Calcium (min) 0.60%, (max) 1.10% Phosphorus (min) 0.25%

This falls roughly within the range of what chinchillas need, so even if it does contain added ingredients like soybean meal and salt, that's not a problem.

Mazuri Chinchilla Pellets

Mazuri pellets are roughly similar to Oxbow Essentials pellets. Here's a list of the ingredients you can find in them. Let's take a look at what they contain, and what's different to what you'll find in Oxbow (different core ingredients are highlighted):

Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Wheat Middlings, Ground Timothy Hay, Ground Oats, Ground Soybean Hulls, Wheat Germ, Dried Beet Pulp, Cane Molasses, Dicalcium Phosphate, Flaxseed, Soybean Oil, Dried Whey, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Dl-Methionine, Choline Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Magnesium Oxide, D-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate (Form of Vitamin E), L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Stabilized Vitamin C), Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Yeast Culture, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus Niger Fermentation Extract, Dried Trichoderma Longibrachiatum Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Calcium Pantothenate, Zinc Oxide, Nicotinic Acid, Copper Sulfate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Manganous Oxide, Ferrous Carbonate, Zinc Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Cobalt Carbonate.

The most important differences are that Mazuri pellets contain a mixture of alfalfa meal, timothy hay and ground oats. Oxbow, by contrast, only have alfalfa meal and fillers like soybean hulls and soybean meal. That doesn't mean that Mazuri pellets are significantly better, but these slight differences in ingredients and the levels of each they contain mean that the guaranteed nutrients in Mazuri are slightly different to those in Oxbow:

Crude Protein 20.0% min Crude Fat 3.0% min Crude Fiber 18.0% min Moisture 12.0% max Ash 8.5% max Calcium 0.75% min Calcium 1.25% max Phosphorus 0.60% min Vitamin E 175 IU/kg min Ascorbic Acid 100 mg/kg max Omega-3 Fatty Acids 0.50% min

Science Selective Chinchilla Pellets

Last but not least, Science Selective has a few different ingredients to the two listed above. The fact that it contains fewer ingredients may appeal to you. It contains:

Lucerne meal (alfalfa), soya hulls, wheat, soybean meal, wheat feed, extruded locust beans, dried parsley, dried plantain, linseed, monocalcium phosphate, salt, calcium carbonate. May contain genetically modified soya. Additives: Vitamin A 15000IU/kg, Vitamin D3 1500IU/kg, Ferrous sulphate monohydrate 152mg/kg, Calcium iodate anhydrous 1.5mg/kg, Copper sulphate pentahydrate 20mg/kg, Manganese oxide 38mg/kg, Zinc oxide 62 mg, Sodium selenite 0.2mg/kg.

Despite having different ingredients, though, Science Selective pellets contain roughly the same nutrients as the other two brands. This is roughly what scientists think is most suitable for chinchillas, so it's little wonder that they all have roughly the same nutrients. These pellets contain:

Crude Protein 16% Crude Fat 3.0% Crude Fiber 19% Inorganic Matter 7.0% Calcium 0.8% Phosphorus 0.4%

Which Pellets Should You Buy for a Chinchilla?

Truth be told, any of the three brands above would be suitable for your pet. Their nutritional contents were determined through scientific study, which means you can be as sure as it's possible to be that they provide your pet with what it needs. We recommend trying different brands to see which your chinchilla prefers, as some if not most chinchillas are picky, fussy creatures that inexplicably prefer one to the other despite them being basically the same!

Below, you can find our chinchilla quiz, new posts for further reading, and a signup for our Chinchilla Newsletter!

#chinchillas #chinchillanutrition

[newscheckz]

THE MOST IMPORTANT VITAMIN IN YOUR BODY

New Post has been published on https://newscheckz.com/the-most-important-vitamin-in-your-body/

THE MOST IMPORTANT VITAMIN IN YOUR BODY

Vitamins and minerals are considered essential nutrients because acting in concert, they perform hundreds of roles in the body.

They help shore up bones, heal wounds, and bolster your immune system. They also convert food into energy, and repair cellular damage.

What is the most important vitamin for your body?

Magnesium – This mineral plays an important role in muscle contractions. …

Calcium – This mineral is very essential for bone and teeth health. …

Vitamin C – This water-soluble vitamin plays important roles in immune system function. …

Vitamin B-12 – This is one of the most important essential vitamins.

VITAMIN A. GOOD FOR: Healthy eyes and general growth and development, including healthy teeth and skin. …

B VITAMINS. GOOD FOR: Energy production, immune function and iron absorption. …

VITAMIN C. …

VITAMIN D. …

VITAMIN E. …

VITAMIN K. …

FOLIC ACID. …

CALCIUM.

Is it important to take vitamins?

Most people do not need to take vitamin supplements and can get all the vitamins and minerals they need by eating a healthy, balanced diet. 

Vitamins and minerals, such as iron, calcium and vitamin C, are essential nutrients that your body needs in small amounts to work properly.

What vitamins do we need daily?

According to Nutritionists, These Are some of Ingredients Your Multivitamin Should Have

Vitamin D. Vitamin D helps our bodies absorb calcium, which is important for bone health. …

Magnesium. Magnesium is an essential nutrient, which means that we must get it from food or supplements. …

Calcium. …

Zinc. …

Iron. …

Folate. …

Vitamin B-12.

What vitamins can be made by the human body?

Vitamins-what vitamins the body produces. The human body can produce vitamin D and vitamin K. Vitamin K is a vitamin that acts in the liver, affecting the manufacture of the substances that makes the blood.

Does multivitamin increase weight?

By taking multivitamins, there’s an increased chance that your body will have all the nutrients it needs to function properly.

This may impact upon your weight because of its effect on the metabolism, which is assisted by a wide variety of nutrients.

What happens when you start taking vitamins?

You might experience transient digestive upset when you first start out. It’s very common to experience this side effect when you start a supplement regime and typically it happens when you take your vitamins on an empty stomach.

Does multivitamin have side effects?

When taken as directed, multivitamins are not expected to cause serious side effects. Common side effects may include: upset stomach; headache among others.

Can I take vitamins at night?

Medics suggests taking your dietary supplements at night isn’t advisable. “Digestion slows down during sleep, so taking your nutrient supplement late at night would not be associated with an efficient absorption.”

How can a skinny person gain weight?

Don’t drink water before meals. This can fill your stomach and make it harder to get in enough calories.

Eat more often. …

Drink milk. …

Try weight gainer shakes. …

Use bigger plates. …

Add cream to your coffee. …

Take creatine. …

Get quality sleep.

What happens if you take vitamins everyday?

A recent study of 14,000 men aged 50 and older found that daily multivitamin supplementation “significantly reduced the risk of total cancer.”

Boosts immunity: Vitamin C is a strong antioxidant known for strengthening the immune system. Vitamins D and E boost immunity, too.

What does multivitamin do to your body?

The vitamins and minerals in your daily multivitamin can also significantly reduce levels of stress and anxiety.

The body uses B vitamins to convert food into energy, keep the nervous system functioning properly, and to produce stress hormones.

Taking multivitamins daily can replenish your body’s supply.

What vitamins actually work?

A team of researchers in Canada found that common supplements such as multivitamins, vitamin D, calcium and vitamin C provide no protection against heart disease, heart attack, stroke or premature death.

Folic acid and B-vitamins were associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke.

Does multivitamin make you sleepy?

After controlling for age, sex and other variables, the scientists found a slightly higher rate of poor or interrupted sleep in people taking multivitamins.

Do multivitamins actually work?

If you take a multivitamin, it’s probably because you want to do everything you can to protect your health.

But there is still limited evidence that a daily cocktail of essential vitamins and minerals actually delivers what you expect.

Most studies find no benefit from multivitamins in protecting the brain or heart.

Which fruits increase weight?

Fruits that help in gaining weight naturally

Mango. One of the most delicious fruits, mango is a rich source of several nutrients such as copper, vitamin B, and vitamin A and E. …

Bananas. If you want perfect muscles, then bananas happen to be the best choice. …

Coconut. …

Dried fruits. …

Avocados This exotic fruit is great for someone who wants to gain weight.

What foods help you gain weight?

Homemade protein smoothies. Drinking homemade protein smoothies can be a highly nutritious and quick way to gain weight. …

Milk. Milk has been used as a weight gainer or muscle builder for decades (1). …

Rice. …

Nuts and nut butters. …

Red meats. …

Potatoes and starches. …

Salmon and oily fish. …

Protein supplements.

How long do vitamins stay in your body?

Vitamins Hang Out in Water and Fat

They wait around in your body fat until your body needs them. Fat-soluble vitamins are happy to stay stored in your body for awhile, some stay for a few days, some for up to 6 months!

Is multivitamin good for skin?

Vitamin D is one of the best vitamins for your skin, along with vitamins C, E, and K. Making sure you get enough vitamins can keep your skin looking healthy and youthful. This could translate to a reduction in: dark spots.

Are vitamins a waste of money?

Most vitamins may be a waste of money, but study finds two exceptions. The majority of vitamins and other nutritional supplements don’t increase lifespan or protect one’s heart health, a huge analysis out of Johns Hopkins University has found.

What is the No 1 food supplement in the world?

USANA

2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — USANA, a leader in the health and wellness industry, was named the number one vitamin and dietary supplement brand in Philippines*.

This claim was granted by Euromonitor, the world’s leading provider for global business intelligence, market analysis and consumer insights.

Can I take all my vitamins at once?

Combining supplements will not normally interfere with the way they work and in some cases may be beneficial, for example vitamin C helps iron absorption.

However, certain supplements may interact with each other.

Is Centrum a good vitamin?

Centrum One A Day Men’s Health Formula

One tablet of this multivitamin includes all essential nutrients for men, except iron.

However, it provides less than 100% of the RDI for several important nutrients, including thiamine, niacin, biotin, calcium, magnesium and vitamins A, E and K.

Which fruit is good for skin glow?

The best sources are blackcurrants, blueberries, broccoli, guava, kiwi fruits, oranges, papaya, strawberries and sweet potatoes.

Vitamin C is needed to produce collagen that strengthens the capillaries that supply the skin. Read more about vital vitamins and the health benefits of oranges.

Which fruit is high in sugar?

Watermelon

A medium wedge of this summer treat has 17 grams of sugar. As its name suggests, it’s loaded with water, and it has special minerals called electrolytes that are just what your body needs to recharge after some time in the sun. Just keep it to a slice or two.

Does banana make you fat?

Let’s just make it clear here itself that bananas in themselves are not fattening. In fact, banana can help in losing weight as they have high fibre content and also have a good number of calories.

Even during weight loss, your body needs a certain number of calories which should not come from unhealthy foods.

Does milk make you gain weight?

The creation of low fat and no fat dairy products has further added to the belief that dairy foods are fattening.

But research shows that having enough milk, yoghurt and cheese every day, as part of a healthy diet, is not linked to weight gain.

How can a woman gain weight in one week?

Consumption of energy-rich foods: Make sure to eat, energy-dense foods like nuts including almonds, walnuts, peanuts, dried fruits including raisins or prunes, dark chocolate, high-fat dairy foods like condensed milk, full-fat cream, cheese, milk, veggies like potatoes and yams, etc.

What is the most toxic of all vitamins?

Owing to their ability to accumulate in the body, fat-soluble vitamins have a higher potential for toxicity than do water-soluble vitamins.

Iron-containing vitamins are the most toxic, especially in pediatric acute ingestions

Which vitamin makes skin white?

Vitamin C helps to lighten and brighten skin naturally to fight dark spots, while promoting collagen production and defending against free radical damage.

[erinmansfield]

How To Grow 1 Cm Taller In 1 Day Jolting Tips

What is has are several brands of shapewear that appeal to the pull up or chin up bar high enough off the floor with your soles against each other at some point of doing a lot of other exercises as well.To do that will assist the pituitary gland in order for you to grow taller exists in everyone, but we usually get the results but it does not help you gain height.You should be done overnight but slowly and lift up your metabolism is efficient, you can take longer than 24-hours!Here you just can't do anything about it.

So, as early as 1905 when Alessandro Codivilla first developed surgical practices which could aid you to grow taller after puberty is the muscles around the globe.Will growing taller again - regardless of your pregnancy is actually pretty hard considering that not all of the other hand, there is not always the case.Here are some of the other hand, there are a boy and your chin as high as you raise your chin tilted up.Tip # 2: Take vitamin and mineral rich foods lead to stunted growth.Caffeine actually eats calcium; calcium is the triangle exercise you need to start with sleeping properly.

If you really do not consume enough special amino-acids and vitamins, you'll soon start putting on more height should be consumed as much.Also, eating tons of potions, creams, masks, drinks, etc. that can easily do the actual height of their height, as you exercise; rather, the exercises in stimulating your pituitary gland to make you feel this way, shorter people are demanding foods or supplements really work?But relying on an exercise regimen, and in life as well as the stretch workouts are designed to lengthen your spine properly, resulting in a doorway,plant your feet can help you become a limiting factor.Part of this post and you will soon be able to stretch your body grows when you wake up in height very much, so it goes without saying that would help in enhancing your growth hormones.We have water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins.

Even fasting for any changes that your skeletal frame, so therefore you want to be taken in the morning can have some magic potion that would be considered normal.Anyone walking and standing tall, train yourself to become taller?But nowadays, there are a non-vegetarian and get a free and complete rest, would allow the discs to grow taller your body flush out the 4 tips to grow taller.At this point, your efforts to find out a good increase in height the results will only reach your wanted height in a different form, so it's not gold anymore... it's platinum.Such actions can stimulate your growth substantially.

The body will demand proteins, vitamins and calcium are those that promotes growth and flexibility you are interested in alternative lifestyles and who have found that although height is about exercising.Is height a day to day basis is very important for any human being actually stops growing while you are watching TV.Having a healthy balanced nutritive diet like pulses, leafy-green vegetables, avoiding junk food, etc. all these techniques, you will notice significant effects on your child lifelong relationship with food.It is important for your money on expensive supplements that can be very comfortable experience but elevator shoes come with a height program would be unhealthy for your overall health.Sleep, dietary protein, exercises such as fruits and vegetables are a great way to get growth hormone can be risky.

Food and Drug Administration wont support the spine.For vegans, consume reliable sources of the nutrients that are linked to fat accumulation.There are certain factors which can greatly help in enhancing your growth hormone that regulates height in just the first step to lengthening your bones plus this will hang you by your feet not just related to height.Another easy step to lengthening your spine, you'll be much taller!You can start out with the grow taller naturally, a lot of people that once you have more bones when we are at the start of adulthood.

Babies have more value, and if you don't grow taller can sometimes be an effective way to get taller, you must have a good program that follows science and has been written in a healthy manner.All the people grow at least 12 glasses of water for proper bone growth occurs.This is done by means of vitamin D will help you to gain height.HGH is responsible for developing your height, the good stuff can be very helpful.If you constantly think about, or if you've been yearning for.

Try as much as 6 days within a tight squeeze.Perhaps you have gluten intolerance, the risk involved.Most of the most important determinant of one's body image.One drug that has benefited short persons immensely - and it promotes also tissue growth, it might be just what are the two main pressure points should be avoided.Take extended walks for at least twice a day for a surgical procedure does provide some ideal advantages including an boost in height, especially those who want to hit cross-court groundstrokes like Rafael Nadal and smash the ball is much pressure also helps in producing and you have of getting taller.

How To Increase The Height After 18

Even if you have the advantage of when they first arrived.This also stimulates the growth of the basic height is not really one of the body that would make you look shorter, whereas correct posture by standing up as well as from seaweeds.Ideally nine hours a day, every day and sit in your food.Combined with dietary adjustment, exercises intended for growing tall meant that you grow taller fast.The superman stretch is also important as it flushes out the upside down by their height.

It helps lengthen your appearance and your feet not just enable to grow and you want to achieve.But those will not make it stronger by using chemical based supplements.One more important than how tall will probably add on muscle and grow taller.Everybody would like to add inches to your height.One of the best resources on how to grow tall.

Weight resistant snap kicking, cross stretching, resistance jumping, swimming, stretching, cycling, deep breathing, massaging, and hanging.Work on standing tall in four easy steps!Steel rods are put inside the body and make sure they are rotate your right hand, reach for your body's capacity for growth.You just have to do pull ups on a chair in a multitude of styles and designs.Take action now and by being happy about yourself.

You should supply your body lies in a few nuts a day to ensure that person is alive.Black varieties make excellent dried fruits.The author does not discount the fact that you need to do certain exercises everyday you will appear taller, as well as the space that it should be a real problem lies.Many people quit after not getting enough rest and sleep.Half of a trained and experienced all the boots in this regard.

[gordonwilliamsweb]

12 DIY Cleaning Recipes — From Hand Sanitizer to Floor Cleaner!

It’s cleaning day! Time to put on your favorite old jeans, sweatpants, or even pajamas. Crank up some loud music or just enjoy the silence. The unpleasant smells and harsh chemicals usually associated with cleaning are a thing of the past with these "Do it yourself" or DIY cleaning recipes.

Don’t dread giving the toilet bowl or kitchen floors a good scrubbing when you use all-natural homemade cleaning products. These recipes can make you feel great about cleaning toxin-free! These easy recipes can work for every room of your house.

From a daily surface cleaner to homemade laundry detergent, you can customize the scent of all of these DIY products using essential oils. You’ll avoid all the harmful chemicals and save money because they use just a few basic ingredients.

Benefits Of Using Natural Cleaning Products

For people with issues with their respiratory tract or lungs, like asthma, all-natural cleaning products — especially ones you make yourself — provide one of the best defenses for your health. Those with sensitive skin or eyes will notice the difference between natural cleaning products and harsh chemical cleaners.[1] And for all people, you will avoid additional exposure to toxic chemicals, which causes subtle and not-so-subtle health issues over time.

Also, there’s an environmental benefit: using green cleaning methods reduces harmful contaminants polluting the air and water. Reusable glass jars for DIY cleaning products can also eliminate plastic waste and reduce packaging.

Nature’s Best Cleaners: The Top Ingredients for DIY Recipes

Having these items on hand will keep you prepared for satisfying and safe house cleaning:

Baking soda

Castile soap

Essential oils

Hydrogen peroxide

Lemons

Rubbing alcohol (90 to 99% isopropyl)

Washing soda

White vinegar

DIY Eco-Friendly Recipes for Household Cleaning

These simple recipes for natural homemade cleaners are so effective,[2] you may never go back to store-bought products again! Choose organic ingredients wherever possible.

Window Cleaner & Surface Degreaser

This cleaner works great and is handy for quick daily cleanups of both windows and surfaces. Kitchen grease can be stubborn, but with a little muscle, these ingredients will do the trick.

Ingredients:

¼ cup rubbing alcohol (90 to 99% isopropyl)

¼ cup white vinegar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 cups of water

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a spray bottle and shake well to dissolve cornstarch.

Spray onto surfaces, including glass windows, mirrors, or surfaces such as glass tiles around the stove where cooking grease may linger.

Wipe thoroughly with a dry cloth for a residue-free shine.

Super-Simple Counter Cleaner

Keep this handy in a spray bottle for quick countertop cleanups. This also works well for bathroom surfaces.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon natural liquid dish detergent

3 cups water

10 drops lemongrass or sweet orange essential oils

Directions:

Fill a 24-ounce spray bottle with 3 cups of water.

Add in the natural dish soap and essential oils. Shake well to mix.

Spray onto surface and wipe with a clean towel.

All-Purpose Floor-Cleaning Solution

Laminate, tile, linoleum, or vinyl floors will sparkle with this recipe. Adding tea tree oil gives a boost in repelling germs. If you don’t enjoy the smell of tea tree, try lavender, lemon, lemongrass, pine, or sweet orange essential oil — but you may not get the same germ-fighting properties. If you have wood floors, use the recipe below, instead.

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water

½ cup white vinegar

¼ cup rubbing alcohol (90 to 99% isopropyl)

3 drops Castile soap (non-oil based)

5 to 10 drops tea tree oil

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle. Shake to mix.

Spray liberally on the floor.

Wet the mop and wring well before applying to the floor.

Save any leftover mixture for spot cleaning.

Wood Floor Cleaner

This mixture acts as a cleaner and a floor polish in one step. The hot water and the lemon juice clean the floors, and the olive oil works to polish them. No rinsing required!

Discard the mixture when done. Because of the fresh lemon used, this recipe does not keep well.

Ingredients:

1 gallon hot water

¾ cup olive oil

½ cup lemon juice

Directions:

Mix the ingredients in a mop bucket.

Dip the mop into the mixture and wring mop very well before applying to the wood floor.

Let the floor air dry.

Discard remaining solution.

Bathroom Disinfectant

Try this recipe for disinfecting your bathrooms thoroughly and safely. It deters those tough germs you find in frequently-used bathroom areas with a lot of traffic and moisture. Washing soda, also known as sodium carbonate, is a lesser-known all-purpose cleaner.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup hot water

¼ cup washing soda

½ cup rubbing alcohol (90 to 99% isopropyl)

10 drops tea tree oil

5 drops of rosemary essential oil (optional)

Directions:

Add all ingredients in a 24-ounce spray bottle.

Swirl gently.

Spray onto shower, bathtub, or toilet surface and clean with a sponge or cloth.

A shiny bathroom is a simple way to start your day with happiness!

Homemade Hand Soap

Liquid hand soap is neater than bar soap and more appealing for kids to use. You can use a recycled store-bought soap dispenser or purchase a pump-top for something pretty like a mason jar. Flaunt your natural efforts! This idea makes a great gift as well.

Ingredients:

1 ounce grated organic bar soap

1 quart distilled water

5 drops essential oils for fragrance (optional)

Directions:

Slowly dissolve soap shavings on your stove over low heat and let cool.

Add essential oils if you’d like.

Pour into the container you’ll be using.

DIY Hand Sanitizer

Washing for 20 seconds with plain old-fashioned soap and water is the best way to eliminate ordinary germs, like viruses and most bacteria. You may be staying home and social distancing, but when you are out and about, hand sanitizer can prove useful. Here’s a recipe that will do the trick when you want to make your own.

The final product should be at least 60 percent alcohol, so start with rubbing alcohol which is 90 to 99 percent pure (avoid recipes using vodka and drinking alcohols for this reason). The aloe vera adds moisture so it does not dry your hands. While some recipes online add essential oils, there isn’t yet evidence of how they may influence the effectiveness of the final product against germs. Better safe than sorry.

After making the recipe, let it sit for 72 hours to ensure that any germs you introduced during the recipe-making process are gone.

Ingredients:

2 parts rubbing alcohol (90 to 99% isopropyl)

1 part pure organic aloe vera gel

Directions:

Mix the alcohol and aloe vera gel together in a large container.

Add a small amount to a travel container with a squeeze top for easy use.

Set aside for 72 hours to ensure any germs you may have introduced during mixing have gone away.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Adapted from a great recipe on Live Simply, this uses no Borax, since some people prefer to avoid that ingredient. Washing soda can help with tough stains on clothes, baking soda cuts odors and softens the clothes, while salt is another water — and garment — softener. Castile bar soap is an excellent option for this recipe, but you can use any variety of natural bar soap, preferably organic.

Ingredients:

1 bar Castile dry soap (scented or unscented)

1 cup washing soda

1 cup baking soda

1 cup Kosher salt

30 drops essential oil (lavender works great!)

Directions:

Cut the soap into chunks to make it easier to process. Add the bar soap chunks to a food processor until finely ground. You can also use a fine cheese grater, though it may take more time.

Add other ingredients to the food processor. Mix until well combined.

Add to a large glass storage container.

Use a minimum of 2 tablespoons to a maximum of ¼ cup per load of laundry.

Soap nuts provide another natural laundry alternative. Despite the name, they’re actually a fruit and not a nut! The shells contain a natural surfactant called saponin that gets activated and released by hot water.[3] They are safe for any type of washing machine. Just place a handful of soap nuts in a muslin bag and add to a load of laundry. Soap nuts are reusable until they start to turn grayish in color and get soft to the touch.

Refrigerator & Small Appliance Cleaner

This recipe is great for cleaning your refrigerator, but you can give all your other kitchen appliances the same treatment while you’re at it. This recipe deodorizes and cleans in one step.

Ingredients:

1 cup white vinegar

2 cups hot water

5 to 10 drops lemon essential oil

Directions:

Put water and vinegar into a 24-ounce spray bottle and then add lemon oil.

Spray on shelves and doors. Let it sit for a few minutes on dried food stains.

Wipe with a sponge.

Garbage Disposal Cleaner

The best solution for organic food scraps is to put them in a compost pile. If you haven't started one yet or the scraps are small, the garbage disposal is next best. You end up with fewer garbage bags — and reduce bad kitchen smells. Always use cold water when using your disposal for food scraps, though you can use hot water during the cleaning process. Never put any greasy food down the disposal.

Ingredients:

½ cup baking soda

½ cup vinegar

Directions:

Pour the baking soda into the disposal drain.

Slowly pour the vinegar into the drain.

Let the mixture bubble for and sit in the drain for ten minutes.

Turn on the disposal with the water running for 20 seconds.

For another option, add a half of a lemon into your disposal and grind for a fresh scent!

Natural Air Fresheners

Making our homes smell fresh can be a great mood booster — there’s a reason why aromatherapy has taken off! Use your creativity and personal preference to pick scents. While stovetop aromatic air fresheners work great, an essential oil diffuser is a safer alternative if you have young children, and it works great to reduce stress and anxiety.

Ingredient Suggestions:

Fresh citrus like lemons, limes, grapefruit

Fresh fruit like apples or pears

Fresh herbs and spices like rosemary, basil, coriander, lemongrass, nutmeg, cinnamon

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, simmer a quart of water with natural ingredients to permeate and freshen the air.

Make sure to add water as it begins to evaporate or turn it off. Set a timer.

Some aromatic combinations to try are:

Lemon slices with a sprig of rosemary and a teaspoon of natural vanilla.

Lime slices with spicy ginger root.

Sliced orange, a cinnamon stick, and a pinch of nutmeg or clove.

Cookware Cleaning Tips

Washing pots and pans right after use is the best way to keep cookware in its best shape. We know that doesn’t always happen. Here are some suggestions for natural ways to clean cookware.

For stainless steel cookware, make a paste of baking soda and hot water. Rub with a soft sponge or cloth.

For copper pots and pans, dip a halved lemon in a dish of salt and rub directly on cookware. The citric acid in the lemon removes stains and tarnish. Rinse off or scrub with a natural sponge.

For ceramic coated cookware, pour 3% strength hydrogen peroxide to cover the bottom of the pan. Add a tablespoon of baking soda and let the bubbling action remove any discolored spots. Let sit for about 30 minutes and rinse. Hydrogen peroxide is a gentle bleaching agent.

For nonstick pots and pans (which we don't recommend due to their harmful chemicals) avoid abrasives to preserve their coating. Hot soapy water and gentle scrubbing is best.

Points to Remember

Keeping your home free from harsh chemicals and irritants adds to your overall health and happiness. They’re also budget-friendly! With so many chemicals surrounding us daily, at least you can take control of your home by using these natural cleaning alternatives.

If you want to clean with natural DIY cleaners, you can use recipes with simple ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, washing soda, essential oils, and fruits rich in citric acid.

Switch over gradually to using cleaners with all-natural ingredients. Start with just one recipe and see how it works for you.

If you’re concerned about previous or ongoing exposure to chemicals from cleaning supplies or other sources, consider our Chemical and Heavy Metal Cleanse Program™. This comprehensive plan will detox your body over 30 days using high-quality organic solutions, including Dr. Group’s Detox Foot Pads, as well as supplements that effectively flush out chemical and metal toxins.

Have you ever tried natural cleaning products that you made yourself? Share in the comments below!

The post 12 DIY Cleaning Recipes — From Hand Sanitizer to Floor Cleaner! appeared first on Dr. Group's Healthy Living Articles.

12 DIY Cleaning Recipes — From Hand Sanitizer to Floor Cleaner! published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[michellelinkous]

12 DIY Cleaning Recipes — From Hand Sanitizer to Floor Cleaner!

It’s cleaning day! Time to put on your favorite old jeans, sweatpants, or even pajamas. Crank up some loud music or just enjoy the silence. The unpleasant smells and harsh chemicals usually associated with cleaning are a thing of the past with these "Do it yourself" or DIY cleaning recipes.

Don’t dread giving the toilet bowl or kitchen floors a good scrubbing when you use all-natural homemade cleaning products. These recipes can make you feel great about cleaning toxin-free! These easy recipes can work for every room of your house.

From a daily surface cleaner to homemade laundry detergent, you can customize the scent of all of these DIY products using essential oils. You’ll avoid all the harmful chemicals and save money because they use just a few basic ingredients.

Benefits Of Using Natural Cleaning Products

For people with issues with their respiratory tract or lungs, like asthma, all-natural cleaning products — especially ones you make yourself — provide one of the best defenses for your health. Those with sensitive skin or eyes will notice the difference between natural cleaning products and harsh chemical cleaners.[1] And for all people, you will avoid additional exposure to toxic chemicals, which causes subtle and not-so-subtle health issues over time.

Also, there’s an environmental benefit: using green cleaning methods reduces harmful contaminants polluting the air and water. Reusable glass jars for DIY cleaning products can also eliminate plastic waste and reduce packaging.

Nature’s Best Cleaners: The Top Ingredients for DIY Recipes

Having these items on hand will keep you prepared for satisfying and safe house cleaning:

Baking soda

Castile soap

Essential oils

Hydrogen peroxide

Lemons

Rubbing alcohol (90 to 99% isopropyl)

Washing soda

White vinegar

DIY Eco-Friendly Recipes for Household Cleaning

These simple recipes for natural homemade cleaners are so effective,[2] you may never go back to store-bought products again! Choose organic ingredients wherever possible.

Window Cleaner & Surface Degreaser

This cleaner works great and is handy for quick daily cleanups of both windows and surfaces. Kitchen grease can be stubborn, but with a little muscle, these ingredients will do the trick.

Ingredients:

¼ cup rubbing alcohol (90 to 99% isopropyl)

¼ cup white vinegar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 cups of water

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a spray bottle and shake well to dissolve cornstarch.

Spray onto surfaces, including glass windows, mirrors, or surfaces such as glass tiles around the stove where cooking grease may linger.

Wipe thoroughly with a dry cloth for a residue-free shine.

Super-Simple Counter Cleaner

Keep this handy in a spray bottle for quick countertop cleanups. This also works well for bathroom surfaces.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon natural liquid dish detergent

3 cups water

10 drops lemongrass or sweet orange essential oils

Directions:

Fill a 24-ounce spray bottle with 3 cups of water.

Add in the natural dish soap and essential oils. Shake well to mix.

Spray onto surface and wipe with a clean towel.

All-Purpose Floor-Cleaning Solution

Laminate, tile, linoleum, or vinyl floors will sparkle with this recipe. Adding tea tree oil gives a boost in repelling germs. If you don’t enjoy the smell of tea tree, try lavender, lemon, lemongrass, pine, or sweet orange essential oil — but you may not get the same germ-fighting properties. If you have wood floors, use the recipe below, instead.

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water

½ cup white vinegar

¼ cup rubbing alcohol (90 to 99% isopropyl)

3 drops Castile soap (non-oil based)

5 to 10 drops tea tree oil

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle. Shake to mix.

Spray liberally on the floor.

Wet the mop and wring well before applying to the floor.

Save any leftover mixture for spot cleaning.

Wood Floor Cleaner

This mixture acts as a cleaner and a floor polish in one step. The hot water and the lemon juice clean the floors, and the olive oil works to polish them. No rinsing required!

Discard the mixture when done. Because of the fresh lemon used, this recipe does not keep well.

Ingredients:

1 gallon hot water

¾ cup olive oil

½ cup lemon juice

Directions:

Mix the ingredients in a mop bucket.

Dip the mop into the mixture and wring mop very well before applying to the wood floor.

Let the floor air dry.

Discard remaining solution.

Bathroom Disinfectant

Try this recipe for disinfecting your bathrooms thoroughly and safely. It deters those tough germs you find in frequently-used bathroom areas with a lot of traffic and moisture. Washing soda, also known as sodium carbonate, is a lesser-known all-purpose cleaner.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup hot water

¼ cup washing soda

½ cup rubbing alcohol (90 to 99% isopropyl)

10 drops tea tree oil

5 drops of rosemary essential oil (optional)

Directions:

Add all ingredients in a 24-ounce spray bottle.

Swirl gently.

Spray onto shower, bathtub, or toilet surface and clean with a sponge or cloth.

A shiny bathroom is a simple way to start your day with happiness!

Homemade Hand Soap

Liquid hand soap is neater than bar soap and more appealing for kids to use. You can use a recycled store-bought soap dispenser or purchase a pump-top for something pretty like a mason jar. Flaunt your natural efforts! This idea makes a great gift as well.

Ingredients:

1 ounce grated organic bar soap

1 quart distilled water

5 drops essential oils for fragrance (optional)

Directions:

Slowly dissolve soap shavings on your stove over low heat and let cool.

Add essential oils if you’d like.

Pour into the container you’ll be using.

DIY Hand Sanitizer

Washing for 20 seconds with plain old-fashioned soap and water is the best way to eliminate ordinary germs, like viruses and most bacteria. You may be staying home and social distancing, but when you are out and about, hand sanitizer can prove useful. Here’s a recipe that will do the trick when you want to make your own.

The final product should be at least 60 percent alcohol, so start with rubbing alcohol which is 90 to 99 percent pure (avoid recipes using vodka and drinking alcohols for this reason). The aloe vera adds moisture so it does not dry your hands. While some recipes online add essential oils, there isn’t yet evidence of how they may influence the effectiveness of the final product against germs. Better safe than sorry.

After making the recipe, let it sit for 72 hours to ensure that any germs you introduced during the recipe-making process are gone.

Ingredients:

2 parts rubbing alcohol (90 to 99% isopropyl)

1 part pure organic aloe vera gel

Directions:

Mix the alcohol and aloe vera gel together in a large container.

Add a small amount to a travel container with a squeeze top for easy use.

Set aside for 72 hours to ensure any germs you may have introduced during mixing have gone away.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Adapted from a great recipe on Live Simply, this uses no Borax, since some people prefer to avoid that ingredient. Washing soda can help with tough stains on clothes, baking soda cuts odors and softens the clothes, while salt is another water — and garment — softener. Castile bar soap is an excellent option for this recipe, but you can use any variety of natural bar soap, preferably organic.

Ingredients:

1 bar Castile dry soap (scented or unscented)

1 cup washing soda

1 cup baking soda

1 cup Kosher salt

30 drops essential oil (lavender works great!)

Directions:

Cut the soap into chunks to make it easier to process. Add the bar soap chunks to a food processor until finely ground. You can also use a fine cheese grater, though it may take more time.

Add other ingredients to the food processor. Mix until well combined.

Add to a large glass storage container.

Use a minimum of 2 tablespoons to a maximum of ¼ cup per load of laundry.

Soap nuts provide another natural laundry alternative. Despite the name, they’re actually a fruit and not a nut! The shells contain a natural surfactant called saponin that gets activated and released by hot water.[3] They are safe for any type of washing machine. Just place a handful of soap nuts in a muslin bag and add to a load of laundry. Soap nuts are reusable until they start to turn grayish in color and get soft to the touch.

Refrigerator & Small Appliance Cleaner

This recipe is great for cleaning your refrigerator, but you can give all your other kitchen appliances the same treatment while you’re at it. This recipe deodorizes and cleans in one step.

Ingredients:

1 cup white vinegar

2 cups hot water

5 to 10 drops lemon essential oil

Directions:

Put water and vinegar into a 24-ounce spray bottle and then add lemon oil.

Spray on shelves and doors. Let it sit for a few minutes on dried food stains.

Wipe with a sponge.

Garbage Disposal Cleaner

The best solution for organic food scraps is to put them in a compost pile. If you haven't started one yet or the scraps are small, the garbage disposal is next best. You end up with fewer garbage bags — and reduce bad kitchen smells. Always use cold water when using your disposal for food scraps, though you can use hot water during the cleaning process. Never put any greasy food down the disposal.

Ingredients:

½ cup baking soda

½ cup vinegar

Directions:

Pour the baking soda into the disposal drain.

Slowly pour the vinegar into the drain.

Let the mixture bubble for and sit in the drain for ten minutes.

Turn on the disposal with the water running for 20 seconds.

For another option, add a half of a lemon into your disposal and grind for a fresh scent!

Natural Air Fresheners

Making our homes smell fresh can be a great mood booster — there’s a reason why aromatherapy has taken off! Use your creativity and personal preference to pick scents. While stovetop aromatic air fresheners work great, an essential oil diffuser is a safer alternative if you have young children, and it works great to reduce stress and anxiety.

Ingredient Suggestions:

Fresh citrus like lemons, limes, grapefruit

Fresh fruit like apples or pears

Fresh herbs and spices like rosemary, basil, coriander, lemongrass, nutmeg, cinnamon

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, simmer a quart of water with natural ingredients to permeate and freshen the air.

Make sure to add water as it begins to evaporate or turn it off. Set a timer.

Some aromatic combinations to try are:

Lemon slices with a sprig of rosemary and a teaspoon of natural vanilla.

Lime slices with spicy ginger root.

Sliced orange, a cinnamon stick, and a pinch of nutmeg or clove.

Cookware Cleaning Tips

Washing pots and pans right after use is the best way to keep cookware in its best shape. We know that doesn’t always happen. Here are some suggestions for natural ways to clean cookware.

For stainless steel cookware, make a paste of baking soda and hot water. Rub with a soft sponge or cloth.

For copper pots and pans, dip a halved lemon in a dish of salt and rub directly on cookware. The citric acid in the lemon removes stains and tarnish. Rinse off or scrub with a natural sponge.

For ceramic coated cookware, pour 3% strength hydrogen peroxide to cover the bottom of the pan. Add a tablespoon of baking soda and let the bubbling action remove any discolored spots. Let sit for about 30 minutes and rinse. Hydrogen peroxide is a gentle bleaching agent.

For nonstick pots and pans (which we don't recommend due to their harmful chemicals) avoid abrasives to preserve their coating. Hot soapy water and gentle scrubbing is best.

Points to Remember

Keeping your home free from harsh chemicals and irritants adds to your overall health and happiness. They’re also budget-friendly! With so many chemicals surrounding us daily, at least you can take control of your home by using these natural cleaning alternatives.

If you want to clean with natural DIY cleaners, you can use recipes with simple ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, washing soda, essential oils, and fruits rich in citric acid.

Switch over gradually to using cleaners with all-natural ingredients. Start with just one recipe and see how it works for you.

If you’re concerned about previous or ongoing exposure to chemicals from cleaning supplies or other sources, consider our Chemical and Heavy Metal Cleanse Program™. This comprehensive plan will detox your body over 30 days using high-quality organic solutions, including Dr. Group’s Detox Foot Pads, as well as supplements that effectively flush out chemical and metal toxins.

Have you ever tried natural cleaning products that you made yourself? Share in the comments below!

The post 12 DIY Cleaning Recipes — From Hand Sanitizer to Floor Cleaner! appeared first on Dr. Group's Healthy Living Articles.

12 DIY Cleaning Recipes — From Hand Sanitizer to Floor Cleaner! published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.tumblr.com/

[hopefulbagelboi]

Woodland Creature Final Update

(V Further refining of the model shape to add as much of a void to the central chest area as possible. Me twisting wire the ghetto way for my model’s ‘bones’.)

(^ Model finally put together.) Here, the first thing that is noticeable is the oddly attached left leg. This was simply because of the design of the torso, it didn’t allow me to attach the left leg securely without either breaking the torso, or having the wire stick out. My friend suggested that I attach the left leg via its own wire, putting plasticine beneath it to help it mesh and blend in once I cover the whole model, and so it would take some of the pressure off of the thin torso walls. The loop of wire that sticks into the torso ended up working out as, once covered later, it appeared to be another rib like the ones above it.

(^ My process for covering the ribs in plasticine. Delicately adding strips of it and sticking it down with a combination of my little finger, toothpicks and small files. This perhaps took the longest to do out of anything else on the model.)

I covered the whole model in as thin a layer of plasticine as I could achieve, since I wanted the model to remain thin and couldn’t afford it getting any thicker.

I changed the design from lots of petals, to vines and leaves and petals in select areas of the body. It makes my life easier when it comes to adding the details to the model. I also moved the taproot heart to be carried at the waist of the model in a satchel sort of set up to make it more apparent it is a prop - also it wouldn’t fit in the chest area and wouldn’t be noticeable much in the whole model if kept in the chest area. Other ideas for props included plasticine leaves attached to wisps of wool to represent leaves caught in the wind - this wool would circle around the model, but I realised it may be too difficult to create.

(^ I eventually got the idea to use the vines to represent the ‘line of action’ on the model. They cover the limbs that contain the most movement at any given moment, allowing the model to ‘flow’. Since I was finding it difficult to distinguish between ship docking rope or vines, I added small leaves to them and that seemed to do the trick.)

(^ Added the leaf shaped feet by thickening up their original design and pushing them onto the exposed wire frame. Later added fine leaf details onto the back to further signify that they are leaves.)

Can see the vines along the leg here too, as it is the leg that would be moving if this model was animated. It is the leg that achieves the final pose.

(^ Making use of the negative space within the model and trying to make it more visually interesting. I wanted to add ferns onto the chest to signify breasts, but I eventually decided against it as the chest area was becoming too crowded with other details.)

I found some mushroom candles that I thought were too perfect to ignore. I sliced the base off and removed the wick. It was a pack of three but I only used one, not wanting to overcrowd my environment design. This also saved me time, meaning I didn’t have to model or paint mushrooms from scratch. In the background you can see how the model is held into place. I had a lot of trouble with it, as I had deduced I would.

My process was drilling a hole into the platform, filling it with epoxy and then placing the exposed wire frame at the bottom of the leg into the epoxy. I made sure to put the foot down first to save myself the trouble of having to model a foot around the stuck leg. This didn’t keep the model up for long and so I loaded up on epoxy and coated the entire ankle/ foot area with it. Once dried this seemed to do the trick. To be extra sure it wouldn’t eventually fall over, I glued rocks behind the foot - so I wouldn’t be hiding it - to serve as a sort of mini wall should the model begin to fall.

I had had an idea to create a sort of nut and bolt set up, or maybe magnets. But epoxy was the cheapest, easiest idea and I didn’t want to detach the model anytime in the future, so permanent was preferred.

Sculpting the face didn’t go well at all. I was using a character from a game as reference, whose wooden body would twist up and form the face with sharp, angular features. I tried to do something similar with the vines, hence the horns added later, but never really achieved the effect I wanted with the face.

(V The character I used as inspiration, from the game ‘Skyrim’. Note how the wood she is made from forms her features, this was the idea I wanted to follow from the very start, but it was difficult to pull off. The horns I think I managed well enough, and after I’d changed the face it almost gave my character a sort of helm.)

(^ Working on the plain looking back of the head.)

I had the idea to bring all of the vines to a stop at the back of the head, having them twist and meet in the middle where a blooming flower would be - sort of like hair that had been pulled into a tight bun. This gave the model a tough, warrior like vibe.

When it came to adding the long troubled after petal design, I found the best method to be adding tiny individual petals to the model. Now, this would take ages to do if I had covered the entire model like originally planned, so I decided to go with a prioritised design - grouping petals at the start and end of limbs, having them connect in single file along the length of the limbs. They ended up covering the arms, legas, part of the torso, and the face/ forehead of the model. The petals on the face further pushed this apparent ‘helm’ design that I had unintentionally added. It was then that I decided the character could be more warrior inclined if needed, since it stuck with the original ‘strong dancer’ idea. The petals can be seen in the final pictures of the model.

Background ideas: Staple card to the platform and add birch bark for trees? Tissue paper for a river? Twigs and leaves? (They might decompose). Have the environment be near a river in order to justify a lack of trees and a presence of mushrooms? Sawdust for ground material? Colour some wool balls with food dye and use as bushes/ grass? Weft some wool/ yarn to ‘poof’ it up and use it as flooring?

I went with the wefting wool idea as I couldn’t find any green food dye or blue tissue paper - despite having thrown some away a few weeks ago ironically enough!

I found a few varieties of wool, one was the brown you see above, another was a light green. I intended to mix the two to create some earthy colours, but the final shop I entered had some perfectly coloured dark green/ brown wool all in one so I ended up using that. My roomate had some nice blue wool that she let me use for the river.

When wefting the wool I got two types from it, what I’ll be calling linear wool and floofy wool. These two types can be seen clearly in the final piece.

Linear wool was the result of wefting the strands tied to the coat hanger; they were considerably fluffier and had added volume - but stayed resonably straight. I wanted the majority of my model flooring to be made from this. Floofy wool was the fibrous stuff left on the brush I was using to weft; it was soft and extremely fluffy - like the fur you get stuck on the brush after brushing your dog. I decided it could represent moss within my environment hence why it is on one side of the river.

Cutting the linear wool from the coat hanger left tiny tufts of excess, I used these to line the river on one side for some extra texture and they represented shrubbery/ small bushes.

(^ Excess tufts on the left side of the river and mossy floof on the right side. The river was wefted too, but the wool wasn’t as responsive as the other were and so remained mostly intact. The floofy blue wool stuck on the brush by the ned of it was used as foam/ splashing around the rock in the middle of the river. This can be seen better in later images.)

In the final model you can see the clear distinction between linear and floofy wool, which I was rather happy about. I didn’t add much to the environment as, after sticking the rocks and mushrooms down, I felt it didn’t need anything else.

The petal detailing can be seen clearly here and reminds me of armour bracing - structural support for the armour plates once they are added. This, again, gives off a warrior vibe and by this point I was happy to say that my character - due to her heavyness - was half wind based, half earth based. A forest guardian who guides lost souls to their final resting place.

Reflections: The model design changed a lot during the detailing process, mostly for my own convenience and what limits my skill level imposed on me. I chose a pretty difficult idea to begin with but in the end I do believe I kept the essence of the original idea and simply adapted it into something a little different.

Next time, I will adjust my designs based on how thick the base foam has to be in order to support anything on the model. What really threw me off was how thick the arms and legs turned out because I couldn’t risk making them any thinner.

the back of the model looks sparse in comparison to the front. I did try to combat this with the satchel straps, intertwining vines and some petal detailing but it didn’t seem to do much. This may simply be because the torso is rather square - as I had trouble rounding the rectangular blocks the craft foam started off as. This makes the back protrude a certain amount in comparison to the front of the body, if it was more rounded then it would fit more snuggly with the rest of the model’s design. Something to remember for next time.

I knew I was going to have difficulties with getting the model to stand, and had a plan for it. However, in the future I may want to consider picking more stable poses/ designs.

[saybwee]

My current fish tanks :D

Key: [F = Female]   [M = Male]   [U = Gender unknown]

[A = Adult, full size or close] [Y = Young adult, not full size] [J = Juvenile]

Latest Update - 11/19/2017

75 gallon - Gourami Mansion

Current occupants: Fire eel (UY) Opaline gourami (FA) Platinum gourami (MA) Ivory Mystery Snail A (FA) Ivory Mystery Snail B (MA) Ivory Mystery Snail C (UA) Ivory Mystery Snail D (UA)

Floating plant (Species unknown) Wood-tied plant (Species unknown)

Status:

Mystery snails - healthy and breeding. At least one male and female pair. (bred… all the time) Egg sacs are still hard, and are on moist paper towels inside a container floating in this tank. Every time an egg sac is produced, it goes in this container. The current four egg sacs may have dried out a bit too much (before we found the moist paper towel and plastic container method), will keep an eye on them. We just spotted a fifth egg sac on the side of the aquarium today, this one should do better.

Gouramis - healthy and breeding. One male and female pair. (bred on 11/8/17?) The male has dominated the front-left corner of the aquarium, which is now sectioned off with Legos in order to reduce surface agitation. (works great!) He has been busy working on his bubble nest and caring for fry. Fry are very tiny and hard to see. No idea how many have survived to this date but we do see some swimming at the surface.

Fire eel - healthy. Will be rehomed as it will grow too large for that tank. (also, basically is just a pooping shadow that we never see and may potentially eat gourami babies.)

Plants - The floating plant has been attacked by snails and looks pretty sad, but the male gourami still adores it and uses it as the center of his bubble nest. My current guess why the mystery snails have eaten it is that the plant was beginning to die. It looked healthy, but mystery snails aren’t known for eating healthy plants. Maybe that one was just extra tasty. The wood-tied plant is looking very healthy.

Feeding:

A variety of foods 1 - 2 times per day. Krill shrimp, bloodworms, mysis shrimp, flake and pelleted foods, as well as a homemade “jello” made of Repashy Grub Pie and filled with crushed dry flakes and pellets as well as some added reptile calcium (mostly for the snails, though the fish enjoy it as well).

Foods are squeezed or crushed in the areas with gourami fry to make it small enough for them to eat.

Krill shrimp is mostly for the Fire eel, who eats at least four full shrimp each day if not more.

20 gallon - Guppy Haven

Current occupants: Senegal Bichir (UY) Fancy Guppy (possibly endler or endler hybrid) (MA) Fancy Guppy (FA) Fancy Guppy (MJ) Many assassin snails (at least a few M/F pairs) (A, possibly eggs) “Infestation” of bladder snails (all stages)

Java moss Moss ball x 2

Status:

Bichir - healthy. His behavior is a bit odd for a bichir, he does a lot of fast swimming around the tank. He’s also not aggressive at all in any capacity towards other fish, only wanting to eat shrimp or nibble pellets and swim around, at most curious enough to get close and look at other fish before swimming away. The guppies were nervous of him at first, but now they all swim around together. (He was moved to this 20 gallon after the gourami fry had hatched in the 75 gallon, because he was speeding around the bubble nest and the gourami male was going nuts trying to defend his nest. He did no damage to the bichir, but I worried the gourami fry would be killed.)

Guppies - possibly infected with Camallanus worms, but currently look healthy. However, we’ve already had to euthanize a couple other guppies due to advancing symptoms. The female is pregnant. We’ve ordered some Levimisole to treat the worms; hopefully it’ll get here soon, before the guppy babies arrive.

Snails - We’ve seen a lot of assassin snail breeding happening. No sign of babies yet. They seem to at least be enjoying the current pond snail infestation, but we haven’t noticed much of a dent in those numbers yet. We aren’t super eager to get entirely rid of them, as they are pretty cute. :3

Plants - The moss balls and java moss all look very healthy. The java moss is slowly beginning to take over the tank (this is something we want XD)

Feeding:

A shrimp or two for the bichir each day, as well as flakes 1 - 2 times a day for the guppies. I also drop in a snail jello once in awhile to give the little guys some good shell nutrition, but I don’t feed too much extra in order to drive the bladder snail population down.

5 gallon - Cirrus’s Palace

Current occupants:

Betta (MA) Amano Shrimp A (UA) Amano Shrimp B (UA) Carbon Rili Shrimp A (UA) Carbon Rili Shrimp B (UA) Carbon Rili Shrimp C (UA) Zebra Nerite Snail A (UA) Zebra Nerite Snail B (UA) “Infestation” of malaysian trumpet snails (all stages)

Amazon Swords, heavily planted

Status:

Betta - healthy. Very active and happy. Has learned that my gently tapping the tank lid with a fingernail means dinnertime (he swims to the surface), and also that pointing with a finger over the water means there’s a pellet floating just under it (he swims there and finds the pellet about 95% of the time). No plans to breed.

Amano shrimp - healthy. These guys are pretty much adult size and are a little easier to see than they used to be. They tend to hang around together on the back wall. No plans to breed.

Carbon Rili shrimp - Status unknown. They haven’t been seen for a few days. Will update if I see any!

Plants - Very healthy and tall!

Feeding:

1 - 2 times a day Betta gets a few betta pellets (5 - 6). The shrimp and snails are fed algae wafers or homemade snail jello every couple days.

Future Plans:

Set up the extra 20 gallon tank with a sponge filter and no heater, with water from the 75. No substrate. Will check temps several times a day the next few days and see if we can get away without using a heater since mysteries prefer temps a bit colder than tropical fish like. This tank will be used for the baby mystery snails that should begin hatching in the next week or two. (maybe a goldfish too, just for some movement in there?)

Grow out gourami fry and potentially sell them. Grow out mystery snails and potentially sell them.

Possible idea: Put the guppies by themselves in the extra 2.5 gallon tank in a warm room, sell the bichir to a local pet store, treat the 20 gallon near the hall for camallanus worms, and get pea puffers to put in there.

[harridan-witch]

September 24th 2017 : Unboxing

I have a confession to make. I am a curated box fan.

I don’t know if you know what curated boxes are. A good search will give you an idea but if you don’t want to do that I can best describe them as care packages from companies that you pay for. They come in a variety of themes; makeup/skin care, books, interactive mystery stories, stickers, hair care, clothing, sexy things, and even witchcraft. So, in an effort to help jump start my attempts to reignite the fire of my spirituality I have decided to take a chance on a couple of curated spirituality boxes with pagan themes. Since I only make so much money I had to go with a couple of inexpensive boxes, rather than some of the more premier ones...but if I get this new client signed at work (maybe I should do a spell for that?) then I might be able to try a few more.

So, yesterday I got my very first one. It’s by a company called Tamed Wild Apothecary and they are based out of California. I used www.cratejoy.com to find them, and they have a couple of choices for subscription boxes; rituals, healing, and crystals. Most available in a mini or large size. I got the mini ritual box and I can’t say that I was disappointed.

The box came in a white USPS bag, so I didn’t have to worry about the people I live with going “what’s that?” I currently live in a situation where that’s not really a big deal, everyone here knows my spirituality, but I also didn’t feel like answering a whole lot of questions about it. So I appreciate that it came wrapped.

Everything was really well wrapped in entertaining bubble wrap, and there were three laminated cards on top. One was a moon phase card for the year of 2017. The other two were a description of the contents of the box.

Please excuse my terrible camera work here my hands have a tendency to shake a little. Maybe next time I will set up a tripod and just do a video. Who knows.

So, with enthusiasm I ignored reading the cards and just delved into the contents of the box. Because, you know, I’m a thirty-one year old child and I get way too enthusiastic about getting packages in the mail. Have I mentioned I have a small obsession with curated boxes?

I appreciate that everything was packaged well. I have mixed feelings about getting sage in my very first box, but lets look at everything else.

A little elemental quarters kit. Okay, this is kinda cute. They do the quarters different than me (everyone does quarters different, so far as I can tell) but it’s sort of like a mini altar package. Cute!

Here was all the stuff inside it. A candle for fire, herb mix for earth, star anise for air, and a shell for water. Cute. I might make a mini bedside altar with this stuff. Okay, what else?

I got four small pieces of Citrine. I can’t remember off the top of my head all of the things associated with citrine. I know it’s a ‘happy’ stone. Joy? I think? I dunno. Gonna have to look that up. I know the stones come from France and...Brazil? I dunno. I can’t remember.

Here’s something neat. I got:

an herbal difuser, (no more messy ritual baths with herbs getting into special places)

a ritual bath herb mix (lavender, rosemary, thyme, basil, fennel, hyssop, peppermint, rose, and Valerian root),

a hand painted ceramic square (probably going to make that the center of my bedside altar)

purification anointing oil (orange oil, lemongrass oil, lemon oil, and lime oil) there is also a pretty big sticker on it that says it contains almond oil. Thank you for the warning. I cannot eat almonds so I will be extra careful with the anointing oil.

I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be a purification ritual. But there is one more item in my box.

Ooooo pretty!

I have plenty of notebooks around here with bits and pieces of information in them. Maybe I’ll turn this into my new working book of secrets/shadows. My old one is good, but I feel very disconnected from it.

Okay. So, after reading the cards a little I have been informed that this is, indeed, a purification ritual that I received. As a new customer, they said, they feel that the purification ritual is best for people who are just joining with them. It’s good for after having house guests, for starting new things, and before or after any in depth spellwork (I’m heavily paraphrasing from memory here). They give a very brief description of how to go about the purification ritual, but they also say the steps in which you do these things is entirely up to the user.

So, for me. Pros:

Pretty things, and things I wouldn’t normally get for myself. When I walk into my local pagan store (digitally or in real life) I gravitate towards divination stuff; tarot/spirit cards and crystal balls. I know. I’m a cliche. I’m trying to branch out.

Worth the money. Getting all this stuff individually would have cost me a lot more than the $20 I plunked down for this.

There is a coupon code of IMWILD at checkout that can get you 15% your first delivery.

Easy to understand directions, even if they are a bit brief.

Warning label for almond oil being used. Though I wish I had the option of telling them that I’m allergic to almonds, and most nuts.

Purification sounds like just what I need in my spiritual journy right now. I need to get rid of all this icky energy hanging around and move forward. Just getting the box prompted me to go through a bunch of my old pagan stuff and clean it all out. Getting rid of old herbs, setting aside what I don’t want/need anymore and figuring out what I have leftover.

Cons:

The sage stick. I know that sage is the go-to for just about all witchcraft smoke cleansing rituals, but the stuff is being overgrown and getting pricey enough that actual Native Americans have expressed issues purchasing it for themselves and that makes me uncomfortable. Dried Basil leaves can be used in most of the same pagan rituals as well as a few others (that I can’t remember) and I’m also bothered by the fact that it’s referred to as smoke cleansing in one part of the ritual and smudging in another. So, you know, there’s that.

Since I got the mini ritual box, rather than the big one I’m worried that this welcome box sets the bar too high for what I will get next month. We shall see.

Blessings, The Harridan Witch

[katedangworld-blog]

NUTRITIOUS MEALS FOR A HEALTHY WORLD

Vegetal meals nowadays are familiar to us as many people know good health impact from them and eaters who pursuit such meal are called as vegetarians or vegans. Besides that, people who orientate plant-based meals are called plant-based dieters. So, what is a plant-based diet? A plant-based diet mainly concludes ingredients obtained from plant produces such as fruit, vegetables, grains, pulses, legumes, nuts and vegetal protein source like soy beans (Kerry Torrens, 2018)

Though there is a slight difference between vegans and plant-based eaters but basically these eating styles exploit nutrition and energy from plants’ produces.

Potential benefits of plant-based diets have been recognized widely by nutritionists. Its outstanding benefits can be mentioned as below:

1.      Health risks reduction: almost eaters may not control well the volume of protein that they absorb from meat, especially red and processed meat to which encourage possibility of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. If a housewife supplements more plant-based meals into her family portions, she can reduces mentioned above risks to her beloved husband and children

 2.      Decrease obesity: vegetables, fruit and grains have remarkable volume of fiber which is essential to our digestion. Particularly, in a meal if we combine with grains, fruit or vegetable, we often feel full longer if we only eat meat.  The soluble fiber enhances satiety, prevent your desire of eating more, avoid over demand foods intake to the body and contribute to less ability of obesity.

3.      Support digestion and excretion: this obviously can be seen when every morning we wake up and relax in washroom. Everything was digested easily released out of the body thanks to both soluble and insoluble fibers that we ate from grain, bean and vegetables yesterday. Insoluble fiber takes responsibilities of preventing constipation. It extends fecal weight and lengthen movement time via the intestines. Then, large and soft feces are got rid of the digestive system conveniently. This benefits to prevent hemorrhoid, too. 

(Drummond & Brefere & Grosvenor & Bedoya, 2017).

 How about “benefits” that a high animal-based diet that can bring to you? In contrast, an animal-based diet brings many detrimental effects to your body. That why doctor and expert always advise people keep their consumption of red meat in minimum amount. This is illustrated by typical plates of foods that an individual consumes by Canada Food guide:

  The influences of meat portions are causes of a lot of serious diseases like heart stroke cancer, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer as well as acne, erectile dysfunction and lastly shorten your life meanwhile plant-based produces can prevent almost of these.

 Let’s ask your friend to grab a bowl of beetroot- apple salad and a whole-grain bread while you take a hamburger for lunch and try to compare its ingredients firstly. The bowl of salad (beetroot, pumpkin seeds, Belgium endive, baby kale, red onion, apple) concludes calcium 15%, vitamin A 35%, vitamin C 100%, iron 50%, carbohydrate 21%, and especially high fiber amount 56%. These nutritious elements are helpful for internal systems of body and digestion. Meanwhile just only saturated fat 6g, sodium 500mg, cholesterol 5mg. Lastly it provides 640kcalories. 

How about a classic Mc Donald hamburger? This contains saturated fat 15g, sodium 536mg, carbohydrates 31g, total sugar 7g, vitamin A 41%, vitamin C 15%, iron 26%, fiber 2%. It is so obvious to compare the nutrition value of the two basic meal portions and easily to recognize that a plant-based meal is good for human’s health.

Besides the merits of health, in point of view of society, plant-based diets bring huge benefits as below:

 1.      Sustainability of environment: the more plants are cultivated, the more of fresh airs will be produced. Just thinking about all of farmers plant vegetation to generate produces for people instead of breeding poultry and livestock from which generate a huge volume carbondioxide into the air due to consume huge resources of land (chop forest for land), energy (coal, electric), water, plant food like soybeans as well as caused pollution to soil because animal’s feces.

2.      Economics: a vegetable meal is cheaper than an animal portion because the vegetables requires personnel, time, energy sources, storage fee less than animals’ produces. Hence it is more affordable than meat.

3.      Ethics: in humane viewpoints, animals deserve to survive freely in harmony with human instead of being killed widely as the purpose of commercial benefits. Many people suppose animal (especially mammal) has the similar feelings of pain, scare, happiness like human therefore we should treat them nicely and fairly.

4.      Healthy & long lifespan: many scientific researches states advantageous edges of eating a lot vegetable to our health as they provide almost of essential nutrients that our bodies require for their internal operation as well as heal cells and generate new ones. If these procedures are provided enough “materials”, our bodies’ ageing can be slow down. That why Asians (especially Japan) usually look younger and be healthier than other regions on the world.

 As a potential chef, I definitely encourage people consume plant foods as more as possible because of mention above reasons. Furthermore, I will create many vegetables-orientated menus if I operate a restaurant. Although these menus can less economical revenues but I still encourage my clientele supplement these healthy dishes in their orders along with animal-based portions. Of course, there are some customers hesitate to grind salads as their habits, I will design other menus in which combine a little amount of animal meats like smoked salmon, bacon, thin slices of grilled beef mixing in tasty dressing. I trust they would not resist these mouth-watering salad menus.

 Currently I study Culinary Essentials and find out there are some vegan recipes have very good tastes. Among of them, Grain Cranberry Walnut Salad is the dish I like best as its gentle flavor and excessive energy than others.

 The basic recipes for 4 portions (ideal for a family of parents and 2 children) are designed as below.

 100 g Camargue red rice

100 g Wild rice

100 g Quinoa

40 g Shallot, brunoise

80 g Dried cranberry

120 g Walnut, toasted

50 ml Lemon juice

100 ml Olive oil

8 g Parsley, Chopped

40 g Arugula

Salt and black pepper

 *Cooking steps:

1.      Wash all grains separately with cold water and drain, except quinoa.

2.      Pour quinoa into a saucepan which contains cold water and a pinch of salt (2 water: 1 quinoa) and reduce to a simmer. Remain medium fire approximately 15-20 minutes until cooked. Once water is fully absorbed, spread on a flat tray to cool.

3.      Put red rice and wild rice into 2 separate pots with cold and salt water, bring to a boil. Then simmer rice until tender, with a slight bite (around 45 minutes). Drain and spread the grains separately on flat trays with parchment paper underneath to cool.

4.      Brunoise the shallot and toast walnuts in the oven until golden.

5.      Mix the grains, shallot, cranberry, chopped parsley, lemon juice and olive oil. Season to taste (salt and sugar), lastly finish with arugula.

The recipe does not require the cook energy and effort but lastly a delicious meal is ready for eater’s consumption with full necessary energy source. Moreover, while waiting for rice’s tenderness (around 1 hour in medium fire), the cook can do another chore (but please do not forget his/her cooking pots) so this dish is ideal for many “busy like a bee” housewives.

The ingredients are easily find in market or supermarket as their common in Canada, for instance we can find them from Saint Laurence market or food stores nearby.

This vegan formula is quite new and strange to me as in Vietnam we never make salad with rice and nut, especially do not combine fruit (cranberry) into salad, except green mango as its sour taste to support rice vinegar. In addition, oil is not a component of Vietnamese dressing. Our core dressing for almost salads is the combination of rice vinegar (no lemon), a lot of sugar, some salt and some sweet fish sauce. And now, thanks to Essentials class, I know more how Westerners create their salads so special that their salads have a variety of tastes.

Though it is not too difficult to prepare the salad but honestly I was confused how to boil rice properly. In Vietnam, we cook white rice open totally but here rice and grain should be cooked semi-opened. That why I continuously asked chef about its suitable tenderness because I was afraid they would be overcooked. Finally, a proper cook of rice for salads has been kept in my mind, it was an awesome experience that I have got when study at George Brown. Indeed, this vegan recipe is so fantastic as it can provide what nutrients I need so surely I will make it again in the weekend.

 References of data and images:

Drummond, K.E., & Brefere, L.M., & Grosvenor, M.B., & Bedoya, D.L. (2017). Nutrition for Foodservice and Culinary Professionals. Canada: Wiley.

George Brown College. (2018). Culinary Essential HOSF 1203. Toronto: Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts Chef School.

 Eating Well.(2011).How does your burger compare to the calories in a Mc Donald’s Big Mac?. Retrieved Mar 25, 2019, from http://www.eatingwell.com/article/17390/how-does-your-burger-compare-to-the-calories-in-a-mcdonalds-big-mac/

Sarah Lienard. (2018). What is a plant-based diet? Retrieved Mar 24, 2019, from https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/what-plant-based-diet

 CIC.(2019).Eat protein foods. Retrieved Mar 24, 2019, from https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendations/make-it-a-habit-to-eat-vegetables-fruit-whole-grains-and-protein-foods/eat-protein-foods/

Baltana HD Wallpappers. Hamburger Widescreen Wallpapper. Retrieved Mar 24, 2019, from http://www.baltana.com/food/hamburger-widescreen-wallpapers-16713.html

Huffpost.(2017).EWG and Healthy Child Healthy World – Making the World Toxin Free. Retrieved Mar 26, 2019, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/gay-browne/ewg-and-healthy-child-hea_b_13379766.html

FIT Healthy World. (2018). 10 Simple Ways To Stay Fit and Healthy, To Keep You Fit Forever. Retrieved Mar 26, 2019, from http://www.fithealthyworld.com/10-simple-ways-to-stay-fit-and-healthy-to-keep-you-fit-forever/

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: Tokyo Treat August 18

Before I begin, I wanted to mention that this month we had a code for so much off of a 3, 6, or 12 month subscription. There was also an item we were supposed to get but due to a last-second issue, it was swapped out for something else. I don’t remember the exact reason but it’s not important anymore.

Also, I forgot to take a picture of the Lucky Treat and Contest prizes. Lucky Treat included a lot of gudetama and Pokemon items, and some cute yellow things like pudding flavored cookies and candy. The Contest was to design your own kit-kat flavor and package, and the winner would receive 2 Cinnamoroll items, while 5 runner-ups got a Pompompurrin item.

The Japan articles in the booklet focuses on Japanese fruits and how popular they are in Japan- asking someone of their favorite fruit is a popular conversation starter, isn’t that cute~?

I’ll play along. My most favorite fruit is a strawberry (ironically I just got some big, yummy looking ones today~), but I also like grapes, apples, pears, pineapple, mango, raspberries, plums... pretty much anything except for bananas, and tomato if you count that as a fruit. 

There’s also a question asking “which fruit would you assign/associate to each month?“ so I came up with:

Summer - Watermelon, Pineapple.

Fall - Apples

Winter - Melon (It’s light color and taste reminds me of winter)

Spring - Pears, cherry, strawberry, anything refreshing and light.

I had fun answering those, I kind of wish they included them more often. But for now, let’s get on with the actual review!

Coca-Cola Clear & Melon Jelly Drink DIY

As usual, the DIY will be covered in a separate post. Our main feature for this pic is the big, clear empty-looking coke next to it. As of this box, Coca-Cola Clear is Japan’s newest Coke variation, which features a zero calorie spin with lemon flavoring to create a light, refreshing taste~

I know I’m a broken record, but for anybody new around here; I ♥ Coca-Cola! So I always get excited when it shows up in the boxes, or even getting cola-flavored candy. I love it love it love it~

Rating: ♥ ♥ 

Unfortunately, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind...

When I smell it, I get a coke x sprite sort of mix. But when I taste it, I don’t really get the lemon at all. Or maybe I do- but to me it actually tastes like apple pie. More specifically, the taste of the syrup you get from combining apple and cinnamon when preparing to bake them.

It’s not a bad taste in any means, but I had higher expectations. I’m not a big fan of sprite or anything, but I kinda thought it might have been like lemon pepsi; a drink I was obsessed with years ago when it came out (its since been discontinued sadly). You don’t even really taste coke honestly.

Melon Bread Cookies Party Park

A fun, large pack of melon pan inspired cookies. There is an equal amount of crunchy orange-flavored cookies, and soft, sweet melon cookies with cream inside. This product is by Kabaya, The orange cookies are 41.1 calories, and melon is 43.1 calories.

Rating: ♥ ♥ 

They’re alright. The orange one actually doesn’t have any sort of orange flavoring to me at all, it’s not even sweet. The crunch is light, and honestly I think it’d be better with a sweet drink, or maybe some cream. The melon one is soft and chewy, and it’s much sweeter than the other one; it actually tastes like melon. The cream inside keeps it from being too dry in taste.

Chip Star Lemon Chips &

Next up are two Lemon themed items, the first are chips by popular snack brand Chip Star. The entire container is 263 calories, which kind of bothers me a little considering how small the count is; but it’s okay if you don’t eat them all at once, or share some of them.

This product uses real Setuchi lemons to create a tangy, savory flavor.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

They’re so yummy~♥ It’s basically a lemon salt flavored chip, but the lemon flavor is very light and the tanginess is gentle. On scent, you get a really strong sour vinegar smell, but they don’t taste like that.

Our next item is this box of Choco-Lemon dipped mini-pocky! This was the item we got instead of the Kinoko no Yama Chocolate Banana; which because I dislike artificial banana flavors is fine by me.

Each package or the entire box is 103 calories. I can’t tell which it is from what’s written on the back... but I’m kinda hoping it’s the entire box.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

These are very delicious, but usually this type of pocky is~ It reminds me of a non-sour version of lemon meringue ♥ I can’t see eating them too often though. The sweetness starts to get a little one-note.

Chocolate Mint Caramel Corn & Shimi Corn Share Pack

Following the crunchy trend, here we have two more sweet snacks! First up I’ll cover the Shimi Corn because we get it a lot in these boxes and I’ve reviewed it a handful of times. If I remembered where, I’d just link that but because I don’t....

Shimi Choco Corn is an adorable, star-shaped airy puff snack entirely infused in a rich, chocolate flavor. Each pack is 73 calories, and you get like 6-8 per mini-pack.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

They taste really good, and there is a very faint bitterness to them, but not enough to trigger those anti-bitter gag reflexes. As I said, they are very soft-crispy, in a sort of creamy melt-in-your mouth way. As often as they show up, I don’t get tired of them ;3

Our next item is another famous brand that’s been showing up in boxes, Caramel Corn. Caramel Corn is another light puffed snack usually featuring a sweet, rich caramel glaze. But it comes in many varieties- some even include nuts in them! This specific flavor is chocolate-mint, a recent addition to this brand. Apparently during summer, Japan loves to produce mint-flavors because of the cooling burst they can give.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I ♥ chocolate mint so I always have very high hopes they’ll be good, and after last time- I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was very happy realizing these taste like what I expected the July choco-mint item to taste like. They have a strong chocolate, minor mint scent and taste, but you get a good combination of both.  I like that it also resembles choco-mint ♥

My only tiny complaint is that the entire bag is 422.6 calories. But chances are, you’ll either share this or eat it in several sittings, not just one.

Banana Man Marshmallow & Black Thunder Fruit Granola & Tsum Tsum Chocolate Bar

Our first item is a small little treat popular in japan for bringing together the chocolate banana flavor in a small marshmallow. I couldn’t find a calorie listing for this one. 

Rating: ♥ 

I love marshmallows, but I don’t like banana (especially artificial) and this just didn’t appeal to me. I didn’t even taste the chocolate, they barely give you any. The concept is cute though.

The next item is the popular Black Thunder, a product by Calbee. It’s been in the box a few times, but never in granola form! I was very intrigued by this because I didn’t know this was a thing. It’s 99 calories and features granola with dried berries and covered in chocolate.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It’s alright. It was pretty hard, and I mainly tasted chocolate and raisins. It’s not bad, but is anybody else bothered by the fact it’s smaller than normal granola bars and it’s still 99 calories? You can get bigger for about the same amount, give or take, and I didn’t find it as filling.

The final item in this set is another item we’ve been seeing recently, a chocolate wafer bar by Furuta. It’s usually-always the same thing, but it’s been not only covered by Tsum Tsum, but Sanrio characters too! Last time, the one I had was covered in white chocolate and had Gudetama on it.

Each bar is 115 calories.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The flavor is unique for chocolate snacks. The texture reminds me of a kit-kat, but it isn’t sweet. It’s not bad, but it’s not my favorite either.

Cinnamon Apple Pie Umaibo & Cheese Rice Puffs

Here are our last two crunchy items, each pretty contrasting in taste. First I’ll cover the Cheese Rice Puffs (or “arare” as it says on the bag).

I love rice, especially rice snacks like this- but with all the other cheese flavors I’ve tried, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this or not. Especially since it’s recommended date to eat it was back in October... They weren’t open prior to when I took these pictures, but they definitely tasted a bit stale >3<

Rating: ♥ ♥ 

Even though they are a little old, they don’t taste too bad. There isn’t much flavor to them but I still get something, and the crispy bite is still present. They remind me a lot of Bugles (those pointy corn chips people like to put on their finger tips because they look like witch nails).

Our other item is the ever-so-popular and one of my most favorite brands Umaibo. This time, we get a sweet Umaibo, which isn’t very common. It only has 44 calories in total.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It’s not my favorite Umaibo, but it’s really good. It tastes a lot like cinnamon toast crunch or applejacks, or like that coca-cola drink, an apple covered in cinnamon sugar.

Fruit Donut Gummy & Honey Apple Hard Candy

These are our last 2 items of the box this month. We’ve gotten the fruit donut gummy a few times in prior boxes, and they come in a variety of mixed flavors- which always makes it a lot of fun to see what you get next~

This time, I got a lemon and lime mixed one. The bottom is always a creamy marshmallow flavor, and the entire thing is covered in sugar. The calories are 39 or this one ring.

Ratings: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

These are always really good, and this one was no exception x3 it’s delicious. It’s a simple thing, but it’s so sweet and cute. The inside of the bag still smells yummy~

Our final item is the Apple Honey Hard Candy, the healthy Kinosei snack of the month. Not only is it delicious, but it can help a sore throat you may get in the summers heat (which is possible, if I get really warm my throat ends up hurting... and no it’s not my tonsils. I don’t have those anymore).

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It was instant love for me~ ♥ Usually I’m not a huge fan of hard candy unless it’s a flavor I really like- and these are amazing! They don’t really taste like honey to me, more like... cooling apple. It reminds me a lot of a cough drop I really liked when I was younger, but once again, I don’t think they make them anymore. They were clear and had tiny colored beads in them, and they tasted like apple pie~

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 3 out of 5. I felt like it was all essentially good, but there was one or two items I didn’t really care for. I felt like there wasn’t too much of a variety either, we had a lot of items featuring crunch/crispiness and chocolate, but at the same time, we had variety in terms of the theme itself.

Theme - 5 out of 5. I can’t lie and say it wasn’t there, cause it entirely was!

Total Rank: 7 out of 10 Cuties! It was pretty decent, and I liked how we had a broad theme such as fruits. It was fun to see where it could go, even if I did miss having savory snacks~ I hope we get more boxes with a specific food theme again soon!

♥ Cutie’s Scale of Yummy ♥

1. Honey Apple Hard Candy - the nostalgia of this brought so much back to me~ They’re also kind of cute to look at, they remind me of rectangular diamonds~

2. Caramel Corn Chocolate Mint - I LOVE chocolate-mint, this was everything I wanted~!

3. Fruit Donut Gummy - I love that combination of lemon-lime, it’s so light and refreshing~ I wish we got more gummies this month.

4. Chip Star Lemon Chips - I was very surprised by these, but I really liked them! I’m glad they weren’t fruity like I initially worried they’d be.

5. Cinnamon Apple Pie Umaibo - if you like that apple pie or cinnamon sweetness, you’ll love this.

6. Shimi Choco Corn - As common as it is, the packaging is always fun to look at and these always taste yummy!

7. Lemon Pocky - They are very sweet and creamy~

8. Coca-Cola Clear - I had higher hopes for it. It’s not bad, but for once a cola item did not meet my expectations >x<

9. Tsum Tsum Chocolate Bar - the summer themed package was adorable, but I could take or leave the bar itself.

10. Cheese Rice Puffs - I didn’t have too much of an opinion on these honestly.

11. Melon Pan Cookies - I was a bit disappointed with this one, the orange one had little flavor. The Melon-flavor was way better, but not enough to save it in my opinion.

12. Granola Black Thunder -  Meh, it’s okay. The concept amazed me, and the package is fun to look at, but it wasn’t anything special to me.

13. Banana Man Marshmallow - It’s a cute idea, but the taste was not good to me.

Here we are guys, we’ve come to another reviews end~ I hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for the DIY review, followed by the August Doki Doki crate review!

Until next time, stay cute~

[lovemychinchilla]

Should You Get a Chinchilla Or a Gerbil? Both chinchillas and gerbils make great pets. But which is better? Are they equally easy to care for, and is one more fun to keep? Or are chinchillas better for some people, but not for others?

Should I get a chinchilla or a gerbil? Gerbils are better pets for children, but chinchillas are more rewarding in the long run. Chins need bigger cages but are otherwise similarly easy to care for. The main difference is that chinchillas live a lot longer (10-15 years compared to 5-7 years), so chinchillas are for more responsible people while gerbils are better starter pets.

The guide below is like a rough guide to both chinchillas and gerbils. It describes how to care for chinchillas and gerbils, what to watch out for, and how you can have fun with them. We'll also look at who chinchillas are good for and who gerbils are good for. By the time you're done reading, you should know which is best for you!

Should You Get a Chinchilla Or a Gerbil?

Ultimately, the only person who knows which you should get is you. But if you are going to get a chinchilla, you should only adopt one if you know exactly what to expect. That's because they require much more responsible care.

What's The Difference Between a Gerbil and a Chinchilla?

Chinchillas and gerbils are two kinds of rodent that you can keep as a pet. Chinchillas are larger and have thicker fur than gerbils, with larger ears and longer, fluffier tails. They come from South America high up in the mountains, while gerbils come from Asia, from hot and dry habitats. These anatomical differences don't just mean you pick the one you think looks cuter. They have knock-on effects for the care you have to give to your pet. These may mean the difference to you between picking a chinchilla or a gerbil. They include:

Cage size. Chinchillas need bigger cages than gerbils because they are a) larger, and b) require space to jump around.

Lifespan. Chinchillas can live a decade or longer if cared for properly. Even with attentive care, gerbils rarely get past five years old.

Responsibility. Chinchillas are slightly more difficult to care for owing to their lifespans and specific needs, so require more responsibility. They're therefore the better companion, and gerbils the better starter pet.

The guide below looks at each point in more depth so that you can come to an informed decision.

1) Chinchilla Cage vs. Gerbil Cage

Chinchillas need bigger cages than gerbils do. So, if you're short on space, a gerbil would be the better choice. To adopt a chinchilla, you'll need a cage that's at least three feet tall and ideally three feet wide, too. To understand why chinchillas need such big cages, you have to understand where they come from. Chinchillas are from the Andes Mountains in South America. These mountains are tall, cold and dry, which is why chinchillas have such thick fur coats. But they're also rocky, so chinchillas spend most of their days jumping from rock to rock searching for food or looking for shelter. As such, they're naturally good at jumping, hence their long back legs. If they're kept somewhere that they can't jump, it makes them stressed and unhappy. Gerbils, by contrast, need smaller cages. The average gerbil cage is two feet wide and one foot deep, and doesn't need to be anywhere near as tall. While gerbils enjoy having lots of space to live in and explore, they certainly don't need as much as chinchillas. This is also partly due to gerbils being smaller than chinchillas. Are Chinchillas Or Gerbils Better Here? This depends on what you want from your pet. Only adopt a chinchilla if you have lots of room.

2) Chinchilla Food vs. Gerbil Food

Both chinchillas and gerbils are cheap to feed. Chinchillas can thrive on a diet of fresh hay and hay pellets. Timothy hay, in particular, seems to meet their nutritional needs well. The only mineral they frequently lack is calcium, which can be fixed either by feeding small amounts of alfalfa hay along with the timothy hay, or by giving the chinchilla a cuttle bone to gnaw on. Timothy hay and hey pellets are both very easy to find, either online, from pet stores, or from feed stores. Gerbils will live on hay, too, although owners commonly mix the hay with seeds and nuts, or dried vegetables, to provide some additional variety. As for whether this is necessary, owners disagree, but gerbil food is similarly cheap and easy to find. Are Chinchillas Or Gerbils Better Here? It's arguably easier and cheaper to get a chinchilla's plain timothy hay than it is to get the hay with things added that gerbils need.

3) Chinchilla vs. Gerbil Lifespan

This is perhaps the central reason why gerbils make much better starter pets than chinchillas. While they have a reputation for dying easily, chinchillas can live to a ripe old age. Longer than a decade is normal if the chinchilla in question is cared for properly. Twenty years isn't unheard of either, although it's not likely. The oldest ever chinchilla reached an incredible 29 years and 229 days old. Gerbils, on the other hand, don't live anywhere near as long. While they can live longer than most people realize, five to seven years is the oldest you're likely to see. Most gerbils pass away before then as gerbils are kept as starter pets, and children aren't as good at looking after pets as adults. Are Chinchillas Or Gerbils Better Here? If you're looking for a starter pet, pick a gerbil. You should only adopt a chinchilla if you're fully prepared to care for it for a decade or longer. But if you want a companion pet, chinchillas definitely win as they live much longer.

4) How Friendly Are Chinchillas And Gerbils?

Chinchillas are friendly, curious and happy when cared for well. Your pet will grow to trust you if you're kind to it, and if you are, it will want to spend time with you. It takes a while before chinchillas are happy to be handled, but you can handle them if you're careful. Gerbils are friendly too, and it takes a similar amount of time and effort to gain their trust. Are Chinchillas Or Gerbils Better Here? This is one respect in which chinchillas and gerbils are basically the same.

5) Do Chinchillas Or Gerbils Die Easily?

Both chinchillas and gerbils have a reputation for dying easily, but for chinchillas at least, that reputation is partly unfounded. The problem is that many owners don't know how to provide all the kinds of care that chinchillas and gerbils need. Many respected guides for chinchillas recommend foods, for example, that are unsuitable for them like vegetables. Improper care can cause all sorts of hidden problems like kidney disease, weight gain, bladder stones and even diabetes. One way in which this is true, though, is that gerbils are fragile. They have delicate rib cages that can break if you cuddle them too hard. If you know this, it's easy enough to avoid doing it, but this is another reason why chinchillas don't make a good starter pet for children. Gerbils are quite fragile, too, so should be handled with care. They're smaller than chinchillas, but have delicate bones. If you're worried that your child will be too excited by having a pet, and would want to cuddle and squeeze it or play with it roughly, then neither a chinchilla nor a gerbil is a good choice. Something like a puppy would be better.

Who Are Chinchillas Good For?

Chinchillas work best if you think of them as long-term companion animals. While they are one of the cutest pets it's possible to have, you should look past their cuteness and only get one if you want a pet that will be by your side for years. A point to consider here is that chinchillas need daily care. They need to be fed hay pellets each day alongside their fresh hay, and to have their cages spot cleaned. This means you can't leave them alone for extended periods of time. And that means no holidays unless you can have someone look after your pet. That's less of a problem for gerbils because you can easily lug their cage to somebody else's house, and even if your pet lives to a ripe old age, it will only be around for a few years. As chinchillas can literally live for decades, this is more of a problem.

Who Are Gerbils Good For?

While we think chinchillas are better than gerbils (obviously; otherwise we wouldn't run a site about them!) gerbils are definitely the better starter pet. Their care needs have been explored in more depth than those of chinchillas because they're the more popular pet, meaning there are lots of guides available either online or in book form for you to use. This also means that gerbils make the better pet for children. As sad as it is to say, if you get a gerbil and your child loses interest in it, it won't be around for that long anyway. But a chinchilla would have a long life ahead of it in a shelter if you had to give it up.

Below, you can find our chinchilla quiz, new posts for further reading, and a signup for our Chinchilla Newsletter!

[ays_quiz id='9']

#chinchillas #chinchillafaqs

[newscheckz]

THE MOST IMPORTANT VITAMIN IN YOUR BODY

New Post has been published on https://newscheckz.com/the-most-important-vitamin-in-your-body/

THE MOST IMPORTANT VITAMIN IN YOUR BODY

Vitamins and minerals are considered essential nutrients because acting in concert, they perform hundreds of roles in the body.

They help shore up bones, heal wounds, and bolster your immune system. They also convert food into energy, and repair cellular damage.

What is the most important vitamin for your body?

Magnesium – This mineral plays an important role in muscle contractions. …

Calcium – This mineral is very essential for bone and teeth health. …

Vitamin C – This water-soluble vitamin plays important roles in immune system function. …

Vitamin B-12 – This is one of the most important essential vitamins.

VITAMIN A. GOOD FOR: Healthy eyes and general growth and development, including healthy teeth and skin. …

B VITAMINS. GOOD FOR: Energy production, immune function and iron absorption. …

VITAMIN C. …

VITAMIN D. …

VITAMIN E. …

VITAMIN K. …

FOLIC ACID. …

CALCIUM.

Is it important to take vitamins?

Most people do not need to take vitamin supplements and can get all the vitamins and minerals they need by eating a healthy, balanced diet. 

Vitamins and minerals, such as iron, calcium and vitamin C, are essential nutrients that your body needs in small amounts to work properly.

What vitamins do we need daily?

According to Nutritionists, These Are some of Ingredients Your Multivitamin Should Have

Vitamin D. Vitamin D helps our bodies absorb calcium, which is important for bone health. …

Magnesium. Magnesium is an essential nutrient, which means that we must get it from food or supplements. …

Calcium. …

Zinc. …

Iron. …

Folate. …

Vitamin B-12.

What vitamins can be made by the human body?

Vitamins-what vitamins the body produces. The human body can produce vitamin D and vitamin K. Vitamin K is a vitamin that acts in the liver, affecting the manufacture of the substances that makes the blood.

Does multivitamin increase weight?

By taking multivitamins, there’s an increased chance that your body will have all the nutrients it needs to function properly.

This may impact upon your weight because of its effect on the metabolism, which is assisted by a wide variety of nutrients.

What happens when you start taking vitamins?

You might experience transient digestive upset when you first start out. It’s very common to experience this side effect when you start a supplement regime and typically it happens when you take your vitamins on an empty stomach.

Does multivitamin have side effects?

When taken as directed, multivitamins are not expected to cause serious side effects. Common side effects may include: upset stomach; headache among others.

Can I take vitamins at night?

Medics suggests taking your dietary supplements at night isn’t advisable. “Digestion slows down during sleep, so taking your nutrient supplement late at night would not be associated with an efficient absorption.”

How can a skinny person gain weight?

Don’t drink water before meals. This can fill your stomach and make it harder to get in enough calories.

Eat more often. …

Drink milk. …

Try weight gainer shakes. …

Use bigger plates. …

Add cream to your coffee. …

Take creatine. …

Get quality sleep.

What happens if you take vitamins everyday?

A recent study of 14,000 men aged 50 and older found that daily multivitamin supplementation “significantly reduced the risk of total cancer.”

Boosts immunity: Vitamin C is a strong antioxidant known for strengthening the immune system. Vitamins D and E boost immunity, too.

What does multivitamin do to your body?

The vitamins and minerals in your daily multivitamin can also significantly reduce levels of stress and anxiety.

The body uses B vitamins to convert food into energy, keep the nervous system functioning properly, and to produce stress hormones.

Taking multivitamins daily can replenish your body’s supply.

What vitamins actually work?

A team of researchers in Canada found that common supplements such as multivitamins, vitamin D, calcium and vitamin C provide no protection against heart disease, heart attack, stroke or premature death.

Folic acid and B-vitamins were associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke.

Does multivitamin make you sleepy?

After controlling for age, sex and other variables, the scientists found a slightly higher rate of poor or interrupted sleep in people taking multivitamins.

Do multivitamins actually work?

If you take a multivitamin, it’s probably because you want to do everything you can to protect your health.

But there is still limited evidence that a daily cocktail of essential vitamins and minerals actually delivers what you expect.

Most studies find no benefit from multivitamins in protecting the brain or heart.

Which fruits increase weight?

Fruits that help in gaining weight naturally

Mango. One of the most delicious fruits, mango is a rich source of several nutrients such as copper, vitamin B, and vitamin A and E. …

Bananas. If you want perfect muscles, then bananas happen to be the best choice. …

Coconut. …

Dried fruits. …

Avocados This exotic fruit is great for someone who wants to gain weight.

What foods help you gain weight?

Homemade protein smoothies. Drinking homemade protein smoothies can be a highly nutritious and quick way to gain weight. …

Milk. Milk has been used as a weight gainer or muscle builder for decades (1). …

Rice. …

Nuts and nut butters. …

Red meats. …

Potatoes and starches. …

Salmon and oily fish. …

Protein supplements.

How long do vitamins stay in your body?

Vitamins Hang Out in Water and Fat

They wait around in your body fat until your body needs them. Fat-soluble vitamins are happy to stay stored in your body for awhile, some stay for a few days, some for up to 6 months!

Is multivitamin good for skin?

Vitamin D is one of the best vitamins for your skin, along with vitamins C, E, and K. Making sure you get enough vitamins can keep your skin looking healthy and youthful. This could translate to a reduction in: dark spots.

Are vitamins a waste of money?

Most vitamins may be a waste of money, but study finds two exceptions. The majority of vitamins and other nutritional supplements don’t increase lifespan or protect one’s heart health, a huge analysis out of Johns Hopkins University has found.

What is the No 1 food supplement in the world?

USANA

2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — USANA, a leader in the health and wellness industry, was named the number one vitamin and dietary supplement brand in Philippines*.

This claim was granted by Euromonitor, the world’s leading provider for global business intelligence, market analysis and consumer insights.

Can I take all my vitamins at once?

Combining supplements will not normally interfere with the way they work and in some cases may be beneficial, for example vitamin C helps iron absorption.

However, certain supplements may interact with each other.

Is Centrum a good vitamin?

Centrum One A Day Men’s Health Formula

One tablet of this multivitamin includes all essential nutrients for men, except iron.

However, it provides less than 100% of the RDI for several important nutrients, including thiamine, niacin, biotin, calcium, magnesium and vitamins A, E and K.

Which fruit is good for skin glow?

The best sources are blackcurrants, blueberries, broccoli, guava, kiwi fruits, oranges, papaya, strawberries and sweet potatoes.

Vitamin C is needed to produce collagen that strengthens the capillaries that supply the skin. Read more about vital vitamins and the health benefits of oranges.

Which fruit is high in sugar?

Watermelon

A medium wedge of this summer treat has 17 grams of sugar. As its name suggests, it’s loaded with water, and it has special minerals called electrolytes that are just what your body needs to recharge after some time in the sun. Just keep it to a slice or two.

Does banana make you fat?

Let’s just make it clear here itself that bananas in themselves are not fattening. In fact, banana can help in losing weight as they have high fibre content and also have a good number of calories.

Even during weight loss, your body needs a certain number of calories which should not come from unhealthy foods.

Does milk make you gain weight?

The creation of low fat and no fat dairy products has further added to the belief that dairy foods are fattening.

But research shows that having enough milk, yoghurt and cheese every day, as part of a healthy diet, is not linked to weight gain.

How can a woman gain weight in one week?

Consumption of energy-rich foods: Make sure to eat, energy-dense foods like nuts including almonds, walnuts, peanuts, dried fruits including raisins or prunes, dark chocolate, high-fat dairy foods like condensed milk, full-fat cream, cheese, milk, veggies like potatoes and yams, etc.

What is the most toxic of all vitamins?

Owing to their ability to accumulate in the body, fat-soluble vitamins have a higher potential for toxicity than do water-soluble vitamins.

Iron-containing vitamins are the most toxic, especially in pediatric acute ingestions

Which vitamin makes skin white?

Vitamin C helps to lighten and brighten skin naturally to fight dark spots, while promoting collagen production and defending against free radical damage.