Another version of do what is right let the consequence follow

"Let us have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God’s approval. Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully, but as the determination to live decently. A moral coward is one who is afraid to do what he thinks is right because others will disapprove or laugh. Remember that all men have their fears, but those who face their fears with dignity have courage as well." Thomas S Monson

About Testimony: What is a Spiritual Conversion

From a talk by Brother Larson at the Korean branch

A testimony is an event of feeling, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  It is powerful but not life changing. to gain a testimony one needs to be an earnest seeker of truth, asking, seeking, and knocking with a sincere heart, really intent, and faith in the Savior.  It is not in all, but merely a launching point.  I have met many strong members, return missionaries who fall under the pressures of life and fall away.  Ward missionaries, full-time jobs working with the practice.  How and why does this happen?

Testimony alone is not a change of heart.  Consider Peter in Matthew 16:15-17
He said unto them, "but who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter answered and said, "you are the Christ, the son of the living God."
Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed are you, Simon bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven."

Luke 22:32, just hours before the garden.
"But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted, strengthen my brother."  Notice that he did not say "now that thou art converted"; he said "when thou art converted".

So what is conversion?  Elder Bednar says:
The essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ entails a fundamental and permanent change in our very nature a possible through the Savior's atonement.  True conversion brings a change in one's beliefs, heart, and life to accept and conform to the will of God and includes a conscious commitment to become a disciple of Christ.

Conversion as an enlarging, a deepening, and a broadening of the undergirding base of testimony. It is the result of revelation from God, accompanied by individual repentance, obedience, and diligence.  Any honest seeker of truth can become converted by experiencing the mighty change of heart and be spiritually born of God.

Conversion is an ongoing process.  It is a long, quiet and seamless process without any clear and.  This makes it difficult to measure, until we are put under what the Scriptures describe as "life's furnace".

Elder Oaks stated that conversion is accomplished through suffering and afflictions rather than through comfort and tranquility.

It is in these times of testing that are conversion takes place. when you are suffering don't ask, "why me?"  But ask "what can I learn from this?"

Much of the suffering that we go through is a big part of conversion.  Line upon line-brick upon brick.  Until we are strong enough to weather life's challenges.

In Alma 23:6-8, starting with the end of verse 6:
"...  As many of the Lamanites has believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord never did fall away.
For they became a righteous people; they did lay down their weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God anymore, neither against any of their brother and.
Now, these are they who were converted unto the Lord..."

Note: they were not converted to missionaries, or personalities, or to some of the wonderful programs of the church.  They were not converted to a heritage or tradition, but they were converted unto the Lord.

Brother Larson talked about his son he was a little bit less than fully developed when he went on a mission.  He prayed and prayed that he will succeed, and come back a more capable man.  He did not return a fully capable man, but he returned with an immense testimony of Jesus Christ as if he had seen the Savior himself.

Elder Oaks stated that the world will ask, "What have you learned?"  God will ask, "What have you become?"

My Little Touch about Bangladesh

You would get to understand a lot about the Pakistan issue. Then you need to add knowledge of the history surrounding Bangladesh. I have a personal touch with the time that Bangladesh came into being. I speak to Indians in this day who nod when I speak of that time. 

In 1947, the region of Bengal under the British Empire was divided into East and West Bengal which separated the Muslim majority eastern areas from the Hindu majority western areas. East Bengal AKA East Pakistan. Riots ensued. West Bengal is part of India. East Bengal became Bangladesh after the Bangladesh Liberation War which lasted 9 months and It witnessed large-scale atrocities, the exodus of 10 million refugees and the displacement of 30 million people.

Part of that was The Indo-Pakistani War when Pakistan launched pre-emptive air strikes on 11 Indian airbases on December 3, 1971, which leads to a personal touch with me.

The boat I was on (Big E) was headed for home from 30 days on line early that month, running on minimum provisions, mail, and all the other stuff. It abruptly turned tail and headed into the Indian Ocean for nearly 30 more days. After some time, the admiral's plane brought mail, and the White Plains brought food. On the way out, I had a visit in Singapore with an old freighter captain who spoke of going into port in the Indo-Pakistan area and the stench of bodies along the roads.

War is generally about territory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971

Oh, back to 1947, when the Brits divided things up. I was 7 years old, I remember my to-be aunt Mildred's nephew (got it?) xxx Sterner in white army officer uniform in the little "Shiloh" church near my parent's farm, giving a slide show about what was going on there. Yes the US must have had their nose in the mud there too. I remember no detail of his presentation. 

I was in touch with one of the Sterners of Nebraska a few years ago; he remembered that presentation.

Muslims, Ahmadi beliefs: peaceful, persecuted Muslims

Info about Ahmadiyya

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/10/in-pakistan-most-say-ahmadis-are-not-muslim/

http://aaiil.org/text/questionsanswersislamahmadiyya/differenceahmadimuslim.shtml

http://www.whyahmadi.org/2_2_2.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8711026.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya
http://pri.org/stories/2013-06-20/ahmadi-muslims-facing-persecution-abroad-finding-home-us
http://www.ahmadibeliefs.com/

From Michael:

As most of us know, the Muslim world is divided into three groups: (1) Sunni Muslims; (2) Shia Muslims, and (3) Sufi Muslims (who may are may not also be either Sunni or Shia). The Sufi mostly hang out in Indonesia where Pres. Obama was a young Muslim. The Sufi are peace loving and tolerant of all religions -- unfortunately, Pres. Obama isn't the smartest guy so he thinks that all Muslims are peaceful and tolerant of all religions, which is false. For example, the Muslims making the movies of decapitating alive, or burning alive, or burying alive, innocent people are Sunni; the Muslims raising hell in Israel murdering innocent women and children are for the most part Shia. The Sufi detest this violence by Sunni and Shia and are victims of it themselves without any revenge killings in retaliation.

The Sunni hate the Shia and the Sufi; the Shia hate the Sunni and the Sufi. The Sufi hate no one -- they are mystics who think Mohammad and the Qur'an are unimportant to knowing Allah (which pisses off the Sunni and Shia which have a penchant for bombing Sufi Holy Sites, among others). The US is an ally of the Sunni; Russia is an ally of the Shia. This explains why the US supports Sunni rebels trying to kill Shia in Syria and elsewhere -- the US even supports ISIS and its ilk in Syria and elsewhere even though ISIS uses the weapons the US supplies it to kill US Marines, Special Forces, Shiites, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Bahai, etc..

The Shia in Iran are stated enemies of Israel -- they are always saying "death to Israel" and "death to the US". The Sunni are more circumspect about their feelings towards Israel. The Sunni in Saudi Arabia, however, are leery of the Shia in Iran and want the nuclear option that Israel offers -- since Iran is the enemy of both Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the US.

Pres. Obama, again based on his actual average intelligence despite propaganda to the contrary, is sending a message to the Sunni that the US wants to play both ends against the middle by trying to become allies with the Shia in an effort to extricate itself from the mess the US created in the Middle East in its failed effort to establish military and political hegemony in the reason based on the US model of creating governments that support homosexuality, homosexual marriage, pornography, and other liberal democracy ideals anathema to practicing Muslims whether Sunni, Shia, or Sufi. Okay . . . .

So on with some tidbits to tickle our interest in what may be happening between Israel and Saudi Arabia that the mainstream political propaganda machines in the US are hiding:

http://www.activistpost.com/2016/05/secret-meetings-between-israel-saudi-officials-reveal-close-relationship-mutual-interests.html

Me

The Ahmadia are in fact a part of the total picture that needs to be described.

Michael

Thanks for the heads up on this group: the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam. Now if only we could get the Sunni and Shia to adopt the moderate, tolerant Sufi and type of Islam. From a post: 

One of the major differences that can be seen between the Sunni and Ahmadi is in the prophethood. Ahmedias do not believe that Mohammed is the last prophet. They believe that Mirza Ghulam Ahmed of Qadian is the prophet who is supposed to come. This is a great violation of Islam, which considers Muhammed as the the last prophet. On the other hand, Sunnis believe in Prophet Mohammed.

While the Sunni sect has a long history, the Ahmadia movement was founded only in 1889. The Sunnis believe that Prophet Muhammed did not appoint any successor to lead the community before his death. After Mohammed’s death, a group of his prominent followers elected Abu Bakr Siddique (prophet’s father-in-law) as the first caliph.

The Ahmadia movement was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. He claimed to be the promised Mahdi awaited by the Muslims and the Messiah of Christ. The Ahmadis believe in the revival and propogation of Islam.

Sunni is a word that is derived from Sunnah, which means teachings of Prohet Mohammed. This means that Sunni is a word that refers to the followers of Prophet Mohammed. Though Ahmadia was formed in the 19th century, the name was only adopted a decade later. Ghulam Ahmad in a manifesto of 1900 said that the name was not a reference to him but refered to Ahmad, another name of Prophet Mohammed.

From Wikipedia: Ahmadi thought emphasizes the belief that Islam is the final dispensation for humanity as revealed to Muhammad and the necessity of restoring to it its true essence and pristine form, which had been lost through the centuries. Ahmadiyya adherents believe that Ahmad appeared in the likeness of Jesus, to end religious wars, condemn bloodshed and reinstitute morality, justice, and peace. They believe that upon divine guidance he divested Islam of fanatical and innovative beliefs and practices by championing what is, in their view, Islam’s true and essential teachings as practised by Muhammad and the early Islamic community. Thus, Ahmadis view themselves as leading the revival and peaceful propagation of Islam.

Me

Some of your description is a bit new to me.
To start with, the reason they need to be included is there are some of them in our midst, and there is one of their mosques in Lynnwood.

Where I come from is that I have become familiar with them, we have family friends and exchanged family vidsits, even had a fireside, with them. Attended interfaith initiatives with.

Their stance, which you have not mentioned, is that the gentleman who was born about 1830 (A) preached peace, and their members genuinely talk peace, and (B) that gentleman is revered by them to be a prophet. Thus, (C), they are viewed as heretic, hated, and violently persecuted by all the rest of the Islamic factions. The rest of them think its the most horrible thing in the universe to believe there is a prophet after the big M.

Regardless of what you academically took from Wikipedia: The items I have mentioned MUST be known as part of the picture. Core parts of the picture.

They are primarily from Pakistan. When our friends were in our home, we talked about how her (his wife) 's uncle had been killed two days prior in Pakistan due to that hate and persecution I described. We talked about how our friends sect chooses one type of saying out of the Koran, and the extremists choose another type: Picking and choosing what to pay attention to, and what to ignore.

The latter never ever happens within our faith, or within the broader Christian realm, does it?

I aver that within that issue lays some of the greatest problems and challenges there are to religious society - to those who claim to be Christian.

Congo

Too rich for its own good http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24396390

Best and worst appetizers - from WebMD

BEST: Vegetable Soup

Like salad, having a bowl of soup can curb how much you eat during the rest of the meal. The key is choosing a low-calorie option, such as a tomato-based vegetable soup. A 12-ounce bowl has about 160 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, and 1,240 mg sodium. Stay away from cream-based vegetable soups, which are higher in calories and saturated fats. When buying canned soup, look for those marked "low in sodium."

BEST: Lettuce Wraps

If you're craving spicy chicken, skip the wings and try lettuce wraps. You can make these at home by wrapping diced spicy chicken and vegetables in a lettuce leaf. Each wrap has 160 calories and 7 g of fat. If you order this appetizer at a restaurant, be sure to share. A plate of four wraps has a total of 640 calories, 28 g of fat, and 650 mg sodium.

BEST: Edamame

Go out on a limb and try something entirely different. These green pods, known as edamame, are a popular appetizer in Asian restaurants. It's fun to open the pods and pop the young soybeans into your mouth. One serving has 122 calories, and 5 g of fat.

BEST: Sliced Peppers with Salsa

For a homemade alternative to chips and dip, try sliced peppers or other veggie sticks with salsa. Cut up red and green bell peppers and use them as tortilla chips for dipping in salsa. This is a fun way to sneak more vegetables into your diet. You can dip a whole pepper's worth of "chips" and stay under 50 calories.

BEST: Shrimp Cocktail

Shrimp cocktail is very low in saturated fat and calories. It's also a refreshing source of omega-3 fatty acids, which promote healthy circulation. To keep the calorie count low, stick to tomato-based sauce. A serving of shrimp with cocktail sauce has about 140 calories.

BEST: Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffing mushrooms instead of potato skins helps keep the portion size down. Mushroom caps filled with cheese and breadcrumbs have less than 50 calories each. That means you can eat half a dozen and still keep your appetizer under 300 calories, along with 19 grams of fat, and 720 mg of sodium.

BEST: Crab Cakes

Blake recommends using appetizers to work inhealthy foods you might be eating too little of. Seared crab cakes offer an appealing way to get more seafood into your diet. Served with chili sauce, a typical crab cake has about 300 calories, 20 g of fat, and 960 mg sodium.

BEST: Beef Skewers

When you're craving a meaty appetizer, opt for beef skewers. In Asian restaurants, this may be listed as beef satay -- skewers of beef with peanut sauce. At home, you can grill skewers of lean beef with onions, garlic, hoisin, soy, and barbecue sauce. A quarter-pound serving has about 130 calories, 5 g of fat, and 803 mg sodium.

BEST: Spinach Salad

The best appetizers are low in calories, but satisfying enough to curb how much you eat during the rest of your meal. Salads made with spinach or other leafy greens do this very well. Studies suggest you'll eat about 10% less during a meal if you start off with salad. A cup of fresh spinach with a tablespoon of vinaigrette has about 80 calories

BEST: Vegetable Kabobs

Grilled vegetable kabobs offer a nutritious, low-calorie alternative to fried onions. If this isn't on the menu, ask for a side of grilled vegetables as your appetizer. Veggie kabobs are also easy to make -- try skewering onions, red and green bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, and zucchini. Brush with a lower-fat garlic and herb marinade. Two large kabobs will have about 75 calories.

WORST: Chicken Wings

A typical appetizer portion of buffalo chicken wings has more than 700 calories and 40 g of fat. Ranch sauce adds another 200 calories and 20 g of fat. That's 900 calories and 60 g of fat -- not to mention more than 2,000 mg of sodium -- before you even get to your main meal.

WORST: Mozzarella Sticks

There's something about a stick of warm, gooey cheese that is irresistible -- until you take a look at the nutritional facts. A typical order has 930 calories, 48 g of fat, and 2,640 mg of sodium. That puts mozzarella sticks pretty much on par with chicken wings.

WORST: Chili Cheese Nachos

They may be a festive way to start an evening out, but nachos and cheese dip are among the least healthy appetizer choices. Eat an entire order yourself, and you'll take in 1,680 calories, 107 g of fat, and 4,270 mg of sodium -- nearly twice the recommended daily limit for sodium.

WORST: New England Clam Chowder

Clam chowder sounds like it should be healthy, especially as a way to take in some extra seafood. Unfortunately, the New England variety is made with a fattening cream base. A 12-ounce bowl contains about 630 calories, 54 g of fat, and 890 mg of sodium.

WORST: Fried Calamari

Like many forms of seafood, squid can be nutritious. But when you bread it and fry it in oil, you're drenching it with calories and fat. A typical restaurant portion contains about 900 calories, 54 g of fat, and 2,300 mg of sodium -- not including any sauce.

WORST: Loaded Potato Skins

Potato skins filled with melted cheese, meats, and sour cream are as fattening as they are tempting. "You're taking a potato and adding saturated fats," Blake cautions. At more than 150 calories a pop, the trick to enjoying these is to have just one. Devour a whole plateful and you'll take in about 1,340 calories, 94 g of fat, and 1,850 mg of sodium.

WORST: Cheeseburger Sliders

Don't be fooled by their size -- "sliders" pack a lot of calories into a tiny sandwich. A typical restaurant order includes three mini-burgers with cheese and sauce, totaling 1,270 calories, 82 g of fat, and 2,310 mg of sodium.

WORST: Cheese Fries

The worst appetizers can "take over the meal," Blake warns. "Some of them have more calories than the main entrée." One offender is cheese fries -- French fries with melted cheese on top. Variations may include bacon bits or ranch dressing. A full order packs up to 2,000 calories, 134 g of fat, and 2,800 mg of sodium -- more than you should eat in a whole day.

WORST: Spinach Artichoke Dip

Don't let the word "spinach" fool you. Traditional spinach artichoke dip is not a healthy starter. A typical order contains about 1,600 calories, 100 g of fat, and 2,500 mg of sodium. The trouble is the cream base, which is loaded with saturated fat. If you make this dip at home, try using a base of nonfat Greek yogurt instead.

WORST: Onion Blossom

It may be your waistline that blossoms if you're a fan of fried onions. "It's good to start off with a vegetable," says Joan Salge Blake, RD, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. "But once you fry it, you're frying in calories." The onion blossom at one popular restaurant has 1,949 calories, 161 g of fat, and 4,100 mg of sodium -- more than double the daily sodium limit for healthy adults.

Pot Pie Perils

When fall arrives, many of us turn to hearty foods, perfect for warming up, and, if we're not careful, gaining weight. Browse our gallery of fall's most fattening foods, starting with creamy chicken pot pie. One pie from the grocery freezer case can have more than 1,000 calories. For a fraction of the calories, try a flavorful roast chicken breast and a warm, whole-wheat roll.

Game-Day Grub

Game-day favorites -- chips, nachos, pizza, wings, and ribs -- spoil many diets. If you're a sports fan, you may also be glued to the couch for hours every week, so you're not burning off the extra calories from game-day foods. Try these tips:

• Serve veggies and low-fat dip as part of your spread.
• Eat from a plate instead of grazing at the buffet. This helps you keep track of how much you're eating.

Oktoberfest Fare

Oktoberfest brings calorie-laden beer, potato salads, and sausages. Bratwurst, one typical sausage, has about 95 calories per ounce, most from unhealthy animal fat. Three tips may help with fattening festival fare:

• Eat smaller portions.
• Set a drink limit for yourself, and alternate with lower-calorie, non-alcoholic drinks.
• Choose light beer over regular (110 calories vs. 150 calories in 12 ounces).

Chubby Chili

The damage from a bowl of chili can easily hit 500 calories with the wrong recipe.  The same goes for other meaty stews, which are often loaded with fatty beef or sausage and topped with gobs of cheese. Yet, chili and stew can be nutritional superstars when made right. Use small portions of lean meat, plenty of beans, vegetables, and spices, and just a sprinkle of low-fat cheese. In restaurants, check the calorie count before ordering.

Cream Soups and Hearty Stews

Cream of potato soup, broccoli cheese soup, and beef stroganoff  may seem like perfect fall foods, but beware. Warm soups and stews that are loaded with cream, cheese, or meat are also loaded with calories. If you serve them in a bread bowl or atop rice or noodles, you add even more calories. Tip:

• Choose broth-based and vegetable-based soups and stews to fill you up for fewer calories.

Seasonal Beverages

Fall drinks -- hot chocolate, pumpkin-spice lattes, eggnog, apple cider, and hot toddies -- are a quick and easy way to take in lots of extra calories. A cup of homemade hot cocoa (without whipped cream) has 190 calories. One 8-oz cup of eggnog packs 340 calories. Tips:

• Try a hot cup of green or flavored tea, rich with antioxidants and calorie-free.
• Opt for light beer or wine spritzers, and limit yourself to one or two.

Caramel Apples

An afternoon snack of apples with a thick layer of caramel and nuts can total more than 500 calories. Tip:

• Enjoy crisp apple slices with a small container of low-fat caramel dip for the same great taste -- with a fraction of the fat and calories

Halloween Candy – Frightening!

October brings bowls of candy bars at the office -- and tempting bags of candy at home awaiting trick-or-treaters. It's easy to get enticed by those bite-size candies. But few of us can have just one. Tips:

• Stash sweets out of sight.
• Satisfy your midday hunger pangs with something nutritious, like fruit.
• If you crave something sweet, chew a piece of sugarless gum.

Macaroni and Cheese

Mac and cheese is a favorite comfort food for both kids and adults. But it can wreak havoc with your diet. One cup can pack 300 to 400 calories, depending on the brand. Add sausage or ham and it's even more fattening. Tips:

• Modify the recipe by using a low-fat cheese and milk.
• Substitute veggies for meat to get more nutrition. It'll still taste great!

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Still using your mother's recipe for mashed potatoes? All that butter, heavy cream, and whole milk help cram about 240 calories into one cup. Ladle on 1/4 cup of fatty gravy and you're close to 300 calories in a side dish. To eat fewer calories, savor 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes, without gravy. Or experiment with newer, calorie-conscious recipes for better mashed potatoes.

Root Vegetables with Added Fat

Roots like yams and sweet potatoes are super-nutritious, but you quadruple the calories when you mix them with cheese, cream, butter, canned soups, or bacon. A sweet potato casserole can easily have 500 calories per serving -- 400 more than a simple roasted sweet potato. Slash the calorie count by eating root veggies oven-roasted or grilled.

Stuffing

Most stuffing contains high-fat ingredients such as sausage and butter. With gravy, stuffing is diet nightmare. Tips:

• Make a low-fat stuffing using fruits, vegetables, and stock.
• Keep the portion small, and try to resist smothering it in gravy.
• Chew slowly to enjoy each mouthful and allow your brain time to get the signal that you are full.

Apple, Pecan, Sweet Potato Pies

These fall favorites start with healthy ingredients such as nuts or fruits and vegetables. But once you add buttery pie crusts, sweet fillings, and whipped cream or ice cream topping, you have decadent pies full of calories. Tips:

• Skip the crust.
• Add a dollop of light whipped topping.
• Serve yourself only a sliver to enjoy these desserts without lots of extra calories.

Pumpkin Desserts

Pumpkin layer cake, cheesecake, bread pudding. There are many ways to turn vitamin A-rich pumpkin into a rich dessert. Be careful: If you add tons of cream and sugar, you negate the health benefits of pumpkin. Tip:

• Try crustless, low-fat pumpkin custard, or low-fat pumpkin muffins.

Enjoy the pumpkin without sabotaging your waistline.

All Things in Moderation

All it takes is an extra 100 calories per day to pack on 10 pounds a year. The best strategy for your health is to avoid weight creep altogether. You can do so by enjoying fall comfort foods in moderation.

• Check your portion sizes.
• Limit alcohol.
• Eat plenty of veggies prepared without added fat and sugar.
• Use low-fat cooking techniques and substitutions.  
• Put candy bowls out of sight.

Deep Dish Pizza With Sausage

The Count: 2300 calories, 164 g fat, 4910 mg sodium

Deep dish pizza can be deep trouble. One "individual" sausage pizza is 2300 calories. That's more calories than most people should eat in a whole day. It also packs in double the daily limit of fat. Skip the sausage and opt for thin crust.

Juice Wars: What's In Your Glass?

Who doesn't enjoy a tall, cool glass of juice? The color is vibrant, the taste sweet, and it's good for you, too. Not so fast, say some dietitians. Although the best kinds of juice deliver a bounty of vitamins, the worst are hardly better than liquid candy. WebMD helps you spot the difference.

Best Choice: Vegetable Juice

Drinking your veggies is a convenient way to add powerful plant-based nutrients to your diet. The lycopene in tomato juice appears to lower the risk of prostate cancer. Beet juice may reduce blood pressure. Pulpy vegetable juice is also packed with fiber that can help control hunger. And all of these benefits come without a catch. Vegetable juice has far less sugar and fewer calories than the typical fruit juice, but it is high in sodium unless you choose the low salt version.

Worst Choice: Juice 'Cocktails'

Be on alert for the terms juice cocktail, juice-flavored beverage, or juice drink. Most of these products contain only small amounts of real juice. The main ingredients are usually water and some type of sugar, such as high-fructose corn syrup. Nutritionally, these drinks are similar to most soft drinks — rich in sugar and calories, but low in nutrients. Research suggests that sugary fruit drinks put kids at risk for obesity and related health problems. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines recommends water over sugary drinks.

he 100% Fruit Juice Dilemma

What about pure fruit juice with no added sweeteners? Such an innocent-sounding drink has sparked endless debate. No one disputes the fact that real fruit juice is loaded with vitamins and disease-fighting antioxidants. The problem is juice can also be naturally high in sugar and calories. A cup of pure apple juice can have as much sugar as some candy bars. That's why many experts recommend sticking to one juice serving per day

Good Choice: Pomegranate Juice

If you're only going to drink one glass of juice each day, you want to make it a good one. So let's explore which juices offer the biggest nutritional payoff per sip. Pomegranate juice tops the list. It's high in sugar and calories, but delivers an abundant dose of antioxidants. These substances appear to protect brain function and may ward off cancer. In one study, 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily reduced the recurrence of prostate cancer.

Good Choice: Cranberry Juice

Cranberry juice is packed with vitamin C, which is vital to a healthy immune system. There is also evidence to support a folk remedy -- drinking unsweetened cranberry juice may help reduce your risk of urinary tract infections.

Good Choice: Blueberry Juice

Substances in blueberries may help keep the brain healthy. In a small study, researchers looked at the effect of blueberry juice on memory in adults in their seventies who had age-related memory decline. Those who drank 2 1/2 cups of blueberry juice for 12 weeks had significant improvement on learning and memory tests compared to those who drank a non-juice beverage. So choose blueberry juice to boost brain health.

Good Choice: Acai Berry Juice

Researchers have only begun looking into the health benefits of acai juice, which is made from a berry found in South America. But early studies are promising. Acai pulp appears to have a higher concentration of antioxidants than cranberries, blackberries, strawberries, or blueberries.

Good Choice: Cherry Juice

Besides delivering a wealth of antioxidants, some berry juices appear to have anti-inflammatory properties. According to one study, drinking cherry juice before and after your work-out can reduce exercise-induced muscle pain.

Good Choice: Red Grape Juice

We've all heard that red wine, in moderation, can be good for the heart. The same is true of red grape juice. Red grape juice contains potent antioxiodants -- flavanoids and resveratrol. The key is that wine and juice are made with the entire grape -- seeds, skin, and all. When you eat fresh grapes, you miss out on nutrients hiding in the seeds.

Good Choice: Prune Juice

Another viable folk remedy, prune juice has long been recommended to relieve constipation. It works because it's extremely high in fiber and contains a natural laxative called sorbitol. But the benefits of prune juice don't stop there. The juice is also packed with antioxidants, iron, and potassium.

What About Orange Juice?

It's a staple at breakfast, but does this popular juice carry its weight? The good news is orange juice is loaded with vitamin C, a star for its immune-boosting benefits. In addition, orange juice is often fortified with calcium and vitamin D, nutrients that strengthen the bones. Unsweetened orange juice has fewer calories than some berry juices or grape juice. The trade-off is that it also has fewer antioxidants overall.

What's right may not be your view

Great words to live by. It is so much easier to be offended than humble: Now the only safety we have as members of this church is to do exactly what the Lord said to the Church in that day when the Church was organized. We must learn to give heed to the words and commandments that the Lord shall give through his prophet, "as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me—as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith." (D&C 21:4-5)

• There will be some things that take patience and faith. 
• You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church.
• It may contradict your political views. 
• It may contradict your social views. 
• It may interfere with some of your social life. 

But if you listen to these things, as if from the mouth of the Lord himself, with patience and faith, the promise is that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory." (D&C 21:6). http://scriptures.byu.edu/gettalk.php?ID=1822

How the Military’s 'Bro' Culture Turns Women Into Targets

From:  http://www.defenseone.com/management/2013/09/how-militarys-bro-culture-turns-women-into-targets/70066/

Kayla Williams, an Arabic linguist, was the only woman with a group of about 20 troops posted to Iraq's Sinjar Mountain in 2003, and she was almost one of the boys. To kill time while off-duty, the men pretended to hump everything in sight, including the Humvee, during their relatively unsupervised patrol. They put their testicles on one another's faces in a practice called "tea bagging." Their behavior was ridiculous but common among bros deployed in dangerous, remote locations. Sometimes, the men included Williams when they threw pebbles at each other, aiming for holes near the crotches of their pants. "[They started] throwing rocks at my boobs when they were throwing rocks at each other," Williams recalls. "Is that sexual harassment, or are they treating me like one of them? Is it exclusive or inclusive? I can't answer that. It's complicated." But she didn't let it bother her too much.

Then one night, while monitoring the outpost on the side of a mountain, Williams went to relieve a guard on duty. He grabbed her hand. "He had pulled out his penis and was trying to put my hand on his cock," Williams says. She wasn't quite worried she'd be raped—the junior enlisted Army soldier, then 26 years old, was carrying a gun within earshot of others who would hear her if she screamed—but the guard was frighteningly aggressive. After trying to get her to sleep with him, or at least give him a blow job, he gave up and left.

Still, Williams was angry. When she told men in her unit about the incident, they said she'd joined a man's military and asked what she expected to happen. "It definitely made me feel guys who were sexually harassing me, who were violating the rules, who were doing the wrong thing—that guys felt they were more important as soldiers because they were men." Williams, now a Truman National Security Project fellow and the author ofLove My Rifle More Than You, didn't want to be a victim, so she stopped joking around and came off as unfriendly, she says. It was a lonely decision with potentially steep costs. "It's hard to be in a combat zone when I'm expected to rely on these guys for my life, but [I] no longer felt I could trust them to not sexually assault me if I let my guard down."

The military's sexual-assault epidemic is well-known—and it is not confined to high-profile cases like the sex-abuse educator discovered running a small-time prostitution ring at Fort Hood, Texas; the Army sergeant charged with secretly videotaping female cadets in West Point bathrooms; or the 33 instructors ensnared in a sex scandal involving twice as many students at Lackland Air Force base, also in Texas. Those scandals fueled the congressional and media frenzy over the 3,374 reported sexual assaults in the military last year. The Pentagon estimates that sexual assaults actually occur far more frequently—and that 26,000 troops were victims of unwanted sexual contact (6.1 percent of the military's women and 1.2 percent of its men) last year alone. Fewer than 1 percent of adults in the civilian world experienced something comparable, according to data in the most recent National Crime Victimization Survey.

Less understood is why the military's culture of abuse has been so hard to combat—let alone eradicate. Other civilian crimes (such as violent assaults or theft) occur at far lower rates in the military, but rampant sexual abuse among the troops persists. The reasons are diffuse and, because of fundamental military values, hard to change. They include a stark gender imbalance (roughly seven men for every woman), blurry lines between professional and personal lives, intense bonding that can foster lascivious rituals, and a hierarchical command structure that can inadvertently enable assaults. The military, of course, is not peopled by rapists. Yet despite the Pentagon's apparently sincere efforts to change the culture, it is proving almost impossible to alter the standards of acceptable behavior, especially in situations where young people have little supervision—leaving intact an environment that can allow those who would assault someone to take things too far. This is the story of why.

A MAN'S WORLD

Pentagon brass appear to comprehend the problem. In a May interview with USA Today, the director of the Defense Department's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, Maj. Gen. Gary Patton, described how sexism and sexual harassment in the military helps create a "permissive environment" where assaults can occur. Women who reported a hostile working environment were six times likelier to say they experienced rape in a survey of female veterans conducted by the University of Iowa Social Science Research Center in 2003; and those who said their ranking officers or supervisors allowed (or made) sexually demeaning comments or gestures were up to four times as likely to cite rape.

That's why officials are trying to modernize the fight against sexual assault, which has persisted through many pledges to reform since the 1991 Navy Tailhook scandal, in which 83 women and seven men were assaulted at a Las Vegas aviators' conference. Back then, "prevention" often meant instructing troops to stay safe by locking doors and windows; now trainers tell them how to identify and disrupt a potential assault. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in May said commanders would be accountable if they fail to foster a climate that prevents assault, cares for victims, and reduces stigma associated with reporting. This month, Hagel ordered that assault victims get legal representation throughout the judicial process; that the department's inspector general audit closed investigations; and that senior officials within the chain of command receive follow-up reports on assaults and responses. Hagel has also ordered inspections of military facilities to remove sexually explicit and degrading material. Yet attitudes in the military, where those who complain of misconduct are often seen as nuisances and worse, are not very pliable.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Smith, popular among the fighters she worked for, was on track for success. When a young female pilot training at Luke Air Force Base received the call sign "Grassy" because another student revealed she never shaved her private areas, Smith shrugged it off. When pilots screened pornography in front of the crew to amp up for flying missions in Iraq, she shrugged it off. When they sang ditties from the Vietnam War era that had lyrics about mutilating and raping women, she shrugged it off. (To the tune of Willy Wonka's "Candy Man": "Who can take a cheese grater, / Strap it to his arm? / Ram it in her pussy, / And make vagina parmesan? … The S&M man cause he makes it with pain, / And makes the hurt feel good.") The attitude of the older male pilots, Smith recalls, was, "If you're going to run with the men"—especially when men are the bosses—"you'd better learn how to deal with it."

When Smith went to find equipment from a storage area for a flying exercise at Shaw Air Force Base in 2008, she found porn instead. When she asked commanders to remove it, pilots started calling her a "bitch," even though her complaint was supposed to be anonymous and unofficial. After that, Smith deployed to Iraq. There, a service member threw her against a wall and tried to rape her when she was working an overnight shift. At first, Smith didn't come forward because, she says, she was discouraged that her seniors had failed to eliminate the porn stash. Meanwhile, she lost her tolerance for sexual jokes. "I would say, 'That's really inappropriate,' and that didn't go over well. That's like questioning their authority." Fed up, she filed a formal report after she'd returned stateside, disclosing both the porn and her assault. Because she "snitched," her coworkers "dropped me like a hot potato," she said.

The military is full of traditions that linger from its all-male days, and these prompt some women to complain that they are treated as second-class citizens—bolstered by actual job inequality: Women are still barred from front-line combat (at least until 2016) and are outnumbered in the officer corps. They make up only 15 percent of 1.4 million active-duty service members; only 16 percent of officers are women. Of the military's 38 four-star generals or admirals, just one is a woman.

Women's lower status means that their male colleagues sometimes see them as less trustworthy in a "he-said, she-said" scenario, according to psychologist Stephanie Sacks, author of an essay in a 2005 Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs publication on military culture and sexual-assault victims. If a woman is assaulted, wrote Sacks, who also trains military troops in sexual-assault prevention, many men believe "it is at least a little bit her fault because she didn't really belong [in the military] to begin with…. The line goes that if you are going to voluntarily put yourself in the company of large groups of men, especially who are on a deployment and so not having easy access to consensual sex, what do you expect?" If a woman complains, Sacks says, men may feel women are diverting the mission's focus with secondary issues.

Williams, who found out the hard way that she wasn't really one of the boys, says this describes her experience. Yes, she was easygoing and joked around, but the men somehow thought they could turn their explicit jokes into reality. While Williams was lucky to have escaped an assault, many others were not, and the attitudes displayed by her peers after the incident help show why so many assaults go unreported in the military. When Williams was considering complaining, they asked her, "Why would you ruin a man's career just because you can't take it?" She inferred that because she was a woman and not allowed in combat, she was effectively a "second-class citizen": "My career was seen by my peers as being less important."

More worrisome, many servicemen aren't inclined to believe women's complaints in the first place. According to a Corps survey in September 2012, Marines listed being falsely accused of sexual assault as a top concern about opening combat positions to women. A broad swath of research in the civilian world shows that the rate of false reporting is very low, around 2 to 8 percent, as is the case with other felonies. But of 3,374 reported incidents in 2012, military prosecutors won only 238 convictions. A big reason, says former Air Force JAG officer David Frakt, is that "in these he-said, she-said situations, there's no witness, no other physical evidence to corroborate the claims. When the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt, and you have an accused who has a long record of positive military service, no prior history, there's a very high chance of acquittal in that situation."

Acquittal, of course, is not the same thing as innocence, Frakt notes. Yet the military's judicial system can fail victims even before a case gets to trial. Senior commanders, who have convening authority, make the decision about whether to refer a case to a court-martial, where the allegation must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt to earn a conviction. If a commander does not want to move the case forward, he or she can take no action; unilaterally mandate an administrative response (such as a reprimand or counseling) to correct the accused's behavior; or preside over a nonjudicial punishment hearing in which the commander is the "sole decider of facts and punishment," according to Frakt. Punishment options in this case are rather limited—no jail time, no bad conduct discharge, and no criminal convictions.

With so few courts-martial resulting in sexual-assault convictions, troops may be disinclined to believe there's a real problem—an environment that would-be perpetrators can exploit to carry out assaults. So the Pentagon is working to combat this perception. "Between 92 to 98 percent of the time, a victim is telling us the truth. Those are pretty good odds," Nathan Galbreath, a senior official in the Pentagon's Sexual Assault and Prevention Office, says. "We're also trying to educate folks on the difference between a false report and a report where there's insufficient evidence." Last year, commanders could not take action in 509 cases because of "evidentiary problems." Another 1,028 were either outside the department's legal authority or officials thought the accusations "unfounded"—false or baseless. A baseless report usually is presumed truthful but does not meet the formal standards of the crime. It doesn't mean the perpetrator is innocent.

The military is a highly regulated organization, and that is part of the problem. It has rules to cover everything from lipstick shades to suitable golf buddies. These guidelines make it nearly impossible to frame a discussion about consensual sex versus assault, argues Bruce Fleming, a professor at the Naval Academy, where everything from hand-holding to intercourse is outlawed for all four years. "The military is basically a no-sex zone." All bases are intended to be sex-free. Oral sex and adultery are crimes. Public displays of affection in uniform are banned. Officers cannot date, sleep with, or even spend too much time with enlisted troops. The same goes for superiors and inferiors within those ranks. The military's unsuccessful strategy has been to "forbid and punish" everything sexual to try to stop assaults, when instead, Fleming says, it should be "targeting the specific deviant behavior that really matters."

Blanket regulations against everything sexual can create the perception that sexual assault is somehow a lesser crime. Training to be an Arabic cryptologist for the Navy at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., Tia Christopher, then 19 years old, invited a fellow service member (a pastor's son who had taken her on a Bible study date) to stop by her room—breaking the rules. "It went from, 'Hey, what are you doing, stop!' to him hitting my head on the cinder-block wall behind my bed." Two women were drinking next door and heard the struggle. But because the military offers no amnesty for "collateral misconduct," they at first refused to support Christopher's allegation, fearing they'd be punished for drinking. (They were.)

SEMPER FIDELIS

In the military's closed society, there's a pervasive belief that "you know who can be trusted and who can't," Sacks tells National Journal. Anyone you know so well in your unit couldn't possibly attack someone else, the thinking goes.

This enhanced loyalty is vital in combat, but it's counterproductive when it comes to believing that someone has been assaulted. The victim who reports an incident becomes the "squeaky wheel"—the troublemaker, especially if performance starts to suffer as he or she processes the trauma, Sacks says. People think rapists are ugly and can't get sex another way, says Chris Kilmartin, a psychology professor at the Air Force Academy. They're not. "They tend to be more handsome, charming, and have more consensual sex than non-rapists, and [are] very good at cultivating the appearance of being a nice guy. So when there's an assault taking place, people who know this guy say, 'He's such a nice guy, there's no way he can do it.' " Afterward, of course, civilians assaulted in the workplace can look for another job if they want; troops are locked in for years.

Knowing they have to stay in an environment where the group may side with the perpetrator can discourage victims from reporting the attack. Christopher heard stories about women who lost their careers and friends by divulging the incident, so she bleached her sheets and tried to forget that her assault took place. But because her attacker started stalking her at the chow hall and en route to class, she finally came forward. When her commander in charge of the Navy detachment at the language-training base belittled her rape report, she started having panic attacks, lost 30 pounds, and began failing classes where she'd previously scored A's. Even other women turned against her. "This girl, she was Puerto Rican"—like the attacker—"called me a 'racist bitch.' " Victimized men may face even higher hurdles. "It's hard to imagine how could a man, especially a strong, tough man with a weapon, be sexually assaulted. So if they are, it brings up questions about their masculinity," Sacks says. "Do you want somebody on your team who is a victim, somebody who couldn't fight back?"

Assailants in the military who go unchecked in an environment skeptical of assaults can find more victims. Christopher later found the same woman who insulted her crying in a stairwell. "She said, 'I'm so sorry. He raped me.' "

Because of the long odds for a conviction and the high cost (in stigma) attached to reporting, the Pentagon worries that victims are disinclined to file complaints. New programs allow "restricted reporting" so victims can get health care without pressing charges or naming their attackers, but these options can reinforce the belief that sexual-assault victims are weak, need special treatment, or made it all up to milk the system. "The victim is immediately identified as a victim," says Frakt. Fellow troops may see the person receiving "all kinds of perks," including getting off work, obtaining counseling, and taking convalescent leave. "In an environment like the military, which treasures toughness and sort of dealing with your own problems, all of these services may feed a perception these people ... [are] not cut out for the military way of life." Already, male soldiers often see pregnancy as a tactic women use to escape a war zone. They may now believe that restricted reports are a "guilt-free" way for women to escape an unpleasant deployment, Frakt says. "Maybe they don't like their commander, supervisor."

What's more, would-be sexual predators have many opportunities in a culture where everyone is a direct superior or subordinate. A trainee, according to Protect Our Defenders President Nancy Parrish, is told that superiors are essentially "your preacher, your boss, your father figure, your God." If the superior orders, say, an unusual after-hours office visit, trainees go. Otherwise, they can be written up for failing to follow orders. Sexual-assault victims are usually lower-ranking. At Lackland Air Force base, where every recruit goes for basic training, 24 instructors were convicted recently of misconduct with trainees, according to reports. In August, the Pentagon removed 60 recruiters, drill instructors, and sexual-assault counselors from duty after finding violations related to alcohol, child abuse, and sexual assault. Another problem is the difficulty in screening for predatory behavior: Until a person is in a position of authority, it's hard to tell who will abuse it.

Because higher-ranking service-members are responsible for what happens on their watch, they have an incentive to ignore accusations against their subordinates or even to attack victims' credibility, Parrish says. "So the retaliation begins: charging them with collateral misconduct, beginning to write them up for a series of so-called misbehaviors, or sending them to psych wards to be misdiagnosed with errant medical diagnoses such as personality disorder." Those procedures can even lead to discharge. According to the Pentagon report, 62 percent of victims who filed complaints said they were retaliated against professionally, socially, or administratively. Commanders can also make judicial decisions, as when a three-star general overturned the aggravated-assault conviction of Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, whom a jury of military officers sentenced in November to detention and dismissal from the military.

That case fueled a push on Capitol Hill for an independent military judiciary to handle sexual-assault cases, but the Pentagon still believes commanders are best equipped to deal with the problem. Frakt notes they can dole out administrative punishments like fines or demotions when a court-martial conviction isn't likely. "They recognize it's probably less [punishment] than the person deserves, but it's not going to be in the hands of a jury. People work very hard to do the right thing." Yet victims often interpret these moves as just a slap on the wrist for their attacker. Delilah Rumburg, who leads the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, says the biggest complaint she hears from female victims is "not so much they failed to get a conviction" but that the military system did not allow for a fair process.

HOLLOW FORCE

When Christopher left the military, "I was like, 'I'm going to go to fucking Oprah.' " Four days later, she watched on television as the Twin Towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001. "Walmart started selling flag T-shirts. You hadn't really seen a lot of patriotism in a long time. I thought to myself, 'There's no way I can talk about this. No one's going to want to hear what happened to me when there's this fervor going around.' I was silent for many years."

Now that the military is no longer on a war footing, victims like Christopher and advocacy groups hope they will have a chance to reshape the military's structure and focus on combating the enemy within. The onslaught of media reports on sex scandals has fueled momentum among lawmakers on Capitol Hill and senior officials in the Pentagon.

Despite this can-do attitude, no quick fix is available. Policymakers can install victim-assistance programs, but until there's less stigma attached to reporting sexual crimes, they will go underused. Commanders can promise to take assault cases seriously, but until the conviction rate rises, victims will see their superiors as ineffective or untrustworthy. The military can oust abusers, but in a system where commanders ultimately make all the decisions, it won't get consistent results. The Pentagon can mandate prevention training and the press can sensationalize abuse scandals, but when troops see all this as a witch hunt rather than a true problem, they will foster a culture that allows true assailants to operate relatively freely.

And defense leaders themselves may be out of touch with behaviors that evolve on the front. When Kayla Williams lived on an Iraqi mountainside among all those men, she and her fellow soldiers slept in a pen circumscribed by barbed wire to prevent incursions. Despite the many military regulations, they created their own culture from norms they thought were acceptable. It was powered by sexually explicit jokes and exposed genitalia.

Respectfully,

Daniel McDowell

Public Affairs Coord/Emergency Svcs Coord.

MnDOT Aeronautics

222 E. Plato Blvd.

St. Paul, MN 55107-1618

651-234-7182/ph

651-234-7261/fax

Bronchitis

What is Bronchitis?
Bronchitis is an inflammation in the lungs that some people call a chest cold. It can be a miserable, but minor, illness that follows the common cold -- or a more serious condition like a chronic smoker's hack. A cough, phlegm, and feeling tired are typical symptoms of bronchitis, but these are also symptoms of other illnesses, so getting the right diagnosis is important.

Bronchitis: Inside Your Lungs
When the bronchial tubes that carry air deep into your lungs become inflamed, the inner lining swells and grows thicker, narrowing the breathing passages. These irritated membranes also secrete extra mucus, which coats and sometimes clogs the small airways. Coughing spells are the body's way of trying to clear out these secretions for easier breathing.

Repeated Bouts: Chronic Bronchitis
Doctors suspect this illness when you have a cough with phlegm on most days for at least three months in a year, for two years in a row. Chronic bronchitis is a serious condition that makes your lungs a breeding ground for bacterial infections and may require ongoing medical treatment. It's one form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung disease that makes it hard to breathe

The symptoms of bronchitis are often the same as those of other conditions, such as asthma, pneumonia, allergies, the common cold, influenza, sinusitis, and even gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and lung cancer. See your doctor to get an accurate diagnosis. Serious illnesses like pneumonia require prompt treatment.

When to Call the Doctor
Check in with your medical provider if you:
Feel short of breath or wheeze
Cough up blood
Have a fever greater than 101 F (38 C)
Have a cough lasting more than four weeks

Causes of Acute Bronchitis
This form of bronchitis is more common in winter and nine out of 10 cases are caused by a virus. Irritants -- like tobacco smoke, smog, chemicals in household cleaners, even fumes or dust in the environment -- can also cause acute bronchitis.

Treatment: Acute Bronchitis
The only treatment generally needed for acute bronchitis is symptom relief: Drink lots of fluids; get plenty of rest; and avoiding smoke and fumes. A non-prescription pain reliever may help with body aches, but children under age 20 should not take aspirin. Your doctor may prescribe an expectorant to help loosen mucus so it can be more easily coughed up or an inhaled bronchodilator medicine to open your airways.


Chronic Bronchitis and COPD
Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are the two main forms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Doctors may prescribe bronchodilators, which are drugs that help open constricted airways. Oxygen therapy helps some people breathe better and a pulmonary rehab program can improve your quality of life. Quitting smoking is a must to stop further lung damage.

How to Avoid Bronchitis
It's no surprise that the best way to decrease your risk is not to smoke or allow others to smoke in your home. Other ways include: avoiding colds and staying away from things that irritate your nose, throat, and lungs, such as dust or pets. Also, if you catch a cold, get plenty of rest and take your medicine as directed.

Food for health

Best and worst holiday foods:  http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/rm-quiz-holiday-foods

Diabetes and liver cancer http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20131208/type-2-diabetes-might-raise-risk-of-liver-cancer
Grapefruits have a good amount of vitamin C. But science has yet to prove that you can easily get enough vitamin C through foods alone, without supplementation, to help treat cold and flu. However, grapefruit is packed with flavonoids -- natural chemical compounds that have been found to increase immune system activation.  Dislike grapefruits? Try oranges or tangerines.

Wheat germ is the part of a wheat seed that feeds a baby wheat plant, so it is full of nutrients. It has zinc, antioxidants, and B vitamins among other vital vitamins and minerals. Wheat germ also offers a good mix of fiber, protein, and some good fat. Substitute wheat germ for part of the regular flour called for in baked goods and other recipes.

Garlic offers several antioxidants that battle immune system invaders. Among garlic's targets are H. pylori, the bacteria associated with some ulcers and stomach cancer. Cooking tip: Peel, chop and let sit 15 to 20 minutes before cooking to activate immune-boosting enzymes. 

Spinach. Known as a "super food," spinach is nutrient-rich.  It has folate, which helps your body produce new cells and repair DNA. And it boasts fiber, antioxidants, such as vitamin C, and more. Eat spinach raw or lightly cooked to get the most benefit.

Green or black tea? Both are loaded with disease-fighting polyphenols and flavonoids. These antioxidants seek out cell-damaging free radicals and destroy them. Caffeinated and decaf work equally well.

Like carrots, sweet potatoes have the antioxidant beta-carotene, which mops up damaging free radicals. Sweet potatoes also boast vitamin A, which is linked to slowing the aging process and may reduce the risk of some cancers.

Cabbage. This is a source of immune-strengthening glutamine. And cabbage is easy and inexpensive to find during the winter months when it's in season. 

Watermelon. Hydrating and refreshing, ripe watermelon also has plenty of a powerful antioxidant, glutathione. Known to help strengthen the immune system so it can fight infection, glutathione is found in the red pulpy flesh near the rind.

Oysters.  Aphrodisiac? Immune boosters? Maybe both, thanks to the mineral zinc that's found in oysters. Low zinc levels have been associated with male infertility.  And zinc appears to have some antiviral effect, although researchers can't explain why. However, they do know it is important to several immune system tasks including healing wound

Acai Berry
Hawked as a "super food" along with produce like blueberries, the little acai berry's dark color signals that it is high in antioxidants called anthocyanins. While the acai is not scientifically linked to specific disease- or illness-fighting ability, antioxidants may help your body fight aging and disease.

Elderberry
An old folk remedy, extract from these dark berries appears to block flu viruses in test tube studies. But scientists caution that further study is needed. The fruit itself is rich in antioxidants and may also have the ability to fight inflammation.

Broccoli
Easy to find at the grocery store and incorporate into meals, broccoli is an immune-boosting basic. One study reported a chemical in broccoli helped stimulate the immune systems of mice. Plus, it's full of nutrients that protect your body from damage.  It has vitamins A, vitamin C, and glutathione.  

Pre-Disposed

http://www.livescience.com/39299-downers-predisposed-dislike.html

"Nah," "eh," "no" and "ugh": These are the familiar sounds of people who don't seem to like much and conjure negative quips for just about anything. While people with more positive dispositions may try to shake enthusiasm unto these downers, new research helps to explain why this often doesn't work.

That certain people like more things than others may seem obvious, but, until now, nobody has ever tested whether such dispositions operate as distinct personality traits, separate from other traits such as optimism/pessimism or extroversion/introversion. A team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Pennsylvania have now conducted the first quantitative analysis of dispositional attitude, finding that it is, in fact, distinct from these other traits.

"Optimists tend to have generalized beliefs usually about the future, such as 'Things are going to turn out well,'" said Justin Hepler, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an author on the study. "We were interested in whether people liked or disliked things, in general, and had people report their attitude about different things."

http://www.livescience.com/8343-personality-predicted-size-brain-regions.html

In a social situation, it's easy to tell the difference between a wallflower and the life of the party, but a new study suggests we can also spot differences in their brains.

The results show the size of certain brain regions is related to people's personalities. For instance, highly altruistic people had a bigger posterior cingulated cortex, a brain region thought to be involved in the understanding of others' beliefs. Bigger regions are assumed to be more powerful. [Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind]