Bad Air Causes Cancer

Air pollution is a major cause for cancer, according to a new report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the WHO. According to experts, in 2010, polluted air containing carcinogens caused the death of 223 thousand people. The worst situation is in India and China.

IARC spokesman Dana Loomis reports that in Asia and South America there is an increasing number of rapidly developing countries. Everybody knows the deplorable air pollution situation in China. Many countries are beginning to face similar problems. But it’s time to realize that the air on the planet belongs to us all, and we all have a collective responsibility for its purity.

Among European countries, Bulgaria and Poland produce the largest amount of harmful emissions into the atmosphere. France, with more than 350 cases of cancer for 100,000 men, has a fearful situation, too. The problems with cancer usually affect people over 50. All in all, six million people get ill with cancer each year.

Now cancer is the second in the world after cardiovascular diseases. WHO experts predict that in the next 20 years, about 25 million people will get sick with cancer, and those will be mostly the residents of the developing countries.

Cheating Diet for Weight Loss

Cheating is a special diet, which is based on the principle of conscious breakdowns, i.e. violations of a strict diet and having clearly planned “stress” days, when you can allow yourself to eat anything. The author of this diet is a nutritionist, Joel Marion.

How Do Diets Prevent You from Weight Loss?

Joel Marion believes that compliance with any low calorie diet leads to a significant metabolism slowdown. This way, the body responds to a reduced calorie intake and tries to use energy minimally.

The need for cheating is because the body has to get the missing energy occasionally. Otherwise, there is an energy imbalance, which leads to fatigue, apathy, and irritability.

With strict adherence to the diet, the body adapts to insufficient calorie intake and even finds opportunities to accumulate fats. Therefore, once a person ceases to be on a diet and returns to normal nutrition, extra pounds quickly reappear .

The nutritionist explains the benefits of cheating: scheduled breakdowns provide non-stop weight loss and prevent weight gain after the diet.

Cheating Diet Step by Step

Joel Marion advises to start the diet with a “cheating day”, when you can eat carbohydrate-rich foods. The next day, the diet should include only low-calorie foods. During the next five days, the carbohydrate content of the food is gradually increased to reach the level of the first cheating day. On the seventh day, you cheat again. But remember that on “stress days”, calorie intake should only be 50-70% more than during the normal days. The duration of cheating is at least 12 weeks.

How Does the Cheating Diet Work?

The main thing in “cheating” is the consumption of low-calorie foods every day, but for cheating days. But as cheating is based on gradual weight loss, do not limit yourself too much in fats and carbohydrates. And during the breakdown it is undesirable to eat too fatty foods. Better, eat dark chocolate, dried fruit, or a small piece of cake.

Rules for Dieters

And in any case, we should not forget the basic rules for those losing weight:

    Always include vegetables, fruits, and cereals into the diet.
    The daily diet should contain adequate amounts of protein and low animal fat.
    Minimize sugar consumption.
    Drink plenty of fluids (herbal tea, non-carbonated water).
    Completely give up coffee and alcohol.

Anger & Heart Disease in Women Linked

The researchers concluded that there is a connection between the habit of showing impressive anger and the heart condition in women, but it is complex and not fully understood. An article written by the experts from the Military Medical University in Maryland deals with finding out what is better for the heart – violent expression of anger or, conversely, restraining emotions.

The experts believe that women’s emotions may indicate an increased risk of certain diseases. The study of anger was aimed at improving the diagnosis of heart disease in women – scholars regard anger in connection with the risk of ischemic syndrome in women. Their study involved 636 women, who had chest pain or other potential symptoms of coronary artery disease.

The participants of the study had standardized tests to measure their level of anger and hostility. The scientists measured the extent to which each of the participants was prone to anger and observed their ways of expressing anger (violently or reservedly).

It is significant that the angiogram recorded the presence of blood clots in heart arteries in the women who had the habit of vividly expressing their anger. And the more they expressed anger, the greater the symptoms of thrombosis were.

Thus, the researchers conclude that the women, who have a tendency to express their anger violently, face the high risk of blood clots. However, the experts clarify that these women have an increased risk of blood clots in case of other risk factors for heart disease (older age, diabetes, or high cholesterol).

4 Tips to Resolve an Argument with a Partner

You know how it is – to fell like knocking his teeth out or seize him by the hair during your argument? You are not alone.

Bonnie Eaker Weil, the author of the bestseller Make Up, Don’t Break Up offers you four effective exit strategies out of the crisis with a loved one.

It appears; the feelings of hatred, anger and disgust are just as natural for the two of you like talking about love or cuddling. That’s because these polar feelings are produced by the same brain area. And that is why even seemingly perfect couples quarrel like in an action movie.

Less words

All attempts to “reach out” to him during a violent quarrel are doomed to failure. Be wiser, click pause. A timely surrender is not an escape from the battle, but the only way to prevent a “nervous agony” of both.

Nothing Personal

Insulting each other in turn will bring no good, and will not resolve the problem. Try to soften the blow. Instead of “You are so lazy!” say how much you need his help and support.

Struggle for equality

Do not forget that your overall goal is to find a way out of the conflict, and not to blame the partner for all sins. Fixing on your rightness disarms and blinds you. Learn to see not only his errors, but your own, as well.

Be positive

Random touch, harmless jokes and flapping eyelashes are the proven techniques that can pin your “beast” to the mat, even in the midst of an argument. But no sarcasm, do not forget you are a couple.

How to Get The Maximum Health Benefits from Fruits & Veggies

In the fall, you do not know where to look first in the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. Remember the basic rules how to let them bring you only pleasure and benefit!

Seasonal Fruits Are Healthier

It is a well-known fact: seasonal fruit grown in the region, are more useful than the imported exotic ones. They contain more vitamins and antioxidants, which are destroyed during long distance transportation. They are not treated with paraffin or subjected to other manipulations turning foreign fruit into glossy props.

How to Store Fruits?

Do not wash fruit before you put them into the fridge, otherwise the fruit will deteriorate quickly. Simply wipe them with a paper towel or dry cloth and wash just before use. Keep different types of fruit separately. For example, in perforated paper or plastic bags (to enable them to “breathe”). Some fruits (apples, pears, plums, apricots and melon) excrete ethylene – a gas stimulating the ripening of other fruits. If you put the “sensitive” kiwi, peaches, nectarines, and watermelons near, they will spoil faster. But unripe fruits should be kept in a dark place at room temperature, so they will ripen faster and retain vitamins better than if you put them into the fridge.

How to Reduce Food Poisoning & Other Health Risks?

Even high-quality seasonal vegetables can contain nitrates accumulating in the body and turning into dangerous compounds – nitrites, which poison the body. You can reduce the risk of poisoning, if you observe a few simple rules:
remove the top leaves of the cabbage, do not use stalk and thick veins of the leaves for food;
cut off the tips of the carrots, remove the core;
buy round radish, it contains less harmful salt than the long one;
remember that cucumbers and zucchini accumulate nitrates in the peel and around the stalk; leeks – at the bottom of the thickened part; greenery (lettuce, dill, parsley, spinach, etc.) – in the stems.

How to Store Vegetables?

For the vegetables not to spoil early, learn how to store them properly. Potatoes, garlic and onions are stored in a dark place at room temperature. Carrots are stored well in the refrigerator compartment for fruit and vegetables. It can be kept with broccoli, cauliflower, corn, radishes and celery – keep them in separate plastic bags with holes for air circulation. Here, you can also place the greens and fresh herbs, except for basil: it is “afraid” of the cold, so it prefers a container of water and a place on a windowsill. But peppers, cucumbers, zucchini can be placed on the top shelf of the fridge – in the warmest part of it. Tomatoes do not like subzero temperatures either, so they may be left on the table on a plate or in a plastic container.

Mushrooms

This tasty, but heavy protein food, is difficult to digest and is a greater burden for the stomach, so mushroom dishes can be eaten only by healthy people. Mushrooms are strictly prohibited to little children. Be careful! Opposed to meat and fish, which become rotten and get a very unpleasant odor, spoiled mushrooms do not manifest themselves outwardly. Large size and softness of the mushroom tells you it is spoiled.

How to Store Mushrooms?

Mushrooms are a highly perishable product. They begin to decompose in only 4 hours after being picked. Therefore, start processing them as soon as you bring them home. Immediately immerse the cleaned mushrooms in vinegar or salted water so they do not darken. Put the mushrooms in a colander and rinse, repeatedly immersing it in a bowl of cold water. Boil the mushrooms twice (the first water should be poured out immediately after it starts boiling). When mushrooms go down to the bottom of the pan, they are ready.

Genius Depends on Testosterone Levels

The baby is born a genius mathematician or artist due to the mother’s hormonal balance during pregnancy.

The research, conducted by Professor Martin Mrazik, a specialist in developmental psychology from the University of Alberta (Canada), brings the debate about the nature of geniuses to a new level. According to the scientist, the biological nature of this phenomenon is as follows: excess prenatal testosterone stimulates more intensive formation of connections in the brain, especially in the right frontal lobe of the cortex. These conclusions were determined by his clinical examination of talented people.

The observations that can be made today with the help of modern technology, including MRI, give grounds to assume that endowment depends on something bigger than mere genetics or the proper environment.

This study contributes to undermining the idea of early development importance. By analogy, professor Mrazik suggests that lack of cognitive ability depends on the development inside the womb, in particular, it results from the lack of natural testosterone levels. However, the scientist says that more research is needed. Artificial introduction of testosterone is unlikely to be sufficient.

Corporate Income Tax

Corporate Income Tax
Tax policy issues relating to corporate income tax are numerous and complex, but particularly relevant for developing countries are the issues of multiple rates based on sectoral differentiation and the incoherent design of the depreciation system. Developing countries are more prone to having multiple rates along sectoral lines (including the complete exemption from tax of certain sectors, especially the parastatal sector) than industrial countries, possibly as a legacy of past economic regimes that emphasized the state's role in resource allocation. Such practices, however, are clearly detrimental to the proper functioning of market forces (that is, the sectoral allocation of resources is distorted by differences in tax rates). They are indefensible if a government's commitment to a market economy is real. Unifying multiple corporate income tax rates should thus be a priority.
Allowable depreciation of physical assets for tax purposes is an important structural element in determining the cost of capital and the profitability of investment. The most common shortcomings found in the depreciation systems in developing countries include too many asset categories and depreciation rates, excessively low depreciation rates, and a structure of depreciation rates that is not in accordance with the relative obsolescence rates of different asset categories. Rectifying these shortcomings should also receive a high priority in tax policy deliberations in these countries.
In restructuring their depreciation systems, developing countries could well benefit from certain guidelines:

    Classifying assets into three or four categories should be more than sufficient—for example, grouping assets that last a long time, such as buildings, at one end, and fast-depreciating assets, such as computers, at the other with one or two categories of machinery and equipment in between.
    Only one depreciation rate should be assigned to each category.
    Depreciation rates should generally be set higher than the actual physical lives of the underlying assets to compensate for the lack of a comprehensive inflation-compensating mechanism in most tax systems.
    On administrative grounds, the declining-balance method should be preferred to the straight-line method. The declining-balance method allows the pooling of all assets in the same asset category and automatically accounts for capital gains and losses from asset disposals, thus substantially simplifying bookkeeping requirements.

Composition of Tax Revenue

Composition of Tax Revenue
Turning to the composition of tax revenue, we find ourselves in an area of conflicting theories. The issues involve the taxation of income relative to that of consumption and under consumption, the taxation of imports versus the taxation of domestic consumption. Both efficiency (whether the tax enhances or diminishes the overall welfare of those who are taxed) and equity (whether the tax is fair to everybody) are central to the analysis.
The conventional belief that taxing income entails a higher welfare (efficiency) cost than taxing consumption is based in part on the fact that income tax, which contains elements of both a labor tax and a capital tax, reduces the taxpayer's ability to save. Doubt has been cast on this belief, however, by considerations of the crucial role of the length of the taxpayer's planning horizon and the cost of human and physical capital accumulation. The upshot of these theoretical considerations renders the relative welfare costs of the two taxes (income and consumption) uncertain.
Another concern in the choice between taxing income and taxing consumption involves their relative impact on equity. Taxing consumption has traditionally been thought to be inherently more regressive (that is, harder on the poor than the rich) than taxing income. Doubt has been cast on this belief as well. Theoretical and practical considerations suggest that the equity concerns about the traditional form of taxing consumption are probably overstated and that, for developing countries, attempts to address these concerns by such initiatives as graduated consumption taxes would be ineffective and administratively impractical.
With regard to taxes on imports, lowering these taxes will lead to more competition from foreign enterprises. While reducing protection of domestic industries from this foreign competition is an inevitable consequence, or even the objective, of a trade liberalization program, reduced budgetary revenue would be an unwelcome by-product of the program. Feasible compensatory revenue measures under the circumstances almost always involve increasing domestic consumption taxes. Rarely would increasing income taxes be considered a viable option on the grounds of both policy (because of their perceived negative impact on investment) and administration (because their revenue yield is less certain and less timely than that from consumption tax changes).
Data from industrial and developing countries show that the ratio of income to consumption taxes in industrial countries has consistently remained more than double the ratio in developing countries. (That is, compared with developing countries, industrial countries derive proportionally twice as much revenue from income tax than from consumption tax.) The data also reveal a notable difference in the ratio of corporate income tax to personal income tax. Industrial countries raise about four times as much from personal income tax than from corporate income tax. Differences between the two country groups in wage income, in the sophistication of the tax administration, and in the political power of the richest segment of the population are the primary contributors to this disparity. On the other hand, revenue from trade taxes is significantly higher in developing countries than in industrial countries.
While it is difficult to draw clear-cut normative policy prescriptions from international comparisons as regards the income-consumption tax mix, a compelling implication revealed by the comparison is that economic development tends to lead to a relative shift in the composition of revenue from consumption to personal income taxes. At any given point of time, however, the important tax policy issue for developing countries is not so much to determine the optimal tax mix as to spell out clearly the objectives to be achieved by any contemplated shift in the mix, to assess the economic consequences (for efficiency and equity) of such a shift, and to implement compensatory measures if the poor are made worse off by the shift.

Skin Whitening Tips

The busy lifestyle keeps us outdoor for most part of the day and continuously exposes our delicate skin to the blazing sun rays. This turns our skin down a few tones. The working ladies are the biggest victim of it, since their skin doesn’t repairs as fast as a younger skin. Relax, there is nothing to worry about. You can shield your skin from darkening and help it come back to life by following a few skin whitening tips.

Skin Whitening Routine

Make this your daily routine and watch your skin come back to life and stay fresh, glowing and white.

• Drink plenty of water through the day, especially when your outdoors. The body requires water to function properly and skin is the first to lose its moisture when we don’t supply our body with enough water.

• Wash your face immediately when you come back home to wash off all the sweat and dirt before it embeds on your skin and darken it. Don’t rely on your fancy face washes, use a good cleanser that will effectively clean your skin.

• Use a face scrub once a week to scruboff the dead skin cells that make the skin look dark and dull.

• Never forget to moisturize your skin before going to bed. Moisturizing helps replenish the lost moisture; helps repair the skin and prepare your skin for the coming battle with sun rays.

• Milk is the best and most natural skin whitening agent. Drink a glass of cold milk before going to bed and keep your skin beautiful, healthy, glowing and white inside and out.

• Use the weekends to do a few great skin whitening facials on your skin.

Quick And Easy Skin Whitening Tips

Skin Whitening Face Wash:

• Forget the fancy expensive face wash from the market shelves. Use fine gram flour, keep it in a jar in your bathroom. Take round about a tablespoon in your palm, make a paste with a little tap water and apply it on your wet face. Leave it for a minute or two (you don’t need to dry it), give it time to suck out the dirt and sweat off your skin pores, then wash off with cold water.

• If you want something much stronger, make a paste of barley flour with lemon juice and rose water. Apply it to your wet face and leave it to dry slightly. Wash it off with cold water. This is a great skin whitening treatment.

• If you have pimples problem then add a small quantity of ground azadirachta indica leaves (neem) to your gram or barely flour. This disinfects the skin, helps heal the pimples and protects your skin from getting more pimples.

Skin Whitening Facials:

Here is a list of some great quick and easy whitening facials that you can very easily do on weekends to whiten your skin.

• Soak 5 almonds in water overnight. Grind them to a fine paste with 4 teaspoon of milk. Apply to wet face. Wash off with cold water after half an hour.

• Mix a tablespoon of lemon juice with a quarter teaspoon of nigella seed oil (kalonji) and apply it all over your face early in the morning. Leave it on for 10 minutes and then wash off with lukewarm water.

• Grind a ripe tomato and mix it with 1 tsp of lemon juice. Apply it to your face and wash it off with cold water after 20 minutes.

• Take 3 teaspoon raw milk and apply it on your face. Wash it off with fresh water after 20 minutes.

• Mix a leveled tablespoon of pure mud mask with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice with enough rose water to form a paste. Apply it on your wet face and leave to dry. Wash it off with cold water. This will whiten your skin and make it glow.

Skin Whitening Drinks

Facial skin is very delicate and sensitive, it needs whitening inside and out. Include these whitening drinks in your daily diet.

• Drink a glass of cold milk before going to bed.

• Drink a glass of warm water mixed with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of pure honey every morning.

• Boil a glass of water, cool it down slightly and then add 5-6 mint leaves to it. Cover and let it sit for 4 minutes. Drink it any time of the day.

5 Homemade Hair Conditioner Recipes

There are many items in your kitchen that you can use to make natural beauty products like hair conditioner. Aside from saving money, the major reason to make your own, is taking better care of your hair. Hair conditioning leaves your hair shiny and silky after shampoo. Now make your own homemade hair conditioner and enjoy soft, smooth and shiny hair.

Avocado Deep Conditioner

Ingredients

Ripe avocado ½ (mashed)
Olive oil ½ tsp
Lavender or rosemary essential oil 3 drops

Method

Combine ingredients and apply to hair, focusing on the ends. Leave on hair at least 10 minutes, and then rinse off with normal water.

Honey Hair Conditioner

Ingredients

Egg 1
Honey 1 tsp
Olive oil 3-4 drops

Method

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
Apply on hair and message gently. Rinse hair after 20 minutes.

Milk and Banana Conditioner for Dry Hair

Ingredients

Milk 1 cup
Banana 1
Olive oil 1 tsp

Method

Blend all ingredients to make a paste.
Now wet your hair with warm water.
Take paste in your hand and spread it length wise by gently combing the hair.
By combing ensure that the conditioner is evenly applied on the hair.
Now cover the hair with a plastic cap. Let is sit for 20 minutes then rinse it off.
Remember this is not an after wash hair conditioner so you will need to shampoo your hair after rinsing off the conditioner.

Diy Conditioner

Ingredients

Water 2 cups
Apple cider vinegar ½ cup

Method

Combine water and vinegar in a bottle.
Shake before use.
Apply directly to scalps, run your fingers through your hair a few times while the mixture does its cleaning and conditioning, and then rinse out.

Mint Conditioner

Boil some fresh mint in 2-3 cups of boiling water and then, strain. Let it cool. Use as a hair rinse after shampoo to keep your hair and scalp refreshed.