Boston Marathon bombs kill 2 dead, hurt more than 20

 

130415160947-boston-marathon-explosion-08-c1-mainhttp://news.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/15/explosions-near-finish-of-boston-marathon/?hpt=hp_t1

BOSTON, April 15 (Reuters) – Two explosions hit the Boston Marathon as runners crossed the finish line on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring 23 on a day when tens of thousands of people pack the streets to watch one of the world’s best known marathons.

Pictures from the scene showed blood stains on the ground and several people knocked down. Massachusetts General Hospital was treating victims of the explosion in its emergency room but information about their condition was not immediately available, a spokeswoman said.

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Omega J8004 Juicer Review

Omega J8004 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating Juicer

 

omega j8004 reviewAfter a lot of research and consulting with raw food experts, I decided to buy the Omega J8004 juicer from the Amazon website.  In my opinion, it’s the best juicer on the market for the price.  I did many comparisons with the other brands, and even the more expensive Omega juicers available, and nothing was able to beat the J8004.  One thing that really convinced me was browsing through the hundreds of reviews on Amazon – the average rating was 4.5 stars out of 5, which is quite remarkable and says a lot about other peoples experience with the juicer.

The Omega J8004 is a masticating style juicer, also known as a “slow juicer”.  But trust me, it isn’t slow at all – I’m able to juice a load of vegetables within 5 minutes on it.  The low speed protects and maintains the healthy enzymes without heating them in any way or destroying nutrients.  You also end up getting 25% more juice out of your vegetables as opposed to the lower quality juicers.  Since it’s slow juicer, it also prevents oxidation and allows the juice to be stored up to 72 hours in the fridge without degradation.

Many people have reported that the Omega J8004 is one of the best on the market for juicing leafy greens, which is the primary thing that I juice and benefit from.  It has a load of other features, like making pasta’s, nut butters, baby food, grind coffee and spices, whip up soy milk, and mince herbs and garlic.  The clean up is fast and easy – much quicker than what I had before.  And everything about it is high quality, including the plastic which is 8X stronger than other plastics.

Ultimately, is it worth investing $250 in a juicer?

My answer is yes.  You can either invest in a cheap, low quality juicer like I had before, which cost me around $60-80, and then have to deal with it breaking within months or a year.  Or, you can invest the extra $200 and get something that you know will last up to 15 years (it comes with a 15 year warranty) and produce better juice and nutrition for your body.

If you can’t afford a juicer, sell your car.  A juicer will get you farther in life.

Quality is ALWAYS the better investment in the long-term.  I noticeably get more juice from the Omega J8004 than my cheaper juicer (25% more), which ends up saving money over the long-term on fruits and vegetables.

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Find Your Greatness…

It is not just the championship athlete or record breaker that aspires to push their limits and become great.

It is also the parent, teacher and coach who wants their children
and students to reach their full potential.

It’s the leader or entrepreneur who wants to create a culture
that inspires excellence and innovation.

It’s the artist who wants to create a true work of art that
moves everyone who comes in contact with it.

It’s everyone who strives to excel on their own terms, to set and
realize personal goals and achieve their own defining moment of
greatness.

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Top Fitness Gadgets of the Year

Nike+ FuelBand

Nike-Fuelband-blackThis rubber bracelet—perhaps the most sports-oriented of the lot—gives you a rundown of steps and calories burned via flashy LED readouts and a single button on the wristband’s front. It pairs with Nike+ Connect software, and the driving stat is an activity-based, Nike-specific currency called NikeFuel.

PROS: For users who like to keep tabs on their progress, the LED display will be a big plus—one that the Up and the Larklife are missing. It comes with two additional connector links of different sizes to ensure a perfect fit. The red-to-greed lights on the band allow for easy progress check-ins, and those who like having a cheering squad will appreciate the FuelBand’s exuberant blinking “GOAL” when you reach your ideal step count for the day. Bluetooth syncing means your data is always available. Tons of other social media-based options, including progress-sharing and gaming via NikeFuel Missions.

CONS: Though the Larklife is bulkier, it at least has a thinner bottom band portion that doesn’t inhibit typing. The FuelBand is uniform in size, which means it often was left on the desktop after typing with it became too uncomfortable. The design isn’t subtle or sleek—it looks like an exercise device—and while some seem to like the LED display, it’s a bit over-the-top. Lack of sleep monitoring is a bummer.

BOTTOM LINE: Excellent straight-up fitness-tracker, with a surprise bonus: a built-in watch! Click here to checkout this gadget on Amazon.

Jawbone UP


This rubber wristband is, like its competitors, fueled by an accelerometer that tracks movements throughout the day and night. It syncs data to your phone using a headphone jack plug-in and companion app, which offers meal and mood tracking on top of the usual data rundown. There’s no display on the band itself save a small LED light that illuminates when the endcap button is pressed to indicate wake or sleep modes.

Up-Jawbone-stack

PROS: As a slim, display-less band, the Up is one of the less obtrusive devices. The one-touch sleep button is handy (as is the Power Nap mode) and circumvents the annoying wake-to-sleep band transition encountered by the Fitbit and Larklife. A smart alarm allows users to set a window in which to be woken up, and the UP chooses a time when sleep is lightest to gently vibrate and wake the user. The app is simple, intuitive, and visually appealing. A single charge takes just over an hour, and the battery lasts forever—about ten days—before a recharge is needed.

CONS: The design beats out Nike and Lark’s, but as a bracelet, it’s still fairly obvious. If you’re not keen on regular syncing, the lack of a wireless sync option could be frustrating. If you’re looking for food tracking, this isn’t the place to find it—the Up’s tracking model requires multiple clicks just to select items or search and is a general disappointment on the ease-of-use front.

BOTTOM LINE: If you don’t mind the bracelet form, it’s a solid option in a saturated field—but ultimately it’s a big price to pay for an app and a pedometer. This one excels in sleep-monitoring and the vibrating alarm.

I personally purchased this product before and it is great. I love how it keeps you on track with you fitness goals, tracking your sleep patterns and help you living a healthier life style. Right now there is an awesome deal 20% off for this gadget on Amazon. Click here to check out this deal right now.

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Healthy Body Healthy Mind

tumblr_m497zsPSga1rty7oao1_r1_500The health of your mind and your body is something that you want to maintain throughout your lifetime, not just once in a while. In order to do so, you must learn to understand what your body is communicating to you. Below I will discuss 5 tips for a healthier body and mind based on the book “Natural Health, Natural Medicine” by Andrew Weil, M.D., as well as from my own personal experience.

Tip #1) Listen carefully to your body and you’ll change the way you eat. In order to maintain a weight that is healthy for you, it is important to listen to when you are full. I cannot stress this enough, as it can be easy to eat well past the point of fullness if you are not paying attention. The best remedy for this is to listen to your stomach, take your time when you eat so you can gauge with more accuracy, and eat smaller meals more frequently. Eating smaller more frequent meals throughout the day will not only keep your metabolism firing, but it will ensure that you are not over eating. Do your best to choose foods that are healthy and nutritious. Your body will thank you and you will feel better as well. However, the balance in health and weight maintenance is to enjoy your food! There is no need to put yourself through agony eating something just because it’s good for you. It won’t be very good for you if you’re grossed out by the whole experience. The whole point is to enjoy your food, while at the same time making healthy choices. Have fun trying new foods you’ve never tried before, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the variety of tastes out there!

Tip #2) Minimize the unnecessary additives and chemicals in your food. There has been a rising concern with the amount of chemicals such as pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, and PCBs that go into our food. Many people are concerned about how the chemicals affects our body and even the possibility of links between autism, ADHD and other disorders. In order to minimize your input of these potentially harmful chemicals, it is important to have a diet that is full of variety. It is the best way to avoid eating too much of anything that is not good for your system. My best suggestion would be to eat as much fresh food as you can, while minimizing canned or frozen food to the best of your ability and budget. I would highly recommend finding a local farmers market if you can so that you can purchase organically grown food (food that has been grown without the use of chemicals). Purchasing organic food can be very expensive, so many communities have created their own community gardens where people can grow there own food. This may be something you want to consider in your community. It is a great way for people to be more self-sufficient and it also saves money. You can also try your hand at growing your own little garden if you have the space and sunlight.

Tip #3) Learn to appreciate the simple taste of food. Often we rely too much on condiments to “improve” the taste of our food. Unfortunately these flavors take away from the enjoyment of the natural taste of whatever food we are eating. Adding condiments such as mayonnaise to your bread, dressing on your salad, butter on your corn, or whipping cream on fruit can add a huge amount of fat to your diet. I strongly suggest trying these foods without the condiments in order to learn and appreciate the pure taste of these foods. If you do put condiments on your food, try adding less, or buy a low fat alternative.

Tip #4) Exercise, relax, and enjoy yourself! Try to exercise whenever you feel the urge to do so. Don’t try and force it on yourself because it will take the enjoyment out of doing it. Find an activity that really interests you and then you’ll be able to have a great workout while having fun at the same time. Having a healthy body is just as important as having a healthy mind. In fact, and mind and body are deeply interconnected. For example; when someone is experiencing stress the body releases a hormone called cortisol, which affects the metabolism. Being stressed for long periods of time can actually make you put weight on faster since the metabolic rate is affected. Learning to relax can help you deal with stress more constructively while giving you the peace of mind to be in the moment. It can also help with the maintenance of a healthy weight. I highly recommend meditation as a means to relaxation. All you need in order to meditate is yourself and a quiet place. Let go of thought and drift in quietness. If thoughts come up, observe them, but don’t follow them. You may also want to try meditative exercises such as Tai Chi, or yoga. These types of relaxation techniques are becoming quite popular as the benefits are observed within both the mind and body.

Tip #5) Love yourself. The more you love and respect yourself, the more inclined you will be to take care of your body. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “you are what you eat”. You have to see who you are and love who you are internally so that you can appreciate the external body you are in. I often see men or women who don’t love themselves express this dislike by attempting to change their exterior body. I’m sure you have seen this too; men who go on steroids to be bigger and in their mind “better” or women who get face surgery because they are never happy with what their natural self looks like. Loving and accepting yourself go hand in hand, which also gives you the ability to reach out and love others as well. It’s impossible to love others if you don’t love yourself. This acceptance and love will shine onto everything you are and everything you do. It will also help you sustain long lasting changes in being a more relax and healthier being.
These 5 tips for a maintaining a healthy mind and body are truly effective if you really want to change and you stay consistent with the changes.

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Source: http://www.noomii.com/articles/744-5-tips-for-a-maintaining-a-healthy-mind-and-body

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Somanabolic Muscle Maximizer Reviews

There are a lot of hypes online these days about the Somanabolic Muscle Maximizer. The Somanabolic Muscle Maximizer is created for all the males who want to have a serious break through achievement with their body building routine. By following the program and using the steps provided, everyone can surely get the exact instructions that they need to have a successful routine and follow the nutritional guidelines that can help them in creating high quality diet plans.

Somanabolic Muscle Maximizer is a product that combines the two issues of healthy diet and exercise perfectly and it also offers a customized nutritional guide which will greatly depend on the body type of the user. This means that the training is supported by the right nutritional guide that the body needs. Part of this program will show the trainee what exactly they need to eat so that their body can burn more fats while ensuring that they still have enough energy to support them in their goal to build their lean muscle simultaneously. The Somanabolic Muscle Maximizer is a 9 week training program and customized for the somatotype to be able to deliver the best result through its generic solution to achieve the best growth faster.

After doing a bit research on my own, I found that this program really works. The program teaches you the natural way of building muscle. If you want to get into a fit body, lose body fat, build lean muscle and become leaner, this is problably a great program to try not – not to mention it is only $47 purchasing it through their online website.

Benefits of Somanabolic Muscle Maximizer

  • Provide well defined nutritional plan,
  • Do not produce any side effects,
  • Download easily from the internet,
  • Affordability, Availability and flexibility.

In general, this guide consists of two-phase program. The first program includes a customized diet program and the second one is a strength training program. You can able to build your body structure with these programs. These two programs are formulated effectively. In the first phase, the diet plan has four sections such as Customizer, Train Strain Factor, Systematic Nutrabolism and Rebuilder.

These programs recommend various food items. Proteins are the best substance for building muscles. It recommends different kinds of foods such as,

  • Mixed nuts,
  • Berries,
  • Fish oil,
  • Poultry eggs,
  • Low fat foods,
  • Olive oil,
  • Poultry meat,
  • Broccoli.
  • Tomatoes,
  • Carrots,
  • Spinach,
  • Healthy seeds and
  • Oats.

If you are taking these food items with right proportions, it will help you to build the muscles easily and quickly. These food items help you to not only build muscles but also protect from dangerous diseases.

Click here to check out the program.

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How to make a come back!

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Sometimes everything just seems to fall apart in life.

It could anything that you are struggling with at this moment. It could be your job, finances, getting out of debt, being overweight, health, relationships, and the list goes on.

One bad day could push you over the edge and make you feel hopeless and miserable.

As Murphy’s Law states – Bad news comes in threes.

It seems like after one bad news, our luck can totally change and work against us. We feel like we get trapped into this vicious cycle and there is no escape.

Guess what? There is a way out and you can pick yourself back up out of what seems like the mess that is your life!

Face what went wrong in your life. Write it down, so it’s black-and-white in front of you. Be honest and self honest about what happened. Sometimes it’s harder to face a situation that was outside your control than when it was something you caused by your own procrastination or bad decisions. Other people find it harder to accept that they may have contributed to the disaster or caused it. A comeback starts with the fact that you need to make a comeback.

7  Steps to Make a COME BACK!

1.      Refuse to Die

never-give-upNever. Never. Give UP!

If you feel like you’re at the end the road with nowhere to go, realize you are lying to yourself.  You have imprisoned yourself in your own mind by telling self-defeating stories – stories about what your life should be like, what you should have already accomplished, and so forth.  By doing this you’ve created a tiny space in your mind and you’ve begun to believe you are actually living in it.

But you are NOT.  You are alive in a vast world with infinite destinations.  Take a moment to remind yourself of this.  Go outside.  Look at the sky and the clouds.  THIS is the space in which you really live.  Breathe it in.  Then look at your current situation again.

Here are 22 reasons why you shouldn’t give up. 

2.      Decide to Fight

I hope I have convinced you not to give up by now.

When you are down, other people will write you off, do not let them define you! Look at every obstacle, setback, rejection, and constraints as an opportunity to redeem yourself. Prove them wrong and fight back!

3.      Get Mad

Anger can be a very powerful tool. Pain, failure, loss and embarrassment are great motivators. Use them to your advantages. use the pain as fuel that drives your comeback.

4.      Get Creative

What changes can you make in your life that will reduce the chance of this happening again? If it was a natural disaster, you may purchase emergency supplies and keep them more accessible so that if it does happen again, you have necessities at hand. If it was job loss or a breakup, sort out what you can do to prevent the same thing happening in your next job or relationship.

5.      Focus on Result

The next one years or five years can be the greatest of your life. They can become a Decade of Destiny, where your life is focused and, as a result, you’re able to make an impact in all you do. In order to get great results, we need to ask ourselves great questions.

Be honest to yourself and ask where am I spiritually, financially, emotionally, relationally, and physically? What can I change? In all of those areas you identified, what would you like to be different?

6.      Take a Risk

goldfish jumping out of the water

“Your brain can figure out a problem or five; what your brain can’t do is solve the giant, unnamed shadowy mass of fear between you and your goal. “
 

Taking risks is tough, but necessary to enrich our lives. You could do many, many things in your lifetime, but nothing worth having is going to be handed to you. If you want to make the most of your life, it takes grand adventure and it takes risk.

7.      Enjoy the Ride

enjoy-the-ride

The last key to changing your life is to enjoy the ride. Make a conscious choice to enjoy the journey you’re taking.

The Bad Makes The Good Better. Of course, it is easier to enjoy the happier, good experiences in life and everybody would rather have positive experiences, but honestly, without the bad experiences, the good experiences are not as good. Those experiences are not as rich. When you walk through the valley, when you persevere through the hard times, the view from the top of the mountain is so much richer.

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Diet

Last year one of my top goals was to have a six pack by summer. It is probably one of the hardest thing to do but it is not impossible! I was very motivated and focused most of my energy into my workouts. When it came to diet, I didn’t have a plan or was prepared.

By the time summer came around, I was working out hard but wasn’t getting the result I wanted.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

As Benjamin mentioned in his quote, I did not have a plan and failed to have a six pack last year. It was a great lesson because I knew why I failed and what I needed to do to make it right this year.

Now it is 2013 and I am challenging myself again to have a six pack by end of April. I am definitely focusing more on my diet – also spending more time in the kitchen doing meal preparations.

Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym!

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Gym gadgets

For those runners, cyclists, swimmers, triathletes, and pure over-the-top endurance athletes, Polar has always been a name associated with tech-gear engineered to help you train better, smarter, faster. 

The RCX5 multisport watch is one of Polar’s top-shelf training computers design to more efficiently optimize, analyze, and archive your workouts.

For those of you who enjoy running like me, I use the watch to keep track of my heart rate to keep myself in the best heart rate zone for maximum performance. This watch is also probably the best looking sports watch in its class (both very stylish and lightweight).

The RCX5 begins at $350, the Run package is $420 and goes up from there. But in this case, you are getting what you pay for; a great, feature-rich, highly expandable training watch for the hardcore athlete.

Amazon has the best price by far – price starting at $233.23 with free shipping 🙂

polar_rcx5-red

Click here to check out this watch on Amazon.com

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The Power of Perseverance

perseverance-leadership

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength. Not a lack of Knowledge. But Rather in a lack of Will.”

Have you ever heard of the saying ” When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going “?  But what happens when you have been pushed against a wall and there is no room to give??

If you ever find yourself in this situation, the best thing to do is NOT GIVING UP! There is nothing in life that can test your character like a demanding goal. The desire to be something better than who you are, the person you meant to be! But before any goal is achieved, you will experience both triumph and tragedy.

No creditable achievement in your life will ever come without obstacles. You will run into obstacles. Things will go wrong. We must be thankful for all obstacles, for they are our practice ground to prepare us for a greater future victory.

Perseverance keeps our dream alive!

We live in an age of immediate gratification. We want things now, no delays, no substitutes, and no excuses. We want overnight growth, instant mastery , and flawless performance on the first try. This is not how life works.

The key to success is not strength and it’s not speed, it’s perseverance – staying steady and strong. Our fitness life is like a long distance run. We don’t have to be the fastest or the strongest, we just have to finish and do our very best with what we have. This means, no matter what slows us down, all that matters is we stay in the race.

Yang Yu

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