On the subject of Bananas

Banana - noun. An edible fruit; typically yellow,green, or brown; grown on herbaceous plants.

Banana Dog - noun. A dog made from the edible yellow fruit, banana.

Banana House - noun. A house made from a banana

Bananas have many functions, they can be used as works of art, in construction of plastics, and even skin care.

Bananas have been the main focused of songs....

and bananas can be turned into just about anything!

But did you know that bananas are on their way to becoming extinct? 

This great and versatile fruit is becoming extinct for being so great, claims researcher Dan Koeppel, in his book Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World. 

The common yellow banana that people know in the US, Canada, and Europe, called the Cavendish, is the most eaten fruit in the United States because it is nutritious, convenient, and affordable. Over 100 billion Cavendish Bananas are consumed annually worldwide. These bananas are perfect from a genetic standpoint; every banana is a genetic twin to the first one found in Southeast Asia which was brought to a Caribbean botanic garden in the early 20th century. 

The banana has become too perfect after fifteen thousand years of human cultivation. Bananas lacked genetic diversity which led it to be virus prone. A fungus that infects a plantation of bananas could infect them all. Imagine a world without bananas.

No more banana phones...

No more bananas at parties...

Could anyone imagine a world without this wonderful yellow fruit?

SAVE BANANAS!!!

The Art of Gift Giving

Christmas is the time of the year where you remember the little things in life and slow down for a bit. 

You remember silly things and floods of memories are at the front of your mind. You remember gifts you've given and gifts you've received, and even memories so precious they were gifts in themselves. 

Many people ask what you would like for a gift, but isn't that a little bit strange?

Asking what a person what they may want takes the excitement out of giving and receiving a gift. It makes gift giving feel like an obligatory tradition that that is inconveniencing the gift giver and putting the person who may receive a gift on the spot. 

Gift giving should be about the person, about what they like, and how they make you feel or your interactions with that person. You don't even need to know the person very long just to know something about them. 

Gift giving is about watching someone's face light up with excitement. 

You don't need to go over the top....

The person who receives the gift just needs to know that you put some thought into giving them a gift that is just for them. 

If someone likes reading, there are a number things that relate to reading that can be great gifts.

Like a first edition of their favorite book, or a leather version of their favorite book with their initials on it.

If you have been to someone's house, what do they have out? What do they collect? What do they like and cherish and keep out for everyone to see?

How did you meet? Did you meet at a fair or because of something?

Or have you known them forever? And know exactly what they would like?

Gifts don't have to be bought either, they can be made. Making a gift is more than just making an object to give to them. The gift should be in honor of the person you are giving it to; if they like cars then give them something car related. 

Gifts are so many things, they don't even have to be an object. They can be a moment that you created just for a person to see or experience. The magic of a single moment can last a lifetime while an object may get lost or corrode away. 

A gift can be so many things from the simplest of gestures to things you plan out specially for someone you love. Any gift can be the most wonderful thing to someone, if you put a little bit of thought into it. 

The Importance of Eating Breakfast

           Breakfast is the first meal of the day as it helps everyone start the day off on the right foot. Eating breakfast not only fills one up in the morning, but it also improves concentration and memory, and keeps people healthier. Eating breakfast also reduces the risk of having diabetes and or having a heart attack, and helps to maintain a healthy weight.

            According to an article in the scientific journal Physiology & Behavior, an experiment by Loughborough University(¹) showed that eating breakfast improves concentration. Students who ate nutritional balanced breakfasts reported better concentration and more positive reactions to difficult tasks in the morning and throughout the day. Those students (who ate breakfast) showed twice as much concentration as the students who did not eat breakfast. They also had a faster memory recall that was about 75% faster than students who did not eat breakfast, showing that eating breakfast improved more positive reactions and faster memory recall. 

            Web MD(3) and the American Journal of Epidemiology(4) suggests that eating breakfast keeps people healthier over all. Having food in one’s stomach helps every system in the body function properly. It stops the body from hoarding food and gaining excess weight. Eating breakfast allows the body to regulate its system not just in the morning but also throughout the day. 

            BBC News' Dr. Mark Pereira(2) showed that breakfast, in addition to keeping up general health, also reduces the risk of having diabetes and or having a heart attack. Eating breakfast helps to balance the body’s systems, which is what the body needs to maintain good health. Overall good health puts less stress on the body allowing it to produce all of the insulin it needs to function properly.

            Eating breakfast helps the body in so many beneficial ways that it would be hard to imagine skipping it. The positive feedback our bodies give us in return for eating a healthy breakfast turns the foods we choose into a breakfast of champions.

Citations

1. Simon B. Cooper, Stephan Bandelow, and Mary E. Nevill “Breakfast consumption and cognitive function in adolescent schoolchildren” Physiology & Behavior Volume 103, Issue 5, 6 July 2011 <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938411001375>
2. "Breakfast is the most important meal" <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2824987.stm>
3. "The many benefits of breakfast" Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD, <http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/many-benefits-breakfast>
4. <http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/158/1/85.full>