Adding More Phytonutrients To Your Diet Provides Big Benefits

Adding more phytonutrients to your diet might just seem like a prescription for more food, more confusion, more to worry about. But in reality, making sure you get enough of the phytonutrient benefit is as easy as adding color, freshness and variety.

Phytonutrients are found naturally in a variety of foods, such as legumes, nuts, teas, fruits, vegetables and grains, but are not considered necessary to sustain life (as are fats, protein, vitamins and minerals). Many people choose to increase phytonutrients in their diet by improved diet as well as nutritional supplementation.

Phytonutrients are thought to have a variety of beneficial and significant benefits to our health. Eating more whole foods in the form of fruits and vegetables and the like can benefit you by protecting you from cancer and certain diseases. In addition, it’s believed that phytonutrients can improve cell-to-cell communication within the body, possibly repair DNA damage from smoking and other toxic substances, and strengthen the immune system.

So how do you add more phytonutrients to your diet? It’s as easy as adding color, variety and freshness.

Color – When you think of phytonutrients, think color. Think of the bright red of a perfectly ripe tomato, or the rich redness of a summer grape. Although fruits and vegetables are the best source of nutrient-dense phytonutrients, most Americans get woefully low amounts of fresh produce in their diets. According to the USDA, while it’s recommended we get at least 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, most Americans get little more than 3 servings. Of that, deep yellow and dark green vegetables account for only 0.2 daily servings on average.

Yet it’s the richly colored vegetables and fruits that provide the best sources of phytonutrients. If your grocery cart isn’t full of color (and that doesn’t include colored Goldfish crackers), add some next time you’re shopping.

Variety -- Although fruits and vegetables are the best sources of phytonutrients, they aren’t the only source. So while you want to add a lot of color to your diet in the form of nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables like berries, grapes, tomatoes, peppers, spinach and the like, think about adding other sources of phytonutrients as well. Consider adding a glass of tea at lunch or dinner or some chopped pecans or slivered almonds to your oatmeal in the morning.

Freshness – There is much debate on the value of fresh vegetables versus frozen. It’s fair to say everyone agrees that canned holds little nutritional content, so adding can of veggies to your cart isn’t the best plan (this excludes canned tomatoes which retain the freshness and nutrient value of fresh). But in a pinch, or in the off season, frozen vegetables can certainly be included in your daily diet. Frozen fruits are always fine, as long as they are whole, unprocessed and without added sugar.

Related Information of Interest:

Black Walnut Trees Produce A Natural Insecticide
The black walnut tree manufactures a substance that is a natural insecticide according to experts at the Texas State University in Austin.

American black walnut tress contain a tannic acid chemists call juglone. The reddish yellow substance leaches from leaves, and some believe exudes from roots, or transfers from branches and foliage to the roots. Tree physiologists agree that roots of other plants that come in contact with those black walnut tree roots die--even other black walnut seedlings.

Juglone is sometimes washed out of the still green walnuts during late summer or even autumn rains. The growth of plants 60 to 80 feet away are inhibited by the juglone. The substance affects plants of various families. Studies have found that tomatoes, alfalfa, potatoes, apples, blackberries, rhododendron, mountain laurel and pine trees are all affected.

According to a professor and extension forester at Iowa State University, juglone is known to repel various garden insects. Just by placing branches of the tree around the house and under furniture dog and cat owners are amazed to find that their pets have fewer fleas.

About Marilyn: Marilyn Pokorney is a freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment. She also loves crafts, gardening, and reading. Website: www.apluswriting.net/

Who Wrote the Best Love Poem?
Who Wrote the Best Love Poem?

Love poems have long been a way for men and women to express their feelings for one another in a unique and romantic way. They range from structured, formal works such as those by William Shakespeare to free verse works by modern greats such as e.e. cummings. But of all the love poems ever written, who wrote the best love poem ever?

Of course this question may have a different answer depending on who you ask. But for the sake of argument, let’s say that the poet who created the poem that is most often quoted and most recognizable is the one who wrote the best love poem of all time. If these are the criteria, then the poem How Do I Love Thee? by the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning would win hands down.

Browning wrote this poem to her husband. She and Robert Browning, also a poet, wrote countless love letters to one another over the period of several years. Today, these love letters and the poems that accompany them are treasured parts of American literature. Here is Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s finest and most recognizable work:

How Do I Love Thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

When people think of love poems, they usually think of this one, especially of the first line. It has inspired many other poems in its time and is a great source of imitation. As the best love poem ever written, it has all the elements of a great work: elegant structure, classic rhyme scheme, and beautiful imagery.

Visit to find more of the best love poems.

Art Hill is an internet poet who operates an independant poetry publishing company.

The Best Way To Save Money On Advertising - Target Locally
Over the years I have discovered exactly what derails an ad. More often than not, when an ad fails to produce results, the problem isn't with the ad. The problem is with WHO the ad reaches.

Before you start blaming lack of response on your ad, stop a moment to consider who it is TARGETED to.

Let's take a moment to look at Internet advertising. First off, let me say I dearly love advertising on the Net. The advertising rates for search engines and ezines are far, far lower than advertising your business on traditional media like TV or newspapers. For what one TV commercial would cost, I can advertise a business extensively for weeks, even months.

But, as I'm sure you've realized by now, the Internet is no magic advertising medium. Just as often as with anywhere else, your ad can pull less than expected response. The problem is with lack of targeting.

If most or all of your customers live in the geographical area of your store, using a search engine to reach people all over the world doesn't make much sense. You can consider your money wasted when somebody who will NEVER walk into your store reads your ad.

The solution is to advertise on sites or ezines that reach YOUR customers at a very high rate. This could be a local site that provides sports scores for dozens of local sports teams. Or a site that lists a great many local building contractors. Very specific information needed by people in YOUR area will draw just the kind of local crowd you can capitalize on.

We're seeing a sudden rise of local pay-per-click search engines. These use the same popular technology as Google and Overture, but limit their reach to businesses in a particular city, state, or region.

Often these local pay-per-click sites have very low rates, a little as one cent per click. Many offer as many as 1,000 free clicks to any business that signs up.

Be sure to check if the pay-per-click site has plenty of businesses listed in their database. An empty site won't attract many visitors and you may not reach enough audience to have any effect on your sales. Also watch for a pay-per-click that is promoting in your area. If they are visible to you, they are probably getting the attention of lots of your customers.

Linda Stevens is CEO of MyCalgaryClicks.com, the local Pay-Per-Click city search directory for Calgary, AB Canada. Linda believes in following her own advice and is offering $10 in free bidding cash to any site that signs up to advertise. Reach Linda at support@mycalgaryclicks.com

Paying Referral Fees to Designers as a Creative Subcontractor - Should You Do It?
Kirstin,

I am a faux finisher and I do some murals, too. When my clients ask me for referrals for designers, I give them names of people whom I think can help them. Should I let the designer know that I referred them?

- Arlene, Baltimore, MD

Arlene,

Not only should you let the designer know you referred someone to her, you should also ask for a referral fee or a percentage of the contract if she gets the client.

In the creative industry it is somehow "standard" for designers to get a percentage of contracts for murals, faux finishes, and other artistic work, but somehow it is not standard for the reverse. He who has the client's trust is the one who holds all the power. Should you be the one who the client trusts enough to ask for a referral, you should be rewarded for giving that referral.

If someone refuses to pay a referral fee or percentage for work you handed to them, then work with other designers or vendors. There are plenty of people out there who understand the value of a "hot referral" and are thrilled to reward people for them.
We all know how difficult and costly it is to get a new client and how much time and effort is spent on marketing and selling. If someone hands you a "hot referral" that leads you right to new business, you should reward that person with a check. Don't see it as a loss of income, see it as a gain in new business. Without the referral, you wouldn't have had the business. Most successful businesses - in every industry at every level - make a portion of their revenue from money paid to them for referrals, and you should, too.

-Kirstin

Kirstin Carey is the author of "Starving Artist No More: Hearty Business Strategies for Creative Folks". Kirstin knows that most creative professionals hate sales, contracts and discussing money. She consults creative folks on the business side of creativity so they make more money, attract better clients, and love what they do. Get proven strategies and insider secrets to help creative types like you get the business help you need at www.MyCreativeBiz.com