19 Nov Thanksgiving it’s meaning, videos, recipes and more

Posted at 17:13h in Blog Posts

Thanksgiving it’s meaning, videos, recipes and more

On week 7 This post is about Giving thanks and yes enjoying the holiday also, let’s not forget to practice GRATITUDE!!! what really this holiday is really about, in our daily rush around we forget this action and it is so important to come from this place and in this post, we will share facts and studies that will guide you through the power of giving thank from a deeper place.

When we address GRATITUDE we move to an entirely different energy in our awareness and everything changes from this place we can source from thankfulness and appreciation for all and that wakes up kindness and love for all, is a great consciousness that we tend to overlook in our fast-paced lives, please share and thank you once again for all your support and shares ,with love, gratitude and respect from all of us at Isabel’s Beauty Blog enjoy your holiday and be safe.

grat·i·tude

ˈɡradəˌt(y)o͞od/
noun
noun: gratitude
The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return the kindness.
Synonyms:
gratefulness, thankfulness

Is gratitude a feeling or an emotion?

Gratitude is a personality trait, a mood, and an emotion. As an emotion, gratitude is a feeling of happiness that comes from the appreciation of it all. While in a grateful mood, grateful emotions are more likely to draw of the same. Gratitude is considered a core component of many believes.

While in a grateful mood, grateful emotions are more likely to be present and manifest more facts to be grateful for such is the law of attraction.

For now, it’s that time of year where many people begin thinking about everything they have to be thankful for and that is what I wish for. Although it’s nice to count your blessings on Thanksgiving, being thankful throughout the year could have tremendous benefits on our quality of life. and how we manifest more of what we are thankful for.
In fact, gratitude may be one of the most overlooked tools that we all have access to every day. Cultivating gratitude doesn’t cost any money and it certainly doesn’t take much time, but the benefits are enormous.

When we increased gratitude the common result is called practising mindfulness. As we start paying more attention to our thoughts and we became more aware, we notice where we block ourselves from appreciating the good things in life. For example, that you always used to get angry when stuck in traffic, but now when you bring your focus to where you are (rather than where you want to get to) you notice things such as the song on the radio or a beautiful scene beyond the car window and we detach from the feeling of powerless and enjoy life more, with gratitude we can manage the frustration of trying to control everything in our lives and the circumstances around us creating anxiety and much stress. We can’t feel grateful for things we don’t notice, and so mindfulness and gratitude go hand-in-hand.

According to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratitude

Association with well-being

A large body of recent work has suggested that people who are more grateful have higher levels of subjective well-being. Grateful people are happier, less depressed, less stressed, and more satisfied with their lives and social relationships Specifically, in terms of depression, gratitude may serve as a buffer by enhancing the coding and retrievability of positive experiences. Grateful people also have higher levels of control over their environments, personal growth, purpose in life, and self-acceptance and Happiness. Grateful people have more positive ways of coping with the difficulties they experience in life, being more likely to seek support from other people, reinterpret and grow from experiences, and spend more time planning how to deal with the problem. Grateful people also have less negative coping strategies, being less likely to try to avoid the problem, deny there is a problem, blame themselves, or cope with substance abuse. Grateful people sleep better, and this seems to be because they think less negative and more positive thoughts.
Gratitude has been said to have one of the strongest links with the mental health of any character trait. Numerous studies suggest that grateful people are more likely to have higher levels of happiness and lower levels of stress and depression.
While many emotions and personality traits are important to well-being, there is evidence that gratitude may be uniquely important. First, a longitudinal study showed that people who were more grateful coped better with a life transition. Specifically, people who were more grateful before the transition were less stressed, less depressed, and more satisfied with their relationships three months later. Second, two recent studies have suggested that gratitude may have a unique relationship with well-being, and can explain aspects of well-being that other personality traits cannot. Both studies showed that gratitude was able to explain more well-being than the Big Five and 30 of the most commonly studied personality traits.

Psychological interventions

Given that gratitude appears to be a strong determinant of people’s well-being, several psychological interventions have been developed to increase gratitude.For example, Watkins and colleagues had participants test a number of different gratitude exercises, such as thinking about a living person for whom they are grateful, writing about someone for whom they are grateful, and writing a letter to deliver to someone for whom they are grateful. Participants in the control condition were asked to describe their living room. Participants who engaged in a gratitude exercise showed increases in their experiences of positive emotion immediately after the exercise, and this effect was strongest for participants who were asked to think about a person for whom they are grateful. Participants who had grateful personalities, to begin with, showed the greatest benefit by experiencing these gratitude exercises. In another study concerning gratitude, participants were randomly assigned to one of six therapeutic intervention conditions designed to improve the participants’ overall quality of life (Seligman et al., 2005). Out of these conditions, it was found that the biggest short-term effects came from a “gratitude visit” where participants wrote and delivered a letter of gratitude to someone in their life. This condition showed a rise in happiness scores by 10 percent and a significant fall in depression scores, results which lasted up to one month after the visit. Out of the six conditions, the longest lasting effects were associated with the act of writing “gratitude journals” where participants were asked to write down three things they were grateful for every day. These participants’ happiness scores also increased and continued to increase each time they were tested periodically after the experiment. In fact, the greatest benefits were usually found to occur around six months after treatment began. This exercise was so successful that although participants were only asked to continue the journal for a week, many participants continued to keep the journal long after the study was over and stay on that great feeling of Gratitude. Similar results have been found from studies conducted by Emmons and McCullough (2003) and Lyubomirsky et. all. (2005). See also gratitude journal.
Recently (2013), the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, has been offering awards for dissertation-level research projects with the greatest potential to advance the science and practice of gratitude.

Gratitude, according to current research, can do anything from helping you to achieve your goals more fluidly, to improving your skills of empathy and resilience. Through a cutting-edge study supported by the John Templeton Foundation, Dr Robert Emmons et al engaged in a long-term project designed to accumulate and disseminate scientific data on the nature of gratitude and its potential impact on human health and well-being. What they discovered makes gratitude seem like a very good idea on several fronts.

This does not mean that grateful people deny or ignore life’s negative aspects, only that their feelings of thankfulness and appreciation act as a protective factor against life’s problems keeping them down. Resilience in the making!

There is a sort of peace of mind that appears to come with an “attitude of gratitude,” “grateful individuals place less importance on material goods; they are less likely to judge their own and others success in terms of possessions accumulated; they are less envious of others; and are more likely to share their possessions with others, relative to less grateful persons.” Grateful people seem to find it easier to love what they have, they aren’t so preoccupied with the kinds of insecurities that come from “comparing and despairing” or “comparing their insides with everyone else’s outsides.

So as we can see GRATITUDE is life changing and beneficial on so many levels.

THANKSGIVING BECOMES AN OFFICIAL HOLIDAY

Pilgrims held their second Thanksgiving celebration in 1623 to mark the end of a long drought that had threatened the year’s harvest and prompted Governor Bradford to call for a religious fast. Days of fasting and thanksgiving on an annual or occasional basis became common practice in other New England settlements as well. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of thanksgiving a year, and in 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States; in it, he called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the happy conclusion to the country’s war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution. His successors John Adams and James Madison also designated days of thanks during their presidencies.
In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday; each celebrated it on a different day, however, and the American South remained largely unfamiliar with the tradition. In 1827, the noted magazine editor and prolific writer Sarah Josepha Hale—author, among countless other things, of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”—launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. For 36 years, she published numerous editorials and sent scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents and other politicians. Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939 when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s plan, known derisively as Franksgiving, was met with passionate opposition, and in 1941 the president reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.

THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS

In many American households, the Thanksgiving celebration has lost much of its original religious significance; instead, it now focous on cooking and sharing a bountiful meal with family and friends. Turkey, a Thanksgiving staple so ubiquitous it has become all but synonymous with the holiday, may or may not have been on offer when the Pilgrims hosted the inaugural feast in 1621. Today, however, nearly 90 percent of Americans eat turkey for the most part—whether roasted, baked or deep-fried—on Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation. Other traditional foods include stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie and pecan pie to mention a few dishes. Volunteering is a common Thanksgiving Day activity, and communities often hold food drives and host free dinners for the less fortunate.
As an annual celebration of the harvest and its bounty, moreover, Thanksgiving falls under a category of festivals that spans cultures, continents and millennia. In ancient times, the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans feasted and paid tribute to their gods after the fall harvest. Thanksgiving also bears a resemblance to the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. Finally, historians have noted that Native Americans had a rich tradition of commemorating the fall harvest with feasting and merrymaking long before Europeans set foot on their shores.

Fun facts about Thanksgiving

• The first Thanksgiving was held in the autumn of 1621 and included 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians and lasted three days. Many historians believe that only five women were present at that first Thanksgiving, as many women settlers didn’t survive that difficult first year in the U.S.
• Thanksgiving didn’t become a national holiday until over 200 years later! Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who actually wrote the classic song “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” convinced President Lincoln in 1863 to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, after writing letters for 17 years campaigning for this to happen.
• No turkey on the menu at the first Thanksgiving: Historians say that no turkey was served at the first Thanksgiving! What was on the menu? Deer or venison, ducks, geese, oysters, lobster, eel, and fish. They probably ate pumpkins, but no pumpkin pies. They also didn’t eat mashed potatoes or cranberry relish, but they probably ate cranberries.
• No forks at the first Thanksgiving! The first Thanksgiving was eaten with spoons and knives — but no forks! That’s right, forks weren’t even introduced to the Pilgrims until 10 years later and weren’t a popular utensil until the 18th century.
• Thanksgiving is the reason for TV dinners! In 1953, Swanson had so much extra turkey (260 tons) that a salesman told them they should package it onto aluminium trays with other sides like sweet potatoes — and the first TV dinner was born!
• Thanksgiving was almost a fast — not a feast! The early settlers gave thanks by praying and abstaining from food, which is what they planned on doing to celebrate their first harvest, that is until the Wampanoag Indians joined them and (lucky for us!) turned their fast into a three-day feast!
• Presidential pardon of a turkey: Each year, the president of the U.S pardons a turkey and spares it from being eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. The first turkey pardon ceremony started with President Truman in 1947. President Obama pardoned a 45-pound turkey named Courage, who has flown to Disneyland and served as Grand Marshal of the park’s Thanksgiving Day parade!
• Why is Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November? President Abe Lincoln said Thanksgiving would be the fourth Thursday in November, but in 1939 President Roosevelt moved it up a week hoping it would help the shopping season during the Depression era. It never caught on and it was changed back two years later.
• The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1924 with 400 employees marching from Convent Ave to 145th street in New York City. No large balloons were at this parade, as it featured only live animals from Central Park Zoo.
• Turkey isn’t responsible for drowsiness or the dreaded “food coma.” So what
• is? Scientists say that extra glass of wine, the high-calorie meal or relaxing after a busy work schedule is what makes you drowsy!
• How did the tradition of watching football on Thanksgiving start? The NFL started the Thanksgiving Classic games in 1920 and since then the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys have hosted games on Turkey Day. In 2006, a third game was added to different teams hosting.
• Wild turkeys can run 20 miles per hour when they are scared, but domesticated turkeys that are bred are heavier and can’t run quite that fast.

Thanksgiving trivia quick facts — the speed round!

• Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird, not the eagle.
• Americans eat 46 million turkeys each Thanksgiving.
• The heaviest turkey on record, according to the Guinness Book of Records, weighs 86 pounds.
• Californians consume the most turkey in the U.S. on Thanksgiving Day!
• Female turkeys (called hens) do not gobble. Only male turkeys gobble.
• The average turkey for Thanksgiving weighs 15 pounds.
• Campbell’s soup created green bean casserole for an annual cookbook 50 years ago. It now sells $20 million worth of cream of mushroom soup.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in America, with a planned production total of 46.5 million in 2011. Six states—Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and Indinia—account for nearly two-thirds of the 248 million turkeys that will be raised in the U.S. this year.
The National Turkey Federation estimated that 46 million turkeys — one-fifth of the annual total of 235 million consumed in the United States—were eaten at Thanksgiving.
In a survey conducted by the National Turkey Federation, nearly 88 percent of Americans said they eat turkey at Thanksgiving. The average weight of turkeys purchased for Thanksgiving is 15 pounds, which means some 690 million pounds of turkey were consumed in the U.S. during Thanksgiving in 2007.
Cranberry production in the U.S. is expected to reach 750 million pounds in 2011. Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington are the top cranberry-growing states.
Illinois, California, Pennsylvania and New York are the major pumpkin-growing states, together they produced 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkin in 2010. Total U.S. production was over 1.5 billion pounds.
The sweet potato is most plentifully produced in North Carolina, which grew 972 million pounds of the popular Thanksgiving side dish vegetable in 2010. Other sweet potato powerhouses included California and Mississippi, and the top producing states together generated over 2.4 billion pounds of the tubers.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest pumpkin pie ever baked weighed 2,020 pounds and measured just over 12 feet long. It was baked on October 8, 2005 by the New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers in Ohio, and included 900 pounds of pumpkin, 62 gallons of evaporated milk, 155 dozen eggs, 300 pounds of sugar, 3.5 pounds of salt, 7 pounds of cinnamon, 2 pounds of pumpkin spice and 250 pounds of crust.

Three towns in the U.S. take their name from the traditional Thanksgiving bird, including Turkey, Texas (pop. 465); Turkey Creek, Louisiana (pop. 363); and Turkey, North Carolina (pop. 270).
Originally known as Macy’s Christmas Parade—to signify the launch of the Christmas shopping season—the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City in 1924. It was launched by Macy’s employees and featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Today, some 3 million people attend the annual parade and another 44 million watch it on television.
Tony Sarg, a children’s book illustrator, and puppeteer designed the first giant hot air balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1927. He later created the elaborate mechanically animated window displays that grace the façade of the New York store from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
Snoopy has appeared as a giant balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade more times than any other character in history. As the Flying Ace, Snoopy made his sixth appearance in the 2006 parade.
The first time the Detroit Lions played football on Thanksgiving Day was in 1934, when they hosted the Chicago Bears at the University of Detroit stadium, in front of 26,000 fans. The NBC radio network broadcast the game on 94 stations across the country–the first national Thanksgiving football broadcast. Since that time, the Lions have played a game every Thanksgiving (except between 1939 and 1944); in 1956, fans watched the game on television for the first time.
A lot of cranberries are needed to accompany all that turkey on Thanksgiving. In all, 768 million lbs. (350 million kilograms) of cranberries were produced in the United States last year. Two states — Wisconsin and Massachusetts — were responsible for most of the production, producing 450 million and 210 million lbs. (200 million and 95 million kg) of cranberries, respectively.

How sweet it is
Satisfying America’s sweet tooth takes a few billion pounds of sweet potatoes. Last year alone the United States produced 2.6 billion lbs. (1 billion kg) of sweet potatoes. North Carolina led production with 1.2 billion lbs. (0.5 billion kg).

Great Thanksgiving recipes

Green Chile Cornbread

Author: Nava

Recipe type: Pan quick bread

Cuisine: Vegan / Healthy

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 12

This moist vegan cornbread, spiked with green chile peppers, is an ideal companion to bean dishes, stews, and another hearty fare.

Ingredients

1 cup cornmeal, preferably stone ground
1 cup whole wheat pastry ﬂour or spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6-ounce container plain coconut yoghurt or ¾ cup applesauce
¼ cup olive oil
⅓ cup unsweetened nondairy milk or more as needed
1 to 2 small fresh hot chile peppers, seeded and minced, or one 4-ounce chopped mild green chillies
½ cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
¾ cup grated vegan cheddar cheese, optional (but highly recommended!)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Combine the first 6 (dry) ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir together.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the yoghurt or applesauce, oil, and half of the rice milk. Stir until well combined, adding just a bit more nondairy milk if needed to make a smooth, slightly stiff batter, but don’t let the batter be too wet.
Stir in the chillies and corn kernels.
Pour the mixture into an oiled 9-inch-square baking pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the top is golden and a knife inserted in the center tests clean.
Let cool slightly; cut into 3 sections in one direction and 4 in the other to create 12 squares. Serve warm.

VEGAN STUFFINGS

Cranberry-Pear Wild Rice Stuffing

Author: Nava

Recipe type: Bread stuffing / Thanksgiving

Cuisine: Vegan / Healthy

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 8 to 10

Wild rice adds a wonderful texture to this stuffing, and the slight sweetness of dried cranberries lends a delicious flavor.

Ingredients

2½ cups prepared vegetable broth or 2½ cups water with 1 vegetable bouillon cube
⅔ cup raw wild rice
1½ tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 large celery stalk, diced
2 medium firm pears (such as bosc), cored and diced
4 cups finely diced whole grain bread
⅓ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
1 tablespoon salt-free seasoning blend (like Frontier or Mrs Dash)
¼ to ½ teaspoon dried thyme, to taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
½ cup apple or pear juice, or as needed

Instructions

Bring the broth to a simmer in a small saucepan. Stir in the wild rice, then cover and simmer gently until the water is absorbed, about 35 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Heat the oil in a medium-sized skillet. Add the onion and sauté until translucent. Add the celery and sauté over medium heat until both are golden.
Combine the onion-celery mixture with the cooked wild rice and all the remaining ingredients except the apple juice in a mixing bowl. Stir well to combine.
Drizzle the apple juice in slowly, stirring all the while until the mixture is evenly moistened.
Transfer the mixture to a lightly oiled large shallow baking dish. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top begins to get slightly crusty.

Vegetable Bread Pudding

Serves: 6

5 slices crusty, dense whole grain bread, torn into small pieces
1/2 cup unsweetened rice milk or other nondairy milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 to 5 cups finely chopped vegetables of your choice (see options, below)
1 grated mozzarella- or cheddar-style nondairy cheese
1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried basil or thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Sesame or poppy seeds for topping

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the torn bread in a mixing bowl and pour the nondairy milk over it. Stir to moisten the bread, then set aside until needed.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and sauté over medium-low heat until the golden and just beginning to turn brown.

Add the vegetables of your choice and just enough water to keep the skillet moist; cover and steam until just tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Drain off any liquid that has remained.

Combine the vegetable mixture with the bread in the bowl and stir in the remaining ingredients. Mix well, then transfer to a shallow 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle some sesame seeds over the top.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden and just beginning to turn crusty. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes, then cut into squares or wedges to serve.

VEGETABLE OPTIONS:

You can use a single vegetable, or combine two or three. You’ll need a total of 4 to 5 cups raw vegetables, prepared as instructed below.

Broccoli, finely chopped and steamed
Cauliflower, finely chopped and steamed
Small zucchini, thinly sliced
Peeled and diced eggplant, steamed
Firm, ripe tomatoes, diced
Corn kernels (cooked fresh or thawed frozen)
Mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

Around the World Wine Chest

A world map keepsake chest holds French Beaujolais Burgundy, rich Italian Tormaresca red, and an unforgettable menu of globe-spanning fare.

Indulgent Harvest Crate

An enduring crate features an open window glimpse into healthy indulgence – dried stone fruits, fresh jumbo cashews, chocolate dipped apricots and more.

Kenneth Cole New York Chevron Quilted Coat with Fur Hood

You’ll stay warm, cozy, and stylish in this Kenneth Cole New York® jacket.

UGG Becket

Get ready to stomp through cold-weather temps with the Becket boot from UGG®.

UGG Braiden

Bring a vintage vibe to your look with the style-savvy UGG® Braiden boot!

UGG Patten

Prepare yourself for a winter wonderland getaway with these sweet and cozy boots from UGG®!

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12 Nov Eye Longevity, exercises, videos, facts

Posted at 17:53h in Blog Posts, Wellness Tips

Eye Longevity

Wishing you all the health, happiness and wealth. We are sending you much gratitude for all the support and likes, they are well appreciated by all of us.

On week 6 we are sharing a post about eyes, I had a challenge that lasted almost two years and came to find that I only needed a small amount of my dedication and some healthy research and it was over.For me is important to give the eyes their full value and be aware how they are built, what they do and how to keep them healthy and without the aid of glasses which I still don’t need. It was in a period of challenge that this privilege was out of my control, not my favourite feeling, with that being said, I started my research and came up with a system that really worked and here I am sharing it with all of you, for some reason we humans tend to wait until is a big challenge to take charge and pay attention to some of these big gifts that we shouldn’t take for granted, so here I would like to offer you the choice to prevent any of these issues, and have healthy eyes ! Enjoy and please share so other people can benefit from these research.

The Eyes are the doorways to the soul

Eyes have for very long been referred to as the “Windows of the Soul.” But few people are aware of just how true this observation is. The accurate analysis of the iris structure and pigmentation provides information about your inner state of health that is hard to find through other methods. This is a higher value information is so valuable that Iridology deserves to become a widely practised assessment tool in both the physical and psychological health fields because it has the capacity to assess both. There is a multitude of challenges that influence our health and personality, and many of these factors are reflected in the iris. If you look closely at your eyes in a mirror, and then at the irises of those around you. You will see so many different patterns of iris fibres and colours. As fingerprints or faces, no two are exactly alike and is the same with our inner and outer stats we are individuals! The iris structure is so very unique; that is now being used for security identification at ATM machines and airports, and other forms of Governmental security systems. Microsoft’s house gearing up for the future will use an eye scanner to identify residents and unlock their home door.

They are connected to the entire nervous system, Which gives them a special importance. In Taoism, the eyes are regarded as yang energy that guides all the chi flow in the body. The different areas of the eyes correspond to different organs of the body so they reveal the health of your entire body: you can tell which organs are weak or toxic by looking at your eyes. Nowadays people use their eyes much more than in the past to read, watch television, and work with computers, other electronic devices, and microscopes. This strains them a great deal and allows much of the energy of the connected organs to be drained out. Massaging the eyes will reenergize the vital organs.

How do children inherit eye color? Can a child’s eye color be predicted? Why are an albino’s eyes pink? How can two brown eyed parents produce a blue-eyed child? Why are my eyes a darker blue than my siblings? How are the colors in the iris formed? These are questions one may have wondered from time to time. The answer to all of these question lies in the genes inherited from one’s parents.

Different eye colors are produced because of the different amounts and patterns of pigment in the iris. The amount of pigment and the pattern of the pigment is determined by a person’s genetic makeup. The DNA received from one’s parents determines what color eyes they will have.

Each human has 46 chromosomes located in the nucleus of the cell. These are divided into 23 pairs of chromosomes. A baby inherits one chromosome from each parent in each pair of chromosomes. A piece of DNA on a chromosome is called a gene. Genes are the basic unit of heredity, they determine many characteristics about a baby. Genes also come in pairs. Alleles are found in genes and determine the appearance of any characteristic. There are two alleles for each trait inherited. If the two alleles are the same then they are homozygous for that gene. If the alleles are different, then they are called heterozygous. One allele is expressed over the other allele. This is called the dominant allele, the unexpressed allele is called recessive. For example, if there was a brown allele and a blue allele, the brown is dominant, so the person would have brown eyes. But not just one pair of genes can control a single trait. Right now there are three known gene pairs that control eye color. The bey 2 gene on chromosome 15 contains a brown and blue allele. Also on chromosome 15, the bey 1 gene is the central brown gene. On chromosome pair 19 the gey gene contains a green allele and a blue allele.

A green allele is dominant over a blue allele, and a brown allele is dominant over both green and blue alleles. For the bey 2 gene if a person has a brown allele then they will have brown eyes. In the gey gene, the green allele is dominant over the blue allele, but it is still recessive next to a brown allele. For example, if a person has a brown allele on chromosome 15, but all the other alleles are blue or green, they will have brown eyes. A green-eyed person would have a green allele on chromosome 19 and all or some other blue alleles. Blue eyes are produced only with two blue eye genes. All four alleles must be blue to produce a blue-eyed person.

Another way of predicting the color of a child’s eyes is to use the parent’s eye color genes. If both parents have a blue and brown gene, their eyes are brown, but if the child inherits the blue gene from each parent then the child will have blue eyes. If the child only inherits one blue gene then they will have brown eyes. The genetics determine what color a child will have, but how exactly does this color form in the eye?

Melanin, a pigment also found in the skin, is the substance that produces the eye colors specified by the genes. The amount and placement of the melanin produce the different eye colors that we see. Melanin is a dark brown pigment that is placed in the iris. The more melanin used in the iris means the darker the eye color will appear, the less melanin used means that the eye color will be lighter. The genes tell the enzymes how much melanin to deposit in the iris. A newborn’s eyes appear blue but may darken over the next few years. Melanin production has not begun at the time of birth. A child’s true eye color cannot be determined until the age of three.

There are two layers to the iris, the anterior and the external, or front and back layers. To produce blue eyes, there is no pigment found in the front layer. The brown pigment melanin is deposited in the back layer only. It appears blue because of reflection and diffraction of light. In green eyes, a small amount of melanin is deposited in the front layer of the iris along with the melanin found in the back layer. The additional pigment to the amount needed for blue eyes, causes the eye to appear green. To produce gray eyes, the dark pigment is distributed in the front layer of the iris and over the blue background, it appears gray. In brown eyes, there is so much pigment in the front layer, that the blue behind is completely covered up. Some people have so much pigment in the front layer that their eyes appear very dark brown or black. Hazel, blue-green, gray-blue eye colors are produced by different amounts of pigmentation and the pattern in which the pigment is placed. Albino eyes have no pigment at all in either layer of the iris. The iris appears pink or red because of the reflection of blood vessels in the back of the eye. The pattern in which the pigment is deposited is also determined by genetics. The pigment may be deposited in rings, clouds, radial stripes, or spread over the entire iris.

A person’s eye color is determined by the genes inherited from their parents. The types of alleles received from the parents are assigned to certain chromosomes. The dominant genes are expressed and the recessive genes are hidden. In the development of the iris, those genes tell enzymes to produce and place a certain amount of melanin in the iris to form the eye color.

Performing Eye Massage

According to Taoist Master Mantak Chia

Begin with the procedure for bringing energy to the hands and face. When your hands and face are hot, direct the chi to both eyes until you feel them filled with energy.

1.Close your eyes. Use your fingertips to gently massage your eyeballs through your closed eyelids, six to nine times clockwise then six to nine times counterclockwise. Then gently massage the area around the lids the same number of times. Be aware of painful spots and massage those places until the pain goes away. pay special attention to the inner and outer corners of the eyes. Massaging these points of the Gall bladder meridian will relieve eye ailments. However, when rubbing near the corners of the eyes, do not rub too hard, because you can make the corners of the eyes droop down. finish with rubbing the corners of the eyes upward.

2.Pull up the eyelids to increase the fluid. Use the thumb and index finger to gently pinch and pull up the eyelids, then release them. Do this six times.

3.Massage the eye sockets by bending your index fingers and using the lower section to rub the upper and lower bones of the eye sockets six to nine times

4.The next step is to get a tear out of your eyes, which will strengthen them. Hold an index finger up about eight inches from your eyes (or put a dot on the wall five to six feet away from you). Stare at it intently without blinking until you feel like a fire is burning in your eyes The Taoists believe that this technique burns the toxins out of the body through the eyes.

5.Bring chi to your eyes by rubbing your hands until they are warm, then closing your eyes and covering your eye sockets with your palms. Feel the chi from the hands being absorbed into the eyes. Rotate your eyes six to nine times, first in a clockwise direction, then counterclockwise.

Eyeball exercise

The eyes have many muscles that we typically do not exercise very much. This causes them to become weak, contributing to poor eyesight. In addition, the eyes are closely connected with certain organs and nerves. Exercising the eyeballs not only is the best exercise for the eye muscles but also will exercise these linked areas by putting pressure on them: Contracting the middle of the eyeballs strengthens the back of the eye muscles and the inner ear. Moving the eyeballs upward by looking toward the crown strengthens the upper eye muscles and stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands. Moving the eyeballs from side to side strengthens the side eye muscles as well as the ear canals, eardrums, tear ducts, and nose. Moving the eyes downward strengthens the lower eye muscles as well as the lower parts of the ear canals and the nervous system.

Chrysanthemum Tea

The chrysanthemum has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for eye care. The flower is beneficial for correcting imbalances in kidney and liver function that is a cause of dry eyes, blurred vision, dizziness, spots in front of the eyes and excessive tearing, it can boost your immune system, improve vision, calm your nerves, lower inflammation, strengthen your bones, and aid respiratory issues, among others.Chrysanthemum tea is made by infusing hot water with full flowers, which release a wide variety of antioxidants, organic compounds amino acids, vitamins, minerals a good source of Vitamin Bs like choline, folacin, niacin as well as riboflavin. It also contains Vitamin C which reduces the risks of scurvy and protects the eyes.

A warm infusion of chrysanthemum flowers may be helpful in relieving eye strain, blurry vision, dry eyes and any eye issues in general. You can drink the tea or apply hot compresses for relief from aching, tired eyes. If you have the actual chrysanthemum blossoms, soak them in hot water for a few minutes and make a poultice by placing them between two pieces of gauze. Place a poultice on each eyelid and relax for 10 minutes for relief from eye strain. Speak to your herbalist or health practitioner before using chrysanthemum for eye use.

Drinking Chrysanthemum tea can:

1. Detoxifies the blood, helps with sinus congestion and regulates high blood pressure. It can also help to calm the nerves.

2. Restrains the growth of bacteria – like Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus hemolyticus B, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella dysenteriae, tubercle bacillus and dermatomycosis – in the body.

3. It can help with Heatstroke heatstroke, due to its cooling effect.

4. Facilitates digestion and apt after having greasy and oily foods.

5. Helps to strengthen lungs and relieve head congestion.

6. Improve vision and hearing and especially recommended for those who work long hours in front of a computer.

7. It contains zero calories when consumed without adding sugar or honey. It also doesn’t contain any caffeine.

Eye Vitamins

Lutein is an antioxidant carotenoid a pigmented nutrient that is responsible for the yellow colors of fruits and vegetables and is present in the highest quantities of dark, leafy green vegetables. You’re born with a certain amount of lutein in your eye, but your body doesn’t reproduce it.

Why is lutein important to my sight?

The macula is the region of the retina responsible for central vision. It’s also the area that is most sensitive to blue light, the part of the visible light spectrum that, along with ultraviolet light, can damage your eyes. Lutein helps protect against this damage by filtering blue light before it can damage the macula.* If sunglasses are the first line of defence against blue light, lutein is the last.

How much lutein do I need?

The amount of lutein in the eye may deplete with age. Leading doctors recommend you get at least 6 mg of lutein per day to help maintain proper eye health we recommend to check with your health practitioner before embarking on any dietary supplement consumption. Since your body doesn’t make lutein, you must constantly replace it with the foods you eat. Dark, leafy green vegetables like spinach or kale are especially good sources. But you’d have to eat over 2 bowls of raw spinach every day to get the recommended daily dose of 6 mg of lutein here is a good place to source from juicing this vegetable also. Taking a multivitamin may help, but many multivitamins contain only a fraction of the recommended 6 mg of lutein. In fact, the leading multivitamin contains just .25 mg of lutein − a mere 4% of the recommended amount.

The Eyes: A direct extension of the liver

According to Chinese medical theory, the eyes are the gate of the liver organ and are ruled by the liver system. The eyes are considered by TCM to be the bridge between the liver and the outside world. They are an outward expression of the health state of the liver.

Healthy functioning of the liver allows the eyes to distinguish colors in the correct way. The common clinical condition where this situation is most evident in the Western medical diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa translated as colour-blindness.This circumstance is when color perception is not distinguishable from the eyes, indicating poor liver function. When a person is experiencing any chronic and /or degenerative problem with the vision the liver is always involved on some level because in Chinese medicine “the liver opens into the eyes.”

Here is a tool you can use to help with eye massage

Eye exercise machine 11-27-14

pangaO Eye Massager PG-2404G1 Air pressure massage Temple Acupressure + free gift

Enhance and maintain eye health

Eliminates computer eye syndrome

Fatigue elimination and sound sleep

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