Anyway I’ve recently seen three films which included smoking scenes. The first was the excellent “An Education” which was set in the early sixties when smoking was the norm and I had no problem with that. The next was in Avatar when Sigourney Weaver supposedly the Head of Research smokes inside the laboratories where the “cloning” was taking place, sorry that didn’t seem logical or relevant just bizarre. Then in the entertaining but mindless action flick “Babylon A.D” which moves at a 100 mph there is a weird pointless scene where he stops to have a smoke.

Anyway after that I googled up smoking in films and found www.scenesmoking.org which reveals that 80% of PG 13 children’s films still have smoking scenes. So is there a secret organisation which funds the placement of generic smoking scenes in films? Go to www.scenesmoking.org and learn how many young people will start smoking TODAY because they have seen their hero or heroine light up in a movie and how many of them will die prematurely of smoking related diseases.

Do you find it hard to believe? Please decide for yourself check out the next few films you see!

So is any of this relevant to an Aloe Vera Blog?, I say yes, anything that affects the health of my friends or children is my issue!

Things we eat can cause our bodies to make too much cholesterol. The one thing to remember is that cholesterol is an important part of our diet; however, there is good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. Bad cholesterol making foods include foods with saturated fats such as animal based foods like meat and dairy products. Foods that are high in saturated fats included meats and eggs. Foods that do not contain cholesterol include fruits, grains, and vegetables.

Cholesterol dieting is a good idea for those that have high cholesterol or are eating foods high in cholesterol. Instead of taking medication to lower cholesterol levels the majority of individuals as soon as they discover they have high bad cholesterol levels turn to cholesterol dieting. The idea of cholesterol dieting is to lower the low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) and raise the high-density lipoprotein (good cholesterol). You can lower the bad cholesterol by adding more fruits, grains, and vegetables to your diet. Once you begin to raise the high-density lipoprotein, the bad cholesterol will lower. Most cholesterol dieting plans add omega-3 to the diet.

The best cholesterol-dieting plan is one that reduces the amount of foods you eat with animal fat and replace them with fruits and vegetables. This does not mean you have to cut out all meats and other products you enjoy that have saturated fat, this just means you need to lower the amount you consume.

Along with the foods, you eat with your cholesterol dieting plan you must also exercise. Exercise does lower the bad cholesterol in your body by raising the good cholesterol levels. Many individuals that have high cholesterol levels are also overweight or even obese. Exercise helps with lowering cholesterol as well as helps to take weight off which will also decrease the risk of heart attack.

The ideal cholesterol level is below 180. Acceptable levels of cholesterol are 180 to 199. You will be considered borderline high if your cholesterol levels are 200 to 219. Any levels over 220 are too high.

The Author is editor and webmaster of a weight loss pill website. There are also many tips on weight loss on his website. He has also written many articles on the Internet about diet, weight loss and related health topics.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Separate the seeds from the guts. Using your hands, pick out the seeds and lay them on a buttered or greased baking sheet. Do not rinse them! This removes a lot of the flavor. Bake for 10 minutes. Salt before eating.

There are two types of Melon Sweet Melons and Water Melons. The Water Melon (Red Flesh , large seeds) has the more subtle but finer taste. But in fact there are many different varieties within these sub-divisions, Cantaloupes, Honey Dew, Christmas Melons etc look out for them in good stores and markets.

If you are the homemaker you can do a lot to encourage your family to eat these fruits by careful preparation. One great way is to cut them into cubes and chill in the fridge.

(posted previously as a comment by Pauline) I note she also appreciates that when you use natural Aloe Vera Gel it seems to leave no trace at all!

Can help to relieve:-

* Asthma, Allergies
* Sinus problem, Hay fever
* Chest infections, Bronchitis, Emphysema, COPD
* Persistent Cough and Sore throats
* Cystic Fibrosis
* Breathing difficulty, Shortness of breath

Asthma sufferers are turning to Salt Pipe Inhalers as their conventional treatments become less effective and because they like their Salt Inhalers!
Suitable for children and adults.

We got into Salt Therapy when we visited the famous Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland and can confirm that you feel energised and fantastic breathing in utterly pure salty air, like the seaside only better! Popping down a salt mine daily for a 20 minute cure is not very convenient and that’s why the Salt Pipes are so wonderful!

(Blisters that appear for no obvious reason (i.e. after a hike) may require attention from a doctor)

Read www.tobacco.org/resources/history/ for a history of the war for and against tobacco smoking.

Apparently there was initially a general panic when the first Government Reports linked cigarettes to lung cancer. However the Tobacco Industry Research Committee (TIRC) soon calmed this with a series of adverts and “bought” articles in the press
to quote the above

TIRC releases “A SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE ON THE CIGARETTE CONTROVERSY,” a booklet quoting 36 scientists questioning smoking’s link to health problems.
(The booklet) was sent to 176,800 doctors, general practitioners and specialists . . . (plus) deans of medical and dental colleges . . . a press distribution of 15,000 . . . 114 key publishers and media heads . . . . days in advance, key press, network, wire services and columnist contacts were alerted by phone and in person . . . and . . . hand-delivered (with) special placement to media in Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. The story was carried by hundreds of papers and radio stations throughout the country . . . . staff-written stories (were) developed with the help of Hill & Knowlton, Inc. field offices. (Hill & Knowlton memo, May 3, 1954.)

These campaigns were brilliantly effective in causing doubt and confusion and even more importantly weariness in the general public to any kind of health warnings at all.

So smokers continued to die young, non-smokers working in airless offices with with smokers also died (to quote a relation: “You could hardly see the far wall of the office for smoke haze”)

You wouldn’t think then there are actually people whose career it is both to encourage people to smoke and to discourage them from stopping.

So who are these people are they hunted down by the FBI do they have to change address every few weeks? no these people are very highly paid and respected and sit down at fund raisers with presidents; you don’t believe me huh.

Now I guess I don’t mind that they spend millions or is billions on advertising portraying smoking as sophisticated or in sponsoring sport which at least “out in the open”. But what I think is really underhand is to know that they are the brains and money behind the libertarian argument. You know somebody has finally decided to give up and then they read in a newspaper or hear on a talk show that it’s a scandal that there’s all these do-gooders telling people what they can or can’t do why it’s your right to smoke whenever you want wherever you want; why the non-smokers can go some place else.

I bet the cigarette companies are kicking themselves that didn’t think of this earlier, I mean all those years of setting up phony research institutes which produced those reports which cast doubts on the connection between smoking and lung cancer, when “sponsoring” pro-smoking articles in the media is so much cheaper.

Now I have no proof of this, just hearsay and it’s up to you whether you believe anything I write, but next time somebody trots out the “it’s my right to smoke” and “second-hand smoke causes no cancer” arguments notice just how similar are their arguments and if they are one of those bold talk-show hosts who is not scared to tell it how it is, just wonder if he has recently been on an all expenses trip to say Hawaii with his family to attend a conference where it was explained to him how exaggerated all this fuss about cigarettes was. Heck when I think about it , it wouldn’t take much to bribe me!

(By the way they always have an Uncle Walt who lived to a hundred and smoke like a chimney -: that’s the clincher!)