Ginkgo (herb)

I got a good feeling yesterday when I was thinking about that it's only 2 more weeks on this semester in school! - until I remembered that my summer course which I'm taking "just for fun" (I have to keep my reputation of being a nerd right?) starts in 3 weeks.. Oh well..

My church has a spring seminar this weekend which I really want to go to but I can't cause I'm having my phyto course in Stockholm this weekend. This time it will be about the liver, gallbladder, kidneys/urinary bladder and the skin. I'm really excited as it was sooooo good last time. Not as excited for the test we have though.. :/ I'll post a summary of the weekend later.

But now a little bit about ginkgo!

Ginkgo is widening arteries, stimulates the blood circulation and inhibits platelet collection. It is anticonvulsant and an antioxidant. It highers the tolerance for free radicals and the tendency of the blood to clot reduces.. 


Ginkgo contains a lot of positive substances but also one that is harmful but they normally take out the harmful substance so you won't get any serious side effects if you would take normal doses. 


That was short I guess but still interesting. You can buy these in different ways, personally I have capsules of these right now as I did a blood analysis last week and they could see there that my thrombocytes clot up more than they should so we'll see if it'll help. He also said that this is why I love running so much - because it helps the thrombocytes to not clot. I think I'd love running otherwise anyways though.. The picture is from my blood analysis. The circles are erytrocytes (red blood cells) and the big thing there is my thrombocytes that has "clot up" or whatever you'd say in english..

Health links

Eight top food trends to drive consumers by 2020

Eight top food trends will dominate European shoppers’ buying habits by the year 2020, predicts Spanish research organisation Azti-Tecnalia.

http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/NPD/Eight-top-food-trends-to-drive-consumers-by-2020

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Is vitamin D3 more effective than D2?

Vitamin D3 is more effective at increasing blood levels of the sunshine vitamin than the D2 form, says the first-ever systematic review and meta-analysis comparing the effectiveness of the vitamin D forms.

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/Is-vitamin-D3-more-effective-than-D2

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Isoflavones fail to affect blood pressure for women

Six weeks of supplementation with soy isoflavones did not reduce blood pressure or nitric oxide metabolism, says a new study.

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/Isoflavones-fail-to-affect-blood-pressure-for-women

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Tomato juice shows sports nutrition potential

A daily glass of antioxidant-rich tomato juice may reduce markers of oxidative stress and damage after exhaustive exercise, suggests a new study.

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/Tomato-juice-shows-sports-nutrition-potential

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Researchers explore links between overeating and pleasure

Eating for pleasure may stimulate the brain’s reward centers and lead to overeating in a way that eating to satisfy hunger does not, according to findings from a small study published in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Science/Researchers-explore-links-between-overeating-and-pleasure

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Prebiotics may reduce severity of colitis, say researchers

Prebiotic supplements could help to reduce bacterial infection and inflammation so reducing the severity of colitis, according to new research.

http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Prebiotics-may-reduce-severity-of-colitis-say-researchers

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Cacao & soy compounds show heart health benefits for diabetic women: Study

Supplementation with cacao-flavonoids and soy isoflavones may improve levels of biomarkers of heart disease in postmenopausal, diabetic women, says a new study.

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/Cacao-soy-compounds-show-heart-health-benefits-for-diabetic-women-Study

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Plant-animal protein blend boosts post-workout muscles: Study

Blending dairy-derived whey and casein with soy protein can yield benefits in a post-workout setting, according to pioneering but unpublished research.

http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Plant-animal-protein-blend-boosts-post-workout-muscles-Study

Don't know what title I should use.. more updates I guess :)

I'm getting worse at blogging.. I just realized that it takes me quite a few days to write new posts but at the same time, there's just not that much fun to write about right now. I could write a lot about herbs I guess but it might not be fun to only read about that.. There's a lot of things I want to blog about from what I've learned last semester in school but I don't want to even look at those books yet, at least not till I'm done with this semester (only 3½ weeks left!!!) :)

Me and my whole family are going down to Småland this weekend to visit our relatives and then I'm having the phyto course + spring seminar at church the weekend after.. It's also my sisters birthday in a week and I'm so excited to make a cake for her! Gonna try to find a really hard one that takes at least 3 days to do.

School work is also going great! I'd say it's too easy right now but that can be nice sometimes so it's not stressful all the time (as it has been until a few weeks ago)..

For you who are following my blog - I'm now down to 778 km left on my 1000 km running goal.. It was going slow for a while when it was still cold and I was sick but now it's going really good! I don't know what I would do without the running.. There's just so many problems that gets solved while all the fresh air clears my mind :)

I guess I don't have much else to say. I'll be a better blogger soon again, there are many things conserning nutrition I really want to blog about :)

6 weeks left for America, and 11 weeks left for the Paul Simon concert!! Yay!

Updates

A lot is happening in Uppsala this time a year and the weather has been soooo great for a few days now which I don't think anyone who has been through a swedish winter takes for granted! I'm almost scared that I don't enjoy it enough because I know so well that I can not take a single minute for granted.

Monday was valborg, which is huge in Uppsala. I read somewhere that there's over 100 000 that celebrates it in Uppsala so it's packed with people where ever you go. I tried to find friends many times but it was just impossible. Me and my sister went to see the rafting in the morning and went around with church in the evening downtown. For you who don't know what valborg is, it's a day when we celebrate that the winter is over and we have big bonfires in the evening, barbeques through the day etc.. Most people would drink champagne and eat strawberries for breakfast and then drink the rest of the day. So in that aspect it's not that fun that there's soooooo many drunk people everywhere but otherwise valborg is awesome!

And then yesterday was 1st of May which is a holiday here and we go out to demonstrate for different political parties. Me and my sister went with the christian democrates to demonstrate for that people should be able to choose if they want to stay home with their kids when they are young or not. Right now it's very hard for parents to do that and the state is trying to "force" all families to put the kids on the daycare as early as possible. I strongly believe that you should be able to make that decision yourself as parents and that parents are so important for the kids and no one else can replace them. So that was fun! And then I went to see a couple of friends from school to just sit in the sun by the river :) It was really great.

School is going pretty slow right now, it's not much to do.. So not so much to say about that.

I've also booked tickets to go to USA this summer again! I wasn't sure if I was gonna go but has thought about it since I decided not to go to Israel and then I went out for a run, got filled with endorphines and was so happy so I decided that I'm gonna go and booked the tickets a few hours later! I'll be going to both Oklahoma and Texas this time for a whole month and I'm super excited :) Next year I just have to decide earlier so I get cheaper tickets because both this year and last year, I decided way too late. I should've learned that I just can't stay away from there.. I love it and I love the americans way too much.