Mr. Ben Blogs - The 2020 Diaries

The Healthy Asian Diet Instead of spending $2 trillion in order to stay healthy, the Americans should have taken a boat to China or Japan to look at the Asian diet as an example of a healthy diet. Studies have shown that people in Asian countries are slimmer, have lower cholesterol and the rates of heart disease and cancer are much lower than those of the Americans. The general good health of older people living on the island of Okinawa in Japan has attracted special interest in recent years. This island in southwest Japan is home to a much higher number of people who reached the good old age of over the hundred, than we find in America. Okinawan s reach an older average age than Americans. They also have lower rates of heart disease and cancer. Research recently found that the risk of obesity and cancer shows up in Asians who moved to America, including their offspring. And because the American eating habits are spreading around the world, other cultures are ...

Exotic Healing Power of Tropical Fruits These somewhat unfamiliar tropical fruits like mangoes, guavas, pomegranates and papayas are offering a range of health benefits like the familiar ones plus some extra. Besides their high fiber content, they also contain a variety of powerful compounds to fight heart disease and even cancer. There are dozens more tropical fruits grown world wide, but these are the ones you most likely find in your supermarket or grocery store. Mango Magic  This juicy fruit which tastes like a peach and pineapple mixed together, but sweeter, contain large amounts of vitamin C and also beta-carotene, which are antioxidants. As you may remember from my earlier articles, antioxidants protect you against the harmful effect of free radicals. These fellows can damage our bodies LDL cholesterol, causing it to stick to the lining of our artery walls and increase the risk of heart disease. One mango contains nearly 5 mgr of beta-carotene, wh...

Grand Canal in Venice If you’re planning a river cruise in Italy, chances are you’ll begin and/or end in one of the most famous cities in the world: Venice. The opportunity to explore this exquisite city, which comprises more than 100 small islands set within a lagoon, is a wonderful way to start your journey through some of the country’s picturesque waterways. Highlights of the Grand Canal Criss-crossed by a network of canals that facilitate the movement of goods and people (there are no cars allowed), if Venice had a main street it would be the Grand Canal. This wide, busy waterway cuts its way through the city and serves as the main thoroughfare for water traffic. It is lined with magnificent architecture and utilized by every kind of vessel imaginable, from vaporetto and water taxis, to barges and the iconic gondolas. To traverse this snake of water is to see Venice at her very best, so here’s what to make sure you see before setting off on the rest of your river cruise in...

Visit Torre Guardiola on a Cinque Terre Hike A Cinque Terre hike is one of the most sought after experiences for those who visit Italy. This spectacular coastal trail that links the villages of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore is famous throughout the world for its magnificent views and romantic ambiance. The overarching experience is that of the walk itself – the act of conquering the distance between all five villages – but there are also numerous individual attractions that can be enjoyed along the way. One of these is the beautiful Botanical Gardens of Torre Guardiola, at Riomaggiore, the most southerly of the villages. Discover the Torre Guardiola The nature reserve and Botanical Gardens of Torre Guardiola are wonderful places to enjoy some quiet contemplation and enjoy the presence of a multitude of plants, flowers and birds. Located just a short walk from the marina in Riomaggiore, above Fossola Beach, it’s popular with visi...

The Most Photogenic Spots on a Cinque Terre Hike Is there anywhere on the planet more photogenic than Italy? Ardent Italophiles would argue that there isn’t and a visit to the stunning region of the Cinque Terre offers compelling proof. For anyone who embarks on a Cinque Terre hike to visit the five villages linked by the coastal trail, it’s a case of once seen, never forgotten. But of course memories do fade, so in this day and age of smartphones and high-tech digital cameras there’s no excuse for not going home from a Cinque Terre hike with some absolutely fantastic images - whether it’s to take home a slice of Italy for friends and relatives who aren’t so fortunate, or simply to gain some bragging rights on Instagram. This very accessible area can be reached on a day trip from Florence, so it’s time to get snapping! Top Spots to Snap a Photo on your Cinque Terre Hike In truth it would be very difficult to take a bad photo in this spectacular part of the world,...

Continuing from yesterday, here is Part 2 of the series........ 21. Apparently we should stop our longtime practice of drinking bleach as a health cure, if all of these memes making fun of the president are to be believed. This is one of my favorites on this list. And believe it or not, this gem was given to us by none other than Donald Duck ... oops.. Trump.. :) !!! 22. How to make a no-sew face mask with items you can find around the house. Now this is something that is somewhat of a fad recently with numerous How To videos popping up on YouTube and other Social Media recently. But truth be told due to the shortage or hoarding of PPE items mainly face masks, this is a very useful and helpful hack for the citizens of this virus ravaged planet. 23. You can grow scallions from kitchen scraps. Save the root, put it in a glass with a little water and leave it in a sunny windowsill. It's sort of amazing. 24 How much porn is too much porn? In quarantine, t...

Lessons Learnt From Quarantine (And hope to remember) Chances are, if you are a human on the planet Earth, you've recently spent four to six weeks (or more) in some type of quarantine — self-imposed, government-mandated or a combination of both. Unless, of course, you're a health care worker, essential employee or have other extenuating circumstances that meant you couldn't safely lock yourself away at home while figuring out what household textile to use as makeshift toilet paper or whether to binge Tiger King or Love Is Blind first. So why has the entire world come to a collective halt? Because we have no immunity to the novel coronavirus COVID-19, a highly contagious and what seems to be highly deadly (to certain people) respiratory illness that has overwhelmed hospitals across the world, infecting more than 4.4 million people and killing more than 302,000 since January, according to Johns Hopkins University. There's no real treatment (no, you cannot inje...