The Coconut Ketogenic Diet, Bruce Fife, Piccadilly Books, 2014
This weight loss plan actually encourages the consumption of fat on a daily basis.
The low fat or low calorie diet that you are on is the reason why your weight loss has been slow, or non-existent. Fat is an essential nutrient; the human body needs a certain amount of it every day. It helps to slow down food in your digestive system so that it can be absorbed. Besides, food producers will add chemicals to make up for the fat or calories that have been removed, chemicals that are even less healthy than fat.
Your whole thyroid system may be malfunctioning, not just your thyroid gland, which the usual thyroid blood test may not pick up. The problem may be an iodine deficiency, or chemicals like fluorine, chlorine and bromine that are in your tap water. Take your temperature several times during the day. If it is chronically more than 0.3 degrees low, that may indicate a thyroid or metabolism problem. How can a person stimulate their metabolism? Drink lots of water, get regular exercise and exposure to sunlight, eat a wholesome diet, consume coconut oil and add cayenne pepper to the diet.
What about this coconut ketogenic diet? The two most important parts of it are to greatly reduce, or eliminate, your consumption of carbohydrates, and have three tablespoons of coconut oil with each meal. If your body tells you to start with one tablespoon per meal and work your way up from there, that's fine. The book has a list of the carbohydrate content in fruits, vegetables and breads, along with a chart showing desired body weight. The explains why coconut oil (also known as medium chain triglycerides) are so healthy.
This is an excellent book. It is not the usual "diet," where the dieter is limited to certain foods. If all a person can do is greatly reduce their carbohydrate consumption, and do a lot more exercising, without doing anything else, that can only help. This book is recommended for everyone, with and without a weight problem.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Monday, July 28, 2014
Shadow on the Sun
Shadow on the Sun, R. Julian Cox, Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 2012
This present-day techno-thriller is about the intersection of government, big business and a possible nuclear apocalypse.
A well-known dissident Iranian scientist tells the US President, Juan Sanchez, that a major earthquake is coming for the Pacific Northwest. The "Big One" won't happen sometime in the future, but in the next couple of months. The fault line just happens to go through the Hanford nuclear complex, home to thousands of tons of nuclear waste. If that waste got loose, the Pacific Northwest would become a permanent nuclear wasteland. The Iranian scientist has all his data on a couple of portable hard drives, but he needs American supercomputer power, like at Los Alamos Laboratory, to help America with Plan A (Plan B is to permanently evacuate everyone in Oregon and Washington State).
Meantime, the British are about to test a very classified, over the horizon, laser-based missile defense system (not even America knows about it). The bean will be on for only a fraction of a second, but the power is so high that no one knows just what will happen. Will they punch a hole in the space-time continuum? A high US official is heading to London for an extremely important meeting. He is traveling in a classified, and very fast, space plane called Aurora. Suddenly it disappears from radar. Why would the wreckage be found, buried in the English countryside, along with swords and other metal objects dating from the time of King Arthur, about 1500 years ago? Naturally, the two hard drives were on board. Can they be found in time? Do they still work?
This one is really worth reading. It has everything a person may want; it has high-tech, it has impending disaster, it has medieval history, and a bit of romance. It also has some very good writing. The reader will not go wrong with this story.
This present-day techno-thriller is about the intersection of government, big business and a possible nuclear apocalypse.
A well-known dissident Iranian scientist tells the US President, Juan Sanchez, that a major earthquake is coming for the Pacific Northwest. The "Big One" won't happen sometime in the future, but in the next couple of months. The fault line just happens to go through the Hanford nuclear complex, home to thousands of tons of nuclear waste. If that waste got loose, the Pacific Northwest would become a permanent nuclear wasteland. The Iranian scientist has all his data on a couple of portable hard drives, but he needs American supercomputer power, like at Los Alamos Laboratory, to help America with Plan A (Plan B is to permanently evacuate everyone in Oregon and Washington State).
Meantime, the British are about to test a very classified, over the horizon, laser-based missile defense system (not even America knows about it). The bean will be on for only a fraction of a second, but the power is so high that no one knows just what will happen. Will they punch a hole in the space-time continuum? A high US official is heading to London for an extremely important meeting. He is traveling in a classified, and very fast, space plane called Aurora. Suddenly it disappears from radar. Why would the wreckage be found, buried in the English countryside, along with swords and other metal objects dating from the time of King Arthur, about 1500 years ago? Naturally, the two hard drives were on board. Can they be found in time? Do they still work?
This one is really worth reading. It has everything a person may want; it has high-tech, it has impending disaster, it has medieval history, and a bit of romance. It also has some very good writing. The reader will not go wrong with this story.
Friday, July 4, 2014
Red Rising
Red Rising, Pierce Brown, Del Rey Books, 2014
First of a trilogy, this book is all about revolution, and love.
Darrow has spent his entire life as a miner, living underground on Mars. Part of a colony whose job is to mine Helium, all of the miners have been told, for many years, that the surface is uninhabitable. They are helping to build a new human society on Mars. Doubts enter into Darrow's mind after his wife is murdered by the brutal, sadistic government. Recruited by a secret underground group, Darrow learns that, for the past couple of hundred years, the miners have been Really Lied To.
The usual revolt would be crushed within a couple of days, so Darrow is given a different assignment. Months are spent turning him into a member of the elite class, both physically and mentally. He is to infiltrate the elite class, and become one of them. After he has risen to a senior position in the regime, then he will bring it down from the inside.
Along with a couple of dozen other young people, Darrow becomes a student at an institute to decide the next member of the ruling class. Split into several groups, they are each assigned to a castle in a river valley, and told to go from there. What follows is a Hunger Games-style competition, with real casualties, to winnow down the field. Darrow shows real leadership, and plenty of guts. Another student, the son of one of the rulers, is "supposed" to win, but isn't going to follow along. Does Darrow pull off an unauthorized win? Does he even survive?
This one is a gem of a story. It has everything; a brutal government and dystopian society, growing revolution, young people and some possibilities for romance. It also has an easy to read story. This is very much worth reading.
First of a trilogy, this book is all about revolution, and love.
Darrow has spent his entire life as a miner, living underground on Mars. Part of a colony whose job is to mine Helium, all of the miners have been told, for many years, that the surface is uninhabitable. They are helping to build a new human society on Mars. Doubts enter into Darrow's mind after his wife is murdered by the brutal, sadistic government. Recruited by a secret underground group, Darrow learns that, for the past couple of hundred years, the miners have been Really Lied To.
The usual revolt would be crushed within a couple of days, so Darrow is given a different assignment. Months are spent turning him into a member of the elite class, both physically and mentally. He is to infiltrate the elite class, and become one of them. After he has risen to a senior position in the regime, then he will bring it down from the inside.
Along with a couple of dozen other young people, Darrow becomes a student at an institute to decide the next member of the ruling class. Split into several groups, they are each assigned to a castle in a river valley, and told to go from there. What follows is a Hunger Games-style competition, with real casualties, to winnow down the field. Darrow shows real leadership, and plenty of guts. Another student, the son of one of the rulers, is "supposed" to win, but isn't going to follow along. Does Darrow pull off an unauthorized win? Does he even survive?
This one is a gem of a story. It has everything; a brutal government and dystopian society, growing revolution, young people and some possibilities for romance. It also has an easy to read story. This is very much worth reading.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Vyrkarion: The Talisman of Anor
Vyrkarion: The Talisman of Anor, J.A. Cullum, Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, 2013
Last of a trilogy, this fantasy tale takes place on a planet with nine different races. For the humans, an ever-present threat is of being enslaved by a race of shape-changing lizard people. There's also an ancient prophecy whose time has come.
While traveling, a young noblewoman named Alanna meets Myrriden, a wizard who is also bearer of Vyrkarion, one of eight living crystals. Myrriden makes Alanna Vyrkarion's new bearer. He had little choice; he was dying at the time. Myrriden tells Alanna that she must be trained in how to handle a living crystal by a famous wizard named Jerevan. (In part 2 of this trilogy, Jerevan was given a very advanced curse by another wizard. It's the sort of curse that can only be lifted by Jerevan becoming an "expert" wizard.) Alanna is very aware of Jerevan's past, so she would rather get her training from anyone else.
Aavik is the leader of the isklarin (the lizard people). He is very aware of Vyrkarion's change in "ownership," and makes plans to get the crystal for himself.
Rhys Cinnac is cousin of the king, and also bearer of Cyrkarion, another of the living crystals. He is most interested in the part of the prophecy which says that the king will die, and a child will be saved. Could the child be Aubrey Cinnac, legitimate heir to the throne? He acts incredibly mature for his age. Can Alanna get over her strong dislike for Jerevan, and let him train her, so Aubrey can stay alive, and help the crystal to show its full power?
This is an excellent novel, and trilogy. The author does a fine job from start to finish, with the storytelling, the society-building, and the wizardry (and other weird stuff). It is very much worth reading.
Last of a trilogy, this fantasy tale takes place on a planet with nine different races. For the humans, an ever-present threat is of being enslaved by a race of shape-changing lizard people. There's also an ancient prophecy whose time has come.
While traveling, a young noblewoman named Alanna meets Myrriden, a wizard who is also bearer of Vyrkarion, one of eight living crystals. Myrriden makes Alanna Vyrkarion's new bearer. He had little choice; he was dying at the time. Myrriden tells Alanna that she must be trained in how to handle a living crystal by a famous wizard named Jerevan. (In part 2 of this trilogy, Jerevan was given a very advanced curse by another wizard. It's the sort of curse that can only be lifted by Jerevan becoming an "expert" wizard.) Alanna is very aware of Jerevan's past, so she would rather get her training from anyone else.
Aavik is the leader of the isklarin (the lizard people). He is very aware of Vyrkarion's change in "ownership," and makes plans to get the crystal for himself.
Rhys Cinnac is cousin of the king, and also bearer of Cyrkarion, another of the living crystals. He is most interested in the part of the prophecy which says that the king will die, and a child will be saved. Could the child be Aubrey Cinnac, legitimate heir to the throne? He acts incredibly mature for his age. Can Alanna get over her strong dislike for Jerevan, and let him train her, so Aubrey can stay alive, and help the crystal to show its full power?
This is an excellent novel, and trilogy. The author does a fine job from start to finish, with the storytelling, the society-building, and the wizardry (and other weird stuff). It is very much worth reading.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
The Perpetual Motion Club
The Perpetual Motion Club, Sue Lange, Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, 2013
This novel is set in a near-future high school. It is similar to, and very different from, today's high school.
Northawken High School is full of the usual high school cliques. It is also a place where many of the students are sponsored by one or more corporations, ranging from Abercrombie and Fitch to Microsoft. The school is full of six-foot high logos for the latest junk food or software.
Elsa Webb is one of the few un-sponsored students. She is very smart, but full of the usual high school emotions. Despite encouragement from her friends, her parents and her geometry teacher, Elsa is very uninterested in joining the school's Science Society. It will supposedly look very good on her resume; she may not get into a good college without it. Impulsively, she decides to start a Perpetual Motion Club.
Interest among her classmates in joining the club is nearly non-existent. The only other members are her friends May, who is a witch, and Jimmy, who has loved Elsa from afar. She is unable to get the club sanctioned by the school. Meantime, Elsa has a major crush on Jason, the new kid in school, who is part of the basketball team. Even though Elsa helps him out of a huge jam, Jason barely knows that she is alive.
With a school-wide science competition called Future World rapidly approaching, Elsa decides on a major change in emphasis. Instead of trying to build a perpetual motion machine, she will look at the subject from a different angle. Will Jimmy and May help build her new idea? Will Jason and his basketball cohorts lend a hand? Will she get it to school on time?
The author does a really good job exploring the good and bad of the high school experience. The story is interesting and believable. This is not just for high school students; adults will also enjoy it.
This novel is set in a near-future high school. It is similar to, and very different from, today's high school.
Northawken High School is full of the usual high school cliques. It is also a place where many of the students are sponsored by one or more corporations, ranging from Abercrombie and Fitch to Microsoft. The school is full of six-foot high logos for the latest junk food or software.
Elsa Webb is one of the few un-sponsored students. She is very smart, but full of the usual high school emotions. Despite encouragement from her friends, her parents and her geometry teacher, Elsa is very uninterested in joining the school's Science Society. It will supposedly look very good on her resume; she may not get into a good college without it. Impulsively, she decides to start a Perpetual Motion Club.
Interest among her classmates in joining the club is nearly non-existent. The only other members are her friends May, who is a witch, and Jimmy, who has loved Elsa from afar. She is unable to get the club sanctioned by the school. Meantime, Elsa has a major crush on Jason, the new kid in school, who is part of the basketball team. Even though Elsa helps him out of a huge jam, Jason barely knows that she is alive.
With a school-wide science competition called Future World rapidly approaching, Elsa decides on a major change in emphasis. Instead of trying to build a perpetual motion machine, she will look at the subject from a different angle. Will Jimmy and May help build her new idea? Will Jason and his basketball cohorts lend a hand? Will she get it to school on time?
The author does a really good job exploring the good and bad of the high school experience. The story is interesting and believable. This is not just for high school students; adults will also enjoy it.
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