Bayern Munich champion du monde


Déjà vainqueur du championnat et de la Coupe d'Allemagne, de la Ligue des champions et de la Supercoupe d'Europe en 2013, le Bayern Munich a ajouté un cinquième trophée à son palmarès cette année, en enlevant samedi soir la Coupe du monde des clubs aux dépens du club marocain du Raja Casblanca en finale (2-0). Les deux buts de la rencontre ont été marqués rapidement, par le Brésilien Dante d'abord (7e) puis par l'Espagnol Thiago Alcantara ensuite (22e). Une fois cet avantage acquis, le club bavarois a ensuite tranquillement géré lors d'une finale qui n'a jamais décollé.

Le Bayern dispose du Raja Casablanca :
Et pour cause, la différence de niveau était bien trop importante. Le budget du géant bavarois est 100 fois supérieur à celui du champion du Maroc, hôte de la compétition. Après avoir successivement sorti Auckland, Monterrey et l'Atlético Mineiro, les joueurs du Raja, qui avaient reçu le soutien du roi du Maroc avant la rencontre et de leurs bouillants supporters pendant, ont logiquement baissé pavillon, malgré plusieurs opportunités nettes du remuant Mouhcine Iajour, la plupart du temps sur des erreurs de concentration de la défense bavaroise.

Finalement, lors de cette finale, la remise des trophées a duré bien plus longtemps que le suspense... Franck Ribéry, pourtant assez discret - son acolyte côté gauche, David Alaba, a été bien plus tranchant -, s'est vu remettre le trophée de meilleur joueur de la compétition (il avait marque en demies), sous les yeux de Michel Platini, président de l'UEFA.
Ribéry meilleur joueur

Désormais champion du monde après l'avoir été d'Europe, le Bayern va pouvoir se tourner vers de nouvelles conquêtes : la Ligue des champions, dont il poursuivra la défense contre Arsenal en huitièmes de finale, mais aussi la Bundesliga, qu'il domine outrageusement avec 11 longueurs d'avance (et un match en moins). Quant à Ribéry, gageons qu'il échangerait bien le ballon en or reçu à l'issue de la rencontre contre le Ballon d'Or, que lui dispute Cristiano Ronaldo et Lionel Messi.

 Ref: europe1.fr

Ligue 1: Lyon a laissé des points s'échapper

Les Lyonnais n'ont perdu qu'un seul de leurs 12 derniers matches, mais ces nouveaux points laissés en route pourraient sonner le glas de leurs ambitions de Ligue des champions.

Lyon, déjà rejoint au score contre Marseille dimanche dernier, a de nouveau laissé échapper des points alors qu'il menait 2 à 0, dimanche à Lorient (2-2) lors de la 19e journée de Ligue 1.

Les Lyonnais ont longtemps cru tenir une deuxième victoire en trois journées qui leur aurait permis de recoller aux places européennes à l'issue de la phase aller.

Mais ils se sont fait surprendre au bout du temps additionnel par un centre de Guerreiro qui a trouvé la tête d'Alain Traoré, entré en jeu auparavant et auteur de son premier but de la saison, longtemps gâchée par des blessures.

Six points de retard sur la 4e place
Ils accusent désormais six points de retard sur la 4e place, occupée par Bordeaux, et provisoirement 14 sur le podium avant le déplacement de Lille à Paris dans la soirée.

Certes, ils n'ont perdu qu'un seul de leurs 12 derniers matches, toutes compétitions confondues (contre le PSG 4-0 le 1er décembre), après un mois d'octobre catastrophique, mais ces nouveaux points laissés en route pourraient sonner le glas de leurs ambitions de Ligue des champions.

Ils avaient pourtant bien commencé, notamment grâce à leurs deux hommes en forme du moment, Gourcuff et Gomis.

Un cadeau de retour pour Gourcuff
Le premier a permis à Grenier d'inscrire le premier but d'une astucieuse roulette qui s'est transformée en passe décisive (21), sa deuxième en une semaine après celle adressée contre Marseille dimanche dernier (2-2).

Egalement buteur du mercredi en Coupe de la Ligue contre Reims (3-2), Gourcuff, de nouveau positionné à la pointe haute du milieu en losange lyonnais, a souvent joué juste, même s'il s'est parfois montré trop altruiste.

Gomis a lui inscrit son 5e but en cinq matches en étant à l'affût d'une frappe de Lacazette repoussée par Reynet (49) pour creuser l'écart.

Mais Aboubakar a réduit le score en marquant en force son 11ème but de la saison à la suite d'une remise intelligente d'Aliadière (60), avant que Guerreiro, qui avait déjà forcé Anthony Lopes, de nouveau titulaire à la place de Vercoutre, à se détendre (90+1), trouve la tête de Traoré.

Un beau cadeau de Noël offert par le Burkinabé à son entraîneur Christian Gourcuff, de retour sur le banc après avoir manqué trois matches pour une opération de la hanche.

Et qui, à défaut de permettre aux Merlus de poursuivre leur historique série de cinq victoires, les maintient devant un OL qui peut de nouveau se mordre les doigts.

Source : lexpress.fr

Unique Lean-Body Workouts for Time-Crunched People: Super-Fast

Unique Lean-Body Workouts for Time-Crunched People: Super-Fast "Multi-Workouts" to do at Home or the Office

Warning: this style of workout is WAY different than anything you've ever tried before and may result in a dramatically leaner, stronger body so that your friends no longer recognize you in a matter of weeks!

Alright, I exaggerated about your friends recognizing you, but this workout is still great for busy people that always use the excuse that they don't have time to go to the gym, or even for the normal gym rat to try out for a few weeks to break out of a plateau.

Please keep an open-mind and don't worry so much about what other people think, because this is quite different and you may get some funny looks, but you'll get the last laugh with your new rock hard body! To be honest, most people are too self conscious to try something like this. If that's the case for you, then that's your loss.


Here's how it works (these workouts can be done at home or even in your office):

Instead of doing your traditional workouts of going to the gym 3-4 times a week and doing your normal weight training and cardio routines for 45-60 minutes at a shot... with this program, you will be working out for just a couple minutes at a time, several times throughout each day, 5 days/week.

The program will consist of only bodyweight exercises done for about 2-3 minutes, 6-8 times per day, throughout each day. Now obviously if you work a normal office job, you are going to have to not be shy about doing a few exercises in your office and having your cube-mates watch you. Actually, I've found that some people that have tried this have actually gotten their co-workers to join them!

If you have a private office, then you don't have to worry about anybody watching you. If you work from home, or are a stay at home mom, there's no reason you can't fit these in throughout the day while at home. If you end up having a busy day with meetings and so forth, and can only fit a couple of these 2-minute workouts in, then so be it, but try to get as many done each day as you can.

If you're on a normal 9-5 office schedule, I recommend doing your 2-minute workouts every hour, on the hour, with the exception of lunch. For example, you could try 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, and 4 pm.

Some of the bodyweight exercises that are the best to focus on are:
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bodyweight squats (and variations)
pushups (and variations)
forward, reverse, or walking lunges
up & down a staircase if one is available
floor planks (holding the plank position from forearms and feet)
floor abs exercises such as lying leg thrusts, ab bicycles, etc.
one-legged bodyweight Romanian deadlifts

This list is not fully comprehensive, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. If you know other good bodyweight exercises, you can add those to your routine also. If you want to keep it real simple and don't want to get down on the floor for anything, you can stick to squats, lunges, and pushups and still get great results.

The good thing about these workouts is that you do enough in 2-3 minutes to get your blood pumping, heart rate up a bit, a large portion of your body's muscles worked, and body temperature raised. However, it's usually not enough to break a sweat in only 2 or 3 minutes, so you don't have to worry about sweating in the office or where ever you may be. At most, you might just get a little moist on the skin.

Here's an example workout routine at home or the office (adjust the reps up or down based on your capabilities):

Mon/Wed/Fri
9 am - 10 pushups/15 bodyweight squats, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - plank holds (hold the planks as long as you can taking short rest breaks for a total of 3 minutes)
11 am - 5 pushups/10 bodyweight squats, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
2 pm - 8 pushups/12 bodyweight squats, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
4 pm - max pushups/max bodyweight squats in one set (no repeat)

Tues/Thurs
9 am - 6 fwd lunges each leg/6 rev lunges, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - one legged bw Romanian deadlifts (RDL) 6 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat 1X for 2 sets
11 am - 3 fwd lunges each leg/3 rev lunges, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - one legged bw RDL 3 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat for 4 sets
2 pm - 5 fwd lunges each leg/5 rev lunges, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - one legged bw RDL 10 each leg/floor abs for 30 sec (no repeat)
4 pm - max fwd lunges each leg/max rev lunges in one set (no repeat)

In order to progress on these workouts, you could either add 1 or 2 reps to each set per week, or you could progress to more difficult versions of each exercise each week (for example, close grip pushups, one leg raised pushups, squats with arms raised straight over head, etc.).

The above routines are just a couple examples of how you can use this very unique style of training. Use your creativity and come up with your own. Think about what you've accomplished with these "mini" workouts completed throughout each day... You've increased your heart rate and pumped up your muscles 6-8 different times throughout each day, burning a lot of extra calories and stimulating your metabolism.

Even though each "mini" workout was a very short duration, you've accumulated lots of repetitions for almost every muscle throughout your entire body, and you didn't even have to break a sweat during any of the "mini" workouts. And there's hardly any excuse for not being able to take a 2-minute break once per hour and do a couple of exercises.

Another benefit of this style of training is that now you don't have to devote any time before or after work to going to the gym because you already got your workouts little by little throughout the day. You've now got some extra free time on your hands!

Try this type of time-efficient workout routine out for 3-4 weeks and then go back to your normal gym routines. I think you'll find that it was a great way to break out of a plateau and stimulate new results in your body. You can try mixing in a cycle of these "mini" workouts every couple of months to keep things fresh.

Keep in mind that this is only one method of training and doesn't mean that you should only stick to this method for eternity. You will hit a plateau on any given training method, so I'd recommend just rotating it into your arsenal of various training methods. And by all means, don't worry so much about what other people think...have the courage to try something a little different. In the end, you'll be the one laughing back at all of the "blubber-bellies" at your office that are giving you funny looks while they eat their donuts!

Feel free to email this link on to any friends or coworkers that you think would like to try these types of unique quick daily workouts. Heck, try to get your co-workers to do these with you if you can!

If you liked the ideas in this article, please feel free to share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, etc:

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If you liked these training ideas, my internationally best-selling ebook The Truth about Six Pack Abs contains hundreds of more innovative training and nutrition ideas to lose stubborn body fat and carve out a rock hard set of abs and a flat stomach.

Things to Consider When Preparing for Your Special Education Job Interview

Things to Consider When Preparing for Your Special Education Job Interview

..............................................................................................................

Candidates who are seeking a job in special education face unique challenges because they need to present themselves as more than a general teacher. They need to prove they are true specialists in the education field. Principals will be looking for special education teachers who are masters in developing differentiated lessons, experts in child disabilities, advocates for students, and able to work cooperatively on a team of professional educators.

When you interview for a special education job, it is likely you'll be asked many of the standard questions that are presented to all teacher candidates. This includes questions about classroom management, parent communication, technology, and your philosophy of teaching. But, you will also be faced with additional questions that are specific to special education. You answers to these questions will help you prove your dedication to and background knowledge of special education.

I always recommend candidates familiarize themselves with possible interview questions beforehand. Most teacher interview questions are relatively predictable and, if you think about what might be asked, and develop possible answers in your mind, the actual interview will seem routine and familiar.

Below are a few thoughts for special education candidates who are preparing for their next interview.

Know your future students.

Special education teachers are specialists in a huge variety of academic, emotional, and physical disorders that students have. You'll need to know about and discuss specific disorders. Know what the symptoms of the disorder are, what types of services might be available for these children, and be armed with some effective teaching strategies.


A few of the many specific classifications you might want to be sure you're familiar with are:
speech disorders
language and processing difficulties
autism and Aspergers disease
emotional and behavioral disorders
ADD and ADHD
physical handicaps
Tourette's Syndrome
Cerebral Palsy

Don't be the candidate who
doesn't know an IEP from a CSE.

A special education candidate should realize that the job will require more than just teaching students. There will be lots of meetings to attend in which you discuss student needs, goals, successes and failures. There will be plenty of papers to fill out which document student progress and plans for future instruction. And you'll be the go-to person when other teachers have questions about a student's needs or abilities. Be prepared to discuss the job requirements that go "beyond teaching", including:


IEP (Individualized Education Program) - Know what an IEP is and how to write one. When you become a special education teacher, it may (at times) seem like your career revolves around IEP paperwork, so be prepared to talk about this in-depth.CSE (Committee on Special Education)- Know what an CSE meeting is, how they're conducted, and what the role of the special education teacher is. If you have ANY experience being a part of a CSE (or other special ed.) meeting, please emphasize this at your interview as it will give you an edge over many more inexperienced candidates.
Prepare yourself beforehand by studying up on the school district's process for referring students. They may have a Child Study Team or other type of group for determining which students need special education services and which students do not. Do your research to figure out what tests are administered to determine eligibility for the program. Also, it can be especially helpful if you know what services are available within the school and which are not.
Be prepared to talk about how you'll be able to help school faculty members who need guidance in dealing with special education students. Many students will be pushed into regular education setting for all or part of the school day. When other teachers have questions or concerns about a special education student's achievement, you'll be the one they turn to. You may be asked to help them adapt the curriculum so students can reach their fullest potential.

It takes a team to educate a child.

You'll definitely want to emphasize your ability to work cooperatively with other teachers and support staff. There is a team-approach to a special education student's successes. You'll be required to work closely with regular education teachers, PT and OT teachers, speech teachers, counselors and social workers, special education administration, and resource teachers. Be ready to discuss your role on the team of educators who will be responsible for the success of your students.

In many situations, special education students will have a teacher aides or you may even be given an assistants to help you out through the day. Be prepared to discuss how you might use the support staff in a way that benefits the student. Remember: You do want to foster independence in your students, so you won't want them to be overly-dependent on an aide or assistant. However, the student will have very specialized needs which may require an extra pair of hands. At your interview, you may be asked how you will use support staff to balance the ability and limitations of your students.


Strive for Least Restrictive Environment.

One of the goals of special education should be to ensure that all students learn by being challenged, but not overwhelmed. While some students may be in a self-contained special education program, others may be mainstreamed or a part of an inclusion program. Your goal should be to ensure that no student is ever over-classified. He/she should always be given as "normal" of a school experience as possible.

In the United States, students with disabilities are legally entitled to be educated alongside students without disabilities, whenever possible. You'll want to ensure that your students have access to the regular education curriculum, regular extra-curricular activities, and any other programs regular education students participate in, as long as the student does not have a disability that requires his/her exclusion. You'll want your special education students should feel as through the fit in with the school community, not alienated from it.

Know the secret to being a successful Special Ed. teacher!

What is the key to being a successful special ed. teacher? It's being an expert in differentiated instruction! Yes it's true that all teachers need to differentiate their lessons to meet the learning styles, academic needs, and interests of their students. But in special education, it's not only a recommended teaching technique, it's essential!

Unlike other teachers, you'll never be able to open a teacher resource manual and begin teaching the lessons as-is. You'll need to adapt each lesson so that the children in your class are learning as much as possible, given their own personal strengths and limitations. It is important to show how you will use differentiation to adapt the curriculum to meet the individual learning needs of your students.

Looking for a Teaching Job? Tim Wei's Book Can help!

For additional information about finding teaching jobs, the teacher interview process, common teacher interview questions and answers, building a teaching portfolio, and resume and cover letter information, you may want to download a copy of "Guide to Getting the Teaching Job of Your Dreams" from
 

Wow! People are Loving Danies Grape Farm!

Wow! People are Loving Danies Grape Farm! 
Well the owner of the site (Danie) sent me an email telling me how happy his
customer response has been since I sent the last email to you. 
This is what Danie said:    “Hey, thanks for spreading the word about my grape 
growing web site.  The response over the last  2 days has been amazing and 
customers  are loving my guide â€" Especially the video series!” 
If you haven’t jumped on board and claimed your copy of Danie’s amazing package
â€" Make sure you do it now. 
>> Look at Danie’s Grape farm here <<   
Like I said previously, Danie’s a great bloke and when it comes to growing grapes -
He’s the man you want teaching you!    He explains how to grow a few grape vines 
up home all the way to growing grapes on a commercial scale (Like he does) 
So if you’re looking for an easy way to stay young and active â€" Eat grapes. 
And if you want to save money  - Grow them yourself! 
>> Look at Amazing Danie’s Grape farm here <<    

 The iPad Is Your New Best Friend!

 The iPad Is Your New Best Friend!
Whether or not you're into iPads or apple products it's hard to deny that there's a huge market for creating applications for them.
Just take a look at the iPhone and iPod Touch markets. Millions of applications were created by normal people like you and I!
Many of those everyday normal people made seriously large amounts of cash selling millions of their applications online.
The iphone market is a bit too saturated for overnight success now but the iPad is in its infancy and the app fortunes are ripe for the picking!
It's not even difficult to create an absolutely amazing ipad application and sell it on the app store.
It doesn't even require extensive computer or programming knowledge. A lot of people just develop the apps and hire out coders to do the dirty work!
The best part is that they still make a ton of money.
I've created an awesome little report that goes over all the ins and outs of how to create wonderful iPad applications and make huge profits off of them.
This book is seriously easy to read and understand and it covers everything you'd ever need to know about creating good iPad apps and, most importantly, making tons of money on them!
In it you'll find information on creating app blueprints, designing the app, submitting to the app store, getting it approved and even how to market it!

Could this be THE most important test of your life?


Could this be THE most important test of your life?



As tests go, this one is short.

12 multiple-choice questions and about 2 minutes of your time figuring out how to answer them.

And at the end of it?

A prediction about just how susceptible you are to THE most dreaded of diseases.

I am talking about cancer. The Big C as it is sometimes called.

Carolyn Hansen, fitness professional and nutrition expert, has put together a powerful little quiz that she claims will give you an unnerving glimpse into your future:

Click here to find out your Cancer Risk Number


Maybe you have wondered whether there are things you may be doing that are INCREASING your chances of having to deal with cancer in the years ahead?

Well, this is one way to get that question answered. And it only takes 2 minutes of your time!

And consider this. If there was an invisible sword hanging over your head and someone offered to show you how to step out from under it, wouldn't you want to take just 2 minutes of your time to see what it was they were talking about?


 

20 Steps To Build a HUGE Subscriber List.

20 Steps To Build a HUGE Subscriber List.


How would you like to be able to drive thousands of visitors to your site in the next hour?

How would you like to have those visitors turned into your subscribers and be able to email them any time you've a product to promote?

Fantastic right?

But first you need to start with traffic and you need this:

This is the ULTIMATE traffic course that teaches you how to drive truckloads of targeted visitors to your site at only 2 cents each.

With the 20 step by step video series, you can't go wrong as the creator walks you through each of the phases to set up a profitable campaign with only a few bucks.

As compare to so many other courses, this is the real deal as it tells you all about it and walk you through the whole system. From ad creation to targeted and also testing and tracking for maximum conversions.

Bad News About Potty Training.

Bad News About Potty Training...
Today... If you'll allow me?
I'd like to introduce you to a good friend who can save you a lifetime of frustration and disappointment when potty training your child.
You may be familiar with her?
Her name is The Potty Training Guru, but she prefers Carol Cline.
Carol Cline has helped thousands of parents potty train their child successfully in over 67 countries around the world.
How can she help you?
By showing you how potty training can be easy... If you follow a proven plan.
Most parents potty train using trial and error and *prolong* potty training by months instead of just days if they had used a proven plan.
==>Carol Cline explains here
 
The longer you wait to potty train your child... The harder it will be for you... Even if they are currently not showing any signs of being ready.
Even if you had tried potty training in the past and failed...
...Listen, it's NOT your fault.
==>Here's what's going on with your child
 
I don't know for sure?
But this is likely the most important lesson about potty training I could EVER share with you.
I say that because I've known parents who've potty trained their children in just 3 days...
only using 3 simple tips Carol Cline suggested to them… and now never have to pay for or change diapers ever again.
If only every parents used Carol Clines method... parents would have their child potty trained in days... instead of weeks or even months...
==>Here's her proven method
Would you mind grabbing a piece of paper and taking notes?
I truly believe this is THAT important to your child's future....  

The health benefits of Grapes and how you can grow them at home!

The health benefits of Grapes and how you can grow them at home! 
Lately I’ve been going crazy over Grapes. I’ve recently discovered that 
Grapes have many health benefits that will help me  stay young and active 
and can help me live longer. 
Widely popular, grapes are regarded in many cultures as “the queen of fruits". 
These tiny berries are the storehouse of numerous health 
promoting phyto-nutrients such as poly-phenolic antioxidants, vitamins, 
and minerals. 
 => Grow AMAZING grapes like these with ease   
 
During my research here’s some interesting facts I’ve un-covered: 
- Grapes are rich in Resveratrol. Resveratrol is one of the powerful 
anti-oxidant, which has been found to play a protective role against 
cancers of colon and prostate, coronary heart disease (CHD), degenerative 
 nerve disease, Alzheimer's disease and viral/ fungal infections. 
 - Resveratrol reduces stroke risk by altering the molecular mechanisms 
in the blood vessels. 
 - They are an also good source of vitamin-C, vitamin A, vitamin K, 
carotenes, B-complex vitamins such as pyridoxine, riboflavin, and thiamin. 
 - In addition, the berries are very low in calories. 100 g fresh grapes 
just provide 69 calories but zero cholesterol levels. 
 
 => Grow AMAZING grapes like these with ease 
  
 Look at the link above and see what Danie’s offering. 
Danie is a professional grape grower and has put together a course 
to help the “average Joe”   grow grapes at home. 
His course also includes a video series that shows professional 
tips all recorded on his own farm. 
 If you want to grow grapes at home this is the course you need. 
He shows you how to grow grape up a fence, a patio or if you want 
to grow grapes on a large scale vineyard he also covers this in great detail. 
 Danie’s a great bloke and has put his heart and sole into his course. 
He also provides amazing support. 
I give Danies course 2 thumbs up! 
 â€œGrapes are an amazing fruit with many health benefits, 
I love em” â€" Danie Wium 
 
 => Look at Danies Grape farm    

Have you Ever Heard of Passing out Flyers for money?


Have you Ever Heard of Passing out Flyers for money?
I’m not going to tell you that you’ll earn 100,000 per month mastering internet marketing, but I will tell you that earning $4,000 per month is very possible if you have the right tools.
I’m going to show you how I earn over $1000.00 per week simply passing out flyers for companies.
I’ll show you how to find these companies, get their business and how to advertise for free.
If you’re sick of waiting for extra income, than please watch our short video that could have you earning big money just like I do.
Please watch our short video for proof that my system really works.

only one way to make money from the Internet


It does not matter what you say about it. There is only one way to make money from the Internet.

Get the right infornation that WORKS!

This knowledge alone can make you highly successful with making money from the Internet.

 will give you all the knowledge you need to make money online.

When you look at some of the most successful people, making millions from the Internet, I bet you never thought that you can become so successful youself. Well you are wrong, you can be that successful if you use the same principles they use, and this blueprint will show you exactly how to do this, the right way.

You receive a roadmap to ultimate success with making money from the Internet.

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You think you knew how to make money from the Internet? You were wrong!

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The TRUTH about Potatoes, Glycemic Index, and "White Foods - Friend or Foe for Fat Loss?

The TRUTH about Potatoes, Glycemic Index, and "White Foods" - Friend or Foe for Fat Loss?

I'd prefer to begin alittle discussion nowadays regarding carbohydrates... and above all, "white foods" similarly as potatoes. One reason I wished to say this can be as a result of such a large amount of health and fitness professionals trash speak potatoes regarding being a nasty sugar alternative owing to the high glycemic index. Some even say such ridiculous things as "avoid any and every one white carbohydrates".

Ok, currently whereas I actually agree that breadstuff and refined white sugar area unit 2 of the worst things we will be feeding our bodies, I definately do not consider avoiding any and every one "white carbohydrates". currently i do know all of the excitement recently has been regarding colourful foods and therefore the protecting antioxidants that they contain. They tell you to concentrate on colours and keep one's eyes off from white.


"White Foods" are not essentially forever the enemy

It's true that colourful foods area unit nice, however it's a giant mistake to specifically avoid white foods! There area unit lots of white foods that have specific nutrients that area unit arduous to search out elsewhere. Let's investigate a number of examples...

Onions & Garlic

What regarding onions and garlic? {they area unit|they're} each white and that they are chock jam-packed with protecting phytonutrients, vitamins, and trace minerals that are not simple to search out elsewhere in an exceedingly traditional diet... such nutrients as allicin, quercetin (an necessary flavonoid), chromium, and alternative distinctive medicinal drug nutrients.

In fact, onions area unit thus powerful for our health, that one study of centenarians (people that live to over a hundred years old) known that a typical thread of those surprisingly healthy people was that they Greek deity plenty of onions throughout their lives. and that we additionally apprehend that garlic is one amongst the foremost powerful substances for a powerful system, among alternative qualities.

Cauliflower

Another example of one thing white that's nice for you is cauliflower. Cauliflower is loaded with water-soluble vitamin, fiber, minerals, and special compounds like glucosinolates and thiocyanates, that area unit specifically swarming in dilleniid dicot family vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. And a little-known reality is that a number of the compounds in dilleniid dicot family vegetables facilitate to combat alternative steroid compounds in our food offer and setting and may facilitate forestall excess belly fat. thus eat au fait that cauliflower!

Mushrooms

Not many folks notice this, however amazingly, even white mushrooms have high levels of distinctive nutrients and antioxidants. White mushrooms area unit high in an exceedingly couple varieties of antioxidants known as polyphenols and ergothioneine. and a few varieties of mushrooms, like portobella mushrooms, area unit amazingly sensible sources of cholecarciferol.
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Potatoes

Now that additionally leads United States to a different example - white potatoes (which by the method, may also be found in red, yellow, purple varieties, etc). several health professionals claim that potatoes area unit a nasty sugar as a result of they're thought to possess a high glycemic index. 1st of all, if you have browse my Truth regarding Six Pack Abs ebook, then you perceive that glycemic index isn't essentially the foremost necessary consider selecting your carbohydrates.

While a generalization are often created that almost all low glycemic index sugar selections can assist you lose body fat easier than high glycemic index selections, it's not all that it's cracked up to be. There area unit several alternative factors that confirm however your body can react-to and method the carbohydrates you ingest, like glycemic load and additionally however you mix the high GI food with alternative foods.

For example, victimization glycemic load as associate degree example... it's acknowledged that watermelon includes a high glycemic index. However, the glycemic load of a standard serving of watermelon is simply method too low for your body to begin packing on body fat simply because you Greek deity a high glycemic index fruit. you'd ought to eat such a colossal amount of watermelon simply to induce enough grams of carbohydrates to possess any negative glycemic impact, that it's simply non-sensical.

Not to mention that watermelon is additionally a good supply of vitamins, minerals, and carotenoid. there is simply no reason to avoid it just because it's a high GI. My purpose is... candy bars, cupcakes, and donuts cause you to fat... NOT watermelons, carrots or potatoes... french-fried potatoes excluded in fact.

Also, as i discussed, food combos area unit necessary in however your body processes the carbohydrates and therefore the associated glucose and internal secretion response you receive. as an example, if you combine a high glycemic index sugar with an additional supply of fiber, healthy fats, or perhaps sure proteins, persistently the glucose and glycemic response are going to be bogged down significantly by the method you combined the food. Again, I speak thoroughly regarding this complete topic in my Truth regarding Six Pack Abs book

Alright, thus back to my purpose that white potatoes are literally a healthy sugar as long as you eat them within the right kind... with the complete skin, and please do not ruin them by deep cookery them into french-fried potatoes either! french-fried potatoes area unit one amongst the foremost evil things ever fictional for your health, however solely as a result of we tend to atomic number 44in them by soaking them in an exceedingly hot tub of trans fats within the deep poulet from the modify oils that area unit generally used.

Keep in mind that potatoes contain such a large amount of vitamins and minerals that the list is far too long to even strive. Also, as long as you eat the skins, you get a good shot of fiber too.

Will 7-9 potatoes per day cause you to fatter?

On the subject of potatoes not being thus dangerous finally, i do not keep in mind wherever I saw this documented, however I recently saw a selected study that had participants eat one thing like 7-9 whole potatoes per day for many weeks.

At the conclusion of the study, the potato eaters had truly systematically lost weight! i might venture a guess that the explanation the individuals lost weight is that they were most likely thus full from feeding all of these damn potatoes, that they really consumed less calories than normal! a median sized potato solely has regarding 100-120 calories, and that i will sure enough imagine you would be full perpetually from feeding 7-9 potatoes day by day.

Of course, this doesn't mean that french-fried potatoes area unit alright to eat! Those can solely cause you to fat, and therefore the trans fat can result in associate degree early death. Seriously... fries area unit one amongst the foremost deadly foods in our food offer. Plus, deep cooked potatoes build up dangerous acrylamides from the cookery oil reacting with the starch, and these compounds area unit malignant neoplastic disease.

Anyway, back to the 7-9 whole potatoes per day... currently i might ne'er suggest planning to those extremes, however my purpose is that associate degree occasional potato isn't planning to hurt your efforts to induce lean, particularly if you mix it with another fibrous vegetables and perhaps a healthy fat and a few supermolecule. on it note, I even have one amongst my favorite recipes for you, victimization potatoes.

Geary's Lean-Body Potato entremots

Desired amount of baby potatoes (I prefer to use this mixture I found recently at a food store... it's a combination of white, red, yellow, and purple baby potatoes)
one red pepper
one sweet pepper
one yellow pepper
one or two onions
one or two cloves of garlic, finely sliced (or mashed garlic from a jar, organic preferably)
one or two Tbsp additional virgin oil and/or virgin oil
alittle salt and pepper to style (I like employing a ocean salt rather than traditional industrial salt)

Cut the baby potatoes into slightly smaller items and place in an exceedingly steamer till soft all the method through. cut the peppers and onions into strips and add with the sliced garlic into a pan with the oil. Cook the peppers, onions, and garlic till tender, and so add the steamed baby potatoes. Stir it all at once and serve. this can be a delicious and healthy entremots that goes nice with chicken or pork.

Which foods to kill belly fat ( Clic Here For More Information )

The Top Fat Loss Secrets for Flat Six-Pack Abs and a Lean Stomach

The Top Fat Loss Secrets for Flat Six-Pack Abs and a Lean Stomach


I had the pleasure of being interviewed recently by a fitness professional from NYC, Certified Personal Trainer, Geovanni Derice. The interview is below and I think you're going to like it... I reveal some of the hardest hitting strategies for getting rid of that stubborn stomach fat to uncover those flat six pack abs that everyone wants.

"GD: Welcome Mike to our 4-ever-Toned Fitness Journal. For those who do not know you, please tell us a few things about yourself and how you can help our readers with their fitness and health.



MG: Thanks for having me, Geo. Well, to go back a little, I have been heavily involved in fitness and sports for about 20 years now, ever since I was a teenager. Being involved in sports in high school got me interested in strength training and conditioning.

At that point, once I started feeling more energetic, getting stronger, and looking better, I was instantly hooked for life. I'm 36 now and still addicted to the way living a healthy and fit lifestyle makes me feel energetic, confident, strong, and youthful on a daily basis.

I decided earlier in my 20's that I wanted to make the commitment to help other people experience the excitement of being fit and getting in the best shape of their lives, especially since we've reached an epidemic of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, etc. That's why I became a fitness professional. It just gives me so much satisfaction to help others, who have struggled for years to get in good shape, and show them that it can be done, and it can be fun in the process.

I've expanded over the years from just reaching local individuals with personal training, into being able to help people all over the globe achieve their fitness goals with the reach of the internet. I only hope that my passion for fitness inspires people to take action and improve how they look and feel for life.

GD: Now Mike, there's so many things out there as to what works and what does not work... if you had to pick 3 things that work time and time again to get flat lean abs, what would they be?


MG: The first and most important thing to get control of in order to lose your belly fat and get flat abs is cleaning up your diet. Exercise is important, but your diet is king when it comes to losing body fat so that you can see your abs.

There's so much confusion these days about what a healthy diet that promotes fat loss really is... after all, we are bombarded by conflicting messages in the media about what is healthy and what is not, and you have all of these gimmicky diet books about low carb, low fat, high protein, vegetarian, fasting, atkins, south beach, liquid diets, and hundreds more. There's so much conflicting info, that the average consumer doesn't even know where to start when it comes to eating for fat loss.

The second thing that works time and time again, is to focus on the intensity of your workouts and focus on working the body as a whole in order to get the best metabolic response to lose that stubborn stomach fat.

In order to really get lean, the workouts should have a high intensity, with short rest periods, working the largest muscle groups of the body, instead of trying to isolate specific small muscles like the biceps, triceps, or calves.

For the third thing, let's talk about actually training the abs specifically. When it comes to training the abs, if you want real results, I always recommend forgetting about the crunches and situps for the most part. They are ok for someone that is really deconditioned, but most people that already have some training under their belt need a much better stimulus for their abs than crunches. Crunches are one of the abs exercises that actually provide the least amount of resistance, and remember that resistance is what develops and tones the muscles.

I provide a ton of great abs exercises in my book, but one of THE highest resistance exercises for the abs, is hanging leg raises (but NOT the way you see most people at the gym doing them). The key to doing these and actually working the hell out of your abs is to curl your pelvis up as you raise your legs. Almost nobody ever does this right. To be honest, the majority of people cannot do this at first, but I provide some strategies in my book as to how to progress to doing these correctly.

GD: What are people doing wrong when it comes to developing the coveted "6 pack abs"?

MG: Well Geo, I know this sounds funny to most people, but the MAIN thing that people are doing wrong to get those flat 6-pack abs is... are you ready for this?

They spend entirely too much time focusing on training their abs! WAY too much time spent on abs exercises. Sounds crazy, but it's true.

Remember, having a flat and visible six pack of abs is all about getting down to a low body fat percentage. In order to do that, your workouts must focus on stimulating a fat burning hormonal environment in your body, and increasing your metabolic rate. That just does not happen when you focus too much time training a small muscle group like the abs.

Instead, you must use the majority of your time focusing on training the largest muscle groups of the body like the legs, back, and chest. That's what stimulates your metabolism and the fat burning hormones that will get you truly lean and sporting a flat sixxer!

GD: Which exercises are the top exercises that people need to do if they are to get maximum defintion with their midsection?

MG: When it comes to developing the abs themselves, I again refer to any kinds of hanging abs exercises, as well as some good floor abs exercises like lying leg thrusts (all described and illustrated in my book).

However, maximum definition in the abs and midsection comes from losing bodyfat, and the most effective exercises featured in my program for that goal are various forms of swings and snatches (unique dumbbell or kettlebell exercises that almost nobody ever does in normal gyms), squats, deadlifts, lunges, step-ups, clean & presses, mountain climbers, sprinting, and other full body exercises and calisthenics. If you want great looking flat abs, focus on those instead of focusing so much on training the abs directly!

GD: When it comes to diet Mike, people really have tried millions of ways to get one thing... and that is fat loss. What recommendations have you used to successfully help your clients lose body fat and keep it off?

MG: I have included a fully comprehensive discussion of this topic in my book, which accounts for almost half of the book, but I'll try to make some nice simple generalizations to get people started on the right path immediately. The most important thing is that your diet is as natural and unprocessed as possible. It almost always comes back to the overprocessing of food that makes it unhealthy, and makes it totally wreck your metabolism and hormone balance in your body.

For example, why eat refined grains, when you can eat sprouted whole grains (keep in mind that I usually recommend strictly limiting grain-based foods overall for best results due to the problems with antinutrients and gluten in grains which are inflammatory).

Why eat refined sugar, when you can get natural sources of sugar from a high nutrient whole food like fruit. Why eat highly processed, refined, and hydrogenated vegetable oils (these are THE worst thing in the modern diet), when you can eat natural sources of healthy fats like nuts, avocados, fish, eggs, coconut milk, organically raised meat, and so forth.

The point is to not fall for some gimmick like extremely low carbs (although I do believe in a fairly reduced carb intake as that is a big problem for most people), low fat, super high protein, or any other combination that has you focusing on one macronutrient vs. another.

Your body needs all macronutrients to thrive and obtain a variety of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc. Trying to cut an entire food group out just works against what your body needs. I get into much more detail on this vitally important topic towards losing body fat (especially that stubborn stomach fat) for life in my book.

GD: Thank you very much Mike for sharing with us all of this great information.

program for lean flat absWell, I hope you enjoyed this interview and plucked several nuggets of info to get you motivated and started on showing off your flat abs shortly. If you don't already own a copy, be sure to pick up a copy of my Truth about Six Pack Abs book and discover the entire system I've developed for ridding yourself of that extra ab fat for good!

The Top Fat Loss Secrets for Flat Six-Pack Abs and a Lean Stomach

The Top Fat Loss Secrets for Flat Six-Pack Abs and a Lean Stomach

I had the pleasure of being interviewed recently by a fitness skilled from NYC, Certified Personal Trainer, Geovanni Derice. The interview is below and that i suppose you are going to love it... I reveal a number of the toughest touching ways for obtaining obviate that stubborn abdomen fat to uncover those flat six pack abs that everybody desires.

"GD: Welcome microphone to our 4-ever-Toned Fitness Journal. For those that don't understand you, please tell North American nation some things regarding yourself and the way you'll be able to facilitate our readers with their fitness and health.

MG: Thanks for having Pine Tree State, Geo. Well, to travel back alittle, I actually have been heavily concerned in fitness and sports for regarding twenty years currently, ever since i used to be a youngster. Being concerned in sports in highschool got Pine Tree State inquisitive about strength coaching and acquisition.


At that time, once I started feeling a lot of energetic, obtaining stronger, and searching higher, i used to be instantly hooked for all times. i am thirty six currently and still passionate about the approach living a healthy and match manner makes Pine Tree State feel energetic, confident, strong, and young on a each day.

I decided earlier in my 20's that I needed to create the commitment to assist others expertise the joy of being match and entering into the most effective form of their lives, particularly since we've reached a deadly disease of blubber, heart condition, diabetes, cancer, depression, etc. that is why I became a fitness skilled. It simply offers Pine Tree State most satisfaction to assist others, World Health Organization have struggled for years to urge in fine condition, and show them that it will be done, and it will be fun within the method.

I've swollen over the years from simply reaching native people with personal coaching, into having the ability to assist individuals everywhere the world succeed their fitness goals with the reach of the web. I solely hope that my passion for fitness evokes individuals to require action and improve however they give the impression of being and condole with life.

GD: currently microphone, there is such a large amount of things out there on what works and what doesn't work... if you had to choose three things that job time and time once more to urge flat lean abs, what would they be?

MG: the primary and most vital issue to urge management of so as to lose your belly fat and acquire flat abs is cleansing up your diet. Exercise is vital, however your diet is king once it involves losing body fat in order that you'll be able to see your abs.

There's most confusion recently regarding what a healthy diet that promotes fat loss very is... after all, we tend to area unit bombarded by conflicting messages within the media regarding what's healthy and what's not, and you've got all of those gimmicky diet books regarding low carb, low fat, high supermolecule, vegetarian, fasting, atkins, south beach, liquid diets, and lots of a lot of. there is most conflicting information, that the typical shopper does not even understand wherever to begin once it involves feeding for fat loss.

The second issue that works time and time once more, is to specialise in the intensity of your workouts and specialise in operating the body as a full so as to urge the most effective metabolic response to lose that stubborn abdomen fat.
How to lose stomach fat ( Clic Here For More Information )

In order to actually get lean, the workouts ought to have a high intensity, with short rest periods, operating the most important muscle teams of the body, rather than making an attempt to isolate specific little muscles just like the skeletal muscle, triceps, or calves.

For the third issue, let's cite truly coaching the abs specifically. once it involves coaching the abs, if you wish real results, I continuously advocate forgetting regarding the crunches and situps for the foremost half. they're ok for somebody that's very deconditioned, however most of the people that have already got some coaching beneath their belt would like a way higher information for his or her abs than crunches. Crunches area unit one in all the abs exercises that truly give the smallest {amount} amount of resistance, and keep in mind that resistance is what develops and tones the muscles.

I give plenty of nice abs exercises in my book, however one in all the best resistance exercises for the abs, is hanging leg raises (but NOT the approach you see most of the people at the athletic facility doing them). The key to doing these and truly operating the hell out of your abs is to twist your pelvis up as you raise your legs. nearly no one ever will this right. To be honest, the bulk of individuals cannot do that initially, however I give some ways in my book on a way to reach doing these properly.

GD: What area unit individuals doing wrong once it involves developing the sought after "6 pack abs"?

MG: Well Geo, i do know this sounds funny to most of the people, however the most issue that individuals do wrong to urge those flat 6-pack abs is... area unit you prepared for this?

They pay entirely an excessive amount of time specializing in coaching their abs! approach an excessive amount of time spent on abs exercises. Sounds crazy, however it's true.

Remember, having a flat and visual six pack of abs is all regarding obtaining right down to an occasional body fat proportion. so as to try to to that, your workouts should specialise in stimulating a fat burning secretion surroundings in your body, and increasing your rate. That simply doesn't happen after you focus an excessive amount of time coaching alittle muscle cluster just like the abs.

Instead, you want to use the bulk of it slow specializing in coaching the most important muscle teams of the body just like the legs, back, and chest. that is what stimulates your metabolism and therefore the fat burning hormones which will get you actually lean and sporting a flat sixxer!

GD: that exercises area unit the highest exercises that individuals have to be compelled to do if they're to urge most defintion with their midsection?

MG: once it involves developing the abs themselves, I once more check with any varieties of hanging abs exercises, further as some smart floor abs exercises like lying leg thrusts (all represented and illustrated in my book).

However, most definition within the abs and midriff comes from losing bodyfat, and therefore the only exercises featured in my program for that goal area unit varied sorts of swings and snatches (unique dumbbell or kettlebell exercises that nearly no one ever will in traditional gyms), squats, deadlifts, lunges, step-ups, clean &amp; presses, mountain climbers, sprinting, and different full body exercises and exercising. If you wish nice wanting flat abs, specialise in those rather than focusing most on coaching the abs directly!

GD: once it involves diet microphone, individuals very have tried countless ways that to urge one issue... which is fat loss. What recommendations have you ever accustomed with success facilitate your shoppers lose body fat and keep it off?

MG: I actually have enclosed a totally comprehensive discussion of this subject in my book, that accounts for pretty much 1/2 the book, however i will attempt to create some nice straightforward generalizations to urge individuals started on the correct path instantly. the foremost necessary issue is that your diet is as natural and unprocessed as doable. It nearly always comes back to the overprocessing of food that creates it unhealthy, and makes it all wreck your metabolism and endocrine balance in your body.

For example, why eat refined grains, after you will eat up whole grains (keep in mind that I sometimes advocate strictly limiting grain-based foods overall for best results owing to the issues with antinutrients and protein in grains that area unit inflammatory).

Why eat sweetener, after you will get natural sources of sugar from a high nutrient whole food like fruit. Why eat extremely processed, refined, and alter vegetable oils (these area unit THE worst issue within the trendy diet), after you will eat natural sources of healthy fats like buggy, avocados, fish, eggs, coconut milk, organically raised meat, then forth.

The point is to not fall for a few gimmick like extraordinarily low carbs (although I do believe a reasonably reduced carb intake as that's a giant downside for many people), low fat, super high supermolecule, or the other combination that has you specializing in one macronutrient vs. another.

Your body wants all macronutrients to thrive and procure a range of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc. making an attempt to chop a complete food cluster out simply works against what your body wants. i buy into rather more detail on this vitally necessary topic towards losing body fat (especially that stubborn abdomen fat) for all times in my book.

GD: many thanks {very much|considerably|noticeably|significantly|greatly|much|a nice deal|substantially|abundantly|pretty much} microphone for sharing with North American nation all of this great info.

program for lean flat absWell, I hope you enjoyed this interview and plucked many nuggets of information to urge you motivated and commenced on showing off your flat abs shortly. If you do not already own a duplicate, make certain to choose up a duplicate of my Truth regarding Six Pack Abs book and find out the whole system I've developed for ridding yourself of that further ab fat for good!

How to restore our basic life-supporting systems water, air and soil

How to restore our basic life-supporting systems; water, air and soil
The breakdown of our food growing systems poses one of the biggest threats to our survival.  Our existence depends upon our agricultural systems, but what do our agricultural systems depend on?  The answer: water, air and soil.  These basic elements support all life-forms and without them, life as we know it cannot be sustained.  
In nature, food grows as part of an ecosystem.  An ecosystem is an ecological system that is made up of many biological parts, or components, that all interact with one another.  These components are mostly made up of organisms such as plants and animals.  They feed on each other and depend on each others’ presence to survive.
Just as plant and animal components are dependent on each other, basic life-supporting systems - water, air and soil - are also dependent on each another.  For example, the flow of air affects rainfall and rainfall affects the flow of air.  In addition, life-supporting systems are dependent on the components and vice versa.  For example, soil is created by plants and plants are created by soil.  In summary, components are dependent on life-supporting systems and the life-supporting systems are dependent on components.  However, it gets even more complicated than that.
Within the basic life-supporting systems - water, air and soil - there are sub-systems.  If we take a look at water, it can be broken up into many sub-systems, including: rainfall, surface water, ground water, humidity and transpiration.  It is not necessary (or even possible) to understand everything that’s going on within an ecosystem, however it is very important to understand this:
Each and every component, system and sub-system is important in running the overall ecosystem.  When you disturb one, the others start to fall apart.
Humans once lived as part of ecosystems.  We were just one of many ecological components within an ecosystem.  We were also part of the food chain; sometimes preyed upon, but mostly a predator.  When we discovered cultivation we discovered many advantages, such as being able to grow staple crops in relative density.  By clearing an area of its natural components we have been able to increase the quantity of a single, useful component such as a commercial crop. 
A typical farming operation strives to eliminate as many ecological components as possible so that a predetermined yield of a specific crop can be obtained.  For example, a farmer sows 10 acres of wheat and expects to achieve a yield within a certain range.  If it’s a good year he will achieve the upper end of the range and if it’s a bad year he will achieve the lower end of the range.  This offers him a relatively secure livelihood and he can live his life in accordance to the money he makes from his predetermined yield.  It makes perfect sense from an economic point of view.
However, this only works when the basic life-supporting systems are working, hence, adequate water, air and soil.  The problem is that these basic systems are part of an ancient ecosystem that is long gone.  The soils that we now grow crops in were part of a natural ecosystem and the millions of components that once existed were a critical part of keeping the basic life-supporting systems healthy and functioning.
By stripping the land of natural components we start to see the degradation of the basic life-supporting systems - water, soil and air.  When a large number of living components are removed, these natural systems break down because the components and the systems are interrelated.  As a diversity of plants and animals are replaced with a single species of crop, we start to see effects on the way the basic water, air and soil systems operate.  Water moves faster and is not filtered by a variety of plants.  This usually lowers the ground water and leaves the surface hotter and drier.  The hotter surface moves the air in different ways causing rain clouds to travel away from the area causing localized drought conditions.  Overall fertility is lost from soils as water moves out of the system at a greater rate.  The temperatures are hotter in summer and colder in winter as there are fewer plants to thermoregulate the area.  Rainfall becomes more unpredictable as the air current is affected by hotter ground temperatures.  It eventually gets difficult to grow the commercial crop.
Modern-day human intervention can offer short-term solutions, but cannot fix the cause of the problem.  Irrigation from bores cannot provide a sustainable solution to the breakdown of the water system.  Irrigation only lowers the ground water further making the problem even bigger than it was.  The use of groundwater is not a bad practice in all cases, but it doesn’t fix the root problem.  Likewise, inorganic fertilizers will not repair the soil systems.  If a soil is being leached of nutrients due to water passing through it too quickly and hungry hybrid crops feeding on it, it will not be repaired by adding more minerals.  The same forces that are depleting the soils are still happening, so the soils will continue to become depleted.  Inorganic fertilizers cannot restore soil structure and cannot build new soil, like a natural ecosystem can. 
Commonsense will tell you that if there are no natural soil-building systems in place and soils are being lost and degraded, then fertilizer dependence must increase.  Year after year more fertilizer will be needed to obtain the same yield.  Remember, the farmer depends on a predetermined yield to fulfill his lifestyle, but now there is a greater cost to maintain that yield, in the form of store-bought fertilizers.  As costs increase, net profits decrease and eventually the whole operation becomes economically nonviable.  When you add market instability and retail competitiveness to the equation, you can see how difficult it would be to survive as a farmer.  The solution, so far, has been to cut the amount of human labor on farms because they are the most expensive part of the operation.  This is done by increasing the size of the operation and the equipment.  Large conglomerate companies can grow crops over thousands of acres, tended by very few humans.  In ecological terms, this means less diversity over a larger area, which means less natural components and less natural systems in operation.  Of course, the result is that the basic life-supporting systems; water, air and soil, will be ruined at a quicker rate.  Surely that means that even these massive operations will eventually become too costly to run. 
The only way to keep an ecosystem alive and healthy is to make sure the basic life-supporting systems - water, air and soil - are intact.  This applies to any patch of land, whether it’s a native forest, a farm or an urban garden.  Every ecosystem is just a smaller part of a larger ecosystem.  In fact, the whole planet could be referred to as a single ecosystem.  What we do on a local level may only cause a tiny effect, but if a significant number of local people start doing the same thing, then it will cause an effect on a slightly larger scale.  If this is replicated on a big enough scale, then eventually, our actions can affect an entire planet. 
There is no buffer that can protect you from the global breakdown of the basic life-supporting systems - water, air and soil.  However, you can cause an effect on your immediate surroundings.  To restore our basic life-supporting systems - water, air and soil - we need to increase the number and diversity of biological components.  Diversity is the answer.  Remember, an ecosystem has millions of components, systems and sub-systems operating in a given area.  These systems need each other for their survival.  We can add diversity to our backyards and farms in the form of plants and animals.  Once we start to add biological components, they will start to support more biological components.  The addition of biological components, in the form of plants and animals, will start to build soil.  This in turn will slow down the flow of water and keep it in our property.  Trees and other plants will reduce and capture water lost from ground evaporation, mulch soils and create niche spaces for more life-forms.  Your property will be better regulated in terms of temperature and humidity.  It will be cooler in summer and warmer in winter.  This, in turn, helps the plants to yield more, creating more biomass and better soil.  There will be more opportunities for life forms and the basic life-supporting systems; water, air and soil will be more supportive and better able to meet your needs.  As these basic systems become healthier, more sub-systems will appear.  Systems within systems will start to rev up and biological components (plants and animals) will increase in number, diversity and health. 
To give you an idea of how this may look in real terms, imagine this; a backyard that had a massive number of edible and non-edible plants of differing size, shape, habit, colour and form.  Also, imagine a diversity of domestic and wild animals, native and introduced, edible and non-edible.  Now, try to imagine a system where these plants and animals coexist in a way that they fed each other and, at the same time, create surplus food for humans.
Using a mixture of edible and non-edible plants is important.  Not everything within the system should be directly consumed by humans.  Non-edible plants create the structure that supports the edible species.  They should be planted in sensitive areas such as hilltops and drainage lines and in strips along contours on slopes.  They act as water filters, native habitats, climate controllers and soil builders.  Edible plants fill in the spaces only after the basic supporting structure is in place. 
Ecosystems are in a constant state of change and so are sustainable food growing systems.  This makes it very difficult to predetermine the yield from year to year.  The system needs the freedom to change as the components and systems evolve.  This is the most difficult part for humans to understand.  In our current way of farming we strive to make each year the same so that the yield can be predetermined, even when the conditions are changing.  Sustainable agriculture calls for a massive faith in natural laws and absolute respect for the basic life-supporting systems. 
I have seen many agricultural systems, but very few sustainable ones.  I have even seen several organically-certified farms that are practicing agriculture in a way that is depleting the basic life-supporting systems; soil, air and water.  Rather than buying inorganic fertilizers, they simply purchase organic fertilizers.  These organic farmers have little understanding of natural systems and just operate in a similar way to traditional farmers, only their job is more difficult without the use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides.  The food they produce may be free of chemicals, but they are slowly killing the basic life-supporting systems; water, air and soil. 
To make the world a healthier place is not difficult.  Even if you don’t get the design as perfect as you possibly could, just the addition of a diversity of plants will create a positive effect on the basic life-supporting systems.  However, if you can get the components arranged in a way that they feed off one another to create a cyclic flow of energy, then you are starting to mimic a natural ecosystem.  As the site matures, the basic life-supporting systems - water, air and soil - will start to be restored.  That is when the system becomes self-sufficient and will provide excess food for humans, with minimal effort.  In fact, at that point, we will have returned to the past and, once again, be just another ecological component within an ecosystem. 
Jonathan White is a self-employed environmental consultant and landscape designer.  He is the author of Food4Wealth, an eBook and video package that shows the reader exactly how to set up and maintain an ecological garden.  It is available at food4wealth DOT com

Ecological Gardening


When we think of organic gardening and permaculture we tend to conjure up images of leathery-skinned bearded warriors who dedicate their lives to working long days in their vegetable plots.  Whilst this may be a wonderful way to live your life, it doesn’t suit the average suburbanite with a full-time job and a hefty mortgage. 
Growing food is typically seen as either an art form or damned hard work.  It’s no wonder very few people do it on a serious level.  But what if a technique came along that was so easy and so prolific that even the busiest corporate executive could grow a significant portion of their family’s food in less time than it takes to drive to the shops.  Ecological gardening just might be the answer.  In my experience, it’s the ultimate modern-day convenience veggie plot.
I didn’t have a light bulb moment that said, “Ah, so this is ecological gardening”.  My vegetable garden was no different to anybody else’s for many years until I made a few changes.  The first and probably most significant was squeezing far more plants into a given area.  The second change was to never dig the soil.  And thirdly, I upgraded my composting system.  Once these simple strategies were in place I noticed the garden taking on a life of its own.  Weeds virtually stopped growing in the beds and plants started living much longer.  The garden could endure longer periods without water, I was yielding far more than I ever had and I could harvest every day of the year.   I wanted to know what was happening at a scientific level and applied my university training as an environmental scientist to understand why I was getting such amazing results.  I had to completely let go of all my preconceived ideas as a gardener and look at the plot through the eyes of an ecologist.  After some time I realized that I had created an ecosystem made up of edible plants, and it behaved in exactly the same way as a natural habitat.  I became more of an observer than a gardener and the role of head gardener was pulled from under my feet as nature took up the reins. 
Employ Nature, she works for free
The wonderful thing about nature is that she works tirelessly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Nature follows very simple laws and works in the same way, on any system, anywhere in the world.  When we create an ecological garden we are creating a living, breathing ecosystem.  By doing this we get nature working for us, and not against us, and her great stamina works in our favour.
Niche Spaces and why they are important
A pristine ecosystem is made up of thousands of living and non-living components all coexisting in a given area.  Each living component occupies its own niche space and the role of the niche space is very important to understand when creating an ecological garden.  Let’s look at an example.  Imagine a giant rainforest tree crashing to the ground after standing tall for hundreds of years.  Such a large tree would have filled an enormous niche space.  Lying in the soil, hundreds of dormant seeds spring to life, desperately fighting for their opportunity to occupy the best real estate in the forest: the empty niche space.  The niche space is quickly filled and harmony is restored. 
When we look at a traditional vegetable garden with this type of insight, what we see is a very unnatural system.  There is very little diversity and a lot of empty niche spaces.  Nature enforces her will on vegetable gardens in exactly the same way she does a rainforest, and this means that empty niches spaces will be filled as quickly as possible.  However, in a traditional vegetable garden there are no desirable seeds waiting to fill the niches spaces, so weeds fill them instead. 
The solution is to create a garden that has tightly filled niche spaces so that weeds don’t have any opportunities.  We can do this by planting the garden very tightly with a diverse range of plants of differing shapes and characteristics.  The result is a dense jungle-like planting arrangement that can yield an unbelievable amount.  The denseness also creates a highly protected micro-climate.  This ideal growing environment causes your plants to last much longer.  Greens don’t bolt to seed as soon as a hot spell hits and cold sensitive plants are more protected as well.
How to manage an ecological garden
Managing an ecological garden is different to managing a traditional vegetable garden.  With an ecological garden, there is far less to do.  As you become the observer and allow nature to take over as head gardener, you will notice that the garden is in a continual state of gentle change, just like a natural ecosystem.  It can be difficult for the traditional gardener to stand back and observe as we, human beings, like to control things.  This style of gardening calls for a great deal of faith in natural laws. Sure, there will be times when you need to step in and direct the system in a certain way; however that is almost always because a certain plant species is getting too successful and the system is at risk of loosing diversity. 
Natural Pest Management
The dense mixed-up nature of the ecological garden creates a natural form of pest management.  Pests generally locate their target plant species using sight or smell.  Imagine how much more difficult it is to see your target plant when its outline is blurred by a sea of green.  And how on earth could you smell your target plant when there are so many conflicting smells. 
No More Need to Rotate Crops
Crop rotation is practiced by dedicated gardeners for a very good reason.  Different plants require different minerals from the soil, in different proportions.  After an area has been planted with a certain species, the soil can be left depleted of certain minerals.  To lessen the effects of this depletion a different crop will be planted in the area the following year.  In addition, many gardeners rest their garden beds periodically and grow a green manure crop, usually a legume such as Lucerne or field peas.  These plants add nitrogen from the atmosphere through a process called nitrogen-fixing.  However, crop rotation simply isn’t necessary with ecological gardening because the mixed-up planting arrangement counteracts the effects of mineral depletion because a single species doesn’t dominate a single area.  Likewise, green manure crops are not necessary as nitrogen is topped up in two ways.  Firstly, through planting edible legumes such as peas and beans within the jungle-like mass.  And secondly, by the addition of compost to the surface of any bare areas.
Composting
Compost is an important part of the ecological garden and is a very valuable commodity.  To me, composting is a way of building valuable nutrients that will, one day, feed me and my family.  The average person buys food from a shop, consumes it and then sends the waste away.  This is simply buying nutrients, taking what you need for that precise moment, and disregarding the remainder.  It’s a nutrient flow that only flows in one direction, like a fancy car roaring down the road.  You admire the car for a moment, but after a second or two, it’s gone.
My goal is to slow down the car and then get it to do a U-turn.  I want to keep the nutrients within my property where I can capitalise on them.  By doing this, I am able to use the nutrients again, so I don’t have to buy them for a second time.  In effect, I am creating a system that is self-sustainable.  Composting is a vehicle in which we are able to create a nutrient cycle within our property.  We are part of that cycle because we consume the nutrients when they are, for a brief time, in a useful form.  Then they return to the compost and slowly make their way into another useful form where we consume them again.  This cycle can go on and on indefinitely. 
Throw away the hoe
Natural ecosystems don’t require gardeners with shovels and hoes to come along every season to turn their soil, and neither does an ecological garden.  However, it is best not to walk on the garden beds as this will cause unnecessary compaction.  Of course, this requires the installation of permanent pathways that are positioned in a way that the gardener can obtain access to the plot. 
Digging soil upsets the soil structure which, in turn, reduces the soil’s ability to pass on valuable nutrients to plants.  The loss of soil structure also reduces the soil’s ability to hold water.  Developing good soil structure is actually the best water conserving technique I know, and when practiced in conjunction with a dense planting arrangement creates a holistic soil ecology management plan.  A dense planting arrangement will shade the soils surface, stopping surface crusting which causes runoff and nutrient depletion.  Developing good deeper structure will allow soil organisms to do what they do best â€" turn organic matter into available plant nutrients.    
Self Seeding
If you are lucky enough to visit a pristine rainforest you will probably be awestruck by the towering canopy.  However, the future of the rainforest lies in the soil in the form of seeds â€" tiny cells of life waiting for their opportunity to prosper.  If we are going to create an ecological garden then we have to make sure it too, has a future.  By allowing some plants to go to seed, we can build up seed stores, just like the rainforest.  And like the rainforest, we should aim to have thousands of seeds of many varieties spread right across our plot.  Most of these seeds will never germinate because in the ecological garden the niche spaces are so tightly filled that opportunities for new life are limited.  However, eventually a plant will be eaten and an empty niche space will appear.  If we have thousands of seeds lying dormant, the chances of the niche space being filled with something desirable are pretty good
Who should set up an ecological garden?
Absolutely everyone from farmers to inner-city townhouse dwellers.  It may seem strange, but if you have never grown food before then you are, in some ways, at an advantage.  Experienced gardeners may like to see themselves as adopting some ecological gardening techniques, but find it difficult to let go of the need to control the system.  Like all industries, the gardening industry can get stuck in doing things a certain way and most seasoned gardeners will inevitably over-work the garden.  As a species, human beings prospered when we learnt to cultivate food using tilling and other traditional agricultural methods, so it’s difficult to turn back to where we came from - nature.  It might even feel like a step in the wrong direction.  But if we can let go of our need to control every living thing on the planet, and start to work with nature, we actually gain more control by being able to grow food more efficiently than ever before.  It’s a paradox - but it works!
Setting up an ecological garden
Any existing vegetable garden can be converted into an ecological garden.  Firstly, get your pathways laid out so that you never have to walk on your garden beds again.  After that, get a good composting system going and apply it to the soil surface.  Then plant densely and diversely. 
If you don’t have a vegetable garden, my suggestion would be to create a classic Esther Deans ‘no dig’ garden to get you started.  Once erected, simply follow the ecological gardening method. 
Mini-ecological garden
If you live in a unit or townhouse with no soft ground you could create a mini-ecological garden using a series of containers.  Polystyrafoam boxes with drainage holes are ideal.  Fill them with good potting mixture and arrange them side by side using as many as you can fit onto your verandah or patio.  Rather than developing a large composting system, you could purchase a worm farm and add the worm casts to the soil surface as fertilizer.  Once the boxes are set up, simply adopt the ecological gardening method.
The Ecological Gardening Method â€" the key principles.
  1. Plant densely
  2. Plant a diversity of plants within a given area
  3. Get a good composting system set up and use the compost as a surface mulch on bare patches
  4. Allow some plants to go to seed
  5. Only interfere with the system when a single species of plant over-dominates and simply scratch out excess plants when they are small. 

Growing food is not hard work, especially when you have nature helping you 24/7.  A small area can provide you with such a bounty of food, saving your family thousands of dollars per year.  Most of us don’t have much time to spend in the garden, including me.  I only invest around eight hours of time per year to growing my food, and although I live on a small farm I only use a space of around 6 x 6m.  That’s an area that could fit into many suburban backyards several times over.  The most wonderful thing about this method is that I know I can ignore my vegetable garden for months and it won’t miss a beat.  So, if you believe growing food is only for tough bearded warriors with lots of land and time, think again.  Ecological gardening could be just the thing for you.

Jonathan White is a self-employed environmental consultant and landscape designer.  He is the author of Food4Wealth, an eBook and video package that shows the reader exactly how to set up and maintain an ecological garden.  It is available at food4wealth DOT com