10 Secrets of Longevity - Deepak Chopra

Dr. Deepak Chopra prescribes 10 simple rules for ageing with health and happiness.

1. Intake fresh food, eat frugally, drink wholesome liquids, abstain from stimulants and sedatives, and have a bowel movement once a day.
2. Maintain a high level of personal hygiene, get plenty of fresh air, sunlight and rest, have enjoyable leisure time, satisfying hobbies.
3. Exercise, meditate, practice balanced refined breathing (pranayam) and yoga, listen to the body’s signal of comfort and discomfort.
4. Work for a happy marriage, long-term relationship, have ability to laugh easily and to make friends and keep close friends.
5. Choose a congenial occupation, go on vacation every year, be optimistic about the future, feel financially secure and live within means.
6. Develop an easygoing personality, cultivate nonviolent behavior, have reverence for life.
7. Live in temperate climate, enjoy a reasonable sex life, and get proper medical attention in case of illness.
8. Live in the present – accept what comes your way, appreciate it, learn from it and let go. Resisting the natural flow of things causes negative emotions.
9. Relinquish external approval, avoid being judgmental, replace fear-motivated behavior with love-motivated one, nurture positive emotions and express them freely.
10. Always know the world outside is a reflection of your deeper intelligence – the real “you” is within.

 http://cesargamio.com/10-secrets-of-longevity/

Tips for Conscious Eating by Dr. Deepak Chopra

·  Foods need to be freshly prepared daily.

·  Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).

·  Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.

·  Food should be eaten slowly.

·  Never eat when you are upset.

·  Eating should not be long and drawn out.

·  Always sit down to a meal, not standing or sitting in your car.

·  Avoid ice-cold food and drinks.

·  Don’t talk while chewing your food.

·  Breakfast should be the smallest meal of your day.

·  Dinner should be a modest meal.

·  Minimize raw foods, too hard to digest

·  Try to eat around the same times every day.

·  If you must drink when you eat, sip warm water with your food.

·  Do not cook with honey – it turns into poison when heated

·  Food needs to be eaten in a proper amount . . . . not too much, not too little.

·  Leave one third to one quarter of your stomach empty.

·  Food needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested.

·  Foods need to work together and not contradict each other

·  Foods need to be eaten in pleasant peaceful surroundings.

·  If you drink milk, it must be heated and separate from meals.

·  Foods need to be eaten with focus, not while you are doing business, etc.

·  Only eat food that is nourishing. Your body is your temple.

·  Have your largest meal at lunch when digestion is the strongest.

·  Avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and your sleep.

·  Avoid negative emotions at meal times, especially the cooks or whoever you are dining with.

·  Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal.

·  Be grateful for natures’ unending gift of food and respect it as you do yourself.

 http://ayurvediccookingclasses.com/tips-for-conscious-eating-by-dr-deepak-chopra-perfect-health/

Foods need to be freshly prepared daily.

Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).

Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.

Food should be eaten slowly.

Never eat when you are upset.

Eating should not be long and drawn out.

Always sit down to a meal, not standing or sitting in your car.

Avoid ice-cold food and drinks.

Don’t talk while chewing your food.

Breakfast should be the smallest meal of your day.

Dinner should be a modest meal.

Minimize raw foods, too hard to digest

Try to eat around the same times every day.

If you must drink when you eat, sip warm water with your food.

Do not cook with honey – it turns into poison when heated

Food needs to be eaten in a proper amount . . . . not too much, not too little.

Leave one third to one quarter of your stomach empty.

Food needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested.

Foods need to work together and not contradict each other

Foods need to be eaten in pleasant peaceful surroundings.

If you drink milk, it must be heated and separate from meals.

Foods need to be eaten with focus, not while you are doing business, etc.

Only eat food that is nourishing. Your body is your temple.

Have your largest meal at lunch when digestion is the strongest.

Avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and your sleep.

Avoid negative emotions at meal times, especially the cooks or whoever you are dining with.

Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal.

Be grateful for natures’ unending gift of food and respect it as you do yourself.

- See more at: http://ayurvediccookingclasses.com/tips-for-conscious-eating-by-dr-deepak-chopra-perfect-health/#sthash.Aoc1GPgW.dpuf

Foods need to be freshly prepared daily.

Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).

Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.

Food should be eaten slowly.

Never eat when you are upset.

Eating should not be long and drawn out.

Always sit down to a meal, not standing or sitting in your car.

Avoid ice-cold food and drinks.

Don’t talk while chewing your food.

Breakfast should be the smallest meal of your day.

Dinner should be a modest meal.

Minimize raw foods, too hard to digest

Try to eat around the same times every day.

If you must drink when you eat, sip warm water with your food.

Do not cook with honey – it turns into poison when heated

Food needs to be eaten in a proper amount . . . . not too much, not too little.

Leave one third to one quarter of your stomach empty.

Food needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested.

Foods need to work together and not contradict each other

Foods need to be eaten in pleasant peaceful surroundings.

If you drink milk, it must be heated and separate from meals.

Foods need to be eaten with focus, not while you are doing business, etc.

Only eat food that is nourishing. Your body is your temple.

Have your largest meal at lunch when digestion is the strongest.

Avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and your sleep.

Avoid negative emotions at meal times, especially the cooks or whoever you are dining with.

Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal.

Be grateful for natures’ unending gift of food and respect it as you do yourself.

- See more at: http://ayurvediccookingclasses.com/tips-for-conscious-eating-by-dr-deepak-chopra-perfect-health/#sthash.Aoc1GPgW.dpuf

Foods need to be freshly prepared daily.

Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).

Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.

Food should be eaten slowly.

Never eat when you are upset.

Eating should not be long and drawn out.

Always sit down to a meal, not standing or sitting in your car.

Avoid ice-cold food and drinks.

Don’t talk while chewing your food.

Breakfast should be the smallest meal of your day.

Dinner should be a modest meal.

Minimize raw foods, too hard to digest

Try to eat around the same times every day.

If you must drink when you eat, sip warm water with your food.

Do not cook with honey – it turns into poison when heated

Food needs to be eaten in a proper amount . . . . not too much, not too little.

Leave one third to one quarter of your stomach empty.

Food needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested.

Foods need to work together and not contradict each other

Foods need to be eaten in pleasant peaceful surroundings.

If you drink milk, it must be heated and separate from meals.

Foods need to be eaten with focus, not while you are doing business, etc.

Only eat food that is nourishing. Your body is your temple.

Have your largest meal at lunch when digestion is the strongest.

Avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and your sleep.

Avoid negative emotions at meal times, especially the cooks or whoever you are dining with.

Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal.

Be grateful for natures’ unending gift of food and respect it as you do yourself.

- See more at: http://ayurvediccookingclasses.com/tips-for-conscious-eating-by-dr-deepak-chopra-perfect-health/#sthash.Aoc1GPgW.dpuf

Foods need to be freshly prepared daily.

Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).

Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.

Food should be eaten slowly.

Never eat when you are upset.

Eating should not be long and drawn out.

Always sit down to a meal, not standing or sitting in your car.

Avoid ice-cold food and drinks.

Don’t talk while chewing your food.

Breakfast should be the smallest meal of your day.

Dinner should be a modest meal.

Minimize raw foods, too hard to digest

Try to eat around the same times every day.

If you must drink when you eat, sip warm water with your food.

Do not cook with honey – it turns into poison when heated

Food needs to be eaten in a proper amount . . . . not too much, not too little.

Leave one third to one quarter of your stomach empty.

Food needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested.

Foods need to work together and not contradict each other

Foods need to be eaten in pleasant peaceful surroundings.

If you drink milk, it must be heated and separate from meals.

Foods need to be eaten with focus, not while you are doing business, etc.

Only eat food that is nourishing. Your body is your temple.

Have your largest meal at lunch when digestion is the strongest.

Avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and your sleep.

Avoid negative emotions at meal times, especially the cooks or whoever you are dining with.

Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal.

Be grateful for natures’ unending gift of food and respect it as you do yourself.

- See more at: http://ayurvediccookingclasses.com/tips-for-conscious-eating-by-dr-deepak-chopra-perfect-health/#sthash.Aoc1GPgW.dpuf

Foods need to be freshly prepared daily.

Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).

Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.

Food should be eaten slowly.

Never eat when you are upset.

Eating should not be long and drawn out.

Always sit down to a meal, not standing or sitting in your car.

Avoid ice-cold food and drinks.

Don’t talk while chewing your food.

Breakfast should be the smallest meal of your day.

Dinner should be a modest meal.

Minimize raw foods, too hard to digest

Try to eat around the same times every day.

If you must drink when you eat, sip warm water with your food.

Do not cook with honey – it turns into poison when heated

Food needs to be eaten in a proper amount . . . . not too much, not too little.

Leave one third to one quarter of your stomach empty.

Food needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested.

Foods need to work together and not contradict each other

Foods need to be eaten in pleasant peaceful surroundings.

If you drink milk, it must be heated and separate from meals.

Foods need to be eaten with focus, not while you are doing business, etc.

Only eat food that is nourishing. Your body is your temple.

Have your largest meal at lunch when digestion is the strongest.

Avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and your sleep.

Avoid negative emotions at meal times, especially the cooks or whoever you are dining with.

Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal.

Be grateful for natures’ unending gift of food and respect it as you do yourself.

- See more at: http://ayurvediccookingclasses.com/tips-for-conscious-eating-by-dr-deepak-chopra-perfect-health/#sthash.Aoc1GPgW.dpuf

Foods need to be freshly prepared daily.

Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).

Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.

Food should be eaten slowly.

Never eat when you are upset.

Eating should not be long and drawn out.

Always sit down to a meal, not standing or sitting in your car.

Avoid ice-cold food and drinks.

Don’t talk while chewing your food.

Breakfast should be the smallest meal of your day.

Dinner should be a modest meal.

Minimize raw foods, too hard to digest

Try to eat around the same times every day.

If you must drink when you eat, sip warm water with your food.

Do not cook with honey – it turns into poison when heated

Food needs to be eaten in a proper amount . . . . not too much, not too little.

Leave one third to one quarter of your stomach empty.

Food needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested.

Foods need to work together and not contradict each other

Foods need to be eaten in pleasant peaceful surroundings.

If you drink milk, it must be heated and separate from meals.

Foods need to be eaten with focus, not while you are doing business, etc.

Only eat food that is nourishing. Your body is your temple.

Have your largest meal at lunch when digestion is the strongest.

Avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and your sleep.

Avoid negative emotions at meal times, especially the cooks or whoever you are dining with.

Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal.

Be grateful for natures’ unending gift of food and respect it as you do yourself.

- See more at: http://ayurvediccookingclasses.com/tips-for-conscious-eating-by-dr-deepak-chopra-perfect-health/#sthash.Aoc1GPgW.dpuf

Foods need to be freshly prepared daily.

Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).

Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.

Food should be eaten slowly.

Never eat when you are upset.

Eating should not be long and drawn out.

Always sit down to a meal, not standing or sitting in your car.

Avoid ice-cold food and drinks.

Don’t talk while chewing your food.

Breakfast should be the smallest meal of your day.

Dinner should be a modest meal.

Minimize raw foods, too hard to digest

Try to eat around the same times every day.

If you must drink when you eat, sip warm water with your food.

Do not cook with honey – it turns into poison when heated

Food needs to be eaten in a proper amount . . . . not too much, not too little.

Leave one third to one quarter of your stomach empty.

Food needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested.

Foods need to work together and not contradict each other

Foods need to be eaten in pleasant peaceful surroundings.

If you drink milk, it must be heated and separate from meals.

Foods need to be eaten with focus, not while you are doing business, etc.

Only eat food that is nourishing. Your body is your temple.

Have your largest meal at lunch when digestion is the strongest.

Avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and your sleep.

Avoid negative emotions at meal times, especially the cooks or whoever you are dining with.

Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal.

Be grateful for natures’ unending gift of food and respect it as you do yourself.

- See more at: http://ayurvediccookingclasses.com/tips-for-conscious-eating-by-dr-deepak-chopra-perfect-health/#sthash.Aoc1GPgW.dpuf

Foods need to be freshly prepared daily.

Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).

Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.

Food should be eaten slowly.

Never eat when you are upset.

Eating should not be long and drawn out.

Always sit down to a meal, not standing or sitting in your car.

Avoid ice-cold food and drinks.

Don’t talk while chewing your food.

Breakfast should be the smallest meal of your day.

Dinner should be a modest meal.

Minimize raw foods, too hard to digest

Try to eat around the same times every day.

If you must drink when you eat, sip warm water with your food.

Do not cook with honey – it turns into poison when heated

Food needs to be eaten in a proper amount . . . . not too much, not too little.

Leave one third to one quarter of your stomach empty.

Food needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested.

Foods need to work together and not contradict each other

Foods need to be eaten in pleasant peaceful surroundings.

If you drink milk, it must be heated and separate from meals.

Foods need to be eaten with focus, not while you are doing business, etc.

Only eat food that is nourishing. Your body is your temple.

Have your largest meal at lunch when digestion is the strongest.

Avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and your sleep.

Avoid negative emotions at meal times, especially the cooks or whoever you are dining with.

Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal.

Be grateful for natures’ unending gift of food and respect it as you do yourself.

- See more at: http://ayurvediccookingclasses.com/tips-for-conscious-eating-by-dr-deepak-chopra-perfect-health/#sthash.Aoc1GPgW.dpuf

Foods need to be freshly prepared daily.

Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).

Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.

Food should be eaten slowly.

Never eat when you are upset.

Eating should not be long and drawn out.

Always sit down to a meal, not standing or sitting in your car.

Avoid ice-cold food and drinks.

Don’t talk while chewing your food.

Breakfast should be the smallest meal of your day.

Dinner should be a modest meal.

Minimize raw foods, too hard to digest

Try to eat around the same times every day.

If you must drink when you eat, sip warm water with your food.

Do not cook with honey – it turns into poison when heated

Food needs to be eaten in a proper amount . . . . not too much, not too little.

Leave one third to one quarter of your stomach empty.

Food needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested.

Foods need to work together and not contradict each other

Foods need to be eaten in pleasant peaceful surroundings.

If you drink milk, it must be heated and separate from meals.

Foods need to be eaten with focus, not while you are doing business, etc.

Only eat food that is nourishing. Your body is your temple.

Have your largest meal at lunch when digestion is the strongest.

Avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and your sleep.

Avoid negative emotions at meal times, especially the cooks or whoever you are dining with.

Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal.

Be grateful for natures’ unending gift of food and respect it as you do yourself.

- See more at: http://ayurvediccookingclasses.com/tips-for-conscious-eating-by-dr-deepak-chopra-perfect-health/#sthash.Aoc1GPgW.dpuf

The Secret of Happiness No One Talks About -Deepak Chopra

The peculiar thing about happiness is that everyone wants it but no one agrees on how to get it. Our prosperous times have been hard on achieving happiness. Continual monitoring by the Gallup Organization, for example, looks for how many people in every country are thriving. It's no surprise that in nations where political turmoil exists, the number of people who are thriving is very low. But it's less obvious why in rich, peaceful societies like the U.S. the percentage is somewhere between a third and half the population.


If being rich and peaceful doesn't make us happy, why not? Agreement on this question is hard to find. In general, psychology hasn't studied happiness, being concerned instead with mental disorders from depression to psychosis. America has a record number of people taking antidepressants and tranquilizers, another index of how unhappy we are. By some estimates, half the population should be seeing a therapist.


In the new field of positive psychology, which has begun to study happiness, the findings are mixed. A large contingent of researchers seems to believe that lasting happiness is unrealistic to pursue. We are bad predictors of what will make us happy in the long run, it turns out, and after getting a better job, a nice wedding, a baby, a big house, and more money, people's initial burst of happiness fades, leaving the problem of lasting happiness as baffling as ever. Some psychologists suggest that happiness is accidental and incidental, happening briefly and at random.


This position, and the general gloom about lasting happiness, contradicts long-held spiritual traditions both East and West. Which hold that happiness is the object of human life, that existence is tailored to make us happy, and that we become unhappy because of our own error and lack of understanding. Here is where a secret comes in.


It seems natural to associate happiness with pleasure. Our brains are set up to register the sensations of pleasure and pain. We like the one and dislike the other. So there is a tendency to say that happiness consists of maximum pleasure and minimal pain. This position, once called hedonism, has become scientific in our day, thanks to brain scans that can pinpoint the pleasure-pain centers and the chemicals they release. With such evidence at hand, we have entered a new phase of hedonism, and indeed people spend a great deal of time, money, and effort, backed by the massive machinery of mass media, to gain a pleasurable life.


But science is only a thin disguise for the same old mistake, equating pleasure with happiness. The secret known to every spiritual tradition is that pleasure and happiness are not related. There are miserable people who can afford to fill every hour with pleasure. There are people afflicted with painful circumstances who manage to be happy despite their situation. The pleasure and pain centers of the brain don't control us. Look at the physical pain of a marathon runner crossing the finish line. It is secondary, even irrelevant, to his sense of accomplishment.

But accomplishment isn't the answer either. Happiness is actually rooted in something subtler: fulfillment. It's fulfillment that people seek when they pursue happiness, of what they should seek if they want happiness that lasts a lifetime. So where does fulfillment come from? Meaning and purpose. Where do meaning and purpose come from? That’s the real question you need to ask yourself.


Nothing is intrinsically meaningful as an experience. This is hard to realize and perhaps harder to accept. Pleasure can turn to pain, love to indifference or even hate (ask any divorce attorney), good health can turn to illness, and so on. Such is the human mind's intricacy that even the anticipation of bad events can create unhappiness. So can painful memories, guilt, anxiety, and other mental states destructive to happiness.


Having considered the problem for thousands of years, the world's wisdom traditions concluded that the only source of happiness, the actual secret, must exist in the mind itself. Even though the mind creates all the states of misery just described, only mind can rescue itself from its self-created illusions, false hopes, ill-considered choices, self-destructive habits, wrong beliefs, and other missteps. A journey must be undertaken to a place where mistakes have been corrected. The good news is that a person doesn't have to correct each and every mistake individually. To do that would require years, even decades, of concentrated effort.


Instead, the spiritual journey delivers happiness by taking you to a level of the self that is free of mistakes by its very nature. I've often labeled this the true self, but labels are irrelevant. The important thing is the process of transcendence, or going beyond the illusion. As long as you remain in the illusion, the best you can hope for is to upgrade it. To actually escape the causes of pain and suffering requires more than an upgrade. You must find the underlying reality that removes your allegiance to pain and suffering. To do so is to know the secret of happiness, and having found the secret, actually acting upon it. While everyone seems to be talking about happiness in terms of maximum pleasure, wisdom tells us to look where no one is talking, because that's how you take the first step toward reaching the goal.

Deepak Chopra
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20141023233206-75054000-the-secret-of-happiness-no-one-talks-about

New study suggests only 8.2% of our DNA is functional

 Controversial new research claims that only a small fraction of the human genome is actually doing something important.

Over the years, there's been plenty of back and forth over how much of our DNA is important - for decades much of it was thought of as “junk DNA”, but geneticists have gradually come to believe that some of these seemingly pointless segments of DNA may be crucial to regulating the rest of the genome.

Importantly, researchers from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) in 2012 stated that about 80 percent of human DNA has some kind of “biochemical function” as Sci-News reports.
The study was controversial, because many researchers argued that the definition of "biochemical function" was too broad, and that just because activity occurs on the DNA, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it has a function. Of course, how do you test the impact that each segment of DNA has on the body?

The new study, led by Gerton Lunter from the University of Oxford's Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in the UK, builds on this research. In order to work out which DNA segments are actually funtionally useful, they looked at how it's changed over the past 100 million years of mammalian evolution - and found that only 8.2 percent of our DNA was important enough to stay the same.

They came to this conclusion by comparing the DNA of various mammals, such as mice, guinea pigs, rabbits and horses, and looked at which chunks of DNA were conserved across different species. The idea is that if a big segment of DNA has been conserved over 100 million years of evolution, despite countless natural mutations, then it must have a pretty important function.

“Throughout the evolution of these species from their common ancestors, mutations arise in the DNA and natural selection counteracts these changes to keep useful DNA sequences intact,” Lunter told Sci-News.

To find which areas stayed the same, the scientists actually looked for the pattern of insertions and deletions of chunks of DNA in the sequence. These should generally occur pretty randomly along a genome - unless natural selection had acted to keep a stretch of important DNA as it is, in which case there would be wider gaps between these insertions and deletions.

“We found that 8.2 percent of our human genome is functional," Lutner told Sci-News. "We cannot tell where every bit of the 8.2 percent of functional DNA is in our genomes, but our approach is largely free from assumptions or hypotheses. For example, it is not dependent on what we know about the genome or what particular experiments are used to identify biological function."

Chris Rands from the University of Oxford, who was the first author of the paper published in PLOS Genetics, added that not all of the 8.2 percent is equally important. “A little over 1 percent of human DNA accounts for the proteins that carry out almost all of the critical biological processes in the body," he told Sci-News.

The other 7 percent is most likely involved in switching on and off the genes that encode those proteins, like regulatory bodies.

And the other 91.8 percent? Generally, it’s pretty lazy.

“The rest of our genome is leftover evolutionary material, parts of the genome that have undergone losses or gains in the DNA code,” said Lutner.

http://pda.sciencealert.com.au/news/20140311-26448.html