Heart-friendly foods and enemies of the heart!

Gone are the days when heart ailments were considered to be an old age disease. Today, people in the prime of their lives are suffering from the impact of an unhealthy lifestyle and bad eating habits.

We have read enough about how you should exercise, get proper sleep and lead a healthy lifestyle but what we don't realize is, how crucial a role diet plays. Before you look into what to stock up and what to throw out of the window, keep in mind, "He who can believe himself well, will be well." - Ovid

The enemies of the heart are those foods that increase your cholesterol levels, as they tend to be calorie-heavy too. So here is what you need to avoid:

Trans Fat
Trans fat is the biggest culprit. However, the question here is how can you eliminate trans fat from your diet? Simply by slashing foods that contain "hydrogenated oils" in their ingredients. So next time you go to that departmental store read labels carefully. Keep at an arm's distance packaged snacks and chips. Swapping full fat dairy products like milk and cheese with low/non fat options helps too.

Red meat
You might be a hardcore non-vegetarian but maybe it is time to make a change now. Red meat is known to have a whopping amount of saturated fat that raises your 'bad' LDL cholesterol level and has long been seen as unhealthy.

Eggs
This all time breakfast favorite can have more cholesterol than you'd ever imagine. Research proves that the more egg yolks you eat, the higher is the risk of inflammation of the arteries.

Salt and Sugar
Let's face it. We all crave for that sugary tart or a bite of the salt-crusted potatoes but have you ever thought how harmful it can be? Too much sodium and sugar intake is directly linked with higher blood pressures, as it retains the excess fluid in your body. The American Heart Association recommends consuming less than 1,500 mg of sodium in a day.

Now that you know what to cut off the menu, here are some heart friendly foods that you should gorge on:

Oats
Oats contain a type of fiber, which helps to bind bile acids and remove them from the body. These acids are made from cholesterol, thus oats aid in lowering the cholesterol levels in our body. Oats are also rich in Omega 3 fatty acids.

Nuts
Want a healthy heart? Trade your mid-meal snacks with a packet of assorted nuts. Once touted as high fat devils, today nuts are considered to be the super foods in promoting heart health. All nuts have high amounts of unsaturated fats, which is good for the heart as it helps in reducing the inflammation in the arteries. A handful of nuts every day, would help keep heart problems at bay!

Berries
Berries are the new power foods. Packed with anti-oxidants, they help to significantly reduce the blood pressure and boost the good HDL cholesterol levels, hence promoting a healthy heart. They are rich sources of powerful photo-chemicals that help in a having a better blood flow and fighting serious ailments.

Legumes
Eating legumes regularly is extremely heart healthy. The best ones are kidney beans, black beans and lentils. They are rich in soluble fibers that help to bind the cholesterol.  They are also rich in various nutrients like iron, calcium and protein thus help in maintaining a healthy heart. Like berries they also help in increasing the platelet activity.

Salmon
Salmon is a cold-water fish, with abundant amounts of omega 3 fatty acids, which are great to promote a healthy heart. It is very versatile and easy to cook too. No other common fish has such great amounts of omega 3 as salmon. A rich source of easily digestible protein, salmon aides in strengthening the heart muscles.

India’s heaviest satellite GSAT-10 launched!

GSAT-10, the country's newest and heaviest satellite, was launched in the wee hours of Saturday from the Kourou launchpad in French Guiana in South America. It will directly boost telecommunications and direct-to-home broadcasting among others. 

The satellite, 9th in ISRO's present fleet, will be operational in November and add 30 transponders to the domestic INSAT system, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said soon after the launch.

The ISRO launched the 3.4-tonne spacecraft on the European Ariane 5 rocket as the agency cannot currently launch satellites of such mass on its own vehicles. The satellite and the launch fee cost the agency Rs. 750 crore. 

The ISRO called its 101st mission "a grand success," adding that the satellite was in good health.

ISRO's Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space, Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, and senior scientists have been at the Master Control Facility, Hassan (some 80 km from Bangalore) since Friday evening. It is also the first time that the Chairman was not present at the launch site.Other Indian scientists present at Kourou included Director, Satellite communications, Prahlad Rao and Project Director T.K.Anuradha. 

What the satellite brings

It carries 30 communication transponders - 12 in Ku-band, 12 in C-band and six in extended C-band. The ISRO is currently leasing 95 foreign transpondes to meet domestic demand. The INSAT/GSAT system has 168 transponders. 

The Ku band is vital for seven DTH TV operators and thousands of VSAT operators who provide phone and Internet broadband connections. Public and private telephone and television providers also use the C band. 

GSAT-10 also has the second GAGAN payload which augments or finetunes the US GPS signals into far more accurate readings. GAGAN, a venture of the Department of Sapce and Airports authority of India, is primarily meant to benefit airlines and their aircraft flying into and out of India. GSAT-8, launched in May 2008, carried the first GAGAN payload. 

The flight at 2.58 a.m. IST was preceded by a countdown lasting for 11.5 hours. By 3.19 a.m. it was visible to scientists waiting to capture its signals at Hassan. 

"MCF took over command and control of the satellite immediately after the injection. Preliminary health checks on various subsystems such as power, thermal, command, sensors, control etc., have been performed and all parameters have been found to be satisfactory. The satellite has been oriented towards Earth and the Sun using the onboard propulsion systems," the agency said. 

In the coming days, MCF scientists will perform routine manoeuvres to "raise" the elliptical orbit into a circular orbit with 24-hour rotation around the Earth and fixed at 83 degrees East slot over the Indian region at 36,000 km above ground. They will do this by firing the apogee motors on board the satellite in three steps. Later the antenna, solar panels and other instruments will be deployed and switched on.

Oh My God: Akshay Kumar has third time luck in 2012!

It seems trade pundits were right when they declared in the beginning of 2012 that the year is going to belong to Akshay Kumar. The actor has again made his presence felt with 'Oh My God'. 

The film has opened to mainly positive reviews with most of the critics praising the film for its unique central theme. If 'OMG' becomes commercially successful then it will be Akshay's third hit film in the same year. 

Though Akshay Kumar is not the hero of the film but his cameo is worth watching. He is one of those under-rated actors of Bollywood who have done well in certain genres in the past but have never received the kind of appreciation they deserved. 

However, the situation has changed for Akshay in last couple of years. Due to a bankable niche audience base, he has emerged as one of the reliable actors for the producers. 

His last film 'Joker' bombed at the box office but prior to it he had given two big hits. 'Housefull 2' had a huge starcast but Akshay's comic skills made the film watchable. His return to action proved to be lucky in 'Rowdy Rathore'. The film set the cash registers ringing. 

'OMG' is getting good word of mouth publicity and is likely to attract more audiences during the weekend, and thus Akshay would be hoping for another hit in 2012.

World T20: Pakistan take on South Africa in Super Eights!

They have so far maintained a clean slate and there is very little to separate the two teams as South Africa lock horns with Pakistan in what is expected to be a battle of attrition in their ICC World Twenty20 Super Eight match here on Friday. Both teams will be equally confident after their emphatic showings in the group stage of the tournament, and it will be interesting to see who emerges winner at the R Premadasa Stadium stadium. 

 

Pakistan, winner of the 2009 edition, won both their group league matches with ease.If skipper Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed shone in their win over New Zealand, Imran Nazir led the way with an onslaught that left the Bangladesh bowlers shell-shocked in their last game. 

Hafeez deserves mention as he led admirably with both bat and ball, with his canny off-spinners often proving to be a perfect foil for Saeed Ajmal, who has become a sort of a headache for batsmen the world over. 

Flashy wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal has also shown glimpses of his brilliance and looked in good nick against their South Asian rivals. 

Pacers Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir haven't really fired, but Yasir Arafat made an impact with three Bangladeshi wickets, and Pakistan are unlikely to make any changes to the squad that played in the last game. 

The match assumes more significance for Pakistan as a win against the Proteas will put them in the perfect frame of mind ahead of the big-ticket encounter with arch-rival India on Sunday.South Africa have been in their consistent self in the group stage, but the real tournament starts now, and more so for the Proteas. 

The shocking 2011 World Cup quarter-final defeat to New Zealand still fresh in mind, South Africa once again would look to shed the tag of perennial chokers in ICC tournaments, and a win on Friday will be a positive step in that direction. 

A look at their performance in the group stage will only add to South Africa's confidence going into the competitive round.Led by the explosive AB de Villiers, the team hammered neighbours Zimbabwe by 10 wickets to start the tournament in the best possible manner.In the rain-reduced seven-over hit against hosts Sri Lanka, the Proteas were well served by the skipper, who helped them to a 32-run win in Hambantota. 

There is no dearth of strokemakers in the SA line-up and right from the in-form Hashim Amla to the great Jacques Kallis, each one of them is capable of single-handedly turning a match on its head.

The presence of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and his brother Albie make for an effective pace battery.

Probable XIs: 

Celkon launches SIM-based tablet!

Celkon Mobiles has launched a 7-inch SIM-based tablet that works on Android Ice Cream Sandwich Operating System. The Hyderabad-based mobile handset company forayed into the tablet business last month with an e-tab.

The sim-based CELTAB comes with 1 GHz Processor, 512 RAM and a provision for 3G dongle to access the Internet. ‘We have priced this tab at Rs 7,499. We will be coming out with two more tablets, including a 9-inch one, next week,” Y. Guru, Managing Director of Celkon Mobiles, said.

The company is offering in-built courseware for engineering and management graduates. “We are planning to add additional material to address the needs of students in other streams,” he told Business Line.

Overseas expansion

Celkon’s Executive Director, R. Murali, said the company plans to expand the business abroad in the fourth quarter of this financial year. “We are in talks with channel partners in Africa. We have started selling the handsets in Singapore in a small way. We will also be looking at Sri Lanka and Bangladesh,” he said.

He said the company would roll out a smartphone with dual-core processor in October, along with C-Note, both under Rs 10,000. “We are selling five lakh handsets a month. Of this, smartphones and tablets contribute 20 per cent. We expect the contribution from the latter segment to grow in the remaining two quarters as we launch new models and expand to new States,” he said.

In 2011-12, the company registered a turnover of Rs 326 crore. “With new smartphone range and tablets and expansion to new States would help us cross Rs 1,000-crore this financial year,” he said.

Nazis' stolen statue's cosmic link!

A thousand-year-old Buddhist statue taken from Tibet in 1938 by an SS team seeking the roots of Hitler's Aryan doctrine was carved from a meteorite, scientists have reported.

In a paper published in an academic journal, German and Austrian researchers recount an extraordinary tale where archaeology, the Third Reich and cosmic treasure are intertwined like an Indiana Jones movie.

Called the Iron Man because of the high content of iron in its rock, the 24-centimetre-high statue was brought to Germany by an expedition led by Ernst Schaefer, a zoologist and ethnologist.

Backed by SS chief Heinrich Himmler and heading a team whose members are all believed to have been SS, Schaefer roamed Tibet in 1938-9 to search for the origins of Aryanism, the notion of racial superiority that underpinned Nazism.

Weighing 10.6 kilos, the statue features the Buddhist god Vaisravana seated, with the palm of his right hand outstretched and pointing downwards.

Chemical analysis shows that the rock from which it was carved came from a meteorite.

The rock survived a long trip through the Solar System and the destructive friction with the atmosphere when it collided with Earth.

It is a particularly rare kind of meteorite called an ataxite, which has iron and high contents of nickel, according to the study, published in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

"The statue was chiselled from an iron meteorite, from a fragment of the Chinga meteorite which crashed into the border areas between Mongolia and Siberia about 15,000 years ago," said investigator Elmar Buchner of Stuttgart University.

"While the first debris was officially discovered in 1913 by gold prospectors, we believe that this individual meteorite fragment was collected many centuries before."

The exact dating of the carving cannot be established accurately, but its style links it to the pre-Buddhist Bon culture of the 11th century.

Vaisravana was the Buddhist god-king of the North, also known as Jambhala in Tibet.

How Schaefer came across the statue is unclear, but the big appeal is likely to have been a large swastika, symbolising good fortune in Buddhism, carved on its chest.

Once the statue arrived in Munich, it became part of a private collection and only became available for study by Buchner following an auction in 2009.

Other meteorites have become incorporated into religious worship. The holy Black Stone in the Kaaba in Mecca is believed to be a stony meteorite.

"The Iron Man statue is the only known illustration of a human figure to be carved into a meteorite, which means we have nothing to compare it to when assessing value," said Buchner.

"Its origins alone may value it at US$20,000 (NZ$24,000). However, if our estimation of its age is correct and it is nearly a thousand years old it could be invaluable."

ONGC’s win not good enough!

ONGC did their part perfectly by beating Sporting Club de Goa in their final league encounter on Tuesday, but unfortunately that wasn't good enough for the Mumbai-outfit to progress to the semifinals of the 34th Federation Cup in Siliguri. With both teams looking for a victory to keep their chances alive, ONGC triumphed 2-1 at the SSB ground. But they required East Bengal to lose their final encounter to fellow-Kolkata outfit Kalighat Milan Sangha. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be as last year's runners-up registered a thrilling 4-3 win to set up a semi-final clash against Churchill Brothers.

In a match full of drama at the Kanchenjungha Stadium, East Bengal trailed twice to be 0-2 and 2-3 against the qualifiers Kalighat MS, but Edeh Chidi and youngster Manandeep Singh rose to the occasion with a brace each. 

Playing without their star central defender Uga Okpara, East Bengal conceded early goals as James Giblee (11th) and Tanmoy Kundu scored in a space of five minutes.East Bengal, however, kept attacking and got their first goal in the 30th minute when former Air-India striker Manandeep Singh, scored from an Orji Penn cross. 

Manandeep was once again in his elements to bring on the 2-2 equaliser when he scored this time from a Chidi cross. But their joy was short-lived as Nigerian Christopher Chizoba helped Kalighat restore the lead in the 40th minute. 

There was more drama in store as East Bengal made it 3-3 at the interval after Chidi was fouled inside the KMS box. The Nigerian converted the spot kick to add more spice as the match poised for an entertaining second-half. 

In an action replay, Chidi was again fouled inside KMS box and the result was no different as he fired in the winner from the spot, for a superb East Bengal turnaround. 

Sporting Clube found the going tough against ONGC from the very start as Tarif Ahmed and Lalmuanpuia scored fine goals. The Goan team scored their solitary goal through Dawson Fernandes.

East Bengal finished with seven points to top the group C table, while ONGC (six) and Sporting Clube (four) finished second and third respectively.I-League champions Dempo will take on defending champs Salgaocar in the other semi.