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Live Smart Videos’ Documentary Debuts on Virgin Airlines

LSVadmin — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:22:43 +0000

We took an early morning flight on Virgin and had the chance to see our documentary, Making Room for the Koala! Here are a few snapshots:

The post Live Smart Videos’ Documentary Debuts on Virgin Airlines appeared first on Live Smart Videos & Green Living Series.

SamplesofReshoot

LSVadmin — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 02:52:48 +0000

The post SamplesofReshoot appeared first on Live Smart Videos & Green Living Series.

Live in the West? You might just have a magnesium deficiency.

LSVadmin — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:34:22 +0000

People in the west are often deficient in magnesium. A magnesium deficiency can affect both our sense of well-being and our physical health. Marti Whitaker addresses Magnesium deficiency in an article he posted on ezine and we wanted to share his thoughts with you.

Magnesium – The Spark of Life?

By Marti Whitaker

So if I say Magnesium what’s the first thing that comes into your head? I know what my first encounter with magnesium was – it was that metal ribbon stuff I used to steal from GCSE Chemistry then set alight with my mates lighter in the school yard at break time; it flared up like a spark, burnt with a bright white light then disappeared as quickly as it came! Oh and it was difficult to put out too, when you spotted a teacher coming! Thing is, I didn’t realise back then just how important to life that ‘spark’ actually was!

You see, Magnesium is one of the most important minerals in the human body. In fact there are 17 minerals deemed essential to human life 10 of these make up 99% of the body’s mineral content – no guesses here then that one of these is Magnesium – however strangely enough Magnesium is one of the most depleted minerals in the body?!

So what EXACTLY does Magnesium do that makes it so “essential” to life??

Well, for starters it regulates around 325 enzymes in the body, it’s also essential to maintaining bone mineralisation, it aids muscle contraction, it’s used in the passage of nerve impulses around the body. But probably most importantly it’s required for the body to create ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which is basically the body’s source of energy.

So without magnesium there’s no ATP, without ATP there’s no energy, without energy there’s no life! Simples!!

It doesn’t just stop there though; there are literally countless illnesses, symptoms and behaviours that are associated with a Magnesium deficiency. Some of the most important include; heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, arthritis, asthma, PCOS, diabetes and depression etc. etc. – I could go on here but run the risk of boring you! Anyway, you can start to see its pretty important shit right?!

So why is it depleted??

Basically it’s depleted due to the modern day lifestyle. In fact current estimations are that around 80% of the western population are deficient in magnesium!

Let’s start at the bottom up, for starters there’s a natural mineral depletion of our farmland caused by a number of factors including acid rain, soil erosion etc. This then leads to the crops that would commonly contain magnesium (green leafy veg, nuts and seeds) to become deficient in it as they cannot manufacture it themselves out of thin air. So if there’s little magnesium in the soil then plants we eat will contain little or none (the exception here is organic farming). Processed and junk foods that are present in the modern day diet also lack magnesium as significant amounts of the mineral are lost during refining and processing of these foods.

The fluoridisation of tap water in the UK has a horrendous effect on the body’s magnesium supply. Fluoride from tap water basically binds with the body’s magnesium to form magnesium fluoride, making it unavailable for the body to use; a reduction in this then causes a knock on effect and a reduction in enzyme activity in the body.

Other things such as drugs and medication, stress, an excess of certain foods such as soy as well as strenuous exercise can deplete your body’s magnesium supply. When I recently undertook my Muscle-in-a-Month journey, the training was really intense and as a result had to supplement with 600mg of magnesium a day – more on this later though!

So what can I do about it?

The answer to this is pretty easy, eat more foods containing Magnesium. As I’ve already mentioned buy organic foods as there’s more chance that the organic farmers have used a full spectrum of nutrients in their fertilizer. Eat as many raw veg as possible; as when you cook or steam them a lot of the nutrients are lost. Nuts such as almonds, cashews and brazils also contain a high magnesium content – so include some of these in your diet too. One of the foods that contain the most magnesium is chocolate!! But that’s NOT an excuse to go out and eat shit loads of it!! However it is a reason that many people crave chocolate, it’s not always the chocolate they crave it’s the Magnesium.

An example of this is women suffering from PMS – now us guys don’t really understand it all that much Haha!! But basically magnesium is most deficient in women around the menstrual time and as a result a great many women crave chocolate – however instead of eating chocolate you should look to increase your magnesium intake by eating more nuts and leafy green veg or even taking supplements!

Supplementation

By way the easiest way to add more magnesium to your diet is by supplementation. Research shows that supplement with around 400mg of magnesium a day works for most people. There are two ways you can supplement with magnesium, either orally using tablets or transdermal using a spray to apply it to your skin.

If you’re looking to take your magnesium orally you need to shoot for something like magnesium citrate – which ever tablet you go for just make sure it’s not the cheap magnesium oxide variant as it’s about as much use as pissing against a hurricane at replenishing your body’s magnesium supplies!!

Using a transdermal spray you apply Magnesium “oil” to your skin with is then absorbed into your blood stream, it’s not really true oil, just a super concentrated solution of magnesium chloride in water. Applying it transdermal is a quicker way to get it into your system as tablets and capsules must first pass through the digestive system before being absorbed.

So which is best? It’s personal preference really – being a bit of a geek I use both and mix and match as appropriate!

When should I take it?

The best time to take magnesium is 60 – 90 minutes before bedtime, that way it’ll help you sleep much better too, however if you need to split your dose then take Ã’Â½ first thing in the morning and the remainder before bed.

Be sure to build up your dose slowly too, as one sure fire way to know you’ve taken too much too soon is you’ll end up with the shits!! Believe me, I went from 200mg on an evening to 600mg and yep, the shits the following morning! So increase your dose slowly!

Take care and make sure YOU have sufficient magnesium in your diet!

As one of the North East’s leading Health and Fitness Coach’s Martin’s real passion is working with frustrated men and women who seem to have tried everything but are still frustrated with their bodies.

He runs successful Fitness Camp Academy’s in both Sunderland and Newcastle as well as One-2-One personal training. With his One-2-One clients paying him £67 per hour Martin was one of the first Personal Trainers in the North East to offer a full 200% money back guarantee on his results. Having seen outstanding results from his clients Martin believes that he can help not only change the health and fitness of people in the North East, but also educate them so they can go on to lead happier and healthier lives not only for themselves but for their families too.

Find out more at http://martinwhitaker.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marti_Whitaker

The post Live in the West? You might just have a magnesium deficiency. appeared first on Live Smart Videos & Green Living Series.

Uncommon sense lights up homes without electricity at no cost!

LSVadmin — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 01:33:18 +0000

A little creativity goes a long way when it comes to lighting homes without access to electricity. See how an empty soda bottle and some water provides light for many who had previously lived in the dark during the daylight hours.

*Thanks for the tip, Marc!

The post Uncommon sense lights up homes without electricity at no cost! appeared first on Live Smart Videos & Green Living Series.

Live Smart Videos Koala documentary wins film festival Award!

LSVadmin — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:13:55 +0000

Happy to announce that Live Smart Videos has won an award for our recent documentary, “Making Room for the Koala.”

Director Andrew, Cinematographer Alex and crew in action on recent shoot and brushing up on the latest technology…

The post Live Smart Videos Koala documentary wins film festival Award! appeared first on Live Smart Videos & Green Living Series.

Body Brushing

LSVadmin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:36:39 +0000

Body Brush for a Better Detox
By Natasha Clancy

Ever wondered why some people’s skin glow, or why they radiate health? Of course a healthy diet and positive outlook help, but regular dry skin brushing also plays an important role by removing toxins from your body. Especially when combined with a raw food detox.

Just like the kidneys and liver, the skin is an organ in your body that eliminates waste. Even without frequent brushing it discharges more than a pound of waste products each day. That’s the weight of a small bag of sugar. Regular body brushing promotes detoxification by improving circulation and encouraging lymphatic drainage. It can also improve the appearance of your skin.

Regular body brushing helps to:

Stimulate Circulation – Dry skin brushing can help to tighten the skin by increasing the flow of blood. Improving the circulation to the skin can also help lessen the appearance of cellulite. Always use a proper long-handled body brush made with natural bristles. Synthetic ones can damage the skin.

Improve Lymphatic Flow – Brushing in long, sweeping movements towards the heart helps improve lymphatic flow. By brushing in this way we help to transport toxins to the lymph nodes so the body can effectively remove them. Removing the toxins can give you more energy, sharper focus and help you stay in good physical shape.

Enhance Skin Appearance – As the skin cells move to the surface of the skin, they die. But in times of less moisture such as winter, it can take the skin more time to shed dry, dead cells. By body brushing you help to shed the cells and improve skin texture and cell renewal. Dry skin brushing also helps your skin to absorb nutrients by eliminating clogged pores.

How to brush:

Start brushing before you have a bath or shower – you want to remove the dead skin cells after you brush. Apply gentle pressure to the skin using upwards movements, so from the hands to under the arms and the feet towards the groin. Don’t worry if your skin goes a little red (known as erythema). This shows your circulation is being stimulated, and is normal.

Top tips:

1. Clean your body brush using soap and water once a week and dry it properly to prevent mildew.

2. Avoid sensitive areas and anywhere the skin is broken.

3. Following your brush, massage your skin with pure plant oil such as almond, jojoba, sesame or coconut.

4. Consider a raw food detox for ultimate detoxing.

Enjoy!

Natasha Clancy is owner of Raw to Door, a juice and meal detox service helping to change people’s attitudes to juice cleansing and raw food. Detoxing is often perceived as difficult and stressful. Our aim, through providing tastier, accessible, flexible products, is to exact positive change on the nation’s health, to help cut obesity levels, and, ultimately, transform lives.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Natasha_Clancy

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Spring Fever Spreads Rapidly Among Duck Population!

LSVadmin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:48:49 +0000

Have you ever seen a duck stricken by Spring Fever? If not, here’s your chance:

The post Spring Fever Spreads Rapidly Among Duck Population! appeared first on Live Smart Videos & Green Living Series.

Trailer for “Making Room for the Koala”

LSVadmin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:51:36 +0000

JUST RELEASED: the trailer for the latest upcoming LiveSmartVideos movie.
UPDATE: The documentary, “Making Room for the Koalas,” is now complete and will be available soon.

TO EMBED this preview, copy and paste the HTML code provided below:

Our first Road Runner documentary is entitled “Leaving Room for the Koalas.” It confronts the fact that unless prompt and effective measures are taken, Koalas living in the wild in Southeast Queensland, Australia will become extinct in just a few years. Stay tuned for a preview and the full documentary.

“Making Room for the Koalas” was co-produced by Meghan Halverson of Australia. Meghan’s expertise made this work painless and she did an impressive job organizing the video and juggling logistics in Australia.

The Road Runners will periodically travel the globe and donate our time and skills to create documentaries about a variety of topics. If there is a topic you’d like the Road Runners to consider, don’t hesitate to contact the LiveSmartVideos editor.

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Human Rights Abuses Can Spread Quickly: Let’s Identify and Stop Them

LSVadmin — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:12:42 +0000

Human Rights Are the Concern of Every Community

By Nick McNaughton

“Where after all do human rights begin? In small places, close to home…Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”

The above are the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, primary architect of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Though the Declaration has been adopted by all 192 members of the United Nations, there has been a wide gap between what has been put down on paper and reality. Much of the discrepancy is due to failure to uphold them in “the small places” of local communities.

Looking “close to home,” in any bustling American city reveals a sad story of far too many people who have not taken the former First Lady’s warning to heart. Take, for example, human trafficking and slavery. It is estimated that tens of thousands are held in brothels as sex workers. Thousands more work against their will in the garment and other industries as well as domestic service. Metropolitan areas with high density populations of multiple ethnics and cultural diversity make it easy for slaves who are smuggled in from other parts of the world to remain hidden.

The garment industry has been a major problem area. Sweatshops, where workers toil for below legal wages for excessive hours in health-threatening working conditions, have proliferated to such an extent that Los Angeles has been called the “sweatshop capital of the United States” due to its high number of illegal clothing factories. Probably the most infamous Los Angeles-area sweatshop case occurred in 1995 when a raid on a suburban apartment complex freed 72 immigrant Thai laborers who had been working eighteen hours a day for many years behind barbed wire under the control of armed guards and sleeping ten to a room. The owners of the company sold the garments that they made to major clothing lines who apparently never asked questions as long as the clothes kept coming at the price they wanted to pay. As long as wholesalers and consumers are willing to look the other way, sweatshops both local and foreign will continue to be a problem. Sweatshops can also stay hidden by hiring illegal aliens who can easily be intimidated into staying silent and out of sight.

Hate crimes are another common human rights violation. A hate crime is an offense committed against someone which stems from hatred or prejudice against their race, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender or sexual orientation. The FBI estimates that the number of such crimes is underreported probably by as much as twenty-five to one. The most common type of hate crimes have generally been racially-motivated, but religious discrimination, and indeed all categories, lead to vicious hate crimes.

Human rights violations such as the above and others exist almost everywhere. Many local groups seek to correct abuses. There are many international human rights organizations, some of which are ethnic groups seeking to improve conditions in their native countries. Child sex trafficking is seen as one of the most egregious activities happening under our collective noses every day in American cities. This issue has garnered dozens of efforts to stop abuse, yet sexual exploitation of 12 and 13 year olds is still used to generate six-figure incomes.

Whether you choose to join any organization, task force or governmental agency, there is much you can do to promote human rights in your own community. Even simple actions such as maintaining an unbiased attitude and encouraging others to be tolerant of others can go a long way. If you see evidence of someone being held or forced to work against their will, report it to the authorities. It is, after all, you the individual who gives human rights their strength and substance.

Nick McNaughton is the Planning and Research Director of the Los Angeles Chapter of Youth for Human Rights International, an organization whose mission is to carry forth education programs that teach youth human rights and how to defend and protect them, to forward the message of tolerance and cooperation, and the ultimate goal of universal Human Rights.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_McNaughton

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What Workers Need to Know About Indoor Air Pollution

LSVadmin — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:02:57 +0000

Commercial HVAC Systems Provide Healthy Indoor Air

By Brian Figlioli

Maintaining a healthy indoor air quality is one of the most important jobs of any commercial HVAC system. There is not much you can do about breathing in smog, allergens, airborne bacteria or pollutants outdoors. However, once you’re in your own building it’s up to you what kind of air you’d like to breathe. It’s generally accepted that it’s healthier to breathe in clean, filtered air. Breathing in indoor pollutants and chemicals from every day cleaners can lead to long term health consequences. This is why it’s absolutely necessary for your commercial HVAC installation to be maintained and have the air filters changed regularly. Having access to fresh air via proper ventilation can also help alleviate the concentration of lung irritants.

Indoor air is now known to often be more polluted and dangerous to human health than outdoor air even in large populated cities. The majority of people spend their time indoors. In your building, whether it’s full of tenants or employees, it’s your responsibility to help reduce these risks to their health by keeping the air they breathe clean. If your employees are using toxic materials on a regular basis, in addition to providing proper breathing filters, you should also keep up with regular maintenance of your commercial air conditioning unit to filter the air indoors. If a building is used as a factory or warehouse which is dusty or produces particles which can collect in the air, air filters should be changed more often than in any traditional setting. People who are particularly in danger of the effects of breathing in polluted indoor air are young children, elderly people, those with certain illnesses such as heart disease or respiratory problems.

Your commercial HVAC system will need to be able to filter out a wide variety of particles from the air each day. Allowing smoking in the building can increase indoor pollutants dramatically. Common cleaners, furnishings, dust, dirt, mold, airborne bacteria, fumes from paints, insulation containing asbestos, and even furniture can release pollutants into the air every day. Major sources of indoor pollution are oils, kerosene, wood, coal, and gases.

Indoor air pollution may be the result of contaminated commercial air conditioning ducts and ventilation systems, poor commercial HVAC maintenance, and poorly located outdoor air intakes. Health problems can be avoided by performing regular maintenance on the commercial HVAC installation, controlling the indoor pollution sources, increasing air ventilation throughout the building, and using air filtering devices. Opening windows can help alleviate sudden spikes in indoor air pollution. Keeping air supply vents clear can also have a positive impact on indoor air quality as well.

Many of the long term health effects that result from poor indoor air quality are noticed several years after being exposed to the pollution. The only way to prevent your employees or tenants from getting long term health problems from poor air quality is to properly maintain indoor pollution levels to a minimum. People who live and work in buildings which have high quality clean air are happier, healthier, and over all more productive.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Figlioli

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