Halo, eco-loving viewers, and welcome to Good People, Good Works on Supreme Master Television. Modernization and technological development have brought great convenience and comfort into our lives, but due to humanity's careless neglect of Mother Nature, levels of raw material and energy consumption have seriously destabilized Earth's environment.

Fortunately many green movements have sprouted worldwide to enhance the sustainability of our ecosystem. Today's show features green organizations that are helping to create an environmentally friendly society through innovative ways to collect and reuse discarded materials, products and organic waste in the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Austria respectively.

Austrian Association of Municipalities

Our first stop is lower Austria, where we'll visit the Austrian Association of Municipalities

which is based in the city of Langenlois. Association member Mr. Wilbert will discuss the group's recycling program and how it began.

Wilbert (f): The Association of Municipalities is an association of ３０ towns in the district of Krems and is responsible for around ６０,０００ residents with particular emphasis on refuse collection and waste management and the relevant information for the residents of those districts.

Wilbert (f): In Lower Austria in １９９０, １９９１, and １９９２ we were faced with a huge problem, because we were running out of landfill sites. The refuse that we collected got dumped in huge landfill areas and the landfill capacity was reaching its limits. We then came to realize fairly quickly, that all this refuse contains a lot of recyclable materials and as a result we developed waste separation.

HOST: Sorting the large amount of discarded material collected from the district is important as it helps to greatly reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill. Wilbert (f): We are now part of a huge sector that falls under the umbrella of recycling and reusing. We collect in our district per year as a key figure around ２５,０００ tons of waste, and by now we've come so far that we have only ７,０００ tons; that's just less than a third of it that cannot be utilized further.

The rest gets nearly recycled or is recycled already. Our collection success rate of pure material is ９６％, ９８％: materials that we can hand over to the paper industry, materials that we can process in composting plants to compost, the organic waste collection bin, material that we can then forward to the plastic processing industry, like, for example, plastic bottles.

And the second level are so-called collection islands, which are in close vicinity to each household, say within a catchment area of １５０-２００ households, where we have built small stations for glass collection, clear and colored glass and metal packaging, cans, metal cans. Polystyrene waste materials are currently used in house building as insulation materials, so reprocessed polystyrene waste materials is used as insulation material.

The Green Foundation

HOST: Now let's travel to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, home of The Green Foundation, a full-service, electronic recycling company that raises funds for charities, on behalf of governments, charities, and institutions by recycling old, non-working and unneeded electronic items in the Middle East at no cost.

The Foundation's chief executive officer and chairman Mr. Dominic Gothard now discusses the group's work. Zlin, Czech

The Green Foundation was started in January of ２０１０, primarily with focus on recycling old and redundant electronic items in the Middle East. So we focus on five core items, mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras, MP３ players and gaming consoles.

Dominic (m): Whenever we get items, we grade them. So we divide them into working, non-working and beyond economic repair. Working items we trade straightaway back into African markets, where people can then buy quality, second-hand phones at an affordable price.

Non-working items we take to the factory, we repair them, we engineer them; we have qualified people that can do that, and then they're upgraded to working and obviously traded in the same way.

The beyond-economic- repair items we break them down and use their spare parts wherever possible. And wherever it's not possible we melt all the items down into plastics, metals or precious metals, so １００％ of everything we receive is re-used, we don't landfill anything.

HOST: An electronic item may contain such dangerous substances as cadmium, lead, barium, or mercury. These toxic materials can seriously damage the environment if there is improper disposal of the device. For example, breathing in cadmium can seriously injure the lungs and cause death.

Dominic (m): Obviously electronics carry corrosive and hazardous waste chemicals, so those in the ground over a course of years will explode, they'll soil the environment, contaminate the water and kill wildlife.

So, it's very important that we get that out of the ground and that we try and recycle and re-use those items as much as possible.

HOST: The Green Foundation is working to set a new standard for sustainability in the Middle East as recycling currently is not widely practiced in the region.

Dominic (m): In the Middle East the recycling industry here is very new, it has never really existed before. Only about five percent of anything is recycled in the Middle East, compared to around about ３０％ in other parts of world. Electronic recycling doesn't exist at all.

Dominic (m): Half the problem is not people actually wanting to do it, it's actually giving them the resources and opportunities to actually do that.

HOST: Mr. Gothard believes that the Middle East's recycling market has great potential for growth, especially in the category of mobile phones.

Dominic (m): We operate from Pakistan and India, right across the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) up into Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan, so we handle １２ countries from this office. The Middle East is a very interesting market because they have a very high usage of mobile phones. On average, each person has ２.２ phones. So in United Arab Emirates alone, for example, where the population is around about four million, there are nine-million phones.

Now, if you scale that up, it means that potentially there are ４００-million phones in this part of the world. They're not all being used; a lot of them are sitting in drawers.

HOST: The Green Foundation's contributions to charities through its recycling programs have been significant. Over US$４.５ million has gone to １５０ different charities since The Green Foundation's inception.

Johnathan(m): And for the charities as well we're generating funds for them but at the same time in the background we're also helping the environment. It's a real win-win situation for the charities.

Dominic (m): I hope that we have a wide range of awareness in the residential community, so that people can easily dispose of their electronic items. And last but not least, I hope that we've managed to raise a lot of money for the charities by recycling as many items as possible.

Zaila Association

HOST: The final organization featured today's is the Zaila Association, a Swiss-based non-governmental organization which works to protect the beautiful region of Southern Morocco. The Zaila Association currently has several projects in the village of M'hamid which is located on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Now let's hear about the Association's efforts from its coordinator, Mr. Ali Sbai.

Ali (m): The Zaila Association was created five years ago in order to curb this drift towards global pollution, so to speak. So we told ourselves that we had this plastic pollution everywhere, but nonetheless, the desert, the glaciers and the mountains had to be preserved. It's like the Earth's lungs for us. So the lungs must be clean; we must protect them or else it is the whole planet that is sick.

Ali (m): Because even, for example, in the mountains and in the seas, there is pollution everywhere, it is everywhere. You know, in all the oceans, there are many, many shipwrecks… Seas are garbage cans now.

Supreme Master TV (f): And full of plastic.

Ali (m): And plastic, and so now, we see this pollution in the desert. And that is why we, at Zaila initiated the Zaila alternative solution project: `Plastic: Ephemeral Usage, Durable Pollution.'

HOST: The Zaila Association provides guidance, know-how and alternative approaches to the use of plastic and other non-biodegradable, human-made products.

Ali (m): So we allow the people or encourage them to make use of nature for a good cause, meaning, making use of nature without damaging it. That is the equation that is proposed to humans now because the planet is in overproduction, in overconsumption, it is saturated. A plastic bag takes ２０ seconds to produce, ２０ minutes to use and ４００ years to biodegrade.

In this equation, we have everything. That is the symbol of durable pollution. So in counterpart, we have this small basket produced by Zaila as an alternative solution to plastic.

This basket or this small bag that is made out of palm fibers has a lot of purposes: to preserve food, to go to the market and to keep things fresh. This small palm bag can last four to five years. This bag is the equivalent of ２,０００ plastic bags. When we make it, we save the Earth from ２,０００ plastic bags.

HOST: Supreme Master Ching Hai also advocates the use of alternatives to plastic products to protect the environment, as in this May ２００８ videoconference in South Korea.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: in many places there are already bans on the use of plastic bags and many convenience stores, for example, in America, they are already trying to limit the use of harmful packages.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We should use something less toxic, and we should use our own shopping bags wherever we go, to minimize whatever we can the effect, the harmful effect to the planet.

HOST: Our deep appreciation goes to the Austrian Association of Municipalities, The Green Foundation, the Zaila Association, and Supreme Master Ching Hai for promoting green lifestyles so that Mother Nature can continue to protect and nourish all the precious life in our world.

For more information on the organizations featured on today's program, please visit the following websites: Austrian Association of Municipalities www.Gemeindebund.at The Green Foundation www.TheGreenFoundation.me Zaila Association www.Zaila.ch

HOST: Sweet viewers, welcome to another heartwarming episode of Good People, Good Works. This week we're delighted to feature two noble-minded five-year-old boys from the United States who selflessly donated their money to better the lives of others.

In October ２０１０, the station house, tools and fire trucks of the Sissonville Volunteer Fire Department in West Virginia, USA were destroyed in a fire, and people from the community soon gathered their strength to help rebuild the station.

Thomas (m): As a result of that fire we had to move into temporary quarters to continue operations and the owner of this business was kind enough to allow us to use two of his service bases to continue our operations.

Thomas (m): We cover a fire-response district of １２５ square miles.

We have approximately ８,６００ residents in it and a population of about ２５,０００. We cover three elementary schools, one middle school and a high school and approximately １５０ to １６５ businesses.

Thomas (m): Even though we had the fire, we've never missed a call, our firemen, we've been able to answer the call. We're currently using loaner trucks. We're in a rebuilding process right now. We're like the mythical phoenix, we're going to rise from the ashes. We're going to build back, hopefully even better than we were before.

HOST: Amidst the dust and debris of the collapsed building, a pair of little hands offered a small piggy bank to one of the Fire Department's firefighters and board members, Mr. Thomas Miller. The bank held about US$４６.００, the life savings of Joshua Shaffer, a five-year old boy who was determined to do all he could to help his respected firefighting heroes.

Thomas (m): I got a phone call from a school teacher who said she had a five-year-old boy who had seen our story on television and was absolutely adamant about making a donation. We thought here's a five-year-old kid he needs to keep his money, we're not doing it (accept the money).

Well, a couple of days later, I got a phone call from a radio station that he was offended that we hadn't taken him up on his offer. So I, through the local radio station, got in touch with his grandmother who's a wonderful lady and she tells me that all Joshua had spoken about was he wanted to help out.

Patty (f): He watched the news. He saw that it had burned down and one day we drove by the town and he saw the firehouse was burned and it was still in rubble and he wanted to help. And he wanted to give them some money, thinking that it would help them.

TJ (m): He said, "We got to help," and he said, "We'll give them my piggy bank." And then he came and told us and then after that he started grabbing everybody's change laying around and stuffed it in the piggy bank. And then we brought it out here to them, and gave it to them.

HOST: The remarkable Joshua has always wanted to be a fireman.

Supreme Master TV (m): Why are you dressed up like a firefighter？

Joshua (kid): Because next week I want to be one.

Supreme Master TV (m): Why do you want to be a firefighter？

Joshua (kid): Because I want to help people.

HOST: Hearing about Joshua's altruistic ideal and noble contribution for the betterment of others, Supreme Master Ching Hai contributed US$２０,０００ toward Joshua's cause. The funds were presented to the Fire Chief, Mr. Thomas Johnson. Joshua and his grandmother later wrote a letter to one of our Association members that included a heartfelt message to Supreme Master Ching Hai thanking her for taking them a huge step closer to achieving their dream. Here is an excerpt from the letter.

VOICE１: I would like to thank you and your crew for the interest you took in Joshua's story about the fire station. He truly wants to help them rebuild the firehouse. After watching the YouTube video he was determined that his money would help them… He didn't hesitate to give them his piggy bank full of change.

He has always been a very kind and caring little boy. He is still saving his money for the fire department. He is determined that he can do it. Thanks to the Supreme Master Ching Hai for helping him do this. Thanks for the knowledge you have given us to pass on to him. Our children are what we live for.  Your kindness has touched our hearts. Thank you, Supreme Master Ching Hai. Patty Brannon and Joshua

HOST: In a thank-you letter to Supreme Master Ching Hai for her donation, Chief Johnson wrote, 『Joshua is a special young man who has been an inspiration to many during a dark time.』

Thomas (m): I think a lot of people could learn from that little boy. I think he was an inspiration to us, to see this little boy who didn't want a toy. He didn't want a "thank you," he just wanted to give to someone else.

HOST: Next we're going to meet an amazing boy who made an unexpected birthday wish that bought happiness to many other people. Do you remember your last birthday wishes, or what presents you got from your family and friends？

Magnus Knudsen's fifth birthday turned from a joyous day of receiving into a celebration of maturity and heartfelt compassion when he decided to donate all his birthday money to support a charity that helps children in need. The idea first came to young Magnus when he and his dad visited a charitable facility near the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, USA.

The facility provides a place to stay for families whose critically ill children are receiving treatment at the Center.

Jill miller (f): Twenty four hours before a child is admitted over to Cincinnati Children's (Medical Center), the parents can call and request a room. If one is available, we'll place them right away, if not we'll put them on our wait list and call them as soon as a room is available.

Families travel from all over the world to stay here in Cincinnati and seek the top-notch doctors over at Cincinnati Children's (Medical Center). We've had families travel from South Africa, from New Zealand; we have a family from Iraq staying here in the house right now.

HOST: Thoughtful Magnus wanted to do something to comfort the children and their worried families.

Magnus (m): I thought I could donate some of my old toys, but after asking them they said they only could handle new toys. But then my dad and I thought I could donate some of my toys from my upcoming birthday, but then (Craig (m): we talked. We told my friends to make a small donation of five or １０ dollars.

HOST: Magnus's surprise birthday wish generated an enthusiastic response from his friends and family. At the end of the day, the caring boy had collected a total of US$２８８, which he gave to the charity.

Jill Miller (f): We are especially touched when someone like Magnus at the age of five, instead of getting his own birthday presents chooses to help our children living here at the house. And there is honestly nothing more touching than that.

HOST: This kind gesture is just one of the many praiseworthy deeds of Magnus, who has always been a blessing to his family and community.

Craig (m): Magnus is a sweet, loving, adorable child. He is an awesome big brother and he is an angel to his mommy. Magnus volunteers for Cincinnati's Adopt-a-Spot program where he patrols our street for litter and he also helps our senior citizens on our street take in the recycling bins and rake their leaves and shovel their snow in winter.

He does this not for the few pennies that they give him but just because he's a good kid. And one of the benefits is that some of the pennies that he gets he donates to 『Pennies for Pencils,』 which helps children in impoverished nations be able to have pencils to study and do their homework.

HOST: Touched by his giving spirit and thoughtful concern for others, Supreme Master Ching Hai provided US$３,０００ to chip in with Magnus's donation to the housing facility.

Magnus (m): Thank you, Supreme Master Ching Hai.

Craig (m): It's nice to know that they have someone that loves them.

Jill Miller (f): With this US$３,０００, a room will be adopted here for a year in honor of you. So once I get the plaque ordered, you and your dad will have to come back and the plaque will say, 『This room generously adopted by Supreme Master Ching Hai in honor of Magnus Knudsen.』 And every family who lives in that room will think of you and what you did to help our families.

Jill Miller (f): We are very appreciative for this gift and it will help us care for a lot of families this coming year. Thank you, Supreme Master Ching Hai.

HOST: No one was more excited to have received a thank you note from the first kid who stayed in the Supreme Master Ching Hai room than Magnus. He was really happy that he could make a difference in another kid's life. The note was from a girl named Morgan:

VOICE２: 『My name is Morgan Seely and I am １４ years old. This September I found out that I would not be attending my first year of high school in upstate NY (New York) because I needed a bone marrow transplant. My mother and I made the nine hours trip to Cincinnati and had nowhere to stay when we arrived.

We paid for a hotel room but they can be expensive. The next night, the house gave us a room. We now have a nice place to stay and it is close to the hospitals. Thank you for helping families like mine when we need a place to stay and are going through a rough patch - Morgan.』

HOST: To the good-hearted Magnus, it was the best possible birthday gift he could ever receive. The housing facility also later sent a thank you letter to Supreme Master Ching Hai, the following of which is an excerpt.

VOICE３: Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai: Thank you so much for your generous gift of US$３,０００ in honor of a very inspirational and selfless little boy, Magnus Knudsen.

Your gift in support of our "Adopt a Room" program will help us provide families living in your "adopted" room the love and support they need. Happy Holidays, Jennifer L. Goodln Executive Director Jill Miller Developmental Director

HOST: Magnus Knudsen and Joshua Shaffer, children like you are the leaders of today and tomorrow. It is very heartening to see that the values of sharing and caring are deep in your hearts and surely you both will help many more people as you grow up.

Hallo, happy viewers and welcome to today’s episode of Healthy Living. We all know that our daily food intake and lifestyle have a significant influence on our brain and mood. How does this happen? How can we improve our mental state by opting for a healthy lifestyle?

Today we will explore these questions with nutrition expert Evelyn Cole Kissinger. Ms. Kissinger is a registered dietician, lifestyle consultant, lactation consultant and assistant professor in the Department of Health Science at Andrews University, Michigan, USA.

She has provided consulting services and conducted health programs for health care centers and the general public since 1982. Ms. Kissinger is the former president of the Seventh-Day Adventist Dietetic Association, which has been promoting the health benefits of plant-based nutrition among medical professionals and community-based health educators for more than fifty years.

In sharing information about the benefits of plant-based nutrition on human wellness, Ms. Kissinger has witnessed changes in countless lives. Her presentations and workshops are full of information and inspiration, which leave a deep impression on her audiences.

EVELYN:
Food has a very powerful effect on the brain. We know that over the long term that our lifestyle and food will affect the brain. But there are studies that show that it’s actually a meal-by-meal experience. If you walk out of the door without a breakfast, your brain is just not going to work as well. You wouldn’t think about sending your kids off to school without breakfast, but we adults, we think, “Oh, I’m different.”

One of the wellness programs that I did with a group of executives in a company, one of the things they told me was, “You know, being on this healthy living program, I’m just thinking more clearly, I can get more done, especially in the mornings. I’m just getting a whole lot more done.”

It’s just very important not only for kids but it’s important for adults to think clearly in order to just do the daily things of, “What am I supposed to remember today?”

So, food has a very, very powerful effect on the brain.

Supreme Master TV (F):
Before you get into some of the physiology of the brain, can you tell us some of the stories, success stories, how by applying a vegan diet, a holistic diet, people like in prisons and juvenile delinquents have completely changed their approach to life.

EVELYN:
We have seen numerous ways that living a healthy lifestyle affects the brain. One of the programs that we do is changing bad habits for good. When people are even addicted to certain substances or behaviors, that when applying healthy lifestyle principles and choosing good foods and exercising, that it’s even so powerful that it can help in recovery from some of these devastating diseases.

We have heard people, some of the obvious things in helping with the brain, is that when we have diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure, it actually starts to affect the brain before we see the clinical manifestation of what is going on.

And so, when people come to these types of programs and they start to get their blood sugar under control and their cholesterol and their blood pressure goes down, then they say things like, “You know, I just feel like the fog has been lifted. You know I feel like I have control again.”

And we have heard of extreme cases of children who have been on medication for ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), and they see results and those medications can be reduced and even people on Prozac.

So there is a direct relationship between our lifestyle and, very powerfully, nutrition, and the disease process and recovery.

It’s just very, very powerful, and our book is full of some of what we call deliverance stories where people have seen that when they apply these principles that it not only affects you physically but it affects you mentally.

Supreme Master TV (F):
Now, a I heard about prison where people could check in and they had the option of eating vegan or not eating vegan. Can you tell us about that?

EVELYN:
We have done our program in some prisons and they have found that this is something; the prisoners don’t have many choices, but they can choose whether or not they are going eat certain things, and it becomes something that they can do for themselves.

And when they learn the difference that it makes and they apply those principles then they feel like they are thinking more clearly, more rationally, they feel like they have got more control and they are more interested in learning, in reading good books, and taking care of themselves in other ways because the choices that we make affect the neurotransmitters in the brain, which make a difference in our mood, our memory, our learning and our behavior.

So, it can make a powerful difference in the way we behave as well.

EVELYN:
In a prison that we were working with in Michigan, the prisoners found that when they reduced their meat intake, actually cut meat out, and started eating more of the vegetables and fruits and whole grains that there was less tendency towards violence, that they had more control over their emotions and that they were able to handle stress better.

So they saw a relationship and that they felt that if they had been following this type of a program on the outside that they would have been able to control their anger, their emotions and the way that they behave in a much more positive way.

Because what we eat affects how we are going to respond. When I don’t feel so well, I’m on the edge just little bit more than when I’m eating a different way.

So, eating in a positive way, it results in a more positive approach to life, and a more positive approach to even relationships.

HOST:
When Healthy Living returns, Ms. Kissinger will introduce more about the wonderful benefits of adopting a vegetarian, meaning animal-free diet, as well as some other key issues regarding a healthy lifestyle.

Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

HOST:
Welcome back to Healthy Living featuring the relationship between diet and brain health with nutrition expert Evelyn Cole Kissinger.

EVELYN:
One of the programs that we have on our video is a school in Wisconsin, and this was a school for troubled children. And these kids were in trouble with drugs, carrying weapons, and they weren’t interested in learning, and they had police officers that were kind of around
to make sure that everything was okay.

So they wanted to find out: would changing the cafeteria and the foods that they were eating, would that change the behavior of these kids. Pretty radical approach! Some people would think, “Would it really make that much of a difference?” Well they did. So, one day they come
into school and the pop machine is gone, the candy machine is gone, and in the cafeteria they have this spread of salad bar, fresh fruits, whole grains, serving them really healthy foods.

The teachers were quite frustrated trying to teach, but as they implemented this program they saw a dramatic change in these children, and they saw they became more interested in learning. They didn’t have the scuffs in the hallways of people picking fights with each other.

And they become more motivated, working out in the gym even, and taking care of themselves, and so through this process over a year when they evaluated the change, after they had incorporated this program they didn’t have any of the problems that they were having before in the kids not getting along, the challenges with the teachers in the classroom having to stop class to take care of the issues with the behavior.

So, the types of foods we eat are going to affect the chemistry of the brain. And that affects my desire to want to learn and the way that I behave.

HOST:
According to Ms. Kissinger, there are several other key factors in a healthy lifestyle that are also very important for brain health and mood.

EVELYN (f):
What’s important to remember is that it’s our whole body that we’re looking at, that our head is connected to our body, and that whatever affects the body affects the brain, what affects the brain affects the body.

And so lifestyle is very powerful and having a healthy body, healthy brain, and I think even a healthy spirit. So getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, getting exercise; when you’re getting exercise that pushes the blood into what I call “the corners of the brain” so that all of those areas of the brain get the blood supply with the nutrients and it takes away the waste products.

So getting out there and getting some fresh air, the vitamin D that we get from the sunshine affects the health of the brain, affects the immune system of the body. So it’s a package; to have a healthy brain means having a healthy lifestyle.

Also having a healthy brain are the thoughts that we think, what’s going on and what do I say when I talk to myself, because negative thinking can affect health and it can affect the brain. What am I surrounding myself with? What’s the external environment?

So, creating a positive environment, and I think it’s very important to have a healthy brain to share love with each other, to have relationships with other people.

It expands those neural connections. We have found that social connections affect the health of the brain and also having a relationship with God and trusting so that we are not filled with anxiety, that we’re filled with peace and joy. And that we know that things will work out, and that we can depend, and that we have a God that’s going to take care of us.

And I think that can make all the difference. So having a healthy lifestyle, having a healthy environment, and having a healthy connection helps us in having a healthy brain.

EVELYN (f):
Our body, our physical is connected to our mental, which is connected to our spiritual so they all work as one.

They can each boost the other, but when I take care of myself physically, that’s going to affect me mentally, and that’s going to perhaps have an effect on my desire for spiritual things as well.

Evelyn: 
Nutrition is just very powerful in the function of the brain and it comes from a lot of different directions. Each cell in the body needs at least forty nutrients plus. We’ve learned that there are thousands of phytochemicals and antioxidants that the brain needs, and so we come at it from a lot of different angles.

You can’t just do one thing and expect the brain to change across the board. The primary fuel for the brain is glucose. Seventy percent of the fuel in the brain is glucose, and glucose comes from carbohydrates.

Well, there are two types of carbohydrates. There are what we call the good carbs and the bad carbs. What we call the bad carbs would be the sugar foods. It’s very common that especially teenagers are going to drink soda. In each ounce of pop there’s about a teaspoon of sugar.

So you’ve got a twenty-ounce pop, (NFT: 590ml) you’ve got about twenty teaspoons of sugar going down. Have that with a candy bar and you’ve got another nine teaspoons of sugar going in, with a small candy bar.

That would be a very typical breakfast or a snack. When anybody eats this type of a food, you have this quick surge throughout the body, but especially in the brain, of all this sugar going in.

It creates a higher stress to the body. You’ve got these stresses coming in and all the environment is full of stress and you’re just on edge a little bit more.

The good carbohydrates are the foods that have fiber in them. Now what do you know about fiber? Fiber’s found in fruits and vegetables and whole grains and beans. So if you have a breakfast that’s a good fiber source, at least three to five grams of fiber in a serving of your cereal.

The best ones would be a cooked cereal with oatmeal or seven-grain cereal. But there are some good ones that come in a box as well. But if you have a nice bowl of cereal with a couple of pieces of whole grain toast and an apple or an orange and a banana and you eat that, the response to the brain is totally different.

The fiber in that food is going to provide a slow release of energy to the brain for the next four to six hours. So, it’s going to last from breakfast until lunch.

You have this continual supply of sugar at the right rate, so the brain continually gets the fuel that it needs.

HOST:
Fat is another indispensable nutrient for the body. Called phospholipids, it is a major component of our biological membranes.

Evelyn:
So you have this cell wall that’s made of fats. When it’s made of the good fats, and the good fats meaning the monounsaturated fats like olives or olive oil or the nuts and seeds, avocados are these good fats.

When you have a diet that has those in them then you have a cell wall that’s composed of the good fats. Contrast that with the saturated fats in meats and fast foods, that cell wall is going to be made of saturated fats.

Supreme Master TV:
What about dairy?

Evelyn:
Dairy would also be a saturated fat. And with the good fats you have a flexible cell wall. So the cell wall can move as it should. In a saturated fat, it is stiff.

Evelyn:
The metabolism in the cell doesn’t work as well because when you have a stiff cell wall the nutrients can’t get in and can’t get out like they’re supposed to.

When you have a lot of fats in the diet, its going to start to clog up the arteries and when they get all clogged up the blood can’t get through as well.

We know that when that happens in the heart and it gets so closed up that the blood can’t get through, we have a heart attack. Well, that can happen in the brain as well. It can happen as a stroke. So when arteries are clogging up in the heart, they’re clogging up all the way through the body. It’s not just happening in the heart, its happening everywhere.

HOST:
When these fats clog up our arteries, our ability to think and our memory are affected. There will also be a difference in our moods. As we progress in age, this would also raise the risk of dementia.

Evelyn:
Also in the brain, the fats effect the way those nerve cells talk to each other, the way they communicate; you have two nerve cells and there’s a gap between the nerve cells. And in the gap are the neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitters affect our mood, and our motivation, our willingness to learn, and the two primary ones – there are 53 different ones in the brain – but two primary ones are serotonin and dopamine. When our serotonin is up, I feel good. When it’s low, I’m going to probably crave sugar and be crabby.

When the dopamine is high, where we want it to be, I’m going to be motivated to go out and exercise, to pick up a book and read it.

But if I don’t have enough dopamine, I’m going to feel more depressed. So we found that people who are challenged with depression have these lower levels of dopamine and serotonin as well.

HOST:
How to raise our levels of dopamine and serotonin?

This question is asked by many researchers in hopes of helping those who are affected by depression. Dr. Kissinger explains how more medications are not necessarily the answer.

Evelyn:
You can raise the serotonin by eating those good carbohydrates, those fiber foods, the whole grains, fruits, vegetables that raise the serotonin. Also, being out in the sun will help to raise serotonin levels.

When I do something nice for somebody else, that also. And also with the dopamine, we can raise those by the types of foods we eat, and fat happens to be affected by raising the dopamine levels. And that would be specifically affected by those omega-3 fats.

There are two types of good fats. There are the omega-3 fats, and those are found in walnuts, flaxseed – ground flaxseed and soy products, as simple as a little bit of soy milk on your cereal in the morning will start to contribute some omega-3s.

HOST:
When Healthy Living returns, Ms. Kissinger will discuss more about proteins and other nutrients. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

HOST:
Welcome back to Healthy Living. Today’s show features registered dietician, Evelyn Kissinger on the relationship between nutrition and brain health.

Evelyn:
We’ve talked a little bit about the carbohydrates, the fiber and choosing the right types of fats, but also choosing the right proteins are very important as well.

I favor the plant proteins, and the research that I know, and the information that I share. So, getting the right mix of those amino acids is going to affect the neurotransmitters, and providing the ability of the brain to make new nerve cells and to expand.

So, I would favor getting proteins from the beans, and a lot of people aren’t aware that grains can be a high contributor of the good plant proteins as well, and reducing the amount or maybe even eliminating the protein from the animal products. Because along with that, not only do you have the animal amino acids, but you have the animal saturated fats.
 
Eliminating those can also be an enhancement to the brain as well.

HOST:
Unlike carbohydrates, fat and protein, our daily need for vitamins and minerals is very small; however, they play an indispensable role in the proper functioning of the human body.

Evelyn:
There are a few vitamins and minerals that are very important to the brain. Magnesium is important for helping us to deal with stress, B-12, B-6, the B vitamins, all of the B vitamins are very important for brain health.

B-12 is especially important for the nerves and the functioning of the brain as well. Those B-12 sources, the best places to get those, would be a lot of cereals are fortified with B-12; you’ll see that on the cereal box; you can also get it from fortified soymilk, which is another great place, or you may want to consider even a supplement for the B-12 as well.

The B-6 and the other B vitamins are found in whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables, and as you eat these fiber foods, these whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, you get a package beyond just fiber.

You get an array of these nutrients, and some antioxidants and phytochemicals that help the brain to stay healthy.

HOST:
Today, people are hearing more and more about the benefits of eating the “rainbow spectrum
of all colors.” How does food with different colors benefit us from a brain-health perspective?

Evelyn:
I like the “eating the colors of the rainbow” or “What color is your plate?” When you see a lot of color on your plate, that can gives you a pretty good indication that you’ve got some balance going on.

You’ve probably heard that the berries are good for your brain, the blueberries and raspberries and pomegranates are really good for your brain.

Well, they’re very rich in many phytochemicals; ellagic acid happens to be one of them. There are thousands of phytochemicals that are found in foods and we’re just now discovering some of those and the powerful effects that they have on the brain.

They can protect the cells from damage, and then if the cells are damaged it actually goes in and repairs the damage.

HOST:
Aside from nutrients that were mentioned, the human body also needs some trace minerals. These trace minerals play a very important role in maintaining our health.

Evelyn:
You’re going to get those trace minerals like zinc and chrominum and selenium that help to balance the appetite. They also help with dealing with stress and they come in the package when you eat with the rainbow of colors.

Another great place to get the trace minerals is from nuts and seeds. And I think eating a handful of nuts or seeds every day is a smart thing to do. We found out in the Adventist Health study that eating one ounce (28 grams) of nuts a day will cut the risk of having a heart attack, dying of a heart attack by 50%. And that’s just one handful of nuts. That’s quite dramatic! And if that’s a protection for the heart, it’s also protecting the rest of the body.
 
Those trace minerals are going everywhere and those healthful fats. We know that before the disease actually shows up that there are changes in the brain and so by reducing the risk of disease, you’re protecting your brain from damage.

HOST:
We thank you Ms. Evelyn Kissinger for sharing her resourceful knowledge on how to optimize our lifestyle for our overall well-being and brain health.