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A Utah state court judge declared the FDA ban on Ephedra, Ma-huang, as a drug wrong on April 14th 2005. The FDA filed an appeal to have the ruling overturned in a higher court. The appeal was granted and the ruling was overturned as of August 18, 2006. This means the FDA is entitled to pose restrictions and/or limitations on sales of pills with Ephedra. However, the FDA won't be allowed to write their own restrictions as they have done in the past. Any restrictions would be presented via a proposal. That proposal would then have to be voted on and passed through both the House of Representatives as well as the Senate.

So the question for the general public still remains,"Is ephedra legal?" For now, the future availability of ephedra in the U.S.A. is up in the air. The FDA recently made a statement saying that, for the time being, they would be allowing the sale of capsules containing Ephedra that did not exceed 10mg per capsule. Currently, this is only a recommendation since the FDA doesn't have legal control over the herb. For the moment, you can still buy pills with ephedra in the United States, however, that could change at any time.

In December of 2000, the Cantox Report researched 9 controlled studies on ephedra. Each study observed was a minimum of 8 weeks long. These studies looked at heart rate, blood pressure, adverse side effects, and other related indicators. One study revealed that cardiac arrhythmia episodes didn't occur in subjects given 90mg of ephedra per day vs. a placebo. The Cantox Report concluded that 150mg of ephedrine alkaloids per day was the "lowest observed adverse effect level". According to their conclusion, the lowest observed adverse effect level is a full 50% higher than the recommended maximum daily dose of 100mg per day of ephedrine alkaloids you will see on ephedra containing diet supplements.

This study also examined the long-term safety and effectiveness for weight loss of an herbal supplement containing Ma Huang and Kola Nut. The results of this six month randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial were published in the International Journal of Obesity for May of 2002. After a 6 month study, the conclusion was that, "the tested product produces no adverse events and minimal side effects. This is consistent with the known mechanism and action of Ephedrine and Caffeine".

An estimated 61% of the U.S. adults are over-weight or obese and obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Obesity continues to be the second leading cause of preventable death. By current estimations, there are 300,000 obesity related deaths per year. Given the current obesity problems in America, the FDA not allowing U.S. citizens to buy pills with ephedra, a diet pill that actually works, seems pretty silly.

Right now, you can still buy pills with ephedra. How long that will last is anyone's guess. Take advantage of the opportunity while it still exists!

Five thousand years ago Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, spoke the Bhagavad-gita (the Song of God) which contains information about God, the living entities, karma (action and reaction in this world), time, and the material energy.

The Bhagavad-gita is one of the Vedic literatures. The word veda (from which the word Vedic comes) means knowledge. The Vedic literatures deal with spiritual and material subject matters. The knowledge they contain is perfect, because of its perfect source. God, or God's devotees in disciplic succession from God.

The Bhagavad-gita teaches us that the soul is unbreakable, unchangeable, insoluble, everlasting, immovable, and neither burnt nor dried. l The Vedic literatures inform us that there are many eternal souls of whom the chief is Krishna, who is maintaining all of the other souls. The Bhagavad-gita explains that the body, which we (who are souls) identify ourselves with in the material world, is simply a machine. It is, of course, a very complex, wonderful machine. Nonetheless, it is still a machine.

In the way that one drives a car, the soul is driving the body. Unfortunately the soul thinks that it is the body, so the characteristics that pertain to a particular body are thought by the soul to be its characteristics. For example: if the body is white, has a gigantic nose, is female, and is born in the United States; the soul thinks that it is an American white woman that needs a nose job.

Because of the soul's identification with the characteristics of the body, he (the soul) identifies others according to their machine, body characteristics, and forms alliances and animosities accordingly. Thus he develops family attachment, racism, nationalism and even specism; which are all manifestations of the same disease misidentification of the self with the body). When the soul becomes Krishna conscious he no longer distinguishes between living entities because of the differences in the bodily encagement; therefore he sees the true equality of all beings.

The soul is situated along with God (the Supersoul) in the heart of this machine. The soul is driving this machine according to his desires. The Supersoul is observing the soul's actions, and waiting patiently for the soul to become frustrated in its attempts to enjoy through manipulating the machine body.

When the soul decides that its attempts at enjoyment have been futile and that all future endeavors will miserably fail, he may decide to seek out God. At this point Krishna sends His representative in the form of the spiritual master to guide the soul on its spiritual path. The soul, being covered by the material energy, is not capable of perceiving the existence and direction of the Supersoul who is situated next to him in the heart. Therefore the Supersoul directs His external representative (the spiritual master) to help the sincere searcher.

The Vedas call the present age the "Age of Kali" the age of quarrel. This age began approximately 5,000 years ago. In this age people are less for tunate, less intelligent, shorter lived, have shorter memories, and have weaker bodies. Good qualities such as sympathy for other seducation, truthfulness, cleanliness, forgiveness, and mercyare quickly disappearing. society is beset withcheating, diplomacy, and violence. The so called leaders of society are encouraging intoxication, illicit sex, gambling, and meat eating, which are considered the principles of irreligiousity.

There is one good quality in this age. That is, simply by chanting the Lord's names, one can escape the miseries of this age, and go back to the kingdom of God at the end of life. Krishna incarnates in every age to preach the religious practice that is applicable for that particular age. In other ages Krishna taught meditational yoga, or temple worship, or sacrifice.

Krishna appeared about 500 years ago as Lord Caitanya. This advent was predicted in the Vedic literatures more than 5,000 years ago. Lord Caitanya taught the religious practice recommended for this age, Sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the Lord's names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare rama Hare rama rama rama Hare Hare.

Devotees of the Krishna consciousness movement engage in the chanting of the Lord's names in public, distributing transcendental literatures (which encourage others to chant), and performing personal meditation on the Lord's names (called Japa). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more wisdom, visit http://www.bkgoswami.com and click on books.

Thinking positively does not happen by it self. It requires aware focused attention and we need to practice it, consciously, to habitually develop the ability to think positive. The ability to think and act positive and makes it possible to turn a negative situation into positive experiences, with bonus outcomes. We can unleash our newly discovered unlimited mind power to attract success, friends and anything we desire in life. The old habits are the negative habits, which, stall us, limits us and prohibits us, to go beyond ourselves to achieve a successful life.

Positive thinking alone will not change our lives. Re-organizing our minds and our way of life (habits) will provide us with a structure and to form a solid foundation on which to build a clear vision and outlook of the present (as is) and the future (should be) situation. We create our own happiness and our own drama. If you are not currently happy do something about it. We need to Change our habits to get a different outcome?

How do we change a Habit.

* Enhance your Self Esteem - through self acceptance - to be on your own side, to affirm yourself as a human being, to be committed to your own growth, your own value as a human being. (The thought process of the (as is) situation)

* Evaluate your Self Worth - Establish and evaluate your problem and face the real problem. (as is situation)

* Ensure and re-assure your self of what you want to achieve - Your choice and decision. (What is the should be situation)

* Take a stand and decide on an action plan - Consider the When, Where, Why, With Who (all the W's)

* Put your plan in action. - (Keep to the Rules)

* Evaluate whether it is working, if not, adjust. (See Reflection below)

* Reward your self when you have done well. (Keep to your Rules)

That's it - Go for It - put the habit in a bag with a cement brick and drown it. Take on a Weight Loss diet and kick the old habit of being over weight!

Reflection

Do an evaluation, alone at a quiet time. Reflection is a review of the events which happened in a day. Some went great, some bad. Have you done great today? What went well and went not so well? How can you improve? Re-commit to your goals? Have you reached your goal or still far from it? Or worst still, moving further away from your goals.

To your well being!

I am Frik van der Schyff born in Pretoria, South Africa. 1947. After graduating and 32 years in senior corporate management as Operations Director in a major retail chain. I opened my own business and are involved in various projects.

My experience of life and well being of the mind and body is of extreme importance. The balances between our spirit, mind and body and the effects and influence it has on our selves, others and our environment. Social, political, religious, financial and natural environment.

My preferred field of interest, social and natural environment, are increasingly threatened. The bigger picture of the cause, impact, influences,problem analysis, possible solutions and problem solving of a specific.

My articles are based on real life experience and are dedicated to improvement, restoration and preservation of the above.