To you from all of us here, a very Happy Valentine's Day! I bet you think this is the part where I am going to go into a big, long explanation about the history of St. Valentine, and how the custom of Valentine's Day came to be, and how it makes the greeting card companies, chocolate makers, and florists a ton of money each year — but you'd be wrong! In fact, all we want you to do is think about that special someone and how much they mean to you. Do something nice for them (even if all you have to give them is a peck on the cheek) and be thankful for them. Then, make sure they know you are. To me that's the perfect way to spend Valentine's Day. But whatever the perfect Valentine's Day looks like to you, we hope that's exactly what you receive today. 'Til next time, friends...
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Celebrate your Sweet Tooth all this month!
You might not know it (I didn't until today!), but February is National Chocolate Month! Considering the 14th is Valentine's Day, if I had to pick a month to be National Chocolate Month, February seems like a pretty good choice. But did you know that there's more to chocolate than the sweet taste alone? Here's some stuff I came across on the internet this morning:
• Your "theta" brain waves (whatever the heck THOSE are!) can apparently be raised by the very smell of chocolate, helping you to relax. Makes sense to me - I can't remember the last time I was stressed while eating a Hershey's® bar!
• Drinking a cup of hot chocolate before you eat may help diminish your appetite. So if you're looking to drop a few pounds, maybe that could help. Who knew Mom was so right when she said, "Don't have sweets before dinner, you'll ruin your appetite!"
• Chocolate may provide cardiovascular benefits by helping maintain the "stretchiness" of your blood vessels. It also increases the level of antioxidants in your blood, which I hear is a good thing. And it contains oleic acid, an unsaturated fat that may help raise the amount of GOOD cholesterol you have.
• Finally (and this is the one that really grabbed my attention), at least one study has found that men who eat chocolate live an average of one year longer than those who don't. Ladies, I don't know if the same is true for you or not, but why risk it? Let's all add some chocolate to our diet! And believe it or not you can even get your chocolate fix at Haband! Check out our 10 Box Chocolate Set! That's good for you health AND good for your pocketbook! A win-win if ever there was one.
So if you've always had a Sweet Tooth, live a little and give in to it every once in awhile — you might just live a little longer! And you'll definitely make your February a lot sweeter!
• Your "theta" brain waves (whatever the heck THOSE are!) can apparently be raised by the very smell of chocolate, helping you to relax. Makes sense to me - I can't remember the last time I was stressed while eating a Hershey's® bar!
• Drinking a cup of hot chocolate before you eat may help diminish your appetite. So if you're looking to drop a few pounds, maybe that could help. Who knew Mom was so right when she said, "Don't have sweets before dinner, you'll ruin your appetite!"
• Chocolate may provide cardiovascular benefits by helping maintain the "stretchiness" of your blood vessels. It also increases the level of antioxidants in your blood, which I hear is a good thing. And it contains oleic acid, an unsaturated fat that may help raise the amount of GOOD cholesterol you have.
• Finally (and this is the one that really grabbed my attention), at least one study has found that men who eat chocolate live an average of one year longer than those who don't. Ladies, I don't know if the same is true for you or not, but why risk it? Let's all add some chocolate to our diet! And believe it or not you can even get your chocolate fix at Haband! Check out our 10 Box Chocolate Set! That's good for you health AND good for your pocketbook! A win-win if ever there was one.
So if you've always had a Sweet Tooth, live a little and give in to it every once in awhile — you might just live a little longer! And you'll definitely make your February a lot sweeter!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Groundhogs Day
Looks like it's going to be 6 more weeks of winter, according to the official weather prognosticator of the Animal Kingdom, Punxsutawney Phil. Although if it's 6 more weeks of the same kind of winter we've been having so far, I think it would be hard to tell the difference between that and an early spring. Most days here in Oakland it feels like spring already!
And don't tell anyone, but according to a study done by the National Geographic Society he's only been right a third of the time anyway - and that's with 50/50 odds! Wouldn't it be nice if you could be wrong 2/3 of the time and still keep your job? Maybe they ought to use an octopus instead - remember that octopus from a few years ago who predicted the World Cup winners? He had a much better record. And besides, Octopus Day sounds way more awesome.
Funny thing about Groundhog Day is, it's not really a zoological holiday so much as an astronomical one - February 2nd is pretty much the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Seems like that might have something to do with the origin of the Groundhog Day concept, as the half-way mark makes a pretty good place to make a guess about what the rest of the journey to spring will be like. But as for how the groundhog itself got involved in the legend I haven't the foggiest idea.
Anyway, enjoy the next 6 weeks of "winter", everybody!
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