This Nut Lowers Cholesterol And Protects The Heart

A nut-enriched diet may be essential for those who want to reduce heart disease and stroke risk.

Eating nuts regularly has been shown to lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death rates from CVD.

Studies show that adding half-a-cup of walnuts to our everyday diet can decrease the levels of bad cholesterol, the number of small low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles, and total LDL particles, as well as lowering blood pressure.

Walnuts contain a type of omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid, which is heart healthy.

The conclusions come from a study that examined the effect of walnuts on cardiovascular health and wellbeing.

For this, 708 healthy adults who were 63 to 79-years-old received a daily doses of 30 to 60 grams of walnuts for two years.

Dr Emilio Ros, study co-author, said:

“Prior studies have shown that nuts in general, and walnuts in particular, are associated with lower rates of heart disease and stroke.

One of the reasons is that they lower LDL-cholesterol levels, and now we have another reason: they improve the quality of LDL particles.

LDL particles come in various sizes.

Research has shown that small, dense LDL particles are more often associated with atherosclerosis, the plaque or fatty deposits that build up in the arteries.

Our study goes beyond LDL cholesterol levels to get a complete picture of all of the lipoproteins and the impact of eating walnuts daily on their potential to improve cardiovascular risk.”

Here is a summary of their findings:

  • Total cholesterol levels reduced by 8.5 mg/dL , and LDL (the bad cholesterol) levels by 4.3 mg/dL.
  • The number of small LDL particles fell by 6.1 percent and total LDL particles by 4.3 percent. These alterations in LDL particle concentration found to lower cardiovascular disease risk.
  • Levels of Intermediate-density lipoproteins (IDLs) decreased. IDLs are similar to LDL as they can build up plaque in the arteries and so become a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
  • Men apparently benefited more from eating walnuts as they saw a reduction of 7.9 percent in LDL cholesterol whereas this was only 2.6 percent for women.

Dr Ros said:

“While this is not a tremendous decrease in LDL cholesterol, it’s important to note that at the start of the study all our participants were quite healthy, free of major non-communicable diseases.

For individuals with high blood cholesterol levels, the LDL cholesterol reduction after a nut-enriched diet may be much greater.

Eating a handful of walnuts every day is a simple way to promote cardiovascular health.

Many people are worried about unwanted weight gain when they include nuts in their diet.

Our study found that the healthy fats in walnuts did not cause participants to gain weight.”

Another study by Mohammadifard and colleagues found that people who eat nuts 2+ weekly are 17 percent less likely to die from heart disease.

Several other studies have also found that eating nuts has other health benefits.

For example, Pribis and team revealed that eating one handful of walnuts a day improves mood by 28 percent.

Another piece of research found that eating nuts regularly strengthens brainwaves related to cognition, learning, memory and even healing.

As well as…

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Why Your Small Business Should Be Doing Video Marketing

Why Your Small Business Should Be Doing Video Marketing

If you’ve spent any time at all learning about marketing, hopefully one thing that has jumped out to you is the focus of video marketing. It makes sense. We all carry in our pockets everything we need to create, edit, and publish our own video content. 

Prior to the smartphone, the cost of producing and distributing video was immense. Most small businesses couldn’t afford to do video marketing. Video was dominated by major brands that had the budgets to make professional videos and air them during commercial time on TV.

In so many ways, the smartphone changed the rules of the game. And for once, it stacked them in favor of the little guy, not massive corporations. No where is that more evident than with video. 

Now, a small business owner can create and publish a video in a matter of minutes and reach hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people.

In this article, we’ll discuss why video is so effective for small businesses and ways your small business can take small steps to begin video marketing.

Do Your Customers Really Care About Video?

While video marketing can be low effort, it’s certainly not no effort. And let’s face it, as a small business you already have more on your plate than you can handle. 

Why should you invest your time and resources into video marketing?

The answer is simple: because you’ll get more customers if you use video.

We recently conducted a survey to try and better understand how, why, and where consumers went about researching and ultimately patronizing small businesses. We wanted to hear from the consumers themselves what was important to them, so that we could help small businesses better understand where they should focus their limited resources.

One of the most startling insights we gleaned from the survey was just how important video is for most customers.

51% of consumers said they were more likely to patronize a small business if they were able to watch videos introducing the company and/or highlighting their products/services. Only 16% of respondents said the opposite.

So whether you are a retail store selling jewelry, a catering business selling wonderfully curated meals, or a dentist selling healthy teeth and gums, video should be a part of your marketing strategy! 

Why is Video so Effective?

Clearly video works, but why? Much of it has to do with how our brains are wired. 

Video can elicit an emotional response that other mediums simply can’t and studies indicate as much as 95% of purchasing decisions are done subconsciously on an emotional level. 

Reason No. 1: We Process Images Faster Than Words

One clear reason video works better than other forms of communication is that our brains can process images much faster than words. In fact, MIT researchers discovered the human brain can process an image in just 13 milliseconds.

Not only…

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Top 10 Best Content Management Systems – 2022 Review

Want to jump straight to the answer? The best content management system for most people is WordPress or Wix.

Content management systems (CMS) make it possible to manage and publish content on the web. Without a content management system, you’d need to learn how to code in order to build a website and publish content online.

But most CMS platforms enable users to create a website without writing code. There are plenty of content management systems on the market for people of varying technical skill levels—and we’ll review all of them below.

The Top 10 Best Content Management Systems

How to choose the best content management system. Quicksprout.com's methodology for reviewing content management systems.How to choose the best content management system. Quicksprout.com's methodology for reviewing content management systems.

I’ve been managing web content for more than a decade. After extensive research and first-hand experience using every CMS under the sun, I’ve narrowed down the top ten content management systems for various use cases.

WordPress— Best Overall Content Management System

  • Free CMS platform
  • 55,000+ plugins
  • Fully customizable
  • Perfect for content-heavy sites

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More than one-third of the entire Internet is powered by WordPress. This platform is the most popular content management system in the world. It’s trusted by 60+ million people across the globe.

For beginners and experienced users alike, WordPress has all of the tools you need to create, edit, manage, and publish content on the web.

As a free and open-source CMS, WordPress can be customized to meet the needs of any type of website. Just browse from 55,000+ plugins to add functionality to your site.

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5 Ways to Build the Team You Want

5 Ways to Build the Team You Want

Low-functioning teams cause constant frustration. High-functioning teams get stuff done.

If you want to build the team, dedicate time to building. Image of a construction worker.If you want to build the team, dedicate time to building. Image of a construction worker.

5 ways to build the team:

#1. Know what you want.

The team you want:

  1. Delivers results when you aren’t involved.
  2. Enjoys their work and celebrates success.
  3. Brings up tough issues; has conflict and resolves it.
  4. Loves to reach and exceed goals.
  5. Honors the strengths around the table.
  6. Knows each other’s weaknesses.
  7. Shares values.

#2. Change the way you think about yourself.

If you want to build the team, dedicate time to building. You can’t build a team when you’re buried in day-to-day execution.

Spend time equipping and encouraging. Spend less time doing the work.

#3. Set priorities.

Teams need to know what matters. Build the team you want by providing clear priorities.

You build the team by doing great things together.

“If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have any.” Jim Collins

If you have three priorities, you don't have any. Image of a person juggling.If you have three priorities, you don't have any. Image of a person juggling.

#4. Stop helping competent people.

Overhelpfulness creates weakness in others and frustration for you.

Expect people to do their jobs.

Establish clear expectations – with the team – not for the team.

Stand ready to help but give space for struggle.

#5. Remove the wrong people.

If anyone can fit on your team, you have a lousy team.

You have the wrong people when you spend your day pushing.

The right people pull when they have clear direction.

A small team of dedicated people is better than a large team filled with drifters.

Warning:

Organization and structure are necessary but frequent reorganization is destructive.

“I was to learn later in life that, perhaps because we are so good at organizing, we tend as a nation to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.” Charlton Ogburn Jr.

What would you add to the 5 ways to build the team?

What does a high-functioning team look like?

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The Relationship Pattern Linked To Poor Mental Health

These types of relationships are linked to higher anxiety and depression.

On-off relationships are linked to worse mental health, research finds.

These types of cycling relationships involve couples repeatedly breaking up and then getting back together later on.

Psychologists have found that on-off relationships are linked to higher anxiety and depression.

These couples are also likely to experience lower commitment, worse communication and higher levels of abuse.

As many as 60 percent of adults have had a relationship like this in the past, or are currently involved in one.

They can be caused by a variety of things such as jobs or homes in different locations or having little in common outside the bedroom.

Often couples like this return to each other for comfort and in the hope that the relationship will eventually become more stable.

Dr Kale Monk, the study’s first author, thinks that this pattern is not always a bad omen for a couple.

Breaking up can sometimes eventually cause the couple to realise what they have been missing and commit to the relationship.

However, couples that repeatedly break up and get back together should consider whether the relationship is toxic in the long run.

The study involved 545 couples, some of whom were heterosexual and others homosexual.

The results showed that about one-third of couples that lived together had broken up and got back together again.

The researchers also found that male-male relationships had the highest rate of cycling (on-off relationships).

Both heterosexual and female-female couples had lower, but similar, levels of cycling.

Dr Monk said:

“The findings suggest that people who find themselves regularly breaking up and getting back together with their partners need to ‘look under the hood’ of their relationships to determine what’s going on.

If partners are honest about the pattern, they can take the necessary steps to maintain their relationships or safely end them.

This is vital for preserving their well-being.”

The study was published in the journal Family Relations (Monk et al., 2018).

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How to Turn a Side-Hustle Into a Real and Viable Business

How to Turn a Side-Hustle Into a Real and Viable Business

In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, a fascinating shift was underway. Each year, an ever-growing portion of the workforce was counting on freelance work for some or all of their income. It was a phenomenon that many industry observers referred to as the rise of the gig economy.

By 2020, there were 64.8 million freelance workers in the US alone. And experts predicted that a full 50.9% of the US workforce would be freelancing by 2028. Then the pandemic changed everything. Suddenly, millions of workers with full-time jobs found themselves out of work and exploring their options.

Their predicament sent the freelance boom into hyper-drive. But it also changed the nature of the decisions workers faced. Before the pandemic, most workers were content to use their freelance work to augment the income from their full-time job. But now, a growing portion of the workforce is looking for ways to turn their freelance work into full-time businesses of their own.

The scope of the change is staggering. In 2021, approximately 380 out of every 100,000 US adults became entrepreneurs each month. That’s the highest percentage of new entrepreneurship in 25 years and more people are joining them every day.

But the fact is, it’s not easy to turn a side hustle into a full-time business of your own. Starting a business requires funding. And it also requires multidisciplinary expertise that most people simply don’t have.

There is some good news, however. It’s that there are lots of resources available to help new entrepreneurs to find their way and make the most of whatever budget they do have.

This is one of those resources.

To help those looking to make the transition from gig worker to full-time entrepreneur, here’s a guide to launching a one-person business on a shoestring budget. We’ll cover where it’s safe to cut corners, where it isn’t, and how to market your new business without a massive budget. If you’re ready, let’s dive in.

Step 1: Begin Your Journey With Incorporation

If you’re planning to turn your side hustle into a business, you must recognize one simple fact early on. It’s that people will only take your new business as seriously as you do. So, it’s not enough to dream up a name and start promoting it all over town. You have to turn your new business into a real, tangible legal entity.

That means you’re going to have to decide on a business structure and incorporate your new business. But there are several options you can pick to do so. Unless you have a lawyer in the family—and if you do, you’ll want to stay on their good side—you must begin by researching your available incorporation options.

Ideally, you’ll want to choose the best fit that provides you with the right mix of liability protection, tax benefits, and flexibility. For example,…

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The Top 5 Best Inbound Call Center Services – In-Depth Reviews

Want to jump straight to the answer? The best inbound call center services for most people are RingCentral or Nextiva

Call center services are essential if you receive a high volume of inbound calls from customers and are worried you won’t get back to everyone. Utilizing a call center service is the easiest and most cost-effective solution for managing all incoming calls.

The Top 5 Best Inbound Call Center Services 

  • RingCentral – Best all-in-one call center solution
  • Nextiva – Best call center service for performance analytics 
  • Go Answer – Best service for high-volume calls
  • TeleDirect – Best customizable call center solution
  • SAS – Best call center for outsourcing tech support

After reviewing dozens of inbound call center services on the market today, we narrowed it down to the top five best call center services for improved communication management. Continue reading to learn more about which option is right for you.

RingCentral – Best All-in-One Call Center Solution

  • Omnichannel routing
  • Gamification for productivity
  • Comprehensive reporting
  • Integrates with popular CRM

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RingCentral is an excellent call center service that provides immediate and helpful customer support from anywhere. With its exclusive omnichannel feature, RingCentral can help you speed up your service and keep your agents productive through an all-in-one platform. 

RingCentral home pageRingCentral home page

RingCentral offers advanced omnichannel routing that allows you to speed up your calling service through smoother operations. With omnichannel routing, you can reroute inbound calls based on capacity, availability, and custom rules you define—and connect your agents with customers on their channels of choice. Rerouting helps optimize your productivity, as RingCentral allows you…

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Leadership Lessons – Mark Sanborn

Here’s an important reminder. Feel free to share this graphic with your team.

 

Author: Mark Sanborn

Mark holds the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association (NSA) and is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Cavett Award, the highest honor the NSA bestows on its members, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the speaking profession. In 2020, Global Gurus named Mark the #5 Leadership Authority in the world.

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Episode 1745 Scott Adams: Later And Better Than Usual

Episode 1745 Scott Adams: Later And Better Than Usual

Content:

  • Anti-Tucker Carlson propaganda
  • CNN treats math like an opinion
  • Is Russia intentionally slow-walking the Ukraine war?
  • Why aren’t we tracking Fentanyl deaths?
  • CNN, a HOAX generating entity
  • Michael J. Goodwin stories
  • If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topicsto build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure.

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