The success of the traditional food movement boosted the popularity of fermented foods, and we finally realized the wisdom of our ancestors. People have consumed fermented foods for centuries, due to the numerous health benefits they offer.

According to Jillian Levy, CHHC:

“Sauerkraut, a form of fermented cabbage, has been popular throughout Central Europe for hundreds of years. Sauerkraut combines one of the healthiest foods there is (cabbage) with one of the most beneficial and time-honored food preparation methods ever used (fermentation).

According to the Institute for Integrative Medicine at the University of Witten in Germany, sauerkraut is one of the most common and oldest forms of preserving cabbage and can be traced back as an important food source to the fourth century B.C.

Fermentation simply refers to an ancient technique and perseveration method that naturally alters the chemistry of foods. Similar to cultured dairy products like yogurt and kefir, sauerkraut’s fermentation process produces beneficial probiotics that are now linked to improvements in immune, cognitive, digestive and endocrine function.”

Sauerkraut is made by pickling cabbage in a process called lacto-fermentation. It is a rich source of enzymes that support digestion and help the absorption of nutrients in the body.

However, the store-bought sauerkraut is pasteurized and treated with numerous chemicals, so it no longer offers the same benefits.



Here is how to make your homemade sauerkraut and boost the intake of probiotics:

Homemade sauerkraut recipe

Ingredients:

• 6 pounds cabbage
• 3 tablespoons sea salt

Instructions:

1. Remove the large outer leaves of the cabbage, and shred the rest of it. In a bowl, mix it with the salt, and in order to stimulate the release of its juices, massage it with your hands for about 15 minutes.
2. Then, transfer the mixture to a larger fermentation container, pound it down for the juice to come up to the surface, and cover it with a plate. You should leave about 2 inches of space at the top.
3. Place a heavy glass jar with water over the plate to press it down and force the water out of it.
4. Keep the container at room temperature, in a cool, dark place, covered with a towel.

The fermentation process will take about a month. Afterward, store the sauerkraut in the fridge, and enjoy its benefits on a daily basis!

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Knowing an upcoming snowstorm could prevent a neighbor from getting crucial medical treatment, a group of high school students shoveled the woman's driveway at 4:30 in the morning to ensure she could leave the house.

Credit: Peter Lanigan / Twitter
Brothers Brian and Patrick Lanigan knew the snowstorm could be a life or death situation for their neighbor Natalie Blair. So Patrick opened up his phone and started reaching out to friends to help out.

Three of his fellow Parsippany High School seniors answered the call and volunteered to spend the night at the Lanigan house just to wake up and start shoveling.

"Snow Angels disguised as PHS Srs," Peter Lanigan wrote on Twitter.
"Justin, Pat, Chris, Tyler & Amon got up super early 4:30 (really never slept) to shovel a driveway for a neighbor who needed to get to dialysis."

Credit: Peter Lanigan / Twitter
"These young men restore my faith in humanity!! Job well done! Thanks guys!" @AlmaGayle replied to Lanigan's Twitter post.

"The parents of these kids have raised some good human beings," wrote @ohromujici.

"This made me cry! So proud of these young men! They ARE true ANGELS in this world! God bless them all! Made my day!" Tasha Strehl wrote.

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There are two types of people in this world…those who love cats and those who haven’t discovered their love of cats.

What is there not to like about cats. Their eyes are beautiful, they smell like a blankey right out of the dryer, they have soft squishy tums, you can pick them up and give them hugs and squeezes.

Resisting their furry feline charm is much more difficult than you can possibly imagine. Sure you you aren’t a cat person and you don’t want a cat and you might even mean it. But that doesn’t mean a cat doesn’t want you, and once a cat chooses you there is no amount of resistance in the world to stop them from creeping into your life and stealing your heart.

Yes, they are purrfect. Don’t believe us? Proof is in the pudding, check out below for yourself!

1. “No, I Don’t Want To Hold A Kitten”
2. Our Cat Only Loves Our Dad, Who Hates Her
3. My Boyfriend Said He Doesn’t Like Cats. This Is Him Now
4. Boyfriend Says He Does Not Like Cats. I Think He Is Full Of Crap


5. My Dad Swears He Hates Cats
6. My Dad Never Wanted A Cat, And Look At Him Now
7. Got Leeroy A Couple Weeks Back. Girlfriend Didn’t Want A Cat And Still Tells Friends She Hates Him. Yeah, Ok
8. When We Met 13 Years Ago He Told Me, “I’m More Of A Dog Person, Really”


9. 14 Years Ago My Sister And I Got A Kitten For Our Dad Who Had Always Said He Hated Cats. They’ve Been Inseparable Ever Since
10. The Boyfriend Is Supposedly Not A Cat Person
11. Dad Says He Doesn’t Like The Cat, Saw This
12. Before I Got My Kitten, My Boyfriend Said He Didn’t Like Cats. Now I Have Been Demoted To “Princess #2”
13. If You Ask Him, “F*ck No, I’m Not A Cat Person”


14. My Dad Doesn’t Want A Cat But The Cat Definitely Wants My Dad
15. Caught A Picture Of My Cat With My Friend Who Adamantly “Hates Cats”
16. Me A Year Ago: I Hate Cats, They’re Evil! Me, Now, On My 4th Set Of Fosters
17. My “Not A Cat Person” Boyfriend Falling In Love With A Shelter Kitty
18. He Didn’t Want A Cat


19. This Is The Man That Didn’t Want A Cat
20. After Not Letting Me Get A Cat For Years He Is Now Besotted With Gus
21. And He Didn’t Even Want A Cat
22. When Your Dad Says He “Doesn’t Like Cats” But You Finally Convince Him To Let You Get One And You End Up Getting Pics Like These While You’re At Work
23. Got A Kitty. Roommate Said He Doesn’t Like Cats. Came Home To This


24. My Friend’s Dad Didn’t Want A Cat. She Just Sent Me This
25. Growing Up, My Grandpa Hated Cats And Told Me That When My Cats Died I Wasn’t Allowed To Get More Under His Roof. They Died. I Got Another. This Is My Grandpa
26. Boyfriend Said He Didn’t Want Another Cat
27. I Am Not A Cat Person. My Mom Found The Most Social Stray
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A recent study has found that people aged over 40 perform the best when they work only three days a week.

The researchers concluded that the cognitive performance of the middle-aged people improving as the wee increased to 25 hours a week. On the flip side, the performance decreased when the week went over 25 hours, due to the effects of fatigue and stress.

This study, which was published in the Melbourne Institute Worker Paper series, involved a series of cognitive tests. It included 3,000 Australian men and 3,500 Australian women, whose work habits were analyzed. It tested the participants` ability to read words aloud and recite lists of numbers. The testing reading measured their “knowing” part of ability while the latter measured the “thinking” part of ability, including executive reasoning, abstract reasoning, and memory.

It was concluded that the participants working 25 hours a week performed best while the results of those working 55 hours were even worse than unemployed participants.
As noted by Professor Colin McKenzie from Keio University, one of the three authors, “Many countries are going to raise their retirement ages by delaying the age at which people are eligible to start receiving pension benefits. This means that more people continue to work in the later stages of their life.

“The degree of intellectual stimulation may depend on working hours. Work can be a double-edged sword, in that it can stimulate brain activity, but at the same time long working hours can cause fatigue and stress, which potentially damage cognitive functions.

“We point out that differences in working hours are important for maintaining cognitive functioning in middle-aged and elderly adults. This means that, in middle and older age, working part-time could be effective in maintaining cognitive ability.”

The reason that working more than 30 hours a week is detrimental for your brain while working fewer hours is good is not clear yet. McKenzie describes work as a double-edged sword. “While work can stimulate brain activity, long working hours can cause fatigue and stress, which potentially damage cognitive functions. Full-time work (40 hours a week) is still better than no work in terms of maintaining cognitive functioning, but it is not maximising the positive effects of work,” he notes.
It is worth noting that the results are likely to vary between countries, depending on the days of people take annually. It is very difficult to control all the factors which contribute to the final results of a study of this kind (including choices around the hours worked and the type of work), but this certainly makes the idea of working full-time until the age of 67 unappealing.

The bottom line is that working full-time is highly detrimental for the brain of those aged over 40, so the government should take this into consideration and hopefully review the pension age. At this point, the state pension for a person born in 1989 begins at the age of 68, which is detrimental for the employee and unproductive for the employer.

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