How Diversity In The Workplace Is a Benefit for Organizations

The democratic principle that I selected is that all men are created equal. The equality of all men, and women, is important in a democratic environment in the workplace. This statement is to say that all people, no matter what race, religion, background, geographic region, are created equal as in the same. People are all born with a lot of similarities. The standard for most are humans are two eyes, a nose, a brain, hands, arms, legs, and a mouth. We all are taught from birth the thoughts and beliefs from those around us. We are influenced by the people who are surrounded around us, and what those people teach us are some of the influences that we may have within us.

Diversity in the workplace helps to brings about a numerous amount of great ideas, change, and values for people with differences in opinions and cultures. It is healthy to have diversity in the workplace. Without diversity, we would not have many of the foods that one eats today. Imagine the United States without hot dogs, hamburgers, Chinese food, and a host of other foods that were brought over to this country from other countries and cultures. A variety of cultures and diversity also brings about different ideas in the workplace. Continue reading “How Diversity In The Workplace Is a Benefit for Organizations”

Learning a Language: Make It Real and You’ll Never Forget It

Sniffing, then squinting and holding up a Kiwi fruit a Chinese student muttered something I wasn’t sure I wanted to have translated. A classmate from Brazil leaned over, pointing to a photo in a picture dictionary. Two Korean ladies giggled, their hands covering their mouths.

The lesson on food was bombing big time. When the ESL class ended, none of us were satisfied, but at least the topic had been broached. “Review your vocabulary materials before next class”, I encouraged. They were all new to the USA. Some had only been in their new country a few days, others a few weeks. A few for a couple of months or so, but none had yet crossed over into the realm of communicating on a daily basis in English. I had to do something to help my multi-cultural class of ESL students start to internalize the language. Thinking back on my own French language struggles in Paris and French Canada, the answer struck me. The next class I was ready. Continue reading “Learning a Language: Make It Real and You’ll Never Forget It”

Male Infertility and How to Increase Sperm Count With Chinese Medicine

Infertility In Men

Food & Lifestyle Tips Towards Better Health Introducing Chinese Medicine and Fertility Concepts

Chinese Medicine uses a holistic approach to health and wellbeing, viewing illness or disease as a disharmony in the body’s natural balance. To help you participate in your own healing or balancing process I have written this brochure to explain some of the basic terms Chinese Medicine practitioners use to describe health, the way the body functions and how they relate to increasing your chances to conceive a healthy child.

Vitamins & Supplements Vitamin supplements are useful where deficiencies occur. However, some vitamins and mineral supplements can cause toxicity in high doses, so it is wise to speak to a health care professional before going on a regime of vitamins. Continue reading “Male Infertility and How to Increase Sperm Count With Chinese Medicine”

Thinking About Going "Saltless" or "Sugarless"? Things You Should Consider

Cravings for Salt and for Sugar

If you, like me, are either diabetic, overweight, or both, I’ll bet your Doctor has told you, on more than one occasion, “Cut down on salt and stop using sugar.” While it’s easy to avoid adding sugar or sprinkling salt on our food, there are just too many places where salt and sugar hide. Processed meats, cheeses, prepared soups, Chinese take-outs, non-diet soda drinks, and even the lowly restaurant-prepared green leafy salads are all prime suspects.

Salt, is a conundrum Spice. Salt, chemically known as Sodium Chloride, is one of those minerals that are both beneficial and toxic to life. Also known by its chemical moniker, NaCl, salt in its various forms will be actively sought out by living creatures, instinctively. Everybody remembers putting out salt licks for wandering animals, especially in the winter months. Continue reading “Thinking About Going "Saltless" or "Sugarless"? Things You Should Consider”

Penis and Testicle Dining for Health and Virility in Beijing

There is a new restaurant in Beijing – a specialty penis restaurant. Their fare includes penises that once dangled proud and strong from yaks and oxen, seals and dogs, horses and donkeys. You name it, they have it!

I am mostly a vegetarian but I am planning a trip to Beijing soon and I am not taking my wife with me. She’s an absolute vegan. When she was last here in China she was shocked when our companion stopped mid-track and slapped the trunk of a tree, picked out a dead insect that looked like a cricket and promptly dispatched it’s edible portions into his mouth. He looked happy and said it was delicious but my wife! She was shocked. Later, he took us to a restaurant where stir-fried crickets were the specialty of the house. We couldn’t say no as our companion was hosting two Germans, as well, who were willing to try anything. The restaurant floor was stacked inches deep with left overs of crickets, their shells and the like. If that was bad for my wife Beijing would be murder. Continue reading “Penis and Testicle Dining for Health and Virility in Beijing”

Pune – A Hot Spot For International Cuisine

Fusion Food – Affordable International Food

Pune has now become a hub for a multitude of cultures with foreign fare not surprising the regular restaurant-hopper. Eating out has become the norm rather than the odd meal out, but that’s not all. Today Pune boasts of uber cool international cuisines which are not only served from la-di-dah Michelin starred Restaurants & Bars across the city, but from Inns that dot the landscape right from Koregaon Park to Kondwa.

Pune has arrived!

International cuisine is not limited to just Chinese food with an Indian twist. From the predictable to exotic, these Inns are either run out of street cafes a La Paris or have popped up in dense neighborhoods and abound corners, streets and complexes ubiquitously. So the Marathi manoos can dress-to-kill-to-eat-in-style at the numerous exorbitant fancy eating houses or eat at reasonably priced and freshly baked & served Inns across the city. No plush interiors. No lavish spreads and no ambience maybe, but the food is lip-smacking fresh and completely affordable to any pocket – school going kids, to college teens to a hard pressed housewife and what-have-you’s! Continue reading “Pune – A Hot Spot For International Cuisine”

Freedom From Want

Thanksgiving is the start of a month’s worth of expectations. That family and friends should be gathering, that there should be an abundance of food and gifts. That everyone is supposed to be warm and loving to each other.

Freedom From Want by Norman Rockwell

My family of origin lived up to those expectations for the first fifteen years of my life, until the patterns started to break down. And we had pretty high expectations. My great-uncle Jim McCabe is in the iconic Norman Rockwell painting.

My early memories are of grand holiday meals, although we lived overseas most of those years so sometimes we had goose instead of turkey. Continue reading “Freedom From Want”

Chinese Noodle Salad With Roast Beef and Fresh Vegetables

At the end of a busy day you want to kick off your shoes, relax, and enjoy a tasty meal. Hungry as you are, you don’t want to spend lots of time on cooking. Frozen meals may be the answer, but they tend to be loaded with fat, salt, and preservatives.

How can you get a quick and delicious meal on the table?

Pre-chopping vegetables one answer. If you are cutting the tips off fresh string beans, for example, and cutting them into pieces, you may as well fix extra. The same is true of carrots and mushrooms. Weekends are a good time to prepare vegetables for the days ahead.

Cooking extra is another answer. When I’m cooking spaghetti or any other kind of pasta, I cook double the quantity I need. I drizzle a little olive oil over the drained pasta to keep it from sticking together. Extra pasta is refrigerated or frozen in plastic zipper bags. Continue reading “Chinese Noodle Salad With Roast Beef and Fresh Vegetables”

The Spice Trail

I get comments about my calling out of specific types of spices and whether or not that’s required.

My stock answer is, “You may use whatever spice choices as you may desire. But if you want to enjoy and savor the subtle flavors in these recipes, I suggest you hunt down and use the specific spices I call out.”

I use spices from different regions strictly because of the nuances that the spice brings to the food.

For example, you can buy the generic “Oregano” in your local grocery store and for most meals that is more than sufficient.

However, there is a subtle difference between Mexican Oregano, Mediterranean Oregano, and store-bought generic “Oregano.” Continue reading “The Spice Trail”

Diet and Migraines: Migraine-Friendly Foods and Foods to Avoid

If you suffer from migraines, you may recognise a pattern of how the food and drink you consume affects your body, how you feel and the likelihood of getting a migraine. However, different food items affect different people in different ways. For instance, consuming salty foods may trigger a migraine in one sufferer, but not in another. There is a pattern and here I am going to share with you the potential threats and give you some idea of a diet that may be more suitable.

Food and Drink to Avoid

I always like to save the best for last, so I will start off here with food that you need to avoid to lessen the risk of an attack.

1. Citrus Fruits, Bananas, Apples, Peaches, Tomatoes – Believe it or not, even certain kinds of fruit are more likely to have an adverse affect. These include citrus fruits, but also include bananas, apples, peaches and tomatoes. It is the contents of the skins that cause the issues. Bananas, for one, include an amino acid called tyramine which reduces serotonin levels in the brain. Continue reading “Diet and Migraines: Migraine-Friendly Foods and Foods to Avoid”