A professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about bananas. He said the expression "going bananas" is from the effects of bananas on the brain.. Read on:

Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!!

This is interesting.

After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia : High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school ( England ) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases.. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance.. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills.. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals.. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe it’s time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS

PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time! I will add one here; want a quick shine on our shoes?? Take the INSIDE of the banana skin, and rub directly on the shoe...polish with dry cloth.. Amazing fruit !!!

Read More

Traditional Khadi cloths

The consumption of fashion has seen scaling new heights in India over the years. People call it "borrowed" fashion, as clothes, trends, cosmetics are majorly borrowed from the Western world. Do you think, fashion designers need to revamp the traditional khadi into a fashion statement with innovative changes in manufacturing of khadi made clothes ?

Read More

"During the 'Slut Walk', yesterday, Delhi youth, both boys and girls, brought sexual harassment into central focus and used the Nukkad Natak to convey their message. With Delhi Police personnel standing by, the street play turned out to be the most powerful medium through which the participants drove their message across and attracted the loudest cheers.

Consumer VOICE has been using the street play to raise awareness amongst Delhi consumers during the Trade Fair at Delhi's Pragati Maidan in the last week of November. It is happening again!. We invite Delhi colleges to come forward and register themselves with VOICE, as soon as they can get a team of around 15 together. The theme : Consumer awareness within the 'Jago Grahak Jago' ambit.

Contact :

Sapna Saini: 9953429822, sapna@consumer-voice.org, sapnaa.saini@gmail.com
Roopa Vajpeyi: 9810026032, roopa.vajpeyi@gmail.com

Read More

Trust deficit within the government

To move forward, economy needs money. And, money comes in form of FDI, FII, World Bank, IMF and UN developmental programs. Despite getting truck loads of money from these prestigious organisations, consumers are yet facing the quality and service crunch. With mounting corruption and scams, government has embark themselves into trust deficit.

Under these circumstances, do you think an autonomous body working towards the developmental of the masses should be formed in every state?   

Read More

Hair Products

With number of hair oils, hair gel and hair creams doing round in the market, claiming the best for consumers.

Do you think too much of hair related products confuse the consumers, and spoils the hair?

Read More

 Attention! all Tea lovers.. Enjoy!

 By Christopher Shay

One Glass, Seven Layers of Tea

Mr. Gour and his layered tea.

Bangladeshis will travel hours to the sleepy town of Srimongol, in Bangladesh’s northeast, just for a cup of Romesh Ram Gour’s famous tea. In a country of avid tea drinkers, Mr. Gour is the inventor behind a seven-layer tea which, he claims, no one else has been able to replicate. Copycats in the region have succeeded in creating five-layer teas, but none have been able to unlock the secret to Mr. Gour’s rainbow brew.

Mr. Gour invented his colorful layered teas 10 years ago, when he was selling tea from a bamboo shack. He says he realized that teas from different leaves have slightly different densities. It took a year of experimenting before he could sell teas with more than two layers. Over the years, he learned to expand to seven.

The kind of layer tea Mr. Gour makes is unique to the Srimongol area. An iced three-layer tea has become popular in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, but those drinks include one type of tea and are typically layered with palm sugar on the bottom, evaporated milk in the middle and tea on the top. What makes Srimongol’s special are the discrete layers of tea blends.

Mr. Gour mixes different types of locally grown tea—three black teas and one green tea— from four types of bushes, with milk and various spices. Each mixture has a distinct color and taste, and he pours one on top of another to create seven distinct bands. Customers sip each layer slowly:  Trying to figure out what’s in each one is a fun act of gustatory detective work. The top layer of the seven-layer tea has hints of cinnamon; the layer below has a slight citrus flavor to it. Mr. Gour says the fourth layer from the top and bottom layer get the most reaction from his customers. The fourth layer is a black tea mixed with condensed milk, while the bottom layer is a sweet, syrupy green tea with cloves, cinnamon and “secret spices.” (Customers can choose to have one to seven layers of tea in their drink.)

In a country that consumes more than 55 million kilograms of tea leaves a year, Mr. Gour’s layered tea has turned him into something of a celebrity. He has shared a cup of his tea with many of Bangladesh’s top politicians, including members of Parliament and the governor of Bangladesh Bank. Bangladeshi newspaper clippings about his tea cover one wall of his open-air shop. In January, he opened a second tea cabin, just down the street from his first one.

A seven-layer drink costs 70 taka, or about one U.S. dollar. It may not sound like much, but most cups of tea in the area cost about seven U.S. cents.

Just how, exactly, Mr. Gour layers the tea is a closely guarded secret. Mr. Gour heads to a back room so he can make his concoction away from prying eyes. He has trusted the recipe to his three sons and brother who work at the shops—only the five them are allowed into the tea-preparation room.

Though imitators have popped up around town, offering their own layered teas, Mr. Gour is leading the competition with most layers. He says after years of practice, he will release a 10-layer tea later this year.

So, is the tea worth the trip?

With its varied flavors, tea connoisseurs are bound to find at least a layer or two they like. The fourth layer from the top stood out with its strong spices, likely some mixture of ginger and cinnamon in a black tea, while the popular bottom layer was a bit on the sweet side (though would have tasted great as a syrup on ice cream). Mr. Gour claims the flavors “will live with you a lifetime,” but there’s no one tea flavor that makes that memorable of a mark. It’s more about the experience – and drink — as a whole: the mystery of the ingredients, the rows of tea bushes just outside the shops and the chance to drink from the hands of a Bangladeshi tea master.

Nilkantha Tea Cabins are on Kalighat Road just a few kilometers outside of the town of Srimongol in Sylhet division, Bangladesh.

http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2011/06/07/the-secret-of-the-seven-layer-tea/

Read More

JOIN Consumer Voice to educate consumers on a spectrum of consumer issues

Consumers are very important for any business to flourish. The advent of new technology and high demand with the blend of globalization has open the door for various goods and services. These goods & services are increasingly day by day. They have succeeded in catching the demand of the consumers that leads to high consumption. However, every glitter is not a gold and gold comes with a heavy price tag. With the rising demand of goods & services, there have been cases of fraudulent and cheats on consumers. Although consumer courts are there to safeguard the consumers, but the slow process of the court proceedings allows mongers to have a safe passage.

A consumer awareness campaign launched by consumer VOICE is a treat for consumers. We help consumers to sort out their grievances and provide them satisfactory solution. Therefore,  we, therefore, request all the consumers to encourage us in keeping up the work by providing the information about goods & services.

Read More

Ragging

Now, Social Media to Fight Ragging

Be the revolt in Egypt to overturn a dictatorial regime or Anna Hazare’s campaign against corruption, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have played a pivotal role in bringing  people together. As a powerful administration tries to block and hide information, social media becomes an uncensored and virally spreading information agent for the protestors. What is more, people can form public groups on these social sites and do a strong protest campaign , without having to be physically present at the location.

Now, it is time for fighting ragging through Facebook. CURE: Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education has come up with a novel concept of having a Facebook page on ragging: www.facebook.com/noragging/ The page is a one-stop destination for all information on ragging: it features India’s first song and video on ragging, latest statistics, myths and research information associated with ragging. The Wall is regularly updated with the latest ragging news, ragging facts and invites people to post their views and complaints about ragging.

“We want to reach out to both the fresher and senior students. Today students spend majority of their time on Facebook. We want to talk to students directly across India and communicate to them the ills of ragging. We believe that students are very sensible and once made aware will stop indulging in this insensitive act”, says Mohit Garg, CURE co-founder. The page invites students to become CURE Ambassadors and spread the message of stopping ragging to all their friends and local community.

CURE founders believe that laws are enough and one needs to find creative ways of taking the message to the youth. “We have a very creative page. The idea is not to lecture people. We usinnovative images, quotes and videos to introduce students to the psychology of ragging and why it is not ‘cool’ to rag. A lot of parents between the age of 35 years to 50 years are also on Facebook. We want to reach out to them as well.”, says Varun Aggarwal, CURE. He feels that this page will become the Mecca for protests and advocacy against ragging.

Till now students and parents and students approach CURE through their website, www.noragging.com. “There have been multiple occasions in the past where students have approached us for a platform where they could share their experiences and learn more about ragging. The Facebook page addresses this gap.”, recalled Harh Agarwal, CURE. “Not only that, CURE’s Facebook page will be an excellent interactive forum for teachers, principals, parents and media to exchange their views, share their anti-ragging initiatives and also develop better understanding of this issue” adds Harsh.

 If you feel strongly about ragging, you do not need to go to Jantar Mantar to protest, just logon to www.facebook.com/noragging/. Your voice will reach far and wide.

Read More

Teacher's Day

Education is important!  Consumers have a right to consumer education!

Consumer VOICE invites all its members to reconnect to their student life on the occasion of Teacher's Day in September.

Share  some interesting, life changing recollection about a teacher, from either your school or college days with us, and we will further share it with our members ONLINE and in print to celebrate the Day!

Please restrict your narrative to maximum 200 words.

Send it to us Online by going into our BLOG :

Read More

Is India Going The Right Way?

By Smriti Das

We are privileged that we are living in an independent democratic country. We are independent citizens who have right to information, right to act, right to say, right to express etc. etc. etc... but is that really so???? Do we really have right or freedom of expression? 

India's current stance is little confusing to understand. On one hand, people are using slangs in songs and dialogues of movies without a beep, on the other hand people have to face strong protest if they say that their origin resembles to that of a political leader... But why is it like so...Nobody is there to stop corrupt people from taking bribes, to make them realise what they are doing is purely unethical, nobody is eying on what the so-called news channels telling us is really true or those are just their own biased opinions. If nobody is bothered about those serious issues, why everyone is making a fuss by jumping on the totally personal comments of an individual? Why are the khap panchayats so bothered about the love between a boy and a girl, why they don't let them do what they want to do. In our country, love is considered as a sin, but murder, rape, unethical marketing ploys which are used to fool consumers,  are considered nothing but part and parcel of modern India... I just want to ask where is India going...to a new level where everything is going to be perfect or to a place where only the unethical things exist...      

Read More