Dunkin Donuts to Offer Gluten-Free Options

Posted on by Tammy

Dunkin’ Donuts is introducing the fast-food industry’s first gluten-free pastries, including gluten-free cinnamon-sugar doughnuts and blueberry muffins, across its U.S. stores this year, Stan Frankenthaler, the company’s executive chef, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg.com.

“We recognize the importance of providing our guests with many options, including alternative choices for people with food and dietary restrictions,” he said. Also, the pastries are packaged separately to avoid contamination from other foods that contain wheat flour, the report stated.

Dunkin’ Donuts tested the gluten-free breakfast pastries in locations in Massachusetts earlier this year and is now selling the items in shops in the Hartford, Conn., area, Frankenthaler told Bloomberg.com.

Bronze Finish Yoga Figurines

Posted on by Tammy

Calling all yoga lovers! Celebrate the art of yoga with these bronze-finish figurines.

Available in three different yoga poses – King Pigeon, Lotus and Seated Closed Twist – they vary in height, but average approximately 7 inches high.

The figurines sell on one of our favorite sites, FemailCreations.com, whose slogan is “gifts to celebrate and inspire,” and are priced at $40 each.

Transcendental Meditation Associated With Higher Graduation Rates, Study Shows

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Practicing Transcendental Meditation technique is associated with higher graduation rates, according to a new study published in the June 2013 issue of the journal “Education.”

Analysis of school records for 235 high school senior students at an East Coast urban high school was conducted to determine on-time graduation, and findings showed a 15 percent higher graduation rate for the entire meditating group compared to the non-meditating control group, after taking into account student grade point average, according to the study. Subgroup analysis further indicated a 25 percent difference in graduation rates when considering only the low academic performing students in both groups.

“These results are the first to show that the Transcendental Meditation program can have a positive impact on student graduation rates,” Sanford Nidich, Ed.D, co-author and professor of education at Maharishi University of Management said in the study. “The largest effect was found in the most academically challenged students. Recently published research on increased academic achievement and reduced psychological stress in urban school students may provide possible mechanisms for the higher graduation rates found in this study.”

Researchers say the findings also showed significant differences for dropout rates and college acceptance, as meditating students were less apt to drop out from school or go to prison, and were more likely to be accepted to post-secondary institutions.

“While there are bright spots in public education today, urban schools on the whole tend to suffer from a range of factors which contribute to poor student academic performance and low graduation rates,” said lead study author, Robert D. Colbert, Ph.D., associate professor, and director of Neag School of Education’s Diversity Council at University of Connecticut.

“Students need to be provided with value-added educational programs that can provide opportunities for school success. Our study investigated one such program, Transcendental Meditation, which appears to hold tremendous promise for enriching the lives of our nation’s students.”

Moderate Exercise May Help With Depression, Study Shows

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Can exercise help people treat depression? A study at the University of Texas evaluated 80 patients with mild to moderate depression, and placed them in five groups. The first four focused on exercising on various levels of intensity, while the fifth group didn’t exercise at all, according to a report by News FX.

After 12 weeks, the researchers found dramatic differences in those in the groups who exercised on a treadmill three times a week or more for 30 minutes or more at a time. This group had a 50 percent reduction in their depressive symptoms, while the groups that didn’t exercise at all or only mildly, saw a 29 percent reduction in symptoms.

How Meditation Can Help Relieve Anxiety

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We’ve heard the seemingly endless benefits of meditation, including the reduction of anxiety, but now scientists identified the brain functions of how it actually does it.

A team of scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. studied 15 healthy volunteers with normal levels of everyday anxiety who had no previous meditation experience or diagnosed anxiety disorders. Each took four, 20-minute meditation classes to learn mindfulness meditation – where they focused on their breath and body sensations – and the results showed reduced anxiety ratings by as much as 39 percent, according to the report in the journal of “Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.”

“In this study, we were able to see which areas of the brain were activated and which were deactivated during meditation-related anxiety relief. This showed that just a few minutes of mindfulness meditation can help reduce normal everyday anxiety,” Dr. Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D., postdoctoral research fellow in neurobiology and anatomy at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author of the study said in a RedOrbit.com report.

Fadel and colleagues revealed meditation-related anxiety relief is associated with activation of the anterior cingulate cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which are areas of the brain involved with executive-level function, the report stated.

“Mindfulness is premised on sustaining attention in the present moment and controlling the way we react to daily thoughts and feelings,” Zeidan said. “Interestingly, the present findings reveal that the brain regions associated with meditation-related anxiety relief are remarkably consistent with the principles of being mindful.”

Environmentally Friendly To-Do Board

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Save some trees and go paperless with your to-do list thanks to this Three by Three Seattle Dry Erase Board. While the surface allows you to use the included pen to write on the front, the back is black fabric. It also offers a removable stand so you can carry it with you on the go!

The bamboo option is made with a real bamboo veneer, while the stainless steel includes an added letter pocket feature and pad on the bottom for extra tabletop protection.

Newly added colors include red, spring green, plum, pink and silver, and replacement dry erase pens are available through the company.

Priced at only $13 each, they can be ordered directly from Threebythree.com.