In the movie Cheaper by the Dozen, Steve Martin’s character is a father of 12. If you haven’t seen the movie, you can imagine the craziness that many children can bring.

They move in to a house next to a couple with an only child. The wife is overprotective, controlling and mean. It’s obvious throughout the movie that her husband disagrees with her about how to raise their son and how she treats people. However, his eyes and facial expression consistently show the mark of a defeated man.

It always leaves me wondering how he got there. Was he always that way or did a series of put-downs and non-affirmations reduce him to this passive state? Thankfully, at the end of the movie, he shows life and stands up for himself and what’s right.

Some men make the mistake of confusing being a passive husband with keeping the peace. Concerned they are going to make their wives mad, they tiptoe around and avoid issues. They may disagree with something, but they remain silent because they don’t want to upset her or they feel like it’s not worth the hassle. Other times they voice their opinion only to be ignored or steamrolled. Being a passive husband is detrimental to the family, the marriage and the kids. Here are the reasons why and what to do about it:

Your Marriage

It is a slow road to disengagement. The marriage won’t last if you continue on this road. The connection is dying, and it will become impossible not to be resentful of her.

If the internet keeps going out at your house, you are going to get frustrated. When it happens too often, you eventually switch carriers. The same is true for your marriage.

Passivity in our relationships with our wives leads to disengagement and a loss of connection. Eventually it will collapse or result in the two of you being estranged roommates. Have the strength and courage not to let that happen.

Your Wife

Two people are put together to help each other become sharper, grow in character and mature. Part of loving our wives is challenging them when we think they are wrong or off-target. Now we need to make sure we are loving, kind and respectful when we do that.

Not having the conversation or voicing opposition out of fear of her reaction or to avoid an argument at all costs is a disservice to her and our vow. She needs you to stand, not fade away.

Your Kids

They are missing your much needed input and leadership. A passive dad will likely affect their confidence. You are a model for them. They will do as you do.

What you are modeling is disengagement and that your voice doesn’t carry value. You’re modeling that being disrespected is appropriate behavior. It is a dysfunctional partnership.

Huddle up with your wife tonight and ask, “The most important need I have from you is to be respected. What is the most important thing you need from me?”

© 2014 All Pro Dad. All Rights Reserved. Family First, All Pro Dad, iMOM, and Family Minute with Mark Merrill are registered trademarks. For the original article, visit .

Is your lower back hurting right now? Do you feel sore and stiff when you stand up from sitting for long periods of time?

If so, I would be willing to bet that either you haven’t taken enough breaks to walk around and stretch, you haven’t maintained good posture or your core is significantly weak. Perhaps all three culprits are to blame.

Today I am going to address the third possibility: a weak core. But before I do, it seems appropriate—since we aren’t talking fruit or geology—to define what the fitness industry means when it uses the ubiquitous term, “the core.”

Your core muscles are the intrinsic muscles deep within the torso. These muscles attach to the pelvis and spine and include the obliques on the sides of your abdomen, the transverse abdominis in the innermost layer of your abdominal muscles, the muscles of the pelvic floor, and the broadest muscles in your back, known as the latissimus dorsi. (Gotta love Latin!)

Most of the time, your core acts as a stabilizer rather than a prime mover. (During exercises such as bicycle crunches and back extensions that isolate obliques and erector spinae, respectfully, your core is the prime mover.)

In daily life, your core muscles are what help you bend down to tie your shoes, turn to talk to someone in the passenger seat behind you, pick up a package from your front porch, even sit upright as you read this article. Everything from strenuous manual labor that involves twisting, chopping and lifting to easier mundane tasks such as talking on the phone, getting into the bathtub and working at your computer engages the core. If we want to be back pain and injury-free, not to mention comfortable and confident in our clothes, it behooves us to train these muscles on a regular basis.

As I mentioned above, the core generally serves to stabilize our bodies during everyday tasks. Therefore, it makes sense that the best way to train the core muscles is by doing functional exercises that mimic said everyday tasks. Below are five of my favorite exercises that you can easily incorporate into your next workout. And all you need is a pair of dumbbells and your built-in core.

What I love most about these exercises is that they are compound movements, meaning they utilize more than one joint or muscle group and, therefore, burn more calories, build more muscle, provide a full-body workout faster than single-joint isolation exercises do, improve coordination and target your core without you even noticing (that last part isn’t a guarantee, I should add).

I recommend starting out by doing one of the following exercises each workout; you can even include them in your warm up. Perform 3-5 sets of 10-15 repetitions, increasing weight and/or reps as you progress each week.

 1. Lunges with Twist Over Lunging Knee

• Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, torso upright with arms hanging straight at your sides.
• Take a slow, controlled lunge forward with one foot. As you lunge, lower your body and allow the lunging knee to bend until your thigh is parallel to the ground.
• In the lunge position, bend your elbows at ninety degrees and rotate your torso in the direction of your bent knee.
• If performing walking lunges, push through the heel of the lunging foot to bring the back foot to meet it.

 2. Mountain-Climbers

• Place your hands on the floor, slightly wider than shoulder-width. Step out with your feet to assume a plank position.
• While holding your upper body in place, alternate bringing the right and left knees toward your chest.
•  Keep your hips down and increase the intensity by performing the movement faster as you feel comfortable.

3. Overhead Walking Lunges with Dumbbells

• Hold a pair of dumbbells overhead, arms fully extended with biceps by your ears. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart.
• Take a slow, controlled lunge forward with one foot. As you lunge, lower your body and allow the lunging knee to bend until your thigh is parallel to the ground. Keep arms strong and locked out overhead. Do not let elbows bend.
• If performing walking lunges, push through the heel of the lunging foot to bring the back foot to meet it.

4. Renegade Row

• Place a pair of dumbbells side by side on the floor. Then get into a plank position with hands gripping either dumbbell, feet hip-width apart. Make sure dumbbells are about shoulder-width apart.
• Bend your right elbow and pull the dumbbell until your elbow passes your torso. Keep the elbow tight and close to your body. Keep abdominals engaged and neck in a neutral position.  Press the left dumbbell into the floor for balance.
• Lower your arm and repeat on the opposite side.

5. Suitcase Deadlift

• Hold one dumbbell to the side of your body. Feet are hip-width apart.
• With shoulders back, chest lifted, and lower back in a natural arch, begin lowering your body by pushing your hips back. Then bend your knees and continue moving your rear back while maintaining the arch in your lower back.
• The dumbbell should be lowering in a straight path in line with your shoulder blades. When you lose the natural curve in your spine and begin to round your back, stop lowering and reverse the motion.
• To initiate the lift, use your glute muscles to powerfully thrust your hips forward. Focus on keeping your torso level and not leaning or twisting toward the dumbbell.
• NOTE: As your flexibility and mobility increases, you can lower the dumbbell more and more until you can touch the floor. At that point, you can try beginning the movement from the floor.

For more exercises like the ones in this article, check out my book, Perfect Fit!

Diana Anderson-Tyler is the author of Creation House’s Fit for Faith: A Christian Woman’s Guide to Total Fitness and her latest book, Perfect Fit: Weekly Wisdom and Workouts for Women of Faith and Fitness. Her popular website can be found at , and she is the owner and a coach at CrossFit 925. Diana can be reached on Twitter.

For the original article, visit .

To be content requires us to redefine our boss. It is the Lord we are serving.

Of course, we still have an earthly boss, whether an employer or our customers, but the ultimate boss is God. We are to serve our earthly boss because he holds God’s proxy as our employer.

But God still owns the company—He owns everything. He has the final interest in all things.

Shortly after going into business for myself, my partner and I dedicated our company to God. I read a book, God Owns My Business by Stanley Tam, and gave it to my partner.

He read it as well and was equally excited. So we called a board of directors meeting and went to Burger King for lunch (that’s the only place we could afford to eat).

We made God the senior partner, and we became the junior partners. Then we endeavored to run our decisions by Him—not perfectly, but we tried. After my partner sold out to me five years later, I continued with God at the helm.

It was His company; He was the boss, and we trusted Him to meet our needs. We also worked very hard.

In order to be content, we must redefine who our boss is. The boss we usually want is “me;” the boss we need is God. 

Patrick Morley is the chairman and co-CEO of Man in the Mirror Ministries. For the original article, visit .

The Grapefruit Diet, which is also known as the Hollywood Diet, has been making the rounds since the 1930s. Advocates swear it helps them lose weight, and claim that grapefruit has a fat-burning enzyme.

Most health experts have disagreed, calling the diet a fad, and saying there’s no indication grapefruit burns fat. A new study, however, shows that not only does grapefruit help dieters lose weight, it may be as good as prescription drugs in controlling blood sugar levels.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that mice that ate a high-fat diet for three months gained 18 percent less weight when they drank grapefruit juice than a control group that drank water. In addition, the mice in the grapefruit group had improved levels of glucose, insulin and triacylglycerol, a type of fat.

Mice were divided into six groups. One group drank only water, and the other five groups drank grapefruit juice diluted with water at different concentrations with a bit of saccharin to counteract the grapefruit’s bitterness. The water of the control group had glucose and saccharin added to match the calorie and saccharin content of the grapefruit groups.

At the end of the study, mice that drank grapefruit juice gained 18 percent less weight than mice in the control group, and their blood glucose levels decreased by 13 to 17 percent.

The scientists also tested a flavonoid in grapefruit called naringin, which experts believe is a key to weight loss. While one group of mice was given naringin, another group was given metformin, a drug often given to Type 2 diabetics to lower glucose levels. Members of the two groups were fed a diet that was either 60 percent fat or 10 percent fat for 100 days.

“The grapefruit juice lowered blood glucose to the same degree as metformin,” said co-researcher Joseph Napoli, professor and chair of nutritional sciences and toxicology. “That means a natural fruit drink lowered glucose levels as effectively as a prescription drug.”

Naringin’s impact on glucose levels was much more apparent on mice given the high-fat diet, but it had little effect on weight. That suggests, researchers say, that another ingredient in grapefruit is responsible. “There are many active compounds in grapefruit juice, and we don’t always understand how all those compounds work,” said co-researcher Andreas Stahl, associate professor of nutritional sciences and toxicology

The researchers, whose study will be published in the journal PLOS ONE, were skeptical before they began the study and were surprised by its results. “I was surprised by the findings,” said Stahl. “We even re-checked the calibration of our glucose sensors, and we got the same results over and over again.”

Stahl and co-researcher Napoli ruled out usual reasons for weight loss. Both groups consumed the same amount of food and engaged in the same amount of activity.

“We see all sorts of scams about nutrition,” said Napoli. “But these results, based on controlled experiments, warrant further study of the potential health-promoting properties of grapefruit juice.”

The Grapefruit diet has several versions, but most are a protein-rich, low-carb plan that calls for grapefruit juice at every meal, and promises quick results—as much as 10 pounds in 12 days. Many Hollywood celebrities, including Kylie Minogue and Brooke Shields, have praised the diet.

For the original article, visit .

After four years of young manhood, graduated from High School and working in a strip coal mine, life had beaten and bruised me up pretty good. The long 12-hour work shift at night was becoming monotonous and leading me to unhealthy habits. My physical frame seemed sickly—barely a 30-inch waist and 150 pounds.

When I walked into the small Pentecostal church, heads turned and eyes wide open, the faithful stared—even gawked. In a small town, I must have been a little bit notorious. My behavior was well known, especially to the few teenagers who sit in the first three rows, not because they wanted to but to prove to their parents the sincerity of their faith.

I took a seat at midpoint in the pews. I wasn’t a believer. I was visiting. I had never been to a church where the order of service included standing, singing, lifting hands, everyone praying simultaneously—out loud. There was the southern gospel singing, the handful of choir members, and a fiery sermon with a very long appeal for “sinners” to come forward.

I enjoyed it and found it interesting, but I didn’t respond. Nor did I respond at the Sunday night service, just before I went to work. When I came back for Wednesday night service, the pastor knew that I was serious.

When Pastor Taylor gave the altar call that night, he was determined. After several minutes with bowed heads and closed eyes, he gave up attempting to draw me to the altar—he left the pulpit and came to me. He sat down beside me and asked, “Brother, don’t you want to be saved?”

My response didn’t cause him to flinch, “Yes, but, if I am going to do this, I am not (expletive) with it.”

I stood up and walked to the altar with him, knelt down, for him to lead me in a prayer of salvation. I confessed, “Jesus is Lord.” I was saved.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know the rules and traditions to mimic. I failed to cry, which caused the “faithful” to question the sincerity of my experience. They seemed disappointed.

A few weeks later, I visited a county fair with some old friends, where a fight broke out and I got into the middle of it. When the skirmish was over, I looked over to see some of my new friends from the church. Without hesitation, I smiled and waved at them. Their look of disappointment was obvious.

By the time that I returned to the next service, I discovered that “Christians” love to gossip. They were already “interceding” for me because I had “backslidden.”

When I read the headline that the notorious actor Shia LaBeouf had become a “Christian man,” I was thrilled—and a bit concerned. Especially when I read the interview filled with passionate expletives, I knew that the “faithful” would have a hard time computing that testimony.

In the movie, Fury, with fellow actor, Brad Pitt, who grew up in a Christian family and attended a Southern Baptist church, Shia plays a man of faith and this experience had a dramatic effect upon him, causing him to confess, “I found God doing Fury. I became a Christian man.” Shia goes on to say, “Brad was really instrumental in guiding my head through this.”

Interestingly, even though Brad Pitt has said that he has moved away from his faith, he helped guide Shia to understand what he had experienced in a “very real way.”

Here’s my challenge: What are we going to do with men whom we reach?

How are we going to respond to them when they don’t immediately adopt our rules and traditions, and when their unsanctified language is filled with expletives?

Not long ago, I spoke at a conference for men and used some pretty crass language to describe the stupidity of men gawking at women when they walk by them. I did so to mock the men who are so juvenile that they would look upon women in such a way.

Interestingly, after the close of the service, several men accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, others recommitted their lives to follow Him, and still more dedicated themselves to living as authentic men, refraining from impure lifestyles. Several men told me that my use of that language actually helped them see the stupidity of their sophomoric behavior.

It was only a few days later that I received a couple of phone calls from a couple of pastors who were offended by my language and went so far as to question my faith because of it. My heart is truly not to offend, but to convey the truth when speaking to men. I have committed to use more tactful and appropriate language to convey my point.

When Saul, the murderous zealot had his miraculous conversion, the faithful questioned the validity of it. “How could God save someone so disgusting as Saul, or Shia, or Neil?” they reasonably ask.

We often marvel at the grace that is afforded us, and question the grace afforded others at the same time. LaBeouf has said, ” I’m trying to find a way to have some control over my actions, my behavior, my ideas, my thoughts, my path in life. But it’s very new for me.”

After a violent man becomes a believer, it is very important that he has someone to help navigate the course of his next few steps.

Following his commitment to Christ, Saul tried to join the disciples in Jerusalem, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.

If we’re going to reach men we must get over our fear of them. In my experience of leading men to reach men, I’ve noticed a hesitancy and timidity that paralyzes them from taking bold action. We must step up and come along side these guys taking the risk and help them navigate the next few steps.

Barnabas stepped up and took Saul with him to the apostles. In the course of time Saul becomes the Apostle Paul, persecuted, often stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, and imprisoned—yet, also the key player in bringing the Gospel to the gentiles and writing the letters that bring such revelation to our faith.

We’re living in serious times that are causing men to question everything about modern society. Culture is being reprogrammed and manhood is being redefined. This is causing men to have an identity crisis.

LaBeouf was quoted as saying, “I’ve been going through an existential crisis. If you look at my behavior, it’s been motivated by a certain discourse. Metamodernism has influenced a lot of my action in the public in this last year and a half—the idea of diametrically opposed ideas happening all at once: the irony and the sincerity, birth and death, the immediacy and the obsolescence.”

In this statement, Shia is defining metamodernism as his personal suffrage of looking for something as a man. It’s him looking around the rubble of crisis—societal, environmental, financial, even existential crisis. In playing a man of faith in the movie, Shia experiences a very real truth—namely, Christ.

I believe that the Holy Spirit is speaking to the heart of men. Now is the time for us to strategically position ourselves with wisdom and without prejudice to be the voice of authentic manhood, guiding men to the reality of Christ and helping them navigate their course.

My prayer for Shia, is simple, “Holy Spirit, bring alongside Shia a man of encouragement to help him navigate this challenging course. Strengthen his faith. Amen.”

My prayer for myself after seeing the story about Shia, “Holy Spirit, don’t let me call any man impure or unclean whom you have saved” (Read Acts 10:28).

Neil Kennedy, author of several books, including FivestarMan: The Five Passions of Authentic Manhood, Centurion Principle, Mother’s Guide to Raising a FivestarMan; God’s Currency; and Speaking the Father’s Blessing; authored articles for scholarly journals; and multiple magazines, publishes The Daily Champion for men; and is founder of FivestarMan, an international movement of men.

For the original article, visit .

I heard a statement recently that made me think, “Our five senses are the voice of our bodies.” That led me to a question: Do people develop habits of eating too much because eating is the only way they give their bodies a ‘voice’?

How intentional are you every day about doing pleasant things to engage all of your senses?

• Sight
• Smell
• Hearing (Sound)
• Touch

I left ‘taste’ off of the list because many of us don’t have a problem stimulating that one. When many people feel tense or restless and don’t know what to do about it, they eat as a default.

But, I believe that when you learn to engage your other senses daily, then food can resume a normal focus in your life. After all, you are giving your body other ways to express its voice.

Recently, I was intentional about engaging my five senses as I cut the lawn. I enjoyed the smell of cut grass and pine needles, the feel of the sun on my skin, the occasional breeze on my face. I beheld the beauty of the blue sky and fluffy white clouds. The constant sound of the lawnmower buzz was soothing.

By being more intentional about enjoying the sensory experience as it was happening, I added more “life” to my day.

So, the next time you are tempted to eat when you aren’t hungry, think of it as your body’s desire to express its voice. You can relieve that tension by engaging one or more of your five senses.

Here are some things to do besides eating:

Sight

• Go to a park and enjoy natural wonders
• View a photo album
• Go people watching at a mall, park, or airport
• View historical houses in your city
• View Kaleidoscope videos on YouTube
• View nature videos on YouTube
• Get a coloring book and crayons and color in the pictures
• Draw or paint something colorful

Smell

• Do your laundry and sniff the clean clothes
• Sniff some essential oils or lotions
• Smell some aromatherapy bath salts
• Go outside and smell the air
• Wash your hair and enjoy the smell of the shampoo

Sound

• Listen to praise music
• Listen to oldies on the radio
• Listen to classical music
• Listen to silence
• Listen to white, pink, or brown noise (actually I like to listen to ocillating Brown noise while I work because it sounds like  ocean waves)

Touch

• Spin around in an office chair
• Take a bath or soak your feet
• Use a foam roller or foot roller
• Stretch
• Sew, crochet, or knit
• Put together a puzzle
• Use a resistance band
• Rub something soft
• Rock on ball or in a chair
• Lotion your body
• Give yourself a manicure or pedicure
• Swing at a park
• Dance

1 Corinthians 6:20 says, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body[a] and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Many Christians treat life as an “out of body” experience/ However, I believe one way that you can glorify God is to praise Him through the abilities you have in your 5 senses.

God gave them to you. Enjoy all of them intentionally today. What are some ways you use your senses for enjoyment?

P.S. One of the most important things you’ll need to do to overcome eating issues is to renew your mind. That’s why one of the bonuses in the Take Back Your Temple eBook is “Prayers and Promises to Take Back Your Temple.” In this special bonus, you get over a dozen scriptures and prayers specifically related to God’s promises for health and strength so you can gain physical, emotional, and spiritual victory every day.

Once 240 pounds and a size 22, Kimberly Taylor can testify of God’s healing power to end binge eating. She is an author and the creator of the Christian weight loss website . Visit today for inspirational health and weight-loss tips.

For the original article, visit .

When Sunday morning rolls around, there’s nothing more frustrating than heading to a place where you don’t feel you add any value or get any value out of it. We can feel a yearning in our hearts to be at church, but we have a hard time wanting to be there.

That’s exactly how I used to feel about church and the Sunday morning services. I’d have to pull myself out of bed and try to make it to church on time. Once there, I’d think about why I was even there. I would sit there like a large rock, not moving, not listening and not learning. Based on this method, I would never get anything out of one of the most important learning times of my week.

Thankfully, with the help of renewed faith, good friends and an awesome wife, I have turned off my rock like behavior and started to enjoy the Sunday morning services. In fact, it has become one of my biggest times of growing in my faith each week.

The Dangers of Distance

Growing up I attended church all the time. In fact, in my teen years, I even attended a Christian School. I had so many opportunities to learn and grow in my faith, but I always thought I knew better. I was always selfish, resistant to the idea of needing Jesus, and therefore never paid attention to His life or His teachings.

Those years of disobedience cost me dearly when those many teachings could have been most effective. It cost me a lot of pain early in my marriage because I didn’t seek Christ first and instead chose to look out for myself and my needs. It cost me friendships over the years because I didn’t understand the value of friends or know how to treat them according to the examples of Christ. There have been many other areas affected, but these are just a few examples for you to realize the negative impacts of distancing yourself from learning and growing in faith.

The Sunday morning service is an amazing opportunity to grow in your faith. Without it, you’re just wasting your time there and hoping that you and yourself will be able to make it through this life on your own. That sounds good, but it just doesn’t work.

Here’s how you can get some real value out of your Sunday morning services:

1. Eliminate the distractions. Distractions can take the energy you need to focus on the message and make you focus on the useless. Don’t worry about what anyone else is doing. Move to a different seat if you’re distracted by the short dress or high heels in front of you. Set aside the up and coming sports event later that day and move your focus to the front. Move your focus to Christ.

2. Engage in worship. Now that the distractions have been handled, you can freely move into a time of worship. And forget about what everyone is doing during worship, focus on what you need to do to get closer to God. Sometimes that may require you singing with your arms raised high and other times you might find yourself sitting down in your chair with your eyes closed and your heart open. Allow yourself to engage in worship.

3. Journal your thoughts. Hearing it is good, but repetition will make it stick! Years ago my wife would always take notes. I’d sit there and watch her like that rock I mentioned earlier. She was engaged and I was, well, just sitting there. Nowadays I try to go deeper into the message. I’ll take notes on the sermon. I’ll write down great quotes. I’ll even come up with blog articles based off the message just so I can learn that much more. Challenge yourself to get a small journal this week and make some personal notes during this week’s message.

Eliminate distractions. Engage in worship, and write down your thoughts.

The next time you feel tempted to sleep in or question the importance of your Sunday morning message, remember this post. Remember that God always has a powerful message for you and it requires you to listen.

What personal benefits have you experienced by attending Sunday morning services? 

Manturity is a blog built on establishing spiritual maturity in today’s man. The goal is to assist men in building better marriages and help them grow in maturity and explore different aspects of manhood. features new weekly blog posts, daily social-media updates and a powerful resources page. Stay up to date with the Manturity blog communities on Facebook and Twitter.

For the original article, visit .

New studies reveals that women who eat a nourishing diet before being diagnosed with ovarian cancer have higher chances of survival following the cancer as compared to women who eat deficient diets. The only exemptions are diabetics and obese women since previous studies have linked diabetes with mortality in ovarian cancer. It is important to note that obesity is linked to an increased risk of diabetes as well. 

What Does the Lead Author Have To Say?

The lead author, Cynthia A. Thomson of Health Promotion Sciences at the Canyon Ranch Center for Prevention and Health Promotion at the University of Arizona in Tucson, says that women who consume healthier foods before diagnosis have stronger immune systems. Likewise, healthier diets help make them capable of responding to cancer therapy effectively.

Thomson added that women who regularly consume healthier diets have the capacity to maintain healthier eating after diagnosis too. This in turn helps to support their health in a broader sense.

How’s the Research Conducted?

Researchers examined more than six hundred women afflicted with ovarian cancer between the years 1993 and 1998. Ninety percent of such women were suffering from invasive cancers.

The women who participated in Women’s Health Initiative research answered questionnaires based on their dietary and physical activity a year before their cancer diagnosis. Researchers also noted details regarding their weights, heights and waist circumferences.

Foods That Are Most Nourishing

The Healthy Eating Index that was used for the research took into account ten dietary factors. Diets that were considered nourishing included: large numbers of fruits and vegetables, various types of vegetables and fruits, addition of whole grains, fewer quantities of fat and alcohol, and more fiber.

An associate professor of Epidemiology at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, Dr. Elisa V. Bandera, says that the Healthy Eating Index gives high scores for consuming healthier foods such as whole grains and vegetables. On the other hand, fewer points are given to those who consumed unhealthy foods such as refined grains, added sugars, and fatty foods.

The Results of the Study

Women who were diagnosed with ovarian cancer were around the age of sixty-three. Approximately, 354 female participants died in the year 2012, 305 of whom died because of ovarian cancer.

According to the results published in JNCI, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the researchers formed three groups based on women’s diets. It was found that women who belonged to the healthiest-eating group were at twenty-percent reduced risk of death caused after an ovarian cancer diagnosis as compared to those who belonged to the deprived-diet group.

Researchers found that there was a similar, but somewhat weaker, link between pre-diagnosis diet and death caused due to ovarian cancer.

Influence of Diet

Bandera states that it’s the complete healthy diet and not the individual factors that controlled the death rate. Diets that include whole grains, fruits and vegetables may help to reduce inflammation, which has been associated with ovarian cancer mortality. Such healthy diets have also been found to lower the risk of other chronic diseases such as heart diseases and diabetes. These diseases may further worsen ovarian cancer treatment and increase mortality.

Dr. Anne McTiernan, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said that the high scores on the Healthy Eating Index were in accordance to the recommendations provided to the cancer survivors by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the American Cancer Society. But, the details on diet and lifestyle linked to ovarian cancer survival are just observational. Thus, it is important to conduct randomized controlled clinical trials before creating diet and lifestyle guidelines for women with ovarian cancer to improve their prospects of longevity.

Eating Healthy is the Key

Thomson said that women who eat healthy are at a reduced risk of becoming afflicted with cancer, as well as having improved survival benefits following this threatening disease. Bandera further added that such women may also have had access to better treatment.

Cancer is an emergent form of disease in the United States, and thus eating healthier foods is essential. Healthy eating habits may also delay the occurrence of cancer. So, eat healthy to live healthy!

Don Colbert, M.D. has been board certified in Family Practice for over 25 years and practices Anti-aging and Integrative medicine. He is a New York Times best-selling author of books such as The Bible Cure Series, What Would Jesus Eat, Deadly Emotions, What You Don’t Know May be Killing You, and many more with over 10 million books sold. He is the Medical Director of the Divine Health Wellness Center in Orlando, Florida, where he has treated over 50,000 patients.

For the original article, visit .

We know from Scripture that the Messianic Community in Jerusalem (and Lod, the Sharon, Joppa and the Galilee) was thriving in the first decades after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem. When Paul comes back to Jerusalem to greet the apostles, they report to him:

“On hearing it, they praised God; but they also said to him, ‘You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Judeans, and they are all zealots for the Torah’ (Acts 21:20 CJB).

There are two interesting points worth noting. First, they are Torah-honoring Jewish believers. This does not mean that they necessarily followed all the traditions of Pharisaical Judaism, but that they suddenly found deep meaning in the laws that they previously only kept out of religious guilt. This is reported to Paul as a good thing. There is no hint that they are moving away from Torah or their Jewishness, but closer.

Secondly, many translations use the English thousands for the Greek myriads. However a myriad is 10,000, so myriads plural, as is used in this verse, is correctly tens of thousands!

The congregation continued to grow under the leadership of Jacob (there were no first century Jews named James) the brother of Yeshua until the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE (some believe that Jacob died earlier).

Flee to the Mountains

Now this is where things start to change drastically for the Jewish believers in Israel. Yeshua had told His disciples less than 40 years before that when they see the armies surrounding Jerusalem they should flee to the mountains.

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the middle of her depart. Let those who are in the country not enter therein” (Luke 21:20-21, WEB).

“The Great Revolt” took place in 66 CE when the Jews rebelled against Roman rule. The Romans responded by leveling the city and destroying the Temple in 70 CE. As many as one million Jews died all over Israel.

However, the Messianic Jews, heeding the warning of Yeshua, fled. This is most likely a dual prophecy that will have a greater fulfillment before the coming of Yeshua. However, the believers in Jerusalem assumed, as many of us today, that they would see the return of Yeshua. Seeing that the prophetic warnings (Matt. 24; Luke 21) came from Yeshua as He was teaching on the end times, they were sure that His return was near.

They fled across the Jordan River and settled in a mountainous area called Petra.

“The [Messianic Jewish] community in Jerusalem escaped this terrible catastrophe by fleeing to Petra in Transjordan and the countryside of Gilean and in expectation of … the second coming of [the Messiah].”

When the war ended and Yeshua had not yet returned, the Messianic Jews returned to Jerusalem where they suffered persecution from the Jews who had fought the Romans—they were labeled as traitors. Of course, there were many other Jews who opposed the fighting, including Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai.

How Pharisee Judaism Survived—Ben Zakkai

One main factor in the survival of Pharisaical Judaism, which became what we know today as Rabbinic Judaism, was the surrender of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. He opposed the war and would have been killed by the Jewish military leaders for treason had he not been smuggled out of Jerusalem in a coffin. He surrendered to the Romans.

“They carried the coffin to [General] Vespasian’s tent, where ben Zakkai emerged from the coffin. He told Vespasian that he had had a vision (some would say, a shrewd political insight) that Vespasian would soon be emperor, and he asked Vespasian to set aside a place in Yavne (coastal city south of Tel Aviv) where he could start a small school and study Torah in peace. Vespasian promised that if the prophecy came true, he would grant ben Zakkai’s request. Vespasian became Emperor within a year, and kept his word, allowing the school to be established after the war was over” (Jewish virtual library).

A Fatal Blessing

More than anyone else, ben Zakkai was responsible for the survival of Pharisaical/Rabbinic Judaism. In Yavne he put to paper the Oral Law (what Yeshua referred to as the Traditions of the Elders). In the year 80 CE, he was succeeded by Gamaliel II. On his orders, a paragraph was added to the Amidah or Shmoneh Esri (18 blessings). This is the central prayer in Jewish liturgy.

The 19th benediction was added to weed out Messianic Jews. It was a denunciation of heretics or sectarians—which the Messianics were accused of being. To pray this, the Messianic Jew would pray a curse on himself. Thus, the Messianics were further pushed out of the Synagogue.

Prayer Replaces Sacrifice

One more note on ben Zakkai. He convinced the newly relocated Sanhedrin, from Jerusalem to Yavne, to replace the need for sacrifice with prayer, quoting Hos. 6:6, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” This took away the need to rebuild the Temple for nearly 2,000 years. Before this, sacrifice was central to Judaism.

Temple ritual was replaced with prayer service in synagogues which built upon practices of Jews in the Diaspora dating back to the Babylonian exile.

Sadly one of the main arguments that Orthodox Jews use today to try and refute Messianic Judaism is that prayer and repentance are enough to atone for sin. Of course, this was not the Jewish view until after the Temple was destroyed.

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (Lev. 17:11, NIV).

So what happened to the Messianic Community? Tune in next week to part 2.

Ron Cantor is the director of Messiah’s Mandate International in Israel, a Messianic ministry dedicated to taking the message of Jesus from Israel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Cantor also travels internationally teaching on the Jewish roots of the New Testament. He serves on the pastoral team of Tiferet Yeshua, a Hebrew-speaking congregation in Tel Aviv. Follow him at @RonSCantor on Twitter.

For the original article, visit .

Americans are living longer than ever before, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC researchers say life expectancy is up and death rates are down in the United States.

Life expectancy for a child born in 2012 is 78 years and nine and a half months—the highest ever.

A man aged 65 now should live another 18 years, and a woman should live another 20 and a half years.

“Much of the recent improvement in death rates and life expectancy for population groups examined can be attributed to reductions in death rates from major causes of death, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and chronic lower respiratory diseases,” the CDC said.

However, the report contained one piece of bad news: the suicide rate rose to the highest level since 1987.