10 Biggest Brain Damaging Habits - Read and Share..

10 Biggest Brain Damaging Habits - Read and Share..

■Lacking in Stimulating Thoughts - Do you know? Thinking is the best way to train your brain, so think more, write more, explore more all this will help you to keep your brain fresh. Lacking in brain stimulation, may cause brain shrinkage.
■Over Eating - This is the most usual cause, most of the times we find tasty food and start eating more than what our body requires. This causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.
■No Breakfast - Due to our busy schedule, we normally forget to take breakfast. People who do not take breakfast are most prone to have a low blood sugar level. Thus leads to insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing degeneration.
■Smoking - It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimers disease in later life.
■Sleep Deprivation - Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells. Oh! more cells dead, more loss of memory.
■Head Covered while Sleeping - Sleeping with the covered head increases the concentration of Carbon Dioxide and decreases concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects.
■High Sugar Consumption - Extra Sweets! can interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere in brain development.
■Air Pollution - As brain is the largest oxygen consumer in the body, inhaling polluted air will decrease the supply of oxygen to the brain, thus there will be damage to the brain. So try to be away from the polluted air.
■Working your brain during Illness - Giving stress to the brain when sick may lead to decrease effectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.
■Talking Rarely: Intellectual conversations promote efficiency of the brain. So be active participants in meetings and get-together's.
~Source Credit - http://medicalopedia.org/
~Pic Credit - http://www.learning-mind.com/, http://trawelindia-mails.blogspot.in/

Sneeze etiquette - Saying "Bless you" when someone sneezes.

Sneeze etiquette - Saying "Bless you" when someone sneezes.

People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a milli-second.

The practice of blessing someone who sneezes, dates as far back as AD 77.

One explanation holds that the custom originally began as an actual blessing. Gregory I became Pope in AD 590 as an outbreak of the plague was reaching Rome. In hopes of fighting off the disease, he ordered unending prayer and parades of chanters through the streets. At the time, sneezing was thought to be an early symptom of the plague. The blessing ("God bless you!") became a common effort to halt the disease.

A variant of the Pope Gregory I story places it with Pope Gregory VII, then tells the common story of "Ring Around the Rosey" being connected to the same plague.

A legend holds that it was believed that the heart stops beating and the phrase "bless you" is meant to ensure the return of life or to encourage your heart to continue beating.

Another version says that people used to believe that your soul can be thrown from your body when you sneeze, that sneezing otherwise opened your body to invasion by the Devil or evil spirits, or that sneezing was your body's effort to force out an invading evil spirit. Thus, "bless you" or "God bless you" is used as a sort of shield against evil.

Another belief is that people used to see sneezing as a sign that God would answer your prayers or an omen of good fortune or good luck.In this case, "Bless you" would be in recognition of that luck.

Appetizers, Hors d'oeuvres, Canapes:

Appetizers, Hors d'oeuvres, Canapes:

Food that is served at a cocktail party or during a pre-meal cocktail hour is intended to be eaten with the fingers. This includes olives, pickles, nuts, canapes, deviled eggs, and chips.

Hors D’oeuvres and Appetizers – Buffet style
> Reasonably fill your plate - Don’t fill up – that’s what dinner is for.
> Do not snack around the table.
> Use forks if available.
> Shrimp is eaten by hand when served at an appetizer buffet, eaten with a fork when served at dinner as shrimp cocktail
> Avoid ordering appetizer at a business lunch – but take the lead of the host.

Passing dishes or Food -

Passing dishes or Food -

1. Pass food from the left to the right. Do not stretch across the table, crossing other guests, to reach food or condiments.

2. Use your common sense. If the person sitting to your immediate left asks you to pass them a plate of food, do not pass the plate to the person on your right and wait for it to be passed around the entire table until it reaches the person on your left. The general idea is that several dishes being passed at one time go in the same direction.

3. If asked for the salt or pepper, pass both together, even if a table mate asks for only one of them. This is so dinner guests won't have to search for orphaned shakers.

4. Set any passed item, whether it's the salt and pepper shakers, a bread basket, or a butter plate, directly on the table instead of passing hand-to-hand.

5.Never intercept a pass. Snagging a roll out of the breadbasket or taking a shake of salt when it is en route to someone else is a no-no.

6.Always use serving utensils to serve yourself, not your personal silverware.

Soup - Finished position.

Soup - Finished position.
When finished, place the spoon on the right side of the under plate where the soup bowl sits, never on the tablecloth. If a cup is used, place the spoon on the plate, if a soup plate is used; if not, leave it resting in the soup container.

Soup - Resting position.
The spoon should rest where it is least likely to fall. When resting, place the spoon in the bowl. This sends a message to the server that you are still eating.

Soup - tips

Soup - Dip the spoon into the soup, moving it away from your body, until it is about two-thirds full, then sip the liquid (without slurping) from the side of the spoon (without inserting the whole bowl of the spoon into the mouth).

It is perfectly fine to tilt the bowl slightly (again away from the body) to get the last spoonful or two of soup.

To eat bread while eating your soup, don't hold the bread in one hand and your soup spoon in the other. When ready to eat a bite of your bread, place the spoon on the under plate, then use the same hand to take the bread to your mouth.

When you are served soup or bouillon in a cup with handles, or even a small bowl, it’s acceptable to pick it up and drink the soup.

Fork and Knife - Continental/European Style v. American Style.

Fork and Knife - Continental/European Style v. American Style.

Continental/European Style
1. Hold your fork in your left hand, tines downward.
2. Hold your knife in your right hand low to the plate, an inch or two above. Extend your index finger along the top of the blade.
3. Use your fork to spear and lift food to your mouth.
4. If your knife is not needed, it remains on the table. Hold your fork in your right hand, tines upward.
5. Knife in right hand, fork in left hand. Eat food with fork still in left hand. The difference is that you don't switch hands-you eat with your fork in your left hand, with the prongs curving downward. Both utensils are kept in your hands with the tines pointed down throughout the entire eating process. If you take a drink, you do not just put your knife down, you put both utensils down into the resting position: cross the fork over the knife.

American Style
1. Hold your fork like a pencil (never use it to stab at food), with the shank extended between your thumb and second and third fingers. Your fourth and fifth fingers rest in your hand.
2. For leverage, the index finger is extended along the back of the fork, as far from the tines as possible.
3. Hold your knife with the handle cupped in the palm of your hand, along with your third, fourth, and fifth fingers. Your second finger is placed on the back of the blade. Your thumb is held against the side of the handle.
4. Knife in right hand, fork in left hand holding food. After a few bite-sized pieces of food are cut, place knife on edge of plate with blades facing in. Eat food by switching fork to right hand (unless you are left handed). A left hand, arm or elbow on the table is bad manners.

Napkin Etiquette

Napkin Etiquette -

1) Placing the Napkin in Your Lap - Wait for the host or hostess to take his or her napkin off the table and place it in his or her lap. (In buffet-style meals, unfold your napkin when you start eating)

2) Unfolding the Napkin - Unfold your napkin in one smooth motion without "snapping" or "shaking" it open.Large napkins provided at more formal dinners, are unfolded halfway. Smaller napkins are unfolded completely and cover the lap fully.

3) Tucking the Napkin - Don't tuck a napkin into your collar, between the buttons of your shirt, or in your belt.
When messy finger food is served before tucking the napkin under the chin or tying it around the neck, look to the host to see if he does the same.

4) Using the Napkin - Use your napkin frequently during the meal to blot or pat, not wipe, your lips. Blot your lips before taking a drink of your beverage-especially if you're a woman wearing lipstick.

5) Napkin Rings - If a napkin ring is present, after removing your napkin, place the ring to the top-left of the setting. At the end of the meal, grasp the napkin in the center, pull it through the ring, and lay it on the table with the point facing the center of the table.

6) Temporarily Leaving the Table -=. When leaving the table temporarily, put your napkin on your chair.

7) Placing the Napkin at the End of the Meal - At the meal's end:

The napkin is loosely folded at the end of the meal.
If a plate is in the center of your place setting, when leaving the table lay the napkin to the left of the plate.
If the center of your place setting is empty, the napkin is laid in the middle of the place setting.Leave your napkin in loose folds that keep soiled parts hidden. If after-dinner coffee is served at the table, the napkin remains in the lap.

Proper way to set table

Below is the proper way to set a table if you are hosting a FORMAL dinner at your home or even if you are attending one. Just remember that utensils are used from the outside - in. If you are serving fish and beef, the fish fork is placed between the salad fork and the beef fork.