Nuts and tofu found to lower cholesterol

There was an article in the news that said research had found that a diet with nuts and tofu had lowered cholesterol levels, even more than cutting back on saturated fats. It got me thinking that maybe what we eat is more important than what we avoid. Maybe those foods that have been shown to have a protective effect on heart heath, like olive oil and nuts, actually do us more good than eliminating saturated fats, which may not be that harmful. Cholesterol is an important building block in the body, it forms the basis of a lot of the hormones we need for proper functioning. We produce cholesterol naturally, but we also need to get some from our food.

Birth of a book

I've spent the last six weeks working on the second edition of my book, "Explaining Health." I've written two new chapters, one on Chinese Medicine and one on Ayurveda. I had those two chapters edited and incorporated changes. I read over the entire manuscript, looking for any overlooked typos. I considered my publishing options, and out of laziness thought I would go with Createspace again, the way I published last time. But it turned out to be too expensive. The cover price of my book would have to be over $20, approaching $25, and I felt that was just too much to ask people to spend, on what is a slim volume. Packed with useful information, but only 138 small pages. So I lost some sleep over it, and then I decided to look into Lightning Source. The price was less, and they have better distribution. Now my book can be $19.95, a price that was more comfortable to me. Lightning Source is way more complicated, with contracts that have to be printed and signed and returned by mail. I missed signing in one place so the whole thing had to be sent again. And then I uploaded my book in the wrong PDF format and had another sleepless night trying to figure out how to fix it. Turns out I had to save it, one page at a time and figure out what was wrong with each page, when it wouldn't save as PDF/X. Finally, I got the whole manuscript to save. Then I had to upload the cover again, and get my designer to redesign the cover to fit on the cover generator. That took two days and many cell phone conversations. Now we both know how to do it. Now I'm just waiting, fingers crossed that both files pass muster and I can start the printing process. Then the fun begins. I feel like I've been in labor for six weeks, and I've been pushing for the last two days, and my designer has been my midwife, helping me along. I can't wait to hold the little darling in my hands.