Cacao or chocolate...

Photo from Wikipedia Wikipedia

Mike Adams, author of the great book, The Illusion of Disease, the Health Ranger, editor of NaturalNews site: http://www.naturalnews.com/

Mike explores delicious raw cacao (chocolate) trees in the rainforest of Ecuador:

(NaturalNews ) Are you one of the rare individuals on this planet who does not like nor ever craves chocolate at some point in your life? But, if you are like most of the Western world, have you ever wondered why chocolate can be so addictive, apart from its rich sweet lingering taste? Well, it has to do with your brain chemistry and brain chemicals known as neurotransmitters.

What are neurotransmitters? They act like messengers or little power-brokers that run around in our brain telling the body what to do. They orchestrate our moods, influence our thought patterns, and affect our energy levels, states of alertness, concentration and drowsiness.

So what does chocolate and neurotransmitters have in common? Chocolate affects the brain by causing the release of certain neurotransmitters which can trigger emotions, one of which is euphoria; maybe that's why it is so desirable?

The health-benefits of chocolate have been known to us for some time now, but there is more to chocolate that we need to know. For instance, did you know that chocolate and cacao are not the same? True, there is a clear distinction between commercial chocolate which has no health benefits and organic dark chocolate, ideally with no added sugar. Yet if you're a chocolate lover, consider small amounts of raw cacao as a better option.

The reason why raw cacao is the best choice for healthy benefits is because raw cacao contains the very popular antioxidants (anti-aging guys) that make raw cacao a superfood. But there is more to know than just this.

Let's have a look at raw cacao:

Cacao is derived from Theobroma Cacao beans, which literally means "Food of the Gods". Cacao contains over 300 compounds including: protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, iron, zinc, copper, calcium and magnesium. Magnesium helps to build strong bones and is a muscle relaxant associated with feelings of calmness. Cacao is also high in sulfur, which helps form strong nails and hair.

More: http://www.naturalnews.com/022610_cacao_chocolate_raw_cacao.html

Links:
Everything about chocolate and cacao: http://www.naturalnews.com/cacao.html
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Detox!!!

A whole body cleansing and rejuvenation program
by Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo and Tera Warner

http://www.sixweekdetox.com/blog/

If you were thinking rightly...

Any frustration you have is simply the result of wrong thinking.

If you were thinking rightly you could not possibly
imagine that anything was going 'wrong.' You would
know that nothing in the Universe is working against
you. By definition, given Who You Are, this is
impossible.

Move, then, to gratitude when you encounter your
frustrations. And see every event as an Opportunity.


Neale Donald Walsch - author of Conversations with God
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14 Ways to Prevent Swine Flu

posted by Dr. Frank Lipman author of "Total Renewal: 7 Key Steps to Resilience, Vitality and Long-Term Health"



Don’t know whether or not to get the H1N1 vaccination? You might want to read some of these precautions before you sign up for the shot. If you’re opting for other ways to dodge the flu, here are 14 tips to boost your immunity and stay healthy this flu season.

1. Optimize your vitamin D level. Adequate levels of vitamin D are essential for our immune systems to function optimally. Unfortunately there are no significant dietary sources of vitamin D, most of our intake comes from exposure to sunlight. If you live far from the equator, you simply don’t get enough sun through Fall and Winter to make all the vitamin D you need. So unless you supplement during this period, your innate immunity will be compromised. vitamin D plays such a crucial role in so many aspects of your body’s functioning, that supplementing with it makes sense whether you decide to get the flu shot or not.

We know that influenza always gets worse during the winter months. Now there is good evidence to suggest that this is because as sunlight hours lessen during the winter, the people living in the northern hemisphere become vitamin D deficient and are susceptible to influenza infections of all kinds.

The current recommendations from the Food and Nutrition Board of the U.S. Institute of Medicine: from 200 to 600 IU/day depending on one’s age, are way too low.

These values were originally chosen because they were found to prevent osteomalacia (bone softening) and rickets. It is now recognized that vitamin D has many additional physiological functions, for which these levels are totally inadequate. A number of scientists are therefore calling for the Food and Nutrition Board in the U.S. and its counterparts abroad to reassess their current recommendations. Get your 25 hydroxy vitamin D level checked by your Doctor (if that is not an option, you can self test your level with ZRT labs)

Although the current normal range is between 20 and 50ng/ml, this is much too low for optimal health. You want your level to be between 50 and 70ng/ml.

This is the most important step you can take to prevent the flu! It may require a number of months taking 5,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily (especially during winter) under a doctor’s supervision, to optimize your blood level. Monitor your 25 hydroxy vitamin D status every three months until you are in the optimal range, then cut back to a maintenance dose of at least 2,000 IU a day.

2. Get adequate sleep. This is an indispensable requirement for a strong immune system.

3. Get adequate exercise. This keeps you robust.

4. Take actions to lower your stress levels.

Do breathing exercises, meditate, practice yoga, spend time doing something that makes you happy. Feeling spent, overwhelmed and or mentally run down has a causal relationship to your physical health.

Read more:
14 Ways to Prevent Swine Flue
from:
http://www.care2.com/

They need our help and prayers!

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Please keep on praying for those who were affected by this terrible Typhoon Ondoy.
My friend Mel needs your prayers too.
Please, visit his site:
http://melavilaalarilla.blogspot.com/
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Update:
Second deadly typhoon lashes Philippines

How to live a healthy and vibrant life

Do you want to know how to live

a healthy

and vibrant life on raw?

Wonderful, inspirational book

for someone new to raw food.

Delicious, comprehensive

and easy to follow recipes.

Read more:
Living on Live Food

Will you pray for Abby?

I wanted you to know about Abby.

She was adopted from Guatemala. At three years old, she was diagnosed with a high-risk, aggressive form of Leukemia. Certain genetic complications have put her chance of surviving the treatment at about 20%.

I am praying for her and her family. Would you pray for them too?

You can find more about Abby here, on her family blog: http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com/2009/01/about-abby.html


2008 - God's Blessings, A Tribute Video for Abby

Original Faith

"Original Faith " - Is Available Now!

Original Faith is about finding a language to begin sharing the passion and purpose that connects progressives from every walk of life around the world. Finding the willingness to change ourselves for the better so that we're better equipped to help provide a world of possibility and promise for all our children. The stakes are high. It has become a matter of humanity's overall quality of life and possibly our survival.

With an Original Faith...

*There is a love that can be known and understood — if not fully, then in part.
*There is faith that can be experienced — with or without belief.
*There is work — and even dedication.
*There is the discovery that every one of us is more than a self alone.
*There is coming alive to the fact that we are here not to be served, but to serve.
*There is the possibility of true joy and a viable future for our children.
*There is the certainty of personal peace and integrity.

Original Faith
http://www.originalfaith.com/


It's now available online at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, BarnesAndNoble.com, and Target.com and is also available by special order at bookstores (ISBN: 978-1-934611-00-5).Read here: About Paul

Recovery program for unhealthy addiction

Fragment of
Skinny Bich
by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin

"An important part od any recovery program for addiction - and unhealthy eating is an addiction - is taking one day at a time. Don't torture yourself with thoughts of, "I can never eat steak again", or "How will I live without coffee?". Just take it one meal at a time. Don't think ahead with dread and anguish. One meal at a time. And when all feels hopeless, remember that you are in charge of what goes into your body, you don't answer to anyone, and you are allowed to eat anything you want. Often just knowing we can eat whatever we want is enough to keep us from eating whatever we want. We're so rebellious...

...Feel free to set mini-goals for yourself and tackle them one at a time. This means, spend the first week of your new life removing one dirty vice item. Whether it's cigarettes or coffee or alkohol or sugar or junk food or meat or dairy - just purge something negative from your life immediately. Choose something that you like and enjoy, but that you know you can let go of successfuly. (But start right now. Don't let these intense feelings fate - use them.) Dedicate the week to getting this vice item out of your diet, your body, your kitchen, and your mind.Think of all you've learned about this item, and how disgusting it is. Envision the damaging effect it has on your organs, your mood, your health, and your appearance. Imagine exactly what it is that you'd be eating. Know how shitty you'd feel, physically and mentally, if you ate it. Understand that you have free will and that if you wanted to eat it, you could. But know with every fiber and cell of your being that today you wish to put only pure, beautiful, healthy foods in your body. Most important, acknowledge that no vice item will ever make you feel happy or whole or satisfied. In fact, all vice items make you unhappy because they contribute to weight issues, health problems, mood swings, and low self-esteem....

...When you've got one week under your belt, feel great about what you've accomplished...

...Every week, until you've completely cleansed your life of poison and toxins, eliminate one more thing. Apply the same mindset, dedication, technique, and excitement you used in week one....
...Be grateful that you now know the truth about the foods you used to poison yourself with. Let all you think and speak of regarding this life change be positive. People who have positive attitude are much more successful than those who don't. Be exited about feeling clean, pure, healthy, energized, happy, and skinny. Enjoy every second of this metamorphosis, knowing the journej is as important as the end result."...

THE FOUR SEASONS - Vivaldi (click)

See video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jJvvGqdPVk&eurl=http://unblock22.blogspot.com/

VegTV - Recipes

VegTv The Show - the best -
you can find there not only recipes:
VegTV+Recipes

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The most important pot in the kitchen:
Personal Blender

POWER OF ATTITUDE

I just watched a beautiful and powerful presentation that really touched me
and I wanted to share it with you. I'm sure you'll enjoy the breathtaking
images and the inspiring message.

You can check it out here:

http://www.powerofattitudemovie.com/

Enjoy your day!

Evolving ... My New Blog

My new blog:
EVOLVING YOUR - SPIRIT - MIND - BODY

Welcome!!!

BANANAS

Bananas. Containing 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 the 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 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 crisps. 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: 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!

Rose Bushes: Blend one skin (soft Part) with blender full of water and pour on base of Rose Bush. Promotes healthy roots and new growth.

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 its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say,

"A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

Source:http://www.karinya.com/bananas.htm

Other sources:
Kalpana
Has Your Monkey Mind Gone Bananas?

Advantage of eating Raw

TEN ADVANTAGES OF EATING RAW

The human race learned long ago that cooking meat before eating it would protect them from certain diseases. Since then this practice of cooking has grown to include all types of foods and is now considered an art. Very few meals are eaten which include raw elements, except for the leafy green salad.
One advantage of eating raw is that it brings Nature’s intentions into focus. When I speak of eating raw I am referring to fruit, nuts, and vegetables, which taste good to the majority of humankind in their basic simplicity direct from tree, bush or vine.
I realize it isn’t easy to simply abandon thousands of years of tradition and revert back to 100% raw food. Margaret Mead once said, “It is easier to change a man’s religion than to change his diet.”
So to the point, there are 10 advantages to a diet of fresh, whole raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts, which may lead you to find a greater place for them in your diet.

1. Raw foods are better quality, therefore you eat less to satisfy your nutritional needs. The heat of cooking depletes vitamins, damages proteins and fats, and destroys enzymes which benefit digestion. As your percentage of raw foods increases you feel satisfied and have more energy on smaller meals because raw food has the best balance of water, nutrients, and fiber to meet your body’s needs.

2. Raw foods have more flavor than cooked foods so there is no need to add salt, sugar, spices, or other condiments that can irritate your digestion system or over stimulate other organs.

3. Raw foods take very little preparation so you spend less time in the kitchen. Even a child of 5 or 6 can prepare most items for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This gives children a sense of self-esteem and independence, not to mention the break it gives Mom or Dad.

4. When you are eating raw there’s little chance of burns, unless you’re in the middle of a forest fire or out in the sun too long. Just think! No burns to tongues, the roof of your mouth, or fingers, and many fewer house fires.

5. Cleaning up after a raw meal is a snap. No baked-on oils or crusty messes. And any inedible parts go directly to the compost pile.

6. Eating a diet of raw foods can reverse or stop the advance of many chronic diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Remember, cooking creates free radicals, which are the major cause of cancer. When you lower the number of free radicals your cells are bombarded with, you lower your risk of cancer.

7. A raw food diet can protect you from acute diseases such as colds, flu, measles, etc. Raw foods maintain a healthy body and a healthy body will not become diseased.

8. As long as you combine raw food properly according to the rules of Natural Hygiene, you will soon reach a level where you no longer suffer from heartburn, gas, indigestion or constipation.

9. It is environmentally sound. With humanity on a diet of raw foods, the food industry would close up shop and take up organic gardening. This would save us enormous amounts of natural resources used to produce power for these industries. Nuclear power would be clearly unnecessary. And think of how many trees and oil reserves could be saved without the need for the paper and plastics used in packaging our processed foods. There would also be less carbon dioxide released in to the atmosphere when all the cooking stopped and more oxygen produced from all the new orchards and gardens, thus helping to reverse the Greenhouse Effect.

10. Eating raw saves you money on food, vitamins, pots and pans, appliances, doctor bills, drugs, and health insurance.

So don’t waste your food, yourself, and our planet by cooking what you eat. Fruits, nuts, and vegetables which are whole, fresh and raw are brimming with life and have the ability to transmit their life force directly to you.

Susan Jorg, Estacada, OR

IS COOKED FOOD GOOD FOR US ?

by T.C.Fry

In nature all animals eat living foods as yielded up by Nature. Only humans cook their foods and only humans suffer widespread sicknesses and ailments. Those humans who eat mostly living foods are more alert, think clearer, sharper and more logically and become more active. Best of all, live food eaters become virtually sickness-free!
Cooking is a process of food destruction from the moment heat is applied to the foodstuff. Long before dry ashes results, food values are totally destroyed.
If you put your hand just for a moment into boiling water or on a hot stove, that should forever persuade you just how destructive heat is. Food is usually subjected to these destructive temperatures for perhaps half an hour or more. What was living substance becomes totally dead very rapidly with exposure to heat!
Cooking renders food toxic! The toxicity of the deranged debris of cooking is confirmed by the doubling and tripling of white blood cells after eating a cooked food meal. The white blood cells are the first line of defense and are, collectively, popularly called "the immune system."
As confirmed by hundreds of researches cited in the prestigious National Academy of ScienceÕs National Research CouncilÕs book, "Diet, Nutrition and Cancer," all cooking quickly generates mutagens and carcinogens in foods.
Proteins begin coagulating and deaminating at temperatures commonly applied in cooking, and are devoid of nutritive value.
Vitamins are rather quickly destroyed by cooking.
Minerals quickly lose their organic context and are returned to their native state as they occur in soil, sea water and rocks, metals and so on. In such a state they are unusable and the body often shunts them aside where they may combine with saturated fats and cholesterol in the circulatory system, thus clogging it up with cement-like plaque.
Heated fats are especially damaging because they are altered to form acroleins, free radicals and other mutagens and carcinogens as confirmed in, "Diet, Nutrition and Cancer."
Thus you can see that dead foods make dull, diseased and sooner dead people.

Click here to visit living-foods.com

(article from: http://www.rawfoods.com/articles/cooked.html)

POISON IVY

4 Things to know...
.......about poison ivy.

The more time we spend outdoors, the more likely we are to come contact with poison ivy (or its cousins, poison oak and poisonsumac). To minimize your chances of getting the rash or minimize the agony, here are some useful facts.
-Beth Botts

1.Leaves of three, let it be: Poison ivy is a woody vine (or sometimes low shrub) with three bright green pointed leaflets. Merely brushing against it releases urushiol, the rush- inducting culprit. The tiny amount needed to set off an inflammation can cling for years to clothes, back-packs, tents, etc. You also can pick it up from a dog or cat's fur. (Pets don't get the rash.)

2. Wash up: When you suspect you have been exposed to poison ivy, immediately remove all outer clothing. If possible, start by applying lots of rubbing alcohol to dissolve the oil, suggets the Food and Drug Administration. Then flush your skin with large amounts of water. Then take a thorough shower with soap and water and put on clean clothes. Using plastic bags on your hands, put your discarded clothing in the washer and launder with hot water. Also wash boots, tools and anything else that may have picked up the oil - again, without touching them.

3. Ease the pain: You'll know within 48 hours if your immune system has reacted to urushiol. Over-the -counter drug-store creams and oatmeal baths may help. In severe cases, see a doctor, who may prescribe steroids.

4. Keep it away: Never put poison ivy in the compost heap. Seal it in paper landscape bags and place them out for pickup. Burning any part of a poison ivy plant, in a campfire or for disposal, is a very bad idea. The urushiol can be vaporized and carried in the smoke to your skin or even breathed into your lungs.

FROM:
(Home&Garden appears in Sunday's Chicago Tribune).

What Poison Ivy looks like:
Poison Ivy


Typical poison ivy in a suburban yard

TRUTH ABOUT DAIRY PRODUCTS

FOR YOUR HEALTH:
Dairy products are a health hazard. They contain no fiber or complex carbohydrates and are laden with saturated fat and cholesterol. They are contaminated with cow's blood and pus and are frequently contaminated with pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. Dairy products are linked to allergies, constipation, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and other diseases.The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it can cause anemia, allergies, and insulin-dependent diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease, America's number one cause of death.And dairy products may actually cause osteoporosis, not prevent it, since their high-protein content leaches calcium from the body. Population studies, backed up by a groundbreaking Harvard study of more than 75,000 nurses, suggest that drinking milk can actually cause osteoporosis. Find out more by visiting our links page.

Truth about dairy products
from:

http://www.milksucks.com/index2.asp

Yoga For You

YOGA CAN PROVIDE RELIEF FOR CHRONICALLY ILL.
Patients with chronic illnesses are finding that yoga provides some relief from their symptoms, according to a report in the New York Times. Whether it is AIDS, cancer, osteoporosis, or Crohn's disease, patients suffering from these chronic disorders find that there are specific yoga exercises that help them cope with their symptoms.
While doctors may recomend yoga classes for general stress reduction, many patients are finding that yoga helps lessen their symptoms and the side effects of their medications. Often patients are in classes with others having similar conditions, so that an element of social support is also present.
Although not a cure for these diseases, studies have found that yoga does have significant impact upon the experience of the maladies. It can reduce fatigue in those with multiple sclerosis, lower anxiety in patients with cancer, heart disease or hypertension, and improve sleep in patients with chronic insomnia.

What is Ideal Diet?

The Ideal Dietis the FRUIT DIET !!

Food that grows every season is the best because this food has exactly what we need.
Meat is the worst worst for our organism(especially pork, beef, ...). Along with meat, our body is fed with very risky germs, such as: dioksyny, priony, cancer and leukemia cells, antibiotics which weaken our immune system, hormonal substances that lead to our hormonal changes, poisonous glikozydy may lead to thyroid malfunctioning, adrenaline that causes diabetes, high blood pressure, nervousness, cholesterol, that main reason for sclerosis, heart attak, high blood pressure, paralytic stroke.
Fruit diet is not only the safer and betterway but it is also one of the best methods in preventing and curing all illnessess."
The God said: "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food". - (Genesis 1:29).
Today's fruit may be not as clean because of the chemicals but they don't contain substances found in meats which are very dangerous for our health.
They give us energy for life!
Fruit are easily digested and fully used by our body.

WELCOME

HEALTH and WELLBEING

This sites are for you -
if you are looking for
information, motivation and inspiration
for a happy a healthy life.
The basic and most important thing to have a healthy, happy and harmonious life is our eating habbit.
What do we eat? How do we eat? And why? - these are the topics for people who want to live healthy and don't want to suffer from the illnesses caused by bad eating habbits or ignorance.
You need to find your own path to your own health.
In my blog "About eating habbits" you will find suggestions on how to eat.That is my favorite and experienced way.
It doesn't have to be exactly the same or right now for you.
The most important is:Think, seek, experience, choose the best.
You deserve the best!
Your health is in your hands !


( Note: Please be aware that informations on these sites are for educational purposes only. I strongly recomend that you contact your physician or healthcare specialist if you have any concerns about your health.)

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