Many conventional pet food brands consist of animal byproducts and low-grade meats that are unsuited for humans but considered good enough for pet chow. If you wouldn’t go near it, why feed it to your beloved pet?

Since nutrition directly influences health and resistance to disease, ideally you want pet food that is comparable to the food you eat, or close to it. There’s not a lot of research out there on pet diets, but the anecdotal evidence suggests that natural or organic pet foods can improve skin and coat health, especially if the pet has allergies. Some claim that dogs fed natural food have better dental health and more manageable weights. Hey, you could potentially extend the life of your kitty or pooch, or at the very least, save on vet bills.

But aren’t organic brands more expensive? Many green pet foods do cost more per ounce, but no need to fret. They also tend to have higher concentrations of nutrients, so you may not have to feed your pet as large of a meal, said Doug Mazeffa, research director at Greenopia.com, which rates the “greenest” pet foods on the market.

Mazeffa suggests looking at ingredient labels at your local supermarket before making a decision. Avoid ethoxyquin, a food preservative and pesticide linked with a variety of health problems including liver issues and mutations. Luckily, with pressure from the public, many brands have replaced this ingredient with more natural preservatives, like vitamins C and E, but some brands may still fall short.

He also advises to steer clear of the ingredient “meat and bone meal” which is the lowest quality protein that is often made with a percentage of animals that are 4-D: Dead, Dying, Diseased or Disabled.

Greenopia.com rates pet food brands based on sustainable and humane production, packaging, food grade and ingredients, recycled materials, building logistics and their overall supply chain. Companies that produce pet foods that are minimally processed without added drugs or hormones, and that are preserved with natural substances, rank higher. They also consider the transparency of the company (how well they report their ingredients), and their environmental goals and practices.

Mazeffa suggests looking for food that is certified organic and meets USDA standards for being free of pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and artificial preservatives like butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). On average, cat food tends to be healthier, and contains more fish, Mazeffa said.

Below are the top performers in Greenopia’s product ratings:

Best Organic and Natural Dog Foods:

• Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Dog Food ($ 78 for 10 pounds — 43 pounds of rehydrated food — at thehonestkitchen.com or $ 85 at amazon.com)
• Karma Organic Dog Food ($ 24.50 for 4.4 pounds at amazon.com)

Best Organic and Natural Cat Foods:

• Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Cat Food ($ 41.50 for 4 pounds — 15 pounds of rehydrated food — at shop.thehonestkitchen.com or $ 40 at amazon.com)
• Natural Planet Organics Cat Food ($ 18 for 6.6 pounds at Amazon.com)

Check out more Greenopia ratings to help you pick the right pet food off the shelf.

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

More from The Daily Green:

• Best Natural Cat Products
• Safe Natural Flea and Tick Control Products and Tips
• 25 of the Worst Exotic Pet Attacks
• 4 Homemade Dog Food Recipes You Can Eat Too!
• Best Natural Dog Products

Go Green

                 Green color belongs to environment. So, green gifts gives idea about eco-friendly, natural and organic gifts. Green gifts mainly appear in bright colors and bright colors are likable by kids. Kids love to play with natural and solid toys. This all reasons kids are attracted towards green gifts. Nowadays we can find children’s book and videos of environmental themes. If we are giving naturals magazines or trip to zoo, museums as a gift to kids then kids are thinking about environment and its issues. And they become more responsible towards our environment. Green gifts includes all types of gifts such as eco-friendly, low carbon products, energy saving products and recycled products.Green gifts are made up of organic or recycled materials, to have a minimum impact on the Earth.

              Green gifts are beautiful and affordable. These gifts reflect their awareness on environment. Some Green gifts ideas may be of bamboo made articles like baby sets, grocery bags, yoga mats, Table Lamp, Envirocycle Composer etc. Environmental friendly beautiful wooden toys for babies, toddlers and preschoolers are designed mainly to encourage their skills, hand-eye co-ordination and imagination. Organic clothes can also be a green gift! Organic clothes as daily wear, sports wear and t-shirts.  By using organic clothes you are actively supporting organic farming methods. So, you should not worry about the clothes you are wearing which is kind comfort to your skin, the farmers and the environment. Bamboo is also good choice for baby clothes, as it is both eco-friendly and softer than even the softest cotton on the market

                As a gift basket we can make green gifts basket. Give a plant to plantlover.Giving plants as a gift is also a green gift. Reusable gift bags and homemade gifts are also good example of green gifts. You can get all information about green gifts and ideas from buy green products for gifts of buygiftsheretoday.com

But these studies have found out some other things about green tea. Things that you’ll be very interested in if you’re sick of that extra weight and want to lose a few pounds. Let’s take a look at them in order of importance.

5. Green Tea Increases Endurance & Helps You Exercise Longer

Everyone knows that dieting isn’t nearly as effective if you’re not pairing it up with some sort of exercise. This, of course, is because exercise burns calories and builds muscle, which in turn boosts your metabolism and leads to even faster weight loss.

Antioxidants in green tea stimulate the use of fatty acids by liver and muscle cells. This reduces the rate that carbs are used and increases endurance while allowing for longer exercise times. A study on lab rats found that green tea increased the time they could swim by as much as 24%.

4. Switching to Green Tea Leads to Calorie Reduction


Want to do something really smart? Stop drinking coffee and soft drinks and switch to green tea exclusively. If you’re worried about losing the caffeine burst that you get from your morning cup of Java, don’t be. Green tea has just enough caffeine to do the trick, and absolutely no calories!

Many people add sugar and creamer to coffee which sends the calories through the roof. And let’s not even talk about the nutritional disaster called soft drinks! Switch to green tea and you’ll be getting a healthy dose of powerful antioxidants while simultaneously dropping the calories and sugar.

3. Green Tea Helps Calm Cravings


A recent study found that lab rats injected with green tea consumed 60% less calories than other rats. I’m sure you can imagine how this can help you during a diet. Frequent consumption of green tea also fills up the stomach reduces appetite even further.

2. Green Tea Increases Metabolism


An antioxidant in green tea called EGCG, along with the caffeine, stimulates the central nervous system and causes fat to be released into the blood stream for the body to use as fuel. This process is called “thermogenesis” and it greatly boosts the metabolism.

Caffeine alone can stimulate the metabolism this way, but researches have found that the combined ingredients in green tea do a much better job than caffeine by itself.

1. Green Tea Burns Fat


Green tea’s ability to stimulate the metabolism also causes the body to burn calories at a faster rate. Once the body runs out of carbs, it will turn to fat as a source for fuel. This is exactly what you want if you’re trying to burn off those pesky pounds!

So there you have it. These 5 things are helpful enough individually, but put them together and you have one heck of a head start on losing weight. Pair green tea with a good diet and exercise and you’re well on your way to a slim, fit body!

One of the most common reptiles found in the South and Central America is the green iguana. Several breeds can be seen in Mexico, Paraguay, Brazil and the Caribbean Islands.

It is not known for sure that the green iguana is an endangered species but it is often thought as one because hunters love this iguana attraction. Hunters love to hunt for female iguanas. Why is this the case? They are considered a delicacy for some people. What is this female iguana delicacy called? How about Bamboo Chicken.

1. Green Iguana Physical Appearance

How big do the green iguanas get? For starters, these reptiles can grow anywhere from four to six feet long although some have managed to get up to seven feet in length. The tail of the iguana is almost half of their body, taking up more than half that length.

So what does the green iguana look like exactly? Yes, these iguanas are green but they also have a dominant black stripe along their bodies. Their shade of green changes from a bright green to a grayish dull green color, hence the reason behind the name. The iguana’s skin is primarily rough because it has pointy scales along its back. They are equipped with long fingers and claws. This makes it easy for them to grasp limbs and climb to get out of the way of danger and predators.

2. The Green Iguana’s Habitat

Baby green iguanas are usually raised in a tropical rainforest setting especially where there is water, such as streams and rivers, in low altitudes. Much of the iguana’s beginning years they spend at the top of the forest, about 40 to 50 feet high from the ground.

3. Baby Green Iguana’s Adaptations

Despite the baby iguana’s claws and long fingers, there are other wonderful traits and adaptations they have. They have a strong sense of senses especially hearing, sight and smell.

Their defense mechanisms are in their tails. Their tails are sharp and will point high when they sense danger. If a predator is able to get ahold of their tail and remove it, the tail will grow back as if there was no damage whatsoever. Since the baby iguana’s skin is considered tough, scratches and cuts are able to be avoided. It is also water-resistant.

Due to its skin pigmentation, the baby green iguana can camouflage itself when it senses predators in the area. However, if this does not work and predators do find them, the babies are able to jump hurriedly from the trees to water. Remember, iguanas do live near water so they are excellent swimmers.

Among their wonderful traits, these baby iguanas are quite strong. Should they fall 40 to 50 feet from a tree to the ground, they can always come away from it unhurt.

The male iguana has what is called dewlap on the skin. What is a dewlap? It is a special flap used to attract female green iguanas. It can also be used to intimidate the predators would love to attack them. The dewlaps help the iguanas appear as if they are much bigger than they really are.

The green iguanas can keep fat under their necks and jaws for some time when times are rough and there is not much food to get.

Nothing better then a  cup of  green tea and knowing that you are getting the green tea health benefits to go with it .

 But green tea time for me is a time of personal pleasure  . I like to sit down in a quiet room relax without any noise  and drink my tea and ponder on life .Its tastes better that way.

So why is green tea so good for you ?

Here are some green tea health benefits to ponder over next time you drink this heavenly brew.

Green tea the main antioxient in green tea is Polyphenol EGCG   and some scientist believe that this is the most its the most efffient anti cancer compound ever discovered also some research also show that green tea may provide great protection from cancer to your skin ,your stomach and also breast.

 Green tea possess many special compounds that may give your body much needed protection against many cancers and also may protect your body from the dreaded heart disease .Another Green tea benefit is that it so good at fighting the nasties of infection and also promotes a longer healthier life.

Gree tea leaves in its raw state contains heavy amounts of vitiam K but when brewed into a cup of tea or as a supplement it have just about none. Now this may not bother you if you are in good health but people that are on medication like heart patients that have to avoid food heavy with vitimain K because it is known to have a influence in blood clotting .They now can enjoy a cup of green tea and get all the benefits knowing there will be no side effects .

You thought you only drink green tea . A popular way to take green tea extract is in forms like capsule ,liquid or powder The green tea caffeine content of these supplements are low as they are decaffeinated. Your aim is to take 240 to 320 mg of polyphenols this can be acheived by drinking several brews a day or if your not keen on the taste of this brew taking a green tea supplement which contains at least 250 mg of polyhenols .

Take the supplements at meal time with a full glass of water and drink your brewed green tea with a meal or on its own 1 teaspoon of green tea with 225 of hot water left to brew for 5 minutes and then strained is a perfect way to take green tea.

Did you know that taking a green tea extract as part of a multi supplement is a real wise thing to do as many of the  ingredients in these supplement will work synergistically with each other . When all these ingredients are mixed together  the performance levels lift and the benefits of these supplements skyrocket giving you are much better result then if you took these separately.

How do you say goodbye to 3 and 4 putts? Practice, practice,
practice. The key to improving your short game lies in putting
practice. But where?

You can practice conveniently on your own home putting green and
it may even increase the value of your home. If you’re thinking
about installing a putting green, there are several factors to
take into consideration.

Will your putting green be portable?

Roll out greens come in many sizes. Popular sizes are 2′ x 6′,
3′ x 12′ to 6′ x 15′. Some feature a regulation cup, while
others have a smaller cup than regulation size, which will hone
your targetting. Some feature a ball return.

Will you install your green inside or outside?

Indoors, there are small practice greens, rollout greens and
larger indoor greens. Large indoor greens can be as large as 12′
x 30′. Outdoor greens can be as large as you want.

How much do you want to spend?

Roll-out greens can be found in a wide range of prices from $20
to $300. Larger indoor greens can cost as much as $700. When you
start looking at outdoor putting greens, you are talking about
costs per square foot for all of the materials – the green
material and the base layers.

What material will your green be made of?

Indoor greens are synthetic of course. When you’re considering
outdoor putting greens, you have a choice of materials. Your
choice is natural grass or an artificial turf.

At first glance, you may think all-natural grass might be best.
Think again though. If you choose grass, you will need to spend
time maintaining the green. The question is, would you rather be
mowing, watering, feeding and weeding OR putting? Since most
golfers choose putting, let’s talk about artificial greens.

Artificial outdoor putting greens

With an artificial putting green, maintenance is minimal which
means more time to putt. The synthetic fibers are manufactured
to resist fading and matting.

There are two popular UV-treated materials: polypropylene turf
and nylon turf. Nylon turf is easier to maintain than
polyropylene turf. The fibers spring back so your ball has a
true roll to the cup. Nylon turf is also denser than
polypropylene turf.

Polypropylene turf needs sand fill to keep the fibers upright.
During installation, sand is spread across the top of the
polypropylene surface and brushed into the turf with a broom.
Since the sand can wear away, from time to time, you’ll need to
add more sand.

Outdoor putting greens also require a base of stone or concrete.
The cups are concreted into place. As for drainage, synthetic
turfs drain off the turf, not through it. Drainage needs to be
provided.

How fast will your outdoor green be?

Another decision you’ll make is regarding green speed. Stimp
measures how fast the green is. You can have your green speed
matched to your local courses or to a championship course. In
general, adding more sand to your synthetic green makes it
faster.

Will you Do-it-Yourself?

You can buy a putting green kit to install yourself. Many come
with video instructions. Depending on the size and design, you
may need help in installing the green.

Once your new putting green is installed, you can enjoy hours of
putting practice and improve your golf game. For a putting green
resource site, visit http://www.allputtinggreens.com/