Foods that cure

From Stephane Achille, RN

Make a copy of the following food items and be sure to include them in your diet. Remember: You are what you eat!

apples	Protects your heart	prevents constipation	Blocks diarrhea	Improves lung capacity	Cushions joints
apricots	Combats cancer	Controls blood pressure	Saves your eyesight	Shields against Alzheimer's	Slows aging process
artichokes	Aids digestion	Lowers cholesterol	Protects your heart	Stabilizes blood sugar	Guards against liver disease
avocados	Battles diabetes	Lowers cholesterol	Helps stops strokes	Controls blood pressure	Smoothes skin
bananas	Protects your heart	Quiets a cough	Strengthens bones	Controls blood pressure	Blocks diarrhea
beans	Prevents constipation	Helps hemorrhoids	Lowers cholesterol	Combats cancer	Stabilizes blood sugar
beets	Controls blood pressure	Combats cancer	Strengthens bones	Protects your heart	Aids weight loss
blueberries	Combats cancer	Protects your heart	Stabilizes blood sugar	Boosts memory	Prevents constipation
broccoli	Strengthens bones	Saves eyesight	Combats cancer	Protects your heart	Controls blood pressure
cabbage	Combats cancer	Prevents constipation	Promotes weight loss	Protects your heart	Helps hemorrhoids
cantaloupe	Saves eyesight	Controls blood pressure	Lowers cholesterol	Combats cancer	Supports immune system
carrots	Saves eyesight	Protects your heart	Prevents constipation	Combats cancer	Promotes weight loss
cauliflower	Protects against Prostate Cancer	Combats Breast Cancer	Strengthens bones	Banishes bruises	Guards against heart disease
cherries	Protects your heart	Combats Cancer	Ends insomnia	Slows aging process	Shields against Alzheimer's
chestnuts	Promotes weight loss	Protects your heart	Lowers cholesterol	Combats Cancer	Controls blood pressure
chili peppers	Aids digestion	Soothes sore throat	Clears sinuses	Combats Cancer	Boosts immune system
figs	Promotes weight loss	Helps stops strokes	Lowers cholesterol	Combats Cancer	Controls blood pressure
fish	Protects your heart	Boosts memory	Protects your heart	Combats Cancer	Supports immune system
flax	Aids digestion	Battles diabetes	Protects your heart	Improves mental health	Boosts immune system
garlic	Lowers cholesterol	Controls blood pressure	Combats cancer	kills bacteria	Fights fungus
grapefruit	Protects against heart attacks	Promotes Weight loss	Helps stops strokes	Combats Prostate Cancer	Lowers cholesterol
grapes	saves eyesight	Conquers kidney stones	Combats cancer	Enhances blood flow	Protects your heart
green tea	Combats cancer	Protects your heart	Helps stops strokes	Promotes Weight loss	Kills bacteria
honey	Heals wounds	Aids digestion	Guards against ulcers	Increases energy	Fights allergies
lemons	Combats cancer	Protects your heart	Controls blood pressure	Smoothes skin	Stops scurvy
limes	Combats cancer	Protects your heart	Controls blood pressure	Smoothes skin	Stops scurvy
mangoes	Combats cancer	Boosts memory	Regulates thyroid	aids digestion	Shields against Alzheimer's
mushrooms	Controls blood pressure	Lowers cholesterol	Kills bacteria	Combats cancer	Strengthens bones
oats	Lowers cholesterol	Combats cancer	Battles diabetes	prevents constipation	Smoothes skin
olive oil	Protects your heart	Promotes Weight loss	Combats cancer	Battles diabetes	Smoothes skin
onions	Reduce risk of heart attack	Combats cancer	Kills bacteria	Lowers cholesterol	Fights fungus
oranges	Supports immune systems	Combats cancer	Protects your heart	Straightens respiration
peaches	prevents constipation	Combats cancer	Helps stops strokes	aids digestion	Helps hemorrhoids
peanuts	Protects against heart disease	Promotes Weight loss	Combats Prostate Cancer	Lowers cholesterol	Aggravates diverticulitis
pineapple	Strengthens bones	Relieves colds	Aids digestion	Dissolves warts	Blocks diarrhea
prunes	Slows aging process	prevents constipation	boosts memory	Lowers cholesterol	Protects against heart disease
rice	Protects your heart	Battles diabetes	Conquers kidney stones	Combats cancer	Helps stops strokes
strawberries	Combats cancer	Protects your heart	boosts memory	Calms stress
sweet potatoes	Saves your eyesight	Lifts mood	Combats cancer	Strengthens bones
tomatoes	Protects prostate	Combats cancer	Lowers cholesterol	Protects your heart
walnuts	Lowers cholesterol	Combats cancer	boosts memory	Lifts mood	Protects against heart disease
water	Promotes Weight loss	Combats cancer	Conquers kidney stones	Smoothes skin
watermelon	Protects prostate	Promotes Weight loss	Lowers cholesterol	Helps stops strokes	Controls blood pressure
wheat germ	Combats Colon Cancer	prevents constipation	Lowers cholesterol	Helps stops strokes	improves digestion
wheat bran	Combats Colon Cancer	prevents constipation	Lowers cholesterol	Helps stops strokes	improves digestion
yogurt	Guards against ulcers	Strengthens bones	Lowers cholesterol	Supports immune systems	Aids digestion

 

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Tropical Storm Hanna blamed Haitian city, Gonaives

By JONATHAN M. KATZ
Associated Press Writer
GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) -- The convoy rumbled out of the U.N. base toward a flooded, starving and seething city Thursday, carrying some of the first food aid since Tropical Storm Hanna killed 137 Haitians and drowned Gonaives in muddy water three days ago.

Hungry children at three orphanages were waiting for the canvas-topped trucks, loaded with warm pots of rice and beans and towing giant tanks of drinking water.

The trucks didn't make it.

The convoy crept over mud-caked, semi-paved roads past closed stores, overturned buses and women wading in water up to their knees with plastic tubs on their heads.

After about 45 minutes, the half-dozen trucks ground to a halt. U.N. peacekeepers wearing camouflage fatigues and bulletproof vests jumped out while others stood guard with assault rifles.

Before them, a huge gouge marred the road. The floods had split the asphalt, and water ran through the 10-foot-wide (3-meter-wide) gap.

The convoy turned around. And the children - like tens of thousands more in this increasingly desperate city - went another day without food.

Later, Argentine U.N. troops stopped to dish out cooked rice from their own food supplies to a small crowd of hungry orphans.

"I haven't eaten since Monday," 12-year-old Srita Omiscar said as she waited in line with about 50 others.

Just a few blocks away, a woman's corpse in a floral dress floated in a submerged intersection.

At least 137 people died when Hanna struck Haiti, 102 of them in Gonaives and its surroundings, officials said. Some 250,000 people are affected in the Gonaives region and 54,000 people are living shelters across the country, according to government estimates. Argentine Capt. Sergio Hoj estimated that half of Gonaives' houses remained flooded Thursday.

Many houses were torn apart. Families huddled on rooftops, their possessions laid out to dry. Overturned cars were everywhere, and televisions floated in the brown water.

Gonaives - a collection of concrete buildings, run-down shacks and plazas with dilapidated fountains - lies in a flat river plain between the ocean and deforested mountains that run with mud even in light rains. Hanna swirled over Haiti for four days, dumping vast amounts of water, blowing down fruit trees and ruining stores of food as it swamped tin-roofed houses.

Hanna finally moved north Thursday with near hurricane-force winds on a path toward the southeastern U.S. coast. But in the chaos there was no way to know how many people might be dead, or how many had been driven from their homes. Two other storms killed 85 people in August, and forecasters warned that fearsome Hurricane Ike could hit Haiti next week.

Haiti's government has few resources to help. Rescue convoys have been blocked by floodwaters, although the U.N. World Food Program said Thursday it was sending a food-laden boat to Gonaives from the capital, Port-au-Prince, and would set up a base in the stricken city.

"All roads able to access Gonaives are cut either by bridges that have collapsed, by trees that have fallen down, or by waters that have washed away parts of the streets," U.N. food agency representative Myrta Kaulard said.

She said the U.N. peacekeeping mission was also hoping that its helicopters could take more U.N. personnel along to begin handing out aid, which includes 19 tons of biscuits, 50 tons of water, and water purification tablets.

In the capital, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mari Tolliver said $250,000 in relief supplies arrived in Haiti Thursday, including jugs of drinking water, and would be sent to Gonaives by boat or plane.

"The idea is to get it there within the next day or two. Every effort is being made," she said, adding that another $100,000 will be used to buy bedding, kitchen items and other goods for victims.

"The situation in Gonaives is catastrophic," Daniel Rouzier, Haiti chairman of Food for the Poor, wrote in an e-mail. "We, just like the rest of the victims ... have limited mobility. You can't float a boat, drive a truck or fly anything to the victims."

Anger and frustration were growing at the inability or unwillingness of the government and the international community to help.

"If they don't have food, it can be dangerous," warned Sen. Youri Latortue, who flew in by helicopter. "They can't wait."

Dozens of people gathered around the gates of the U.N. base. Some children climbed cinderblock walls topped by barbed wire to ask soldiers inside for food. Edgy U.N. peacekeepers went on a heightened state of alert, and have traded their floppy hats for helmets.

Ad Melkert, associate administrator of the U.N. Development Program who just returned from Haiti, admonished international donors to do more.

"The poverty in the rain and mud of Haiti that I witnessed is nothing less than a disgrace," he said. "Many actors or potential actors try to play their part, ranging from the national government to multilateral and bilateral donors and NGOS. They all need to do more and better."

The few aid-group representatives in Gonaives did what they could - but knew it wasn't enough.

A local coordinator for the Florida-based Food for the Poor charity sailed through the flooded streets in a 22-foot fishing boat and picked up survivors, including two men struggling to keep afloat.

"The whole town is destroyed," Bernard Chauvet told The Associated Press over his cell phone as he headed for dry land, his boat jammed with 22 people including a pregnant woman and several crying children.

"These people lost everything," he said. "They have no water, no food. It is very bad."

Up to 400 people huddled in the Roman Catholic Church and the residence of Bishop Yves-Marie Pean, turning it into a de facto refugee camp. Many camped out on the watery grounds, while the lucky ones rested on chapel pews.

"We have shared with them what we had, but now we don't have food or drinking water," Pean said by telephone. "What is left is for the babies. We are praying together in solidarity in this very difficult moment."

Chantal Pierre, 19, somehow made it to the gates of the U.N. base, which is occupied by mostly Argentine troops. Soldiers carried her on a stretcher into a gym and laid her gently down. She went into labor amid the weightlifting equipment.

Minutes later, at a makeshift hospital on the base, she gave birth to a healthy girl.

A day earlier, Dorlean Nadege, 26, had given birth at the same place. Both babies slept in their mothers' arms Thursday. The doctor, Julio Cesar Lotero, said Pierre would leave on Friday, but Nadege would stay because her home was destroyed by floodwaters.

"She has to stay here," he said. "She has nowhere to go."

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Associated Press writers Danica Coto and David McFadden in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

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Tropical Storm Fay leaves 4 dead in Haiti, DR

By EVENS SANON – 3 hours ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Flooding from Tropical Storm Fay killed four people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and authorities warned Saturday that the storm could reach hurricane strength as it barreled toward Cuba.

Florida's Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency and said Fay threatened the state with a "major disaster." Forecasters said Fay could bring hurricane-force winds to the Florida Keys as soon as Monday.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said that on Saturday afternoon the storm was located about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Guantanamo, Cuba. It was heading west at about 16 mph (26 kph), and maximum sustained winds had decreased slightly to 40 mph (65 kph).

A man died Saturday in Haiti while trying to cross a river in Leogane, south of Port-au-Prince, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, head of Haiti's civil protection department. No further information was immediately available.

Rice fields in the Artibonite Valley, Haiti's most fertile region, were flooded, according to reports from Radio Ginen. And Fay's heavy winds destroyed banana crops in Arcahaie, north of the capital, although it is unclear how many acres were affected, Jean-Baptiste said.

Haiti has struggled to cope with a food crisis that sparked deadly riots in April.

The capital's airport reopened Saturday afternoon, but heavy rains were still expected in the south.

In neighboring Dominican Republic, a 34-year-old woman drowned when a family tried to cross a swollen river in a car, civil defense agency director Luis Luna Paulino said. The bodies of her missing 13-year-old niece and 5-year-old nephew were found Saturday afternoon, but her husband swam to safety.

A tropical storm warning was lifted Saturday afternoon for parts of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Cuba's government said hurricane watches were in effect for the provinces of Villa Clara, Cinefuegos, Matanzas, Camaguey, Ciego de Avila and Sancti Spiritus. A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area, generally within 36 hours.

Fay's path will take it over the southern coast of eastern Cuba late Saturday or Sunday and over the island's west near Havana on Sunday night Monday, according to forecasters.

Forecasters said Fay could hit the U.S. as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane, with winds perhaps reaching more than 100 mph (160 kph).

"The official track brings it off the west coast of Florida Tuesday and Wednesday, however, the track is always uncertain and the entire peninsula of Florida needs to pay attention to the storm," said meteorologist Christopher Juckins.

Associated Press writer Ramon Almanzar contributed from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Haitian judo athlete proving his mettle at Olympic Games

By Georgia East
sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbjudo0813sbaug13,0,5159279.story
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

August 13, 2008

He was taunted and teased growing up in Haiti, in part because Adler Volmar wasn't Haitian enough.

Born in Miami and raised in Cap Haitien, the other boys made fun of his Haitian Creole, which sounded different with an American lilt.

At 13, a group of classmates attacked Volmar with a knife, leaving him with a deep gash in his forehead.

His mother said enough was enough. She signed him up for judo.

"My mom told him, 'You're going to learn to defend yourself,'" said his sister Samantha Volmar, who saw her brother make a transformation. "It was in his blood, in his veins. He was just waiting for it."

On Thursday morning Volmar, 31, is due on the mat in Beijing, competing for the U.S. judo team. It's his second time at the Olympics. In 1996, he represented Haiti in the sport. If he wins, he would be the first athlete of Haitian descent to take a medal in judo.

Although not listed as a favorite in the competition, Adler is being watched closely by a growing group of fans in South Florida's Haitian community. His story has been spreading on some Haitian blogs and Web sites. And even though his match is scheduled to be streamed live at nbcolympics.com tonight at 12:01 a.m., many of his newfound fans plan to be in front of their monitors watching.

"I've been spreading the word and looking for his updates online," said Roosevelt Presume, of Plantation. "We're extremely excited for him."

Jacob Francois, president of a Haitian lobbying group in West Palm Beach, said the local community is monitoring Olympic athletes with Haitian roots. Martial arts, he said, have a huge following in Haiti.

Volmar moved to Coral Springs in 1998, at a time when Haiti's political climate was becoming unstable. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy, became a combat medic and joined the Navy's elite sports program. That led him to train with Olympic judo great Jimmy Pedro. "His goal at the time was to make the U.S. Team," Pedro recalled Tuesday. "Adler is a testament to his commitment."

That commitment brought Volmar back from a potentially career-ending knee injury suffered in January.

After surgery, the 220-pound contender kept training. Five months later, he qualified for the Olympics.

But getting to Beijing was a community effort. A group of people who knew Volmar from his job as a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness Club in Coral Springs held a fundraiser that raised $4,500 to send him to China.

"We've been on this quest for eight years," said his wife, Crystal Volmar, who joined her husband in China on Sunday.

Family members say their only regret is that Yolette Volmar won't be there to see her son when he faces his Olympic opponents. She died two years ago of breast cancer.

"She was such a proud woman and worked so hard for this," said Samantha Volmar. "I know she's smiling down on my brother."

Georgia East can be reached at geast@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4629.

Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

August Haitian Honey: KiKi

August Haitian Honey: KiKi

Born from a Haitian mom and Haitian-Dominican dad, Kira, known to most as "KiKi," posses the power to make a man walk across any room to her side, with just one look. Kiki does it with inviting eyes and lips that seem to smile naturally, and effortlessly.

At 20 years old, KiKi has resided in Miami, Florida, for most of her life, but she also lived in Nausau, Bahamas for a brief period. She is studying Optometry, and models on her spare time. She hopes to also act in movies and videos on day.

We thank KiKi and hope to here more from in the future. myspace.com/2piti