Organic food products have an 8.4 percent market share in Denmark, the highest anywhere in the world. Photo: Sisse Stroyer/Scanpix

A new international report highlights just how popular organic food has become in Denmark.

Organic products account for 8.4 percent of the total food market in Denmark, a higher percentage than in any of the other 178 countries included in the report. Switzerland and Luxembourg followed Denmark, with 7.7 and 7.5 percent organic market shares respectively.

At the same time, our organic first place position is a clear signal to the export markets around the world that Danish organic companies are producing exciting quality food products that are popular with consumers, he added.

The FIBL report also showed that Danes have the second highest per capita spending on organic products at 191. Switzerland topped that category with 262 in per capita spending. The country with the biggest overall market for organic products was the United States by a wide margin.

The report was released in conjunction with the Biofach organic food trade fair in Germany, which a record 54 Danish organic food companies will attend.

Its not just within Denmark that the countrys organic revolution can be felt. kologisk Landsforening reported that exports of Danish organic foods have set a new record in each of the past ten years. In 2015, organic exports accounted for roughly two billion kroner, a 15 percent increase over the previous year.

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No one buys more organic food than the Danes: report - The Local Denmark

Size of organic food market is around Rs 3,350 cr, industry estimates suggest its growing 30% a year

Arnab Dutta | New Delhi February 10, 2017 Last Updated at 01:00 IST

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is drawing up guidelines to regulate organic food.

The regulator will put up draft guidelines for organic packaged food and commodities in the public domain for suggestions next month.

Organic food exporters are now required to obtain approval from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority. There are no guidelines for domestic players.

The draft will propose setting up of a committee to suggest changes in the certification method being followed now.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is drawing up guidelines to regulate organic food.

The regulator will put up draft guidelines for organic packaged food and commodities in the public domain for suggestions next month.

Organic food exporters are now required to obtain approval from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority. There are no guidelines for domestic players.

The draft will propose setting up of a committee to suggest changes in the certification method being followed now.

Arnab Dutta

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FSSAI drafting organic food norms - Business Standard

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By | Morgan Brizee

HSU staff psychologist with a residential life focus, facilitating the One Breath meditation with students. Photo by Morgan Brizee

A long light grey table split the Recreation and Wellness Center room in half. Students and a staff member were on one side and the facilitator on the other during the One Breath meditation group class on Feb. 1.

Every Wednesday at 5 p.m., Craig Beeson teaches those who want to learn to destress and wind down. The group is run by Counseling And Psychological Services and is open to the HSU community including students, staff and faculty.

Beeson is a staff psychologist with a residential life focus and does workshops like One Breath in the resident halls on HSU campus.

I noticed when this [One Breath Meditation workshop] was on my mind, preparing for it, I was getting stressed about it, Beeson said. This is counterproductive, Im getting really stressed about a mindfulness presentation.

With a new semester starting up again, and most students being far from home, it can be easy to get overwhelmed.

Karen Zurdta, a 23-year-old English grad student, talked about how coming to this class has taught her to love herself more.

I was going through a tough time with school last semester and I got really sad and emotional, Zurdta said. I was having problems showing myself love and that I am worthy of good things.

Beeson is using the book, The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion by Christopher Gerner, to teach the class about not fighting the feelings you have but instead accepting them. The class goes over how to cope with issues from anxiety to insomnia that many students can relate to.

Matt Cunningham, a 25-year-old senior English major, has been meditating for five years and even went to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah, Calif. last spring to help with his practice of mindfulness.

Its kind of taught me to think of my thoughts and feelings as senses and to react to them like I would to any other sort of negative stimuli, Cunningham said. Mindfulness has helped me address those things more directly in a lot of ways.

The class begins with a group discussion of feelings and how to address them in a positive way. After about 30 minutes, Besson directs the group to close their eyes and focus on their individual breathing. He then moves on to telling the group to focus on one body part at a time, relaxing each body part individually, until the group feels their body and mind is calm. Beeson ends class by checking in with each member of the group on how they feel afterwards.

We talk about things like how to connect to yourself and live a more present, relaxed life, Beeson said.

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Mellow out with meditation - The LumberJack

After a brief pause during which it vacated its Sag Harbor quarters, Kadampa Meditation Center has reopened at 720C Montauk Highway in Water Mill.

Another change at the center, which offers weekday guided meditation instruction, a Friday evening class on Buddhist wisdom followed by a vegetarian dinner, and Sunday morning teachings, is the arrival of a new teacher.

On Sunday, Elizabeth Muzyka, who had previously been the centers primary teacher, delivered the first instruction at the Water Mill location, a talk, guided meditation, and question-and-answer session on karma, often called the law of action or the principal of cause and effect. She will offer a workshop on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the topic of love. The workshop is free for members, $15 for nonmembers.

Ms. Muzyka succeeds Gen Kelsang Norden, a Buddhist nun who served as Kadampa Meditation Centers teacher for the past five years. A native of Bath, England, who has taught Buddhism and meditation for more than 20 years, Ms. Norden has relocated to Houston, where she continues to teach.

Read more:

Meditation Center Reopens - East Hampton Star

Eileen Honey has made more than a dozen creative journals since 2007.

Reddingite Eileen Honey was never a diary-writer as a child, she remembered at her home last week over coffee, but since 2007 shes taken to creating intricate journals of her experience in life in abstract and concrete ways.

Honeys artistic journals are varied from the moment she begins work on them; she uses both blank journals, and old, well-bound printed books she finds in Mark Twain Librarys back room as her launching points.

She fills page after page with drawings, paintings, writings, paper clippings, her sons Cub Scout badges, and various other items and tokens shes collected over the years. Shes completed more than 12 since she began 10 years ago.

Sometimes Honeys journals follow a theme, and sometimes they progress less structurally. Often she intersperses her own writing and musings alongside visual aspects of the journal though she doesnt always leave her words legible.

I write a whole lot of stuff on the pages but I cover it up sometimes, she said. Often, I just have to put words down.

Pointing to one entry in a recent journal that was written near one of her birthdays, she noted that whats written there you cant read, but its really the lyrics to a song. Its a memory I was reliving, but [by obscuring it] Im not sharing it completely.

Sharing is an important part of Honeys journaling. She shares many of her pages on a personal blog, and plans to eventually pass these journals down to her son.

Two pages from one of Honeys journals.

While they dont carry the same narrative direction as a plain diary, Honey said she hopes her son will gain a bit of understanding from her journals.

Im hoping he will put these in his own library and will learn more about me by looking at these books than if he was just looking at an album full of photos. They tell a lot about me, and a lot about him, as well. Its kind of my little legacy, she said.

As an activity, Honey said, journaling is an anti-computer activity that allows her to focus on the past, present and future in unique ways.

When youre sitting doing this, it becomes a very meditative activity. You really get deep into what youre doing, which is totally contrary to using a phone, something I find very, very cool.

Honey at the crafting table in her art room.

Inspiration for each page comes from a variety of places, whether it be the phrasing of an advertising postcard in the mail, or the obituary of a woman shes never met (in this case that of Mary Margaret Kasiewicz, a Reddingite who died in 2015).

I never knew this woman who died when she was 70 years old, Honey said. But I saved it because she was amazing and her life was amazing. Even though she was physically challenged, she traveled to Antarctica on a research vessel. She deserved attention.

Sometimes I wonder what she would think about some woman cutting out her obituary who wasnt a friend of hers. But I valued her. Thats what journaling is. Not every page has [such a deep] reason, but many of them do.

For weeks at a time, shell find herself at her crafting table hour after hour, Honey said. At other points, she might not look at her journals for long periods of time.

But one way or another, its an art shes planning to continue for a long time.

I dont know if Ive refined [my process of journaling], or if Ive just changed [since I started]. Some of the pages are different now than they were then, she said.

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Journaling is like 'meditation' for Reddingite - The Redding Pilot

On Sunday, the Portneuf Sangha and Meditation Center will show part 2 of a filmed talk by renowned Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. This 30 minute segment of the film, entitled The Practice of Peace, includes teachings by Nhat Hanh on mindfulness meditation and compassion. Thich Nhat Hanh has been actively teaching about peace and reconciliation for over 40 years, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. for his efforts to end the Viet Nam War. He was exiled from his mother country for 40 years. This remarkable talk was given in 1991.

Story continues below video

The morning begins at 10 a.m. with a thirty-minute silent meditation period with guidance offered for those who would like it. After the meditation, the filmed teaching will be shown, and a brief discussion will follow. Light refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome, regardless of meditation experience, and chairs are available, or you may bring your own cushion. There is no charge, and donations are welcomed.

For more information, contact Paula and Tony Seikel at 775-3183 or seikel@ida.net or visit the website at portneufsangha.org to learn about all of the programs offered at the Sangha.

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Portneuf Sangha and Meditation Center to show film on Sunday - Idaho State Journal

Some Sun City West residents may be pleased to see the finishing touches put on another shared amenity for their community. But at least one voice has spoken out against the project.

Recreation Centers of Sun City West officials expect construction to be completed later this month in anticipation of a March opening for the meditation garden at Beardsley Recreation Center, 12755 W. Beardsley Road.

Grand opening will be scheduled once the lighting and vegetation are completed, said Cindy Knowlton, RCSCW recreation manager. Likely it will open by the end of February or sometime in March.

The project, which has been in the works since 2012, is primarily funded by the Sun City West Rotary Club, which provided the initial $13,800 investment to cover its design and will repay the $49,000 RCSCW invested in its construction. The Rotary Club plans to repay the cost by selling memorial bricks, which will later be installed at the site.

Frank Bagnato is a Sun City West resident who penned a letter to the editor (Mediation garden not likely needed, wanted, Sun City West Independent, Jan. 25, 2017) criticizing the project. Mr. Bagnato is a former RCSCW employee and frequent critic of rec centers management.

In the letter, Mr. Bagnato accuses officials of wasting money on a project residents do not want and of failing to give residents a voice in how their dues are spent.

Perhaps the most egregious example yet of our communitys willingness to say Yes, we can to anybody that asks is now underway the Beardsley Meditation Garden, Mr. Bagnato stated in his letter.

He further alleges the project was snuck in under the radar, that the board did not officially discuss the project, and residents were not given an opportunity to weigh in.

Ms. Knowlton disputes this allegation, saying the project arose from board discussions going back five years, having initially been suggested as part of a study conducted under the direction of previous board president Lake Westphal.

Lake was a bit of a visionary, he had some great ideas, said Ms. Knowlton. He made a priority of creating social gathering places.

The board conducted a study of rec centers core facilities, looking for ideas for new amenities for the community, according to Ms. Knowlton.

The garden area came out of that effort, as well as Kuentz Courtyard, she added.

Kuentz Courtyard is a busy place today, hosting a show per week from October through April, as well as twice-monthly happy hours and jam sessions. The Boomers Club and others use it regularly for events and luncheons.

Its a very heavily used and popular place, Ms. Knowlton said.

Following Mr. Westphal on the board, board member Diane Cheney took up the cause. When the Rotary Club came to invest in a project, Ms. Cheney shared with them the boards vision for a respite garden, according to Ms. Knowlton.

Responding to concerns raised last year, RCSCW Chief Financial Officer Tony Struck defended the project in a letter responding to Mr. Bagnato.

The initial budget for the meditation garden was established in June 2015 at $13,800 subsequent to receipt of a $15,000 donation from the Rotary Club, Mr. Struck stated in his letter. This donation initiated the project, which had been in the works for quite some time.

Mr. Bagnato offered no direct reply to Mr. Strucks letter or his attempt to explain how the project was planned and paid for. Nor did he accept Mr. Strucks invitation to discuss the project in person.

Once the design was completed, RCSCW General Manager Mike Whiting approved $49,000 for construction of the project and a request for bids went out to contractors. Because RCSCWs investment falls below the $50,000 threshold, no official board vote was required to approve the project. But at every step in the process, staff members have kept the board and the public apprised through various channels, according to Mr. Struck.

[The general managers] authority to authorize capital savings also included keeping the Governing Board informed, which he has done via various venues weekly GM report, GM annual goals, Properties Committee, Mr. Struck stated.

The monthly reports, which are published each week on the rec centers website, are formally presented twice monthly at the general managers operations meetings, as well as at regular board meetings. Mention of the meditation garden project is found in no fewer than 28 published GM reports over a 30-month period.

Notable among those reports are two entries.

July 21, 2014: The Rotary Club is working in conjunction with RCSCW Staff to establish a meditation Garden at Beardsley Park.

June 15, 2015: CFO Tony Stark and Cindy Knowlton met with the SCW Rotary Club last week and were presented with a check for $15,000 from the Club as a gift toward the Beardsley Meditation Garden project. Many thanks to the SCW Rotary Club! The Meditation Garden will be a wonderful addition to the Beardsley campus.

At every GM operations meeting, the public may attend and are provided with copies of the GMs report, which is subsequently published online. Board members read through each report and ask questions. They also invite attendees to ask questions and voice their opinions at the meetings. For those who cannot attend the operations meetings, the GM reports to the board at its regular meeting each month, where residents are also encouraged to ask questions and share their concerns.

Despite as many as 90 such public meetings being conducted over the past 2.5 years, Mr. Bagnato accuses staff of pushing the project through under the radar.

Despite attempts to determine who approved this project, we get no answers and told we must attend more meetings if we want to know details, Mr. Bagnato asserts in his letter.

Rec center staff and dozens of public documents tell a different story, according to Mr. Struck.

In recent years, club projects have been either partially or fully funded by the clubs. From Pickleball to the Auto Restoration Club, these projects enhance the value of the community, he said. At the end of the day, it is a capital asset of the association with corresponding revenues to offset the expenditures.

Continued here:

RCSCW officials defend Meditation Garden project - YourWestValley.com

BENGALURU: I feel the urge to urinate every 15 minutes but when I go to the bathroom I hardly urinate. What is this? Frequent passage of urine could be because of an irritative cause like infection, which irritates your bladder and make you pass urine often or it could be due to obstruction - where due to some obstruction in the urine passage you are unable to empty your bladder and have to go frequently.

A urine test and an ultrasound scan will identify the pathology and allow your urologist to treat you.

After using the public bathroom in a bus-stand, I have been feeling a burning sensation. Is this an infection and is there a possibility of UTI?

Burning sensation in the urine along with frequency, fever with chills and occasionally blood stained urine are symptoms of urinary infection.Kindly get a urine test and meet your doctor, so appropriate treatment can be started.

I am 34-years-old male. Five minutes after urinating I feel there is some urine left in the bladder. So I go back to toilet to finish it. Sometimes I go twice. There are times when I dont go but the urine comes anyhow. It has been happening since 3-4 months now.

There is a possibility you may not be emptying your bladder every time you pass urine.This could happen if there is a possible narrowing in the urine passage or rarely, your bladder is weak and unable to push all your urine out.Simple investigations like an ultrasound and a test to measure your urine flow called Uroflowmetry will help delineate the cause and allow your urologist to investigate and treat it appropriately.

I am 18-year-old female and I have been wetting my bed for few weeks now. Every time I drink water before going to bed, I wake up in the morning on a wet bed. I do not even remember it. What is this and how can I get rid of this?

This condition which you are suffering from is called Nocturnal Enuresis. Do consult your urologist who will do a few tests including an ultrasound scan and urine tests. Based on these results, various ways to treat this condition include behavioural modifications like controlling water intake and practicing pelvic floor exercises and also prescribing appropriate medications.

I am in a sexually active relationship. But when I am in action I feel a desperate urge to urinate. Is this a common problem because I have never experienced it before.

The urinary bladder and the urethra (urinary passage) are in close proximity to the vagina and the adjoining structures in a female.

During intercourse and especially in certain positions, there is more pressure exerted on the bladder and urethra due to their anatomical position - which makes you feel like urinating. This feeling is totally normal and with time it should pass and you will be comfortable.Its also advisable to pass urine before intercourse and also immediately after.

Consultant urologist and transplant surgeon Fortis Hospital,Cunningham Road. For queries write to health.cityexpress@gmail.com

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Pelvic floor excercise will save you from the horror of wetting your bed - The New Indian Express

A House budget panel debated sweeping money from housing, transportation and economic development trust funds to meet spending cuts imposed by House leaders.

The House Transportation & Tourism Appropriations Subcommittee alsoentertained a suggestion that Visit Florida, the states tourism promotion arm, operate on local tourism taxes, instead of state general revenues.

Rep.Mike La Rosa, a St. Cloud Republican, came up with the idea as a way out of the contretemps between Gov.Rick Scottand House SpeakerRichard Corcoranover the wisdom of spending state tax dollars to promote economic and tourism development.

Have it funded locally, so theres a secured funding mechanism for Visit Florida, La Rosa explained followinga committee meeting.

Hopefully, that gives a little more buy-in for local tourist boards. Then, the state can decide what role it wants to play, ultimately, in Visit Florida, he said.

There would have to be some policy changes, La Rosa conceded. I havent gone that far and started to think about whos ultimately going to control it. Is that the locals 100 percent, or does the state still buy in and still have some general direction in it?

La Rosa sits on the House Careers & Competition Subcommittee, which was scheduled later in the day to take up legislation supported by Corcoran and other House leaders to eliminate state spending on economic incentives, including Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida. The bill isPCB CCS 17-01.

The transportation and tourismpanel heard leaders of the agencies under its purview the Department of Economic Opportunity, the Department of Transportation, the Department of State, the Department of Military Affairs, and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles explain what Scotts $83.5 billion proposed state budget would mean for their agencies.

Then it took up an excercise in budget cutting imposed by House leaders worried that state spending is outpacing tax collections. The subcommittee has bad-case and worst-case targets $156.2 million, and $321.2 million, respectively.

Hitting the larger target will mean dipping into large trust funds, chairmanClay Ingram, a Republican from Pensacola, said.

Its an exercise, to put thought into, if we have to make cuts in future years, where we would look at doing it, Ingram said.

To get to that big number, you would have to take, in some way, shape, or form, money from either the SEED Trust Fund, which fuels economic development, he said, referring to the State Economic Enhancement and Development fund.

And then theres the Transportation Trust Fund its the biggie. Its roads, bridges, things that we all need. So its not like its wasteful spending, either, Ingram said.

La Rosas Visit Florida proposal would save $76 million dollars in state general revenues thats the number Scott has requested for the agency during the budget year that begins July 1.

That legitimately moves the ball, Ingram told the panel, and might avoid the job cuts Scott warns would come if the state cuts back on Visit Florida and other economic incentives.

Democrats on the panel joined Republicans in skepticism about economic development spending. Ranking DemocratEvan Jenne,of Dania Beach, referred to it as corporate welfare echoing Corcoran and said: We have to look at the actual returns were getting there.

Joseph Geller, a Democrat from Aventura, was reluctant to dip into the housing fund. People have to have a place to live, he said.

AlJacquet, a Democrat from Lantana, said his staff fields plenty of calls from constituents having trouble with housing. He was frustrated at lawmakers tendency to divert housing money for other uses. It rarely gets used for that purpose, he said.

Geller observed that another way to balance a budget is to raise taxes. He zeroed in on the 2015 repeal of the communications services tax which, he said, saves consumers about 61 cents per month but costs the state $450 million per year.

Maybe we should look back and correct that mistake, Geller said. I dont think anyone is going to miss 61 cents.

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House budget panel weighs raids on trust funds, Visit Florida's future - SaintPetersBlog (blog)

JANE MATTHEWS

Last updated10:07, February 8 2017

JANE MATTHEWS/FAIRFAX NZ

Thai Chi instructor Judi Lee has taught Tai Chi for the past 30 and Hawera participants Kathleen Meyer and Lynne Walker are a couple of the many who have experienced health benefits.

Tai Chi started in Hawera in May as a trial.Today, many of the participants are convinced it has changed their lives.

Three members of the physicallyand mentally challenging classes said they hadnoticed health benefits in the past eight months.

Kathleen Meyerrecently visited her doctor for her annual bone density test and was told she would not have to get another for five years.

"I'm putting it down to this [tai chi] as wellas eating a bit more yoghurt and seeds and things, butI'm sure it's this," she said.

READ MORE: *Lepperton Tai Chi instructor shares favourite martial art with others *New Plymouth tai chi class celebrates World Tai Chi Day *We try tai chi - it's harder than it looks

Tai Chi is aunique system of health and self defence that originated in China nearly 1000 years ago. Instructor Judi Lee has been taking classes for the past 30.

Lee said there were many health benefits of Tai Chi including balance, relaxation, breathing, immune system, blood pressure, blood circulation, mental health and rehabilitation for falls and broken bones.

Heather Macdonald and Lynne Walker joined Tai Chi in Hawera and"wouldn't miss it".

Macdonald originally joined to get fit, get balanced and relax.

Walker joined to teach herself to slowher breathing.

"It just makes me slow down and breathe.I'm a shallow breather, so the breathing exercises areparticularlyreally helpful," she said.

All three of the woman said the relaxation was great, but didn't mean the exercisefailed to test their fitness.

Walker said this was one of the few exercises she thought moved "every single thing".

"By the time we've done an hour here, it doesn't seem like a lot, but by the time I go home after an hour, I just sort of think 'oh okay I've done an hour's exercise'," she said.

Lee said themovement of the exercises are"demanding, butgentle and slow", which attracts a lot of the participants.

A 74-year-old man who had just attended his first class to start getting healthiersaid he'd thoroughlyenjoyed it.

"I've got to lose some weight and get a bit fitter, I get down on my hands and knees and have a hell of a job getting back up again," he said.

-Stuff

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Tai Chi changes lives, one move at a time - Taranaki Daily News