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Maintenance

Kurt Vonnegut once said, "Another flaw in human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do Maintenance."

This remark perfectly describes our ignorance towards the important task of Maintenance. Be it regular Maintenance of our car or spending money on house repair, we usually try to avoid these Maintenance jobs on one pretext or the other.

Though we must realize the inherited benefits of doing regular Maintenance. By taking care of our valuables and spending time and money on their regular Maintenance, we could use them for a longer duration of time and get the maximum benefits out of them.

Maintenance is usually one of four types. The first one is Preventive Maintenance (PM). In this Maintenance mechanism, you need to take some extra steps at present to foresee and rectify events that could possibly lead to problems in the future. It is usually done under the guidance of experts, and is beneficial in decreasing unexpected expenses and availing consistent performance.

The second type is Predictive Maintenance (PdM). This Maintenance involves checking the current system health (efficiency check) and identifying areas where problems could occur in the future. This type of Maintenance involves listing future problems, but does not incorporate the measures.

Corrective Maintenance (CM) is the third Maintenance type. It is a retroactive strategy and is used when any failure or fault occurs in the system. The basic objective behind this Maintenance type is to correct the fault soon, with less emphasis on cost and more on time.

The last type is Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). This is the latest Maintenance technique, which involves continuous improvement of Maintenance programs in the most cost-effective terms and in a technically feasible manner. RCM focuses on listing past failures and Maintenance history, and emphasizes the functional importance of system components.

posted by 22347 @ 1:49 PM 0 comments

Go Nuts

Back when we hunted and gathered for our food, nuts and seeds were part of our daily diet. They gave us energy, soft healthy skin, fertility, immunity, healthy joints, strong hearts, and sharp balanced minds. Many of us have avoided nuts and seeds to keep our diet low in fat, so its no coincidence that we may lack these qualities in our health.

Nuts and seeds are chock full of heart healthy mono and polyunsaturated fats. They contain little artery clogging saturated fat. They also contain essential fatty acids (EFAs). EFAs are easily destroyed by heat, light and oxygen. So to get their health benefits, nuts and seeds must be eaten raw. Beyond fat, nuts are a good source of all the nutrients we need: protein, complex carbohydrates, fiber, and certain vitamins and minerals. This is how they can do so much for us.

A serving size is the eaters handful. Those on weight loss diets may find that a handful of nuts give a feeling of fullness without weight gain.

Try a homemade trail mix made with raw nuts. Most commercial trail mixes use roasted nuts. Mix cup each of raw almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, or any of your favorite raw nuts or seeds, raisins, dried cherries or any of your favorite dried fruits and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a bag. Close the bag and shake to mix. Pour into plastic sandwich bags for easy snacks to-go.

Walnuts and flax seeds are special because they contain omega-3 fatty acids. Our diets tend to be low in them, yet they are essential for healthy brain and nervous system functioning. Its easy to toss a handful of raw walnuts or flax seeds on a salad or vegetables for added crunch and nutrition. Refrigerate walnuts and flax seeds to keep the omega-3 fatty acids fresh.

Peanuts and peanut butter should be a treat, not a regular part of our diets. They contain a protein known to cause hardening of the arteries. Most commercial peanut butters are full of sugar and disease causing trans-fat. Use raw almond butter instead.

Sesame seeds are particularly high in calcium and flavor. They are used by many cultures. Sesame paste, called tahini in Arabic countries, is the essential ingredient in hummus. In China, its used to make a sesame sauce served over noodles. This sesame sauce recipe is adapted from Annemarie Colbins cookbook The Natural Gourmet and is a staple in my home:

2 4 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon brown rice or apple cider vinegar

cup raw sesame tahini

cup green tea

2 teaspoons maple syrup

Pinch of cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons shoyu or tamari (natural soy sauce available at health food stores)

Place the tahini, shoyu, maple syrup, garlic and vinegar into a 2 quart mixing bowl. Blend carefully with a spoon. The mixture will thicken.

Add tea several spoonfuls at a time until you get a smooth consistency. Add cayenne to taste. Serve over vegetables, whole grain noodles or your favorite protein. Great hot or cold. Serves 6.

posted by 22347 @ 1:19 PM 0 comments