Beautiful lawns are great, but you can’t live on them! If you have a decent amount of space around your home you might want to consider devoting some of it to a vegetable garden. I’ve just finished planting mine and we’re really looking forward to what it’s going to bring into our lives. So here are a few of the benefits…

There can be so many reasons why you should plant your own garden that there should be nothing stopping you from doing it. You will save money simply by growing your own vegetables, but it requires a lot of hard work. It takes effort and patience but you will see the results when the vegetables appear. A particular good thing about having your own garden is you have control of what chemicals or products are going into your soil. It seems quite feasible that much of the illness and obesity issues are caused by what’s in our foods.

The rewards from consuming fresh, healthy vegetables, cultivated in your own yard, are so numerous that having a garden shouldn't take much thought. Feeding on vegetables, that happen to be packed with nutrients, are low in fats and calories, along with containing no cholesterol. An additional benefit happens to be dietary fiber which helps to keep you regular. Eating plenty of vegetables could lower your cholesterol levels which could also reduce the risk of heart disease. Roughage, which comes from such vegetables as spinach, cabbage, peas and carrots, gives you the feeling of being full much quicker.

A few of the nourishing substances you will receive are potassium, which is important for anyone who is concerned with their blood pressure. This is additionally great for building the brain and muscles. Celery, potatoes, eggplant, squash and tomatoes usually are fresh vegetables that have lots of potassium. Needless to say vegetables tend to be packed with vitamins like vitamin A, which helps the skin and eyes and can be found in carrots, asparagus, broccoli and green pepper. With regard to energy, vitamin B is tremendous and can be found in broccoli, peas and beans. Vitamin C can assist your defense mechanisms and you can get it in kale, parsley, turnips and red cabbage.

Vegetables can just about offer all the essential vitamins and minerals you need to live healthy. Become good to yourself and all your family by starting a vegetable garden. Not only will it save you money, but your health will improve, while you lose weight.

I got an e-mail yesterday from my old buddy Pete, who I have known for over 15 years. Pete moved to Europe nearly 2 years ago now. Turns out that Pete has got himself a job working for a betting company, Paddy Power. Yes in Europe they are allowed to bet online and in bookmaker shops, his job is part of the online branch of the company, some technical stuff with the computer systems there, that I have to confess I don’t understand fully. But never mind.

So I looked into the company just out of interest to see who they were, and it turns out they are a pretty big name in sports betting over there. They also have shops in the UK and do business online with people from all over the world. He also mentioned they had done a load of crazy, surreal and sometimes controversial TV ads, so I looked them up on Youtube as well and yeah they are pretty surreal. Take this one for example:

OK I guess it might be quite funny to the right person but you have to wonder whether it makes them want to bet on sports! The guy is called Carlton Palmer and as far as I can make out he is a former soccer player in the English league. Guess maybe he did not invest his money too wisely if he is now making these commercials?

But what does get the customers is the promotions they offer, which is part of the work Pete is doing. He says the do an offer called the paddy power free bet which is like an introductory promo thing, and everyone who joins them gets something like $50 or maybe 50 euros, for free. So this sounds like a pretty crazy offer, maybe they can just take the money and never spend any of their own? Or perhaps there are some Ts and Cs that safeguard against that.

Anyway you can probably tell that this is not my area of expertise but in any case I did tell Pete I would write up a blog post with a shout out to him and also a few words about his new job which he seems pretty pleased with, so here you go Pete. Best (or should that be bets) of luck with your career at Paddy Power, and hope those punters keep signing up for the free bets. But maybe you should have a word to your bosses about some of those TV ads, because I really am not sure that two men in the bath together is going to sell many sports bets.

Take care for now, I will blog again soon. M.