Boost Your Energy

9 Foods That Will Boost Your Energy And Make You Active

Feeling low on energy? You might be lacking the essential minerals and vitamins. Here is a selection of top 9 foods for boosting your energy and being more active to get through your busy day.

Banana

An excellent post workout recovery food item, banana is a simple carbohydrate but an instant energy source. They are also an excellent source of potassium – reduced level of potassium in the body can result in physical weakness. The sugars found in banana can be digested quickly and converted right into energy for your body.

Lentils

Lentils must be a staple part of your daily diet. They’re rich in amino-acids, protein, minerals and vitamins, and can replace rice or pasta in almost any recipe. Lentils are also rich in fiber that keeps you at the peak of satiety and doesn’t allow glucose levels to rise to higher level. Give your lunch salad an energy boost by adding a cupful of cooked red kidney-beans or garbanzo beans.

Europe's sluggish Internet to get a boost

Even though she isn't the youngest European politician around, EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes is no stranger to the Internet. She says Europe must catch up - by scrapping roaming charges, and expanding broadband coverage.

Neelie Kroes gets annoyed every time she uses her smartphone to access the Internet in Brussels. Both professionally and privately, the 72-year-old politician is an inveterate Internet surfer. But in Belgium - unlike in Nigeria - she has no access to the ultra-fast 4G cellphone network. "Brussels has no 4G. But Lagos, by the way, has 4G," she said at an event in the Belgian capital. "If you live and work here, you know what that means."
The determined Dutch former government minister - now EU Commissioner for Digital Agenda - has decided that all this must change. Europe is a digital desert, she says, not only for fast mobile phone networks, but also for cable Internet access. Only a quarter of Europeans have access to 4G, she said, while there are twice as many people in the US with access to it. In fact, the number of people in Europe who actually use it is much lower, because of the relatively high costs. Meanwhile, Japan is already establishing the even quicker 5G.

Neelie Kroes is really angry about Europe's sluggish Internet

'Europe cannot compete'
"We're limping behind the US, Asia, and parts of Africa, and we can't compete," groans Kroes. She wants all that to change by 2020 - the target, determined by the EU governments, when every user is to have ultra-fast broadband. Kroes is working on the implementation. "That's my vision, my car sticker slogan, so to speak: every household, every company, every public institution, and every classroom will be on the Internet," she says. "Europe needs connectivity to be competitive in the digital age, and we know that."
The fact that economic development increasingly happens online means that a good network connection is an opportunity for businesspeople. "We can't deprive our citizens of this opportunity," she added. "We must not allow any digital division of our continent. We must not create a society where we can distinguish between the digitally rich and the digitally deprived."
The Commission has at least met one target. According to the European Satellite Operators Association (ESOA), by the end of 2013, every European will have the opportunity to receive broadband Internet via satellite. "That will guarantee that nearly 100 percent of people will have potential access to the Internet," said Kroes on Thursday (17.10.2013). Satellite Internet, she said, was particularly important for countries like Poland and Slovenia, where cable networks have not yet reached certain rural areas.
No more Internet borders

The whole of Europe should soon have Internet access via satellite

Countries like Luxembourg and Malta can already boast 100-percent Internet access, while Germany reaches around 97 percent. But that is only true of standard Internet access - only half of Europeans have access to really fast broadband, via cable or cellphone networks. In order to give telecom companies incentives to invest and create new tariffs, Kroes intends to liberalize the market and pull down national borders for the Internet.
"Telecom companies that are allowed to operate in one EU country, should be allowed to operate in all 28 member states," she said. "We have to ensure that we have healthy, competitive telecom companies. That's why I want to create a domestic European market for telecommunications. It is strange, to put it nicely, that all kinds of industries have been brought together in a domestic market, and telecommunications hasn't."
Net neutrality and new business models
Social Democrat MEP Petra Kammerevert sees just one catch. Kroes' proposals could threaten net neutrality. Up until now, every user in Europe can use every possible Internet service and website, regardless of how much data has to be transported. But soon, the telecom companies could stagger their offers and make fast access to certain services more expensive.
That could lead to some pages, such as Skype, being blocked altogether because they disrupt the firm's business model. "I think that is the first step to a two-tier Internet," warned Kammerevert. "That is not what I would define as freedom of communication."
No roaming

Kammerevert fears for the EU's net neutrality

Kroes emphasizes that while she is very much in favor of net neutrality, she says that companies must be able to profit for providing a better service. At the same time, she wants to completely abolish roaming charges for telephone calls and Internet use, making possible a continent-wide flat-rate service.

Industry lobbyists in Brussels have already warned that this could raise flat-rate prices, but Kroes believes that the telecom companies won't make good on this threat because they will be able to make more money by staggering Internet service prices.
Kammerevert thinks the commissioner will end up striking a deal with the industry. "For me it sounds like this: we'll take away your roaming charge privileges. In return, you get a qualitative staggering of Internet access - a high performance network that is correspondingly expensive. It leaves the impression of a package deal."
The EU Commission has long been offering the companies financial incentives to invest in network infrastructure, fiberoptic cables, and 4G networks. Around one billion euros ($1.37 billion) of EU structural funds is expected to be made available for this every year until 2020. Not only that, the Internet is expected to be on the agenda again at next week's summit of EU leaders.

Self expression is the new entertainment'

Huffington: 'Self expression is the new entertainment'

DW.DE

As the "Huffington Post" website launches a German edition, its founder Arianna Huffington is planning further expansion. DW asks how her blend of journalism and commentary will change the country's media scene.

DW: What makes the German market a good target audience for the "Huffington Post"?
Arianna Huffington: Well, obviously a German market is an indispensable market for a media company that wants to cover Europe and the world effectively. Also, of course, Germany is a key market in so many of the political and economic decisions being taken, as well as in this big national and international conversation around burnout, stress, productivity, health. Because Germany here, and thanks to [German Minister of Labor and Social Affairs] Ursula von der Leyen, is pretty much at the forefront of taking steps to reduce stress and make people more effective and less susceptible to the dangers of burnout.
What strategies from the US model do you plan to employ on the German version? More importantly, what new strategies will you employ specifically for a German audience?
The "Huffington Post Germany", like each of our international editions, is going to be run by a group of German journalists: Sebastian [Matthes] and Cherno [Jobatey] are respectively the editor-in-chief and the editorial director. So it has to be completely rooted in German culture and German issues. At the same time, the "Huffington Post" brings something unique in terms of our hybrid model, that we're both a journalistic enterprise and a platform. And as a journalistic enterprise we employ over 700 journalists and reporters internationally, but we are also a platform where many voices can be heard. And we want to welcome everybody who is listening, who has something interesting to say, to say it on "Huffington Post Germany".
What changes will the "Huffington Post" bring to the German media market?
I think a greater recognition of the importance of platforms. You know, platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook have become a big part of the landscape, because increasingly, self-expression is the new entertainment. You know, people want to be part of the story of our times and we have a very powerful platform to give them for that.

The 'Huffington Post' blends traditional journalism with social media and commentary

What changes will the "Huffington Post" bring to the international media market in general, with the global expansion of your concept and platform?
Well, one of the exciting things with being in so many countries around the world is that they act as bureaus for each edition. So, for example, the German edition can use any of the content of the other editions, translate it and post it. So they have access to an enormous amount of content and they can decide what would be of interest to the German audience.
Every country will now have access to more content from each of our other editions. We're going to launch in Brazil in December and then when the [Football] World Cup comes, we're going to have dedicated reporters in Brazil covering that. And then the German edition can take that content and translate it and use it.
Will the other media in the countries where you are launching now have to change in reaction to the launch of the "Huffington Post" editions?
Well obviously, nobody has to change. But we hope that other media companies will see what we do and maybe learn some additional ways to engage with their readers. And now our partners in each country, like "Le Monde" in France, "El Pais" in Spain, the Espresso Group in Italy, the Asahi Shimbun newspapers in Japan, have access to all the "Huffington Post" technology, as well as ways of doing things.
You have now launched in Germany, and Brazil is next on the list. Which countries are planned after that?
After Germany and Brazil, it's going to be India and South Korea.
This will be in 2014?
Oh yes, yes. And a few other countries in 2014: Greece, my home country, and then we're looking at other areas: Australia, the Middle East, China, Russia.
The "Huffington Post" platform wants to be attractive to users and advertisers - with your international expansion you even offer an international advertising platform. But do global companies really need international advertising campaigns?
Yes, actually, we are finding tremendous interest by big global brands to advertise across our different sites, across our different editions. Because so often, they have to have advertisements in segmented markets and here they could do a whole advertising sponsorship or campaign across multiple markets.
You have had an active life so far. What's your next project after the "Huffington Post"?
There is not really another project. This is an expanding project. The great thing about the "Huffington Post" is that it's not like managing an existing operation, because it's constantly unfolding and evolving. I am also writing a book on the Third Metric [a way of measuring success that takes account of fulfillment and wellbeing, instead of the first "two metrics," money and power], which is going to come out in March, so that is something that I believe very passionately in.