Food
With Sun getting stronger with each passing day and summer hitting hard on our body, we quite get tempted to indulge ourselves into some tantalizing chilled out fresh summer drinks to soothe our body from within. The season calls for fresh fruit juices, fruit punches, and some ice tea to treat our taste buds. However, expert figures from Vietnam say that iced tea can cause cholera which was proved through a survey. Almost 22% people were victims of cholera after drinking ice tea within a week.
Can eat certain types of foods really have an impact on our dispositions? Researchers have found that people who prefer to eat sweet foods are more likely to volunteer for someone in need and are more agreeable and helpful generally – literally making them “sweet as sugar”. The study also pointed out how different tastes can evidently be associated as metaphors for personalities of people (eg.: She’s a ‘sweet’heart!), when in fact, the taste would seem to have so little in common with a person’s behavior or temperament! So apparently, you are very much what you eat. Like we needed another reason to love chocolate anyway.
Nutella-lovers might have probably heard this by now, but yes, the latest scoop is that our very own beloved Nutella might have the disadvantageous potential to cause Cancer. A report by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has declared that palm oil – one of the key ingredients used in the Nutella for its smooth texture and considerably long shelf life – to be more carcinogenic than any other oil. Even though Ferrero, Nutella’s manufacturer is fighting back the claim slammed on it, this news has had an adverse effect as profits have already taken a 3% hit. We just hope that the issue is resolved after giving highest priority to consumers’ food safety.
Dentists in the UK are criticizing the presence of the “workplace cake culture”. They consider the sharing of sweet treats in offices to be unhealthy and detrimental to basic dental ideologies of safeguarding oral health and hygiene. The Faculty at UK believes that eating cakes and sweets at work discouraged healthy eating habits and instead acted like an irony in the oral care industry. While many people defend this proposal by citing practical reasons for bringing in sweets to work – occasions like birthdays or gatherings, we are just glad not to be working in a dental workplace in the UK right now.
We sometimes wonder if “radishes” could be the equivalent of the broccoli in India – crunchy red and white discs that adults leave behind in salads or those nasty, stick-like veggies with bony long hands and bare fingers- avoided and feared by little children since times immemorial. This much-disliked vegetable however, is extraordinarily healthy - it lowers cancer risk, regulates blood pressure, blood sugar, aids digestion, weight-loss and keeps kidneys healthy! Rich in anti-oxidants, radishes keep skin looking younger! Now you know why we were being so dramatic. Do not fear the humble mooli – dig into one right now!
Greens and purples, berries and fruits, winter is full of fresh colors and even fresher fruits and veggies! As the winter season sets in and spreads its chilly hands all over the city, we thought that we’d embrace winter with equal zest by gorging on the best and healthiest food items of the season. So go on and take a bite of those deep-purple, bulb-shaped sweet beetroots or feast on those deliciously fleshy and mouth-watering pink strawberries! Pick out a few bunches of the long spinach or methi leaves and use the fiber to beat all your stomach blues away. Have you tried the gajar ka halwa (a carrot dessert) this winter yet?
It is true that coffee is the biggest source of anti-oxidants. However, whether it is truly beneficial or addictive and unhealthy has been a much debated issue. While you may get most of your antioxidants from coffee, those found in fruits and vegetables are of a different kind. These are also required by your body. Hence, don’t rely fully on coffee for your daily dose of anti-oxidants.
A lot of food is wasted in the holiday season. To avoid this, plan your meals before you shop. Use up leftovers the next day instead of throwing them out. Let your guests take only as much as they want so that not a lot is wasted. Get creative and mix up the leftovers for a nice new dish. In addition, it's always wiser to buy frozen foods if you think you won't finish it before it goes stale.
It does matter if what you consume is acidic or alkaline in nature. When consumed, lemon juice is acidic in nature. Though, once digested the byproducts of lemon juice are alkaline. While these byproducts can make your urine alkaline, they cause very few changes in your blood stream. Hence, consuming it regularly boosts your immune system, prevents kidney stones and makes mineral absorption better.
There are several recent studies which indicate that Vitamin C has a very little effect on tackling cold and flu. It is zinc that you need. Zinc is an element which enables our immune system to function at the optimum level. Researchers suggest that we need to consume 15 to 25 mg of zinc daily. Foods that are rich in zinc include spinach, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, oysters, watermelon seeds etc.