Tag: food

Frozen Vs Fresh

Mar 10, 2014

We all know how important it is to include vegetables in our daily food intake. Is there a difference between fresh and frozen vegetables? Fresh vegetables are always a great choice, but frozen veggies are a great way to add vegetables to your meal when fresh just isn’t an option.Frozen vegetables can be a great way to add veggies to your meal, especially if you don’t have fresh vegetables on hand. A main advantage of using frozen items is the fact that you don’t have to worry about the foods spoiling in the fridge. Frozen ingredients will keep longer than fresh refrigerated foods, and the freezing process does not deplete the nutrition very much.

Also, fresh vegetables may not actually be as fresh as we think. By the time you bring some of these fresh vegetables home they have already lost a good deal of the vitamins that they once had. In order to reach your grocery store, many fresh vegetables have in fact spent a considerable amount of time in transit as well as time on the supermarket shelf. In reality true fresh vegetables would be those that you plant in your own garden or buy direct from the farmer. If you prepare these on the same day that you buy them then you would receive the maximum nutritional value.

Frozen vegetables are easy to keep on hand and inexpensive to purchase. A bag of frozen veggies can be stored in your freezer for long periods of time and can be a quick ingredient to add to any meal with ease. Frozen vegetables are more easily and cheaply available all year round unlike their fresh counterparts. Fresh produce may be limited and/or more expensive. Some vegetables are difficult to get in some areas or on a seasonal basis. Frozen vegetables can make these difficult-to-find fresh vegetables available when they otherwise may not be. This also gives more variety to your diet making eating healthier a tastier task. Frozen vegetables will remain consistent in both quality and price. This is great if you live in a place that is difficult to get around in the winter with icy road and or long distance driving.

Buying frozen will not only save you some money, but time as well. A bag of frozen carrots will only involve cooking them by steaming, microwaving or boiling them for a short period of time. It becomes fast and easy to add vegetables to your meal and may encourage you to add more vegetables to your meals rather than skipping them all together for convenience. Fresh carrots require you to peel, clean, cut/dice and then cook. Cooking time will also be a bit longer for fresh vegetables.

To keep the most amount of nutrition in the frozen vegetable, they must be prepared carefully. Over boiling is one of the most common mistakes that can actually occur with fresh or frozen. Also, ensure when you are purchasing frozen vegetables that the listed ingredients are only the vegetable itself.

Stock up on vegetables, buying frozen will last longer and will be one less thing you have to buy on a regular basis. The ease and convenience of frozen vegetables will make eating healthier more enticing. There tends to be an attitude that the fresh vegetables in the store aisle are better, but frozen vegetables are healthy, can provide more variety and are convenient for those with busy schedules. Don’t skip out on your daily veggie intake when they can be so easy to add to your meals.

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Mutant Food

Mar 07, 2014

Genetically Modified Foods or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are laboratory creations of agricultural biotechnology engineered by inserting DNA from a foreign species into plants or animals. Genetically modifying food sources can make them bigger, stronger and more nutritious. Changing genes in plants can protect them against disease. It can also help them survive when exposed to herbicides and insects. However, the foreign DNA may be from a virus, bacteria such as E. coli, insects, animals or humans, resulting in traits that would not occur naturally.

About 70% of all processed foods on supermarket shelves contain at least one genetically engineered ingredient. Studies have shown GMOs cause infertility, birth defects, accelerated aging, dysfunctional insulin regulation, changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system, cancer, and immune problems such as asthma, allergies, and inflammation. As a result, some agencies have called for a moratorium on GMOs.

The 4 most genetically modified organisms in the U.S. are soy, canola, cotton and corn, with soy, cotton and canola at a rate of 93% production in the U.S.

How can you avoid Genetically Modified Foods?

  1. Buy foods labeled 100% Organic.
  2. Look for labels that say non-GM or GMO-free.
  3. Buy whole, fresh foods rather than processed ones.
  4. Know which foods are likely to have been a result of genetic engineering (corn, soybeans,
  5. Buy 100% fruit juices.
  6. Buy meat that is 100% grass-fed.
  7. Buy your meat and produce at the local farmers’ market.

Choosing 100% organic foods is the best option when shopping at your local grocery store. There are no laws forcing companies to label their food as being genetically modified.

It is up to us as consumers to recognize this potentially dangerous problem and take precautions to insure that we are not placed at risk by this genetic engineering of our food supply. It only takes a small percentage of people who refuse to buy genetically modified foods to effect a change at the of the largest food companies. When major food business begins to see that offering GMOs does not pay, they will begin to pull these dangerous foods off the shelves, or at least begin to clearly label foods that have been modified in some way. It is our option to choose what we want to eat, but we need all the proper information in order to make the right choice. They do say, we are what we eat. Make sure you are 100% natural.

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Food Porn

Jul 10, 2013

Humans having distorted views and relationships with food aren’t necessarily a new phenomenon. However social media, like instagram and facebook, has created a food obsessed society. It isn’t uncommon to see all your friend’s and friends of friends’ posting pictures of recipes across various social media sites whether they are dining out, have tried a new recipe they can’t wait to share or they are simply snapping a photo of tonight’s dinner.While such photos are seemingly innocent and let’s face it-some people take them to unleash their inner photographe, studies, nutritionists and medical professionals are now saying that social media and posting pictures of food can not only make us hungrier, they can make us gain weight. What’s worse is some feel that social media has all but altered the way we look and deal with food and this can be a dangerous path if one is not disciplined.

We See Food Differently with Social Media
In the olden days now long gone, nutritionists were just starting to accomplish their goal of getting the general public to view food not necessarily as a pleasure in which we should obsess over, but to see food as fuel; a means to stay alive and feed the body so that we can remain productive and healthy human beings.

Today though, our relationships with food have far surpassed that, so much so that the topic has made it to the nightly news. Anchors are now warning viewers that their preoccupation with food and pictures has transformed into something unhealthy. Suddenly food has become art; it is a social event where more is certainly merrier-more people and more food. This means more calories and a shift in our brain’s processing of the importance of food. Not for fuel’s sake, but for socialization’s sake and now our waist lines are ballooning.

We also have more access to foods than ever before. Pictures say a thousand words, or so the saying goes, and the fact that we have access to all sorts of foods now prompts us to want to eat those foods. For the person who is normally health conscious, viewing photos of greasy burgers and tasty, calorie ridden desserts on a consistent basis definitively wears down willpower some researchers say.

We no longer look at food as a way to gain nutritional value; instead we see food differently: a competition to see who can bake the best dessert; an invitation to try as many new foods as we can; a centerpiece to several get- togethers with friends where the food and spirits flow without a second thought. We care more about the art of food and the social stigma behind it than concentrating on eating the foods that will replenish our bodies in a healthy manner.

The Guilt is Gone
It used to be that when we kept food journals they were a tool to gauge how much we are eating and a way to see where our eating “flaws” were taking place. Emotional eaters found this to be quite helpful as well. However, social media has afforded us all the opportunity to view food with ease and in that process much of the guilt we used to feel has dwindled. After all, what’s the harm in creating a masterpiece and then splashing it across the social media sites in an effort to impress friends and exchange recipes? A lot says some researchers. Referred to in the medical community as “foodstagramming,” medical professionals fear that photographing foods across social media sites has started an obesity trend that can’t be undone.

In fact there is a plethora of research that shows that viewing images of foods, especially those that are high in calories, will stimulate the brain’s appetite and ultimately will cause us to crave and eat such foods.

Studies continually show (using MRI imaging) that when we view high calorie foods certain parts of the brain are activated. Those same regions are not activated when viewing healthy foods such as veggies and lean meats, causing researchers to believe that our feelings and craving for high calorie goodies are increased simply by viewing photos. Such photos trigger cravings for delicious foods and we are then more apt to seek them out and eat them.

Since we often spend hours at a time on social media sites, our brains are flooded with these images, causing a chain reaction and society’s weight is increasing because of it, while at the same time we are forgetting that food is meant to nourish our bodies, not feed our souls.

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PH for Weight Loss

Sep 10, 2012

Human body pH is one of the keys to your survival and wellness. It is also a source of fat and terrible health. The intracellular fluids of the body must be maintained at a 7.365 pH level. Our physique is created to be alkaline by design, but acidic by function. The metabolic functions generate acid, but just like a battery, you want your pH balance to be alkaline simply because an alkaline natural environment provides the greatest level of electrochemical potential. And also just as a battery, our body systems work off of electrochemical potential.

Your body should have the right bio chemical balance – named its pH Level. pH is a scale that measures how acidic or alkaline an ingredient is. One aspect which hardly ever gets mentioned when talking about fat loss strategies is body acidity.

Additionally to serving as a source of ready energy, body fat is also used by the body to manage pH, the measure of how acidic or alkaline your body is. For ideal health and fitness, your body’s pH has to remain between about 6.0 and 7.5, and even minimal shifts in pH may make oxygen delivery to the body’s cells more complicated.

The pH of your blood also has an essential role in controlling insulin, which is a key element to keeping a healthy weight; an insulin imbalance can trigger the onset of diabetes. Furthermore, healthy thyroid function is strongly connected to pH levels, since pH is crucial to maintaining ideal levels of iodine in the entire body, without which the thyroid cannot function.

With the ingestion of fаst foods and junk food that many eat in ouг fast, stressful lifestyle, people take in high calories and toxins in the foгm οf MSG, artifіcial chemical preservatives, flavoгings and colorings. We аlso overwhelmed ouг bοdies with toxic compounds froм skіn caгe products, suntan lotions, environmental pollutants and otһer substances. Tһerefore the body must continuallү flush those toxins out of the systөm tο keep tһe рH levels noгmal through the kidneys, the colon, the sweat glands аnd thө lymрh system.

If there іs а ѕtage where more toxinѕ acсumulate thаn tһe body can manage then it will stοre thіs exсess іn fat cells as a buffeгing system to protect the most important body organs.
One of the easiest wayѕ to lose fat really faѕt with fat lοss can be tο address the balance of youг body’s pH levels to rіd your body tissues οf the excess build υp οf toxins. To cһeck the pH of yoυr saliva οr urine get а set from youг loсal drugstore. Any гesult beneath 6.0 would indicate high acidity which iѕ cοmmon and any reѕult greater than 7.5 would point out high alkalinity that is uncommon.

A pH well balanced diet plan is an alternative diet that can help people lose fat or even keep their body in control during fat build-up. It is known too as an alkaline dieting system that helps you stay far away from bad digestive function. It also prevents you from low energy, cracks, aches and giving in to certain food urges.

The pH diet system allows you to handle the flow of energy level and also inspires the individual to get in to much more physical activities. The diet will certainly make you feel extremely energised early in the morning hours.

The most fundamental rule in this diet is cutting out as many of the acid forming foods. You ought to aim for a diet that includes about 80% alkalne and 20% acid-forming foods – vegetables, for instance, are all alkalizing. Furthermore, drinking lots of pure water can help flush toxins out of your system faster, preventing excess build-up.

When your body is slightly alkaline (around 7.35) you will be filled with energy, you will have a bullet proof immune system where viruses, bacteria & disease are not able to grow. You will quickly let go of body fat and your skin, bones & cells will regenerate always keeping you youthful. If you want to make sure you remain in the alkaline pH then you must eat more alkaline foods. As pointed out abοve this iѕ rarely discussed about but you will be impressed by the fat lοss benefits achieved juѕt by balancing your рH levels tο be more alkalіne.

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What`s in Our Food

Sep 07, 2012

Most of us have eaten processed foods for convenience, whether this is grabbing a sandwich from the supermarket, or a burger from a takeaway joint. However, a lot of chemicals and preservatives have been added to these foods during the ‘processing’ stage as well as a number of other bad things. If you knew exactly what was in them, you would want to steer clear of processed and takeaway food forever.

One of the most common chemicals found in processed food nowadays are ‘artificial colours’. These are made up from a derivative of tar, and are used to enhance the colour. Artificial colours are known to cause allergic reactions, hyperactivity and headaches.

The artificial flavourings that you find in processed food aren’t any better. These are linked to the same problems that can be found in the colours. They may also end up causing thyroid problems if consumed in excess.

Have you seen all of those artificial sweeteners on the market that are designed to be ‘low calorie’? You think these are healthy? Then think again. They have known to have a negative impact on the metabolism, which can lead to increased weight gain. A few varieties have also been linked to pretty aggressive forms of cancer.

Juices are often claimed to be healthy, but many of the citrus based juices have Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVQ) added as a flavour enhancer. This has been known to raise cholesterol and damage organs, not very pleasant really. It can also be found in a number of soft drinks.

The majority of freshly baked goods and soft drinks out there will contain ‘High Fructose Corn Syrup’. This could end up causing weight gain by turning fructose into fat, as well as increasing the chances of getting type-2 diabetes which could lead to heart disease and some types of cancers.

One of the most dangerous chemicals used in food however is sadly one of the most common. This is MSG and is a flavour enhancer used in the majority of take away foods out there. It has been known to cause heart palpitations, weakness, burning sensation, nausea, breathing difficulties and so much more. If there is one chemical you need to cut out of your diet, it is MSG.

This is just a small smattering of the nasty things that you could be consuming on a daily basis. I haven’t even touched upon half it, including Benzoate Preservatives which can be found in almost every fatty dish out there. It is used to prevent food going rancid, however it can cause a number of ‘diseases’ such as tumours and asthma. It is another one that can also damage the internal organs.

This isn’t all though. A common question that is often asked is whether steroids appear in milk and meat. In the United States, many farmers use steroids in order to get their animals to grow much larger, or produce more milk. Whilst it is illegal to give steroids to yourself, it is not illegal to inject them into animals. This means that when you eat meat or drink milk, you could be putting up to six different steroids into your body, this is going to be particularly dangerous for children. If you wish to avoid these then you need to eat organic meat or drink organic milk.

If you eat processed food, then take a look at a label sometime and check out some unfamiliar ingredients, you will be surprised at just how much there is there which could be doing serious harm to your body. This is going to convince you to eat ‘all natural’ food in the future.

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