Healthier Matters

Weight: a big problem today

As parents, it is our responsibility to educate our kids on what they should eat and how they should stay healthy. Kids follow their parents and when their parents are unhealthy eaters, most likely the kids would be unhealthy eaters too. Nope, it has nothing to do with genes although it can also play a role but a person becomes overweight because of an unhealthy lifestyle and appetite.

Teenagers are more susceptible to becoming overweight so when your kids start hitting puberty, an unhealthy lifestyle will cause them the rapid weight gain. Teenagers who belong to a family who spends several hours a day just watching TV or does not have any physical activity tends to be statistically heavier compared to those who belong to a family that enjoys outdoor activities.

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Drink enough water… but not too much!

I don’t get to drink enough water and I ended up having high uric acid. I was shocked when I found out and I thought I should drink lots of water to combat this just like my boyfriend does. He drinks about 3 to 5 gallons of water a day! Yes, that is so true! He gets to drink that much water and can’t survive with just 8 glasses a day. At first I thought he was so healthy because of his water drinking but I was also warned by my doctor that too much water is not good for the body as well. When you drink too much water in a short amount of time, you may actually end up being poisoned and you can even die! Yes, you can die with too much water and this news actually shocked me and I had to warn my boyfriend about it.

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Taking studies with a pinch of salt

The problem that many people have when it comes to health these days is inconsistency.  Many people are inconsistent about their diets and about exercise and for that reason they are not really able to enjoy the healthy lifestyle that they deserve.  This is not really news, but what might be interesting to some of you is that it can be argued that this inconsistency, rather than being the fault of the individual people that fall victim to it, is actually a by-product of a system that encourages it.

Take studies done on various foods for example.  Almost everyday of the week you can see a study in some newspaper or magazine that has found a link between a particular food and a particularly good or bad health effect.

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Cacao, sweet healthy weight loss

I have been putting on a few pounds recently. It’s not my fault. I managed to lose about 10 pounds by dieting and exercising before my holiday in early June, so I could show up on the beach and maybe not feel so self conscious. I didn’t make much of a difference of course, seeing as the mate I was on holiday with is a bronzed hairless Greek god and I, despite losing ten pounds, am a pale, hairy, ginger monster, so I still stood out like a sun burnt sore thumb in a fluorescent vest. But now my other flatmate keeps bringing out sweets at 11pm at night. Last night it was sweet pop corn, the night before a couple of boxes of jaffa cakes, you get the picture. So I was looking for sweets that maybe are not so bad to consume, because I don’t want those extra pounds back. continue reading »

Flax, top health seed and oil

I dislike taking pills and syrups. I think I ended up with this distaste because of my mother (something of a hippy) and her dozens of herbal teas and remedies for everything from fevers to stomach pains to insomnia. I like to look at things in a somewhat more objective way. If there is a natural and equally effective way to treat certain conditions or symptoms I feel more comfortable taking a natural remedy that has been used for a few hundred years rather than a chemical compound, at least as a preventative measure.

My interest in seeds and nuts arose from my flatmate who keeps at least 4 pounds of nuts an seeds mixed in a biscuit container and has them as a snack or with his morning cereal. He keeps going on about how healthy they are but how much fat they contain, so we need to pay close attention to the quantities we consume. He also claims that they increase his sex drive. After looking into the nutritional values of seeds I came across the king of the kind, flax seeds and flax oils. For the best effects get your own whole flax and grind or crush it.

The flax seed has many ways of being consumed in order to release its benefits. If you soak the seeds in water for half an hour and then consume them, they release their mucilage, creating a natural laxative for the most sensitive of tummies. Swallowing the seeds whole apparently cleans up toxins that can be left behind in your intestine due to diets. Chewing the seeds releases essential oils. The seeds contain lignans that fight viruses, bacteria, fungi and cancer and they also contain lecithin which fights fat and cholesterol levels.

Through grinding or crushing the seeds you also get flax oil, which can also be purchased but needs to be cold pressed and stored in a dark bottle in the fridge and consumed within a month of opening. It contains unsaturated alpha linolenic (essential oil) as well as Vitamin E and carotene. It is an excellent substitute for other oils in salad dressings, or at least as a combination with olive oil, as it will release a nutty flavour and is excellent for your body.

Mango Season

I recently moved in with my two best friends and was helping one of them move, using a van. On our way to our wonderful new flat, we drove through Southall, London. To those of you who don’t know, driving through Southall is like travelling to a different country. From the moment you drive past Southall Park everything starts to change. Clothes, music, the smell of foods and spices, signposts, advertisements… You have suddenly been transported to Southeast Asia, a country that would exist if people in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and places I’m sure I don’t know of, were to decide to live together in one neighbourhood. It is a truly wonderful cornucopia of scents and tastes, but that day I discovered mango season.

Apparently it is mango season in Pakistan at the moment, and that is the home of the Honey Mango, the sweetest mango out there. Every single greengrocer had boxes of fat ripe yellow mangoes, some with green patches. There were even some makeshift stools set up especially to sell the fruit, boxes of which were set on top of each other and displayed. The memory stuck in my mind and it was with great excitement when my mate Paul who lives in Southall visited the new flat and brought a box of mangoes as a present.

But perhaps the most exciting thing about this new variety I had discovered was how to eat it. All you need to do is roll it in your hands and press it, so that the insides go soft. Then cut or bite a hole in the bottom and suck out the flesh and juice, preferably over the sink. But along with this exciting new technique came a stern warning: not to eat too many as they are very sugary.

So all this mango talk caused me to look into the honey mango’s nutritional values. So without further ado, the mango’s nutritional characteristics are (and the reason to eat the yummy fruit is): That mangos are rich in fiber, they contain antioxidant vitamins A, E and C as well as vitamin B6 and other B vitamins, vitamin K, copper, potassium and many other amino acids, and the fruit’s peel and pulp contain omega-3 and omega-6.

The taste of one was enough to make me a fan, as I’m sure you will become, but for those of us who like the numbers, here they are:

Carbohydrates 17.00 g
- Sugars 14.8 g
Fat 0.27 g
Protein .51 g
Vitamin A 38 μg

b-carotene 445 μg

Thiamin 0.058 mg
Riboflavin 0.057 mg
Niacin 0.584 mg
Pantothenic acid 0.160 mg
Vitamin B6 0.134 mg
Folate 14 μg
Vitamin C 27.7 mg
Calcium 10 mg
Iron 0.13 mg
Magnesium 9 mg
Phosphorus 11 mg
Potassium 156 mg
Zinc 0.04 mg