‘Food and drink’ Category
» posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 1:19 am by Scott Edwards
I Want To Lose Fat Safely – An Independent View
Dieters don’t want to feel like they’re missing out all the time, or they just become demoralised. It’s especially bad if we’re the one who cooks for the family – with one meal for ourselves and another for everyone else! So how can we put the two together and cater for one and all?
Whatever we serve up, when we’re aiming to lose weight the first thing we can address is our portion size. Starting a meal with a full plate is very gratifying, so why not buy yourself a smaller plate? Don’t rush to be the first to start eating. Take your time and chew your food well. This will leave you feeling more satiated, and prevent you from always finishing before everyone else.
Most family meals can be eaten when you’re dieting, if you restrict the amount of fat and carbohydrate on your plate. Make up for it with lots of vegetables. And avoid the temptation of crusty bread! For seconds, think carefully before you indulge yourself. A small baked apple is fine – simply leave out the custard or cream.
But you can also sneak in the odd diet meal for the whole family. Delicious low calorie meals can be created without anyone suspecting a thing! Fresh herbs make a great addition to spaghetti dishes – and add plenty of mushrooms and courgettes. Instead of oil, use tinned tomatoes and olives for juiciness.
When you’re shopping for food, always pick out lean cuts of meat. Remember also that fish can be a lower fat alternative. Whatever the rest of your family weigh, it’s still advantageous for them as well to eat lean meat. Roast chicken is a good all-rounder, just make sure you remove any skin and eat breast meat where possible. Select potatoes that have a naturally creamier texture, such as Vivaldi or Maris Piper. Then you can feel fulfilled without loading them with butter.
Watch out for breakfast cereals – some are loaded with sugar so always read the ingredients before buying. Cereal bars are best avoided too – they look like a healthy snack, but most are incredibly sweet. We also probably consume a load of hidden calories in our drinks. Choose sodas with artificial sweeteners, and make them last longer than usual by adding ice.
Wine and beer can be very fattening, so try to limit it where possible. Tomato juice with Worcestershire sauce and ice has a good kick and makes a change. As apple juice is particularly strong in flavour, water it down half and half and serve it in a wine glass for more sophistication!
Naturally, we have to change our habits if we want to shed the pounds. But with a few little tweaks here and there we can seriously cut back on the calories.
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post a comment | filed under Food and drink | tags: advice, Diet, education, Fitness, Food, Food and drink, health, Hobbies, Home, online, Personal, self-improvement, shop, Store, web
» posted on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 2:12 am by Sam Neilson
Green Tea Is Why Chinese Are Healthier Than Americans
As an oasis is to the dessert, or a cool breeze to a hot summer night, so is green tea to cholesterol.
For the millions and millions of people suffering from high cholesterol green tea may be that light. You can browse and search the Internet for topics on green tea and cholesterol and come up with hundred of hits.
Cholesterol, triglycerides, the protein apoB in LDLs, are words dreaded by humans of the modern age. This new century is expected to become the century of medical miracles, the green tea, lowly as it may sound looks very promising as several studies have shown. This could be the decade of green tea and cholesterol.
Green tea goes beyond just being helpful in lowering cholesterol. New research suggests that green tea can also be helpful in preventing cancer. The reason is that green tea has a very high concentration of antioxidants. A research report released by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed a positive correlation between cancer avoidance and green tea. In fact, the research showed that green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese by over 55 percent! In another study by the University of Purdue, scientists found that green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells! Another study by the University of Kansas has determined that EGCG, a natural ingredient in tea, may explain why the Japanese have a lower level of heart disease even though 70 percent are smokers!
And more good news! It is not just green tea and cholesterol or green tea and cancer; it is also green tea and high blood pressure. Habitually drinking 5 to 10 cups a day of green tea lowers high blood pressure.
For more that 4,000 years the Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since using it to treat everything from headaches to depression. So it is not just green tea and cholesterol or green tea and cancer; it is also green tea and depression!
There are more studies underway to determine if green tea is helpful for treating or preventing cardiovascular disease, infection, impaired immune function, and even rheumatoid arthritis.
Researchers have found that catechin polyphenols, especially epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is what lowers the risk of cancer. Polyphenols have also been found to limit the negative effects of a fatty diet and of smoking.
There’s more! It is not just green tea and cholesterol or cancer; it is also green tea and weight loss. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a report that found out that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine.
How about green tea and tooth decay? Its bacteria-destroying abilities kill the bacteria that cause dental decay. So it is not just green tea and cholesterol, it is also green tea and bacteria.
Now keep in mind that all teas are not created equal when it comes to health benefits. Green tea is what you want to drink to get the maximum health benefits. Even though all tea comes from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, the difference is in how the tea leaves are prepared. Green tea leaves are steamed which keeps more of the EGCG compound. Black tea and Oolong tea are made from dried or fermented leaves which causes a loss of EGCG.
The Chinese have certainly contributed to our understanding of the health benefits of drinking green tea.
Do not stop your research into the health benefits of drinking green tea. Search the web for many more fascinating articles on this subject and let me know what you find.
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post a comment | filed under Food and drink | tags: alternative medicine, cancer, disease, Food, Food and drink, Green Tea, health, tea, weight loss
» posted on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 12:46 am by Greg Black
Monogram Wedding Cake Toppers For Every Wedding Cake
Monogrammed wedding cake toppers are some things that should not be taken for granted. This is for the reason that the couple will be able to show their unique characteristics. If you would trace back, there has been a number of changes when it comes to wedding cake toppers that have occurred and thus resulting to the birth of humorous cake toppers.
The question lies in the fact of how to choose the ideal monogrammed wedding cake toppers for the wedding? What is specially good and convenient about these wedding cake toppers is that they can be done out of any material. You can even use a lot of diamonds and any other kind of jewelry on it.
Hence, all that it takes from you is to choose the right kind of material and then you can already have the wedding cake toppers of your choice. Traditional or modern? This is another question that you may need to answer. The orthodox types would be the usual bride and groom figurines to serve as your wedding cake toppers.
On the other hand, the more modern designs are those of the monogrammed wedding cake toppers which bear the initials of the wedding couple. It presents the couple?s unique sense of creativity and will prove to anyone why they are such a great match.
If you would take things a bit further, you can also have your wedding cake toppers custom made. You can have a special message displayed which carries very personal meanings between you and your partner. You can also choose a special song or poem that would be places on your monogrammed wedding cake toppers.
The use of monogrammed wedding cake toppers is really a unique way of giving that impressive look on your wedding cake. The same as with how embroidery makes a shoe or a bag more personal, the monogrammed wedding cake toppers also tops off the beauty of the cake.
But no matter how beneficial getting a wedding cake topper is, it is also very important for you to properly choose the ones that will fit your theme. Avoid making mistakes by checking your theme. Keep in mind that your monogrammed wedding cake toppers should be able to elucidate the solemnity and beauty of your wedding and not to ruin it.
Above all, it is important that you plan well enough for the final design of your monogram wedding cake toppers as much as you plan enough for the entirety of your wedding. The wedding cake toppers would surely serve as a tiny yet precious decoration that would add up to the impressive image of the wedding.
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post a comment | filed under Food and drink | tags: Cake, cake toppers, Food, Food and drink, Miscellaneous, monogram wedding cake, Monogram Wedding Cake Toppers, wedding cake, Wedding Cake Toppers, weddings
» posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 1:45 am by Damian Papworth
A Newbie’s Guide to Different Popular Coffee-Related Drinks
With all the different drinks out there, it’s tough sometimes to know the difference between a soy latte and a caffe latte. Besides, who really cares, as it couldn’t be that different, right? Wrong. The differences are huge between types of coffee beverages. Here’s a cheat sheet for the next time you don’t know what to order, or don’t quite understand how something is made.
First up, here are some of the names of average drinks, but this time, instead of not understanding what they mean, you’re going to learn what the heck the difference between an Americano and a Latte really is.
Espresso Most people think that espresso is a type of coffee, and don’t realize that it’s one of the styles of coffee. If you’re looking for something high-octane, this is it. A one-ounce shot has a lot more caffeine than a regular cup of coffee, thanks to the unique process that involves pressing coffee tightly together and using very hot water.
Americano You know how when you use your drip coffee machine at home, how the product tastes more like coffee-flavored water if you don’t put the right amount of grounds in? Well, the Americano is named, jokingly, after the sort of taste it is that Americans prefer when drinking their coffee. Basically, eight ounces of hot water is added to a shot of espresso, giving you a–you guessed it–watered down version of a stronger espresso drink.
Cappuccino Probably the most popular drink that people order but have no idea what they’re actually getting, the cappuccino is simply one third coffee, one third milk, and one third creamy and thick froth, from milk, too. Rather than being a pompous addition to spice up a simple coffee drink, it’s named after the Capuchin, which is the white and brown hood that monks wear.
There’s more to knowing about styles of coffee than just remembering some of the key names to the drinks. It’s even more important to know some of the processes–i.e. what heats the beans. Here are a couple of the most popular:
The French Press This is also known as bodum, cafetiere, and the press pot. Sound confusing? It’s a bunch of different names, not styles of coffee. Here, a glass container has a plunger attached, where you add near-boiling water, coffee, and then press the coffee, which is ground coarsely, down with the plunger after a few moments sitting in the boiling water. The system works to filter the coffee and leave a superior-tasting product.
The Drip If you’ve got a coffee maker at home that plugs in and doesn’t sit on the stove, this is what you’re most likely working with. Pour some water into a machine, add your coffee to the other part, and the coffee maker actually heats the water and eventually the dripping boiled water over the grounds makes your cup of coffee. Definitely one of the easiest ways, if not the tastiest ways, to have some coffee.
Of course drip coffee, popular in offices and homes across the land, is simply when you plug in a machine that heats the water and drips it slowly over the grounds, which are located in a filter. The taste, usually, is a little more watered down than with an at-home espresso machine.
So now that you’re equipped with the names of a couple of drinks, as well as some at-home processes to getting a solid cup of coffee, there’s no reason to freeze up the next time you’re out at a fancy restaurant and everyone else is ordering coffee-related drinks that you don’t quite understand. Once you get the basic vocabulary down, learning the styles of coffee and how to order them and make them at home is a simple undertaking. Bottoms up!
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