Move over, apples: Why avocados should be part of your daily diet
Dictation in DB
What Are Probiotics, Really?
The term “probiotic” is misused so often that a group of experts has taken a fresh look at what probiotics really are, and examined what scientists have learned about them in recent years.
Probiotics are generally thought of as the “good” bacteria in the body. Experts define probiotics as live microorganisms which confer health benefits when present in adequate amounts. Much of the current research on probiotics is focused on examining which bacterial species may have health benefits, and what those benefits may be.
But there’s still enough confusion surrounding the concept of probiotics and what they can offer that some governments do not even allow the term to appear on product labels, to protect consumers from unfounded health claims.
French Cooking with Herbs
Here is Chef Alain Braux’s personal list of French herbs and their principal uses in French cooking. In almost all cases, fresh herbs will give dramatically better results than their dried counterparts. However, some freeze dried herbs can give you really good flavors as well.
Basil – Basilic
Basil is used almost exclusively in its fresh state, although basil preserved in oil does retain its flavor. Used all over Mediterranean
cuisine – tomato goat cheese salad, eggs, pasta, chicken, fish, vinaigrette recipes and of course pesto. While in season, use all the fresh basil you have, make a large batch of pesto with it and freeze in small containers or ice cube trays.
Bay Leaf – Laurier
Sweet bay or bay laurel is the only type used in cooking. Its dried leaves have a sharp and pronounced taste. They are used in stews, poaching liquids, and marinades. Normally one bay leaf is enough to flavor a whole dish and it is always removed before serving.
Bouquet Garni
A bouquet garni is a bunch of assorted French herbs tied together with kitchen twine and added to soups, stews and sauces. The following
classic French dishes, Boeuf Bourguignon, Soupe a l’Oignon, Bouillabaise, Blanquette de Veau, Poule au Pot and Cassoulet are flavored
with a bouquet garni.
What herbs you choose to put together is up to what is available nearby but the classic choice is thyme, bay leaf, and sage.
Depending on the dish, other choices can be parsley, basil, burnet, chervil, rosemary, peppercorns, savory and tarragon. Some cooks like to
add vegetables such as carrot, celery leaves, celeriac, leek, and onion.
The bouquet is not always bound with string. Its ingredients can be placed into a small sachet, a net like a cheesecloth, a coffee filter, a used bas (hose) or even a tea strainer.
Why Mediterranean diet is healthy
The combination of olive oil and leafy salad or vegetables is what gives the Mediterranean diet its healthy edge, say scientists.
When these two food groups come together they form nitro fatty acids which lower blood pressure, they told PNAS journal.
The unsaturated fat in olive oil joins forces with the nitrite in the vegetables, the study of mice suggests.
Is Buying Organic Produce For Your Kids Worth It?
Most organic shoppers choose the produce aisle first when it comes to organic food. It’s much more tangible to smell a luscious organic strawberry and know it’s not listed on the Environmental Working Group’s dirty dozen list. We all have to start somewhere, and the visual appeal, along with incredible taste of organic produce is a good place to commence when buying healthy food for children. Organic food offers earthly delights as well as principles, practices and government-backed rules that produce cleaner and healthier food.
Yet some folks think otherwise.
An article in Slate titled, “Organic Shmorganic,” does its best to question many assumptions about the benefits of organic food. The author of the Slate piece notes “… there is little evidence that the differences [between organic and conventional] translate into actual health benefits.” Those of us who have been enjoying organic food for years know the benefits, but for many consumers, stories like the one in Slate sow confusion and raise unnecessary barriers to exploring the organic produce aisle.
Environmental Working Group (EWG) posted a blog by Alex Formuzis, “The Case for Organic Fruits and Veggies,” which offers a broad view on the issue. Chemical agriculture has enormous effects on other vital resources that every American relies on, such as drinking water, air and soil, and well-documented harm that pesticide exposure does to farm workers and their families. Dr. Philip Landrigan, Dean of Global Health and Director of the Children’s Environmental Health Center at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, is quoted as saying, “Strong and well-conducted studies published in leading peer-reviewed journals have shown that families who consume an organic diet have 90 percent lower levels of pesticides in their bodies than families who consistently consume ‘conventional’ pesticide-treated foods.”
Back in 1993, The National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a report on the effect of pesticides in the diets of infants and children. This historic report concluded that many of “the pesticides applied to food crops in this country are present in foods and may pose risks to human health.” The report demonstrated that infants and children have special sensitivities to these toxic inputs. Children consume notably more of certain foods relative to their body weight than do adults. Thus, their ingestion of pesticide residues on these foods may be proportionately higher than that of adults. Certain chronic toxic effects such as cancer, exposures occurring early in life may pose greater risks than those occurring later in life. For these reasons, risk assessment methods that have traditionally been used for adults may require modification when applied to infants and children.
In short, the NAS committee stated bluntly that EPA-set pesticide tolerances governing allowable levels in food were set to protect adults, based on laboratory data collected from experiments with healthy, adult mice and rats, and that infants are not just “little adults.” The Committee emphasized that pregnant women and unborn children, as well as infants and children, are much more vulnerable to possibly life-long adverse impacts from even very low pesticide exposures. This is true for several reasons, including: Read more
Low Carb Mag April Edition
Hello and welcome to another new edition of Low-Carb Mag
Since making the magazine free last month we have been absolutely astounded at the amount of people who are now downloading it.
Our daily download rates have gone up by nearly 10 times which is phenomenal. I am really, really pleased that we have managed to get to the free download stage of our evolution sooner than expected as that means so many more people who want this information will
be able to get it.
Also – this month we’ve taken away the need to give your email address or anything like that in order to download the magazine – it is totally free and open for everybody to download from anywhere you want.
If you have a website please feel free to use the embed code on your website. And if you’d like us to make you an official partner just send me an email and we’ll put you on our official partners list – with a link back to your website. There are some serious advantages
of becoming an official partner.
Our next great piece of news is the Low-Carb Paleo Show has finally started. This is a light hearted look at the world of Low-Carb and Paleo – but with some seriously useful information all mixed into the format.
You won’t want to miss it!