Archive for the 'Healthy Eating' Category

How to Strengthen Immune System with Effective Tips

There are many ways to strengthen immune system that make the human body capable to withstand against various infections caused due to microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses etc. Let us look at

Effective Tips 1: All the body systems require proper nourishment including the immune system. To make it powerful, you need to consume a balanced diet that includes necessary proteins, vitamins and minerals. They all help in boosting the immune system and also help in keeping the body enzymes and hormones in harmony. It is advisable to include dark, green and leafy vegetables and fresh fruits that help providing proper nourishment.

Effective Tips 2: Exercises (physical workout) play crucial role in building the immunity. They have been practiced by people since centuries as a traditional way to keep the body healthy but now they are also backed by lots of scientific researches and clinical trials. Exercises such as Yoga, Pranayama and Meditation are reported to be very beneficial in strengthen immune system.

Effective Tips 3: The nature has gifted us with lots of herbs that possess natural properties to boost the immunity and to prepare the body to fight against various foreign attacks. Herbs such as guduchi (tinospora), amalaki (Indian gooseberry), Lahsuna (garlic), Pippali (piper) etc are few of the most potential herbs that have been used to treat various health ailments where the immunity is compromised.

Effective Tips 4: There are some alternative medicines and therapies that help in enhancing the body’s defense mechanism and help to fight against various microorganisms. Alternative therapies such as acupressure and acupuncture are not only good immune boosters but they also help in healing, treating and preventing health ailments. Likewise, there are many essential oils (used in aromatherapy) that help in promoting the body’s defense mechanism.

Effective Tips 5: Keep the body away from any kind of addiction. Alcohol and tobacco consumption in any form (including beer and tobacco patch respectively) would lead to altering the body’s defense mechanism. Apart from dulling the immune system, such addiction also harm some of the body’s most vital organs such as liver, kidney and heart. Over the times, it may also lead to unusual growth (such as cancer) that becomes irreversible.

Effective Tips 6: One should give up all the food that harms the body. High calorie diet is to be avoided. Also, food that contains preservative is to be given up. Spicy food, oily food, canned, packed and frozen food packets are to be avoided for better health. They all may have negative impact on the immune system and may dull body’s defense mechanism.

Health Benefits To Baking Your Own Whole Wheat Bread

I think one of the greatest benefits recieved by baking your own whole wheat bread is the long term health benefits you reap. When you bake whole wheat bread you control every ingredient put into it. No artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, no bleached then enriched flour and no other unneccessary additives that take away from the health of the bread.

To see for yourself what I’m talking about, go get a loaf of bread that you’ve bought from the store, now read the ingredient list and google all of the really long words that don’t sound like natural ingredients. You will be shocked at what you discover.

For example, the ingredient “monoglycerides,” found in almost every store bought bread, is actually hydrogenated oil/fat otherwise known as trans fat. Hydrogenated oil is oil saturated with hydrogen at a high temperature. This creates tight bonds with the hydrogen which allows it to remain semisolid at room temperature and increases shelf life drastically by delaying rancidity. What allows it to be solid is how tightly the molecules of the fat bond to each other. In your blood stream this means the fat clumps to itself much easier and clogs your veins much easier.

This is why hydrogenated oils and trans fats have been labeled “the silent killer” because they dramatically increase the risk of coronary heart disease. The bread manufacturers try to be sneaky and put monoglycerides in the list of ingredients in place of hydrogenated oils to fool you. You could look at the nutrition panel on the same loaf of bread with the ingredient monoglycerides and under trans fats it will list zero grams. This is because under FDA regulations if the serving contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat, the package is free to say it has zero.

But lets say you eat four slices of bread (with each serving containing 0.4 grams of trans fat) then you just consumed 1.6 grams of trans fat, despite the fact that the nutrition panel on your bread claims that it has zero grams of trans fat per serving.

You can’t trust store bought bread, it’s that simple. The bread manufacturing companies do what they can to save money in production of the bread but in the long run it costs you your health. The only solution that I’ve found is to bake your own bread. This isn’t as complicated as it sounds, it’s actually very easy once you learn how.

My favorite bread to bake is whole wheat bread because it’s so heart healthy and you get so many vitamins and minerals from it. If the whole wheat bread is made correctly you also get a really amazing tasting bread that can put store bought imitations to shame. I call them imitations because a lot of bread manufacturers actually use white flour to make “whole wheat” bread and then color it with caramel to make it look authentic. So again check ingredients on your bread. If the bread has unbleached enriched flour as the first ingredient you could actually be buying white bread disguised as whole wheat bread, look for caramel coloring in the ingredients list as well to prove this.

Other ingredients to watch out for:

Calcium sulfate: This is also known as plaster of Paris, this additive is used as a dough conditioner and firming agent. As it absorbs moisture and hardens quickly, one caution is that it can cause intestinal obstruction. It is banned in some countries.

Calcium propionate: This additive is used as a mold inhibitor but may be linked to migraines.

So do yourself a favor and start baking your own bread. It’s probably one of the greatest health choices you can make.

Food Safety labeling explained

Food Safety certification is vital for food retail and international trade. Without food safety certification producers and suppliers cannot hope to sell their produce within the food chain. There is significant reputational and business risk attached to the degree, type and source of certification and it is therefore advisable to get certified by reputable third-party bodies to an internationally recognized standard.

In most countries food safety issues are monitored by a government-affiliated authority which in turn make recommendations on legislation and food safety management which forms the basis of national legislation and standards. Examples of such national authorities are the Food Standards Authority in the UK, the US Food and Drug Administration, and the State Food and Drug Administration of China. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) also conducts risk assessment on food and feed safety in collaboration with national authorities to provide independent scientific advice and communication on emerging or existing risks.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization publishes the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) guidelines which are an integral part of the top food safety standard, ISO22000. The HACCP guidelines include seven principles which state, among other things, that food producers have to conduct a pre-production hazard analysis to identify chemical, biological or physical issues that make food unsafe for consumption by humans; establish safety or ‘control points monitoring systems; and implement comprehensive record-keeping processes.

The application of these principles is mandatory in the US for food products including meat, juice and seafood. The HACCP principles form the basis for third-party food safety certification in many other countries too.

The ISO 22000 is a globally-recognized standard developed from the International Organization for Standardization which draws on the HACCP principles. This standard outlines the food safety management systems that should be applicable to any organization, regardless of its size, which is involved in any aspect of the food chain. To meet this standard an organization must show its ability to control food safety hazards o ensure that food is completely safe at the time of human consumption.

The British Retail Consortium Global Standard for Food Safety, also known as the BRC Global Standard, is trusted by global retailers to deliver supply chain management as well as legal compliance. It was the very first standard in the world approved by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GSFI) benchmarking committee.

GlobalGAP is a membership organisation which sets voluntary standards for the certification of ‘pre-farm-gate Good Agricultural Practices and agricultural products. GlobalGAPs standards are awarded by third party certification bodies in 80 countries globally.

Other leading standards include the Food Alliance Certification which is bestowed on North American sustainable food products. This certification includes elements such as the humane treatment of animals, the exclusion of hormones, non-therapeutic antibiotics, certain pesticides, and GM crops or livestock, as well as protection of soil and water.

SQF (Safe Quality Food) Certification assures that a supplier’s food safety and quality management system comply with domestic and international regulations and has been awarded to companies operating in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and North and South America.