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The Benefits Of Slow Food Over Fast Food

March 8, 2018

Fast food is a phenomenon that most people in the world are familiar with. However, slow food is less well known. The name slow food is slightly deceptive as it is much more than the opposite of fast food. The slow food movement advocates more than just care and attention to what we eat. It offers an alternative to fast-paced modern life by encompassing the philosophy behind why and how we should eat by providing information on sourcing produce, methods of cooking and the positive social aspects of eating and sharing a meal.

What is Fast Food?

To understand what slow food really is, we need to understand what it is the antidote to: fast food. Typically, the term fast food refers to quickly prepared food with low quality ingredients and preparation that is served in disposable packaging at franchised restaurant chains, independent outlets and kiosks. It is often over-priced, low in nutritional value, and eaten “on the run”.

It is frequently manufactured in an industrial environment, pre-packed, and then shipped to retailers where it can be reheated or cooked quickly. While some fast food is healthy, such as sushi, quick fried or grilled fresh meat and vegetables, baked potatoes, salads, fresh sandwiches, most is not. Common fast foods such as burgers, french fries, fish and chips, pizza and kebabs are often highly processed and contain large amounts of additives, are high in calories, trans fats, sugars and salts, and come in relatively small portions.

What is Slow Food?

Slow food is a system of values that is designed to combat the detrimental effects of fast food. Its whole ethos centres on the idea of “living an unhurried life, beginning at the table.” The Slow Food Movement was formed in Italy in 1986 and has grown to around 83,000 members in 122 countries.

Among the key values it promotes and encourages are the extensive use of regional and local produce, traditional farming and cooking methods, and sharing the enjoyment of carefully and slowly prepared and cooked foods in the company of others all of which nurtures a healthy mind and body.

However, its remit also extends to the preservation of regional and cultural foods and ingredients such as plants, seeds, and domestic animals through programmes such as taste education, and offers support to those who wish to source and promote traditional, local high quality food that is more nourishing and tastier than fast food.

Health Benefits

By eating and adopting the social attitude of slow food, both bodily and mental health can be improved much more so than a fast food diet. Fast food providers, especially in the US, urge consumers to buy “Supersize” which has contributed to the problem of obesity, which increases the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, blood diseases joint problems.

Fast food is often eaten fast, which is often anti-social and bad for digestion. With slow food, a meal is made into a special event. During preparation of the food, people take time to relax and share a conversation, which extends well after the meal is finished. Because slow food is made from the freshest, local ingredients and produce (often organic, hence free from manmade chemicals), diners have peace of mind knowing where their food came from and that it provides high nutritional value.

Many people are surprised to learn that slower eating aids weight loss. The conditioned behaviour of eating until we are full is a complex process that depends on how many times we chew, how long we eat for and the amount of food we eat. If we chew and eat more slowly and spend more time at the table, most people find that it takes less food to feel full.

Lifestyle Benefits

In addition, eating is made more enjoyable because of the sharing. Mealtimes have traditionally been a time when people can come together and not just share a meal, but bond. This makes for closer relationships with friends and family members that are happier because of the sharing.

Eating more slowly enables us to taste more. Fast food is designed to be eaten quickly, which is why it has concentrated flavours. However, the taste doesn’t last long and is ultimately unsatisfying. Slow food on the other hand, is made with the best ingredients and produce which is packed full of natural flavours. When we eat slowly in relaxing surroundings, we experience more flavours, textures and aromas, and will gain new appreciation of our food.

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Beat The Heat And Ensure Good Health With A Cup Of Iced Tea!

March 4, 2018

You can say the concept of drinking iced tea was serendipity by a plantation owner Richard Blechynden in the year 1904. Since then the practice of drinking tea topped with ice continues. The beverage has been brewed in many different ways and has been served differently to enhance taste. So, if you are looking for a refreshing anti-oxidant boost, you know what to order for. You can also make such rejuvenating beverage at home without any difficulty. Nevertheless, you should know that drinking a cup of tea topped with ice is not just a thirst quencher; it has loads of health benefits too like –

1. It comprises anti-oxidants, vitamins C and E, and amino acids. These substances strengthen the immune system of the body and prevent against cell damages. The beverage is also good for maintaining a sound cardio-vascular health. Anti-oxidants like flavonoids present in the tea reduce the possibilities of heart attack and cardio-vascular stroke. Anti-oxidants are also effective in combating blood circulation problems as they can reduce inflammatory processes.

2. According to a recent study, catechins present in iced tea can prevent cancer. Such substances work by inhibiting enzyme activities that lead to cancer. The effect of catechins is most pronounced in cases of liver, skin, and stomach cancers.

3. Flouride content in iced tea maintains tooth enamel perfectly. Moreover, researchers have found that there are substances in iced tea, which are known to prevent bacterial growth inside the mouth thereby preventing bad breath and plaque.

4. Experts say that bone health is enhanced by drinking such a beverage. People who drank iced tea throughout their life are found to have more bone density during their old ages than non-drinkers. Therefore, to ensure healthy teeth and bones, you should switch to drinking iced tea.

5. According to the Nutrition Research Journal, presence of compounds like L-theanine, improves the immune response of the body to infections like cough and cold and flu. Intestinal health is also enhanced by drinking iced tea regularly.

While there are loads of benefits of iced tea, you should make it a point to consume tea freshly brewed from the leaves. Avoid using powdered instant and ready-made bottled teas. Nevertheless, it is also important to ensure that you are buying the best quality leaves from a reputed dealer. As, by doing this you will be able to experience the aroma and flavor of unadulterated tea leaves and above-mentioned health benefits.

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Foods To Avoid For Tinnitus Relief

February 27, 2018

The American Tinnitus Association believes there is no actual tinnitus cure at this time. But they acknowledge there are many ways to manage it and minimize tinnitus symptoms. Did you know that some common foods and food additives are known to increase tinnitus symptoms? Just eliminating these four things from your diet could bring you partial or even total tinnitus relief.

Too much salt restricts blood vessels, increases blood pressure and reduces blood flow into the ears. Increase in blood pressure is directly linked to increased tinnitus. When salt intake is reduced, many people notice a lessening of ringing in the ears.

Salt is necessary for life, but the modern diet contains way too much salt. It is hidden in most processed and pre-packaged foods. And some seemingly healthy food can hold a sodium surprise. A serving a canned soup can have more salt than a bag of potato chips! You should start reading labels to intelligently limit your salt intake.

The next food to avoid is to stop tinnitus is sugar. Here is a simplified version of what happens when you eat sugar. First your blood sugar rises, then it falls. When it falls the temporary lack of glucose to the ears can eventually cause tinnitus. Sugar can also cause tinnitus by causing adrenalin release, which causes vasoconstriction in the inner ear. Too much caffeine can have the same effect.

But don’t switch to artificial sweeteners instead. They can be even worse for tinnitus and your general health than sugar! One of the worst is aspartame which is found in many diet foods including diet soda. Aspartame goes by the name NutraSweet. Also known as the “blue stuff”.

Aspartame causes damage to the nervous system and can cause tinnitus. So you need to stop your diet soda habit if you want to stop tinnitus.

Did you know that artificial sweeteners have been shown not to help people lose weight anyway? They actually increase your craving for sweets and carbohydrates! Try a non-caloric natural sweetener, stevia, instead. It can be found in most grocery stores. If not, try your local health food store.

The last thing to avoid for tinnitus relief is a flavor enhancer called Monosodium Glutamate known as MSG. It breaks down to glutamate in the body which acts much like to aspartame. Glutamate, like aspartame, is an excitatory neuro-transmitter which can cause tinnitus.

MSG can be hidden in vegetable protein, natural flavorings, spice mixes, and more. And it doesn’t have to be added to the label as an ingredient. This is another reason to avoid processed and pre-packaged food as much as possible for your general health and for tinnitus relief.

When you hear MSG, you may think of Chinese food. You may have heard of “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” where people develop headaches, break out in a sweat, and get flushed because of the high levels of MSG in some Chinese food.

So if you are searching for answers on how to cure tinnitus, reducing or eliminating these four culprits is a great place to start.

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The Food And Drink Of James Bond

February 20, 2018

Among the big differences between the 007 books and the films are that while 007 is hardly seen to eat in the movies – he is well known for downing booze though – Ian Fleming’s novels often include exquisitely described meals that are a highlight of Ian Fleming’s prose.

Even so, Bond isn’t an out and out snob, and even though he does enjoy good food served in fancy restaurants, his favourite meal undoubtedly is scrambled eggs on toast with bacon. This he is able to eat morning, noon and night and Fleming went as far as featuring a recipe for scrambled eggs within his short story, 007 in New York.

Bond also finds fine dining sometimes rather pretentious and Fleming claims that whenever in England he exists on a diet of grilled sole, oeufs cocotte and cold roast beef with potato salad; Bond himself claims to prefer the ordinary plain food of the country when abroad.

Bond’s favourite meal during the day is breakfast, which we realize because Ian Fleming told us. It was also Fleming’s own favourite meal time – his view that people yearned for uncomplicated, childish foods and breakfast provided exactly that.

While Bond sometimes does order scrambled eggs in the morning in the novels, his routine while in London is rather simpler; he drinks two cups of coffee from De Bry in New Oxford Street (sadly it doesn’t exist any more) brewed with a glass Chemex coffee maker while reading the Times.

He is then served an egg that has been boiled for exactly three and a third minutes by May, his elderly Scottish maid, that is served in a dark blue egg cup ornamented with a golden band round the top. The egg comes from French Marans hens and is supplied by an acquaintance of May. After the egg, he eats toast and butter served along with Tiptree’s Little Scarlet strawberry jam, Norwegian Heather Honey from Fortnum and Mason and Cooper’s Vintage Oxford marmalade – all is served on blue Minton china.

Nonetheless, when in foreign lands his breakfast can vary. In New York he calls room service to order orange juice, three lightly scrambled eggs with bacon, toast and marmalade and a double espresso with cream, which hardly differs from his home breakfast. But when on assignment in Istanbul he orders a much distinct breakfast; yoghurt and green figs with Turkish coffee.

Where we do see evidence of 007 enjoying the “plain food of the country” when he lunches on ham sandwiches with plenty of mustard (in an English pub) or bread and sausage (when tailing Goldfinger through France), he also eats exceptionally well.

Certainly one of the most unforgettable descriptions of a meal happens when he dines with M at his private members club, Blades. Following vodka coming from Riga, Bond requests Champagne to go with his asparagus and hollandaise sauce, lamb cutlets with buttered peas and new potatoes, plus a slice of pineapple for dessert. This episode features in Moonraker, published shortly after rationing had ended in the uk and while it may not appear to be especially spectacular to contemporary readers, the books provided wish fulfilment for the audience of the day.

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All About Entertaining With Food And Wine

February 16, 2018

The holidays are almost here and this is the time of year when it is the most important to learn how to entertain well with a great selection of food and wine. Both food and wine play a huge part in our society, in every society really and if we want to be successful hosts and hostesses we need to learn to make the most out of all the food and wine that we serve our guests.

Your guests are going to come to your home or party venue and expect to be treated to some of the best food and wine they have ever tasted. All guests come this way to every single party they attend but more often than not they leave unsatisfied with the food and wine they were served. It is up to you to make sure that this does not happen after your party, so you need t make sure that you offer your guests only the finest food and wine to be found.

Start by talking to your friends to see what went wrong at some of the other parties they have attended. And take a look at your own reactions to some of the food and wine that was served. What is it that you didn’t like about the food and wine and how could it have been made better than it was? The key to successful hosting with food and wine is to learn from the mistakes of others. With this method you will be able to avoid some of the biggest pitfalls that are out there concerning the food and wine to be served.

Have a variety of food and wine at your party. Some people really don’t like red wine and other feel exactly the same way about white wine. By offering a selection of different food and wine you will be able to make more people happy and less people feel neglected or shunned by your food and wine choices. You should have a diverse selection of the food you are serving as well. Have some vegetarian snacks as well as some meaty ones. If you have a diverse group of friends you might even want to get more diverse in your food and wine selections and even have some vegan goodies for the vegans of your group.

Thinking of things like this as far as your food and wine choice shows you as a caring host and those are the parties that people want to go to. If you make the right choices in your food and wine then you are always going to have amazing parties filled with people and good times.

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