International Food Receipes

Lauren S Johnson asked:


Aging is a part of life. As we get older, the effects of aging are physically and mentally visible. Since we can’t really stop the years from coming and going, is there anything that we can do to help us feel and perform as well as we did when we were younger and healthier? Surprisingly, there are several foods which aid in healthy maturity.

One food which aids in healthy aging is olive oil. Researchers found that people from the Greek island of Crete, decades ago, had extremely low rates of heart disease. The reason for this was their consumption of olive oil. This particular food is rich in monosaturated fats and in polyphenols which protect the body from heart disease and other age related illnesses. Another healthy meal alternative is fish. Fish is also beneficial when it comes down to heart heath. The omega 3 fats which are present in these creatures prevent cholesterol buildup, prevent abnormal heart rhythm, and other heart related diseases. When researchers studied the native Inuit’s of Alaska, who feed mostly on fish, they found that their community was free of heart disease. This certainly intensifies the belief that omega 3 fats are beneficial for healthy aging.

The third food which keeps us young is blueberries. It has been said that this particular fruit aids in protecting our balance and our coordination as we get older. There are certain compounds in blueberries which lessen inflammation and oxidative damage. Oxidative damage is mostly associated with age related deficits in memory and in motor function. Therefore, by consuming blueberries we improve our memory, our reaction time, our balance, and our coordination. All of these foods, olive oil, fish, and blueberries aid in healthy aging. They not only help us feel better mentally but they also reduce our chances of developing serious illnesses.

Kimberly Buchanan asked:


What is Food Intolerance?

Food intolerance is discussed quite often these days – so what exactly does it mean?  Well, sometimes our bodies cannot tolerate the foods we eat. This is known as food intolerance. When people consume foods that they’re sensitive to, such as dairy products for lactose intolerant individuals, their bodies have a negative physical reaction. The effects show up every time the food is consumed, although not always right away. If large quantities of the food are ingested, symptoms can be severe.

Food intolerance is sometimes mistaken for food allergy.  Food allergies cause a person’s immune system to sit up and take notice, while food intolerances don’t involve the immune system.  Neither are they linked to contaminated or spoiled foods; those cause food poisoning, not intolerance.

Food intolerance describes the adverse physical reaction to the ingestion of certain foods; it is something that affects the digestive system.

The Causes of Food Intolerance

As mentioned earlier, food intolerance is caused by the inability to digest certain types of food, usually due to insufficient amounts of the chemicals or enzymes needed to digest a particular food.

Lactose intolerance is very common. People who suffer from this condition don’t have enough of the enzyme called ‘lactase’. Therefore, their bodies can’t break down the lactose, or milk sugar, in dairy products.

Common symptoms of lactose intolerance include intestinal distress, gas, bloating, and bowel irregularities.

Other people can’t process alcohol because they don’t have enough of the enzyme ‘alcohol dehydrogenase’. They can become ill if they consume even a single alcoholic beverage.

The additives, flavor enhancers, and preservatives in processed foods are another common source of food intolerance. MSGs, caffeine, benzoates, and aspartame cause pain and fatigue in sensitive individuals.

Who Suffers from Food Intolerance?

Anyone can!  Food intolerance is not limited to any particular group of people, however there are some factors that play a role in the likelihood that a person is affected by intolerance.

Food intolerance can be hereditary; therefore if your parents have food intolerances, chances are good that you’ll have some too. Ethnicity plays a role, too. Only 10% of northern and western Europeans suffer from lactose intolerance whereas persons of Asian, African, Greek, and Native American descent are much more susceptible.  Lactose intolerance affects 70-90% of the latter populations.

Newborns tend to produce more lactase, so they can digest lactose more easily than adults and older children. The symptoms of lactose intolerance can appear in children as young as two, but many people develop it later in life. Gastroenteritis sometimes causes a dip in lactase levels, bringing on a temporary intolerance to dairy products. Children face a high risk of lactose intolerance following gastroenteritis.

And half of all Asians are affected by alcohol intolerance!

What are the Symptoms of Food Intolerance?

The symptoms of food intolerance center around the digestive system.  Sufferers may experience stomach pain, bloating, nausea, loose stools, or the opposite (constipation.) These symptoms are seldom life-threatening, but they can make a person miserable on a daily basis. They can manifest anywhere from a few hours to a few days after the food is consumed, making it difficult to identify exactly what the problem food is.

Alcohol intolerance causes redness of the face, nausea, irregular heartbeat, headaches, and dizziness.

Symptoms can also feel similar to allergy symptoms, such as a runny nose or itchy throat.

Food intolerance symptoms can become quite severe if a large quantity of the food has been consumed. People with a slight enzyme deficiency typically don’t experience symptoms as acutely as people with a larger deficit.

How is a Diagnosis Made?

Trial and error is the simplest way to test for food intolerance. This is done by removing one food from the diet for a while and monitoring symptoms for improvement. If symptoms decrease, the food is then reintroduced. A return of symptoms will reveal whether or not that food was the culprit.

This method works best for those who have intolerance to one or two foods.

For those people (like me!) who have intolerance to several foods, the elimination method could take months…years…and an answer still might not be found.  There are home tests on the market, that can identify your problem foods for you.  Check out http://www.foodintolerancenews.com to see one.

Specific tests are used to diagnose lactose intolerance. For example, your physician might recommend a test to measure the amount of hydrogen in your breath; a stool acidity test; or a blood glucose test to determine how well the patient digests milk sugar.

How is Food Intolerance Treated?

Food intolerance is usually controlled by removing the troublesome food(s) from the person’s diet. For instance, lactose intolerant individuals can replace regular milk with soy milk.

If the intolerance is mild to moderate, the affected person can try eating only very limited amounts of the food in question. Mild lactose intolerance can be managed through the use of lactase enzyme supplements.

If foods are removed from one’s diet, they should be replaced with nutritious alternatives. It’s crucial to avoid malnutrition, especially in growing children. If you have questions about suitable food replacements, speak with your nutrition specialist.

Michelle Normand asked:


I was only 20 and still in college when we met. Boasting everything a young woman could want, my Love was smooth, bold, and even rich. Our brief encounters always left me feeling satisfied and yet I still yearned for more. It’s been almost 16 years and I can honestly say that I am still completely in love with Greek Yogurt.

If you like the standard yogurts found in supermarkets then I both urge and caution you to read on. Once you experience Greek yogurt, also known as yiaourti, you may find yourself tossing your old, watery yogurt out the window (not recommended because it makes a real mess). It’s really that good. It’s kind of like sour cream, yogurt and heaven combined.

Basel Nassar, one of the founders of Greek Gods yogurt explains, “It is the rich, full-mouth feel of the yogurt that impresses people. I’ve introduced many chefs to the product and they have all been shocked by the rich, mellow flavor.” Nassar continues, “it is the intense straining process that the yogurt goes through that gives it the creamy, dense texture.” On the Stonyfield website they further explains, “the centuries-old straining process removes the whey (liquid) from the yogurt. Today, we know that straining also makes Greek yogurt richer in protein than regular yogurt, and lower in lactose.”

Traditional Greek yogurt is extremely high in fat, but here in the United States we have both low-fat and non-fat options from which to choose. Fage and Greek Gods are the largest U.S. manufacturers of Greek style yogurts and can be found in health food stores around the country. Stonyfield, already a big player in the organic dairy industry, has recently unveiled their version as well, making Greek yogurt even more accessible to the general public.

While there are fruit and even vanilla varieties in the stores, my favorite is the low-fat plain yogurt. It is a dieter’s dream. Incredibly thick, despite the fact that it only has 4 grams of fat in an 8oz serving, it also contains a satisfying 8 grams of protein and is loaded with calcium and probiotics. All this, plus a great taste, for only 130 calories. For a mid-day treat just add a touch of fresh fruit and sprinkle with splenda or drizzle with honey for a more authentic Grecian delight. One bite and you’ll know that this is how yogurt is supposed to taste.

Siri Datta asked:


What is a Raw Foods Diet?

Taken from the book Mini Size Me - The Raw Yoga Revolution



“Let me share my vision with you; I see the world without sickness, sorrow or mental disturbances in which we are living in perfect balance and abundant health and harmony.”

Dr Ann Wigmore Phd

(Co-Founder of the Hippocrates Institute)

I couldn’t of said that better myself. I, too share this vision, and I hope that at the end of reading this article , you may be inspired to actually taste this experience for yourselves.

So how do you feel right now?

Take a few minutes to close your eyes and tune in to your body with a few breaths. Allow yourself to sense how you truly feel. Do you feel a lively and vibrant superhero?  Or a lethargic, tired and heavy frump that is low on energy, or maybe you are just somewhere in between?

If your answer is Superhero, it’s likely that you have already taken steps towards aligning your diet with an intake of sun-filled, energy-drenched fresh green nutrition. Which is an excellent start!   But if the answer is frump, there is no need to despair.  This is where a raw food diet will deliver the medicine, the methods and the manifestation that you require to step into the YOU, that you know is inside, just bursting to get out.

If on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = zero energy, while 10 = superhero) you feel about 6 or less, then a raw food diet will shake your foundations  and raise your rafters into a whole, new, fresh level of vitality and health. At the very least you could gain a few more super powers through this super improved diet.

So what is a raw foods diet and why would you make an effort?  What are the benefits? Can I still have a take away on Saturdays? The optimum choice would be no. But wouldn’t you like to be free from the desire for it, if you knew it delivers you no favors?  Read on to find out the expanded benefits of a raw lifestyle.

Firstly, the raw lifestyle is a great choice for all those out there who know that inside each of us is a seed of massive life force, and want to tap into it. Layers of disbeliefs, mental blockages, emotional pains, combined with poor nutrition are preventing the full ignition of your life and transformation into Superb Health.

I see raw foods as the best available fuel for the fire of your life.

So what are Raw Foods?

Lets jump right in and go exploring.

Access Exceptional Energy

Our average diet is food diminished by cooking and cut short of the essential enzymes for healthy digestion. Raw foods are nature’s healers, flooded with sunlight, filled to brim with minerals and bountiful with active enzymes. These foods are still alive! Please re-read that sentence.  You will be eating food that contains abundant energy within its cellular structure and growing rich with the vital life force known as ‘prana,’ the fuel source of all living things.   Could you say the same for the frozen pizza at the back of the fridge, or perhaps a pot noodle?

That is why, when on a raw foods diet nothing is heated beyond 37 degrees, which is the same temperature as our bodies.  Above 37 degrees, you will start to kill off all enzyme activity, and deplete the life-force within the food.  We need to eat this food while it is bursting with life.  It is at this stage that we soak up the life-force from the food to harness its qualities and send it around our bodies.  Rather than siphon our own internal energy to digest the already ‘dead’ food.

When we say dead food, we are referring to the standard cooked diet that usually depletes our energy, ultimately resulting in disease and impaired old age. 

Some examples of raw foods are fresh fruit and vegetables, that are ideally grown in your own garden. Also within this diet there are sprouted foods (alfalfa and mung beans) nuts, seeds, seaweeds and now the ever popular ’superfoods’. 

Hippocrates, an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of modern medicine, sums up the benefits beautifully:

“So let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.”

Upping your intake of raw is choosing radiant life!

Return to Nature

A raw lifestyle is a move towards eating as nature intended. Raw foods are foods in their natural unprocessed state, un-treated with heat to prepare them for eating.  Today, so many of our food (fuel) sources are heavily processed, filled with chemicals and soaked in sugar. These foods lead to addictions, dependencies and cravings. What many people do not understand is that disease incubates over time. If, on a daily basis we continue to consume un-natural foods,  we are supporting a future of disease rather than a future of health. Raw plant prana is nature’s gift for rejuvenation.

Reduction of Excess Fat

People are often interested in raw plant foods for its massive weight loss potential, as there are many recorded accounts of stunning physical transformations when going  ‘Raw’. 

David Wolfe, one of the world’s leading authorities on Raw Foods says: “No amount of raw plant food is fattening. Only cooked food is fattening.” 

Does this mean bland and unsatisfying food? Not at all!  You couldn’t be further from the truth.  The great news is that some raw fats e.g. avocados can actually help excess weight dissolve. Plus, by embarking on a natural raw plant lifestyle,  any weight that is lost, will stay off,  as nature returns you to the true weight and shape for you.

Brilliant Skin and Great Long Life

The benefits of going raw and staying raw are  endless! You’ll enjoy a clear and glowing complexion, bright shiny eyes, increased libido and beautiful, lustrous hair and nails. People who have experienced acne have found that detoxifying their diet brings dramatic improvements including fewer blemishes.   All who go ‘raw’ will have stunning skin and hair.  Try it and see for yourself. 

In today’s western world, the average age expectancy for males is 65,  70 for females, but there is endless evidence to show that a raw diet can greatly extend your lifespan.

Dr. Howell a world renown Nutritionist , states that:

“Humans eating an enzyme-less diet use up a tremendous amount of their enzyme potential in lavish secretions of the pancreas and other organs, resulting in a short lifespan 65 years rather than 100 or more.”

Every living being has a fixed enzyme potential which can be prematurely exhausted in a large way through eating cooked and processed foods.  Raw plant foods come complete with such massive amounts of live enzymes that you don’t need to use up your “enzyme store” to digest them.  We will talk about enzymes later.

Thorough Body and Mind Detox

By going raw you give your body the best chance to offload all those toxins created over years of a cooked, processed diet and stressful living. What we eat profoundly affects the way we think, feel and behave. Life shifts come from changes within. When you take in only pure, natural and healthy foods, you begin to glow within and without. To quote David Wolfe  “We are not really human beings, we are human becomings, because we are constantly becoming more.”

A raw food diet can kick start  ‘becoming more’, more wonderful, more physical and much more mental transformation.

The Bliss of Balance

Take a simple and easy initial step towards raw foods by supplementing one of your daily meals with a dark green leafy salad and a tasty dressing.  This book promotes the concept that through adding delicious raw alternatives gradually to a standard cooked diet. Both your body and mind will naturally realize the benefits of raw plant foods and develop a preference for these. As you introduce more raw nourishment, you will notice increased life focus, heightened sensory awareness and a greater zest and drive for life.

If your idea of Raw is lettuce, tomatoes and a bit of cucumber you are about to be hugely surprised. Learning about raw cuisine is an expansive and fun journey of creativity and experimentation.  Before long, you will be introducing raw nourishment for the healing and vitality of your friends and family.

Seeds of Change

An optimum raw diet contains a high percentage of sprouted seeds.  Seeds are often seen as symbols of a powerful and vibrant potential for good reason! If you consume the powerful energy of a plant-in-the-making, this high enzyme  vibrancy  transforms into positive fuel  for your present and future  abundant health. The evidence is clear, take a cooked almond seed, plant it in the ground can a tree grow? No way.  Plant a sprouted seed and here you have the potential of an almond tree! Our bodies are so blessed with the prana of living foods.

Acidification

As we began our journey into a raw foods diet we discovered some startling facts and information:

? Fat is an over acidification of the body

? Fat is saving your life

? Fat is a response from the body to an alarming over-acidic condition!

Through the absorption of raw foods only we began to understand that we were changing our bodies from acidic into alkaline. This is the first process that kicks in when beginning a raw diet. We need to understand that the body creates fat cells to take away acid from the vital organs. All the acid that has been stored in your fat cells in your body begins to break down and is passed out through all elimination points (bowels, kidney, skin, lungs and nose). 

This acid has come from meat, fish, yeast, mushrooms/fungi, (and the waste products of these living organisms) tea, coffee, dairy, alcohol, tobacco and wheat being the main culprits.

We realised that we were ingesting the energy from these living fruits and vegetables to restore our whole being.  Our diet was feeding us energy, not depleting it.  We were absorbing the vital life force present in our foods.  This added energy jumpstarted the natural detoxing period that blessedly comes from this Raw Nutrition Diet.

We began to experience the detox zone as the acid began to come out. To assist with this vital and necessary phase we began weekly coffee enemas, which we preformed separately in the solitude of our bathroom! Detoxing can reveal itself as spots, colds, lethargy, aches and pains within the body, emotional outbursts, mood swings and sometimes zero energy.

We began noticing that the detoxing came in waves, it certainly was not linear.

After 6 months we noticed that the sugar cravings had subsided, the urge for coffee and bread didn’t turn us crazy anymore and that we were now sold on this way of life and hungered for more experiments and experiences into how far this supreme radiant health could evolve into.

So you have to ask yourself  “How do you truly feel?”

What is keeping you from experiencing the lean, healthy and truly energetic body that you deserve? 

Are you content to continue feeling lethargic, uncreative and halfhearted in your passions?

I suspect not….

And neither were we!

Benefits of a Raw Food Diet

? Increased Vitality

? Less sleep required

? Shining skin and eyes

? Rebuilding your body’s tissues and inner structure

? Inherent powers, prime animal instincts and responses

? Growth into new direction within your life

? Naturalise and neutralise your body

? Strips away chemicals and toxins within your body

? It compels you to live naturally and in harmony with the Earth

? No physical waste – packaging, bones, shells, - only compost!

? Pulls acid out of your cellular system

? Peels off excessive fat and weight

? Cleans your circulatory system

? Boost energy in all your inner organs

? Balances your hormonal levels

We are gifted with the intelligence and power to make positive nutritional choices. Too often, we just don’t know how abundant, varied and delicious our food choices could be, leading to choices made through incomplete awareness. Mini Size Me presents you with great trade-ups in food choice and quality that is lush, fresh and fun.

The Downside of a Raw Lifestyle

I have been raw for almost 4 years now, and I can honestly say I have had no bodily reaction to this way of life.  Yes I experienced detoxing at the initial stages and of course, that was a challenging phase to pass through, but the pros massively outweigh the cons.

I have only ever discovered 2 main areas of the Raw Challenge:

I understand that some people experience coldness in their bodies, and often feel they can’t stay on a raw diet, once the summer has passed.  However, the Director of Lotus Healing in London, Guru Dharam Singh, has advised me that there are certain Chinese herbs that can boost the kidney and spleen energy to prevent one from feeling cold.

I have been advising extra chillis, garlic, ginger and cinnamon to boost the internal heat that is felt inside.  Also by boosting the amounts of fats in your diet, you will insulate your internal heat, and keep the cold out as you enter the winter months.

The biggest challenge to overcome is naturally the reaction you get from other people who are not raw.  My goodness, you have to be prepared for this one!  It’s quite something how other people react.  Until one is well versed in the benefits of raw, it can be quite a concept to grasp.  Our conditioning is so strong in the belief that we must eat cooked foods that anything else simply is NOT RIGHT.  And that’s about the size of it, when questioned why people don’t believe in a raw foods lifestyle, they simply can’t actually put a finger on a very strong or concrete point.

The older generation (parents), really don’t get the idea at first!  My parents particularly my mother, felt I was endangering my health, and she was watching very carefully to see whether her daughter was only to waste away.  Waste away, you got to be joking!  Radiantly bloom into life was the result.

But it was difficulty being at home and maintaining a raw regime.  It was a daily chore to redefine my choices and myself.  But over time she came round, and now she looks on and agrees, yes there is a tremendous amount of sense to eating raw.  I have actually overheard her speaking with her friends.  “She only eats salads, and only twice a day, but look at her she obviously knows what she is doing!”

With time and as people begin to see and feel the changes within you, they will come round and not only that, they will be curious to find out more.

This article has been taken from the soon to be released raw yogic book “Mini Size Me - A Yoga and Nutritional approach to

achieve outstanding Health and Vibrancy ”, written by Siri Datta and Duncan Campbell.

You can begin a 40-day Raw Food Programme with Siri Datta’s & Duncan’s expert guidance and support.  They will encourage and inspire you to “keep up” all through an online coaching forum.  Alongside raw foods, she will also provide you with a yoga programme tailor made for your type.  Mini Size Me, is the online programme that has sent 1000’s of people soaring to beautiful and radiant levels of confidence and enhanced enchantment.

Mini Size Me, also offers 3-day, 7-day, 21-day programmes alongside the Melon Cleanse and the Women’s Moon Cycle.

Email Siri Datta on minisizeme23@yahoo.co.uk or call 01935 423 466

Join The Raw Revolution - The Mini Size Me Programme

Sacha Tarkovsky asked:


Greece, land of the 12 Olympian gods may be a great deal different today than it was in classical times.

Yet, if you wish, you can follow a diet that the ancients followed, live longer feel healthier protect your self against illness and best of all its tasty and easy to do even today, so here is the traditional Greek diet.

The same foods are grown there today as they always were, and are wholesome, promoting good health and long life.

The statures of the ancient Greek attest to their beautiful and strong bodies.

The ancient Greeks were known to be sexually active into old age and this was due to their diet.

Basics in the Greek Diet

The basics are traditional bread, made without commercial yeast (but use a “prozimi”, or a bit of leavened dough from the previous backing.

This prozimi in many cases is hundreds of years old, or older, in culture.

The basics are honey, olives and olive oil, fresh white cheese (now known as feta), the onion, garlic, natural tomato, eggs, wine vinegar, wine and fresh vegetables and fruits in season.

Pulses, especially the lentil, was (and is) a basic stable of Greek diet. Nuts also form part of the ancient Greek diet.

No Meat?

Actually in ancient times, eating meat was rare anyway. Without refrigeration, meat eating was reserved for some holidays and festivals only.

Therefore, the ancient Greek was mostly vegetarian. This kept them strong and healthy, without illnesses such as cancer and other diseases of excess (as were found in Rome).

Breakfast

An ancient Greek breakfast would, somehow similar to today, consist of some fresh baked bread with honey and cheese.

The beverage of choice was a sort of tea made from mountain herbs (still drunk today, called tsi to vounou ).

This infusion has great antiseptic qualities, and stimulates the immune system. The breakfast would be hardy, as there was no lunch, or if there was, it was symbolic.

Snack – Hunger Breaker

The shepherds of Greece today, follow the meal that is as old as time. They have some hard bread, a tomato, an onion, some cheese (maybe but not always), and water.

It keeps the hunger at bay.

The cheese is the white Greek feta. It is a naturally low fat cheese, and is cured in salty water, then whey. It has a distinctive taste, and it packed full of available calcium, and milk proteins.

End of the Day Meal

The day ended when the sun went down in ancient Greece, and the meal was a cooked one. Lentils (known as faikes) in ancient Greece, as modern Greece, is a culinary art. It is also the oldest food mentioned in the Bible.

It is the food that Jacob was cooking when he traded a bowl of it from Esau’s birthright. Faikes is boiled lentils with fresh tomato, onion, garlic, and laurel leaf.

The smell of cooking lentils awakens a great deal of emotion in almost any human. The taste is delicious, the nutritional value exceptional, and is very satisfying.

If you need to lose some weight, and detox your body some, have some ancient Greek food for a few days. You will not regret it.

Stephanie Singer asked:


Jack Challem, in his article in The Nutrition Reporter called Garlic the ‘Miracle Food’ and says, “If garlic had been created in the laboratory instead of by nature, it would probably be a high-priced prescription drug. That’s just how good it really is.” While most famous for its odor, garlic has much to offer those who can get beyond this negative quality.

Garlic has been used for various cures for millennia. Records from China and India going back 5000 years show they knew garlic’s power. Even the Biblical account of the Israelites lamented that, once out of Egypt, they wouldn’t be able to enjoy garlic any more! (Numbers 11:5) At the same time in history, garlic was used in the far east to shrink tumors. Later, garlic was part of training for Greek athletes. Even Louis Pasteur, back in 1858, recognized its germ killing properties. During the first World War, surgeons used garlic to clean wounds. Today garlic has been the subject of over 1000 scientific studies. England even has The Garlic Information Centre where enthusiasts can keep track of the latest findings.

An article of this size could not begin to expound all the benefits of this herb. Garlic is known to protect against heart disease, cancer (in at least three ways), and infections. Mothers give it to their children to ward off colds, take it themselves to lower blood pressure or reduce cholesterol, and give it to their mothers to fight heart disease. Garlic can help white blood cells fight infection, decrease the risk of blood clots, and build the immune system. It is a natural anti-coagulant, the opposite of cayenne pepper. Garlic is suspected of reducing certain tumors and bacterial and fungus infections. One German study found garlic even helped the body fight the AIDS virus.

Although many sauté garlic into the frying pan, studies indicate this kills the allicin, one of the most beneficial of garlic’s compounds. Instead, dice the garlic bud and then wait five to ten minutes so the allicin can be produced. Some deordorizing techniques also remove this so check the capsule bottle to see be sure the allicin is retained. It can also be found in a gel capsule containing stabilized allicin from the garlic.

Many people dismiss garlic as a smelly repellent! “Sure it keeps you healthy. No one who is sick (or well) wants to be around you!” If you are of that opinion, perhaps this praise of garlic’s benefits will change your mind. But to be sure, here are two suggestions to eliminate garlic breath, 1) eat a lemon or drink lemon juice, or 2) eat a crushed clove in olive oil. This way you get the benefits of raw garlic without telling everyone (by the odor) why you are so healthy!

Kyle J. Norton asked:


As we mentioned in the other articles, for a healthy person weight loss is simple: burn more calories than you consume. The healthiest weight is determine by height to weight ratio or Body Mass Index (BMI) and the amount of fat in your body. Unfortunately over 60% of the North American population is considered to be overweight, according to the BMI index. There must be something wrong with our diet. In faraway places such as Southern Italy and Greek, most people live longer than us because their diet contains lots of fruits and vegetables. The People in Southern Italy and Greek only eat fish and poultry a few times a week and meat a few times a month. Their diet is high in carbohydrates and only containing 8% of saturated fat.

You can find some very good traditional Greek foods in you local restaurants.

Here are some meals that I found very different than our diet:

1. Savor souvlaki

Also known as shish kebob, it contains a large amount of vegetables and a small amount of meat. This is a meal with an average of about 300 calories and only 10 grams of fat with 1/5 of fat being saturated.

2. Pita Bread sandwich

Pita bread sandwich includes hefty raw vegetable, some meat, feta cheese and cucumber sauce. It contains roughly 800 calories with 45 grams of total fat and half of that are saturated.

Unfortunately, under the influence of western diet, some of the meals that we found is no longer really Greek foods. They are high in meat and saturated fat, therefore please do not assume that all Greek restaurant are original Mediterranean diet.

Here are 2 recipes of original Mediterranean diet that not only helps you to lose weight but also reduces your high blood pressure and bad cholesterol level in result of lowering risk of heart diseases and strokes.

1.Sauce of yoghurt with dill ( Sources from Ellaia)

*

Sauce of yoghurt with dill

*

300 gm. yoghurt with low water content

*

1 spoonful dry dill

*

1 clove garlic, salt, pepper

*

2 spoonfuls olive oil ELLAIA

*

1 spoonful lemon juice.

* We pulp the garlic in a mortar with little salt.

In a deep bowl we strike yogurt with garlic, the dill and the pepper and we continue with the olive oil and the lemon until they are mixed well. We maintain the mixture in the refrigerator. Accompanies vegetables and green salad.

2. Meat with plums ( Sources from Ellaia)

*

1,5 kg meat (pork, lamb, beef or even chicken)

*

1 onion

*

salt, pepper, nutmeg

*

1 cinnamon stick

*

5-6 clovesjuice of 2 lemons

*

2-3 spoonfuls olive oil ELLAIA

*

Half kg plums

*

1 cup almonds

*

2 spoonfuls sugar or honey

*

Wash the meat and cut it in portions. We put it in a basin and throw on the onion in big particles, salt, pepper, the cinnamon, cloves, the nutmeg and the juice of lemon. We leave the meat to be marinated for 2-3 hours and meanwhile we wet the plums in water in order to absorb water and also the almonds in order to be peeled easily. We put the olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the meat. We douse with the marinade liquid, we add 1-2 glasses hot water and we boil the meat in low temperature, until it gets soft. We put inside also the plums, the almonds and the honey or the sugar and we leave them to boil for a few minutes.

Finally we will provide you with a Mediterranean diet food list. It contains cheese, eggs, fish and sea food, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts, olive oil, red wine, vegetables and yogurt.

On the top of the pyramid contains meat, poultry and on the lower broader base, there are dairy products, oils, fruits and vegetables.

I hope this information will help you to lose weight, if you want more information of the above subject, please visit:

http://medicaladvisorjournals.blogspot.com/

http://weightlossandfatlosspartvi.blogspot.com

Andrew Chin asked:


There are some basic cooking tips that anyone could learn and use to help out in the kitchen. With today’s busy lifestyles becoming more prevalent, learning and using these basic cooking tips will save you time and headache.

The following fifteen is just a tiny handful of the many basic cooking tips that you could integrate into your everyday life to save time and money.

• Bacon: Reduce shrinkage by running cold water over it before frying.

• Beans: Stop gas attacks by adding a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda in a big pot of beans while they are soaking.

• Boiled Eggs: Add some vinegar or a little salt to the boiling water when boiling eggs. This basic cooking tips will keep the egg in the shell if it cracks.

• Ripening Fruits and Vegetables: Put your unripe fruit and vegetables in a brown paper bag and place the bag in a dark cupboard for few day. Using this basic cooking tips is an excellent way to save money on fruits and vegetables that has to be ripened.

• Salads: Cut your iceberg lettuce into wedges instead of tearing salad greens to save some time making a salad.

• Spaghetti Sauce: Add a small pinch of bicarbonate of soda to your spaghetti sauce to lower the acid taste from the tomatoes.

• Corn: Place the corn directly into boiling water, and do not add salt. Do not boil corn for more than three minutes. Overcooking reduces the taste level.

• Frozen Vegetables: When they are stuck together, simply run boiling water over them.

• Grating Cheese: Freeze for twenty five minutes before grating. It will shred so much easier.

• Pancakes: Use a small amount of sugar in the batter and they will brown more quickly.

• Pie Pastry: Substitute one teaspoon of vinegar for one teaspoon of the cold water called for in the recipe and the pastry will be much flakier.

• Quick Sauces: Use condensed cream soups such as cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, cream of tomato, cream of celery, to make fast and easy sauces.

• Quick Tenderizer: Use vinegar as a meat tenderizer. Add a tablespoon to water when boiling meat or ribs for stews. This basic cooking tips will help tenderizer even the toughest meat.

• Wilted vegetables: Soak wilted veggies in two cups water, one tablespoon vinegar to help bring them back to life.

• Wooden Skewers: Soak all your wooden skewers in cold water for twenty minutes to prevent them from burning.

Inspiration could be considered to be one of the key ingredients to writing. Only if one is inspired, can one get to writing on any subject especially like cooking.

Use some of these basic cooking tips to make your life in the kitchen more enjoyable.

Helen Hecker asked:


If you’ve been hearing a lot about raw foods lately it’s because people are finally starting to pay attention to what they’re putting into their mouths and the effect it’s having on their bodies. It’s long been known that healthier diets are those that include a lot of fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds and are often referred to as the raw food diet.

Raw food diets are not the kind of diet you go on to just lose weight although you’ll lose a lot of weight fast, but a lifetime approach to a better quality of life and superior health.

Raw foods are also called living foods, and are essentially foods that are alive. Cooked foods include all those foods that have been cooked, canned, processed, packaged or refined, etc., in other words, anything that is no longer alive.

Adding more living foods to your diet has many health benefits. People find they need less sleep, have much better mental clarity, can focus and concentrate on tasks, have lots of energy, lose weight, get sick less often or not at all, get rid of various ailments, have less aches and pains and more.

Raw foods retain the enzymes they need to digest it properly. If foods are not raw then the enzyme structure has been tampered with by heating and they can no longer do their natural job which is to digest the food they are a part of. This makes the body work harder and the raw food community experts believe it’s because the body has to tap emergency enzyme supplies in the pancreas to digest the cooked food. This makes one feel tired and less energetic after eating whereas if you eat living food you feel energized after eating.

Heating, (including pasteurization), also damages or nullifies many of the vitamins, minerals and beneficial phytonutrients.

It’s easy to start incorporating more fruits and veggies into your diet without it being a totally raw food diet. I believe we need a lot more fruits and veggies than is now promoted in the media.

For breakfast you can have two or three fruits along with whatever else you’re having except try to eliminate as much cooked, dead food, as you can. For lunch have fruits and veggies or a huge salad and eliminate any bad foods. Or have the huge salad for dinner along with some fruit and then have whatever you’d like for dinner. For snacks eat more fruit or nuts, for example.

You can easily learn to fix some of the simple raw food recipes that are found in raw food un-cookbooks. You can make things like candy, fudge, pie and cakes that are all healthy and include nothing cooked. Of course the best diet is one of all raw foods but if you’re unable to do that you’ll still greatly benefit from changing your diet to a more healthy way.

You can buy fruit at reasonable prices if you shop farms, farmer’s markets and watch sales in the whole foods stores etc. Or maybe grow some of it yourself if you can or join one of the community gardens! Besides you may be giving up some expensive healthy food in the process because your body won’t have room for it with all the fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds you’re eating!

I’m in excellent health after changing my diet to all raw foods in 1999, curing myself naturally of breast cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, acid reflux, sinus infections, digestive problems and many other ailments.

Try changing your diet to include more living or raw foods even if it’s slow-going and you’ll start to see some wonderful changes in your health. You don’t have to eat an all raw food diet to enjoy great health. Soon you may find that besides loving feeling great you really do enjoy raw foods.

Darren Craddock asked:


Acai fruit juice is a super food juice that comes from the rainforest. It is made from the acai berry and grows on an Amazon palm tree. While it has been used for many years by Brazilian people, it is slowly making its way around the world. There are several benefits to drinking this juice including its incredible taste and many health benefits.

Acai fruit juice is considered a super food because it contains everything you need naturally from the berry. It is packed with nutrients and can build up your immunity tremendously. Much like other fruits, you can and should include it in your daily diet.

To many people’s surprise, this fruit is extremely high in essential fatty acids. However, essential fatty acids are good for the body because they support the cardiovascular, reproductive, immune, and nervous system. By attaining the essential fatty acids they can repair the body at a cellular level. This helps enable the cells to obtain optimum nutrition and get eliminate waste products.

If cholesterol is a problem for your health, this super food juice is perfect for you. This juice has a class of flavonoids called anthocyanins. These flavonoids are phytochemicals, which are similar to those found in red wine. However, this purple juice contains 10 to 30 times more anthocyanins than what is found in red wine. Because of this, it is great for balancing cholesterol levels.

Acai fruit juice is also beneficial to help you get your daily vitamins. It is packed with a wide variety of vitamins that you typically would not receive with anything else. Some vitamins you will get include Vitamin B1, B2, B3, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and Calcium. In addition, it is also rich in iron and fiber.

Some other benefits you will get from this super food juice are that it has 10 times the antioxidants of grapes and almost twice the amount of antioxidants as blueberries. In fact, it has one of the highest antioxidants of anything that is on the market. It has 33 times the antioxidant level as in red wine grapes. So it is a rich and fruitful drink you do not want to leave out of your diet.

So how does all of this benefit your daily life? Obviously it will build up your immune system and supply you with more than enough vitamins needed. But in addition, it will increase your stamina, give you better sleep, better digestion, and an improved mental focus. With these kinds of benefits, acai fruit juice is certainly not a juice you want to pass up.