Good Food Good Health » Fast Food

Health Benefits of Chinese Foods

health reporter — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:44:53 +0000

The two great Chinese philosophies, Confucius and Taoism, not only contributed to philosophy but also to the way the Chinese food is prepared and served. Preparing Chinese food requires a lot of expertise and experience. The Chinese culture has a special way of serving food that is cut into small bite pieces which is made almost mandatory. It is hard to find knives at the dinner table in Chinese food serving. Chinese food also stresses the importance of the right combination of ingredients like herbs and condiments. The food should also look good in color and texture and a well prepared food deserves to be eaten with harmony. The Chinese food is cooked with the intention of increasing the health benefits like longevity and having healing powers and medicinal value. A good Chinese food is prepared with poly unsaturated oils and does not use milk based ingredients like cream, butter and cheese. Although meat is used in Chinese food, it is used in moderation and hence avoids high levels of animal fat and cholesterol. Such a food is called authentic Chinese food which is in fact, an ideal Chinese food, good for the health. In a traditional Chinese food, emphasis is given to rice, noodles and vegetables.The Chinese food can be chosen, to make a great difference by opting for various dishes with different nutritional value. Chicken or beef dishes and vegetables are a good choice. Fried dishes like sesame chicken can be substituted with cashew chicken or beef and broccoli. Such dishes offer nutritional value that is not contained in traditional plates like lo mein, which are noodles soaked with oil, fats and carbohydrates. Fried rice contains a large amount of cholesterol and carbohydrates and hence brown rice can be taken instead. Chinese food largely makes use of soy sauce and other additives which are rich in sodium content. A Chinese food is better to be started with sauce but the down side is that it contains a lot of sodium- almost three to four times what is really needed. But the safest bet is vegetables and steamed dishes or stir fried with little or no oil. To lower fat calories, vegetable based dishes with a variety of sauces and steamed rice complete a healthy Chinese food. To wind up the Chinese meal, fortune cookies which contain only 15 calories would be perfect. To sum up, a Chinese food that contains more of vegetables, snow peas, low in salt can be considered to be a healthy food. The choice of a restaurant between an inexpensive one and high end restaurant also is influential in differing the health of the Chinese food that is being served. The server or the manager would also be eager to offer assistance on the type of dishes and their nutritional content.

Fast Food – Friend or Foe?

health reporter — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:37:50 +0000

Fast food – just fun, or the first step on a slippery road to dietary disaster? Imagine … it’s been a long day at work and you’re too tired to think, never mind cook. Your child’s too hungry to wait and too cranky to sit in a restaurant and behave well. Those golden arches or that drive through window are calling to you, promising a speed, inexpensive and just about effortless family meal.

But fast food isn’t particularly good food and as you watch your toddler happily dunking greasy chips and chicken nuggets into sugary ketchup and sauce, you determine that you’ll be stronger net time and resist the temptation of a fast food fix, knowing deep inside, that this is a resolution you’re doomed to break.

Don’t beat yourself up about his. Fast food franchises are there to answer our most basic need – to eat. And when you’re an exausted working parent, you’re only human for giving in from time to time. It’s important that you keep your fast food meals limited though to avoid compromising your own and your family’s wellbeing. Try to stick to the following guidelines:

Don’t let fast food become a habit. Limit your visits to outlets to a couple of times a month at most. Make those fast food meals a special treat that you and your children can enjoy together.

Ask for nutritional information. Many fast food restaurants will provide, upon request, a nutritional breakdown of their menu items and this can be used to help you guide your selections.

Try to be as “healthy” as possible. More and more fast food chains are offering “lighter” “leaner” and “healthier” options across their menus. Pizza is a nutritionally sound selection as is a baked potato and broccoli. Hunt around at the salad bar and as well as all those mayonnaise-drenched salads you’ll probably be able to find grated carrots, chick-peas and green and leafy accompaniments to your meal. Frozen yoghurt is a good choice for dessert and why not order a carton of milk or orange guice instead of soda or a high fat milk shake. This will help make your meal a lot healthier.

Compensate at home – OK, maybe lunch wasn’t nutritious, but you can provide an after-dinner extra. Snuggle up with a great book from Scruffy’s Bookshop and nibble on carrot, fruit or a whole grain muffin as a treat when you get home.

Finally – don’t spoil your outing by feeling too guilty. If you’re not overdoing the excursions to fast food outlets, then you’re not putting your children’s health in danger. So hold the guilt, relax and enjoy.

Fencing is good for your health

health reporter — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:33:33 +0000

Craig Harkins asked:

Fencing is one of the oldest sports and one of 4 to be included in every modern Olympic Games. It is a great activity to be involved in since fencing is a great way to get and stay fit. Fencing involves lots of movement. It is a sport which requires the players, in this case the fencers, to be constantly on the move. Fencing requires footwork (movement around the fencing piste). A fencer is constantly in motion.

More and more parents are trying to encourage their children to get involved in fencing. Because fencing is a good sport with aerobic and anaerobic components, getting children involved early on in life will help them to realize the importance of physical activity.

Many children exercise by getting up off the couch, going to the kitchen and back to the couch to spend the afternoon watching television or playing video games. This is definitely not a good practice for a healthy heart. Children who develop poor physical practices early in life will likely carry these practices with them through life.

Fencing is good for your health since it provides loads of physical activity plus it requires the individual to stay in shape. The sport of fencing would be much more difficult for the person who isn’t in shape. In preparation for fencing a person needs to practice stretching and strengthening exercises.

Staying physically active and in shape promotes healthy living and a longer life. Anything which will provide healthy benefits is good for your heart. Eating healthy is a big factor for good heart health and is also a good practice to get the family into. Since fencing is a good sport for your heart, perhaps it might be one physical activity which the whole family could get involved in.

Fencing could be that one sport and area of interest the whole family has in common. Fencing with friends and family would surely make the activity more enjoyable. Developing heart healthy living is extremely important but is also easy to avoid in our society of fast food and so many other things to take our minds off of it. Fencing is good for your heart and it is a good sport to teach young children the importance of physical activity, hoping it will promote healthy practices that will help them for their long life.