How do you actually eat pomegranate? Do you just break it into two or use the knife?

Today I thought that since I have never tasted a pomegranate, I wouldn’t mind giving it a try. After surveying the fruit, I cut it into half, the red juice flowed out instantly. There were clusters of the seeds with a thick rind surrounding them inside the fruit, it was difficult to scoop in the fruit so instead I scooped out the seeds one by one . Actually there is nothing much to eat from this fruit. The white part which is the rind? is hard and the seeds had juice sacs surrounding them. I tasted a couple of the juice sacs and spat out the seeds and didn’t bother to continue. They tasted tangy sweet.

Now I am wondering in what way is best to eat this unusual red fruit.If I am not mistaken, pomegranate only recently made its presence in the markets. From what I learnt this fruit has been in existence since ancient times and is a native fruit of Iran and northern India. Pomegranates has also been used to treat inflammation, sore throats and rheumatism as folk remedies! Anyway, I checked for more info and apparently this fruit is claimed to have many health benefits.

From research carried out by scientists, the pomegranate juice is found to have a rich source of potent flavonoid antioxidants which may help reduce fatty buildups on the artery walls! Besides that, pomegranates contain nearly three times the total antioxidant ability when compared with a similar quantity of green tea or red wine. In addition, the fruit has an abundant amount of potassium, fiber, Vitamin C and niacin! Some dietary supplements have side-effects. However some are very beneficial. For example, glucosamine is used as a treatment for osteoarthritis. In addition to this, hydroxycut is used to loose weight. On the contrary, creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid that naturally occurs in vertebrates and supplies energy to the muscles. Pomegranates also have lots of vitamins and energy however it does not creates fats.

Because of its potential benefit, it is recommended to take 8 ounces of pomegranate juice a day to receive a 50 percent increase in nitric oxide production to maintain healthy heart cells and reduce plague buildup. But then, if you have any health concerns it is best to consult your doctor first before you take it.

So I would appreciate if any of you guys out there can share some info on how best to eat this fruit, as I still have the rest of the fruit in my fridge.

A while back, i received an invitation to participate in a meme by Jess who blogs @ Antioxidants. As it was the first time I came across this word, I got panicky… and by the way, new things always give me palpitations . Searching deeper into his blog, I found out what I have to do:

Infact, the participation rules are very simple to follow:

1. Post the rules before you give the facts about yourself.
2. Link to the person who tagged you.
3. Share 8 facts about yourself.
4. At the end of your post, tag 5 people and list their names with links
5. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they’ve been tagged.
6. If you don’t want to participate - no worries, no pressure.

So, should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.

Here’s the 8-pointer about me :

~ I am neither a nutritionist nor a health professional but because I have met with a few health challenges therefore, this has led me in search for ways to improve in healthy living.

~ Besides that, I am also interested in subjects that deal with green living, renewable energy, our environment and elder care.

~ Just entered into twenty-three years of wedded bliss and we have two girls. The elder in tertiary and the younger just completed high school.

~ I like to read books on health, self-improvement and autobiographies, At the moment am reading two books Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secret of the Ages by Robert Collier.

~ I tend to watch a lot of documentaries and news on TV as they are the only programs so far that will anchor me to my seat.

~ Sometimes, my family and I would take time out to attend concerts by our local symphony orchestra, we veer towards classics.

~ I don’t like to judge people as I believe every body has reasons for their actions and I dislike gossips.

~ Now that I have learned how to ‘operate’ a blog, I am excited to meet new friends, to share and widen my knowledge on the internet.

Here, I am meme-ing the following 5 persons :

Philip
Muesli-Junkie
Serine Tan
Jessica Dawn
Henry

What made me brought this question up is because of the video I came across which you can watch at the end of this post.

Anyway forward or backwards, walking will still be my favourite form of exercise and I believe it should be easily fit into anyone’s lifestyle. Walking as everyone knows is a low-impact form of exercise and is also one of the safest as it does not aggravate the structures of your lower back.

Why Walking promotes general health and longevity:

* Lowers blood pressure
* Reduces high cholesterol and improves blood lipid profile
* Reduces body fat as it improves metabolism
* Enhances mental well being, elevates good mood
* Increases bone density, hence helping to prevent osteoporosis
* Reduces the risk of cancer of the colon
* Reduces the risk of non insulin dependent diabetes
* Helps to control body weight and maintain it
* Helps osteoarthritis and reduces arthritis pain
* Helps with flexibility and co-ordination hence reducing the risk of falls

Studies have been done extensively and now supports the many benefits of regular walking.

Regular participation in physical activity (like walking) is associated with reduced mortality rates for both older and younger adults (US Dept of Health 1996). In other words, walkers live longer!

In particular, walking has a high impact on cardiovascular disease. Fit and active individuals have around half the risk of cardiovascular disease compared to unfit inactive people. This level of risk is similar to smoking, high blood pressure or high cholesterol in causing heart disease.

Fit walkers are less likely to fall and suffer injuries such as hip fractures because the bones are strengthened; less likely to sustain injury because joints have a better range of movement and muscles are more flexible; less prone
to depression and anxiety; tend to be good sleepers; and are better able to control body weight.

For general health, experts recommend accumulating a total of 30 minutes of brisk walking on most, preferably all days of the week.

(Sources: US Dept of Health 1996, UK Dept of Health 2000, Health Education Authority 1996)
(Sources: Davison & Grant 1993, US Dept of Health 1996, British Heart Foundation 2000)

In this video, this chap says he does backwalking and encourages it because apparently he claims that backwalking has improved his eyesight which is something new.

Anyone game to give it a try?

This question was raised by a concerned reader in the national newspaper’s forum recently. The reader is very wary about the negative effects of breeding and consuming farmed or cultured fish in our diet.

(More reading, click on image)

As we all know farmed or cultured fish are bred in crammed and dirty cages thus supplying inadequate oxygen to the fish. In this overcrowding environment, fish would therefore, be prone to stress, infections and sickness. In 1999, millions of fish had to be destroyed when there was an outbreak of infectious salmon anemia in Scotland.
Besides being densely packed, farmed fish attracts sea lice and also those that escaped from the cages would infect healthy wild fish.
Antibiotics and vaccines would be administered to this farmed fish to counter infections, diseases and premature death. Furthermore, when they are killed and cooked, the vaccines and antibiotics will still remain in their flesh!
Not only that, farmed fish also have a much higher level of unhealthy fats so where do you think this fats go to when they are eaten.

Even fishmeal made from industrial-catch fish has been known to be tainted with chemicals which are cancer-causing substances and pollutants and this are being fed to farmed fish. Like in 2002, a well-known pesticide DDT and other toxic chemicals have been found in various farmed fish and prawns by the Veterinary Medicines Director of England.

The ecosystem is also damaged by these fish and shrimp farms because in these highly concentrated farms, a huge amount of waste from uneaten feeds, faeces and discharge are produced. This affects the salinity of the surrounding water,land and the various living organisms.

So how do we check if the fish in the fresh market or supermarket is farmed and is safe to consume? At the moment, I will only know whether am eating farmed prawns or not through their having a metallic taste and there is a certain kind of ‘odour’ in the flesh!

Since my last post on my caffeine experienced, a couple of my friends that I met up today, asked me what about drinking tea then?

Tea, I later found is a safer choice for me if I want something hot to drink and a pick-me up. Again which type of tea is taken into consideration. Presently, there are two types of tea I am taking…English Breakfast tea with rice milk or milk and macha green tea.

Since I change to drinking tea, I found I prefer to use loose tea leaves than tea bags. Part of the reason was I found that the tea bags has a sort of bitter chemical taste and was put off by the rusty like colouring floating on my milk. The other reason was I didn’t like the tea after a hot wash for there was no tea taste and flavour.

Sometimes it makes me wonder if these tea bags in the market are using inferior tea leaves because they are so broken up in tiny bits and pieces, and not only that, if the bags used are bleached. I don’t see it with the loose tea leaves and I get a kick when I see the tea leaves swell and open up in my tea pot, at the same time you can also sense the flavour and fragrancy of the tea leaves. I feel I’m drinking real tea as it tastes so much better and I don’t even need to add sugar!
Anyway, I have been wondering if tea bag tea releases more caffeine because the tea leaves have been cut up? Does anyone have any idea?

Many people especially women are looking for easy ways of weight loss. A large proportion of them start soup diet. In doing so, they rely on low fats soup all day. In addition to this, the south beach diet, developed by Miami is very effective for cardiac patients. Other than this you can even take black tea without milk. It burns fats and is also liked by many people.

I suppose it is better to learn to moderate our intake so it wouldn’t be a problem in the first place. Sometimes, the best life hack is to hack yourself first :)! If really there isn’t an option, might as well learn to skip it entirely…but can I?

Why whole grain is preferred in your diet?
Whole grain is an important source for natural fibre, minerals, vitamins, phyto-oestrogens, antioxidants and other components and is also low in saturated fatty acids. The highest concentration of nutrients is located in the germ and bran layer though they are not distributed uniformly.

The three components that make a kernel are:
=>> Bran: rich in B vitamins, phytonutrients (flavonoids, indoles), fibre, minerals; small amount of protein
=>> Endosperm: predominantly carbohydrate, also proteins, small amounts of B vitamins
=>> Germ: rich in minerals like iron and zinc, B vitamins, phytonutrients and vitamin E

So what is natural fibre that we see in some of the products’ labellings?
Natural fibre means the edible parts of a plant that can not be digested or absorbed in the small intestine. It is normally found in whole grain products like bran and oat bran cereals, whole and mixed grain breads or wholegrain breakfast cereals.

Natural fibre is divided into two classes known as soluble and insoluble fibre:
=>>Soluble fibre supposed to slow digestion and absorption of carbohydrates and therefore help people with diabetes and high blood cholesterol levels improve thus control their blood glucose and blood lipid levels. Whole grain products provide 20-50 % of their fibre in the soluble (or viscous) form.
Soluble fibre is found in oats, barley, rye, fruits, vegetables and pulses.
=>>Insoluble fibre found in whole grain cereals and wholemeal bread which is important for bowel function and regularity.

And so please note that products with labels like multi grain, cracked wheat, seven grain, stone-ground, 100 percent wheat, enriched flour and processed cornmeal are not considered whole grain food.

Refined grains means they have gone through the process of being milled to remove the bran and germ. This is done to give the grains a finer texture and prolong shelf life of the products. The disadvantage is the natural fiber, iron, and many B vitamins have been removed, examples like white flour, white bread, white rice and cornmeal.

Most refined grain products have to be added back with B vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid) and iron after processing which is known as ‘enriched’, but fiber is left out and this makes carbohydrates turn into glucose very fast and enter the blood stream which is why diabetics have to be watchful with their diet. If the fiber is intact, it would regulate the blood sugar as carbohydrates are not absorbed quickly.
Also, you won’t feel hungry quickly and this is ideal for maintaining a healthy weight.

It is advisable to check the ingredient list on refined grain products to make sure that the word ‘enriched’ is included next to the grain name. Note that there are some food products being made from mixtures of whole grains and refined grains too.

It is also noted that whole-grain cereals have three to seven times more fiber to a serving than refined cereals. Do keep in mind to include whole grain products in your diet because of the whole package of nutrients contained from the whole grain kernel!