Jamie's Oliver USA

Well, watching Jamie's Oliver programme last night, I was so glad that the radio presenter finally saw the reality of his town and the other side of the coin. It was not just about him wanted to keep eating his junk food is saving his town from dying young and badly.... Well done to Jamie Oliver for not giving up even though he had so many obstacle, and I suppose after he trying UK he knew how to get the people finally. Great in involving the University with the dancing... He made cooking fun and enjoyable and obviously well done to the teachers and the students that did it so well.... Great hopefully now that Jamie is out of there the town and a lot more towns in America will take up cooking lessons and keep up with the healthy eating. It just means that McDonald and all the other junk food chain will earn less money... Great!!! So for anybody else keep staying healthy and have fun trying new recipes.....

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French fries - vegetables or .....

Again I watched Jamie Oliver's programme yesterday and it is becoming quite amusing the more I watch it.  The teenagers that he got for his cooking skills, are amazing. They are probably a minority of kids that really understand that if you want to change something you need to make a big effort. They went from not knowing how to cook anything to cooking an entire meal for 80 + people, how great that is!! I am sure their parents or guardian have no choice but make a difference. But what about the rest of the school!! Will they understand the change that they need to make now for the future? I hope so.

Now going towards explaining French fries. I like a good French fries and once a year I probably have it somewhere nice. But just to be very precise, French fries are NOT A VEGETABLE, they are not part of the 5 a day scheme and they do not count towards a healthy eating!!! The lady that organized the meals for the schools in America, is very supportive of Jamie's mission and she wants to do her best to change the meals, but I do not think she understood that French fries are not better than freshly cooked noodles with few types of vegetables in there.... French fries are tasty but unfortunately they don't have anything healthy in them. Potatoes are not part of the vegetables either, they are starchy food, like rice and pasta, and, cooked with the skin on, they are a very good source of some minerals and vitamins as well as fiber (which helps in case you suffer of constipation, with some of the actual vegetables fibers). So again I hope that the people in America start thinking of their own health, as I do not think anybody else is doing anything there to change the bad habits that they got into... Also I still think the radio present of Huntington is a a... hole as he should be quite and keep his opinion of eating bad food for himself. If he and his family wants to eat unhealthy food that should be their choice but if the rest of the kids and family in his town wants to try the healthy option he should let them do that and be quite..... or even better be supportive, that is if he really cares about his listeners and he does not want them to have a heart attack while they are listening to his opinion!!

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Support for Jamie Oliver's mission

I have a great respect for Jamie Oliver and his mission of trying to make the nation, first with UK and now with America a better place. Making people more conscious of where the food come from before all the big chain of fast foods and easy food came along. Before all that happen every child and every woman knew what a vegetable was, and how to cook it. In a sad sense, we were much more healthier at a time or depression and low food than now. As before everyone that had a piece of soil or land would plant their own vegetables to eat and not flowers. Not that flowers are not great, but that is not the point. I am lucky that I grew up in a countryside where everything came from my parents garden. Vegetables, fruits, and meat. The only thing was missing was fish from their land, but leaving quite close to the sea you could easily find freshly caught fish sold off the boat! My son is also lucky, because he often visits my parents and knows what a tomato plant look like, the pear plant, the olives, plant, the salad plant and all that. He is very lucky also because I taught him what different fruits and vegetables are and he loves them. In Italy where I send him for the summer the play scheme where he stays have their own vegetables and they make the kids go and pick their own vegetables up! Which is fantastic!! And apparently all the kids that did not eat vegetables they started eating the vegetables they picked up!! Going back to Jamie Oliver mission,  I am also lucky that the school where my son goes, use a lot of their own herbs, use organic food as much as possible and they have fruits and salad as well as vegetables in their menu. Definitely the smaller kids do not complain and they are learning to eat vegetables. I might have to thank Jamie Oliver for his mission here in UK as my son's started his school after Jamie Oliver started to stir up the kitchens. Well, I would have done packed lunch, but for somebody that is tight for time everyday would have been a big mission, as well as my son not having warm meals everyday. He does not like sandwiches all the time which is good, but it meant that he would have a cold lunch everyday. Now again going back to Jamie Oliver mission, I was reading in the observer about the community that he managed to set up for cooking lessons for adults and children!! What a fantastic ideas. That would make a huge difference in the health of the adults, young, elderly, and children as they would know more about food and what healthy food means!! they would eat much more healthily which it means less burden on the NHS in the future.... So why now is the government cutting the funds for that!! Instead of taxing people with money they again taxing people without the money. Agian the health of the Nation will have a repercussion later if the kids do not learn now how to eat and cook. Maybe the government is not thinking of the future as they might not be in power later on. Anyway the other big thank you to Jamie Oliver is for trying so hard to change an entire town in America if not the entire America with his mission. And you would think that they would say thank you themselves and be happy.  Last night when I saw the programme I was very much saddened by the fact that his enthusiasm at the beginning was met with mistrust and anger and even the Radio host that should be thinking 'hey this is for the health of the people in our town, let's give it a try people and support him', he was against Jamie. I think the host of the radio was very selfish and not really considering the hundreds of people and children with big problems not knowing the name of one single vegetable and where their food came from.... I think as a radio presenter he should make a better judgement of what helps the listener and what is good for them rather than attacking Jamie Oliver for trying to help the children being healthier...... Again I felt very sorry for Jamie Oliver that seems like he had to beg for a job in the school to stay on and teach them what a good meal would be for the children.... How can they ever go back to that rubbish that they gave to the children, how can the parents ever go back to give their children that rubbish... Jamie Oliver does not have to do this, he can stay at his home writing and cooking in his own restaurant and no bother about any of this! He knows that his children will eat healthily, he does not need to beg for a job,, he does not need to do any of this... He is doing this because he is passionate about food, passionate about what health is and he wants to help.. He could have easily stayed at home and not care and have more time with his family.... And I hope that the people in UK and America understand how lucky they are that somebody like JAMIE OLIVER is teaching them to be healthier and how to cook... What an honour!!!! So well done Jamie Oliver and thank you for doing this......

http://www.nutritionhealth.net/

B vitamins and Alzheimers and homocysteine connection

Hey, finally there is prove that the B vitamins, especially B12, B6 and folic acid are beneficial in prevention of Alzheimer. But the homocysteine connection is also beneficial for the prevention of heart conditions, including reducing high blood pressure. Measuring the homocysteine level with a simple blood test will give an indication on how much B vitamins you need to take for how long and than keep maintaining a basic dose to keep you healthy. If you have a family history of dementia or Alzheimer it is worth to start early to keep it down and prevent it. And if you are older you can still take it and prevent any further damage by taking the B vitamins. Again a simple blood tests should be done. Some GP are very helpful and would send you for the test themselves. For the doctor is worth suggesting the tests and giving B vitamins as a prevention rather than spend much more later if the person gets either the Dementia or Heart problems.

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Sunshine - reminder of importance of vitamin D

I just came back from Italy where my parents live and it is amazing what a difference in weather there is. It seems that you are in a different world altogether. The problem in England is that the luck of much sunshine can affect the mood and increase the risk of mould allergies or infections. August has been a very wet month and getting some sun on your body seems to warm up everything even the joints that start aching after so much humidity. Just to remind also people that from November till March/April in England the sun is not strong enough to give you the minimum amount of vitamin D that the body needs. So store up now and during the winter time take extra vitamin D or D3 for the elderly or people with kidney problems which is the active form of the vitamin D. Enjoy as much sun as possible now (the safer hours are up till 11am and after 3pm).

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Green leafy vegetables

I always recommend to my client to eat green leafy vegetables. There are many reason why, one they contains lots of minerals, especially magnesium with all the benefit that magnesium has. Another one is being leafy there are also part of the leaf that is not absorbed but digested and worked on by the friendly bacteria which in turns make any elimination of toxins and unwated waste more easily. Now one of the new reseach (mentioned by Dr Briffa in his blog) has the benefit of preventing diabetes type 2. Which I am not surprised as magnesium is an important mineral also for the control of insulin but also I suppose the people that eat more leafy vegetables, also tends to eat less sweet, white pasta or bread and usually either cook their own foods or eat as heatlhy as it can be. It does not mean that just eating leafy vegetables will stop the diabetes, again is a lifestyle change rather than just one thing. Such as walking or doing exercise and implement the healthy eating as a regular thing rather than an occasional meal. ....... Enjoy your greens!!!http://www.nutritionhealth.net/

Detox for a week with healthy eating

This can be tried by anyway that would like a bit of challenge and a chance to change their diet. Here is a week of healthy eating to see what difference it makes to your inside and outside.

Every day for – 7am till 9am - Breakfast with 4-5 strawberries, a palm full of blueberries, and blackberries, cherries two tablespoon of mixed nuts or seeds, and live organic yogurt (3 tablespoon).

Mid morning and afternoon snacks 11am and 3-4 pm: 2 nectarines or blueberries and blackberries with 1 pot of yogurt, or one slice of cantaloupe melon with two tablespoon of mixed seeds

Lunch 12pm -2pm: Salad with salmon, tuna, eggs or beans, or chicken with vegetables or a fistful of brown rice with beans, fish or chicken. Alternatively an omelette with mushroom or any other vegetable with salad can be made.

Dinners: 7-9pm – fish, chicken, beans or lean lamb with a lettuce mixed salad (heart of Romaine, rockets, Cos salads, carrots, celery, cucumber with 1 teaspoon of vinegar with one tablespoon of olive oil (cold pressed). Eat the salad before your dinner. With the protein have some leafy vegetables such as kale, pak choi, greens, spinach (slightly cooked)

Drink up to 2 litres of water away from your meals throughout the day. Walk for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour everyday (now that the weather is good, should not be a problem) and most of all enjoy the week.

One coffee or one tea a day only is allowed, no juices only fresh produce, no alcohol.

http://www.nutritionhealth.net/