Category: Food and Drink

Dieting can be very hard on the body when not done in the right manner. Not giving the body sufficient time to adjust through crash dieting does more harm than good. More often than not, people diet and lose all the excess weight only to find that the minute they return to their previous eating habits, all the weight is gained back. But all is not lost, thanks to the papaya diet. Who knew that something as simple as a papaya salad could help you out?

The papaya diet is considered to be a great option to option for all those people who are looking to shed a few pounds-especially those who are suffering from an inflamed abdomen. Though the fruit is sweet, the number of calories in papaya are minimal. When it comes to papaya, there is nothing to lose.

Steps

Step 1

Find a nice, fresh fruit. Make sure that the skin has no unwanted indentations. Drink a couple of litres of water in order to remove all the toxins from your body.

Step 2

You will need to begin your diet by going on a mono-fast for a couple of days. You will need to eat the fruit throughout the day, perhaps in the form of a papaya salad.

Step 3

Whenever you feel hungry, simply eat some more papaya. You may drink the papaya juice once in a while, but do not add sugar to it. This is to cleanse the toxins from your body, including the parasites. It helps in building stronger tissues, and also reduces inflammation. You may experience diarrhoea, but that is normal.

Step 4

After fasting, you can drink warm water with a little lemon in it. Follow this up with a papaya breakfast, maybe a papaya salad. Wait for approximately half an hour, after which you can slowly begin to consume soft food.

Step 5

Avoid processed sugar and flour during the time you keep dieting. You may drink papaya juice if you are looking for some variety. This is extremely important as papaya ensures that anything that has been accumulating in your intestines are removed. The fact that the calories in papaya are minimal helps a great deal along with the fact that the fruit is delicious.

Step 6

Steamed vegetables, fish, legumes, beans etc can be consumed for lunch. You can supplement it with a little papaya juice as well.

Step 7

There is a need to perform abdominal exercises while you are on a diet. Muscles need to be stimulated during this time. The fact that there are very few calories in papaya fruit helps. However, that alone will not do.

You can make a simple salad and juice yourself. If you haven’t consumed papaya prior to this and are wondering how to cut a papaya, then visit our site in order to learn about the same.

1. Nutrition & Health

One of the most convincing arguments why you should consider eating insects, is from a health point of view. Insects generally are very high in protein, beneficial fats, vitamins, minerals and all essential amino acids.

Vitamin B12 for example is not available from plant sources, and many vegetarians and vegans are deficient in this. Insects are a great source of Vitamin B12. Nuts and pulses, though very healthy in other nutrients, lack this essential vitamin.

The combination of un- saturated omega- 3 and omega- 6 fatty acids is also high and comparable to that found in fish, which is higher than in pork and cattle.

As most insects are eaten whole, unlike conventional meat, the entire exoskeleton, muscle tissues and vital organs are consumed. This is part of the reason for the high micro- nutritional value of insects.

2. Less land requirements

Farming insects requires less land than farming traditional livestock. In fact, insects even like to be confined to small spaces, which can be seen in the way the cluster into certain patterns. Furthermore they can be stacked vertically unlike bigger animals.

If you compare the weight of protein produced with other livestock, insects require 2 to 10 times less space. Traditional livestock is presently occupying two thirds of the worlds’ land masses, and are the cause of some of our biggest environmental challenges. Climate change, over- fishing, pollution caused by fertilizing as well as pesticide use, are all reasons why the environment is being maxed out and something needs to change.

3. Less CO2 and ammonia emissions

Insects produce significantly less CO2 and ammonia emissions than cattle, pork and chicken. The reason for this is the much shorter lifespan of insects, which means less resources are required. In the case of crickets, they are fully grown at about 8 weeks. Compare that with cows, which are considered adults at about 2 years of age.

4. Quicker protein conversion

Insects are furthermore cold- blooded, meaning increased efficiency at converting food into protein. To produce the same amount of protein, crickets need 12 times less food than cattle, and only half the amount than pork and chicken.

5. Less feed and water requirements

Insects require less feed than other livestock, and about 80% of a cricket is digestible. This is most likely due to the fact that insects are cold- blooded and therefore don’t need food to stay warm. Insects also require significantly less water compared to cattle, pork and chicken.

6. Insects can live off organic waste products

Because insects are easy to please gastronomically, they can live off organic side streams like manure and compost. This in turn decreases environmental impact and adds value to waste products.

Insects could be fed biowaste, and in turn processed and fed to larger animals, which again could be sold to the consumer. Insects such as the black soldier fly, the common housefly and the yellow mealworm, are extremely efficient at converting organic waste, and estimations say that they could convert 1.3 billion tonnes of biowaste per year. Unfortunately this process is not yet allowed due to present and outdated food & feed legislation.

7. Ethical considerations

Insects are further down the food chain than other livestock, and don’t have many animal welfare issues associated with them. This could potentially be an argument for vegans and vegetarians to consume them, especially as they are high in Vitamin B12, which is not obtainable from plants.

8. Small risk of zoonotic infections

Diseases like foot and mouth disease, H5N1, avian influenza and bovine spongiform are less likely to be transmitted from insects to humans, because insects taxonomically are much more different than bigger animals. In recent years we have seen a rapid increase in these infections, likely caused by climate change as well as the intensification of animal production. However, more research is needed in this area.

9. Rearing insects is easy and cost- efficient

Farming insects is easy to learn and doesn’t require a lot of training or resources. Because the life- span of an insect is much shorter than traditional livestock, coupled with the fact that insects reproduce extremely quickly, this also results in quicker economical benefits.

10. No use of antibiotics, pesticides, GMO or hormones

Insects do not require antibiotics, the use of which especially in the poultry industry has led to a lot of debate. Excessive use of antibiotics can lead to bacteria, which become resistant, and in turn become a worrying danger to humans.

The use of pesticides is also not necessary, which logically is better for the environment and human health, as well as being more economical.

The same can be said for GMO and artificial hormones, all of which become superfluous when farming insects.

Who does not love pizza? We all do. But before you take a bite out of your favorite slice, we would like to ask you something. Do you know the rich history of pizza?

Humble Pizza Beginnings

Before pizza came into existence, there was focaccia – a Roman dish that consists of flatbread with added toppings. But historical records show that even before there was focaccia, there were already several versions of flatbread that was famous among individuals during the Neolithic age. In fact, bread goes back as far as 7,000 years ago, among the ancient Sardinians who used leaven to bake bread. Ancient Greeks too, have their version of flatbread that they call plakous. Plakous often had onion, garlic, and herbs for toppings.

It was not until about 997 AD that the name ‘pizza’ first surfaced among the residents in Gaeta, Italy. Back then, pizza was not for the wealthy. The pizza was food for the poor and sold on open street stalls. The first pizza flavor was Marinara, which consists of a topping of garlic, oregano, tomato, and extra virgin olive oil. The flavor owes its name to the seamen’s wives, who traditionally prepared this dish for their seafaring husbands when they return from their fishing trip in Naples. Another classic pizza flavor is Margherita, which consists of a topping of mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and fresh basil. The history of Pizza Margherita goes back to 1889 AD when a certain Raffaele Esposito baked this pizza in honor of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy. Of the three pizza flavors that the baker prepared, the pizza with the colors of the Italian flag-white, red and green, was her favorite, so the people named the pizza Margherita.

Pizza Today

Pizza has surely come so far from its humble beginnings as a dish for the poor. Now, pizza has become a favorite in almost every part of the world, particularly among the Americans. Although a lot of changes and innovations have become popular over the years, some pizza stores still retain the old methods of baking pizza. In fact, 1984 saw the formation of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana or True Neapolitan Pizza Association, which established guidelines on how to make pizza. Among the many guidelines that the association set is the method of cooking hand-kneaded pizza using a wood-fired domed oven and that its diameter should not be greater than 35 centimeters. The association even prescribed a particular measurement for the thickness of the pizza crust-a third of a centimeter!

How Healthy is Pizza?

You may wonder, though, is pizza healthy? We are sure that you do not think so because of the thousands of calories that they contain. But admit it, even when you have already promised yourself that you would not eat more calories than you should, you find yourself craving for a pizza slice. Just a small portion of that pizza, you would say, and then you eat and feel guilty afterward.

As much as we would like to reassure you that pizza is good for those who are on a diet, we cannot. We all know that pizza is on top of the list of foods that those who want to lose weight should not eat.

Those who are merely on a gluten-free diet but not on a weight loss regimen, however, would be triumphal to know that you can eat pizza! Hurrah! Just make sure that you buy yourself a pizza with a gluten-free pizza crust to avoid eating gluten.

Applesauce is a puree made from apples with or without the skin. The other ingredients are allspice and cinnamon and sometimes lemon juice and lemon peel. Depending on each preference, sweeteners like honey or sugar are also added to it. Peeled or unpeeled apples are cooked with apple cider or juice, or water. The more acidic are the apples, the better and finer the puree is. It can be made with any variety of apple, however, the softer or ripened ones are considered best. Flavors can be enhanced by using a variety of apples.

Uses of Applesauce in Different Regions

Applesauce is extremely easy to digest, and loved by children a lot. The English and the Swedes use it as an ideal accompaniment to main courses like roast pork. The idea of combining applesauce with pork is to offset the richness and fatness of the pork with the sharpness and tartness of the apple. Germans use it with their potato pancakes, and eaten with fries in the Netherlands, used as a dessert in the United States or for making applesauce cake and served as a dessert in France and Portugal. The French call it compote. Applesauce could be sweet or tart depending on which food it is accompanying. The pectin in applesauce acts as a binder and thus it is part of the BRAT diet.

Applesauce Products

In the olden days when storage facilities were not so advanced, making applesauce was one method of saving the apple crop for later use. Applesauce is used in baking cakes and muffins. It is also used to make fruit bars, bread, and cookies. Applesauce sour cream is a great accompaniment to sweet potato latkes or pancakes. It is used as an egg substitute in pumpkin pie.

Varieties of Apples

There are about 7500 varieties of apples. Some of the more popular apple brands are Fiji, Crispin, and Cortland. The Gala is excellent for applesauce while the harder varieties like Rome and Arkansas Black are used for baking and storing. The juicier apples which are crisp and tart like Honeycrisp; they are ideal for eating fresh. The Golden Delicious apples are excellent for apple jams, butter, and applesauce. It is the Rome apples though that is considered a chef’s best friend as it is tart and tangy. The apple cider made from these apples is excellent for psoriasis, diabetes, inflammation, and high cholesterol. Red Delicious apples and York apples are excellent for storing lasting for up to three months after harvesting and even longer if stored in cool and humid conditions.