3 health reasons to cook with cast-iron

Cast-iron skillets may seem like an old-fashioned choice in the kitchen. But this dependable cookware is a must in the modern kitchen. Cast-iron skillets conduct heat beautifully, go from stovetop to oven with no problem and last for decades. (In fact, my most highly prized piece of cookware is a canary-yellow, enamel-coated cast-iron paella pan from the 1960s that I scored at a stoop sale for $5.) As a registered dietitian and associate nutrition editor of EatingWell Magazine, I also know that there are some great health reasons to cook with cast iron.

1. You can cook with less oil when you use a cast-iron pan. 

That lovely sheen on cast-iron cookware is the sign of a well-seasoned pan, which renders it virtually nonstick. The health bonus, of course, is that you won't need to use gads of oil to brown crispy potatoes or sear chicken when cooking in cast-iron. To season your cast-iron skillet, cover the bottom of the pan with a thick layer of kosher salt and a half inch of cooking oil, then heat until the oil starts to smoke. Carefully pour the salt and oil into a bowl, then use a ball of paper towels to rub the inside of the pan until it is smooth. To clean cast iron, never use soap. Simply scrub your skillet with a stiff brush and hot water and dry it completely.

2. Cast iron is a chemical-free alternative to nonstick pans. 

Another benefit to using cast-iron pans in place of nonstick pans is that you avoid the harmful chemicals that are found in nonstick pans. The repellent coating that keeps food from sticking to nonstick pots and pans contains PFCs (perfluorocarbons), a chemical that's linked to liver damage, cancer, developmental problems and, according to one 2011 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, early menopause. PFCs get released-and inhaled-from nonstick pans in the form of fumes when pans are heated on high heat. Likewise, we can ingest them when the surface of the pan gets scratched. Both regular and ceramic-coated cast-iron pans are great alternatives to nonstick pans for this reason.

3. Cooking with cast iron fortifies your food with iron. 

While cast iron doesn't leach chemicals, it can leach some iron into your food...and that's a good thing. Iron deficiency is fairly common worldwide, especially among women. In fact, 10% of American women are iron-deficient. Cooking food, especially something acidic like tomato sauce in a cast-iron skillet can increase iron content, by as much as 20 times.

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Nice Egg for Breakfast

Everybody knows the old saying: "Have breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper."  I am not sure if everybody realizes the fact, that the healthy breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you ask me, I am for eating breakfast.

I came across this site which gave me an idea on how to motivate my nephews to eat breakfast. Here is a nice heart egg for breakfast.

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Health Benefits of Whole Grains

Eating a fiber-heavy diet helped reduce people's risk of death from heart disease, infectious or respiratory disease, or any cause by 22%, according to a new study.

What's more, people who were in the highest fiber-intake group (29.4 g per day for men and 25.8 g for women) were also less likely to develop those diseases than people with the lowest levels of fiber consumption (12.6 g per day for men and 10.8 g for women).

That's good motivation to adhere to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), which called on Jan. 31 for increased consumption of fiber through whole grains, enriched foods and fresh fruits and veggies. The DGA recommends 14 g of dietary fiber per 1,000 calories per day — which totals about 25 g of fiber a day.

Dietary fiber is the edible part of a plant that is difficult to digest — found in wheat bran and green, leafy vegetables — and is known to improve health in a number of ways. It is thought to lower risks of heart disease, some cancers, diabetes and obesity, and it's known to reduce cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure. According to background information in the study, published in Archives of Internal Medicine, it also binds to potential cancer-causing agents so the body can flush them out.

For the study, researchers looked at mortality data for 219,123 men and 168,999 women, who completed questionnaires about their eating habits between 1995 and 1996 as part of the longitudinal National Institutes of Health–AARP Diet and Health Study.

During nine years of follow-up, 20,126 men and 11,330 women died. People who ate the highest amounts of fiber were 22% less likely to die of any cause than people who ate the least fiber. Further, men in the highest quintile were 24% less likely to suffer from cardiovascular, infectious or respiratory diseases than men in the lowest quintile, and for women the reduction in risk was 34%.

Researchers noted that fiber from grains, such as in whole-grain bread or brown rice, but not fiber from fruits, was associated with the reduced risk of death in both men and women.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/

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Do Fatty, Processed Foods Lower Children's IQ?

Parents already know giving children too much junk food can make them obese, but a new study says all that greasy, processed food may have a negative impact on their brains as well as their bodies.

Researchers from the United Kingdom and Canada found an association between foods high in fat and sugar and slightly reduced IQ. Using questionnaires that asked how often parents fed their children junk food, the researchers found that children whose dietary patterns consisted of fatty, sugary foods at age 3 had a lower IQ at age 8-1/2 than their peers who ate a lot more nutritious foods.

"This suggests that any cognitive/behavioural effects relating to eating habits early in childhood may well persist into later childhood, despite any subsequent changes (including improvements) to dietary intake," the authors wrote. The work was led by Kate Northstone, a research fellow at the University of Bristol in England.

But that doesn't mean that feeding kids a lot of pizza, hot dogs and potato chips will cause a lower IQ. The authors found an association, not a cause-and-effect relationship.

The researchers also say there could have been other factors, such as parenting style, that led to some children's lower IQs.

Additionally, IQ was only lowered by a little more than one point -- statistically significant but still small. There were nearly 4,000 children assessed, which is a large number and can lead to statistical significance.

"With a large enough sample size, you can show statistical significance with a small increment, but it may not mean anything clinically," said Keith Ayoob, associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y.

Diet Affects Us 'From Head to Toe'

Despite the study's limitations, nutritionists say the study reinforces the need to get children started on a proper diet early.

The authors said they took numerous factors into account that could have contributed to their findings, including stressful events the child experienced, parental education level and social class.

"I want to see more about parenting styles," said Ayoob. "Do the parents interact with the children, do they eat dinner together -- these are things that can also influence IQ."

The authors found that dietary patterns between the ages of 4 and 7 did not have an impact on IQ.

"A possible explanation for this is that the brain grows at its fastest rate during the first three years of life. Studies have shown that head growth during this time is associated with cognitive outcome, and it is possible that good nutrition during this early period may encourage optimal brain growth," the researchers wrote.

Junk Food and IQ

This study isn't the first to look at the relationship between nutrition and IQ. A recent study found that children breastfed for six months did better on tests in school than their classmates who were formula-fed. The current research, however, is one of very few studies that look at the effects of overall diet on IQ development, the authors say.

Dieticians say the new study combines with others to send a very important message.

"It's a reminder that our whole body, from head to toe, is impacted by what we eat," said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis. "It's a real eye-opener that the foods we feed our children lays the impact for not only their physical health, but also their mental health in terms of intelligence as well."

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/

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The Most Dangerous Female Sport: Cheerleading

Cheerleading safety efforts have led to modest reductions in the number of serious injuries in recent years, according to a new report about college and high school sports and cheerleading mishaps.

But cheerleading caused more serious and deadly injuries by far than other female sports during the study period.

Researchers have long known how dangerous cheerleading is, but records were poorly kept until recently. An update to the record-keeping system last year found that between 1982 and 2007, there were 103 fatal, disabling or serious injuries recorded among female high school athletes, with the vast majority (67) occurring in cheerleading. The next most dangerous sports: gymnastics (nine such injuries) and track (seven).

Today, the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill released its 26th annual report on the topic. The latest figures are from the 2007-2008 academic year for college and high school sports, male and female. The report defines catastrophic injuries as any severe or fatal injury incurred during participation in the sport.

The new numbers are for the 26-year period from the fall of 1982 through the spring of 2008:

There were 1,116 direct catastrophic injuries in high school (905) and college sports (211).

High school sports were associated with 152 fatalities, 379 non-fatal injuries and 374 serious injuries. College sports accounted for 22 fatalities, 63 non-fatal injuries and 126 serious injuries.

Cheerleading accounted for 65.2 percent of high school and 70.5 percent of college catastrophic injuries among all female sports.

The number of cheerleading injuries fell slightly in the 2007-08 academic year.

"Progress has been slow, but there has been an increased emphasis on cheerleading safety," said the study's author Frederick O. Mueller. "Continued data collection on all types of cheerleading injuries will hopefully show that these safety measures are working to reduce injuries."

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Dengue/dengue haemorrhagic fever

Dengue is the most common mosquito-borne viral disease of humans that in recent years has become a major international public health concern. Globally, 2.5 billion people live in areas where dengue viruses can be transmitted. The geographical spread of both the mosquito vectors and the viruses has led to the global resurgence of epidemic dengue fever and emergence of dengue hemorrhagic fever (dengue/DHF) in the past 25 years with the development of hyperendemicity in many urban centers of the tropics.

Transmitted by the main vector, the Aedes aegytpi mosquito, there are four distinct, but closely related, viruses that cause dengue. Recovery from infection by one provides lifelong immunity against that serotype but confers only partial and transient protection against subsequent infection by the other three. There is good evidence that sequential infection increases the risk of more serious disease resulting in DHF.

DHF was first recognized in the 1950s during the dengue epidemics in the Philippines and Thailand. By 1970 nine countries had experienced epidemic DHF and now, the number has increased more than fourfold and continues to rise. Today emerging DHF cases are causing increased dengue epidemics in the Americas, and in Asia, where all four dengue viruses are endemic, DHF has become a leading cause of hospitalization and death among children in several countries.

Currently vector control is the available method for the dengue and DHF prevention and control but research on dengue vaccines for public health use is in process. The global strategy for dengue /DHF prevention and control developed by WHO and the regional strategy formulation in the Americas, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific during the 1990s have facilitated identification of the main priorities: strengthening epidemiological surveillance through the implementation of DengueNet; accelerated training and the adoption of WHO standard clinical management guidelines for DHF; promoting behavioral change at individual, household and community levels to improve prevention and control; and accelerating research on vaccine development, host-pathogen interactions, and development of tools/interventions by including dengue in the disease portfolio of TDR (UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases) and IVR (WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research).

Source: WHO

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How do people become infected with the A(H1N1) virus?

The virus is spread from person-to-person. It is transmitted as easily as the normal seasonal flu and can be passed to other people by exposure to infected droplets expelled by coughing or sneezing that can be inhaled, or that can contaminate hands or surfaces.

To prevent spread, people who are ill should cover their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing, stay home when they are unwell, clean their hands regularly, and keep some distance from healthy people, as much as possible.

There are no known instances of people getting infected by exposure to pigs or other animals.

The place of origin of the virus is unknown.

Source: WHO

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If You Get Burned

A sever sunburn, like any other major burn, can be painful and dangerous enough to land you in the hospital. But even a minor burn is a problem, it makes the skin peel and lose whatever sun-protective tan it had developed.

The best thing to do for a mild sunburn is to cool your skin in a lukewarm bath and take aspirin. (Acetysalicylic acid, which is what aspirin is, helps reduce inflammation.) If blisters form, see a doctor, because you can develop a bacterial infection.

Compresses soaked in cool water, milk or tea can provide temporary relief for minor sunburn pain, as can local anesthetics (over-the-counter products that frequently have “-caine” as part of their brand name). Some people can become allergic to these anesthetics, so they should be used sparingly. Cold cream and other lubricants will not do anything for pain but will help the dryness of sunburned skin. If simple home remedies don’t work, see your doctor and be extra careful next time you’re in the sun.

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How Not To Have An Ulcer

* EAT SMALL, FREQUENT MEALS. Ulcers tend to be the most painful when the stomach is empty. If you eat often, food helps buffer the effects of digestive acids and enzymes.

* AVOID UNNECESSARY USE OF ASPIRIN OR NONSTEROIDAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS. Since these can irritate the digestive tract, your doctor may advise taking them with food.

* DON'T SMOKE. "Smokers have more ulcers, their ulcers are harder to heal, and they're more likely to have recurrences", says David Graham, M.D.

* CUT BACK ON COFFEE, TEA AND COLA DRINKS. Caffeine stimulate acid production, which may in turn exacerbate ulcers.

*AVOID ALCOHOL. This is particularly important for individuals taking the antibiotic metronidazole (Flagyl), which can make them severely ill if they drink.

* DON'T USE MILK AS THERAPHY. Doctors say it's one of the worst treatments for ulcers.

* AVOID FOODS THAT UPSET YOUR STOMACH. You don't have to eat a bland diet, but steer clear of too spicy foods or any that have irritated your digestive system before.

* CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR IF YOU'VE HAD ULCERS IN RECENT YEARS. "If any of may ulcer patient test positive for H.pylori, I treat them immediately rather than waiting for a recurence," says Dr. Graham.

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Malunggay: The Food for all Reasons

If United States has apple to keep the doctors away, here in the Philippines, it’s the common malunggay (Horseradish Tree).

Touted by scientists as “miracle vegetable,” malunggay has been promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the past 20 years as a low-cost health enhancer in poor countries around the globe. In fact, during the Marcos administration, there was already a craze about malunggay, being a solution to the malnutrition problem in the countryside.
Perhaps not too many people know that the late President Ferdinand Marcos himself was a malunggay addict, consuming soup littered with green leaves in every meal in addition to the legendary ‘saluyot’ and ‘labong’ (bamboo shoots) as his main fare.
Malunggay trees are generally grown in backyards. The small, oval, dark-green leaves are famous vegetable ingredient in soup, fish and chicken dishes. Scientifically, it is called ‘Moringa Oelifera’. Despite its legendary potentials, malunggay is still relatively unknown.
“The sale of all forms of vitamins, minerals, and health supplements is a big business,” points out Moringa Zinga, an American Company that promotes and sells malunggay products in capsules. “If you are a company selling hundreds of nutritional products, why would you sell a product that will wipe out all your other products? This is true for the pharmaceutical industries as well. These industries would rather that the general public remains ignorant about the Moringa leaves.”
According to the Bitechnology Program Office of the Department of Agriculture, the malunggay has been found by biochemists and molecular anthropologists to be rich in vitamins C and A, iron, and high-density lipoprotein or goon cholesterol.
Due to its high calcium content (four times the calcium in milk); lactating mothers in the Philippines are often advised to consume malunggay leaves to produce more milk for their babies. The young malunggay leaves are being boiled and drink as tea.
Malunggay leaves are loaded with nutrients. Gram for gram, malunggay leaves also contain two times the vitamin A in carrots.
Health nutritionists claim that an ounce of malunggay has the same vitamin C content as seven oranges. An important function of vitamin C not known to many is its being antioxidant. In fact, it has been recognized and accepted by the US Food and Drug Administration as one of the four dietary antioxidant, the others being vitamin E, Beta-carotene and selenium.(a dietary oxidant is a substance in food that significantly decreases the adverse effects of harmful chemicals)
There are more health benefits. Vivencio Mamaril, of Bureau of Plant Industry, told a national daily that in India, malunggay is used in treating various ailments. A 2001 study in India has found that the fresh root of the young tree can be used to treat a fever. Asthmatics are advised to drink the fusion from the roots of the plant.
Tender malunggay leaves also reduce phlegm and are administered internally for scurvy and catarrhal conditions, while the flowers are used to heal inflammation of the tendons and abscesses. Unripe pods of malunggay can prevent intestinal worms, while the fruit also prevents eye disorders.
Other studies have shown that eating malunggay fruits can lead to higher semen count. This is good news for men who may not able to sire children. They can now count on the malunggay to work its magic on them.
Because of its nutritional content, malunggay strengthens the immune system, restores skin condition, controls blood pressure, relieves headaches and migraines, manages the sugar level thereby preventing diabetes, reduces inflammations and arthritis pains, restricts the growth of tumors, and heals ulcers. This information comes from Dr. Kumar Pati, an Indian doctor who is an expert in natural medicine.
The “next big thing” in Philippine agriculture. That is how the agriculture department considers malunggay. “Malunggay can save illnesses, increases incomes, generate millions of jobs, utilize vast tracts of idle agricultural lands, make the Philippines globally competitive, impact local international market, and help attain socio-economic equity.

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Tap Water is Better for Your Teeth

Finally a story about something good in your tap water: flouride. This mineral plays an important role in the development of children's teeth, but it also helps fight cavities in adults. So if you've given up drinking tap water because you worry that ir is unsafe, you and your children may not be getting enough flouride.

According to a recent study published in General Dentistry, many commercially bottled waters contain less than 0.3 parts per million (ppm), much less than the recommended 0.7 to 1.2 ppm. The tap water in most cities and towns falls withing recommended levels.

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Wooden Cutting Board Safer than Plastic Piece

For many years, the Department of Agriculture has been warning people who prepare food that they should not cut food on a wooden surface. The best thing to use, the Agriculture official said, was a piece of plastic. However, new research says is safer than plastic. Scientists were surprised to discover the almost 100% of the bacteria died almost immediately. The publication Organic Gardening reports that when the researchers put the same kind of bacteria on a plastic cutting board, none of them died. The report says the bacteria could not be removed from the plastic even with soap and hot water.

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Laugh, Teacher, Laugh!

Laughter exercises the heart, improves circulation, and gets rid of excess air in the lungs.

Education is too important to take seriously. When people take anything too seriously, they put on blinders which cause them to miss the important aspects of what is going on around them. They develop "tunnel vision", which limits and distorts their perception of reality. Education is too important to be limited by those who have chosen to wear blinders and to develop tunnel vision.

Here are some ways to bring laughter into the classroom:

1. Share humurous events from your own experience.

2. Learn to appreciate class clowns. They are your greatest ally when it comes to laughter and can brighten even the grayest of days.

3. Obtain humurous books from your library and read them to your class.

4. Talk about funny shows or movies you have enjoyed.

5. Have your students find humurous stories and pictures in newspapers and magazines.

6. Have students write and act out a funny class story or play.

7. Laugh at your own mistakes instead od making an excuse or covering up.

8. Wear a funny hat, clown's nose, two different kinds of shoes, or colored socks to school, anything to break the routine.

9. Finally, commit yourself to developing a humurous outlook on life. Take yourself, life and school less seriously. Laugh at the stressors of the days. Your laughter will help eliminate the dreaded tunnel vision and may even help you say, "School is too important to take seriously."

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