Ten turkey fact to have in mind in
Christmas
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| Photo by |
- Turkey is native from the Yucatan forests in Mexico and was
introduced by the Spanish Jesuit monks. The British called Turkey because
they discovered the bird in Turkey
- United Kingdom produces right now only 17 million of turkey by
year, 20 years ago was almost 45 million.
- The main reason why people stop to consume turkey outside Christmas
are the poor quality meat produced for young white turkey but more quickly
to rise by farmers and the white turkey is more easy to pluck and look
better in the supermarket or butcher display but the meat is less testier
and use to get dry in the cooking process.
- The turkey season is from October to March. The best turkey meat is
from Bronze breed turkey.
- Turkey is on the top of the menu for the British Olympic team due
the low fat and high protein content that allow them train for longer.
- The caloric contribution is 130 Kcal/100 g .The
turkey meat has a low content of fat, most is the turkey skin. The thigh
is the fattest part of the turkey.
- Have a good protein value similar to other
meats, also abundant in potassium and magnesium.
- The turkey raw meat can be easy contaminate
by bacteria for that reason is highly recommended to defrost the meat in
the fridge overnight before cooking.
- In the supermarket is best pick turkey breast ham is more natural
with less additives than turkey ham.
- In the butchery pick black female turkey with any marks in the skin
and preferable white coloured that mean grassland feed. (yellow mean has
been feed with corn)
Fish and Ibuprofen
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| Iron Bridge over Ebro River in Logroño |
The Catalan Institute of Water Investigation (Icra) has for first time measured the quantities of drug medicine in the rivers. The study case has been in the mightiest Spanish River, the Ebro River with 930km ².
They reached the follow conclusions:
1.The drug medicine concentration is higher than expectet and not only is in the water but also in the river sediment.
2.In total has been found 43 diferent types of medicen in the river. The more popular are, anti-inflammatory (like Ibuprofen), antibiotics and anticonceptives.
3.All these substances are ingested by the fish.
4.Even 70% of the families said to recycle 70% of the medicaments, the study conclude that 70% of the drug medicine finish in the water and 30% of them retained in the river sediments.
5.If the drug medicine is in the sediments, the fish are contaminated and been affected, and that open the posiblity that their predator or who consume fish can be also affected.
6.Even the study concluded that the human health was not at risk, is very important study the impact in the river biodiversity and how is affecting the fish.
7.The project that have a government investment of 4,5 milliions will continue with the study of another important river like the Guadalquivir in Andalucia.
Protect your stomach from the alcohol by eating strawberries.
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| Organic strawberry beer by Sally |
I wonder if one day in our local pub instead of serving peanuts will be a bowl of strawberries
WWF Spain is looking for a greener toast.
The cork tree forest are very important for the European biodiversity, the actual common practice to cork the wine bottles with synthetic cork has put in danger cork trees forest and jeopardize the income of hundreds of European farm families. WWF Spain has been working recently in a project called “ A toast for the Earth” with target of reintroduce the natural cork in Spain, a country with 1 million hectares in vineyards but with little ecological wine production (at the moment only 460 wine and cava producer are organic). The WWF think that best way to reintroduce the natural cork is through the forestall certification FSC working with wine growers to promote the use of natural wine corks with FSC certification and rise awareness to the consumers.
High-voltage in La Rioja
The most famous Wine producers in Rioja Alta subzone are angrily protesting an extensive network of high-voltage power lines going up across their vineyards. They complain that the power lines and towers mark the region’s rugged beauty and could ruin the growing tourism industry. They’re organizing opposition groups and appealing to the Spanish government and European Union officials. La Rioja Alta has suffered for years several landscape aggressions however the last years were installed 30 high-voltage towers of 40 meters in the heart of the most historical La Rioja vineyards. The negotiation still going on and you can follow and join the protesting in their Facebook group.
The Spanish Government hid for 7 years a study of toxins in fish.
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| Swordfish in Vigo fish market by FreeCat |
That sharks like swordfish, shortfin mako shark or the blue shark (tintorera) had mercury high levels is not a surprise. An official report of December of 2003, elaborated by the Oceanographic Spanish Institute,( IEO) found a high mercury content in the three species picked up in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Nevertheless, the report was described as confidential and all the Executives since then have refused to make it public. The ecological organization Oceana, after a litigation of more than three years, has obtained access to the text. The Spanish Environment Ministry maintains that the report was considered internal. 79% of the swordfish samples exceeded the legal level cadmium
The 5 of December of 2003, the IEO gave by concluded their great study of arsenic and heavy metals in fish and seafood of commercial interest. The report consists of three volumes in which it analyses the contamination in 90 species. The observers of the IEO took hundreds samples on the high seas and in the fish market. Their 321 pages analyse the contamination of all the possible species that is eat in Spain, from the salmon, mussels to cuttlefish (squid). Nevertheless the study was labelled like confidential. The result did not leave doubts. 62.5% of the 128 samples of shortfin mako shark surpassed the allowed maximum mercury level. 54.2% of the swordfish samples were over the legal mercury limit and 79% exceeded the limit cadmium. In the blue shark the number of samples with concentration superior to the low allowed one until 50%. However the metal levels in red tuna are much smaller, since four samples only surpassed the limit.
In 2006, Oceana had knowledge of the existence of study and requested to the Ministry. Xavier Shepherd, director of the ecological organization. “They did not want to give to us because was alarming .The contamination by heavy metals in great pelagic species is a serious subject, but they feared the impact that could have on the fishing sector if it became public.
The new Law of Access to the Environmental Information of 2006 forces that all the documents of Environment Ministry are public, nevertheless, the ministry refused and Oceana resorted to the National Hearing. In December of 2009 it obtained a favourable answer but even so the department decided to send a year later a mutilated report. In last March after the public complaint of Oceana, the ministry sent the report to him (Xavier Shepherd)
In 14 of April the report already in hands of the Spanish Agency of Food Security and Nutrition, wrote up the recommendation of which the smaller children of three years and the pregnant women would eat neither red tuna nor swordfish, shark or pike.
In addition, Shepherd explains that in the great USA chains of supermarkets like Walmart has subscribed agreements with Oceana where in fish markets appears a great signboard with the recommendation of which the children do not consume these products: “We waited for the same in Spain” he said.
Spanish milk quality is just very very bad.
A study of the OCU (Spanish Organization of Users and Consumers) published some worried data on the quality of the whole milk that is consumed in Spain. After analysing 47 marks, the organization of consumers assures that some do not contribute the minimum fat content, have little calcium and too much phosphorus by the possible addition of stabilizers, also aggressive heat treatments, loss of too many nutrients or directly is too old. While marks like Pascual ( best valued with 80/100) Hacendado, Consum or Kaiku approve with notable, others like Carrefour Discount, Condis, Puleva, Ram or Castillo suspends with so bad score that the OCU advises against its consumption. The worst is Polesa obtains a score of 10 on 100. The study not only evaluates the flavour measured by a panel of expert tasters in milk, but also the labelling, the nutritional values, the chemical quality of milk - some marks add cheese factory serum, arg! and its hygiene. The National Federation of Milky Industries has denied validity to the report saying that study lacks is not strictly ; and the milk of today it is better quality than 10 years ago; , whereas the Ministry ofEnvironment insists on which " the sector rigorously applies the legislation of the UE".
Mikel Lopez Iturriaga the blog writer concluded, “ From the ignorance of being a simple consumer, and with my palate like unique criterion, always I have thought that we would be to give a prize to the great milk producers in Spain. For transform a flavourful drink with body, of pleasant texture and slightly sweet flavours in insipid watery does not have of being easy; they must to works a lot!.
5 healthy food recommendations before you start a long drive to your holiday destination.
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| Road to Santa Monica, CA -Photo by richarmansoner |
1. Before you take the car the best is have a good breakfast full of carbohydrates instead of the English breakfast rich in proteins. Plenty of toast bread with marmalades, honey or even cheese and cereals without sugar will be ideal. And also is the moment to have your coffee.
2. Don’t buy snack or soft drinks in your petrol stop, with this kind of food you are in risk of consume more than 50% kcal that you need in a day. Instead you can have some fresh fruits, raisins or yogurt. Food with high content in fibre help you to calm your appetite and you no need to make too many stop for have something to eat.
3. Also have food in the car can produce accident if you need something to eat you must stop in the lay by and also make some stretches.
4. If in your trip you need to stop for lunch the best is again have a dish rich in carbohydrates, like pasta salad or salad rice. Sandwiches are a good option but try avoid those with fat, instead you can have tuna sandwich, ham and cheese or the vegetables option. This kind of food fill you up but the same time are easy to digest and will make your drive more relax.
5. For drink the best will be plain chill water. Forget energy drinks, coffee or black teas. Water is the only way to calm the thirst.
Study made from http://www.fundacionrepsol.com/
Advantages of frozen fish.
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| Frozen Icelandic cod fillets |
To keep all the advantages and properties of fish the best is buy already frozen fish.
1. 1. The frozen fish can be kept for a long time in your freezer even for months, so you don’t need to go very often to the fishmonger and have always fish in the freezer can help to have always a nutritional meal or create a nice dish without rushing out to the supermarket when you have a surprise guest. Anyway always check the date shown on the packet some fishes like cod have a more short frozen life.
2. 2. Big variety of fish can be frozen, so you always can switch easily between types of fish and create several kind of dishes, and also you can buy whole frozen fish, fillets and more important for me already clean and ready for consumption.
3. 3. The price is another big advantage, in most of the cases the frozen fish is always more cheap than fresh fish.
4. 4. The frozen fish keep their nutritional levels of proteins, vitamins, mineral and unsaturated fat (omega 3) that the fishes have. If the fish is unfrozen in the correct way and cook properly the taste will be the same or almost as good as the fresh one.
5. Frozen fish has less impact on the environment than fresh.
The best way to defrost the fish is to leave the fish in the fridge and cover with cling film until the fish is unfrozen. It is not recommended to freeze the nominated “blue fish2 like anchovies or sardines.
5 foods to stop smoking
A study of the Duke University in North Carolina concluded that meat, coffee and alcoholic spirits helps to add more flavour to the tobacco but also they discovered the foods that diminish the flavour of the cigarettes.
1 .Yogurt, cheeses and milk are rich in vitamin B, which help you to eliminate the nicotine of your body and also ruins the flavour of the tobacco.
2. Kiwi - Smoke diminish your vitamin C levels, the kiwis are a natural antioxidant fruit with high level of vitamin C (double at the oranges).
3. The carrots as well have a high vitamin content that help to protect the lungs.
4. The vegetables ruin the flavours of the tobacco and stimulate the intestinal transit, which is generally affected in the smokers. Vegetable are rich in fibres
5. Fruit juices, ideal to add vitamins to your body. In addition you can drink them every morning or make smoothie´s to reduce your coffee consumption.
Most popular diets for summer without scientific prove and their health risk.
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| Ipanema beach by Xavier Donat |
Now that approaches the summer proliferate the diets that promise to lose weight in just a few days, and also proliferate the people looking for them trying to look top models in the Ipanema beach, but they forgot that for that you need to eat healthy all the year around, give up with most of the alcohol and plenty of exercise, and now is when you remember that the only you give up was the gym. Anyway never is late for start to have a healthy life and eat balanced. Always the first step is going to your doctor and don’t put in risk your health following the magic diets like:
Diets Rich in proteins or poor in carbohydrates.
Those diets that are base in eliminate the ingest of carbohydrates or eating a lot of proteins without eating any fruit for example. These kind of diets doesn’t have any scientific base, the more popular are Atkins, Kot system, Siken Diet, Pronoka system.
But they have proven risk for the health like constipation and halitosis, renal disorder, increase of the risk of suffering cancer, ketosis or osteoporosis.
Dissociated diets, those diets work in the base of avoid mix sort kind of food, like the Antonie diet or Montignac. This kind of diet doesn’t have either any scientific base, but is prove that instead consume less kcal they make the body spend less energy. And they are base in a fact error, because doesn’t exist any food that only contains proteins or carbohydrates.
Mono-diets based in eat just one kind of food. The most popular the apple, diet, the pineapple diet, artichokes diet etc. these diets don’t make your body lose more fat than liquids and electrolytes, corporal reserves of glycogen or proteins. So your body is in risk of have digestive problems, since there is a scarcity of regulating nutrients of the vital functions and you can suffer emotional problems
Cherries: excellent for hypertension control.
A handful of cherries contribute a good dose of antioxidants and potassium, nutrients that help to maintain the arterial tension. Cherries are delicate fruits, with a limited season life, they are in season late from middle May to early summer days. Cherries have a high concentration of nutrients like folic acid, fibre, potassium and numerous natural antioxidants, and only 50 Kcal/100 grs. The greater concentration of vitamin C and antioxidants of the cherries occurs at the height of the season when they are well red and mature.
A handful of cherries provide antioxidants, besides contributing a good dose of potassium, a mineral that helps to avoid the muscular cramps due to its intervention in the neuromuscular activity. For the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the cherries occupy the position number 14, between 50 richer antioxidant foods. The leaders of this list are the plums and black chocolate.
New European study about egg consumption.
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| Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Navarra |
The first European investigation about the relationships between egg consumption and cardiovascular risk has proven once again and against the wishes of the meat industry that greater egg consumption is not associated with an increase of the cardiovascular risk.
The University of Navarre has analysed during six years the diet, the style of life and the diseases of 14,185 young adult volunteers, the participants who consumed four or more eggs of hen per week did not have more risk of undergoing a cardiovascular problem that those that took one a week or less.
Now if you are nuts does it mean you are healthy
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| Walnuts by funadium |
The nuts with more antioxidants and of better quality are the walnuts, as it reflects a study of the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. The consumption of seven nuts to the day is sufficient to secure the benefits for the health. The walnuts are better than peanuts, almonds, pistachios and other nuts. A handful of walnuts almost contain double in antioxidant that the same amount of the rest of nuts. Another benefits of consume nuts is the great amount of proteins of high quality that can replace the meat, vitamins and minerals, dietetic fibre and they do not contain gluten. Years of investigation anywhere in the world tie the regular consumption of small amounts of these foods with the smaller risk of cardiac disease, certain types of cancer and diabetes type 2, among others health problems.
More news at Nutrition-Food industries
Time to ask to your fishmonger for the fish liver.
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| Cod liver oil bottle |
The Almeria University has publicised a study that the fish liver have a rich nutritional value. The liver fish are rich in fatty acid polyunsaturated, especially from the family of the popular Omega 3. This kind of acid help against some kind of cancer, depression, Alzheimer, Schizophrenia and heart diseases.
The liver fish of the greater weever and the european anchovy stand out from the another species with the most high content in fatty acid, but all the consumer species have a good level that will benefit your diet.
Another good reason to urge the fish industry to start to include the liver fish in the market, is that the fish gut most of the occasion finish in the sea contributing with the sea pollution, so instead will be a good idea that at least the liver finish in our tables.
Bye to the Mediterranean diet?
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| Spanish salad. |
Spain among other Mediterranean countries is part of the countries that for centuries has had one of the best nutritional diets. But it seems everything is changing, the last facts published for the Spanish cardiology society are alarming.
In the last 14 years the Spanish morbid obesity has grown up 200%
Now the obesity represents 1% of the population, closing the gap with the 6% of USA.
Spanish woman are the more affected for this illness but male obesity is growing faster.
The USA food habits are becoming more popular every day in Spain, and abandoning the traditional Mediterranean diet is the main cause of the new obesity numbers.
Soft drinks, burgers, pizza and fries the kings of the fast food, are rich in calories but also contain hidden sugars that are better for digestive reason but at the same time are addictive and restore for r the appetite wish more food quickly.
Also the fast food is poor in fibre. Food rich in fibre helps you to eat less.
The problem is not just affecting Spain, the rest of Europe is having the same problems.
Ten facts about cows I learned watching The Private life.. on BBC
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| Chillingham wild bull. Photo by Pete Reed |
- Cows are one of the first domesticated animals. Only 10% of animals of the world are domesticated.
- 9 million cattle live in England, 1 cow for every five people.
- Cattle can live 20 years but most are slaughtered after only 1 year old.
- Chillingham cattle are the only wild surviving cattle in England.
- Cows only sleep 4 hours by day.
- Cow social network to become the cow herd boss.
- Cows are fertile 1 day every 3 weeks
- A single milk cow can produce 100.000 litres of milk in his life.
- Given the intensive factory process to produce milk, the cow has only 3 years of milk productivity before being slaughtered like mincemeat.
- Half of the meats we eat belong to dairy cows
Best way to fry food.
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| Photo by Weesen´s |
The trans-fat are the most damaging for the heart and the arteries, the trans-fat are directly related with the bad cholesterol LDL
Popular ways to take trans-fat are eating fry food. The kind of oil and the cooking temperature of the oil, and how many times the oil was re-heated will determinate the quantities of trans-fat in your food.
To avoid trans-fat when you are cooking try to keep your frying oil below 180ºC. And also try to avoid soya oil, corn, sunflower and canola oils given that they are more unstable when they start to get a high temperature. On the another hand olive oil and high oleic sunflower are the best for frying as they keep best their properties when the oil is high temperature.
Best way to fry food.
*Use olive oil or high oleic sunflower oil for frying.
*Keep the oil temperature below 180ºC
*Pat dry your food, given that the water deteriorate the oil quality.
*Don’t mix diferent kind of oils
*Change often your frying oil (about every 3 uses)
*Before reuse, filter first to avoid rest of fry food.
*When your food is ready, put them in kitchen towel to absorb all the fat excess.
BROCCOLI, Five good reasons to eat it.
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| Photo by bom_tea |
- Against Cancer: The organosulfur compound (Sulforaphane) rich in antioxidant help the natural antitumor organism of the body. Clinical Epigenetics
- Anti-bacteria: Sulforaphane helps to break down the levels of who are infected by the Helicobacter pylori, bacteria that causes gastritis or peptic ulcer.
- Good for the heart: The broccoli helps your body to produce Thioredoxin proteins that protect against cell damage to the heart.
- Skin Anti-aging: The broccoli has a protein named BOP that helps your skin against anti-aging and in case of suffering skin burn.
- Life essentials: Broccoli as well is full of vitamins, iron, folic acid and fibre that will help persons with constipation, anaemia, pregnant women.
Sources:
http://www.springer.com/biomed/human+genetics/journal/13148 http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/
El Mundo.esMore Nutrition News:
Blueberries can reduce fat! Read the pdf report from the Washington Experimental Biology 2011
Organic products, another marketing product? Read the pdf report from the Washington Experimental Biology 2011
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Nutrition Basic Information
I would like to start the Nutrition Section with a quick review of the nutrition concepts with the point to use like a reminder at the moment of choose your recipes.
By means of the different kind of food that we consume in a meal, our body get the nutrients to maintain the organism in good health
The main task of the organism is get energy, mainly through Carbohydrates and fat, then will need minerals and protein to create and maintain the different body tissue of the body. And to distribute all the organism will need different kind of vitamins.
A good and easy start is understand the “eat well plate” (U.K) called the food pyramid in America or the Food Wheel in Europe and another countries. All of them are the same and has been approved for the different food agency.
I will try to explain with the next chart
The expert said that ideally to ingest food should be between 4 to 6 meals (breakfast-healthy snack-lunch-healthy tea snack-dinner) to help our organism to take all the calories that need daily and will be very beneficial if we balance our nutrient in the following percentages.
