Having Dinner is so important

With our hectic and busy lifestyle, we seldom have the time or inclination to slave around the kitchen. No need to throw your healthy eating plan out the window just because you've had a long day. It can be tempting to throw in the towel and order takeout when you're exhausted and hungry, but nutritious doesn't have to mean laborious. Plenty of recipes are available that you can prepare, cook and put on the table in less than 30 minutes.Here are some simple ideas for dinner that can be prepared with very little fuss

4 servings, about 2 cups each

Active Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 6 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti
• 12 ounces peeled and deveined raw shrimp (see Note), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (see Tip; optional)

Preparation

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook 2 minutes less than package directions. Add shrimp, asparagus, bell pepper and peas and cook until the pasta is tender and the shrimp are cooked, 2 to 4 minutes more. Drain well.
2. Mash garlic and salt in a large bowl until a paste forms. Whisk in yogurt, parsley, lemon juice, oil and pepper. Add the pasta mixture and toss to coat. Serve sprinkled with pine nuts (if using).

Tips & Notes

• Ingredient Note: Both wild-caught and farm-raised shrimp can damage the surrounding ecosystems when not managed properly. Look for shrimp certified by an independent agency, such as Wild American Shrimp or Marine Stewardship Council. If you can’t find certified shrimp, choose wild-caught shrimp from North America—it’s more likely to be sustainably caught.
• Tip: To toast pine nuts, place in a small dry skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes.

Nutrition

Per serving: 385 calories; 6 g fat ( 1 g sat , 3 g mono ); 168 mg cholesterol; 53 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 34 g protein; 10 g fiber; 658 mg sodium; 887 mg potassium.

Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin C (130% daily value), Vitamin A (71% dv), Folate (60% dv), Iron & Magnesium (35% dv), Calcium & Zinc (28% dv), Potassium (25% dv).
Carbohydrate Servings: 3
Exchanges: 2 1/2 starch, 1 vegetable, 1/2 low-fat milk, 3 lean meat


Read more: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/

Having Breakfast is so Important

“Breakfast for me is an absolute must,” says Keith Ayoob, a registered dietitian and associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Ayoob suggested a simple breakfirst: eats fresh fruit, followed by a glass of low-fat or fat-free milk. Later in the morning, he eats protein — usually Greek yogurt or a hard-boiled egg — and whole-grain cereal.


Having something sweet in the morning isn’t necessarily a no-no. A recent study found that eating dessert in the morning can help dieters lose weight. The trick is in the timing: in the morning, the body’s metabolism is most active and there is still an opportunity to work off the calories later. During the 32-week study, participants who consumed a 600-calorie breakfast that included a sweet — like chocolate — lost an average of 40 lbs. more per person than their peers who ate a 300-calorie breakfast without dessert; both groups ate very low-calorie diets overall. As always, moderation is key.

For those who lack of time, fruit and veggie smoothie is the best choize. In general, add strawberries, kiwi, and a banana to the blender, a cup of natural yoghurt, one teaspoon of ground flaxseeds, and a cup of crushed ice. Kim Snyder, celebrity nutritionist for Drew Barrymore and Channing Tatum and author of The Beauty Detox Solution, starts off her day with a “Glowing Green Smoothie” made with all organic lettuce, celery, spinach, apples, pears, bananas and lemon.



Recipe: Broccoli and blueberry smoothie
1 cup of frozen blueberries
1/2 cup of steamed broccoli
1 cup of 100 percent cranberry juice
1/2 cup of low-fat plain yogurt
Blend and combine to make 1 smoothie. Add strawberries or blackberries for an additional burst of nutrition.

Great Food Show: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Jamie Oliver :“Cooking with real ingredients, understanding where food comes from 

and passing along that knowledge
will get us back on track”

Not many celebrity chefs dedicate so much of their time and energy into actually educating people about the food they eat. Jamie Oliver is a natural advocate for better food education and for his food revolution he got a Harvard award.

“Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” was a show that has certainly changed many people’s lives. Although he had faced a lot of scrutiny and sparked controversies, some of Jamie Oliver’s advices and stories on ABC caught on. The chef had chosen the unhealthiest place in the United States, Huntington, W. Va., to try and make a difference. For his success and work in food education, he will be honored with the Healthy Cup Award of Harvard School of Public Health.

The United States has been preparing for the first ever Food Revolution Day. Hundreds of food events, dinner parties and debates have been scheduled to promote better food education, real food and awareness over what we are eating.

In an interview with the Boston Globe, Jamie Oliver said of why junk food is so popular: “If you don’t know what stuff is or where to get it or what to do with it, then you haven’t got choice. You just start buying into the vicious circle of junk, junk, junk”.

It is a project the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation has been working hard to accomplish. The goal is to have people across the world “to make small, simple changes that will lead to healthier lives”.



2nd Food Fraud in shopping list

Honey

Last year, Food Safety News tests found that 75% of store honey wasn't really honey. The Journal of Food Sciences study also pegged it as a top fake, representing 7% of food fraud cases. People are still buying a bee-made product, but all the pollen has been screened out, says Andrew Schneider, a food safety journalist who wrote the reports for Food Safety News. A lack of pollen makes it tough to determine its geographic origin -- and also means regulators don't recognize the product as honey. Why the misdirection? Separate Food Safety News tests found a third of the faux honey imports from Asia were contaminated with lead and antibiotics. For the real deal, Schneider suggests buying from a local beekeeper.

1st Food Fraud in the shopping list

Olive oil

Accounting for 16% of the database's recorded cases, olive oil is the food most subject to fraud, according to the Journal of Food Sciences study. In most cases, experts say, consumers are merely getting a bad deal -- regular olive oil instead of pricier extra virgin, say, or a less expensive variety from Greece instead of Italy as the label proclaims. But in rare cases, varieties of non-food-grade oil may be added in, posing a health risk, Steketee says. In one of the more famous cases, more than 600 people in Spain died in 1981 after consuming "olive oil" that was actually a non-food-grade rapeseed oil intended as an industrial lubricant. She suggests sticking to brands you know and sources you trust.

Avocado- Luxury Nutrition

Avocado is one of my favourite seasonal food and i just bought an avocado last saturday as the season had come.

Avocado Adds Nutritious Luxury to Many Meals !

From the Commercial Appeal (TN).

"There is something about including avocado in a dish that makes it seem more special. Added to a salad, sliced atop a sandwich or mixed up in guacamole, avocado on our plates seems to whet the appetite so we can't wait to dig in.

Fortunately, avocados are quite nutritious, so we needn't feel guilty about including them regularly in our diets. One avocado half has 15 percent of the daily recommended amount of folate, an important B vitamin, 10 percent of the recommended daily amount of potassium and 20 percent of vitamin K.

Folate is especially important during periods of rapid cell division and growth, for instance during pregnancy and infancy, as it is used to manufacture new DNA. It is also vital for metabolizing homocysteine and keeping this amino acid component at reasonable levels. This helps lower the risk of heart disease.

Vitamin K is involved in clotting blood after an injury, and it is also vital for maintaining strong bones, especially in the elderly. The mineral potassium is essential in all the body's cells, helping to regulate fluid balance and acid-base balance in the body, as well as being involved in building muscle and metabolizing proteins and carbohydrates.

Additionally, avocados contain significant fiber, vitamin C and several other B vitamins.

While we often think of them as a vegetable, avocados are actually classified as a fruit. Unlike most fruits however, avocados are high in fat. Don't let that alarm you, since the fat is primarily the monounsaturated variety. Multiple studies have shown that replacing saturated and trans fats in your diet with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats often results in a reduction of blood cholesterol and a decrease in heart disease risk.

This means substitutions like taking the bacon off your sandwich and adding an avocado slice instead. In place of grated cheese in your salad, cut avocado into cubes and toss them in. You may be eating the same amount of total fat, but your heart will thank you for making the switch to a diet higher in monounsaturated fat.



All fat is high in calories, however, so resist the urge to overeat avocados or any high-fat item. Fat is higher in calories than any other nutrient. So while monounsaturated fats are kind to your heart, adding large quantities of calories from any type of dietary fat can add inches to your waistline."

Eat Seasonaly

This posters shown the fruit or veggies are in season. Seasonal product always tastes so much better and it is easier to decide what to cook for each meal. Also,the seasonal food is cheaper compare to other food.
For Malaysian, western food lover  may refer to this graph to decide their recipe. Seasonal food is available in the supermarker such as Giant, Jusco, Cafefour...especially Coldstorage. As we know Malaysia have only summer among the four seasons. Please go to http://www.mumsnet.com/food/seasonal for detail.