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Diet Can Affect The Planet’s Health

April 21, 2011 By

You may be a pro at checking the nutrient facts labels on the foods you eat. You may be in the habit of looking at the ingredient lists, too.

If so, great. And someday soon, you may be adding another factor to your food decisions: You’ll be checking your carbon “food-print.”

That day has already come in some parts of the world.

Sweden two years ago was the first country to test a system of flagging foods in grocery stores and restaurants to show their carbon emissions scores and contributions to climate change. Other countries, including the U.K. and Japan, have followed.

The premise is this: Everything we eat has an energy cost and an effect on the environment. Lots of variables factor in, including whether the food is of plant or animal origin, differences in soil or animal feed used, other production and processing methods, and the ways foods are transported and sold. [Read more...]

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Haryana Cuts Market Fee For Fruits, Vegetables

April 20, 2011 By

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday announced plans to reduce the market fee for fruits and vegetables from two per cent to one per cent.

The decision was taken at a meeting here to discuss the reforms in the Punjab Agriculture Produce Markets Act (Haryana), 1961.

There is no market fee for fruits and vegetables processed in the State, Mr. Hooda said.

Various provisions of the Punjab Agriculture Produce Markets Act (Haryana), 1961, and the scope of further reforms for the benefit of the farming community were also discussed.

Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Dharambir Singh, Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary Chhatar Singh, Additional Principal Secretary K. K. Khandelwal, Deputy Principal Secretary R. S. Doon and other senior officers attended the meeting. [Read more...]

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Healthier Eating Starts At Home

April 19, 2011 By

Americans have eaten themselves into a condition some call “diabesity” that’s reflected in record-high levels of obesity and Type II diabetes. Many health professionals believe we have to eat ourselves healthier.

That was the focus of Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives, a conference sponsored by Harvard Medical School and the Culinary Institute of America at the school’s Greystone campus in California.

It was gratifying that the majority of conference participants were physicians — an sign that the eat-better message is reaching the front lines of healthcare.

Presenters included Suvir Saran, chef-owner of the Michelin-starred Indian restaurant Devi in New York, who had surprising advice: “Eat at home, and save eating out for special occasions.” [Read more...]

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Popular Mangoes Trickle Into Market

April 18, 2011 By

As the mercury soars, raw mangoes have started coming into the market here from Ulavapadu and other areas in Prakasam district.

The mangoes, particularly the raw ‘copra mamidikai’ variety, which tastes sweet like coconut have been the sought-after by Ongolites, despite the high costs this season.

“We get each raw mango on an average at about Rs. 30 and sell them between Rs. 30 and Rs. 40 depending on the size,” a 40-year-old trader says while displaying the popular Ulavapadu variety in his shop. “Those who are got used to tasting it, will at least buy cut mango pieces,” the trader, Prakash, says. The variety turns into bright yellow coinciding with heat wave conditions witnessed in May and mostly exported to Dubai and other West Asian countries, the trader added.

The mangoes are fully loaded with vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants, Indian Medical Association treasurer Polavarapu Panikar says. [Read more...]

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Eat As You Wish

April 17, 2011 By

In today’s world, people are being bombarded with ‘scientific advice’ on their health and food habits. Studies are being produced a dime a dozen on these issues, making neurotics of people who’d otherwise be healthy naturally.

Every now and then, new research comes up with a fresh set of dietary suggestions, which challenge and dethrone the results of previous studies, thereby adding to the general confusion. A new study now suggests that dietary cholesterol doesn’t increase the risk of heart diseases. Many are welcoming this so-called conclusion as a further advance in our dietary knowledge, which is seen as the key to good health.

However, scepticism is natural when one can’t stop asking the question: what to follow and what to ignore? Worse, there has been no agreement among experts on what constitutes a healthy diet. It is quite possible that what is thought healthy today may prove unhealthy tomorrow thanks to some new-fangled scholarship. In the name of science, why must we be guinea pigs testing out every new dietary fad, even going to the extent of imposing strict eating restrictions on ourselves? Why sacrifice an experience so innate to human beings, since food is pleasure? [Read more...]

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Is Organic Food Worth The Cost?

April 15, 2011 By

The phrase “organic farming” was coined in 1940 by Lord Northbourne, a British author and Olympic athlete who helped launch the organic movement.

Joined by fellow organic pioneers like J.I. Rodale, Lady Eve Balfour and Albert Howard, he championed farms as natural ecosystems, and railed against chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

“The farm itself must have a biological completeness,” he wrote. “It must be a living entity … which has within itself a balanced organic life.”

Those words still resonate with many farmers and shoppers today, however, they were drowned out for decades by famine. Earth’s human population grew 293 percent in the 20th century — compared with an average of 22 percent each of the previous nine centuries — and farmers couldn’t keep up. [Read more...]

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Eat Healthy This Summer, Say Experts

April 7, 2011 By

Summer is the time when everybody has to pay a little more attention to the contents in the platter while eating.

A little slip-up on the eating front is all it takes to become a victim of gastroenteritis or a bout of acute diarrhoeal disease. The recovery is painful and effects productivity.

The mantra from every physician in the capital during summer is to keep the body hydrated at any cost. Drink clean water and avoid carbonated soft drinks that contain preservatives, sugars and have high calorific value. Apart from water, lemon juice, coconut water and butter milk are the other options to keep body hydrated.

“Public should also keep track of electrolytes. Sometimes a dip in potassium and sodium levels in the body during summer could lead to convulsions. Consuming lot of water is a safe way to avoid sun strokes,” says former superintendent of Gandhi Hospital and general physician at Yashoda Hospitals, Dr. B. Balraju. [Read more...]

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