Tag: New York Times

What’s in a Healthy Lunchbox?

Post author By Mukul
Post date January 17, 2010
No Comments on What’s in a Healthy Lunchbox?

[amazon_link asins=’B00KRBM9RE,B00CQ77XB4,B06Y4X8NLD,B071HK5YJ2,B0057PDX0M,B06XQZ3VD4,B005PLC674,B071GP9RDL,B00VM0L5MO’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’340bfbae-6fba-11e7-8734-6f6a02ed0559′]

Ninety-nine out of every 100 packed lunches being eaten by primary school children are reported to be unhealthy and failing to meet nutritional standards.

click & see the pictures

So what should a healthy lunch contain and what foods should be left out?

According to advice from the Food Standards Agency,a healthy packed lunch should include:

• Meat, fish or a dairy source of protein

• Starchy carbohydrate, such as a wholegrain sandwich, to provide energy

• At least one portion each of a fruit and vegetable or salad

• Water or milk to drink, but diluted fruit juice and yoghurt drinks or smoothies are acceptable

The key foods to avoid are:-

• Sweets and chocolate

• Snacks, like crisps, with added salt/sugar/fat

• Sugary and fizzy drinks

• Deep-fried foods and processed meats

• White bread – if children won’t eat brown, try whole white sliced bread

Nutritional standards for school meals were introduced in 2006 and standards for vending machines, breakfast clubs and tuck shops came into force a year later.

In 2008, strict nutrition content guidelines for primary schools were introduced and extended to secondary schools in September 2009.

They include maximum/minimum levels of energy or calories and 13 different nutrients, including fat, salt and sugars.

SUGAR, FAT AND SALT (As per Food Standards Agency)
Sugar: 15g sugar per 100g is high in sugar, 5g or less is low
Fat: 20g fat per 100g is high in fat, 3g or less is low

Salt: 1.5g salt per 100g is high in salt, 0.3g or less is low

The Schools Food Trust – an independent body set up to advise schools on healthy eating – says there are no plans to issue statutory guidance on packed lunches, but it has produced some sample lunchbox menus

You may click to see:–

SAMPLE MENU in a packed standard lunch (526.29 K

Children’s lunchboxes ‘unhealthy’
Pupils are to face lunchbox exams
Charity seeks end to lunchbox ham
Food Standards Agency
School Food Trust

Source: BBC News:12Th. January. 2010

Government “Help” Worsens Nutrition: MILK etc

Lunchbox clever (news.bbc.co.uk)
This is why we’re fat: We can’t say no (nationalpost.com)
Bread High On Salt – But Hardly Any Know (news.sky.com)
The Menu of Replenishing in Fall (recycleemail.com)
Ham Sandwiches ‘Too Dangerous For Children’ (news.sky.com)
Big Milk RD wants kids to drink 1/2 cup of sugar daily (weightymatters.ca)
How To Make a Protein Smoothie (howcast.com)
Too Much Drink is Going Down the Drain (treehugger.com)
Why my kids still get pork pies in their packed lunches (guardian.co.uk)

Tags BBC, Cold War, Diet food, Food, Food Standards Agency, George McGovern, Health, Healthy diet, Juice, Meat, Milk, National School Lunch Act, New York Times, Sugar, Vending machine

Featured

Can Cold Temperatures Improve Sleep

Post author By Mukul
Post date December 23, 2009
No Comments on Can Cold Temperatures Improve Sleep

[amazon_link asins=’B06XKVBCV2,B06W2GWFZ3,B01GIPVLI0,B01KNCIL7I,B018IS053W,B07146B8B2,B01N9X7F1B,B01I9LWG6C,B01I1YS8U0′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’bc46e387-563f-11e7-a66b-57904545dccf’]

[amazon_link asins=’B071XVKR4T,B00291ERMK,B06Y4K2PBT,B0002JMEQW,B00ITS90VA,B01JZ0OBCS,B0080K1WUO,B071FT6TLY,130550643X’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’3be330c7-5640-11e7-9efb-c5fede39e144′]

Studies have found that in general, the optimal temperature for sleep is quite cool, around 60 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures that fall too far below or above this range can lead to restlessness.
….
Temperatures in this range help facilitate the decrease in core body temperature that in turn initiates sleepiness. A growing number of studies are finding that temperature regulation plays a role in many cases of chronic insomnia.

Researchers have shown, for example, that insomniacs tend to have a warmer core body temperature than normal sleepers just before bed, which leads to heightened arousal and a struggle to fall asleep.

For troubled sleepers, a cool room and a hot-water bottle placed at the feet, which rapidly dilates blood vessels and therefore actually helps lower core temperature, can push the internal thermostat to a better setting.

Source: New York Times August 3, 2009

Tags Blood vessel, Conditions and Diseases, Fahrenheit, Health, Insomnia, New York Times, Normal human body temperature, Temperature

News on Health & Science

Do Some Fish Oil Supplements Contain Mercury?

Post author By Mukul
Post date April 9, 2009
No Comments on Do Some Fish Oil Supplements Contain Mercury?

[amazon_link asins=’B01A3MZDNI,B01GV4O37E,B008CIXYLE,B00DQXNLC2,B01N2WUER8,B005AYKO3O,B003IP8BC8,B06XRQTJBQ,B01459HK54′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’a84c6478-2fc9-11e7-b153-fd35246514c3′]

Fish oil supplements are increasingly popular, but it has sometimes been suggested that they could also expose you to the harmful pollutants found in some species of fish.
………………………..click & see
However, studies have found that most of the widely available supplements contain little or no mercury, dioxins or PCBs.

Most companies use species of fish that are lower on the food chain, like cod and sardines, that accumulate less mercury. Many companies also distill their oils to help remove contaminants.

A report by ConsumerLab.com, which conducts independent tests of supplements, examined 41 common fish oil products and found none contaminated with mercury or PCBs. Another report, by researchers at Harvard Medical School and at Massachusetts General Hospital, studied five popular brands of fish oil and found that the brands had “negligible amounts of mercury.”

Resources:
New York Times March 23, 2009
Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Dec 2003;127(12):1603-5 (Free Full Text Article)

Tags ConsumerLab.com, Fish, Fish oil, Food chain, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Medical school, Medicine, Mercury, New York Times, Polychlorinated biphenyl, The New York Times Company, United States

Featured

How Blind Can See Again Without Their Eyes

Post author By Mukul
Post date January 18, 2009
No Comments on How Blind Can See Again Without Their Eyes

[amazon_link asins=’B01LBN48XO’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’1153e55d-2976-11e7-aa07-e3a4499684a0′]

A new study offers the most dramatic demonstration to date of so-called blindsight, the native ability to sense things using the brain’s primitive, subcortical — and entirely subconscious — visual system.

…………..click & see

BLINDSIGHT A patient whose visual lobes in the brain were destroyed was able to navigate an obstacle course and recognize fearful faces subconsciously.

Scientists have previously reported cases of blindsight in people with partial damage to their visual lobes. This new report is the first to show it in a person whose visual lobes — one in each hemisphere, under the skull at the back of the head — were completely destroyed. The finding suggests that people with similar injuries may be able to recover some crude visual sense with practice.

“It’s a very rigorously done report and the first demonstration of this in someone with apparent total absence of a striate cortex, the visual processing region,” said Dr. Richard Held, an emeritus professor of cognitive and brain science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Scientists have long known that the brain digests what comes through the eyes using two sets of circuits. Cells in the retina project not only to the visual cortex, but also to subcortical areas. These include the superior colliculus, which is crucial in eye movements and may have other sensory functions; and, probably, circuits running through the amygdala, which registers emotion.

In an earlier experiment, one of the authors of the new paper, Dr. Alan Pegna of Geneva University Hospitals, found that the same patient had emotional blindsight.

When presented with images of fearful faces, he cringed subconsciously in the same way that almost everyone does, even though he could not consciously see the faces. The subcortical, primitive visual system apparently registers not only solid objects but also strong social signals.

Sources:
The New York Times December 22, 2008
The New York Times January 4, 2009
Current Biology December 23, 2008;18(24):R1128-9

Tags Blindsight, Cognitive science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York Times, Professor, Retina, United States, Visual cortex

News on Health & Science

Why You are More Creative After You Sleep

Post author By Mukul
Post date October 27, 2008
No Comments on Why You are More Creative After You Sleep

sleep, sleeping, insomnia, creative, creativity, problem solving, resolutions, napping Most people think of the sleeping brain as similar to a computer that has “gone to sleep” — they believe that it does nothing productive. But this is incorrect. Sleep enhances performance, learning and memory. And most unappreciated of all, sleep improves the creative ability to uncover novel connections among seemingly unrelated ideas.

Some large companies provide EnergyPods, leather recliners with hoods to block noise and light, to help employees take naps and return to work refreshed.

.Sleep assists the brain in flagging unrelated ideas and memories, forging connections among them that increase the odds that a creative idea or insight will surface. After sleep, people are 33 percent more likely to infer connections among distantly related ideas.

Business attitudes toward sleep may be starting to shift.

Claire Stapleton, a spokeswoman for Google, says “grassroots” interest in sleep led to an on-campus talk by Sara C. Mednick, a napping expert. Google also installed EnergyPods, leather recliners with egglike hoods that block noise and light, that allow employees to take naps at work. Other companies that have installed EnergyPods include Cisco Systems and Procter & Gamble.

Sources: