Latest Brain Food Found in New Zealand

New research has found that New Zealand blackcurrants may help keep us mentally young and agile.

The study’s findings could have potential in managing the mental decline associated with aging, or helping people with brain disorders such as Parkinson’s disease or depression, according to scientists at the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research.

Researchers there, working in collaboration with scientists at Northumbria University in the U.K., showed that compounds found in New Zealand blackcurrants increased mental performance, including accuracy, attention, and mood.

The study also found that juice from a specific New Zealand blackcurrant cultivar, called “Blackadder,” also reduced the activity of a family of enzymes called monoamine oxidases, which regulate serotonin and dopamine concentrations in the brain.

These neurotransmitter chemicals are known to affect mood and cognition, and are the focus for treatments of both neurodegenerative symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease and mood disorders, including stress and anxiety, the researchers explained.

“This study is the first to look at the effects of berry consumption on the cognitive performance of healthy young adults,” said Dr. Arjan Scheepens, who led the study.

“Our previous research has suggested that compounds found in certain berryfruit may act like monoamine oxidase inhibitors, similar to a class of pharmaceuticals commonly used in the treatment of both mood disorders and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease. This research has shown that New Zealand-grown blackcurrants not only increase mental performance, but also reduce the activity of monoamine oxidases.”

One of the key trends in the food industry is the development of ingredients and foods that have beneficial effects on human health, noted Professor Roger Hurst, Science Group Leader Food & Wellness at Plant & Food Research.

“Understanding what, and how, foods affect mental performance could lead to the development of new foods designed for populations or situations where mental performance or mental decline is a factor, such as older people or those suffering from stress, anxiety, or other mood disorders.

“This research shows how New Zealand blackcurrants can potentially add value, both for the food industry and for people looking for foods that naturally support their own health aspirations.”

Participants in the study — 36 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 35 — consumed a 250 ml drink prior to conducting a set of demanding mental performance assessments. The participants consumed either a sugar- and taste-matched placebo with no blackcurrant, an anthocyanin-enriched New Zealand blackcurrant extract (Delcyan from Just the Berries), or a cold-pressed juice from the New Zealand blackcurrant cultivar Blackadder, bred by Plant & Food Research.

The researchers discovered that after consuming the Delcyan and Blackadder drinks, attention and mood were improved, while mental fatigue was reduced.

Additionally, blood tests showed that the activity of the monoamine oxidase enzymes (MAO) was strongly decreased after consuming the Blackadder juice, indicating the potential for compounds found in Blackadder blackcurrants to support brain health or manage the symptoms of disorders like Parkinson’s disease, according to the researchers.

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Healthy Eating: Learning to Snack Smart | Healthy Eating

With any good healthy eating plan, snacking can throw a wrench into your best efforts. You can have the healthiest meals planned out, but when you can’t make it from lunch to dinner and have to grab something to tide you over, be sure you aren’t eating something that will sabotage you.

Satisfy Your Cravings

Always have a snack alternative for every craving. When you want a salty bag of chips, eat a handful of nuts instead. For that sweet tooth, grab an apple or banana rather than a pack of candy. Substituting a healthy choice for your hot, cold, crunchy, and creamy cravings will keep you feeling full and satisfied without out all the guilt.

Eat Smaller Meals

If you feel like you have to snack quite a few times a day and just can’t wait for your main meals, split your three large meals up into six smaller ones. This will keep you feeling full all day while giving your body time to properly digest a smaller amount of food. Eating this way may also encourage you to plan out healthier meals rather than grabbing something quick between meals that may not be as good for you.

Stay Hydrated

Dehydration can make you feel hungry when you’re actually just thirsty. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water throughout the day to fight these feelings. Caffeine and drinks with artificial sweeteners can sometimes cause you to feel hungrier, so sticking to water and low calories juices are usually your best bet.

TV Snacking

Either completely cut out the snack sessions while watching television or switch to something that isn’t loaded with calories. Plain popcorn without the extra butter, sunflower seeds, or a bowl of grapes are all healthier options than a bag of chips or pretzels and they will still take quiet awhile to eat.

You don’t have to give up your afternoon snack times in order to practice healthy eating habits, just choose your snacks more wisely. Picking the lower calorie or lower fat varieties of your favourite snack can be the first step in eating healthier. Changing to a different type of food altogether or cutting down on how many snacks you have throughout the day can be your next step. Start off slowly and gradually switch to healthier foods for long term success in healthy eating habits.

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Hot and Spicy dumplings to energy up taste buds

We all reverence eating fluctuating blended sack of reinforce and have our own particular choice with respect to sustenance and nourishment tastes. Few of us like hot sustenance while others something sweet and few may be occupied with any taste as all what has any sort of impact to them is backing in any structure. Chinese sustenance has dependably been taken delight in by a greater bit of individuals over the world and one may effortlessly find recipes of fundamental Chinese dishes in cookbooks or by going to classes from a guaranteed Chinese gourmet power. One thing that everyone would agree with is Chinese dishes are much simpler to cook and are light on stomach so that makes them less asking for to process.

A considerable measure of cooking powers additionally recognize and vouch that Chinese dishes are truly a gigantic measure of satisfaction to cook at and this is the thing that it makes the whole dish more delightful besides fun. There are distinctive pervasive dishes in Chinese that people need to eat and dumpling is one such dish which is bolstered by people all around all through the globe. Dumpling is certainly not difficult to cook and what’s more is cherished by young people and adults both and is known by unmistakable names in different nations and areas.

Not at all like noodles and  are sensitive and steamed and simple to cook in a matter of seconds. One may either steam dumplings or even scorch according to their particular taste and slants. One may discover these dumplings in different shapes and sizes and individuals may offer them according to their own particular creative energy however on a very basic level they are round perfectly healthy. These rolled dumplings may have beef base, vegetable base or whatever else as individuals like to eat. With these bases one can cook them quickly and the dish gets sorted out in couple of minutes. A mix of base like chicken base, vegetable base and Ham base is open for particular utilize and individuals from specific zone incline toward according to their own particular taste as one should do basically fill the base with different fixings.

Dumplings taste amazingly uncommon and light to eat and one may appreciate the monstrous taste with a mixed pack of sauce. While making dumplings all that you need is cut couple of vegetables into little and desolate pieces and let them stay for couple of minutes so that the whole press from the vegetable is strained. By and large the juice will make it difficult to fill the vegetable into the dumpling and can make it versatile. Once the vegetable is a touch dry then fill the dumpling with the vegetable and a while later steam or burn the way you like to eat it. Majorly individuals recognize steamed dumplings and have it with stew sauce, tomato ketchup, mayonnaise or may be burning hot bean stew sauce.

To the extent dumpling the prestigious Annes dumplings are known for their staggering taste and astounding filling inside. One may purchase them from store or may even request through their site and they have dumplings with distinctive blend of filling like meat, vegetable, fish. You should do just basically put the dumpling into pervading water or steam eat and regard the creature taste.

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The more you eat, the slimmer you are

1. Grapefruit

Grapefruit helps speed up the body’s metabolism and burn more calories. Moreover it will help you feel full faster and longer, and not many calories loaded to the body. Moreover, grapefruit is rich in dietary fiber, which can help stabilize blood sugar. You can add to your daily salad or take grapefruit juice every day.

2. Celery

Benefit of celery actually is very simple: it contains fewer calories and helps you burn more calories. Major component of celery is water. That is the reason why it is present in most diets worldwide. However, abuse of celery will make the body lack essential minerals so you need to combine it with some other foods.

3. Grains

Many researchers have shown that whole grains are “healthier” rather than refined cereals. They help reduce the risk of chronic diseases. These grains are also parts of a diet because it takes longer to be digested and you will not be hungry for a longer period. Furthermore, grains are rich in vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates but low in fat.

4. Green Tea

Not only be rich in antioxidants, green tea also increases your metabolism and helps you lose weight. Just enjoy a cup of hot aromatic tea every day and feel the relaxation of both spirit and body.

5. Foods that contain Omega-3

Omega 3 has been proven scientifically that they act as a regulator of metabolism. Omega-3 is a fatty acid that affects level of leptin hormone, control how fast fat is burned. But omega-3 is not produced by our bodies. You can supplement Omega-3 through some kinds of fish (tuna, herring, salmon …) or through special additives and omega 3 supplements.

6. Coffee

Coffee only not helps to awaken dormant brain, caffeine in coffee can also increases heart rate, makes blood lose more oxygen and burn more calories. However, these effects can lose when you give sugar or ice in coffee.

7. Avocado

Avocado contains much fat, but it is monounsaturated fat that helps enhance the speed of your metabolism and protect the energy producing part of cells from the harmful effects of free radicals. Furthermore, avocado has many great health benefits. It reduces cholesterol levels, heals wounds, reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke and is good for your eyes and hair.

8. Spicy food

Any food that is spicy belongs to food of burning calories faster.

9. Mushrooms

Eating mushrooms regularly can significantly reduce levels of triglycerides and LDL harmful lipoproteins. This also increases the amount of HDL beneficial lipoproteins, which makes blood vessels more open, and keeps weight.

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Is Coffee Healthy?

There have been conflicting reports over the past few years as to whether drinking coffee is healthy or unhealthy. Here is an overview of recent news on the subject.

The possible increased risk of high blood pressure and heart trouble has been feared as a potential negative side effect of coffee consumption. And there have been studies that indicate a connection between caffeine and higher bold pressure. However, these studies were done with soft drinks containing caffeine and not coffee. Some studies seem to indicate that the healthy benefits of coffee may offset the potential blood pressure raising effects of the caffeine.

In fact, an Iowa Women’s Healthy study demonstrated that 4 to 5 cups of coffee per day actually lowered heart disease deaths by 19 percent. Other studies demonstrated similar conclusions. There have been other studies that suggest coffee may lower the risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. And, other studies have shown that coffee may help prevent stroke and Parkinson’s disease.

And the news gets better. Recent studies demonstrate that drinking around 3 cups of coffee per day may help against memory decline by delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, and other forms of dementia.

“These intriguing results suggest that older adults with mild memory impairment who drink moderate levels of coffee – about 3 cups a day – will not convert to Alzheimer’s disease or at least will experience a substantial delay before converting to Alzheimer’s,” said Dr. Chuanhai Cao, a neuroscientist at the University of South Florida Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute, who was the author of the study. He added… “The results from this study, along with our earlier studies in Alzheimer’s mice, are very consistent in indicating that moderate daily caffeine/coffee intake throughout adulthood should appreciably protect against Alzheimer’s disease later in life.” 

Another recent study published in the May 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that drinking 2 cups of coffee per day cut the overall risk of dying by 10 percent. So, while the news and theories over the years have been conflicting, the more recent research on coffee drinking seems to indicate that the benefits of drinking coffee far outweigh the risks.

One suggestion though, along with the increasing science demonstrating the potential health benefits of coffee are equally compelling medical opinions about the dangers of sugar. So, it is probably prudent to avoid sweetening your coffee with any high glycemic sweetener such as table sugar or honey and opt for a healthier alternative such as agave nectar, coconut sugar or stevia.

Some closing cautionary notes: People with heartburn problems or reflux disease should avoid or limit coffee. Pregnant women should avoid or limit coffee and other drinks containing caffeine.

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Healthy Eating: Easy Tips for Planning a Healthy Diet and Sticking to it

Easy Tips for Planning a Healthy Diet and Sticking to it

Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, improving your outlook, and stabilizing your mood. If you feel overwhelmed by all the conflicting nutrition and diet advice out there, you’re not alone. It seems that for every expert who tells you a certain food is good for you, you’ll find another saying exactly the opposite. But by using these simple tips, you can cut through the confusion and learn how to create a tasty, varied, and healthy diet that is as good for your mind as it is for your body.

How does healthy eating affect mental and emotional health?

We all know that eating right can help you maintain a healthy weight and avoid certain health problems, but your diet can also have a profound effect on your mood and sense of wellbeing. Studies have linked eating a typical Western diet—filled with red and processed meats, packaged meals, takeout food, and sugary snacks—with higher rates of depression, stress, bipolar disorder, and anxiety. Eating an unhealthy diet may even play a role in the development of mental health disorders such as ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, and schizophrenia, or in the increased risk of suicide in young people.

Eating more fruits and vegetables, cooking meals at home, and reducing your fat and sugar intake, on the other hand, may help to improve mood and lower your risk for mental health problems. If you have already been diagnosed with a mental health problem, eating well can even help to manage your symptoms and regain control of your life.

While some specific foods or nutrients have been shown to have a beneficial effect on mood, it’s your overall dietary pattern that is most important. That means switching to a healthy diet doesn’t have to be an all or nothing proposition. You don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to completely eliminate foods you enjoy to have a healthy diet and make a difference to the way you think and feel.

Healthy eating tip 1: Set yourself up for success

To set yourself up for success, think about planning a healthy diet as a number of small, manageable steps—like adding a salad to your diet once a day—rather than one big drastic change. As your small changes become habit, you can continue to add more healthy choices.

• Prepare more of your own meals. Cooking more meals at home can help you take charge of what you’re eating and better monitor exactly what goes into your food.

• Make the right changes. When cutting back on unhealthy foods in your diet, it’s important to replace them with healthy alternatives. Replacing animal fats with vegetables fats (such as switching butter for olive oil) will make a positive difference to your health. Switching animal fats for refined carbohydrates, though (such as switching your breakfast bacon for a donut), won’t lower your risk for heart disease or improve your mood.
• Simplify. Instead of being overly concerned with counting calories, think of your diet in terms of color, variety, and freshness. Focus on avoiding packaged and processed foods and opting for more fresh ingredients.
• Read the labels. It’s important to be aware of what’s in your food as manufacturers often hide large amounts of sugar and salt in packaged food, even food claiming to be healthy.
• Focus on how you feel after eating. This will help foster healthy new habits and tastes. The more healthy food you eat, the better you’ll feel after a meal. The more junk food you eat, the more likely you are to feel uncomfortable, nauseous, or drained of energy.
• Drink plenty of water. Water helps flush our systems of waste products and toxins, yet many people go through life dehydrated—causing tiredness, low energy, and headaches. It’s common to mistake thirst for hunger, so staying well hydrated will also help you make healthier food choices.

Healthy eating tip 2: Moderation is key

Key to any healthy diet is moderation. But what is moderation? In essence, it means eating only as much food as your body needs. You should feel satisfied at the end of a meal, but not stuffed. Moderation is also about balance. Despite what fad diets would have you believe, we all need a balance of carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins, and minerals to sustain a healthy body.

For most of us, moderation also means eating less than we do now. But it doesn't mean eliminating the foods you love. Eating bacon for breakfast once a week, for example, could be considered moderation if you follow it with a healthy lunch and dinner—but not if you follow it with a box of donuts and a sausage pizza. If you eat 100 calories of chocolate one afternoon, balance it out by deducting 100 calories from your evening meal. If you're still hungry, fill up with extra vegetables.

• Try not to think of certain foods as “off-limits.” When you ban certain foods or food groups, it is natural to want those foods more, and then feel like a failure if you give in to temptation. Start by reducing portion sizes of unhealthy foods and not eating them as often. As you reduce your intake of unhealthy foods, you may find yourself craving them less or thinking of them as only occasional indulgences.
• Think smaller portions. Serving sizes have ballooned recently. When dining out, choose a starter instead of an entree, split a dish with a friend, and don't order supersized anything. At home, visual cues can help with portion sizes–your serving of meat, fish, or chicken should be the size of a deck of cards and half a cup of mashed potato, rice, or pasta is about the size of a traditional light bulb. If you don't feel satisfied at the end of a meal, add more leafy green vegetables or round off the meal with fruit.
• Take your time. Stop eating before you feel full. It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eat slowly.
• Eat with others whenever possible. As well as the emotional benefits, this allows you to model healthy eating habits for your kids. Eating in front of the TV or computer often leads to mindless overeating.

• It's not just what you eat, but when you eat

  • Eat breakfast, and eat smaller meals throughout the day. A healthy breakfast can jumpstart your metabolism, while eating small, healthy meals (rather than the standard three large meals) keeps your energy up.
  • Avoid eating at night. Try to eat dinner earlier and fast for 14-16 hours until breakfast the next morning. Studies suggest that eating only when you’re most active and giving your digestive system a long break each day may help to regulate weight.

  Healthy eating tip 3: Fill up on colorful fruits and vegetables

  Fruits and vegetables are low in calories and nutrient dense, which means they are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. Focus on eating the recommended daily minimum of five servings of fruit and vegetables and it will naturally fill you up and help you cut back on unhealthy foods. A serving is half a cup of raw fruit or veg or a small apple or banana, for example. Most of us need to double the amount we currently eat.
  Try to eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day as deeply colored fruits and vegetables contain higher concentrations of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Add berries to breakfast cereals, eat fruit for dessert, and snack on vegetables such as carrots, snow peas, or cherry tomatoes instead of processed snack foods.
  
  • Greens. Branch out beyond lettuce. Kale, mustard greens, broccoli, and Chinese cabbage are all packed with calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, and vitamins A, C, E, and K.
  • Sweet vegetables. Naturally sweet vegetables—such as corn, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, yams, onions, and squash—add healthy sweetness to your meals and reduce your cravings for added sugars.
  • Fruit. Fruit is a tasty, satisfying way to fill up on fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. Berries are cancer-fighting, apples provide fiber, oranges and mangos offer vitamin C, and so on.

  Healthy eating tip 4: Eat more healthy carbs and whole grains

  Choose healthy carbohydrates and fiber sources, especially whole grains, for long-lasting energy. Whole grains are rich in phytochemicals and antioxidants, which help to protect against coronary heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes.
  

  What are healthy carbs and unhealthy carbs?

  Healthy carbs (or good carbs) include whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables. Healthy carbs are digested slowly, helping you feel full longer and keeping blood sugar and insulin levels stable.
  Unhealthy carbs (or bad carbs) are foods such as white flour, refined sugar, and white rice that have been stripped of all bran, fiber, and nutrients. They digest quickly and cause spikes in blood sugar levels and energy.
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• Healthy eating tip : Learn your recommended daily amounts

• Recommended Daily Amounts
  Fruits and vegetables	At least five ½ cup servings
  Calcium	1,000mg or 1,200mg if over 50
  Fiber	21g to 38g
  Protein	0.8g to 1.5g of high-quality protein per kilogram (2.2lb) of body weight
  Saturated fat	No more than 16g
  Trans fat	No more than 2g
  Sugar	Keep calories from added sugars under 100 (24g or 6 teaspoons) for women and under 150 (36g or 9 teaspoons) for men
  Sodium	No more than 1,500 to 2,300 mg (one teaspoon of salt)

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