Notice how something/someone being 'elevated' for purposes known only to the perpetrators? In recent times, some foods have been elevated to super status by marketers who termed them "super foods".
Some people in some parts of the world eat worms and bugs out of necessity - to appease hunger. But now scientists advocate bugs as a green superfood, arguing that insect dishes, boasting a lower carbon footprint in addition to being very nutritious, could be the answer to the global food crisis.
Every now and again, new items are given this super treatment. Most of them are grown abroad, thus are often less available and more costly locally. The hype surrounding superfoods has become so hot that companies are now selling superfood pills, extracts and elixirs, claiming to offer various health benefits such as anti-ageing, cancer fighting and detoxification, so much so that it gives the impression that once you have eaten such food; you don’t have to worry about other areas of your diet.
Technically, there is no such thing as 'superfoods'.
Blueberries are a top choice of those promoting superfoods, and there is no doubt that they are high in potassium and vitamin C. A 100g serving packs 77mg of potassium, 9.7mg of vitamin C and 6mg of calcium, among others. But at RM16 for a 125g punnet, they are beyond the budget of many.
However, the humble pineapple, which is widely available at supermarkets and local wet markets, is only RM2.50 [nenas madu lagi], and it packs a punch nutrition-wise. A 100g serving offers 97mg of potassium, 15.2mg of vitamin C and 24mg of calcium.
Kiwi fruit, touted as a nutrient-rich food, the New Zealand export has more potassium than bananas or citrus fruits and is an excellent source of vitamin C. A 100g serving boasts 180mg of potassium and 86.7mg of vitamin C, but it also packs a wallop on the wallet at RM7.90 for a packet of four (weighing about 600g).
While the guava at RM4.90 a kg [prices vary] may not boast a high concentration of potassium (29mg per 100g), it is still packed with nutrients. A 100g serving boasts 152mg of vitamin C, 10mg of vitamin A and 33mg of calcium. To my kampong tongue, it tastes a lot better than kiwi too.
Pomegranates are being hailed as a superfood that can protect the heart. A 2004 BBC report states that scientists in Israel have shown that drinking a glass of pomegranate juice daily could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. A 100g serving of the fruit has 236mg of potassium, 10.2mg of vitamin C, 10mg of calcium and 4g of fibre [if you ingest the seeds]. At around RM3.30 a fruit [it takes a lot of fruits to yield a glass of juice], it may put a large dent in one’s wallet.
The dragon fruit (RM2.50 each - price vary) may lose out to the pomegranate in terms of calcium (8.8mg) and fibre content (0.9g of fibre and the seeds are a lot easier to ingest) but it is way ahead where potassium (436mg) and vitamin C (14.5mg) are concerned.
Like blueberries, salmon is a favourite superfood, thanks to its rich bounty of omega-3 essential fatty acids. A 100g serving contains 2,950mg of omega-3 and 490mg of potassium. We’re told to eat salmon two to three times a week to lower our heart disease risk and help prevent arthritis and memory loss. We’re also told to eat wild-caught salmon rather than farm-raised ones because of the chemicals that have been found in the latter. However, at RM99 per kg, the fish is beyond the budget of many households.
Ikan kembung (Indian mackerel) is a great source of omega-3, with a 100g serving boasting of 1,450mg of omega-3 and 370mg of potassium. Sure, it’s not as chockfull of omega-3 as salmon but at RM10.90 per kg, it’s more affordable. In addition, the humble ikan kembung also offers more calcium (48mg compared to 12mg in salmon, per 100g serving) and iron (1.8mg vs 0.8mg) and has less fat (3.9g vs 6.34g).
One of the more trendy nutritional wonders, wheatgrass (taken as a juice) is said to have beneficial effects on one’s cholesterol level, blood pressure and immune response, as well as prevent cancer, thanks to its high concentration of chlorophyll. But at RM3.99 for a small cup, it’s pricey.
To enjoy the benefits of chlorophyll, look for green vegetables such as kale or spinach. The latter is a great (and more palatable) substitute for wheatgrass and costs only RM1.20 per 100g. A 30g serving of spinach offers 128 mg of potassium (compared with 42 mg per 30ml of wheatgrass juice), 26 mg vitamin C (10mg) and 30mg calcium (7.2mg).
Source here
Oleh itu makan lah makanan tempatan.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Allergy
Some people are allergic to certain food. In the UK, 90% of all food allergies are due to 8 foods, the so called 'big eight'. They are milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts [ie hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds], fish, shellfish, soy and wheat.
Children often outgrow allergies to milk, eggs and soya. Although 2% to 7% of babies under the age of one are allergic to cow milk, 75% will be free of it by the age of three.
Allergies to peanuts, shellfish and fish usually last throughout life.
In adults, the most common food allergies are to nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, citrus fruit and wheat.
Both cooked and uncooked forms of the culprit foods are able to cause an allergic reaction.
People can be allergic to more than one unrelated food allergen e.g. nuts and fish.
Sometimes an allergy to a single food allergen causes you to be allergic to foods in the same food group.
This is known as cross reactivity. For example, people with a peanut allergy may find out they are also allergic to other legumes such as beans and lentils.
This is also why it is important to know as much as possible about the food allergen which causes your allergy, to develop an awareness of foods which could potentially cause an allergic reaction [taken from here]
A 26-year-old Vietnamese woman has left doctors baffled as she lost her once youthful appearance.
Nguyen Thi Phuong believes that an allergic reaction to seafood she ate in 2008, caused the skin over her face and body to sag and wrinkle. It has come to light now, as she has shown her face in public for the first time since it happened.
Her story has led health experts to question what could have triggered her rapid aging as pictures show Phuong looking like two different people.
Mrs Nguyen had been treating herself with various types of medication, from a local pharmacy as she and her husband could not afford to have her examined at a hospital.
She said: “I was really itchy all over my body. I had to scratch even while sleeping. After one month of taking the drugs, I became less itchy but hives remained on my skin.
“Then I switched to traditional medicine and all the hives disappeared, together with my itching. However, my skin began to sag and fold.”
The couple does not remember what the traditional medication was called, or which pharmacy they had bought it from.
In 2009 they decided to stop using the remedy; from then on Phuong wore a face mask whenever she was in public.
She said: “The skin on my face, chest and belly has folds like an old woman who has given birth several times although I have never had a child.
“But the rapid-aging syndrome hasn't affected my menstrual cycle, hair, teeth, eyes and mind.”
Phuong’s husband, Thanh Tuyen, insists her story is true and continues to stand by his wife despite the loss of her youthful appearance.
Tuyen said: “I married Phuong when she was a beautiful woman. I have followed her through her disease and have never been shocked at all.
“It's not easy to talk about one's own marital affairs. Just simply understand that I still love her very much.”
Mrs Nguyen has not had much luck treating her condition but there still may be a happy ending.
Phuong was able to have a free consultation at the Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmacy University Hospital, in Vietnam, with doctors who believed she may have been badly affected with the skin disease, mastocytosis.
From this diagnosis, doctors hope that with medical treatment they will be able to restore between 50 and 70% of her skin [source here]
Children often outgrow allergies to milk, eggs and soya. Although 2% to 7% of babies under the age of one are allergic to cow milk, 75% will be free of it by the age of three.
Allergies to peanuts, shellfish and fish usually last throughout life.
In adults, the most common food allergies are to nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, citrus fruit and wheat.
Both cooked and uncooked forms of the culprit foods are able to cause an allergic reaction.
People can be allergic to more than one unrelated food allergen e.g. nuts and fish.
Sometimes an allergy to a single food allergen causes you to be allergic to foods in the same food group.
This is known as cross reactivity. For example, people with a peanut allergy may find out they are also allergic to other legumes such as beans and lentils.
This is also why it is important to know as much as possible about the food allergen which causes your allergy, to develop an awareness of foods which could potentially cause an allergic reaction [taken from here]
A 26-year-old Vietnamese woman has left doctors baffled as she lost her once youthful appearance.
Nguyen Thi Phuong believes that an allergic reaction to seafood she ate in 2008, caused the skin over her face and body to sag and wrinkle. It has come to light now, as she has shown her face in public for the first time since it happened.
Her story has led health experts to question what could have triggered her rapid aging as pictures show Phuong looking like two different people.
Mrs Nguyen had been treating herself with various types of medication, from a local pharmacy as she and her husband could not afford to have her examined at a hospital.
She said: “I was really itchy all over my body. I had to scratch even while sleeping. After one month of taking the drugs, I became less itchy but hives remained on my skin.
“Then I switched to traditional medicine and all the hives disappeared, together with my itching. However, my skin began to sag and fold.”
The couple does not remember what the traditional medication was called, or which pharmacy they had bought it from.
In 2009 they decided to stop using the remedy; from then on Phuong wore a face mask whenever she was in public.
She said: “The skin on my face, chest and belly has folds like an old woman who has given birth several times although I have never had a child.
“But the rapid-aging syndrome hasn't affected my menstrual cycle, hair, teeth, eyes and mind.”
Phuong’s husband, Thanh Tuyen, insists her story is true and continues to stand by his wife despite the loss of her youthful appearance.
Tuyen said: “I married Phuong when she was a beautiful woman. I have followed her through her disease and have never been shocked at all.
“It's not easy to talk about one's own marital affairs. Just simply understand that I still love her very much.”
Mrs Nguyen has not had much luck treating her condition but there still may be a happy ending.
Phuong was able to have a free consultation at the Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmacy University Hospital, in Vietnam, with doctors who believed she may have been badly affected with the skin disease, mastocytosis.
From this diagnosis, doctors hope that with medical treatment they will be able to restore between 50 and 70% of her skin [source here]
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Multiculturalism
Update - Here is another article in response to the issue of multiculturalism.
This photo put up on one young PAP member's fb wall caused an uproar that the Singaporean was reported to have quit the party [read here]
Someone wrote on Yahoo News [here] wondering just how multicultural Singaporeans really are.
He argued that Singaporeans need to move beyond tolerance, the first attribute which their former MM LKY said is a must have for them to be a SUCCESSFUL multicultural cosmopolitan society.
A National University of Singapore professor Syed Farid Alatas opined that beneath the word tolerance is "irritation, lack of interest, certainly not admiration".
There are fears of the increasing xenophobic and racist stuffs heard about mainland Chinese or Indian who were recruited as foreign talents and given citizenship or PR status in Singapore.
Consequently, there seems to be a great need to take a bold step of facing up to the differences and not be apprehensive to debate about it. After all, that's what being a modern, intellectual state is all about, said the writer
Hmm ... the phrase sounds familiar over this side of the tambak ... circa Pak Lah and the 4th floor boys' era. You know them young Oxford educated guns!
Read the comments to the article copied here.
One issue I noticed that's eating up the Singaporeans is their foreign talents who are mainly from mainland China and India having different values and attitudes and not having a care about the country.
When WE feel the same ... Malaysian Indian and Malaysian Chinese screamed racist at us.
When we want to foster integration through ONE school, they screamed racist at us and yet they keep their vernacular schools.
HINDRAF even went as far as accusing the government of genocide.
They dangle their votes, blackmailing the lutut hogeh telur kecut hantu loncat hancing to give in to their every demands.
Multiculturalism is DEAD in German [read here].
It is interesting to note that the writer of the article acknowledged the fact that in multicultural Singapore, the Malays have become a minority in their own motherland and the government of the day distrust them.
Doesn't this smell of 'apartheid' when the native of the land becomes a minority and the non-native becomes the majority who forms a government that practices policies which discriminate against the minority?
In 1987, the Second Minister for Defense explained the absence of Malays in the higher echelons and combat unit of Singapore armed forces:-
"If there is a conflict, if the SAF is called to defend the homeland, we do not want to put any of our soldiers in a difficult position where his emotions for the nation may be in conflict with his religion".
In 1999, in referring to the Malays in Singapore Armed Forces, former MM LKY said:-
"If, for instance, you put in a Malay officer who's very religious and who has family ties in Malaysia in charge of a machine gun unit, that's a very tricky business. We've got to know his background ... I and my family could have a tragedy."
In January this year, in his book "Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going", LKY caused an uproar when he said,
"I would say today, we could integrate all religions and races except Islam."
He added, "we were progressing nicely until the surge of Islam came" and he called on the community to "be less strict on Islam observances".
With such public statements by their senior leader is it really of any surprise then, to have among the majority race a mindset that is so full of suspicion towards the minority race?
 |
| pic from here |
This photo put up on one young PAP member's fb wall caused an uproar that the Singaporean was reported to have quit the party [read here]
Someone wrote on Yahoo News [here] wondering just how multicultural Singaporeans really are.
He argued that Singaporeans need to move beyond tolerance, the first attribute which their former MM LKY said is a must have for them to be a SUCCESSFUL multicultural cosmopolitan society.
A National University of Singapore professor Syed Farid Alatas opined that beneath the word tolerance is "irritation, lack of interest, certainly not admiration".
There are fears of the increasing xenophobic and racist stuffs heard about mainland Chinese or Indian who were recruited as foreign talents and given citizenship or PR status in Singapore.
Consequently, there seems to be a great need to take a bold step of facing up to the differences and not be apprehensive to debate about it. After all, that's what being a modern, intellectual state is all about, said the writer
Hmm ... the phrase sounds familiar over this side of the tambak ... circa Pak Lah and the 4th floor boys' era. You know them young Oxford educated guns!
Read the comments to the article copied here.
One issue I noticed that's eating up the Singaporeans is their foreign talents who are mainly from mainland China and India having different values and attitudes and not having a care about the country.
When WE feel the same ... Malaysian Indian and Malaysian Chinese screamed racist at us.
When we want to foster integration through ONE school, they screamed racist at us and yet they keep their vernacular schools.
HINDRAF even went as far as accusing the government of genocide.
They dangle their votes, blackmailing the lutut hogeh telur kecut hantu loncat hancing to give in to their every demands.
Multiculturalism is DEAD in German [read here].
Multiculturalism is dying in Malaysia. Instead we have 1Malaysia.
Will multiculturalism live a healthy life in Singapore?
Will multiculturalism live a healthy life in Singapore?
Nimal
Sadly no Alex.... I'm singaporean... travelled much.... Singapore is Racist.... most chinese people obviously don't realize it.... but if you're not chinese you will see it blatantly in your face. Its harder to secure jobs if you're not fair skined or chinese here... Thats one very blatant sign of racism.
I've even heard of it practiced in saf when mindef in gombak needed clerks, they actually told the admin in my unit "I don't want indian black black". I'm sure there are chinese people now itself that might find this funny.... and that is why we are racist.- Zorro007
If it's in the army, navy or air force the reason is simple, internal security. We have to accept this.
- Holy Roller
"when you see a wave of "Not-so-FTs" come in because the hiring manager is their same nationality...." from where these Fake Talents come from, they're a dime-a-dozen and mediocre in their own country of origin.
- VantagePoint
So even when they are so mediocre and so blatantly in-capable,, why do they still get the likes? You have to agree that SGporeans lack unity...this is sth we as nation needs to work on...local managers should try to hire locals as much as possible...it has to start from there.. even for MNC where the big bosses are Foreigners .. they need the support of local managers and staff .. make them understand that.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Sourgrapes
Found this bunch here.
Aren't they cute?
 |
| sour grapes |
We know it takes more
to scrunch up the facial muscles
and it can be painful after a while.
Better to smile!
See these brave golden girls
still smiling strong
 |
| smiling from our hearts |
2011 is closing in
gosh!
time does fly
especially when you are having
a great time
To all my friends
old and new
far and near
real and cyber
especially
all my family members
From the bottom of my heart
THANK YOU
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