Category Archives: Healthy Foods
Tea is the most popular and widely consumed drink in the world second to water. Tea was discovered by Chinese more than 5000 years ago. It was popularized and commercialized by the English. But did they popularize the healthiest tea? There are three types of tea depending on the level of processing; unfermented, partially fermented and fermented tea. Actually, the correct term for the process that tea undergoes is oxidation rather than fermentation. Based on these three processes, there is white tea, green tea, Oolong and black tea. White tea, as the name suggests is… Continue reading →
White colour has always been used to symbolise, new, pure, unadulterated, clean etc. On the other hand, brown colour has always been used to signify, dirt, contamination, unclean etc. This is no longer the case. Brown as opposed to white is the new colour of health cereal products. Name them; brown bread, brown rice, brown ugali etc. Why are brown cereal products healthier than white counterparts? Most cereal products are made from flour. The determinant of the health quality of the final product is the milling process. For example, during the processing of the flour… Continue reading →
It is regarded as the cheapest thing in the world. It is an all-time additive in food. It is used world-wide. If it is missing in food, food is rejected. Unfortunately, it is a killer. What is it? Sodium derived from salt (sodium chloride), which was once a darling has turned out to be a jilted lover, incapacitating, killing and killing mercilessly. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for Sodium intake per day is not more than 2.4g. The Food Standard Agency, UK (FSA) recommends 6g of salt per day. … Continue reading →
There are claims and counter-claims that cooking vegetables in a microwave oven zaps all the nutrients and renders vegetables worthless. Does microwave oven really kill nutrients? What causes loss of nutrients during cooking? There are three key factors that contribute to the loss of nutrients during cooking of vegetables whether over open fire, by hot plate, gas cooker or microwave oven. If these critical factors are well controlled, losses are minimised and the cooked vegetables deliver high levels of nutrients. Long cooking periods using slow methods leads to high losses while fast, short cooking periods… Continue reading →