Quick, easy & very nutritious

Serves 2,  Prep 5 mins Cook 7 mins, Ready in 12 minutes, Low-fat

Ingredients

2 tsp oil, 1 egg , beaten, 2 rashers bacon , chopped, 175g mushrooms , sliced, 200g frozen peas , 1 garlic clove , crushed, small knob of fresh root ginger , grated, 2 tsp dark soy sauce , plus extra to serve, 1 tsp sugar, 250g cooked basmati rice

Method

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan, then tip in the egg. Leave to set for 30 secs-1 min, swirling every now and again, then tip it out and finely slice. Add bacon and mushrooms to pan, then fry until golden, about 3 mins. Add peas, garlic and ginger, then cook for 1 min.
2. Mix the soy sauce and sugar together. Turn up the heat, add the cooked rice to the pan, heat through, then splash in the sweet soy sauce. Stir through the egg and serve straight away, with more soy sauce if you like.

Per serving

355 kcalories, protein 18g, carbohydrate 48g, fat 11 g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 6g, sugar 6g, salt 1.81

Sabrina Scott appreciates the benefit of working out in a group. The 48-year-old lost about 40 pounds in a year by attending a fitness classes in the afternoons.

Experts agree that group exercise can be beneficial. “Working out in a group provides support, accountability, and structure,” says Lynne Vaughan, Chief Innovation Officer of the YMCA. “People don’t want to let their buddy or group down, which is terrific in terms of adherence to an exercise routine.”

“I like the camaraderie and support of a class,” says Scott. “Working out at home doesn’t work for me.” Scott’s classmates not only encourage her to come to class, they compliment her on her new figure and tell her she is an inspiration to them. “I can’t tell you how good that makes me feel, especially when I’ve been working so hard at it.”

Patient information published in the Journal of American Academy of Physician Assistants also recommends that people exercise with a partner or group because they “are more likely to stay on track.” The group encourages exercisers to involve family members, friends, and even pets, as “dogs need exercise too.”

Yummy

The findings come from a study of nearly 1,000 US people that looked at diet, calorie intake and body mass index (BMI) – a measure of obesity. The study found those who ate chocolate a few times a week were, on average, slimmer than those who ate it occasionally. Even though chocolate is loaded with calories, it contains ingredients that may favour weight loss rather than fat synthesis, scientists believe.

Despite boosting calorie intake, regular chocolate consumption was related to lower BMI in the study, which is published in Archives of Internal Medicine. The link remained even when other factors, like how much exercise individuals did, were taken into account. And it appears it is how often you eat chocolate that is important, rather than how much of it you eat. The study found no link with quantity consumed.

According to the researchers, there is only one chance in a hundred that their findings could be explained by chance alone. But the findings only suggest a link – not proof that one factor causes the other. Lead author Dr Beatrice Golomb, from the University of California at San Diego, said: “Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight.”

This is not the first time scientists have suggested that chocolate may be healthy for us. Other studies have claimed chocolate may be good for the heart. Consumption of certain types of chocolate has been linked to some favourable changes in blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and cholesterol level. And chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, does contain antioxidants which can help to mop up harmful free radicals – unstable chemicals that can damage our cells.

Dr Golomb and her team believe that antioxidant compounds, called catechins, can improve lean muscle mass and reduce weight – at least studies in rodents would suggest this might be so. Mice fed for 15 days with epicatechin (present in dark chocolate) had improved exercise performance and observable changes to their muscle composition.

They say clinical trials are now needed in humans to see if this is the case. But before you reach for a chocolate bar, there are still lots of unanswered questions. And in the absence of conclusive evidence, experts advise caution. While there’s no harm in allowing yourself a treat like chocolate now and again, eating too much might be harmful because it often contains a lot of sugar and fat too. And if you are looking to change your diet, you are likely to benefit most from eating more fresh fruits and vegetables.

By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News

Chocolate contains antioxidants but is also high in fat and sugar

“When I first read studies which suggested that I could make significant and measurable changes to my fitness by doing just three minutes of exercise a week, I was incredulous. However, this apparently outrageous claim is supported by many years of research done in a number of different countries including the UK, so I decided to give it a go”.

For the full story go to http://fitterme.co.uk/factsheets/fitness/basic-fitness-tips/hit-high-intensity-training/

In addition to our “principal” brain, protected by the skull, our organism is helped by a “second” brain: a group of nearly 100 million neurons lodged in the digestive tube – the enteric nervous system (ENS). And its main job? To regulate digestive function, such as gastric drainage, colonic transit, absorption of nutrients and the regulation of food intake.

So many important functions, but which have rarely been studied in the case of obesity. This has now been in part corrected through the joint Franco-German research project, coordinated by Inserm’s research director Michel Neunlist, and Raphaël Moriez. The research team compared gastric functions of young mice fed “normally” or with a diet qualified as “Western”, meaning rich in fat and sugar.

The result was that the mice that received the richer “Western” diet had faster gastric drainage. Normally this drainage, which consists of emptying the stomach of its contents, usually takes around 2-3 hours. But if this drainage happens too rapidly, the ENS doesn’t have time to send the satiety signals, telling the “primary” brain that enough has been eaten. Without these satiety signals, the stomach demands more food and as such, dietary intake increases. And that’s exactly what happened to those young mice that were fed a rich diet…

The Inserm researchers noted that this same phenomena of accelerated gastric drainage also occurred with obese human patients. According to them, the high sugar, high fat diet is thus directly implicated in obesity, whether it is mice or humans. This diet modifies the ENS and blocks normal neuronal activity that takes place with a “normal” diet.

This neuroplastic change caused by a diet rich in sugar and fat prevents the digestive tube from “ageing” and adapting to an adult diet, when dietary requirements are less than for children.

“We believe that by preventing the natural evolution of the ENS over time, the fat and sugar rich diet will prevent the digestive tube from adapting to a diet corresponding to the adult age, thus maintaining its young phenotype, corresponding to a time of life when dietary intake is at its highest,” summarises Raphaël Moriez.

Another neuroplastic change is, “An increase in gastric production by a neuroprotective factor, GDNF, itself caused by leptin, a hormone now well known to regulate satiety in humans,” says Inserm.

This discovery confirms that while genetic disposition is important in the development of obesity, environmental influence counts too! An unbalanced diet from childhood will probably encourage the development of obesity at an adult age.

The confirmation of the influence of these acquired neuronal digestive modifications should, in the long-term, be useful for researchers to try to modify the “second” brain’s functioning in the case of adult obesity.

Sources:

• “Obésité : notre second cerveau serait-il trop efficace ?” Inserm press release, January 2012
• “Diet-induced obesity has neuroprotective effects in murine gastric enteric nervous system: involvement of leptin and GDNF,” C. Baudry and al, The Journal of Physiology

Awardwinning chef Sophie Wright says: ‘If you want a nutritious meal you can’t go wrong with eggs. They are packed with vitamins and minerals, easy to combine with healthy ingredients, and contain high quality protein which will help you keep fuller for longer. My recipes are perfect for people who want to watch what they eat without compromising on taste.’

Coming up, find out how to cook:

• Seared tuna steak with three-bean salad and a soft boiled egg
• Moroccan spiced eggs and tomatoes with a minted yoghurt
• Curried scrambled eggs with spinach and smoked haddock

Find out more about the health benefits of eggs

Ref. http://www.eggrecipes.co.uk/thinkoutsidethebox

Popular detox diets promise to flush poisons from your body, purge pounds of excess fat, clear your complexion and bolster your immune system. But experts say there’s little evidence that extreme regimens  do anything more than lead to unpleasant side effects.

The idea of detoxifying or purifying the body of harmful substances has been around for centuries but what sounds the alarm for nutritionists are the possible risks from lengthy or repeated fasts. Vitamin deficiencies, muscle breakdown and blood-sugar problems — not to mention frequent liquid bowel movements — are some of the seriously unpleasant drawbacks to these plans. Healthy people already have a built-in detoxification system — the liver, kidneys, lungs and skin! Find out more about detox…

Directions: In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan, stir together the 2 1/2 cups milk and the rice. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium high and boil for 5-6 minutes or until the mixture begins to thicken, stirring occasionally. Stir in the other 1 cup of milk, the cinnamon stick, and sugar and lemon zest. Increase the heat to high and return to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium high and boil for 4-5 minutes or until creamy and soupy. Remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and let the mixture stand for 30 minutes to thicken. Before serving, remove the cinnamon stick. Sprinkle the individual dishes of pudding with ground cinnamon to your tastes

Instructions: fry the onion in some oil, then add the veg and fry some more. Add water (just enough to cover everything) and the lentils and bring to the boil. Add a stock cube and season to taste. Simmer until everything is cooked and blend down. If it’s too thick, just add water.