Tag: food

Broccoli May Prevent Skin Cancer

I like eating the minature green trees known as Broccoli and so when I saw this headline I thought “great, less chance of skin cancer!” Then I found out that what the researches did was spread broccoli juices on patient’s skin. I don’t think I’ll be doing that, but still it’s good to see that broccoli may prevent skin cancer 🙂

In a demonstration of the plant’s anti-cancer properties, investigators smeared broccoli sprout extract on the skin of six volunteers for three days, and then exposed them to high doses of ultraviolet radiation, which is the leading cause of skin cancer.

They found there was an average 37 percent less redness and sunburn in the patches covered by broccoli extract. Redness and sunburn are an indication of skin damage that could lead to cancer.

Shop on the Fringe and be Healthy

Shopping on the periphery of grocery stores ensures that you’ll purchase healthier food than if you were to go down ever aisle. Life Hacker agrees with shopping outside the aisle.

That’s where all the fresh foods are. The less you find yourself in the central aisles of the grocery store, the healthier your shopping trip will be. Make it a habit–work the perimeter of the store for the bulk of your groceries, then dip into the aisles for staples that you know you need.

All Recipes has a list of ten ways that will help in your regular food shopping including buying organic and shopping on a full stomach.

Eat good to stay good 🙂

Watermelon Wonder

When you take that fresh watermelon home, don’t put it immediately in the fridge.  Unlike most produce, watermelons do not deteriorate after being harvested.  You can benefit from storing them at room temperature, until an hour or two before serving.tomatoes.jpg

The red color of watermelons comes from lycopene, the valuable antioxidant relative of carotene.  Scientists at the USDA lab in Lane, Oklahoma discovered that watermelons held for two weeks at room temperature continue to produce lycopene and deepen in color, ending up with 10 to 40% more pigment than freshly harvested melons.  On the other hand, watermelons stored in cold temperatures lose lycopene, and develop areas where cells are damaged and leaky.  This may be a result of the fruit’s origins, namely hot and dry regions of Africa, and therefore don’t do well in cold conditions.

Fight for your Right to Eat

Fighting hunger is an ongoing challenge in many parts of the world, so it is good to hear that the Right to Food Campaign is on the road to success in India. India is by no means a shining example of ending hunger, but with the work of organizations like the Right to Food Campaign circumstances in India can change.

“The Right to Food Campaign has succeeded in placing hunger at the centre of development discourse in India. The campaign hopes that this long-running case will culminate in the right to food becoming a fundamental right that can be made justiciable in any court of law in the country. The case and the accompanying campaign have established the importance of the law as facilitator, but the right to food also requires political means and people’s participation.”

Dial-a-Meal

Over at OneWorld South Asia they are running this neat story about a dial-a-meal program:

“Hunger Helpline allows hungry in Gujarat to dial-a-meal. Poor and hungry and living in Gujarat? A meal is just a phone call away, if the state’s food and civil supplies department, which is launching a Hunger Helpline, is to be believed

A novel Hunger Helpline in Gujarat, initiated by the state government in collaboration with civil society organisations (CSOs), aims to connect poor people in need of a meal with food donors through the telephone.

The brainchild of the state’s food and civil supplies department, this first-of-its-kind service aims to ensure than no person in the state goes hungry, either during a natural calamity or even on an ordinary day.”