Tips to Healty Eating

*Breakfast fills your "empty tank" to get you going after a long night without food. Eating a good breakfast can help you do better in school. Easy to prepare breakfasts include: cold cereal with fruit and low-fat milk, whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, yogurt with fruit, whole-grain waffles or even last night's pizza.
*Snacks are a great way to refuel. Choose snacks from different food groups - a glass of low-fat milk and a few graham crackers, an apple or celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins, or some dry cereal. If you eat smart at other meals, cookies, chips, and candy are okay for occasional snacking.
*You don't have to give up foods like hamburgers, french fries, and ice cream to eat healthfully. You just have to be smart about how often and how much of them you eat. Your body needs nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, fat, and many different vitamins and minerals such as vitamins C and A, iron, and calcium from a variety of foods.These foods give you carbohydrates for energy, plus vitamins, minerals, and fibre. Besides, they taste good! Try breads such as whole-wheat, bagels, and pita. Spaghetti and oatmeal are also in the grain group.
*A healthy eating style is like a puzzle with many parts. Each part, or food, is different. Some foods may have more fat, sugar or salt, while others may have more vitamins or fibre. There is a place for all these foods. What makes a diet good or bad is how foods fit together. Balancing your choices is important. Fit in a higher-fat food, like pepperoni pizza, at dinner by choosing lower-fat foods at other meals. And don't forget about moderation. If two pieces of pizza fill you up, don't eat a third.

10 good reasons to eat more local, seasonal food:

· to reduce the energy (and associated CO2 emissions) needed to grow and transport the food we eat

· eating local protects us from bio-terrorism

· to avoid paying a premium for food that is scarcer or has travelled a long way

· locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen

· to support the local economy

· to reconnect with nature's cycles and the passing of time

· seasonal food is fresher and so tends to be tastier and more nutritious

· local food just plain tastes better

· local food translates to more variety

· supporting local providers supports responsible land development

Six Reasons Why We Should Eat Organic Food

1. Protect Future Generation
Children receive four times the exposure than an adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. The food choice you make now will impact your child's health in the future.

2. Save Energy
Farms have changed drastically in the last three generations, from the family based small businesses dependent on human energy to large scale factory farms highly dependent on fossil fuels. Modern farming methods uses more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming 12 percent of the country's total energy supply. More energy is now used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate, and harvest all the crops in the United States. Organic farming is still mainly based on labour-intensive practices such as weeding by hand and using green manures and crop covers rather than synthetic inputs. Organic produce also tends to travel a shorter distance from the farm to your plate.

3. Keep Chemicals off Your Plate
Many pesticides approved for use by the EPA were registered before extensive research linking these chemicals to cancer and other diseases had been established. Now the EPA considers that 60% of all herbicides, 90% of all fungicides and 30% insecticides are carcinogenic. A 1987 National Academy of Sciences report estimate that pesticides might cause an extra 1.4 million cancer cases among Americans over their lifetimes. The bottom line is that pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms, and can also be harmful to humans. In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutation.

4. Support a True Economy
Although organic food might seem more expensive than conventional foods, conventional food prices do not reflect hidden cost borne by taxpayers, including nearly $74 billion in federal subsidies in 1988. Other hidden costs include pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and clean up, and environmental damage.

5. Promote Biodiversity
Mono cropping is the practice of planting large plots of land with the same crop year after year. While this approach tripled farm production between 1950 and 1970, the lack of natural diversity of plant life has left the soil lacking in natural minerals and nutrients. To replace the nutrients, chemical fertilizers are used, often in increasing amounts.

6. Taste Better Flavour
There's a good reason many chefs use organic foods in their recipes. They taste better. Organic farming starts with the nutrients of the soil which eventually leads to the nourishment of the plant and ultimately our palates.

E-urile din mancarea noastra

E555 (silicatul de aluminiu si potasiu) este folosit in sare, lapte praf si faina. Desi se cunoaste ca aluminiul este cauza unor probleme placentare in timpul sarcinii si ca este asociat cu boala Alzheimer, este permis in Romania.
E210 (acidul benzoic) se adauga la bauturi alcoolice, produse de brutarie, branzeturi, condimente, dulciuri, medicamente. Poate provoca crize de astm, in special la persoane dependente de medicatie, si poate reactiona, provocand hiperaciditate la copii. In urma testarii pe animale de laborator, a fost asociat si cu cancerul.
E211 (benzoatul de sodiu) este folosit ca antiseptic, conservant alimentar si pentru a masca gustul unor alimente de calitate slaba; bauturile racoritoare cu aroma de citrice contin o cantitate mare de benzoat de sodiu (pana la 25 mg/250 ml); se mai adauga in lapte si produse din carne, produse de brutarie si dulciuri, este de asemenea prezent in multe medicamente; se cunoaste ca provoaca urticarie si agraveaza astmul. Asociatia consumatorilor din Piata Comuna Europeana il considera cancerigen, insa este permis in Romania.
E250 (nitritul de sodiu) este utilizat in stabilizarea culorii rosietice a carnii conservate (fara nitrit, hot dogs si bacon ar arata gri) si da o aroma caracteristica. Adaugarea de nitriti in alimente poate duce la formarea de cantitati mici de substante cu potential cancerigen, in special in bacon. Companiile care proceseaza carnea adauga acum, pe langa nitrit, acid ascorbic sau izoascorbic pentru a impiedica formarea de nitrozamine. Industria carnii justifica utilizarea nitritilor pentru efectul lor inhibitor asupra dezvoltarii bacteriilor producatoare de toxina botulinica.
E132 (indigotina) este un colorant care se adauga in tablete si capsule, inghetata, dulciuri, produse de patiserie, biscuiti; poate provoca greata, voma, hipertensiune arteriala, urticarie, probleme de respiratie si alte reactii alergice. Este permis in Romania.
E123 (amaranthul) este obtinut din planta cu acelasi nume; este folosit in amestecuri pentru prajituri, umpluturi cu aroma de fructe, cristale pentru jeleuri, poate provoca astm, eczema si hiperaciditate; in teste pe animale a provocat defecte neonatale si moarte fetala.
E122 (azorubina) este un colorant rosu, obtinut din gudron, care se adauga la dulciuri, martipan, cristale pentru jeleuri, peltea. Poate produce reactii adverse la persoanele astmatice si la cele alergice la aspirina. Este interzis in Japonia, Suedia, SUA, Austria si Norvegia. Este permis in Romania.
E155 (brun HT) este utilizat in ciocolata si prajituri. Poate produce reactii adverse la persoanele alergice la aspirina si la cele astmatice. Se cunoaste, de asemenea, ca poate produce sensibilitate dermica. Este interzis in Danemarca, Belgia, Franta, Germania, Elvetia, Suedia, Austria, SUA, Norvegia. Este permis in Romania.
E952 (ciclamat) este un indulcitor artificial care poate produce migrene si alte reactii adverse; unele testari au aratat ca poate fi cancerigen; este interzis in SUA (din 1970) si Anglia din cauza potentialului cancerigen. Este permis in Romania.
E312 (galat de dodecil) se foloseste pentru a preveni rancezirea alimentelor grase; poate provoca iritatie gastrica sau cutanata; nu este permis in alimente pentru sugari si copii mici deoarece provoaca tulburari hematologice; este asociat, de asemenea, cu tulburari nervoase; se foloseste in uleiuri, margarina, untura, sosuri de salate. Este permis in Romania.
E420 (sorbitol si sirop de sorbitol) este un indulcitor artificial si umectant care se obtine din glucoza sau prin sinteza; se foloseste in dulciuri, fructe uscate, hrana saraca in calorii, siropuri farmaceutice si este printre primii sapte conservanti utilizati la produsele cosmetice; nu este permis in hrana pentru sugari si copii mici deoarece poate provoca tulburari gastrice. Este permis in Romania.

E-urile din alimente imbolnavesc copiii de hiperactivitate

Aditivii alimentari cresc nivelul de hiperactivitate in randul copiilor intre 3 si 9 ani, este concluzia unui studiu britanic aparut, joi, in revista medicala The Lancet. Teste facute pe 300 de copii arata diferente semnificative de comportament intre cei care consuma alimente cu aditivi si cei care mananca natural.Cercetatorii de la universitatea Southampton din Marea Britanie au studiat comportamentul a doua grupe diferite de copii. Primii au consumat un suc cu aditivi alimentari de tipul celor care sunt intalniti frecvent in alimentatie. Sucul fusese „imbunatatit” cu mai multe tipuri de E-uri: E 211, E110, E122, E102, E 124, E 104 si E 129.A doua grupa de copii a primit doar suc natural de fructe.S-a observat ca cei din prima categorie aveau probleme de hipeactivitate, adica se incadrau in randul celor care sufera de sindromul ADHD (Deficit de atentie/tulburare hiperkinetica).

„Am identificat un efect nefavorabil al aditivilor alimentari asupra comportamentului hiperactiv al copiilor intre 3 si 8-9 ani”, afirma Jim Stevenson unul dintre cercetatori. „Dar efectul negativ nu este doar asupra copiilor ci si asupra adultilor in general”, adauga acesta.Numarul copiilor bolnavi de ADHD s-a triplat in ultimii 25 de ani in Statele Unite. In Franta, unui copil din 400 i se administeaza medicamente pentru ca este hiperactiv.In Romania sindromul ADHD afecteaza 3-7% dintre copiii de varsta scolara, potrivit unor statistici de anul trecut.Sindromul ADHD este o tulburare de comportament a copilului care se manifesta prin deficit de atentie, de concentrare si dificultati in realizarea unei sarcini. Debuteaza in copilarie si daca nu este tratat poate persista si la varsta adulta. Boala poate perturba serios activitatea scolara si sociala a copiilor.