Health is wealth goes the old saying. If you want to excel in sports, you need to have a healthy body. Since sports involve a great deal of physical exertion, a lot of body sweat gets discharged from sports persons’ bodies. This may lead to dehydration and they may have to deal with depletion of vital nutrients and minerals that give energy in their bodies. To supplement their energy needs, they need to take healthy sports drinks.

Healthy sports energy blends are primarily meant to replace body water lost after a physical exertion. They also facilitate replenishment of nutrients, electrolytes, and carbohydrates. Since water makes up around 60% of the person’s body, taking healthy sports drinks to keep this water volume intact becomes essential.

Water facilitates regulation of body temperature through sweating. It also plays the role of a transporter of oxygen and nutrients in the body. Since athletes and sports persons sweat a lot, the chances of water reduction in their bodies multiply and they may get dehydrated. Energy blends can prevent this process.

Healthy sports drinks give instant energy that also lasts longer unlike ordinary drinks that give instant energy that last only a few hours. Healthy sports blends contain calories, sodium, proteins, and other minerals in right proportion. They do not contain any stimulants or sweeteners. They also do not contain substances like caffeine.

Healthy sports drinks are prepared after a great research work on different body needs of sports persons. It can be categorized into isotonic, hypotonic, and hypertonic depending upon their water and sugar content. Isotonic it contains water similar to the volume of water in the human body, with six to eight percent sugar. Hypotonic sports drinks contain more water and less sugar, while hypertonic sports drinks contain less water and more sugar.

By: J. Harding

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Kansieo.com

Here’s another great recipe, Veggie Spaghetti, for the health conscious people like you.

This is a simple recipe which doesn’t require much preparation and hard work. Nowadays, I feel that time is sometime which I am lack of. The amount of time I spend in projects or school’s work has increased dramatically where as the time for me to explore new recipe is scarce. Therefore, it is important to cook something that is quick and easy to prepare. This recipe definitely satisfy the criteria for “quick and easy”. You can enjoy a healthy meal in just 15 minutes without any hassle. If you are like me who couldn’t make time to prepare something healthy and nice for yourself or your family. Do give this recipe a try.

Ingredients

Serving size :1

1. Spaghetti, cooked

2. 1 handful (about 3 – 4 tablespoon) of mix vegetables (peas, corn, carrot)

3. 3 pieces of shitake mushroom, slice

4. 3 cherry tomato, slice

di

5. 3 cloves of garlic, mince

6. 1 chilli padi (optional), seedless and slice (add this if you like something spicy, you can choose not to sauté)

7. 2 teaspoon of olive oil

8. Salt

9. Black pepper

Directions

* Preheat the skillet over a medium heat. Add the olive oil and sauté the garlic until it is translucent.

* Add the mix vegetables, shitake, tomato and chilli into the skillet and sauté for 2 minutes. Add a little bit of salt for seasoning

* Pour in about 50 ml of water into the skillet and let it cook for another 2 minutes before adng the spaghetti. Mix the spaghetti well with the rest of the ingredient.

* Before serving, you can add additional salt and pepper.

By: Steve Sim

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Caffeinated Content

Sambal is described as hot relish made with vegetables or fruit and spices. In oriental culinary, especially in Indonesia, sambal is classified as appetizer. There are many kinds of sambal, sambal bajak is one of the most popular among others. Usually, sambal is freshly made before serving. You can store the remainder in your refrigerator and fry it before eating.

Chili is the main ingredient to make sambal. Choose only the fresh chili one. Other ingredients are terasi (condiment made from pounded and fermented shrimp or small fish), sugar, and salt.

The ingredients you need to make sambal bajak are:

Red chili (the long one), 200 grams, remove the stalk. Small chili (well known as cabai rawit in Indonesia), 25 pieces, remove the stalk. Onion, 25 pieces. Garlic, 12 pieces. Terasi, 1 table spoon. Salt, 1 tea spoon. Cane sugar, 1 table spoon. Frying oil, 50 cc.

Follow these steps to make sambal bajak:

Wash the red chili, small chili, onion, and garlic. Slice them into pieces. Put the red chili in a blender; stir it with medium speed for 1 minute. Add the small chili, onion, and garlic. Stir them for 1 minute respectively. Add salt, terasi, and cane sugar. Stir together until they are fine. In the frying pan, heat the frying oil. Put the dough into it, and fry it until its color changed into dark red. Put it into another container, wait until it gets colder. Sambal bajak is ready to be served.

If you wish to make a small amount of sambal bajak, you can use mortar and pestle instead of blender. Sambal bajak is usually consumed with cooked rice. Put it in a small bowl, dip your fried chicken into it, and enjoy its pleasant taste.

By: Mahirsyah Wellyan Twh

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exotic food

Just about everyone loves the sweet temptation of chocolate. Here are some intriguing statistics and facts:

1. The average American eats 10-12 pounds (4.5 kg) of chocolate a year. The average Swiss eats 21 pounds a year.

2. Chocolate is the food most commonly craved by women, but can contribute significantly to bulimia, obesity, and binge eating.

3. Several medical studies show that eating chocolate in moderation can actually prolong your life by reducing risk of blood clots and fighting bad cholesterol.

4. It is not physically addictive and does not cause acne, as shown in several medical studies.

5. Chocolate is not high in caffeine. A 1oz bar of milk chocolate contains only 5-6mg of caffeine. This is significantly less than in coffee, tea, and soft drinks.

6. Chocolates can absorb other flavors and scents, and should be kept away from other household chemicals.

7. It can be frozen for up to six months. It is best to seal it in a zip lock bag before freezing.

8. In general, the shelf life is a year. Chocolate that is refrigerated may not melt as readily. Thus it is best to store it in cool dry areas 55-60 degrees F.

9. U.S. manufacturers use 3.5 million pounds of whole milk every day to make chocolate.

10. The largest candy bar ever made weighed over 5,000 pounds and was made in Italy in 2000. The largest slab of fudge was over 2,000 pounds and was made in Canada.

11. Children are more likely to prefer chocolate when they reach 10-11 years old than when they are younger.

12. Chocolate is America’s favorite flavor, according to recent surveys with a little over 50% of adults preferring chocolate to other flavors.

By: Criss White

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Caffeinated Content

Having the proper tools and equipment for a particular task may mean the difference between a job well done and one done incorrectly. Depending on your level of cooking, professional chef or home cook, could determine the quality you purchase.

Many states require that food service operations use only NSF-certified equipment. NSF stands for National Sanitation Foundation. NSF standards reflect the following requirements:

1. Equipment must be easily cleaned.
2. All food contact surfaces must be nontoxic, nonabsorbent, corrosion resistant, and nonreactive.
3. All food contact surfaces bust be smooth.
4. Internal corners and edges must be rounded and smooth; external corners and angles must be smooth and sealed.
5. Coating materials must be nontoxic and easily cleaned; coatings must resist chipping and cracking.
6. Waste and waste liquids must be easily removed.

I would think that the majority of people reading this article, including myself, wouldn’t have a clue about NSF-certified equipment in their kitchen, unless you are in the food service business.

One category of equipment is hand tools. These would include a vegetable peeler, zester, spatulas, whisks, and knives. Knives are the most important hand tool. Good-quality knives are expensive, but will last a long time if cared for properly. The metals generally used for knives are carbon steel, stainless steel, high-carbon stainless steel, and ceramic. A few of the styles of knives are chef’s knife, utility knife, boning knife, paring knife, cleaver, slicer, and butcher knife.

Another category is measuring devices. These include scales, measuring cups, ladles, thermometers, and timers.

Cookware should be selected for its size, shape, ability to conduct heat evenly, and overall quality of construction. The metals used in construction are copper, aluminum, stainless steel, and cast-iron. Other materials are glass, ceramics, and plastic for food storage. Nonstick coatings may be applied to many types of cookware.

Types of processing equipment are slicer, mandoline, food chopper, food processor, blender, immersion blender, mixer, and juicer.

The heavy equipment would include your oven, stove, refrigerator, dish washer, and grill for outdoor cooking. Their quality depends on your budget. Having the most expensive equipment won’t do you any good if you can’t afford to buy good food.

By: Bob Boeck

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Caffeinated Content – Members-Only Content for WordPress

When is the best time to teach our children what is good for them? Make an iced red rooibos tea and they could drink it without knowing it is healthy. Tell them it’s healthy, let your children see that something doesn’t have to taste “yucky” to be good for them.

It is a big responsibility to raise a child. You have within your control the power to help your kids form all kinds of good habits. What could happ en if you serve your two year old a 6 ounce glass of sugar water. Your child will grow used to thetaste of sugar water. Serve your two year old frosted or sugar coated cereals and what will happen. Your child will crave cereals loaded with sugar. They will form the habit of eating and drinking very unhealthy foods.

Give the kids good gifts

We don’t miss what we never had. Give your children the gift of not craving sugar. Give your children the gift of not craving high fructose corn syrup. Give your children the gift of good eating habits.

What would be better for your children than that 6 ounce glass of sugar water, cola or fruit juice laced with high fructose corn syrup? Serve your family red rooibos tea, also known as African rooibos. It is easy to prepare, as simple as making any other iced tea. Your children can enjoy this drink all day long even into the evening. There is no caffeine in red rooibos tea to keep you or your kids awake when it’s time to sleep. With no sugar added, or honey rather than sugar (the choice is yours when you prepare it) the kids won’t be bouncing off the walls.

Health benefits of rooibos

You may ask what will my family be getting from African rooibos tisane? Rooibos tea benefits include healthy anti-oxidants, minerals and vitamins. Add the benefit of starting good eating habits and avoiding products that are packaged to appear healthy yet can be down right dangerous to health. (Think over weight kids, think low self esteem, think childhood diabetes which turns into over weight adults, low self esteem, adult diabetes, heart disease, blindness, loss of limbs and early death to name just a few)

You can start here and add other healthy foods. Offer fruit instead of candy, fresh vegetables instead of cookies and yogurt instead of ice cream. Yes, I know this sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to we adults. We were allowed to form bad unhealthy eating habits, not because our parents didn’t care about us. Our parents were not aware of the dangers of processed foods, they were not told that high fructose corn syrup can lead to poor health. You and I do know, we have been told.

In our desire to find good healthy cold beverages for our families, let’s not forget that African rooibos teas can be served chilled and iced.

By: Connie Bednar

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Fish are one of the best food stuffs you can eat. They contain great natural oils that are not only good for the brain but also for your skin. The fatty acids contained in Omega 3 can contribute to the health of the brain and retina. Eating fish twice a week can reduce the risk of Heart disease, Dementia, cholesterol, High blood pressure and children who eat fish regular have less of a tendency to become obese.

Here are five quick and easy fish recipes that can be prepared in minutes in you microwave oven. Why use your microwave? Because if you get right it really is the best way to cook fish.If cooked with the right covering the fish will steam naturally in its own juices.

1; Garlic Cod or Monkfish. Time seven minutes

Take a piece of monkfish or cod of about eight ounces and place it in a microwave safe dish and cover with a microwave safe covering. Cook on full power for about two and a half minutes. Remove the fish from the microwave and leave to stand for two minutes. Crush a couple of cloves of garlic and scatter over the fish add a knob of butter and cook on full power for another minute and a half and remove from the microwave. Squeeze some lime juice over the fish and black pepper leave to stand for another minute. Serve with a rocket salad. Stunningly tasty quick and easy to prepare and best of all extremely healthy.

2; Chili and Lime Tuna;

Take an eight ounce piece of Tuna and place it in a microwave dish and cover it with a microwave safe cover. Cook for two minutes and remove from the microwave. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes and drizzle with some chili oil. Cook for a further minute and leave to stand for another couple of minutes.

Check the fish to make sure that it is cooked. It is important though not to over cook tuna as it will be really dry and taste awful. Squeeze some lime over the Tuna and serve.

3;Red Snapper.

Take a Red Snapper fillet and put it in your microwave dish. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle a little Cajun seasoning. Cook for four minutes on full power. Season with salt and pepper and leave to stand for a couple of minutes. This is then ready to be served. One of the quickest and easiest ways to serve this great tasting fish.

4; Shrimp.

Take the heads off some shrimp and place you your microwave dish. Do not peel the shrimp. Cover and cook for two minutes. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes and serve with some lemon and cracked black pepper butter. The works best with bigger shrimp, But which ever ones you use the flavours are always amazing.

5; Italian style Cod;

Chop some tomatoes and basil into a bowl, add a couple of spoons of olive oil and toss the ingredients together. Take an eight ounce cod fillet and place it in a microwave dish. spoon the tomato and basil mixture over the fish. Cook on full power for four to five minutes. Remove the dish from the microwave and leave to stand for a couple of minutes. The fish will be infused with the basil and blends wonderfully with the tomato. Just serve with rice or pasta and enjoy another beautiful fish dish

By: Ross Wharton

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