EATING YOUR WAY TO GOOD AND HEALTHY HAIR

In the body’s pecking order, hair is a non-essential organ. If your diet is lacking, nutrients are diverted to higher-priority organs, and hair misses out. The result is hair that’s dry and slow to grow.

Beating this is simple – just make sure you eat a well-balanced diet rich in fruit and vegetables , with at least two servings of protein a day and large amounts of energy-giving wholegrain carbohydrates. This will ensure optimum nutrition for the entire body and your hair will get its fair share. It’ll then grow at its maximum speed (normally around 14mm a month), strength and thickness.As with skin, what you eat affects your hair. Hair follicles rely on nourishment from the bloodstream , but they compete with the rest of your body for nutrients.

You can also help prevent particular hair problems with diet. This doesn’t mean that a good breakfast will beat a bad hair day - hair takes three months to grow, so that’s how long it will take to see the results of any dietary change.

FOOD AND OBESITY

"Does fast food cause obesity?" The simple answer is no. Consuming more calories from food than the body can burn is what causes weight gain. While environmental factors, such as regularly eating fast food, may increase the risk of obesity, they are not a cause of obesity.

This means that you could eat fast food on a regular basis and not become obese. In fact, you can even lose weight while eating fast food. This, however, requires knowledge of not only how many calories you are burning on a daily basis, but also the calories in the food that you are eating.

DOES YOUR FOOD MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT?

If you associate dieting with hunger or are just concerned that cutting back on your eating would leave you feeling unsatisfied, you shouldn't worry because calories don't count in satisfying your hunger. The amount of food you eat will determine whether you are hungry or satisfied regardless of the caloric content of the food that you're eating. In other words, you can be more satisfied and lose weight by eating larger portions of less dense (fewer calories for the same size portion) foods instead of a smaller portion of more dense food. If you've found that dieting always leaves you feeling hungry, eating less dense foods can help you lose weight without this discomfort.
According to Dr. Barbara Rolls, Professor of Nutrition

CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS WITH A DIFFERENCE

Christmas cooking is one of those great traditions that brings the family and close friends together. By cooking up a great feast, you're giving your loved ones a wonderful present that will be remembered for years to come.
If you cook together with your family, it can also create special bonds -eg. mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces, grandmas and grandchildren - don't underestimate Christmas cooking!

Food is a major part of Christmas and nothing gets people in the Christmas spirit more then a holiday meal! Meal times are great for gathering friends and family together during the holiday season.

Years ago Christmas was celebrated with a meal of only porridge prepared out of oatmeal. Later onwards people started adding dried fruits and other things to make it more tasty for consumption. Year later, the tradition of baking cakes started in somewhere around in fourteenth century, only the houses of rich people had the ovens to bake the cakes. Baking cakes was the main Christmas dish that they would prepare for Christmas. Other dishes were also prepared for the celebration but they were limited to what the people had at the time.
Lucky for us today, times have changed and the Christmas meal is usually filled with lots of fabulous dishes.

You may get tired of cooking the same dishes each year, and your family may get tired of eating them! Here is a sweet potato dish that works a treat and is so easy to make.
You will need:
- 8 medium sweet potatoes
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 1/2 cup hot milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp honey
- 1/2 lb. marshmallows
1. Cook sweet potatoes until tender. You can do this by peeling them first. Then cut them into little chunks. Place a little water in the bottom of the dish and cook in the microwave until they are soft.
2. Mash the sweet potatoes.
3. When smooth, beat in butter, milk, salt and honey and beat well.
4. Turn into buttered baking dish and cover with marshmallows. Bake at 350 degrees until marshmallows puff and become golden brown.
5. Serve as part of a main meal and enjoy!