Health and Environment

 Content:

• Introduction
• Meat or no meat
• Probiotics (NEW)

 Introduction

Can we actually influence our health and well-being through our choice of lifestyle? Probably. As this is a subject that interest most of us, magazines and newspapers are filled with information on what to do and what not to do.
The advice changes over time, e.g. sometimes you are told not to eat fatty products and sometimes a diet with high amounts of fat is recommended etc. Confusing.

My choice is to eat plenty of veggies preferably grown in my own garden with some homemade bread and together with not too big a portion of meat or fish. I love cheeses and for dessert cheese or fresh or frozen berries according to season. I enjoy a glass of good wine at festive occasions. 

Exercise helps our bodies to rejuvenate and my favourite exercise is gardening.

I will come back to the subjects health and environment later, but a final piece of advice strain on the environment through emissions from transportation can be avoided if you choose food produced locally.

Meat or no meat?

Health gurus as well as experts on environmental issues today tells us not to consume excessive amounts of meat and especially  not red meat.  The production of meat will amount to considerable emissions of greenhouse gases and cause a negative impact on the climate.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-greenhouse-hamburger/

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/20076/20141113/plant-based-diets-reduce-impacts-climate-change.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michellemaisto/2012/04/28/eating-less-meat-is-worlds-best-chance-for-timely-climate-change-say-experts/

My vegetarian younger son sun will be extremely pleased when he sees these links.

Probiotics

Kimchi, sauerkraut, choucroute and more

For hundreds and maybe thousands of years people have used microorganisms to preserve and make food. Making Cheeses, yoghurt, wine, beer, sauerkraut, kimchi etc all involves utilizing microorganisms to digest some of the substances of the food stuff producing more tasty and more nutritious products. Although the use of some of them should be enjoyed cautiously!!

Today scientists are studying products containing live lactic acid bacterias seeing positive health effects from these. Products containing live lactic acid bacterias are nowadays called probiotics in analogy with the antibiotics.  Yoghurt and sauerkraut or other fermented vegetables are considered very healthy.  Why not have a try yourself?

It is possible to prepare both yoghurt and kimchi  by yourself. For a recipe on Kimchi  and yoghurt continue to the Good Food page.

You can read more on the health benefits here:

http://cdrf.org/home/checkoff-investments/usprobiotics/probiotics-basics/

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update0905c.shtml 

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/264721.php

That's why fermented food gives you a happier body!

www.mabra.com The Swedish ”Må Bra” (Feel Good) Magazine Internet site published 8 April, 2012

Fermented food makes wonders with your health! It is not just bread made from sourdough that has become a hype in Swedish homes. Vegetables and tea can also be fermented at home.
Why ferment your food? The answer is that the fermentation process makes nutritious food even more healthy. The reason that gives fermented vegetables and milk this extra quality is that the lactic acid bacterias residing on theses products will multiply. These good bacterias compete with other more harmful and sometimes pathogenic bacterias and make them feel less at home in our mucous tissues. Thus these lactic acid bacterias-also called probiotics- make us healthier.

The Asian delicacy Kimchi is tasty as well as good for your health thanks to its lactic acid bacterias!
- Lactic acid bacteria helps our body to improve how we utilise some essential vitamins and minerals, Ann-Sofie Sandberg, professor at the Department of Food Science at Chalmers Institute of Technology, Gothenburg says. E.g. Iron and Zinc becomes more accessible for the human body when a product is being fermented. Additional vitamin B12 and folic acid are being produced during fermentation

- Acidification is also a way to bring down the vegetable in GI. It provides a slower increase in 

blood sugar which makes you stay stay full longer,  Ann-Sofie Sandberg explains.
But now it is not only vegetables that we can ferment at home. Kimchi, Korean cabbage salad 

with chili, is rated as one of the world's five healthiest super foods .