Are we becoming a generation addicted to discounts? We all like value for money and even the rich adore a bargain — and no one understands this better than the food manufacturers.
We have far more money at our disposal than your parents’ generation and yet we are eating poorer quality food. Food that has much less taste, filled with chemicals and coloring and even genetically modified
Do we really want to buy mass-produced cheap food, or good quality food? It is so easy to nip around the supermarket filling up the trolley with bargains and then treat the family to calorie laden cakes and biscuits with the money saved. We have to exercise choice. We also have to lead the supermarkets and not let them lead us. Many nutritionists believe that if we don’t make a stand now we will be breeding an unhealthy generation of children who will be experiencing heart disease and obesity before they are forty. Doctors say that more and more children are suffering from constipation due to lack of dietary fiber. Children and parents need to be aware that eating real food matters. Many foods marketed at children are almost bereft of any nutritional value and many even contain dangerous additives. So it is better to buy less but to buy good quality. Don’t be manipulated.
Getting Active:
Give Yourself 30 Minutes
As an adult, if you get a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week you’ll help prevent chronic disease and promote your general health. There are many things that you can do to increase your activity level. Even such choices as walking, playing with the children, are enjoyable and beneficial for your overall health. Use all the tricks like taking the stairs instead of the lift, and walking when you can do without your car. Your best bet is to build as much exercise as possible into your daily routine. If you do, you’ll soon change from out-of-shape, to average, to fit. My Mini-Morning Workout is one way to get some exercise into your routine — just mail [email protected] for a free copy.
Recipe of the Week
Japanese Soba Noodle Salad
Serves 6
Ingredients
450 g soba noodles
3 scallions, minced
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
45 ml lemon juice
1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp. garlic, pressed
2 tbsp yellow or white miso paste
2 tsp. sesame seeds
Method
Cook soba noodles in a large pan of boiling water about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Combine noodles, scallions, and parsley in a bowl. Combine next 4 ingredients in a separate bowl. Then mix in miso, working out the lumps with the back of a spoon. Thin if necessary with a little water, drop by drop. Combine with noodle mixture and chill. Garnish with sesame seeds.
Ask Alva
Since retirement from the military at 49 I have been exercising continuously. My height is 1.68 meters, weight 78 kilos. I have been doing the same exercises, which we had been doing in training. They were for about one hour but now I am feeling pain in my right leg muscle during fast walking. But no pain when running. Astonishingly when I feel pain during walking I start running for short distance, then the pain eases off but then returns. But I feel it only during fast walking. Please write me how much tough exercise I can do in this age. Khan
One of the problems to do with your walking may be the simple fact that your muscles are not properly warmed up before you start. So do make sure that you do proper stretching exercises. Also, it may surprise you to know that speed walking can actually exert more stress on the lower leg muscles than running. At 49 you are still young! So you can exercises as hard as your body will allow! However, you should be aware that you are overweight and this may contribute to leg pain when exercising. I would like to see you reduce to 73 kilos as your first target, and eventually you should aim to get down to 66 kilos.
