Raracheng’s Blog

Breast- feeding

Today most new mothers  choose breast feeding for their baby. They believe that breast feeding is the most nutrition  match for babies compared to other types milk.

 All mothers who choose breast feeding need to be aware of their eating habits. Indications from research show that if the mother eats too much salt ,the sodium in the mother’s body will be too hight and other components such as fat, calcium, and DHA will be deficiant. Experts emphasized that if the mother wants to get the best  breast milk they must be nutritionally balanced

The quality of breast feeding is in relation to the mother’s eating habit. If the mothers want to be nutritionally balanced they must to eat grains, protein, vegetables and fruit in every meal.

It is much easier for mothers to eat  these three kinds of foods for their lunch and dinner. Most people cannot do it for their breakfast.

It is better for mothers to take off the oil on the top of soup when they having soup. Too much fat in breast milk will increase the baby’s stool, which has a  negative effect on baby’s health.

The last thing is to avoid eating  food like Chinese chives, ginseng, coffee, and milk tea as these food may decrease the quantity of your breast feeding. Don’t eat highly volatile foods that your baby will not accept. Be careful with these details, as when you start breast feeding they will help you with feeding a  baby.

REFERENCE:

newsyahoo

chinanews

big5..com

Taiwan Gourmet Passport

After the four-day dragon boat festival holidays,  another fantastic festival will come soon. There will be a food festival from June 1~30 in Taipei. During the whole month, there will around 220 restaurants and different activities held, in order to help people  understand more about Chinese culture, where they provide so many discounts for visitors.

Taiwan Food Festival this year is  into it’s  20th year. The Tourism Bureau usees  traditional ways to display this exhibition. The point is to show the characteristics of Taiwanese food. Shark’s fin, crab and other ingredients will not be serve during this time because they are under special environmental protection.

Some travel agencies are cooperating  with the Tourism Bureau where people may taste those delicious foods and visit some landscapes of Taiwan also can enjoy some traditional performances. Those are value activities for people to participate in.

 The Tourism Bureau invited around 1000 visitors from Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong to come to Taiwan to enjoy this festival together. The top chefs from Japan and Hong Kong were on the invite list.

The spokesman from the Tourism Bureau said that in order to show their sincerity to welcome people  to Taiwan, they are going to pay for all the cost of the  food. Estimates show  that a table of food must  cost  around $NT7000.  The Tourism Bureau in Taiwan welcomes everybody to come to Taiwan during June in 2009.

 REFERENCE:

travelnews

chinatimes

Food Sampling

In order to avoid H1N1 spread in Taiwan many supermarkets  have stopped  food sampling in their stores.  People may be upset about this policy but it is an easy way to revent droplet transmission. Food court and bread stores are the most dangerous departments.

Most people enjoy taking food samples in supermarkets. They do not need to spend more than one thousand dollars and already feel full. During one hour you would use at least five toothpicks for food sampling. Moreover,both of your hands were busy taking  food and enjoyed every mouthful. People regard supermarkets as their own kitchen. If you used to enjoy these foods, now you must feel disappointed. You cannot get this benefit anymore.

Now there are new policies when people go to supermarkets. They offer alcohol for customers to spray their hands with  disinfectant at the front gate. If necessary, the security guard may measure body temperature for you. In the bread store, they put bread into plastic bag for you first, so that people don’t  need to worry about contacting with bread directly.

Those companies are not afraid they might  lose customers once they stop sampling. They believe customers will understand this policy and work hard together to get through this dangerious time.

reference:

tvbs

newsmsn 

Salt

The goverment of  the United States started calling for people to eat less salt ten years ago.

The average amount of salt one American eats  is aroud 34,00Mg. It is higher than the U.S. Dietary Guidelines suggestion of  2,300Mg. Since the last century, because of people’s eating habits, they have more chances to eat processed food. The majorty of people used to get frozen or convenient food which usually contained too much salt.

Too much salt is unhealthy for people. It might cause Osteoporosis, kidney failure and stomach cancer. The worst effect is that it  can cause high blood pressure. All of  these are  major elements for heart attack and stroke.

The government of United States supports those processed food companies reducing salt by 50% in the next decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,CDC estimated this measure will save fifiteen million people’s lifes and reduce USD100 billion in medical expenses.

Some think that it  is hard to promoted this idea. Most  Americans are used to eating strong tasting  food. There are only 20% of people that  get their salt intake at home the other 80% get it from restaurants.       

How do we account how much salt we taken? Sometimes we can get it from nutrition tag which is tagged on the food but it is hard for us to account it exactlly. Experts recommend that if you are cooking at home, then add half the amount of salt or using other nature herbs to be sauce. It is a good way to take care of your family’s health.

REFERENCE:http://www.city9x.com/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=129624

 Have you ever experienced the traditional Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan? If you have, I believe that you have not forgetten the food, Zhong -zi which is  eaten during this festival.

In the past, this food was used to memorialize Qu Yuan who is remembered for jumping into river in protest in Ancient China. People used the food, Zhong-zi to avoid the fish eating his body.

In the begining this food was made salty, but now there are more and more businessman reforming  it into a sweet taste. Next week,28 May is Dragon Boat festival for this year.

 Eating Zhong-zi  has became an habit that we can not ignore in Dragon Boat festival . As a result, there are more and more companies making new Zhong-zi mixing chinese and western taste that make it into a sweet. In coordinating the eating habits of people they make these food low calorie , and with new  flavors. 

The cover tastes chewy and is transparent  in color. No matter the sense and the taste were suitable for people eating in summer. It gives a new visual and fresh taste for customers. It has broken the traditional impressions of  Zhong-zi.

The company Starbucks published a new product that was sweet Zhong-zi . It includs two flavors, one is Mocha and the other one is sweet potato. It has also added a delicate basket bag for people to use as gift.  In order to be  convenient for customers, they can buy it in store A and get it in store B.

If you do a reservation then you can get a 10% discount. Once you make a reservation then after three days you can get it. There are eight in a basket which is sold for NT$480.     

If you have not tried the newest food in Taiwan, then in  two weeksyou will have a good chance to buy one. It will help you to add more interest in Dragon Boat Festival and make it unforgetable.

REFERENVE:

etaiwannews

udn

 Did you ever try blind taste test ?  According to the American Association of  Wine Economists, latey they  provied 18 volunteers to do a research. In the beigging , they cover their eyes and afford five dishes for them to test. In the end , there are only three people can figure out which are dog food. 

 ” The first idea about dog food in our head  is bad taesting people always think  they could identify which one is dog food but in this case it does not work. ” said Robin Goldstein who is a member of this study.

 In the five samples, they put organic Canned Turkey& Chicken Formula, duck liver mousse, pork liver paste,  liverwurst, and spam. They were including wide price range and put them into different bowl. The volunteers in this study could not identify the dog food exactlly but there are three people can tell that sample C is dog food. The testers was suprised that there few people can figure out it.

The authours said  “Although human beings do not enjoy eating dog food, they are also not able to distinguish its flavor profile from other meat-based products that are intended for human consumption.” From this study we got there are seventy two percent dog food was tasste like worst tasting pate.

 REFERENCE:

mercurynews

cbsnews 

 Are steak, pork, lamb and the other red meat in your menu everyday ? If so, it could be a big warning for your healthy. 

Before we only knew that eating too much red meat would increase the risk of getting heart disease but now the new research shows that it could cause cancer.

Previous studies have found that heart disease, cancer, especially colorectal cancer is related to eating red meat. According to the United States National Cancer Institute more than 50 million were in that sample and it is the first time to view the overall risk of death.

The results showed that, even with fruits and vegetables, smoking, exercise and obesity and other risk factors into consideration,  the death rate for red meat in at least one-fifth of subjects was 30% higher.

High-temperature cooking of meat is one of the reasons that lead to cancer. The study results also echoed the United States Agency for Research for Cancer  and the World Cancer Research Fund the proposal to reduce red meat and processed meat intake to reduce the incidence of cancer.

 Have you ever eaten Chinese herbal medicine? I would like to remind you not to eat some unknown Chinese herbal medicine from the roadside. Lately, there are people reporting that roadside Chinese medicine can reduce pain, but the ingredients of the Chinese medicine should not be mixed with western drugs. It can cause liver injury and kidney injury.

The police have cracked many cases involving fake medicine before. Some public reports that we can find fake medicine in a night market, on the side of the road, and at the temple. After testing we found that the ingredients were western medicine. After people ate those fake medicine and they may lose their health.

The members of KMT in Taipei said that ” Orignally, the medicine can cure the pain that the patients had, but now the people who took the fake medicine could have liver and kidney problems. “

 The cost of each medicine is only four dollars. Now they sell thirty in a bag for five hundred dollars. They just put in a transparent bag without any  ingredients labels.

Remember that use of medicine must follow doctors and pharmacists instructions. Avoid taking some unknown medicine.

REFERENCE:

news.yahoo

There are more and more people who have anorexia these days. Most people regard it as a cultural syndrome. According to sociology discoveries from the 1970, there are plenty of commercials and information that convey that skinny is beautiful. With this situation, the rate of  people getting anorexia is increasing. 

The features of the anorexia patients are that too much care about their weight and their figure of body. These patientsalways keep their weight below the minimum average weight of their age and height. In the beginning they have a vavority of  symptoms, such as thin and weak, pale, listless, hair loose, anemia, etc.

The most serious will cause heart and kidney disease damage and finally maycause death.People who get too much stress or some teenagers who  stop eating to rebel against their parents are more likely to get anorexia.

 Lately there is an eighteen-year-old girl who only 30kg  got anorexia. She can not cnotrol what the food she eats. For one meal she can eat 8kg food. In one month she needs to spent one million dollars on eating. She needs to through eating to vent emotion. Doctors say patients need to combine drug and  psychological treatment.

 In this society we can not ignore disease of civilization, anorexia. We should encourage these patients to seek medical treatment as soon as possible to avoid getting serious illness. It is difficult to cure.

REFERENCES:

news.yahoo