Food and Food Health

 We all have passed through a phase, or are still in one where the mind still walks the streets of dilemma as to whether the salad in the afternoon can make up for the double cheese hamburger of last night. Whether the calories gained through the chocolate pudding can be balanced through the oatmeal in breakfast.

A few years back, there was a stigma about having the perfect thin or muscular (as one prefers), flat-stomached body. There was this misconception that slim and trim is the way to look beautiful. But fortunately, this stigma and misapprehension is slowly and somehow being eliminated from the society. Today, every type of body is beautiful, whether it is a flat-stomach or a fat belly. But that does not give any of us the right to overlook the fact about eating healthy.

Eating healthy does not mean gulping down only chunks of vegetables and salads. Eating healthy does not mean being on a "diet". Eating healthy means providing the body every kind of nutrients to function properly. And it includes the Broccoli Soup one cringes to as well as the delicious classic double crust cheese-filled pepperoni pizza, everyone craves for.

REQUIREMENTS OF THE BODY

We all love eating, mainly the junk type, but sometimes realization hits us and we tend to understand that salads and vegetables and fruits are really important part of a diet. Every type of nutrient is needed to keep the body functions in its right place. Vitamins, proteins, minerals, carbohydrate, fats, roughage and water, these are the nutrients we need almost on a daily basis. I won't waste time by telling what these are and how each of them are important because this is something we all have learnt in six-grade science subject. But I do would like to mention some of the dishes that are delicious, healthy and contain all of the above nutrients in the right amount.

THE FINGER-LICKING CLASSIC CHICKEN SALTIMBOCCA

It is a delicious chicken preparation, which is rolled up with prosciutto and mozzarella cheese and drenched in a tasty white wine pan sauce. It is a mouth-watering dish with the goodness of protein (found in chicken), fats (cheese) and the palatable white wine sauce. It can easily be garnished with vegetables, providing the wholesome richness of vitamins and minerals.

THE DELICIOUS UN-CHEESY POTATO BROCOLLI SOUP

The name may seem to have no part of it seem delicious- 'un-cheesy', the dreaded 'broccoli' and 'potato', but the taste seems to be contradicting it's not-so appealing name. It is a preparation which will fill the tastebuds with an explosion of flavor and its richness makes it almost hard to resist. The dish is a mixture of health and taste.

THE OH-SO YUMMY APPLE CINNAMON BREAKFAST BARS

This the perfect preparation for all those fuzzy kids who refuse to eat any fruits. This flavorful dish is full of protein and fiber and a favorite among the children and adults alike.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FOOD HEALTH IN OUR LIFE

There is absolutely no need to state what importance food holds in the existence of an individual. As stated above, it does not matter if one is slim or fat, what matters is whether the individual is eating healthy. Excess of nothing is good, especially not food. But we need to understand the right amount and the right kind of nutrients our body needs, to stay healthy and to keep our loved ones healthy as well.

Nutty for Peanuts

 Whether you are a chunky or creamy fan, peanut butter and its many forms comprise one of America's favorite foods. Are you a brand loyalist, be it Skippy, Jif, Peter Pan, Smucker's, or an organic-only consumer? On average, Americans eat more than six pounds of peanut products each year, worth more than $2 billion at the retail level. Peanut butter accounts for about half of the U.S. edible use of peanuts-accounting for $850 million in retail sales each year.

The peanut plant can be traced back to Peru and Brazil in South America around 3,500 years ago. European explorers first discovered peanuts in Brazil and saw its value, taking them back to their respective countries, where it was a bit slow to catch on but became popular in Western Africa. (And the French just never quite got it.)

History tells us that it wasn't until the early 1800s that peanuts were grown commercially in the United States, and undoubtedly showed up at the dinner table of foodie president Thomas Jefferson, probably in the form of peanut soup, a delicacy in Southern regions. After all, Jefferson was an enthusiastic gardener who lived in Virginia. Civil War Confederate soldiers welcomed boiled peanuts as a change from hardtack and beef jerky. First cultivated primarily for its oil, they were originally regarded as fodder for livestock and the poor, like so many other now-popular foods. Technically not nuts, peanuts are part of the legume family and grown underground in pods, along with peas and beans.

Peanuts started to catch on in the late 1800s when Barnum and Bailey circus wagons traveled cross country hawking "hot roasted peanuts" to the crowds. Street vendors soon followed, selling roasted peanuts from carts, and they became a staple in taverns and at baseball games. (Throwing the bags to anxious consumers became an art form.)

As with many other popular foods, peanut butter was first introduced at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 but basically still had to be made by hand. Catching on as a favorite source of protein, commercial peanut butter made its appearance on grocers' shelves in the late 1920s and early 30s, beginning with Peter Pan and Skippy.

Dr. George Washington Carver is unquestionably the father of the peanut industry, starting in 1903 with his landmark research. He recommended that farmers rotate their cotton crops with peanuts which replenished the nitrogen content in the soil that cotton depleted. In his tireless research, he discovered hundreds of uses for the humble peanut.

While it is believed that the Inca Indians in South America ground peanuts centuries ago (we know for certain they weren't spreading it on white bread with grape jelly), credit is usually given to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (of corn flakes fame) for creating the first peanut butter in 1895 for his elderly patients who had difficulty chewing other proteins.