JUNK FOOD

JUNK FOOD is anything thats high in calories but lacking in nutrition. For example, hamburgers, pizzas, biscuits, chocolate bars, chips, hot-dogs. A diet of junk food is high in saturated fats, which is associated with a higher risk of cancer and diabetes. Apart from this, consuming fattening junk food you are likely to gain weight. This is true because junk food is less satisfying and lower in vital nutrients than healthier food, so you tend to eat a lot more. Our eating habits have changed due to the lack of time. Nowadays people have less time for eating, let alone cooking. That is way Junk food is so popular. They are too busy to cook and eat proper meals, so they grab wahetever is available. It is easier to prepare a sandwich, than to prepare a grilled fish with salad. The amount of exercise we do has also decreased. Its is very important for us to keep fit and healthy. And it also decreases our chances of having a heart attack in later life. What is more, you do not have to exercise a lot, just twenty minutes three times a week is more than enough! Moreover, weight gained in adolescence is extremely hard to lose in later life. Research are predicting that young French people who prefers burguers and chips to gourmet dishes, wont have a muscular figure, or wont be slim, lots of them will be overweight. Reserachers suggest that the new generation will be more likely to suffer from heart and liver disease. FOLLOWING A BALANCED DIET AND REGULAR EXERCISE BRING SIGNIFICANT HEALTH BENEFITS. If we improve our eating habits we will be better equipped to deal with stressful situations.

NUTS
A few years ago, it was belived than nuts were unhealthy. There were not part of a balanced diet. Nowadays are view as a healthy component of any diets. They have a lot of benefits. For example they low cholesterol and portect us against heart disease. But of course, you have to enjoy them with moderation since they can be high in unsaturated fat. These fat are able to lower our bad cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease. // Nuts are a great substitute for some of the animal protein in our diets. They are also a good source of fiber that keeps our bowels healthy and regular. Most nuts are also high in Vitamin E. There are different nutritional differences between the different varieties of nuts. WALNUTS help us to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of blood clots. It also has several anti-cancer properties. ALMONDS provide protein, fiber, Vitamin E,calcium, potassium and magnesium. PEANUTS contain more protein, fiber Vitamin E than any other nut. However it is important that you opt for the dry roasted and unsalted nuts. Of course not roasted in oil which contains extra fat and calories.

MEAT ADVANTAGES. It is advisable to eat plenty of meat because it gives you energy. It is good for children to help them grow up. It provides a range of preoteins and vitamins that are essential for a healthy body. Most enjoyable and satisfying type of food. It produces antibodies that will protect us from infection. It strengths the immune system It provides vitamins A B and D. These vitamins promote good vision, stronger teeth and bones, mental health and maintain the health of the skin.

DISADVANTAGES If you eat a great deal of meat, you may develop heart problems. If a diet focuses heavily on meat, you may increase the risk of developing osteoporosis. Consumption of undercooked meats is really dangerous for your health. You may go down with some illnesses, suffer from nauseas, abdominal pain, and vomit. It is high in saturated fats and cholesterol. Eating too much meat increases the risk of Alzheimer disease.

SLEEPING WELL A large number of people suffer from a lack of sleep. Most of us need seven to eight hours of sleep a night. Sleep can affect your weight since it affects the hormones controlling appetite. People who get less than eight hours a night are more likely to be overweight. Sleeping on a problem can help to solve it. When we sleep the brain put todays memory into files, which we can then access. Some people were given a list of words. After a period of time, in wich one group slept and the other was awake, they were asked to remember the words. The people who had been sleeping, remember more words than the group who had not.

GP IN BRITAIN People put money time and energy into keeping fit and healthy. Health care is important, so is diet and so id fitness. A GP is a general practitioner or family doctor. There are a lot off GP in Britain. Each GP has thousands of patients. If you need medicine your GP will write the prescription for you to take to a chemist. You dont have to pay to see your doctor, but you may have to pay part of the cost of your medicine, unless you belong to one the groups of people who get the medicine free. Students, over sixty,., or expecting a baby. If you need to see a specialist doctors, or have an operation you will have to go to an hospital. In Britain most doctors and hospital are part of the National Health Service. All the operations treatments are free. In fact, the NHS provide free medical care from the very young to the very old. When the NHS started it provided free visits to doctors, dentists, free treatment, free prescriptions, free glasses. Today many people have to pay for all these things. Britain has the highest level of heart disease and cancer. People sometimes have to wait a long time before they can see a specialist or have an operation. Because of this they see private doctors and try another type of treatment. They try ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE. Reflexology, acupuncture, aromatherapy. It doesnt hurt at all. There are more than alternative medicine practicioners in Britain than NHS doctors. If you eat well you will have a longer and healthier life. People now eat more fruit and vegetables than in the past. They try to cut down on red meat. On average british live to the eight of 77. Many people live longer than that! TRADITIONAL AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE Alternative medicine includes all the
practices used independently or in place of conventional medicine. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional medicine as: the health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain good health. The WHO encourages developing countries to develop their own traditional forms of medicine because they cannot afford to pay for conventional medicines. WHO believed that people in those countries were better off using traditional medicines rather than no medicine at all. Today traditional medicine treatments are not only used in developing countries, but also in North America and Europe. Twenty percent of modern medicines are made from plants that were first used in traditional medicine. For example one Chinese herbal remedy which has been used to for thousands of years, has recently been found to be effective against malaria. However WHO recommends more scientif testing on traditional medicine since not alltreatments are as helpful as the one I mentioned before, and some can actually be harmful. For example, in the United States a traditional Chinese Herb, Ma Huang, was sold as a diet drug. It produces many heart attacks and at least a dozen deaths. Some people are worried that as herbal medicine become more popular, the plants of these medicines are made from may become endangered as they are over-harvested. Traditional medicine includes medicines and also treatments. For example, reflexology, aromatherapy and acupuncture.

ACUPUNCTURE It is an alternative therapy that involves using needles to stimulate specific points on the body.. This technique restores the client's health and vitality. There is acupuncture for low back pain, for artrosis,it helps people who suffer from tennis elbow or carpal tunner syndrome, menstrual cramps. Most people feel calm and relaxed after a treatment. They may even feel sleepy. conventional doctors nowadays recognize the benefits of acupuncture to stop pain and to treat some illnesses. IN the UK a lot of doctors perform acupuncture themselves. Several British soccers have used acupuncture to treat injuries that, in the past, would have required surgery.

FOOD SAFETY In united states millions of people suffer from foodborne diseases each year. A big number of them are hospitalized, and a few even died. In the developing world, contaminated food and water kill almost two children a year. In most cases, virulent types of bacteria are to blame. The bacteria that produce foodborne are present in the intestines of animals we raise for food. So we eat contaminated meat. Fruits and vegetables can also pick up the dangerous bacteria if washed or watered with contaminated water. The bacteria can also hide and multiply on sponges, dish towels, knives, and kitchen counters, where they are easily transferred to food or hands. Changes in the way in wich farm animals are raised are also affecting the meat we eat. Cattle, fish, chickens, are so crowded together that even if only one animal is contaminated with Ecoli, it will spread to others. The responsabilty doesnt rest only in the cook. Contamination often occurs early in the production process. Ivestigators try to find what went wrong in the foods journey to the table. For example in 2000 in Virginia, a lot of people were sick with food poisoning from salmonella. Some of them were hospitalized and other died. The common factor was that they all had eaten mangoes from Brazil, that were washed with contaminated water containing a type of salmonella bacteria. Costa Rica for example, is being more responsible and pay attention to production conditions. This country has made a sanitary production of fruit and vegetables. For example produce is packed carefully in sanitary conditions, frequent hand washing is compulsory, proper toilets are provided for workers in the fields.

IN SEARCH OF LONGEVITY A long healthy life begins with good genes inherited from your parents, but it also depends on good habits. I am going to talk about three regions where longevity is the norm. The Sardinians. Many people have lived to their hundredth birthdays. This is due to their lifestyle. They walk a lot, chop wood, mil the cows. They also follow a balanced diet, eat homemade cheese, fruit, vegetables, milk and milk products. Most of these items are homegrown.They also benefit from their genetic history. THE ADVENTISTS. Avoid smoking or drinking alcohol, eating pork, coffee, and most spices. They consume beans,, soy milk, tomatoes, and fruits, that lower their risk of developing certain cancer. They also eat whole wheat bread, drink five glasses of water a day, and consume nuts that reduce their risk of heart disease. They dont eat red meat because it is helpful in avoiding both cancer and heart disease. OKINAWANS. They have very low rates of cancer and heart disease. Are less likely to develop dementia.Their food is based on homegrown products and a philosophy of moderation. They eat until their stomach is 80 percent full.

THE BATTLE OF BIOTECH FOODS Genetically engineered products, so called biotech foods, are being rushed to the market before their effects are truly understood. Biotech foods are produced from animals and plants that have been genetically altered. Genetic alteration is not new. Humans do this to help plants for example, grow bigger, or taste sweeter or last longer. For example moth genes have been inserted into apple trees to add disease resistance. Most of the crops are engineered to help farmers deal with old farming problems: weeds, insects, and disease. Some biotech foods might even be safer than conventional varieties. However biotech foods have had problems in the past. One problem occurred when soybeans were modified using genes from a nut. The modified soybeans contained a protein that causes reactions in humans who are allergic to nuts.

Organic food Organic food is 'natural' food. This means that pesticides or additives are not used in the production process. And it's not just for vegetarians; organic food is a booming business and includes cheese, meat, wine, tinned food - even pet food.

The world's population is growing fast but our planet is not. Supplies of fish and seafood have reached very low levels because of overfishing and governments will have to do something to allow the numbers of fish to get back to normal. To feed the growing population, farmers have to grow different types of crops and therefore there is pressure on them to grow more and more genetically modified crops.

DIABETES Insuline is an homone produced by the pancreas to control blood sugar. Diabetes can be caused by too little insulin, resistance to insulin, or both. People with diabetes have high blood sugar. There are three major types of diabetes: Type 1: it is usually diagnosed in childhood. The body makes little or no insulin. Daily injections of insulin are needed. The exact cause is unknown. Genetics, viruses and autoimmune system may play a role. Type diabetes 2: it is far more common. Usually occurs in adulthood. The pancreas doesn make enough insulin. Many people with this disease do not know that they have it. It is becoming more and more common due to increasing obesity and failure to exercise. Gestational diabetes: it develops durin a pregnancy, in a woman who doesnt have diabetes. DIABETES CAN LEAD TO SERIOUS PROBLEMS: have eye problems (become blind) amputation because your feet and skin develop sores and infections heart attack, stroke you could have problems digesting the food you eat.