What are processed foods? Processed foods have been altered from their natural state for convenience and for safety reasons. It is mainly to increase shelf life, so that foods stay fresh longer. If it's boxed, bagged, canned or jarred it is processed.

What are the methods used to process foods?
Canning, freezing, refrigeration, dehydration and aseptic processing. In Aseptic processing, the food product and the package is sterilized separately. In canning, both the item and package are sealed as one and unit and sterilized together.

What are some examples of processed foods?
Examples of processed foods:
1. Canned foods (usually with a lot of sodium in it)
2. White breads and pastas made with refined white flour, not whole grains.
3. Packaged high calorie snack foods- chips and cheese snacks.
4. High fat convenience foods- cans of ravioli.
5. Frozen fish sticks and frozen dinners.
6. Packaged cakes and cookies.
7. Boxed meal mixes.
8. Processed lunch meats (one of the worst)

What is so bad about these foods? These foods are not as healthy as fresh foods. They contain bad fats (trans fats ), saturated fats and a large amount of sodium and sugar, or "empty calories".

What else is in processed foods?
Artificial
• colors
• stabilizers ( used to give the food an even texture)
• emulsifiers (to create a pleasing, consistent blend between
• water soluble and oil soluble components)
• bleaches ( to disinfect)
• texturizers (too keep things crispy and crunchy)
• softeners (to keep bread nice and soft)
• preservatives
• sweeteners
• flavorings
• chemicals to hide odors

What does all of this have to do with cancer ?
Fresh fruits and veggies contain cancer fighting phyto-chemicals that are lacking in processed foods. These natural phyto-chemicals work synergistically to prevent oxidative damage that can lead to free radical production and cellular death. Free radicals cause membrane damage and communication between cells becomes hindered. A single cell does not receive the signal to stop, and it begins to divide and spread, leading to cancer. Processed food lack natural vitamins and minerals that ensure proper growth, vitality, health, prevention or even cure of many chronic diseases such as cancer. Some vitamins and minerals act as antioxidants or are part of antioxidants that occur naturally in our body.

What about the sugar in processed foods?
Sugar feeds cancer cells and also reduces immunity. One teaspoon of sugar reduces immunity by three hours. Cancer cells are being formed everyday, but are removed naturally from our body. Immune cells can not remove cells that are not functioning optimally, including those cells that have been infected by bacteria and viruses. Some bacteria and viruses are known to have a direct link to cancer.

What about the sodium in processed foods?
High sodium has been shown to increase hypertension and cancer. Reducing sodium alone does not work, and one needs to increase potassium intake also. Normally we get twice the amount of sodium than potassium. A ratio of 5:1 potassium to sodium is recommended.

What about the other additives in processed foods?
Other additives in our foods have also been directly linked to many different types of cancer. These additives in processed food lead to allergic reactions and toxicity in our bodies. A good intake of water is one way to cleanse these toxins out of our body.

Why is water intake so important?
With dehydration, the blood becomes thick and saturated with toxins. The toxic wastes accumulate and create an acidic medium. Acidic environments are bad. Since the cells do not have proper oxygenation and nutrition, they change in form and function to survive. They live by fermentation rather than normal oxidative mechanisms and cancer.

In sum:
Avoiding processed foods as much as possible prevents not only cancer, but a host of other diseases. A DASH diet is recommended ( dietary approaches to stop hypertension). This diet focuses on whole food diet made up of vegetables, legumes, and whole grains which are excellent sources of complex carbohydrates, and high in fiber.

This diet prevents not only cancer , but hypertension. It is an excellent alternative to processed foods. Fresh fruits and veggies are actually less expensive than processed foods.

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Hala Barghout is trained in BSc Nutrition and Dietetics and is one of our diet experts. She says: As you train, your nutritional needs change. You need to eat foods high in carbohydrates since they are your body’s main source of energy. Your carb and protein intake should rise proportionally. The trick is to choose the right carbohydrates. Simple carbs like sugar and processed flour are quickly absorbed by the body’s digestive system. This causes a kind of carb overload, and your body releases huge amounts of insulin to combat the overload. Not only is the excess insulin bad for your heart, but it encourages weight gain. Insulin is the main hormone in your body responsible for fat storage.

Eat plenty of carbs, but eat carbs that are slowly digested by the body like whole grain flour, pasta and bread, vegetables, oats and unprocessed grains like brown rice. These kinds of food not only contain complex carbs that are slowly digested by the body, but are usually higher in vitamins and other nutrients that are beneficial to the body. They are higher in fibre, which also keeps your digestive system running smoothly. Your carb intake should be around 45 per cent to 55 per cent of your total daily calorie intake.

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In the next four columns, we will look at the different nutritional and vitamin supplements that many people consume. Part 1 will deal with the most commonly used drugs: vitamins and multivitamins. Part 2 will deal with nutritional supplements and ‘health' drinks, which are a multi-crore business in India. Part 3 will examine the issue of how consumers and healthcare professionals are carried away with the feeling that costlier a supplement, the better it must be. The last column will deal with medical fraud associated with nutritional supplements, the false claims that many drug companies make and how to be a smart health consumer.

What are dietary supplements?

A dietary supplement is any product that contains a ‘dietary ingredient' intended to add to the diet. These ingredients may be any of the following substances

* Vitamins (like vitamin B, D and E)

* Minerals (like calcium, iron, zinc)

* Herbs or other botanicals (like ginseng, garlic)

* Amino acids

* Speciality substances such as glucosamine, probiotics and fish oils.

Dietary supplements may come in a variety of forms: tablets, capsules, and powders, as well as drinks and energy bars. Most people take dietary supplements under the impression that they will increase energy, maintain strength, enhance performance, maintain health and prevent nutritional deficiencies.

Do you require a dietary supplement?

If a woman is unable to get all the dietary requirements that she requires from her daily intake of food, dietary supplements may be required. However, pills and tablets cannot replace a healthy balanced diet. The stress, therefore, must be on maintaining a diet high in vegetables and fruits.

The following groups of people may require dietary supplements:

* People consuming fewer than 1600 calories per day

* Pregnant and breast-feeding women

* Postmenopausal women and those with heavy menstruation

* Chronic diarrhoea

* Food allergies and food intolerances

* Vegans (who do not include even dairy products in their diet), and anyone eliminating an entire food group from their diet

There is definite scientific evidence that some dietary supplements are beneficial for the maintenance of health and for managing some health conditions. For example, women planning a pregnancy should take folic acid since it decreases the risk of certain birth defects. Postmenopausal women need calcium and Vitamin D for keeping bones strong and reducing bone loss.

Multivitamin/ mineral dietary supplements

For a long time, Indians have been brainwashed into believing that vitamins and minerals are a panacea for a multitude of health issues and will insist on being prescribed ‘tonics'! Vitamins and minerals have developed the reputation of being ‘magic bullets' because they are very effective in treating deficiencies. However, this does not mean that in a well-nourished individual, these supplements will prevent diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases of the 21st Century that Indians are facing.

Multivitamin/mineral supplements contain a combination of vitamins and minerals, and sometimes other ingredients as well. They can be available as tablets, capsules or syrups. The vitamins and minerals in these formulations have unique roles in the body and are prescribed only in certain situations where the woman is unable to obtain these from her diet. The classic multivitamin/ mineral formulation is the B-complex and folic acid (vitamins) and iron (mineral), prescribed for pregnant women.

What kinds of multivitamin/ mineral supplements are available?

Among the most common multivitamin combinations are basic, once-daily products containing all or most vitamins and minerals. Most of the formulations will provide the recommended intake levels.

Manufacturers choose which vitamins, minerals, and other ingredients, as well as their amounts, to include in their products. This freedom they have allows them to add botanicals (like ginseng or garlic), trace minerals (like selenium and manganese) and this is where the problems arise. Adding an extra ingredient allows the manufacturer to price the medication at their whim. Most consumers aren't aware that the health claims on labels intended for marketing purposes may not be accurate. Since many of these formulations are sold as food and not as drugs, it is difficult to regulate their prices and consumers end up paying money which is out of proportion to the actual cost of the ingredients.

Check with your doctor if you really need a multivitamin. Effective multivitamins should not cost you more than Rs. 2-3 per tablet or capsule. If you are prescribed more expensive ones, request your doctor for a cheaper brand. Remember, when it comes to vitamins, more expensive is not necessarily better.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has unveiled a free online tool aimed at helping farmers lower their risk of contamination on the farm by generating customized food safety plans. How farmers grow, pack, and trace produce has become a major concern following numerous deadly foodborne safety illness outbreaks in recent years.

The new tool was developed with consultation from small and large farmers. It lets users input details about how they grow and handle fruits and vegetables. Then, it offers suggestions for how farms can create food safety plans and prepare to be audited. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said Thursday that the new federally funded resource will go a long way to improve production processes in fields and orchards, at no cost to the industry.

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HEALTH experts have said that unbalanced food intake and inappropriate dietary habits can lead to serious health complication. According to them, unbalanced food can prove fatal for people while well managed diet can help prevent and even reverse health related problems.

Consultant Nutritionist Dr Aftab Ahmad talking to mediamen on Wednesday quoted a survey conducted in 2004 according to which 10.5 million children died before their fifth birthday and many of these deaths were from preventable causes that were exacerbated or caused by malnutrition.

He said that in Pakistan infant mortality rate (IMR) is 65 per thousand births and under-five mortality rate is 78 deaths per 1,000 births, which was drastically high.

He said malnutrition is directly and indirectly responsible for 50 percent of all under five deaths in Pakistan. He added economic and social development are coupled with increased urbanization and shifts the food supply and production.

He was of the view that dieticians and community nutritionists can play a key role to create enhanced awareness of nutrition problems and healthy dietary practices.

Dr Sharif Astori from Federal Government Poly Clinic said that unbalanced food intake can become the root-cause of deadly diseases including certain cancers such as colon, ovary, and breast.

He stressed the need to follow a balanced diet plan to avoid health hazards. He alerted that excessive water intake or inability of body to get rid of extra fluid may cause problems in function of brain, heart and lungs.

“Less intake of water or more than normal loss of water from body may lead to low blood pressure which affects vital organs of the body including brain and kidney,” he said.

Dr Wasim Khawaja from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) advised that 30-35 kilo calories per kg body weight must be taken to address body needs, adding, daily energy or protein requirement are 0.8 -1.2 g of protein per kg per day.

He added in moderate to severe stress the requirement is 1.5g per kg per day. He said unbalanced diet increases risk of major depression and obesity can become source of social discrimination.

He warned that 35 to 40 percent total body weight loss is usually fatal. He said vitamins are important for body functions and their deficiency may cause anorexia, muscle cramps,paresthesias, irritability, anemia, mouth soreness, skin problems, bone weakness and night blindness.

According to experts, the teenage years are a very crucial time for young girls to really get involved in physical activities. Many young girls today are overweight simply because they give little or no time at all for exercise.

If you’re a teenage girl wanting to lose or maintain weight, you should spend at least 30 minutes to an hour exercising or involving yourself in physical activities like sports or dancing. Such activities can boost up your metabolism and allow you to shed off excess weight fast.

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LUOCHUAN, Shaanxi - Farmers in Luochuan county, Shaanxi province, have become rich by using technology and services provided by the local government to increase their apple crop. Zhang Yanmin, 36, a farmer in the county's Luoyang village, began planting apple trees in 1993 after graduating from junior middle school. He now enjoys a prosperous life. "I got about 120,000 yuan ($18,855) from my nearly half-hectare apple orchard this year," Zhang said. "My apples sold well in the coastal provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which businessmen came directly from to buy apples from my orchard."

Zhang said his attempts at apple farming had not gone smoothly at first. He was not familiar, he explained, with the technology he needed to make his work successful. "In the first three years, I had to deal with pests, frost and hail and lost almost all of my investment in the orchard," Zhang said. "Then I had an opportunity to receive free training from the local government about technology that can be used to plant apple trees. I learned about various planting techniques that can be used in my orchard."

A year later, the quality of Zhang's orchard had improved greatly and the apples he grew there were selling well, bringing him about 100,000 yuan a year. With that money, Zhang's family has managed to move out of the artificial cave they had lived in and into a two-story building. They now enjoy the use of tap water, solar heating, a gas stove and a car. Other Luochuan farmers have benefited from the local government's support of the apple industry. Their net income per capita rose to 6,352 yuan in 2010, which was 1.5 times as large as farmers' net income per capita in all of Shaanxi province.

Lei Zhixue, director of the Luochuan county information office, said a fourth of all Luochuan farmers have cars. He also said the apple industry has helped farmers to stay at home and avoid having to go elsewhere for work while attracting migrant workers to the county.

Luochuan lies in the middle of the Loess Plateau, where the temperature varies widely from day to night and the sun shines strong. Both of those climate traits are conducive to apple production. In 1979, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization deemed the county to be one of the best places in the world to grow apples. In the late 1980s, the county government began helping farmers develop the apple industry and providing advice on planting techniques and marketing.

Qu Juntao, senior agronomist and director of the county's apple technology development office, said 95 percent of the county's 44,515 hectares of farmland are occupied by apple orchards. "We established a set of local standards to govern apple production and sent more than 400 apple technicians to every village in the county to help farmers meet the standards," Qu said.

He said the county strictly prohibits the use of chemical pesticides in apple farming and encourages the application of natural fertilizers to ensure the fruit is of a high quality and has been grown in a green way.
To ensure there is a source of natural fertilizer and to promote the practice of circular agriculture, the county began breeding pigs in 2008. By the end of 2010, there were 652,000 pigs in the county and those animals were producing 2.3 million tons of natural fertilizer a year. Beside giving technical support, the county government has also helped apple farmers market their products. It has organized 222 apple farmers' cooperatives and established a website for the sale of apples. Luochuan apples are now sold in 28 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities throughout China and in more than 20 countries in Southeast Asia and Europe, Lei said.

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It started in Toronto on a bleak, black, bitingly cold December afternoon. I had just returned to Canada from a trip to Finland where a strong social safety net meant that no one ever went hungry or homeless.

So intense was the contrast between humane Finland and the shivering panhandlers huddled in Bloor Street’s snowy doorways that by the time I walked down the path toward home, I was in tears. If only I could do something – anything. And that’s when the inspiration for our annual Christmas Hamper Making Party – the best Christmas party in Canada, bar none – came to me.

When you’re invited to a typical holiday party, you bring a bottle of wine and something for the potluck, maybe even flowers. For the same money, you could buy a frozen turkey. And if other friends brought veggies or fruit and so on, we could have fun stuffing and decorating food hampers for families in need, allowing them the dignity of a holiday meal in the privacy of their own homes.

The party would be a combination open house and old-fashioned work party, like a quilting bee or barn raising. We wouldn’t be competing with other charities because guests would already expect to spend money when going to a party. We’d provide refreshments for our “workers” so they could put all their resources into items for the hampers. Good items, too – no Kraft Dinner or tinned food. And thus, with that first year’s 24 hampers, a grand holiday tradition was born.

That was 16 years ago and I’ve since moved to Victoria, but our Christmas hamper party is still going strong. My husband, Peter Such, and I now host a massive operation with a Cecil B. DeMille-sized cast of generous friends and neighbours and folks I only know because someone brought them to a previous party and now they’re hooked.

Last year, we managed to put together an astounding 131 hampers for the Salvation Army. Each contained a frozen turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing mix, carrots, onions, potatoes, fresh green vegetables, fresh fruit, milk, eggs, butter, bread, coffee, tea, dessert and treats such as chocolates, candles, Christmas crackers, nuts, jams or herbs.

As the party has grown we’ve honed our system into what one awestruck newcomer described as “controlled chaos and amazingly efficient.” Well in advance, arrangements have been made for the Salvation Army to pick up the hampers at the end of the party and distribute them to families on their list. Invitations have gone out with a list of what items we need for the hampers, and guests have indicated what they’ll be bringing.

By party day our empty plastic laundry hampers are stacked head-high and donations that have come in early are lined up under signs indicating what should be piled where. On the hamper-making table, scissors, ribbons, pipe cleaners and plastic bags are laid out, along with pencils and tags to indicate the weight of the bird inside each hamper. Because people arrive throughout the day with their goodies, a checklist stays in each hamper until we know it contains all the items on the list. Finished hampers are topped with bows, fresh holly clippings or pine boughs, slipped into clear plastic bags and put outside to stay cold.

People drop in all afternoon. Some just drop off donations, others work a bit and hang out by the eggnog and cookies, while others work determinedly for the six hours it takes us to process thousands of pounds of fresh food. “Trainer elves” in bright elf hats preside over greeting, warehousing, hamper packing and recycling operations. Whenever a newcomer wonders, “What should I do?” we tell them, “Ask an elf.” When a trainer elf leaves, they hand their hat on to one of their trainees.

Everyone works: Burly teenagers haul turkeys and burlap sacks of farm veggies, little kids carefully count carrots and grannies chat as they bag chocolates or tie candles with ribbons. We’re all united in a common cause and, because our 10-turkey donor and our loaf-of-bread donor’s contributions all disappear into an anonymous common haul, everyone’s equal.

As the day progresses, we send any cash contributions out with runners to buy items we’re short of. Excitement mounts as the filled hampers pile up. Someone yells out the count: “We hit 100!” Toward the end of the day a few angels phone: They’re going to shop for us – what last-minute things do we need? They arrive to cheers, and everyone scrambles to get the last hampers packed.

At 6 p.m., Salvation Army workers arrive to share mulled punch and cookies with us. Then we all pile outside to heave the bulging hampers down the line to the waiting moving truck.

You can’t imagine the visceral thrill as you watch massive piles of fragrant mandarins and loaves of fresh bread, emerald Brussels sprouts and cartons of eggs get divvied up into a sea of hampers now stretching across the lawn and down the hill to the street.

I think one of our neighbours put it best when he e-mailed us the morning after last year’s party: “I woke up this morning with the thought that if I had only one day to live, participating in [the] hamper factory would be on the list. To see that many people co-operating, having fun, while making a big difference to 131 families.… Yup.… That is worthy.”

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Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red. Almost all modern edible parthenocarpic bananas come from the two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The scientific names of bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana or hybrids Musa acuminata × balbisiana, depending on their genomic constitution. The old scientific names Musa sapientum and Musa paradisiaca are no longer used.

Banana is also used to describe Enset and Fe'i bananas, neither of which belong to the aforementioned species. Enset bananas belong to the genus Ensete while the taxonomy of Fe'i-type cultivars is uncertain.
In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet "dessert" bananas. By contrast, Musa cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains or "cooking bananas". The distinction is purely arbitrary and the terms 'plantain' and 'banana' are sometimes interchangeable depending on their usage. They are native to tropical South and Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics. They are grown in at least 107 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber, banana wine and as ornamental plants.

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Walgreen Co plans to add more fresh food to about 400 stores in areas where access to produce and other goods is scarce, as it tries to position itself as a one-stop shop for health and daily needs. The drugstore chain has already added fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and a variety of other fare to 10 stores in parts of Chicago where grocery stores are hard to find.

Executives at the company's annual meeting on Wednesday said they see a greater opportunity to expand those types of shops in Chicago and other places across the country over the next several years, aiming for about 300 to 500 of the company's more than 7,600 stores. Adding a wider variety of food, beer and wine at the chain in general is also part of the company's strategy to become a more convenient option for shoppers, who have a variety of stores to choose from.

Walgreen is not alone in adding food to its stores. Discounter Target Corp, Family Dollar and a variety of other chains have dedicated more space to food in their stores, especially in recent months. The chains hope that by providing a wider variety of items people will come into their stores more often, and spend more when they visit.

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During the holiday season, food is on a lot of people's minds. But for some, access to food is what occupies their thoughts, because they live in a food desert.

"There are a lot of definitions, but I think an easy one comes out of the Farm Bill of 2008.  They defined it as an areas in the United States with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly areas composed of low income people," says Bob Fedeski. Fedeski is with Rural Action's Sustainable Agriculture Program. He works as a Local/Institutional Foods Advisor.
 
Fedeski says food deserts are common in urban areas, such as downtown neighborhoods that are without a grocery store.  But, that's not the only landscape blighted by food deserts -- he says they're common in rural regions, too
 
"It's funny because you think of rural areas as the production area, and it is and if you can go to an individual farmer, you can get it, but having a concentrated source, a grocery store, something like that, we just don't have a lot of so people in the rural areas frequently fall by and stop at convenience stores which have limited food availability and most of it is either processed or some other form that's just not fresh fruits and vegetables," he says.
 
Fedeski says Rural Action is working to bring fresh food into local stores.  Using grant money, Rural Action is helping store owners set up refrigeration equipment, training them on food handling and nutrition and lending a hand where advertising is concerned.
 
Living in an area where all you can eat is processed food only creates a ripple effect, Fedeski explained. "It's one of the reason we have such a high rate of obesity and type 2 diabetes in the area it just goes hand in hand with that. By giving people an alternative, we hope to work around that problem."
 
Fedeski says the project is a community effort, connecting local growers from the Chesterhill produce auction with store owners interested in selling the produce that's in-season. During months when there isn't a lot of inventory, Fedeski says Rural Action has forged other means of getting the fresh food to the store owners. "Casa Nueva is assisting us now because they've offered to do the purchasing so that we will then continue to bring it out to the stores but they are a larger purchaser, so they'll split a case so that we can get the fresh food out of season to these stores still," says Fedeski.
 
Fedeski says he got to see firsthand at a local store that the organization's efforts are appreciated. "I was in there and I was talking with the woman behind the counter, and this other woman walked in, a pleasant, white-haired lady and she looks over and said "oh, that's nice. It's about time" as she recognized the display with the fresh food," he said.

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