Watch Your Waistline, Do Watch Your Drink Intake

If you are trying to lose weight or simply maintain your weight, don't just watch your diet, but also your drink intake.

For example, soft drinks are extremely high in kilojoules. Even for diet soft drinks, they still ocntain high level of sweetener. And since drinks do not make us feel full, we could end up drinking a lot, and hence high kilojoules.

There is no exception for fruit juices either. 1 glass of apple fruit juice made of 4 apples has the same kilojoules as same sized glass of cola.

So if you feel thirsty, just go for plain water. Free of kilojoules and it is cheap!

Nutritional Benefits of Green Mung Beans

Green mung beans (also known as green beans) are very beneficial towards our health. It has high level of iron to prevent anemia, phosphorus to prevent beriberi, vitamin B1 to prevent digestion problem.

Vitamin E from mung bean sprouts can help to increase fertility because of its alkalinity. Thus, it is also very effective in keeping gastric juice in check, helping in food digestion, and skin regeneration.

However, you should pay extra attention in the cooking process of green beans, as the nutritional value is easily diminished by heat and acid.

The correct way to cook green beans is to soak with water for 1-2 hours. Afterwards, cook it altogether with the water in medium heat for 30 minutes. It is ready to serve. You can add in sugar, milk, or coconut milk according to your liking.

For adults, green beans is very good to repair and maintain body system, especially during recovery phase from illness. Pregnant and breastfeeding women can benefit from its high level of iron and folate.

It is best if you could consume green beans daily. Or else you can take it once every other day, or twice a week.

Breastfeeding Method

As my pregnancy progresses, I have read few books on pregnancy, as well as parenting. And the topic of breastfeeding never fail to interest me. I plan to breastfeed my baby exclusively for first 6 months of her life. Yes, I am having a baby girl! (^-^)

Many books suggest that breastfeeding should be given 'on demand' basis, and the baby should be allowed to keep suckling until she is full.

There is another routine of breastfeeding though, which is a routine, timed feeds. Usually around 3 hours apart, counted from the start of one session to the start of the next feeding session. The feeding itself is timed around 10 minutes for each breast.

Researchers have found babies limited to feeding for ten minutes at each breast gained more weight by the time they were six to eight-weeks-old than those who were fed by the 'baby-led' method. They also say mothers who offered the timed feeds were more likely to continue breastfeeding beyond 12 weeks.

However, some experts disagree with 10 minutes feeding. This is in consideration of mothers have varying breast capacities and milk production rates. Also there are several types of babies, for example those who suckle quickly and waste no time in feeding, then there is excited ineffective, which is baby that get so excited when being presented breasts however she is ineffective in latching on and thus frustated and cry. There is also gourmet type, a baby who like to enjoy feeding slowly. And there is also baby who will fall asleep during feeding time.

My personal preference is to go with on-demand basis, and let my baby to suckle until she is satisfied and full. After all, breastmilk is made of Foremilk (see left), the watery milk that comes first during each feeding session. Then there is Hindmilk (see right), a creamy milk that comes through at the end of a feed.

The most important thing, after all is to make sure the baby get to the hindmilk so she will feel full and satisfied.

Cold Roast Potatoes Cause Hiccups

Do not eat roast potatoes when it is already cold, because it would cause inconvenient hiccups to you.

Hiccups are involuntary contractions of the diaphragm and other inspiratory muscles, that is the muscles we use to breathe in. Hiccups can be a sign of irritation in our body.

Hiccups occur when we eat too much at once and do not chew it properly before swallowing it down.

But there are also many other causes of hiccups. One of them is the resistant starch found in starchy foods like potatoes when eaten cold. Resistant starch resists the process of digestion in the small intestine (where starchy food is digested when it is hot), and moves into the bowel and colon where it is fermented by bacteria. This causes more gas, bloating, irritating our diaphragm and thus causes hiccups.

So if you happen to have roast potatoes leftovers in your fridge, do make sure you heat it up before you eat it.

Fight Against Cancer With Broccoli

Good news for all of us who like to eat broccoli, well even those of you who do not like it, we all should start taking in more broccoli into our diet.

A study by Institute of Food Research in England has shown that broccoli can affect hundreds of genetic changes. To name a few: to strengthen genes that could fight against cancer, and to eliminate genes that could promote tumor.

Besides having isothiocyanate, broccoli also contain sulforaphane which yield extra immunity to fight against cancer.

Want A Baby Boy? Don't Let Your Wife Skip Healthy Breakfast

In Chinese cultures, baby boy is very much expected as they will continue on their generation, carrying the family name. Most of Chinese families would try their best and would not stop conceiving until they get at least one boy in the family.

And maybe now there's good news for those who are trying to conceive for a baby boy. UK scientiests have recently revealed in their studies that a child's sex is associated with the mother's diet. The higher energy intake is linked to males, and lower energy intake is linked to females.

Women who eat low calorie diets or who skip their breakfast at the time of conception, are more likely to give birth to baby girls. This may help to explain why the proportion of baby boys is falling in developed countries. Since in these countries, many young women choose to have low calorie diets.

Although a baby's sex is genetically determined by fathers, it is known that high levels of glucose encourage the growth and development of male embryos while inhibiting female embryos. The exact mechanism for this remains unclear.

The researchers conducted studies on 740 first-time pregnant mothers in the UK. They found that 56% of those in the group with the highest energy intake at the time of conception had sons, compared with 45% in the lowest group. Meanwhile, intakes during pregnancy were not associated with sex, which suggest that foetus sex is no longer affected by the mother's diet.

In addition to eating high calorie diets, the study has found that women giving births to more males were also more likely to have eaten a wider range of nutrients, including potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B12.

It was also reported that women who consumed at least 1 bowl of breakfast cereal daily compared to those who ate less than or equal to 1 bowl a week, the statistics of giving births to male went up sharply.

The mechanism for diet affecting sex is not yet understood though.

This latest findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

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For reference
Title: You are what your mother eats: evidence for maternal preconception diet influencing foetal sex in humans
Author: Fiona Mathews et al
URL: http://journals.royalsociety.org