5 Ways to Eat Healthy Even on Budget
Most people see healthy eating as an expensive habit to maintain. Healthier food options tend to cost more and if you’re struggling to make the ends meet, even a single dollar can already make a huge difference. Still, the cost of eating healthy meals shouldn’t come in between you and your health. With that in mind, we listed some of the best ways on how you could eat healthy while saving your hard-earned money.
Create a Weekly Meal Plan and Grocery List
After knowing what items are on sale or in season, schedule a time each week to create your grocery list and meal plan. Doing this will help in ensuring that you’ll only purchase what you need, as well as in keeping you from spending money on things that’ll just go to waste.
Know What Foods are in Season
Visit the website of your favourite grocery store to see what foods are on sale and are in season so you could plan your meals accordingly. Also, check goods that are in season, and if possible, purchase local produce to cut back on your expenses.
Opt for Marked Down Goods
Most grocery stores in Singapore have a dedicated area for marked down goods that are closing in with their expiration date. Don’t be afraid to purchase and consume these products though. If you’re going to freeze the products within the next few days, check out this deal the next time you visit your local grocery store.
Choose Plant-Based Protein Sources
Meat is the number one source of protein, but it can get really expensive. So rather than having meat as your primary source of protein, opt for non-animal sources like lentils, chickpeas and beans instead. They can be cooked in different, delicious ways and are very affordable. With this, you’ll be able to get your daily dose of protein sans spending too much.
Repurpose Your Leftovers
Avoid throwing your leftovers in the garbage. Instead, store them in a clean container and eat them the next day. If you have the skills, repurpose your leftovers into a salad, a soup or a wrap. Just make sure that you use proper storage containers so your repurposed dish will last longer.
Healthy eating doesn’t always have to be expensive. All you need to do is be smart in purchasing your groceries and in planning your meals, and you’ll definitely be able to enjoy affordable and healthy meals.
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Get to Know the Good Bacteria in Your Food
You might have heard of the name good bacteria in advertisements of probiotic or super food, but do you know which microorganisms are considered beneficial and what they can do for our health?
Not all the germs we come in contact with or live in our body can cause diseases. In fact, a lot of bacteria help keep our bodies function properly, particularly by breaking down our food.
Probiotics
The word probiotic refers to both the method of preparation of a food or ingredient and the act of introducing good microorganisms into the body. Probiotic food often comes from fermented food, but fermentation has been overtaken by other methods of food preparation, that is why most of us don’t get the good bacteria in our food.
By adding probiotic food in your diet, you will improve not just your digestion, but your overall health because of the efficiency in nutrient absorption and conversion. The best probiotic food are yogurt, fermented milk like kefir, fermented soy like miso, fermented tea like kombucha, green pickle, and pickled sauerkraut like kimchi.
The Good Bacteria
These are the good bacteria you might find in your probiotic food.
Bacillus coagulans
This good bacterium is used to treat various gastrointestinal problems, such as diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease. It’s even useful while recovering from respiratory diseases and immune response diseases. Bacillus coagulans is recommended as a dietary supplement besides the medication for treatment of these diseases.
Lactobacillus acidophilus
The most well-known good bacterium is the Lactobacillus acidophilus, but other lactobacilli (more than 80 species to date are considered probiotic) are also used in probiotic food and supplements to help in the digestion of food. L. acidophilus is naturally found in our intestines and is responsible for the production of hydrogen peroxide and lactic acid, which can create an unsafe environment for possibly harmful bacteria in our body. It’s not that hard to repopulate your L. acidophilus because they’re quite common in yogurt.
Streptoccocus thermophilus and S. salivarius
S. thermophilus is also used to treat diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps, other digestion problems, and most importantly, lactose intolerance problems. They’re quite common in probiotic products such as mozzarella cheese, yogurt, and other fermented dairy food. Meanwhile, S. salivarius has been found to help improve the symptoms of bad breath, which is probably why its genus refers to the saliva.
Bifidobacterium bifidum and B. breve
Bifidobacterium bifidum is known to help people with stomach ulcers, because they can repair the damage caused by a harmful bacterium called Helicobacter pylori. On the other hand, Bifidobacterium breve is known to help improve the symptoms of childhood constipation according to several studies.
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7 Bizarre Food-and-Drink Laws Around the World
Most food and drink laws are understandable. However, there’s still a few that draw attention because of their oddness. Here, we’ve compiled some of the world’s strangest food-drink laws, from ultra-specific to straight-up non-sense regulations.
1. Be Careful How You Crush Your Beer Cans
Next time you’re in Australia, keep in mind that crushing a can of beer with your breasts, should you wish to do so, can put you behind bars. This is not a joke. In fact, a female bartender in Australia was arrested and fined for exhibiting her crushing talent with her cleavage.
2. Don’t Feed the Birds
Sitting at the park and tossing bread crumbs to the birds gathered at your feet seem like a pleasurable pastime when in the city. Try this in San Francisco and you’ll likely be fined. Yes, you heard that right. It’s illegal to feed the pigeons in the park, along the sidewalks or on the streets of the city.
3. You Have to Eat Your Fried Chicken Only With Your Hands
Want to ask for a fork and a knife for your fried chicken in Gainesville, Georgia? Hold up for a minute. Do you know that the city ordinance forbids diners to eat their fried chicken with the use of anything, except their hands? Now you know.
4. No Ketchup For Kids
In 2011, France banned the use of ketchup in schools. They give so much importance to their French recipes that they want to ensure that the kids will be able to master them and pass them down to the next generation.
5. Watermelons are Banned
There’s just no better way to refresh from the hot summer weather than biting into a juicy slice of watermelon, but don’t expect that kind of refreshing experience in Rio Claro, Brazil. Watermelons are banned in the city, and it’s seem difficult to figure out the official reason of this local regulation.
6. Snack In the Right Place
Planning to get some gelato to cool you off while strolling around town? Well, you’re about to break the laws with that plan. It is against Florentine laws to eat and drink nearby churches and public buildings. Better think twice before taking photos with a cone of stracciatella in front of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore.
7. No Surprise Deliveries Allowed
Surprising a friend with a pizza delivery may seem like a fun idea, but Louisiana bans unauthorized ordering and delivery of goods and services to somebody else’s home without the homeowner’s permission.
Although these laws may be weird, it’s critical that you follow them at all times if you don’t want to end a supposedly fun and relaxing trip in jail.
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5 Everyday Foods That’s Aging You Ungracefully
There are numerous factors that contribute to how you physically age—genetics, sun exposure, smoking, lifestyle and many more. But the food you take also plays a major role on how you look and feel as you age. it can even feel like changes happen overnight, too. On day you love how glowing and young-looking your skin look, other days you notice fine lines somewhere on your face, making you look five year older.
Luckily, you can control what you see in the mirror! By avoiding these foods that seem to speed up appearance of wrinkles and dull skin, it’s achievable to look 10 years younger than your real age.
1. Microwaveable Dinners
Perhaps, you just got out of your 7 p.m. gym session and your intentions of whipping up a healthy home-cook dinner feels like a strenuous undertaking. With your extremely low energy, ou think of running to the nearest grocery for an instant dinner. But think about this first: frozen meals are high in sodium, which contributes to water retention that’s causing that bloated and aged appearance. Prep your meal before going to the gym or have some banana to refill a bit of energy so you can whip up a quick meal at home.
2. Energy Drinks
Your Red Bull habit is not doing any favor to your future 50-year-old self. All energy drinks are very acidic and high in sugar, which are the culprits of decayed and stained teeth that can age your smile. Plus, the sodium and caffeine content can cause dehydration, especially if you drink less water.
3. Ham, Sausage and Bacon
That strip of smoking hot bacon may look glorious on your plate, but we suggest swapping it for its healthier version of tempeh bacon instead. The amount of preservatives in bacon and other processed meats is quite high that it can form free radicals in the body. As mentioned, free radicals will oxidize the cells and alter the construction of your DNA. Over time, it can cause severe damage that may lead to formation of cancer cells.
4. Margarine
This popular butter substitute is rich in fats, and we all know that not all fats are created equal. Margarine—more often than not—gives fat a bad reputation. The bad component in margarine is the trans fat, which is the number one destroyer of the body’s hydration, as well as a contributor to more complicated diseases.
5. Deep-Fried Foods
Your favorite fried popiah and sotong balls may be satisfying to the taste, but not for your health. It’s not really the food that’s not beneficial for young-looking skin, but the cooking process they food needs t go through. When deep frying, the fat and oil is exposed to extreme temperature. When this happens, free radicals—the number one cause of aging skin—are formed. Not only are these foods damaging to your waistlines, but to your internal organs as well.
Overall, sticking to more natural foods help preserve your youthful beauty. For your every day meals, it’s always best to stick to fresh produce and non-processed meats and foods to ensure you look younger for longer.
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The Right Intake of Food
A lot of people say that eating the right food will make you healthier than other people. Some people also say that exercising also makes an individual’s health better. All foods are not equal. Some are good while some are bad. However, even if you say that it is a good food, you cannot exceed the amount of that food you take because if you eat too much of it, you will get ill. On the other hand, this would also happen when you eat bad foods.
The only difference is that you have to take an exact amount of food so that you will not be sick. Once you are not following the correct way or you are not selecting the food you eat. What are the correct foods? You are the ones who will choose the food you eat whether you it is good or bad. Therefore, you are the one to be blamed when something bad happen to your body. It is really a hard task to select a food to eat most especially if you have so many illnesses or have allergies on food.
Most of the time, we tend to choose foods that can only make us sick like chocolates. Indeed, it is very sweet but the consequence of eating a large amount of it will make you suffer from diabetes. Another is that when you eat fatty foods like pig meat. That is a food that is rich in fats and is very hard to resist. Whenever this good is in your table or not, you have to get rid of it.
The Delightful Fish Head Curry of Singapore
The popular fish head curry of Singapore was a combination of Malay, Chinese and Indian influences. That is why it is the well-liked and the most favorite dish of every Singaporean as well as foreign visitors particularly food lovers.
The original founders of the fish head curry are the Malayalee (a group of Indian from Kerala, South India) people. In the past years, they prepare it by stewing the fish head. They use the head of the ikan merah, a type of snapper fish. This food is a spicy curry added with vegetables along with sour tamarind – this is the remarkable taste of the curry.
For some people, they pair the curry with rice but for some, bread will do. In fact, you will be delighted once you tasted it gravy. One of the perfect way to taste this food is to consume its curry gravy up to its last elements. If you’ve never been much on spicy food, you’ll forget it once you have tasted the distinctive taste of the fish head curry of Singapore.
Indians prepare this dish together with rice, Indian pickles, pappadams and more. Actually, you can find Indians fish head curry at Little India. On the other hand, the Chinese preparation of this food is almost the same with the Indian manner. However, the only thing that is added are meat and vegetables. For delicious serving of the curry, visit McCullum Street and find the Ocean Fish Head Curry eatery.
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