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The theory that diseases are caused by over-acidification of the body convinces many people to change their diet to an alkaline diet. But what is it about alkaline fasting, hyperacidity & Co?

The theory of acidification of the body

The idea of ”overacidification” of the body probably arose as early as the 17th century, but only became popular in the 20th century thanks to the inventor of the “Mayr cure” Franz Xaver Mayr. After him, many naturopaths and even physicists followed these theses and did their own research on them.

Advocates of the “acidification theory” are of the opinion that many diseases of civilization such as joint diseases such as gout, many allergies, neurodermatitis and also cancer are caused by acidification of the body. They justify this by saying that our modern diet with fast food, white flour, sugar, alcohol and other foods that are generally recognized as unhealthy leads to the formation of too many acids in the body.

What is alkaline nutrition?

According to the advocates of the “acidification theory”, the “alkaline diet” should counteract the acidification of the body and prevent consequential damage and diseases. It consists of a long list of alkaline foods. These include, for example, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, dried fruit and raw milk.

Although raw milk is considered alkaline, dairy products such as cheese are classified as acidic. If it is not possible to compensate for the assumed acidification of the body with the diet, dietary supplements such as “base powder” should also help, which are sold accordingly in this environment.

Can the body become acidic at all?

The basis of the alkaline diet is the assumption that in many people the body is overly acidic due to improper diet or even stress and that this imbalance has to be regulated through diet. This assumption is scientifically untenable, because a healthy body regulates the acid-base ratio independently and does not need any special diet, specific base powders or other base or base-forming food supplements. However, the body automatically excretes excess acids, they do not have to be compensated for by a special diet with alkaline-forming foods.

This process runs completely automatically in a healthy body: a large part of the excess acids absorbed through food is excreted via the kidneys, but breath, sweat and stool also contain acids.

Too many acids can really get into the blood only in really sick people (e.g. in individual cases of diabetes or kidney dysfunction). But even then there is no “overacidification” because the body mobilizes calcium from the bones in order to normalize the acid-base balance again.

Advocates of the alkaline diet like to measure the pH value of the urine as “evidence” to show that the body is acidic. If an alleged hyperacidity is diagnosed in a urine test with a pH test strip on the toilet at home, this only means that the body’s natural regulatory mechanisms are functioning. If the urine is “too acidic”, the body has just excreted excess acids of its own accord. By the way, the pH value of the urine fluctuates constantly throughout the day.

The opinion of science and medicine on this topic is very clear: an “acidification” of the body is only possible in the case of really severe metabolic imbalances – such as diabetes – but is not fundamentally caused by our modern (and, yes: mostly unhealthy) diet . So far, no scientific study has been able to establish a connection between “overacidification” and diseases.

Who does alkaline nutrition help?

Surely you know someone who has had good experiences with an alkaline diet because they have lost weight, been able to regulate their digestion or feel fitter with it. This effect can be traced back to a very simple fact: A side effect of alkaline nutrition is that people deal more intensively with what they eat and therefore usually eat healthier.

Anyone who no longer eats white flour products, sugar, alcohol, fast food, greasy cheese and other supposedly acid-forming foods automatically eats healthier – and of course also feels the positive effects of a healthier diet or sees them on the scales.

Food

Black Food: What’s the Truth About Black Food?

Black Food is the name of a new nutritional trend that is increasingly focusing on black foods. What’s up with this trend? But above all: What is inside the black foods?

black food? If you first think of black currywurst with black fries or black burgers in brown bread – you’re actually right.

It actually started with a charred hot dog in a black bun, the photo of which went viral on social media. There is now hardly any food that someone has not already colored black – and not necessarily by charring.

What makes food black?

Black food is primarily about the food being black. Regardless of how they got their black coloring. Because the color can be “grown up” in a natural way or added later. The most common colorings in black foods are:

Anthocyanins: These are natural plant pigments that make fruits and vegetables appear blue, purple, or almost black. Blackberries, for example, contain a lot of anthocyanins.
Iron(II) gluconate or iron(II) lactate: Both substances have an oxidizing effect and cause foodstuffs treated with them to turn a deep black. Cheap black olives are colored like this, you can recognize the subsequent coloring by additive numbers such as E579
Sepia: The dark “ink” of the squid is actually used to ward off enemies and has long colored Italian pasta specialties black.
activated charcoal
In addition to these commonly used food colorings, there are exotic variants. For example, the charcoal from burned coconuts, but from a chemical point of view this is nothing more than carbon.

What are the health benefits of black foods?

Black food is said to be healthy, so healthy in fact that even ice cream that’s been dyed black is advertised as “healthier.” Black foods are also said to detoxify, be good for the kidneys, prevent cancer and be particularly rich in vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals.

Activated charcoal black food

Foods colored with activated charcoal are the cheapest of the newfangled black foods. Activated charcoal is an approved food coloring (E number E153) and is added to many industrially produced foods to “pretty color” them. For example, jams and jellies with little fruit content

This does not make any product healthier – only blacker. Because activated charcoal is able to bind toxins, black food foods colored with charcoal are often advertised with additional benefits such as “detoxifying” or “detox”. However, a healthy body is already well equipped with the liver and kidneys to eliminate harmful substances.

The small amount of activated charcoal in black food doesn’t really matter – and nobody has to “detox” and “purify” anyway. In addition, activated charcoal is mainly used to make foods that are unhealthy per se “black & healthy”: French fries, currywurst and burger buns are not healthier if they are colored “raven black”.

ferrous gluconate and ferrous lactate

Olives and other foods colored black with ferrous gluconate or ferrous lactate do not confer any additional health benefit from the color. Olives colored black with ferrous gluconate (E579) are colored because they were not given time to ripen and were harvested green. You can easily recognize this by the fact that the core is still light green.

Iron(II) lactate (E585), like iron(II) gluconate, is only approved in the EU as a coloring for olives, but it is very well absorbed by the body and is therefore used to fortify foods with iron. This cannot then be recognized from the colour, because iron(II) gluconate is actually green-yellowish, the black color of the olives is only caused by oxidation. Here, too, the black color does not bring any added health value.

Natural dye sepia

Sepia, also known as “squid ink”, has now also established itself as a natural coloring agent for pasta in German kitchens. In homeopathy, sepia is used, for example, for gynecological disorders or diseases of the respiratory tract. However, there is still no scientifically proven knowledge on this.

Anyone who does not suffer from gynecological disorders or other diseases that Sepia helps against in homeopathy has no health benefit from the consumption of squid ink. On the contrary: the cream sauce that is often served with black pasta is not particularly healthy.

Incidentally, sepia does not have an E number, but it must be included in the list of ingredients because it can cause allergies.

Black food thanks to anthocyanins

Anthocyanins belong to the flavonoids, are secondary plant substances and are therefore fundamentally healthy. The more flavonoids and healthy phytochemicals we take in, the better. Anthocyanins are not only responsible for the almost black coloring of fruit and vegetables, but also for the dark red color of cherries, grapes and hibiscus blossoms.

However, there are over 8,000 flavonoids, and all of them have been said to have antioxidant effects. They all fundamentally reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases – regardless of their color. So there is no point in limiting yourself to black fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are inherently healthier than junk food and highly processed foods.

Food

Magnesium in Food: Magnesium-Containing Foods You Should Know

To prevent magnesium deficiency, you do not have to resort to artificial preparations. You can easily integrate the following magnesium-rich foods into your diet.

Avoid magnesium deficiency – it starts with breakfast

Magnesium-rich foods are very important for the body. Especially older, pregnant, breastfeeding or very sporty people can quickly develop a magnesium deficiency

Already at breakfast you can make sure you eat a magnesium-rich food. Oatmeal is high in magnesium, as are fruit, especially berries like blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries. There is also plenty of magnesium in milk and soy products. If you also sprinkle seeds, almonds and nuts on your muesli, your magnesium-rich breakfast is perfect.

The nuts, kernels, and seeds with the highest magnesium content include:
sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. They are the foods with the most magnesium.
linseed, poppy, corn,
Walnut, hazelnut, peanut, cashew

Magnesium-rich foods for daily needs

Fruit and vegetables should be on your daily menu. The German Society for Nutrition recommends three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit daily. It is best to buy products from organic agriculture and seasonal and regional. Green vegetables and legumes are particularly rich in magnesium and iron. These include above all:
Brussels sprouts, kale, kohlrabi
broccoli, spinach
beans, lentils
Peas, Chickpeas
When you cook vegetables, magnesium and many healthy vitamins accumulate in abundance in the cooking water. It is therefore worth not throwing away the water. You can drink it or save it as a broth for soups.

Wholemeal products such as bread and pasta as well as brown rice are also important suppliers of magnesium. They also contain a lot of fiber and minerals, which also have a positive effect on health.

If you love dark chocolate, you can rejoice. Cocoa powder is particularly rich in magnesium. You can sprinkle cocoa in pure form over muesli and desserts or eat dark chocolate. It is important, however, that the cocoa content in the chocolate must be at least 70%.

How can you support magnesium absorption?

Only about a third of the magnesium that we consume in food actually ends up in our organism. The rest is discarded. So we have to consume three times as much as our body actually needs. Additionally, we can avoid foods that decrease magnesium absorption. These include above all:
alcohol
refined sugar
white flour products
Calcium also inhibits the absorption capacity of the intestine and thus increases the excretion of magnesium. Vitamin D, on the other hand, helps the body absorb magnesium.

Cooking Tips

Steaming: Why You Should Steam Cook Your Food

Steam cooking is a centuries-old cooking method in which food is prepared in a way that is particularly gentle on nutrients and flavors. Here you can find out how steaming works, which methods are available and which ingredients are particularly suitable.

Steam cooking refers to cooking methods in which the food is not cooked directly in water but in steam. Steam cooking has a long tradition, especially in Asia, but here in Europe it only became popular in the last century.

This makes steam cooking particularly healthy

When you cook your food in water, many nutrients dissolve and are lost in the water, such as vitamin C and the B vitamins. In addition, the food loses its taste because it also releases flavorings into the cooking water. This means that steamed dishes are not only particularly healthy, they also taste more intense and you don’t have to season them as much.

Steam cooking: one word, many methods

Basically, you can distinguish between two steam cooking methods:
Steam cooking at normal pressure, i.e. at normal atmospheric pressure.
Steam cooking at increased pressure in a pressure cooker. This has the advantage that the water does not boil at 100 degrees under increased pressure, but only at 120 degrees, which means that the cooking time for the food is shorter.
There are several ways you can steam your food at atmospheric pressure. Steaming inserts for pots or woks are particularly simple and inexpensive. These can be made of metal or, as is common in Asia, of bamboo. Multiple inserts can often be stacked on top of each other so that you can prepare different dishes at the same time.

Pressure cookers are also very common. There are now even oven-sized steamers that can be permanently installed in new fitted kitchens. These are the most suitable for you if you want to steam particularly large quantities.

Another old method is steam cooking in the so-called Roman pot. This is a clay pot that is soaked in water before use, then filled with the food to be cooked and placed in the oven. Soaking the clay prevents moisture from escaping the pot. Thus, the food cooks in its own juice.

This is how steam cooking works

If you use a pot as a steamer, you need to fill it with a large enough amount of water. How much that is is often stated in the recipe. For pressure cookers, it should be in the instruction manual. It is also important that the lid of the pot closes well, otherwise the steam can escape.

So that your ingredients are cooked at the same time, you should cut them according to their cooking time. This means that foods that take longer to cook should be cut smaller than those that cook faster.

Once everything is in the pot, unless the recipe says otherwise, boil the water once and then let it simmer over medium-high heat. Steaming works best if you don’t lift the lid of the pot during the cooking process. Then no steam can escape. Instead, it condenses on the pot lid and drips onto your food – so it stays particularly juicy. Only towards the end of the cooking time should you check whether the food is done. Caution: The steam that escapes when you open the pot lid is very hot. The best way to protect your hands is with glove-shaped pot holders.

If, on the other hand, you want to try steaming in a Roman pot, it is important that you water the pot really well. He should stand in the water for 10 to 15 minutes. Then put the pot in the cold oven and only now heat it up. This is important as the clay may crack when placed in the preheated oven.

All steaming methods do not require the addition of fat. For even more flavor, you can briefly roast or caramelize ingredients such as meat or vegetables before steaming. You can then add the resulting brew to the water in the pot. Your dishes will also be particularly tasty if you enrich the water with a little vegetable broth or wine.

Which ingredients are suitable for the steam cooker?

In principle, you can steam almost anything. Steam cooking is particularly advantageous for delicate foods such as young vegetables or fish. With other cooking methods, these quickly lose their fine taste. Potatoes, yeast dumplings, rice or smaller pieces of meat are also well suited for steaming. Only foods with very long cooking times are not particularly suitable, since steam cooking takes a little longer than other cooking methods anyway.

You can best benefit from the gentle preparation in the steamer if your ingredients are really fresh and have not already lost most of their nutrients through storage. It is particularly important here that you should buy seasonal and regional products, preferably at the weekly market.

Our conclusion on steam cooking

All in all, we can recommend steam cooking as a particularly healthy, tasty and gentle cooking method. You can compensate for the slightly longer cooking times either by using a pressure cooker or by chopping your ingredients sufficiently small. Then you even save energy when steaming, because you only have to boil the water once and then set the stove to a medium temperature.

You can also cook different ingredients at the same time without their flavors mixing.

Food

Slow Food: Good Reasons For Conscious Enjoyment

Slow food – the opposite of fast food – stands for the conscious enjoyment of food. The movement wants to promote a vibrant and sustainable culture of food.

Slow Food as a movement

In 1986, Carlo Petrini founded an association in Bra, northern Italy, which promotes a culture of culinary delights and a “moderate pace of life”. One of the triggers for this was the opening of a McDonalds branch on a baroque free bridge.

Three years later, in 1989, the international association Slow Food was founded and another three years later, in 1992 Slow Food Deutschland e.V. The mission is based on this philosophy:

“Three times a day, at every meal, we make decisions with far-reaching consequences. Our food is inextricably linked to politics, economy, society, culture, knowledge, agriculture, health and the environment”.

The central principles that apply to foods with a Slow Food character are derived from this: “buono, pulito e giusto” – good, clean and fair.

4 good reasons for Slow Food

1. Enjoy food

Enjoyment is the top priority at Slow Food: everyone should have a right to it. It’s about curbing blind consumption and creating awareness of the products that end up on our plates.

At the same time, this is a rejection of the to-go culture, which not only has little to do with enjoyment, but also produces vast amounts of unnecessary waste. When we are able to actively enjoy food, we also learn to appreciate its value. One of the central theses of Slow Food: “The shared meal is the basis of human coexistence”.

2. Health

Not only our mind is happy about conscious nutrition, but also the body. Food should be nutritious and healthy. Finished products and fast food often contain a lot of additives such as preservatives and flavor enhancers. The substances can be harmful to health, especially in large quantities. If you cook fresh yourself, you can do without such artificial ingredients – and get better quality and healthier meals.

3. Sustainability

The aim of Slow Food is to shape human nutrition in such a way that it can continue to exist in the future. A sustainable supply respects people, animals and nature.

4. Common Good

Social inequality is also a consequence of the consumption-oriented food system. Justice can only exist if everyone involved along the production chain works under fair conditions. In our current economic system, workers are systematically exploited for food production, especially in countries of the Global South, but also in Europe.

To change that, the Slow Food association founded the Terra Madre network. The network represents food producers worldwide who offer an alternative to industrial agriculture.

Food is political

Nutrition is an issue that affects everyone around the world. Without being fundamentalist, the Slow Food movement offers an alternative to unbridled consumption. Through enjoyment and awareness of our diet, we can create alternatives that not only benefit ourselves, but also the environment and community.

Food

Brain Food: These Foods are Good For Your Brain

Brain food refers to foods that are said to be particularly good for the brain. But which nutrients do our gray matter need? And what foods do they provide? We have the answers.

The human brain is the central control center of the organism, in which all information comes together. In order for it to function smoothly, the brain needs three things above all: enough oxygen, blood and the right nutrients. Brain Food is supposed to provide the right nutrients.

Brain Food: The brain needs these nutrients

Our brain is so complex that we are far from fully understanding it and how it works. Nevertheless, science agrees on a few points. When it comes to the right care, the following points are particularly important:
Water: Even before the actual brain food comes “brain liquid” – the brain needs enough liquid. A lack of water is quickly noticeable in the form of headaches, tiredness or poor concentration. That’s why you should drink about one and a half to two liters throughout the day – preferably water or tea. On hot days or physically demanding phases, it can be more.
Carbohydrates: The brain gets the energy it needs from carbohydrates. Instead of fast sugar, you should rely on complex carbohydrates (see below). These are slowly broken down into glucose in the digestive tract – this is how the brain gets the necessary glucose over longer periods of time.
Protein: Protein consists of amino acids, which serve as building material for the messenger substances. These are also called neurotransmitters and are responsible for the transmission of information in the brain. Of the 20 amino acids, eight cannot be made by the body – they must be obtained from food.
Fat: Brain and nerve cells are padded with fatty tissue for protection. The unsaturated fatty acids, especially the omega-3 fatty acids, are important for the functioning of the brain and make up two-thirds of the fatty acids in the brain.
Vitamins: The brain needs vitamins to produce messenger substances and to protect the cells from free radicals. The most important vitamins include vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C and the B vitamins B1, B6, folic acid and B12.
Minerals: Minerals and trace elements are important for many tasks in the brain, especially for information transfer. Calcium, magnesium and iron are particularly important here.

This brain food provides the right carbohydrates

The brain needs about 120 grams of glucose, also known as dextrose, every day. Sweets provide this simple sugar quickly, but after the brief energy boost, the sugar level drops rapidly again. However, the brain needs a steady supply of glucose, which long-chain, complex carbohydrates provide. The best suppliers for this are:
Whole grain cereals, such as bread made from whole grain flour
Legumes such as lentils, beans and peas
potatoes
some fruits and vegetables, such as bananas
Dried fruit, muesli bars or trail mix
Especially if you put a lot of strain on your brain, you should avoid long breaks between meals: After five hours or more, the blood sugar level has dropped so much that the ability to concentrate decreases.

Good protein sources for a healthy brain

In order for our thinking apparatus to remain in top form, it also needs sufficient protein. Meat or animal products such as eggs and yoghurt are not necessarily required to cover the necessary intake. Although these are good sources of protein, you can also meet your protein requirements with a vegetarian or vegan diet. In this category, the best brain foods are:
Legumes such as lentils, beans and peas
soy products
whole grains
Nuts, especially peanuts, hazelnuts and walnuts
Seeds, in particular hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, linseed and chia seeds
animal products such as cheese, turkey breast, beef, salmon, shrimp, low-fat quark or eggs

Brain food: foods with unsaturated fatty acids

With fats, a distinction is made between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids are mainly found in hydrogenated fats (e.g. in margarine or animal fats) and should be consumed with caution.

Above all, our body and brain need unsaturated fatty acids, which are divided into monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The polyunsaturated fatty acids are also called essential fatty acids. The best suppliers of these healthy fatty acids are:
Nuts, especially walnuts and Brazil nuts
almonds
high-quality vegetable oils, for example rapeseed oil, linseed oil, walnut oil or soybean oil
Seeds, in particular hemp seeds, cashew nuts
fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, eel, herring, tuna or sardines

Vitamins for the brain – the best foods

The various vitamins are important for the human organism and are also needed in many places in the brain. Vitamin A, beta-carotene, vitamin E and vitamin C protect against free radical damage. The B vitamins are crucial for the metabolism of messenger substances and the ability to concentrate. You can meet your vitamin requirements with the following foods:
Vitamin A: Dark green, yellow, and red fruits and vegetables (such as carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, corn, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, or apricots) and some animal products (especially liver, butter, cheese, egg yolks, and oily fish)
Vitamin E: Cereals, wheat germ, nuts, seeds, vegetable oils and eggs
B vitamins B1, B6 and folic acid: whole grains, wheat germ, nuts and seeds, legumes, potatoes, cabbage, vegetables, fish, cheese
More information: vitamin B1, vitamin B6, folic acid, vitamin B12
Vitamin C: peppers, citrus fruits, kiwi, berries, sea buckthorn, potatoes, rosehip

The most important minerals – this brain food provides them

The most important minerals for the brain include calcium, magnesium and iron. These all have different functions for the brain.

Calcium: Vegetables (kale, broccoli, fennel, Chinese cabbage), nuts and seeds (poppy, sesame, almonds, hazelnuts), whole wheat bread, milk and dairy products
Magnesium: Vegetables (Brussels sprouts, kale, kohlrabi, broccoli, spinach), legumes, whole grains, brown rice, cocoa, nuts and seeds
Iron: Legumes, oat flakes, nuts and seeds (pumpkin seeds, sesame, pistachios, linseed), vegetables (spinach, broccoli, lamb’s lettuce, rocket), sugar beet syrup, wheat germ, currants, meat, fish

A healthy brain through diet and lifestyle

So it’s true: some foods can rightly be labeled “brain food”. In particular, nuts and seeds, high-quality oils, legumes and fresh vegetables are important for the brain – be it for the right fatty acids, sufficient protein intake or the necessary vitamins and minerals.

Nevertheless, you don’t have to analyze each nutrient individually and adjust your food accordingly by gram: With a balanced diet, you usually provide your body with all the nutrients it needs. It should be colourful, diverse and varied. Include various seeds, nuts and germinated sprouts as well as whole grain products and legumes in your diet and combine them with as many fresh vegetables and fruits as possible.

However, a healthy lifestyle does not stop with nutrition: Sufficient exercise and lots of fresh air are just as important as a positive attitude and relaxation. You can also train your brain in a targeted manner and keep it fit. Meditation and mindfulness exercises have also been shown to promote a healthy body and mind.

Food

Amino Acids in Food: These are The Most Important Ones

Humans and animals cannot live without amino acids from food. We will show you which important functions they fulfill in our organism and which foods provide you with the essential amino acids.

The most important amino acids for us humans

Amino acids are chemical compounds that are vital for every organism. However, an amino acid does not stand alone, but joins together with others to form a chain. Proteins are formed from these chains. Therefore, amino acids are also referred to as the “building blocks” of proteins.

Depending on the structure of the chain, different proteins are formed that fulfill different functions in our organism. If there is a deficiency of one or more specific amino acids, the chains can no longer form completely, so that the function of all proteins in the body is restricted.

The body can produce some amino acids itself. Others we have to ingest daily through food. The following eight amino acids are also referred to as “essential amino acids” and are found in various foods:
isoleucine
valine
methionine
leucine
tryptophan
lysine
phenylalanine
threonine

Amino acids in food: methionine

The body needs the sulfur-containing amino acid methionine to produce the non-essential amino acid cysteine. We also need them for the construction of some protein molecules and for various metabolic processes to take place. As an antioxidant, methionine also neutralizes free radicals and thus protects us from oxidative stress.

A healthy adult should consume about 21mg of methionine per pound of body weight. However, with certain diseases, especially liver and urinary tract diseases, the daily requirement for methionine can increase.

Foods that are particularly rich in the amino acid methionine:
brazil nuts
sesame
soybeans
Peas
green leafy vegetables (e.g. spinach)
broccoli
In general, vegetable proteins consist of 0.5 to 2 percent methionine. The daily requirement for the amino acid is around 1.1 to 2.2 grams. If you only get a small amount of cysteine from food, you need a little more methionine because some of it is converted to cysteine.

Note: Animal products contain significant amounts of essential amino acids. However, the consumption of animal products is usually not sustainable and involves a lot of animal suffering. That’s why you should get most of your amino acids from plant-based foods.

Amino acid in food for a good mood: tryptophan

Tryptophan is particularly known for its mood-enhancing, calming and balancing effects. Because the body converts the amino acid to the neurotransmitter serotonin. This so-called happiness or feel-good hormone ensures a relaxed and balanced state of mind. Therefore, tryptophan is also considered a natural remedy for depressive disorders.

In addition, the amino acid is essential for a healthy sleep rhythm. This is because excess serotonin is subsequently converted into the sleep hormone melatonin. This regulates our sleeping and waking phases and thus ensures restful nights. Tryptophan also functions as a provitamin in the synthesis of vitamin B3, also known as niacin.

The daily requirement of tryptophan can vary greatly from person to person. The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment gives four to five milligrams per kilogram of body weight as a guideline.

(Plant based) foods that are considered a good source of the amino acid tryptophan:
soybeans
cashew nuts
peanuts
lenses
oatmeal
cocoa
Note: We recommend that you use organic products for a balanced diet and, above all, that you buy food from the region. In this way you avoid unnecessary pesticides and superfluous transport routes. This reduces your carbon footprint.

Amino acid for skin and bones: lysine in food

Together with some other amino acids, lysine is responsible for the formation of collagen. Collagen is a protein that is primarily responsible for building connective tissue. Lysine also promotes cell division and bone growth. These functions make the amino acid, among other things, an indispensable factor for rapid and successful wound healing.

As with most amino acids, the recommended daily dose for lysine can only be roughly specified. According to the WHO, the values are between twelve and 45 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.

You get the amino acid lysine mainly from these plant foods:
legumes
nuts
brewer’s yeast
Spirulina Algae
wheat germ

Food

Cadmium in Food: How The Heavy Metal Gets Into Food

Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal that is found in the environment and is also found in our food. We have summarized how dangerous cadmium in food is and what else you need to know here.

What is cadmium?

Cadmium is a chemical element that is highly toxic. It occurs in very small amounts in the earth’s crust, in weathered rock and is also formed during volcanic eruptions. It is mostly a by-product of the extraction of lead, copper and zinc. It is also formed when batteries are improperly disposed of and is used in the paint industry and for the production of pesticides and fertilizers.

The toxic heavy metal is therefore widespread and often unavoidable, as it has been accumulating in the soil for centuries. There it is hardly biodegradable and thus ends up in our food chain.

Which foods are particularly contaminated with cadmium?

Cadmium is taken up by plants from the soil and stored in their tissues. Rain or manual cleaning of the plants can therefore not reduce the cadmium load. These plants are processed into animal feed (e.g. soya) or get straight from the field to our plates (e.g. grain).

Particularly contaminated with cadmium are:
Seafood,
Offal,
wild mushrooms,
oilseeds,
Wheat,
Potatoes,
Leafy vegetables.
Other cereals and vegetables are also contaminated, but not as badly. Because wheat products and potatoes in particular are staple foods, many people reach the daily tolerable amount of cadmium. And that, although the intestines only

Maximum dose of cadmium per week

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA
According to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, although the cadmium load in Germany is high, it is well below the toxicologically tolerated intake level of the EFSA. On average, we take in around 1.5 µg of cadmium per kilogram of body weight per week through food. Vegetarians get around 1.8 µg of cadmium per kilogram of body weight because they eat more grains and other plant-based foods. Smokers also have a higher intake of cadmium, since 50% of the cadmium contained in tobacco is ingested by humans.

Risks and dangers of cadmium

Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal. Chronically high exposure to cadmium can lead to kidney failure and demineralization of the bones (osteoporosis). As early as 1993, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified cadmium as a human carcinogen for lung cancer.

US researchers have shown in a study that cadmium accelerates the aging of body cells and thus increases the risk of various diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular problems.

Reduce your own cadmium intake

To a small extent, you can ensure that you absorb less cadmium through food:
If you choose food from controlled organic farming, you reduce the cadmium intake somewhat. A study has shown that organically grown grain contains less cadmium. This is partly because mineral fertilizers are not used in organic farming. According to the Federal Environment Agency, phosphorus fertilizers from conventional agriculture can contain high amounts of cadmium.
Also, make sure you’re getting enough iron and calcium. Because if there is a deficiency, the body releases more cadmium from the food, say doctors.
In the long run, however, only reducing the cadmium in nature helps. This means that, for example, the cadmium content in fertilizers is reduced and old batteries and accumulators are disposed of properly.

Cooking Tips

Food Oversalted: This is How You Can Still Save it

A moment of inattention and the whole elaborate dish is oversalted. However, that is no reason to waste your efforts and food! Here you can find out how you can easily make oversalted food edible again.

Dilute oversalted food with water, milk & Co.

It is a common method to first dilute oversalted dishes with a little water. In some cases, you can use milk or a plant-based alternative such as rice, oat, or soy milk instead. Fatty foods such as cream, sour cream, coconut milk or butter are even better because they mask the salty taste particularly well.

Save oversalted food with the potato trick

This trick is especially useful for over-salted sauces, soups, or stews that you don’t want to dilute with more liquid.

Simply grate a potato or cut it into small pieces.
Add them to the dish in the pot and let everything simmer for about ten minutes.
If the potato doesn’t go well with the dish, simply remove it before serving the soup or sauce.
The potato draws most of the salt out of the liquid by soaking it up like a sponge. Alternatively, you can use carrots or bread for this. However, the bread will quickly dissolve, making it difficult to remove from the dish. A few prunes will also do the trick. You should let it simmer for at least 15 minutes.

Sweet helpers with over-salted dishes

Sweet flavors also balance a strong salty taste very well. This method is particularly suitable for dressings, marinades or dips. You can use e.g. honey, sugar or cane or whole cane sugar as a sweetener. Agave syrup, maple syrup or coconut blossom sugar are also suitable from a culinary point of view. Due to their poor ecological balance, however, they are not recommended from an ecological perspective.

If the food no longer tastes salty afterwards, but is a little too sweet, you can balance this out with a little acidity: simply add some lemon or lime juice or vinegar.

Two is Better!

Even if your dish is extremely salty, you still have options for using it. For example, just take it as an opportunity to pre-cook for the next few days. Cook the dish exactly the same way again. Leave out the salt completely! Then mix it with the over-salted version and freeze portions of the meal for later, if needed.

With sauces that are too salty, you can also freeze parts of the sauce in small ice cube trays and use them later as a flavorful base for other dishes.

For soups or stews, it is also a good idea to cook a large portion of vegetables, potatoes or pasta and stir them into the over-salted food to balance out the salty taste.

Food

Healthy Fast Food: Does it Exist?

Healthy fast food sounds ideal: It’s quick and easy and still healthy. Unfortunately, the latter rarely applies – instead, fast food usually contains many calories and few nutrients. But there are exceptions.

“Fast food” – that means first of all “fast food”. This rather vague term has a wide variety of associations:

Fast food is food that can be prepared quickly and easily – partly because it is produced in large companies using standardized processes.
Accordingly, as a customer in the snack bar, you never have to wait long for your fries or currywurst – and you don’t have to pay a lot either.
Fast food is also “fast” because it is usually eaten quickly.
A wide variety of meals fit into this broad field. French fries, burgers, doner kebabs and currywurst are typical fast food, but you can also call sandwiches or cakes from the bakery and ready-made meals from the supermarket fast food.

With many fast food dishes it is quite obvious that they are unhealthy. But what about supposedly healthy fast food such as packaged salads? We take a closer look at the different cases.

This is why typical fast food is not healthy

Few believe that fast food classics are healthy. Dishes such as burgers and fries are characterized above all by the fact that they have a high energy density. This means that there are few nutrients for many calories. Instead, typical fast food dishes primarily contain:

simple carbohydrates that get into the blood quickly and can cause cravings.
a lot of fat, including many saturated fatty acids and various trans fats, which are said to increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, among other things.
a lot of salt and sugar – both of which are also considered unhealthy in large quantities.
Additives, thanks to which the product has a longer shelf life, tastes better and is easier to manufacture.
In addition, residues of harmful substances are often found in processed food. For example, Öko-Test tested various chicken nuggets and found multi-resistant germs and mineral oil residues in many products.

Because fast food is so diverse, it’s hard to say exactly how healthy or unhealthy it is. Hardly anyone eats fast food in such quantities as Morgan Spurlock in the shocking film “Supersize Me” and suffers obvious health damage as a result. As a review explains, studies nevertheless come to the overall conclusion that the above-mentioned unfavorable nutrient composition increases the risk of numerous lifestyle diseases.

Incidentally, this is also due to the substances of which fast food contains too little: vitamins, minerals, trace elements and other important micronutrients. On the one hand, the basic ingredients already contain small amounts, on the other hand, many of these nutrients are lost in the processing.

According to a study, eating too much fast food can cause nutritional deficiencies that are detrimental to the body and mind. Another study suggests that frequent consumption of fast food increases the risk of depression, as fast food tends to be high in pro-inflammatory compounds.

Fast food: How to make the healthier choice

As I said, not all fast food is equally unhealthy. Here are a few general tips on how to choose healthy fast food:

Organic ready meals contain ingredients of organic quality – and therefore less chemical pesticide residues.
The sandwich from the baker is more filling if it is made from wholemeal flour.
Look out for Asian snack bars that work without the flavor enhancer glutamate.
In the meantime, there are also many shops that offer high-quality variants of classic fast food such as burgers or fries. However, it is then no longer necessarily fast food – many burger restaurants have discovered the Slow Food movement for themselves.

Tip: Many fast food dishes contain cheap meat from factory farming. For the sake of the animals, choose a vegan burger or a kebab with falafel or fried vegetables and lots of salad instead of a burger with a meat patty.