Potato Flour

Potato flour is made from potatoes that have been cooked, dehydrated, and ground. It is often mistaken for potato starch flour, which is produced from potato starch and is comparatively whiter and denser. Since the process of making potato flour uses the whole potato, it maintains certain amounts of protein and fiber (7g of protein and 6g of fiber per 100g of flour), as well as numerous trace vitamins and minerals. Thus, it is much more nutritious than potato starch flour.

Potato flour is a reasonably marginalized food that is more easily found in health food stores than large supermarkets. It is easier to find online, since there are a large number of specialist health stores on the Internet. Once purchased, the flour should be stored in a cool, dry place away from light. As with other flours, if potato flour becomes wet, it will transform into a gooey mess, so take extra care to ensure it is away from liquids or moisture!

Many Cooks Dislike Potato Flour

Despite being more nutritious than potato starch flour, potato flour is still disliked by many cooks. Indeed, authors of cookbooks and food researchers regularly bemoan the flour's texture and taste, which basically resembles a potato's. It is often dismissed by chefs outright, which has given potato starch a reputation as an 'ugly duckling' compared to other flours. These claims are a little unfair. Whilst potato starch does retain a potato-like taste and texture, unlike the bland and neutral potato starch flour, it still has its uses, especially in baking. Let's take a look at those uses now.

Culinary Uses

Like tapioca flour, potato flour is regularly used as a thickener for soups, gravies, meat dishes, and stews because it absorbs liquid so well. However, cooks using potato starch as a thickener should avoid boiling it, since the boiling process can ruin its texture. The flour can also be used for baking, often after being combined with another flour such as buckwheat flour or even coconut flour. When it is combined with buckwheat flour, for instance, bakers can make high quality gluten-free pancakes. That potato flour tends to produce a moist crumb means that it is also suited to cookie baking.
If you are interested in cooking with this flour, remember that it should be mixed with cold water before it is stirred into any hot liquid. Also, remember to mix only small amounts of cold water into it at a time (the mixture should be stirred until it is smooth before more water is added), since the flour clumps quite easily.

Michael Ravensthorpe is a writer and researcher of nutrition from the United Kingdom. He is the creator of the website, http://spiritfoods.net, which contains interesting and useful information about the world's healthiest foods, from camu camu to kakadu plums.

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Why It's Important To Teach Children About Nutrition

It's a true fact that parents can't always be around to watch what their kids are eating. If that were the case we parents would have to follow our kid everywhere! Whether it's when they're home alone, at a friends or an activity children need awareness of what they're eating. But, why is it important? There are several reasons that they need to be taught.

Math, science, language and common sense are all very important when it comes to teaching adolescents. But, what about health and nutrition? Schools teach a bit about it but, not until later in childhood. Children are more likely to absorb information if taught from a young age throughout childhood. Especially if they're learning from mom or dad. Several studies tell us that people taught things as children continue to use the information almost indefinitely. Plus, children can't learn on their own. They're new to the world and need guidance to make sure they will learn how to live a life on their own one day.

Proper nutritional habits are very important to teach when it comes to kids. What they eat will impact how their minds and bodies develop while growing up. Educating your child now on what they eat will promote healthy growth and give them the knowledge of how to take care of themselves.

If wellness is something your child adopts in life it will aid them in becoming more active in sports, studies and other various activities. Healthy meals can help anyone feel stronger and have a sense of feeling well. By feeling that way children are more likely to be self-confident and feel better about their bodies. Self-confidence and well-being can help ward off future mental health problems.

Immune systems tend to become stronger when absorbing the right nutrition. This makes it much simpler for children to fight off colds and infections. It's good to explain to your child that if they eat healthier then they won't have to suffer through a week-long cold as often.

By educating your kids on proper eating habits and what it can do for them it helps prepare them for adulthood and gives them the skills to keep up a healthy life. Adults that are not maintaining a proper diet are more likely to develop serious health issues. Obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, hypertension and diabetes are all common in adults who neglect their diets. If not properly obtaining the right nutritional vitamins, muscle and bone deterioration can occur, too.

Teaching your children now will prevent them from neglecting their diet later in life. It will help them be able to make proper eating choices on their own. Doing so could help them live healthier and live longer.

Mark Long motivates and educates people of all communities on nutrition education. His dedication towards health and nutrition make him a social activist who spreads his knowledge in this field to all those who are interested in following him.

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The Science of Eating Right

Making good decisions about what food fuels and conditions the body is often the difference between health and sickness. A certified nutritionist is a person who can guide individuals towards adequate nutrition that can fuel and sustain a healthy life.

A certified nutritionist works not only with individuals, but also with families, sports teams and others. Eating the right food translates into performing every day and specialty tasks with ease. The right nutrition energizes, helps recuperation from sickness and sustains a longer life.

While most people believe that they know their bodies best, a certified nutritionist is often the difference between being ill and being healthy. Most people tend to believe and stick to age old ideas of "good food" that might not be healthy and good in any sense in the current scenario.

Every person is made differently and has different needs. Nobody fits into a stereotype. Nutrition is a tailor made science that takes each person's activity levels, health history and needs into consideration. A diet that works for a person ailing from high cholesterol might not work for a young healthy athlete. A nutritionist will take the lifestyle and future health goals into consideration while formulating a health plan that can bring about positive changes.

Each goal as it were, has a separate nutritionist. There are special nutritionists who can help individuals lose weight and those who can help individuals gain weight. Family nutritionists create viable meal plans that can work in the midst of the chaotic lifestyle that most families lead in today's speed crazy world.

Dietitians differ from nutritionists in that they have a regulatory body that certifies and regulates the dietitians registered with them. The lack of such regulatory bodies makes choosing a good nutritionist hard. There are however organizations that nutritionists maybe affiliated with. These organizations while not being government bodies are fairly standardized. They certify nutritionists and take some form of responsibility for those registered through them.

A sports nutritionist works with a sports team or an athlete as an individual to develop and complete nutrition needs. The experts in the field of sports nutrition are referred to as sports nutritionists. A good sports nutritionist can effectively guide a team toward victory through healthy, robust players who are able to deliver physical and mental peak performances time and again. There are certifications especially formulated for those nutritionists in the sports field. The certification translates into the efficiency of the particular nutritionist to work with a sports team. The certification and reliability of the nutritionist is therefore an important criteria to consider when choosing a nutritionist.

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3 Secrets to Burn Fat in 2013

Burning fat is something some of us struggle with throughout our life. There are a lot of myths about the best ways to burn fat and lose weight. People are starting to realize that the so called "fad diets" really do nothing to help you lose weight and keep it off. The trick to successful weight loss is to know the best way for you to burn fat.

While the typical mindset behind losing weight is that you want to cut foods out of your diet that are high in fat, the truth is that if you eat food with a high fat content only once a week you will actually be helping yourself lose body fat. Health experts say that food is the best medicine for your metabolism.

One secret to burning fat is to eat according to your age. When you reach the age of 20, your metabolism changes. This means you need to change the types of foods you eat. The food that you ate when you were under 20 years old had a different effect on your body than the foods you eat once you hit your 20th year. The same amount of food you could get away with eating before will now cause you to gain weight rather than lose it.

Be sure to avoid generic diet plans because they are ineffective due to the fact that everyone's body and metabolism are different. What may help some people lose weight may cause you to gain weight. A customized weight loss plan is the only way for you to successfully gain the body you want.

The final secret is to know which types of food you need to avoid. Everyone knows about the need to avoid high carbohydrate diet, or in other words, such food as cakes and white bread. The minority of people understand that the whole grains are not healthy for our weight loss program. Soy products like soy milk and soy protein are marketed to us as healthy. In fact, soy products contain compounds that can cause our belly fat to grow bigger. On the other hand, such simple products like eggs, tuna fish and nuts being an excellent source of protein can help our body to burn more fat.
It is not easy to achieve the goal of weight loss and to get a slim body. Yet, without knowing the simple principles the task can be even harder.

To learn more how to lose weight visit http://fat-burn-tips.info

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The Right Type of Diet for Your Body Type

Many people plan to achieve weight loss by committing to a food diet without knowing how it will affect their body types. According to scientific studies, there is a significant link between your body type and the kind of food diet your lifestyle maintains. This was especially emphasized by Dr.
Mehmet Oz on Oprah. The type of fat your body is storing will be easy to identify and eliminate when you recognize where most of your body's bulging parts are. What is more encouraging than knowing the specific type of food diet to speed your weight loss?

But first, you must know your body type to achieve its ideal state. These are particular body types, and which part/s of the body is/are bulging:

1. Pear - full hips, thighs, rear
2. Apple - belly fat/thick middle

If you want to lose weight, you can't just go on any kind of food diet. For the type of body you already have, your system has already adapted to its own ways. You can actually make use of how your own body already works to enhance your shape.

To understand the link between your body type and food diet, you should understand and target the kind of fat your body is dealing with:

If you are a pear type, you should know that the kind of fat in your thighs are healthier than that of the apple type, or those who have belly fat. Your kind of fat is subcutaneous, and it's harder to get rid of.

If you are an apple type, what you will have to eliminate is visceral fat. This kind of fat is linked to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Visceral fat is also one of the reasons your metabolism is slowed down. Next, apply these types of food diet, depending your body type:

For the pear type, a low-fat food diet is the key to losing weight. Remember to keep your meals low-fat, and always include low-fat dairy. The most recommended choices for low-fat dairy sources are cottage cheese, milk, and yogurt. Forget foods with saturated fats. Try to avoid eating anything processed liked canned goods as they contain hydrogenated oils. It should be easy to maintain this diet because the mentioned components of food aid weight loss easily.

For the apple type, it's best to start avoiding bad carbohydrates or anything refined and processed. Examples of these are white rice, white bread, and even pasta. Maintain a food diet only with good carbs like beans, fruits, whole grain, and vegetables.
Now that you've identified the crucial parts of your body to aim a diet for, the next step is to keep yourself motivated. For faster results, balance your diet with exercise of intensity suited for your body. Once you'll get the hang of it, your current body shape will be sculpted at its best earlier than you expect.

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Two and a Half Hours a Week May Save Your Life

The relationship between diseases and an unhealthy lifestyle is like oxygen and plants. Unless a body is unhealthy, it is unlikely that diseases can thrive in it. A healthy body is no doubt a sure shot way to ensure a longer and fitter life and this is where the need for a regular beneficial exercise plan comes into play. But, many of us find that despite being aware of the benefits of following a regular physical fitness plan, we tend to ignore them.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a report in October 2008, which proposes a simple yet highly beneficial fitness schedule for almost anyone of us. The report states that undertaking any moderately intense physical activity for 2 and a half hours per week will help achieve a fit and healthy life. Be it walking, jogging or even cycling, any form of physical activity, which involves a moderate level of intensity is enough to reap the benefits of the 150 minute scheme.

Advantages of the plan

What makes the 2.5 hour plan so successful is the flexibility that it offers its users. Unlike other exercise routines, which demand a fixed time of the day along with following a particular nature of exercise, the 2.5 hour per week does neither. A person is free to choose the physical activity that is most suitable and also follow it in at a time that is most convenient. The advantage of the 2.5 hour plan therefore, is its adaptability factor.

Age Groups

The report takes into account the age factor of the prospective users and therefore offers customized advice keeping the age of the user in mind.

Retired Adults- Those who are above 65 years old need to keep in mind that not only do they need a constant exercise plan, but also must safeguard their bodies from injury while exercising. Keeping this aspect in mind, the HHC report advises the ageing adult to adopt exercises like brisk walking, resistance band training and even joining exercise classes. The intention is to build strength and muscle mass and keep the heart rate on a moderately intense scale for 2.5 hours each week.

Working Adult - For most of us working is more to do with the mind than the body and this is the main reason why physical exercise is often given a back seat for those adults who are short on time. However, the HHC report does advise that pushing yourself to a high level of intensity during a workout for 30 minutes, 3 times a week will suffice in achieving results similar to the 2.5 hour a week plan. For this one can swim, run, join a gym or play soccer.

Children- Children are in a growing period and therefore need to eat well and exercise well too. The HHC report suggests that kids must be allowed to follow a physical activity for at least one hour each day. The physical activity may be broken up into three segments and be of varying nature. So a child can cycle to school for 15 minutes, play in the yard for 25 minutes and rake the leaves for another 20 minutes.

The main aim of the HHC report is to educate the readers about the 2.5 hour a week plan along with stressing the fact that people can adopt any activity that suits them the most in order to follow this plan. Needless to say the flexibility of the 2.5 hour a week plan makes it much more attractive than its rigid counterparts.

I hope these tips have been helpful for you in your weight loss efforts. If you are serious about losing weight the natural way without dangerous pills, supplements or fad diets be sure the check out the Ultimate Fat Loss Guide today at: http://ultimate-fat-loss-guide.com/

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Can I Lose Weight Without Exercise?

Those who wonder if they can lose weight without exercise have one of two reasons for asking the question. Either they have a medical condition which stops them exercising or they just dislike exercise. Those with a medical condition are sadly stuck with the problem and have little choice.

Disliking exercise is another matter, because not exercising makes losing weight more difficult.

There are good reasons for this. To lose a pound a week you will need to consume 500 calories a day less than you are eating to maintain your present weight. That is about the calories in a croissant and medium latte at Starbuck's. Give up your croissant and take a 20 minute brisk walk in the morning and another in the evening and you can still have your cup of coffee while losing 1 pound a week. Do not take the walks and you will have to give up your visit to Starbucks. So you must decide if you like your morning coffee more than you dislike walking. Of course if you decide losing just 1 pound a week is not enough you will have to eat less food and do more walking or eat a lot less food if you really do not want the bother of exercise. The time may arrive when giving up food becomes just too much effort and then overweight can become obese with all the health problems which result. So losing weight without exercise can be a struggle, but it is not impossible.

You will need to change your lifestyle. Clear the fridge of sugary food, snacks, fatty meat and pies, white bread, white rice and fizzy drinks. Replace them with fresh fruit and vegetables, granary bread, brown rice, free range chicken, lean beef from grass fed animals and oily fish such as mackerel and salmon. Drink skimmed or soy milk in your coffee and eat low fat cheese in preference to cheese with higher fat content such as cheddar. There are plenty of recipes available for you to make tasty meals from these ingredients. Those suggested for the Mediterranean diet are some of the best and worth looking into.

There are a few more things you can do to lose weight without exercise. Never skip breakfast, you will only get hungry later and want a snack or a visit to the coffee shop mid morning. Drink a glass of water before meals, this fills you up and makes you eat less. Use smaller plates and, if you are able, consider eating five small meals a day rather than three bigger ones. Do not eat in front of the TV or snack in a cinema - you will eat a lot more than you expect without noticing.

A good way of finding out how well you are doing is calorie counting. This can be boring and some think it not worth the bother, but you need not keep it up for very long. Start with a little online research. Find out the number of calories someone of your age and gender needs to eat each day. It will be something like 2500 calories for a man and 2000 calories for a woman. Then, before you start your new healthy diet, find out the number of calories in everything you are eating and write it down. Do this for a few days, totalling up the calories each day. You can easily find your present average calorie intake. Then change to your new diet and record calories for the same number of days and work out the average as before. Compare your new calorie intake with your old. If it is 500 calories less you will be losing weight. If it is about the same you need to eat less. Of course you can just change your diet, check your weight each week and see what happens. But knowing how much you have been eating will be good for motivation when you find you can live happily on less.

As I said at the beginning losing weight without exercise is possible - it is just harder. If you can exercise do so, you might find you enjoy it, if not these simple suggestions will work. The secret is to take it slowly and never, ever, give up.

Peter Stockwell is a writer, walker and author of the Senior Walking Fitness Blog. For more tips on weight loss, fitness, the Mediterranean diet and healthy living just visit http://www.seniorwalkingfitnessblog.com

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