10 simple-to-make meals that fight fat, build muscle, and save you time -- all for less than 50 bucks
By: Matt Goulding
You might not use the terms "pizza box" and "serving dish" interchangeably, but if you're like most guys, you probably could. That's because 64 percent of men spend little or no time preparing their meals. Their excuse? Time and money constraints. Unfortunately -- and perhaps not coincidentally -- that number parallels the 64 percent who are overweight. It's no wonder: The inexpensive, time-saving foods that guys choose most often are also the ones that are the highest in sugar, fat, and calories, according to a recent study from the University of Washington.
Thankfully, we have a culinary solution that'll perfectly fit your budget, schedule, and diet. The plan: Set aside 20 minutes on Sunday to fulfill our 16-item shopping list, then forget about your wallet -- and collection of takeout menus -- for the rest of the workweek. By following our 5-day menu, you'll have the precise number of ingredients to create 10 fast, flavorful meals, all of which are designed to help you build muscle and melt fat while saving you money. (The average price of 10 meals eaten out: $85; the total price of our meals: $47.96.) Each night, you'll simply prepare a quick and easy dinner, and then creatively use the leftovers to assemble the next day's lunch. Call it the mixologist's guide to eating. The best part? While the other guys are stuck on hold in drive-thrus, you'll be rolling through the express line with your next 10 meals in tow.
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Do you have the feeling that life is getting away from you, that there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done? Don't worry, it's not just you, the pace of city life really is speeding up.
A recent survey by the University of Hertfordshire and British Council found that city dwellers are walking 10 percent faster than in 1994. Singapore topped the list with locals rushing around 30 percent faster than they were in the early 1990's.
Deliberately slowing your walking pace in the city against this rising tide of rushaholics could see you swiftly swatted out of the way by irritable commuters, but just by toning down the nagging sense that you have to do more, and do it faster, can have plenty of long term benefits.
At least that's the belief of journalist and author Carl Honoré, a man whose own slow life epiphany came when he found himself speed reading bedtime stories to his son. His book "In Praise of Slow" champions the benefits of taking more time to consider things.
"We live in a world that is obsessed with speed that is stuck in fast forward. We often lose sight of the damage that this road-runner form of life does to us -- on our health, our diet, our work," he said.
Slowing, not slacking
If it all sounds to you like the musings from a slacker's manifesto, you're not yet in tune with the concept of the slow life. Resist the tug of technology: turn off your mobile, don't send that email just yet and try and forget, just for a few minutes, about the thousand tedious tasks that you feel need to be done.
Slowing down doesn't mean opting out or even downshifting, and reclaiming the term slow from pejorative uses is part of the (slow and steady) battle of people like Carl Honoré.
The stigma attached to slowing down equates it with an idleness at odds with the dominant work ethos of always doing more and doing it faster.
As well as the slow food movement, there are slow towns, aiming to improve the quality of life for inhabitants and making them more pleasant places to live. It's more a philosophical statement rather than a directive. Ludlow was the first UK town to achieve slow town status, but admittedly, life in this Shropshire market town has never been anything other than sedate.
"But why slow down when you can multi-task," you might ask? Well, multi-tasking is a flawed skill and there's been plenty of scientific research to prove it.
"Multi-tasking is going to slow you down, increasing the chances of mistakes," David E. Meyer, a cognitive scientist and director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan, told the New York Times. "Disruptions and interruptions are a bad deal from the standpoint of our ability to process information."
That's not to say that people who have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time are more enlightened, but most people who have juggled a number of tasks at the same time won't need scientific research to confirm that by doing many things at once, you're less likely to do any of them well.
Have your head in the clouds
One man gently mocking the meaninglessness of modern life and taking things slower is Gavin Pretor-Pinney. As author of The Cloud Spotter's Handbook and co-founder of The Idler magazine he's literally reclaiming 'blue sky thinking' from business buzzword blabber.
His book was a best seller in the UK last year and there is now a web site called The Cloud Appreciation Society. While the book is filled with fascinating facts and anecdotes about clouds, it's just as much an exercise in contemplation and rejection of the accepted goals of modern life, something that fits well into the slow life canon.
"The speed at which clouds develop and change is so gradual; it's quite the opposite of the pace of life in the city. By spending a little time contemplating clouds, you're really forced to slow down. It's a kind of meteorological meditation," he says.
"Most people walk around looking at the floor, but the whole act of looking upwards is almost like a yogic exercise; you broaden your perspective and open your vision."
After ten years working as art director for The Idler magazine and doing other freelance graphics work to pay the rent he and co-founder Tom Hodgkinson decided to take a sabbatical for six months. As it's only produced twice a year, it only wiped out one issue.
"I did a flat swap with someone in Rome with the intention of doing absolutely nothing. I wrestled with all the psychological aspects of this, wondering if I was just being irresponsible and wasting half a year."
He ended up doing a lot of research for his book and found the whole experience of taking time out incredibly rewarding.
"By giving myself space and taking a break from thinking that I had to achieve something really let ideas take form. I ended up moving from being a designer to a writer and really pursuing my interests," he said.
Clouds have a universal appeal, as does taking a sabbatical from work. For many who can't afford this luxury, the benefits of taking time to appreciate the clouds or just giving yourself time to do something you really enjoy is always worth it.
As Carl Honoré says quite simply: "By slowing down at the right moments we do stuff better."
For Pretor-Pinney there is the irony is that while his cloud life is a fine practical example of The Idler ethos, he has found himself as the head of The Cloud Appreciation Society, an international association with more than 8,000 members in 45 countries.
"I spend so much time on it now that clouds have almost taken over my life, but it just goes to show that if instead of pursuing the money and you follow what you like doing and do it well, good things and even money will come from it."
Tips to live a slow life
- Drink more tea -- making a cup of tea is the perfect pursuit and displacement activity to idly consider absolutely nothing and everything. Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu called it an essential ingredient in the elixir of life, so it can't be bad.
- Walk more -- what could be better than moving at a pace nature intended and getting some fresh air round your chops. You'll see much more than by taking public transport or driving.
- Realize that time is nothing more than an abstract concept used to measure the distance between to points, it's futile and pointless to even consider 'beating' it, so don't try.
- Watch cricket - don't worry about the rules, it's a game that takes five days to play and at the end there often isn't a winning team. As a spectator sport it's as much about watching the grass grow as appreciating a fine cover drive.
- Take up cabinet making -- you can't rush a good piece of furniture.
A major advance in understanding the genetics behind several of the world's most common diseases has been reported. The landmark Wellcome Trust study analysed DNA from the blood of 17,000 people to find genetic differences.
They found new genetic variants for depression, Crohn's disease, coronary heart disease, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 and 2 diabetes.
The remarkable findings, published in Nature, have been hailed as a new chapter in medical science.
It is hoped they will pave the way for research into new treatments and genetic tests.
| By identifying the genes underlying these conditions, our study should enable scientists to understand better how disease occurs, which people are most at risk and, in time, to produce more effective, more personalised treatments
Professor Peter Donnelly
|
The £9m Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) involved 50 leading research groups analysing the DNA from 2,000 patients for each of the seven conditions and 3,000 healthy volunteers.
Genome-wide
They used "gene chips" to scan hundreds of thousands of DNA markers to identify common genetic differences across the whole genome.
Many of the genes identified by the team of 200 scientists were in parts of the genome not previously thought to be associated with disease.
In the future it may be possible to test people for combinations of genes to find out their lifetime risk of a disease, which would enable them to modify their lifestyle or undergo screening.
One of the most exciting finds was a previously unknown gene common to type 1 diabetes and Crohn's disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disorder, suggesting that they share similar biological pathways.
The team also unexpectedly found a process known as autophagy - a process of clearing bacteria from within cells - is important in the development of Crohn's disease.
| We have taken a big step forward in understanding the genetics underlying some of the most prevalent diseases affecting human health
Dr Mark Walport |
And in type 1 diabetes, they identified several genetic regions that increase the risk of developing the condition.
The WTCCC project has already played a part in recent reports of an obesity gene, three new genes linked to type 2 diabetes, and a genetic region on chromosome 9 associated with coronary heart disease.
Major advances
Professor Peter Donnelly, chair of the WTCCC and professor of statistical science at Oxford University, said the research was a "new dawn" and they had learnt more in the past 12 months than they had in 15 years.
"If you think of the genome as very long road that you are trying to find your way along in the dark, previously we have only been able to turn lights on in a small number of places, but now we can turn on lights in a large number of places - in this case half a million lights."
"Many of the most common diseases are very complex, involving both 'nature' and 'nurture', genes interacting with our environment and lifestyles."
"By identifying the genes underlying these conditions, our study should enable scientists to understand better how disease occurs, which people are most at risk and, in time, to produce more effective, more personalised treatments."
Dr Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust, added that all the data are being made publicly available to ensure that scientists across the globe have immediate access to the results.
"We have taken a big step forward in understanding the genetics underlying some of the most prevalent diseases affecting human health."
Matt Hunt, Science Information Manager at Diabetes UK, said: "The WTCCC has been an excellent example of collaborative working and has produced some exciting results about the genetics of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes."
Source: news.bbc.co.uk
Labels: diseases genes
The traditional way of making tea in a pot is healthier than dunking a bag in a cup, according to scientists. Previous research found antioxidants in tea could help protect against things like cancer and heart disease.
Now scientists in Aberdeen have shown that a cuppa only gets the maximum amount of these chemicals when the tea is given proper time to brew.
The researchers also found that adding milk to a cup of tea had no effect on its cancer-fighting properties.
The scientists tested levels of polyphenols, which are antioxidants naturally occurring in plants, in the blood of volunteers who drank black tea brewed for up to 10 minutes.
They found that volunteers who drank tea that had been brewed for five minutes had blood antioxidant levels which were 60% higher than those who consumed a one-minute infusion.
Cancer-fighting properties
Within an hour of drinking the five-minute infusion, the level of antioxidants in volunteers' bloodstreams rose by up to 45%.
The findings were unchanged when milk was added to the drink.
Brewing for any longer than five minutes yielded no extra health benefits.
Professor Garry Duthie of the Rowett Research Institute said: "We found that if you let your tea infuse for about five minutes you would get the maximum amount of these chemicals.
"If you left it any longer than that it didn't really increase the levels very much and it didn't really make a difference if it was tea bags or tea leaves."
Labels: Cancer-fighting properties, Tea, Teapot
Expert links additive to cell damage
A new health scare erupted over soft drinks last night amid evidence they may cause serious cell damage. Research from a British university suggests a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.
The problem - more usually associated with ageing and alcohol abuse - can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.
The findings could have serious consequences for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who consume fizzy drinks. They will also intensify the controversy about food additives, which have been linked to hyperactivity in children.
Concerns centre on the safety of E211, known as sodium benzoate, a preservative used for decades by the £74bn global carbonated drinks industry. Sodium benzoate derives from benzoic acid. It occurs naturally in berries, but is used in large quantities to prevent mould in soft drinks such as Sprite, Oasis and Dr Pepper. It is also added to pickles and sauces.
Sodium benzoate has already been the subject of concern about cancer because when mixed with the additive vitamin C in soft drinks, it causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance. A Food Standards Agency survey of benzene in drinks last year found high levels in four brands which were removed from sale.
Now, an expert in ageing at Sheffield University, who has been working on sodium benzoate since publishing a research paper in 1999, has decided to speak out about another danger. Professor Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, tested the impact of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells in his laboratory. What he found alarmed him: the benzoate was damaging an important area of DNA in the "power station" of cells known as the mitochondria.
He told The Independent on Sunday: "These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it: they knock it out altogether.
"The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it - as happens in a number if diseased states - then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA - Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of ageing."
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) backs the use of sodium benzoate in the UK and it has been approved by the European Union but last night, MPs called for it to investigate urgently.
Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat chair of Parliament's all-party environment group said: "Many additives are relatively new and their long-term impact cannot be certain. This preservative clearly needs to be investigated further by the FSA."
A review of sodium benzoate by the World Health Organisation in 2000 concluded that it was safe, but it noted that the available science supporting its safety was "limited".
Professor Piper, whose work has been funded by a government research council, said tests conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration were out of date.
"The food industry will say these compounds have been tested and they are complete safe," he said. "By the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety tests were inadequate. Like all things, safety testing moves forward and you can conduct a much more rigorous safety test than you could 50 years ago."
He advised parents to think carefully about buying drinks with preservatives until the quantities in products were proved safe by new tests. "My concern is for children who are drinking large amounts," he said.
Coca-Cola and Britvic's Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi all contain sodium benzoate. Their makers and the British Soft Drinks Association said they entrusted the safety of additives to the Government.
Labels: cell damage, soft drinks
