The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Slim down chunky kids by feeding them breakfast Posted: 18 Jul 2011 11:41 PM PDT  A new study showed that kids in Hong Kong who skipped breakfast were more likely to gain weight than classmates who ate breakfast. — AFP pic Published in the July issue of the International Journal of Obesity, the study looked at 68,600 schoolchildren in Hong Kong and found that kids in Grade 4 (aged 9 to 10) who skipped breakfast tended to gain significantly more weight in the next two years compared to classmates who ate breakfast. The same percentage of boys and girls — five per cent — reported skipping breakfast and experienced a greater increase in body mass index by Grade 6 (aged 11 and 12), researchers found in cross-sectional analyses. Educators have long touted the importance of breakfast in helping with children's school performance. But this latest study shows that starting the day off with a meal has the same benefits for kids as it does for adults: staving off overeating later in the day. In May, researchers at the University of Missouri also found that tucking into a high protein breakfast increases satiety and reduces hunger throughout the day. MRI images showed that a protein-packed breakfast reduced the brain signals controlling food motivation and reward-driven behavior. That study, published in the journal Obesity, suggested that incorporating a protein-rich breakfast could be a simple strategy for people to stay satisfied longer and prevent snacking. For protein-packed breakfast ideas, visit http://yourhealthychild.net/high-protein-breakfast-ideas-for-kids/. http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v35/n7/full/ijo201158a.html. — AFP-Relaxnews Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Solar ovens, renewable energy offer hope for Afghanistan Posted: 18 Jul 2011 07:30 PM PDT  Solar oven But it wasn't until US diplomat Patricia McArdle realised how often it was sunny in Afghanistan that she put it together with a youthful memory of cooking with solar ovens and realised this was a low-tech option offering long-term hope to the war-torn nation, which is preparing for a draw-down of US troops. "My concern is that it (renewable energy) really hasn't been part of our talk of reconstruction," said the now-retired McArdle, who spent a year in northern Afghanistan from 2005 at the end of a diplomatic career, in a telephone conversation. "My hope is that we will focus a bit more on renewable energy as we start to pull out." The solar ovens — basically a box covered in aluminum foil that can cook food by concentrating the sun's heat, which McArdle now promotes as inexpensive, renewable energy — fits neatly into what she sees as a long tradition of sustainable living in Afghanistan. One example is "cob," an age-old Afghan style of building that uses mud, chopped straw, sand and dung to build thick-walled structures that are naturally warm in winter and cool in summer. Yet US aid money can't be used to fund buildings like this due to requirements that all construction must follow international building codes. "They're remarkable farmers, remarkable builders. I've seen satellite dishes built by Afghan craftsmen out of old salad oil cans," she said. "These people are creative, they're resourceful." Solar ovens make an appearance in "Farishta," a novel about an American woman stationed in northern Afghanistan based on McArdle's own experiences, with the main character wrapping herself in a burqa and sneaking out of the military base where she lives to bring the new technology into Afghan homes. That is one of the few incidents in the book that is not true. Most of the others are, including several ambushes and the time when the main character, Angela, took part in buzkashi, the Afghan national game in which horsemen try to snatch a beheaded goat or calf carcass. "I thought more people would read a fictionalised account, but I also met and worked with a lot of people whose names I couldn't reveal publicly," she said, noting that she had originally thought of writing a memoir. "I wasn't there as a spook or anything — I was a State Department diplomat — but I still couldn't name a lot of names without compromising people. So for those reasons I decided to write a novel." Despite Afghanistan's decades-long history of troubles, McArdle, who surprised herself by falling in love with it, said she still clung to hope that the future would prove better, a feeling represented in the book by a pair of intelligent, educated young lovers. "Those two characters are composites of young people I met in Afghanistan who were challenging the system. They're not religious fanatics, they don't want to be violent," she said. "They respect their culture, their religion and their country, but they do want to move into the 21st century." — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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