Best cooking method

I am a low-maintenance person. I don't invest a lot of time and energy in cooking. Basically you could say I eat to survive, as opposed for the enjoyment of eating. So here is how I ensure I make my food as nutritious, flavoursome and easy to prepare as possible. Basically my system rests upon steaming.

1. Buy one of the stainless steel multi-level steamers. I have one made by 'Ideal Kitchen', Made in China, which has served me well. I have a large one, however you could save energy by getting one which matches the amount of food you need to cook (i.e. how many people you are cooking for).

2. Fill the pot with hot water - why heat up water twice (i.e. hot water cylinder & stove)

3. Use enough water that it does not burn dry

4. Cook in stages - meats and hard vegetables first (i.e. red meat, carrots, potatoes). The amount of time needed depends on how the food is prepared. If thinly sliced you can cook food for less time, and simply cook all at once.

5. Empty the ingredients on a plate. If you want to cook the ingredients, you can pour under cold water, but better to let the food simply cool.

What I do is stick to my favourite vegetables each night, but change the meat. i.e. Beef, lamb, frozen fish satchels in a plastic bag. With these satchels, I get taste variety, as I eat the vegetables using the source from the fish. i.e. Birds Eye Hoki fish in mint & mushroom sauce, if I am not mistaken. I sometimes place steamed vegetables in the hot plate with fried mince or egg, for another flavoursome option.

The benefits of this method are:

1. Reduced cleaning - I only need to wash utensils, one plate, glass lid of steamer, the steamer pot and the steamer. Simple rinse if you have just cooked. Already sterilised by hot steam. You don't have to wash the vegetables.

2. Reduced fat - Steaming removes all the animal fat

3. Kills germs - The dirt and insects which maybe in the food are killed, and they tend to fall out of the vegetables. Bacteria will be killed. Steaming offers a more even form of cooking than most forms as hot water vapour gets in everywhere.

4. Detoxifies - Any volatile chemicals like pesticides are going to be driven off

5. Safety - Mixed concerns here. Be careful not to burn yourself when lifting the lid on the steamer - those gases are hot. Its hard to set the house alight because there is no oil. Mind you I guess there is animal fat (i.e.) derived from the cooking, though its usually not much. I often burn the streamer dry, and I find it gives the food a slightly burnt taste. You will usually smell the burnt residues in the steam water before you burn the house down.

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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

The health benefits of capsicum

One of the most impressive vegetables in terms of nutrition is capsicum. I have long eaten this vegetable because of its taste. It has a great flavour, so I need not add any seasoning to my steamed vegetables. The benefits are:

1. Stabilises blood pressure

2. Improves circulation

3. Anti-fungal agent

4. Anti-flatulence agent

It is said to help you avoid heart attacks. See the following website for more information.

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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Coping strategy for a heart attack – Attention over 60s

Heart attacks become more probable over the age of 60yo. Here are some tips on how to stay alive. Firstly:

1. Always keep two aspirin and a bottle of water here by all the time, particularly next to your bed
2. Have a phone close at hand if you live alone, so you can call for help
3. Know the emergency number in your country, and have it programmed into your speed-dial. i.e. 911 in the USA/Canada, 000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand, 999 in Britain, Other countries – see Wikipedia or your telephone directory
4. Have your neighbour’s telephone number as well.

The majority of heart attacks occur during sleep, so the victim doesn’t wake up. If you are one of the “lucky ones” who is awoken by the chest pains, then you need some information about how to react:

1. Do not lie down!
2. Immediately dissolve two aspirin in your mouth and swallow them
3. CALL Emergency
4. Unlock the front door
5. Phone your neighbour or a family member who lives nearby:
6. Hell out "heart attack!
7. Tell them you have taken 2 aspirin.
8. Take a seat on a chair or sofa near the front door, and wait for the arrival of help
9. DO NOT lie down ~ unless you fall down.

P.S. If you are bored, start writing your final will. My guess is you won’t be.

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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

The benefits of Vitamin C (Swine flu)

Here is a good article about the usefulness of Vitamin C in fighting swine flu.
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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Improving your immune system

There are some interesting hypotheses around about the role of cleaning agents in undermining our immune systems, as well as causing diseases and respiratory conditions like asthma. I recently saw a study that concluded that anti-bacterial cleaning agents were sanitising our environment so muh that our immune systems were becoming hyper-sensitive.

This is interesting because I lived in the Philippines for 2 years and during the first 6 months I would often have diarrhoea as a result of the food. I was drinking distilled water though used tap water to clean my teeth. But in time my body adjusted. Being back in Australia for Spring though its evident to me that my immune system is more tolerant because I don't seem to have the same hay fever that affected me in Australia or Japan in years past. It might be too early to say. I also find that my stomach is stronger too. Food combinations that upset my stomach before no longer do. Importantly I am pretty well eating the same type of food as I did before I left. Same brands too.

I would not read too much into this anecdotal evidence.
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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

The importance of diet and exercise to Asians

Asian and other developing countries seem to be the most vulnerable in the switch to a Western diet. Australians like myself have nothing but excuses for exercising. We have beaches to run along, few trains that require chasing, and a dry, cool climate climate to do this, in a plethora of greem grassy parks.
In Asia its not as easy. Living in Tokyo there are crowded streets, but in as much as you can choose where you live it is possible to select a place where you can get exercise. In Tokyo the best place is near a river. I lived in Sumiyoshi for a period, so I could ride my bike up the river. This is pretty well the only green precinct of any size in Tokyo aside from the Imperial Garden and a few other parks (like Harajuku). In the suburbs too there are no so many parks. You almost have to go to the rice padi areas to find open space.
In the Philippines it gets even worse. You are lucky if you can find trees in Metro Manila, and still rarer to see grass outside of the scarce golf clubs in the city. Its also hot, polluted and the streets are pretty disgusting in most parts of the city. Of course you can choose where you live. I recommend a city apartment because:
1. On the weekends and at night the streets are quieter
2. You can walk around the city late at night when there is no pollution.

But herein lies the problem. Filipinos generally have little discipline. They dont eat vegetables in their diet. If you go out you will be lucky if you get any vegetables, and you will get a lot of bone and fat in your meet. Their beef & pork is literally 1/3 bone, 1/3 fat and 1/3 protein. Well if you are aspiring to get out of the Philippines, you are in luck. There are plenty of jobs for graduates in the top rankings. The problem is if you eat this crap, you will end up in hospital with hypertension and severe cramps. Why? Hello! Because you eat crap and live a sedentary life in front of a computer screen. It is near impossible to get real juice in the Philippines. Its mostly sugar and water. I mean other than pineapple juice and imported grocery items.
Herein lies the problem. The Philippines is so impressed by Western junk food that it has abandoned traditional healthy food. In the provinces they still eat a better balance of food. There is still the franchise crap, but its the 'treat' rather than the norm. It is the middle class that is too busy to think, who have a narrow materialistic conception of success that they miss the point of life - the pursuit of value in every aspect of life. Middle class Asian aspirants are so befuddled with money and what it can do that they have a single focus - to use it. But what for? Nope, not long range goals like building a career or buying a house, but to buy flash brand name clothes, cars and phone to impress their friends or GF. Its all about perceptions. A huge fraud that makes them empty people. You might well say its the same in the West, but this is more extreme. There is no genuine pride in this pursuit.
These people might get the girl of their dreams, and they can show the world that they have a trophy, but they will soon realise the cost of that pursuit. They will have acquired another empty vessel in their life, a vessel that requires an unending flow of money. They might eventually realise or they might lower themselves further to retain this false pride, this delusion of achievement. And that really stupid comment she said last week will be forgotten. They will repress it. They might even conclude that was the first time she said something stupid, instead of realising that she has been repressing all personal thoughts since they met. Live and learn...
The Western diet is crap... eat it at your peril.

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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

The impact of fat on personal health

We are told that fat or oil in our diet is bad, that western diets have too much oil. This is not strictly correct. We are not so much eating too much oil or fat (ie. solid oil) but rather:
1. Eating too much - too many calories
2. Not getting enough exercise because of our sedentary lives sitting in offices or at TV and computer screens.
3. We are eating the wrong types of fats

Our bodies actually need fat. You can simply argue that changing to other forms of nutrition will help you. If you eat too many calories they will be converted into fat regardless of the source. But there is good and bad fats (or oils). The table at this Wikipedia page "Fatty acids in dietary fats" shows that virgin olive oil is the best form of dietary or edible oil. The reason is the high proportion of mono-saturated fats. Interesting the next best oil is canola (rapeseed) oil. You will readily note that canola oil is much cheaper than olive oil. Given that its only 10% less beneficial in terms of monosaturated fats, you might want to consider it. Olive oil does have other benefits though. For cooking purposes I understand that olive oil is more stable as a cooking oil than say canola oil, so you might not want to use canola oil to many times, as it might turn carcinogenic. The flipside is that olive oil is very expensive, so better to change canola oil regularly for health reasons.
Palm oil comes in distant 3rd place, but other oils are mostly saturated fats. The problem with saturated fats is that they will be converted low density lipid (LDL) triglycerides which clog up your arteries. A high ratio of low density lipid (LDL) triglycerides to high density lipid (HDL) triglycerides is linked to cardiovascular disease and pancreatitis, but you should also avoid excess total cholesterol numbers as well. These scales are age related, so consult a doctor. I find when I dont exercise enough and eat well that my blood circulation gets a bit restricted. Your body is telling you things if you listen to it. I miss the wide range of vegetables in Australia!

I miss the freshness and variety of foods in Australia. You can find nice vegetables in the PhilippinesPhilippines in the countryside - say Laguna or Baguio - but if you buyy from an SM grocery store in Metro Manila the quality is shocking - nevermind the price. I saw lovely green beans in Laguna for P190 for 10 kilograms ($US0.40/kg). If I ate them for a month, thats 3 months supply. I dare say those Manila-bound vegetables lack refrigeration, so after the 7-8hour truck trip to Manila in a tropical climate, they are not looking the best.

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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com