Dexway English Magazine: B1 – Edition 4

Junk Food Bans

FOOD REVOLUTION

Heart disease, diabetes, strokes, cancer, high blood pressure and asthma are just a few of the many medical conditions caused by obesity. Famed chef, author, TV personality and social activist Jamie Oliver, “The Naked Chef”, has been working tirelessly to raise awareness of the growing obesity epidemic, primarily in children.

After his success with his first best-selling cookbook, TV series and subsequent non-profit organisation, he turned his attention to the food offered to British children at school. He even brought his campaign to the United States.

His efforts led the British government to invest one billion dollars in the school food system and a ban on processed junk food in all UK schools. He is working to open up food centres around the US to help people learn to cook from scratch and improve their culinary skills.

Many initiatives have been introduced to try and curb the obesity rates. In October 2011, Denmark introduced a Fat tax which added a surplus to items such as butter, cheese, pizza, meat, oil and processed foods.

One year after it was started, it was abolished saying it failed to diminish the quantity people of these items being bought and many Danish retailers said their customers were going to other countries to buy cheaper products. It did result in 216 Million euros in revenue but they will now focus on other ways to improve public health.

In New York, they are debating a law to ban all sugary drinks that are larger than 16 ounces in all public places that receive regular food inspectors, so gas stations and convenience stores can still carry large sizes.

 

What is a truly viable solution?

Do we need the government to regulate what we are allowed to eat or drink?

The long term option is education, and some might argue that education starts at home. In another edition of the Dexway magazine, you can see a recipe for the perfect hamburger.

We can’t control what our children eat when they are out of the house but we can give them the best start by providing home cooking.

Memories…..

WHY DO I REMEMBER SOME THINGS AND FORGET OTHERS?

The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys the same good things on several occasions like every time was the first time. —Friedrich Nietzsche

Did you ever try and remember where you put your keys and your mind is completely blank? Chances are you do not have dementia, memory loss or Alzheimer´s. Ed Cooke, a Grand master of Memory, explains that the situation was not important because you didn´t pay a lot of attention, hence when you feel you have ¨lost¨ your keys, you tend to think that you have a bad memory.

Everyone´s memory is impacted by a wide range of circumstances. Like health, if we do not keep our minds sharp or try and challenge ourselves, it will deteriorate. With today’s access to the Internet, we honestly don’t need to remember all the facts and figures because we can search for it in seconds. Many recent studies say that more than 80% of people over 50 have a hard time recalling a relative´s birthday. Cooke definitely blames tech companies saying that it is in their interest for us to not remember things so we are forced to buy gadgets to remind us. All memory fades, but most understandably, stress and multitasking are leading causes of memory lapses.

Sleep

SWEET DREAMS

Everybody loves to sleep; there is nothing better than climbing to your bed and closing your eyes. I could spend all day sleeping; but why exactly do we need to sleep?

Some scientists believe that sleeping is a time for your body to recover from the day’s activities, however, this is not true due to the fact that by sleeping eight hours we only save 50 Kcal of energy. You could get that amount of energy from a piece of toast!

In short, scientists don’t know why we sleep but they do know why we have to sleep.

Sleeping helps with our cognitive skills and our brains ability to function. Missing just one night of sleep can lead to feelings of being hangover, angry and not being able to concentrate.

If we stay awake for 17 hours the effect is the same as if we have drunk two large glasses of wine, we can become confused and forgetful.

Scientists have discovered that people like to sleep between 5 to 11 hours with the average of 7.75 hours, and that there are several stages of sleep which roll in a cycle all night long.

Can you sleep anywhere? Where was the last place you slept, a train, a plane?

Books into Movies:

PULP STORIES

Many movies coming from Hollywood are coming from books and comics. Taking an idea from literature and turning it into a film is not a new idea, but recently, producers and directors have worked hard to gather as many rights (sometimes called licenses – or permissions to use the material) as they can.

The author of a contemporary fiction is usually happy to give rights to a movie producer, because it will create more popularity for their book over time.

Some recent examples of movies used in this way are the Harry Potter and Twilight books. They started as popular children’s books, but quickly became popular worldwide releases.

The movie producers spent a lot of time to create visually appealing movies, and between the fans of the books and fans of movies, millions of people would go to the theatre.

In a way: producers created what is called a “feedback loop” because the fans of the books would go to see the film and the fans of the film would go and buy the books. This has had an interesting effect on literature.

Sometimes a book is written to be a “series” as well. Many fiction series became known as “pulp” because of the cheap paper they were printed on.

Some people think that expanding a movie or book into many parts takes away from the enjoyment of the story, but it sure hasn’t stopped movie patrons from rushing to the theatre to see the newest incarnation of their favourite hero or villain.

Organic produce

BUY LOCALLY!

Organic food seems to be evermore present in our local grocery stores and markets. It seems to have a specific subculture of society normally among the affluent and trend conscious consumer. Organic foods accounted for $31 billion in sales in the USA in 2011. Organic produce is grown without using synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers. There has never been anything scientifically proven that organic is better nutritional, is safer or tastes better than non-organic but artificial additives and pesticides found on it has be found to be carcinogenic.

To get organic certification for a farm takes years to achieve, as all pesticide and chemical residue in the soil are broken down slowly and leached away. These farms are listed as Transitional Farms. In Europe, the EU-Eco-regulation has been the governing body for organic certifications since 1992, then each country also has organic an organization that deals with the implementation of standards and certifications. It has been mandatory since July 2010 to place a food label issued by this organization on certified organic products.

 

 

Do you think it is just a fad or here to stay?

Breakfast

HIT OR MISS

Breakfasts around the world are very different, but which is the healthiest? Many people skip breakfast saying that they either don´t have the time, they on a diet or they simply aren´t hungry, with between 10% and 30% of all Europeans and Americans in this statistic.

Nutritionists worldwide have the same opinion: it is not good to skip breakfast because, logically, if you miss an early-morning meal you will be more tempted to snack on high-calorie foods later on during the day and, consequently, gain weight.

In Scandinavia, smoked fish is a typical breakfast, while in Germany cold meats are more common. In the UK and Ireland, boxed cereals are very popular, which can often contain more sugar and salt than people realise – apparently some are saltier than seawater! Although often believed to be an everyday breakfast, the typical “fry-up” with bacon, eggs, sausages, beans and toast is not a habitual British breakfast meal but rather a weekly or monthly treat. In Spain, a typical breakfast could include coffee and a pastry or toast with crushed tomato or ham. What is a typical breakfast in your country?

There have been many different studies on whether breakfast helps you to lose weight or not and there has been no clear answer yet, but what we do know by statistics is that those who have breakfast tend to have a more balanced diet overall. It has also been suggested that “night-owls” – those who have more energy at night and sleep more in the morning- may rightly have reason to skip breakfast. Furthermore, it has also been proven in studies in Jamaica and Peru that children who eat breakfast at school have higher grades.