World Health Day

We are happy in this bright moment in which we have welcomed a new school blog/journal, month and springtime season. We can just put the cherry on the top when we will celebrate on Saturday 7th the World Health Day and it is celebrated globally with the sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO) and locally by the town hall in this city during the days 4, 5, 6 and 7 of April the XII Health Fair Fuenlabrada 2018  mainly in the Plaza de la Constitución with a lot of stands from the Concejalía de Salud, Natur Siglo XXI, Council of Sports and Equality, the College of Dental Hygienists, Red Cross, ASAV, Fundación URJC, Association of Patients ARMAREL, AFIBROSUR; AFIFUN, Nieman Pick, etc.

In order to keep a healthy lifestyle regular physical workouts or relaxation exercises or activities, good breathing, good sleep patterns and motivational, creative  or spiritual goals in our life will make our life more armonious, mindful and fulfilling such as the best seller Eat, Pray and Love by Elizabeth Gilbert proclaims. Besides finding inspiration to fulfill our life with our life-long dreams we can also take into account the way and what we eat daily. We can adopt some advices or a diet from a wide array of them. We have avoid extreme dieting measures that could lead us to lose something else apart from weight such as protein only diet, very low calorie diets (VCLD) or dietary aids such as laxatives, water loss tablets or amino acid pills.

There are also many myths or old wives tales in relationship with food that may be partly true and false, thus there is a list of ten myths debunked (desmentidos), the 10 myths are the following:

1. Fried foods rise heart disease risk: After a study released by the British Medical Journal studied more than forty thousand Spaniards over 11 years and their fried food intake daily and the researchers found out that their death rates did not correlate with their regular consumption of oil or sunflower.

2. Raw is better than cooked: Researchers at the Institute of Nutritional Science in Germany found out that a raw food diet was linked to lower risk of cancer and cardiovascular conditions but it is confirmed also that cooked food increases the human neurons and brain activity and protects us from diseases and infections in food. Meanwhile steaming or boiling vegetables such as cabbage, spinachs, etc. increases antioxidants like carotenoids and ferulic acids. So a good balance of raw/cooked food ratio will be better for us.

3. Nutrient-deficiency cravings: craving some particular foods do not indicate we need them because our body has a deficiency of them, instead it is related with social and emotional reasons.

4. Organic food are better than regular food: Organic food is cultivated without pesticides and food additives which is an asset to their nutrients. However, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has examined organic and conventional food for the last fifty years and has found out that there were no significant differences.

5. Eggs make a fast increase in your cholesterol: eggs contain very little saturated fat (1.5 grams per egg) and no trans-fat which both are considered bad cholesterol (Low Density Lipoprotein LDL) and more High Density Low or HDL (the good) cholesterol apart from proteins, vitamins and other beneficial nutrients, so we should not skip this savoury ingredient from our daily recipes.

6. Drinking milk is essential for strong bones: even though dairy products contain calcium it can be found also in dark-green vegetables and sunflower oil, sardines, shellfish… besides and vitamin K and Magnesium found in almonds, oatmeal, potatoes, etc. make our bones stronger too.

7. Low fat foods are better for your health: it is the trendy label of most food found in the supermarkets but a moderate consumption of good-fats items such as dried fruits, fish, olives, meat, eggs and so on are vital for the body tissue regeneration specially for elderly people, children, teenagers, athletes, pregnant women and overall adults. In addition to this most of low fat products replace fat with sugar and sodium and are high in refined carbohydrates.

8. Alcohol cooks away when added to a dish: a study of the USA agriculture department has proved that different percentages of alcohol remain in the dish after being cooked, in higher or lower levels depending of the cooking method, the lowest found in meals baked or simmered for a minimum of 1.5 hour retain from 10 to 5 per cent alcohol at the end.

9. Light or low calorie sodas: there are a lot of fizzy drinks that are very trendy now as low calorie and consumers feel easy now to drink more of them because of their neutral or healthier option regarding the usual soda and fizzy sugary drinks. But this can be harmful too as the consumers overindulge themselves drinking more light drinks, apart from the chemicals added instead of sugar to make them sweet too, eventually both reasons can make more harm than benefits to the gullible (crédulo) consumer.

10. Wooden cutting boards are a nest for bacteria: knives use to cut the wood in tiny multiple cracks where dirt and bacteria from raw food, fish, etc. can contaminate other food. Fortunately after a study at the University of California proved that the natural properties of wood filter the dirt inside where no longer multiplies and dies.

These are just few advices and we are grateful you have read them till here and we encourage you to add more tips in order to achieve a healthier life and pay a visit to the Health Fair in Fuenlabrada ;)