Health and Fitness Tips

Great Shakes!What’s the real difference between sea salt and the saltshaker variety? For one, sea salt lacks additives like anticaking agents that produce a bitter, “off” flavour. Sea salt is also richer in minerals like magnesium (although it doesn’t have iodine). And perhaps because sea salt isn’t processed, it tends to have a truer, saltier taste. This means you can use less of it to get the same level of saltiness in a dish, and your heart will certainly thank you for that. Use it sparingly and as a final seasoning for flavour and texture.


Is Drinking Too Much Tea Harmful?
Only if you drink it 24x7. Sure, tea is chockfull of cancer-fighting, cholesterol-lowering, heart-disease preventing goodness. But it also has tannins and phytates, which bind to iron present in fortified cereals, meat, and multivitamins in your stomach and reduce the amount you absorb from food by up to 70 per cent. Because of that, many reports have suggested that drinking tea could be dangerous for women of childbearing age or anyone who’s anemic.
As long as you’re not drinking more than four 200ml cups a day, though, there’s no reason to worry. If you’re a vegetarian, however, you may be better off drinking tea only between meals, because iron from vegetables is poorly absorbed to begin with. An easy way to have your tea and your iron, too: Eat vitamin C-rich foods like leafy greens or citrus fruit as often as you can; the nutrient blocks tea’s iron-binding substances.
Eat More Fibre And Reap Bigger Rewards
Adding 5 or more grams of fibre to your daily diet can cut your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity by up to 30 per cent. That’s what French researchers concluded recently from a study on the eating habits of nearly 6,000 people. Ultimately, you should aim for 25 to 30 grams per day, experts say. How much is 30 grams in real-life terms? Start your day with oatmeal topped with banana and walnuts (12 grams), have a sandwich on whole-wheat bread for lunch (6 grams), and add a handful each of green peas, cauliflower, chopped lotus stem and leafy greens to your whole-wheat spaghetti for dinner (16 grams). Just don’t go overboard: Too much fibre can lead to bloating or cramps.