Medicine News

According to latest researches recommended daily calorie intakes to maintain a healthy weight, laid down 20 years ago, have been slightly on the low side.



In 1991 the Committee on the Medical Aspects of Food Policy (COMA) set out that the average man should be eating 2,550 calories daily, and the average woman 1,940.

After lengthy consultation, those have now been raised slightly - by a frugal 55 calories for men, but a comparatively generous 139 calories for women.

On a cold day (and we seem to have our fair share of these even in the summer), there is nothing worse than being on a diet and trying to think of something healthy to eat for lunch. We may be craving spaghetti bolognese but pasta isn't exactly the healthiest of lunches! Furthermore, sandwiches using low calorie bread just don’t seem to hit the spot and by early afternoon the stomach is invariably growling. Next time you’re stuck for inspiration why not try some healthy but hearty homemade soup? It’s easy to make a big batch and freeze some for later in the week and the variations are endless. If you prefer your soup smooth rather than chunky, a basic liquidiser or even a sieve is all you need.

You can find loads of recipes online, with the Schwartz website offering plenty of good ideas, but one of my favourites is red pepper and chilli. All you need is some chicken stock (made with stock cubes if you are in a hurry but stick to the low salt variety if you’re trying to be healthy), a couple of chopped red peppers, three or four tomatoes, a red chilli (minus the seeds if you are worried about it being too spicy) and an onion. Fry the vegetables in low fat spray oil, add the stock, cook until everything is soft and then blend. A dash of chilli sauce can be added when you serve the soup to give it an extra kick.

If you’re not keen on peppers, then tomato and basil is another easy and healthy combination. Carrots are another vegetable which lend themselves to soup making. Add the juice of an orange or coriander powder for a change.

For a real winter warmer, lentils go down a treat. There are lots of recipes on the internet for lentil soup but for one with a difference why not go Moroccan and use a little harissa paste?

All these soups, served with a chunk of bread, provide a healthy and filling lunch.

On a cold day (and we seem to have our fair share of these even in the summer), there is nothing worse than being on a diet and trying to think of something healthy to eat for lunch. We may be craving spaghetti bolognese but pasta isn't exactly the healthiest of lunches! Furthermore, sandwiches using low calorie bread just don’t seem to hit the spot and by early afternoon the stomach is invariably growling. Next time you’re stuck for inspiration why not try some healthy but hearty homemade soup? It’s easy to make a big batch and freeze some for later in the week and the variations are endless. If you prefer your soup smooth rather than chunky, a basic liquidiser or even a sieve is all you need.

You can find loads of recipes online, with the Schwartz website offering plenty of good ideas, but one of my favourites is red pepper and chilli. All you need is some chicken stock (made with stock cubes if you are in a hurry but stick to the low salt variety if you’re trying to be healthy), a couple of chopped red peppers, three or four tomatoes, a red chilli (minus the seeds if you are worried about it being too spicy) and an onion. Fry the vegetables in low fat spray oil, add the stock, cook until everything is soft and then blend. A dash of chilli sauce can be added when you serve the soup to give it an extra kick.

If you’re not keen on peppers, then tomato and basil is another easy and healthy combination. Carrots are another vegetable which lend themselves to soup making. Add the juice of an orange or coriander powder for a change.

For a real winter warmer, lentils go down a treat. There are lots of recipes on the internet for lentil soup but for one with a difference why not go Moroccan and use a little harissa paste?

All these soups, served with a chunk of bread, provide a healthy and filling lunch.

Want to know is a food you are going to eat high in fat? Just look at the label to see how much fat a food contains. Generally the label will say how many grams (g) of fat there are in 100g of the food. What's high and what's low?

High is more than 20g fat per 100g
Low is 3g fat or less per 100g

If the amount of fat per 100g is in between these figures, then that is a medium level of fat.

Saturated fat - what's high and what's low?

High is more than 5g saturates per 100g
Low is 1.5g saturates or less per 100g

If the amount of saturates per 100g is in between these figures, then that is a medium level of saturated fat.

Remember that the amount you eat of a particular food affects how much fat you will get from it.

Try to choose more foods that are low in fat and cut down on foods that are high in fat.

Everyone wants to keep fit and healthy, young and beautiful. We try sports, different diets and, of course, diet pills. But with diet pills we have got a huge problem: which pills to choose. We start asking our friends and relatives, we consult our physicians. Our behavior and our motives are easily understandable – we do not want to cause any damage to our health, we want to be fit and stay healthy. Nobody wants to be slim and at the same time to suffer from kidney or digestion problems. That is why it is so important to choose and buy the right diet pills. The pills that will keep you fit and that will not bring any harm to your health. How can one find out which diet pills to choose? The right answer is: to go to Diet Research. The Diet Research specialists have already consulted various medicine and diet experts, have checked the ingredients of different diet pills, and have researched many well-known medical journals in order to help you make the right choice and find your perfect diet pill.