5 Incredibly Healthy Foods That Taste Like Ice Cream

Summer is finally here, and nothing beats the heat quite like a fresh scoop of ice cream. But, if you are lactose intolerant or trying to abide by a healthier lifestyle, a churned mash of refined sugar and cream may not be the best thing for you. Never fear! Here are 5 incredibly healthy foods that actually taste like ice cream!

Frozen bananas.

Commonly known as “one-ingredient ice cream,” frozen bananas, when thrown into a food processor, develop the thick, creamy consistency of soft serve ice cream. Toss in a little cocoa powder and nut butter to combine with the banana’s inherent sweetness to create a crazy delicious and healthy peanut butter cup “ice cream” treat. It’s a treat that both the intolerant and steadfast ice-cream-o-philes will adore. 

Coconut milk.

If you are lactose intolerant, frozen coconut milk mimics traditional ice cream beautifully. You could even pop coconut cream into an ice cream maker along with additional flavorings and get similar results as you would with cream, except for the wonderful addition of a light coconut flavor. Plus, the healthy fats in coconut milk are known to assist with weight loss and metabolism. Eat ice cream and keep a trim tummy? Yes, please!

Strawberries.

Or, really any berries for that matter. Pop a cup of frozen berries in the blender with a little greek yogurt and raw honey and viola – a healthy and refreshing treat! Realistically, this is more of a frozen yogurt than ice cream, but hey, it’s creamy and cold and full of berries! Who cares?

Cashew cream.

Similar to coconut milk, soaked cashews, when blended with water, create a naturally sweet cream. For a basic icy alternative, blend it with soaked dates/maple syrup and vanilla, freeze, stirring occasionally, and you’ve got yourself a plant-based ice cream that tastes absolutely delicious. Or, perhaps more easily, pop it all into the food processor with frozen fruit to make creamy soft serve.

Kale smoothie.

You read correctly. All it takes is a little kale, soaked cashews, frozen bananas, dates, vanilla, and ginger. Stuff it all in your favorite blender and watch the miracle ensue! How healthy and delicious does that sound?

You’re Drinking S**t If You’re Ordering From These Fast Food Restaurants

If there were ever a reason to quit eating fast food, this would be the perfect one.

An investigation from BBC One’s watchdog team has revealed that they have found traces of bacteria from fecal matter in the ice served at McDonalds, Burger King and KFC in the U.K.

The Liverpool Echo reports that scientists sampled the ice from ten random branches of each fast food chain to determine whether the ice contained coli-forms that indicates contamination from bacteria.

The disturbing results revealed that seven out of 10 KFC locations had fecal bacteria in its ice and six out of 10 Burger King restaurants revealed the same findings. It only gets worse for KFC and BK, as five and four of its locations, respectively, have “significant” amounts. Meanwhile, McDonald’s had the lowest results with only three out of the 10 tested locations had contaminated ice.

Tony Lewis, the Head of Policy and Education at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health gave his take on the findings in a statement given to the Echo. “It’s extremely worrying. When we’re finding the sorts of numbers we’re finding here, you have to look at the people making the ice, handling the ice, which they then transfer into customers’ drinks.

“And then you also have to look at hygiene failure with potentially the machines themselves: are they being kept clean?”

Spokesmen from KFC, Burger King and McDonalds each gave statements on the horrific findings.

“We are shocked and extremely disappointed by these results,” said the KFC spokesperson. “We have strict procedures for the management and handling of ice, including daily and weekly inspections and cleaning of the ice machine and storage holds, as well as the routine testing of ice quality across our business.”

“Cleanliness and hygiene are a top priority for the Burger King® brand,” said the Burger King spokesperson. “The strict procedures we have in place are designed to ensure all Guests have a positive experience each time they visit our restaurants. We are proactively working with our franchisees in the U.K. to reinforce these procedures. This report is an opportunity for us to emphasize our training procedures and ensure all operations and safety standards are upheld in all Burger King® restaurants.”

The McDonald’s spokesperson stated, “We have robust procedures in place with regard to the production, storage and handling of ice in our UK restaurants. Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people and we will continue to review our procedures and training, working closely with our restaurant teams to ensure those procedures are adhered to at all times.

They added: “As the investigation highlights, there are no specific ice production standards in place, only those relating to unfrozen drinking water. We would therefore welcome the introduction of an agreed standard and would be happy to work with relevant industry bodies.”

If it is this bad in the U.K., who knows what the bacteria is like at these same restaurants in the United States.

5 Reasons To Have Eggs For Breakfast

Most people prefer to eat eggs for breakfast because they are easy to make and also can be cooked quickly. However, other than these conveniences, there is also a lot of nutrition value in eggs. Some very specific things about eggs make it the perfect breakfast for you. If you do not like eggs or think that eggs will make you fat; then please reconsider. Eggs for breakfast is the healthiest way to begin your day.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So here are some reasons why you should eat a king size breakfast of eggs to start your day. The following nutritional aspects of eggs make it your ideal morning meal.

Energy Booster: What do you need the most early in the morning when you are still lazy? Lots of energy. Eggs can give you that boost of energy that help you go through the rest of the day. The egg yolk has a lot of healthy fats that make that is storehouse of energy. For best results, eat boiled egg yolk.

Proteins To Strengthen You: You need not only energy but also the strength to carry on with your work for the rest of the day. Egg white has protein called albumin. Having albumin early in the morning helps your body absorb lots of proteins. If you have been working out, it will help build your muscles.

Eggs Help You Lose Weight: Contrary to popular notions. Having eggs for breakfast does not lead to weight gain. Studies done at the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre, in Louisiana USA have found that a breakfast of eggs helps you lose weight. This is because high protein foods are natural suppressant of hunger. You can go on protein bar for days without feeling the urge to eat. Have water poached eggs and soft boiled eggs to keep it low fat.

Eggs Keep You Full: Eggs are actually very filling meals. If you have an an omelette made of 2 eggs in the morning, you will not feel hungry till lunch. This stops you from snacking on unhealthy things in between meals

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Eggs Improve Brain Power: Apart from strength and energy, you also need a sharp brain to make you successful. The nutrition of egg helps your brain sharpen itself. Choline is nutrient present in eggs that stimulates the brain into action. It helps improve memory and better cognitive reasoning. That is why it is good for kids to have eggs for breakfast.

6 Foods That Make You Hungrier

It doesn’t matter how much you fill up on certain foods, you never seem to feel satiated. It has learned over the years that whole foods fill you up and processed, junk foods can bring on the pangs of hunger as if you didn’t eat anything at all. This results from the fact that much of the nutrient density is depleted in processing.

And no matter how much your will power attempts to hold strong, certain foods are addictive. No matter how bad they make you feel, you just can’t stop.

What are these foods? What foods should you avoid when you’re trying to get the most for your hunger buck?

1. Chewing Gum

Chewing gum stimulates the gastric juices, producing saliva. According to Faddiets.com the saliva that is produced while chewing goes down to the stomach and fools the stomach into thinking there is food to be digested, making you hungrier.

2. Diet Soda

While the label may read “diet,” don’t be fooled. Studies prove that diet soda makes you hungrier.

“Artificial sweeteners could have the effect of triggering appetite but unlike regular sugars they don’t deliver something that will squelch the appetite,” Sharon Fowler, obesity researcher at UT Health Science Center at San Diego and a co-author on both of these studies, told the Daily Mail, seen on CBS News. According to Fowler, sweeteners could inhibit brain cells that make you feel full.

3. High Fructose Corn Syrup

While the commercials claim that it’s fine in moderation, the truth is that the whole problem with high fructose corn syrup in the first place, is that moderation is seemingly impossible.

The syrup interferes with the body’s metabolism so that a person can’t stop eating. It’s truly hard to control cravings because high fructose corn syrup slows down the secretion of leptin in the body. Leptin is a crucial hormone in the body that tells you that you’re full and to stop eating.

4. Frozen Dinners

Frozen dinners, especially diet frozen dinners, often don’t have enough calories to fill you up. Additionally, there isn’t enough roughage, specifically, fresh fruits and vegetables to expand in your stomach. If you’re going to eat frozen meals, do it rarely and make sure you accompany the meals with a salad or cut up fruits and vegetables.

5. Pastries and Baked Goods

Pastries, though ooey, gooey, and delicious do little to fill you up. White sugar and flour has no fiber or nutrients. They send you through the roof and then you come crashing down much hungrier than you were before. And it’s a pretty fast process. Choose baked goods made with ancient whole grains and as little sugar as possible.

6. Sugary Breakfast Bars

Unless breakfast bars are loaded with protein and minimally sweetened, they might as well be a pastry. High processed and sugary, these guys may seem like a shortcut but in reality, you’ll just need another meal anyway. While today you can find some high quality, organic meal bars in stores, it’s still better to make breakfast. Consider oats with fruit, honey, peanut butter, and coconut milk instead–a much better way to start your day.

Is Coconut Oil Really as Unhealthy as ‘Beef Tallow and Butter’?

Nothing makes headlines like a fall from grace. The statement released recently by the American Heart Association reiterating its position that coconut oil is not healthy has stirred health reporting to a state of near-frenzy. “Coconut oil isn’t healthy. It’s never been healthy,” intoned USA Today. And more vividly, from the BBC: Coconut oil is “as unhealthy as beef tallow and butter.”

Much hinges, of course, on how one defines “healthy.” The recent AHA statement (which was not based on new research, but a summary reading of existing studies) notes that the saturated fat in coconut oil may raise overall cholesterol levels, including levels of so-called bad LDL cholesterol. It recommends consuming corn and peanut oil instead, citing research that doing so can lower cholesterol as much as using statins.

But not all cardiologists agree that high cholesterol is a primary driver of heart disease. According to Mimi Guarneri, MD, who spoke with Experience Life about heart health in 2016, “Studies have shown that 80 percent of the time, people who have heart attacks have the exact same total cholesterol as people who never have a heart attack.” 

Guarneri and other functional-medicine health providers believe an  on cholesterol as the cause for heart disease is both misguided and dangerous, mainly because it ignores all other contributing factors, including an inflammatory diet, exposure to environmental toxins, and stress and tension, which often play a significant role.

“Elevated cholesterol is just a symptom,” functional practitioner Michael Stone, MD, told Experience Life. He seeks the underlying causes for a patient’s elevated cholesterol counts because it can spring from many different sources, including inflammation in the body. The body produces its own cholesterol for a variety of purposes (it’s a precursor for sex hormones, among other things), and if it’s producing too much, cutting back on dietary consumption won’t solve the underlying problem.

Guarneri also points out that there’s no “bad” cholesterol, but “it’s what happens with cholesterol that’s the problem.” If it gets oxidized in the body due to oxidative stress from insulin resistance or exposure to toxins or a long-simmering infection, then it can damage the heart.

Finally, some health professionals warn that replacing whole-food fats like coconut oil with refined vegetables oils (like corn oil) can increase inflammation, as these unstable fats quickly become rancid, which can contribute to more oxidized cholesterol in the body.

So has anything about the understanding of coconut oil really changed with the AHA statement? Not so much. Along with its saturated-fat profile, coconut oil still contains medium-chain fatty acids that are good for insulin regulation. As neurologist Terry Wahls, MD, points out in her Facebook response to the AHA statement, it’s still a fat that has been cooked with for centuries by Asian cultures who have notably low rates of heart disease and dementia. It still promotes satiety and tastes good. Like any nutrient-dense food, you need some of it. And this, by now, should not be news.

Low Carb or Low Fat? It Doesn’t Make a Difference.

Ten years ago, a study was published comparing the results of four popular diets – the Atkins (low carb), Zone (low carb), Ornish (vegan/low fat), and LEARN (high carb/low fat) – among 311 women. It found a huge difference between weight lost and gained. For example, some women lost 55 pounds, while others gained 20 pounds. How could this be?

Christopher Gardner, the nutrition scientist behind the study, decided to examine this question further, hypothesizing that the issue is not with figuring out which diet is best, but determining which diet is best for each person. It’s not a stretch, when you consider how unique one’s genetic makeup, microflora, hormone responses, and lifestyle is. From the abstract:

“Rather than seeking to determine if one dietary approach was better than the other for the general population, this study sought to examine whether greater overall weight loss success could be achieved by matching different people to different diets.”

The results from Gardner’s DIETFITS study came out several months ago and have been analyzed by registered dietitian/nutritionist Carrie Dennett for the Washington Post. She praises the study for being “real world” and “sustainable” – something that participants could realistically continue doing for the rest of their lives. 

Dennett writes:

Because there’s no standard definition of “low-fat” or “low-carb,” Gardner asked the 609 participants to aim for 20 grams of carbs or fat, depending on their diet assignment. After a few weeks, they could adjust upward if needed. [He told them:]

“Please help define for the American public what is low-carb and low-fat, not just lower. What’s the lowest you can tolerate so you can look us in the eye and say, at the end of this period, ‘Yeah, I think that this place where I ended up is something I could do for the rest of my life’. ”

The low-fat group ate whole grains, legumes, low-fat organic milk, and lean meats. The low-carb group ate nut butters, coconut and olive oils, avocado, hard cheeses, eggs, and grass-fed meats. All were told to eat vegetables all day long, while minimizing refined flour and sugar.

Fascinatingly, at the end, there was no difference between the two diet types.

“The average weight loss for each group only differed by about two pounds, and each group had individuals who lost 65 pounds and others who gained 20 pounds. Neither group had an advantage when it came to metabolism slowing or fat loss vs. loss of lean muscle. The hypothesis that people who had insulin resistance (cells that resist insulin’s cue to take up glucose from the bloodstream) would do best on the low-carb diet, while those who did not would do better on a low-fat diet? That turned out not to be universally true. There was no pattern based on genetic makeup, either. Analysis based on participants’ gut microbiotas is pending.”

So, really, this suggests that neither low-carb nor low-fat is a magical formula. Either can work, in theory, depending on what you fill that dietary void with. (This is where many people go wrong, turning to overly processed or refined foods to feel satiated, rather than seeking out healthier alternatives.)

Gardner thinks that much of the study’s lasting success comes from prioritizing satiation, not cutting calories, and teaching participants how to satisfy their hunger in a healthy, wholesome way. Also, he believes that people’s attitudes toward food shifted. They cooked more food from scratch and purchased fresh ingredients – simple steps that can be real game-changers. There was also a focus on attaining satiation, not cutting calories, and knowing how to satisfy one’s hunger in a healthy way.

Michael Pollan’s advice is as relevant as ever: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” And, as one commenter wisely added, “A variety of plants, mostly unprocessed, and mostly food you make yourself.”

PLA plans war games instead of military parade on 90th anniversary

Xi Jinping heads the Central Military Commission (CMC) which is the overall command for the PLA

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) will hold war games instead of usual military parade to showcase its military might on the world's largest standing force's 90th anniversary next week, a media report said on Monday.

President Xi Jinping, who is also the overall commander of the 2.3 million-strong army, has ordered war games over military parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the PLA on August 1, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

Xi is expected to attend the drills in full battle uniform, it said.

He will be the special guest at China's biggest annual war games at Asia's largest military training base, the Post quoted officials as saying.

President Xi will make his first known visit to the Zhurihe Combined Tactics Training Base, 400-km northwest of Beijing in Inner Mongolia, to observe war games involving cyberwarfare, special troops, army aviation and electronic countermeasures, the daily said quoting PLA sources.

"There had been speculation the anniversary would be marked by a parade in Beijing, but Xi, who as chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), has been pushing the PLA to modernise, will instead be guest of honour at Zhurihe to see how that effort is progressing," it said.

"There will not be a military parade on Tiananmen Square in Beijing on August 1 as rumoured, but a full-scale, head- to-head military manoeuvre in Zhurihe to celebrate the armys birthday," a military insider told the Post, adding that Xi would observe the war games from the base?s command centre.

He said a squadron of Chinas first stealth fighter, the J-20, which went into service with the PLA Air Force in March, was very likely to feature.
"All participant units will grab this opportunity to show off state-of-the-art development," he said.

"The full-scale military manoeuvre will test the PLAs capability to integrate and coordinate land forces, army aviation, the newly established rocket force, strategic support units and logistics between different troops, with more hi-tech weapons being displayed," the official said.

The planned war games coincide with over a month-long standoff between Chinese and Indian troops in the Dokalam area in the Sikkim sector.

Chinese and Indian soldiers have been locked in a face- off in the disputed area in the southernmost part of Tibet in an area also claimed by Indian ally Bhutan after Indian troops stopped the Chinese army from building a road in the area.

Besides Dokalam, China is also concerned by the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile by the US in South Korea despite its opposition.

"The war games this year were supposed to be the biggest ever to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the PLA, but developments on Chinas borders, such as the current military stand-off between Chinese and Indian troops in the Himalayas and Pyongyangs missile tests, may affect its scale," the daily quoted the military insider as saying.

The PLA was founded on August 1, 1927 when the Communist Party of China (CPC) under the leadership of Mao Zedong carried on with his national liberation movement.
It is one of the rare national armies which still continues to function under the leadership of the CPC and not the Chinese government.

Xi heads the Central Military Commission (CMC) which is the overall command for the PLA.

Xi who heads the CPC, the presidency besides the military, has emerged as the most powerful leader holding all the three posts from the first day he came to power and carried out major reforms of the military as part of his plans to make it most modern force.

The massive drills has been kept as a secret as the PLA which held a media briefing here today on its 90th anniversary celebrations has not announced the programme of celebrations.
The biggest military parade in China's modern history was held in Beijing on September 3, 2015, to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war.

"There is no sign any military parade will take place in Beijing because so far we have not seen any marching training inside or outside the capital," Beijing-based military expert Li Jie told the Post, adding that such training always started several months before a parade.

Retired PLA major general Xu Guangyu said live war games could be part of the PLA's birthday celebration.

Xu said the unscripted manoeuvres at Zhurihe would add authenticity to the army's training because the encounters would be closer to actual battles.

Macau-based military commentator Antony Wong Dong said that based on video footage and reports provided by state media, the scale of war games in Zhurihe had been closer to real battles in recent years, indicating the PLA ground forces determination to abandon its previous single force operation and move to joint operation involving different units.