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Ways of Making Sure Your Water is Safe for Cooking
Can you cook without water? Even if you want to avoid water, it’s near impossible. Water is a must-have component in the kitchen.
Urban dwellers have the privilege of access to water from the treatment plants. Their counterparts in remote villages gamble with other water sources, which may not be healthy.
All in all, they need it to make the sumptuous meal. The big question is, what kind of water do you use?
Is it safe from your culinary activities?
Water is a natural resource, depending on the area; most water is considered safe but, wait a minute.
When you have a hard water supply in a place, you may not have to experience soft water’s sweetness.
You need to go the extra mile in such areas and install a reverse osmosis system, which helps change hard water to soft water.
Naturally, you must ensure you have clean and safe water for home use. Otherwise, you may end up treating water-related illnesses now and then without an end.
The long term solution is to consider many options to filter water before it gets to your taps.
Before you choose the treatment plan, consider the following factors
- The kind of water relevant from the source
- Budget and costs involved
- Environmental assessment strategies
- Water control techniques in the plan
Here are a few water treatment options you should consider
- Filtration
The water filter system is the most effective and recommended way of manually removing impurities from water.
Best water filters should ensure no contaminants find their way to the taps.
In case you don’t know what to choose from the liberal market, then water filter pitcher reviews can give you the necessary guidance.
Filters have layers of sand, gravel, and crushed anthracite to ensure all impurities float in water for easy and safe removal.
- Fluoridation
Just as the name suggests, fluoridation uses fluoride ion concentration to a safe level, which won’t interfere with the dental cavities.
The only sensitive information you need is to ensure you conform to the state fluoridation standards.
- Disinfection
It is against the law for the treatment plant to supply water before you pass it through disinfection.
The water you use for cooking may not be heated, which is the sure way of removing impurities.
Therefore, you have many disinfectants in the market, but chlorine is also part of the process.
It creates a PH that naturally kills disease-causing organisms.
- Sedimentation
Sedimentation is part of water treatment options. It involves going through a sedimentation basin.
At this stage, the rate of water flow is the scientific concept behind flocculation. The heavy floc components always settle at the bottom of the basins.
At this point, they are then taken through the filtration process for the final water treatment option.
- Flocculation
As it’s also commonly known, coagulation involves the addition of alum, which is aluminum sulfate, to raw water.
The process coagulates the dust particles, which later settle at the bottom part- most of them are dirt particles.
As the process continues, they attach themselves and later form substantial particles which you can easily remove through the filtration process.
- Use of PH filtration process
Some bacteria and viruses cant throve in a specific PH, which is also fit for human consumption.
This is a process that includes the addition of lime to change the PH level of the water. It’s a natural process with no corrosion to taps.
Later it’s distributed to the fixtures. While cooking, the PH level, otherwise, you may have a problem with your food taste.
These look complex ways of making the water safe. It needs the experts to handle it.
However, as an individual, you may have clean and safe water on the taps, but how you handle it determines its overall safety on the cooking pots.
Here are a few ideas you can explore
- Always cover the water storage containers to prevent the entry of organisms
- Change water reservoirs to guarantee a constant supply of water
- Have separate pipes from the sewer line
- Check for any leakages that might interfere with your main water supply
- Get water supply form authorized and verified water supply companies
- Wash your foods with clean running water
With the scientific and straightforward ways of handling cooking water, you will keep water diseases at bay when you follow them to the latter.
Once you are in good health, you can cook recipes with fun and excitement now that you even have the appetite to eat the homemade meals.
If not, you’ll lack even the energy to try new recipes.
How to Make the Best Use of Your Kitchen Space
Most people primarily see the kitchen as a place for preparing home meals alone. As such, they see little to no reason to pay special attention to the kitchen. Some architects and home designers only carve out a small portion of the home to serve as the kitchen.
The kitchen, however, is an integral part of the home. A place you wind up at the end of a stressful day to cook yourself a hearty meal. Nothing feels as exhausting as a cluttered kitchen, especially those with a small space.
Irrespective of the architectural design of your kitchen, it’s possible to arrange it in a way that allows you sufficient space to make yourself those spicy meals. Here are some ideas:
1. Your Sink Takes Up Space
In a standard kitchen, you can use a double sink that makes doing your dishes easier. But when you’re managing space, a double sink becomes too much of a luxury.
Using a single sink would save you extra space, and serve the same purpose a double sink would do for you.
2. Build a Ceiling-High Cabinet
Installing a shorter cabinet would make it easy for everyone to reach the top of the shelve. But when space is more important, you can sacrifice some comfort.
There’s no need to reduce your cabinet by one foot when you can go all the way up to the ceiling. You can use a stool to make up for the height. A roof reaching cabinet will provide more extensive area space.
3. Use Baskets on Top of Your Shelve
If you can’t have a kitchen cabinet reaching the ceiling, consider using baskets to stack up some things on top of the shelve. The baskets would serve as extra storage space.
Put away all the kitchen clutter in your basket. Water bottles, plastic cups, small kitchen appliances, can all find their way into the basket and free up space for you.
4. Keep Your Kitchen Arranged
An organized kitchen makes cooking an enjoyable experience. An unorganized cooking area makes a few items take up all so much space.
Have a specific spot for everything in the kitchen. Set out a particular portion of your cabinet for your cutleries, the plates, the children’s cups, and anything else in there. An organized kitchen frees up space for you.
5. Prioritize Keeping the Kitchen Cool
Cooking raises the temperature of the space, even in a large kitchen. A small sized kitchen is worse as the whole place quickly gets all hot.
Use evaporative cooling systems, for instance, to ensure you maintain the kitchen at a conducive temperature while making yourself that your favorite meal.
Carefully consider all your cooling choices when planning a purchase, and go for one that’ll give you some kitchen space, and still serve its purpose. A ceiling-mounted system, for instance, would be a wiser alternative.
6. Use Wall Mounted Storage
The wall can serve for extra storage space, and provide additional room on the ground. Artworks on the wall would make your kitchen elegant, but when you need that extra space, you must make some adjustments.
Install wall hangers to hold up as much as you want on them. Hang your pots, towels, knives, and other kitchen equipment you put up on the wall.
7. Does the Kitchen Require a Door?
Are you wondering what a door has to do with your kitchen space? It takes up the area used for opening and closing.
The kitchen door is more about style than protection. It’s easy to take the gate out and provide additional storage space in there. You might find that space you need for your fridge when the door makes way.
8. Use Sticking Pegs
Behind each cupboard door, install sticking pegs to provide extra storage space. While the cupboard holds its usual contents, the pins give room for even extra stuff.
Split up some of your cooking spices, and store them in smaller packets, these packets can find their way hanging on those pegs behind the cupboard doors. It’ll be easier for you to pick each pack when you need to use them, and provide you with extra kitchen space.
Conclusion
Create all the space that’ll make your kitchen the source of refreshment for you. Invest in equipment and hardware that’ll make even the smallest of kitchen space spacious enough for even more than a single cook at a time.
Keto Diet Prep and Meal Planning Tips to Make Your Dieting Easier
The keto diet is a health craze.
The weight loss plan is increasingly gaining more popularity worldwide.
The keto diet is a low-carb, moderate-protein, high-fat diet formula. It limits carbs to allow burning and usage of body fat as fuel.
People on a diet have reported great results, especially in parts such as hips, the waistline, and thighs that often hold onto fat.
Combining the power of the unique nutritional ketosis and calorie restriction benefits, the diet offers a distinct way to enhance your general health through weight loss.
The keto diet sources most of its daily calories from fats. Fewer amounts of calories come from proteins such as:
- Fish
- Dairy
- Meat
- Eggs
The body ends up burning body fat for energy if it can’t depend on carbs for fuel. As a result, ketones acids buildup in the body, leading to a bodily state known as ketosis.
Studies show that a keto diet has several health benefits, including:
- Reduced waist circumference
- Reduced fat mass
- Lower fasting insulin levels
- Lowers some major risk factors for heart diseases such as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high blood pressure, and triglycerides.
People on a keto plan diet for a specific time change it after a while to feature less fat and more carbs.
According to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, a “well-formulated” keto diet consumes about 1.5 g of protein and less than 50 grams of carbs in every kilogram of body weight daily.
Meal planning is the key to adhering to the right macronutrient keto diet ratios, including fiber goals. It also controls hunger.
Keto diet meals mainly comprise of non-starchy veggies, plant and animal fats, and animal proteins.
Despite the transformative results of a keto diet, the keto lifestyle can be challenging. You need to plan ahead and prepare meals carefully. There’s also a need to plan for meals at home and in the office, including restaurant dine outs.
With the right tips, you can make keto dieting easier. Here’re tips to keep you focused and transition easily from fat-rich foods and proteins to grains, pasta, and sugar-rich fruits:
5 Tips to Keto Diet Meal Prep and Planning for Weight Loss
1. Get some professional help
Find a dietician, wellness coach, or doctor to help you stay focused and on track.
A professional can help with daily or weekly motivation and accountability to obtain stronger outcomes. A health coach is knowledgeable and can show you how to work with and not against your body.
Changing your habits isn’t easy, hence the need for professional help. Health coaching involves the adoption of evidence-based strategies and skillful conversation to engage you in behavioral change the healthy way.
Pro help also prevents nutritional deficiencies.
You can also get help from your friends, family, or social network if you can’t afford the services of a professional. This is key to sticking to your keto goals. Working with someone can also be fun and fosters friendships.
What’s more, it’s only with keto that you can enjoy eating a mouthwatering fat-rich rib-eye steak post-workout.
2. Download a keto app
Download a keto app for motivation, accountability, and access to keto resources on the go or from the comfort of your home.
An app such as Keto App or Carb Manager can help you stay focused and on track.
The apps register your height, weight, and goals related to your health to develop a personalized keto algorithm. You can track your daily exercise and beverage and food intake from your chosen keto app.
Log in your snacks, meals, and beverages to get personalized accountability, which gradually educates you on the correct foods to eat for great outcomes.
Apps also include shopping lists for easier grocery runs and recipes for inspiration.
3. Get essential keto equipment if necessary
You may need keto supplements to complement your meal plans. For instance, a keto low-carb protein powder is a great complement to your exercise plan.
On the other hand, exogenous ketone supplements ensure that each capsule will bring you closer to ketosis and meeting your keto diet goals.
An instant pot can streamline your cooking for quick cook times when working on a busy schedule.
Glass food containers for meal organization and easy prep. Glass is eco-friendly, and food containers help with organizing your refrigerator, atop being dishwasher- and microwave-safe.
Oven-safe containers make heating food easier.
A blender helps prepare rich, filling smoothies for perfect snacking or breakfast. Other essentials may include:
- A sharp chef’s knife
- Measuring cups and spoons
- A sturdy nonslip cutting board
- A cast-iron skillet
4. Choose the right keto resources and recipes
The internet is full of all the keto resources and recipes you may need.
Ranging from keto BBQ recipes to romantic keto recipes for Valentine’s Day to keto tailgating parties, there’s something for everyone.
You can even find keto cookbooks in hard or soft copies based on your preference. Good examples include Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto that highlights do’s and don’ts, shopping lists, and recipes.
Jen Fisch’s The Easy 5-Ingredient Ketogenic Diet Cookbook features easy weeknight meals based on just five ingredients for those living busy lifestyles.
5. Get organized and plan your meals in advance
Dietary restrictions mean that a keto diet may involve advanced meal planning. This means that you need to prepare well and get organized for each day or week in advance.
Outline your weekly recipes and prepare your meals to stay on top of your dieting game. Identify meals and create a shopping list to streamline your grocery shopping.
Food preparation may involve advance:
- Making tuna salad
- Steaming veggies
- Shredding chicken
Early food preparation makes your mealtimes fast and easier.
Opt for meal kits suited to your dietary needs if you’re too busy to cook or go for grocery shopping.
Plan on keto-friendly meals to order at fast-food joints when going on a road trip. Check out restaurant menus in advance to choose keto-friendly meals before heading out to dine with family, colleagues, or friends.
Restaurants offer gluten-free, dairy-free, low-carb, and keto food options for their customers with special diet needs.
Otherwise, you can order salads with a protein such as a steak, chicken, or salmon with cheese. Make sure the dressing used in the salads is sugar and carb croutons free.
With the right resources and proper organization and planning, your keto goals become easier and more fun to accomplish.
How to Keep Your Kitchen Hazard-Free and Safe from Intruders
Your kitchen is the heart of your home.
It’s where you prepare hearty dishes for your family, spend time together, share memories, and even entertain guests.
But…
It can also be surprisingly dangerous.
Equipped with hot exposed surfaces, sharp knives, sizzling grease on pans, and pots of boiling water, it can easily become hazardous and dangerous. This explains the serious injuries thousands of Americans sustain in the kitchen.
What’s more, failing to safeguard your kitchen and the rest of your house leaves it vulnerable to thieves.
Whether you’re a veteran chef, an upcoming Martha Stewart, or just love cooking for your family, you have all the reasons to safeguard your kitchen from hazards and intruders.
Here’re tips to help you avoid injuries in the kitchen and make it burglar-proof:
12 Tips to a Safe and Hazard-Free Kitchen
1) Clean it up fast
With toddlers and teenagers around your kitchen, nagging about their meals, you can easily make spills in the kitchen.
Although spills are inevitable in the kitchen, make it a habit to clean them up as they occur to prevent accidents.
Even a drop of food or water can easily create a slipping hazard. This is truer about oil and grease from cooking sprays.
2) Install and test your smoke detector
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, most homeowners are unaware that failing to install smoke detectors doubles their homes’ risk to fires.
And…
The kitchen is the major cause of house fires.
Statistics indicate that over 150,000 fires from cooking equipment occur every year. With high risk of fires, early detection can help your household survive a house fire.
Install smoke detectors in your home and make sure you test them four times in a year for functionality. Moreover, they usually come as part of a larger security system further boosts the safety of your entire home.
3) Add a fire extinguisher to your kitchen
You’ll be surprised to know that a fire extinguisher is the most important gadget in your home.
Accidents usually occur unexpectedly. Although nobody wishes or plans for a fire, having a fire extinguisher within reach can save you a great loss.
Make sure you know how to use it and keep it where you can easily access it in case of a fire.
4) Understand fires to put them out
Fires thrive on oxygen. This means a pot cover or wet rag can easily smother it.
In case of grease fires, there’s need for special handling. Salt, baking soda or a pan cover can easily put out grease fires.
Unplug sockets in case of appliance fires such as microwave fires. Never use water to put out fires. Instead, use baking soda or a fire extinguisher.
As soon as a fire breaks out, call 911. Before the professionals arrive, do whatever you can to put out the fire before it spreads.
If you’re in doubt or don’t know what to do, evacuate your house immediately.
5) Be cautious with clothes and related accessories
Clothes and accessories are a cooking hazard.
Long hair and sleeves can catch fire, bracelets get caught on pot handles, and belt loops easily tug pan handles off stove tops.
Dress appropriately when cooking and make sure pan and pot handles are turned in at all times to keep them away from your children’s reach.
6) Keep the kitchen out of bounds for pets and kids
Cooking with your kids in the kitchen can be fun.
But…
Be cautious when having kids in the kitchen. Let them respect your cooking space to avoid injuries. Don’t leave your kids and pets unattended when your oven or stove is in use.
Even after turning off your stove and other cooking appliances, they’ll take time to cool down. Therefore, let your kids stay away to prevent burns.
The kitchen is out of bounds for all kinds of play. Keep toys off your kitchen floor to prevent tripping hazards. No pets are allowed to lounge on your kitchen floor.
Make your kitchen a no-go zone for your kids and pets.
However, you can still learn how to safely involve your kids in the kitchen if you want them to help out.
7) Be wary of steam
Over 100,000 Americans, according to BurnInjuryOnline.com, are treated for scald burns in emergency rooms every year.
Potential risks for scald burns include:
- Steam
- Hot water on-demand faucets
- Boiling water
- Hot beverages
A steam burn is usually serious and can be worse than burns from boiling water. Some ways steam presents danger in the kitchen include:
- Opening ‘steamable” packets
- Pulling plastic off wrapped food items from the oven
- Lifting lid off a boiling pot of food or water
Be cautious with boiling water as well as steam. And, teach your kids about these dangers and potential hazards.
8) Sanitize your kitchen surfaces
The kitchen harbors more bacteria than other rooms in the house.
Clean your kitchen surfaces with a solution of bleach and water as often as possible to kill germs. Use a 1:1 ratio to mix the solution or use pre-mixed kitchen sanitizer sprays.
Some items to sanitize include:
- Cutting boards – clean after each use
- Dishrags and sponges – zap them in the microwave for a couple of minutes or stash in hot water daily. Change the rags often.
9) Invest in identity theft protection
In the modern age of technology, personal security is just as important as home security. If you use the internet, including social media and other platforms, you need to protect your identity online.
Identity theft protection solutions such as LifeLock are highly recommended for protection and restoration of your identity. The solutions also include plans for the entire family.
To make your kitchen and home burglar-proof, do the following:
10) Burglar proof your front door
11) Reinforce sliding glass doors and windows for added security
12) Install security lights
We hope you’ll find these tips handy in making your kitchen hazard-free and burglar-proof.
Healthy Diet: 5 Food Types that Enhances your Emotional Health
Naturally, people eat to improve their physical health. Little attention is given to foods that specifically enhance your feelings, thoughts, and mood- emotional health.
There is no scientific evidence of foods that reduce brain activity, but vice versa is documented by researchers.
Just as you take care of your physical well being, equally, you need to work on your emotional health, for they go hand in hand with overall health.
How do you know you have good emotional health?
- When you successfully process and deal with any negative emotions that upset you
- The moment you have high curiosity levels with positive reactions to it
- Can exercise self-judgment, compassion and self-love for personality evaluation
- If you can sail through a storm- financial or emotional-without including emotions in judgment
Handling your emotions involve a collective responsibility in behavior and the foods that you eat. There is a thin line between emotional health and mental health.
Once you take foods that enhance brain activity as well as improve your psychological feeling, then you are on the right road to proper mental and emotional health.
Some of the foods include fruits and vegetables, which are better taken when raw to ensure you get maximum nutrients. In case you opt to cook them, take care of the mode of preparation.
You need to wash the vegetables whether you cook or just eat them as they are. Some go a notch higher than others by washing them with warm or hot water.
It’s advisable to invest in tankless water heaters to save on electricity and to hasten the process. If you lack an idea of what’s best, then look at the following heater on the market.
Which are these foods and their specific nutrients?
- Nuts and seafood
Nuts and seafood contain Omega 3 renowned for proper brain functioning according to a study by the British Psychiatry department. The healthy fat in these foods helps to hasten brain development even in adults to fight anxiety and depression.
Once the brain has full control of emotions, positive and negative feelings, then you are confident to say you have reasonable emotion control—a clear explanation of proper emotional health.
- Vegetable oils and fat
Health experts warn people to avoid fats, but they are never specific on the specific fat to avoid in excess. Plant oils like in Avocado have Oleic acid– a fatty component –which supports proper brain functioning, giving you the power to have control of your cognitive function.
As mentioned earlier, your emotional health begins from the brain. Once it’s working at optimum levels, then you are sure you are in good emotional health too. They are also found in dairy products, sunflower seeds, olives, eggs, among others.
- Green leafy vegetables
The color of the food is not just for aesthetic value but has a specific function in terms of nutrients and macronutrients when it comes to cell operations in the body. In specific to emotional health, these food types help in the oxidation process, which enhances metabolism and reduction of body inflammation.
The ripple effect of this is the production of hormones responsible for happiness. As long as you are happy, then you have control of everything that goes around you. Have you seen people who overreact to even small situations?
There is a possibility there are not in good mental health. Either they are using drugs or foods that suppress these hormones.
- Mushrooms
The two benefits of mushrooms to mental health include first its ability to lower the blood sugar level. High blood sugar increases the level of anxiety- poor mental health. Secondly, mushroom works directly on the central nervous system to bring a calming effect, thus changing the thought patterns to a positive angle.
Apart from that, it brings about a sharp mental focus, attention, and general brain acuity. This is part of the body that controls all your feelings and thoughts. Once it in a state of stable health –healthy mind-then, you are sure of a more focused and reasonable individual.
- Fruits and vegetables
When looking for a weight loss diet, fruits and vegetables never miss on the list. The weight is also responsible for boosting your self-esteem and confidence level, a personal attribute most people strive to achieve.
Fruits have a variety of nutrients and macronutrients responsible for different brain functions. It decreases the risk of developing stress, anxiety, and depression. Once all these are kept at bay, then you can say you are in a state of mental stability –“sane.”
Fruits contain various vitamin types that help in the repair of worn-out tissues. The improvement in immune response means hastens the healing process of minor ailments and inflammation.
This is one way of improving your thoughts, feelings, and mood. Are you happy when faced with an ailment?
The food type help increases your appetite compromised by the ailments and further fastens the healing process. Within no time, you are in good physical and emotional health.
As much as we advocate for food as a natural remedy to treat brain malfunctioning, they shouldn’t replace conventional medicine when dealing with a brain disorder. They only work when all other body functions work at optimum levels. If not, stick to the prescribed medicine and use the foods as a way of enhancing your health in general.
Its evident food plays a significant role in the state of your psychological and physical health. Anything you do whether work-related or just activities that involve decision making, your state of emotional health plays a significant role.
Take good care of it by whichever means possible; the results are evident even in your behavioral and lifestyle patterns.
Dieting & Weight Loss: 4 Popular Diets to Help You Lose Weight
Diets help with weight loss.
Ranging in some type of diet focuses on calories, fat, or carbs restriction, while others reduce appetite to help you cut weight.
However, every diet claims to be superior, making it difficult to choose what’s best for your unique needs for weight loss.
No two diets are the same, even if they both focus on reducing appetite or restricting calories. This means that no single diet can work for two people with the same needs.
A diet that works for your weight loss needs may not work for others.
Over half of all Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), try to lose weight every year.
Change your diet to lose weight.
With hundreds of diet plans on the market, choosing the best weight loss diet tailored to your unique needs isn’t easy. It’s difficult to choose the most sustainable, suitable, and effective diet for you.
Diets that focus on lowering your appetite reduce the amount of food you consume to cut weight. On the other hand, some diets restrict your calories, fat, or carbs intake to support weight loss.
Apart from weight loss, various diets have the following benefits:
- Lowers the risk of developing cancer
- Prevents stroke and improves hearth
- Manages diabetes and better gut health
- Secures the health of the next generation
- Fosters the development and strong teeth and bones
- Improved memory and mood
- Better sleep
Top 4 Popular Weight Loss Diets for You
- The HCG diet
For fast weight loss, the HCG diet can help you lose up to 2 pounds or 0.45kg each day.
The diet improves metabolism and supports the loss of excess fats. It doesn’t make you hungry.
The human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) hormone is high at the onset of pregnancy. It’s responsible for telling your body that you’re pregnant. It maintains the production of important hormones that drive the development of the fetus and treats infertility.
The HCG diet is made up of three phases. The first involves taking HCG supplements while the second an ultra-low-calorie diet of just 500 calories daily taken with HCG supplement pellets, drops, sprays, or injections. This is the phase where you lose weight and takes about 3 to 6 weeks.
In the third phase, HCG intake is stopped, and food slowly reintroduced.
Although the diet causes weight loss, studies have attributed that to the ultra-low-calories diet.
The HCG hormone doesn’t reduce hunger.
- The Ketogenic diet
The keto diet is a high-fat, low-carb diet. Its popularity in the health and fitness community points to its range of benefits. The diet increases energy, promotes weight loss, and enhances cognitive function and longevity.
Based on keto supplements, the diet reduces your appetite to promote weight loss. It also improves your athletic performance and alacrity.
Several studies have linked the diet to significant weight loss. Based on the study findings, it is a good idea to lose weight naturally for effective results.
- The Atkins diet
Eliminate carbs from your diet. The Atkins diet is a popular low-carb diet for weight loss. It allows you to consume as much fat and protein as you want.
The low-carb diet lowers your appetite for food, explaining its efficacy. As a result, you eat fewer calories without putting so much thought into it.
The diet is divided into four phases, the first being an induction phase. It involves consuming less than 20 grams of carbohydrates daily for up to a couple of weeks.
The phases that follow slowly reintroduce healthy carbohydrates into your diet. This occurs as you’re about to attain your weight loss goals.
Unlike low-fat diets, studies show that the Atkins diet leads to faster weight loss. Low-carb diets are also the most effective against belly fat.
- The Paleo diet
Based on the foods that your ancestors who gathered and hunted food ate, the Paleo diet fights diseases linked to the Western diet, including intake of dairy, grains, and processed foods.
Although the foods included in the diet are debatable, whether they’re what your ancestors ate, the diet has great health benefits.
The diet focuses on lean protein, whole foods, fruits, seeds, nuts, veggies, etc. It discourages the consumption of processed foods, dairy, sugar, and grains.
However, some flex versions of the diet include tubers such as sweet potatoes and potatoes and dairies such as butter and cheese.
Various studies have linked the Paleo diet to greatly-reduced waist size and weight loss.
Chef’s Corner: Security and Safety Habits of Successful Chefs
Staying on top of our careers as chefs can be challenging. We get so entwined with the experience that we forget what the clock says. We’re so busy thinking out a million and one ways to captivate the taste buds of many.
Well, it’s part of why we signed up for “chef-hood.” But no one, no matter the career, should be too busy for security and safety. Most times, we receive super-hero treatment for our craftsmanship. I guess that’s deserving considering how delicate our profession is. It’s not an easy feat transforming human moods with our mastery in meals. But there’s more than just cookery and food.
The 21st Century Chef, More than Just a Chef
We’re in a century where technology is changing every professional behavior. Successful professionals are leveraging technology to get ahead. Our industry isn’t exempt from this change. As chefs, we can enjoy the benefits of networking, professional exposure, financial transactions, and career growth via the internet. But the internet can be a wild place. Hence, it’s useful to rethink how to be safe and secure with our possessions while practicing our craft.
In this age, there are severe consequences for loose safety and security practices. We can’t leave trails of our credit card passwords, including professional and personal social media accounts.
The thing is, you’d always need to transact online or enter your pins on several websites. You’ll want to engage your audience on social media with your cooking craft. So, think of what it’ll feel like when, one day, you open you try logging on to your Facebook or Twitter accounts and boom! You discover you’re unable to log on.
Every day, innocent internet users fall prey to identity theft criminals and credit card fraudsters. So I thought about this scenario and imagined how chefs could play safe.
Today, the internet is becoming a propeller of professional success—our profiles on LinkedIn, and other social accounts matter. That’s why we need to be secure ourselves from identity theft. No one is immune to these security attacks. Chefs shouldn’t get just their craft right; they need to adapt to high-level safety and security cultures.
I’m so fascinated by the prospect of discussing this topic with you.
So, for now, pause on discovering cooking hacks as I share tips that can help you recover any compromised financial account, passwords, or hacked social media profiles. Hopefully, after reading this article, you’d be able to improve your security on any of your assets that require an internet connection.
Staying Safe the Chef-style in an Internet Age
As a chef, the safety of your identity marks the essence of your professional career. Everyone trusts you with their stomachs. A loose security culture can damage your professional and financial integrity. A stranger can pretend to be you online and extort your clients. Identity theft can harm your finance and social identity. Most times, identity thieves part ways with hard-earned money because of the trails we’ve left online.
You can be 100% cautious of the information you share online and anywhere. Understand why a website is requesting your credit card details, home address, or social media passwords. A small document left on your table can reveal much. Carry as much cash as you’d need as this would minimize stops at the ATM.
We can avoid anything that might jeopardize our security and identity safety. You can maximize identity protection tools to stay safe in this internet age.
You can install them on your Android and iPhones. An example is Identity Guard, which shuts down phishing websites that try to steal your data. Its anti-phishing tools block out suspicious attempts on your browsers. What other reasons do you need to have an identity protection software installed?
Your browser is your window to the online professional world. It connects you to your official chef social media pages, your LinkedIn profile, your document drive storage. Your credit card passwords are probably auto-saved on them.
Many identity security services like ID Shield do more than just identity protection. They cover issues on credit score tracking, hijacked account recovery, dark web surveillance, private investigation, financial account monitoring, and other security services.
It’s hard trying to recover from a fraud incident or identity theft situation. So think prevention. What you should look out for are tools that can protect your cash and other personal information.
ID Shield offers prevention first. So rather than become a victim, it sends you alerts when someone is trying to access your personal information.
You might be at a gig or job. An IDShield staff would contact you to confirm the breach, just in case an identity theft may have occurred. A recovery unit will work on your case, and you’d get a licensed private investigator. Your investigator would collaborate with government and financial institutions to ensure they reprimand the thief. Finally, you’d recover your stolen identity with the stolen assets. Other identity security solutions include Identity Force and Zander.
Security While Away
Safety and security don’t have to be limited to your phone. You can extend the services to the rest of your family. The likes of LifeLock hold a database of sex offenders. This service also offers family plans and insurance coverage on the loss of items.
If you’re a parent, LifeLock is highly recommended for its extensive fraud and identity recovery services. You can also explore family protection features. So while you’re away at work, you can be sure everything is under control. There are limitations to the kind of content your kids can access over the internet. You’d receive alerts on any attempt to breach your finance or privacy online. If you run your own business as a chef, then there’s more to benefit.
The features are equally useful for running background checks on your staff or potential hire.
Conclusion
To retain our super chef status, we must never leave technology behind. It’s great to master the craft. But we can protect the legacy of our work by making security and safety a priority.
Perfect Diet Meals For Coffee Lovers
For people who love coffee coined coffee lovers, there is great news. As much as coffee is a very much needed source of energy in the mornings, it has been discovered that this caffeine product can really help in weight loss. Sounds too good to be true right? Well according to a nutritionist, coffee helps in bodybuilding and leads to loss of weight. The real explanation behind coffee reducing weight is the fact that it increases metabolism. Metabolism is a process in which food products are broken down to provide energy to the body. Coffee achieves this via a process of stimulating thermogenesis which helps in breaking down of fats in the body.
Coffee also contains chlorogenic acid (a type of polyphenol) that is able to slow down the process of absorbing carbohydrates and also it helps in the breakdown of fats. Carbohydrates when absorbed can be converted into glycogen fats. This is stored in cells and makes the person appear weight. In this case, when coffee is used it slows down the absorption of carbohydrates meaning only essential amounts are absorbed so there is no excess to be converted into fats.
Despite coffee having these magical properties, don’t go around gobbling jugs of coffee yet. It turns out that our human bodies later develop resistance to these properties of coffee if we overuse it Therefore, it is recommended that we only drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning to achieve the desired results of metabolism reduction properties of coffee. According to a study (Nordestgaard, 2015) conducted on 93,000 subjects, it was observed that coffee reduces the risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes and lowers the risk of a person becoming obese. It is important to note that weight reduction in coffee usage is linked only to black coffee.
Black coffee is known to have low amounts of calories and higher levels of antioxidants. The coffee and butter diet which is basically a double espresso that is eventually blended into a thick froth with each a tablespoon of Kerrygold butter in coffee each and coconut oil is the new coffee craze. The new fad whose fans explain that it comprises of several ingredients is said to increase mental focus, reduce body weight and also burns extra calories. It also leaves you full for the whole half of the day. But, nothing comes without a cost. Newbies into this fad have explained instances of nausea and diarrhea.
For black coffee, it is recommended to have at least a cup of coffee for half an hour or an hour before conducting your exercises. This is a great way of boosting how efficient your workout is It is also said that the effects of coffee in our bodies last for around 3 to 4 hours meaning we can space our black coffee during the day much more comfortable. Finally, low calorie soy milk is recommended as an additive to black coffee if you do not proffer the black color of the beneficial black coffee. It also does not jeopardize your weight loss mission at all.
Almond milk
Today I prepared almond milk for the first time. It is very simple and an ideal substitute for cow’s milk. It does not contain cholesterol or lactose, just 40 calories in a glass and has as much calcium as cows. The taste is excellent!
Here is the step by step:
- The bleached almonds (without skin) are soaked in water. The proportion is, for each cup of almond, 4 cups of water. The longer the better, minimum 1 hour, maximum 8
- Crush or blend for about two minutes
- It is squeezed using a gauze cloth. Type those to make cheese
- It is flavored with vanilla, cinnamon or nutmeg. It is sweetened with honey or agave.
- With the leftover pulp you can make a kind of “humus”, breads, cookies, etc. It can be used fresh immediately or dehydrated (in the oven at very low temperature)