Tips Diet Fast

Health of our immune system tells how long can we live and if that life will be healthy or not. Usually we dont take care of our immune system and only care for it when we are suffering from some disease. Its a strange fact but true that "We notice our body only when its unhealthy". When we are healthy we dont notice it. You might have not looked at the fingers of your foot from a long time, as if they were not there. However they worked continuously for you. We only notice them if they are hurt or wounded.
To be frank, its not a bad thing. Its a sign of a healthy body that we dont notice it. Because our mind is made to notice it only when its in pain. So dont get into more philosophy and make your immune system better so that it can keep your body free from diseases and painless.

What is our Immune System ?

Our Immune system a mechanism in our body to fight against diseases and any any foreign element. Our blood contain Lymphocytes (White Blood Cells) which fight the micro-organisms that can harm our body. These Lymphocytes die themselves after doing their job or after a certain expiry time. Scientists known the minimum amount of Lymphocytes that should be present in our body, but their optimum number is not yet known. According to some researches our body automatically generates more Lymphocytes when there is a urgent need for them.

You cant say that only Lymphocytes are Immune system. Our Bone marrow generates blood and Lymphocytes are created there so it is also a part of our our immune system. Our Kidney filters our blood and its also a part of immune system. Our Nostrils also filters the air that we inhale and the dust and other micro-organisms stick to the moist surface, thus defending our body. Similarly tear glands in our eyes keeps wetting our eyes so that our eyelids can wipe-off the dust from surface of eyes, it not only keep our eyes clean but also protect us from several micro-organisms. All these things create our immune system.
Taking care of only one thing cant keep our entire immune system strong. All systems in our body are interconnected. We need to strengthen our entire body to make our immune system healthy.

How to make your immune system strong and healthy

Exercise Regularly

Its not necessary to do power lifting or workout in a gym. Exercises like running, jogging, swimming and aerobics can also keep you fit. It increases your blood circulation make you sweat. Sweating is also necessary for a healthy immune system. You may also opt for some sports activity if you dont want to exercise.

Have a balanced diet full of minerals, vitamins and proteins

There is nothing new in this. Healthy diet is must for a healthy body. Deficiency of any vitamin or mineral can make you sick. You also need to have protein, carbohydrate and fat in the right amount.

Try to live a stress free life

Stress is the worst disease as it kills you from inside. Here inside means that it damages your ability to think properly and affect your day-to-day activities. It may also affect your sleep.

Don’t Smoke 

One of the finer comforts in life is having a well-stocked freezer. Before our family became gluten free, I regularly bought packaged frozen lasagna, pizza, and hot pockets (mmm, hot pockets) to pop in the oven on a busy weekday night when I forgot to plug in the slow cooker.

This really isnt a possibility now: not only is packaged gluten free food terribly expensive, Im just not comfortable feeding the family manufactured food on a regular basis.

So Ive combined two of my favorite loves into one completely awesome package: Slow Cooker TV Dinners. 

Ive always been a meal-planner, but I like that I can plan two or more weeks of meals and get them all in plastic zipper bags in the freezer, so Im not chopping onions or potatoes each and every day. I figure if Im already chopping an onion, I might as well chop up 10 and get it over with!

(or you can go the environmentally-friendly route and use Tupperware!)

One of the easiest ways to stock your freezer is to cook large batches of food, and freeze half of it. Clearly label and date the food, and then serve it again a few weeks later.

My family will ALWAYS eat the following things--- no matter how often I serve it:

taco soup,  easy lasagna,  chile verde,  beef bourguignon,  chicken makhani,  balsamic chicken

Instead of saving the leftovers for the next day, I freeze them to pull out later in the month. The food is already cooked-- so I thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then microwave or heat on the stovetop. I dont find the slow cooker all that useful to reheat leftovers.

Another way to successfully stock your freezer is to assemble freezer bags with raw meat, vegetables, sauce, and spices. I like to buy my meat in bulk, and then I simply put the ingredients needed for a specific recipe into a freezer bag and clearly label the outside with a magic marker. I then pull the frozen bag out the night before to thaw in the refrigerator. In the morning, I dump the food into my slow cooker and cook according to the recipes directions (Id suggest writing that on the bag, too).

Its recommended to thaw the food overnight, and not just put a block of ice into your slow cooker in the morning. In general, its fine to cook with frozen meat, vegetables, etc., but the other ingredients should be room temperature, and the stoneware should always be room-temp before being plugged in. You can read more about this on Crock-Pots official website. 

Read through the ingredients and directions on each recipe-- if it makes more sense to add chicken broth, etc. in the morning, do so, and if Ive got directions to add something right before serving, follow those guidelines--- dont just dump everything into the bag if it doesnt seem appropriate. :-0

if youd like, you can sign up at ZipList to create a personalized shopping list. All of these recipes are in their database (Ive included a little button that says "save recipe" under each recipe). Its free, and Ive found it immensely helpful.

10 Chicken candidates for Slow Cooker TV Dinners:

brown sugar chicken,  honey garlic chicken,  margarita chicken,  chicken adobo,  cream cheese chicken,  applesauce chicken,  lazy chicken,  green pepper chicken,  apricot chicken,  Vietnamese chicken

10 Beef candidates for Slow Cooker TV Dinners:

super simple cranberry roast,  3-packet pot roast,  sweet mustard roast,  ropa vieja,  Italian beef,  pomegranate beef,  Azorean beef stew,  simple Thai beef,  Korean ribs,   easy fajitas

10 Pork candidates for Slow Cooker TV Dinners:

 teriyaki and apricot pork chops,  peanutbutter pork,  rootbeer pulled pork,  cranberry pork roast,  pulled pork with sauerkraut,  peking pork chops,  hirino psito,  carnitas,  pineapple pork,  apple cinnamon pork roast

my kids will also eat the following fish dishes (ooh, Dr. Seuss!) twice a month:

parmesan tilapia,  honey orange tilapia,  pesto fillet of sole

 I hope this helps a bit with your meal planning! 

P.S.: some of the photos in these recipes are HORRENDOUS-- they were taken before I (somewhat) knew what I was doing with food photography. If you make a recipe of mine and take a better picture, send it my way and Ill give you full credit.

meal planning for dummies (or for normal people, whatever)

The Daily 7 For a Highly Successful Household

Help! My Slow Cooker Cooks Too Hot!

never miss a recipe! sign up for the A Year of Slow Cooking newsletter by clicking HERE.

Hello there! Its summer time, and just when I think the days couldnt possibly fly by any faster, they do. I love having the girls home with me, and weve been having lots of fun playing board (bored?) games, staying up late, camping in the backyard, and running through the sprinklers.

and were only in week number two!

Today, though, my 7-year-old has the flu, and there is nothing worse than hearing friends outside riding bikes when youre stuck inside on the couch. Shes a good sport, though, and is watching RV on loop (cute movie, ages 7+; quite a few bathroom-related jokes....) while I catch up on computer work.

Although were in June, and slow cooker fare usually conjures up snowy/rainy days and crisp fall weather, I implore you to NOT forget about your slow cooker during the summer months. It keeps your kitchen cool, and provides more opportunity to play!

Beer Braised Turkey with Potatoes

2 pounds potatoes, washed and quartered (no need to peel)

1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced

3 pounds turkey drumsticks, or a bone-in turkey breast

4 tablespoons butter (melted, or just toss in the half-stick)

1 tablespoon dried basil (or 1/4 cup finely diced fresh basil leaves)

1 lemon, juiced

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 (12-ounce) bottle of beer (Redbridge, by Anheuser Busch is gluten free.) If youd prefer to not cook with alcohol, you can use a non-alcoholic beer.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Place the potatoes and onion into the bottom of your insert, and add turkey on top. Frozen is okay--- and I did try to peel away some of the skin from my legs since I have weird skin issues. Plop in butter, basil, and lemon juice. Sprinkle on salt, and pour in the beer. Cover, and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours.

I served our turkey dinner with steamed Brussels sprouts, although if I had gotten my act together earlier in the day would have preferred to roast them or make the worlds best Brussels sprouts. The turkey was beautifully moist, and the drippings made a fabulous gravy (thicken by reducing in the stove, or by whisking in a cornstarch slurry--1 tablespoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water).

Save your turkey bones to make soup!

Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

Turkey Stew

Heres to the BEST. SUMMER. EVER!! What are your plans?

White collar jobs and lack of exercise have often been blamed for health hazards like cholesterol accumulation, heart attacks, diabetics, high blood pressure, and obesity. The facts that support such a belief are that white collar jobs prevent people from sweating out the carbohydrates that they have stored through their food habits and exercises seldom form a part of people’s daily routine. Therefore, the stress here seems to be completely on burning away those useless chunks of fat. But even people know that fat is the enemy and that all the food that they eat brings them closer to the enemy, they only start taking active steps against it when it is too late, i.e, when things really go out of hand. Then it is like a ‘do or die’ situation.

From Potatoes to Protein

Health Care Tips

• Always wash your hands before having food.


• Keep your Kitchen clean and well managed. Keep Cooked and Uncooked food at different places.


• Keep your bathroom, wash basin and sink cleaned by phenyl.


• Eat healthy and eat limited. Overeating may lead to various diseases.


• Have plenty of fluid daily. It heaps in keeping your blood clean and removes impurities from your body.


• Do some physical exercises regularly. It may be running, swimming, aerobics, yoga or workout in a gym.

Health Care Systems: Health Care Systems are group or organization of like-minded people with a single objective of improvement of health of people. They can provide any type of services in their geographical area to fulfill their objective.

Health Care Services: There are various types of health care services around the globe. Some are non-profit organizations funded by some major organizations for the betterment of society. Others are businesses like hospitals and clinics. Apart from that health insurance is also a major part of health care services.

Health care Products: Health care products can be categorized into various sections. Some major health care product types are:

• Medicines


• Books and Magazines


• Electronic Gadgets (Electronic devices to measure BP and Sugar level etc.)


• Other Medical Equipment (Example : Surgical equipment for Doctors)


• Traditional Accessories (Such as wheel chair and Walkers)

Health care Tips for Men

Health care Tips for Women

Health care Tips for Girls

Ive been slow to warm up to kale. I sort of feel like Ive been peer pressured to cook with it ---- I see it all over the internet and all over the cooking channels and thrown in my face in lots and lots of food magazines.

and I hate being told what to do.

I tried the oven "fried" kale chips. I put it in smoothies. Guess what? Id rather eat a bag of Lays, and even if I call the smoothies "dinosaur shakes" or "swamp juice" my kids arent all that impressed, and Im left to drink a pitcher full of murky liquid all on my own.

of course, Im the type of person who likes cheese in a can more than is probably socially acceptable...

anyhow. I needed to cook up the kale I had in the fridge, because I hate wasting food even more than I hate being told what to do.

This, here, is SUPER FOOD. Not SUPER in that it tastes like oreo cheesecake or chocolate mousse, but SUPER in that it has a bunch of super foods in it: lentils, tomatoes, garlic, and kale.

and it actually tastes pretty good!

2 cups lentils, rinsed

1 onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 (7-ounce) can fire roasted whole chiles (mild; this provides tons of flavor)

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

3 cups chopped kale (just the leaves. give the stems to the guinea pigs or the compost heap)

1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt (start with 1/2, then season if needed at the table)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon cumin

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Rinse lentils until the water runs clear, and then put the wet lentils into your slow cooker. Add diced onion and the chopped garlic. Add the entire cans of fire roasted chiles and diced tomatoes. I used the whole chiles because I had them in the house and so the kids could pick them out, but the chopped chiles would be just fine if thats what you have already.

Add the kale, dried spices, and stir in the broth. Cover, and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours, or until the lentils are bite tender and the onion is translucent. It took closer to 6 hours in my 6-quart.

I ate this as my main course, but Adam and the kids had it as a side dish with some sliced chicken and artichoke sausage. Adam and I really liked everything about this--- we felt full but not grossly overstuffed, and we were really quite satiated. The prominent flavor is from the ginger and cumin; it tasted a lot like Dal.

I insisted on three bites from the big kids, but couldnt convince the baby. I am looking forward to leftovers for lunch, and since Im trying to eat better more often than not Im going to make another batch and freeze in lunch-sized portions.

BlogHer is next week! Are you going? If so, find me--- Id love to meet you!!  Ill be the one without the smart phone...

lentil and sausage stew

lots and lots of chicken slow cooker recipes

poor mans chili

honey beans and spinach dinner

lots of vegetarian slow cooker recipes

Herpes Zoster  is also known as Shingles. It is caused due to a virus named “Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV)”. Initial infection of VZV causes Chickenpox. Once chickenpox is over and if virus still remains in the body then it can cause Shingles. Sometimes it occurs several years after chickenpox. VZV remains latent in nerve cell bodies and travel down to nerve axons and cause a viral infection. This infection occurs at a particular area of body which is connected to one spinal nerve. This infection takes 2 to 4 weeks to heal but pain may remain for months. Shingles is less painful in children as compared to elders. If it occours around eyes or ears then sufferer might face loss of vision or hearing.

Herpes Zoster Symptoms:

Early Symptoms:

• Headache


• Fever


• Malaise

Afterwards Symptoms:

• Burning Pain


• Itching


• Oversensitivity(Tingling or Numbness)


• Painful Rashes


• Quick Stabs

Herpes Zoster Causes:  Shingles only occur in those people who have earlier fallen prey to Chickenpox. The reason behind the dormant nature of VZV virus and its reactivation is not known.

Herpes Zoster Treatment: Its treatment can only shorten the duration of pain and infection. Antiviral treatment is recommended within 72 hours of appearance of rash.

Herpes Zoster Medicine:

• Antiviral Medicines ( Valaciclovir and Famciclovir).


• Topical lidocaine may reduce pain.


• Shingles Vaccine : Zostavax (It contains weakened chickenpox virus to stimulate our immune system)

Herpes Zoster and AIDS : If a person is suffering from AIDS and already had chickenpox at a young age, then chances of Shingles are very high as his/her immune system will not suppress VZV virus.

Home remedies are treatment to heal a disease that employs determined spices, vegetables or other ordinary items. Home remedies might have remedial characteristics that heal the disease as they are usually passed along by laypersons. One of the most common examples of a home remedy is the use of chicken soup to cure respiratory infections such as an extreme or severe flu. Other examples of medicinal home remedies consist of willow bark tea to heal headaches and fevers; duct tape to help with setting fractured bones; superglue to treat plantar warts and Kogel mogel to cure sore throat.

Initially mothers were confined with every serious remedy. Renowned cookbooks are often full of remedies for dyspepsia, fevers and female complaints. Home remedies have become common as the cost and squabble of usual medicine continues to arise. Beyond the utility, home remedies have found countenance with people that need to take a more holistic approach to its diseases.

The home remedies that we have placed together are not hazardous selection therapies practiced against your doctors complaints. Rather they are protected, practical actions that you can use to aid cure more than 100 ordinary health difficulties ranging from the inferior diseases and athletes foot to serious diseases like asthma and diabetes. These home remedies dont give wonder heals and are not meant to take the place of the recommendation and treatments directed by your health-care professional. You should endure to work and confer with your doctor about your health issues.

Navratri is the Starting point of Festive Season in Hindus. During these nine days people fast for different avatars of Godess Durga (or Shakti). Most people take it only as a religious ritual. But every thing in religions have a scientific description. Before following that ritual we should try to know the merits and demerits of that ritual. Here we will discuss the scientific aspects of fasting.Question : Is Fasting Good for Body ?
Answer : Yes, for most of the people.

Question : How does Fasting benefit our Body ?
Answer : During Fasting our digestive system get some rest and our body utilize the saved energy to repare the damaged tissues. Fatty Depositions at certain places are either used to get energy or removed as a waste material. It makes our immune and metabolic system faster. There is a wavelike muscular contractions in our alimentary canal known as Peristaltic Action, which brings food from our mouth to stomach. That speed of that process also increases after fasting.Thus the saved energy is used in self-healing, cleansing, detoxification. It helps us overcome several physical illness. The resulting effects can increase our life and provides psychological, mental and emotional health.

Question : What type of Psychological benefits do we get from Fasting?
Answer : Psychological benefits are sometimes more important than physical benefits. Psychological benefits make positive effects on our mind and body.
After Fasting we get a positive feeling that we have done something good and god will see it and we will get positive results. In reality it doesnt matter if god will see it or not, but what matters is that now we are thinking positive that something good will happen to us.
Some people think that they will get rid of their sins in the past if they do fasting properly. Thus Fasting help them get rid of the guilt feeling of their past. Sometimes guilt feeling can destroy our whole life, but if you get rid of it by fasting (due to our religious beliefs), then fasting is good and works better than any medicine in the world.
If you really want to see the psychological effects of fasting then just compare a day when you didnt get anything to eat for the whole day with a day when you are fasting. There is a difference between these two days. When you are fasting, its by your will, but when you are forced to remain hungry: its against your will. When you are forced to remain hungry you will feel lack of energy by the end of the day, but if you are doing it for fasting you will not feel so. Thats the psychological effect. In some cases it might not be true due to the different health condition of different people.

Question: Should we take some Precautions during Fasting.
Answer : Drink plenty of water. Lack of water can concentrate the acids in your your urine which may result into kidney stones.

Question : Who should not go on fasting ?
Answer : Kids and Old age people should avoid fasting. But they insist due to religious faith, then they should eat fruits and drink milk. Complete non-eating fast may be harmful for them.