Acadian cuisine is made for snug winter nights. With plenty of root vegetables, stewed meats, and rich molasses, these eastern-Canadian dishes are as frugal as they are delicious. Vegetables often take the starring role, nothing is ever wasted, and recipes are easily adapted to accommodate available ingredients. These nine Acadian dishes should be on everyone’s radar.
Chicken fricot
If chicken soup is the answer to any ailment, the delicate broth, chunky vegetables, and tender chicken of an Acadian fricot might just make it the best medicine around. Soft dumplings cooked in the soup’s steam take the comfort factor to the next level.
Photo by Vanessa Chiasson
Corn chowder
Acadians might just do chowder better than anyone. Their creamy seafood chowders are legendary but humble corn chowder is not to be missed. Potatoes, onions, and creamed corn come together to make the coziest bowl imaginable.
Rappie pie
Generosity and community are at the heart of Acadian cuisine, and no dish personifies these qualities better than rappie pie. Many hands come together to make light work of the task of grating, draining, and then rehydrating the potatoes that top the poached meat. You’ll find this casserole at every Acadian family event in southern Nova Scotia and across the region.
Photo by Sergii Koval/Shutterstock
Meat pie
Acadian meat pie is a dense, delicious dish of seasoned shredded meat baked in rich pastry. A combination of pork and chicken is popular but in the olden days, other meats like stewed rabbit were often used. Excellent with a side of molasses or maybe some homemade pickled veggies.
Photo by Foodio/Shutterstock
Fried smelts
Fresh fish, smoked fish, and salted fish all play a big part in Acadian cuisine but perhaps none is as tasty as fried smelts. These petite fish, popular with ice fishers, are irresistible when fried up with a bit of salt and butter and served with some fresh homemade bread on the side.
Photo by Venediktov Vladimir/Shutterstock
Mashed turnips and carrots
Root vegetables dominate regional menus, but that doesn’t mean that Acadian cuisine is all about potatoes. A mash of turnips or rutabagas and carrots, along with plenty of butter, salt, pepper, and maybe a splash of maple syrup, is popular at holidays and Sunday dinners.
Salted onions and salted herbs
The waste-not, want-not mentality of Acadian cuisine extends to condiments. Green onions, chives, and herbals like parsley are preserved with salt and stored in jars to save summer’s bounty well into winter to season every main course.
Molasses cookies
It’s impossible to imagine an Acadian kitchen without molasses. The thick syrup is equally at home in savoury dishes (like old-fashioned baked beans) as it is in desserts. You can find large, soft, lightly spiced molasses cookies in every Acadian grandma’s cookie jar.
Photo by Josie Grant/Shutterstock
Nun’s Farts
Yes, this is indeed a real dessert! Nun’s Farts or Pets-de-Soeur are pieces of leftover pie crust turned into a cinnamon bun-cookie hybrid. Brown sugar or maple sugar, cinnamon, butter, and evaporated milk turn leftover scraps into a delicious dessert—and usually a few giggles too!
Photo by Vanessa Chiasson
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Canada has plenty of regional foods—we all know that poutine is associated with Quebec, and that the Nanaimo bar comes from B.C. But Newfoundland and Labrador is home to some dishes that you’re probably not familiar with—and may not have even ever heard of.
No. 1 Toutons
These small, round, pancake-like pieces of bread dough (also called “damper dogs”) were traditionally pan-fried in pork fat; nowadays butter (or healthier fats) is more common. It’s a breakfast or brunch item, often served with molasses, syrup, or jam. Yum!
No. 2 Cod au Gratin
The name explains it all: cod fillets baked in a creamy sauce topped with cheese and breadcrumbs. Newfoundland has a number of traditional cod dishes, including salt dried cod(No. 3) and crispy cod tongues (No. 4). The tongues are dredged in flour and fried in oil. C’mon! Anything fried is tasty.
No. 5 Scrunchions
These are essentially bite-sized cubes of pork fat, fried until the fat is rendered and the cubes are crunchy. Scrunchions are often served as a side dish (mixed with onions) over fish or fish and brewis (“hard bread”—No. 6).
No. 7 Bakeapples
These berries—also called cloudberries—ripen in August in marshy, boggy areas. They’re delicious in pies and tarts or made into jam.
No. 8Jiggs’ Dinner
A typical true Jiggs’ Dinner includes salt beef (or other salt meat), root vegetables, and yellow split peas, soaked and boiled for hours.
Photo from Feast for all Seasons: Traditional Native People’s Cuisines
These Indigenous chefs are leading a culinary movement from Coast to Coast to Coast—and beyond. Get to know their faces and stories, and find out how to get a taste of the action.
Inez Cook
Photo courtesy of Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro/Instagram.com
Inez Cook
Photo courtesy of Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro/Instagram.com
Bizhiki Tartare at Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro
Photo courtesy of Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro/Instagram.com
House smoked salmon burger with sweet potato wedges at Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro
Photo courtesy of Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro/Instagram.com
Elk steak with Hasselback potatoes and smoked Mornay sauce at Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro
Inez Cook from the Nuxalk Nation (Bella Coola) is a culinary connector, Sixties Scoop survivor, world-traveller, and visionary. For the past dozen years, Cook has shepherded this gem of high-level culinary art and dining experience, Salmon ‘n’ Bannock restaurant in downtown Vancouver. She has also brought many Indigenous culinary superstars together when she collaborates with Dine Out Vancouver’s World Chef Exchange.
Photo from Feast for all Seasons: Traditional Native People’s Cuisines
Chef Andrew George
Photo from Feast for all Seasons: Traditional Native People’s Cuisines
Toody ni juniper duck in Feast for all Seasons: Traditional Native People’s Cuisines
Photo from Feast for all Seasons: Traditional Native People’s Cuisines
Curried dandelion greens with caramelized onions and cashews from Feast for all Seasons: Traditional Native People’s Cuisines
Photo from Feast for all Seasons: Traditional Native People’s Cuisines
Niçoise salad with poached smoked salmon from Feast for all Seasons: Traditional Native People’s Cuisines
Andrew George Jr. is a member of the Wet’suwet’en Nation in British Columbia. A forerunner of the Indigenous culinary resurgence, chef George was a member of the first all-Native team at the World Culinary Olympics, in Frankfurt, Germany in 1992, and was the head chef at the Four Host First Nations pavilion, 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. His cookbooks Feast for all Seasons: Traditional Native People’s Cuisines (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010) and Modern Native Feasts: Healthy, Innovative, Sustainable Cuisine (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2013) remain current classics of Indigenous culinary approach and technique. Chef George is now an international consultant on Native menus for restaurants and hotels. He also teaches culinary arts to Indigenous students as director of Indigenous initiatives at the Industry Training Authority on the unceded Coast Salish Territory, traditional land of the Musqueam people.
Get a taste: With his cookbooksFeast for all Seasons: Traditional Native People’s Cuisines (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010) and Modern Native Feasts: Healthy, Innovative, Sustainable Cuisine (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2013).
Jenni Lessard
Photo courtesy of Jenni Lessard
Chef Jenni Lessard
Photo courtesy of Jessi Lessard
Bison tenderloin with yarrow and sage atop nettle and sunchoke puree’ with bison broth
Photo courtesy of Jessi Lessard
Three Sisters Salad
Photo courtesy of Jessi Lessard
Cream of morel mushroom and fiddlehead soup
Photo courtesy of Jessi Lessard
Wild rice floor blini
Jenni Lessard is a citizen of the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan and secretary of the Indigneous Culinary of Associated Nations. She lives and operates her Inspired By Nature Culinary Consulting business on Treaty 4 Territory in the Qu’Appelle Valley, near Regina, SK. In Lessard’s words, she “is particularly devoted to knowledge seeking and spends time visiting with and harvesting members of the plant nations.” (Lessard is referencing the teachings she has received around plants, animals, birds, fish, and all other beings in nature who are considered relations and relatives.) She then takes that knowledge and the food she forages to create incredible and transformative experiential events at Wanuskewin Heritage Park. These Han Wi Moon Dinners feature all locally sourced and foraged ingredients, and Lessard weaves her menus around traditional storytelling and the significance of Wanuskewin as a gathering place on the Northern Plains for thousands of years. Lessard also mentors Indigenous youth in the kitchen, passing along valuable knowledge, skills, and inspiration for the next generation.
Get a taste: At a Han Wi Moon Dinner at Wanuskewin. Find the 2022 dates here.
Wild BC salmon with fried wild rice and mushroom broth
Photo courtesy of Murray McDonald/Instagram.com
Pacific halibut with chestnut pasta
Photo courtesy of Murray McDonald/Instagram.com
Cod gone wild with lingcod, spring vegetables, and sea foam
Photo courtesy of Murray McDonald/Instagram.com
Cornbread with butter & wojape
Murray McDonald garnered accolades as executive chef of the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto, then as the founding executive chef of Fogo Island Inn, NFLD. Understandably, there was much excitement when he brought his talents to the fine dining restaurant at Spirit Ridge Resort on the traditional land of the Syilx people of the Okanagan Nation. McDonald was not raised with an Indigenous identity, though his great grandmother was Montagnais Indian (Innu) from Southern Labrador. He now has the opportunity to explore Indigenous culinary creativity as executive chef of The Bear, The Fish, The Root & The Berry, located in Osoyoos Band land in Southern B.C.’s picturesque and prestigious wine country.
At 21 years young, Siobhan Detkavich walked into Top Chef Canada (Season 9, 2021) as the youngest contestant and the first Indigenous woman on this pressure-cooker TV show. No stranger to stressful situations, Detkavich says she’s been facing “racism, sexism, and all sorts of the -isms” since starting her cooking career at 16. Knowing that she would rise to the challenge, her goal was to represent her Cowichan and Pacific Islander Indigenous roots, pay homage to her ancestry, and inspire other youth to dream big. Regardless, her kitchen credentials—most recently as chef-de-partie at Mission Hill Winery, one of the Okanagan Valley’s top fine dining experiences—speak for themselves. Detkavich now resides in Kelowna, B.C.
Get a taste: Siobhan was the youngest chef—and first Indigenous woman—to compete on Top Chef Canada. This summer, she’ll be working on another television series. Stay updated by following her Instagram.
Paul Natrall
Photo courtesy of Paul Natrall/mrbannock.com
Mr. Bannock
Photo courtesy of Paul Natrall/mrbannock.com
Slow smoked pulled pork from Mr. Bannock food truck
Photo courtesy of Paul Natrall/mrbannock.com
Hickory-smoked maple bacon
Photo courtesy of Paul Natrall/mrbannock.com
Eclairs from Mr. Bannock food truck
Photo courtesy of Paul Natrall/mrbannock.com
Venison bannock burger from Mr. Bannock food truck
Paul Natrall is a proud second-generation Indigenous chef from the Squamish Nation in North Vancouver, B.C. Natrall owns and operates Vancouver’s first Indigenous food truck, Mr. Bannock, which won him a 2019 Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Natrall is playful and inventive with his flavours and menus, creating his own Indigenous fusion cuisine. Natrall also focusses his mentorship with youth cooks to support a sustainable food supply, and transferring traditional cooking and preserving techniques through approachable Indigenous culinary experiences.
Get a taste: If you’re in Vancouver, order from or visit Mr. Bannock. Or try one of his recipes at home.
Chicken curry puffs with dipping sauce from CulinaToGo
Photo courtesy of the Culina Family/Instagram.com
Tasty salad at Culina on the Lake
Brad Lazarenko’s cooking philosophy has always been firmly rooted in place and has been consistently championing and supporting quality local farmers, food artisans, and ingredients since he opened his first Culina restaurant in Edmonton two decades ago. Currently, Lazarenko operates Culina To Go, Culina To Go at the Muttart, Culina on the Lake (at Hawrelak Park), Culina catering, and will be bringing a new version of his much-loved Bibo winebar back in the newly renovated Strathcona Hotel on Edmonton’s Whyte Aveue in 2022. As a proud member of the Metis Nation of Alberta, Indigenous foods are staples on his menus.
Get a taste: Stop in at Culina To Go for Lazarenko’s fabulous rendition of his Three Sisters Salad (a traditional dish featuring beans, corn, and squash with a dill-balsamic dressing with local Edam cheese).
Sheila Flaherty is Inuvialuk and is the founder of sijjakkut, a wholly Inuit owned company based in Iqaluit that preserves and promotes Inuit culture through inuksiutit (Inuit food) menus. Flaherty has shared her menus in events in Iqaluit, Nuuk, New York, Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver. In 2017, Flaherty participated in Season IV, MasterChef Canada, which brought inuksiutit dishes to a wide audience. Flaherty currently is serving as the Nunavut representative of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada.
Get a taste: If you’re in Ottawa, stop in at the National Art Centre, where sShe has also been a Resident Chef bringing her modern inuksiutit vision to the rest of Canada and the world.
Shrimp with cold-truffled corn, tartare, quinoa and bechamel by Shane Chartrand
Photo courtesy of Shane Chartrand/Instagram.com
Quails are sleeping by Shane Chartrand
Photo courtesy of Shane Chartrand/Instagram.com
Duck with peas, watercress, and duck fat-cooked carrots by Shane Chartrand
Photo courtesy of Shane Chartrand/Instagram.com
Steak tartare by Shane Chartrand
Shane Chartrand, of the maskêkosak (Enoch Cree Nation), not only represents one of Canada’s leading chefs, but is also actively involved in the re-emergence of Indigenous cuisine in Canada. He has competed on television’s Chopped Canada (Season 2, episode 9), Iron Chef Canada (Season 1, episode 12), and Fridge Wars (Season Finale, 2020). He is a judge on Food Network Canada’s Wall of Chefs (Season 1). He was also featured in the award-winning documentary series Red Chef Revival. His award-winning cookbook, tawaw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine (Ambrosia / House of Anansi, 2019) garnered a Best in Canada World Gourmand Awards, and then received a Best in World Gourmand World Culinary Awards. The name of the cookbook translates to “welcome; come in; there’s room.” As a high-profile chef in Canada, and Sixties Scoop survivor, chef Chartrand’s work revolves around education and exposure of the strength and beauty of Indigenous food, art, and cultures as a speaker, guest chef, educator, and public figure.
Duck hearts braised in red wine, white corn mush, pea tendrils, and olive oil
Pei Pei Chei Ow (pronounced: pe-pe-s-chew) means “robin” in Swampy Cree. It’s also the name given to Scott Jonathan Iserhoff in his childhood by his moshom Louis Shisheesh. Iserhoff now runs his eponymous multi-faceted company in amiskwcîwâskahikan, Treaty 6 territory.
Get a taste: Tuesday through Saturday, Pei Pei Chei Ow’s Indigenous exploration menus are available for breakfast and lunch at Whiskyjack Art House. Private group bookings are available there too. On Saturdays, Iserhoff has a table at the Downtown Farmers’ Market in Edmonton. Catering menus and cooking classes are listed on the company’s website.
Quentin Glabus was born in Edmonton, studied culinary arts in Lac La Biche, Alberta, and graduated from the Culinary Arts program at NAIT in Edmonton in 2000. Glabus’ mother is from the Frog Lake Cree First Nations, Treaty 6, but like many of his generation, did not grow up in learning his mother’s language and didn’t learn about Indigenous foodways or history. He had to explore and fill in the gaps through his own education. As a young professional, he spent time climbing the ranks of professional restaurant kitchens in Canada and in the US, before setting off for a globe-trotting cooking career. This included being executive chef at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, then Beijing, (if you wish to use Taipei, then I would write: Canadian Guest Chef Representative for the Canadian Trade Office of Canada in Taipei) and then three years in Rio de Janeiro. During his time as a Canadian Guest Chef Representative for the Consulate General of Canada in Rio de Janeiro and as a Private Caterer, he was the Executive Canadian Chef for Canada Olympic House for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Around the same time, he participated in the World Gourmet Summit, held annually in Singapore. Having been immersed in so many other culinary landscapes, this event was a very high profile opportunity to explore his own roots. “I just went there to turn heads, really. And to bring awareness to contemporary Indigenous cooking, in contrast to the cinematic ideas of “Native American stereotypes’.”
Currently Glabus is living in Tokyo, married to Vivian Hung, diplomat at the Embassy of Canada to Japan. Glabus is the Video Curator for A Gathering Basket Cookbook and member of the I-Collective. This group of Indigenous chefs, activists, herbalists, seed and knowledge keepers, is creating a new and Indigenous-driven culinary, agricultural, social and artistic narrative guided by Indigneous values. Glabus and colleagues, gained significant attention when their I-Collective digital cookbooks series was featured in the New York Times recently.
(Relaxnews) – A new large-scale study from Stanford University in the California finds that when it comes to nutrition, organic foods, such as meat, dairy, and produce, may not be worth the extra cash. While organics come at a premium, researchers say they are no healthier and not significantly safer than conventional foods and produce grown with pesticides.
Organic foods can cost as much as a third more than conventional alternatives, with consumers shelling out the extra cash with the hopes of purchasing healthier, more nutrient-dense food.
"There isn’t much difference between organic and conventional foods, if you’re an adult and making a decision based solely on your health," stated researcher Dena Bravata.
In a review of thousands of papers, the researchers found that there was also no guarantee organic food would be pesticide-free, though it did have 30 percent lower levels compared to conventional products. Yet despite this, the review yielded scant evidence that conventional foods posed greater health risks than organic products. In addition, the researchers found that the pesticide levels of all foods generally fell within the allowable safety limits. Two studies of children consuming organic and conventional diets did find lower levels of pesticide residues in the urine of children on organic diets, though the significance of these findings on child health is unclear, noted the researchers.
The results of the study — the largest review of its kind comparing organic to conventional foods — were published September 4 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
"Some believe that organic food is always healthier and more nutritious," states co-researcher Crystal Smith-Spangler at Stanford’s School of Medicine. "We were a little surprised that we didn’t find that."
A separate new study from Oxford University in the UK found that organic farming may not be better for the environment either. The researchers cited that organic products such as milk, cereals, and pork generate higher greenhouse gas emissions than their conventional counterparts. However, organic beef produced lower emissions. That study was published online September 4 in the Journal of Environmental Management.
Wide variation in pet food calorie content contributes to confusion among pet owners, according to a study from Tufts University in Massachusetts.
“There is so much information – and misinformation – about pet foods, it’s understandable that people are confused about what to feed their dogs and cats,” said Dr. Lisa Freeman, professor of nutrition at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. “To counteract these myths, people are accustomed to turning to the labels on food – but, as this study shows, packaging might not always be a reliable source of information.”
Almost half of all pets are overweight
Nearly 50 percent of domesticated animals are overweight or obese, (which has an interesting correlation to the 45 percent of adult Americans who do not participate in any leisure physical activity), however, there is a wide variation in calorie content among ‘low calorie’ pet foods that is making things worse.
Pet owners buying weight-control diets for their overweight dogs and cats are faced with a wide and confusing variation of calorie density, feeding guidelines and costs, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Nearly 100 dog food brands studied
Researchers examined nearly 100 commercially available diets with weight management claims. Calorie density was gathered from the product packaging and by contacting manufacturers. They found that dry dog foods ranged widely in calorie density and recommended intake.
The diets also varied wildly in price – from 4 cents to more than $1.10 per kilocalorie. Similar findings were made in wet dog food marketed for weight control. Under U.S. federal guidelines, pet foods labeled “light” or “low calorie” must provide the caloric content, and foods with this designation must adhere to a maximum kilocalorie per kilogram restriction.
However, Freeman points out that more than half of the foods evaluated in the study exceeded this maximum. Foods without these designations are currently allowed, but not required, to provide the caloric content on the label. Efforts are currently underway to make this information required on all pet food labels.
Feeding instructions confusing
Another important issue identified in the study was the high variability in feeding recommendations. In fact, for most of the diets, pets would not lose weight or would actually gain weight if owners adhered to the label’s feeding directions and did not adjust according to their pet’s individual calorie requirements.
The results may be significant for owners whose cats or dogs are overweight or obese, since obesity in companion animals is associated with numerous diseases, including pancreatitis, osteoarthritis, dermatologic disease, diabetes, and respiratory tract diseases – and may contribute to a shorter lifespan.
To find out more about pet food, check out DogFoodAdvisor.com and DogFoodProject.com, or add your own recommendations below.
Did you know your cat cannot taste sweetness? Researchers have discovered extensive taste loss in mammals – particularly if they eat meat or swallow their food whole.
Seven out of 12 related mammalian species have lost the sense of sweet taste, including cats, according to American scientists at the Monell Center. Since each sweet-blind species eats only meat, the findings demonstrate that a liking for sweets is frequently lost in the evolution of diet specialization.
Previous research revealed the remarkable finding that both domestic and wild cats are unable to taste sweet compounds due to defects in a gene that controls structure of the sweet taste receptor.
Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning that they subsist only on meat. In the current study, published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, the scientists next asked whether other strict carnivores have also lost the sweet taste receptor. To do this, they examined sweet taste receptor genes from 12 related mammalian species with varying dietary habits. They once again found taste loss and to their surprise, it was widespread in the meat-eating species.
“Sweet taste was thought to be nearly a universal trait in animals,” said Dr. Gary Beauchamp, senior author and behavioral biologist. “That evolution has independently led to its loss in so many different species was quite unexpected.”
The findings suggest that diet-related taste loss has happened repeatedly and independently throughout evolution, demonstrating the importance of dietary niche in the structure and function of an animal’s sensory system.
To further explore the connection between feeding behavior and taste function, researchers next examined sweet and umami (savory) taste receptor genes in two mammals that have “returned” to the sea, the sea lion and bottlenose dolphin. These animals were selected because they swallow their food whole, suggesting that taste may not play an important role in their dietary selection.
As predicted, taste loss was extensive in these animals. Sweet and umami receptor genes were non-functional in both, and the dolphin also had non-functional bitter taste receptor genes.
“Different animals live in different sensory worlds and this particularly applies to their worlds of food. Our findings provide further evidence that what animals like to eat – and this includes humans – is dependent to a significant degree on their basic taste receptor biology,” said Beauchamp.
The current research raises questions beyond diet choice since taste receptors have recently been identified in many organs throughout the body, including intestine, pancreas, nose, and lungs. These extra-oral taste receptors are believed to serve many different functions.
“Our findings clearly show that the extra-oral taste receptors are not needed for survival in certain species,” noted lead author Peihua Jiang, Ph.D., a molecular biologist at Monell. “The animals we examined did not have functional sweet, umami, or bitter taste receptors, so it will be important to identify how their functions were replaced throughout the body.”
Now that you know your cat is a strict carnivore, will you start feeding it more protein? And since scientists believe that what we like to eat depends on what we like to taste, how do you think the human diet will evolve?
After analyzing more than 8,000 blood tests, U.S. researchers have discovered that those who have been diagnosed with asthma were twice as likely to have food allergies.
The risk of allergy increased with the severity of the asthma: People who received emergency care for asthma in the last 12 months were seven times more likely to have food allergies than non-asthma sufferers.
Participants in the study were aged from one to sixty years old, and according to a study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, asthmatics are much more likely to have or develop allergies to peanuts, milk, eggs and shrimp.
Researchers targeted children and men as groups more likely than others to have to live with certain dietary restrictions, with the most common allergy being peanuts, especially for children and adolescents.
Jewish Health Associate Professor of Pediatrics Andrew Liu said, “People with a food allergy and asthma should closely monitor both conditions and be aware that they might be related.”
Researchers were unable to determine if food allergies were the cause of the asthma or vice versa, or if both asthma and allergies were manifestations of the same problem.
Small-sized meals and snacks for infants and young children do not meet the standards of nutritional quality, according to researchers in Alberta.
Professor Charlene Elliott and his colleagues at the University of Calgary have analyzed 186 consumer products for toddlers.
Cereal bars, microwave dinners, snacks, jelly and fruit purée desserts were among the products selected for analysis.
They made an alarming discovery: 63 per cent of the selected products contained too much sugar and salt, and is responsible for promoting poor nutrition from an early age.
Unfortunately, parents assume that the products are healthy because they are intended for children, but this is not always the case, particularly with regard to desserts. The researchers point out that babies do not need to finish their meal with a dessert.
In the past twenty years, overweight and obesity rates have doubled among children between 2 and 17 years old.
There are so many recommendations for pregnant women that it can become overwhelming, especially when the information is contradictory. Here are some tips on foods to keep off your plate.
– Raw fish. Sushi is 90 per cent raw fish which may contain listeria. It is particularly harmful to the fetus. Effects include miscarriage or premature birth. Avoid raw fish at all costs, and select cooked meat instead.
– Raw meat. Carpaccio can also contain listeria, or give you toxoplasmosis which can cause abortion, fetal death, or neurological and retinal damage for the baby. Always cook meat thoroughly.
– Soft cheeses. Blue cheese, feta, brie, camembert, etc. must be avoided. Choose firm cheeses and do not eat the rind.
– Oysters. Even cooked, oysters can affect your unborn child. You can feast on well-cooked seafood.
– Raw eggs. Avoid any foods containing raw eggs because of the potential exposure to salmonella. This includes desserts such as mousse, cream or cream-filled pastries. However, cookies, cakes, pies and well-washed fruit are perfectly acceptable.
Lost that loving feeling? To maintain a healthy sex drive, there are certain foods and drinks you should avoid, according The Star. These foods often cause a drop in testosterone, the hormone in both men and women, which triggers sexual desire.
For example, the licorice plant, often used to manufacture candy and other sweets, contains phytoestrogens, which tends to decrease testosterone levels. The same effect also occurs with excessive consumption of soy.
Cilantro leaves, mint, and tonic drinks with quinine are also culprits when it comes to reducing testosterone levels and adversely affecting the libido.
Supposedly, corn flakes were developed by Doctor John Harvey Kellogg to reduce patient’s sexual desire. Also, excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages not only reduces desire, but can also impair sexual function as well. Not to mention the morning after, typically filled with depression and nauseating hangover.
Of course, too many sweet or fatty foods can cause a thickening of the arteries, which in turn decreases blood flow to the genitals. Something to think about the next time you’re in line at the fast food drive-thru.
