Coffee can do lots of good to our health. Yes, but what is a good coffee?

Even if you might not be a coffee aficionado, knowing what to expect from a good cup of coffee will certainly enhance your coffee experience. Here are 5 of our favourite tips on how to judge a cup of coffee.
The 10 second rule

The big coffee machine that produces shots of thick black coffee that gets poured into your coffee base is called an espresso machine. Espresso is made from a blend of coffees brewed under great pressure, using a large amount of coffee and a small amount of water. Espresso is dense and intense and is used as a base for most of your favourite coffee drinks like Lattes, Cappuccinos, Mochas and so on. Once an Espresso shot has been brewed, it only lasts for 10 seconds if it is not poured straight into your drink. So if you are standing in line waiting for your Latte and you see that the Barista has left your espresso shot for a long time after it is brewed and then pours it into your coffee, demand a fresh one. An expired espresso shot is definitely not worth paying for.
The Scent

A good cup of coffee gives a pleasant, satisfying scent, so trust your nose when it comes to assessing your cup of coffee. If you detect a slightly burnt, onion-y or a somewhat vegetable-y scent, that means it’s probably badly brewed coffee, or has been sitting on a burner all day.
The Taste

Good coffee should always have an underlying sweetness to it. This comes from the coffee cherry’s ripeness. If your coffee tastes salty instead, that’s a bad sign. Processing defects usually causes salty tasting coffee.
The Roast


The jury is out on this one, some prefer light, some medium while some argue that coffee is not really coffee unless it is dark roasted coffee. Whatever your preference, it should never taste burnt. If you detect a burnt quality in your coffee, it may be a bad roast.
The Texture

A good cup of coffee is always rich and a little thick, never watery. It is full-bodied and satisfying down to the last drop. The last lingering taste that you should experience is a smooth, sweet aftertaste.
Know Your Coffee Lingo

Ever wanted to order more than a just a cappuccino but stumped by all the Italian coffee names? Here’s a short list to help you keep your cool the next time you find yourself at a coffee chain counter.
Affogato (means “drowned”): Espresso served over ice-cream, or gelato, usually vanilla
Americano (means “American”): Espresso and hot water, basically strong black coffee.
Cappuccino (named after the resemblance of the frothy top to the hoods of the Italian Catholic Capuchin monks): Traditionally, one-third espresso, one-third steamed milk, and one-third milk foam. Sometimes topped (upon request) with a light dusting of cocoa powder.
Doppio (means “Double”): A double shot of espresso.
Espresso con Panna (means “espresso with cream”): Espresso with whipped cream on top.
Latte (means “milk”): This term is an abbreviation of “caffellatte” (or “caffè e latte”), coffee with milk. An espresso based drink with a volume of steamed milk, served with a thin layer of foam.
 
Latte macchiato (means “stained milk”): Essentially an inverted cafè latte, with the espresso poured on top of the milk.
Mocha (named ‘Mocha’ because it is associated with the original Mocha bean that had a “chocolate-y taste): Normally, a latte blended with chocolate.
Frappe (means “milkshake”): Usually called Frappacino – as in “Coffee Milkshake” – A shot of Espresso mixed with chocolate or other ingredients and blended with ice.

Benefits of coffee are many.

1. With regular drinking of coffee  ( 2 cups a day) it can keep Parkinson's  disease and dementia (type 2 diabetes) at bay.
2. Coffee drinking can also ward off cancer and strokes
3. It can reduced risk of Alzeimer's disease.
4. It acts an antioxidant
5. Offers some protection to liver
6. It is antidiabetic
and many more

So drink coffee and enjoy the benefits.

SWEET POTATO

SWEET POTATO

Did you know that SWEET POTATO (kamote) far exceeds the nutrition and health values of rice? Here are the benefits of substituting rice with kamote:

1.    Sweet potato is more filling and suppresses hunger pangs longer. It is also cheaper than rice.

2.    Unlike rice, it is  easy to grow. It grows in backyards with or without fertilizers. Local government executives can provide their poor communities with idle government land for planting kamote which the entire community can share.

3.    Unlike rice which needs to be eaten with a dish, Sweet Potato tastes good and can be eaten by itself. Thus, substituting rice with sweet potato saves money for other needs.

4.    Rice cannot match the nutritional values of potato. Because rice converts to sugar in the body, the Philippines registers as a top producer of diabetics in the world.The poor tends to load up on rice and less on the dish which are more expensive. That makes them vulnerable to diabetes, an ailment known in developed countries as a rich man's disease.

5.    The nutritional values of a 3 oz. baked sweet potato are: calories 90, fat 0 g, saturated fat 0 g, cholesterol 0 mg, carbohydrate 21 g, protein 2 g, dietary fiber 3 g, sodium 36 mg, vitamin A 19,218 IU, folic acid 6 micrograms, pantothenic acid 1 mg, vitamin B6

6.    Too much rice consumption can make you sick, but sweet potato(kamote) can bring you to health and keep away some health problems. These have been proved medically.
In a medical documentary I watched recently on KBS World (the South Korean TV Network), I was awed by the results of the research the Koreans conducted on the nutritional and medicinal benefits of kamote (which they refer to as sweet potato).

In that Korean medical documentary I watched (which I followed through the English subtitles), they presented the research findings on people with established health problems who were placed on a kamote/sweet potato diet.

Believe it or not - Sweet Potato (kamote) lowers hypertension, bad cholesterol and even blood sugar when eaten as SUBSTITUTE TO RICE! The purple sweet potato (kamote) is particularly effective for lowering hypertension.
   
Not only that, the Korean medical documentary credits the sweet potato (kamote) as high fiber and is one of the best foods that one can eat to prevent cancer!

For those who are only impressed by US doctors, read this: the North Carolina Stroke Association, American Cancer Society, and the American Heart Association have all endorsed the sweet potato for its disease prevention and healing qualities.

The Americans, the South Koreans - both progressive nations - have raised the kamote to a high pedestal. Many of them even call the sweet Potato a "super food that heals."

Chinese mushrooms

Chinese mushrooms

I was in China recently and we went to a few "mushrooms steamboat " restaurants where we can select all different kinds of mushrooms to put into our steamboat. It was very good. The waiters in ALL such restaurants told us NOT to eat until the soup has been boiling for at least 12 to 15 mins. In the first restaurant, we were very hungry , so we didnt bother to wait for 12 mins and started to dish out our mushrooms from the steamboat when the waiter ran over quickly to our table to stop us from eating. Every restuarant gave us very stern warning that we CANNOT eat until it is 15 mins of continuous boiling. Apparently, they had to kill all the bacteria in the mushrooms. I was thinking maybe it is toxic. Sulfide 硫化氫has potential to cause allergies, mostly asthmatic. 10% of asthma cases are cause by an allergy to sulfides. It is a preservative, but strictly regulated. It has been found that Mushrooms from China contain carbon disulfide二硫化碳 in them. Carbon disulfide is a pesticide/fungicide with acceptable/legal residue levels defined for fresh/dried foods. Always discard the soak liquid and do not use it in the cooking process. China's regulations are questionable. Most of the mushrooms on the market are from China, and are contaminated with chemicals which are soluble in water. Discard the water that you soak the dried mushrooms in to soften. According to Mr. L.W. Chan of the Health Department (USA), most mushrooms are smuggled into the country from China. The recent opening of traffic between China and Taiwan made it difficult for the government to control these illegal activities. It is better to use Taiwanese mushrooms or Japanese Shiitake Mushrooms. Soak them in water before cooking and the water used to soak the mushrooms must be thrown away. Mr. Chan continued to say that it is customary and a common practice for people to cook the mushrooms with the water saved from soaking. This habit should stop, because most fertilizers used in farming are water soluble. According to tests in the past, it was known that mushrooms were contaminated by fertilizer.

Mushrooms contain sulfur and when mixed in with fertilizer, carbonate tests showed a 20% higher reading on carbon disulfide which made it difficult to obtain a reliable reading on results.

Alcohol may ward off certain cancer.

By Larissa Long,

For those who love to enjoy a glass of wine with dinner or a cold beer while watching a football game, even more good news has recently come out about the health benefits of light-to-moderate alcohol consumption.
By now, it’s a pretty well known fact that red wine has properties that make it heart-healthy. Specifically, it contains an antioxidant called resveratrol that helps protect against heart disease and atherosclerosis.
More recently, research has come out touting alcohol’s ability to protect the kidneys against cancer. This conclusion was reached after researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 24 studies that examined alcoholic beverage intake and its influence on kidney and renal cell cancers.[1]
After analyzing the data obtained in these 24 studies, researchers found a common thread — those who drank alcohol showed a decreased risk of renal cell cancer. Best results were obtained with the consumption of about 15 grams (about 1/8 cup) of alcohol per day.
Interestingly, they noted that all three major types of alcohol — beer, wine and liquor — significantly lowered the risk of renal cell cancer, suggesting that ethanol was likely the cause of these benefits. Furthermore, factors like gender, smoking status and hypertension didn’t seem to change the results.

How Does Alcohol Protect the Kidneys?

Researchers believe alcohol’s effect on insulin sensitivity and kidney vasculature (the arrangement of blood vessels in the kidneys) has something to do with these amazing protective benefits.
Diabetes, obesity and insulin resistance are strong factors in the development of renal cell cancer, and some studies have shown that light-to-moderate alcohol intake can improve insulin sensitivity.
In addition, alcohol may increase “good” HDL cholesterol levels and decrease clotting in the blood vessels around the kidneys, providing further protection.

Moderation is Still — and Always Will Be — Key!

As exciting as these results are, keep in mind that 15 grams, or 1/8 cup — the amount found to be protective — is not a lot of alcohol. In fact, researchers emphasized that consuming more than 15 grams didn’t offer any additional benefit.
Plus, drinking alcohol in excess has been proven without a doubt to increase the risk of serious conditions like hypertension, stroke, and various forms of cancer like breast, colorectal, esophageal, oral, stomach and liver.
So, avoid falling into the “too much of a good thing” trap and stick to one glass of your favorite alcoholic beverage per day. Due to its heart-health-promoting characteristics, red wine will always be the best choice. But whatever you choose, raise that glass knowing that your kidneys may just be thanking you!