Top Best Foods for Your Heart

Oatmeal 

Start your day with a steaming bowl of oats, which are full of omega-3 fatty acids, folate, and potassium. This fiber-rich superfood can lower levels of LDL (or bad) cholesterol and help keep arteries clear.
Opt for coarse or steel-cut oats over instant varieties—which contain more fiber—and top your bowl off with a banana for another 4 grams of fiber.

 

 

Salmon                                                                 

Super-rich in omega-3 fatty acids, salmon can effectively reduce blood pressure and keep clotting at bay. Aim for two servings per week, which may reduce your risk of dying of a heart attack by up to one-third.
"Salmon contains the carotenoid astaxanthin, which is a very powerful antioxidant," says cardiologist  Stephen T. Sinatra, MD, the author of Lower Your Blood Pressure In Eight Weeks. But be sure to choose wild salmon over farm-raised fish, which can be packed with insecticides, pesticides, and heavy metals.
Not a fan of salmon? Other oily fish like mackerel, tuna, herring, and sardines will give your heart the same boost.

Avocado                                                                 

Add a bit of avocado to a sandwich or spinach salad to up the amount of heart-healthy fats in your diet. Packed with monounsaturated fat, avocados can help lower LDL levels while raising the amount of HDL cholesterol in your body.
"Avocados are awesome," says Dr. Sinatra. "They allow for the absorption of other carotenoids—especially beta-carotene and lycopene—which are essential for heart health."

Oliveoil                                                       

Full of monounsaturated fats, olive oil lowers bad LDL cholesterol and reduces your risk of developing heart disease.
Results from the Seven Countries Study, which looked at cardiovascular disease incidences across the globe, showed that while men in Crete had a predisposition for high cholesterol levels, relatively few died of heart
disease because their diet focused on heart-healthy fats found in olive oil.
Look for extra-virgin or virgin varieties—they're the least processed—and
use them instead of butter when cooking.

Nuts                                                                

Walnuts are full of omega-3 fatty acids and, along with almonds and macadamia nuts, are loaded with mono- and polyunsaturated fat. Plus, nuts increase fiber in the diet, says Dr. Sinatra. "And like olive oil, they are a great source of healthy fat."

 

 

Berries

 

Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries—whatever berry you like best—are full of anti-inflammatories, which reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer.
"Blackberries and blueberries are especially great," says Sinatra. "But all berries are great for your vascular health.

Legumes

Fill up on fiber with lentils, chickpeas, and black and kidney beans. They're packed with omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, and soluble fiber.

Spinach

Spinach can help keep your ticker in top shape thanks to its stores of lutein, folate, potassium, and fiber.
But upping your servings of any veggies is sure to give your heart a boost.  The Physicians' Health Study examined more than 15,000 men without heart disease for a period of 12 years. Those who ate at least two-and-a-half servings of vegetables each day cut their risk of heart disease by about 25%, compared with those who didn't eat the veggies. Each additional serving reduced risk by another 17%

Flaxseed

Full of fiber and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, a little sprinkling of flaxseed can go a long way for your heart. Top a bowl of oatmeal or whole-grain cereal with a smidgen of ground flaxseed for the ultimate heart-healthy breakfast

Soy

Soy may lower cholesterol, and since it is low in saturated fat, it's still a great source of lean protein in a heart-healthy diet.
Look for natural sources of soy, like edamame, tempeh, or organic silken tofu. And soy milk is a great addition to a bowl of oatmeal or whole-grain cereal. But watch the amount of salt in your soy: some processed varieties like soy dogs can contain added sodium, which boosts blood pressure.

Source:health

Food Art

Water Melon Lady

 

Butterfly Apple

Watermelon Swimmer

 

Vegetable Fish

 

Mining a melon

 

Wall-E

 

Eggs in Shell

 

Apple Atlas

 

Capsicum Pepper Skull

 

Cute Puppy

 

Red Ant Radish

 

The Banquet

 

Pumpkin Predator

 

 Source:lifeartworks.com

Can The Candwich Make Dough for Its Inventor?

The Fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, reportedly inspired the name of one of the world's most popular foods in the late 1700s. In the early 1800s, Napoleon Bonaparte helped fund the invention of canned foods as a long-term food preservative.

So isn't it strange that it took 200 years before a man in Salt Lake City thought about putting sandwiches in cans?

Mark Kirkland thinks so. But instead of complaining, he's capitalizing by creating something called the "Candwich," which, like it sounds, is a sandwich in a can.

"Basically, you put a sandwich into a container that can fit into an existing vending machine," said Kirkland, who has spent the last 10 years trying to make dough from the idea.

Finally, he is about to see his concept come to fruition, thanks to the development of shelf-stable bread that stays fresh for at least a year.

Kirkland first got the thought for food while having some food for thought.

"I was having a can of soda and eating a cookie when I realized that I could package the cookies into a can and sell them in the same vending machine as the soda," he said.

The Candwich is expected to hit the market next month in vending machines and convenience stores in San Diego and southern Texas.

It will come in a 24-ounce can that contains a complete sandwich on a bun. In some cases, such as the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the fixings come separately to be assembled by the customer. In others, such as the pepperoni pocket, the filling is baked into the bread -- which he says was the thing that sold him.

"I was skeptical until I tried the bread," he said. "That's what got me."

Since the price point will be around $2 to $3 per sandwich, Kirkland figures to make a lot of bread -- especially since it caters to certain demographics.






"Nearly 15 percent of Americans are too busy to eat during lunch," Kirkland said. "Also, I figure this product will be in demand for disaster relief. I wish I had 100 million cans after the earthquake in Haiti.

At first, the Candwich will be sold in San Diego and the Gulf Coast region of the United States.

"It's getting a lot of interest there because it's hurricane territory and it's something that can keep in all kinds of weather," Kirkland said. "You can eat it right out of the can, but I know people who will take the BBQ chicken can, put it on their car dashboard and let the sun heat it up."

Although no one is going to confuse sandwiches, canned or otherwise, as healthful, Kirkland insists the nutritional profile is pretty sound -- provided you don't eat the actual can, of course.

"The peanut butter is high in protein and the chicken is lean breast meat and there are no trans fats."

So far, the response to the Candwich has varied from "I can't believe they made that" to "I can't believe they made it -- where can I get one?" Kirkland admits he will get a certain amount of sales just from curiosity.

"Most people will try it for the novelty," he said. "And if they like it, they'll come back. I look it at it like bottled water. When that first came out, I thought 'Why would I pay a buck for a glass of water when there's a drinking fountain over there?' But now I have a bottle of water every day."

Source:AOLnews.com

Is the Next Global Food Crisis Now in the Making?

Recent weeks have produced a series of grim and related headlines: Russia has declared a state of emergency because of drought in 12 regions, while in major wheat exporter Ukraine, severe flooding may depress crop yields. Dry conditions threaten Vietnamese rice production. The USDA has projected a disappointingly low Midwest harvest, and China has raised questions on the demand side by doubling its imports from Canada.

Hoang Dinh Nam, AFP / Getty Images

A farmer pulls off dying rice plants from a rice field in Ben Tre, Vietnam, earlier this month. Dry conditions are threatening Vietnamese rice production this year.

Fortunately, this run of unfavorable farming news follows strong harvests that for now should keep grain prices in check, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. But to see the effects of a bad year for food -- and what the world could be in for if the present trend persists -- one only has to look to 2008.

Two years ago, a confluence of environmental causes compounded by rising fuel costs and a global credit crunch caused food prices to skyrocket an average of 43 percent worldwide, leading to starvation and riots from Mexico to Bangladesh.

Some are worried that was just a warning.

In a new book, "Empires of Food," journalist Andrew Rimas and Leeds University agricultural researcher Evan Fraser examine civilizations from Mesopotamia to Rome to Great Britain. They argue that every empire was made possible by agriculture, and that when those agricultural systems failed, the empires they supported failed with them.

Fraser and Rimas worry that the food system in place today is built around nitrogen-based fertilizers that require petroleum to create, as well as good weather that's graced the world since the dust bowl. If fuel prices go up again, or if the weather gets worse, they say, we could see our food empire unravel as well.

"Even leaving climate change aside, we know that we have enjoyed good weather relative to the historic average," Fraser told AOL News. "To a certain extent it's cyclical, and that would lead us to expect crummy growing seasons in the decades ahead."

Those who share Fraser and Rimas' worries over the millions of expanding appetites being produced by a developing world are offering a modern version of Thomas Malthus' 1798 argument that population growth will inexorably outstrip agricultural production. Malthus' predictions were attacked almost as soon as they were written, but despite that criticism, his theories continued to find supporters and influence public policy throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Since World War II, developments in chemical agriculture have brought more nourishment out of the ground than Malthus could ever imagined. Still, his ideas won't seem to go away.

It's easy to see why. The essential problem is that as the world population keeps expanding, it becomes difficult to imagine a system that already seems stretched managing to feed millions more. Even while some argue that world birth rates are beginning to decline to the rate of replacement, by U.N. estimates the global population is still going to rise from about 6.5 billion to 9 billion by 2050. And those 2.5 billion extra people will need to eat.

The language of hunger permeates governmental, nongovernmental and corporate rhetoric. The solutions proposed are different: Some advocate genetically modified crops and refinements in modern industrial agriculture, others emphasize local production and diversified farms less vulnerable to pests and drought. But most concerned with food production seem to agree that trouble looms.

"Global food supplies must increase by an estimated 50 percent to meet expected demand in the next 20 years," reads the Global Food Security page on the State Department website.

For the Western world, food security has not been a significant concern since the Great Depression. Countries like the United States have a substantial buffer of wealth to insulate them from the vicissitudes of weather, and the average customer is unlikely to see even catastrophic agricultural events represented by much more than a lack of tomatoes on Big Macs or a limit on rice purchases at Sam's Club.

The Malthusians haven't been right -- yet. But if Fraser and Rimas' historical assessment is correct, the kind of deep food security to which most Americans and Europeans have become accustomed is shakier than people may think.

Source:
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/is-the-next-global-food-crisis-now-in-the-making/19557228