对于白领一族来说，办公室里的下午3点该是下午茶时间，忙碌了大半天，我们的身体开始感到疲惫，注意力开始在窗外的世界游走。。。。。是该稍事休息并为身体补充一点健康能量了！

【一】 核桃 | 提升脑活力

核桃是最著名的补脑食物—它富含多种维他命，矿物质，氨基酸，脂肪酸，抗氧化剂和膳食纤维等营养素，特别是亚麻酸和维生素E对改善记忆力益处多多。另外，亚麻酸可以在体内转化为大脑的主要成分DHA，所以核桃是最适合强脑力劳动者的健康零食。

提示 : 最好吃生的，带壳的核桃，现砸现吃，因为核桃仁直接暴露在空气时间太长就会被氧化破坏。另外，最好不要吃热加工后的核桃食品。因为加热超过70摄氏度，核桃中的亚麻酸就会遭到破坏。

【二】 苹果 | 抗氧化高手

办公室里一坐就是8小时，皮肤干燥，身体缺水，急需健康食物的救援。现在每天带一个水果出们已经是很多细心OL的习惯之一。所有的水果当中，苹果是“平均分”最高的了。西方营养学家认为苹果的营养丰富全面，中医则认为苹果是性情温和的水果，适合所有体质的人食用。营养学家发现一个苹果可以提供4000至6000抗氧化剂，是机体抗衰老的好帮手。“一日一苹果，医生离我远”(One Apple a day, keep doctors away) 是众所周知的西谚。下午3点，能量补充的首选当然是苹果。

提示 : 建议连皮一起吃，因为约1/3的营养成份存在于皮内。

【三】 红萝卜 | 补充皮肤营养素

β – 红萝卜素主要分布在人体表皮下面和粘膜里面，以抵御自由基和紫外线的侵袭，负责保卫皮肤和黏膜健康。β – 红萝卜素被营养家们称为“皮肤营养素”，是天然的“防晒霜”。太阳太大，办公室里的你即使是隔着落地玻璃窗，也要留心皮肤不被有害紫外线所伤。每天出门前带上一根中等大小的红萝卜，在最疲惫的下午3时左右吃掉，可满足机体对 β – 红萝卜素的需要。

提示 : 熟吃红萝卜可以提高  β – 红萝卜素的吸收率，但并不显著。而加热会部分破坏红萝卜中的 B 族维他命，维他命 C 和抗氧化剂，并且使糖分增加。如果感觉在办公区域啃红萝卜不雅，可以切成小块，放在保险盒里带到办公室，用牙签插着吃。

【四】 杏仁 | 让我们更长寿

杏仁富含多种维他命、矿物质、氨基酸、脂肪酸、抗氧化剂和膳食纤维等营养素，特别是单不饱和脂肪酸、维他命E 和硒元素。喜马拉雅山山谷的巴基斯坦罕什，居住着世界上最长寿的人群，杏仁是他们的日常零食。

提示 : 杏仁分为甜杏仁和苦杏仁，甜杏仁大而扁，苦杏仁小而厚。苦杏仁有小毒，不能多吃。一般作为止咳和通便之药用。研究表明，每天吃20至25颗甜杏仁可以显著降低患心脑血管疾病的风险。甜杏仁应当连皮吃掉，因为杏仁皮中含有丰富的抗氧化物质。

【五】 鸡蛋 | 天然廉价蛋白质来源

抗衰老专家建议，在感到饿的时候，第一时间应该补充的能量是蛋白质，而非碳水化合物，鸡蛋是比饼干更健康的零食—既不制造太多热量，又能为身体提供营养。营养学家发现，鸡蛋中的氨基酸的比例与人体极为接近，被称为氨基酸“黄金比例”。而一个中等大小的鸡蛋可以提供5克左右的蛋白质，非常适合作为一个Office break的健康小食。

提示 : DHA和卵磷脂都含于蛋黄中，所以吃鸡蛋不要丢掉蛋黄。一个误区认为吃鸡蛋会升高血液胆固醇含量。其实，对于青壮年人来说，每天吃1至2个鸡蛋还是健康必需的。

【六】 黑巧克力 | 人人都爱的快乐食物

黑巧克力是世界上最著名的养心食品，同时也是让我们的味蕾和大脑一起快乐的食物。黑巧克力中富含多种维生素，矿物质、氨基酸、脂肪酸、抗氧化剂和膳食纤维等营养素，特别是蛋白质、膳食纤维和生物类黄酮，具有高抗氧化作用，属于优质抗氧化食品。

提示 : 普通巧克力只含有少量可可粉，其余成分为糖、油脂及添加剂，对血管健康不利。所以，提醒自己只吃纯黑巧克力才是聪明之选。

【七】 豆浆 | 办公室补水最佳选择

下午3点正是为身体补水的好时间。除了咖啡和茶饮，一杯豆浆是更好的选择。营养学家认为大豆是唯一营养可与肉食相媲美的植物，有“植物肉”之称—大豆富含优质蛋白、卵磷脂、异黄铜，低聚糖等营养素。

提示 : 豆浆是安全的植物雌激素的来源，是非常健康的女性食品。如果喝豆浆不方便，每天让自己吃一小包豆类食物也是一个备用选择。

【八】 果蔬汁 | 补足身体所需蔬果量

水果和蔬菜富含维他命、矿物质、活性酶，叶绿素，膳食纤维和天然植物化学物质，特别是抗氧化剂。营养学家建议每天至少摄入7种不同的蔬果。市场出现了很多蔬果混合汁，方便忙碌的上班族随时补足身体所需的营养。

提示 : 一般来说，蔬菜的营养价值超过水果，水果不能代替蔬菜。深色蔬菜比浅色蔬菜更有营养，叶子的营养大于根茎，叶菜的营养价值大于瓜菜。你可以根据当天所摄入的蔬果种类灵活决定选择何种成分的蔬果汁。

【九】 葡萄 | 保护血管的健康饮品

红葡萄(或紫葡萄)富含多酚，特别是在皮和籽里，又尤其在籽里。葡萄籽的提取物含27种原花色素(OPC)，其抗氧化能力是维他命C的20倍，维他命E的50倍。美国诺贝尔奖得主路易斯伊格纳罗认为，紫葡萄汁与红葡萄酒中的多酚含量相当，保健作用也相当。

提示 : 建议吃葡萄连皮带籽一起吃。研究发现如果每天喝两杯紫葡萄汁，可大幅度提高血液中一氧化氢的水平，预防血栓的形成。

【四】 红枣 | 最养颜的女性食品

补铁补血是女人基本的健康养颜功课，而红枣就是非常天然的铁质来源。辛苦的职场女战士，下午3点可以选择用红枣滋养自己。

提示 : 可以用红枣泡茶喝，也可以直接吃枣。总之，养成习惯就好，坚持几年你会发现气色改善很多。

题材取自 办公室健康零食 （星洲日报 —— 型时代， 2010年2月8日） ，编辑：郑丽娟 | 原文：西木博士

Introduction

In the beginning there was water—abundant, refreshing, providing everything the body needs to replenish the fluids it loses. Humans relied on it as their only beverage for millions of years. Milk came next, with the advent of agriculture and the domestication of animals. Then beer and wine and coffee and tea, all drunk for taste and pleasure as much as for the fluids they provide. The newcomers—soft drinks, sports and energy drinks, and the like—offer hydration but with a hefty dose of unnecessary calories that the body may have a hard time regulating.

With so many choices, all with different, sometimes unexpected effects on health, it’s easy to be confused about the “best” beverages for health. This prompted a group of nutrition experts from across the U.S. to form the independent Beverage Guidence Panel. These six researchers, including Dr. Walter C. Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Nutrition, reviewed the evidence on beverages and health and ranked categories of beverages into six levels, based on calories delivered, contribution to intake of energy and essential nutrients, and evidence for positive and negative effects on health. The winner? Water. But that doesn’t mean that water is the only beverage that’s good for your health, or that everyone needs to drink eight glasses of water a day.

Beverage Guidelines from the Experts

The Beverage Guidance Panel distilled its advice into a six-level pitcher, much as food experts have done with the food pyramid. The group published its recommendations in the March 2006 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Here is a description of each level:

Level 1: Water

Water provides everything the body needs—pure H2O—to restore fluids lost through metabolism, breathing, sweating, and the removal of waste. It’s the perfect beverage for quenching thirst and rehydrating your system. When it comes from the tap, it costs a fraction of a penny per glass. Water should be the beverage you turn to most of the time.

Level 2: Tea and Coffee

After water, tea and coffee are the two most commonly consumed beverages on the planet. Drunk plain, they are calorie-free beverages brimming with antioxidants, flavonoids, and other biologically active substances that may be good for health. Up to three or four cups of coffee or tea a day appear to be fine. Green tea, especially the strong variety served in Japan, has received attention for its potential role in protecting against heart disease, while coffee may help protect against type 2 diabetes. (2, 3) More research on the health benefits of tea and coffee is needed, but one thing is for certain: The addition of cream, sugar, whipped cream, and flavorings can turn coffee or tea from a healthful beverage into a not-so-healthful one. For example, a 16-ounce Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino with Chocolate Whipped Cream contains 470 calories. Tucked in this beverage (which is actually closer to a dessert) are 12 grams of saturated fat—nearly a day’s worth—and 71 grams of sugar, the equivalent of 17 teaspoons of sugar. (4) Keep in mind that for pregnant women, the jury is still out on whether high coffee or caffeine intakes increase the risk of miscarriage, but it seems prudent to limit caffeinated beverages to one cup per day. (For more information about coffee and chronic disease, see Ask the Expert: Coffee and Health.)

Level 3: Low-Fat and Skim Milk and Soy Beverages

For children, milk is a key source of calcium and vitamin D. Fortified soy milk is a good alternative source of calcium and vitamin D for those who prefer not to drink’s cow’s milk. Both are also good sources of protein and other essential micronutrients. Low-fat milk, sold as 1% or 1.5% milk, or skim milk, which is virtually fat-free, are the best choices because they contain much less saturated fat than reduced-fat milk or whole milk, which contain 2% and 4% milk fat, respectively. Even low-fat milk is high in calories, and high levels of consumption may increase the risk of prostate and ovarian cancer (see The Nutrition Source article Calcium and Milk: What’s Best for Your Bones and Health? for more information). So it’s best for adults to limit milk (and all dairy products) to a glass or two a day; less is fine, as long as you get enough calcium from other sources. For growing children, the ideal amount of milk and calcium is less clear, but not pushing beyond two glasses of milk per day appears to provide sufficient nutrition without being excessive.

Level 4: Noncalorically Sweetened Beverages

So-called diet sodas and other diet drinks are sweetened with calorie-free artificial sweeteners such as aspartame (Equal®, NutraSweet®, others), saccharin (Sweet’N Low®, Necta Sweet®, others), or sucralose (Splenda®); a new addition to the market are drinks sweetened with stevia, a calorie-free sweetener made from the leaves of a South and Central American shrub. These diet drinks are a better choice than sugar-sweetened soft drinks because they are lower in calories. But the possibility that they may contribute to weight gain suggests that they aren’t an innocuous alternative to water, and should be drunk as the occasional treat rather than as a daily beverage. For those who find it difficult to give up full-calorie soda, these may be useful in making the transition to healthier beverages, like a nicotine patch can do for smokers.

Level 5: Caloric Beverages with Some Nutrients

This category includes fruit juice, vegetable juice, whole milk, sports drinks, vitamin-enhanced waters, and alcoholic beverages. Each has its pluses and minuses. One-hundred-percent fruit juice has most of the nutrients of the fruit itself, but it usually delivers more energy. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends no more than one serving (4 ounces) of 100% fruit juice as part of the daily fruit intake. Fruit smoothies are usually very high in calories, and so aren’t recommended as daily beverages. Vegetable juice is a lower calorie alternative to fruit juice, but may contain a lot of sodium. Whole milk is a good source of calcium and vitamin D, but has nearly twice the calories as skim milk. Whole milk is also a significant source of saturated fat, with 4.5 grams per glass. Sports drinks have fewer calories than soft drinks, and offer small amounts of sodium, chloride, and potassium. They aren’t needed by casual athletes or daily walkers. The only people who really need them are endurance athletes who exercise for more than an hour at a stretch and who sweat a lot. Vitamin-enhanced waters, meanwhile, are not necessary for anyone who takes a daily multivitamin, and adding vitamins to a sugary drink does not make it a healthy choice. Alcohol may have benefits for some but may be hazardous for others, and entire books have been written on the subject (see The Nutrition Source article Alcohol: Balancing Risks and Benefits for more information).

Level 6: Calorically Sweetened Beverages

The Beverage Guidance Panel gave its “least recommended” designation to beverages that are sweetened with sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, or other high-calorie sweeteners and that have few other nutrients. These include carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, fruit drinks, lemonade, and other “ades.” They get the thumbs down as a daily beverage because they provide so many calories and virtually no other nutrients. Routinely drinking these beverages can lead to weight gain and increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. Fruit smoothies, many flavored coffee and tea drinks, and some so-called energy drinks also fall into this category. (For a handy guide to the calories and sugar in popular beverages, see How Sweet Is It? on The Nutrition Source.)

Putting It All Together: A Sample Beverage Plan

Your body would be perfectly content if you drank nothing but water. You would get all the fluid you need, and you would get all of your nutrients from food. But with so many choices available, most people drink a variety of beverages. To give some perspective to choosing beverages, the Beverage Guidance Panel poured its recommendations into a pitcher. The exact number of ounces isn’t what’s important—these are given for a typical person taking in 2,200 calories a day. What matters are the proportions. Here’s one way the Panel suggests getting less than 10 percent of daily calories from beverages:

• At least half of your daily fluid should come from water. For a person who needs 12 cups of fluid a day, that would mean six cups of water. More is fine—up to 100% of your daily beverage needs.
• About one-third (or about three to four cups) can come from unsweetened coffee or tea. If you flavor your coffee or tea with a lot of sugar, cream, or whole milk, then drinking less would help manage weight. If you take a pass on coffee or tea, choose water instead.
• Low-fat milk can make up another 20 percent, or about two 8-ounce glasses. Less is fine, just make sure you get your calcium from another source.
• A small glass (4 ounces) of 100% fruit juice, and no more than 1 to 2 alcoholic drinks for men or no more than 1 for women.
• Ideally, zero “diet” drinks made with artificial sweeteners, but up to 1 to 2 glasses (8 to 16 ounces) a day (this is adapted from the Beverage Guidance Panel’s original recommendation of up to 32 ounces per day).
• Ideally, zero drinks sweetened with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, but up to a maximum of 8 ounces.

Suggested beverage consumption pattern for a person who requires 2,200 calories per day, providing 10 percent of calories from beverages. The values 50, 28, 16, and 4 fluid ounces are shown for illustrative purposes only; the total should sum to 98 fluid ounces, as shown at the top of the figure. The range listed at each level refers to the Beverage Guidance Panel’s suggested consumption range for each beverage. Caffeine is a limiting factor for coffee and tea consumption; up to 400 mg per day, or approximately 32 fluid ounces of coffee per day (can replace water). Noncalorically sweetened beverages can substitute for tea and coffee with the same limitations regarding caffeine, up to 16 fluid ounces per day (this is adapted from the Beverage Guidance Panel’s original recommendation of up to 32 fluid ounces per day). Adapted with permission from Am. J. Clin. Nutr. (2006; 83:529-542), © American Society for Nutrition.

1. Popkin BM, Armstrong LE, Bray GM, Caballero B, Frei B, Willett WC. A new proposed guidance system for beverage consumption in the United States. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2006; 83:529-542.
2. Kuriyama S, Shimazu T, Ohmori K, Kikuchi N, Nakaya N, Nishino Y, Tsubono Y, Tsuji I. Green tea consumption and mortality due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all causes in Japan: the Ohsaki study. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2006; 296:1255-1265.
3. Van Dam RM, Willett WC, Manson JE, Hu FB. Coffee, caffeine, and risk of type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study in younger and middle-aged U.S. women. Diabetes Care. 2006; 29:398-403.
4. Starbucks beverage details: Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino® blended coffee with Chocolate Whipped Cream. Accessed on March 28, 2009.
5. Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2004. Accessed on March 28, 2009.

“To improve the health condition, start with the meal you eat everyday!” this is what my grandma always tell. If we maintain a healthy eating behavior, the long term effect is significant. Luckily enough, Asian has well known about the health way of living since thousands of years ago and heritage plenty of health related recipes and know how of ingredient, which has all type of properties that is good to our body, like anti-oxidant, cancer prevention, lowering cholesterol, anti-aging, low in fat, salt and calories,  which won’t loosing out in the deliciousness as well. Most of Asian foods are healthy and tasty when served authentically, many of the Asian cuisine restaurant out there has been Americanized or Westernized to add additional processed ingredient to suit the local flavor, which has transform the food to be less advantage to our body. In fact, cooking with less oil, use more veggies and less fried meat; the genuine way of healthy Asian cooking will actually has its own tastiness. You will learn all the vigor way of cooking Asian food in our ultimate recipes collection.

Here we explain in more detail of a few Asian countries eating culture and why they are great health food.

Chinese cuisine

Chinese food recipes stressed on the balanced and variety of diet. This is based on their believed in the principles of Yin and Yang, a complimentary pairs that has opposing force. Every ingredient could be characterized into it’s Yin or Yang characteristic, example like cool or warm, high or low salt, with or without fat, and etc. Besides, there is no single ingredient is typically yin or yang, but one may be a dominant over another. Therefore, the importance is the balance use of the ingredient to achieve the balanced diet. If you could recall, any Chinese dish, from Loh Han Mixed Vegetable to sweet and sour meat. There is always a balance in color, taste, aroma, and textures. A few example of health food from Chinese recipe are low calorie broth-based soup like egg drop, wonton or hot and sour soups; steamed, roasted or broiled cuisine like Shrimp with noodles, mixed vegetable and chicken rice with mushroom are all lower in calories.

Japanese cuisine

Japanese foods and recipes have long been recognized as one of the healthiest diet. This is because they are rich in nutrients and antioxidants. The facts tell us that the Japanese life expectancy is the highest, they have a history of slow aging with less chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease (heart attach and stroke), cancer, diabetes, obesity and dementia. People in this country consume a lot of cruciferous vegetables like watercress, radishes etc which has great cancer prevention properties. Besides, the famous lower in cholesterols and antioxidant Shitake mushrooms that already in used as medicine and meal which could boost the immune system and disease fighting since long time ago. Not to forget the high consumption of fish that is rich in essential fatty acids which could improve brain function, the seaweed that high in iodine, Tofu that’s high protein and green tea that could lower the blood pressure. All these parts and puzzle make up the good, tasty and healthful foodstuff of Japan which you could fine here.

Thai cuisine

Thai cookery no doubt is one of the healthiest cuisine, some recipes, for example Tom Yum Soup, are being study scientifically for their incredible health benefits. This is because this cuisine uses many type of fresh herb like coriander, lemongrass, turmeric, galangal and coriander, which has proven with numerous immune enhance properties like anti-inflammatory agent, bacteria-fighting, antioxidant, improve blood circulation, assist digestion, improve skin problem which is a good foodstuff for cancer prevention. Besides, chilies also one of the important ingredient. Human studies discover that chilies improve a few problems like sleeping disorder and maintain glucose level. Coconut milk is also one of the ingredient, where the oil contain fat is actually lower in bad cholesterol and promoting good cholesterol (HDL), improve immunity, anti-aging and provides fatty acids which is commonly lack in Westerner. However, you should better avoid foodstuff with coconut milk if you are in slimming program.

Vietnamese cuisine

This categories of foods are famous with its heavy greenery flavor because the use of naturally available healthful herbs as part of the meal, not only the tastes enhancer. Traditionally, carefully cut herbs like mint and coriander will serve raw in salad form in most of the meal, sometime you may fine red chili as well. These herbs are well known of its “good to body” properties like lowering cholesterol, provide dietary fiber and sufficient magnesium, and good for cardiovascular system. Besides, Vietnamese cuisine is lower in fat and calories where the mixture of herb and vegetable are usually served with small portion of meat, and eat together with the favorite rice noodles, also known as banh pho. What a balance diet.

Indian foods

This collection of cookery normally give us an impression of hot and spicy, and related to curry. Here you will see a healthier way of preparing curry, using less oil. The Ghee, a clarified butter to make the curry has its health benefits as well. No doubt Indian food is colorful, aromatic and rich in the taste, the main reason is the use of many types of spices, so the use of less salt, could already bring out the full flavor of the dishes. Healthy way to serve this cuisine tend to contain fresh fruits and vegetables, lentil dish (dal), water based pickles, roasted (Tandoori style) meat and fish, pan roasted chappati(flat bread), yogurt drinks and rice pudding as desert make up an unrivaled healthy and tasty combo. If you choose the right combo, it’s a delicious low carb meal.

Healthy food bring you Healthy life

Health has become one of the major concerns nowadays, no matter how rich or poor you are, no matter what is your social status, healthier life is the number one asset for every human being. There is no doubt that our health condition has deteriorate everyday, facts from WHO tell, cancer rate has increase yearly, with one of the primary cause: Western lifestyle that promote high consumption of caloric diet, fatty foodstuff, animal protein and refined carbohydrates. When couple with insufficient exercise, the human energy becomes imbalance and thus all type of “Rich People” sickness emerge, like Heart attack, Obesity, arterial hypertension and diabetes, and etc. Facts from the story around us tell the same, this is due to the today’s fast changing / or too fast “out of control” development pace that produce many by product like earth contamination, stressing living condition and insufficient nutritional food. Hope that the healthy Asian food recipes here will promote a healthier lifestyle to everyone and improve the human fitness situation in the world.