Quick and Easy School Snacks to Pack For Your Kids:

Kids who participate in the whole process of planning, shopping ( if any) and preparing their lunchboxes to develop the ability to choose and enjoy healthy food.
Me and Little Ms.K usually plan our week together. This academic year, we decided to plan the menu for the lunch box as well. So, here are some of the easy school snacks to pack for kids where you can involve kids as well. Note: I have tried to avoid biscuits and cheese here because it doesn’t suit Little Ms.K, you can add your preferences.
Chapati Rolls
These are simple ones, you just have to make chapati and roll it with a filling of your choice. When we want it to be on the heavier side our filling has paneer in it otherwise there is Jam ( Homemade) or Ghee and Sugar.

• Coin Dosa
Coin Dosa is my go-to option for a no-fuss snack. All you need to have is the dosa batter. These are coin shaped dosas which can have a topping of cheese. Continue reading “Quick and Easy School Snacks to Pack For Your Kids:”

Restaurant Back Door Security – Protecting People and Profits

They watched from the shadows as the employee propped open the back door to take his nightly run to the trash corral. He did not deviate from the routine the last two nights. It was 1:35 AM, right on schedule. As the young man returned with his empty cart, they pulled the ski masks down over their chin and jumped out with guns drawn. They pushed the employee into the restaurant. Upon entering the office area, the two robbers sprung into frenzied action. One robber grabbed the manager, pointed his gun at her, and screamed for her to open the safe, while the other forced the other closing employees to lie down on the cold tile floor of the kitchen. The employees’ lives are changed forever as they experience the terror of peering at the edge of life – and death.

Unfortunately, this scene plays out somewhere each night in the world of fast food. A world serving the public, late at night with predators lurking, waiting and plotting to take advantage of every opportunity to forcibly rob others hard earned cash. Crime prevention solutions cost virtually nothing other than implementing changes in policy, routines and discipline. Continue reading “Restaurant Back Door Security – Protecting People and Profits”

Obesity & Weight Management is a Social Issue

Much has been written about obesity and globesity. Obesity is perhaps the biggest drain on any nations economic resources with a mind-boggling costs to which researchers are yet to put a final figure. But the estimates run into trillions of dollars across the world.

Governments across the world is mired in deep bureaucratic mechanisms to do anything more than put out food guidelines. Even this does not reach the intended public.

The issue needs to be tackled massively by the society that has spawned the problem in the first place.

So what are the social alternatives?

Dissemination of Information

Continue reading “Obesity & Weight Management is a Social Issue”

Fast Food in Kenya

After a long day in class I decided to take a walk in town sampling fast food joints so that I can get some snack. Walking through most of the fast food restaurant I realized they all serve the same food items but at different rates. These food items include pizza.

Pizza is a pastry case that is flat and then it is topped up with either beef, chicken, vegetables or cheese. The topping depends entirely on you, best pizza places in town include steers in Nairobi and gallitos. when you are in Mombasa and you feel like pizza I highly recommend ilcovo restaurant situated along the north coast.

In Mombasa we have a local pizza known as Mombasa pizza. This pizza is normally shallow fried.

A very popular fast food in Kenya is chips and chicken. Chips are made out of peeled potatoes that are cut into strips then deep fried in fat. The chicken is always grilled and when you top up with the tomato ketchup the lunch is so very ready. Chips can also be served with sausages. Continue reading “Fast Food in Kenya”

The Values of Ground Provision Compared to Fast Food

Ground provisions are foods that are natural and easily digested by the stomach. Some of these foods are yams, sweet potatoes, eddoes, cassava, carrots and beets. Foods of this nature are great for the body and those people that consume these foods tend to live a long life.

Foods like this can be cooked in soups which in turn can give it a lot of body making soups fulfilling and enjoyable. The amount you use depend on how rich you want the soup. Ground provision like sweet potato and cassava taste great when stewed and are definitely healthy. No frying is necessary with these foods so nutrition is at its highest. If you wanted to do a stir fry it would just require you to slice some of those mentioned foods very thin. Please note that sweet potato and carrots are the candidates for stir fry. You can even bake potatoes which can be tasty. Continue reading “The Values of Ground Provision Compared to Fast Food”

Is the Egg a Considered Healthy Food? Find Out the Truth!

A few years ago eggs were thought to be the culprit in producing artery clogging cholesterol in the blood (all of the cholesterol is in the yolk of the egg). But in recent years, the School of Public Health at Harvard University had traced over 100,000 nurses for about 10 to 12 years and could not find any difference in the risk of heart disease for anyone eating 1 egg a week or anyone eating more than 1 egg a day.

Recent studies have shown that eating 2 eggs may actually improve your lipid profile. (cholesterol is also known as lipid, the fatty substance that is produced by the liver and also found in highly saturated fatty foods) Also, regular consumption may help to prevent clotting of the blood, heart attacks and even strokes. In another study, women who ate 6 eggs per week lowered their risk of breast cancer by 44%.

The egg is a healthy food because of the nutrients that it contains. 1 large egg is about 70 calories – which is about 10% of the recommended iron, minerals, protein, and B vitamins including folic acid which is recommended for pregnant women. Just one egg contains all the nine essential amino acids and about 6 grams of the high-quality proteins. They are also a very important source of carotenoids-lutein and zeaxanthin (for eye health). Continue reading “Is the Egg a Considered Healthy Food? Find Out the Truth!”

Childhood Obesity – It May Be Caused By School Lunches

While there are a few model school lunch programs that show how tasty school food can be they aren’t the norm. In fact, if you talk to kids attending the neighborhood school you might find out that either a) the school isn’t following suggestions about healthy food or b) the food is inedible. Here are a few things to think about.

1) Cost of Quality: If you’ve been to the market recently you may have noted how expensive fresh meat and produce is. If paying $25 for a beef roast for your family is hard on the budget try buying quality meat for a school.

When our children were young we were told they had switched to healthy food. Sorry, when the lettuce in the salad bar is rusty and the other vegetables are hard to differentiate it doesn’t qualify to me as being healthy. Neither is the cheese pizza with a tablespoon of grease in the middle. Been there, ate that. Continue reading “Childhood Obesity – It May Be Caused By School Lunches”

Salt Damage in the Landscape

How Salt Damages Trees

Salt damages trees through two pathways: via airborne salt spray, as on a busy highway, and via the soil. Salt spray that lands on a dormant twig can enter the tissue through leaf scar and kill the dormant bud.

When salt in the soil dissolves, it separates into sodium and chloride ions. The ions act differently to damage the tree. In early spring, the chloride ions can be taken up by the roots, enter the sap, concentrate in the shoots, and prevent buds from opening. Later, they can be transported to actively growing leaf margins, causing leaf scorch, curling, or death. Sodium ions use the same “chemical route” as necessary tree nutrients. As George Hudler, professor of plant pathology at Cornell explains, the sodium can “tie up the plant’s shuttle system and restrict uptake of magnesium and potassium, two chemicals that are essential for making chlorophyll.” Potassium deficiencies are common in plants suffering from salt injury, says Hudler. Salt in the soil can create a physiological drought. Brine near underground tree roots can be a more concentrated solution than the sap in the roots. The roots therefore can’t take in water through osmosis. Water is so unavailable to salt-stressed tree that they are actually dying of thirst. Continue reading “Salt Damage in the Landscape”

Mesquite Trees in Arizona

Mesquite trees belong in Arizona. As Jay Sharp, editor and author for the website DesertUSA.com, expresses, “the mesquites symbolize our Southwestern deserts” as much as “the Coyote, the Black-tail Jackrabbit, the Western Diamondback, scorpions, the Saguaro and prickly pear cacti.” Indeed, mesquite trees in Arizona are “as blended into the life of the land as cornbread and tortillas.” (Lometa)

Perfectly Adapted to the Desert

Mesquites are very hardy desert trees, having adapted over the centuries to life in the desert landscapes in and around Arizona. All of their physical characteristics ensure their survival here, including their foliage, their bean pods, and their root systems. They grow well in full sun and high temperatures, but will also tolerate the cold during Arizona’s winter (down to 0º Fahrenheit). They are sometimes found in rather high elevation and will adapt to shallow rocky soils. According to reports by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and Forest Service, a mesquite tree can live for more than two centuries. (Sharp) Continue reading “Mesquite Trees in Arizona”

6 Great Reasons to Visit Grenada in the Caribbean

Grenada is a beautiful island that sits close to Trinidad and Tobago. Most famous for it’s beaches, almost perfect weather and people, it’s also got a ton of great tourist delights. There are many incredible reasons to visit Grenada including the beautiful vegetation, the carnival and laid back vibe. Whatever your motivation, here are the top 6 reasons for visiting the Spice Isle.

Beaches

If you want beaches and you want them with white sand and warm crystal clear waves lapping on the shoreline, then you’ve got the right island. The strongest point of most islands, you get a lot of beaches! Grand Anse is beautiful but then so are the other beaches further north such as Levera, Sauteurs and the one on Sandy Island is truly unbeatable!

The People Continue reading “6 Great Reasons to Visit Grenada in the Caribbean”