[TOPIC 01] Change Your Habits to Avoid Middle-Aged Spread
Many people get paunchy around the middle with advancing years, and too often modern dietary habits are heavy on fat and carbohydrates that tend to accumulate on the belly. Snacking between meals or eating late can also put inches on the stomach, as can constipation from a sedentary lifestyle.
◆ Bad Habits
1. Eating meals at irregular times, skipping meals, and gorging on food.
2. Favoring sweet, salty, and fatty food and fast food.
3. Going on diets that limit you to just one type of food or not eating at all.
4. Lack of exercise or low levels of physical activity.
5. Stress and snacking to de-stress.
6. Eating late.
◆ Good Habits
1. Eating regularly, with the amount of food evenly distributed over three meals a day.
2. Regular exercise that can relieve stress like dancing, yoga and hiking.
3. No alcohol -- the finger foods that usually accompany high-calorie alcohol reduce the metabolic rate.
4. No smoking -- cigarettes release cortisol that causes the accumulation of fat in the body.
5. Wearing tight clothes that keep you aware of your bodyline at all times.
6. Going to bed early before 11 p.m. to prevent eating at night.
1. How do you take care of your body & health?
2. Why are there many middle-aged people who have a fat stomach?
3. What are your bad or good habits to avoid middle-aged spread?
4. Is there any bad habit which you want to be got rid of?
5. What are you going to do on summer vacation this year?
[TOPIC 02] How Pasta Became the World's Favourite Food
Pasta has topped a global survey of the world's favourite foods. So how did the dish so closely associated with Italy become a staple of so many tables around the globe? While not everyone knows the difference between farfalle, fettuccine and fusilli, many people have slurped over a bowl of spaghetti bolognese or tucked into a plate of lasagne.
A global survey by the charity Oxfam has named pasta as the world's most popular dish, ahead of meat, rice and pizza. As well as being popular in unsurprising European countries, pasta was one of the favourites in the Philippines, Guatemala, Brazil and South Africa. And figures from the International Pasta Organisation show Venezuela is the second largest consumer of pasta, after Italy. Tunisia, Chile and Peru also feature in the top 10, while Mexicans, Argentineans and Bolivians all eat more pasta than the British.
So how did pasta become so popular? It's because it is cheap, versatile and convenient, says Jim Winship, from the UK-based Pizza, Pasta and Italian Food Association. A sauce to go with it can be made from simple ingredients."You can create lots of different dishes with it. It tastes good and it's filling. It also has a long shelf life, so you can keep it in the larder until you need to put a meal together."
But that's only part of its success. Pasta is also relatively easy to mass produce and transport around the world, making it a popular product with food companies as well. "It's always been an industrial product," says John Dickie, professor in Italian Studies at University College London and author of Delizia! A History of the Italians and their Food. "It is definitely one of the things that has contributed to its success - it's easy to transport and has a long shelf life. It has commercial genes."
Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University London, says technological advances in the 19th Century allowed pasta to be produced on a big scale. But the Industrial Revolution did that for everything else, he adds, and the reason pasta had been particularly successful was because people liked it and the Italian way of life. "It's a cultural phenomenon, not an industrial phenomenon," he says. "People like the Italian way of life and their simple, staple foods."
Italian restaurateur Antonio Carluccio said pasta may have a long history, but the Italians made it their own by eating it with tomatoes. He says most pasta is spaghetti outside of Italy but there are actually 600 different types and shapes and each region cooks it differently. He says its appeal is in the taste and its nutritional value. "It is pleasurable with a good sauce, but it should just be coated, otherwise you lose the taste of the pasta. It is a complex carbohydrate which releases all the goodness slowly and you feel satisfied for a long time.
"I don't know one person who doesn't like pasta. It is very similar to bread - both are made with flour and water and they both need an accompaniment."
He's clearly not met food critic and broadcaster Giles Coren, who described pasta as "overrated gloppy stuff" that appeals only to children. "Ask a footballer what they can cook and they always say spaghetti. It is what you reach for when there is nothing else left in the larder. It's poor people's food and it's unsophisticated. It's the same as bread - you just boil it instead of putting it in the oven." So as popular as it is, pasta hasn't conquered everyone in the world.
1. Do you agree that pasta is the world's favorite food? Why or why not?
2. Why do you think pasta had become popular among countries that have very different cuisines from Italy?
3. What other Italian dishes are you familiar with? Is pasta also a Korean favorite?
4. Do you like pasta? What kinds of pasta do you know? How many kinds of pasta dishes have you tried?
5. Does Korean cuisine also reflect the Korean lifestyle? How? How well-known is Korean cuisine in the world? How can it be made more popular?
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terrific topic...^^