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Hide tired eyes with flattering colours and clever tricks. Here’s how…
If you have red hair, wear blues, greens, turquoises and golds.
Dark hair and brown eyes suit blues, greens, purples, lavenders and golds.
Blondes should go for blues, greens, taupes, purples, greys, silvers, lavenders and slates.
Black hair — wear blues, greens, earth colours, purples and wines.
These are just suggestions — experiment with any colours that suit your personal style.
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Question
I have a glut of rhubarb in my garden and am not sure what to do with it other than make crumble. Could you please give me some ideas?
Answer
Although treated as a fruit, rhubarb is actually a vegetable. It grows in various shades of vibrant pink and red, but perishes quickly, so look for bunches that are crisp and bright and remove leaves before storing in the refrigerator. The leaves are poisonous but the stalks have a multitude of uses — other than crumble.
Baked, poached or pureed, rhubarb has a wonderful affinity with custard and cream, fruit such as apples, pears, raspberries and strawberries and flavours such as coconut and ginger. It makes wonderful jam, ice cream, cakes, tarts and steamed puddings and also makes great chutney and relish to go with rich meat and cheese.
Pics: Rob Shaw/ bauersyndication.com.au
Doctors tend to be reluctant to encourage alcohol consumption and when they do, it’s usually red wine that gets the tick of approval. However, a growing number of research papers indicate that perhaps beer is the better option when it comes to adding up disease-fighting benefits. For example, Japanese scientists have found that antioxidants in beer may help protect certain body tissue from cancer-causing chemicals. One in particular — xanthohumol — has even been shown to retard the growth and development of breast cancer cells. Another study, this time from Tufts University, identified a connection between beer consumption and reduced risk of developing osteoporosis, thanks to the presence of a bone-building compound called silicate, which supports the uptake of calcium into bones. But when you’re raising your glass to your health, remember: drinking more doesn’t confer extra health benefits, quite the opposite, as the negative effects of too much alcohol cancel out any nutritious effects.
Keep it clean The average desk harbours 400 times more bacteria than an office toilet seat. Disinfect germ-laden troublespots like phones regularly.
Ease eye strain Adjust your computer monitor contrast so that the image is sharp. Avoid glare with a screen. Refocus every 10 minutes by looking around and rolling your eyes in circles, first left, then right.
Switch your coffee Replace at least one coffee with a cup of nourishing miso soup. Keep sachets of this tasty, protein-rich soybean extract in your drawer for a quick, hot, anytime snack.
Move your keyboard Position your keyboard so that your hands hover slightly above it, keeping your wrists straight. Give yourself a soothing hand massage a couple of times a day. Search out sore spots, press with your thumbs and hold for 10 seconds.
Add a little nature A Norwegian study has found a 25 percent decrease in colds when plants were placed on employees’ desks. For the gardening-impaired, cast iron plants, snake plants and Chinese evergreens are virtually indestructible.
Create harmony Feng shui practitioners say computers create fire energy, which weakens concentration, so introduce water energy with a vase of flowers. And don’t position your desk at right angles to another as this can lead to confrontation.
Sit pretty Adjust your chair so your feet are flat on the floor with your spine against the backrest. Arrange your desk so you don’t have to make repeated stretching movements. Never cradle the phone between your head and shoulder; use a headset.
Still stressed?
Keep a yo-yo in your drawer to help relieve tension and relax hands and wrists.Boost vitality by increasing the number of energising negative ions in the atmosphere with a desktop ioniser. Some brands also filter out pollen and dust.Encourage yourself with simple, positive affirmations, eg. “Today I will take one step at a time.” (Or one for bad days — “It could be worse: I could be related to these people.”)
Boost vitality by increasing the number of energising negative ions in the atmosphere with a desktop ioniser. Some brands also filter out pollen and dust.
Encourage yourself with simple, positive affirmations, eg. “Today I will take one step at a time.” (Or one for bad days — “It could be worse: I could be related to these people.”)
Carnitine, an amino acid derivative, is one of the more commonly popped supplements. It’s touted as a fat mobiliser and weight loss aid, but is also said to improve athletic performance. Support for the weight loss benefits of carnitine is very slim to say the least, but what about its use as a sports supplement?
What is carnitine?
Carnitine is a nutrient responsible for the transport of long-chain fatty acids into the energy-producing centres of the cells (known as the mitochondria). In other words, carnitine helps the body convert fatty acids into energy.
What foods is it found in?
Red meat (particularly lamb) and dairy products are the primary sources of carnitine. Carnitine can also be found in fish, poultry, tempeh (fermented soybeans), wheat, asparagus, avocados and peanut butter.
Do athletes need more?
It has been proposed that endurance athletes are at risk of carnitine deficiency. However, a recent study published in the journal Nutrition and Dietetics has refuted this finding. The study looked at 14 endurance trained male cyclists and measured their dietary carnitine intake along with other measures of carnitine status. The researchers concluded that there was no evidence that the athletes were at risk of carnitine deficiency from consuming a varied, mixed diet.
Bottom line
Carnitine is classed as a group C supplement by the Australian Institute of Sport. Group C supplements are those which have no proof of beneficial effects and are therefore not to be provided to official AIS programs.
Let’s take a closer look at one of the lesser known midyear fruits, custard apples.
Custard apples originate from Peru in South America and were introduced into Queensland around 1874. They are also known as cherimoya, atemoya and bullock’s heart.
Custard apples look like an artichoke — heart-shaped with a leathery, bumpy green skin. The cream-coloured flesh is dotted with large shiny black seeds that are inedible and the texture is similar to that of a firm custard.
They taste like a combination of pineapple, mango and strawberry, giving a very sweet, yet rich flavour.
Vital statistics
Custard apples are an excellent source of vitamin C, a good source of fibre and have many vitamins and minerals. They also have a kilojoule count of 305kJ per 100g.
Ripen them at room temperature and chill them before serving. Choose fruit that is heavy for its size, firm and without brown blemishes.
Cooking
The soft flesh can easily be scooped out with a spoon (halve the fruit first, remove the seeds, then scoop). Use in fruit salads, soufflés, crumbles or, if you’re adventurous, in curries and with fish (see recipe below). Also good to puree and add to ice-creams, smoothies or trifles.
Custard apple fish sauce
Note: Serve this over grilled or baked fish for 4.
Ingredients:
2 shallots, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon reduced fat margarine
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup fish stock (can use chicken stock)
1 custard apple, pureed (about 1¼ cups)
salt and pepper
1 small minced chilli (jalapeño), optional
Sauté shallots and garlic in margarine.
Add white wine and cook until reduced to a glaze.
Add stock and simmer until reduced.
Stir in custard apple puree and season with salt and pepper.
Add minced chill if using.
Heat gently over a low flame until thickened.
Recipe adapted from the Australian Custard Apple Growers Association. For further information on custard apples, visit www.custardapple.com.au
So if you’ve decided the time has come to get in shape, check out if any of these challenges apply to you. Don’t worry if some of them sound a little too familiar. Understanding your environment and what led you to gain weight in the first place is a powerful first step to success.
From teens to young adults
Feast and famine approach to food intake: skipping meals (especially breakfast) and going too hard at lunch or dinner with unbalanced meals.
Quick fix energy hits: overdoing it with coffee and caffeine-boosted energy drinks.
Dial for it, don’t cook it: overdoing takeaway meals and fast food snacks on the run.
Blue collar
Big blokes, big appetites: rising portion sizes, especially with on-the-job takeaways that do not balance amount of physical activity. Includes time-inappropriate eating, eg. pie and sauce for morning tea.
Weekend couch potatoes: binge drinking and high fat snacking while watching weekend TV, especially sport.
Fast family meal deals: feeding a family on a budget makes all-you-can-eat buffets and fast food meal deals attractive.
Homemakers
Eating amnesia: grazing all day on kids snacks, dinner ingredients and leftovers, plus coffee and biscuits.
Family comes first: no ‘me’ time to exercise or plan ahead for healthy eating.
What’s for dinner dilemmas: taking kitchen shortcuts and meal solutions that are high in fat and kilojoules.
Corporate crusaders
Let’s do lunch: overdoing it with work functions and client entertainment.
Wine o’clock: having one too many alcoholic drinks on too many nights of the week.
Gourmet delights: increased offerings of new food products and restaurants lead to the ‘must try’ approach and overeating.
Over 55s
Empty nester: cooking for four or more when only two to dine leads to increased portion size.
Emotional eating: to counter feelings of loneliness, anxiety related to aging or retirement and hormonal related drivers like menopause.
Overeating for wellbeing: mixed messages on what’s right for healthy weight and what’s best for my heart, diabetes, inner health and so on. This can lead to increased food intake and potentially higher kilojoule intake from supplements like fish oils.
Bindi tells you all about her upcoming birthday party and one of her favourite snakes at Australia Zoo — the Burmese python.
Question
Are Burmese pythons poisonous?
Jonah, Battery Hill, QLD.
Answer
No, Jonah, Burmese pythons aren’t poisonous. They have no venom. They coil themselves around their prey and constrict it.
Got a question for Bindi? Post it to Ask Bindi, The Australian Women’s Weekly, GPO Box 4178, Sydney, NSW 2001 or email [email protected].
Bindi’s new television show, Bindi: The Jungle Girl, will screen on ABC TV on Wednesdays at 4.05pm, starting July 18.
