October 2006 - Page 2 of 2 - TargetWoman Women Blog

Dieting Women

Whilst on the topic of slimming and weight reduction, one must take a peek into why there are so many fad diets and unhealthy unnatural slimming options than ever before. It is true that sedentary lifestyles and improper eating habits have led to higher instances of obesity and there is a need to be fit and healthy. But let us also look at the other side of the picture. What drives women and young girls to the eternal quest of getting slimmer and looking younger?

Dieting Woman

Female pictures that stare at us out of various advertising media revolve around ultra slim nubile bodies with enviable vital statistics. Fashion and beauty industry lays standards for what society considers as ‘beauty’. Without our being aware of it, women are led to believe in the culture of thinness, to the point of changing the body appearance, be it by diet plans, exercise or cosmetic surgery. In fact, the average woman is also judged by the standards laid down by the beauty industry.

Over time, these stereotypes have stuck….leading millions of women worldwide to become unhappy over their appearance and go through drastic measures to modify it. This also manifests as negative perceptions about how you look and even feel about your own body.

In fact, it is seen that many women in our Western nations believe that they are larger and fatter than they actually are. It leads to a process of dieting that often begins in the teens. Many women take to smoking, appetite suppression pills and use of laxatives to keep their weight in check. It is noticed that obsession with unnatural levels of thinness can lead to many a health hazard, from malnutrition and anorexia to osteoporosis and fertility problems. Glorifying and promoting unhealthy thinness has come in for a lot of flak from women’s rights groups and the medical fraternity.
The Madrid Fashion week that was recently held in Spain is a case in point where serious steps have been taken to curb this tendency towards ultra thin, waif like bodies. It has been seen as a step to promote a positive healthy image of beauty for women. The recommended levels of BMI as suggested by the UN Health experts are 18.5 – 25. Models that fell below these levels were not allowed to participate. It raised a hue and cry as designers and beauty industry has been geared towards the skinny, gazelle-like female structure.
What is needed is for all of us to become aware of keeping fit and healthy, through sensible eating and proper fitness. Let us look to the day when women with average and beautiful bodies are accepted for what they are and women will accept and love their bodies.

Look at some of the fallouts of unhealthy extreme steps taken by women to achieve the ‘perfect’ figure:

Binge Eating Disorder
Binge eating disorder leads to obesity and other health problems. Find out the possible causes and alternative treatment options for binge eating.

Fad Diet
Fad diets are characterized by extremely low caloric intake and elimination of certain food groups. They are nutritionally skewed and may not help in weight loss in the long run.

Liposuction Surgery
The surgical process of liposuction has seen many variations – tumescent liposuction, laser liposuction and ultrasonic liposuction. All of them follow the basic principle of liposuction with an added feature.

More on Microwave cooking

I had mentioned yesterday that I had cooked CDs and DVDs just to see the sparkle effects on them. Do NOT try them at home. It could result in serious fire hazard or permanent damage to your microwave oven.

I just wanted to show you here how a DVD looks after sitting inside a microwave for only 5 seconds. The image below shows a normal “raw” uncooked DVD.

Observe the random pattern burnt on the surface and the colorful effects around the burn mark. In fact you will not see any dark tell-tale burnt mark on the DVD. It is all in golden hue.

Cooked DVD

Cooking in Microwave ovens

Microwave Oven This heading might raise eyebrows as is expected. It takes long hours of hard work to run servers and portals. Like most of you, I make do with pizzas and takeaways half the time. But the ubiquitous microwave sitting on the shelves of our office, finally induced me to spruce up some snack when I am famished. Apart from the gallons of coffee it could brew and the standard cup-of-noodles kind of snacks it could so easily deliver, it could do a whole lot of things we never imagined – at least I never even imagined.

The following is an exercise into the world of microwave cooking with a difference – we look at all aspects – technical and practical as well.

Technical View: If you are one of those who think that technology is best left to techies and nerds, skip to the practical section. Let us be practical.

Microwave ovens use magnetrons to generate electromagnetic waves at a frequency of 2450 MHz to induce heat in water, fat and sugar molecules in the food. Magnetrons require about 600 – 700 Watts of energy to drive them. The various power settings on the control panel actually turns the magnetron on or off as per the settings. Mercifully, the power is fed to the magnetron through a simple transformer and a power diode. Do not try to open up an unit if it fails or out of curiosity. The voltage doubler capacitor may have enough power stored in it to give a lethal shock even after switching off the mains supply. The magnetron lives close to the food chamber and its supply feeds carry enough amperes to make a toast of you. For your safety as well as all around you, opening up the internals of a microwave oven is best left in the hands of qualified service personnels.

If the required power were derived from a chopper power supply or to use the computer parlance – switch mode power supply, the resulting harmonics would have inundated the spectrum. Still microwave ovens emit enough low level power to swamp around the 2450 MHz frequency. Many cordless phones operating out of this frequency spectrum are not too happy sitting around in the same room with a microwave.

Practical View: This method of cooking works because of dielectric heating, which penetrates food deeper, depending upon the composition. As there is little distance between the source of heat and the food, the food is cooked faster. As a corollary, the nutrients are retained better with microwave cooking than through conventional means.Equally, there is a flip side too – the food does not get to that stage of appetizing browning or has the time to develop that delicious golden crust. Meat cooked over a slow fire laced with spices and herbs is always delicious. It is one of the reasons why microwave ovens are more used to reheat and pop corn kernels than regular cooking by many.There is one more use to which microwave ovens can be used about which many people are unaware – zapping microbes so ubiquitous in our kitchen. Our cutting board is easily contaminated with bacteria present in the meat being sliced. You will need to wash them with hot soap water after every use normally. After cleaning, splash water over them and keep them inside microwave for a couple of minutes for zapping the unseen microbes. Table linen and cloth tablemats can be sterilized inside microwaves. However, ensure that there is water on them for real results.

Bone-dry cloth or paper wrappers sit inside with little effect on them, as there is no water molecule to fire up. But don’t put your cutleries inside a microwave as the metal implements will act as antennas to absorb the microwave energy which manifests in the form of nasty sparking. Sustained sparking and operating an empty microwave can damage the magnetron, which is the most expensive component in a microwave.

Again use utensils, wrappers, glassware and containers specifically designed for microwave use inside a microwave. Some plastics disintegrate and the resulting carcinogens may leach into the food. Another issue about the microwave is its tendency to induce super heating in some foods under certain conditions, which can result in severe burns on the user. Covered soups or liquid food can burst into droplets of boiling liquid and steam when moved or handled immediately after cooking in microwave. Always let the food stay for sometime before handling them. Eggs display a tendency to explode inside a microwave.

Really cooking in microwave ovens:

Let us get into the meat of the matter – I mean we will see if we can make some scrumptious meal in our office microwave oven. I suggest some caveat here, as I am not so good in churning out tasty meals. So proceed with caution.

Chicken Nugget (has no relationship to the real ones sold in market other than the name):

Few shredded chicken pieces, marinated in a tablespoon of black soy sauce and powdered black pepper – about 200 gms

Egg white of one egg

Sesame seeds enough to coat the chicken

Method:

After marinating for a few hours, the chicken pieces can be dipped in the beaten egg white and then hauled over the bowl of sesame seeds. Keep the chicken pieces in several layers of kitchen paper inside microwave and cook under full power for about 4 to 7 minutes. Actual time to cook may vary depending on the chicken, microwave or the power supply conditions. Check by piercing the middle of chicken piece with a fork.

Not So Practical View:

I have cooked a dud CD inside a microwave, in a bid to lower my frustration and at first sight, it emerged unscathed. But on closer inspection, I could see that the thin metal film layer had resulted in some sparking and localized heating melting the plastic surrounding it. I should not be surprised at the results. Typically, a microwave oven’s magnetron produces about 500 watts of electromagnetic energy, which must have been concentrated in the small surface of the metal layer on the CD – vaporizing the metal. This is not recommended for the normal household microwave ovens.

Disclaimer: The above information is provided as-is and carries no warranty express or implied about the methods or techniques explained here. The author of this Blog or the site in which this appears will not be responsible for any consequence arising out of the use of this article under any circumstances. You will be advised to read the instructions of the manufacturer of the products.

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