If you are prone to hyperacidity, avoid food that is rich in fat (like pork) and deep fried, oily food (like samosas and French fries). Also avoid cakes, pastries, biscuits and chocolates.  Incorporate more natural fresh fruits and their juices in your everyday diet.

How can you keep the vitamins in your food intact? Not all the food you eat have the vitamins you are supposed to get. If food is mishandled, you will not get the nutrients it contains. Here are some tips to avoid this :-

• Don't soak the vegetables to preserve vitamins B and C. Simply wash them.
• Sliced fruits and vegetables lose their vitamins. Making your own fresh salad is best instead of buying sliced veggies that are ready to cook.
• When preparing veggies, use a sharp knife. Bruised vegetables lode their vitamins A and C.
• Eat frozen green beans rather than those you left to chill in the refrigerator for a week.
  

New York : U.S. investigators have found that children who ate oranges and bananas or drank orange juice most days of the week before age two were significantly less likely than other children to be diagnosed with leukemia before age 14.

Previous research has suggested that diet may influence the risk of certain cancers, including colorectal, prostate, lung and breast cancers. Before age 15, more children become sick from leukemia than from any other type of cancer. However, the effect of diet on the childhood risk of this cancer remains unknown.

Come winter and everybody is faced with the problem of dry, taut and acratchy skin. It's a natural phenomenon. Some of the causes of dry and parched skin are : hereditary, not enough supply of lubrication by glands, deficiency of Vitamin A and B, exposure to harsh winter cold or sun, extreme in temperatures, over use of chemical cosmetics, excessive bathing, poor diet and nutritional supplements, skin problems, mal functioning of thyroid gland, diabetic condition etc.

Some remedies :-
- To treat extremely dry skin, take a tablespoon of honey, mix it into a mashed banana. Apply it on the skin, leave on for 10 minutes and wash off.

- Take 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of honey, half a teaspoon of olive oil and a few drops of rose water and mix all the ingredients thoroughly and use as a mask.

- Take 1 cup of milk and add 1 tablespoon of Badam (almond) oil and add the mixture to a small tub of warm water to prepare a milk bath. Milk bath nourishes your skin from dryness.

When the weather turns cold, it's tempting to dive fork-first into rich, heavy comfort foods. Want of meals that are delicious and satisfying, it's more important than ever to make sure that what you're eating is also well-balanced and nutritious.

- Cold weather foods tend to be fattening. Think of the toasts, gravies, mashed potatoes, stuffings, meat, heavy breads and rich desserts of winter. They're a lot heavier than the grilled skinned chicken breasts, salads, fresh vegetables and fresh fruits of warm weather days.

- Food also has a thermal property. Ginger, garlic, most grains like wheat, jowar, bajra, sarson, pepper, mustard and many more have a warming effect on the body. Dates, honey and jaggery are sweetners that also have a warming effect on the body. All animal products are essentially warming.

Eat a plantain (soft yellow banana) or a thick slice of papaya fruit before going to bed at night. This will ease up the bowel movement in the mornings.