Making Carbohydrates Healthier

Carbohydrates (e.g. pasta, potatoes, white rice, white flour) get broken down in your guts and then absorbed as simple sugars, which in turn makes your blood glucose soar. In response our bodies produce a rush of the hormone insulin to get your blood glucose back down to normal as swiftly as possible, because persistently high levels of glucose in the blood are extremely unhealthy.

A rapid rise in blood glucose, followed by a rapid fall, can often make you feel hungry again quite soon after a meal. It's as true for pasta, potatoes, white rice and white bread as it is for sugary sweets and cakes. Dieticians emphasise the importance of eating foods that are rich in fibre, as these foods produce a much more gradual rise and fall in your blood sugars.

Cooking pasta and then cooling it down changes the structure of the pasta into "resistant starch" as it then becomes resistant to the normal enzymes in our gut that break carbohydrates down and release glucose that then causes the familiar blood sugar surge. If you cook and cool pasta down then your body will treat it much more like fibre, creating a smaller glucose peak and helping feed the good bacteria that reside down in your gut. You will also absorb fewer calories, making this a win-win situation.

But many people don't really like cold pasta. So an experiment looked as what would happen if you took the cold pasta and warmed it up. Volunteers were randomised to eating either hot, cold or reheated pasta on different days. On each of the days they also had to give blood samples every 15 minutes for two hours, to see what happened to their blood glucose as the pasta was slowly digested.

Just as expected, eating cold pasta led to a smaller spike in blood glucose and insulin than eating freshly boiled pasta had. However, cooking, cooling and then reheating the pasta had an even more dramatic effect.

In fact, it reduced the rise in blood glucose by 50%. This suggests that reheating the pasta made it into an even more "resistant starch". It's an extraordinary result and one never measured before.

Trust Me, I'm a Doctor, series two, BBC2.

Common Stains

General Dos and Don'ts.

• Dab stains gently from the reverse side. Rubbing furiously will only spread the stain.
• Keep different stain removal products apart. Chemicals can react together and make matters worse.
• Don't rinse a stain with warm or hot water - you may set it permanently.
• Don't use soap - you may just make it worse.
• You'll get best results using a biological detergent, as it contains enzymes that break down the stains. However, these enzymes are too powerful for delicate fabrics such as wool or silk, and, of course, may irritate the skin. In these cases, stick to a non-biological detergent and pre-treat the item with a proprietary in-wsh stain remover, such as Vanish.

Specific stains

• Red wine on tablecloth, sofa or carpet? Rinse with water, blot dry immediately. Then, depending on the material, use carpet cleaner or pop in the washing machine with washing up liquid dabbed on the offending area. In an emergency, splash some white wine on your red wine stain, then machine wash when you get home.
• Ink and permanent marker on hard surfaces? Hairspray seems to fizz and dissolve the ink, which could then be blotted with kitchen paper. 
• Felt tip pen? Blot with dry paper towels. Dip a cotton bud in methylated spirits and apply to stain. Don't over-wet. Dab gently, then blot with paper towel. Repeat till all colour is lifted. Flush with cold water, then carefully work White Wonder into remaining traces. Leave for a couple of minutes, then blot again. If traces remain, try spot-treating the area with Stain Devils 'BallPoint Pen & Felt-tip'. Machine wash at as high a temperature as the fabric allows.
• Biro on cotton fabric? Hairspray will remove this, as long as you wash afterwards with a biological detergent.
• Beetroot juice? (don't use salt - this will set the stain). Tackle the stain before it dries. Blot up excess juice and flush with cool water. Treat carpets with Bissel OxyPro following pack instructions. Launder washable fabrics at 40 degrees C with biological detergent. If you get beetroot juice on your hands or chopping board, rub them with lemon juice.
• Blood? Gently blot up as much of the stain as possible with white paper towels; dab, don't rub. Rinse under cold water. If stain has dried, steep first in an enzyme based pre-soaking product, or a washing soda crystal solution (for silk and cotton), then follow instructions for each fabric. Cotton: machine wash a 40 degrees Cwith biological detergent. Silk: machine wash at 30 degrees C on delicates cycle. Wool: spray lightly with Wine Away until stain turns blue. Blot and repeat until stain has gone. Follow with a 30 degrees C machine wash on a delicates cycle.
• Tea and coffee? Dab with white paper towels; do not rub. Rinse with cold water. Wash at 40 degrees C with biological detergent. For delicates, use a gentle detergent. If this does not work, rub washing up liquid into the stain and wash again.
• Gravy? Gently scrape off as much residue as possible. Cotton: blot with methylated spirit, then wash at 40 degrees C with biological detergent. Wool: blot, apply Stain Devils 'Pizza, Pasta & Curry Sauce' then wash at 30 degrees C on the delicates cycle.
• Curry: Difficult to remove because of the turmeric; get it cleaned professionally.
• Mud? Allow to dry. Cotton: wash at 40 degrees C with a biological detergent, For stubborn stains, try a biological pre-soaking product. Follow instructions, then wash as normal. Silk and wool: rub washing up liquid into the area, then wash as normal. If this does not work, spot-treat with Stain Devils 'Mud, Grass & Make-up', following instructions. Wash as normal.
• Candle wax? Do not touch. Place white paper on both sides of the stain and iron on a low heat. Use methylated spirits forany remaining colour and machine wash with biological detergent at as high a temperature as the fabric allows.
• Tar? Use eucalyptus oil to remove.
• Animal messes? Sponge with borax solution (1 pint water to 1 dessertspoon borax). Reduce smell by squirting area with soda water. 
• Deodorant? Have your clothes got yellow deodorant marks in the armpits? Try Deo-Go (from deo-go.com). Simply spray product on marks, gently rub in, leave for 30 minutes, then wash normally. 
• Stains on sofas and carpets? A dab of vodka or gin works well on most stains - just dab and blot.

Good Housekeeping, various features in different issues

Bookmarking Web Pages

If you are using more than one computer (e.g. a desktop machine and a laptop), and perhaps more than one browser, it can get complicated maintaining bookmarks for web pages.

Try free resource Xmarks, which will sync your bookmarks or favourites across machines and different browsers (Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari). It's simple, easy to use and you forget that it's there.

Phil Bradley in CILIP Update, July 2011

Drug Interactions

These days, people are increasingly taking more than one medication and may also be using dietrary supplements. So it is useful to know that some drugs interact with each other, and certain foods and supplements can cause problems with medication too.

Warfarin (blood thinning drug): avoid cranberry juice, grapefruit and gingko.

Calcium supplements can affect thyroid hormone therapy (levothyroxine) and sertain heart drugs.

St John's Wort interacts with many medications, including antidepressants, warfarin and digoxin.

Feature in Healthspan, Summer 2014 

Lining Cake Tins with Foil

If you have tried lining cake tins, baking trays and loaf tins with foil, but end up making holes in it with your fingertips as you press into corners, try this tip.

• Turn tin to be lined upside down. Fold foil over tin, pressing gently over sides.
• Turn tin right side up, then insert shaped foil liner.

Mary Berry on Great British Bake-Off Master Class, BBC2, October 2014.