Did you know that vegetarianism can be healthy way of life?
As more and more people shift to vegetarianism, it is interesting to note that vegetarians are indeed (on average) closer to their optimal weight, and tend to have lower risks of heart disease, colon cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
With a little guidance a vegetarian can avoid nutritional deficiencies such as iron and protein. Pulses are an excellent source of protein and iron. To retain the maximum amount of iron from one's diet, it is beneficial to eat meals with a wide variety of foods, especially those containing vitamin C.
Proteins come in two varieties; complete, which contains all the essential amino acids, and incomplete, which contains only some of them.
While foods from animal sources contain the complete proteins, plant sources do not and therefore require some special attention.
To make up for these imbalances in amino acids, we can eat foods in combinations which complement each other. One food low in a particular amino acid can be eaten in combination with another food high in that nutrient.

Studies Show That Spicy Food Can Actually Help you Lose Weight!
According to Elizabeth Goodman, freelance journalist, in the January 1999 issue of Cosmopolitan, switching to a spicier diet can help you loose weight. Intense flavors and aromas that we find in savory herbs and spices such as sage, rosemary, dill, fennel, basil, thyme, oregano, and cilantro, can trick your brain into thinking you've eaten more than you have. Not only do spices help you eat less, some actually help you burn calories. Studies show that fiery spices such as chili pepper and hot mustard seed can boost your metabolism by 25 percent for up to three hours after you eat.

Why are some rices sticky and why are others fluffy?
The stickiness of rice, for lack of a better word, has to do with its gelatinization temperature. Rice is predominantly made up of starches. A rices gelatinization temperature is the temperature at which about ninety percent of the starches in the rice have turned to liquid and left the rice. The lower the gelatinization temperature, the stickier the rice will be. As a general rule, most short grain to medium grain rices have a lower gelatinization temperature. Therefore calrose rice, Japanese rice and Thai sticky rice will start releasing its starches much earlier during its cooking process then other long grain rices. Most long grain rices, like basmati and jasmine rices have medium to high gelatinization temperatures. Therefore less starch is released from the grain before the rice is finally done cooking. Such rices cook better when they are soaked in water for a half an hour or more because the grains are then softened a little allowing for heat to penetrate to towards the center.

Source: Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, Seductions of Rice, Random House Canada.