Salad sprouts are an easy way to upgrade a salad, a sandwich, wrap, or stir fry with extra nutrients and texture. It's been years since I sprouted a mung bean myself but I'm getting the habit again - partly because I can't always find salad sprouts in the shops when I need them - or when I do they're not stored where they're meant to be: in the fridge.
Sprouted beans like mung beans, chick peas and lentils have good things going for them - besides boosting their nutrient content, the sprouting process also makes them less wind-producing than unsprouted beans. The megastars of the sprout world are broccoli sprouts - researchers at Johns Hopkins University in the US have estimated that three day old broccoli sprouts contain 20 to 50 times the cancer fighting compounds as mature broccoli (great news for non-lovers of broccoli - compared to the vegetable itself, sprouts have a much milder taste). Meanwhile the anti- cancer potential of radish seeds may be even higher, according to Australian research from the Department of Primary Industries in Queensland. So where do you start if you want to grow your own?

-Soak your seeds/legumes in water . Alison suggests using a wide mouthed glass jar and filling up to one third of it with seeds. Fit a piece of mesh (or muslin/ curtain netting) over the mouth of the jar with a rubber band. Soak for 12 hours. Rinse three or four times, then discard the water. Find a cool place out of the sun to keep your jar tilted downwards at an angle (just prop it against something), so that air gets into the jar. Cover with tea-towel - seeds need darkness to germinate.

- Rinse seeds twice a day with fresh water. This is important. Seeds - like lots of other things - play host to good and bad bacteria. But regular rinsing with water oxygenates the seeds, preventing the bad bugs from growing, says Peter Rutherford. Missing a rinse can encourage bugs to grow. Use your nose as a guide - if the sprout 'farm' smells bad, toss it.

- When the sprouts are ready give them a final rinse. Store in the fridge in a plastic or glass container with a lid - put a layer of kitchen paper on the bottom of the container. Sprouting time depends on what you're sprouting -as a rough guide, chick peas can take as little as two days, lentils and mung beans two to four days, adzuki beans (small dark red beans about the size of a mung bean) around four days, and broccoli, alfalfa and fenugreek about seven days - the smaller the seed, the longer sprouting takes.

To sprout almonds - which become softer and sweeter with sprouting, and are wonderful in salads - just soak for 48 hours, changing the water every 12 hours, and they're done. Don't wait until they grow a 'tail' like other sprouts - otherwise they'll be too bitter.

How do you tame a food craving?

"If I crave a certain food, I can't rest until I have it," declared a friend, gripped by an urgent need for sushi rolls last weekend. "I can eat ten different foods to try and pacify the craving, but unless it's the food I really want, the craving won't go away."
Food cravings are common and while they're probably not a problem for most people, they can derail attempts to lose weight, says Professor Marika Tiggemann of the School of Psychology at Flinders University in Adelaide. Tiggemann and co- researcher Dr Eva Kemps are working on ways to help overweight people cope with cravings. What they've learned so far is that seeing mental images of the food or imagining yourelf eating it are an important part of cravings - but if you can somehow disrupt the mental imagery you can decrease the craving.
Tiggemann and Kemp's research, published in the June Issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, found that rather than actively trying not to think about the food you crave, it's better to focus on an image of something completely different. "Instead of trying not to think about chocolate, we found it was better if people imagined a completely different object - like a rose, for instance," Tiggemann says.
There's no one explanation for what causes cravings, she explains. Some can be physically based like the cravings women sometimes get in pregnancy or before a period that are thought to be related to hormones.
"Cravings can also be caused by a nutrient deficiency - though these are less likely in our society," she adds. "Sometimes they're related to depression, but often cravings emerge spontaneously - they just come into your head."They are linked to restraint though - which may explain why chocolate is the most craved food - in our society at least.
"We crave it because it's delicious, but because we think we shouldn't eat much of it, we restrict it - and restricting things can make you crave them more," she says.
While there are women who pine for pizza and men who yearn for ice cream, women typically crave sweet foods while men are more likely to crave something salty and fatty. But it's also possible to crave healthier foods like salmon, a roast - or a sushi roll.
Other strategies for taming problem cravings? Some people find it helps to avoid the foods that trigger their cravings, or to have a healthier, less kilojoule dense version of the food they crave - like wholegrain bread with a little honey rather than cake. Or, given that restriction can be part of the problem, adds Marika Tiggemann, eating just a small amount of the food you want so badly may be enough to put a craving to rest.

can you skip dairy products and still get enough calcium?

Last year the recommended daily intake (RDI) for calcium took an upward turn. The guidelines are now 1000mg daily for men and women and higher still for teenagers, women past menopause and men over 70 who all need 1300mg a day. But while reaching these targets is possible with plenty of dairy products - 250 ml of calcium rich milk (around 350mg calcium), a tub of yoghurt (around 300mg), and a couple of slices of cheese (around 300mg) - how easy is it if you don't eat dairy products for some reason?

It helps if you're into sardines and salmon - thanks to their edible bones, 100g of sardines delivers around as much calcium as a serve of milk (and a dose of healthy omega-3 fat too) and 100mg red salmon provides another 200mg. But given that most of us don't stir sardines into our coffee, there's a limit to how much canned fish you can pack into one day. Being a vegan shrinks the options even further - so what other good sources of bone boosting calcium are there to eat?

The easiest way is with calcium-fortified soy products, says Sydney dietitian Kate Marsh - many have calcium contents similar to regular dairy milk and yoghurt (but check the label because the content can vary).

"Three to four serves of these daily (e.g. soy milk on cereal, a tub of soy yoghurt as a snack and a glass of soy milk before bed) could meet most people's calcium needs," says Marsh, an Accredited Practising Dietitian and co-author of the Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook (Hachette Livre) "There's also calcium-fortified rice milk for those who don't eat soy."

But even without these soy or rice products, there are other calcium sources, she says - and with the RDIs for calcium now so high, it's worth knowing where else to find this mineral, even if you do eat dairy foods. Some of her picks are:

-Dried figs - five figs deliver almost 200mg calcium - and almonds (1/4 cup has 70mg).

-Tofu is a good source of calcium if it's set with calcium sulphate (around 150mg per 100g)

-2 slices of wholegrain toast with 2 tablespoons of almond butter has about 120mg calcium.

- Green vegetables that are good calcium sources include broccoli (1 cup cooked = around 94mg); 1 cup of bok choy, cooked = about 150mg; a cup of kale (if you can get it), cooked = around 179mg.

- 1 medium orange = 50mg calcium.

If you find it hard to get enough calcium via food, should you take a supplement?
Athough it's best to get calcium in food (because food has other nutrients), research suggests that calcium from supplements is absorbed as well as calcium from cow's milk says Marsh.

"It's best taken with food in doses of 600mg or less because you can only absorb so much at a time. If you were taking two 600mg tablets daily, for example, take one at breakfast and the other at dinner. "

What things affect how much calcium you absorb - or lose?
Some research suggests a high intake of animal protein may increase calcium excretion - although the link between protein and calcium isn't clear, says Marsh. "Salt can also increase calcium loss, while alcohol, caffeine and soft drinks can all have a negative effect on calcium balance. Smoking also increases the risk of osteoporosis, though we don't know why," she says. "But potassium (in fruits, vegetables and wholegrains) can help - some studies show that increased fruit and vegetable intake is linked to better bone density and reduced bone loss."

Healthy bones also need vitamin D (without it, your body can't use calcium). Getting older reduces your ability to make vitamin D from sun - if you're over 50 or spend little time in the sun, you may need a vitamin D3 supplement. And don't forget weight bearing exercise - including strength training - essential for strong bones.

Are soy foods safe?
Most of the concern over soy has been for concentrated soy supplements, not foods, points out Marsh. "In general, research has shown many benefits from eating soy products including a lower risk of heart disease and some types of cancer.Having said that, it's not a good idea for anyone to eat too much of any one food - eating a wide variety of foods is an important part of healthy eating for everyone, whether they're vegetarian, vegan or otherwise. This applies to soy products as it does for other foods - vegetarians should get protein from a range of plant foods - legumes, nuts, seeds, wholegrains and soy products."

For more information about calcium foods go to Osteoporosis Australia at
http://www.osteoporosis.org.au/files/factsheets/OTH-7665-ENG.pdf or the Vegan Resource Group at http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.htm

A bad news week for bacon - but diet drinks and coffee in the clear

Things looked bleak for lovers of big breakfasts last week when the World Cancer Research Fund delivered its verdict on the link between cancer and bacon, but not all the news in this report was bad. While the media homed in on the increased risk of cancer from processed meats and alcohol, this epic report that reviewed 7,000 studies of diet, exercise, weight and cancer did have its positive side - coffee, for instance, was unlikely to 'have a substantial effect on cancer', it said.

Artificial sweeteners like saccharin, cyclamates and aspartame were let off the hook too - at least in terms of cancer. These sweeteners have been under suspicion for years, but although research has found that very high doses of artificial sweeteners, especially saccharin, increased bladder cancer in animals, the report points out that the studies used huge amounts that were far greater than anything humans would normally consume in food and drinks. What's more, the evidence from epidemiological studies (meaning studies of disease trends in different populations) shows no detectable effect on cancer risk, it concluded.

But back to breakfast. If you're looking for something to replace bacon with your eggs, you could do worse than cooked tomatoes: they're rich in carotenoids - the plant pigments also found in orange and yellow fruit and veg, spinach and Asian greens, and which the WCRF report says probably lower the risk of cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx and lung. And stir in some crushed garlic too - likely to help prevent bowel and stomach cancer. Other good news?

-Foods containing folate - think liver, spinach, beans, broccoli, oranges, cos lettuce, avocado, asparagus and paw paw - get the thumbs up for probably protecting against cancer of the pancreas.

- Onions, chives, leeks - and more garlic may help prevent stomach cancer.

- Selenium, a mineral found in brazil nuts, sunflower seeds and fish probably protects against prostate cancer.

-Dairy products? A mixed verdict here - while milk probably lowered the risk of bowel cancer, the
report said, there was some evidence that diets high in calcium were a probable cause of prostate cancer.

By the way, if you want to replace bacon at breakfast, cooked mushrooms are hard to beat because of their strong flavour and meaty texture. They also make a good substitute in recipes - like pasta sauces - that include bacon.

Writer:Paula Goodyer