20 OUTRAGEOUS FOODS AROUND THE WORLD

For those living in poor regions or less developed countries, food choices may be influenced more by economics than taste preference. Additionally, some culinary preferences are based on peculiar cultural beliefs related to superior health and sexual prowess.

Whatever the reason, bizarre foods and bizarre food eating has been popularized by Andrew Zimmern’s documentary-styled travel and cuisine program called Bizarre Foods. Zimmern features cuisine from around the world perceived by American viewers as gross and bizarre.

Here is lists of the top 20 grossest foods. The first two listed are just plain high-tech culinary insanity:

20. Tuna Mayonnaise Doritos
Japan’s idea of taste novelty — corn chips with an odd blend of mayo and fish. Some say the chip odor is so offensive, they can’t eat them. So if you are bored of your old regular nacho cheese Doritos, this may be just for you.

19. Chocolate and Strawberry covered Cheetos
Cheetos dipped in chocolate or strawberry frosting. Another favorite in Japan.
Just the thought is nauseating; sickening.  Fake cheddar cheese covered in chocolate? Even worse, covered in strawberry flavors? I have no idea who would eat this and I do not care to find out.

18. Cow Brains
Beef brains or calf brains are used in the cuisines of France, Italy, El Salvador, Columbia, Mexico, Pakistan, Portugal, and the United States. Cow brains are usually flavored with sauces or baked somewhat like a quiche. We’ve heard they are delicious.

17. Chocolate Covered Crickets
Considered an exotic snack, crickets are oven roasted, covered with chocolate and then individually wrapped. Turns out crickets are low in calories and have tons of protein and iron. Ants and meal worms are also available although I’m not too sure about their nutritional content. Entomophagy is just not for me.

16. Pig Intestines
The viscera intestines of a pig are most commonly referred to chitterlings in the U.S. Chitterlings are also popular in most parts of Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America, where dishes such as Mondongo are prepared.

15. Bee Larvae
Bee Larvae and partially formed baby bees which are very popular in Thailand. The larvae are eaten raw or deep fried and seasoned. Some wrap pieces of the bees nest in banana leaves and roast them. Bee larvae are also popular in China and Japan. There are some problems with the bee population so I’ll be staying away from those.

14. Sea squirts
A barrel-shaped animal with a thick covering, the sea squirt is a marine invertebrate that preys on plankton. Eaten in Japan, Korea, Chile, Europe, and parts of Aboriginal Australia. Traditionally eaten raw, over rice, or in heavily spiced stews.

13. Balut
A balut is a fertilized duck or chicken egg with a nearly-developed embryo that is boiled and eaten in the shell. Popular in the Philippines, Southeast Asia, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Balut are most often eaten with salt, lemon juice, and ground pepper.

12. Head Cheese
Made by skinning the head of a sheep, pig or cow and removing all organs; the head is boiled in water and allowed to cool. The entire mixture congeals into a solidified gelatin that is sliced and served.

11. Offal
Offal refers to the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal and include the scrotum, brain, feet, heart, head, kidney, liver, lung, testicles, tongue, snout, reticulum, and maws.

10. Blood Pudding
Popular in Europe, Asia and other regions. Blood Pudding is made with animal blood, sausage, grains, or potatoes and made into a meat patty. Served with eggs, bacon, tomatoes, and toast. In Taiwan, blood pudding is made from rice cooked in pork blood and covered with peanuts and cilantro.

9. Frog Sashimi
Live frog served while its heart is still beating. The rest of the frog is sliced up on a plate and served as uncooked frog flesh. Big surprise, this dish is quite popular in Japan. I’ll stick to cooked frog.

8. Lutefisk
Lutefisk is made from cod prepared in a solution of lye — sodium or potassium hydroxide. The fish swells into a jelly-like consistency and is then soaked in water for several days before cooked. Popular in Norway.

7. Fried Spiders
Fried Spiders and insects are considered delicacies throughout South-East Asia and Cambodia; in Cambodia, women carry large trays full of fried Skuon Spiders. Some say Cambodians began eating spiders during the Khmer Rouge when the population was starving.

6. Fried Rats
These are eaten deep fried and seasoned in Vietnam and Thailand. It reminds us of the Cuy (Guine Pig) eaten in Peru.Think we’ll leave ours at the NYC subway.

5. Turtle Flesh
A live turtle is prepared with seasonings and herbs then boiled alive and allowed to soak in a pan of water before its served.

4. Snake Blood
Snake blood is prepared by cutting off the snake’s head and allowing the blood to drain into a glass. The bile is also added. Snake blood is believed to enhance male potency and served in Taiwan.

3. Escamoles
Escamoles are the eggs of the giant black venomous Liometopum ant, which live in the roots of maguey and agave plants. Eaten in tacos with guacamole, escamoles have a cottage cheese like consistency are considered a delicacy in Mexico.

2. Baby Mice Wine
Baby mice wine is a traditional Chinese and Korean beverage. Baby mice wine is brewed by drowning live baby mice in rice moonshine and allowing them to ferment in the bottle for a year.
The wine is believed to be a panacea.

1. Monkey Brains
Popular in southern China, some restaurants have specially designed tables to allow monkeys to be restrained and their skulls opened. The money brains are eaten while the monkey still alive.

For photos of the foods? Go to : http://blog.friendseat.com/gross-food/

100 Fun Facts on Health and Body

1. When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate, and they do the same when you are looking at someone you hate.
2. The human head is one-quarter of our total length at birth but only one-eighth of our total length by the time we reach adulthood.
3. Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil.
4. Blondes have more hair. The average human head has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person’s lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles. People with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles, those with brown hair have 100,000 follicles. Redheads have the least dense hair, averaging about 86,000 follicles.
5. At the moment of conception, you spent about half an hour as a single cell.
6. In a lifetime, the average person produces about 25,000 quarts of saliva, enough to fill two swimming pools.
7. There are about 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body.
8. Heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood through those vessels every day.
9. Men without hair on their chests are more likely to get cirrhosis of the liver than men with hair.
10. The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica.
11. The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.
12. Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents.
13. The average woman is 5 inches shorter than the average man.
14. One uses 200 muscles to take one step.
15. The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm.
16. One gets a new stomach lining every three to four days. If you didn’t, the strong acids your stomach uses to digest food would also digest your stomach.
17. Scientists say the higher your I.Q. The more you dream.
18. Forty-one percent of women apply body and hand moisturizer at least three times a day.
19. The width of your armspan stretched out is the length of your whole body.
20. There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee. You don’t see all of them because most are too fine and light to be noticed.
21. Women hearts beat faster than men.
22. Three years after a person quits smoking, there chance of having a heart attack is the same as someone who has never smoked before.
23. Scientists have discovered that the longer the ring finger is in boys the less chance they have of having a heart attack.
24. The right lung of a human is larger than the left one. This is because of the space and placement of the heart.
25. In a lifetime, the heart pumps about one million barrels of blood.
26. People that suffer from gum disease are twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack.
27. At one time it was thought that the heart controlled a person’s emotions.
28. Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than men in the United States.
29. From all the oxygen that a human breathes, twenty percent goes to the brain.
30. People who ride on roller coasters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in the brain.
31. Once a human reaches the age of 35, he/she will start losing approximately 7,000 brain cells a day. The cells will never be replaced.
32. It is not possible to tickle yourself. The cerebellum, a part of the brain, warns the rest of the brain that you are about to tickle yourself. Since your brain knows this, it ignores the resulting sensation.
33. In America, the most common mental illness is Anxiety Disorders.
34. Your brain is 80% water.
35. Your brain is move active and thinks more at night than during the day.
36. The chances of getting a cavity is higher if candy is eaten slowly throughout the day compared to eating it all at once and then brushing your teeth.
37. If an identical twin grows up without having a certain tooth, the other twin will most likely also grow up with that tooth missing.
38. Gardening is said to be one of the best exercises for maintaining healthy bones.
39. Although the outsides of a bone are hard, they are generally light and soft inside. They are about 75% water.
40. Your thigh bone is stronger than concrete.
41. By donating just one pint of blood, four lives can be saved.
42. Blood is such a good stain that Native Americans used it for paint.
43. A woman has approximately 4.5 liters of blood in her body, while men have 5.6 liters.
44. Women blink twice as often as men.
45. The shark cornea has been used in eye surgery, since its cornea is similar to a human cornea.
46. The number one cause of blindness in adults in the United States is diabetes.
47. The eye of a human can distinguish 500 shades of the gray.
48. People generally read 25% slower from a computer screen compared to paper.
49. Men are able to read fine print better than women can.
50. All babies are colour blind when they are born.
51. The reason why your nose gets runny when you are crying is because the tears from the eyes drain into the nose.
52. The most common injury caused by cosmetics is to the eye by a mascara wand.
53. The highest recorded speed of a sneeze is 165 km per hour.
54. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
55. While sleeping, one man in eight snores, and one in ten grinds his teeth.
56. 85% of the population can curl their tongue into a tube.
57. On average, a man spends about five months of his life shaving.
58. Hair will fall out faster on a person that is on a crash diet.
59. Hair is made from the same substance as fingernails.
60. People that use mobile phones are 2.5 times more likely to develop cancer in areas of the brain that are adjacent to the ear they use to talk on the mobile phone.
61. Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress.
62. Chances of a women getting breast cancer are increased by excessive use of alcohol.
63. A person that is struck by lightning has a greater chance of developing motor neurons disease.
64. A headache and inflammatory pain can be reduced by eating 20 tart cherries.
65. Each year in America there are about 300,000 deaths that can be attributed to obesity.
66. A study indicates that smokers are likely to die on average six and a half years earlier than non-smokers. A person who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day will on average lose two teeth every ten years.
67. Studies indicate that listening to music is good for digestion.
68. Lack of sleep can affect your immune system and reduce your ability to fight infections.
69. Over 40 million Americans have chronic bad breath.
70. Carbon monoxide can kill a person in less than 15 minutes. (It is present in smoke caused by fires)
71. Every day the human stomach produces about 2 liters of hydrochloric acid.
72. The risk of cardiovascular disease is twice as high in women that snore regularly compared to women who do not snore.
73. It has been medically been proven that laughter is an effective pain killer.
74. The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C.
75. A pregnant woman’s dental health can affect her unborn child.
76. When a women is pregnant, her senses are all heightened.
77. Studies show that couples that smoke during the time of conception have a higher chance of having a girl compared to couples that do not smoke.
78. Kissing can aid in reducing tooth decay. This is because the extra saliva helps in keeping the mouth clean.
79. Studies have shown that the scent of Rosemary can help in better mental performance and make individuals feel more alert.
80. Scientists say that babies that are breastfed are more likely to be slimmer as adults than those that are not breastfed.
81. People have the tendency to chew the food on the side that they most often use their hand.
82. One out of 20 people have an extra rib.
83. People with darker skin will not wrinkle as fast as people with lighter skin.
84. People with allergies can lower allergy reactions by laughing.
85. People that smoke have 10 times as many wrinkles as a person that does not smoke.
86. Girls have more tastebud than boys.
87. Eighty percent of 10 year old girls in the USA go on a diet.
88. Children who are breast fed tend to have an IQ seven points higher than children who are not.
89. Eating chocolate three times a month helps people live longer as opposed to people who overeat chocolate or do not eat chocolate at all.
90. The average person has at least seven dreams a night.
91. The average person walks the equivalent of twice around the world in a lifetime.
92. The average person laughs about 15 times a day.
93. The vocabulary of the average person consists of 5,000 to 6,000 words.
94. About 10% of the world’s population is left-handed.
95. The average man’s penis is three times the length of his thumb.
96. One human hair can support 3 kgs of weight
97. Bile produced by the liver is responsible for making your feces a brownish, green colour.
98. From the age of thirty, humans gradually begin to shrink in size.
99. The average person falls asleep in about 12 to 14 minutes.
100. People over the age of fifty will start to lose their dislike for foods that taste bitter.
101. It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile.
(Most of the people who read fact 95 are probably still looking at their thumbs)
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15 Best Foods to Boost Your Metabolism

Remember the days when your metabolism was like a caffeinated mouse in a wheel? Yeah, me neither. If you aren’t one of those lucky gals who can eat whatever she wants and burn it off thanks to an annoyingly fast metabolism, look to these helpful foods to boost your metabolism. (And check out this post on additional tips to speed up a sluggish metabolism.)

Grapefruit

This diet super fruit (above) lowers the insulin levels in your body that trigger your system to store fat. Plus, it is rich in fiber, and your body must burn extra calories in order to break it down.

Green Tea

Green tea is the main source of epigallocatechin gallate, known better as EGCG. This healthy catechin speeds up your brain and nervous system, causing your body to burn more calories.

Yogurt

The high levels of protein present in natural yogurt require a lot of energy to be processed. Plus, the pro-biotic cultures found in yogurt help regulate your digestive tract.

Almonds

Almonds’ essential fatty acids help raise your body’s metabolism. Just don’t overdo it because they’re also very high in calories.

Coffee

Coffee has caffeine, which does give you a boost. Just ensure that you don’t exceed 2 or 3 cups a day, or you risk a host of side effects, including irritability and jitters.

Turkey

This protein-rich meat builds lean muscle tissue, which causes your body to burn extra calories and raises your metabolism.

Apples

Like grapefruit, this low-calorie snack is high in fiber, which your body must burn calories to break down. Plus, since apples help you stay full for longer, you’ll eat less.

Spinach

Popeye was right about one thing: spinach can help make you strong and healthy. In addition to speeding up your metabolism, it’s a great source of antioxidants, magnesium, potassium, iron and vitamin C.

Beans

Low in fat and packed with protein, beans keep you full for long durations, and your body must burn extra calories in order to process this fiber-rich food.

Jalapenos

The capcaisin found in jalapenos causes your body to burn extra calories for hours after you ingest them, speeding up both your heart rate and metabolism.

Broccoli

Broccoli contains a highly effective metabolism-boosting team of nutrients: calcium and vitamin C. Calcium acts as a metabolic trigger, while vitamin C helps your body absorb more calcium.

Oatmeal

Because your body takes a long time to break down the fat-soluble fiber in oatmeal, this healthy food lowers your body’s insulin level and speeds up your metabolism as a result.

Soy Milk

Fortified soy milk is loaded with calcium, which helps boost your metabolism. Just stay away from the sweetened varieties.

Curry

Like jalapenos, curry increases the amount of calories your body burns and speeds up your metabolism.

Cinnamon

A little bit of cinnamon can go a long way. Add some zing to your daily cup of tea with this tasty spice to help your body metabolize sugars more effectively and maintain steadier blood sugar levels. Cinnamon can also help lower your cholesterol.