Archives for October 2014

October 13, 2014 By SANA SHAIKH Leave a Comment

Control Diabetes with Lente Carbohydrates

Diabetes has become a common ailment today. There are more people being detected with diabetes than ever before.

Diabetes is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by increased sugar levels (hyperglycemia) resulting from relative/absolute deficiency of insulin or impaired action on target tissue or both. The chronic nature of diabetes is associated with long term damage, dysfunction and failure of various organs. Hence, effective self- diabetes control is essential.

Along with the use of appropriate medication/insulin as required, a diabetic should also pay attention on to his/her dietary pattern. Few measures well taken could prove beneficial for their sugar and insulin levels.

The primary concern for a diabetic is the intake of carbohydrates because the body uses them as the primary source of energy. Simple or easily digestible carbohydrate foods like refined flour products, juices, sugar should be limited/ avoided within the diet, since they tend to increase the post- prandial levels.

Hence, intake of lente carbohydrate should be included within the diet apart from complex carbohydrates. Lente carbohydrates are slowly absorbed within the body, due to the presence of high amounts of viscous fiber within them, thereby delaying gastric emptying time. They also reduce the glycemic response of a meal.

Slow absorption has been shown to have beneficial effects such as improved insulin sensitivity (i.e. easy acceptance of insulin by the target cells within the body), thereby lowering the insulin requirements; decreased LDL/ Bad cholesterol, decreased clotting factors leading to reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD’s).

Lente carbohydrates are readily available in the foods such as legumes (viz lentils,Split grams, Kidney beans, green peas etc. ) soaked pulses, cereal oat bran & barley; most of them being a part of the staple diet.

Thus, lente carbohydrates would not only help in maximizing diabetes control but also provides preventive measures against CVD’s…

October 9, 2014 By Neha Morche Leave a Comment

Tea……How much is good for you?

Whether it is after a hard day’s work, or it is raining outside or it’s just a conversation … a cup of tea has to be there for company. Without tea it just seems so incomplete and one feels not so refreshed.

We have every possible reason to drink tea. There are various types of Tea like black tea, green tea, oolong tea, yellow tea, white tea, herbal tea and many more…

The effects of Tea when consumed in excess :

1.Tea contains fluorids which leads to osteofluorosis (breaking of bone/fracture)

2. Increases toxicity in body as contains tannins, caffeine, aluminium

3. Tannins upsets the digestive system

4. Insomnia due to caffeine

5. Affects urinary track as acts like diuretic

6. Stains teeth and gums as acidic in nature

7. Kidney disorders due to oxalates

Tea is not bad at all if consumed in a limited quantity -say 2 cups a day. There are many who cannot resist tea ….and then they face the above mentioned problems. I have also observed that people do eat their breakfast along with tea…which is not a good way because, tannins and caffeine from tea will hinder the absorption of iron from the food you eat along with it. So the best way to have tea/coffee is 15 mins before meal or 2 hours after meal. I would also suggest to include 1 glass of water after every 1 cup of tea has the tendency to dehydrate your system.

There are some types of tea which helps to relax like Chamommile tea, for stress Ginseng peach, herbal tea is for medicine purpose, green tea being rich in antioxidants, polyphenols acts as anti-inflammatory also helps to increase immunity.

Basically people prefer drinking tea first thing in the morning to kick-start their day…as caffeine stimulates brain and makes you more alert. It just doesn’t stop here but, many keep drinking tea throughout the day for no reason (that’s addiction)…and then cutting down becomes difficult. For such people who are addicted to tea and need tea at odd hours they should swap to green tea, white tea (if available) but, that too in limited quantity , though white and green tea are good for health they are still diuretic, and has tannins (in less amount)..

So I strongly recommend to kick-start your day with either fruits or handful of nuts over a cup of Tea ….for a kinetic day !!