Archives for March 2015

March 18, 2015 By Ami Shah 1 Comment

It’s just not a Peanut: it’s a nutritional pill

Peanuts, commonly known as groundnuts or even monkey nuts are the cheapest and the healthiest protein available. A native to South America, Mexico and Central America it is an annual herbaceous plant, that grows almost at ground level.

It is almost used every day in one form or the other for cooking. They can be eaten in various forms like roasted, boiled, and fried. Also, now these days, you get many products made out of peanuts like peanut butter, peanut oil, peanut flour, dry roasted peanuts (snacks).

Peanuts play a vital nutritional role in human beings when consumed since they are high in protein and healthy fats. It is a good handy option for snacking provided the portion is controlled.

Avoid mindless eating by pre-portioning your nuts in small bags for a great snack to take on the go or to the office. Choose nuts in the shell and you’ll probably eat fewer since it takes time to crack them. Or take one handful and put the package away.

Let us have a look at its nutritional and health benefits.

Peanut has 166 calories and 7.8 gm of protein. Peanuts are heart healthy because they’re a good source of monounsaturated fatty acids. Eating peanuts may help lower your total cholesterol.
Peanuts are good sources of vitamin E, niacin, folate(6 mcg), protein and manganese (49.3 mg).
The nuts are an excellent source ofvitamin E, containing about 8 g per100 g. Vitamin E is a powerful lipid soluble antioxidant which helps maintain the integrity of cell membrane of mucus membranes and skin by protecting from harmful oxygen free radicals.
The nuts are packed with many important B-complex groups of vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B-6, andfolates. 100 g of peanuts provide about 85% of RDI of niacin, which contribute to brain health and blood flow to brain.
The nuts are rich source of minerals like copper, manganese, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium.

To sum it up, these tiny looking nuts are packed with good amount of vitamins and minerals. So, make sure that you are incorporating them in your daily routine.

Having talked of all the benefits, Peanuts can also cause side effects. Excessive peanuts intake may lead to gas and heartburn. Peanut allergy is also very common and is a very serious food allergy that one can develop. Peanut allergy causes severe allergic reactions that can actually be life threatening. It’s best to do an allergy test if you suspect you have a peanut allergy.

People with peanut allergy will experience a reaction within minutes of eating a peanut or a product that is made from peanuts. The reaction typically starts with a tingling sensation in the mouth followed by swelling of the face, throat and mouth. It can result in difficulty breathing, an asthma attack, anaphylactic shock and death. Less severe reactions include rash, hives and upset stomach. If you have a peanut allergy, you will want to carry an Epinephrine pen to counter any episodes while waiting for emergency assistance.

Individual with peanut allergy have to be very cautious and check the nutritional label or the menu before buying any product or eating a dish in a restaurant.

March 16, 2015 By Neha Morche 6 Comments

Snacking options to carry

How often do you crave to eat something between meals or after meals and do not have anything on your desk? According to me, one should include healthy mid-meals in to their daily routine in order to boost the metabolism and getting constant supply of energy, nutrients etc. Having said this, the next question is what to eat? What are the healthy options that are easy to carry or make at home quickly as most always crib that time to eat, I am between long meetings etc …

You will be surprised that there are several snack options that are easy to carry and also make quickly

Here are the some easy to make and carrying options ;

Kale chips ( 1 medium cup)

Tuna/salmon+ wheat thins

Peas+Boiled corn ( 1 medium cup)

Mini Pancake (one in number)

Boiled eggs (2-3 in numbers)

Edamame beans with Lemon + pepper ( 1 medium cup)

Black bean salsa with tortilla chips

Spiced up hummus with pita bread

Tabbouleh with Pita wedges

Sweet Potato hummus with whole wheat pita

Low fat yogurt with fresh herbs + oregano

Chopped salmon salad ( 1 cup)

Chickpea dip with bread

Sun dried tomato with artichoke dip

Banana bread with walnuts and flaxseeds

Corn dip with tomato and basil

Chicken salad ( 1 plate)

Yogurt with Oats/berries ( 1 serving)

Handful of nuts (almonds,walnuts, raisins)

Dried apricots + dates ( handful)

Soya nuts (handful)

Mixture of seeds ( flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, black and white sesame seeds)

Fruits ( 1-2 in nuumbers)

Wheat bread sandwich ( 2 slices)

Whole wheat wraps (1 in number)

Unsalted pop corn ( 1 medium cup)

Granola bar (1 in number)

Carrots /cucumber sticks + hummus ( 1 medium cup)

Vegetable juice ( 250 ml)

Crab berries+ peanuts (handful)

Banana+ 1 tablespoon of peanut butter

Peas+ boiled corn +spices ( 1 medium cup)

Mini Pancakes ( 1 in number)

Soya milk ( 200 ml)

Skimmilk ( 200 ml)

In India some local eating snacks to carry along :

-Roasted unsalted chana (whole Bengal gram) ( handful)

-roasted unsalted peanuts (handful)

-boiled sprouts ( 1 medium cup)

-peanuts jaggery chikki ( 3-4 in numbers)

-spiced up idli pieces ( 1 plate)

-Dhokla ( 3-4 medilum pieces)

-Khakra ( 1-2 in numbers)

-Buttermilk ( 250 ml)

These snacks are easy to carry, and when it is with us we will be reminded to eat them and ultimately it is a healthy swap over unhealthy eating. This can be incorporated in the mid morning or mid evening snacks. Avoiding meals may lead to over indulgence in your next meal, decreases metabolism and does not meet up with the daily requirement of nutrients.

March 11, 2015 By Ashwinkumar Rahate 5 Comments

Are you wearing the right shoes to the Gym? Importance of Gym shoes

How important are shoes for any outdoor or indoor activity? Seldom do people realise that shoes –and that too and the right shoes are the mainstay in any sporting activity.

I have always seen when people go to work out in a gym, most of their focus is on getting the right attire. Their shorts, tights, track pants, t shirt etc.. but, to get the right shoes is the last priority or not a priority at all. This is absolutely wrong.

According to me the most important of all gears for a gym workout is the shoes. Let me explain to you why Gym Shoes are important for the workout.

Immunity

As a fitness professional, I insist gym goers to use separate pair of shoes for the workout. The basic reason for this is not only the hygiene factor but, also its related to our immunity! Shocked?

Now the big question that has probably cropped up in your mind after reading this is how is that I am relating a separate gym shoes to Immunity? What is the relation between immunity and shoes hygiene? The answer to your query is plain and simple. When we are working out, our immunity level drops and if wear the same shoe that we wear outdoors it’s unhygienic. This unhygienic shoes cause infection and there will be greater chances of falling sick.

Safety

One of the reasons for wearing shoes in fitness centres or gym is safety. We cannot possibly run on the treadmill without shoes. Secondly, we tend to roam in the gym fro one area to the other. In the area where free weights and dumbbells are there its safe to be wearing your shoes and entering here so as to avoid any kind of injury such as the weights falling on your feet etc..

Weight Training Exercises

The Specific shoes for weightlifting will help to perform the power training like squats and deadlight like exercises. It is not a good idea performing weight lifting exercises in other sport shoes like running which will result in muscles not only not getting trained correct but, there is a great possibility of injury to the knees as well as your ankles.

When you wear the right footwear for the activity, you will be confident and that confidence will boost your performance .The performance in the way of targeting your muscles core efficient, adding more weight in your exercise like squats and dead lift etc

I insists do your workout in proper Gym Shoes

March 2, 2015 By Ashwinkumar Rahate 1 Comment

TRADITIONAL FITNESS TRAINING VS FUNCTIONAL FITNESS TRAINING

Given today’s monotonous and fast paced life, if one is not thinking about being fit and healthy then there is something drastically wrong. Fitness and Health is essential for today’s life. Daily we should have a fitness regime to be healthy. Some prefer to go to the gym and exercise and some prefer the outdoors. Either way it’s a good thing

But, the bigger question I am always posed with is between traditional fitness training (TFT)and functional fitness training (FFT) , which is better?

Let me explain to you what the two methods of exercise are. In traditional fitness training we train to improve our muscular fitness as well as flexibility which brings about many positive changes in us such as muscles build up, improvement in bone density, lowering of fat percentage in the body and many more benefits.

But, this fitness regime will not help in our day to day activities such as standing walking, lifting etc. because TFT involves doing only one type of exercise at a time. Also in weight training you concentrate and target one major muscle at a time. In TFT we do not do the exercises that are used in day to day life- for example Dumbbells Curl is a great exercise for the Biceps but, it is not part of our daily routine.

Functional Fitness Training (FFT) involves the movements we use in our day to day life such as sitting, walking, lifting object etc. For example exercise like Squats, Lunges which are useful in day to day activities.

FFT is more effective as its benefits are many. For instance it focuses on body stabilisation because it consists of exercises like squats, lunges, push ups etc. At a time we can focus on multiple muscle groups, it helps to improve our body posture and finally also helps to prevent injury..

According to me we need to balance between TFT and FFT which will eventually give us the desired results of being fit and healthy.