Archives for May 2017

May 22, 2017 By Dr Ashwin Nanda 2 Comments

Tension or HYPERTENSION

I can’t count how many times in my 12 years of medical practice, a patient with just a headache has eventually been diagnosed with high blood pressure (hypertension). Whenever a patient complains of headache, I always make it a point to check his/her blood pressure (BP) as it is a very common symptom of fluctuating BP which presents usually around the temples but can also be on the back of the head (occipital region).

Do we know what’s blood pressure?

The pressure exerted by the column of blood flowing in the arteries once it has been pumped by the heart is called the systolic (higher value) blood pressure. Diastolic (lower value) BP is the resistance in the arteries which is always present due to the elastic tone of the arteries. A blood pressure of upto 120/80 is considered normal. Readings from 130/90 to 140/90 are the pre-hypertensive stage and above 140/90 is considered hypertension. If three readings on separate days are high, then the person is diagnosed with high BP.

If I have to look for, then the following symptoms should raise the suspicion of high blood pressure:

Headache
Feeling of tiredness.
Difficulty in breathing
Heaviness in the eyes / blurred vision.
Irritability
Irritability
In rare cases it may directly present as a complication of prolonged high BP like heart attack or hemorrhagic stroke.

High BP is a very common issue in adults over 50 years of age and is increasingly being diagnosed in younger age group due to bad lifestyle choices such as not getting adequate sleep on a regular basis, eating high salt content food, smoking, being overweight due to lack of exercise and eating junk food in excess. Extremely high stress levels arising from chaotic traffic in metros to financial strain and challenging deadlines set at workplace also contribute to high BP. Rarely, BP can be high due to secondary causes like thyroid disorders and narrowing of blood supply to the kidneys (Renal Artery Stenosis).

Why is it important to maintain your BP in the normal range?

Constantly high BP starts damaging the internal lining of blood vessels and gradually affects the brain, kidneys and eyes causing stroke, renal failure and hypertensive retinopathy respectively. All complications can be averted by controlling the BP.

How can one manage High BP?

Since lifestyle choices are the single most significant factor in controlling BP without medication, I will emphasize on them.

Sleeping regularly by 11 pm and waking up around 6 or 7 am is a habit, I can’t emphasize enough. Following the circadian rhythm (body clock) is an easy way to avoid raised BP.
Restrict salty foods such as chips, salted nuts, papad, pickles, processed sauces and dips.
Regular cardio exercise goes the longest way in keeping the heart healthy and preventing high BP. 45 minutes of brisk walking / 30 minutes of swimming or cycling or an aerobics session of 30 minutes suffice.
Weight reduction is essential for anyone with obesity and hypertension. The target should be 1 -2 kgs weight loss every month till BMI (body mass index) is 25.
Deep breathing /meditation helps negate mental stress. I strongly advise people to set realistic goals in personal and professional realms to avoid stress since unrealistic goals make life miserable.
Having a healthy social life is also necessary.

If the above non-pharmacological measures do not reduce BP at least in 6 months, one needs to consult a physician and explore the medication option. If the cause of hypertension is secondary (thyroid and renal artery stenosis) then treatment of the cause helps in correcting the raised BP.

Even the word hyperTENSION (high BP) has TENSION in it, so reduce Stress and start making your heart healthy today!

May 19, 2017 By Geetika Patni 3 Comments

Mindful Eating: Connect Back with your food – Part 5

I hope by now, you would all be well aware of the do’s and don’ts of Mindful Eating through the series of four blogs. I have talked of of the concept of Mindful eating and how mindless Eating can be harmful. I talked of why should you eat slowly to enjoy your meal (https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-slow-down-and-enjoy-your-meal-2/) and shared some tips on how can you eat slowly. Then I took you through portion control and how to be wise (https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-control-portions-and-be-wise-part-3/). In the fourth blog we talked of emotional eating and how it can be avoided (https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-mind-your-mood-part-4/). In the last of the blog in this 5 Part series on Mindful Eating, I will talk of connecting back with food and how one can do that.

Mindful Eating is eating with attention and right intention. It is eating with the intention to care for yourself. It is also eating with the attention necessary for noticing and enjoying your food and its effects on your body.

If you choose to eat each and every thing that you can lay your hands on, you indeed are disconnected from your food-the very ingredient of life that keeps you alive and going. And, when you are disconnected from your nutrition, you make yourself vulnerable to host of illnesses, life threatening disorders and loss of longevity of life.

I was wondering-what makes us disconnected from our nutrition as we grow? For I am certain we were connected with our foods when we were a child (as that is how we learnt that seeds sitting in an apple core can grow into an entirely new apple tree! And, that the water we drink doesn’t come from tap but, from a faraway river channel).

So, I have come to conclude that with time, our body just repeats what it has done previously as trained by the mind. These are nothing but habits. And unless our mind makes a choice, body will not break the pattern even if it is a potentially harmful one. In terms of eating, since it’s the most repeated skill of all human behaviours, our mind has pretty much trained ourselves to ignore eating and be on an autopilot mode while grabbing a bite. Thus, we don’t ask ourselves any more now – where do these strawberries come from? Or what goes into making a Pizza?

If we can turn around our ways and connect back with our meals, learning about the foods which will help us and those that will not and, make a conscious choice to pick up right dish at the right time by breaking the habit of eating each and every thing at any time, a lot of our future troubles will get resolved. Turning into a mindful eater and making an informed choice-an intention to care for yourself- is what it will take.

To help you get connected, I am sharing some simple tips here with you today

1) Connect right from grocery shopping: Most of us go grocery shopping on weekends. And there is usually long queue at the billing counter. In a hurry to finish our job, we just throw in our cart, whatever is more attractive or convenient-which is mostly processed foods. To connect with your foods, shop smart at the store itself.

i) Fill up your cart from produce section first. Once you have half filled up your cart with fruits and veggies, you’ll be less tempted to shop for processed and ready-to-eat meals.

ii) Read ingredient list and nutritional labels. Choose food products with short ingredient list, ingredients that you can pronounce, with 0 trans fats, no sugar or if at all, appearing in last in the list, mentions whole grain composition, small per serving calories (and not per 100gm) and has fiber serving size >2 units. If a food product matches up this criteria, it is worthy to be nourishing you.

2) Be a food critique: You don’t need to write a review or become a fussy eater. But learn the art of analyzing your food dishes. What are you eating? What are the ingredients that go into this dish? How is it prepared? How’s the aroma, texture, color of the meal? How does it make you feel? Knowing answers to all of these questions will help you to know why you eat what you eat, and thus will help you turn into a mindful eater.

i) One of the player once mentioned to me he can’t stop eating ‘vada-pao’ the fried snack tucked between white flour bread. On my insistence, he made the attempt to analyze how he feels while having the snack. To his own surprise, he found out that it was only the act of tearing the bread apart and tucking in the fried snack, which appealed to him. He didn’t really enjoy the taste of the snack as much as he liked the procedure of eating it!

So to know yourself and your eating habits better, be a food critique.

3) Make an attempt to learn about your nutrition

# Know major food groups like carbs, proteins and fats and the minor but essential ones like vitamins and minerals. What all food dishes that you commonly eat fall in these categories and influence you.

# Know alkaline and acidic foods- because our blood Ph is slightly alkaline (7.3-7.4) and to keep our system running efficiently we need to maintain this alkaline Ph. Your food choices will play an important role in this physiological action.

# Know various benefits of different herbs-cinnamon, turmeric, coriander, cloves, ginger, garlic, fennel, cardamom, coriander, saffron, fenugreek, garam masala, varieties of pepper and so on. You have them in each and every single dish. They deserve your attention.

# Know how to eat your fruits right, what time of the day and how much and in what combination is good enough.

# Know combination of foods which can enhance each other’s nutritional values-like Vitamin C with Iron rich foods, Vitamin D and calcium rich foods and know what food combinations can interfere with each other’s absorption in the body like Iron and Calcium heavy foods don’t go well together.

# Know what meals are best options for pre and post workout nutrition

# Learn why you should not eat white sugar, white flour or white salt. Or have an aerated drink ever

# Know replacements for sugar and white salt and what you can do to beat down your sugar cravings.

# Or understand why dark chocolates or nuts are good for you inspite of being calorific or why eating a healthy ‘mukhwas’ (mouth freshner) after a meal can be a good habit.

And, there are many more such small and simple things to know about your everyday nutrition. Keep asking your coach or make an attempt to read and learn yourself.

Mindful eating is much more than learning your food or food choices alone or practicing slow eating, in the moment eating itself. It encompasses having a relationship with your food wherein you respect your meals and feel gratitude towards it.

To sum up, mindful eating is a way of nurturing your physical self, harmonizing your mental state and satisfying your soul.

If you have been missing out on it as yet, get on the mindful eating wagon now!

May 18, 2017 By Geetika Patni 3 Comments

Mindful Eating: Mind your Mood-part 4

My previous three blogs talked of the concept of Mindful eating and how mindless Eating can be harmful. In my second blog, I talked of why should you eat slowly to enjoy your meal ( https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-slow-down-and-enjoy-your-meal-2/) and shared some tips on how can you eat slowly. The third blog talked of portion control and how to be wise ( https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-control-portions-and-be-wise-part-3/). Continuing in this 5 Part series on Mindful Eating, Today, I will take you through how stress eating can be harmful and should be avoided.

Have you noticed why buttered popcorns are sold out quickly during a movie intermission break? Or why the entire packet of Oreos or chips is emptied when you are amidst a sea of emotions? That’s because certain foods can be emotionally comforting. In most cases these comfort foods have high fat and sugar and are low on nutrition. They are still comforting because they hit some neurons in the brain which can lead to false perception of well-being.

Turning to food to make you feel better is ‘Emotional eating’.

It is not necessarily a bad thing to eat food from time to time- as a pick me up meal or as a reward treat or as a celebration feast. But, if food becomes your primary coping mechanism to ward off your anxiety, loneliness, boredom, anger, frustration, exhaustion etc, and your first impulse, as soon as you are upset is to dig into a tub of ice-cream, it calls for your attention. Feeding your emotion with food may feel good for that moment but, doesn’t resolve the underlying problem. And, more often you may end up feeling worse later than you did before, because of the un-necessary calorie binge you undertook. Not to mention the physical havoc on your metabolism.

The guilt-feeling powerless over emotions and impulse eating leads to a very unhealthy vicious cycle, landing one up in physical and emotional misshape. So no matter how hard it looks to break this vicious cycle, it is still possible to make a positive change. All it requires is some effort by you.

To help you make the breakthrough out of this vicious cycle and this mindless eating habit, I am sharing few pointers which work best when you work on them in the listed order below:

Be Aware: and acknowledge your habit of emotional eating. If your near/dear ones have pointed out to you or you know it by yourself that you may eat out of emotional triggers, take it seriously! Being aware of your habits is the first positive step. Make a move ahead then and identify- what emotions can lead you to do binge eating. Is it some positive ones like exhilaration, victory, success? Or negative ones like frustration, loneliness, anxiety, depression, anger, boredom etc. Then know your comfort foods- is it sweets, chocolates, ice-creams or salty ones like chips, fries or some junk food like pizza, burger, maggi etc. that drive your emotional cravings. You may come up with multiple choices for multiple emotions and it is absolutely okay. You may also notice that your choice of comfort food is entirely different from others. So accept it.

# Maintain a food journal to help you identify your emotions and foods associated with it or use food log feature in GOQii app to get this task done.

Know your Hunger cues: Why you wish to eat. The hunger cue can be physical or emotional. So if your stomach is growling and it’s been few hours since your last meal-eating a salad or any other meal will be good enough for you in the immediate but, if there is no sense of emergency and you can postpone your hunger then you are then likely to stop once you feel full after eating. There are no traces of guilt, your hunger was driven by true physical cues.

Contrary to this, if your hunger is sudden and urgent and you crave for specific foods like cookies or chips, or specific types of foods like sweets and fried foods and you are likely to over consume, feeling guilty later, you are about to be snacking out of false hunger, then the head hunger is generated out of emotional cues.

# Next time you reach out for a snack, check in and see which type of hunger is driving you to have it.

Cross check: Your next task after you have identified your hunger cue is to ask yourself a question, and get a clear answer for it. This is another way to put a check before the binge. Most times, you may identify that you are about to eat the snack out of some emotions, but, your mind will trick you into believing you are not. So if you are heading for a snack, (and don’t know yet whether you are eating for emotions) just ask yourself – ‘Why I am eating this?’ and then take a deep breath. You’ll know your answer.

# If it’s justified hunger, grab something healthy-roasted or steamed. If not and you were eating only out of any emotional trigger-place the dish respectfully aside!

Distract: Next step is distract yourself. Once you have put the dish aside, change your location. Go to the next room (from where you can’t see the tempting dish) or head outdoors and distract your mind. This process is important because you need to find an alternative to food which will fulfil your emotions. If you are lonely talk to someone, if depressed or frustrated, watch some comic movie. If exhausted, get a foot massage or a warm soothing bath, if angry let it out or write it out, if you are anxious, listen to your favourite music and, if you are happy and feel like rewarding yourself, indulge in your hobby.

#You can also do some window shopping , reading, walking, exercising, meditating, or taking a nap which will give time to pass off the emotional storm and make you a stronger self- one who has more willpower to cope up with his/her feelings.

Giving In: Emotional eating is after all an automatic and virtually mindless eating habit. At times even before you can grab hold of yourself, you may polish off half of the tub of the ice-cream in that tornado of sentiments. But, then, if you can take a moment to pause now when you are hit with a craving, you’ll be equipped to make a different decision next time.

#When you are giving in, just pause for a minute and reflect back. Don’t shut out, wait. (Because forbidden is extremely tempting, shutting out will make you powerless to make a mindful decision later). While you are waiting, check upon yourself, what’s going on in your head? How are you feeling? Even if you eat after this reflection, you’ll have better understanding of why you did it. This will prepare you for a better response next time.

If you approach your feelings with kindness, reining in emotions is not a difficult task.

Listen to your emotions, accept them even if they are negative and when you do so, your body will understand that it doesn’t need to overeat to comfort itself and/or protect itself from powerful feelings.

Learning to mind your mood this way will enable you to repair your emotional responses and physical fitness and in this journey seeking help from experts or your personal coach may bring a turning point. So reach out if you need help and forever enjoy a better physical and mental health!

Tomorrow, in the last of the blogs in the 5 part series, I will tell you about connecting with your meals and will share tips on how you can transform and change your relationship with food for the better.

To be continued……………

May 17, 2017 By Geetika Patni 7 Comments

Mindful eating: Control portions and be wise! – Part 3

My previous two blogs talked of the concept of Mindful eating and how mindless Eating can be harmful. In my second blog, I talked of why should you eat slowly to enjoy your meal (https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-slow-down-and-enjoy-your-meal-2/) and shared some tips on how can you eat slowly. Continuing in this 5 Part series on Mindful Eating, Today, I will take you through portion control and why is portion control a must.

Appetite is complex and dieting is a challenge.

With every passing year it gets more harrowing. We end up blaming the food industry which has, over the years, increased portions per package and per serving size by whopping 2-7 times than recommended value. And, mostly these take away food products and dishes themselves don’t fit in a healthy eating plan.

Mindful eating is the key to fix this chaos. For when we can’t change anyone else (read: food industry) we can still change ourselves.

The art of being in present when you are eating your food is termed as Mindful eating. Eating mindfully has tremendous benefits- you really learn to taste food and realize your real favourites and dislike thus knowing what foods best fuel your exercise, work and leisure. If you enjoy eating or your food experience, you tend to enjoy life better. The by-product of this mindfulness is also a healthy weight loss and maintenance, and even reversal of lifestyle disorders.

Among the many advantages of this healthy practice my favourite one is- Learning to eat when hungry and stop when full, so avoiding overeating at any given time. I have maintained my weight for years by effectively practicing portion control.

This is difficult, yet the easiest way to lose weight, keep it off and moreover, it’s a lifestyle change, something that can change this whole obesity epidemic. We all struggle with food. This may be the solution to eating our favourite food, yet controlling the portions and being fair to our bodies.

Portion control is easily achieved when you slow down your pace of eating. When you eat slowly you become aware of when your stomach gets full and you also know how much to serve yourself and when to stop. Portion size and eating speed can be well explained through the famous ‘French Paradox’ which says that despite high intake of calorie-rich and fatty foods in France as compared to the US, the incidence of heart disease and overweight is relatively low in France.

It is well-documented fact that the French eat much slower than the Americans thus ending up taking smaller portions. Sensible eating, therefore, works miraculously for the weight-watchers.

In this blog, I am sharing some good tricks and hacks that will help you prevent over eating and the need to diet ever.

When you first go through the list, pick up only 2 tasks which you can practice as your healthy habits. As you succeed, take up new ones gradually and implement them consistently to build in mindful eating approach for life.

Here’s how to practice portion control-

A) At home or for your regular eating

Replace your food plates to small plates or use a side plate as your main plate. The food portion has grown bigger, by choosing a small plate (law of size-metrics) you will reduce your consumption.

Serve backwards- visualize your plate has 2 compartments. First fill up one half of it with veggies, both raw and cooked and then serve other half of your plate with portion of proteins (dal/curd) and carbs (rice/roti) combined. Eating veggies make you feel full so serving it first on your plate and eating in larger portion quickly drives up the fullness quotient.

Sit Down to eat- even if it is a snack. You are making your meal more organized by sitting down when dining and this habit will prevent on the go munching that you may be un-knowingly overdoing.

Deep breathe- before you start your meal. This works as ‘ringing the bell’ –brings your attention to your next to-do task which is feeding yourself. Gently Inhale through nose, filling your chest with air, drawing your shoulder upwards and exhale through mouth for a little longer. Now take your first bite or sip.
Dine! Don’t multitask- Eating while watching TV or while fiddling with your cell phone will distract you from your meal. And distraction will lead to over consumption. Put away all gadgets while eating and you’ll be surprised that going back to your smart phone after 20 minutes is so refreshing. Plus, the added bonus of having a satisfying meal.
Have liquid first- A glass of water or a bowl of healthy soup. Starting your meal with fluids will fill up your belly to prevent over eating. It will irrigate the lining of your digestive tract making your meals easier to flow down. And, probably quench your thirst which may be the real reason behind your rumbling belly.
Eat slowly- to finish a meal in no less than 20 minutes. You may realize you don’t need the second helping if you eat your meals slowly.
Get Smart with leftovers: Because no one is judging how clean your plate is. If you are done with dinner, don’t stuff yourself just so that you don’t have to pack up the remaining food. Wrapping up remaining food is a smart way (as leftovers taste better too!) or downsizing your cooking is another idea to prevent over consumption.
Snack from a bowl– and not from a bag or box. You may end up eating 50% more if the snack, you are having, is hidden from your view. Pour a serving in a bowl and then munch.

#And if you buy a bag of trail mix that reads 10 servings, divide the contents of the bag into 10 smaller bags or label it bold- ‘to be finished in 10 attempts’.

Out of sight-out of mouth- Keep tempting treats- chips, cookies, and candies, ice creams out of sight – high up in the kitchen cabinet or in the back line of the pantry shelf. Putting a fruit bowl, dark chocolate, dates and nuts in the front row and in reach easily gets you to practice snacking.

Follow IN/OUT rule: When at home, the rule is to eat nutritious, balanced and wholesome meals avoiding all treats (White Sugar/breads/pastas/creamy desserts and fried foods). When outside treat yourself to your favourite delicacies (but in moderation lest you slip down the slope). This way you will be able to eat super healthy most of the time and the occasional indulgences will soothe your soul.

Here are few suggestions to practice portion control outside home

When dining out-

Plan Ahead- Right when you start from home, put up a portion in head- “I’ll have only 2 glass of wine today”, “I’ll eat only 1 plate of pasta tonight”. When a plan is there, you only need to work on your determination during the action, so it makes sense to make a quick portion note prior to stepping out.
Survey the spread first (or read menu carefully)- By getting a sense of what are the foods available, you avoid heaping on excess of usual offerings because you didn’t realize earlier -the ‘can’t miss items’ were at the end of the line. So make your plate with intention and eat only what you really want to eat.
Order to serve your salad or soup first and entree only after the appetizers are done with. A lot of food on table and in sight will promote over eating.
Split and Share –the entrée with your dining partner, but If eating alone, try doubling up your appetizer and skipping the main course altogether.
Indulge wisely- If you intend to end your meal with drinks or dessert, eat only half of your capability. Yes, it’s your treat meal! But, a firm moderation now will prevent you from guilt trip later.
Split and share desserts too- or skip it totally and order yourself an un-sweetened coffee/hot beverage to end the meal. Some metabolic push there! Plus you can always have a cube of dark chocolate when you reach home.
If Ice cream melts you away-Choose inedible dishes- say a cup over a cone, as your ice cream serving dish. Or if cone gets you carried away, choose a kiddie, regular or sugar cone, as waffle cone will increase your portion considerably. Avoid toppings or go for fruit based ones.
Tall and slim- Research says drinking from tall and slim glass will cut down portion of your drink by 20%, and so does avoiding exotic mixed liquor drinks. It’s that easy!
And if you are travelling- Avoid heading to a restaurant directly. Instead take a pit stop at a fruit vendor first. A healthy snack before a meal will not spoil it, but help you portion mindfully.

Eating in moderation and compensating with a good round (or extra round) of exercising keeps one in balance. Avoid Overeating and practice mindfulness- your ideal weight is just this one healthy habit away!

In my fourth blog tomorrow, I shall talk about emotional eating. Very often we find ourselves overeating or better to say indulge in mindless eating such as stress eating. Too happy indulge in over eating, too sad again indulge in over eating to feel good. The blog will take you through some pointers on how to avoid stress eating and satisfy your needs with mindfulness.

To be continued………….