Archives for September 2017

September 18, 2017 By Ami Shah 1 Comment

Love Sweets! Take the Sugar free challenge – a personal account

How difficult it is when you love something beyond a limit and have to suddenly let it go? It’s very difficult. I went through this very recently when I let go of eating ‘Sugar’ for few days. Here is what I went through.

Being a qualified nutrition and dietician, the important aspects that are top of the mind for me is food, fitness, nutrition and everything that is necessary for a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, Challenges always attracts me. I have always liked to challenge myself as it gives me an insight about how strong my will power is and my potential to handle tough situations.

The Sugar Challenge was one such challenge that was thrown open to me. At GOQii office, we come up with challenges at frequent intervals related to fitness for our coaches and players. And, Sugar Challenge was one such challenge that was thrown open to us. I just could not resist taking it up more so given the fact that I love sweets- chocolates/pastries and everything else that is sweet. In a way I was a ‘Sugar Addict’.

I wanted to check whether I could stay away from eating sweets as the sugar challenge meant complete abstinence from refined sugar and food items that is either made of sugar or contained sugar like chocolates/sweets/bakery items. Why bakery items? Yes because even bread/toast/buns does contain SUGAR in good quantities.

Sugar is an addiction and you could call it a poison which makes you sluggish and gets stored as fat! I thought to myself it can’t get any better than this. This challenge could only keep me away from sweets specially chocolates. Some of my colleagues also joined me in this challenge. I guess when you know you have company to take up such a challenge it becomes a fun activity and you do not tend to perceive it as a challenge anymore. Also you are motivated to push yourself daily to keep at the challenge.

The next big question that popped was for how many days should we go for this challenge? 1 day was too less. (how I wish).. so we decided we would take it up for a week. At the back of my mind the top most thought was are 7 days too much? Will I be able to complete it successfully? But, then I felt no harm in giving it a shot.

With all enthusiasm, we started with the challenge. First 3 days were easy as still the excitement was at its peak. However, on the 4th day, it was a friend’s birthday and all the efforts went down the drain.. as I ended up having a piece of cake. The very next moment I was feeling extremely guilty about breaking the challenge.

Then, I thought there is always a next time and this time I was very sure that I am gonna follow the challenge diligently for all 7 days.. I gave the challenge another shot and this time around more strictly. So what did I do to keep to the challenge and not cheat?

First I stopped taking sugar in my teas. Secondly, as and when I used to get a sugar cravings I used to opt for healthy alternatives like dates/dried figs/fruits/chikki (as all of these sweets have jiggery in them which is a healthy alternative to refined Sugar).

Jaggery is not counted as sugar. It is comparatively healthier than sugar due to its trace mineral composition. Ideally, sugar is acidic in nature where generally pathogen breeds. When I took this challenge my constant effort was to make my body alkaline by having more of veggies/fruits/whole grain etc. Sugar makes you crave for more sugar and if you restrict it, it leads to mood swings and behavioural changes. Also, it makes your body dehydrated and fastens ageing process.

I found sweet substitutes as I said earlier, or set small milestones during the challenge to reach my goal. The benefits of staying off sugar made me feel lighter, increased my metabolic rate, made me more active and helped in getting rid of the toxins. Imagining a better me kept me motivated. And thus, I was able to successfully complete my sugar free challenge for 7 days.

It was a big accomplishment for me as never in my life, had I imagined that I would be able to stay away from chocolates for so long! This challenge has motivated me to the next level of consuming less or no sugar at all in the future.

Anyone can take up this challenge, if they want to get off their addiction and lead a better life. Even, people suffering from hypertension, diabetes can take up this challenge. For a diabetic, if the person’s sugar drops, a fruit would do. For individuals suffering from severe hypoglycemia, I would not recommend this challenge. Even otherwise I would advise that this challenge should be done under the supervision of your dietician, personal trainer or doctor. After this challenge, I do not get any more sugar cravings which has made a Happy me!

September 17, 2017 By Hardika Vira 11 Comments

Hungry Kya! Here are 5 nutritious snacks recipes

Along with being a lifestyle coach and nutritionist, I play one more dual role that of a homemaker and a mother. The big question that always arises is what snacks can we make which are healthy and quick to make at the same time, right?

Here are few recipes from my recipe book which are not only healthy but fast.

1. OATS PATTIES

Ingredients	Amount
Oats	1 cup
Capsicum	1 small
Carrot	½ no
Tomatoes	1 no
Spring Onions	½ cup
Gingerchilli paste	1 Tbsp
Lime	½ no.
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Red chilly powder	¼ tsp
Salt	To taste
Oil	1 tsp

METHOD:

Sprinkle water on oats. Continue this till it absorbs the water and becomes a bit sticky.
To this add chopped capsicum, carrot, tomatoes, fresh onion with leaves, ginger chilli paste, lime, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt. Mix well.
Divide the mixture into two equal halves. Make a flat (pattice) pieces of it and cook in a nonstick pan on both sides.
Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Nutritional Benefits: Oats is rich in fiber and the veggies are a source of vitamins and minerals, lime juice makes the food alkaline. Overall it is a great dish to start your day with which will surely improve your immunity and overall health

2. Steamed Spinach breads (PALAK DHOKLA)

Ingredients	Amount
Rawa	1-2 TBSP
Gramflour	1-2 TBSP
Spincach (palak) (finely chopped)	1 bunch
greenchilli paste	½ Tbsp
Salt	To taste
Oil	1 tsp

METHOD:

Mix all the dry ingredients in a vessel.
To this mixture add 1 tsp of warm oil.
Add luke warm water to make the batter of some flowing consistency.
Pour this mixture into a greased tin and steam the mixture for around 30 minutes.
Garnish with Spinach leaves. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Nutritional Benefits: This can serve as a super evening snack as it contains goodness of fiber, calcium, B vitamins of the spinach and is also a cereal pulse combination which improves the protein quality. Wholesome meal which is low in calories and has high satiety value.

3. FENUGREEK PANCAKES (METHI PUDLA)

Ingredients	Amount
fenugreek leaves (chopped)	½ bunch
Wheat flour	1 TBSP
Bajra flour	2 TBSP
Onion	1 no.
Gingerchilli paste	1 Tbsp
Garlic paste	½ tsp
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Salt	To taste
Oil	1 tsp

METHOD:

1.Mix all the ingredients except oil in a vessel.

2.Add water to make the batter of pouring consistency

3.Make two pancakes on a nonstick pan

4.Serve hot with tomato ketchup/ Mint sauce (Pudina chutney)

Nutritional Benefits: It is not only rich in B vitamins (fenugreek leaves) and helps in improving hemoglobin but due to the addition of onion, ginger, garlic it is highly anti-inflammatory and good for gut health. Researches prove that consumption of ginger, garlic and onion helps fight GI infections too.

4.Bottle Gourd and Semolina Pancakes (DOODHI-RAWA PANCAKE)

Ingredients	Amount
Semolina	3 TBSP
Bottle gourd	100 gms
Curds (skim milk)	3 TBSP
Gingerchilli paste	1 Tbsp
Carrot	For garnish
Salt	To taste
Oil	1 tsp

METHOD:

Grate the bottle gourd.
Add semolina, ginger chilli paste, curds, salt and make a batter of pouring consistency by adding water.
Make 3 small pancakes on a nonstick pan by adding oil.

4.Garnish with grated carrot and coriander.

5.Serve hot with green chutney

Nutritional Benefits: Bottle gourd has multi benefits like it is high in fiber, helps curb the acidity too, good for heart, and the list goes on. Curds are rich in probiotics which improves the gut bacteria.

5. COTTAGE CHEESE VEGETABLE WRAP ( PANEER VEG WRAP)

Ingredients	Amount
Gramflour	2 TBSP
Capsicum	½ no
Carrot	¼ no
Tomatoes	1 small
Spring onions	½ cup
Paneer (COTTAGE CHEESE)	200 ml(20 gms)
Coriander leaves	Few sprigs
Lime	½ no.
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Red chilli powder	½ tsp
Pavbhaji masala/ Garam masala	½ tsp
Salt	To taste
Oil	1 tsp

METHOD:

For the Wrap:

To the gram flour add chopped coriander leaves, red chilli powder, salt and make a batter by adding water

Pour this batter on a nonstick and make a chilla

For the filling:

In a nonstick pan, take 1 tsp of oil. Add chopped capsicum, carrot, spring onions, tomatoes, paneer cubes and cook for a minute. To this add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, lime juice, pav bhaji masala or any garam masala (blend of ground spices like peppercorns, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, bay leaf, caraway). You can even use herbs instead of this . Mix well. Cover the pan for 1-2 minutes. Cook until done.

Place this filling into the centre of the chilla and wrap it. Cut it into pieces. Garnish with spring onion leaves and tomatoes.
Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Nutritional Benefits: It is high in protein with cottage cheese and gram flour. It contains goodness of fiber, Vit C, vitamins and minerals and other phytochemicals too. Children love this most as it looks like a frankie/roll but the base is super healthy here. Also helps in improving immunity, hemoglobin, better growth.

September 14, 2017 By Dr Akshat Chadha 3 Comments

When was the last time you had a complete health check?

The week began on a sad note. Monday morning was a morning, I would like to erase out of my memory as soon as possible. I was sitting at the breakfast table with my wife when I got a call from my mom saying that one of my cousins-Raj had suffered a major heart attack and had passed away even before reaching the hospital. It was an untimely death. He was barely 40 years of age, young and happy with no major worries. Nobody, in the family, had seen this coming, not even his wife.

He displayed no signs of stress, worry or any kind of illness. He was not fat nor did he lead a sedentary lifestyle. Then what happened? This thought kept bothering me ever since I heard of what had happened. Being a Doctor, I was determined to delve deep to find the root cause of the problem. After probing some of the family members, I found that there was a family history of heart disease and diabetes. Despite this, he had not done a single blood check in the last 3 years. Whenever I would enquire about getting a health checkup, he would brush it aside and say, “I am healthy and I do not see a need to get pricked unnecessarily”.

What upsets me more is that we are a family of doctors and within my own family, I have people who think otherwise about health check-ups and feel it’s unnecessary to have one done regularly more so when you do not display any symptoms of illness. The importance of health checkups is highlighted only when you encounter health problems you really can’t predict. Isn’t it better to be safe than sorry later?

Let me be loud and clear here when I say there is a reason why blood tests have been invented and have a huge diagnostic value. But, unfortunately, getting a blood test today, is considered as a money making a source for the Doctor. I don’t want to talk about blood tests today, I just want to emphasize the importance of getting a whole body check-up done once a year especially if you are over 30 years old. Timely medical checkups could make all the difference between prevention and cure; especially when each decade comes with its own set of lifestyle ailments.

What is the harm I ask? What do you have to lose? If it’s the money, then maybe you can cut down on eating out one weekend or reduce your shopping one month and instead utilize that money to get to know about your health?

A lot changes in 30 days leave alone in 365 days. We go through several ups and downs and our body goes through a lot of wear and tear process be it physical or mental. Our internal organs such as the heart, liver, kidneys are designed to work non-stop and there is no harm in knowing the state of our organs and bones in real time so that the necessary lifestyle changes can be made if needed.

One does not have to necessarily pop pills, more often than not lifestyle changes can make a huge difference. If a machine works well with regular maintenance and check-ups then why do we leave the most important machine (our body) to chance?

You need to listen to your body, feel the pain when it happens, and address the breakdown in a way to avoid its re-occurrence. You need to give your body a good fighting chance by living a good healthy life which is supported by well-functioning internal organs.

Personally, a good comprehensive screening package including CBC ( Complete Blood Count), Lipids, Renal (Kidney) and Liver profile, Sugar tests, Thyroid and basic Vitamins like D and B12 is a must for every individual once a year even if he or she is absolutely healthy. Make sure you are working fine inside so that you can do everything you want outside.

Age is not a factor. Anybody at the age of 30 years and above should get their blood tests done once a year at least. This is an excellent comprehensive screening of your entire body including heart, liver, and kidney along with important vitamins. We are putting in a lot of effort taking care of our bodies but, if our organs don’t support it then we will always fall short of results.

The prerequisite for leading a healthy life is a comprehensive health check-up once a year.

September 13, 2017 By Vishal Gondal Leave a Comment

Curious case of my ‘Bullet Proof Coffee’

bulletproof-coffee

I have been having ‘Bullet Proof Coffee’ and guess what? every time I post a picture of my cuppa coffee on social media, it has raised immense curiosity and next I know, I am flooded with messages asking me what is this ‘Bullet Proof Coffee’?

It all started with me undertaking ‘Intermittent fasting’ (IF). This is an age old concept and has been a secret to health. However, for many decades this concept was forgotten. But, now many nutrition and lifestyle experts are once again bringing back this concept of fasting and recommending it to people as it comes with huge benefits if done in the right manner. The benefits are weight loss through fat burning, increased energy through the day, improve over health, simplify lifestyle among many others.

What is Intermittent Fasting? It is a concept where you fast for almost 12-14 hours. One can choose to fast how they want. IF is not about which foods you eat but more about when you eat. It’s all about following an ‘eating pattern’. In definition, IF is a term for an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating.

I chose to fast between dinner and lunch the next day a period of approximately 12-14 hours and this is part of my everyday routine. I have my dinner between 7.30 pm and 8 pm and only have water in between. Next morning around 8.30 am, I have a ‘Bullet Proof Coffee’ which is quite heavy and keeps me full and not crave for food till lunch at around 1 pm. After my lunch, I eat enough for a period of 8 hours and end with dinner at 8 pm.

Coming to your curiosity on what is ‘Bullet Proof Coffee’ and how I make it?

BPC was invented in the US by David Asprey, an entrepreneur, businessman and author from Albuquerque. Bullet Proof Coffee is nothing but Coffee with butter and oil.

My Bullet Proof Coffee is however Indianised and is very easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

2 ½ tablespoon Blue Tokai organic Coffee or any other single origin organic coffee
1 tablespoon 100% Pure MCT Oil ( This is available on Amazon.in)
1-2 tablespoons Parsi Dairy Farm’s White Butter (unsalted) or use Ghee

Method:

1. Brew 1 cup of coffee using filtered water, just off the boil, using 2 1/2 heaping tablespoons freshly ground Blue Tokai Coffee beans

Add in 1 tablespoons of MCT Oil to the hot coffee (It’s STRONG – start with 1 tsp. and work up over several days).
Add 1-2 tablespoons white butter
Mix it all in a blender for 20-30 seconds until it is nice and frothy like a latte

Benefits of Bullet Proof Coffee:

It is rich in taste
Bulletproof coffee can help prevent diabetes and also protect the liver, lower the risk of stroke, and help the brain fight depression.
It reduces cravings
It is a high-performance drink that has a large impact on your energy levels and cognitive functions. Reduces anxiety and improves mood.
This coffee keeps you energized for a long time.