Search Results for: winter

January 12, 2021 By Roopa Tandur Leave a Comment

Tips To Support Your Immunity During Winter

With the onset of winter, there’s always that one person at home who catches a cold and spreads it to the rest of the family members due to the close proximity. Infections spread easily during winter and given the ongoing pandemic, it has become quite important to support your immunity and avoid cough, cold and flu. But, is there a way to support your immunity naturally? Let’s take a look!

Support Your Immunity Naturally

Improve gut health as your gut is your second brain. Any disturbance in gut health will affect your immune system. Prebiotics and probiotics together help keep the gut healthy. Prebiotics in simple terms is the food that feeds the friendly bacteria in the gut. Garlic, onion, leeks, asparagus, bananas, barley, oats and flax seeds all help increase gut friendly bacteria and improve the immune system. On the other hand, probiotics are living microorganisms which give health benefits when taken orally. Probiotic foods include sauerkraut, yogurt, Kimchi and tempeh.
Eat Seasonal and dark coloured fruits and vegetables which are rich in antioxidants and vitamin C like oranges, sweet lime, amla, guava, apple, sweet potato, ginger, carrot and beetroot. You can also have sea buckthorn juice which is the best known source of vitamin C having 12 times more vitamin C than an orange. These foods help us keep our moisture levels and prevent dryness due to seasonal changes.
Get your daily dose of Vitamin D: As there are less food sources of vitamin D, getting a good amount of sunlight, at least 20 minutes during the day, between 9am to 3pm or including supplements to maintain your vitamin D levels is very important, especially if you are living in an area with severe cold. Low levels of vitamin D can lead to low levels of mood boosting hormone, mood swings and depression.
Supplement your regular diet with immune boosting herbs like ashwagandha, tulsi, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, methi seeds and ginger. The list is endless! These foods help us keep warm, improve gut health, reduce inflammation and also manage stress – all of which keeps our immunity at optimum levels.
Get adequate sleep of 7-8 hours: When we sleep, we give our body a chance to repair and restore itself to optimal levels. It helps you gear up for the next day’s activities. Good sleep also means fewer cravings for unhealthy food, better management of stress, less hormonal variations and weight gain.
Have well-balanced meals and avoid junk and unhealthy sweets in large quantities as they cause inflammation and increase your risk of infection. Including a lot of sugar in your diet also reduces the white blood cells ability to attack invaders. Having a lot of sweets also leads to more production of free radicals, which increases inflammation and lowers immunity.
Exercise regularly: Aim for 30 minutes of exercise at least 5 days a week as it improves metabolism and blood circulation. This makes it easy for the body to digest food and improved blood circulation makes it easy for cells to absorb nutrients from it. Exercising regularly also helps improve cardiovascular health, manage BP and avoid many lifestyle diseases. Exercise helps us manage our weight as being overweight impairs immunity.
Quit smoking and keep a check on alcohol intake: Nicotine is known to suppress neutrophil’s ability to kill pathogens, leading to tissue damage and inflammation. Research also proves that the brains of smokers have weaker neuro-immune response to infection and inflammation. Alcohol intake kills the healthy bacteria in the gut, triggering inflammation by altering the microbiome of the gut. It also destroys the cells of the immune system which leads to increased risk of serious infection. Alcohol also disrupts the body’s critical functions as the body does not have the ability to store alcohol as it does with other nutrients like carbohydrates or fats. So the moment one consumes alcohol, all the body’s energy is concentrated in breaking down the alcohol and sending it to the liver for further metabolism.

We hope this article helps you support your immunity and stay strong during winter. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below! For more on immunity, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

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January 7, 2021 By Saba Mirza Leave a Comment

Tips to Get Rid of The Winter Itch

Do you experience this sudden itching sensation during winter? There’s in fact, a term for it – it’s called the Winter Itch! Generally, it is more prominent on your lower legs, arms, hands, abdomen and areas of friction like the soles and ankles. It is caused by dryness of the skin due to cold weather. When humidity levels drop, the dry and cold weather cause loss of water from the superficial layer of the skin (epidermis).

Itching is the key symptom of dryness. If left untreated, the Winter Itch may lead to scratching which can cause a breakdown of the skin layer, creating complications such as Eczema, Bacterial Dermatitis, Cellulitis, etc. Fortunately, the Winter Itch is just a beginning and can be prevented and treated with some simple measures.

Tips to Reduce the Winter Itch

Coconut Oil: The saturated fatty acids present in coconut oil are natural emollients which moisturize the skin by filling the gaps in dry skin, making it smooth. It significantly improves skin hydration and increases the lipid layer in the epidermis. It is one of the safest moisturizers which can even be applied to sensitive areas of skin like underneath the eyes or around the mouth.
Oatmeal Bath: is an age-old remedy which has found its scientific backup from various research studies. Colloidal oatmeal is anti-inflammatory and rich in antioxidants. It helps in reducing inflammation, soothes the skin and binds with it to make a protective barrier. Make sure the water is warm and not too hot so that it doesn’t make the skin drier. You can make your own colloidal oatmeal at home by blending raw oatmeal finely in a food processor. Do apply a moisturizer after taking the bath to lock the protective barrier.
Peppermint Oil: Peppermint, the essential oil, contains menthol and is found to be quite effective in treating itchy skin. Its cooling effect instantly soothes the skin and reduces the urge to scratch.
Aloe Vera Gel: Aloe Vera is a natural coolant and moisturizer which you can easily grow in your kitchen garden! Clean and wash the Aloe Vera before applying to avoid any pollutants and dust particles. Aloe Vera’s wound healing property may help in quickening the healing of broken, rough patches of skin. You can mix it with essential oils like mint oil, jojoba oil and coconut oil as well to enhance its effectiveness!
Honey: Because of its anti-inflammatory, moisturizing and healing properties, honey is found to be quite effective in reducing skin itching and irritation. You can directly apply it on the affected part, keep it for a few minutes and wash thoroughly!
Apple Cider Vinegar: According to some studies, taking a bath with Apple Cider Vinegar mixed warm water has been found to be very soothing and hydrating for the skin. It is particularly helpful in relieving an itchy scalp. Dilute the Apple cider vinegar in water with 1:1 ratio, apply to the scalp and rinse thoroughly after drying with warm water. The acetic acid present in it makes it a natural wound healer and disinfectant.
Consume Antioxidants and Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Winter Itch is more prominent on damaged and unhealthy skin. Foods rich in antioxidants can minimize the damage from toxins and help the body make more healthy cells! Antioxidants are abundantly present in seasonal fruits and vegetables available during the winter season. Some of them include berries, carrots, beans, peas, tomatoes, lentils, etc. Foods rich in Omega 3 fatty acids like fish, seeds and nuts contribute to healthy and glowing skin!

Some additional measures you can take include:

Avoid hot and long baths.
Use a gentle soap and mild cleanser
Avoid direct contact of the skin with certain materials which can irritate the skin. For instance, woollen cloths and nylon among others. Instead, wear natural, breathable material like cotton.
Try a humidifier at home
Keep yourself well hydrated by drinking a good amount of water.

We hope these tips help you relieve the Winter Itch and keep your skin glowing and healthy! How do you deal with the Winter Itch? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

For more on winter, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

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January 2, 2021 By Mrinali Dwivedi Leave a Comment

5 Winter Drinks and Beverage To Keep You Warm

During this nice chilly winter weather, there’s nothing more warming than a hot bowl of soup or a nice healthy drink. So why not take that warm feeling to the next level with some healthy winter drinks and beverages?

Winter is a season of abundance – abundance of holidays, festivals, love and gratitude. This abundance is extended with the availability of a variety of fresh produce and a high metabolic rate that keeps making us feel hungry. A perfect opportunity to replenish your body stores of some crucial nutrients that you might need throughout the year. This makes it even more imperative for one to opt for healthy options and make the most of it.

While hydration and drinking water or fluids is considered to be a summer thing, it is equally important to keep yourself hydrated in the winters! Winters are dry and windy, and it takes more of your body to keep your skin moist and supple. Moreover, infection rates are higher during these times and hence it is crucial to keep up your immunity game strong. Water is a simple tool to hydration and flushing out the infectious agents from your body. However, warm fluids give an added comfort, soothing the throat, warming your insides and a very filling effect on the stomach.

5 Winter Drinks and Beverages To Keep You Warm

1. Soup
With bountiful fresh produce, seasonal vegetables and liberty of spices and herbs, it is the most convenient time of the year to cook soups and relish a hot bowl. Gourd soups with pumpkin, bottle gourd and tomatoes; The CBT soup with carrot, beetroot and tomatoes; Dal and tomato soup that has the goodness of moong dal proteins; Lemon coriander soup; Spinach soup; Broccoli almond soup.; Mushroom soup are just a few examples from the wide array of choices for this season, as all of these vegetables are easily available during this time. It has the benefits of vitamin A from the gourds, Vitamin C from lemons, and they both help build immunity. Quercetin from tomatoes and anthocyanins from beets enhance heart health. While spinach and broccoli have the goodness of calcium and vitamin K essential in bone health. Season soups with ginger, garlic and herbs like pepper, basil and oregano; some whole spices like bay leaf, star anise. Drizzle the bowl of soup with good fat like olive oil or sesame oil and you are good for a slurpy meal. Keeps you full for long, helps in weight loss and easy on the gut. Avoid packaged and ready to eat/cook soups, they contain very little natural ingredients and are very high in sodium which causes more damage to the body than benefiting it.

2. Spiced Turmeric Lattè
Our traditional Haldi doodh got glorified recently and became the turmeric lattè, simply hot milk with turmeric and a dash of cinnamon and pepper powder. Best for sore throats and respiratory diseases. Turmeric invariably has the benefits of curcumin on heart, kidneys, helps control diabetes and wards off infections. For a subtle sweetness one can add some honey or dates pureè. Sprinkle some dry rose petals and sliced nuts over it.

3. Hot Lemon Gingeràle
Hot water infused with lemon and ginger extract and slightly sweetened with honey gives the hot comfort of the lemon ginger water, soothes the throat and has a relaxing effect on the brain. Ginger has a compound called gingerol and the antioxidants as well as vitamin C from the lemon gives your immunity a boost. A pinch of cinnamon can enhance its flavour.

4. Black or Green Tea (variant: Kashmiri kahwa)
Black or green tea with a slice of lemon can be the most comforting thing ever. Black or green tea are a great source of antioxidants of the catechin family and lemons are rich in vitamin C and limonin, all involved in maintaining the metabolic rate and good blood circulation. The heaven on earth Kashmir, is also home to some of the best culinary magics, and one of them is the kahwa. Kashmiri kahwa is Kashmiri green tea, boiled with saffron, cardamom and almonds. This drink has the ability to warm you up in the coldest of the winters, like those of Kashmir.

5. Kaadha
It is an age-old method of curing or preventing winter diseases with a kaadha. Kaadha is a term in Ayurvedic medicine that stands for a concoction or extract of medicinal plants and herbs. Our Indian culture is blessed with a number of spices and other food additives that are not just food but have medicinal benefits too. Indigenous adjuncts and methods of cooking are appreciated worldwide. One can create a simple and beneficial kaadha at home with the following ingredients that can be easily found in any Indian household:

5-6 tulsi leaves
2-3 mint leaves
A small piece of dalchini (cinnamon)
2-3 laung (cloves)
1 elaichi (cardamom)
2-3 kalimiri (black pepper pearls)
1 teaspoon of sauf (fennel seeds)
1 teaspoon of jeera (cumin seeds)
Small piece of ginger
Half a lemon
1 teaspoon of honey

Boil all the whole spices in 1 litre of water and let it reduce to half a litre. Then slightly cool down this water, strain it and squeeze half a lemon over it, then add the honey. Sip this water throughout the day for at least 3 times a week. It will keep away common cold, sore throat, maintains your digestive health, eliminates flatus (gas) or bloating, helps you lose weight by speeding up metabolism.

We hope these easily available winter drinks and beverages help you have a healthy winter! For more on winter, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

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December 29, 2020 By Karishma Khot Leave a Comment

7 Nutrition Tips For A Healthy Winter

Everyone likes the drop in temperature, hill station vacations, eating ice creams on cold nights, sitting around the bonfire while barbecuing delicious food, but do we really enjoy the cold and flu? Drying of our skin? Getting viral infections? And then the never ending consumption of cough syrups? Yes, we have entered the Winter season! The season of cool breeze as well as the season of cold and flu, and to accompany it, this year we have Covid-19, which has the same symptoms to be tested positive. Hence, it is more important to take care of ourselves this year, and avoid getting any viral fevers, cold and flu. To help you with it, I have some healthy nutrition tips for you this Winter.

7 Nutrition Tips For a Healthy Winter

Keep a check on your water intake: The most common negligence we do in winters is that we tend to forget to drink enough water. As the temperatures are down, we often do not drink water and consume it only while gulping down food. This leads to dehydration in the body, and further damages our skin, leaving a major impact on our bowel movements, due to which most of the time we are constipated. Make sure to drink at least 3-4 liters of water per day.
Build your immunity: Common cold & flu are 2 symptoms, which you will get quite often in the winter season. So the best thing will be following a healthy routine daily, so as to keep them at bay. Try drinking Saunth (dry ginger water), every alternate day just before you sleep or anytime once in a day. As dry ginger/Saunth has a bioactive compound called as Gingerol, which is anti-inflammatory and has other medicinal properties as well.
Avoid overeating: In winter as the temperatures are low, we always tend to overeat, consume hot and spicy meals, eat fried snacks, etc. All we know is the winter makes us hungry, but we need to realise that they also make us put on weight. Issues of bloating, gas and constipation take a toll on our health. To avoid this, we should not indulge in all the cravings. Instead, to beat the cold weather, we should consume hot soups, warm khichdi, seasonal green leafy veggies, and healthy homemade snacks like steamed muthiya’s, sprouts poha, idlis, and many more.
Restrict caffeine: Drinking tea/coffee every 2 hours to keep the body warm is not a good idea. We not only increase our sugar intake but also our caffeine intake. Caffeine leads to dehydration in the body, and as in winter we already have a tough time meeting our water intake, drinking caffeinated beverages will harm us further. In that case, we can consume antioxidant rich and caffeine free Green tea’s. Drinking or sipping on Green tea, turmeric water, cinnamon water, and herbal teas will also be a great deal.
Go seasonal: It is also advisable to eat things which are in season, as they are found in abundance. Bioavailability of the nutrients is high, and helps us with the essential vitamins and minerals as well. So winter season belongs to berries like strawberries, mulberries, blueberries and fruits like oranges, chiku, plums, guava. Green leafy vegetables and root vegetables as well. So snacking on a roasted sweet potato for your evening snack will be a great thing.
Consume superfoods to stay warm: There are a variety of ingredients or to be more precise, many dried foods and spices, which keep our body warm from the inside. Including these while cooking our food is definitely going to keep us warm from the inside. These ingredients include anjeer, figs, dates, sesame seeds, cinnamon, peppercorn, garlic, cloves, ginger, saunth and star anise.
Say no to processed: In the fast moving world, we often tend to have packaged soups, as they are more easy to make than actually chopping veggies and making it fresh. However, these packaged foods are high in preservatives and additives, which are very unhealthy for us. Instead of using them, try blending fresh veggies and make a healthy meal for yourself.

We hope these nutrition tips help you have a healthy winter! Do leave your thoughts in the comments below. For more on Winter, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

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