Trishala Chopra, Author at GOQii

June 4, 2018 By Trishala Chopra 3 Comments

Know about your gut health! –Part 1

Gut health word cloud on a white background.

“All diseases begin in your gut”-Hippocrates

Why is it that we pay attention towards our digestion only when something goes wrong? Oxford dictionary defines,‘digestion’ as the person’s ability to digest the food. There is a whole physiology behind how the digestion takes place? But, what is more, important is, maintaining a good digestive health!

Have you heard about probiotics and prebiotics?

Probiotics are live bacteria which are good for health! I recently had a query where a person asked me bacteria is supposed to be harmful then how is it that you term this as good for health? This is when I started researching the world of bacteria to understand more and also be able to make others understand the goodness of bacteria.

Whenever you have stomach upset, curd rice is something which is always preferred. Curd rice is old-time grandma’s remedy. Have you ever wondered why curd is recommended? Well, curd has live bacteria which helps in settling your gut which helps in improving the stomach upset!

There are different types of microbes which work in different ways, some are good for the gut and some are not. These microbes together are termed as MICROBIOME.

Now let’s get into the depth of the topic!

Microbes are brilliant chemists which take up a small thing from our body and convert them into chemicals which are sometimes used for our body and sometimes they are not.

Gut-Bacteria

Healthy and unhealthy microbes

Healthy Microbes:

1. Firmicutes

* Firmicutes are microbes which are used in the fermentation of beer and wine.

* Firmicutes help in clearing up the toxic wastes

* These microbes are found in your gut and its main function in the gut is to help in digestion of fats in your diet.

Bacteroidetes

Bacteroidetes helps in maintaining the lean body and helps in reducing the inflammation in the gut.
They help in regulating immune responses which protects you against the autoimmune diseases (Autoimmune means body starts attacking its own cells)
Bacteroidetes helps in breaking down of undigested fibre which we obtain from vegetables.

Akkermansia

Akkermansia is a rare type of microbes found in the gut,
They don’t live on food remains.
They live on mucus which is a slimy substance that is secreted by the gut lining to protect itself.
It helps in reducing inflammation, so the count of akkermansia should be higher in your gut.

Christensenella

* This bacteria is inherited from your mother.

This bacteria helps in keeping your body lean in spite of poor diets.

Lactobacillus

This bacteria helps in lining your intestine to protect against harmful microbes.

It also helps in protecting the intestine from a fungal infection, heard about candida albicans?
Lactobacillus works like a pesticide on these pathogens.
Lactobacillus count in your gut will go down if you are on antibiotics which is why I always prescribe probiotics and prebiotics with lactobacillus with an antibiotic course.
It is a very popular probiotic!

Bifidobacterium

Bifidobacterium helps in breaking down the indigestible fibre in the body and also protects your intestines against harmful microbes.
This bacteria is inherited in you from your mother’s breast milk.
It is a very popular probiotic!

Unhealthy Microbes:

As I had mentioned earlier, if there are some microbes which can help in maintaining the gut health then there are many microbes which help in creating gut problems!

Let’s talk about the unhealthiest microbes:

Campylobacter

Campylobacter is a very common cause of food poisoning with symptoms of abdominal pain, severe diarrhoea, and vomiting.
Campylobacter is strong enough to be one of the reasons for miscarriage in women.
This harmful bacteria is found in raw chicken available in the supermarkets.
The most common mistake we do is washing the chicken thoroughly before cooking it. This makes the bacteria spread everywhere. The best technique is to rinse it with water from the top and cook it properly.

E. coli

Not every E.coli is harmful but there are some strains which can cause severe anaemia. They are also one of the leading causes of UTI (Urinary Tract Infections)
coli in the gut mostly comes from uncooked meat. Catching it up from a raw milk is also quite common.

Salmonella

Another common cause of food poisoning induced diarrhoea and stomach cramps are salmonella.
You will start getting the symptoms within 72 hours after swallowing this unhealthy bacteria and it can last up to a week.
Sometimes the food poisoning gets critical and hospitalization is required to recover from extreme dehydration caused by diarrhoea.
I am sure you must have heard about Salmonella typhi which causes typhoid which can be fatal if left untreated.

Clostridium difficile

This bacteria is always found in abundance in your gut lining which causes minor infections. If these minor infections flare up and start to give you symptoms, your doctor will give you a list of antibiotics to get rid of it. Because your healthy microbiome cannot cope up with those antibiotics, they are swiped out of the body which gives a chance to Clostridium difficile to capture all the gut space.

Clostridium difficile is a very antibiotic resistant bacteria so it’s not very easy for antibiotics to swipe this off.
Symptoms like watery stools, fever, and abdominal pain are common because of C.difficile flaring up.

Functions of healthy microbiome :

It helps in regulating your body weight. Microbes can actually decide how much energy your body extracts from different types of food you eat. If you are unable to lose weight, one of the main reasons could be unhealthy microbiome.
The microbiome helps in regulating your immune system. There was a research which proved that healthy microbiome helps in reducing the occurrence of cold and cough episodes. It also helps in reducing the inflammation of the body.
The microbiome helps in taking the bits of food which our body cannot digest and it actually converts them in hormone and chemicals.

How to make your healthy microbiome diverse in your body?

Please avoid antibiotics as much as you can because a week of antibiotic course can destroy your healthy microbiome for 3 weeks.
Increase your outdoor activities, try to open your house windows. It helps in increasing the diversity of healthy microbes
Include different types of seasonal fruits and vegetables in the diet.
Try to connect with nature whenever you can. Put your hands into the soil. This connects your body to healthy microbiomes.
Include foods rich in different healthy microbiomes as mentioned above.

Foods that nourish your gut:

(1). Olive oil

Healthiest fats.
Rich in polyphenols and antioxidants which helps in reducing the inflammation.
Extra virgin olive oil is good to try!

(2) Oily fish

Rich in good fats, omega 3
Anti-inflammatory benefits
Fish oil capsules available in the market are not as good as eating fish because of the poor quality. It might not give you the same effect as oily fish.

(3) Cocoa

Excellent source of flavonoids and polyphenols which helps in increasing the population of healthy gut bacteria!
It’s good for your cardiovascular system.
Always go for raw cocoa powder.

(4) Wine

Polyphenols are chemicals which are found in tea, coffee, wine, fruits, vegetables and dark chocolates. When you eat any of these foods, half of it passes through the small intestine to the large intestine where it is extremely beneficial to increase the population of healthy microbes.
Red wine helps in reducing the inflammation in your body.

PS: I normally get this question that how do you know about inflammation in your body? Well, there is a blood test which is most commonly done called as CRP- C reactive protein which gives you an idea of the levels of inflammation in your body. Research has shown that consumption of anti-inflammatory foods reduces inflammation by 45% in the body.

(5) Turmeric

Turmeric is a gut-friendly spice. There are other herbs and spices like thyme, oregano, basil, ginger, cumin which are having anti-inflammatory benefits but turmeric works in increasing the population of healthy microbes,
The best way to consume turmeric for gut health is 1 tsp of turmeric with ½ tsp of honey in 150 ml of lukewarm water before bed.
An active component of curcumin is also available in capsule form but make sure about the quality of curcumin used to prepare the product is genuine.

Foods to avoid for better gut health:

Sugar

Sugar is cheap which has an excellent addictive effect.
It increases the cravings for particular food which encourages the growth of unhealthy microbes in the guts. All these unhealthy microbes need more sugar to survive which increases the population of unhealthy microbes in the gut and decreases healthy microbes!

(2) Artificial sweeteners

They have a huge impact on your body, especially on your gut. It depletes the population of akkermansia (The healthy microbe which I have mentioned above!).
Addition of probiotics with artificial sweeteners might not give the required effect!

(3) Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

MSG or monosodium glutamate works as a leptin blocker. Leptin is a hormone which tells your brain “I am full”. That’s how you crave more foods which have MSG!

My next upcoming article will cover different probiotic and prebiotic sources, how to choose your probiotics and gut-friendly recipes!

To be continued……..

April 27, 2018 By Trishala Chopra 1 Comment

Are you breathing properly?

breathing technique

Before I start with the article, I want my readers to try this.

Let’s do a quick breathing test.

-Keep your hands free.

-Keep one hand on your chest, one had on your belly.

-Start breathing naturally.

-Which hand is moving more?

Hand on the belly or Hand on the chest?

Do this test without reading ahead because it is important to do this without knowing the interpretation of the test.

Which hand was moving more?

If it’s your belly than its right way! That’s how one should breathe.

If it’s your chest than its alarming, you might be inviting health issues!

If you are not breathing properly, you might not feel good. In this busy world, breathing which is perhaps the only important thing, if we don’t do that properly then it’s a cause for concern. None of us is consciously breathing which is what is leading to health issues!

I have come across this very often. Every 3rd person I know is having stiffness. Some part of the body is stiff (a Few years back, this was my case too!).

Are you having neck stiffness?

Is your back, shoulder, hamstrings, lower back tight/stiff?

Do you have that constant urge to stretch your body to get rid of that stiffness?

Stretching your muscles will definitely give you temporary relief but not for too long. The stiffness will come back in few hours sometimes even in two minutes. There are many therapies which help you in dealing with stiffness but it won’t be a permanent solution.

Why is it so? Because you are not addressing the root cause of the problem!

What is the root cause? Your improper breathing technique

There are many other causes of stiffness but the most basic one is improper breathing technique.

How does your improper breathing affect your stiffness/tightness?

Let’s do a practical (Helps in better understanding!)

Keep your hands free!

Put your one hand on your neck and one hand on your chest.

Start breathing from your chest consciously.

Do you feel that your neck muscles are contracting when you are breathing from your chest?

Now do one thing,

Put your one hand on your neck and one hand on your belly.

Start breathing from your belly consciously.

Do you feel anything on your neck muscles? Probably not because there is hardly any contraction because there is hardly any muscle tension in that place.

Not just the neck, similar reactions happen in your chest muscles, shoulders, lower back and to some extent even in the hamstrings. If you continuously breathe through your chest, those muscles will shorten, and you will get this chronic feeling of stiffness in your body.

You can stretch your tight muscles every day with different stretching exercises but until you correct the way you breathe, any corrective efforts which you take for getting rid of the stiffness will be useless, and at the end you will not be able to get rid of that sensation of tightness/stiffness which you keep getting in your body throughout the day.

Stiffness is just once such effect of poor breathing. Poor breathing can also lead to lower back pain, weight plateau, poor endurance, low energy throughout the day and some digestive issues.

What’s the solution? How to breathe properly?

Well, the solution is not as complicated as you might think.

Here is what you have to do:

Lie down for 5 minutes (this can be done first thing when waking up, or as you are lying in bed before you fall asleep or whenever you feel it is possible) put one hand on the belly and the other hand on your chest. Simply focus on making the hand on the belly move and keep the hand on the chest as steady as possible.
Point 1 should be done every day for at least 3 times a day daily for at least 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, you should naturally be breathing into your stomach by default.
It also helps if you set yourself little reminders throughout the day, like a little message on your iPhone/Android that asks you at regular intervals “how is my breathing?”

This trick has helped me definitely, try it out for yourself!

Try this for 3 weeks, and let me know what you feel! Would be happy to receive your comments! Share your experience!

March 21, 2018 By Trishala Chopra 3 Comments

All that a women needs to know about –MENOPAUSE!

Menopause simply means marking the end of a female’s reproductive period. This is something women experience as they age. It does not occur overnight! It is a gradual process.

This gradual process is usually known as Perimenopausal phase which is a completely different transition for every woman. It is a very challenging phase for every woman, a woman might get irritated, and mood swings are the most common thing! Emotional breakdowns also occur. Earlier, the ideal age for menopause was around 45-50 years but, if a woman has attained early puberty, menopause occurs early too!

Menopause comes with many complications and the most common complication is osteoporosis and heart disease.
The bone mineral density gradually goes down during menopausal transition which may result in osteoporosis however, these symptoms vary in different women.
Hot flashes occur very frequently.
The entire menopause is divided into 3 phases which are Perimenopause, Menopause and Post Menopause.
Out of these 3 phases, Perimenopause phase which can also be called as “time around menopause” lasts for the maximum time which involves all symptoms.
Menopause and post menopause phase lasts for a shorter period.
Apart from hot flashes and mood swings, women in menopausal stage also face excess stress, tiredness, fatigue and sometimes vaginal itchiness and drying.
The main sign of menopause is irregular vaginal bleeding.
Menopause is a part of every woman’s life and it is not a disease which can be treated. However, menopause can be managed and tackled if handled properly.
Nutrition and physical exercise plays a key role in managing the menopausal symptoms

FOODS which help managing Menopausal Symptoms:-

(1) Include more fruits and vegetables in your diet

(2) Eat more beans

(3) Eat more of good fats and Omega 3 rich foods such as avocado, fish-Salmon, walnuts flaxseeds etc rather than saturated fatty acids.

(4) Consume good beverages; avoid consuming carbonated beverages and caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic which puts load on kidneys to remove more amount of water than required which results in dehydration. Focus more on herbal teas which helps in relieving hot flashes.

(5) Balance your meals: – heavy breakfast, moderate lunch and light dinner should always

(6) Consume more of calcium containing foods as this mineral is very important for women after the age of 30. Adequate amount of calcium in diet decreases the risk of osteoporosis. Some of the natural foods high in Calcium are dairy products, ragi, sesame seeds etc

(7) Say no to high fat and high sugar foods!

(8) Add functional foods to your diet such as flaxseeds which is a super food! Raw Flaxseed should be ground and 1 tsp should be had and drink a glass of water over it.

(9) Exercise! It is a key to life a healthy life! 30 minutes of walk also acts as a stress buster!

Ladies out there at this stage of your life take care of yourself.

March 20, 2018 By Trishala Chopra 1 Comment

Vitamins that are essentially important for Women

Everyone would have heard about different vitamins and why is it essential for human body. But, very fewer people are aware of which vitamin is essentially required by the body. There are certain Vitamins that are absolutely necessary for a woman to be able to maintain overall health and need to get these vitamins in the daily recommended intake (DRI) amounts. These can be got through good food choices.

Let’s find out about vitamins which are required by a women body!

Here is the list of vitamins which are required for a woman to live a healthy life:-

(1) Vitamin A

Obtained in the form of beta-carotene from the food which is then converted into vitamin A in our body.
It helps in maintaining good eyesight and keeping the body away from deficiency complications such as night blindness, xeropthalmia etc.
Found in antioxidant-rich foods such as carrots, apricots etc.

(2) Vitamin C

Also known as ascorbic acid
It helps in healing
Also helps in the formation of RBC’s (Red Blood Cells)
It is required by anaemic women.
It boosts brain chemical i.e noradrenaline
Levels of vitamin C decreases with age and since it is a water-soluble vitamin it cannot be stored in the body hence regular intake of vitamin c is very important
Found in fruits such as orange, grapes, kiwi, lemon etc.

(3) Vitamin E

Also known as tocopherol and at times, tocotrienols!
Slower signs of ageing
Helps in maintaining healthy skin
Found in foods such as sunflower oil, safflower oil, hazelnuts etc

(4) Vitamin B6

Water-soluble vitamin
Essentially important
Also known as pyridoxine
Helps in boosting metabolism
Found in bananas, chickpeas, oatmeal etc

(5) Vitamin B12

Also known as cyanocobalamin
Boost metabolism
Helps in Erythropoiesis (making of RBCs)
Animal sources contain vitamin B12
Red meat is the richest source

(6) Folic acid

Very important during pregnancy
Helps in formation of the healthy brain and spinal cord
It helps in preventing birth defects such as spinal Bifida
Spinach and dark green leafy vegetables, asparagus, citrus fruits, fortified cereals etc are good sources of folic acid
External supplementation is given during pregnancy

(7) Vitamin D