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‘Spices that help in losing weight’

India is popular for its spicy food. The sheer number of whole and ground spices used in Indian foods is sometimes intimidating. Each dish has its own combination of spices and its own unique flavour. The spices not just add flavour to your food but they also have many health benefits. Rich in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, most spices are good for your health. Some of the spices also improve your metabolic rate and help in losing weight. Here is a list of Indian spices that help your body to burn more fat. So, spice up your dishes!

Cinnamon

cinnamon

According to a recent study, cinnamon may boost your metabolism. This sweet, fragrant spice also regulates your blood pressure. It lowers level of total cholesterol, bad cholesterol, triglyceride and blood sugar in type 2 diabetes patients. Cinnamon increases the metabolism of glucose by around 20 times. This spice will help you lose weight faster.

How to Use?

You can prepare cinnamon, honey and lemon drink- boil a pinch of cinnamon in a cup of water. Sieve and add a tablespoon of honey and squeeze some lemon into it.

Turmeric

Turmeric

The pungent, yellow spice is known for its anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-mutagenic, anti-carcinogenic and anti-fungal properties. It also helps you lose excess weight. The spice ups your body heat and this can result in improved metabolism.

HOW TO USE?

Use it in your curries, chicken and in milk to gain the health benefits of turmeric.

Ginger

ginger

The spicy ginger regulates your blood sugar levels and helps prevent an increase in the level of glucose. Like turmeric, ginger has thermogenic or fat-burning properties. You can add it to your stir-fried vegetables or tea or chicken. It improves the taste and helps you in weight loss.

HOW TO USE?

Prepare a Jeera (Cumin) Ginger drink.

Boil a tsp of Jeera and some crushed ginger in a glass of water. Boil till it starts reducing, sieve it and Drink after 30mins of lunch and dinner to ease digestion.

Black Pepper

black-pepper

Black pepper has a pungent flavour, thanks to the presence of the substance known as piperine and this substance also prevent new fat cell formation. The bioavailability of other foods is also increased by black pepper. It makes the food not only tasty but also healthy. If u eat fresh pepper and begin to perspire, that’s the pepper helping your body to get rid of excess water and toxins. But, you need to control consumption, a pinch with your food (one meal) is enough.

HOW TO USE?

Black Pepper Tea.

Easy to prepare and the best way to consume black pepper for weight loss. You can use ginger, lemon, honey, tulsi (basil leaves), cinnamon, or green tea bags to prepare the tea.

Use 1/2-1 tsp freshly ground black pepper and drink it before breakfast.

Regular consumption will not only help you in losing weight but also improve your skin and prevent gut problems.

CAUTION

Do not consume too much as it may cause gastrointestinal problems, burning sensation in eyes, stomach irritation. If you feel uneasy, stop the use of black pepper immediately.

Garlic

garlic

Adding garlic to your diet will help you burn the increased amount of fat and lose weight faster. Try to use fresh garlic instead of garlic powder or granules.

Here’s how it works…

  1. Garlic stimulates the satiety hormone which reduces binge eating, sugar cravings, junk food, and oily stuff.
  2. It releases the norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter which boosts metabolism.
  3. The allicin present in it lowers blood pressure, cholesterol and insulin levels.
  4. Garlic inhibits the process breaking down stored fats.
  5. It is a powerful detoxifier and effective diuretic.
  6. It contains trace minerals (sulphur, selenium, and magnesium, zinc, copper and iron), amino acids and vitamins A, C, and E.
  7. It helps to dissolve blood clots that lead to Heart stroke.
  8. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties.
  9. It helps to remove excess mucus from the body.

HOW TO USE?

  • Squeeze juice of 1 lemon in a cup of water.
  • Chew 3 garlic cloves followed by the lemon water.
  • Or add crush the garlic cloves, stir in the lemon water and drink.
  • Repeat the process every morning.

These spices will help you to shed those extra kilos but you also need to change your lifestyle to a healthier one and should have a healthy diet.

TRY THEM OUT!!!

 

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The Curious Case of Vitamin B17!

vit b17

Vitamin B17 is not a Vitamin – But this misnomer is not what makes it the center of ongoing debates and media attention. Claimed by some as ‘Miracle cure’ and ‘super nutrient’ and rejected by others as ‘potentially hazardous’ and ‘toxic’ this is currently a banned compound in the United States of America.

Let’s understand this compound and the controversy surrounding it.

What is Vitamin B17?

Vitamin B17 or amygdalin is a naturally occurring compound, a Cyanogenic Glucoside (a plant compound that contains sugar and produces hydrogen cyanide) found in high amounts in pits of apricots, peaches, bitter almonds and in other plant material. In body fluids and at physiological pH, hydrogen cyanide dissolves to form the cyanide anion. Laetrile is another name for this natural product.

Why is it a ‘Miracle cure’ and ‘Super nutrient’?

Vitamin B17 or Laetrile is being promoted as a cancer treatment. For several decades, Laetrile has been used by many doctors as a last resort treatment of patients who have no other hope of survival. While the effectiveness of this strange product, derived from apricot seeds, is unproven and pronounced by many to be mere quackery, a large group of doctors believe that it can have a beneficial effect. In fact, a report of the Cancer Commission of the California Medical Association in 1953 acknowledges the long-standing use of Laetrile. By 1978, more than 70,000 individuals in the United States were reported to have been treated with it.

Apart from cancer cure, it is also being promoted as a super nutrient high in antioxidant activity and having a role in regulating hypertension and improving immunity.

What research says?

Laetrile has shown little anticancer activity in animal studies and no anti-cancer activity in human clinical trials. Due to lack of evidence, further research on this compound for use as an anti-cancer drug was not approved by U.S. Government.

Laetrile supporters viewed this as an attempt by the U.S. government to block access to new and promising cancer therapies.

Why is it banned?

The FDA describes laetrile as “a highly toxic product that has not shown any effect on treating cancer.” Laetrile contains cyanide, which its supporters contend is its anti-cancer agent, but laetrile pills have been linked to cyanide poisoning, with side effects including headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, fever, confusion, blue skin due to oxygen depletion, low blood pressure, droopy eyelids and nerve and liver damage.

According to the American Cancer Society, cyanide toxicity due to laetrile treatments has led to death in a few cases.

No one is allowed to sell laetrile in the European Union because there is no evidence that it works, and because of its serious side effects. It is banned in the USA by the Food and Drugs Agency (FDA).

Do the food we normally eat contains this compound?

Sorghum, buckwheat, barley and other millets contain amygdalin in little amounts. Spinach leaves and leaves of Eucalyptus have trace amounts.

Bamboo sprouts and the sprouts of alfalfa, fava beans whole green gram also contains the compound in low amounts.

Due to the potential for both great physical benefit and physical harm, caution must be practised while using such (food) products as a cure.  This article is intended to keep you aware.It does not provide recommendations for making health care decisions.

 

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Let our family take care of yours

Rajnish and family

Introduces Health Food delivery, Online Pharmacy, Gym Partnerships, Genetic Testing, and Rewards program.

Rajnish and Reena Kansal, both in their mid-forties are a happy couple with two happy kids. They are a fit family that believes in healthy eating and being active daily to lead a happy life together. As a family, they exercise together and bond well.  Based on this true experience and learning, GOQii has now introduced GOQii Family Care, a one-stop solution for all health concerns of your family. This new offering is part of GOQii’s Smart Preventive Health Care platform 3.0 ecosystem.

Preventive care services to maintain your health and prevent disease for you and your family is one of the most important things you can do to stay healthy. GOQii family care is GOQii’s commitment to encouraging players as well as their family to make a permanent shift towards a healthier lifestyle. GOQii Family care connects, tracks and takes care of the family’s health with consultations by GOQii care team consisting of GOQii Coach, GOQii Doctors and GOQii health experts.

Family (2)

December 7th, 2017, marked a milestone in GOQii’s 3 year journey where the company apart from the Family health care plans also launched a suite of new offerings for its esteemed players in the area of gaming, e-marketplace, rewards and cash points and a sleek new slimmer tracker that will be available to all existing GOQii users at the beginning of 2018. These services will be available in India and will roll out to other countries through 2018.

The launch celebrations took place in Mumbai in the presence of the entire GOQii family that included GOQii staffers, coaches, players, partners and media among others. Many travelled from as far as Nadurbar and Lucknow to be a part of this celebrations.

let’s take a peek at the new offerings

Games4Good: Cognitive abilities can be maintained or improved by exercising the brain, the same way physical fitness is improved by exercising the body. GOQii Games4Good is a series of puzzle-based cognitive games built into the GOQii app that helps players exercise their mind and prevent brain disorders and improve their memory, cognitive powers and overall mental health.

GOQii Health Store: Is a GOQii curated health marketplace with a suit of a wide variety of products and services catering to individual’s needs and preferences. GOQii has entered into one of the most comprehensive strategic partnerships with various companies in the health and fitness categories such as healthy snacks, health food delivery brands, health supplements, online pharmacy, diagnostics, genetic testing, gym, and accessories. With these collaborations, GOQii is looking to provide its players with the convenience of getting customized products and services delivered to their home or office.

GOQii Cash: Rewards Program: Health is Wealth. To motivate its players to live a healthy lifestyle, GOQii will reward them with GOQii Cash- a virtual currency system for indulging in different activities such as completing daily targets, taking a doctor or expert consultation, uploading medical records, taking HRA (Health Risk Assessment) etc. GOQii is encouraging its players to be healthy and in return get wealthy. GOQii Cash can be used for redeeming various health products listed in GOQii store. Lastly, players can also use GOQii Cash to purchase various services and product in the GOQii Health marketplace.

GOQii 3.0, a slimmer and sleeker design tracker: GOQii will ring in the New Year with the launch of GOQii 3.0 tracker. The new tracker will be sleeker, slimmer with a multi-touch colour display with themes to suit one’s style and attire. The V3 tracker will also come with a new sensor with heart rate variability (HRV) and Presence Plus, a networking feature that GOQii launched at the recently concluded GES conference in Hyderabad. The new tracker will be available from January 2018. Existing GOQii players can upgrade to GOQii 3.0 tracker for an additional fee.

Pricing: GOQii Family health plans will start at Rs.1999/- onwards and portion of this will also be eligible for Tax Savings under Section 80D

 

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Know your blood/ serum Creatinine

creatinine-private-blood-tests-in-london

When it comes to blood tests, most are aware of blood sugar, cholesterol or haemoglobin levels. In the current times, we also know about Vitamin B12, D, and Calcium etc. But, have you ever come across “blood/serum creatinine levels”?

Recently, I came across somebody I know well with high levels of high blood/ serum creatinine levels. And, observed there is a lot of confusion between “Blood/serum creatinine levels” & “creatinine” that one takes as a supplement while working out in the gym. These are two different things. In this blog, I am talking about –Blood Creatinine.

What does it means when you have high blood creatinine levels?

Creatinine is produced in the body constantly. It is a by-product of creatinine phosphate in the muscle. Its value depends on the muscle mass that one has. Creatinine is carried through the bloodstream to the kidneys. It is filtered out by the kidneys and thrown out of the body through urine. The kidneys maintain the creatinine levels in the blood to a normal range. A creatinine level is an indicator of kidney function. High creatinine levels is a warning for impaired kidney function.

High level of creatinine is found during:

  1. Impaired kidney function
  2. kidney disease like glomerulonephritis, pyelonephritis
  3. Prostate disease
  4. Kidney Stones (urinary tract blockage)
  5. Heart disease
  6. Diabetes
  7. Medicines like ACE inhibitor (ACEI) or angiotensin II receptor antagonist (or angiotensin receptor blocker, ARB) taken.

creatinine-blood-test-s1-illustration

Creatinine Blood Test should be done if following symptoms are seen:

  1. fatigue and trouble sleeping
  2. loss of appetite
  3. swelling in the face, wrists, ankles, or abdomen
  4. lower back pain near the kidneys
  5. changes in urine output and frequency
  6. high blood pressure
  7. nausea
  8. vomiting

Normal Values of the Creatinine in Blood:

In male – 0.6 to 1.1 milligrams per dl of blood.

In female – 0.5 to 1.1 milligrams per dl of blood.

Infant – 0.2 milligram per dl of blood or above (due to less muscle mass).

A person with one kidney – 1.8 to 1.9 milligram per dl of the blood.

Lifestyle & Dietary modifications for high creatinine:

  1. Reduce water/fluid intake: Fluid intake needs to be monitored. Do not restrict fluids unless there is a fluid overload problem. If fluid retention is a problem, limit salt intake.
  1. Limit salt intake (Sodium): You should control the amount of salt going through the food. Add minimum salt as required. High sodium will cause water retention. Cut down on salt, cheese, pickles, instant soups, roasted and salted seeds and nuts & all types of fast foods. Specifically, avoid canned foods.
  1. Limit Potassium: Low-salt substitutes are not good either, as they contain high levels of potassium. Restricted eating high potassium containing such as tomato, potato, nuts and chocolates etc.
  1. Limit Phosphorus: Excess phosphorus can cause total kidney failure as well as bone disease and heart ailments. Reduce dairy products including milk, curd, and cheese. Cut down intake of foods like Shellfish, nuts, soya bean foods etc.
  1. Control Calcium: It is another concern for kidney patients, causing serious bone disease in later years if not controlled.
  1. Low protein diet: Low protein diet is recommended to reduce creatinine level. This avoids build-up of excess urea.
  1. Cigarettes and Alcohol: kill you anyway and, also does not help in the case of high Creatinine either.
  1. With diet control, the portion size also matters. If you eat in excess, the nutritional value changes considerably.
  1. Be active & Exercise regularly: High-intensity exercise could lead to impressive results. It may also help lower your risk for high blood pressure and diabetes which are the two main causes that lead to developing CKD (Chronic Kidney Diseases).

 Fruits and vegetables that are advised/not advised in kidney diseases:

  • It is advisable to take peaches, broccoli, onion, grapes, cabbage, pepper, cherries, cauliflower, apples, celery, berries, cucumber, pineapple, eggs, plums, green beans, tangerine, lettuce, watermelon and pears.
  • Restrict the intake of oranges and orange juice, asparagus, avocado, kiwi fruit, raisins or other dried fruits, bananas, cooked spinach, potatoes, pumpkin, prunes, etc.

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