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July 12, 2016 By Neha Kapoor 1 Comment

Can we replace white rice?

Are you a white rice eater and looking to cut your rice intake but, findings it hard to do so? The best way to cut down on rice is to replace it with millets. Millets are also called wonder or magical grains. However, these wonder grains are not much recognized and used in today’s world of junk food and where refined flour has captured the whole market. Millet is full of nutrients your body needs, such as: Magnesium, Calcium, Manganese, Tryptophan, Phosphorus, Fiber, B vitamins, Antioxidants.

Most people have not even heard of millet forget knowing the benefits of millet nutrition. And yet, millet is one of the best-kept secrets of our ancient ancestors. Traced back to its origin, millet has been used throughout the ages and across many countries.

For centuries millet has been a prized crop in China, India, Greece, Egypt and Africa, used in everything from bread to couscous, and as cereal grain.

Some of the key reasons millet is part of your healthy Body Ecology diet is because it is:

*Highly nutritious – ideal for children

*Acts as a prebiotic to feed important micro-flora in your inner ecosystem

*Provides serotonin to calm and soothe your moods.

*Helps hydrate your colon to keep you regular.

*Great energy source – ideal for athletes

*Complete protein source when combined with legumes – ideal for a vegetarian diet

*Is alkaline.

*High amounts of fiber

*Rich in photochemicals including phytic acid, which is believed to lower cholesterol, and phytate, which is associated with reducing cancer risks.

*All Millet varieties show high antioxidant activity.

*Millet helps to control Blood sugar and Cholesterol.

*Digests easily.

*Millet Consumption decreases Triglycerides and C-Reactive Protein.

VARAGU/KODU MILLET The fiber content of this whole grain is very high. Varagu rice has around 11% protein, and the nutritional value of the protein has been found to be slightly better than that of Thinai but, comparable to that of other small millets. As with other food grains, the nutritive value of Varagu rice protein could be improved by supplementation with legume protein. It has high source of Protein, Calcium, fiber and Minerals. It can reduce body weight. Varagu increases Liver functionality and good for lympatic disorder.

THINNAI RICE/ FOXTAIL MILLET: Thinai is fairly tolerant of drought; it can escape some droughts because of early maturity. Due to its quick growth, it can be grown as a short-term cash crop. It is adapted to a wide range of elevations, soils and temperatures. Its grain is used for human consumption. Rich in protein and minerals, increases kidney functionality. Best for muscle strength and hormonal imbalances.

FINGER MILLET/RAGI- Foxtail millets are ideal for reducing the cholesterol of the body, controlling blood sugar and aiding metabolism rate. It is highly rich in anti-oxidation, which removes all the acidic elements away from the body. Foxtail millets are also high in dietary fiber, which aids in proper breakdown of food and complete digestion. Ragi flour can be used in many different ways to make Roti, porridge and dosa or idli (steamed panckaes). It has thirty times as much calcium as rice, more than ten times as much fiber.

KUTHIRAIVALI RICE/PEARL MILLET: This particular variety is 6 times more nutritious than wheat. Rich in Protein, fiber, minerals and iron compared to all other grains. Good for Heart related problems, Anemic, Menstural Disorder and Diabetics.

SAAMAI RICE/LITTLE MILLET Samai is another reliable cash crop in view of its earliness and resistance to adverse agro-climatic conditions. Samai is suitable for all ages. Samai trend constipation. Stomach related diseases and improves Men’s sperm production. Diabetic patients and in women it could be a good idea for all periods and imaginary problems. Samai is rich in fiber, helps reducing fat, good for bones and muscles.

Millets can be used to make many simple and easy recipes to replace white rice and has many healthy nutrients that makes the dishes more yummy by adding new flavor to them.

May 21, 2016 By Arooshi Garg Leave a Comment

Tips to prepare quick and nourishing meals

In today’s competitive world every human being is striving for a good career combined with a good healthy lifestyle and this can be achieved through exercise, proper sleep and above all good nourishing and healthy nutrition. Managing work and home for both men and women with dwindling time is increasingly becoming difficult. The last thing that we want to compromise is our health. With little planning, ingenuity, and organization in advance can make cooking a pleasurable experience.

It has been said many times that all tasty and nutritious meals need not require too much of elaborate cooking, too much time and usage of lot of spices or oil.

Try these life saving hacks for a week and enjoy yummy and ready in minutes recipes!

-Pre-preparations: If there are some recipes that are time consuming and elaborate then these can be pre-prepared during the weekends when one has some extra time to spare. During the weekend you can mentally plan the foods, dishes that you intend to make during the week. Pre-preparation of these dishes help a great deal thus saving lot of time during week days.

-Learn to Deep Freeze!!! A good size freezer compartment always comes in handy.

Cutting onions every time is very cumbersome. The much used mixture of tomato and onionin most Indian dishes can be cooked in bulk, and tucked away in freezer. Whenever needed take a few spoonful out and cook it with your vegetables. This paste comes handy for pasta as well. Similarly, Indians use lot of ginger and garlic in their food. You can pre prepare this paste as well and deep freeze it. This will save a whole lot of time when you’re cooking next.

-Partly cooked vegetables like roasted Brinjal or Aubergine or also called Eggplant, Okra (Lady’s Finger), Bitter Gourd, pressure cooked pulses such as, Kidney Beans, white chick peas, black eyed beans etc can be partly cooked and tucked away in the freezer(for fresh taste prepare the seasoning at the time of serving).

-Leafy vegetables Preparations: Leafy vegetablescan take a lot of time to clean, wash and chop. With a tight work schedule this might get difficult. To make it easy for you, wash, clean and chop the leafy vegetables in advance and store them in containers and keep them in the fridge. Add these to your daily wheat dough to make nutritious breads or in battersfor other preparations etc.

-Meats can be marinated, half cooked and frozen:These can be freshly pressure cooked with additional spices or baked to get perfectly cooked dishes.

– One thing that I very often do is make large batch of rice-pulse batter. This batter can be conveniently stored in refrigerator, and can be used for over a week for make steamed rice cakes.Try mixing some oats powder to this mixture for healthy alternatives top up the batter with chopped vegetables for greater variety.

-Other than freezing, vegetables can also be washed, cut up, cleaned and stored in airtight containers for a busy morning. Use these to make healthy multigrain sandwiches, subs, etc.

So no more will you have morning blues of cooking and rushing to work if you follow these easy tips.

Start your GOQii Lifestyle today!

March 30, 2016 By Princee Kalra 3 Comments

‘Do not blame the fats for what the carbohydrate did!’

More than calculating calories it’s imperative to count the composition of each meal with respect to carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Let us Centre our attention on carbohydrates. India is a carbohydrate rich country but, carbohydrate over time is not doing much good to us. All our concerns lie with consuming excess carbohydrate. Carbohydrate (Sugars & Starches) forms a greater proportion of our diet and hence there is manifestation of carbohydrate toxicity which in turn is leading us on the road to impaired insulin levels, weight gain, hormonal imbalance & cardiovascular diseases.

Carbohydrates, like any other nutrient are beneficial only if consumed in the right proportion. The right amount of carbohydrate for most Indians is about 55-60% of total calories with emphasis on complex variety as against 70-72% being consumed at present. Much of the benefits attributed to carbohydrate foods come from slow digesting, complex variety. They are high in fibre, low in fat and a good source of vitamins hence a crucial part of diet.

Balancing carbohydrate intake is central for managing our diet. So how do we know if we are having the right proportion?

Firstly, we need to distribute carbohydrate in our main meals plus in our snacking hours. Piling up carbohydrates during main meals and skipping it at snacks creates a problem.
Ditch the wheatflour in chapatti and white rice in main meals atleast thrice a week, try variety of complex carbohydrates such as

Sorghum (Jowar), Pearl Millet (Bajra), Ragi or Red Millet (Nachni), Corn or Maize, Quinoa, Oats, Barley, Semolina(Rava), broken wheat and brown rice. These taste great in our age old recipes such as Sorghum bread, Mix flour cutlets, Ragi or Red Millet Porridge, Mix Flour breads, Brown Rice steamed Idlis, Semolina Pancake, Corn bread, Pearl millet roasted crispy breads!!

Avoid refined carbohydrates like Bread (sandwiches), Maida(is a finely milled refined and bleached, closely resembling Cake Flour (Biscuits, Bakery Items, Noodles, Fried Breads (Puri, Bhatura, Naan), Pasta, White Sauce), Sugar (White Sugar, Brown Sugar, Honey, Soft Drinks, Energy Drinks, Sugar Containing Breakfast Cereals, Sweets, Chocolates).
Simple carbohydrate such as Fresh fruits are great but avoid fruit juices, 1 glass fruit juice has triple the amount of carbohydrate!
Please do not consider Potato, Sweet Potato, Yam (Suran), Colocasia (Arvi) as vegetable, consider it in a carbohydrate rich cereal group. Limit adding of these in vegetables – we love potato mixed with all possible vegetables and even cereals.
Do not get tricked with Wheatflour written on food products, Wheatflour is essentially Maida(is a finely milled refined and bleached, closely resembling Cake Flour). Choose food products that have atleast 75% whole wheat flour (WHOLE word is important)! (Oops, do check your brown breads ;))
Do not eliminate carbohydrate from your diet just to have a temporary goal satisfaction. Balance is important. It is not the carbohydrate that is immoral but our very low intake of protein and wrong fats, so be smart and choose your foods wisely.

• Lastly do not eat carb alone – couple 1 serving carb with 1 serving protein & 1 serving vegetables.

November 30, 2015 By Anuja Mohile Leave a Comment

Shake off the salt habit!

My food won’t taste good at all if I don’t add salt to it. Salt has become a habit to such an extent that we not only use it while cooking but add extra from the top too. We need salt for enhancing our fruits’ tastes too. Surprising isn’t it??

Salt namely Sodium chloride contains 40% of sodium in it. We add this salt to most of our foods/recipes and thus it is considered to be the major source of sodium to our body. Also the sodium we are talking about is not completely bad the way it’s being projected. Sodium also performs some important functions in our body like regulating the nerves and muscles, controlling the blood pressure and thus the sodium concentrations need to be carefully controlled by the body. Most of us consume far more sodium than what our body would actually need. This excess sodium causes the body to retain too much water in the blood vessels which causes a rise in the blood pressure thereby increasing the risk of heart disease, kidney disease and even stroke.

Our daily limit of sodium consumption per day is given as 2300 mg which is actually completed by 1 teaspoon of our table salt itself. Surprised?

Now give a thought to how much salt and thereby sodium are we consuming!!

So are you thinking that you don’t really consume that much of salt specially because you don’t sprinkle salt from top or not even add much to your daily food?

Research in fact shows that 75% of salt or more precisely sodium comes from the processed and preserved foods that we consume on a daily basis which we might not even consider to be really overly salty.

One vegetable wrap with loads of cheese, tomato sauce and mayonnaise in it can give you sodium for next 7 days. Thus, this is the extra sodium you consume in addition to any extra salt to your food at home.

Solution for this is not of course cutting all sodium/salt out of your diet but let’s try to strike a chord somewhere in the middle.

Here is a salt check and a few tips to help us to cut down our salt intake and thereby our sodium intake too.

Cut down your all obviously salty foods like salted nuts, fried moong dal, farsan, chips, powders, cheese, pickles, sauces, dry fruits, dry fish etc.
Look out for the hidden sources of sodium and salt. Baked items, breads, whole bread too, biscuits, breakfast cereals even if they are sweet, stir in masalas, table sauces, soup powders, tinned fruits, vegetables, canned juices, frozen patties, parathas, nuggets, sausages contain loads of sodium and should be restricted as much possible. It is not always sodium chloride but it can be other salts of sodium like citrate, sorbitrate, glutamate, benzoate, carbonate, bicarbonate etc. MSG or monosodium glutamate present in soya sauce, schezwan and chilli sauce – the main sauces in our Chinese version foods is again extremely salty a very high source of sodium.
Try to google for the preservatives- the E- series- you will be surprised to see that almost many salts of sodium are used for your favorite foods.
Buy fresh foods like vegetables, fruits, cereals, pulses and not their remix version.Try to obtain the goodness of cereal from the wholegrain s instead of breads and pastries. Natural foods contain far less sodium than the preserved ones. Start eating the fresh homemade food. Use healthy cooking methods.
Instead of salt, use herbs, spices to season your cooking. Lime juice, tamarind, kokam, vinegar, garlic, black pepper, and cinnamon help to add the flavor. Try making different marinade and spicy rubs to add flavor to your foods instead of plain salt.
Taste your food before adding the entire quantity of salt you plan to add.
Take the salt off your dining table. If you have to always go and get your salt you tend not to bother to get it. You can cut down your salt by adding less to your food slowly day by day. Research suggests that if salt is decreased very slowly it is not even realized.

So finally next time if you forget to add salt in your vegetable, stop yourself from adding extra salt and instead try eating the vegetable just without salt. Initially you may find it difficult. But soon you may realize that what tastes now is the original taste of the vegetable and the spices or herbs that you have added to it. It might prove to be a pleasant surprise to your taste buds too. This effort needs to be taken from our side as we all are aware that excess salt consumption can act as a silent killer in the body.