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Are you eating your beans right?

kidney-beans

My friend Neetu, recalls an incident from her childhood when she went to receive her aunt at the railway station who was arriving from Lucknow. On seeing Neetu, her aunt spontaneously asked her, “Guess your favourite thing that I’ve brought for you” and Neetu spontaneously replied “Rajma Chawal”! (Of Course, it was not Rajma Chawal that her aunt was referring too !!)

Kidney beans or Rajma is liked by kids and adults alike. It’s not just the taste but, the nutritional profile which makes it my favourite too. While it’s a rich source of protein and fibre, it’s also packed with several micronutrients, especially molybdenum, folate, copper, manganese, phosphorus, vitamin B1, iron, potassium, and magnesium. Dietary fibre in these beans helps in lowering cholesterol and prevents the rapid rise in blood glucose levels after consuming a meal.

However, in kidney beans, these nutrients exist with certain anti-nutrients or natural substances that can be harmful to our health.

1)   Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA):  This substance is classified as a lectin-glycoprotein. Lectins are known for their ability to agglutinate red blood cell types, alter cell membrane transport systems, alter cell permeability to proteins, and generally interfere with cellular metabolism. Even a small amount of PHA can have a negative effect on health. You may not consume enough to become noticeably sick, but continued exposure can result in poor growth, malnutrition, or liver damage.  White kidney beans contain about one-third the amount of toxin as the red variety.

2)   Raffinose and Stachyose: These are carbohydrates that are not digested in the small intestine by human gastrointestinal enzymes. They are passed into the large intestine where they are fermented by intestinal microflora with the production of gas. It is this behaviour which is responsible for flatulence, bloating that many of us experience after consuming these beans.

Central Public Health Laboratory (PHLS, UK ) and FDA (US) recommends this procedure to render kidney, and other beans safe for consumption:

  • Soak in water for at least 5 hours.
  • Pour away the water.
  •   Boil briskly in fresh water, with occasional stirring, for at least 10 minutes.
  • Undercooked beans may be more toxic than raw beans.

Tips for cooking –

1)     Add salt to the soaking water and cooking water as it helps remove raffinose and stachyose and thus reduces gas producing tendency of beans. Also, salt improves water absorption so beans are evenly softened and cooked.

Isn’t this what we have been watching our grandma and mum doing – Soaking overnight in salt water! Now we know the scientific basis for that.

1)     Acids, including tomatoes, lemon etc; prevent beans from absorbing water efficiently and thus may result in uneven or partial cooking, thereby retaining anti-nutrients. Always add tomato/tomato puree after boiling the beans.

2)     Microwave cooking is not recommended. Microwaves do not heat food evenly. This can cause parts of beans to remain undercooked. Boiling /pressure cooking is best. Cook for 15-20 minutes.

Next time when you enjoy beans, make sure they are safe as well!

 

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How to include proteins to your Breakfast?

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All of us are well aware that breakfast is the first important meal of the day. The second most important thing is to have frequent meals to keep our metabolism high. Our body goes into the rest mode for almost 8 to 10 hours after dinner when we are sleeping through the night. Hence, it becomes essential to eat a good, balanced meal which has the right proportion of carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals, fibres, anti- oxidants etc.in the morning. More often than not it is a difficult task to incorporate all these nutrients in the morning breakfast due to our rush to get to work.But, one can always try to incorporate as many nutrients as we can out of the above if not all.

It is advised to include proteins in every meal. The inclusion of proteins to your breakfast becomes a challenging task especially if you are a vegetarian. Lacto- Ovo vegetarian breakfast can easily get proteins through the milk and eggs. The tough task is for vegetarians and vegans (those who limit dairy products).

Common Indian breakfast items are Poha (cooked Puffed Rice with some veggies), flat breadsUpma, Idli and Dosa (steamed Rice pancakes), flatbreads(Chaapti), Rice, Porridgeetc. Today, I am going to tell you how we add proteins in our 1st meal of the day – breakfast.

Whenever we have options like steamed rice pancakes (Idlisambhar) or bread omelette we’re obviously getting proteins from the dish.  When we have options like Cooked Puff Rice, Upma, rice, cooked Wheat Flat breads (Chappati)  etc. without any side dish we need to add some proteins to it.

Here are few items which you can add:

  1. Peanuts/ Groundnuts: A humble source of proteins and MUFA (mono unsaturated fatty acids) will add to proteins in breakfast. We can use in different forms as peanut butter, chutney etc. spread it on your bread or chapatti. Excellent to be added in pre workout meal.
  • 100 g of Dry roasted peanuts will give 24-26 g of proteins.
  1. Roasted Chana: Simple, easily available and can be stored. Just add a handful of black (Kabuli)or brown Chana to your plate or have it on the go post breakfast. If you couple it up with peanuts it will be even better.
  1. Mixed Sprouts: This one will need some preparation. Soak the sprouts for 6-8 hours, then drain the water and tie in the cloth for sprouts to come. Add handful of it either raw or steamed. Raw will give you good enzymes as compared to cooked ones. Whereas steamed will be easier to digest. Following are the rough values for sprouted and steamed sprouts.
  • Moong/ Green gram 2-3 g
  • Matki/ Moth bean 8 g
  • Chana/ Chick peas 9 g
  1. Green peas: It is very to incorporate peas in any dish. Add it to your upma, poha, rice liberally. They will taste good as well as increase the protein value. Its green colour also add to the visual effect.
  • 100 g of fresh green peas contain 5 g of protein
  1. Nuts like (almond, walnut, cashew nut): Again a very handy option. Just adding them to your bowl of breakfast is very easy. They are rich in minerals like calcium, good fats like MUFA, omega 3 fatty acids. Don’t forget to soak and peel almond to avoid anti nutritional factors in the peel.
  • Almond 21.2 g
  • Walnut 15.2 g
  1. Sesame, flax, sunflower, pumpkin seeds: Dry roasted seeds can serve as a protein quotient of the meal. You can easily stock it in cool and dry place. You can have them as it is or grind to make into chutney. Dips like tahini can be made from sesame seeds.
  1. Milk: You can just add a glass of milk to complete the protein quota of the meal. It goes well with roti, chapati, bread, cereals etc. It is better to go for low fat milk. If having cow’s milk make sure it is Desi cow’s milk. Make sure you’re not having it with salty or savoury as milk and salt is not recommended to have together.1 cup of milk gives you 8 g protein on an average.
  1. Curds/ Yogurt: Add a bowl of curds or yogurt to make your breakfast not only protein rich but yummy. We can mix poha, rice with it to give a better texture and taste. Fruits with yogurt can be another hit option and light still complete meal. 1 cup gives you 10-11 g proteins on an average.
  1. Buttermilk: It is the best bet in summer. Having it post breakfast will help in digestion. It has good water content and therefore it will not be a concentrated source. Unlike milk it can be coupled with salty and savoury options as well.
  1. Cheese: I am yet to come across a person who doesn’t like cheese unless of course you are a vegan. We can add it with breads, chapatti, pancakes etc. You can use different varieties like cheese spread, cubes, and slices or just grate some cheese on your dish. People who are targeting weight gain can have it on regular basis. Those who are trying to lose weight should limit it once or twice in a week. 100 g will give approx. 20 g of proteins.

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Do you really need a multivitamin?                  

                                                      

Multivitamins

The topmost questions on the mind of all my patients are “I am getting so tired these days, doctor do you think that I should take a multivitamin?” and “I am taking these multivitamins which I got from the US, do you think it’s good enough for me to have?”

These are just 2 such questions but trust me, I get loads of such questions on Multivitamins. Based on these questions, I decided I should talk about it in my blog and present the facts on the matter.

Let us first understand

What is multivitamin?

If I just try to understand the word in literal terms, a multivitamin is a supplement that contains more than one vitamin. But is it just vitamins? Certainly not. Multivitamin is a supplement that contains many vitamins and essential minerals which helps you fight against different nutritional deficiencies and their symptoms.

Who actually needs a multivitamin?

  1. You need a multivitamin if you are not able to get adequate nutrition from your diet.
  2. You need a multivitamin if you are severely deficient in different nutrients as detected in your blood reports
  3. You need a multivitamin if you are looking for micronutrients for specific symptoms.

Apart from this, there are other population groups as well which might need a multivitamin in addition to a variety of foods in their diet.

  1. Pregnant women
  • During pregnancy, consumption of multivitamins reduces the risk of birth defects in the foetus.
  • There are different kinds of research which are done taking multivitamins into consideration but since multivitamins consist of various vitamins and minerals, we don’t exactly know which nutrient is giving the maximum benefits.
  • Folic acid perhaps is the most important micronutrient but doctors anyways give it in a completely separate form so talk to your healthcare professional before starting on any multivitamin.
  1. Senior citizens
  • People over the age of 65 are generally low on B- vitamins, vitamin D, iron and magnesium.
  • Supplementing senior citizens with a multivitamin can definitely help in reducing their nutritional deficiencies to a great extent.
  1. People who are on different food restrictions
  • People who are on a gluten-free diet are usually low on calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, folate, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.
  • Vegan people are usually low in calcium, iron, zinc and vitamin B12.
  • People who are on low carb diet are usually low in calcium, copper, magnesium, potassium and vitamin E

Multivitamin in these cases will help in overcoming these nutritional deficiencies.

  1. People who have undergone bariatric surgery
  • During bariatric surgery, size of the stomach is reduced which reduces nutrient absorption which can further lead to nutritional deficiencies.
  • Even after taking a multivitamin, nutrient absorption is not very high but this will be much better than not taking a supplement and remain extremely nutritionally deficient

The above is related specifically for people with some health issues. Let us now look at the general population! Does the general population need a multivitamin and what can be the possible benefits?

  1. Multivitamins can help in increasing the quality of life
  2. Multivitamins can help in reducing mood swings
  3. Multivitamins can help in reducing complications related to eyes

These are some points which researches have come up with however nothing is claimed so far.

Normally what I have seen is that when people are taking multivitamin they are okay to substitute it for a balanced diet but a multivitamin is a SUPPLEMENT and not a SUBSTITUTE.

Let’s understand about how to select a multivitamin for you.

Your healthcare professional can suggest you one but, you should always know how to pick up one for yourself!

Consider the following points when you buy a multivitamin

  1. Choose a multivitamin that contains close to your recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamins and minerals. Sometimes a particular multivitamin crosses much more than your RDA per day.

For example:

  • Excess of potassium at one go on an empty stomach can lead to elevated potassium levels in the body which can affect your heart rhythm that is why your potassium in a multivitamin should always be limited to 99 mg.
  • Magnesium in your multivitamin should be limited to 350 mg because higher doses of magnesium in the body can lead to diarrhoea and other stomach issues.
  • Excess of calcium in your multivitamin might increase the risk of kidney stones, and too much total calcium can result in hypercalcemia in the body.

B. If a multivitamin supplement is only having vitamins and minerals then its fine to pick it up but usually this doesn’t happen. A single multivitamin is full of special ingredients which can put a body into negative balance hence avoid taking multivitamins which has too many extra ingredients.

C. I have seen my patients doing this a lot that they get confused between the pill and serving.

For example: A multivitamin pack might mention that it contains 300 mg of vitamin C per serving. When it is said so, please understand that a serving does not necessarily mean that 1 pill equals 1 serving. Serving completely depends upon how the company is depicting it. It could mean a whole pack is 300 mg.

D. I have seen this quite often that many people are usually only deficient in one or 2 nutrients in such cases taking a multivitamin is not a very good option. Pick up those nutritional supplements only which are on the lower side.

Hence, it is always good to take Vitamins after you speak to your doctor. Do not indulge in self- medication.

You might need a multivitamin but, it is not necessary that everyone might need it.

 

 

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5 signs you’re not getting enough Protein

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The food market is constantly advertising about adding protein to all edibles, and this might mislead you into thinking that you are consuming an abundance of this key micronutrient in your diet. This might not be the actual scenario and a lack of protein may be ruining your health and your effort in the gym.

While protein requirement varies for every individual depending upon body weight and activity levels, there is no doubt that an adequate amount of protein keeps the body lean and preserves muscles strength as we age. If you are unsure about the amount of protein you are getting and wondering if it’s enough to fuel your fitness goals, here are a few ways to know.

  1. Your hair starts Thinning

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Hair thinning is a major concern these days and it haunts both genders equally.

But why? And how is protein linked to it? So, here is the answer. If you don’t nourish your body with adequate protein, then it looks for “non-essential” body parts like hair to pull protein from. The body needs nutrients for the basic functioning. Once your hair is deprived of the nutrient it needs, it starts thinning and even falling out. Next time when you observe hair fall or thinning, consume a high protein diet.

      2.Constant Injuries

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Injuries, as we all know, are barriers we have to overcome amidst our fitness journey.  But why do people get injured so frequently? Let’s solve the query. Apart from muscle loss, a lack of protein in diet precipitates several perils such as loss of bone mass and osteoporosis. The body tends to face difficulty in absorbing calcium which most likely will make you prone to injuries. This is the reason why we lack stamina during high-intensity workouts. So, if you are constantly injured, you may need to increase your protein intake. Some rich sources of protein are Seafood, white meat, eggs and green vegetables. Hog on them to keep the doctor away.

       3. Workout Doesn’t Entail Results

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It takes a lot of dedication and effort to wake up each morning and workout. Still, the scale in the weighing machine is not changing? So, here’s the answer to “But why?” Protein is crucial for building new muscle mass and also important in sustainable energy and motivation. It adds up the strength to recover the muscles post workout. A low protein diet may make you suffer muscle atrophy which is a condition when your body starts cannibalizing the tissue for fuel. If you don’t serve your muscle composition with adequate protein, no matter how much you work out, the results will always be below your expectation. Therefore, always consume a protein-rich pre/post workout meal for faster and better results.

       4. Unexpected Anxiety and Food Cravings

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Do you often lash out at your co-worker or others around you? This is not always stressing. Let’s dig deeper. Serotonin is a hormone that regulates calmness, and protein plays a vital role in helping the brain synthesize serotonin. Also, if you don’t consume enough protein, your body causes spikes and crashes of insulin, resulting in a craving for carb-rich snacks. Your body’s demand for biscuits and other oily snacks is not because of taste but because of lack of protein. Serotonin also helps in regulating the spike of insulin in your blood, so a lack of serotonin will result in imbalanced amounts of insulin in the blood. So, if you are unable to tame your temper or are craving for greasy and unhealthy snacks, it could be a sign of protein deficiency. When you feel anxious next time, you know what you need.

 

 

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