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Secrets of brown rice!

brown-rice

It’s always said that cut down on fat and you would slim down. But, I have observed that many people despite cutting down on fat, still put on weight. The reason for this is simple carbohydrates which Indian population gorges on without knowing the facts.

Indian diets comprises more of simple carbohydrates which mainly consists of white rice, sugar, maida. There is definitely a substitute for everything.

Let’s talk about how beneficial brown rice is over white rice! The difference between white and brown rice is not that of colour alone but there is lot more to it.

How Brown rice gets converted to white rice?

The outermost layer, the hull, is removed to produce brown rice. This process avoids the unnecessary loss of nutrients that occurs with further processing. If brown rice is further milled to remove the bran and most of the germ layer, the result is a whiter rice, but also a rice that has lost many more nutrients. At this point, however, the rice is still unpolished, and it takes polishing to produce the white rice we consume.

Benefits of Brown Rice:

  • Rich in Selenium: A trace mineral which reduces the risk for common illness like colon cancer.

 

  • High in manganese: One cup of brown rice provides 80% of our daily manganese requirements. Manganese helps the body synthesize fats. Manganese also benefits our nervous and reproductive systems.

 

  • High in fiber: It is packed with fiber! It has been shown to reduce high cholesterol levels. It also keeps your sugar under control so brown rice is an excellent grain choice for people with diabetes. You feel satiated after eating brown rice as it is high in fiber so you tend to eat lesser in the meal, thus portion size comes into the picture.

 

  • Protection against breast cancer: The pytonutrient Lignin present in brown rice known to inhibit the growth of breast cancerous cells.
  •       Healthy bowel function: Brown rice contains good amounts of insoluble fibre that stays in the gut and aids digestion and prevents constipation.
  •       Great source of Magnesium: Magnesium is thought to be a key nutrient needed for healthy bones along with calcium and vitamin D.

To summarize, brown rice is  a healthy substitute which is packed with whole lot of antioxidants and micro-nutrients than white rice.

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A Perfect Supper

supper

Since time immemorial, we have been hearing this phrase “Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince and Dinner like a Pauper”. Though this phrase is very true and most of us may or may not agree to it, the question is, how many of us actually follow it?

I have come across people who eat absolutely minimal or may even skip meals during the day and then wonder why they are not shedding any weight even though they are consuming less calories. The answer lies in their ‘very much elaborate dinners’!

In today’s fast paced and busy lives, it’s become very common that people tend to have very less or almost skip their breakfast as they need to rush to work. Lunch is had at the desk more often than not, either alone or with the colleagues, which may be less enjoyable. At times, due to time constraints, lunch gets compromised. All these factors lead to a limited food intake through the day. Result: Body deprived of energy through the day -> Feels excessively hungry in the latter half of the day -> over eating/ bingeing occurs during dinner. At times, we don’t just feel hungry but we might even ‘crave’ for some junk and thereby succumb to binging on junk food items which then results in fat storage.

For majority of us, dinner is the meal which we look forward to as most of the families consider dinner as an opportunity to catch up with the family members, interact with each other, laugh and have a good time, and dinner perfectly serves the purpose! While we relish various delicacies together and get busy talking to each other, there are high chances of us eating more than we actually want to.

Isn’t this scenario exactly opposite to the saying that we discussed at the top? Oh yes! It is! This is where the root cause of weight gain lies.

You’ll be surprised to know that just getting the dinner correct has helped people get their weight under control. It works like magic! It’s very simple and quite logical. Body has enough time to metabolize the food and shed off the extra calories consumed through the day as our activity levels are at peak during the daytime. As the day ends, our activity levels drop and so does the metabolic rate. Thus, the caloric consumption should ideally taper by the end of the day. However, if we load our body with a huge amount of calories at night, it has higher chances of pushing the calories into fat storage thereby leading to weight gain.

Now how do we tackle this? The very first solution is having a heavy breakfast. If you are running short of time, carry a mid-morning snack with you e.g. A fruit/Nuts/Dry fruits/Yogurt is a good for you. Second most important factor is to have a heavy evening snack by around 5-6 pm. Consuming an evening snack keeps us full, cuts down the junk cravings and thus automatically reduces our intake during dinner. It’s very important to choose the evening snacks wisely. It could be a bowl of sprouts/a whole wheat bread veggie sandwich/boiled corn with chopped veggies and herbs/boiled egg or paneer roll with whole wheat base/a bowl of roasted chanas or nuts. I am sure dishes like these would satiate your hunger and when you would go ahead for your dinner, you wouldn’t be very much hungry.

So your dinner could be – Start with a bowl of mix veggie soup/salad, then move on to a bowl of stir-fried veggies (that covers the carb/fiber component and certain vitamins-minerals) along with a bowl of roasted paneer cubes/sprouts/grilled chicken or fish/boiled eggs (that covers the protein and fat component). In this way, we can ensure a light yet balanced meal covering all the macronutrients along with micros (vitamins-minerals). Ofcourse you can make this meal delicious in your own ways by using various herbs and spices to delight your taste buds.

Remember to keep a gap of 2 to 3 hours between your bed time and this meal to avoid gastric discomfort.

Last but not the least, eat this meal absolutely mindfully, which means, eat slower, take smaller bites, savour every bite and thoroughly enjoy it with your family, making the experience absolutely joyful!

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Five Foods that help to Lower Blood pressure

lower-bp

Blood Pressure (BP) has now become a common ailment. Be it young or old almost everyone has BP issues. Infact, BP issues among young adults is on the rise thanks to the lifestyle that most lead! Some have low blood pressure and some high blood pressure issues.

High blood pressure is often considered harmful as it tends to have a negative effect on the heart and may increase the risk of stroke. It’s difficult to manage those BP pills to ensure maintenance of the pressure once diagnosed with elevated pressure levels.

A healthy change in lifestyle may prove beneficial in lowering the pressure levels as well as in maintaining them. Eating right is important during lifestyle modification and when managing pressure levels. This further may help in maintaining or reducing or even curbing the dosage of medicines!

Here are five foods that will help you lower your pressure levels:

  1. Bananas: These are a rich source of potassium, cheap and available throughout the year. Have them as a on- the- go- snack. The potassium helps to curb the imbalance of electrolytes during high pressure.

 

  1. Low fat or Skim Milk: The combination of Vitamin D and Calcium not only helps in reducing the pressure levels but also maintain the bone health. A glass a day is all what you need!

 

  1. Whole Grain: Kick start your day with whole grain cereals as they not only provide you with nutrients and fibre that help in maintaining consistent energy levels but also lower the pressure levels.

 

  1. Beet Juice: A glass of beetroot juice is proven to reduce pressure levels within few hours according to research. The nitrate present in it is known to lower the levels.

 

  1. Dark chocolate: It is high in compounds that cause dilation of blood vessels i.e. flavonoids thus lowering the pressure. One small square piece is what one needs!

**Tip: Along with this lower the intake of salt and processed/packaged foods, exercise regularly and achieve a healthy stress free lifestyle!!

 

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How important are Micro-Nutrients to stay fit?

 

micro-nutrientsMacro-Nutrients have always been given importance for health and athletic performance but, somewhere the micro-nutrients are completely left out.

“Vitamins and Minerals”, as the name comes from a Latin word “Vita” meaning life and “amine” as the biochemist called Casimir Funk(1884-1967) who learnt about them thought that they contained amino acids, hence the word “amine”.

“Minerals” are substances that are found naturally within the earth’s crust. Vitamins and minerals are the micro-nutrients, as they are measured in milligrams or micrograms. Vitamins are called “essentials” as the body cannot produce them, they have to be consumed through our food or through the dietary supplements to get them adequately. Vitamin and minerals play a very important role in metabolism of carbohydrates and fats which are used as fuel by the muscles. They are also involved in repair and building of muscles after a training session.

For everyone who trains hard in the gym,the energy metabolism and protein synthesis is absolutely important, these functions are driven by the “metabolic enzymes”. Metabolic enzymes are substances that carry out loads of functions in the body for reproduction and replenishment of the cells. Pancreas  are the primary organs that produce and release these metabolic enzymes. These enzymes are also responsible for flushing out toxins from the body and also producing energy from the nutrients that we consume.

One of major causes of wrinkles, bone loss and illness in elderly people is the inability of the pancreas to produce these metabolic enzymes due to ageing.

These metabolic enzymes require coenzymes which will initiate and aid in the function of  enzymes. The B vitamins serve as the coenzymes that helps in conversion of food into fuel and energy production.

The various B complex vitamins like the Thaimin (B1) and Niacin(B3) not only help in conversion of nutrients into energy but, Niacin also helps in manufacturing hormones and regulate the cholesterol.

Riboflavin (B2) and Panthothenic acid (B5) helps in production of energy and producing red blood cells in the body. Pyroxidine (B6) is specially important for those, crazy for muscle building and body building as this vitamins helps in protein building and strengthens the immune system.

Biotin (B7), Folic acid (B9) and Cobalamin (B12) again help in conversion of nutrients into energy. Cobalamin helps in keeping the red blood cells healthy thus enhancing their ability to carry oxygen to the cells.

Important to note Biotin (B7) deficiency is generally found in people who consume raw eggs, the egg whites contain a protein called the avidin which binds with Biotin and stops its absorbtion, cooking the eggs deactivates the avidin .As well as, consuming raw eggs is risky as it results in serious health problems like diarrhea and vomiting due to presence of a bacteria called the Salmonella. So all those “Rocky Balboa” fans, need to watch out before gulping a pitcher full of raw eggs.

Vitamin A,C and E are of equal importance for a exercising indiviual. Exercise leads to development of Reactive Oxygen Species(ROS) or commonly known as the free radicals. ROS is a phrase used for free radicals produced by molecular oxygen. The production of oxygen based radicals (ROS) is harmful for all the aerobic species. These oxygen based radicals develop even during normal aerobic respiration. But, while exercising, the demand for oxygen is increased for the cells, specially during endurance training and during the EPOC(excess post exercise oxygen consumption) which is post weight training. These ROS cause cell damage, drop in immune system, bone loss and muscle loss resulting to a drop in  performance. Some amount of Vitamin C and E is already there in the tissues, which is transfered into the bloodstream to handle minor stress while aerobic respiration. Having said that while exercising the stress increases tremendously as the demand for oxygen is very high, hence there is depletion of Vitamin C and E. These should then be immediately supplied through dietary supplements in adequate quantity. Vitamin A plays a crucial role not only as a antioxidant but also to improve vision.

Any physical activity depletes these vitamins and minerals, and the need for these vital nutrients increases. They have to be supplied through dietary supplements to achieve optimal performance in the workouts and to stay fit.

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