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A “ Delight Touch- Dairy foods”

 

Diary Products

“Milk”, just the word itself sounds comforting!

The entire world of food and especially that of milk is surrounded with emotional and cultural importance. Milk was our very first food. Now, we are a nation of milk drinkers with nearly all of us, infants, the adolescents, adults and even the aged have at least a glass of milk daily.

Milk is often regarded as being nature’s most complete food. It earns this reputation by providing many of the nutrients which are essential for the growth of the human body. Being an excellent source of protein and having an abundance of vitamins and minerals, particularly calcium, milk can make a positive contribution to one’s health as a whole.

Healthy eating is a top priority for many individuals. People eat food, not nutrients – however the combination and amount of nutrients in the foods we eat can greatly affect our health. A healthy, balanced diet is essential in optimising health and reducing the risk of disease.

ROLE OF DAIRY PRODUCTS:

Making simple alterations to our diet and lifestyle can impact our bodies greatly and our long term health.

A healthy, balanced diet or as we call the ‘Food Guide Pyramid’ is made up of five main food groups and milk and dairy foods are one of these.

Dairy is the term used to describe milk-based or milk-related products. The dairy foods milk, cheese and yogurt are a natural source of nutrients such as protein and calcium and they provide a quick and easy way of supplying these nutrients to the diet within relatively few calories.

Incorporating milk, cheese and yogurt into our daily diet can contribute greatly to our nutritional intake and status.

Milk, cheese and yogurt provide the following beneficial nutrients in varying quantities

Calcium – for healthy bones and teeth

Phosphorous – for energy release

Magnesium – for muscle function

Protein – for growth and repair

Vitamin B12 – for production of healthy cells

Vitamin A – for good eyesight and immune function

Zinc – for immune function

Riboflavin – for healthy skin

Folate – for production of healthy cells

Vitamin C – for formation of healthy connective tissues.

Iodine – for regulation of the body’s rate of metabolism (how quickly the body burns energy and the rate of growth

1 glass of milk alone can make a contribution to the daily recommended intake of many important nutrients for all age groups.

Consumption of dairy products has also been associated with numerous health benefits including the following:

Bone health

-Dairy products provide calcium, which is essential for bone growth and development..

Teeth

-Dairy products contain calcium and other tooth friendly nutrients, which help teeth, grow and keep them healthy.

It is the only drink -excluding water which is recommended by dentists to be safe to consume between meals. Milk and cheese are very beneficial for weaning babies and young children as they not only provide many of the nutrients required for general growth and development, but also offer good levels of the specific nutrients needed to ensure development and maintenance of healthy teeth

No Obesity:

Milk is also not a high fat product. Whole milk contains 4% fat, semi-skimmed milk contains 1.7% fat, 1% fat milk contains 1% fat and skimmed milk contains 0.3% fat.

Reduce Blood Pressure

Dairy products help reduce blood pressure. A diet containing fruit and vegetables, low-fat dairy products and low salt helps reduce blood pressure (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension: DASH diet).

The potassium, magnesium and calcium found in dairy products are all linked to healthy blood pressure.

Cardiovascular disease

Consumption of milk and dairy has also been associated with a reduced risk of suffering a heart attack-

Type 2 diabetes

Consumption of low fat dairy products has been linked to a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Hydration

Regular fluid intake throughout the day is essential to be well hydrated. Dietetic experts recommend drinking 6-8 glasses of fluid per day. As milk contains a high percentage of water, it is a useful vehicle for rehydration.

Eating habits

People who consume dairy products have better intake of nutrients than people who do not consume dairy products. Introducing dairy products at an early age helps establish good eating habits for later in life.

Dairy products, such as milk, yogurt, cheese and cottage cheese, contain essential nutrients and may offer health benefits. Dairy products are high in calcium and vitamin D, both of which help to maintain strong bones and teeth. Dairy products also contain potassium, which offers heart protection and may help to lower blood pressure. In addition, dairy products are high in muscle-building proteins.

Here is a list some of the available dairy products in the market.

  1. Butter
  2. Ghee
  3. Curd
  4. Cheese
  5. Cottage cheese
  6. Cream
  7. Buttermilk
  8. Lassi
  9. Condensed milk
  10. Processed milk powder.
  11. Ice-creams. And many more.

Well, a lot of variations and innovations can be incorporated with few of these items in our day to day life which eventually will enhance our lifestyle .We can split its intake in our daily meals, with a controlled portion size.

Our breakfast which ideally should be “king size” can comprise of many different variations of dairy products so as to remove the boredom and also from nutritional point of view.

Few examples of dairy products which can be introduced in breakfast are: Porridge, cottage cheese pancakes, scrambled cheese, whole wheat cottage cheese naan, cheese dosa whole wheat toast with butter, whole wheat vegetable cheese sandwiches, cheese omlette.etc.

For mid-mornings we can include buttermilk or lassi or low-fat cream mixed with fruits (lesser the amount of cream.)

Well for our main meals, we have abundant options. We can include paneer both (home-made and processed) prepared in various forms. Right from sauté paneer to traditional style, from Chinese to sizzlers.

Next we have the most credited options, that is “raita”. A  combination of curd with different vegetables or fruits (with or without seasoning). Preferably unflavoured curds are the best.

We can also make different recipes of curd –fruit salad. .

Another variety is ghee-which is widely used in Indian cuisine. A slight dash of it enhances the flavour and aroma of any vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.

Dairy products are cherished by the health organizations as an essential food for bone health. But, not all dairy products are the same. Essential is the sugar content in it.

However, our health and vitality depends not only on how much dairy products we consume but, also important is their quality. Like the old Indian adage goes, ‘you are what you eat’.

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7 Minute Workout

chair-dips-easy-women

Most of us are busy these days with no time left in hand to do regular workouts or any other daily activities. What do you mean by workouts? Spending an hour in gym or doing something on your own to be fit and healthy.

I have seen many people doing workouts in gym and spending hours there but, is it really worth it?

Getting into shape does not require spending hours in gym, FAD diet plans or using state of the art equipment. In fact, our own bodyweight is all you need to effectively exercise and achieve the shape you want. Bodyweight training works and it is inexpensive and convenient too. Let’s not make Work pressure as our excuse and find out a time either in the morning or evening for just 7 min workout.

7 min workout is a high-intensity interval training workout that includes prolonged endurance training which provides many of the fitness benefits in much less time. It directly targets the overall fitness. It helps in increasing metabolic rate. While doing the workouts your body releases the endorphin which helps to reduce stress.

This workout does not require equipment and you can use your own body weight, a chair and a wall, etc.

To burn the most amount of fat in the shortest amount of time, the following moves are best-

  1. Jumping Jacks- This classic cardio move is a great way to warm up and it beneficial for heart and lungs. It improves strength and endurance, increases the metabolic rate and burns calories.
  1. Wall Sit- Who needs a chair when there’s a wall? Wall Sits are great in working out the two groups of muscles in your thigh. Repetitions of Wall Sits would naturally give you thighs that can withstand prolonged strenuous activities.
  1. PushUp – Doing Pushups allow you to provide a full body workout, allowing you to access many muscle groups at once. You can work the quads, hamstrings, calves, chest, shoulders and arms all at the same time with a few pushups. You will notice that performing push up reps regularly will help you get a more toned chest, shoulders, forearms, upper arms and wrists. It stimulates the metabolism and blood circulation, allowing you to burn more calories throughout the rest of your workout.
  1. Abdominal Crunch – Crunches works on the rectus abdomen muscle. It is mainly just a core working exercise and burns less calories comparatively but, they move in a controlled manner, flexing and releasing the core muscles thus helping to build the abs.
  1. Step up onto Chair – This exercise is great for targeting your quad and gluteus maximus muscles, giving you strong, powerful legs.
  2. Squat – Squat exercises are great for a total lower body workout. They effectively work most of the major muscle groups of the butt, hips and thighs. Squats are also a versatile exercise. Squats engage the core muscles of the body. The result is a tighter, flatter abdomen and a stronger lower back.
  1. Triceps dip on Chair – It is a triceps-strengthening and a most effective body-weight exercise. Dips target your triceps, the muscles on the back of your upper arm.
  1. Plank – The plank exercise helps to strengthen midsection, upper-body and lower-body muscles along the front of your body. Planks also strengthen inner core muscles that support your joints. It helps in reducing belly fat, reduce back pain. At a time, it works on all your core muscles.
  1. High Knees running in place – This is a nice warm-up. It is a great practice for runners and athletes to improve running form and develop lower body muscles. It also enhances your strength, speed, balance and flexibility. It provides you more energy, burns calories, builds muscles and enhances blood circulation.
  1. Lunges – The lunge is an easy-to-learn, safe and incredibly effective exercise. Lunges target the quadriceps, but involve additional muscles, including the glutes, hamstrings, calves and core muscles, making them an important exercise for toning the lower body.
  1. Push up and rotation – This exercise is great for building shoulder stabilization and strengthening your entire core. Don’t let your hips drop when you go into side rotation. Try to keep everything in a straight diagonal line throughout.
  1. Side Plank – It works your entire core, but particularly targets an often weak muscle called the quadratus lumborum. It helps to reduce risk for lower back pains. It improves your balance and structure.

The exercises should be performed in rapid succession, allowing 30 seconds for each with 10 secondss rest in between and proper warm up and stretching required.

Here you have to give only 7 mins to your health which is equal to 0.5% of your day to your body and you are done with your workouts.

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WORKOUTS IN A 10 SQUARE FEET AREA

 

burpeeOne of the biggest reasons for not exercising is largely due to lack of time and not being able to make it to the gym. Reasons could be varied such as dislike to visit the gym and lift weights, especially for women. Well, it’s not necessary for you to go to the gym, you can work out at your own home, office cabin or at any place which is just no more than 10 square feet in measurement.

Yes , you heard it right. You can do your complete body workout in just 10 square feet area. Let’s have a detailed look at the different types of training you can do in a little place.

  1. You can do aerobic (cardio) exercises with your own body weight and also with a very basic equipment like a skipping rope.

You can do exercises like jumping jacks, mountain climbers, burpees, high knees, spot jogging, spot jumping, hot feets etc. These are few of the very basic and effective exercises to raise your heart beat up and build cardio vascular strength. Per session you can select 3-4 exercise as a part of the session and can do each exercise for 15-20 seconds and then take 5-10 seconds of rest between each exercise.

  1. You can do strength training with your own body weight or basic equipment like resistance tube or a pair of dumbells or barbells. You can do free hand body weight exercises like squats, jump squats, wall squats, push-ups, supported push-ups (on your knees), tricep dips on a chair or on the floor, leg raises , lunges, leg extensions on chair. Also with a pair of dumbbell or barbells or with resistance band you can do bicep curls , triceps extensions, shoulder presses, rowing , squats, lunges etc.
  2. You can do a specific core workout session which includes exercises to be done for lower back and abs. Core session is extremely important. Exercises like back extension, superman raises , child pose, cat & camel thrust , pelvic raises will strengthen and stretch your lower back. On the other hand, exercises like crunches, bicycle crunches, leg raises, scissor kicks, flutter kicks, planks, side planks etc. will work on your abdominal muscles.
  3. You can do stretching exercises, yoga, power yoga and different types of breathing exercises. Stretching exercises, Yoga, power yoga and breathing exercises will improve your flexibility and burn fats as well. Yes, that’s right. Oxygen burns fats, so the more you focus on breathing exercises the more you burn fat and keep your cells healthy by providing oxygen to your body.

These are the exercises which you can do in a very small place like 10 square feet area and, can still focus on your overall fitness by improving strength, stamina and flexibility. You can plan it well according to your schedule and do each of these variety exercises at least once in a week.

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Red Signal to Excess-Part 2 – Moderation is key to Good health

eat in moderation

In Part 1, we saw how good things in excess can adversely affect our health. In this follow up blog, I talk of bad things in excess, which is also not right.

Let’s take a look at some of these bad things in excess and how it could be detrimental to our health.

1) Excessive consumption of junk/processed foods: Fast food means food that can be made and served quickly. These junk foods are mostly processed, containing large amounts of refined carbohydrates, added refined sugars, added salt (sodium) and bad quality fats. They are high on calories but, minimal on nutritional value. Eating junk/processed foods instead of fresh, whole, nutritious food has many adverse effects on the body. Junk foods and drinks are packed with refined sugars which cause insulin spike gradually leading to insulin resistance and Type- 2 diabetes.

The empty calories just go easily go into the body fat store leading to obesity which can further give rise to severe health issues like heart problems, respiratory problems, etc. The trans fats in the junk foods, increase the LDL cholesterol levels and subsequently decrease the HDL cholesterol levels. Lot of salt (sodium) causes water retention, high blood pressure and enlarged heart muscle. Too much sugars cause acidity which destroy the tooth enamel causing dental cavities. MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) found in processed foods create stomach distress. Some of the artificial colors and preservatives used in processed foods are found to be carcinogenic (cancer causing). Drinking too much of soda can leach calcium out of the bones making them soft and brittle. Also, the aluminium soda cans are inwardly lined with an epoxy resin called bisphenol A (BPA) which protects the metal can from the reaction of acids in the sodas. This BPA is found to be disrupting normal hormone functioning that can lead to obesity, diabetes and reproductive cancers.

2) Excessive alcohol consumption: It is no big secret that alcohol consumption has no good effects but, chronic heavy drinking has many bad effects. Researchers have found alcohol to be linked to more than 60 diseases. Alcohol can cause liver cirrhosis. Alcohol is empty calories so, can cause unwanted fat storage in the body. Alcohol disturbs the working of the sympathetic nervous system leading to high blood pressure, heart problems, stroke and kidney disease. Heavy drinking can cause gastritis (stomach irritation), inflammation of pancreas, decrease in immunity, nerve damage (alcoholic neuropathy). As people age, their brains shrink but, heavy drinking can cause faster brain shrinking leading to memory loss and other symptoms of dementia. Depressed people drink to ‘feel good’ but, in fact, drinking leads to further depression. Alcohol can aggravate the condition of gout. It can worsen the condition of an epileptic and cause seizures even in non-epileptic individuals. Chronic heavy drinking can lead to cancer of the mouth, esophagus, liver, breast, and colorectal region.

3) Excessive cigarette smoking/tobacco chewing: Nicotine is a highly addictive drug that alters the brain chemistry making it both, physically and psychologically addictive. According to AHA (American Heart Association), nicotine causes short-term rise in heart-rate, blood flow and blood pressure which, in a long term, can cause cardiovascular complications. Carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke causes fat buildup in arteries leading to hardening of the arterial walls (atherosclerosis). Tobacco smoking and chewing, both, can lead to oral and lung cancers. Smoking/chewing tobacco can also cause tissue damage in various organs of the body and dental diseases.

4) Excessive Tea/Coffee drinking: We all wish to have a cup of tea/coffee to kick-start our day. It’s not too bad to drink tea and coffee. It is the too much drinking that is the concern.

Caffeine is a natural stimulant found in coffee, tea, chocolate, yerba mate and certain herbal teas. Caffeine is generally a very safe stimulant. It improves alertness and is a mood enhancer. Usually, it is 200-300 mg of coffee that can be safely consumed per day (roughly 3 cups) but, this differs from person to person, depending on their own ‘caffeine sensitivity’. Too much coffee consumption can lead to symptoms like irritability, nervousness, headache, dizziness, insomnia, fever, increased heart-rate, increased thirst, stomach upset and muscle tremors. Same is the case with teas. A cup of hot tea in the morning will boost your energy for the day where as a cup of herbal tea at night will help you relax. Tea contains lesser amount of caffeine than coffee but, there are side effects of having too much of it.

Drinking too many cups of tea in a day can lead to symptoms like restlessness, anxiety, disturbed sleep, skeletal fluorosis (a painful bone condition), yellow pigmentation of the teeth. Green tea is no less. Though healthy, if had too much, it can worsen the condition in people suffering from high blood pressure, anxiety and stomach ulcers.

5) Excessive stress: In this fast paced world, stress is become an inevitable part of our lifestyle. Our body reacts/adjusts to outward changes with physical, mental and emotional responses. This response amounts to stress. Stress is a part of our daily, normal lives. Our body is designed to feel and react to 2 kinds of stress; positive and negative stress. Positive stress is the one where the body prepares itself for a ‘fight or flight’ mode. Negative stress is the one in which the body is continuously facing challenges, without time for rest and recovery. As a result, stress related tensions build up. A person going through stress for a very long time without relief, can enter a stage called as ‘distress’. This distress is indicated by many physical symptoms like fatigue, headache, dizziness, disturbed sleep patterns, high blood pressure, stomach upsets. Stress plays a role in aggravating medical conditions like diabetes, blood pressure, heart problems, depression, asthma, anxiety, skin problems, gastrointestinal disorders, Obesity, Alzheimer’s disease. In many cases, chronic, untreated stress can also lead to accelerated ageing and premature death.

Lastly, I would like to end by saying, “too much of anything, is good for nothing”.

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