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January 7, 2015 By Mitali Ambekar Leave a Comment

CARBOHYDRATES’- Seven Engines of POWER SUPPLY

Carbohydrates is the first source of energy to the body. It is one of the most important major nutrients, which also means we need it in major quantity. Thus, recommended to have about 60% in our daily food intake. It has one of the best advantages to our overall health.

Provides Energy: Our body requires energy to do even simple activity like moving from one place to another and carbohydrates helps us in that. So whichever the activity is walking, running, playing a sport, working in office or writing a blog –all require energy.
Elevates mood: Carbohydrates help you release Serotonin in our body which in turn will elevate your mood and give you the feel good factor. Remember the feeling when you have a spoonful of Dal rice or Hot phulka with vegetable when you are super hungry, exactly the same feeling. You feel relaxed and calm.
Muscle Recovery: Talking about muscle doesn’t mean only sports person require them. We all have muscles in our body that go through wear and tear with our daily activities too. Thus, we all need this wonder nutrient to recover our muscles, as they need to restore their deposits in form of Glycogen( stored form of glucose)
Helps prevent disease: The fibre that comes with this carbohydrates help us prevent many diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension, Heart problems , Constipation and many more.
Weight loss: This point may grab your attention, as it really helps in losing your weight indirectly. When we have the much needed carbohydrates, the body will not take up protein as a source of energy to work, thus avoiding muscle loss and in turn keeping the body’ metabolism high.

Carbohydrate intake-> Protein Sparing-> Muscle intact-> Metabolism high-> Burn more fat -> Weight loss.

One more reason being, the slow release carbohydrates helps in slow release of insulin in body, which in turn can avoid weight gain.

Good Memory: Glucose is the key brain fuel, which comes from carbohydrates and various studies have also shown that people who have a regular intake of carbohydrates have a better memory than the ones who avoid it.
Fuel for fitness: Sports person, runners, people doing regular exercises, they all need carbohydrates as the first source of fuel before, during and after the activity. As the body will use it the most and they can’t afford to lose muscle as a source of energy. If the body loses a lot of muscle, the joint strengthening is compromised leading to injury.

There are various such benefits of carbohydrates which we miss by avoiding them in our daily intake. Carbohydrates have a bad name in weight loss industry, as they say excess of it will make you put on fat, well anything of that sort happens.

So my suggestion is do not avoid carbs. It has such an important role to play in our healthy and fitter lifestyle.

November 24, 2014 By Neha Morche 1 Comment

Wonders of Alfalfa sprouts

Many of us know and eat sprouts as part of our daily diet. But, did you know that there is something called Alfalfa sprouts? Alfalfa sprouts are derived from alfalfa seeds and is thin white thread like substance with a green tiny top.

These sprouts are considered all season’s sprouts and hence can be eaten 365 days.

Alfalfa is known for its tremendous health benefits such as being high in protein, calcium and other minerals, vitamins in the B group, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K.

Sprouting alfalfa seeds is the process of germinating seeds after which it becomes ready for consumption. It needs just water and a jar. Sprouting alfalfa takes three to four days with one tablespoon of seed which yields up to three full cups of sprouts.

Alfalfa sprouts reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer and Osteoporosis and symptoms of menopause. It lowers LDL (bad cholesterol ) while increasing HDL (good cholesterol )and also helps boost immunity and gut system.

Handy recipes to consume Alfalfa :

Alfalfa sprouts should be thoroughly rinsed under running water and drained before eating them.

*The rinsed alfalfa sprouts can be added to green salad or it can be layered into a lean turkey or chicken sandwich.

*You can also top your burger with these sprouts.

* Add them to a pita stuffed with hummus, tomatoes and bell peppers.

*Top a serving of pasta or bean salad with alfalfa sprouts to enhance the flavor

*Roast them for not more than 30 minutes to prevent wilting to add in salad.

Alfalfa sprouts are supposed to be consumed fresh. It can be refrigerated for maximum two to three days once you open the thin film on it. Avoid if it turns yellow in colour. It should be crunchy, white and fresh.

November 14, 2014 By Jyoti Sawant Leave a Comment

Is Sweating good for you? – Part 1

Sweating at the gym or while exercising in the outdoors is fine. But, sweating in the office or during a date is not so cool. Having pit stains while at a special dinner or having sweating palms while shaking hands is very unpleasant.

Every human being sweats-just not for the same reasons though or in the same amounts. Sweating, also known as perspiration is the production of fluids secreted by sweat glands in your skin. Perspiration is caused by multiple reasons like genetics, anxiety, high temperatures and also exertion from exercise.

Sweating is the body’s way of reducing its internal temperature to maintain a normal body temperature, responding to outside environment. To put it simply, it is an essential body process designed to help your body stay cool

One should go along with natures rule in summer or while doing a physical activity when it’s time to sweat. Ideally do not bear the heat by running the air conditioners thus compromising on the immune system and neglecting your health. But, some may wonder whether it is beneficial to encourage your body to sweat more for reasons beyond temperature control.

Every human being is born with anywhere between 2 to 4 million sweat glands. And the number of such glands you have will determine, in part, how much your sweat. While women generally have more sweat glands than men, men’s glands tend to be more active and produce more sweat.

An international newspaper had once published an article on Sweating and concluded that Sweating per se, provides no health benefits aside from preventing overheating. But, I believe that sweating does have health benefits. Here is a look at these benefits.

Sweat has many health and beauty related benefits, all for your good.

# Sweating can reduce your cholesterol and sodium levels thus improving cardiovascular health.

# Sweating helps the body regulate its temperature & cool down.

# Sweating helps the skin release toxins and heavy metals, such as mercury and lead.

# Sweat has some amount of antibiotics that destroys skin bacteria.

# Sweat unclogs skin pores thus improving your skin tone, clarity and texture. And also helps eliminate blackheads and acne.

# Exercise associated with sweat releases endorphins into the body, making you feel happier and less stressed.

Some international research has also indicated that people who exercise, and therefore sweat more have a lower risk of kidney stones.

Sweating is a natural and necessary mechanism occurring on its own with great health benefits. However, excessive sweating also called hyperhidrosis is not good. Just remember while normally sweat do not forget to stay hydrated to replenish what’s lost.

November 5, 2014 By Shimpli Patil 3 Comments

A Perfect 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!

CARBOHYDRATES’- Seven Engines of POWER SUPPLY

Wonders of Alfalfa sprouts

Is Sweating good for you? – Part 1

A Perfect Supper

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