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April 16, 2015 By Jyoti Sawant 3 Comments

Herbs and Spices – Key to reducing your Sodium Intake

Most Americans eat too much sodium, and, as a result, more people are being diagnosed with high blood pressure. The average intake of sodium is 3,400 milligrams per day – more than double the 1,500 milligrams that the American Heart Association recommends!

By following a heart-healthy, low-sodium diet you can decrease your chance of developing high blood pressure and other harmful effects.

But, reducing salt doesn’t have to mean reducing flavor! Herbs and spices are great salt substitutes and add intense flavor to all kinds of dishes. Here are five common herbs and spices and quick ways to incorporate them into your meals.

*Basil

-It’s highly fragrant leaves and are used in a variety of foods, but basil is most commonly used as the main ingredient in pesto. Whenever you can, try to use fresh basil over the dried form for more intense flavor. Blend with garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese and pine nuts for a quick pesto sauce.

-Layer fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and basil leaves for a colorful salad. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

-Freeze in an ice cube tray covered in water to use in soups later on.

*Oregano

-The warm, aromatic flavor of oregano makes it a perfect addition to Mediterranean and Mexican dishes.

-Garnish your pizza with fresh oregano.

-Sautee with mushrooms and onions. ( if you have an allergic to Mushrooms you can use Bell Peppers)

-Sprinkle chopped fresh oregano onto homemade garlic bread.

*Rosemary

-The wonderful fragrance and flavor of rosemary goes a long way to flavor chicken, lamb, pork and fish dishes, as well as soups and sauces. Before using rosemary, give it a quick rinse under cool water and pat dry. Most recipes call for rosemary leaves, which can easily be removed from the stem. You can also add whole sprigs to season roasts and soups.

-Seasoned chicken and lamb dishes.

-Add to your favorite soups or stews.

-Puree rosemary with olive oil for a dipping sauce for bread.

*Turmeric

-Turmeric has a peppery, warm flavor similar to orange and ginger. It’s used most commonly in curry dishes and to color mustard.

-Add to egg salad to bring out the yellow color.

-Sprinkle on steamed green beans or cauliflower.

Use 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder in your smoothies to increase the antioxidant power.

*Ginger

-This spicy, aromatic spice adds great flavor to Asian stir fries and veggie dishes. You can buy fresh ginger in the vegetable markets.

-Add to lemonade for spicy kick.

-Mince fresh ginger and add to sauteed veggies or salads.

-Grate fresh ginger into hot water and a splash of lemon for an invigorating hot drink.

The more herbs and spices you add, the less salt you will need for flavor. By lowering your sodium intake, you can decrease your chance of developing high blood pressure and other harmful effects. Take care of your heart!

April 15, 2015 By Ami Shah 1 Comment

TRANS FAT-The biggest enemy of your heart

I have friends who binge all the time on deep fried chips/wafers.. Its their way to satisfy their hunger. I asked them if they were aware that of why these chips feel scrumptious and crispy. Their reply was who cares we are just happy that it tastes so good.

This is not the case with only my friends, most people never bother to find out what the chips is made of, what goes into make it so tasty and crispy. Instead of creating nutrition awareness, the gimmicks around it entice people and children to buy these crispies.

Nutritional labels are overlooked. Many people don’t know how to read the nutritional label and what do the fancy ingredients mean? Even if they know they will only look for major component such as carbs, proteins, fat what about the breakdown of these macro nutrients like sugars/fiber comes under carbs.

Likewise, saturated fats/trans fat/MUFA/PUFA is also part of the Fat group. These lip smacking wafers which most people and kids gorge on area red alert for your heart! That’s because of the TRANS FAT (Bad fat). Caution- It’s a major enemy of heart!

First let’s understand what is trans fat??

Most trans fat are artificially synthesized through an industrial process that adds hydrogen molecule to vegetable oil, which causes the oil to become solid at room temperature. This partially hydrogenated oil is less likely to spoil, so foods made with it have a longer shelf life. Some restaurants use partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in their deep fryers, because it doesn’t have to be changed as often as do other oils. These fats are used in making c akes/pastries/puffs/rolls, margarine, doughnuts/wafers/chip/butter/margarine etc which provides empty calories (only calories and no nutrients).

Trans fat are inexpensive and gives a desired texture and taste to the item. (yes, you got it right.. the secret behind all these irresistible things is TRANS FATS!).

What does this trans fat do in the body?

Trans fat gets deposited in the arteries making them clogged. Clogged arteries are a sign of heart disease; they increase your risk of both heart attack and stroke. Here’s how it works: Trans fats raise low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol levels. This contributes to the buildup of fatty plaque in arteries and lowering of your good (HDL) cholesterol levels. Eating trans fats increases your risk of developing heart disease and stroke. It’s also associated with a higher risk of developing type 2diabetes by increasing insulin resistance!

How can you limit your intake of Trans Fat?

Checking the nutrition label is very important.. When the Nutrition Facts label says a food contains 0 g of trans fat, but includes partially hydrogenated oil in the ingredient list, it means the food contains trans fat, but less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. The daily limit intake of trans fat should be zero. If you are buying any fod packet, please check the nutritional label for trans fat.

Here are some alternative to Trans fat:

Keep the usage of butter/margarine at bay. Instead use ghar ka desi Ghee. 🙂
Choose to eat foods that contain healthier fats, such as nuts ( walnuts and almonds), seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, watermelon, flax seeds), olives and avocados.
Opt for Rice bran oil, Oilve oil, Soyabean oil and mustard oil. They are a good source of MUFA (good quality fat)
Choose low-fat or fat-free dairy products and lean cuts of meat and skinless poultry. Keep red meat at bay.
Get plenty of foods that are naturally low in fat and high on fiber, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

So, next time when you grab a packet of chips or wafers, remember the above points.

April 13, 2015 By Parwage Alam 9 Comments

CRICKET and FOOT BALL—Your healthy path to fitness!

How often have you taken a cricket bat and ball or just a football and decided to go to an open ground and play with your group of friends? I am sure very often. Both these games that originated in England and is a world sport today is very popular and played both among children and adults across the world.

More so playing these games as a hobby is very cheap and also makes one healthy and fit. These sports help you develop muscles and burn calories while improving your coordination and stamina. Working on your coordination and stamina are important for this game.

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits that Cricket has to offer in terms of fitness:

Endurance and stamina – You need to have strong endurance and stamina as you have to concentrate and play for several hours.
2. Improved hand-eye coordination – Whether you are bowling, batting or Fielding, playing cricket will improve these skills.
3. Physical fitness – This involves short bursts of sprinting and throwing, no matter what your position, either between wickets when you’re batting, when you’re running up to bowl, or when you’re running after a ball in the field, which is good for cardio-vascular health..
4. With eleven players a side, you’ll make ten new friends and that’s healthy.

An interesting fact is that Cricketers for better performance play football to build their stamina and increase their fitness levels. Various international research papers indicate that men who played football for an hour-3 times a week had lower levels of blood fats, lower body fat, increased muscle mass and lower blood pressure than inactive men.

Benefits of Playing Football

Football has greater health benefits than jogging because it combines slow and fast movement with sprinting and this combination of fast, slow and sprint makes the heart work at different paces, which really helps one to control body fat and increases overall fitness. Playing football also releases a healthy level of endorphins, which act as mood stabilizers.

Playing football improves the coordination of your body, as the intensity and different range of movements involved in Football vary, including kicks, turns, twists and sprints, provide better overall exercise.

So forget the gadget games and keep aside your x-box. Gadget games will only reduce your life span and make you lead a sedentary lifestyle. Instead get your group together and shake your hands and legs playing cricket or Football in the outdoors. It will only increase your lifespan and make you more healthy and fit.

April 7, 2015 By Shimpli Patil 4 Comments

Body cleansers: Liv-kid!

Our body is well-equipped with 2 sturdy cleansers which work day in and day out to clean the dirt that we pollute our body with- Liver and Kidney! They are like colonial cousins, having one function common- body detoxification.

Liver and kidney are our body’s ‘care-takers’ who constantly strive towards keeping the body healthy by protecting it from the external invaders that intoxicate our body and make sure our body runs smoothly. Instead of reciprocating the good things they do for us, we end up troubling them even more by loading our body with more and more toxins.

Liver is the second largest organ of the body (after skin) and its primary function is body detoxification and secondary is fat metabolism. It keeps the body clear of junk which can otherwise pose a risk of diseases. Little do we think about liver’s state when we gorge on that pizza/burger or any other refined food and drinks (including alcohol). Sugar is the top most useless substance that is known to slow down the liver. Continuous exposure to junk/alcohol/drugs and medicines, makes our liver appear like a terrible porous sponge that needs to be wrung out.

You probably have a burdened liver if you have –

*A frequent headache

*Fatigue

*Poor concentration

*Allergies and rashes

*Itchy eyes,

*A bitter taste in the mouth.

While liver ensures effective excavation of toxins, kidney ensures efficient filtration of the by- products of the proteins and some minerals like sodium, potassium, etc which otherwise can pose a toxic threat to the body. Any glitches in kidney can affect its function of filtration, causing these substances to build up in body. Uric acid, creatinine, urea are few of these by-products which when accumulated in body can hamper our health.

Few early symptoms of a troubled kidney include-

*Blood pressure fluctuations

*Water retention (edema)

*Urinary problems

*Fatigue

*Skin rashes/itching

*Metallic taste in mouth (due to urea build up)

*Nausea and Vomiting

This requires a fix! Rather than wait for these symptoms to proceed into a full blown disease, we need to take some preventive measures to halt the progression.

A liver and kidney cleanse can sort it all out. A regular cleansing of the two will not even let you go through these off-putting symptoms, but in fact will make sure we keep these organs hail and hearty.

To flush these organs-

Stay off from animal products twice a week including eggs, chicken, red meat, seafood.
Up the fiber content of your meals through green veggies, nuts, whole grains- Ragi/ jowar/ whole wheat/ bajra/ brown rice and legumes.
Go fruity- Enjoy the natural colours through oranges, sweet lime, guava, pear, papaya, berries, etc. Cranberry, pomegranate, and blueberry juices are known to enhance kidney function.
Enjoy vegetable smoothies made out of beetroot, celery, carrots, cucumber.
Keep the enemies away- Saturated fats (bakery items, red meat, butter, mayonnaise, etc.), refined sugar and alcohol.
Go easy with caffeine (tea/coffee) as that’s another toxin liver and kidneys have to deal with.

Water is their best friend! 2 liters or 8 glasses are not enough to cleanse these burdened organs. 3-3.5 liters of water (12-14 glasses) is what we need to keep them sparkling fresh.

Regular flush out of liver and kidney will not only treat but, will also keep us miles away from headache, fatigue, abdominal discomforts, skin problems, etc. An added advantage of cleansing is, when the liver is freed of toxins, it reduces its efforts of detoxifying the body and it can then focus better on its next function of fat metabolism, resulting in a faster breakdown of fat.

Don’t just keep your body clean from the outside; take care of it from within too.