Nuts Archives

October 9, 2018 By Navnee Garg 2 Comments

Navratri : Keep it Healthy!!

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India with its varied cultures, festivities abound. We just completed lord Ganesha’s festival and now Navratri, where we welcome Goddess Durga, starts from tomorrow, the 10th of October. With festivities come the problem of eating plenty and eating sweets. This Navratri let’s focus on eating healthy as it will help you detoxify your body and also cleanse your mind, leaving you with a great feeling.

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Here are some healthy tips to relish this season:

Prefer small meals and do not starve yourself. Binge on fruits, nuts and juices whenever you are hungry and try to stay away from the sweets, this will help you maintain the glucose levels in the blood.
Hydration is the key to Detoxification. Drink lots of water and fluids like coconut water, lemon water, juices, green tea and buttermilk.
Indulging in fibrous meals helps to reduce the carbohydrate intake. Combine carbohydrate-rich foods like potato, sabudana (Tapioca Sago) with fibre-rich vegetables such as spinach, capsicum, cabbage, tomato, bottle gourd etc. Also, prefer healthy cooking methods like roasting, grilling or baking over deep frying, this helps in avoiding excess fat/oil consumption.
Protein need not be missed, when Amaranth (Daliya) is in the Navratri Include milk porridge or Namkeen daliya (Salted oats) along with the meals to add protein to your plate.
Kuttu (Buckwheat flour) is an excellent combination of carbohydrates (70-75%) and protein (20-25%). Preferring chapattis over pooris will help to avoid acidity or indigestion.
Samak rice (Barnyard millet) is another energy dense option which can be included in any quantity.
Defeating sugar craving with fruit raita (yoghurt), apple kheer, dates, porridge or Samak rice kheer will keep you guilt free.
Healthy snacking can help you get the required vitamins and minerals. Binging on roasted makhanas (fox nut), mixed roasted nuts, baked chips, and roasted peanuts is always better than consuming the fried Navratri Namkeens which are available in the market.
Substituting sugar with jaggery or honey is also a great option.
Opting for skimmed milk over full crème milk will help keep calories in check.

HEALTHY OPTIONS FOR NAVRATRI:

BREAKFAST	MIDMEAL	LUNCH	TEA BREAK	DINNER
Dalia porridge	Coconut water	Grilled vadas with chutney	Green tea with mixed nuts	Paneer (cheese) tikka with vegetables
Fruits kheer	Lemon water	Kuttu roti, sabzi, raita and salad	Tea with roasted makhanas	Milk and fruits
Fruit shake with nuts	Fruit infused water	Baked sabudana Tikki, raita and veggies	Jasmine Tea	A bowl of vegetable and salad
Samak Rice Kheer	Fruit bowl	Samak rice with curd and veggies	Baked chips/ namkeen	Pumpkin and bottle gourd soup

Always prefer homemade meals and avoid “Vrat Special Thalis” (fasting food plates). It is a good way to avoid unnecessary oil and fatty foods. Have a healthy and fruitful Navratri this season and don’t forget to enjoy Garbha, as this dance form is an excellent cardio session.

We at GOQii wish you all a Happy Navratri.

May 31, 2018 By Trupti Hingad Leave a Comment

Best Brown Rice Recipes

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Brown rice is a powerhouse of nutrients as Ami shah has nicely explained in the blog. https://goqii.com/blog/secrets-of-brown-rice/ (for your reference). But, often the questions arises as to how to use it effectively and make it more interesting to eat as its nutty texture makes it tough to eat daily.

Today, I call all those reading this blog to wear the Chef’s hat and adorn our dining table with some of these yummy Brown rice recipes.

Mexican_Brown_Rice

Mexican Bean Rice

(1 portion)

Ingredients

Brown rice- ½ Cup cooked

Spring Onion- 1 bulb

Tomato- 1 in no

Rajma or baked beans- 1 Cup

Green chilli- 1 in no

Salt & pepper according to taste

Tomato ketchup- 4 Tsp

Vinegar- ½ Tsp

Oil- 1 Tsp

Method:

Heat oil in a vessel, sauté chopped onion bulb. Add Chopped chilli & tomato & sauté for 5-10mins. Add the cooked brown rice, baked beans and mix well. Add all other sauces & stir well. Garnish with spring onion greens & Serve hot.

methi brown rice

Fenugreek Leaves (Methi) Brown Rice

(1 portion)

Ingredients

Brown rice- ½ cup cooked

Methi (fenugreek leaves)- 1/2 bunch

Tomato- 1 in no

Black Gram (Urad dal) & Bengal Gram (Chana dal)- 1 tsp each

Whole pepper- 2 in no

Bay leaf- 1 in no

Onion- 1 in no

Green chilli- 1 in no

Salt & pepper according to taste

Tamarind pulp- 2 Tsp

Oil- 1 Tsp

Method

Heat oil in a vessel, sauté chopped onion, whole spices (masala) & the black and Bengal grams. Add Chopped chilli & tomato & sauté for 5-10mins. Add chopped Fenugreek leaves & tamarind pulp and mix well. Add cooked brown rice & stir well & cook for 10-15mins. Serve it with a chilled cup of curd.

Stir-Fry-on-brown-rice

STIR-FRIED BROWN RICE (1 portion)

Ingredients

Brown rice- ½ Cup cooked

Assorted veggies (Carrot, cabbage, broccoli, beans, capsicum)- 1 bowl

Spring Onion- 1 stalk

Green chilli- 1 in no

Salt & pepper according to taste

Garlic- 1 pod finely chopped

Ginger- a small piece chopped

Chilli sauce, vinegar, & ketchup- 1 tsp each

Oil- 1 Tsp

Method

Heat oil in a vessel, sauté chopped onion, chilli, garlic & ginger & chopped assorted veggies. Add all other seasonings & toss well. Add cooked rice & stir well & cook for 10-15mins.

Serve it curd.

Last but not the least—-THE DESSERT

brownrice Kheer

BROWN RICE Pudding (Kheer)

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked brown rice

250ml skim milk

2tbsp jaggery or stevia

1tsp cardamom (elaichi) powder

1cup nuts (Dates, raisins, dried figs)

Vanilla essence-1drop

METHOD:

Keep milk to boil in a pan, after it boils add jaggery/stevia and rice. Simmer until it cooks.

Turn gas off. Add cardamom powder, nuts and 1 drop of vanilla essence.

Keep in refrigerator to cool.

Serve chilled.

Enjoy making and eating these dishes. If you want to know where you can buy good brown rice? it is now available on the GOQii Health Store. For those who do not have the GOQii App, download now and check out the GOQii Health Store.

August 7, 2017 By Jayshree Dhabalia 1 Comment

Let’s understand Cravings

Three colorful green, pink and yellow tart cakes wrapped in measuring tape on white background, unhealthy lifestyle concept, studio

Food craving (defined as an intense desire to eat a specific food) is of interest because it is extremely common and because it influences obesity or nutritional status. It has also been suggested that food craving may be the evolutionary source for cravings of all kinds including cravings for drugs and alcohol. “Surveys estimate that almost 100% of young women and nearly 70% of young men had food cravings during the past year,” says Mercia Levin Pelchat, of Monell Chemical Senses Center in her published article ‘Food Cravings in Young and Elderly Adults’ in the journal Appetite*

As humans, we’re biologically wired to crave for Food. The more bad food we eat, the more our body will learn to accept and want them. We become addicted to highly palatable, energy dense food. Well, yes many of the food we eat today (ready made) are extremely addictive, and we are hardwired to crave them. Anything that gives us pleasure and offers relief, our body will want more and crave.

What food am I referring to?

Processed food. They are prepared with a combination of fat, sugar, and salt and provide very fewer nutrients.

Studies have found, highly processed food have the same effect on the brain as some drugs. It helps release feel good hormone which in turn helps to relieve stress temporarily.

What about those people who have food craving even without indulging in processed foods often? The answer for this could be due to missing micro nutrients from your diet, which causes you to crave for certain foods.

What’s the Solution to Carvings?

Let’s take a look at why we should be adding more veggies, fruits, and other unprocessed food to our diet.

I have covered here few very commonly reported cravings and deficiency associated with the same:

Food Craving	Bread
Nutrient Deficiency	Nitrogen
Nutritious food	Green Leafy Vegetables, Nuts, Seeds, Legumes, Grains

Food Craving	White Pastas, Cake, Pastries
Nutrient Deficiency	Chromium
Nutritious food	Onion, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cinnamon, Grapes

Food Craving	Crisps/Potato Chips, Salty foods
Nutrient Deficiency	Chloride
Nutritious food	Celery, Olives, Tomatoes, Kelp, Himalayan Sea Salt

Food Craving	Chocolate
Nutrient Deficiency	Magnesium
Nutritious food	Raw Cacao, Whole Grains, Beans, Nuts, Seeds, Fruit, Green Veggies

Food Craving	Fizzy/Aerated Drinks
Nutrient Deficiency	Calcium
Nutritious food	Broccoli, Kale, Sesame seed, legumes, mustard, turnip, greens

Food Craving	Coffee / Black tea
Nutrient Deficiency	Sulphur
Nutritious food	Cruciferous Veggies, Cranberries, horseradish, garlic, onion

Food Craving	Ice, Chilled water
Nutrient Deficiency	Iron
Nutritious food	Beans, Legumes, Dates, Black raisin, Jaggery, Spinach

Food Craving	Sweets
Nutrient Deficiency	Phosphorous
Nutritious food	Citrus Fruits, Green Leafy Veggies, Banana, Tomatoes, Black Olives.

As you can see on the table, a simple mindful inclusion of certain food does not only save you from lot more cravings and its ill effect but can also provide you with lots of nutrients and minerals.

So what will you choose?

*Appetite is an international research journal specializing in cultural, social, psychological, sensory and physiological influences on the selection and intake of foods and drinks. It covers normal and disordered eating and drinking and welcomes studies of both human and non-human animal behaviour towards food

April 21, 2015 By Vrushali Athavle 1 Comment

Body goes Nuts over Nuts

Here is your guide to Nut allergy: Dos and don’t’s

Nuts! Oh…they sure can cause trouble if you are allergic to them and growing number of adults and kids alike are allergic to them. I became more attentive to this problem when my 3 year old daughter experienced allergic reactions. The doctor identified the red rashes all over her body, as an allergic reaction to some food.

The doctor asked me to cut down on 8 foods namely eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shell fish, wheat and soy which accounts for about 90% of all the reactions.

So what type of food allergies are we talking about? It could be peanuts for one or tree nuts. (almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashew, Pistachios, hazelnuts).

Nut allergy is one of the most common types of food allergy in both children and adults. This allergy tends to last an entire lifetime, although about nine percent of children with a tree nut allergy and 20 percent of children with a peanut allergy eventually outgrow their allergy. On stopping the consumption of peanuts, the rashes never turned up, thus confirmed the nut allergy in case of my daughter.

The first thing that comes to one’s mind about having an allergy is, you picture non-stop sneezing , running nose etc. But, unlike an allergic dust or spring flower that many have, a nut allergy can cause difficulty in breathing and other serious issues including skin rashes etc. and could prove fatal at times.

Before we proceed towards, the symptoms, precautionary measures to take and substitutes, let’s quickly check out what exactly is a food allergy.

What is food allergy?

It is very important to know what is food allergy? People are seldom aware that one could be allergic to some food and that dust and flower allergies are not the only allergies that people may have.

The job of our body’s immune system is to identify and destroy the germs (such as bacteria or viruses) that make you sick. A food allergy occurs when this immune system wrongly identifies a harmless food as an allergen i.e a threat and attacks it.

When you come into contact with something that you are allergic to (an allergen), a group of cells in your body, called mast cells, release a substance called histamine. Histamine causes the tiny blood vessels in the tissues of your body to leak fluid which causes the tissues to swell. This results in a number of different symptoms.

The Symptoms may vary for person to person. Here is a list for you to go through. Basically the symptoms are divided into two categories-:

Mild symptoms which can be cured by medication

Rashes, swelling of the extremities, redness and tenderness, hivesm nausea, stomach cramps, vomitting, diarrheo and breathing difficulty.

Quick action: Antihistamines such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl) or loratidine (Claritin) can help relieve rashes and hives. Cold, wet compresses can also help soothe irritated skin.

Anaphylaxis: Life threatening

Constriction and tightening of airways, a swollen throat or the sensation of a lump in your throat that makes it difficult to breathe, Shock with a severe drop in blood pressure, Rapid pulse, Dizziness, lightheadedness or loss of consciousness

Quick Action: Emergency treatment is critical for anaphylaxis. Untreated, anaphylaxis can cause a coma or even death.

KEEP YOURSELF ALERT !!

A person with an allergy to one type of tree nut has a higher chance of being allergic to other types. Therefore, many experts advise patients with allergy to tree nuts to avoid all nuts. Here are few precautionary actions to need to take care of:

Avoid peanuts and tree nuts. This means we also need to avoid foods containing them like cookies, candies, ice creams, yogurts, sauces, Thai, Chinese and Indian dishes that often contain peanut and tree nut. One can have these without the nuts in them.
Read labels while you purchase foods from market. Keep at bay all the food products which say “may contain nuts” or “produced on shared equipment with nuts or peanuts”
Be very cautious in the kitchen while using the equipments. Knife, spoon or any vessel in which peanut or nut food preparation was used should be properly washed before using it again.
Inform about your allergy to everyone with whom you enjoy your food like your family, friends and colleagues so that they are careful while serving you food. When you visit a restaurant, be very careful to check the ingredient list or ask the manager about the foods served. Don’t feel shy and if they are not willing to share, better opt for some other restaurant. (Abroad restaurant menus do specify dishes that have nuts and warn anyone with nut allergy. But, in India we do have to ask and let the person know about your allergies)
Keep rescue medicines on you at all times — not in your locker, but in a pocket, purse, or bag that’s with you.
If your child is suffering from nuts allergy, inform this in their school.

Take care of your loved ones, by being extra careful of what they are eating. Make them happy by suggesting these alternatives such as sunflower seed butter or soy nut butter, hummus and nut free granola bars over peanuts and tree nuts.

Disclaimer: This blog is based on examples we have come across of people with Nut Allergy. To know if you’re allergic Please consult a doctor and do not go by your own judgement. An allergy test will confirm the allergies you have if any.