RICE, GOOD OR FATTY??

Good morning Friends,

Let's continue, our discussion regarding the benefits of white rice..

What exactly is white rice is??

     It is the name given to milled rice in which husk, bran and germ are removed. And the reason of this milling process is to increase the storage life and to prevent spoilage of the beautiful, tiny, pure, white grains :-)

But during the milling and polishing procedures, a few nutrients present in the white Rice are washed away, making it deficient in a few vitamins and minerals and fibre. But mostly white rice is again enriched with the lost nutrients upto some extent.

I have seen many statements mentioning that white is "empty calories" which is absolutely rubbish!!

Though it might  add on a few calories compared to brown rice, it is for sure not empty calories.

We all need approximately 60% of carbohydrates for our daily living. And White rice being a staple diet of nearly half of the world's population, it will happily provide you the required amount of carbohydrates for your body, so that you may never feel energy deprived. And being so versatile and widely and economically available White is Rice is the best.

As few nutrients are lost during the polishing process, you can add vegetables, legumes, along with the rice and make it a perfect meal with all the required nutrients. And this is no new rocket science, instead it is what we all have been taught by our ancestors that  have to eat Rice along with Dal, vegetable curry, a Roti, a Pickle, few freshly cut veggies, a cup of curd- A COMPLETE PLATE NUTRIENTS :-)

And let me tell you friends that Rice has no fat, no sodium, no cholesterol which is again a fantastic truth that we all can happily eat rice without any guilt. If any of you can remember that rice water has been used to treat few infections and even tummy problems in ancient times, proves that Rice is something special and really important for us.

Recent research studies have shown that rice has resistant starch and it takes sometime to digest and will slowly breakdown and gives energy.

But just look at the  portion of rice you guys eat and let it not exceed more than a small bowl each time you eat, that makes it a small bowl of rice in lunch and a small bowl of rice for dinner too..

Being a clinical nutritionist, I've heard most of my clients say they that they stop rice for few days and suddenly they crave for rice and start binge eating rice. Instead eat rice daily in small portions and you will have double dhamaka:-) BOTH ENERGY AND A MENTAL SATISFACTION OF EATING A FULL MEAL :-)

Good day, Friends!!

MIXED VEGETABLE RICE

Hi Friends!!  A big Hello after a long time. I was actually very busy with our new venture, and could not update my blog posts regularly. And here I'm back with the same energy and enthusiasm to spread the healthy information in all the foods we eat normally everyday.

So, Dear Friends, today's post is all about the staple food of Asians 'WHITE RICE'. Also the main food source of nearly half of the world's population. 

I was just wondering that, when rice is the major food source of many people around the world, since ancient times, and where the Asians usually had a low incidence of Diabetes mellitus comparitvely,  why is Rice becoming unpopular slowly, especially WHITE RICE. 

If anyone have noticed that the commercially prepared baby food is Rice and guess, why !! It is the most easily digested, less-allergenic and obviously gives energy to your little bundle of Joy:-)

So being such an important food, how can everyone start neglecting or blaming the staple food which is the main reason for all our energy and livelihood!! 

A point to think, Right!!

You guys might be wondering that I'm saying all about "WHITE RICE" but the image I posted doesn't look white.. Isn't it. I just made a simple mixture with white rice and vegetables and tossed them in a small amount Ghee along with a pinch of salt, turmeric, and few spices which will add not only a good flavour and taste to the bland white rice but also adds a lot of nutrient value to the boss of foods:-) Just felt like using the term "BOSS" for rice, what say friends!! IS IT APT FOR IT?? DROP IN MY COMMENT BOX, WHETHER THE TITLE BOSS SUITES RICE:-)

Let's continue in detail regarding this topic in my next post. Till then "eat healthy and wisely"

YOGURT/DAHI- HEALTHIEST SOURCE OF CALCIUM & VITAMIN-D

Curd is one of the best food with superb awesome properties.


Being a product of milk it is the richest source of both calcium and Vitamin D. And guess what, Curd is far ahead of its parent product(Milk) , when it comes to nutritive facts. Milk is known for its high fat content, whereas curd has a lesser fat content compared to milk. 

Even the lactose intolerant people, can happily enjoy the pure milk product "Curd" as the lactose is broken down in the process of fermentation of milk to curd and thus suites the "Lactose intolerant" people too :-) That's cool of curd!! Isn't it friends !!

Fermentation is a wonderful natural chemical process and fermented foods have a fabulous property of forming good bacteria in stomach, the so called "probiotics"

Eating your daily dose of curd helps in preventing vaginal yeast infection, as the lactic acid in curd has powerful anti-fungal properties. So all the ladies over there, just don't ever miss your daily cup of curd. Eat atleast twice or even once is ok, but never miss out eating curd. Though you all may be busy in taking care of your whole family, you should take care of yourself first, so that you will be perfectly fit & healthy to take better  care of everyone around you :-)

Curd is loaded with minerals and vitamins. Curd is one of the richest source of calcium obviously being a product of milk. Thus eating curd will help you to have strong teeth and strong bones. 

Curd is even rich in protein, therefore good for all, helps in building your muscle strength too.  Curd has other minerals like Phosphorus, Magnesium, Potassium, Zinc, Sodium and Vitamins like A, D, B12, E.

Curd has another fantastic property of maintaining the acidity and alkalinity of digestion, I mean, Curd maintains the pH of the digestive system. Ha, here again comes the known fact, followed since our ancestral times, which is, whenever anyone is suffering from acidity, don't you guys remember your elders advising you to have a glass of butter milk or sweet lassi or just plain curd or curd rice. Curd thus acts a fantastic natural antacid!!

Let me tell you another fact that curd even acts as a Aphrodisiac and even yogurt helps in relieving the hangover..

Did anyone ever think why should we eat a cup of curd or curd rice only in the end of our meal?? I even don't know but let me guess over here, as curd helps in absorption of most of the nutrients in the food we eat I guess that might be the reason we eat it at the end, so that what all we eat are properly absorbed, especially the nutrients. Nice logic :-) What say friends!!

Good day.

CHERRIES

Here comes the Cherry season :-) How many of you are aware of the cherry season ??

MAY-JULY..  National Cherry day is celebrated on July-16th

Cherries have a very short peak season, and cherries are known to have a short shelf life just like strawberries. That is you have to finish of the fruit in maximum 2 days, otherwise you just have to discard the fruit as it will lose all the nutrients and even get rotten.

Not only do they look beautiful, attractive, cherries are power house of nutrients and full of antioxidants, and in fact they are known to have highest content of antioxidants. Commonly termed as "Dessert Fruit" Cherries are delicious in taste.

DIABETES : Cherries are "YES" for Diabetics, as they have a low-glycemic index(22) compared to other fruits.

INSOMNIA( lack of sleep): How many of you find it difficult to sleep well?? A handful of cherries may help you. As Cherries are a good source melatonin, which has a calming effect on your nervous system.

MUSCLE ACHES: Got to see many cases, complaining of post work-out muscle pain!! Due to increased awareness of fitness regime, most of the people attend gyms, and they do take care of their food too, like increase in the protein intake to cope with the muscular training exercises, but in order to reduces the muscle aches instead of popping a pain killer, better to have natural diet which acts as a natural pain killer, and anti-inflammatory effects. Cherries will serve you in this matter. Cherries  act in the same way as the pain killer drugs act.

GOUT: Cherries also help to prevent or reduce Gouty arthritis, Osteoarthritis etc..

ALZHEIMERS DISEASE: Obviously, Cherries serve to increase your memory power, as they have the maximum amount of anti-oxidants, thus prevent the incidence of Alzheimer's disease.

JET LAG: Cherries can be your close friend in case you are suffering from jet lag after a long flight journey :-)

HYPERTENSION: The good amount of Potassium maintains the heart rate and blood pressure. Phytosterols in Cherries controls the bad cholesterol levels in the body.

Cherries are also rich in fibre, Vitamin C, antioxidants like Anthocyanins, Cyanidin, Quercetin, Phytonutrients, Vitamins, Minerals like Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Potassium, Iron etc.

Cherries are known for their alkaline content and thus keeps our body at a perfect balance by maintaining the pH.

A half cup of cherries thrice a week will keep you healthy :-)

Before you hesitate to buy the Cherries, thinking they are a bit costly compared to other fruits, just compare the price of Cherries with the Pizza or any Junk food which are empty calories.

Invest your money not only in Real estate, Shares, Gold, or whatever but also in good natural, healthy food that will keep you healthy forever so that you can enjoy each and every moment of life :-)

GOOD DAY :-)

CAUTION!! NEVER REHEAT NOR REFRIGERATE THESE FOODS !!

A very good morning Friends..

In continuation with my previous blog post, regarding reheating the refrigerated food, I would like continue mentioning certain foods that we daily eat, but are not aware what foods may be toxic if we store and reheat again and again for 2-3 days.

1. MUSHROOMS: Being a very healthy vegetable, Mushrooms are very sensitive and delicate and should be treated with great tenderness:-) Once you prepare the yummy Mushroom curry or mix in your veggie salad, you better finish it off in one stretch. The reason is the good amount of protein present in Mushrooms will undergo degradation and may even cause serious digestive or heart problems. So, Beware Friends, whenever you cook this pretty umbrella shaped cute, tender vegetable, try to limit the quantity you cook.

2. BEETROOT/SPINACH/CELERY : These super foods which are rich in antioxidants, may turn carcinogenic(foods that cause cancer) when stored in refrigerator and reheated. The nitrate content in them is the cause of the toxicity of these vegetables.

3. POTATOES: These are one of the most common foods used extensively world wide and I guess even few states use potatoes as their staple vegetable. Easy to prepare, handy and always available in the kitchen, tasty and kids friendly vegetable with a reasonable price and so on....Potatoes have to be served immediately after cooking and in any case the meal is delayed the potato curry should be placed inside the refrigerator after 2 hours of cooking. In case left outside more than that, the Clostridium botulinum bacteria tend to attack the tasty recipe of potato and then start producing spores which are the main cause of Botulism. And theses spores are resistant to heat, so there will be no use if you reheat the curry.

4. EGGS : Hmm..Eggs we all know that eggs ( I mean boiled or cooked eggs) should never be refrigerated. The reason behind this is that the protein power house in eggs will be disrupted and deteriorated when stored after cooking and again reheating, so if ever you happen to cook more, better donate to poor and needy :-)

5. RICE : Even boiled rice also is normally not refrigerated, and it is a good practice. If any of you guys remember your olden days that all the vegetable curries used to be cooked first and then the rice would washed thoroughly and cooked and served immediately hot!! And most of the elders even now prefer to eat only hot rice, compared to the new generation who usually just reheats the rice once again in a microwave oven before eating or else jus eat it cold. Hmm.. Even I used to do the same :-( But according to the Food Standards Agency, the longer the rice is kept outside to room temperature, the more favourable it becomes to toxins. And the bacterial toxins in turn will cause vomiting, diarrhoea etc..  So better to cook rice just an hour or even lesser before you eat. This will help you to be healthy :-)

6. SEAFOODS: Cooked Sea food also is not recommended to be stored for longer periods in the refrigerator and reheat before eating.

7. PROTEIN RICH FOODS: Many protein rich foods may also be harmful to your body upon refrigerating and reheating, as the storage tends to break down the proteins in the foods which no longer may be useful building blocks for our body, instead certain protein degraded products are very hazardous to our body.

8. CHICKEN : Another protein rich food, commonly cooked yummy and tasty and tempting which mainly prevents us from donating the super spicy chicken curry to anyone, instead store it in the refrigerator and eat it in the next 2 days ;-) I guess this happens in most of the households :-) But Chicken being rich in protein tends to be degraded and even the quality of the chicken nutrients, will reduce upon storing, so no point in eating a tasty but not so healthy, low-nutritive food. In worst cases the stored chicken may also be the result of many stomach infections and may disturb your daily routine unnecessarily. SO EAT FRESH AND STAY FRESH :-) 

Take care dear Friends,
GOOD DAY :-)

REHEATING OF FOOD FROM REFRIGERATOR

Hi Friends,

Good Morning,

 With increased career goals and a strive towards a better life style, I feel we all are neglecting our health.

Today, let's see a few interesting notes about how healthy it is to reheat the food kept in the refrigerator and enjoy a  meal without any strenuous effort ;-)

Reheating the food is quite common in all households irrespective of place of origin. 

Reheating can actually be done for one time.  And the most important thing is that, all the foods should be kept immediately in the refrigerator after 4 hours of cooking(if you want to preserve the foods).  What exactly happens is, if we leave the food on the dining table for hours together, we are indirectly inviting the germs,(Bacteria, Virus, Fungi etc..) to come and have the food ;-) and slowly they will start multiplying in the left over food and expand their colonies !!

In order to kill the dangerous bacteria and even their spores,  the US FDA advises to boil  the food for at least a minute at 150 degrees or even above temperatures.

Reheating actually reduces not the only the quality but also the taste of food particles. 
In any case of time issues better reheat the food only once and also thoroughly and eat the reheated food immediately. 

If still food is left over, please donate to poor people around you, no need to call fancy numbers and wait till they come and pick your food,  just look around and donate your left over food if any, to the needy, whom you will find many around your house or locality.

In this way you will have two benefits, i.e., you will be prevented from the toxic effects of stored food and instead if you donate, that will help many poor people to fill their tummy:-) and a huge self satisfaction which is worth millions :-)

The other way to prevent all the reheating process is to just cook small quantities each time.

There are certain foods which are strictly not to be stored and reheated which many of us are not aware and I shall share the list of those foods in tomorrow's newsletter :-) 

Till then, EAT HEALTHY AND STAY HEALTHY :-) 

PASTA

Pasta a staple food of International cuisines, mainly for Italians, is considered as a traditional dish in Italy. Contrary to the common belief that Pasta have been introduced first by Italians, actually the Arabians were the ones who have introduced Pasta to Italy in 9th Century AD. Interesting Isn't it?? :-)

Pasta is one of the world's most accessible foods, World Pasta Day is celebrated in October. There is even a Pasta museum in Rome. That sounds something royal about Pasta !! 

Mediterranean is one of the famous diets and is known for its healthier side, and the soft, tasty, Pasta is an integral part of mediterranean diets. Pasta is an easy to prepare meal and easily attracts not only women, but also men and teenagers also and drives them to prepare this yummy, fast, instant as well as a HEALTHY dish. Just got to watch a TV commercial recently where a teenager boy prepares pasta to impress his girl friend;-) Cool.. Right!!

Now let's look at the Nutrient facts of Pasta: 

CARBOHYDRATE: As 60% of the energy for humans has to be derived from carbohydrates, we all should have enough amount of carbohydrates daily. But due to the recent increased incidence of metabolic diseases, many people are just giving a pause to have good amount of carbohydrates. But instead if you guys be a little smart enough to differentiate the refined carbs and complex carbs, it will be easier for all of you to eat full yet be healthy:-)

Pasta is an excellent source of complex carbs, but choose the Pasta prepared from whole grains, as refining of the whole grains washes out all the nutrients and  converts the complex carbs into simple carbs.

Pasta  has good amount of insoluble fibre in it and the speciality of insoluble fibre is, it increases the roughage of the stool, thus reliving you from constipation if any. Pasta has a low glycemic index and Diabetics can enjoy the extremely versatile dish happily.

Whole wheat pasta contains Carotenoids, Lutein, Zeaxanthin, folate, Zinc, Selenium, Manganese. Selenium is an important mineral and helps in protecting  cells from damage. Manganese is another wonderful mineral which helps in regulating blood sugar, and also helps in metabolising Carbohydrates.

Pasta is low in Sodium and also free from cholesterol so no worries :-) unless you over do the Pasta with excess white creamy sauces, cheese etc etc.. It is just like what happens to your face when you over do your make up, the same happens to your poor digestive system, when you over do your food. The only difference is we can see the change of over make up immediately but we tend see the effects over creamy food stuff, quite later.. 

So, instead of adding all unhealthy stuff, on to your healthy pasta, make it a healthy, nutritious meal by adding finely cut boiled vegetables, fish, chicken pieces, Olive oil, grated paneer instead of cheese, tomato which is rich in a splendid antioxidant called Lycopene, which has the magical power to repair damaged cells. In this way you have a complete meal enriched with carbs, fat and protein.

So a big YES to PASTA..When your kids crave for junk foods, instead of buying them burgers or pizzas, just say a few fascinating words of this wonderful, versatile dish and I'm sure they won't say NO:-)

GOOD DAY FRIENDS :-)