Healthy Eating at home

Healthy Eating at home

Involve the entire family in healthy habits: cooking at home, eating a variety of foods, and doing physical activity together.

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Eat healthy homecooked meals

 Eat healthy homecooked meals

Eat healthy homecooked meals - Whether it's you who's cooking, a family member, or house help, ensure that every one practises healthy cooking methods, and ingredients.

Ask any person who's lost weight the healthy way, and you will always hear about how healthy homecooked meals were a big reason behind it.

Use less oil, low salt, fresh produce, and you'll start seeing results in no time.

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Catchy names can influence kids to eat more vegetables

Catchy names can influence kids to eat more vegetables

The age-old parental struggle of convincing youngsters to eat their fruits and vegetables has some new allies. A new study has found that using attractive names for healthy foods increases kid’s selection and consumption of these foods.

Cornell University researchers studied how a simple change, such as using attractive names, would influen

ce elementary-aged (5-11yrs) children's consumption of vegetables.

In the first study, plain old carrots were transformed into “X-ray Vision Carrots.”

By changing the carrots to “X-ray vision carrots”, a whopping 66 percent were eaten, far greater than the 32 percent eaten when labelled “Food of the Day” and 35 percent eaten when unnamed.
The success of the changes is stupendous, and the fun, low cost nature of the change makes it all the more enticing.

In the second study, carrots became “X-Ray vision carrots,” broccoli did a hulk like morph into “Power Punch Broccoli” along with “Tiny Tasty Tree Tops” and “Silly Dilly Green Beans” replaced regular old green beans to give them more pizza.

“These results demonstrate that using attractive names for healthy foods increases kid's selection and consumption of these foods and that an attractive name intervention is robust, effective and scalable at little or no cost," Brian Wansink, lead author of the study said.

"This research also confirms that using attractive names to make foods sound more appealing works on individuals across all age levels."

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-18/us/33924658_1_green-beans-vision-carrots-vegetables

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World Alzheimer's Day 2012

World Alzheimer's Day 2012

Every year on the 21st of September, Alzheimer associations across the globe unite to recognize World Alzheimer's Day. Together, we are making small but important strides toward increasing awareness and combating the stigma. Alzheimer Disease International, the 'global voice on dementia', has given the theme of "Dementia - Living Together" to this year's World Alzheimer Day

The Alzheimer's disease is a progressive and irreversible disease which has millions of victim in every part of the world with at least two people getting the disease every three minutes. Almost ten percent of adults above the age of 65 are affected by Alzheimer's and it is believed that the incidence and the rate of disease will increase with age and time. 

 What is Alzheimer's Disease?

Alzheimer's is a degenerative disease of the nervous system where the patient starts to lose their memory and in later cases even show behavioral disorders and forgets their own identity. Dementia is the major symptom of Alzheimer's disease where the person loses the activity of the brain and the memory.Till now only symptomatic treatment are available for it and neither the reason behind the disease or its progression is clearly understood.

Nutrition and Alzheimer’s disease

Age and family history/genetics are major risk factors, but emerging research is suggesting that lifestyle factors including diet and exercise can also plan an important role in prevention. 

Here are a few other things you should consider.

Up your Vitamin E. Vitamin E is a very potent anti-oxidant and appears to play a role in staving off Alzheimer's. Research shows that those with the highest amounts in their diet  have a significantly lower risk of Alzheimer's disease. 

Top food sources include sunflower and safflower oil, nuts and seeds (almonds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts) and green vegetables including broccoli and spinach. Make sure to consume green vegetables with a little healthy fat to maximize the absorption of vitamin E.

Go for fish. Getting adequate amounts of poly-unsaturated omega 3 fatty acids found in fish is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease. DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which is present in larger amounts in the brain, appears to be particularly important. 

Low levels of DHA in the blood have been associated with worsening mental function. If you don't eat fish, take a fish oil capsule daily or eat 1tbsp of flaxseed or walnuts, almonds.

Move more. Moderate to heavy exercise can decrease your risk of Alzheimer's by up to 45%. Moderate exercise includes house work, climbing stairs, and sports like bowling and golf. And start early -- exercising in your teens can protect you later in life. 

Being fit has been show to decrease brain shrinkage, a common finding in dementia, and may help fight depression, which also commonly occurs in Alzheimer's disease patients. Aim for an hour per day, but every little bit adds up.

Spice things up.  All of us would be happy to know India has a much lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease, and many researchers believe it may be due in part to their extensive use of turmeric (a component of curry) in their cooking. 

Turmeric contains a powerful phytonutrient called curcumin which may help protect the brain from Alzheimer's disease in several ways. Research is currently underway to determine the optimal intake (very little taken by mouth actually gets to the brain) but consuming curry regularly along with a little healthy fat may help and certainly can't hurt.

 Make changes to your lifestyle today, and be consistent, to decrease your risk of Alzheimer's disease. All of the things mentioned above work much better for prevention than for slowing of progression or treatment.

Wishing you all a very Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganapati festival feast is synonymous with Modak. Lord Ganesha’s favourite food…Taste it and you know why!!!

A modak is a sweet dumpling popular in Western and Southern India. It is called modak in Marathi and Konkani, modhaka or kadubu in Kannada, modhaka or kozhakkattai in Tamil, and kudumu in Telugu.

The sweet filling inside a modak is made up of fresh grated coconut and jaggery, while the soft shell is made from rice flour, or wheat flour mixed with khava or maida flour. The dumpling can be fried or steamed. The steamed version, called ukdiche modak, is eaten hot with ghee. Nutritionally Modak is good source of carbs, proteins and easily digestable fats which come from coconuts.

Modak has a special importance in the worship of the Hindu god Ganesh; modak is believed to be his favorite food, hence is also known as modakapriya (the one who likes modak) in Sanskrit. During the Ganesh worship ceremony, known in India as Ganesh Chaturthi the puja always concludes with an offering of modaks to the deity and as prasad.

Wishing you all a very Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Did you know your body is constantly burning calories, even when you're not working out?

Did you know your body is constantly burning calories, even when you're not working out?

Did you know your body is constantly burning calories, even when you're not working out? And that watching television can actually lower your metabolism?

The body converts fat into energy, to fuel its functions and the calories stored in the body provide us with this energy. The level of fat-burning depends upon the type of activity being done. You burn more calories running around than just work

ing at a desk. Nonetheless, the body is like a machine which needs an inexhaustible source of energy to run. So even when you’re at rest, you’re still burning calories.

So don't be lazy bumps....even if u have a desk job or watching Tv...get up at frequent intervals for water break....gear up.....keep ur metabolism going.

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Eat with Awareness

Eat with Awareness

Eat with Awareness

In today’s world of a million distractions, many children or even adults are eating food while watching TV or playing on their computers. This habit can interfere with digestion, as the body is not primed to digest food when it is distracted. When the body is stressed, it diverts energy away from digestion and instead prepares to fight-or-flight.

Children and families should practice mindful eating around meal times. This habit will encourage the body to digest food that was consumed properly.

Chew your food well

Chew the food well

Chew until you can 'drink' each bite: 20 to 100 times!

Good digestion begins in the mouth. Especially for complex carbohydrates, which digest only in the mouth and the small intestine.The stomach acids DO NOT break down carbohydrates! 

The saliva that coats your food as you chew actually contains digestive enzymes that begin to digest your food before you even swallow it. The enzymes alpha-amylase and lingual lipase begin digesting carbohydrates and fats, reducing the amount of work for which the stomach will be responsible


If you don't chew the carbs (greens, salads, grains, and beans) not only do nutrients remain locked in the fragments, but these fragments create an environment in the colon that is conducive to digestive distress—bacterial overgrowth, gas, bloating, and slight pain in the belly. 

In fact, those symptoms are very common due to the way we eat: little chewing, on the go, multi-tasking.

Chewing also gives notice to the body that food is coming down, so the stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, etc., all get ready, and bloating is avoided. The enzyme Amylase in the salivary glands is responsible for digestion of carbohydrates in the mouth. Without chewing, Amylase secretion is poor, and healthy digestion is compromised. 

Carnivorous animals don't have to chew. In fact, they can't, as their jaws don't move side to side. They rip the food instead. They eat mostly fats and protein, which get digested in the stomach just fine.

Herbivores (like chimps, gorillas, horses, cows, giraffes, elephants, AND humans) have to chew. 

All herbivorous animals chew. Sometimes for hours. Have you noticed that? 

Except for us, humans. Somehow, we have ignored to observe nature and our obvious biology.