Glorious Garlic

Isn’t it hard to imagine cooking without garlic? A clove of garlic does wonders to your food, igniting and exciting your palate as no other herb can do. In fact, garlic is liberally used in western cuisine too. But did you know that besides its culinary properties, garlic is also a medicinal herb?

This herb was first used in ancient times by the Egyptians to treat wounds, infections, tumors, and intestinal parasites. No wonder they called it the great protector. Modern scientific research confirms these ancient uses of garlic, including its ability to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It is the sulfur-containing compounds of garlic that lend the herb its spicy aroma and are responsible for many of its healing properties. These compounds lower cholesterol by stimulating the release of bile by the gall bladder and by decreasing the production of cholesterol in the liver. In addition, garlic compounds gently lower blood pressure by slowing the production of hormones related to blood pressure.

Tips for Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates provide your body with fuel so that it runs smoothly. A diet which is rich in carbohydrates should include a variety of lentils, bread, and vegetarian dishes. Refined sugar, which is also high in carbohydrates should be consumed in moderation, as it is contained only starch and adds to your body’s fat content.

Here are some tips to minimize the consumption of refined sugar in cooked food:

• Use only the minimum amount of sugar, syrups or other sweeteners in the recipe. 
• Use sweet spices like allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, and herbs to flavor a dish, and then decide on the amount of additional sugar needed. 
• Add ripe fruit, and nuts for their natural sweetness and flavor, wherever possible. 

Tips for Reducing Fat

Your food can be both nutritious and delicious if you reduce the fat content in your food. This is not difficult, nor will it make your food taste bland, as is commonly perceived. Grilling, roasting, smoking, steaming, poaching, baking, and microwave cooking are excellent ways of cooking if one wants to reduce one's fat intake. Thus by slightly altering your cooking style, you will discover new and easy ways of reducing the fat content in your diet.

To moderate the amount of fat used in the kitchen, you have to realize the purpose it serves in a particular dish. It could be used to impart flavor to a dish, or to give it a rich sheen, or to prevent food from burning or to act as an emulsifying agent or preservative. Whatever the purpose, fat can be easily minimized from your diet.

The first step to reducing your fat intake is by trimming and discarding surface fat from meat. The skin of most poultry can be left in place for grilling, roasting, or sauteeing, but it is best removed just before serving because a lot of the saturated fat is concentrated in the skin. Another way to cut down on the usage of fat is while cooking. Let us see how one can cook food with

Five Tips for Healthy Eating

Eat to live and not live to eat. That, in a nutshell, should sum up your attitude to food and eating. Do you grab a bite whenever you have the urge to eat or forget to eat when you are too busy? Then it would be a good idea to think through these food rules to get the best out of your meals.

1. Eat regularly throughout the day including three main meals and at least two snacks. This will maintain your blood sugar levels at an optimum level throughout the day. If you miss meals, you will get low blood sugar at some stage. To make up for the missed meals if you go an eating spree that will raise your blood sugar levels. This will lead to a skewed up eating pattern. So eat little and often. Eating sporadically will also affect your metabolism. When you miss meals, your metabolism has a tendency to slow down. This happens because you're sending it messages that food is scarce, so it will attempt to get more from the food you do give it. A pattern of eating where you don't eat much during the day and then hog a lot at night will do just that. Excessive eating in one go will overload your digestive system, putting it in overdrive.

Feast on Fiber

Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

Are you one of those who stuff yourself silly with Popcorn and then feel guilty? Well, after reading this you can have all the popcorn that you want. Besides being the most wholesome cereal, popcorn is also non-fattening and high in fiber.

Fiber, also known as roughage, fiber is a component of food that is more or less indigestible and can be found in all fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Fibers can be either insoluble (the less digestible bran fiber) or soluble (cellulose fibers from fruits and vegetables). For good health, you need both types of fibers in your diet.

Fiber is important to your body because it helps with the proper functioning of the intestinal tract as it speeds the elimination of waste products. It is a natural laxative and alleviates constipation. Those suffering from constipation should have a rich fiber diet. In addition, a rich fiber diet prevents colon cancer as there is less exposure to cancer-causing agents to the intestinal tract.

Energy Balance

When you eat, you are taking in energy and when you work you are burning energy. When you burn exactly what you take in, you are in a state of energy balance. Energy balance is simply when energy intake is equal to energy expenditure. 

But do you eat more than you burn? Or burn more than you can consume? Then your energy balance leaves much to be desired. When your energy intake is equal to the needs of your body, bodyweight is maintained at a fairly constant level. This constant body weight is an index of energy balance in healthy adults.

However, when intake is consistently inadequate and is unable to meet the body’s need for energy, the fat reserves in the body make up for this deficit leading to a loss of weight. An underweight person has reduced the capacity for work, low vitality and low resistance to disease.

Food Exchange

Did you know that one medium size bannock (Chapati) is equal to one slice of bread, four Indian Marie biscuits and two tablespoons of cooked rice?

What it means is that all these four items have the same number of calories, proteins, carbohydrates and fat and in terms of nutrient composition can be substituted with each other. For instance, you can substitute a bannock for biscuits or rice. That would increase the number of calories. This is the food exchange system wherein foods in any one group can be substituted by a different food within the same group, differing in only the portion size. However, foods in one group cannot be exchanged for foods in other groups.

The Food Pyramid

Ever wondered what to eat, how much to eat and from which food group? There’s no better guide to help you achieve this than the food pyramid which ensures that you eat a balanced diet, through a proper understanding of what and how much to eat. The model shows which kinds of food should be eaten in greater amounts and which should be consumed in a relatively lesser quantity to accomplish a balanced diet. 

Each group of the food pyramid is important as it supplies us with some nutrient or the other, so don’t miss out on any group. At the base of the pyramid stands the Bread and Cereal group. These foods help in maintaining a diet which is low in fat but high in carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins and minerals and thus should be eaten more. Foods such as wheat, rice, flour, flakes, vermicelli, etc are included in this group.

What is a Balanced Diet

Balancing your meals can be tough. For a balanced diet requires you to eat all the nutrients in the right proportion to meet the requirements of your body. Carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals constitute the five main nutrients of the food. You get these nutrients from the food you eat. You need to know how to get the right amount of each -- either too little or too much can be harmful. When your body gets an adequate supply of these five nutrients in the right proportion, you are eating a balanced diet.

A balanced diet can be achieved by blending the different food groups: cereals and pulses, vegetables and fruits, milk and milk products and oils and fats.

Cereals & Pulses: Wheat and rice are the two commonly eaten portions of cereal. These should be taken in sufficient quantity as they are a rich source of protein and various other vitamins and minerals. 

Tips on purchasing dairy products

As a child, one of your strongest memories is probably that of your mother telling you to finish your glass of milk. If you didn’t like it, chances are that either you were forced to gulp it down or else mummy added some Bournvita to make it yummy.

As you grew up, you probably realized that your strong bones and shiny pearls are a result of those umpteen glasses of milk you consumed. Yes, milk and milk-based products are an important part of our diet, whether as a child or as an adult. They feature in main courses as well as desserts, contributing to the flavor, color, texture and overall appearance of many foods.

Purchasing tips:

• Buy low-fat or skimmed milk and milk products whenever possible as milk contains saturated fats and cholesterol.

Water: The Fluid of Life

As we know that the human body is about 60% to 70% water. It is a constituent of blood and other vital fluids and plays a key role in the elimination of body wastes and regulation of body temperature. The more you sweat, the more water your body loses. Hence it is imperative for adults to drink between 6-8 glasses of water every day. Water content is also found, in varying proportions, in other foods that we eat. Milk, tea, coffee, juices, and beverages are all water-based and add to the fluid content in the body.

Drinking plenty of water provides many health benefits:

• Better bladder and bowel functioning. Fluids speed the elimination of waste matter from your body, thus preventing constipation and urinary tract infections.

The Big Four minerals

Minerals are a must. Like vitamins, they are paramount for good health but are more stable than vitamins and harder to destroy. The body needs two types of minerals: macro-minerals, which are required in doses higher than 100 mg a day such as calcium, and micro minerals, those required in smaller doses. These are also known as trace elements.

Minerals have multiple functions. They provide structure in the formation of bones and teeth, maintain normal heart rhythm, are essential for the synthesis of major biological nutrients and play a regulatory role in cellular metabolism. But what needs to be remembered is that minerals can be obtained solely from a well-balanced diet and are not produced by the body.

The Big Four:

Know your Fruits and Veggies

This is the most power-packed combination of nutrients your body requires for good health. Fruits, vegetables, and herbs provide sufficient quantities of water, vitamin, fibers, complex carbohydrates, proteins, and minerals. The fat content of all fruits and vegetables is very low, which is a boon for weight-watchers and the obese. Markets are full of fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs all the year round. Here are a few tips to help you get the most from your fruits and veggies:

Purchasing tips:

Always buy fresh spices, herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Anything that is bought frozen, dried or canned loses some of its nutritive value, so always prefer fresh products.

Organically grown vegetables and fruit are in demand today as their cultivation involves no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or other chemicals. This definitely increases the price of the products. However, if you can afford organic veggies, do inquire about the state regulations and on what basis the item has been labeled organic. Keep in mind that organic produce is by and large smaller than inorganically grown food.