EID MUBARAK

After a month of mental, spiritual and physical cleansing via fasting, restarting your regular eating

habits with a feast may leave you with indigestion, acidity and in some cases even weight gain. 

Here are 6 nutritional strategies to ditch Eid’s after effects.

1. Start off Slowly: On the morning of Eid break start your day with something low fat, light, fluid filled and easy to digest. This means fruits, curd, a few dry fruits, buttermilk, homemade kheer are good options.

2. Don’t Leave Home, Hungry: Before stepping out to meet loved ones and friends ensure you are not at your hungriest by eating a handful of dry fruit, maybe a glass of buttermilk or even a bowl of curd.

3. Fill up First: Opt wherever possible for whole fruits and vegetables that are also high in water, essential minerals besides natural fiber. Such as opting for a raita with your main meal. Before serving yourself a plate of that delicious biryani, start off with a bowl of curd and a salad on the side to ensure you are easing back into eating after a month’s long break of small meals and extended fasting.

4. Serve Smartly: When faced with a delicious array of options it can be tempting not to mention confusing on what to eat first, instead of serving yourself a little of everything, pick 1-2 items (e.g.: chicken + rice, kebab + salad). When you taste a little of everything you end up eating foods of varying glycemic index’s which can later turn into fat deposits.

5. Stay Clear of Soft Drinks: While a cold glass of something aerated may seem really refreshing to wash down a big meal in on a hot day, you can easily avoid the added calories and blood sugar spike by instead opting for a glass of chaas or buttermilk which not only give you pro-biotic plus points but also are far more nutritious.

6. Keep the Night, Light: After an afternoon of indulging instead opt for simple foods later in the day such as roti with sabzi, a bowl of salad or sprouts.

EGG PLANT WITH CHERRY TOMATOES AND OLIVES

Ingredients:

- 10-15 cherry tomatoes
- 2-3 tbsp onion, chopped
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 cup egg plan, cubed
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tsp garlic, crushed
- 5-10 depitted olives

Method:

1) Heat the oil, then add the eggplant and roast for 3-4 minutes.
2) Add the onion and garlic and cook till it becomes pink in colour.
3) Add the salt and pepper. Cook for another 2 minutes.
4) Add the cherry tomatoes and olives.
5) Cook for 2 minutes.
6) Serve it immediately.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE FACTS

The science behind the facts:

1. Avoid eating fruits post meal, eat them in between meals like mid day or evening.
Why: There are more than a few reasons behind this one

 A large main meal generally contains a mix of macronutrients such as carbs, fat and protien. While fat and protein digest slowly- carbs digest relatively quicker. Depending on what you ate and how much you ate the food slowly gets broken down and sent into the blood stream to all the waiting organs that require energy. Once this is taken care off the excess energy (or calories) are then converted to fat.
Eating a fruit with your meal increases the odds of this conversion happening as you are adding a carb to and already carb-ed up lunch/ dinner. In addition to this carb on carb complex- you generally arent your most active self post meal.Which means any excess sugars or carbs will quickly buildup in the blood stream with nowhere to go.
Other reasons to avoid eating fruit post meal is based in ayurvedic principle that states eating fruits with  larger meals delays the digestion time causing the fruit to break down in the stomach and ferment while it waits. This fermentation process then causes GI discomfort such as gas ,bloating etc- while simultaneously losing precious nutrients etc that would otherwise be digested better on.


2. Avoid eating mix of fruits at one time. If you chose to eat a fruit eat Any or max 2 different fruit at one time. Avoid Fruit platters and fruit chat.

 While most people consider fruits a super healthy food ( which they definitely are) they also forget that fruits are an easy way to load on up simple fast digesting carbs. All carbs are basically combinations of simplesugars strung together (carbo) +  with water (hydrate)
When these break down sugars and water are released into the body.
Now as you can imagine not all fruits have the same level of sweetness (i.e: Sugar!) eg: mango vs sweetlime or cherries vs a guava
Each fruit has its own GI (glyceamic index - which is basically the way the fruit influences how much your blood sugar goes up - how fast + and how much) which further adds to its GL (Glycemic Load- that is how the food overall contritbutes to the total amount of carbs )
Now to avoid getting into the complicated thick of things- the main reason behind mixing too many different fruits is to avoid raising your blood sugars in a complicated manner. Too many different fruits of varying GI's can confuse the stomach and also cause it to release a lot of gastric juice that again can destroy the delicate nutrients contained in them (as per ayurveda) and once again lead to fermentation tract.
Lastly you wouldn’t mix sugar with sugar would you? Then why a tonne of fruits? The body cannot diffrentiate between table sugar and natural sugar once they are broken down they are all the same chemically to the system- with the major differences coming from things like fibre vitamins etc.
However if your blood sugar goes up beyond a certain level--- and that sugar has no place to go--- it will once again be converted to fat. There are ofcourse exceptions for people who have depleted muscle glycogen stores (like athelets, runners, etc) but for most of us with desk jobs and 20 minutes of elevated heart rate on our evening walks- having fruit salads could be a easy way to gaining fat.

3. Eat local seasonal fruits and avoid imported fruits like purple big grapes and New Zealand apples 

Eating local is so good for you for a number of reasons:
-Foods indigenous to your area and locality are easily recognised by your digestive tract and are thus easier to break down and absorb without being treated as a foreign particle and raising red flags in your gastro intestinal system ( hello food allergies and intolerances!) you may have even noticed these signs and sympotms but thought nothing of it. Indicatiors include gas, bloating etc.
-Eating locally reduces the chances of having fruit that have been transported with chemicals or may have been stored for a long time before it finally gets on your plate. In this waiting periods a lot of vitamins can be lost as certain delicate biochemical compounds cannot withstand time, heat and oxidiation.
-Locally grown fruits are also less likely to have been subjected to genetic modification as simple farmers don’t have much access to these things.

Inputs by Nutritionist Zenobia Chacko

QUINOA FRITTERS

Ingredients:-

For the fritters
- 200gm Quinoa
- 2 egg whites
- 1 egg yolk, beaten
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
- 2 tbsp mint leaves, chopped
- 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
- 60gms parmesan cheese, grated
- 4 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1 lime zest
- 5 tbsp olive oil

For the dip
- 5 tbsp hung curd
- 1 tbsp chilli sauce
- Pinch of black pepper powder
- Salt to taste
- 2 tsp coriander leaves, finely chopped


Method:-

1) Combine all the ingredients for the curd dip and set aside.
2) Place the quinoa and 375ml water in a small saucepan, cover, bring to a boil over high heat.
3) Reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 12 minutes or until water has been absorbed and the            quinoa is tender.
4) Cool and measure out 2 ½ cups quinoa.
5) Combine the quinoa, spring onions, parsley, mint and parmesan cheese.
6) Add flour, salt and pepper, lime zest and eggs. Stir well to make a dry mixture.
7) Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat and add heaped tablespoons of mixture          to make 12 patties (cook 6 patties at a time).
8) Cook for 6-8 minutes until the bottom is browned then flip carefully and cook the other side for          6-8 minutes or until browned.
9) Repeat with remaining patties. Serve with the dip.

ZUCCHINI BRUSCHETTA

INGREDIENTS:

For topping:
- 1¾ cup zucchini (unpeeled), thickly grated
- 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
- ½ tbsp lime juice
- ¼ tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp garlic, crushed
- ½ tsp green chilli paste
-  salt and freshly ground black pepper powder to taste
-  ½ tbsp walnuts, chopped and roasted

For serving:
- 6 slices of whole wheat bread
- ¼ cup of low fat cheese and paneer (mixed)

METHOD:

1) Grate and squeeze the zucchini with hands to remove the excess water.
2) Combine all the ingredients of topping, except the walnuts, and blend in a mixer to get a smooth paste.
3) Transfer the paste to a bowl, add the walnuts and mix well.
4) Just before serving, toast the bread slices in a sandwich griller till they are brown and crispy from both the sides. Cut it into half.
5) Apply a portion of the spread evenly over each bread slice.
6) Sprinkle paneer and cheese before serving.

WORLD HYPERTENSION DAY

Hypertension is likely to end up being an epidemic in the near future, and approximately one-third of our population will suffer from it by 2020, states senior surgeon Dr Ramakanta Panda. He adds, “It has been increasing consistently since 1980. Currently, estimates put the incidence of hypertension to 20 to 40% in urban areas and 12 to 17% in rural areas of India.”

Few Facts :
1. One in three Indian adults has high blood pressure.
2. The average daily salt intake was 10.98 grams per day for Indians aged above 19 against the WHO recommendation of 5gm.
3. Salt consumption was higher in southern and eastern states of India.

Factors leading to hypertension:
1. Stress
2. Sedentary lifestyle
3. Faulty food habits( more of processed foods like biscuits, namkeens, frozen foods, rusks )
4. Excess usage of salt
5. Lack of exercise
6. Smoking
7. Result of another condition or illness, such as kidney diseases, disorders of the thyroid, pituitary or adrenal glands, pregnancy, obesity and sleep disorders and adverse effects of medicines.

Ways to control / avoid hypertension

1. Reduce salt intake
2. Restrict processed foods like biscuits, rusks, frozen foods etc.
3. Eat functional foods like coriander seeds, garlic, banana
4. Exercise regularly
5. Cut down on weight right way (not with fad diets)
6. Quit smoking
7. Learn to destress
8. Practice Deep breathing

SPROUTS JALFREZI

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 cup moong sprouts
• 1 tsp ghee
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp finely chopped garlic
• 1 tsp finely shredded ginger
• 1/2 cup tomatoes-grated (optional)
• 1/2 tbsp garam masala
• 2 tsp powdered coriander seeds
• Salt
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

METHOD:
1. Heat the ghee and add the cumin.
2. Add ginger and garlic and saute till slightly fried then add the tomatoes and stir fry till the fat  separates.
3. Add garam masala, dhania powder, salt, turmeric and chilli powder.
4. You can toss a few veggies of your choice too)
5. Stir a few times, till well mixed, and then add the sprouts and turn around over high heat, till they look slightly fried.
6. Add a cup of water, and bring the mixture to a boil, and then simmer uncovered for about a minute.
7. Add the yogurt. Mix well.
8. Serve hot garnished with the chopped coriander leaves.

WORLD ASTHMA DAY

3 Food Factors to Tackle Your Asthma and the Science Behind it

If you have ever tried googling ‘Diet for asthma” like many other people before you you’ll find that even the wide web turns up nothing specific, go ahead and try it right now, I’ll wait.

In the 20^th century where knowledge is just a click away why is it that we can’t find something for a chronic disease that affects 100- 150 million people across the globe with 10 to 20% of the sufferer’s right here in humara Bharat.

Part of the problem lies in the asking the wrong questions, instead of asking what diet cures asthma (a question that as of now has no answers as the exact cause of asthma remains unknown) we can instead try asking what diet can reduce inflammation?

But wait a minute, weren’t we talking about asthma? What does asthma have to do with inflammation?

Well I’m glad you asked, although the exact causes of asthma have yet to be teased out of the problem- what we do know is that asthma is that it seems to be an inflammatory response of the airways to most often environment triggers. This tendency seems to have a tie in to genetics with children of people with asthma more likely to develop it during the course of their lifetime especially if they have been exposed to “asthma triggers” in infancy. Now while we can’t help genetics- we can help the way our genes develop and also put them in less “triggering” environments there is a whole field of nutrition developing as we speak on how genes can be turned on or rather ‘ triggered” by dietary factors (epigenetics- which we won’t go into detail here).

Now if we can we say that asthma seems to be an inflammatory response –how can the kind of diet I eat play any factor to my asthma anyway?

The answer is logical when you think of the basic definition of an asthma attack. Asthma is traditionally characterised by a strong reaction of the body’s immune system to an allergen in the environment.

If you look at the components of the problem what do you see?

     1. A strong reaction of the body’s immune system: The immune system that is in place to protect us from the big bad world over reacts to an environmental trigger- this is asthma in a nutshell.

What does that tell us?  There by if we can down regulate the inflammatory response of the body we can greatly reduce the severity and discomfort of the typical asthmatic attack. We’ll talk more about foods that do that later.

    

     2. It’s usually a response to an allergen in your environment: often time’s asthma triggers are really normal everyday substances that shouldn’t set of your body’s alarm systems – but do!

     A few examples are: dust, smoke, synthetic fragrances etc.

And what’s the significance of that?

If you’ve been following our content for a while now you know that there is strong co-relation immunity and your gut health, with majority of your immunity being built there from the time you were born.

Now how does this all tie into your diet?

Well if you’ve been following the breadcrumb trail of clues: you’ll have realised the role of diet in any asthma sufferers life is the same as that of most people with a chronic disease- it’s there to calm the inflammatory fire. There are foods that can aggravate existing inflammation and there are foods to help ease the flame.

The Dietary Approach to be taken can be thought of like this:

So what exactly should and shouldn’t we be putting on our plates?

      1.)   Yes to Greens: It should come as no surprise that they are on this list with memories of most of our mothers forcing us to eat our greens for a good health. However green vegetables play a 2 part role in solving the problem they provide us with useful antioxidants, flavonoids and carotenoids helps effectively combat infections (Reducing overall inflammation) As well as providing us with pre-biotic fibre to help build up our healthy host of bacteria in our guts (building immunity via gut health).

      2.)   Yes To Pre+ Probiotics: including pre and probiotics serves one simple purpose to strengthen and retrain your body’s defence system by providing them with a host of good guys (friendly bacteria courtesy of pro-biotic’s) and food for those good guys (courtesy of pre-biotic’ s) 

Prebiotics: Fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains.

Probiotics: homemade dahi, water-based pickles, Kombucha, buttermilk etc.

To get a better understanding on building your gut health refer to our gut health article here: https://dietdrclinic.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=APq4FmCGmeQZJz8lnv4qs3_HlOSBNijmHnQVB-NOzwuYl2924i7Os4eyHAGt2A4gDoIjo3iMQnqVMmyrPq5-usuHJL40-LIW0VMKKhr2ZHHytUj5iEOyCEr0FPJPFG8jbPT6fk3xMoHa&postId=3794775187388342104&type=POST

      3.)   Yes to special spices: certain spices have the ability to down regulate inflammation on the whole (turmeric and tulsi).

While some even have a specific effect on bronchial inflammation making the especially good at helping someone with asthma. (Nutmeg, ginger)

Say no to foods such as:

     1.)   Alcohol- alcohol is not only an inflammatory agent but also requires a lot of water to be safely exited from the body thus dehydrating us in the process- this combo can be crippling to someone with a high level of inflammation as the very nature of inflammation requires water to fuel the process. While also slowing down reflexes such as coughing and sneezing- which are important to clear the airways.

     2.)   Caffeinated beverages: Same as alcohol increase risk dehydration and slows down important airway reflexes.

     3.)   Packaged or processed foods - these foods not only can throw your gut health for a toss but also often contain a long list of chemical additives and synthetics fragrances via essences that can further stress an already inflamed system.

     4.)   Commercial dairy products: Most dairy products commercially farmed are not only subjected to a host of antibiotic and steroidal factors but also raised on diets fed with genetically modified foods so that they can produce more milk. Dairy products on the whole have been found to increase the amount of phlegm produced by the body.

If you must go for dairy make sure it’s coming from locally sourced desi cows (these produce A2 variety of milk that is far less inflammatory)

All in all, we hope this helps you breathe a little easier.

Inputs by - Zenobia Chacko