Eat right to age well

We all want to age gracefully. But how can we help ourselves do so? This week my blogs will focus on how to age well.

A person's body composition changes with age: muscle mass decreases and fatty tissue increases. This means that fewer calories are required by our body and essential nutrients such as calcium, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Zinc, Potassium, Folic acid and fibre are needed in extra amount.

You can do the following simple things to help your body age well:

• Drink a lot of water every day
• Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day
• Choose brightly colored fruits and vegetables such as carrot, yellow and red capsicum, melons and berries
• If you have trouble chewing, you should eat fish, pureed vegetables, soups and other nutritious softly cooked food
• Take daily walks or carry out light exercises. This will preserve your muscle strength and also improve your appetite and mood.

Go Green with veggies

Sabz Hari Bhari
Here's an easy to make dish with lots of veggies and hardly any oil. Enjoy!

Ingredients
2 carrots
1 small cauliflower
1 small broccoli
7 - 8 beans
1 capsicum
2 radish
1 onion
1 bunch methi leaves
Salt and pepper as per taste

Method
Chop all the vegetables into medium size cubes. Mix all the vegetables except the onion and add some salt and pepper. Steam these vegetables for 10 to 12 minutes.
In a pan, take one teaspoon of oil and saute the onions. Then add the vegetables and stir fry the vegetables for 2 to 3 minutes.

Benefits
This dish is low in calories and high in fibre, vitamins and minerals. It's a healthy option for all!

How to get glowing skin

We all want to have glowing skin and often envy those who seem to naturally have such skin! Here are some tips for getting fresh and glowing skin.

• Drink lots of water
• Exercise regularly
• Ensure that you have adequate sleep everyday
• Have a balanced diet
• Take care of your skin when you step out in the sun
• Reduce your intake of alcohol and cigarettes

Here's a simple home remedy to help you get an instant glow this summer.

Insta-Glow Face Pack:
Mix watermelon juice, cucumber juice, orange juice in equal quantities. Add few drops of lime juice and 1 tablespoon of honey to the mixture. Your "insta-glow" face pack is ready!

Apply this all over your face and neck. Once it dries, you can wash it off using warm water. Remember to splash your face with cool water at the end!

Burning calories the easy way!

Did you know that you are burning calories while laying down or even while sitting and reading this blog! We burn calories while carrying out our mundane day to day tasks. Today, let's take a look at how much calories we burn in our everyday activities -

Task	Calories burnt (per minute)
Lying down	1
Sitting or standing	1.5
Driving	2
Sweeping the floor	2.2
Walking (at 5km/hour)	3
Cycling	4 to 8
Dancing	5
Table tennis	5.5
Running	10 to 25

Tasty Recipe using Dalia (Broken wheat)

This dish is a tasty and healthy substitute for dinner and can be had at least once a week.

Hara Bhara Dalia Pulao
Ingredients (Serves 2 to 3 people)
1 cup dalia/ broken wheat


2 cups of water

6 to 8 beans
2 to 3 carrots
1 onion
1/4th cauliflower
1 capsicum
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 curry leaves

1 tsp oil
Salt, red chilli powder and green chillies finely chopped as per taste
Coriander leaves finely chopped
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Method:
Dry roast the dalia for 3 to 4 mins. Add water and salt to the dalia and pressure cook for 5 to 10 mins. In a pan, heat the oil, season with cumin seeds and curry leaves. Add onions and saute till light brown. Add all the vegetables, salt, chilli powder. cover the pan and cook the vegetables till they are cooked. Mix the dalia mixture with vegetables. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame. Add lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves.


Benefits of Dalia:

• Low in calories
• Good source of energy
• High in fiber, vitamins and minerals

Living in the present

Many of us spend our present looking back at our past with disappointment and anger. Anger at your past life can actually make you ill - both physically and mentally. Don't look back at what has happened in your life with frustration - it may take a toll on your health People who dwell on their past with regret or bitterness are more likely to fall ill in the future. Such people are more susceptible to pain.

Even focusing too much on the future can stop people from enjoying what they have. What if I ask you what will make you happy? Some of us will say when we make a certain amount of money, buy a house, get married, have a child or something else which you have set as your goal. While it's good to have a goal in your life and work sincerely towards it, at the same time, there's no need to postpone your happiness till you reach that target. Don't just enjoy the final goal but also the journey you take to reach it!

The happiest and healthiest people are those who manage to enjoy the present - here and now. So go ahead, look at all you have going for you today - your health, your family, your work and be grateful for all that you have got! 

Healthy eating habits

Everyone is an individual and the amount of calories each person needs will vary according to constitution, age, sex, size and activity level. So don't compare the calories or even amount of food you are having with others. Your requirements might be totally different!

Remember it is actually more important to be careful about the kind of calories you consume rather than the number when it comes to losing weight.

Eating healthier: Did you know?

• Tall people need more calories than shorter people
• Teenagers need 20% more calories should not have less than 1500 calories
• Children need more calories including good supply of milk and yogurt
• The elderly need 10 - 15% less calories. Reduction if required should be made particularly in foods high in fat and sugar

Simple tips to easily adjust your eating habits:

• Use a smaller plate
• Eat slower, putting down your spoon/ fork and knife between mouthfuls
• Take smaller mouthfuls
• Drink a glass of water about 10 minutes before you eat. This will reduce your appetite to certain extent

Cool as a cucumber

Summer is around the corner and as the mercury is soaring, let's look at something which will cool us down! What better way than having cucumbers :)
Since it's important to have fluids during the summer, here are some ideas for refreshing cucumber based drinks:

Cucumber cooler

Cucumber cooler
Ingredients: (for 1-2 people)
1/2 unpeeled grated cucumber
1 glass water
Jeera (Cumin) Powder, Pepper Powder, Salt and lemon juice as per taste

Method:
Blend all the ingredients in a blender. Garnish with mint leaves and serve chilled

Cucumber Masala Buttermilk
Ingredients: (for 1-2 people)

Cucumber Masala Buttermilk

1/2 unpeeled grated cucumber
1 cup yogurt
1 cup ice cold water
1/2 teaspoon roasted jeera/ cumin powder
Rock salt as per taste

Method:
Mix all the ingredients and blend in a blender. Serve chilled.

By the way, here are some benefits of cucumber to encourage you to try out the above drinks at home -

• Low in calories
• Acts as a natural diuretic for people suffering from water retention
• High in fibre if used without peeling of skin

Cucumber is also good for your skin! It contains alpha-hydroxy acids which improve the effectiveness of facial masks and other cosmetics products. Hence, it helps in toning and firming of skin if applied on the face either directly or with a face pack. Else just try the simplest way to chill - just place 2 chilled slices of cucumber on your eyes to relax them! Get refreshed :)

Nail care

Everyone likes perfectly manicured nails but not all of us have picture perfect nails, do we? Let's take a look at why some of us have brittle nails and what we can do to take care of our nails.
Nails are made of keratin which is a protein, and they protect the delicate skin on our fingers and toes. Brittle nails are caused due to excessive exposure to water, frequent manicures and pedicures, using the incorrect nail polish remover or using harsh detergents. Proteins or calcium deficiency also may cause brittle nails.

Nail care for stronger nails: 
To have stronger nails, increase your intake of food rich in biotin, vitamin A, C and E and calcium. Some examples of such food items include lentils, peanuts, cauliflower, fish, dairy products especially yogurt. Broccoli, whole grains, almonds and beans help improve nail texture.

Precautionary methods: 

• Don't wash hands obsessively or wear nail polish constantly
• Remember to use a good hands and nail moisturizing cream regularly and especially after washing your hands
• Use acetone free nail polish remover

Myth related to smoking and weight loss

Did you know?

Many people believe that smoking makes you slimmer when this is in fact a myth! Nicotine consumption is not an effective way of fighting obesity. In fact, active smokers put on more weight than non-smokers. Don't believe me? Well, a four year long study by researchers at the University of Navarra in Spain found a strong link between Nicotine consumption and weight gain.

Let this be one more reason for you to kick the habit! So make a positive change to your lifestyle today. Next time you reach out for a cigarette, remind yourself of this fact and stop yourself. Nowadays there are many methods available to help you in stop smoking. You can try products like Nicorette to help you.

Say cottage cheese!

We all like cottage cheese (paneer) but did you know that cottage cheese has the following benefits?

• High in protein and calcium
• A good source of vitamin B12
• Cheese fights cavities! The fat naturally contained in cheese coats your teeth and acts as a natural barrier against bacteria
• Contains calcium and phosphorous which helps remineralize tooth enamel

However, it can be high in saturated fat and sodium. Have it in moderation and ideally make fresh cottage cheese at home from skimmed milk.

In Indian cuisine, we have the habit of taking a healthy food item and packing it up with calories just to make it tasty. In the case of cottage cheese, we usually make high calorie dishes like Shahi Paneer (oozing with malai and butter) or Paneer pakore (deep fried in oil). Here are some tasty easy to make, yet low in calorie ways of incorporating cottage cheese in your diet:

Salad:

Ingredients

1. 100 gms Cottage Cheese/ Tofu

2. 1 red capsicum

3. 1 yellow capsicum

4. 1 small onion cut (optional)

5. Few cherry tomatoes (optional)

Method

Cut all the above mentioned ingredients in long thin slices. Saute the onion, yellow capsicum, red capsicum and cherry tomatoes. Add a few drops of olive oil and the cottage cheese. Add salt and pepper as per taste.

Tiranga sandwich

Ingredients

1. 1 green capsicum finely chopped

2. 1/2 cup cottage cheese (made at home with skimmed milk) 

3. 1 tomato finely chopped

4. Whole wheat bread

Method

Smash with cottage cheese with your hand. Finely chop the capsicum and tomato. Mix all three ingredients in a bowl. Add salt and pepper as per taste. Use this mixture as filling to the whole wheat bread and grill the bread. Serve with green mint chutney and ketchup.

Filling for sandwich

 Note: You can directly have this mixture as salad

Hair today... gone tomorrow?

Hair problems like hair fall, dandruff and damaged colored hair are prevalent today due to factors like exposure to pollution, stress, hard water and repeated coloring or bleach. This obviously is bad news for all of us (except of course for the shampoo and conditioner companies who are striving on this!)

What can we do to combat this? Should we just blindly keep trying different products and pray that one of them works for us or is there anything else concrete that can be done to make a positive difference to our hair.

Hair can be cared for externally and also internally - both of which are equally important. What do I mean by externally and internally - well externally is for what we do physically to the hair and internally by what we consume such that our hair is well cared for. Having healthy food habits and lifestyle can actually improve your hair quality!

Here are some tips for having healthy hair:

• Oil massage your hair one hour before you shampoo it (at least twice a week)
• Eat food items rich in protein like sprouts, curd and soya for strong and shiny hair
• Wash your hair with hibiscus powder (this is easily available in the market) for reducing hair fall and thickening of hair
• For making your hair shiny, use vinegar and water or beer for the final rinse of your hair

Home remedy for dandruff:

Mix half a bowl of curd with few drops of lemon juice and 1-2 teaspoon of mustard oil. Apply this pack all over your scalp and hair. Leave in for one hour and then shampoo.

In addition to making your hair dandruff free, this also gives a good shine to your hair.

It pays to eat slow!

Last Monday we talked about what to eat for a healthy diet but today we'll take a look at how you eat it. You might be thinking what is there to discuss in how to eat your meals. Well, a lot actually!

Since our childhood, our elders have been telling us this - 'eat slowly! Chew properly! Don't just gobble down your food!' We have all heard this but whether or not we took this advice is a different question ;)
My tip for today is just that -

• Eat slowly and take the time to chew properly & actually enjoy what you are eating
• Don't rush through mealtimes or have your meals on the go
• Sit down to have your meals - It's very common to see Indian women having their meals either in the kitchen while cooking or while carrying out the after-cooking cleaning up. Definitely a no-no!

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Here are some good reasons why you should be doing this:

• Better digestion: Digestion actually starts in our mouth since our mouth secretes an enzyme, which aids in digestion when mixed well with our food. So ensure you take the time to chew your food.
• Eat as much as you need: It takes about 20 minutes for our brain to understand that we have had enough. So when we eat fast, we tend to eat beyond how much we need and conversely, by eating slow, we give ourselves the time to realize that we are already full!
• Satisfy your taste glands, not just your hunger pangs: Savor all the different flavors you are consuming. For example, if you are having a scrumptious biryani, doesn't it make sense to take the time to enjoy it rather than gobbling it down in a jiffy? 
• Time to relax: Don't try to squeeze your meals between chores or tasks. Instead take meal times as time to relax and spend with the family or unwind by yourself. Don't rush yourself through meals .... whatever it is that's on your mind, it can wait till after you're done with your meal!

So next time you are having your meal, don't simultaneously text your friends or reach out for the TV remote. Concentrate on enjoying your meal. Bon Appetite!