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Showing posts from July, 2015

Are we overeating?

What is overeating? Eating food at the wrong time, wrong kind, wrong quantity can be considered as overeating. Overeating leads to weight gain, which you might notice in a matter of weeks if you carefully track your weight. It has a harmful effect on the body's metabolism. Many people, teens included, overindulge at times. Whether it's eating too much during a holiday or having too many treats at a party, it's not uncommon to realize you've overeaten. However, when a person consistently or frequently eats this way, it can be a sign of a deeper problem. If your family member is showing signs of overeating, you should be concerned -- both with the emotional reasons behind it, as well as possible physical problems that can result from chronic overeating, such as obesity or high blood pressure. Short-term effects of overeating can include bloating and lethargy. Longer-term effects, however, are more serious. The weight gain that results from overeating can result

What is Good health

What is Good health? Health is the ability to respond correctly to an ever-changing environment. Lungs, heart, liver are all designed to deal with frequent changes. Optimum health is our body’s capacity to maintain this state of change at the optimum level of efficiency. So, how do we know that we are in the “ pink of health”? Check out these parameters and tick them if it is “yes”: - • Smooth skin • Eyes are bright • Healthy Glossy hair • Teeth are strong, firm and sparkling • Strong bones • Muscles are strong, supple and toned • Joint movements are easy • Erect posture- check in the mirror • Body feels light and energetic • Agile limbs • Quick reflex action • Bowels are easy and non smelling • Thinking is quick and clear • Capacity to do hard sustained work both physical and mental. • Capacity to recover from fatigue. • Sound sleep and waking up refreshed. • Have a good appetite and a keen hunger. • Mind is alert. If you have at least

Black Urad Ki daal

Black Urad daal Urad Daal is one of the most nutritious and nourishing daals as it also increases the bone density. It is highly beneficial for all ages and each cuisine uses this versatile daal in various recipes. Daals are usually prepared in the north especially during the cold season as it gives warmth to the body.This recipe is by Sanjeev Kapoor and it is a  Yummy daal with a unique taste of black pepper and milk simmered with spiced urad daal. Keep preparing more recipes from urad daal as it plays a major role in bone strengthening . Urad daal causes heat in body and is balanced by having rice along with it which is cooling by nature. Balance your menu accordingly so that you get their benefits without causing disturbance in your body constitution which usually results in bloating, flatulence, irregular bowels, acidity, pounding headache, boils, water retention, burning urination, etc. Recipe of Black urad ki daal Ingredients: • Split black gram with skin-

Learn more about Curds and cheese

Curds and Cheese Curds and Cheese are two types of dairy products that differ not only on the nutritional value but also in the method of preparation. Curd is made from milk fermentation and the lactic acid produced gives the tangy flavor. On the other hand, cheese is made from acidification of bacteria and the type of bacteria used gives the unique taste to different types of cheese. Curd has lot of medicinal benefits as it has the live helpful bacteria, which makes it suitable to those who are lactose intolerant. It is also helpful in irritable bowel syndrome and digestion problems. While both yogurt and cottage cheese contain lactose, the live cultures in curd turn lactose into lactic acid in the gut, making the dairy sugar easier to digest. Curd is prescribed in the treatment of inflammatory bowel syndrome, colon cancer and diarrhoea. Curd and cheese also differ in their nutritional profile.   Curd is obviously the winner if it is concerning calorie levels. It is

Instant Oats Paniyaram- delicious snack

Instant Oats paniyaram Oats is a versatile grain and can be used smartly in our dishes.Instead of preparing the same old porridge, this healthy shallow fried paniyaram tastes great.Delicious and spongy paniyaram prepared without bothering to grind the batter. Instant to make and yummy to taste.This is an excellent  idea for a hearty breakfast, evening snack or as an appetiser.This becomes a nourishing breakfast served along with currypowder/idli powder as an accompaniment.This can also be served along with a tangy chutney. Ingredients: Quick cooking Oats- 1 cup (I used quaker) Rice flour- 1 tbsp Sour curds- 1 cup Cooking soda- ¼ tsp For tempering: Mustard seeds – ½ tsp Urad daal – 1 tsp Chana daal- 1 tsp Hing- ¼ tsp Curry leaves chopped finely Grated ginger- 1 – 2 tsp Green chilli- either chopped finely or coarsely ground or mashed Method: Mix the oats, rice flour, sour curds and required amount to salt. Heat oil in a small kadai and add the tem

Mindful Yoga

Mindful body Many of us suffer from any one kind of body ache at one point or the other in our life. Have we wondered why does pain come? Our body is communicating with us. It gives signs to keep reminding us that this particular muscle is getting weak. Kindly take action. What do we do ? We ignore the pain thinking that we are either too young to get such pains or we are very strong and there is no way that such things can happen to us or just relieve the pain with a pill. Each time, our body reminds us with a slight back pain, we keep on ignoring or apply a superficial balm . Are we actually listening to our body? Think of this way- traffic jam of millions of nerves passing through the spinal cord and the traffic policeman(our brain) has to co-ordinates all the systems to work in the most efficient manner. What if there is a block somewhere on the way….nerves have got jammed with some elongated discs , muscles have become too weak to help the nerves or to support the bo

Facts about Brown rice and White rice

Brown rice vs White rice Facts about white rice and brown rice A Week's meal should have a mix of different grains whether it is ragi, rice, whole wheat, jowar, bajra and other millets like fox tail , kodo,etc ( was popular in our grandmother's days). Each grain has its unique property and you cannot pinpoint that this particular grain should be avoided. Nowadays we see many articles describing the goodness of each of these grains and sometimes it is absolutely confusing to the common man to select the appropriate type of grains for their family. So we tend to select the grain which is easily available and only if we know to use it in our recipes. Let us come to the most popular grain-RICE. It is the most popular grain in South India. There are several varieties of rice starting from the regular Sona masoori rice , basmati rice to Jasmine rice of Thailand. In this post we shall read about the regular white rice and the recent popular type-Brown rice. Rice is espec

Dill/Sabsige soppu dosa

The health benefits of dill include its ability to boost  digestion , as well as provide relief from  insomnia , hiccups,  diarrhea , dysentery, menstrual disorders, respiratory disorders, and various types of  cancers . Dill has an unique flavour and is widely used by the italians in their pasta dishes to givea special aroma.It has several valuable vitamins and minerals and we can innovatively use this leafy veggie in our cuisine.We can prepare daals, dill rice, hung curd dips and this unique and flavourful dosa. Kids would love the flavour but would not be able to guess the leafy veggie here. leafy veggies to dosa has the following benefits- extra nutrition quotient to the dosa batter nourishing the body in the morning breakfast itself. good idea for picky eater who dislike leafy veggies. They can never find that a leafy veggie is added. You can say the green colour is due to a green colour lentil(daal) :) instead of preparing the usual recipe of dosa for many years, i

Yellow pumpkin Whole-Wheat Choco chunks muffins(with Jaggery)

Doesn't the title seem interesting? Everything except the choco chunks is telling you that this is the most healthiest muffin that you can serve to your kids. Yellow pumpkin is usually the hated veggie in most of the households :) We all know the goodness of this wonder veggie , then how do we include this in our day to day cuisine? Here are some ideas for all of you:- Include in Muffin   Paratha dough Bake yellow pumpkin breads, it tastes awesome. Mask the taste with choco chips if you have a refined taste picky eater hubby or kid:) Prepare delicious daals by finely chopping and cooking along with spices and lentils. Soups- either oven roasted Yellow pumpkin soup or mix with other veggie and make a nourishing soup One more interesting point to note in this recipe is the addition of jaggery . There is the option of thick curds to replace eggs for those who would like to avoid eggs. Both versions tastes great and there is no compromise in the fluffiness of muffin.

Hot Pot nourishing soup

This is a wholesome one pot soup prepared little differently than the usual soup preparations. What more do we want for a rainy day dinner! This is a recipe taken from Chef Guru Tarla Dalal's recipe. This has tons of veggies and it is prepared in such a way that all the nutrients are intact. Prepare soups similar to this once in a  week and serve with toasted bread for yourself and spouse and garlicky buttered toasted bread  for your kids.In this soup you dont need to serve bread too as it is already added in the soup. I would highly recommend adults to have only soup for dinner once or twice in a week with lots of veggies, pulses and no grains. This flushes your system and makes you feel light in the next day. Ingredients: Pressure cook the following: Carrot- 2 Potato-1 small Onions-2 White pumpkin- ½ cup chopped Tomato- 2 large Chop them to medium sized chunks . Add enough water(abt 6 cups) and required amount of salt. Just pressure cook them for about 2

Bottle gourd Ragi Dosa

Ragi/finger millet is a popular grain in Karnataka and some parts of North India. Due to its immense health benefits, it has now created awareness to lots of people around the world. For non- ragi eaters, it will be recommended to include Ragi in your diet atleast once or twice in a week. Prepare interesting and tasty recipes so that all are benefitted in your family. Finger millet contains important amino acids such as, isoleucine, leucine, methionine and phenyl alanine that are not present in other starchy meals. It has the highest amount of calcium (344 mg %) and potassium (408 mg %). Ragi is a great source of iron making it beneficial for individuals with  low hemoglobin levels .  Due to the high polyphenol and dietary fiber content in finger millet, regular consumption is known to reduce the risk of diabetes mellitus and gastrointestinal tract disorders. This veggie Ragi dosa is very versatile as you can do a mix and match with green leafy veggies, cucumber, ash gourd