WHAT ARE SPICES FOR?

All of us know, that spices is one the main ingredients of any recipe which make the specific recipe finger licking. A simple food can be transformed into  a delicious food by just adding few spices in it. Indian cooking is incomplete until spices are used but just not this. These spices have their own benefits for human body each spice have different aroma, flavor, and health benefits. There spices are mostly used to make medicines. Each spice is used for curing or preventing different kind of diseases.
           One of the most common spice is cardamom (ilachi) it is used in alternative medicine to remove toxins, also cardamom has diuretic properties may lower down the blood pressure. it has also been linked to anti-tumor activity. cardamom is mainly used in beverages like tee, lassi etc as a flavoring agent.
           Cinnamon (dalchini) is also popular for its anti oxidants properties which also helps people who have a habit of smoking regularly. it also enhance the glucose sensitivity. you can use cinnamon white eating sweet potatoes just sprinkle some cinnamon powder or you can stir it the glass of milk you take.
           Cumin (jeera) is a spice that has been in an Indian kitchen from ages, its basically a traditional spice. it is mostly added to the oil before adding vegetable. Cumin seeds are added to foods to aid in digestion and the help pf absorption of nutrients. roasted cumin powder is also another form which is consumed as a spice to add flavor to raw salads and fruits and also sometimes to soups.
          Black pepper (kaali mirch) is used  to lower blood lipids and inhibit cholesterol absorption. black pepper can be added to any food or drink to make it more delicious like tea, salads, fruits, soups, vegetables, pulses, butter milk even lime water it only enhance the flavor.
         Turmeric is one of the oldest and the best spice till now known for its properties like antioxidant, anti inflammatory, anti fungal, and anti cancer activities and thus has a potential against various malignant disease, diabetes, allergies, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease and other chronic illness. turmeric can be consumed in many ways like adding it while cooking food or drinking it with milk. turmeric is the spice which is not only consumed in food but also applied externally directly on the wound, it also has a property of wound healing as well as good for care of skin.
        Asafoetida commonly known as hing in India. It is mostly used in many medicines mostly related with digestion. It taste bitter but has a strong aroma that's why it is added in a very little amount in oil while cooking. Asafoetida is used for treating breathing problem including ongoing bronchitis, H1N1 flue, and asthma. It is also used for treating digestion problems like upset stomach, irritable bowel syndrome, and irritable colon.
       Saffron has an ability to treat depression also prevents loss of vision, and improves memory. in medicine saffron is used in fever, enlargement of liver and spleen. In Ayurveda  it is used to heal arthritis and infertility. Saffron gives a strong and sweet flavor and light red color to food because of which it is mostly used in sweet dishes like kheer, milk, siwaiyan, and also some salted food like biryani.
       There is no ending list to the spices found and their benefits for human body but each one of them has their own importance in our health they provide powerful antioxidants, and have a tendency of lowering down the use of excessive salt, it also add flavor, aroma and rich color to the food by which food looks more appealing as much as it taste good.
 (Stay Healthy)

WATER : The survival

"JAL HI JEEVAN HAI"
No wonder, why it is said water is life. and why not? 71% of earth is water and 60 % of human body is water and there are many species which literally live in water that means water is their home so, its not wrong to say water is the most essential part of this earth or may be on other planets too. Try imaging  earth without water let me help you with this : no rivers, no oceans, no wells, no water falls, no rains and this further leads to no greenery, no animals , no birds, no humans, no earth scary! right?so it is impossible to imagine life without water . There will be no earth without water either they are humans, animals, birds, water animals or plants. The scene you imagined of earth without water is the same scene you should imagine about you own body without water. A well hydrated body is as important as water is important for earth. 
    Water is one of the main and essential nutrients among all other nutrient. You need water because you are  mostly made up of it. A human should drink at least 2 liters of water daily for staying hydrated this may vary by the environment you are living in, the rise in temperature of environment may increase the consumption of water. Also it may vary from individual to individual.
    Water regulates our internal body temperature by sweating and respiration, it is a vital nutrient to the life of every cell, the carbohydrates and proteins that our bodies use as food are metabolized and transported by water in the bloodstream, water forms saliva, water is the solution of many diseases like Arthritis, Osteoporosis, Heart disease, Constipation, Yeast infections, Bladder infections, kidney stones and etc. water also plays a important role in reducing excess weight from the body. Water helps in digestion of food also helps you to remove body waste.
     Dehydration is also the main reason to which a human may face health issues like headache, fatigue, loss of concentration, slow response, mood changes, dry mouth, dry skin, dizziness, dry and cracked lips, loss of energy and many more. Water also prevents you to from becoming dehydrated. Your body loses fluid when you engage in vigorous exercise, sweat in high heat, or come down with a fever or contract an illness that cause vomiting or diarrhea. If you're losing fluids for any of these reasons, it's important to increase your fluid intake so that you can restore your body's natural hydration levels. water is also the natural and the best way of detoxification.
      Water is the nutrient which may prevent and cure both to the diseases. if you take enough water and keep you body hydrated you can stay away from many diseases and if you fall into any disease you may come out of it by taking enough water and proper medication on time.
  There are many ways by which you can give water to your body. The simplest way is to drink water directly, mostly the requirement is being fulfilled by this method  but there are other ways too like having fruits, vegetables and other cooked food like dal etc with these methods other nutrients are also being given along with water. so keep yourself hydrated and drink some water after reading this blog.
(Stay Healthy)

JUNK MINDSET

JUNK FOOD? yes it brings unhealthy lifestyles of eating but it is not just junk food which is affecting our health but also our junk mindset which is leading to this problem. when it comes to junk food we think everything that serve outside is junk like food served at cafes, restaurant or may be a  road side thela but food which is made in unhygienic condition is not just junk food. it may be possible that you are eating junk daily at your home. let me tell you first what is junk? people often think that the road side momo's, noodles or pasta's etc are the only junk food which is affecting our body and lifestyle but no each and every thing which has high sodium like canned foods, chips, sausages ; high sugars like jelly, biscuits, packed juices, cakes ; high fats like pizza's ,white bread, fruit juices are all junk foods. The problem here is that all of such foods are very high in calories and they are said to give empty calories. There is no such thing as nutrition in  these food, they only give high amount of sugars, trans fats, sodium or may be all of them at once. Here the food does give calories but there is no or very less amount of fiber, minerals and vitamins. These kind of food is commonly known for HFSS foods which stands for ''high  in fats, salt and sugar.'' but the food which is packed or cooked outside is not only junk we may be producing or consuming junk foods daily at home because junk food is after all just good raw food converted into junk by wrong practices or bad food preparation & cooking methods. Let say your child is hungry after 2 hours post breakfast instead of feeding him fruits or milk or just giving him few nuts you settle to give your child a sandwich which is made up of white bread, mayonnaise, with salt and veggies in it, here the sandwich is fine but using a white bread which is made up of bad all purpose flour (maida) not good for colon then mayonnaise which is nothing but whipped oil just fats by this your sandwich becomes nothing but junk with high calories and no or nil nutrition. Now let me give you a good option of this snack by just improving or correcting the preparation of food items ;
- you can always use a brown bread/wheat bread (aata bread)
- exchange your packet mayonnaise which hung curd
- put some crushed mint leaves in hung curd
- add some salt in hung curd and spread it on the bread
- then add vegetables (tomato, onion, mushrooms, capsicum) any
- cover it with another bread piece
- you can serve it raw or can just roast it in a pan greased with gee and then serve,
 here you can see the vegetables nutrition is  enhanced by the hung curd there is no white bread used which will leads to easy digestion and of course the goodness of ghee if you are roasting it.In this way you are not just satisfying your kids or anybody's hunger but also giving them the right calories full of nutrition.
 There is no use of saying that we only eat ''ghar ka khana, main toh bahar ka khana khata/ khati bhi nahi''  if you are cooking junk at home. Eating or preparing all the bad food at home as, many of us eat deep fried a lot yes it does taste better but there is no nutrition left when you fry vegetable or anything. samosa's , jalebi's, pakora's even if made at home are very much junk foods just like momo's are, infact momo's can be changed into good food if we exchange the white flour covering of momo with rice flour or wheat flour, chicken and vegetables inside is very much nutritious we just need to understand the correct way of preparation or which food should be eaten in which region because the momo we say junk at some place is a staple food in another place so we just need to get smart with our plates and eat accordingly.
 There is another way a junk food becomes problem when we consume it regularly or so often that it becomes our daily life routine. Eating samosa's or jalebi's which are high in fats and sweets are not a problem if the intake is once or twice a month or may be if you are sweating it out well but when it becomes a part of daily regime or if eaten frequently, then it creates a problem and may fall you sick or weakens your body. so next time you make any snack or meal at home try to make it junk free don't reuse the oil you have used for frying earlier its nothing but oil converted into trans fat now equivalent to the packed chips you have. Try cook simple and junk free.
  (Stay Healthy)

DON'T GO FANCY!

Fancy here, isn't the sequence in your outfit. Fancy in dresses may look good and appealing but in your plate i don't think it's a great idea of having a good body. We now a days choose fancy things over simple and that is fine as we are changing, fashion is changing, trends change too but always remember human body functions in the same manner just like it use too thousands year earlier, so it is important to give body the food it requires. I know the life style is changing, so does human needs, wants and choices but its not always write to eat whats trending. its not fashion we don't have to always go for what is ''in''.
     Let's dig more into this, if i say that today at this time its freezing cold in Russia lets wear jackets and coats in India would that be fine, no, i know right? just like our body depends on  how the external environment is where ever we are living  only likewise our  nutritional needs are also dependent on our geographical factors. It is really very important  to eat according to your environment, your region and a place like India where within states environment varies it becomes more important to emphasize on the local food.
  We are so influenced by the western and the other cultures that we forget that our food is the  reflection of the place we live in. The local food is not just necessary but essential to each one of us.
like if  we live in Uttarakhand we need to eat local vegetable and fruits like palak, jack fruit, colocasia leaves, kamal kakdi, lichi, kafal, mango, pear, plum, pomelo etc and oils like mustard oil, sunflower oil are going to help us and not those so called refined olive oil which are adulterated and preserved. fruits like avocado,dragon fruit, olives which are not Indian origin are just for fancy platting they do have nutrition but when they are fresh and eaten where they are from and not after preservation and packaging done and sold after so long period of time. until they reach to us no nutrition is left in them. They just becomes a part for presention on the plate in fancy restaurant. I' am not saying western food or Chinese or Japaneses food is bad but eat it when you are there, always prefer food which belong to whatever place you are in. It will be stupid when you don't eat Thai food in Thailand, not eating biryani's  in hyderabad and mutton rogan josh in Kashmir. They are meant to be eaten at particular place where they are famous because they belong to that place.
   Local food not just help us grow but also make us strong and build immunity to fight against the infections or diseases that place has. Your body needs nutrition not just for internal factors but also for the external factors like temperature and region. Body need kind of nutrition which only local food can provide us, Specially seasonal fruits and vegetable ever wondered why do we eat almonds and walnuts in winters more then we need them in summers, or ever  wondered why do citrus fruits are more available in winters, this is all because our body is developed and get repaired by the food we eat and seasonal fruits do that job well. Nature and human body is connected so is our food which comes from the same nature, it works accordingly.
So, next time you eat or drink something understand the local food and the seasonal food is the new fancy food and not some preserved or canned food items coming after crossing so many boundaries with changing places and climates.
(Stay Healthy)

LET FOOD BE YOUR MEDICINE

OKAY, ya ya i know nobody like medicines and no one would ever want to have them, even then i am asking you to convert your favorite food into medicine. By this i am not asking you to stop eating your favorite food nor i am asking you to have medicines with foods but by this i mean what if? we eat a meal or we include such foods in our daily life which would not let us fall ill in that sense there will not be any need for medicine in our life. One of the main objective of our food is to protect us from diseases by making our body healthy. Many of us would never know that our daily diet may contain many products which help us build our body strong the super foods which not only develop and grow our body but also protects us against many illnesses and keep us  stay away from medicines. so i will be discussing about such nutrients an sources which we should be including in our diets to stay away from diseases as well as medicines, it may be possible that many of us would al be having some of them in our diet already, but are not aware and if not start including them as they play a very important role for our healthy life.
 The first one is one of the very ignorant nutrient which is "phytochemicals" which are obtained from plants sources. The word 'phyto' it self means plants. These are compounds which act as antioxidants, mimicking hormones and suppressing the development of diseases, thus they have tremendous health benefits. people who consume a lots of fruits and vegetable or people who have a habit of having a fruit daily or people who eat balanced diet containing right amount of fruits and vegetables have less risk of developing diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, premature ageing and many more and the factor behind it is phytochemicals.
 Carotenoids in deep yellow, orange and green vegetables and fruits like broccoli, carrot, pumpkin, tomatoes, spinach acts as anti oxidants and reduce the risk of heart disease. Flavonoids in berries, blactea, darl chocolate,citrus fruits, green tea, onions, soya bean etc has a big role in preventing cancers. These phytochemicals not only prevent from diseases but they are also helpful in treating diseases also helps recover body faster after treatment.
There are many other phytochemicals like garlic, onions, leeks, chives, citrus fruits, legumes, grains, red grapes, red pepper, tangerine, apricot, peas etc which help us get disease resistant.

The another nutrients are vitamins and minerals, yes we all know about them but do we know that these two micro nutrients are the main nutrients which not just help macro nutrients to function properly but also help maintain our good healthy status. It does take care of our immune system so that our body become strong and can fight against the external harmful bacteria. vitamins and minerals get our body ready for every attack of external harmful bacterial infections and also take cares of our skin, hair, nails, eyes and other body parts as well.

so, by this you can conclude that it is very important to take care of your diet that what all are you eating and whatever you are eating does contain such nutrients which just not focuses on you living but a healthy living away from diseases as well as from medicine which now a days have become a regular habit. so next time you gulp a single medicine, think about the kind  of food you are having.

(Stay Healthy)