Teetotaler - Tea Teller

'Is it really jus a fad, or is green tea actually that good for people to boast about?', 'I am screwing my teeth by drinking too much tea', ' Coffee or tea? Which is better over other?' 'This is the last cup of tea I am having for the day no matter how much work pressure I have...I am ruining my health'... These are just some thoughts which come across many health conscious minds as they relish each sip of the blissful drink while secretly feeling guilty about it. So as I put down my 6th cup of tea since morning (yes I am a tea-o-holic), I thought I'd rather clear the air and doubts about tea!

I have always loved tea for the awesome energy booster kick it gives just after that one sip, but like others I too believed that it has negative effects on our health. My myths were demystified during my research work over tea and I actually came to know that tea, when had in the right way, can actually do a lot good to you.

So what’s in it for me?

• Firstly, yes green tea is as good as it sounds.The secret of green tea lies in the fact it is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. It has also been effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter takes on added importance when you consider that thrombosis (the formation of abnormal blood clots) is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke.

• Tea contains fluorine, which is very helpful in maintaining healthy teeth. Most toothpaste these days also contains fluorine. While excess is bad, moderate amount is actually doing good to your teeth.
• Green tea can even help prevent tooth decay! Just as its bacteria-destroying abilities can help prevent food poisoning, it can also kill the bacteria that cause dental plaque.
• Having tea without sugar is actually known to have helped in reducing weight and burning fat. So go bitter!

To sum it up, tea is helpful in

• Cancer

• Rheumatoid arthritis

• Cardiovascular disease

• Infection

• Impaired immune function

• Keeping skin healthy and glowing

Few Basic things to know about tea:

• There are 4 basic types of tea: black green, oolong and white- these mainly differ in the way they are processed, black being the most processed and white being the least.

• The health benefits decrease with the amount of processing involved. So while white would be the healthiest. Black would be the least. But it is the green tea which is widely known and consumed for the health benefits is because it is the most palatable one. White and oolong tea are rare, difficult to store and unpleasant to consume for most people.

• Regular tea (with milk) is also very healthy to consume condition it is not heated ,re-heated and over boiled.(that means your road side tea does no good to you)

Do not overdo:
While tea has several benefits attached to it, do also keep in mind that its overdose can be harmful to you; Insomnia, dental flourosis, dehydration being some of them. So while its good to know what good the drink is doing to you, it does not give you a license to go be a tea-o-holic like me!

Cheers to a good health!

Are you (Wo)man enough to Lift weights?

More often than  not, I come across women dreading the thought of lifting weights as a part of their fitness program and I fail to understand why.  Ladies, you are genetically built in a way, very different from your counter parts, so don't think that if you lift weights and do those push ups, you'll become a hulk. You will definitely not unless you are on steroid shots! Let me tell you why weight training is a good idea for you:

1. Lifting weights burn calories. So while you take effort in doing Cardio and running on the treadmill, make sure that you also concentrate on doing some amount of weight training as it helps loose fat and develop lean muscle mass. Also make sure you follow up with a healthy low fat high protein diet to stack up on lean body mass.
2. Since doing weights helps in developing lean body tissues, it makes you more active and energetic. Women who do weights regularly, complain less of lethargy and fatigue than women who do only cardio.
3. If you are looking to loose weight, doing weight training along with Cardio, helps you achieve your target weight in a more shapely way. It is observed that women who loose weight by plain dieting/ cardio end up having a sagging body and loose skin. Muscle building helps you to tone up your muscle and make you look sexier than before.
4.  If you lift weights while on a weight gain diet you will not look fat. In reality you will be performing fat burning in the gym while building muscle. Reduce the fat around a tight, toned muscle and other will notice.
5. It increases bone density and helps fight osteoporosis.
6. It also helps in lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Like I said before, you will not gain excess muscle mass like men unless you are on steroids. Men and women have different sets of hormones, And not every man who works out looks like Batista either.You need to be on an overdose of testosterone to be able to look beefed up. So any muscle gain you get as a result of diet and training will only serve to accentuate the feminine shape you already have. You will look sexy and feel better about yourself!

So don't be scared to pump up some iron yourself- trust me, you'll feel the difference.

For the Love Of Meat!

Everyday you come across tabloids and articles attacking you with gyan of how you should not have meat and chicken, and why it’s a better option to go green and turn to vegetarianism. Honestly I am tired of reading such stuff. I have reached a mental block stage where when ever I read headlines like ‘go vegetarian’ or  ‘ban non-veg’ – because to me its more of a fad rather than being a logical explaination to a drastic shift in your diet.

Now I am saying all this because I have been on the swing of off and on non veg. I had quit non-veg for four years (honestly! And been successful in that). It had been pretty difficult for me considering the hard core meat lover that I was. But trust me I din’t do it for health reasons, it was a personal choice. But 4 years, 6 kilos less(when I was in need of gaining some of it), weakness and constant bouts of fever and ill health was what was needed to wake me up to reality and tell me that “Don’t mess with your metabolism”.

Now for all the non-veg lovers, flesh is not all that bad . Seriously no need to quit non veg just coz someone else feels ite the right way to control your eating habits because trust me this trick does not work for everyone and more-so-over there are plenty of health reasons for not quitting non veg.. Heres telling you why:

•  There are innumerable health benefits of eating meat, for example it serves as a fabulous source of high quality protein, which a single vegetarian food is not able to provide. it contains all the essentiall amino acids that the body requires.
• the phosphorus content present in meat gets much more easily absorbed than that present in cereals and legumes. this is owing to the fact that cereals and legumes contain phosphorus usually in the form of phytic acid that must be hydrolyzed before absorption. Meat also serves as the main source for the intake of Vitamin B12.
•  Fish, especially the small varieties are a rich source of calcium.Egg-white is good source of protein and easily digested and chicken is the best low fat high-protein food (benefit alert: low fat high protein helps you loose fat and again lean mass)

Vegetarian or non-vegetarian, the decision depends on various factors such as cultural or dietary habits of the family, personal preference, taste and avoidance of certain foods for health reasons. Whatever the case, a well-balanced diet supplying proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals should be taken.

And keeping the theme of the post alive,  no need to chicken out on that chicken just because a fancy post in the health magazine says so!

P.S: My apologies for not posting anything for almost a year (gosh that's long..so long i don't even have a believable excuse for it ) but just to justify, blog hacking + laziness to re-activate+ password loss etc etc..kept me away from my 1st love.

Cheers to Coconut!

A couple of days back, I met this lady, by the looks of whom one could clearly make out a typical day in her life.  i am talking about the breed who have filthy rich spouses, have never done anything productive in life yet wear nothing less than solitaires and Swaroskis', do nothing at home except keep a track of Page 3 and arrange kitty Parties to show off their husband's money... (guess i should stop before my jealousy starts shouting loud and clear).The moment she came to know that i am a nutritionist, I was bombarded with questions and queries of all sorts. (like any other time when people 1st meet me..maybe I should write about those experiences too) All I could hear was 'what if...', 'how to..', 'Do I..' and so on..

Anyways, from all the clutter and confusion, what I could figure out was that she wanted to avoid the amount of junk she was consuming through all the colas and cocktails. She rightly pointed out that when we go out for parties, unhealthy food can be avoided..there are lot of choices but what about drinks? we just can't say no to a round of drinks.

This is just one situation and I am sure lot of us face it at some point of time where we have to choose between saying no or upsetting people.Well my answer is simple.Go for Coconut water!
Its refreshing, healthy, trendy and a beverage with calories as close to plain water!
Let me explain.Coconut water contains organic compounds possessing healthy growth promoting properties that have known to :

1. Keep the body cool and at the right temperature (hence also suggested during a fever)
2. Orally rehydrate your body.
3. Raise your metabolism (hence weight management)
4. Boost your immune system.
5. Balance the Ph in your body and prevent cancer.
6. detoxify and fight viruses
7. Cleanse the digestive tract.
8. Naturally replenish the body tissues after exercise.
9. Control Diabetes.
10. Boost poor circulation.
11. It is Tasty!!

(I guess you won't be in a doubt again Ms.Page 3.)

Interesting fact about coconut: The English name coconut 1st mentioned in English print in 1555, comes from a Spanish and Portuguese word 'coco' which means 'Monkey Face'

My First Love

For me it was like love at first sight, I knew that this is the one for me the moment i saw it; and  from then on there is no looking back I don't remember how old I was when I fel in love, but I do know that I was very young to understand things like love or attraction.  Like every other indian mother, my mother too was very concerned with my growing fondness at such an early age. Their were logical concerns, but somehow these things never bothered me. I guess true love is blind and  knows no boundaries.

I am talking about my love with TEA! Seriously I was stoo young when i started having it and I remember how people bad mouthed it all the time, saying that it has negative effects on health and stuff like that. I was too young to say anything that time, but now that I am all grown up, sensible and capable of defending in this case my love I would not leave any stone unturned!

1st of all Women who drink three cups of tea a day may be protecting themselves against heart attacks and strokes. They are less likely to have plaques - dangerous build-ups of fat and cholesterol - in their arteries, researchers found. Only around one third of women who drank three or more cups of tea a day had plaques in a neck artery, compared with almost half of those who drank no tea.there goes my 1st defence.
2ndly contrary to popular belief that drinking tea weakens your teeth, the flouride present in tea actually helps you to strenghten your teeth and protects from plague and brittle teeth.
3rdly teas like green and white tea , contain a very good amount of polyphenols which are very good antioxidants-which means good bye wrinklles cancer and CV diseases.
4thly tea contains very less of caffeine (which dehydrates the body) as compared to coffee. Another reason to pick up a cup of tea rather than that big mug of coffee.
I believe I have defende my love sufficiently enough. But yes this does'nt mean that you go overboard with it and keep drinking tea all day long. Obsession with anything can be fatal too.
So cheers to tea