Homemade Whole Wheat Muffin

Each time you visit a supermarket, you will find a whole section of  baked products labelled as whole wheat, whole grain, multi grain or gluten free. These food grain terms are not just important for people suffering from gluten intolerance, but also for the health conscious who want maximum health benefits from different baked products.

Whole grains are an important part of our diet as they provide us with numerous health benefits. To understand more about them, it is necessary that you read the ingredients label for whole wheat, whole grain, or multi-grain products.

Multi-Grain Foods

These types of foods contain more than one type of grain. The grains can be whole grain or in refined form. Common multi-grains used in bakery products are oats, buckwheat, cracked wheat, flax and millet. Bakery products such as bread, cookies or cereals normally contain about five to six multi-grains, but sometimes they can have up to 12 multi-grains. Multi-grain foods are healthy only if they contain whole grains. Look at the food label for the word ‘whole’. If the grains contained are in refined form, the food label will read ‘enriched wheat flour’. This means the product is not made entirely from whole grains and provides moderate  health benefits.

Whole Grain Foods

Products labelled by FDA as whole grain or whole wheat are those containing all parts of the wheat or grains in the same ratio found in the nature i.e. endosperm, bran and germ . Many processed foods produced from refined wheat refer only to the endosperm. Whole grain foods are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B and fiber. They prevent heart disease and the risk of Type-2 diabetes and colon cancer. Cereals, tortilla chips and flours are made from whole grains.

Whole grain foods provide additional nutritional benefits such as fiber and vitamins than most multi-grain foods. While choosing multi-grain foods, check that the product is made from whole grains to harvest max health benefits.

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Check out some magic tricks required to stay hale and healthy:

Drinking Water

Water, a universal solvent, is a powerful element on the earth without which it’s truly impossible to survive. You should drink at least 10-12 glasses of water per day as it hydrates your body. Always drink lukewarm water in the morning.

Don’t escape breakfast

Whatever you like to eat in the breakfast, it should be nutritious & healthy. It is a must as it provides 25% of the total energy and nutrients required by the body. Therefore, you don’t ever think about escaping the breakfast.

Go for timely meals

Take five meals a day in which three should be main meals and two should be mid-meals. Eat meals at regular intervals for better digestion. Keep your body fit and fine.

Quality Matters

Include quality foods in your diet as these foods increase the efficiency in your work. Don’t consume refined foods such as white rice, bread, pasta, etc.

Green Ways to Good Health

Increase your green counts by adding colourful vegetables and fruits such as broccoli, carrots, cantaloupe, berries and citrus fruits in your diet. These eatables are rich in Vitamin C and Vitamin A. Make a habit of eating two fruits a day.

Rich Fibre Foods

Consume foods that increase your digestion, Of course eat lots of fibre rich foods such as oats, barley, ragi, bajra and whole wheat grains. Make sure that you eat fruits and vegetables every day.

Herbal Effects

Drinking two cups of green tea is good for skin as well as increases the efficiency of the immune system. However, it should be prepared in right way to get better effect.

Turkish cacık, made with yoghurt and cucumber

Curd or yogurt has gained popularity among many health buffs for its nutritional and health benefits. Also, yogurt is a probiotic food which contain live microorganisms or good bacterial essential to keep your digestive track in working order. Apart from its medicinal and nutritive value, women use curd on the face for whitening and moisturizing their skin.  It can be used to treat sunburns as well is an excellent hair conditioner. Here are some more reasons to include curd or yogurt in your daily life:

• Yogurt is an alternative for people who cannot digest milk because of a protein allergy or lactose intolerance. The live cultures in yogurt create lactase, an enzyme that lactose intolerent people lack. Thereby, it improves lactose absorption without causing an upset stomach. In some cases, the enzyme beta-galactosidase found in yogurt helps better the absorption of lactose in lactase-deficient people.
• Yogurt contains a friendly bacteria – lactobacteria, specially acidophilus that lowers the risk of colon cancer by avoiding the conversion of bile into carcinogenic bile acids.
• Yogurt is a rich source of calcium and Vit D which have shown to have beneficial effects on skeletal health and prevention of osteoporosis. Calcium also decreases the growth of cells lining the colon thus contributing to lower risk of colon cancer.
• Calcium and B-vitamins are easily absorbed in people who have made it a daily habit to consume yogurt.
• Yogurt contains immunity boosting interferon that plays an important role in warding off viral infections and cancers.
• Intestinal infections or gastrointestinal disorders may cause temporary lactose intolerace. In these times, yogurt works as an healing food providing all the nutritional benefits of a dairy product plus good bacteria produced by fermenting milk.
• Yogurt contains nearly 20 percent RDA of protein for most individuals. Also,  culturing of milk proteins during fermentation makes it easier to digest compared to pure milk.
• Some studies have shown that yogurt aids in lowering cholesterol because of properties of the live cultures that assimilate cholesterol.
• Lactic acid in yogurt can help children in absorption and easy digestibility of essential minerals and proteins.

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Lentils have been around seen ancient times and research today confirms its health benefits. Statistics state that regular intake of lentils have a healthy benefit on weight loss, diabetes, preventing cancer, heart health as well as lowering cholesterol. Lentils are low in fat while being naturally high in protein, fiber and essential phytonutrients.

Lentils belong to the legume family and are considered one of the oldest cultivated foods. Seeds believed to be 8000 years old have been found in excavations in the Middle East. There have been enough reference in ancient scriptures and old works of lentils to stress its benefits. Traditional dishes of lentils  from Middle East and Central Asia are now popular throughout the world.

Lentils vary in size and shape and come in yellow, green, red, orange, brown and black. Some lentils are better suited for specific kind of dishes than others. Yellow and brown lentils tend to loose their shape and have a soft consistency after cooking so they are a much better option for soups and stews. On the other hand green lentils work better for salads when a firmer texture is required. Lentils are also a convenient choice because they can be relatively quickly cooked and do not require to be soaked before.

Lentils contain around 30 % protein and are also good sources of essential vitamins such as iron, potassium, manganese, phosphorous, copper and vitamin B1. 1 cup of lentils features 15.6 grams of  both soluble and insoluble fiber. It is also a good source for molybdenum and folate. Folate, generally known as folic acid or vitamin B12 is essential for development of babies in wombs, brain function and formation of red blood cells.

Molybdenum is an essential mineral to help the body manufacture and use enzymes. Enzymes monitor a number of vital functions in the body such as immune systems, fertility, digestion and brain function.

Here are some of those studied, analyzed and proved by science about its  healthy benefits :

• Green tea is the best food source of a group called catechins which are more powerful than Vitamin C and E.
• Consuming green tea can reduce risk of skin cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, colon, esophageal, and bladder cancer.
• Drinking green tea also helps balance the levels of cholesterol.
• Drinking green and black tea also reduces possibility of heart diseases.
• Green, black, and oolong tea are rich in antioxidants which can decrease the speed of oxidation and aging. In short, they do act as an anti-aging product!

Tea drinking cultures such as in China and India suggest that 3 cups of tea consumed in a day is the right amount. They also say that freshly brewed tea is the best. Drinking decaffeinated, instant, bottled or ready-to-drink tea has minimal health benefits as they lack healthy compounds.

If you want to start drinking a really healthy tea, here is the right method to prepare the one:

• Put fresh, green tea leaves in boiled water
• Allow tea to settle for three to five minutes that help bring out its catechins

Remember, even though you feel energetic after drinking a cup of tea, an excessive amount of tea is harmful for our health as it can hamper or disturb the process of absorbing iron from fruits and vegetables. But to overcome this, a remedy is to add lemon or milk to the tea!

Peppercorns were well-liked trade goods in the earlier days, often referred to as “Black Gold.” For several years, Black pepper was used as a form of commodity money. It is native to South East Asia and China, extensively cultivated in tropical regions. Vietnam is the largest producer and exporter of black pepper in the world.

Black pepper is extracted from the green unripe drupes of the pepper plant by boiling in hot water before drying. Because of heating, cell walls in the pepper raptures speeding the work of browning enzymes during dying. These drupes are dried in the sun for several days resulting in the formation of wrinkled black layer by shrinking of pepper around the seed. Hence, the product so obtained is black pepper.

Skin: Pepper prevents Vitiligo, a skin disease, which causes whitening of skin because of losing normal pigment in some areas. Piperine contained in pepper helps in stimulation of normal pigment by skin.

Stomach: Pepper helps in digestion by secreting hydrochloric acid in stomach. Because of proper digestion, you stay away from diarrhea, constipation and colic. Pepper intake also prevents formation of intestinal gas, and also helps in sweating and urination.

Weight Loss: Pepper’s outer layer helps in reducing weight by breaking fat cells in the body. Therefore, this kind of spice is good for lowering extra-fats.

Antibacterial property: Eating pepper-added diet helps in fighting infections and insect bites because of its antibacterial property. It also helps in keeping arteries clean.

Antioxidant: Pepper, an antioxidant, prevents the damage caused by the free radicals, and protects from deadly diseases such as cancer, as well as cardiovascular diseases and liver problems.

Other benefits: Pepper helps in treating tooth decay, toothache and eye problems. It can treat respiratory conditions such as asthma and whooping cough. It works as a good carrier by transporting benefits of natural herbs to different parts of body.

Ayurveda: Ayurvedic benefits of pepper are all the time appreciated because of its characteristic of healing diseases such as ear-ache, gangrene, hernia, hoarseness and joint pain. Pepper is added in tonic for cough and cold as well helps relieve nasal congestion and sinusitis.

Gluten sensitivity, also known as gluten intolerance is a spectrum of disorders in which consumption of gluten enriched foods can cause symptoms identical to coeliac disease or wheat allergy. Gluten is a protein found in processed foods from wheat, rye, barley, triticale and oats. Its gluten that gives baked products its elasticity and spring.

Gluten free diet is recommended to patients suffering from coeliac (celiac)  disease, a life long auto immune disease where the small intestine is incapable of absorbing nutrients. There are also a subset of people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, who don’t have coeliac disease but are gluten sensitive. Since there is no cure to coeliac disease, following a life long gluten free diet is the only solution to avoid further complications like malnutrition, osteoporosis and infertility. It includes avoiding all foods containing gluten and processed food products that use it as a food additive in the form of ‘dextrin’.

Anyone who is sensitive to gluten should be cautious while shopping for products and ensure that they are safe to eat. Some of the foods that may contain gluten are:

Disallowed foods:

• All cereal and baking products, pastas and noodles and snacks made with wheat, semolina, couscous, barley or oats.
• Processed meat products prepared with breadcrumbs and batter.
• Thickened soups, meat pies and frozen meals
• Dairy products like ice cream and some soy milks
• Canned / Processed Fruits and vegetables
• Some condiments, malt vinegar, sauces, gravy, yeast and salad dressings
• Drinks made with milk powder and cereal coffee substitutes
• Beer and Lager

However, gluten free substitutes are now widely available in the market today. It is important to read the labels of all packaged or prepared foods for gluten free mentioning.

Allowed foods:

• Gluten-free flours made from soy, rice,buckwheat, chestnut, corn, potato, and chickpea
• Xantham gum
• Gluten-free baking powder
• Gluten-free pasta and noodles
• Rice noodles
• Soba noodles made entirely from buckwheat
• Quinoa
• Polenta or ground rice
• Unprocessed meat products
• Eggs, full cream / low fat milk, low fat milk, cream, cheese and soy milks
• Non-sauced fruits and vegetables
• Breads and biscuits made from rice and corn.
• Gluten-free condiments such as maple syrup, tomato paste, tahini, jam
• Tea, Coffee, Mineral Water, Sprites, Liqueurs and gluten free Boutique Beers

In countries like US, UK and Australia, foods are labelled as gluten free. But carefully go through the ingredients for incidence of gluten.

There is one safe alternative to taking memory or concentration tablets. You can go for brain foods instead. Including these ‘good for your brain’ foods in your diet will help you improve your memory and concentration power. Some foods and beverages aid in enhancing memory and concentration and leave a positive impact on your brain.

1] Chocolates and nuts are good for your brain. So don’t fail guilty when you indulge in these. Both have anti-oxidant properties. They help in improving focus and concentration.

2] Caffeine found in coffee, chocolate, energy drinks and medications also helps you energize and retain focus. It should be carefully monitored though. Going overboard on this and leave you irritated and comfortable.

3] Sugars also enhance alertness, that is sugar in the form of glucose. Glucose is derived from the sugars and carbohydrates you consume by your body. A sweet drink can boost memory, thinking ability and mental ability. However, too much of this can impair your memory while also adding on extra pounds.

4] Fish is rich not only in protein but omega-3 fatty acids which are essential for development and functioning of the brain. Including fish in your diet lowers the risk against mental decline, dementia and stroke while enhancing memory.

5] Studies have shown that a breakfast consisting of dairy, fruits and whole grains improved memory. Avoid high calorie breakfasts as they hinder concentration.

6] Adding whole grains and avocados in your diet is also good for your brain. Everything in our body rests on blood flow. They reduce risk of heart diseases and lower bad cholesterol and thus help in monitoring an enhanced blood flow throughout your body, including brains.

7] Blueberries protect the brain from age related brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. It also protects the brain from the damage caused by free radicals.

8] A balanced diet works wonders for your memory and concentration while also promoting a sense of general well being.

9] You might also want to add vitamin and mineral supplements in your intake, if your body is not getting enough of these. However, consult your physician before taking any, for safe and trusted supplements.

10] Meditation, a good night sleeps and exercise aids in maintaining a healthy and focused brain. Keeping yourself hydrated is also a must.

During summers our body requires more of a water to keep body temperature at normal. And so, consumption of foods with high water content is ideal in summer season.

Here are some important foods that need to be included in a regular diet during summers:

• Fruits with High Water Content:
  Eating fruits with high water content helps maintain body fluid, which is essential for the body’s mechanism of maintaining the temperature of the body.
• Milk and Milk Products:
  Since milk and milk products such a curd are rich in calcium and protein, consuming them helps compensate for electrolyte loss through sweat.
• Green, Leafy Vegetables:
  Green vegetables are ideal to be included in the daily diet as they contain lots of fluid. But, refrain from over-boiling or steaming them for too long as it reduces the water and nutrient content of vegetables.
• Wheat:
  Wheat contains zinc which is necessary for making collagen, a fibrous protein that is a primary skin component. Zinc also plays a key role in curing burned skin.
• Garlic:
  Garlic is rich in sulfuric compounds which have powerful antioxidant properties that protect from free radicals and related diseases.

Follow a diet rich with fruits and vegetables to make summer season cool!

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Spring onion adds taste to food as well increases nutritive value of recipes. It is very good for eating because of its dual parts, such as onions and green leaves. This kind of onion is rich in Vitamin C, K and A.

For the first time, spring onions were planted in Chinese gardens and they were worshipped by ancient Egyptians as the symbol of universe. Adding spring onions to several dishes increase flavor. Potatoes go well with spring onion, and also added with cauliflower to prepare a delicious recipe.

Making dal in combination with spring onion enhance taste of recipes. Many people like to eat spring onion in salads. It is used by several chefs in garnishing recipes. Since spring onion is a nutritious plant, therefore, it is famous for health benefits. Because of the presence of minerals and vitamins, it helps reduce ailments. Below are the benefits of a spring onion:

• It lowers the blood sugar level.
• It is a medicine for common cold.
• It cures gastrointestinal problems.
• It is an appetizer helping in digestion.
• It enhances the blood circulation level in the body.

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