Monday, March 31, 2008

Benefits of Ridge Gourd

Ridge gourd is low in saturated fat and cholesterol, high in dietary fibre, vitamin C, riboflavin, zinc, thiamin, iron, magnesium and manganese. The nutritional value of gourd makes it suitable for maintaining optimum health, weight lose. It has excellent cooling properties.
Ridge gourd can be cut into slices and fired in batter like our chilli bajjies. A healthier option would be to make gravy out of it. Fry some onions, tomatoes, garlic with some salt and chilli powder. Add some cubed ridge gourd and let it cook on a simmering flame. Add half a cup of milk and let the gravy thicken. After removing from flame, season and serve hot.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Benefits of Bitter Gourd

Bitter gourd is the most uncommonly used vegetable around the world. The name itself speaks of its taste, which is bitter. Its nutrient content surpasses all other vegetables. Bitter gourd contains Vitamin A, B1, B2, and C. It also contains minerals like calcium, phosphorus, iron, copper and potassium. It purifies blood, enhances digestion, and stimulates the liver. It is an excellent natural source of insulin. The skin, seeds and the vegetable on the whole can be consumed in many forms. Diabetics are recommended to drink the juice of tender bitter gourds to keep their sugar levels in check. It can be stuffed with potato masala and shallow fried. You can even grill it. It can be cut into thin slices and fried like chips with salt and chilly powder. The skin can be washed, fried well and ground with coconut, green chilly and tamarind to make chutney. In whole, bitter gourd plays a vital role in keeping the sugar under control for a diabetic.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Nutritional Values of Egg

The eggs are having the high nutritional values to the body. The latest research suggests that eating whole eggs may actually result in significant improvement in one’s blood lipids (cholesterol) profile, even in persons whose cholesterol levels rise when eating cholesterol-rich food. Lutein, a carotenoid thought to help prevent age-related macular degeneration and cataracts, may be found in even higher amounts in eggs than in green vegetables. Eggs are a good source of low cost high quality proteins, providing 5.5 gm of protein in one egg for a caloric cost of only 68 calories. Another half benefit of eggs is their contribution to the diet as a source of choline. Choline is a key component of acetylcholine. A neuro-transmitter that carries messages from and to nerves, acetylcholine is the body’s primary chemical means of sending messages between nerves and muscles.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Causes for Liver Damage

1. Sleeping too late and waking up too late are main cause.2. Not urinating in the morning.3. Too much eating.4. Skippingbreakfast.5. Consuming too much medication.6. Consuming too much preservatives, additives, food coloring , and artificial sweetener.7. Consuming unhealthy cooking oil. As much as possible reduce cooking oil use when frying, which includes even the best cooking oils like virgin coconut oil. Do not consume fried foods when you are tired, except if the body is very fit.8. Consuming raw (overly done) foods also add to the burden ofliver.Veggies should be eaten raw or cooked 3-5 parts. Fried veggies should be finished in one sitting, do not store.We should prevent this without necessarily spending more. We just have to adopt a good daily lifestyle and eating habits. Maintaining good eating habits and time condition are very important for our bodies to absorb and get rid of unnecessary style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">chemicals according to "schedule."Because :Evening at 9 - 11 PM : is the time for eliminating unnecessary/toxic chemicals (detoxification) from the antibody system (lymph nodes). This time duration should be spent by relaxing or listening to music. If during this time a housewife is still in an unrelaxed state such as washing the dishes or monitoring children doing their homework, this will have a negative impact on health.Evening at 11pm - 1 am : is the detoxification process in the liver, and ideally should be done in a deep sleep state.style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Early morning 1 - 3 am : detoxification process in the gall, also ideally done in a deep sleep state. Early morning 3 - 5 am : detoxification in the lungs. Therefore there will sometimes be a severe cough for cough sufferers during this time. Since the detoxificationprocess had reached the respiratory tract, there is no need to take cough medicine so as not to interfere with toxin removal process.

Morning 5 - 7am : detoxification in the colon, you should empty your bowel.Morning 7 - 9 am : absorption of nutrients in the small intestine, you should be having breakfast at this time.Breakfast should be earlier, before 6:30 am , for those who are sick. Breakfast before 7:30 am is very beneficial to those wanting to stay fit. Those who always skip breakfast, they should change their habits, and it is still better to eat breakfast late until 9- 10 am rather than no meal at all.Sleeping so late and waking up too late will disrupt the process of removing unnecessary chemicals. Aside from that, midnight to 4:00 am is the time when the bone marrow
produces blood. Therefore, have a good sleep and don't sleep late.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Brain damaging habits

1. No BreakfastPeople who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level.This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.2. OvereatingIt causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.3. SmokingIt causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease.4. High Sugar consumptionToo much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing color=blue size=4>malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.5. Air PollutionThe brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.6. Sleep DeprivationSleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells. 7. Head covered while sleepingSleeping with the head covered, increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects. color=red size=4>8. Working your brain during illnessWorking hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.9. Lacking in stimulating thoughtsThinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage.10. Talking RarelyIntellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Color blindness

Color blindness (color vision deficiency) is an x-linked recessive trait. It means it is a trait that sits upon the X chromosome. The girls are XX and boys are XY, and a recessive trait can only be shown on the person if TWO recessive traits are present in the genotype. Girls would have to receive this trait both from their father and their mother to be affected. Since boys are XY, they only need one color blindness trait to be affected. Hence there is a greater probability that they would inherit it from either their mother or father.
It is recessive in the sense that if you have 1 normal copy of the X chromosome and 1 affected X chromosome; you are still able to see normally. That's why few women are color-blind. But in men, there is only 1 copy of the X chromosome present so if it is affected, then he will be color blind.
Red/Green color blindness is by far the most common form, about 99%, and causes problems in distinguishing reds and greens. Another color deficiency Blue/Yellow also exists, but is rare and there is no commonly available test for it.
There is no treatment for color blindness nor is it any significant disability. However, it can be very frustrating for individuals affected by it. Those who are not color blind seem to have the misconception that color blindness means that a color blind person sees only in black and white or shades of gray. While this sort of condition is possible, it is extremely rare. Being color blind does keep one from performing certain jobs and makes others difficult.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

INSULIN

Insulin has two critical roles in the body that we cannot live without. It can be the root cause of many health problems, including diabetes. Insulin carries sugar (glucose), fat and protein into your cells where they are used for energy and the repair of your cells. When you eat, a certain amount of the food will be converted into glucose and enter the bloodstream. As the sugar levels are high, the body senses it and the pancreas secretes insulin to lower the sugar level. This is insulin's second main function.
If you eat too much of any food, especially carbohydrates (starch and sugar) the levels of glucose in the blood rise to very high levels. In turn this triggers a large release of insulin from the pancreas. Your cells will take what they need and then insulin will begin the process of converting the excess glucose, fat and protein into fat and then put it all away in your fat cells. By combining foods the right way for your body, you will maintain optimum levels of insulin throughout the day.
The best way to control insulin and fight sugar cravings is to eat protein snacks when you are hungry or when you have severe "sweet" cravings. Also, try to limit yourself to three carbohydrate-containing meals per day and try to eat vegetables with most meals and snacks. A particularly good snack is non-fat cottage cheese and salsa. The only vegetables to avoid in the evening are corn, yellow or orange squash, peas, beets and carrots. They have high simple carbohydrate (sugar) content.
Good natural sources of protein for meals or snacks are:
Chicken breast TurkeyFish Lean PorkLean Steak 7% or less Ground BeefEgg whites Egg BeatersTofu Non-fat cottage cheeseNon-fat cheese Non-fat cream cheeseNon-fat sour cream Fat-free Ham or Canadian bacon
The key is to eat frequently throughout the day and also have a real sweet treat once a week if that will help you stay away from sweets the rest of the week.