COFFEE: FRIEND OR FOE???

Coffee: Delicious, smoothy, enticing, tempting, tasteful and obviously brain stimulator... Coffee has played a crucial role in many societies. Many of us just love that rich aroma and taste of coffee, that ‘buzz’ it gives.

 

 Wow...

What else anybody want in this stressful environment.... hmmmm.......

But is it good? What you think?????????????

Let’s explore the negative and the positive effects of coffee....

Coffee contains a complex mixture of chemical compounds. Some components, particularly those related to the aroma, are produced during roasting of the green beans. The substances which during "brewing" dissolve in water to form the beverage are classified as non volatile taste components (including caffeine, trigonelline, chlorogenic acid, phenolic acids, amino acids, carbohydrates, and minerals) and volatile aroma components including organic acids, aldehydes, ketones, esters, amines, and mercaptans.

Most coffee in India is grown in the southern states of Karanataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.

Some of the beneficial effects of coffee are...

• As coffee contains caffeine, increases dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a chemical nerve transmitter that activates the pleasure centre in the brain. That’s why you feel good after taking coffee.

• Coffee enhances your work performance. Caffeine is actually a stimulant, it improves your focus, increase attention span, improve mental performance and also energize your mood.

• Coffee enhances your physical performance also.

• A study published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research showed that people who drank four daily cups of coffee lost 1.5 pounds of body fat in four weeks.

• According to a European study, your daily cup of coffee reduces oxidative damage to your DNA by an impressive 40 percent. Coffee contains polyphenols which help protect cells from oxidation, regulate insulin and reduce inflammation.

NOT ONLY THIS ....

• A study conducted by Karolinska Institute in Stockholm found coffee drinkers had a lower incidence of breast cancer. They analysed data from almost 6,000 women who were past the menopause.

• Harvard School of Public Health, Boston states that there are a lot of compounds in coffee that have various biological effects. It's a major source of antioxidants and that might have anti-cancer effects.

• Also, coffee seems to have effects on insulin and has been associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

• According to a new study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, consumption of filtered caffeinated coffee was not associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) or all-cause mortality in women with CVD (May 2011).

• According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, several large studies have shown that caffeine intake is associated with a reduced risk of developing Parkinson's disease ... in men

• It also found that coffee drinkers may have a lower risk for developing type 2 diabetes, gallstones, colon cancer, and have a lower risk of liver damage

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND THERE ARE NUMBER OF RESEARCHES WHICH HAVE ALSO CONCLUDED THE NEGATIVE EFFECT OF COFFEE. THEY ARE.....

Insomnia and disruption of sleep patterns; tremors, nervousness, restlessness, and irritability; headaches; elevation of blood fatty acid levels; elevation of blood pressure, serum cholesterol levelsincreased gastric acid production and aggravation of peptic ulcers;higher risk of the birth of a low-birth-weight child and increased urinary calcium losses.

In addition, the use of coffee reduces the non-heme iron absorption of a meal by 40 to 60%, thereby increasing the risk of anemia.

THE KEY IS MODERATION

The quantity of coffee consumption matters a lot. If consumed is moderate amounts will act as a key to lock all the health related problems and disorders.

The September 2004 issue of Harvard Women's Health Watch found that, for most people, moderate coffee consumption is safe.

The research has not only confirmed that moderate coffee consumption doesn't cause harm, it's also uncovered possible benefits.

Studies show that the risk for type 2 diabetes is lower among regular coffee drinkers than among those who don't drink it. Also, coffee may reduce the risk of developing gallstones, discourage the development of colon cancer, improve cognitive function, reduce the risk of liver damage in people at high risk for liver disease, and reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease.

Coffee has also been shown to improve endurance performance in long-duration physical activities.

MY VERDICT ON COFFEE

• Moderate consumption of coffee. Not more that 2 cups in a day.

• Try to avoid coffee after 5pm because sleep is important for proper physical functioning and caffeine can stay in your system for 8 hours or longer.

 

• Coffee enhances the physical performance as caffeine can speed up metabolism and can help fat break down about 30 per cent more efficiently if consumed prior to exercise. So those who need to reduce weight they can drink coffee before exercise.

• Coffee can lead to dehydration during exercise due to the diuretic effect of caffeine, so to rehydrate your body drink water in between the exercise and an isotonic drink that contains sodium, potassium and some sugar would be ideal to aid in restoring blood sugar and the lost electrolytes.

• Avoid drinking coffee or even tea with your breakfast, lunch and dinner because it hinders in the absorption of nutrients specially iron and calcium

• So if you want to consume tea and coffee try to consume before or after half an hour of your meal.

So finally we can conclude that coffee is a friend if consumed in a moderate amount but keep an eye on yourself buddy as excess can lead to disasters.....

Content courtesy: http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/coffee_health_risk, http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/cancer/articles/2011/05/17/could-coffee-lower-mens-risk-for-prostate-cancer, http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110517/health-fitness/Coffee-could-protect-women-from-cancer.365831, http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/news/2011/05/coffee-consumption-cvd-in-women-not-linked.aspx, http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/questions/coffee/, http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/caffeine.htm.

Images courtesy: getahead.rediff.com, home-living-news.co.uk, blog.thecoffeebump.com

Eating less will result in weight loss... myth or fact....

Hi everybody , if we look at our statistics status on obesity it is clear that India is now in a grip of an obesity epidemic. India's current National Family Health Survey indicates that more than 20 percent of urban Indians are overweight or obese. And in the northwestern state of Punjab, nearly 40 percent of all women are overweight or obese.

There are number of factors that can leads to obesity, some of them are: lack of exercise, junk food consumption, sedentary lifestyle, stress and obviously our Indian cooking style (excess of oil and spices consumption).

So it is really important to maintain your body weight because this obesity will induce you to number of other complications that is non communication diseases (diabetes, hypertension, cardio- vascular diseases, metabolic syndrome).

‘Eating less result in weight loss.... myth or fact.....’ What you think about this????

I had conducted a research on 523 obese people; follow their dietary habits and lifestyle. With the statistics it has been find out that almost 70% of obese people were consuming fairly less amount of food. They were skipping breakfast and some of them skipping dinner. They reported, they believe that skipping meals will help them to reduce some weight, further respond that there was no reduction in their weight.


Skipping meals, especially breakfast, can actually lead to weight gain. Skipping meals does for you is create bad habits that aid weight gain.
If you are overweight or obese and your goal is to lose weight, STOP SKIPPING MEALS. It's important to keep your metabolism fired up with the right foods at certain times of the day. Skipping meals tends to leave you hungrier later in the day, and you eat a large portion of food at one time and that lead to fat accumulation.


So EATING LESS WILL NOT HELP YOU BUDDY.

Therefore here i am, giving you some tips on how to reduce and maintain body weight.

1. Healthy eating will help you in weight reduction.

2. Firstly, recognize healthy foods: which include green vegetables, fruits, milk and milk products, pulses (dals), egg (avoid yolk, yellow part), chicken, fish (avoid red meat like mutton and organ meats).

3. Next step, now cogitate how many of you actually including all these healthy foods.

4. Next step is to focus on ‘Eating Pattern’.

  

• You should follow a small and frequent meal pattern that is 5 to 6 meals in a day (Breakfast, Midmorning, Lunch, Evening snacks and Dinner). Reason: your body needs energy (food) after every 2 1/2 hours of your meals. And if you will not provide energy (food) to your body it will produce acid in your stomach and that will leads to acidity.

 

• As already discuss, stop skipping meals. If you make a practice to follow a small and frequent meal pattern, you will definitely start reducing. Reason: when u take small and frequent meals, your metabolic system convert your food to glucose and this glucose will provide you energy to perform your work and will be utilized by your body. This will keep your metabolism fired up with the right foods at certain times of the day and there will be no chances of fat accumulation. Skipping meals will slow down your metabolic system. It has been observed by the researchers that those people who skip meals, they get so hungry that they eat more than one meals worth at one sitting. The already slowed metabolism is going to take a lot longer to work the oversized meal throughout your body. This will result in fat accumulation and finally weight gain.

 • Breakfast is must. Never skip your breakfast. Breakfast is not only a glass of juice. It should consist of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and mineral. So the best breakfast is 1 panner toast/ 2 eggs (avoid yolk) with a toast / poha with panner slices/ 1 vegetable sandwich/ 1 bowl oats/1 stuffed chapati + 1 glass of milk + 1 fruit.

  • At least take 2 fruits in a day (1 during midday and another in evening) especially seasonal ones (watermelon, muskmelon, orange, apple, guava pomegranates). Reason: They actually provide you vitamins and minerals, boast your immunity.

  • Try to finish your dinner before 8:30. Reason: Your body requires at least 3 hours for digestion. Let suppose, if an individual is taking his lunch at 10 and going to bed at 11. As i said your body requires 3 hours to digest your food, so this will result in slow down of your digestion process and will lead to fat deposition as only small amount of energy will be produce as required by involuntary muscle and rest of the carbohydrates will deposit as fat.

 • Include salads in your diet. Make it a habit of consuming 1 plate of salad before your lunch and dinner. Reason: salads will add fiber in your diet. This fiber will provide you satiety and it has a property that it binds with fat and cholesterol and takes them out of the body. It will also relief you from constipation.

  • At least consume 2 glass of milk/lassi / bowl of curd + at least 1 bowl of pulses(dals) for meeting the requirement of protein, as our basic food is depend on carbohydrates.

  • Timing is an another important issue that needs to be taken care that is: your breakfast should be in between 8 – 9, lunch 1-3 and dinner 7- 8:30, midday morning 11-12 and evening snack 4 – 5.

5. Next step ‘Exercise pattern’.

WHO has recommended that adults aged 18–64 years should do at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity (brisk walk, cycling, swimming, aerobics, playing badminton, yoga, stretching exercises etc).


  • If exercise is boring for you like walking or cycling, THEN MAKE YOUR HOBBY YOUR EXERCISE. Select an outdoor sport, in which you have interest, exercise that every day for 30 minutes (dancing, swimming, playing badminton, football, basketball, aerobics, cricket etc).

  • Start your exercise pattern as 15 minutes then day by day increase it to 30 to 45 minutes and even to 1 hour if you like to.

  • There are three phases during exercise: warm up – 5 minutes, then brisk exercise – in between time and then slow down – last 5 minutes. For example in 15 minutes of exercise 1st 5 minutes will be warm up, next 5 minutes will be brisk exercise and last 5 minutes will be slow down period. In the case of 30 minutes: 5 minutes warm up, next 20 minutes brick exercise and last 5 minutes slow down period.

  • So to reduce weight, you need to do at least 1 hour of physical activity.

  • Always do 10 minutes slow walk after your every meal. Prefer stairs rather than lift

6. Keep control on your binge eating habit.

7. Avoid outside food and junk food as much as possible.

8. Drink atlest 10 to 12 glasses of water in a day. 

9. Try to avoid table sugar(1 or 2 teaspoon in a day ), sweets, chocolates, honey, jaggery (once in a 15 days, its ok).  

10. The quantity of oil used in a day should not be more than 3 teaspoon per person.

If you will follow all these principles, i promise u will start losing.

So ‘EATING LESS will help you lose’ or ‘EATING HEALTHY will help you lose’ YOU DECIDE....

Be in touch buddy; let’s explore more about health and nutrition: stay tune.....

images courtesy: zerotohealthy.com, nutrition-for-athletes.com, healthdump.com, itsentirelynatural.com, loseweight-fast.com

SUNNY SUMMERS.....

Hey everybody summers have approached......

Going from March to June, the summer season is the hottest time in most of the parts of India. Hot winds, scorching sun, sweating and obviously traffic of our country (how can we forget that) are some of the features of sunny summers.

At this point one most important thing that comes in my mind is HEALTH, especially dehydration (water loss) and electrolyte loss (potassium and sodium and chloride losses) because of heat exhaustion. These losses can lead to lethargies, sleepiness, confusion, dry mouth, weakness and even some times fainting and lowering blood pressure.

So here I am to help you out, some health tips on how to BEAT THIS HEAT.....

1. Drink at least 10 to 12 glasses of water every day.

2. We usually drink water when we are thirsty but till that time our body is already dehydrated, thats why you feel that u need water to drink. THATS WHY DRINK 1 GLASS OF WATER AFTER EVERY HOUR IN A DAY.

3. At least drink 2 to 3 glasses of lemon water because they will provide you electrolytes.

4. If you don’t have time to preparing lemon water, then the alternative is Glucon – D nimbu pani, which is available in local markets and even in super markets.

5. If you are in a market, try to avoid fruit juices as they can lead to diarrhoea. Carry homemade juices or nimbu pani and even drinking water.

6. Fruits are better than juices because they are not only providing you vitamins but also fibers which actually provide you satiety.

7. Eat at least 2 fruits in a day especially watermelon, orange, muskmelon (kharbuja), apple, mosmi etc.

8. If dehydration is very severe (vomiting, light fever and weakness) then I will suggest you to give ORS. And avoid milk because that can lead to diarrhoea.

Stay tuned for more such “diet” and “nutrition” related tips.

My first Post

Well I felt that it was time that I made my entry to the world of blogging.... So here I am... and I am here to stay!