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Vegging out

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A meat lovers guide to eating greens

There are fewer things more depressing to meat lovers than a pure vegetarian buffet or party. The heart sinks, the mood flattens and the smile sags but they dutifully pile their plates not to offend their host. They may try and make conversation but their minds are clearly somewhere else… on a bed of cold cuts, maybe, or a juicy meat patty sandwiched in a delightful sesame bun. I exaggerate but not much. It is hard for committed meatheads to even look in the direction of vegetarian dishes. If this sounds familiar, you may want to keep reading.

Vegetables are crucial for well-being. In fact, your body cannot function without a decent daily dose of vegetables because that is where your vitamins and minerals come from. If you have been feeling unwell or falling sick frequently, think about your intake of veggies. Vegetables are also complex carbohydrates they have the dual benefit of helping with digestion and keeping your stomach full, all of which help brilliantly with weight loss.

AS SIDES

Pair your Chinese dish with a side of Chinese greens or have a portion of healthy cooked potatoes with your next tandoori trek. Or a salad to round off a grilled fish. Side dishes are a wonderful complement to your non-vegetarian hero dish that will balance both taste and nutrients. A win-win, basically.

AS GARNISH

Can it really kill the appetite if you chop some coriander and sprinkle it on your chicken? Or add cucumber/tomato to your plate? Garnishes are a seamless way to integrate veggies and herbs and, by association, vitamins and minerals.

AS A SECRET INGREDIENT

Vegetables can be the hidden ingredient in the construction of many dishes. Chicken soups can be thickened with potatoes instead of cornstarch, or meat curries could have more vegetables swimming in them. Bite an accidental broccoli along your journey to your meat destination? Good for you.

AS VEGETABLE JUICE

A vegetable juice is the best habit anyone can acquire. It is a glass of antioxidant glory, easy to make, cheap to invest in and quick to drink. Blitz three different raw vegetables in a mixie (not a juicer) and pour the pulpy mixture into a glass (this should be about half a glasss worth, so use the veggies accordingly). Top off with water and add salt, rock salt, pepper, lime or anything you feel will enhance the taste. Drink up immediately (the benefits gets lost you leave it too long) and enjoy. Do this once a day, every day, and see how your body starts to slowly transform for the better.

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In Articles to munch on

Wet your appetite

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While the principles for healthy living and healthy eating remain the same throughout the year, certain seasonal rules apply. Just as summer and winter bring their unique environments and nutritional needs, the monsoon creates its own set of dietary restrictions, particularly pertaining to the intake of vegetables. Here are some veggie dos and donts:

RAW LEAFY VEGETABLES

The rainy season is probably the only time of the year when I would not recommend leafy greens. The rainy season generates a great deal of humidity, spurring bacterial growth which tends to thrive on the surface of the vegetables we eat. Transportation conditions and storage arent particularly hygienic either, which means that we need to stay away from vegetables that arent peeled. These include raw spinach, lettuce, methi, kale and other ones that go straight, unpeeled, uncooked from farm to table. Needless to say, if these vegetables are cooked, there is no problem with their consumption.

Other options for non-leafy veggies include snake gourd (tori), gourd (dudhi), pointed gourd (parval), yam (suran), apple gourd (tinda), bitter gourd (karela), and cluster beans (gavaar) along with your usual onions, turnips and potatoes. If the sound of tinda or gavaar doesnt appeal to your kids/family/spouse, try saying apple gourd or cluster beans instead. It might just work.

SPROUTS

Like vegetables, sprouts is one of the best things for your body but unfortunately, the rainy season brings with it pathogens that tend to infest this particular food. If you must eat it, lightly steam them prior to consumption.

CAULIFLOWER & BROCCOLI

There are greater chances of cauliflower and broccoli infestation during the rainy season. When I mean infestation, I mean insects making a nice little home for themselves on the leaves. If you can skip the raw versions entirely, its better.

CUCUMBER

This made it to the list because cucumber is eaten many a times with the skin on. Peel it.

FRUITS

While fruits are not vegetables, be partial to seasonal fruits. Unseasonal ones are more likely to be prone to infestations. Your best bets are pomegranates, bananas, mangoes, apples, plums and whatever else is in season. Again, peel the fruit instead of eating it with the skin on.

**A NOTE ON WASHING

For vegetables and fruits with peels, try and do a final rinse with potassium permanganate. Add enough potassium permanganate to a vessel with water for the water to take on a light pink tint. Soak fruit and vegetables for about five minutes. Rinse thoroughly to effectively remove bacteria, pesticides and assorted pests.

Enjoy the best of healthy vegetables this season.

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In Bombay Times - Ask the expert

Diabetes and Diet

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Dear Pooja,
I am suffering from diabetes since the last six years. I have tried various diets but none seem to work for me. Ideally, which vegetables should I eat and avoid?

The best most effective way to balance blood sugar levels is to eat every two hours. At the cost of sounding repetitive (over and over again) eating two hourly is the most optimum way to provide fuel to the body. When eating small meals frequently there is never excess rise in the sugar levels that lead to the excess being stored as fat and neither are there lows or drips in the blood sugars levels that lead to binge eating large portions (especially of wrong meals) that soar the sugar to unnecessary levels. I have effectively improved the glycosylated hemoglobin (average sugar control in the body for an average of three months) of so many just by this simple formula of frequent small meals. While trying to control the sugar levels eating two hourly also helps you knock off weight, which in turn again helps in managing the diabetes better. Another ace in the management of diabetes and in general a healthy lifestyle is to clock about three to four hours of cardio a week. All vegetables are good for you Aliyas I wouldn’t worry about vegetables – even a potato upto a 100grams a day is allowed. So start small and simple- break up everything you eat into small eight to ten meals a day and get your diabetes and your health in your hands. Good luck!

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In Articles to munch on

HAVE FIBRES FOR GOOD DIGESTION

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The human digestive system is complicated. It’s designed to masticate, digest, absorb and expel food from our body. Different parts of the body have different jobs cut out, and just like a factory machine, what we consume needs to move at the right speed from one body part to the other. That’s where dietary fibre comes into play. Fibre is to the digestive system what oil is to a machine; without it, everything comes to a grinding -and often painful -halt.

HOW FIBRE HELPS

Your bowels: Let’s start from the bottom. Healthy fibre intake impacts bowel movement the most. A normal-functioning digestive system will produce regular bowel movements that are predictable. The more regular your bowel movements, the slimmer the chance of waste and bacteria build-up inside your body.
Your digestive system: Dietary fibre also helps to keep the rest of the digestive system running and prevents blockages, slow movement of food material, bloating and uneasiness.
Your blood sugar: Dietary fibre is known to slow down the absorption of sugar from food to ensure that it is assimilated far more gradually.When your body is pummelled with high quantities of sugar, it can affect or worsen conditions like diabetes. High fibre foods help your body to balance out so that you don’t suffer from high or low sugar.
Your heart: Fibre helps in stabilising blood pressure, it reduces cholesterol and inflammations in the digestive system, thereby lowering the strain on the heart.
Your weight: High fibre foods make you feel fuller and are often eaten slowly. This helps to control the intake of food, and therefore, your weight.

How do we stock up on fibre?

Fear not.You’re probably having a lot of it already. Fibre is the bulky stuff that your body doesn’t actually absorb and can be either water soluble or insoluble. Both these types are important to let the digestive system run like a Swiss train schedule. Soluble fibres -once dissolved in water -form a kind of gel that slows down the emptying of your stomach, helping you feel full for a while. Sources of soluble fibres are oats, apples, beans, carrots, citrus fruits and peas. Just remember one thing ­ when we talk about getting the benefit of fibre from fruits, we mean whole fruits and not juice made out of them. Juicing removes your fibre intake, which sort of defeats the purpose.
Insoluble fibre is the stuff that promotes the actual movement of food through the system. You can get your fix from servings of whole wheat, nuts, beans, cauliflower and potatoes. Most fruits and vegetables like the ones listed above have both soluble and insoluble fibre, though some are better for you (consult your doctor to know what suits your body).
So, there you have it. Dietary fibre can be found in nearly all healthy food items. It’s important to eat healthy servings to make sure that good digestion becomes a smooth and effortless process.
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In layer3

THE PAINLESS GUIDE TO NOT GAINING WEIGHT

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Traditionally, men’s fitness has always been associated with getting bigger and not smaller.From the days of Rocky Balboa and John McClane to Vin Diesel and John Statham, big beefy guys defeated the bad guys and got the girls. The notion of fitness with getting thinner -and not beefier -is a relatively newer phenomenon for men, who, like women, are putting on more weight because of a sedentary lifestyle.

While it’s important to spend more time in the gym, getting off the couch may not be the only way to banish your inner, and outer potato. Paying attention to nutrition becomes crucial to losing weight and keeping it off. While the schools of thought on weight loss are as diverse as the people who graduate from them, I’ve broken them down into Hard and Smart. The difference is replacing the old idea that you need to kill yourself to achieve anything in life (Hard) with the belief that you can have your cake, and eat it too (Smart).

Hard: Eat less, weigh less Smart: Eat to lose

If you’ve been drastically cutting calories when you want to lose weight, here’s why you shouldn’t. Cutting too many calories puts you body into starvation mode. When your body is in this mode, it can’t metabolise, or burn fat (because fat burning occurs only when your body is adequately nour ished). If your body can’t burn fat, it starts to burn the next best thing: muscle. The more muscle you lose, the more your fat cells start to increase: the lost muscle is replaced by fat. And the more fat cells you have, the greater your body’s tendency to store more fat when you get back to eating `normally’. Fat burning is at its optimum when your body is adequately nourished with a balanced and healthy diet. So many of my clients have to eat more than they ever did (healthier stuff like fruits, veggies, egg whites), and that too at frequent intervals.

Hard: No snacking Smart: Eating every 2 hours

Eating between meals was said to be the culprit behind weight gain, with the implication that you needed to eat only during your main meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) to lose weight. However, studies have disproved this belief.You need to get away from the age-old habit of packing your day’s nutrients into three-four meals, and instead, spread them out in the form of smaller, more frequent meals.

Digestion itself is a calorie burning activity ­ just like walking, running or jumping. By eating smaller meals through the day, you allow your body to burn calories through the digestive process. Eating every two hours (not more or less), I find, is the best way to take advantage of this phenomenon.

Hard: Sweat more, eat more Smart: Sweat less, eat smart

So many of my clients come in with the idea that they can eat whatever they want, so long as they are working out. It’s such a hard way to lose weight. It’s really just about the math. If you eat a 1,000 calorie burg er, you will need to jog for approximate ly two hours to burn it off. Would n’t an easier option be to choose a less calorific version of the same dish? Restaurants all over the country can make low-fat versions of your fave foods. Eat smart. Spend less time in the gym. Exercise can only complement, and never replace food as a way to lose weight.

Hard: Fixed workouts Smart: Get moving to get losing

You don’t necessarily have to workout at a set time and at a set place to get your weight loss going. Increase your level of daily activity. Walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator or escalator. Include more activities like hiking or cycling when you vacation. Walk over to your colleague’s desk instead of emailing them. Your body will take note of the cumulative increase in activity and will reward you by losing the weight. You’d be surprised at how effective, and motivating, this is.

Hard: No junk food… ever Smart: Everyone’s invited

Your life is made up of all sorts of buddies: the nerd, the shopaholic, the one you can call at 4 am to bail you out of jail or the one who has seen you through drunken binges and toxic relationships. You’ve got to use the same logic with food. Food exists in all kinds of shapes, sizes and forms. Some you need to be acquaintances with, some you can be good friends with, and some you can be best friends with. But the good news is, you can be friends with all kinds of food.

Best friends (What you can eat daily): Rice, roti, bread, upma, kurmura, dalia, cornflakes, popcorn, noodles, poha, bhel, spaghetti, whole wheat pasta, vegetables, chicken, fish, turkey, dal, grapes, mangoes, bananas, paneer, skimmed milk, curd, egg white, quinoa, khus khus, sweet potato, rava, sooji, bajra, jowar.
Good friends (Once or twice a week): Cheese, fried food, pizza, prawns, cake, ice-cream, samosa, batata vada, pakoda, fried wantons, jalebi.
Acquaintances (Once a month): Lard, bacon, beef, mutton, pork, shellfish, smoothies, fruit juice, aerated beverages.
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