diet – Page 2 – #Thinkhealth blog

Diet that can reduce the chances of cancer – World Cancer Day

Epidemiological studies have shown that 70-90% of all cancers are environmental. Lifestyle related factors are the most important and preventable among the environmental exposures. Research has clearly shown the role of diet in cancer:

Risk of cancers is found to be lower among individuals who consume a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, starchy foods (wheat , jowar, carrots, etc) with only moderate amounts of red and processed meat
Risk is higher among those who consume excess amounts of red and processed meats, drink excess alcohol and are overweight/ obese.

How can one reduce the risk of cancer?

Here are some steps that can be taken: Continue reading “Diet that can reduce the chances of cancer – World Cancer Day”

How important is your lunch?

“Eat Breakfast Like a King, Lunch Like a Prince, and Dinner Like a Pauper”

We can eat as much as a prince at lunch! That is – little less than breakfast and little more than dinner.

The quantity is defined here but quality also plays an important role, especially when lunch is eaten outside home/ at work. Some of us end up carrying packed lunches from home, which let us admit are often boring! Continue reading “How important is your lunch?”

Making your popcorn healthier

how can you make your pop corn healthier In our earlier post we discussed a healthier alternative to pop corn – lotus seeds or tal makhana.

While popcorn does provide several nutritional benefits, you can take some steps to make it even healthier!

Here is a table representing nutritional comparison between the two. Continue reading “Making your popcorn healthier”

Are biscuits good for your child’s health?

are biscuits good for your child's health

Recently, when I visited my hometown for a vacation. There along with some pleasant exposure to new faces of family members and friends, my son was also exposed to some unwanted junk foods like – BISCUITS. Thankfully, they were not the creamy or chocolatey versions. My mother was rather surprised to see my resentment towards allowing my son to eat the so-called healthy version of the biscuits as well. “Hey, this is from the exclusive line of products by Babaji and is healthier”, she suggested.

My humble suggestion to her was – Biscuits an never be healthy. Period! Continue reading “Are biscuits good for your child’s health?”

5 lesser known benefits of drinking green tea

health benefits of green tea

Tea is one of the most common drinks in India. Cost wise it works out to be quite cheap, but activity wise it’s one of the richest source of powerful antioxidants due to the presence of different groups of Polyphenols. In contrast, in Western society the most popular beverage is coffee, but coffee does not present the versatile and potent health benefits at have been associated with green tea consumption.

While it has been around for long, green tea has, in recent times, gained prominence as a tea which provides several health benefits. Continue reading “5 lesser known benefits of drinking green tea”

Health benefits of bitter gourd

health benefits of karela

Bitter gourd , also called Momordica charantia (MC) or bitter melon , is a member of the cucerbitaceae family, a perennial climber and is characterized by warty-fruit like gourds or cucumbers.

The white to green unripe fruit changes to yellow as the fruit ripens.The fruit has a characteristic bitter taste, which becomes more pronounced as the fruit ripens.

The plant thrives in tropical and subtropical regions, including:

South America
Asia
Parts of Africa
The Caribbean

Karela is a bitter melon with sweet consequences for health! What are the health benefits of consuming karela or bitter gourd? Continue reading “Health benefits of bitter gourd”

Damaging effect of high fructose corn syrup on our health

Fructose can have a detrimental effect on our health, as we have seen in an earlier blog post : Fructose – The sweet sugar with bitter consequences!

In this article, we’ll look at how High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) compares to the regular table sugar we consume and how it can have a damaging impact on our body.

White table sugar v/s high fructose corn syrup Continue reading “Damaging effect of high fructose corn syrup on our health”

Make your macaroni more health-ilicious

Say cheese and the next thing that comes to your mind is –Macaroni?!

Well, if you are an American then most definitely yes, since more than one million boxes of macaroni and cheese are sold there every day! It is less popular among Indians with other pasta varieties such as spaghetti, penne and fusilli being consumed more often.

While most of us do have fond childhood memories of digging into a dishful of steaming ‘macaroni and cheese’ at some point we fear piling on extra calories by binging on this cheesy delight. Let us see how we can enjoy an occasional indulgence in macaroni dishes by making it more healthy and nutritious.

Continue reading “Make your macaroni more health-ilicious”

Diet during malaria

diet during malaria

South-east Asia contributes 2.5 million cases to the global burden of malaria. Of this, India alone contributed 76% of the total cases. Each year at least 2 million cases of malaria are reported in India. What is more worrisome is that half of these are caused by a severe and an often fatal strain called Plasmodium Falciparum (Pf).

Although the overall prevalence has declined in the past few years, some states like Orissa, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh still show large majority of malaria cases and some other states are at risk of epidemics. It was believed that malaria is more common amongst rural population due to poor hygiene, but the incidence of malaria is on the rise in India’s urban areas as well. Continue reading “Diet during malaria”

Should you go vegan today?

should you go vegan

A vegan diet appears to be useful for increasing the intake of protective nutrients and phytochemicals and for minimizing the intake of dietary factors implicated in several chronic diseases. A vegetarian diet is associated with many health benefits because of its higher content of fiber, folic acid, vitamins C and E, potassium, magnesium, and many phytochemicals and a fat content that is more unsaturated.

Here are 7 reasons why you should go vegan today! Continue reading “Should you go vegan today?”