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Celebrating Holi or any other festival in India has its own charm and has a regional touch to it. Celebration with special foods is common. Different communities in India, have their own typical ways of celebrating festivals by preparing special sweets, snacks and food. While these are an integral part of traditional celebrations, unfortunately some of the foods we eat for pleasure are not always foods that are best for our health and are loaded with calories, especially from fats and carbohydrates.
Is possible to celebrate without a toll on our health? The answer is yes. Just a few tips and common sense, can protect from the ills of dining & wining.
Maintain a food diary: Food diary helps you to track your caloric intake and make appropriate choices accordingly. For those trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain during the festive season, it may be a good idea to perform the balancing act in anticipation, prior to the festivities. This could be done a week or few days earlier and during the festive season.
Snack smart: Go for roasted/ baked, non-fried, grilled or barbequed snacks. Choose small portions preferably. If overindulged in snacks, keep the dinner light or skip it all together. Use whole grains instead of white flour to make traditional preparations. Use atta, ragi and chana flour to prepare snacks and sweets, like the Holi staple gujhiya.
Other beverages: Save yourself from sugar calories and avoid drinking sweetened beverages. Go in for sugar-free substitutes, diet sodas or fruit juices diluted with soda.
Non-vegetarians should choose light roasted/ grilled fish/poultry over mutton/beef/pork. Prefer lean cuts of meat.
Social pressure: Learn to say ‘no’ politely but firmly. A lot of people don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, so it may be a good idea to ask them for an alternative which you would like to have. Some people may even force things on your plate or pour you a drink which you may not want; you can be discrete and put it away without offending anyone. Another strategy which can work is to let people know that you are off-sweets or alcohol etc., as the case may be.
Statins often prescribed without good evidence
Distracted eaters likely to eat more People who eat meals or snacks while watching TV, playing games or reading tend to consume more calories in a sitting, and especially later in the day, according to a review of two dozen past studies. "Some studies have individually shown this before, but the evidence has never been put together," said lead author Eric Robinson from the University of Liverpool, UK. Device keeps liver "alive" outside body A donated human liver has been kept alive, warm and functioning outside a human being on a newly-developed machine and then successfully transplanted into two patients in a medical world first. A British team of doctors, engineers and surgeons announcing the achievement said it could be common practice in hospitals across the developed world within a few years, up to doubling the number of livers available for transplant. Medically safer hybrid grapefruit developed Grapefruit fans who gave up the fruit to avoid potentially dangerous interactions with their prescription medications may soon be able to indulge in the tangy fruit without risk. Tests on a new hybrid grapefruit developed in Florida found very low levels of the organic chemical compounds implicated in what is known as the "grapefruit juice effect," said Fred Gmitter, a University of Florida citrus researcher and breeder. Mummies too had key heart risk CT scans of 137 mummies spanning four geographies and 4,000 years of history show that hardening of the arteries was commonplace, especially in older individuals, suggesting this key sign of heart disease may be a part of aging rather than the byproduct of eating junk food. The findings, presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in San Francisco and published in the Lancet medical journal, challenge the commonly held belief that atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries — the disease that causes heart attacks and strokes — is a modern plague brought on by smoking, obesity and sedentary lifestyles. Whooping cough vaccine protection wanes Protection against whooping cough starts to weaken a few years after preschool children get their final diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) shot, a new study confirms. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a booster shot at age 11 or 12. But researchers found that slightly younger kids may be at risk of developing whooping cough before then, as their original immunity declines. Drink milk; avoid metabolic syndrome
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Plan: Just like you plan
your clothes and meetings, plan your eating too. If you know you are
to dine out, then consume fewer calories or eat a light meal during
the day. Remember; don’t go starving to the party. Eat a light snack
at home before going.
Appetisers: Don’t go
out to dine or reach a party ravenous. Make sure you take a light
snack (salads, soups, vegetables, lentils, milk, yogurt or nuts make
good choices) before leaving your home to prevent over-indulgence of
the first thing that you are served. Or else, eat most of your meal at
home and choose light snacks or vegetables while you are out.
Limit alcoholic
beverages: Avoid drinking more than two medium drinks of wine or other
alcoholic beverages. Women should limit their intake to one medium
drink. If you have to go through a long evening over drinks, dilute
your drinks or else take water or soda intermittently. Diabetics
should watch out for alcohol intake as it can lead to hypoglycemia.
Vegetables: One must
look for vegetables with less gravy or without gravy, as gravies are
loaded with fats and calories. Try grilled, stir-fried or lightly
saut`E9ed vegetables. Avoid fried/ oily dishes.
Desserts: Skip desserts
if possible, or choose light ones in place of those with cream or deep
fried ones. If temptation overtakes you or you have a sweet tooth,
share your favourite ones with your friends.
Many doctors prescribe
statins to people who have little chance of benefiting from the
cholesterol-lowering drugs, a new study suggests. In a survey of 202
primary care doctors and cardiologists, more than 70 per cent said
they would prescribe a statin to patients who have a very low chance
of developing heart disease during the next decade, based on their
cholesterol and blood pressure levels and other risk factors.
College-age kids who
don't consume at least three servings of dairy daily are three times
more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than those who do, says a
new study. Researchers from the University of Illinois studied 339
Mexican college students for metabolic syndrome risk factors.
"Only one in four persons in the study was getting the
recommended amount of dairy," said researcher Margarita Teran-Garcia.
Metabolic syndrome occurs when a person has three of the following
risk factors: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure and blood sugar
and high cholesterol and lipid levels. Having this disorder increases
a person's chances of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Although scientists believe that dairy products guard against obesity
and related health problems, they aren't sure how it happens. "It
may be the calcium, it may be the proteins. But evidence suggests that
dairy products are effective in attaining and maintaining a healthy
weight," she said in a study. The scientists suspected that
students were substituting high-calorie sugar-sweetened beverages like
soda and juice drinks for milk, but they found that wasn't the case.
Instead, 25 per cent drank these beverages in addition to dairy
products, contributing surplus calories. — Agencies