Salt: which type and how much are you eating?

In the kitchen, there’s no ingredient more important than salt. Aside from being one of the five basic tastes, salt has properties that release food molecules into the air, giving the food an aroma – an integral part of taste. 

What Is Table Salt?

Commonly purchased iodised salts, available at super markets or sitting on your dining table have synthetic chemicals added to them. These chemicals include everything from manufactured forms of sodium aluminate, iodide, sodium bicarbonate, fluoride, anti-caking agents, toxic amounts of potassium iodide and aluminium derivatives. It may come as a shock, but most table salt is not only unhealthy, but can sometimes be toxic.

The natural forms of important iodine is lost when we manufacture salt. Without this natural iodine the thyroid is severely harmed, leading to growth and metabolism issues. Because of this, the chemical-based salt industry  adds synthetic forms of iodine to their products.

Salt found in the natural world is not usually white. Table salt has been coloured white with bleach. The table salt that you consume comes from mined from salt deposits left by salt lakes but a lot of it also comes from Crude oil extract. Yes!! Table salt is actually flaky residue from oil digging.

Jaggery: An elixir for health

Jaggery or gur may not be an attractive food item, but the nutritional and health benefits it provides is definitely attractive and striking. 

Unlike sugar, jaggery contains several vitamins and minerals that are good for your health. Jaggery is unrefined and pure whole sugar that contains high percentages of sucrose, fructose and glucose. Table sugar is only sucrose, the simplest sugar that creates blood sugar imbalances when consumed. It is rich in various minerals like iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, copper, chromium, selenium and zinc. The advantage of consuming jaggery is that it is low in fat and sodium.

Benefits of jaggery are:

• Rich in mineral salts
• Easy to digest
• Develops unique taste as sweetener
• Treats throat and lung infection.
• Easily dissolved and balances the deficiency of sugar level
• Sulphur less Organic Composition
• Does not increase blood sugars quickly (low GI)

Jaggery is a great winter dessert, that not only gives satiety, minus the negative effects of eating sugars but also helps fight cold, improves respiratory health and is a rich source of micronutrients.So stock up on Gur for your fix of sweetness, warmth, health and nutrition.

Carcinogens in everyday foods

Every day medical science treats millions of patients around the world for innumerable diseases. As clinicians  battle new forms of infection, more and more clinical resources are being spent on curing and managing Non communicable diseases. Most of these NCDs are preventible with lifestyle changes. Enough exercise , good food and a cleaner environment can go a long way in preventing, diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.

Cancer has become a big killer in the modern world. There are so many types and categories of cancer from oral cancers to intestinal camncer, breast cancer to prostate cancer and so on.

Cancer is caused by changes in a cell’s DNA – its genetic “blueprint.” Some of these changes may be inherited from our parents. Others may be caused by outside exposures, which are often referred to as environmental factors. Environmental factors can include a wide range of exposures, such as:

   1. Lifestyle factors (nutrition, tobacco use, physical activity, etc.)

   2. Medical treatments (radiation and medicines including chemotherapy, hormone drugs, drugs that suppress the  immune system, etc.)

   3. Pollution

           As doctors and patients fight cancer, most of us live in the disbelief that cancer will not happen to us.  We go about our daily lives eating food that has potent carcinogens and increasing our risk for cancer without even recognising it.Here are some foods that we consume on a daily basis that contain natural carcinogens:

Superfoods for the Superbusy

Traditionally dietary supplements like cod liver oil, iron tablets and multivitamins are taken to ensure the adequacy of our diet. The rationale behind nutritional supplements is to ensure sufficient intake of essential nutrients to prevent overt deficiency disease and to wade off subtle adverse effects of marginal nutrient inadequacy.

However today there is another buzzword in the language of nutrition and health: “Superfood”. There is no technical definition of the word and the scientific evidence for the health effects of these foods though they are mostly positive. Urban Indians have started consuming the so called superfoods and their powders for additional health benefits such as:

1. To reduce the risk of chronic age-related diseases such as cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis and Type-II diabetes.
2. To “boost” the immune system 

3. To treat or lessen the symptoms of non-deficiency diseases such as clinical depression or arthritis

4. To boost athletic or sexual performance

5. To cover the perceived increase in requirements, such as in pregnancy, old age or illness.

Diet tips for Summers

• Load up on fluids , mostly just water

This one is obvious, but it can’t be repeated enough. In hot summer weather your body is prone to dryness as water is literally evaporating off of you. So even more than usual, keep your body hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

If plain water seems too boring, add a couple of slices of cucumber, a few berries, a squirt of lemon, or a few sprigs of lemon balm to keep you coming back for more.

A word of caution: Sweetened beverages, colas, fruit juices and energy drinks with their high sugar content dehydrate the body further and should not be used to stock up on fluids. Say no to all forms of packed drinks and stick to plain, clean water.Some other good options can be thin buttermilk, fresh lime (no sugar) and just green tea.

The precious cloves of health : Garlic

Today in my OPD as I counselled one patient after another back to back, I also met this queer gentleman in his early forties. A visibly plump, sharp, interesting and well spoken man, the gentleman spoke about how his LDL cholesterol and Triglycerides have been fluctuating because of his erratic lifestyle and how he has learnt to manage them with something as simple as garlic cloves. He went on to emphasise how nature has a cure for most diseases which modern medicine fails to tackle.

Although my profession is aligned with modern medicine, everyone (and that includes physicians) handling patients with lifestyle diseases and metabolic disorders knows that cure for lifestyle diseases is eventually improving and working on your lifestyle. It also triggered me into writing about this wonderful modified root that is a powerhouse of protective elements… the humble GARLIC.

Garlic by classification is a herb and is used widely as a flavoring in cooking. It has also been used as a medicine throughout ancient and modern history to prevent and treat a wide range of conditions and diseases.Garlic belongs to the onion genus Allium, and is closely related to the onion, chive, leek, and shallot. It has been used by humans for thousands of years and was used in Ancient Egypt for both culinary purposes and its health and therapeutic benefits.

Garlic is one of the most valuable and versatile foods on the planet. Today garlic is a widely recognized health enhancing supplement. Garlic promotes the well-being of the heart and immune systems with antioxidant properties and helps maintain healthy blood circulation. One of garlic's most potent health benefits includes the ability to enhance the body's immune cell activity.Garlic helps strengthen your body's defenses against allergies; helps loosen plaque from the artery walls; helps regulate your blood sugar levels; and is the best choice for killing and expelling parasites such as pin worms from the human body.

Millets : The SuperGrains

Millets are super grains, and were used extensively for human consumption but have been removed from our staple diets as a result of urbanization and large scale production and availability of cereals like wheat, rice and corn. Considering that millets are packed with nutrition, are easy to digest and require minimum agricultural support for growing them, it is the time to revive millets. Enough information should be spread about their advantages and farmers must be given the support to grow them. Replacing cereal with millets can address many diseases such as Celiac disease, Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases, and Nutritional Deficiencies. Growing millets is a sustainable agricultural practice as they require much less inputs in terms of soil fertility and water as compared to wheat and rice.

Millets are grasses that bear small seeds and can grow as rain fed crops that do not need much water. Millets are some of the oldest of cultivated crops and have been used as food or feed.
There are a variety of millets available in India that have been traditionally used as staples but their usage has been progressively decreasing over time. Large scale production and promotion of mainstream staples like wheat and rice has had an adverse effect on usage of millets in our diet.

According to the World Grain Council India is the world’s largest producer of millets followed by African countries.
The main types of millets available in India are:
• Barnyard Millet (Hindi: Jhangora)
• Finger Millet (Hindi: Ragi)
• Foxtail Millet (Hindi: Kangni)
• Pearl Millet (Hindi: Bajra)
• Proso Millet (Hindi: Barri)
• Sorghum (Hindi: Jowar)