Category: Food and Nutrition

Tea time is a chance to slow down,
pull back and appreciate our surroundings.
– Letitia Baldrige

Since first appearing in the 18th century, Earl Grey tea (also known as Bergamot tea) became extremely popular, mainly because of its amazing health benefits. 

It is a blend of black tea and bergamot orange extracts which makes it so unique. It is said that the tea was named after the British prime minister Charles grey. Though the origin of the tea has many stories to it, the most common story is that it was specifically blended for him. 

Over time, the popularity of this particular blend soared as it was consumed within royal families and elite groups. The citrus flavor extracted from bergamot gives the tea a refreshing flavor, which can be consumed any time of day.

Benefits:

• Rich of antioxidants – As the tea is full of antioxidants, it helps in boosting immunity and having a healthy lifestyle.
• Detoxes body of free radicals– As per the new age lifestyle of unhealthy food, drinks, and smoking, we generate a lot of free radicals in our body which eventually causes many diseases like cancer, premature aging, and many more. Earl grey tea helps in detoxing our blood cells and removes free radicals from our system.
• Energizes– Earl grey tea has a safe amount of caffeine in it which is enough to boost our energy and help us focus. Also, the citrus flavor helps in feeling refreshed when we feel tired or restless.
• Enhances digestion– This tea helps in keeping a good gut health and digestion process. It also helps in case of vomiting or nausea.
• Keeps oral infections at bay– Due to the high content of catechins and fluoride, it helps in reducing tooth decay and bacteria. It also reduces bad breath.
• Acts as an anti-depressant– The high antioxidants, vitamin C, caffeine, and many other minerals help in releasing stress. It enhances one’s mood and helps in focusing better as well as thinking better.
• Aids weight loss– Earl grey tea helps break down fat cells and lowers the cholesterol level in our body and hence helps in weight loss while maintaining a healthy and proportionate diet.
• Helps in recovering from flu and cold– Along with the vitamin C and Riboflavin content, this tea helps in getting relief from congested chest due to flu and cold.
• Keeps our heart healthy– As the minerals in black tea have the property of lowering blood pressure, Earl grey tea along with the antioxidants helps to keep cardiovascular disease away and gives a healthy heart.

I hope you found this post helpful. Please like and follow my page to get future updates from my website and please write your suggestions below in the comment section to help me improve my posts.

Thank You!

Have a great day ahead.

Sayonara!

Pratha Nayak

Turmeric purifies the blood and brings translucence to your energies.
– Sadhguru

Turmeric has always been a big part of all Indian cuisine as well as it has been widely prescribed in many ayurvedic treatments because of it’s amazing health benefits.

Turmeric also known as Curcuma longa scientifically belongs to the family of ginger and it is the root that is mainly used for cooking. It is mainly produced in Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia, because it requires a temperature between 20 – 30 degree Celsius and ample amount of rainfall to sustain.

Other than Ayurveda, turmeric is also used in traditional Chinese medicines.

About a year back I started drinking hot water by mixing a spoon full of turmeric powder every day first thing in the morning in an empty stomach. Before that I must tell, I used to get sick very frequently. Some times it was flu or fever. But after consuming turmeric everyday in an empty stomach, I saw a lot of difference in my health. Even my skin got better. You can also try including turmeric in your skin care routine. We usually make lot of DIY face mask. Try using turmeric for the same as well and you can treat many skin related issues.

Benefits of Turmeric:

* Turmeric acts as an anti-inflammatory and it is full of antioxidant.
* It works as an anti-aging supplement.
* It lowers the fat levels in our blood.
* It also plays a major role in improving skin and health and treats all kinds of skin diseases like acne, psoriasis and eczema.
* Treats and prevents chances of diabetes.
* Helps in keeping all organs in our body in good health.
* It keeps a check on our oral health and teeth.
* It helps in treating depression and improves our brain function.
* It is also known for delaying the occurrence of Alzheimer.
* It eases the symptoms of Osteoarthritis.
* It also prevents heart diseases if consumed on a daily basis in a raw form.
* It also helps in fighting and treating cancer.

I hope you found this post helpful. Please like and follow my page to get the future updates from my website and please write your suggestions below in the comment section to help me improve my posts.

Thank You!
Have a great day ahead.

Sayonara!

Pratha Nayak

Addiction is an adaptation. It’s not you, It’s the cage you live in.
– Johann Hari.

Caffeine though said it is good for health, it can have it’s own side effects when consumed in too much dose. Caffeine stimulates the nerves in our body and keeps us active and alert for longer time. As we are busy in our day to day work, we use caffeine to focus and have an effective output. And eventually people come to a point where they actually have to stop their intake. But when they do so, they go through many other symptoms which is very difficult to deal with. People who are used to having caffeine on a regular basis, it can be very hard for them to stop it.

Symptoms of Caffeine withdrawal are headache, fatigue, mood swing, difficulty in focusing, constipation, tiredness, crankiness, anxiety, tremors, etc.

Ways to deal with those symptoms and stop the addiction as well:

Don’t stop caffeine intake abruptly
People who are trying to get out of caffeine addiction, for them it can be very difficult to do so. And cutting it completely will only make them more frustrated. So, it would be better to reduce it gradually.

Drink lots of non-caffeinated fluids
Staying hydrated can be the first step to prevent the craving of caffeine. Drink water as much as you can. Most of the time we are just thirsty. Including fruit juice can be of great help as well.

Healthy snacks
Dry fruits and nuts have many good minerals and nutrients which help your body in recovery and get the energy to stay active. So when you get the craving for caffeinated drinks, I would suggest you try having some healthy snacks which includes dry fruits and nuts.

Take small naps
Taking small power naps periodically throughout the day can help with fatigue and tiredness in body.

Ice pack
If you get headaches as part of the symptoms, you can apply ice pack on head and if it becomes severe you can take prescribed medication.

Peppermint Oil
Peppermint oil or menthol helps in improving in mood swings and also reduces the craving. It also helps in relieving tension in body.

Meditation
Having anxiety and panic attacks in this situation is very normal. Since caffeine helps you in staying focus and productive, suddenly without it you might feel incompetent. You may feel stressed and drained out as well. If you are going through this phase, meditation is your cure. Meditation calms you down and helps you stay focused through out the day.

I hope you found this post helpful. Please like and follow my page to get the future updates from my website and please write your suggestions below in the comment section to help me improve my posts.

Have a great weekend ahead.
Thank You!

Sayonara!

Pratha Nayak

If it wasn’t for the coffee, I’d have no identifiable personality whatsoever.
– David Letterman

We all are big fan of coffee aren’t we?
“Coffee” mainly derived from the Dutch word “Koffie” was mainly originated in Ethiopia in fifteenth century. It was primarily consumed in the Islamic world where it originated, which helped them to have fast in the day time and stay awake at night during Ramadan festival.
Eventually it was consumed throughout the world and eventually became the most popular beverage.

Nutrients content:
Coffee mainly contains caffeine which when absorbed by blood cells in our body, it travels to our brain and helps in enhancing of neurons firing.
Coffee is rich with vitamin B2, B3 and B5. It also contains manganese, potassium and magnesium.

Benefits:
* Coffee is rich with antioxidants, which acts as an anti-aging for our skin as well as brain.
* Coffee increases energy level in our body and helps in fighting fatigue.
* It makes DNA strands much stronger in our body.
* Helps in burning fat and losing weight.
* It helps our digestive system in processing glucose.
* It lowers the risk of type 2 Diabetes and heart diseases.
* Protects from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
* Protects liver.
* Coffee instantly up-lifts our mood and helps people who suffer from depression.
* It helps in focusing and staying alert.
* It reduces the risk of cancer.

Though coffee has it’s own benefits, but if consumed in too much quantity on a daily basis, then it can be risky for our health.
Risks:
* It increases the risk of bone fracture for women.
* It can increases the risk of anxiety in people.
* It can cause insomnia and restlessness.
* It can raise blood pressure if consumed too much.

Coffee can also be used in many DIY skin care products. You can make a body scrub by mixing coffee powder, sugar and olive oil. It helps in de-tanning of your skin and keeps it moisturized. You can also mix coffee powder with coconut oil and apply it around the eyes to reduce the puffiness and dark circle.

I hope you found this post helpful. Please like and follow my page to get the future updates from my website and please write your suggestions below in the comment section to help me improve my posts.

Merry Christmas to you all.
Thank You!

Sayonara!

Pratha Nayak

As we know Green tea is trending a lot now a days. And many people wonder what is so good about it that every one is including it in their day to day life.

Green tea also biologically know as “Disambiguation” was mainly originated in China during reign of Emperor Shennong. And since then it has been used by the people of China on daily basis. Mainly produced and manufactured in China and then spread on a wider range of East Asia.

Green tea is made by withering and oxidation process done on Camellia Sinensis leaves and buds. It is rich in polyphenols and flavonoids which reduces inflammation. It contains catechin called epigallocatechin-3-gallate. Catechins are antioxidants that prevents cell damage.

Benefits of Green Tea

• It has anti-aging property for our skin as well as our brain. It reduces the aging of our cells.
• It improves brain function and increases memory power.
• It reduces the chance of Alzheimer in old age.
• It boost immunity and helps fight catching flu or cold.
• It lowers cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
• It helps in preventing and reducing the type-2-diabetes.
• It reduces bad breath and keeps our teeth and gums healthy.
• It reduces the risk of cancer.
• It increases metabolism in our body and helps in burning fat faster. Hence helps in weight loss.

Beside all these we can use green tea in many other ways in our daily life.
The used tea leaves can be used in many home remedies for skin. Like keeping the used tea bags on our eyes for few minutes reduces the puffiness and dark circles around our eyes.
The leaves can be used in face packs by mixing it with curd and honey for amazing skin benefits.
If mixed with coconut oil and sugar, it can be used as a good body scrub as well.

I hope you found this post helpful. Please like and follow my page to get the future updates from my website and please write your suggestions below in the comment section to help me improve my posts.

Thank You!
Have a great day ahead.

Sayonara!

Pratha Nayak

Eat Good 
Feel Good

Hello again everyone!!
So today I am going to write about something which I was going through a while back and as I have overcome it, I thought it would be nice to share it with you all. Maybe it will help some of you. So a while back I was going through a binge eating phase. Even though I like to cook, I was only reaching for foods that we usually don’t eat on daily basis.

I can say I love eating pizza, burger, sandwiches, biriyani etc.. And those are my trigger foods. I started buying chips on the daily basis and I was ordering pizza weekly 3-4 times. And as a result, I started gaining weight and I was always feeling low emotionally.
When I realized what was happening to me I instantly changed my diet and routine. Below I am going to list down how I stopped binge eating and I hope this trick helps you as well.

• Love yourself the way you are. Appreciate the way you are and be grateful for it because that’s what makes you different from everyone else.
• Stop dieting. Restricting yourself from eating will only make you weak physically and emotionally. In result, you will get triggered by the food again and again.
• Enjoy your food. When you enjoy your food it will make you happy and you won’t have the urge to eat again and again.
• Start eating in every 4-5 hours interval. This trick worked wonders for me. I started eating a small portion of food every 4-5 hours. I ate fruits, or salad or simply juice and in the result, I was not having the urge to eat.
• Talk about your feelings to someone with whom you are comfortable with. Mostly one suffers from binge eating when he/she is emotionally weak or broken. When we talk with someone about our own problems and pain, it helps us to recover from it.
• No one is perfect. Don’t go for perfection, it will destroy you from the inside. Accept your own personality and know its okay to have flaws.
• Treat yourself when you are happy. So whenever I used to feel sad or low I used to order food. Instead, I started giving myself my favorite food whenever I felt happy.
• Stop feeling guilty. Even if you fail to control your urge and eat then its okay. Enjoy your food and be happy about.
• Be patient and take one day at a time. Binge eating is not something which you can stop at once, it takes constant effort.
• Be confident about everything you do on daily basis. Give yourself a positive affirmation to boost your confidence.

So guys try this tricks and feel awesome about yourself. Have a great day ahead.

Sayonara!!

Pratha Nayak

Hello Guys!

Greetings to all and hope you are all doing awesome in this tiresome daily life. Somehow we don’t get time to focus on what we are eating daily, so let’s get into something healthy and delicious. Shall we?

Nowadays when it comes to healthy food one name comes upfront and that is Oats and well it does have very nutritional values.

Basically, oat is a combination of soluble as well as insoluble fiber in the form of cereal grain. The soluble fiber in the grain forms a viscous gel which lowers cholesterol and stabilizes blood glucose levels in our body. Whereas the insoluble fiber helps provide a “moving” experience by curtailing constipation and improving intestinal health.
The main cultivation area for this secondary crop is Northwestern Europe. On today’s date, Russia is the leading country for the cultivation of oats.

Variety of Oats available in the market:

• Whole grain oats: It is the main oat groats which are the least processed oats available in the market and is very high in nutrition.
• Steel cut oats: Also known as Irish oats is when oats groats are chopped into small pieces with metal blades.
• Scottish oats: Also known as Oatmeal is when oats are stone ground into irregular broken bits.
• Rolled oats: When oats are steamed and rolled into flakes are called rolled oats.
• Quick oats and Instant oats: These variants are the same as rolled oats but steamed for a longer time.
• Oat bran: Oat bran is mainly the outer layer of the oat groats.

Mineral Content:
It is said that 1 Cup of cooked oatmeal has 150 calories, 4 gm of fiber and 13 gm of protein. It also provides various minerals like Thiamin, Magnesium, Selenium, Phosphorus, Zinc, Manganese, Iron, Vitamin E, Vitamin B1, Biotin, phenolic acid, phytic acid, etc.

Health Benefits:

• It is naturally gluten free, so people who are gluten intolerant for them oats is a great option.
• As oats are very in fiber content, it keeps us full for a very long time and helps us control our weight.
• It lowers cholesterol level.
• Provides low- level energy for a longer period of time.
• Low glycemic impact in oatmeal helps us avoid cravings for a longer time period.
• It helps in keeping the blood sugar level low.
• It helps to decrease total daily calories by as much as 81%.
• It also improves immune response.
• Reduces risk of cardiovascular diseases.

So its recommended to eat oats at least in any one part of our daily meal. I generally prefer to eat oats for breakfast or lunch. Overnight oats recipes are my favorites as when I wake up in the morning my breakfast is all ready to eat.

Tip:
I have heard a lot of people complaining that they don’t like eating oats because of its gel-like consistency after cooking. Well here is a small tip for them, take a frying pan and dry roast the oats in low heat. This will reduce the gel kind consistency to a great extent.

So, guys, I hope this post was helpful for you all and if you have any queries or suggestion please comment below. And please follow my page to get my future updates.

Have a great day!

Sayonara!

Pratha Nayak

Hello, again guys!

Today we are going to know some interesting facts about almonds. Almond is my favorite in nuts and honestly, I was amazed when I got to know that it has so many nutritious properties.

The almond is a species of tree native to Mediterranean climate region. It is also the name of the edible seed of this tree. The fruit of the almond is a drupe, consisting of an outer hull and a hard shell with the seed, which is not a true nut, inside.
Almonds range from sweet to bitter in taste. Sweet almonds are edible and are used in day to day life, while the bitter almonds are used for making oil.

February 16th is the National Almond Day and is celebrated by making almond themed deserts.

Nutritional Facts:

This nut is a very rich source of vitamin E, Calcium, Phosphorus, Iron, and Magnesium. Contains Zinc, Selenium, Copper, and Niacin as well.
Per 100 grams of almonds contains:
Energy: 2408 kJ (576 Calories)
Carbohydrates: 21.69gm
Fat: 49.42gm
Protein: 21.22gm

Health Benefits:

• Strengthen the immune system
• Regulates cholesterol
• Prevents heart disease and heart attacks
• Controls blood sugar levels and prevents diabetes
• Healthy brain function
• Helps in weight loss
• Prevents overeating
• Increases digestive health
• Maintains and rejuvenates skin health
• Fights cancer and inflammation
• Maintains dental and bone health due to the presence of phosphorus in it.

The rich source of protein, potassium, vitamin E and folic acid helps in maintaining the health of the heart. And as almond contains riboflavin and L-carnitine, it helps to create new neural pathways in the brain. Which is why it is very beneficial for the brain development of children. It also helps in reducing the risk of Alzheimer disease in adults.
Regular intake of almonds increases HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol and reduces LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol in adults which balances the good and healthy cholesterol level in the body.

Uses:

• Almond milk- People who are lactose intolerant usually use almond milk as a substitute.
• Almond butter- Not only almond butter is good for health, it tastes amazing if added while cooking.
• Almond flour- Adding almond flour in normal flour makes it very healthy and nutritious.
  
• Almonds are added as whole or in form of sliced flakes in desserts like cakes, cookies, chocolates, etc.
• Almond syrup
• Almond oil- It is used in cooking as well as skin and hair care products.
• Also, almonds are roasted and coated with sugar or dated syrup or any other sweet base and are consumed as a snack in many countries.

So it is recommended to eat at least 5-6 almonds per day every morning by soaking it overnight.
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Have a great week ahead guys.

Sayonara!

Pratha Nayak