Nutrients & more...

Most of us want to eat healthy and remain healthy but what with all the stress at work and home, we barely can register what we have eaten!! Here is a simple method for controlling what we eat: buy new plates. Buy a smaller plate for regular food - Having small plates and bowls will be easier to fill up with less amount of food. The visual will send a signal to your brain that you have your share of full plate. In the pic below, each person will see that his/her plate is full, even though the amount of food is actually different! pic Desserts are the most calorie dense items on the buffet table. Here again having really small bowls and spoons would be a better choice. It won't make you feel deprived, as a you had a full bowl and still managed to eat less. A totally win-win situation. Avoid second helpings. Use tall thin glasses for calorie dense drink like milkshakes, Lassi (Sweet yogurt drink), packed juices (they have a high sugar content) and broad glasses for ligh...

In the last post we discussed all the de-merits of deep fried foods. Nonetheless, we can still enjoy these foods if only we take them moderately and have good physical activity levels to burn off the excess fat consumed. Deep frying is a technique which has to be done properly to reduce fat absorption. Appropriate cooking temperatures are important here. Each time you deep-fry, oil's smoke point is lowered irreversibly. So choosing an oil appropriate for cooking requirements is the best option. Some useful indicators of oil deterioration are: 1. Darkening, foaming, smoking, thickening, unpleasant smell on heating and a rancid taste. 2. Loose absorbent particles accumulate as sediment at the bottom of the storage container or are suspended in the oil. Use a small strainer or slotted spoon to remove as many crumbs as possible. 3. The viscosity of oil changes; it gets denser and it pours slowly. Tips to utilize oil effectively 1. Select oil with high smoke point if you ...