Nutrients & more...

image Do you know that if we flip the word "desserts" it reads as "stressed"?!  While we may reach out to sweet foods in need of comfort, it has detrimental effects on our bodies. New studies have found that sugar affects not only our body, but also our minds.  Sugar is more addictive than drugs. And just like drug consumption a person may not have much control over it. But why is it so? The reward response In humans, sweet foods activate regions of the brain associated with the reward response and provoke more intense feelings of hunger than other foods. Foods that cause a higher elevation in blood glucose (aka sweets, fizzy drinks, energy bars, etc.) produce a larger addictive drive in the brain. A typical sweet eater's anxiety, despair, and irritability may increase if they abruptly cut out sweets from their diet. The symptoms of sugar and sweets withdrawal can be similar to those of withdrawal from other stimulants. Mood regulation Sugar makes dopamine(happy...

When I was a kid, we had different sweets for every season. Whether it be  Rasgulla  and  kulfi  (ice cream) in summer or  gajar halwa  (carrot pudding),  til laddoo, gajak, etc.  in winter, or  Ghevars and choorma in monsoons,  every season had its own special sweet.  We were allowed to overindulge in these seasonal delicacies as kids until our excesses sent us straight to the dentist's waiting rooms. While growing up, I saw most people in my family struggling with Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity, Heart disease, and even cancer. I wondered how to prevent or delay them as they tend to run in families. I came across a staple that is kept in every kitchen worldwide and is used at alarming levels in the food processing industry. Sugar Sugar comprises two molecules of sucrose. Sucrose is an easily assimilated macronutrient that provides a quick source of energy to the body, provoking a rapid rise in blood glucose upon ingestion. Its exc...

A few days back I was talking to my cousin and it turned out that both of us were on a cooking spree. On the top of it we were gorging on desserts. Why would we do that? As newly married women, things like new people, new job, relocation, rearrangement of priorities and new responsibilities were our main concerns. As it has been said “Stressed spelled backwards is desserts.” So there we were, eating and sharing our concerns. Mental stress and depression are by far the major reason when many of us reach out for comfort foods. As Peter De Vries stated “Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us.” Comfort foods are generally foods which trigger our memories e.g. some broth which your mother cooked when you were ill. Or, they can just be your favourite foods. Most of the time, these are loaded with calories. A number of hormones and neurotransmitters are involved in regulating our mood. Serotonin is the one which has been extensively researched upon. It is one...