Health Zone

Date Palm Fruits

A delicious fruit sweet in taste, rich in nutrients loaded with much-needed minerals and energy to help you stay fit and healthy.

The fruit is rich in dietary fiber that works as a bulk laxative. It, thus, helps to protect the colon mucous membrane by decreasing exposure time.Additionally, the fiber prevents LDL cholesterol absorption in the gut.

Dates are an excellent source of iron, and minerals like potassium, calcium, manganese, copper, and magnesium.

Further, the fruit has adequate levels of B-complex group of vitamins as well as vitamin K. They are also moderate sources of vitamin-A

Medicinal Properties

Plant pacifies vitiated vata pitta, sexual debility, general weakness, bronchitis, dry cough, asthma, burning sensations, and gastric complaints

Uses
Dates can be taken with milk early in the morning during winter months...... a very good tonic indeed.

They can also be sliced and used with fruit salad and in an assortment of sweet and savories dishes.

They can also be opted to simply munch on as a healthy snack.

Best Winter Foods

It's winter time; the nip in the air would tell you that it's time you take out the woolens, scarves and gloves and gear up for this winter chill.

Preparing on the outside is fine, but you may also like to prepare your inner body accordingly. Not to be worried. It'll just require you to add certain foods in your diet that we'll be mentioning for you.

Apples
The master of fruits, Apple is great all year round, and is known for its properties that boost cardiovascular health and prevents dementia. Winter is the season for apples, and eating seasonal fruits is both healthy and affordable. So stock up on juicy apples and enjoy the winter chill.

Oranges
Rich in Vitamin C, oranges consumed whole or in the form of juice help build immunity against common cold and cough. Winter is the season of eating oranges, orange has high water content, nutrient-rich, with a lot of vitamin C, citric acid and glucose, etc.

Spinach
This green wonder is the most awaited gift of the season. Being an extremely nutritious green vegetable, it adds that dash of taste and health to your diet. The high amount of vitamin A in spinach also promotes healthy skin by allowing for proper moisture retention in the epidermis, thus fighting acne and wrinkles. You can even get a little creative with the preparation, so as to not let the food get boring.

Peanuts
Fried, salted, or plain, peanuts are a must-have for the winters. High on proteins, peanuts in every form are a welcome food for body heat and nutrition. Further, they are very useful in alleviating some of the side effects of diabetes.

Guava
Much more than a tasty treat, this fruit is a real storehouse of nutrients. The nutritional content of guava includes calcium, potassium, iron, folic acid, Vitamin A and B, fibre and Vitamin C.

Carrots
One of the only gifts of nature that is rich in more than one form of Vitamin, carrots complete your body's requirement of vitamins B, C, D, E and K. Further, they also compose healthy levels of minerals like copper, calcium, potassium, manganese and phosphorus. It is no wonder that a plate of heartily made 'gajar ka halwa' is to die for.

Kiwi
This exotic fruit is another rich source of Vitamin C. Studies have shown that kiwi is beneficial for reducing the occurrence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is the main cause of vision impairment in adults. Add a pinch of salt to a freshly cut Kiwi and make it a grand entry to your breakfast or evening snack. Furthermore, this may become a sweet addition to a variety of winter salads.

Chicken Soup
Your favorite amongst all, isn't it? So just go ahead and make this an absolute necessity for the winter palate. A hot bowl full of chicken soup is best known to drive away the chill of dreadful winters.

Health Tips

Drink plenty of water
To lose weight fast, tip is that our body needs a lot of water ,so, drink at-least 8-10 glasses of water daily. Water is not just way to flush out toxin but if you have more water in your body you will generally feel healthier and fitter.

Eat fresh fruit instead of drinking fruit juice
Juice is often sweetened but fresh fruits have natural sugars. When you eat fruit, you are taking in a lot of fiber, which is needed by the body.

Eat intelligently
The difference between man and beast is that we are driven by intelligence while beasts are driven by instinct. Don't just eat something because you feel like eating it. Ask yourself whether your body really needs it.

Fix times to have meals and stick to it
Try to have food at fixed times of the day. You can stretch these times by half an hour, but anything more than that is going to affect your eating pattern.

Stay away from fried things
Fried things are an absolute no-no. The more fried things that you avoid, the lesser weight you will gain.

Try to have breakfast within one hour of waking
The first critical part of the day in how to lose weight fast is you have to start your metabolism early. It's always best to have breakfast within an hour of waking so that your body can charge itself with the energy it needs for the day.

50 to 55% of your diet should be carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are a ready source of energy and so 50 to 55% of your diet should be carbohydrates.

Fats should only be 15 to 20 %
You need only this much of fat in your diet so keep it at that.

Choose white meat rather than red
White meat, which includes fish and fowl, is miles better than red meat, which includes beef and pork for those trying to lose weight.

You can take a day off from exercise every week
Your body needs a day off from an exercise routine so do not hesitate to take a day off from the exercise routine.

8 Steps to prevent Diabetes

Diabetes, a common disease among Indians, is a condition in which the blood sugar or glucose present in the blood rises abnormally. Due to the lifestyle that people in India follow, they are more inclined towards the disease. However, we present 8 Steps on how you can prevent Diabetes.

Exercise Please!
There is nothing as good as an effective workout session that helps you prevent Diabetes in many ways. Regular exercise helps you maintain a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) and also lowers your blood sugar.

Increase Fibre intake
Make Fibre rich fruits a part of our daily diet. Fruits like Banana, Apple, Nuts, Beans etc. can significantly cut down the risk of Diabetes. The intake of fibre rich food also helps in losing weight giving you a sense of fullness.

Say NO to Sugar
Ban Junk Food intake from your daily routine. Or, atleast should be kept at minimum. Junk food is high on processed sugars, salt and fat. Therefore, home-cooked meals which are rich in vegetables and whole grains can help you lead a healthy life. Quit Smoking – The risk of developing Diabetes is double in people who smoke in comparison to people who don't. Quitting smoking will not only decrease your risk of diabetes, but of many other diseases as well.

Cut Down on Alcohol
Binging on alcohol can lead to increase in body weight as well as blood pressure. Limit your alcohol intake to a manageable level in order to avoid Diabetes..

Balanced Diet
Optimum nutrition is what your body demands to avoid diseases like Diabetes. Provide your body with optimum level of nutrition. A balanced diet is one of the classic and best ways to control your blood sugar and also your risk of diabetes.

Choose Good Fats
Polyunsaturated fats should form a significant part of your diet. These fats are considered as good fats as they can help in lowering the risk of diabetes. Vegetable oils and oil from nuts and seeds are the main source of Polyunsaturated fats.

Get Frequent Check-ups
Early detection of diabetes is one of the best ways to effectively prevent it from getting worse. Get your blood sugar levels tested every three months so that you can take extra precautions if chances of diabetes surface.

Therefore, if you follow a simplistic lifestyle which incorporates exercise and a balanced diet, you can always stay away from the danger of Diabetes.

Increase your IQ

It's an assumed notion that IQ-related discussions and more particularly, those related to improving our IQ only make sense for kids or students competing for a seat in renowned institutes.

However, there is no age-defined parameter for improving or increasing our IQ. Further, there are many ways in which a higher IQ can improve the quality of adult life too. Let's discuss some easy ways to improve our IQ:

1) Start reading. Avoid watching the Idiot Box
Watching Television isn't the recommended way of unwinding if you want to increase your IQ. No matter which channels you choose, it offers very inadequate instances where it can stimulate your mind. A much better medium are Books. This is because reading a book makes our mind to create mental images, decipher the plot and tests our vocabulary. This is a far more wholesome exercise for the mind.

2) Exercise Daily
Physical and mental stagnation from modern and busy lifestyle is quite common these days. To avoid this tiredness and to make your mind more capable of accumulating and creating ideas throughout the day, please exercise. This might seem strange, but exercising daily, particularly aerobic and low impact workouts help to regulate the blood's circulation. Further, the intake of fresh oxygen refreshes our senses, making use more attentive to various stimuli.

3) Challenge Yourself, Mentally
Read novels, solve puzzles, practice math, watch foreign movies, guess plots in thriller sitcoms. This will lead to high level of mental awareness and acceptance of the surroundings.

Increasing your IQ brings along variety of benefits, like:

Helps to raise performance at work. One can process the data/information much faster, without committing mistakes. You can be a step ahead of your colleagues in terms of understanding new policies or updating yourself with professional skills.

Helps make a good impression. People with high intelligent quotient and smarter brain always tend to make a positive impression when socializing. A higher IQ invariably means that you would be a more resourceful person—the trait which is hard to ignore and instantly engages attention of others.

Helps managing daily activities. Having a higher IQ translates into the ability to save crucial minutes/hours every day, since you would be able to do things faster, manage them better and will manipulate situations that reduce your workload.

What to eat in Diabetes

Diabetic? Not sure what to eat? Read below for many offerings that Nature provides to keep your diabetes in check.

Pears
Low in carbohydrates and rich in potassium and fibre, a pear is a perfect gift from nature. Add them in your fruit bowl or mix it up with spinach to get an instant fix for your hunger pangs. Also, considering the fact that some fruits and vegetables contain sugar, we suggest you to add it in your diet in small proportions and do check with your nutritionist before any major diet changes.

Cabbage
The healthy source of Vitamin C and K, Cabbage has a low glycaemic index of 10 which is very diabetes friendly. However, keep an eye on the fat content if you are including cabbage in your diet.

Berries
Experts advice that these little colourful fruits are rich in antioxidants, vitamins and fibre and are low-carb! From now, you can top off your breakfast with some strawberries or just toss them in your mouth. Will add a pop of colour and a dollop of health!

Orange
Yes! We agree that Orange contains sugar. However, it also contains other compounds that help control blood glucose, which makes it good for a diabetes patient. The soluble fibre present in an orange thickens as it is being digested. This in turn slows down the sugar absorption, offering better control of your blood sugar.

Beans
Beans or lentils have been shown to have immense health benefits for a diabetic. They are low fat, low calorie and high protein. They make you feel full, slow down your digestion process and prevent blood sugar from spiking.

Spinach
Is there anything this superfood can't do? Spinach is one of the rare things that a diabetic can consume almost freely. Research shows that green, leafy and fresh spinach is extremely low in calories and carbohydrates, which is especially good news if you are a diabetic.

Apple
This fibrous, most diabetic-friendly fruit is loaded with tones of vitamins and antioxidants. Low in calories and carbohydrate content, this portable fruit can be toted around easily in your bag toadd a crunchy and healthy punch to your diet.

Lady Finger
Like brinjals and oranges, Bhindi (as we call it) enjoys the presence of soluble fibre making it as one of the best things to eat if you are diabetic.

Brinjal
Non-starchy, low carbohydrate and with soluble fibre, Brinjal is considered as a perfect vegetable for all diabetics. Load up on this easily available vegetable and enjoy the goodness that it offers.

Soy
Soy proteins are one of the miracle cures for reducing diabetes among crucial patients. The isoflavones contained in them reduce the sugar content in blood and keep the body nourished, while accumulating much fewer calories, when compared to other foods.

Methi seeds
Methi seeds are considered the most effective of natural cures that can help alleviate typical symptoms of diabetes. Methi seeds should be soaked in water overnight. The water concentrated with the seeds' juices should be consumed early in the morning on an empty stomach.

Jamun
Jamun is one of the rarest plants where nearly each part, the leaves, berry and seeds are known to help in controlling blood sugar levels. Similarly, Neem leaves and Amla are effective in managing sugar levels. Instead of using only Neem leaves, you can also add leaves of Tulsi and Bel Patra. All these leaves can be boiled together for increasing the potency of the filtered extract.

Winter Skin Care Tips for Radiant Skin

Winters are here and you can already feel the cold nip in the air. And so can your skin! But before the weather decides to play dirty with your skin leaving it all blotchy and dry, it would be wise to follow the below mentioned instructions.

Gentle Glow
Winter is a time when your skin needs mild, gentle products which are oil-based and not water-based as oil forms a protective layer on the skin helping it lock the moisture inside. Therefore, we recommend you to get shower gels and facial cleansers that revitalize your skin while restoring its natural moisture. But make sure you moisturize soon after you are done bathing so that the pores can absorb the moisture faster.

Keep yourself Hydrated
Maintaining a proper eat and drink system is a prerequisite to keep everything in order. Intake foods rich in Omega-3 fatty acids as they are good for your heart and the skin. Include flaxseeds, walnuts, salmon and also proteins in your diet. This will help to increase natural oils in your skin and hair. Further, drink at least eight glasses of water everyday to keep yourself hydrated.

Sunscreen
Don't think of forgetting sunscreen considering it's a cold winter afternoon. Choose a sunscreen with an SPF 15 for winters but do apply a thin layer around thirty minutes before stepping out in the open. If the sunscreen causes your skin to itch, then getting hold of a sunscreen with a moisturizer will be a better idea.

Hands and Heels
No one really likes cracked heels or dry hands but then why is this condition so common in winters? This is just because we forget to care enough.

Apart from regular manicure and pedicure, it is important to moisturize your hands and feet regularly. Use petroleum jelly at least once a week at night and cover the area with socks and gloves until morning.

Watch harsh conditions
We know how tempting it is to bathe with hot water, but, it must be avoided at all cost. Hot water steals all the moisture from your skin leaving it totally dry. We recommend you to use lukewarm water for bathing and moisturize every single time. Wear petroleum jelly on your skin if you have decided to stay out for long. Keep yourself warm and covered always.