Peels of wonder

Peels are where the nutrients are actually concentrated so don’t peel off veggies and fruits, have them whole, suggests Kavita Devgan

Food that is right can be our strongest bet for improving our health. We need to identify the right foods, befriend them, harness their beneficial properties right and opt for food solutions wherever possible. Here are a few food lessons that have stood the test of time. I have always been a great believer in not wasting any part of the produce. So in our house, potatoes are not peeled, just scraped and cleaned properly before being baked to yummy goodness. Alongside, a nice regular bottle gourd sabzi, a dry sabzi with its peels is also served. Growing up, ours was the only household I knew where bottle gourd peels were cooked paired with sprouts. Try it, it’s fabulous! I have converted quite a few friends to this humble dish since I started cooking it myself. Similarly, along with stuffed bitter gourd, we’d also eat its scraped peels, magically turned into a spicy, spiffy bhujia combined with chopped potatoes. And eating an apple without its peel was simply not done in our house. Don’t ask me how my mother knew peels are where the nutrients are actually concentrated… but she did somehow!

Anti-pollution foods

It’s difficult to ignore the fact that we are breathing in bad air and are utterly helpless about it. After all, how can we counter the bad air all around us! Well, some foods can help cut the harm down drastically. Here are some fruits and vegetables that are beneficial for our health:

Apples

Apples boost our lung capacity and help cut out wheezing as they have quercetin and khellin (both flavonoids), which help open up the stuffed airways.

Banana

This ubiquitous fruit helps replenish potassium, low levels of which are linked to shortness of breath.

Plus they are one of the best sources of pyridoxine (vitamin B6) which plays a critical role in the production of molecules (ATP and cAMP), that have been shown to help relax bronchial (lungs) smooth muscle tissue. A banana a day is a good idea.

Carrots

The beta carotene in carrots is famous for not just keeping our eyesight sharp, but also equally effective in keeping our lungs clear of toxins too. Chomp on some every day.

Immunity hacks

Eat raw garlic every morning and add it liberally when cooking.

Eat cruciferous vegetables (kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage) in your diet at least 3-4 times a week.

Eat raw onions and green chillies with every meal.

Use turmeric and other spices liberally in cooking.

Eat a whole grain (by rotation) at least once every day.

Eat leafy greens at least once every day.

Drink ginger tea once a day.

Have 1 tbsp of roasted seeds every day (by rotation).

Eat 2-3 servings of different coloured fruits every day.

Speak to one good friend every day, even if it is for just a few minutes.

Be tolerant and proactive in forgiveness.

Take a warm bath; it calms, relaxes the muscles and improves circulation.

Fast once or twice a week.

Include some raw food (fruits and vegetables) in your daily diet.

Say a prayer before meals.

For better immunity

Fat is important for weight loss. There are many reasons not to cut off fat from our diets. In fact, cutting down on fat does not help with weight loss too. In fact, a very low-fat diet can actually be detrimental to your weight loss efforts.

First fat delivers a feeling of satiety as it keeps our blood sugar levels stable longer and prevents excess hunger and cravings. Whereas, with fat-free meals, we usually end up eating and consuming excess calories without realising.

Second, a low-fat diet affects our hormones negatively as most hormones running in our body depend on fats to stay the course. In fact, very often, hormonal imbalances can be traced to low-fat diets — which eventually lead to weight gain, rather than loss.

Third, low-fat diets are linked to depression as essential fatty acids Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids are linked to the production of many chemicals in the brain whose deficiency can play havoc with our mood, which only leads to eating more to compensate for the emotional void and abating of anxiety and depression. Fourth, opting for fat-free versions of foods (fat-free cookies, low-fat cakes, fat-free mayonnaise etc.,) is a bad idea, as these usually have added sugars to make them tastier, so they leave you worse off.

Fifth, elimination of fat from the diet usually means eating more carbs and proteins, which is not a good idea.

Too much protein has been linked to osteoporosis, and carbs in excess are any way clearly bad news for our weight.

(The author is a nutritionist who recently published The Immunity Diet: Fight off Infections and Live Your Best Life with Rupa Publications.)