A few healthy tips

24 October, 2010

Nutrients are the compounds that are responsible for growth, repair and building of the body tissues. They are present in every food items. There are seven essential nutrients like carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamin, mineral and water.

NUTRIENTS ARE the compounds that are responsible for growth, repair and building of the body tissues. They are present in every food items. There are seven essential nutrients like carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamin, mineral and water. Each nutrient has its own function in human body. So, to get all the benefits of these nutrients some points should keep in mind.

Try to eat variety of food color in your diet
Prepare meals as late as possible.
Don’t cook vegetables with excess quantity of water.
Don’t wash vegetables after chopping; in fact, wash them in flowing water.
Chop vegetable only when you need to cook them.
Don’t chop vegetables into small pieces otherwise it will lose its nutrients.
If the vegetable requires peeling, peel it very thinly as there are vitamins and minerals under the skin which could easily be removed.
Use pressure cooker instead of open pot to boil vegetables. Pressure cooker conserves the nutrients of the boiling foods.
You can use the water of the boiled vegetables to make curries and likewise conserve the nutrients.
Have fruits before meals; fruits act as a good appetiser.
Eat four to five servings of fruits and vegetables as it will not only help in weight reduction but also prevent from many diseases because they contain antioxidants.
White rice should be substituted with brown rice as it will give equal quantity of calories but the benefit is that brown rice is high in fiber.
Wash rice only a few times otherwise nutrients will be washed away.
Use unsifted wheat-flour.
Some nutrients like vitamin C are lost when the vegetables rich in vitamin C are cooked and exposed to air or light. So, it is advisable to eat these vegetables like tomato, radish, onion, etc in raw form as in salad.
Milk and bread should be kept in an opaque container to prevent destruction of riboflavin and vitamins A and D.
Don’t expose milk and milk products to sun rays.
Instead of deep frying go for sauté and shallow frying.
Be label detective and fat detective when eating outside.
Don’t use Trans fats like dalda, rath etc as it will increase the risk of CHD. Instead of these, you can use combinations of oils like one teaspoon of mustard oil plus one teaspoon butter/ ghee/one teaspoon of refined oils.
Drink lots of water that should be around10 to 12 glasses per day.
Avoid use of baking soda – it may help vegetables to look green, but destroys vitamins. Adding tamarind in dishes helps to retain vitamins.