From our childhood days we have been taught to eat well to ensure we are healthy and energetic. Every one of us has been told that if we want to sustain our health we must give ourselves a healthy diet. What is a healthy diet? This question was always answered in a vague and ambiguous way by everyone to us. This was never minutely discussed and explained to all of us.
Whenever we were down with fever or stomach ache or headache we were told probably we did not eat on time or ate the wrong food. Well, this seemed to me always a dilemma. Have you always wondered how to prepare vegetables in order to maximize their nutritional content? There’s no easy answer, since cooking powers up the nutrients in some vegetables—and does the exact opposite in others. Come let’s understand certain basics as to how cooked food, if taken consciously, can help us to heal ourselves.
I already discussed in past about the raw and uncooked food and how it should be taken as a meal before the cooked meal. The raw meal has definitely more nutritional value than the cooked meal. When we hear this we need to follow a simple rule that any cooked food which is fried and over cooked actually takes away its nutritional value. So to find nutritional value in cooked food lets know something more about them first.
Nearly ninety percent of the ailments are caused due to stomach related disorders. Cooked vegetables help better than wheat, rice and pulses at times of digestion disorders. Vegetables are the best source of relief to stomach if they are cooked in right combinations, like a healing combination of these three vegetables- bottle guard, spinach and pumpkin. This combination is the best to work as a healer to bowel system to cure a digestion disorder due to heavy or oily food, over eating, stomach related disorder due to food, etc. Four meals of this will ensure the bowel to come back in shape.
Leafy vegetables like spinach (palak) have lots of iron in it but because of the amount of pesticides it is better to have them a little cooked. Just wash and cook them without cutting them or cut them by hands so that the juices of it are intact and cook very less just to remove the effects of pesticides.
Try to cook vegetables with least oil and preferably olive and try not to overcook them. Try to use raw spices instead of garam masala as it helps to be tender on our bodies. Prefer green chillies to red chillies for your being tender to your stomach. Avoid eating vegetables cooked with artificial colors. Use bottle guard in vegetables for making it tender to stomach and blend with any vegetable to substitute the gravy. Gravy of tomato is a crime for the acidity prone bodies. Eating a big bowl of mix vegetables just a little sautéed once in 4 days is a good idea to be tender on your bowel.
People who are working on weight loss can substitute their one meal with raw and second with only vegetables to see miraculous results. It is ideal to follow this for 3 continuous days in a month as a routine to ensure a balanced body.
There is always a parameter of eating more roti/chapati than rice since roti has better fiber. Roti can be made out of a mix of different flours to give good nourishment and complete diet. Like a combination of wheat bran, wheat flour, roasted chana flour, ragi, soya and maize flour. Add wheat about 40 percent to keep up the taste. It’s a good idea to keep all the flours separate and mix them while making dough instead of keeping them together because each flour has a different shelf life. Having this as a substitute to the normal roti thrice a week is a good idea. Substitution of brown rice to white rice will help you reduce the intake of rice and keep the satisfaction also by having it at least once a week.
For those who are suffering from joint pain, arthritis, calcium deficiencies, osteoporosis can have a glass of soup made up of Drum sticks (Sambhar sticks) everyday as it is very rich in calcium and can miraculous results.
One fruit which does wonders howsoever you eat, whether raw or cooked is Indian gooseberry (Amla) which is very rich in its nutritional value of vitamin C and the same is found even after it being cooked. It can be had in any way it provides wonderful source of immunity and vitality in body. If you love pickle you may prefer to eat one made with them.
For those who love food in every way may now prefer the foods which are doing their worth dually by providing health as well as taste also. It’s ideal to substitute some of the above said tricks to help the tough working of our priceless organs which are given only for once in this life time to us.
Come let’s respect our bodies sometimes more than just our need to have taste and embrace the idea to be tender on them thereby pampering them with easy to digest foods.
Happy Health to all of you!!