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Do you find yourself wanting to do well but ending up doing the exactly the opposite? Starting out with noble intentions…wanting to eat vegetables but ending up dousing them in lots of oil and totally destroying any chance of the survival of any nutrient with the excessive cooking? Well these tips are for you. Listen up. Here are our top five tips for handling and cooking our vegetables in a healthy way.

• When you buy vegetables in the market, buy them whole. Do not have them cut in the market. When you do this, you are exposing the very fragile water soluble vitamins in the vegetables to the air and denaturing them. And then you still have to wash them before use…this leads to bleeding out of the essential nutrients through the cut ends of the vegetables
• Then do not fry or over cook the vegetables. Just lightly steam them in a pot with some spices as desired. Heat can actually break down and destroy 15-20% of some of the vitamins in vegetables
• Research has shown that for vegetables like carrots, boiling is the best way of preserving the nutrients in carrots and sweet potatoes. Be sure to leave their skins on until after cooking. The anti-oxidant effect of tomatoes are also more pronounced after cooking
• Stir-frying. As the name suggests, this involves lightly greasing a pan with oil and continually stirring your thinly cut vegetables or cubed chicken breasts. Emphasis on the words lightly greasing. For best for best results and shorter cooking time, use a really hot pan or wok
• You can poach your vegetables in hot fluid…could be hot water, hot vegetable or meat stock. This preserves the nutrients and gives awesome flavour especially when poached in stock

So, there you go! All the best 😀

I have been asked and actually told at various fora that research has shown that some degree of alcohol is good for the heart. In fact some people tell me that research has also shown that the French live a lot longer and healthier because they take at least one glass of wine with every meal. Well, are they right? Here are 5 things you should know about alcohol and your heart

·       If you must, drink in moderation

Many health issues associated with alcohol are related to excessive consumption. So if you drink, stay within the 1 – 2 glasses limit per day

·       High Triglycerides

Alcohol consumption has been shown to raise the triglyceride level in the bloodstream. The extra calories consumed while drinking alcohol turn into triglycerides or fats in the bloodstream, and elevated triglyceride levels in the bloodstream can harden the artery walls, which can eventually lead to heart disease and heart failure.

·       High Blood Pressure

Alcohol has a lot of empty calories and these add unneeded fat and weight to the body, which can increase the blood pressure to unhealthy levels. Drinking three or more alcoholic beverages per day can lead to a long-term increase in blood pressure.

·       Irregular Heartbeat

Having more than one or two drinks per day might increase the risk of developing atrial fibrillation, or an irregular heartbeat. If not controlled, an irregular heartbeat can weaken the heart and eventually lead to heart failure.

Please do not start drinking if you do not already drink alcohol. Many of the benefits of alcohol on the heart touted by many can be achieved through diet and exercise without exposing yourself to the inherent risks of alcohol over-consumption . Talk to your doctor about the benefits and risks of drinking alcohol. Recent research has shown that no amount of alcohol is risk-free! So, make the right choice 🙂

All the best 😀

Q: Good morning Dr. May you kindly illuminate on recommended quantity of fluid one is required to take each day  My concern is that after taking a glass of water, 5 mins later, I am going to bathroom. Is there something wrong with me?

A: Thanks for writing in. Water is important for life and we use it for very important functions daily: taking a bath, washing clothes, washing dishes, cooking and of course, drinking. The water we drink is very critical for a lot of bodily functions like digestion, excretion (when we urinate, pass faeces and sweat), movement of nutrients all around the body, keeping your joints nice and supple etc. If you also consider the fact that a healthy body contains about two-thirds, water, then it is clear that we can’t joke with our fluid intake per day.

Five tips to help you with this:

• Though, there are recommended amounts to take daily, it really depends on your activity level (notice how much more water you appear to need after a hectic workout?), where you live (notice how much water you also seem to drink when you live or visit the tropics as opposed to when you live in or visit a temperate region) and your health condition (for instance, people with UTI need to drink some more water).
• Generally, we are encouraged to drink 8 8-ounce glasses of fluid per day. This is approximately 2 litres of water per day.
• Any fluid counts e.g. milk, fruit juices, beverages etc. But try to remember that these other fluid sources, other than water, may contain calories that you probably don’t need
• An easy way to check whether your body is getting enough water in a day is to check your urine colour. If it’s dark yellow, you’re probably not getting enough. If it’s pale yellow in colour, you’re doing good
• If you don’t like the taste of plain water, you can jazz it up with a slice of lemon or limeand if you don’t like the taste of plain milk, like most children, you can add some flavor like vanilla to it.

Water is necessary for life itself. Be sure that you’re drinking sufficient quantities of this daily.

‘Much of the heavily hyped guidance for an anti-inflammation lifestyle boils down to the same no-nonsense health advice your grandmother might have given you’. Want to be reminded of the health advice?

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/simple-tips-to-fight-inflammation

‘If you’re bothered by neck pain, you have plenty of company. Doctors estimate that seven out of 10 people will be troubled by such pain at some point in their lives. But if you were to ask each of these people to describe their neck pain, you would probably get seven different stories.’ Read!

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/7-faces-of-neck-pain

The pros and cons of coconut oil. Sift through the many promotions out there on coconut oil and read the verdict of one who has experienced the benefits and pitfalls of coconut oil 🙂

Thinking of it, perhaps I should use coconut oil as a moisturizer…..

https://atbgs.blogspot.com/2018/08/still-on-coconut-oil_25.html