June 2020 | ILIVEPOLY

Top 6 health benefits of Bitter Gourd!

Bitter Gourd
Top benefits of Bitter Gourd
Other benefits of Bitter Gourd
Prepare bitter gourd curry.
Side Effects

Bitter Gourd

Bitter gourd or Bitter melon or Karela originated from India later it was introduced in China. It is having many names in other languages. It has widely grown in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. It has many varieties in the shape and bitterness of the vegetable.

It is the edible part of the plant Momordica Charantia, which is a vine of the Cucurbitaceae family and is considered the most bitter among all fruits and vegetables.

Bitter gourd is a source of numerous vitamins and minerals like folate, zinc, iron and magnesium and vitamin C, B1, B2 and B3 and other such things. It’s also rich in calcium and potassium and proteins.

It is not just a vegetable to cook, also it has been used in various herbal medicine systems for a long time, its leaves and stems also used in the medicine.

After hearing the name bitter gourd many of us keep it away due to its bitterness. Once you can start eating, in a few days you love the taste of the recipes made with Bitter Gourd and one can add it much variety of dishes.

Having Bitter Gourd in our dishes will get many health benefits, let us see top 6 health benefits with it.

Top benefits of Bitter Gourd:

Helps to reduce blood sugar: Several clinical studies have been conducted to test the efficacy of the bitter gourd in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The vegetable contains three active substances with anti-diabetic properties.

Charanti, Vicine and Polypeptide-p, These threes substances either work individually or together to reduce blood sugar level.

It is also known that bitter gourd contains a lectin that reduces blood glucose concentrations by acting on tissues and suppressing appetite. This lectin is thought to be the main factor behind the lowering blood sugar levels that develops after eating bitter gourd.

Weight loss: As we know it helps to keep the blood sugar level under proper check. It makes the insulin, active and prevents the storage of sugar in the body as fats. Thus, the controlled sugar level helps to lose weight.

Being low in calories, bitter gourd juice helps to lose weight. It has a low amount of fats and carbohydrates. Thus, drinking bitter gourd juice fills your stomach and unnecessary calorie intake.

It is having a good amount of fibre, it helps to curb hunger and feel satiated for a longer time. Not just this, it also helps to make the digestive system healthy. Bitter gourd is effective for weight loss if you use it to reduce your total calorie intake so that you are eating fewer calories than you burn. This calorie deficit is essential for losing weight.

Drinking a glass of bitter gourd juice provides sufficient fibre to the body and helps to lose weight. Most vegetables are diet-friendly choices because they have a low calorie-density

Liver Functioning: Numerous studies reveal that Bitter gourd is liver friendly and detoxifies. It boosts the liver enzymes and is a good cure for a hangover as it reduces alcohol deposits on the liver. Bitter juices contain anti-inflammatory properties which prevent liver failure from excessive intake of alcohol and heavy smoking.

It always keeps the liver active; a glass of bitter gourd juice rejuvenates the cells of the liver and makes its function cleaner and stronger.

Decreases Cholesterol: Bitter gourd significantly attenuates hypercholesterolemia in terms of serum lipid parameters Including triglycerides, total cholesterol and its bad fraction (Low-Density Lipids – LDL).

Bitter gourd especially its powdered extract and its flesh are effective in reducing the circulating total cholesterol and its bad fractions significantly owing to interference in feed conversion and cholesterol metabolism. The anorexic effects of bitter gourd extract might be responsible for reducing total cholesterol and bad cholesterol (Low-density lipids – LDL).

Moreover, bitter gourd seeds are a rich source of dietary fiber and phytochemicals and thus can interfere in cholesterol metabolisms.

Cancer treatment: New research in mice seems to suggest that bitter melon extract may help fight cancer. Prof. Ratna Ray — from Saint Louis University in Missouri — and her colleagues made an intriguing find. In experiments using mouse models, bitter melon extract appeared to be effective in preventing cancer tumours from growing and spreading.

She and her colleagues decided to put this to the test in a preliminary study by using bitter melon extract on various types of cancer cells — including breast, prostate, and head and neck cancer cells.

Laboratory tests showed that the extract stopped those cells from replicating, suggesting that it might be effective in preventing the spread of cancer.

In further experiments using mouse models, the researchers found that the plant extract was able to reduce the incidence of tongue cancer.

So, in their new study, Prof. Ray and team tried to find out what might give bitter melon compounds an edge against cancer cells.

Builds Immunity: A healthy immune system is vital for fending off potential infections and diseases. Bitter melon contains a protein called Momordica anti-human immunovirus protein (MAP30). It has been shown to support a variety of immune system functions. Bitter gourd also acts as an anti-inflammatory agent.

The phenolic compounds gallic acid, catechin, and caffeic acid in bitter melon are powerful antioxidants, making a serving of the vegetable immensely beneficial for your immunity.Its antioxidant property works as a powerful defence mechanism against illnesses.

Other Benefits Bitter Gourd has?

Chronic Cough
Prevents bone loss
Fever
Burns
Painful menstruation
Skin Conditions
Blood purifier
Protects vision

It is also used to heal wounds, assist childbirth in some parts of the world, prevent or treat malaria and viral diseases like chicken fox.

Simple way to prepare bitter gourd curry!

Side Effects

Moderate intake of bitter gourd can be a healthy and nutritious addition to your diet. However, consuming high amounts of bitter gourd or taking its supplements may cause adverse effects.
It is not recommended for pregnant women and if you have any underlying health issues or undergoing any medication consult a physician before eating bitter gourd for guidance.

COVID-19 anxiety and Its boost to Coronavirus.

Anxiety /Stress

Anxiety or Stress is a feeling of physical or emotional tension that can be result of some event. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. Stress is your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand, a long term stress turns to anxiety.

Stress can be positive, such as when it helps you avoid danger or meet a deadline. But when stress lasts for a long time, it may harm your health.

Types of Stress:

Acute Stress: This is short-term stress that goes away quickly. You feel it when you see vehicle opposite to you on the road, have a fight with your partner, or ski down a steep slope. It helps you manage dangerous situations. It also occurs when you do something new or exciting. All people have acute stress at one time or another.
Chronic Stress: This is stress that lasts for a longer period of time. You may have chronic stress if you have economical problems, an unhappy marriage, or trouble at work. Any type of stress that goes on for weeks or months is chronic stress. You can become so used to chronic stress that you don’t realize it is a problem. If you don’t find ways to manage stress, it may lead to health problems.

When you have chronic stress, your body stays alert, even though there is no danger. Over time, this puts you at risk for health problems, including:

High blood pressure
Heart disease
Diabetes
Depression or anxiety
Menstrual problems
Obesity

Anxiety affects you in three ways:

On your body.
On your mood.
On your behavior.

In addition to detailed understanding on above three, anxiety will impact our immune system severely.

People worry about increasing widespread of COVID-19 in surrounding places. Most of the Corona hospitals’ fully occupied with patients and state governments are checking for alternative arrangements to treat Corona patients in hotels, Schools, Stadiums, etc.

One may experience a horrible situation when admitting a patient at hospitals if the decease is other than Corona in an emergency. Hospitals wanted to patients to undergo Corona screening test then only ready to admit if the test is negative.

This kind of procedure may severely affect the patient’s health in case immediate treatment needed like high blood pressure or heart stroke. Irrespective of economical strata everyone can be infected and impacted with Coronavirus.

In addition to this continuous listening of COVID-19 related news creates more worrisome in the mind. Corona increases anxiety, this leads to a further increase of Corona Patients.

The Brain & Anxiety

All commands will be issued from the brain, once brain dead, means complete body dead, there will be no physical action in the body. Brain communicates to the rest of the body through nerves network to act. If such nerve system has any problem beyond normal state then your body will not function 100%.

The stress response begins above your shoulders. The amygdala (a cluster of cell nuclei inside the temporal lobe that processes emotional data) sends a threat message to the hypothalamus, which in turn tells the sympathetic nervous system to protect you from attack.

The nervous system increases heart rate, constricts some blood vessels and dilates others, slows down the intestines, inhibits digestive secretions, and prompts glands to flood the system with cortisol. In one statement we can say that body immunity goes down to face the external world.

How to reduce anxiety and Improve Body immunity:

A recent study conducted by Harward university in the wake of Corona raise in the US has recommended the yoga to overcome anxiety due to Corona pandemic.

“Yoga (Asana). Not a yoga person? No need to start now unless you’d like to try it. Sometimes trying new things and discovering new activities you can benefit from and enjoy can be a welcome, healthy distraction. Yoga Studio and Pocket Yoga are good apps to consider”
“Meditation (Dyana). Regular meditation is very calming. Many apps teach simple forms of meditation, such as Headspace or Calm”
“Controlled breathing (Praanayama). One simple technique is called square breathing. Visualize your breath travelling along a square. As you follow the instructions to inhale, hold your breath, or exhale, count slowly to three on each side. Try it now. Inhale up the first side of the square. Slowly count one, two, and three. Hold your breath across the top. One, two, three. Exhale down the other side of the square. One, two, three. Then hold your breath across the bottom. One, two, three. After a few minutes of this you should be feeling calmer and more centered”

Yoga has not required any costly equipment to start only need a desire and some guidance to practice. Present internet world it is easy to learn and practice. In the next post, we cover with few yoga practices. Start practicing yoga and improve your immune system!

An introduction to yoga and its rules (in video)

.. more on to fight Corona, please read!

Know about drinking water! acidic or alkaline (pH value 0 to 14)?s

What Water Contains?
Acidic and Basic water
PH Scale
Benefits of Alkaline water

What Water Contains?

About 60% of human body filled with water and it is much important to know about drinking water for healthy life.

In today’s world everyone will say that the chemical formula of water is H₂O. Further many assume that the water in the rivers, the water that is there in our human body is all containing only of H₂o molecules. Is it correct? No. The correct answer is water is containing many H₂O molecules and few positive and negative ions.

The presence of number of these few ions is going to decide our health. The point is only when the river is very pure without addition of any other substances, then we find water to be containing only H₂O molecules.

We know by our common sense that no river in this world is going to be remaining without addition of any other substances. So it is difficult for us to find any river in this world to be containing only of H₂O molecules. Actually we find in the glass of river water, many Hydronium ions H₃O⁺ (say positive ions), hydroxide ions OH^– (say negative ions) and also many more H₂O molecules.

These positive ions and negative ions are produced when acids and bases react with water. Where are acids and bases? They are everywhere around us. They are in the soil, they are in plants, they are produced by bacteria living in water, and they are in living beings including humans.

Acidic and Basic (Alkaline) Water:

The Presence of few positive ions in the given amount of water means presence of acids and presence of negative ions in the given amount of water means presence of bases.

The water combined with acid only is going to have many many H₂O molecules and relatively few positive ions. This water is called pure acidic water.

The water combined with bases only is going to have many many H₂O molecules and relatively few negative ions. This water is called pure basic or alkaline water.

Actually pure acidic or pure basic waters will not exist, because always acids together with bases combine with water. So usually in the given amount of water, we find very high H₂O molecules and relatively few positive and negative ions.

Here also very high H₂O molecules means trillion trillions of H₂O molecules and relatively few positive or negative ions means only hundred trillion ions only. One trillion is equal to thousand billions or one lakh crores.

Suppose in the given amount of water if there are 10¹⁴ positive ions for every one negative ion, then that water is said to be strong acid. Of course that strong acidic water contains many more H₂O molecules much greater than 10¹⁴.

Similarly in the given amount of water if there are equal positive negative ions, then that water is said to be strong neutral.

On the other hand in the given amount of water if there are 10¹⁴ negative ions for every one positive ion, then that water is said to be strong base or strong alkaline. Of course that strong basic or alkaline water contain many more H₂O molecules much greater than 10¹⁴.

Water PH Scale:

Since it is inconvenient to explain the acidic and basic nature of the substance in terms of trillions of positive and negative ions, a simple method called pH scale is introduced.

pH means power of hydrogen or potential for hydrogen which means combining power of hydrogen. Note that here positive ion means H₃O⁺ ion and this positive ion will be formed depending on the combining power of Hydrogen.

A substance with pH = 0 means that substance is containing 10¹⁴ positive ions for one negative ion. So pH=0 represents very strong acid.

A substance with pH = 14 means that substance is containing 10¹⁴ negative ions for one positive ion. So pH=14 represents very strong base or alkaline.

A substance with pH = 7 means that substance is neutral i.e. that substance is neither acid nor base.

The substances with pH value greater than 7 are called bases or alkalines. Similarly the substances with pH value less than 7 are called acids.

The healthy human body (i.e. human blood) maintains the pH value very close to 7.4. Many studies are supporting the fact that our human body properly maintains pH value of 7.4 for consuming the water containing pH value between 8 and 9. But many water sources provide water with pH value less than 8.

Simply the water available in most of the rivers is having pH value 7 or 7.5. But a pH value of 8 to 9 is proved to be more healthy drinking alkaline water.

This is forcing us to make water alkaline by additives.

Benefits of Alkaline water (pH value 8 to 9):

1) Weight loss:

Our human body controls the presence of acids and bases in our body in such a way that over all pH value will be around 7.4. If our food digestion produces more acids in our body, then the body stores the excess acid in fat cells and uses the remaining acids to balance with the bases to get over all pH value to be 7.4 . Suppose if you take alkaline water along with food, then digestion produces little excess acid and so body needs to store little acid in fat cells. This prevents the weight gain or leads to weight loss.

2) Hydration:

The cells of the human body require water to carry many chemical reactions. The hydration is the process which causes the cells to absorb the water properly. The scientists are seeing that the water with alkaline pH value of 8 will be is absorbed properly by the cells than the water with small pH value.

3) Liver Health:

A healthy liver will have pH value of 7 and the acidic environment will make its pH value to be less than 7.We can avoid this situation by diluting the acidic environment with consumption of drinking alkaline water with pH value of at least 8.

4) Digestive Health:

Some people suffer from acid reflux. Acid reflux is mainly due to the enzyme called pepsin released in the stomach. This pepsin is responsible for the inflammation in the ears, nose and throat. It is found that pepsin will die out when it combines with water having pH value of 8. In this way alkaline water helps in alleviating the digestion problems of the people suffering with acid reflux.

5) Detoxification:

The most effective toxic filter in our body is the liver. It needs lot of oxygen to carry its many cellular functions for detoxification. Usually blood carries oxygen to various parts of the body first by reacting with oxygen at the lungs. The more effective the blood reacts with oxygen, the more oxygen it delivers to the various parts of the body. But in the acidic environment, blood reacts with oxygen in reduced level and so supplies insufficient oxygen to the various parts of the body. By drinking alkaline water with pH value of at least 8 , one can dilute the acidic environment inside the body and thus have sufficient supply of oxygen to various parts of the body including liver.

6) Alzheimer’s disease:

When the brain cells contain more acidic environment, they are going to be less communicative and this is leading to Alzheimer’s disease. So here alkaline water can reduce acidic environment and thus helps the brain cells to make effective communication.

7) Bone Health:

The acidic rich blood causes the bones to decay fast. The alkaline water reduces the acid nature of the blood. It is verified that alkaline water is more effective than calcium rich water in nullifying the bad effects on bones caused by the acid rich blood.

8) pH Balance:

A healthy human body will maintain the pH value of 7.4. This pH balance of 7.4 depends on the proper functioning of the many organs. Proper functioning of the many organs means proper functioning of the cells. The function of the cells will be more effective when the blood is less acidic and blood will be less acidic for the consumption of the alkaline water.

9) Cholesterol Reduction:

Cholesterol production will be high in acidic blood. The bad cholesterol adheres to the inner walls of the blood vassals and thus block or reduce the flow of the blood. By the consumption of alkaline water one can reduce the acidic nature of the blood and thus reduce the rate of production of the cholesterol.

10) Energy Levels:

By the consumption of the alkaline water, sports people are engaging more intensively in the games for longer times than for the consumption of ordinary water. The energy producer in our cells is mitochondria. The mitochondria is reacting well with alkaline water and thus producing relatively large energy than for consuming the ordinary water.

In addition to above benefits, too much consumption of Alkaline water may leads to imbalance of acidic property of the body and other risks.

Work From Home always at Ease?

Covid-19 & Work from home facility

Most of the service oriented companies are providing Work From Home facility to their employees for last 3 to 4 months and some of the companies have been providing this kind of facility in the past irrespective of Corona pandemic. This kind of WFH (Working From Home) facility many employees expecting since long time, due to COVID-19 and its sequences now its worn reality in advance.

Few companies declared that they are going to continue WFH facility to their employees in future as well, WFH is not the new work culture in the corporate sector and its not limited to few employees. It benefits both employee and employer, employee no need to travel to office and can save time & money by avoiding travel and can away from pollution etc. In employer aspect they can enjoy more productivity and less maintenance costs leads to profits.

Also there are few negative sides as well,

Some employees may have to work more working hours than at office.
There will be no significant physical distance between home and office this leads to no complete detachment for both the environments (office or work).
There is no direct interaction with colleagues, only mobile communication is an option, or with any other technical options w.r.t off site.
Most of the employees not having same kind of office environment at their homes in terms of furniture, uninterrupted power supply , AC and etc.
Employer may get queries on loyalty of the employee if things are not in streamline.

Working for more hours and there is no detachment to office, employee may undergo more stress physically and mentally, these leads to health issues. Sometimes over working hours is not avoidable and if its frequent situation employee should be in the position to distinguish work and home and act consciously as per importance of work, home, personal & family. In long run employee may get irritated on work and not interesting on things to be done, that may affects productivity. Once feeling lost, it will not come back in original perception. These all not only in case of WHF, can be applicable all the cases.

Lets follow below few tips for good work & health!

Make ensure that we have comfortable seating arrangement either for laptop or desktop? If not having such a facility, give foremost importance and invest for that facility. If we are not having proper working zone we get strained early and that may cause back pain and other health issues. Also ensure that proper air and ventilation at home work place. You may comfortable on working on bed, but in long hours you experiences certain pains, better avoid this habit.
There will be a psychological feeling as we are at home, no hurry for having food or short breaks. Even we are at home try to manage to finish lunch on time. Do not hurry to work after finish your lunch, get relax for 10 to 15 mins. Ensure that daily we are consuming quality and quantity of water. Also take short breaks based on working hours.
Do not sit continuously for long hours while working, do some stretches while sitting on chair or by standing. do a walk few meters for every hour or two hours interval. Proper sitting posture is much important to avoid back pain and also blink your eyes frequently.
Possible fix your log-on and log-off timings. Do not hurry for early log in than specified time unless its something urgent, make hobby of log in and log out in fixed timings. Once you log off from work, turn off your mind also from work, otherwise we will not feel home climate, in long run we may experiences other issues.
Do body workouts regularly, do not neglect precaution towards Corona including all family members. Add some breathing exercises in daily workouts. At the end health and family is more important.

Lets kill Covid-19!

Covid 19 – Impact
Covid 19 & Lock Down
Food Content
Tips

Covid 19 - Impact

Today most of us having a hobby of checking number of Corona cases on daily basis and its impact in our locality. World Corona cases already crossed 7Millions in number and recovery rate is more than 48% this is really a good sign in Corona fight across the globe and total death percentage is more than 5 with respect to total number of cases.

On the same front recovery rate in India is 48% and death rate is less than 3% as of today, this indicates that death rate in India is almost 2% less that of world Corona deaths an average, it is due to many factors. Below chart shows increase of cases in India since March 2020 to till date.

During the lock down the raise of cases in India were less. Lock-down period was not only a step to prevent Corona spread, also we can treat it as learning phase for everyone to take minimum precautions to face Corona. Now many exemptions are given for lock-down to provide ease climate for all business activities. Now no.of Coronavirus cases are crossed 226K.

We can see multi fold in increase of Corona cases if same trend continuous in near future and we may occupy first or second place in the world Corona Cases, still no need to get panic.

Covid 19 & Lock Down

In most of the countries lock-down was lifted or continuing with minimum restrictions or with certain guidelines. Continue with lock-down is not feasible in long run for any government on economic front and also many governments are not in the position to take care of their citizens without revenue generation. Its more difficult task for the developed countries like our country to address all the amenities in the hospitals to treat Coronavirus patients in par with increase of cases.

While cases were less all the suspected patients are quarantined for 14 days, later due to increase of suspects government started 14 days stamping on suspects, suggested them to undergo home quarantine and they had monitored with health department staff. As the real cases are increasing, hospitals cannot accommodate or treat all the patients.

Now government has taken steps to maintain quarantine in patient’s locality and then further its made limited to home quarantine. Slowly steps are initiating that, treatment will be provided for only critical Corona patients at hospitals. These all are emerging scenarios indicates that, it is individual responsibility take care of themselves against world pandemic COVID-19 under government guidelines.

Food Content

Rarely Corona alone kills a person, unless its join hands with other existing diseases in the body. Once situation comes then only we can find some diseases in our body. At the end its matter of money, time, future and family. At this juncture not only a matter of taking precautionary measures, now significant measure is how quickly we recover in case of Coronavirus attacks though death is not a destiny, that depends on our body immunity.

Lets include below items in our food to improve body immunity and make it as regular practice.

Ensure that your food having protein content like Brown rice, Wheat, Oats, pulses, grains, beans etc.
Fresh Fruits, Capsicum, Caret, Beetroot, Brinjal, Lemon and Orange.
Do not preserve meat along with vegetables, have skinless chicken, fish, egg white, dry fruits for more proteins.
Add Ginger, Garlic, Turmeric and Tulsi leaves these are the natural antivirus supplements which improves body immunity.
Keep away from soft drinks, butter, palm oil and junk food which made from Maida.
Do not take non-veg food frequently. Smoking and drinking affects our immune system and health.

Tips

Daily go for walk or jog in non-crowded area, start doing workouts at home or on terrace least for a 30 minutes in the morning or evening. It is not only help us improve body state, also make us mentally strong. All these are not only safeguarding us from Coronavirus, we can fight with any other virus too. Its never be a panic situation if we are in right direction with necessary measures.

iLIVEPOLY

LIFE & HEALTH

Month: June 2020