we lose lots of nutrients like protein, fat, amino acids, thiamine, Nicotinic acid unknowingly with our regular activities, Nearly all foodstuffs with the exception of fruits and some leafy vegetables used either as salads or chutneys are consumed after cooking.
Cooking involves the following processes
The wet methods of treatment like boiling and steaming.
Dry methods of treatment like frying, roasting, and baking.
The wet methods of cooking lead to comparatively greater loss of vitamins than the dry methods.
Ordinary cooking causes little loss of nutrients in cereals, pulses, and meat. In vegetables, however, there may be some protein loss on boiling in water, particularly when salt is used in cooking and the cooking water is discarded. If the cooking water is thrown away there is considerable loss of mineral salts especially sodium, potassium, and chlorine due to leaching.
It is therefore advisable either to use the minimum amount of water or to utilize the cooking liquor in either soups or gravies.
Root Vegetables do not suffer much loss in nutrients by either wet or dry methods of cooking, because the skin of most root vegetables prevents leaching out of the nutrients. It is, therefore, preferable to boil them with their skins on.
Methods of Cooking:
It may be preferable to cook leafy vegetables with a lid on the minimum exposure to air and in the minimum quantity of water. The sooner the preparation is consumed after cooking, the better it would be.
Further, it is not advisable to peel and cut the vegetables long before they are ready for boiling.
They may be cut into big pieces as possible, and add immediately to the boiling water and cook as short time as possible.
Losses due to leaching are less if the vegetables are just steamed.
Excessive heating of foodstuffs may, however, affect the nutritive value of the proteins adversely by rendering some of the amino acids contained in the proteins unavailable to the body. Excessive and prolonged heating should be avoided.
Loss of Nutrients in cooking & cleaning process:
A certain amount of minerals and vitamins are lost even during preliminary treatment of washing prior to cooking. It is common for housewives to wash rice three or four times with large amounts of water before cooking. Rice of poor commercial quality naturally requires more washing than rice of good quality does, and in the process, there is a loss of minerals. The B vitamins especially thiamine and nicotinic acid are also lost to the extent of about 40%. The rice broth is strained away along with a part of vitamins after cooking rice.
However be mentioned that broth though it carries a small portion of the vitamins and minerals contained in the original rice, is not as high in nutritive value as is generally believed. It will be a good practice to wash the rice only if necessary with the least quantity of water and cook it in just a sufficient amount of water so that all the water is absorbed and no broth is discarded.
More than the minerals, it is the vitamins particularly the members of the water-soluble group that show a greater loss as a result of cooking.
Vitamin A or carotene is not affected when foodstuffs are cooked in water. But in shallow frying or roasting, there may be considerable loss of vitamin.
The loss in thiamine due to cooking may be occasioned partly by destruction during cooking and partly by the dissolution of the vitamin in the cooking water. If excess water is used and the cooking water is discarded, a loss of 50% of the vitamins can occur. Further, if cooking soda is added especially while cooking dhal’s or pulses to facilitate cooking or to preserve the color of the dhal, most of the thiamine is destroyed.
Conversely, a substance like a tamarind with high acidity, if added to cooking water has a preservative effect on the vitamins.
Since in most houses a dish is rarely consumed immediately after cooking, it is desirable to include some raw fruit or vegetables in the diet as a source of Vitamin C.
Milk is a poor source of Vitamin C and a major portion of this vitamin is lost in boiling.
Eggs appear to suffer little loss in nutritive value as a result of the conventional methods of cooking.
Every nutrient is important to our body, so let’s utilize whatever we get through natural resources rather than taking them artificially later.
Colds may not be a serious disease, but they do have a high cost in days lost from work and school. Colds have been with us throughout recorded history. In ancient times nasal discharge from a cold was believed to be waste products of the brain. Treatments and preventives were as inaccurate.
We know now that a cold is usually a viral infection of the linings of the upper respiratory tract. Specific viruses enter and eventually kill vulnerable cells in the mucous membrane of the nose and throat.
A key problem with interferon is that its effects are relatively short-lived while continued dosage leads to adverse side effects. The most famous and controversial potential cold preventive is Vitamin C. Intake of Vitamin C strengthens the body’s immune system so that virally infected cells are destroyed.
Most scientists believe they are far from being able to keep you from catching a cold or to cure you if you do. The next best bet is to learn how to keep the cold virus from being transmitted to you in the first place.
Their research suggests that hand – to –hand contact rather than sneezing and coughing or kissing is the way most colds spread. It seems we can literally “Catch Cold” with our hands.
What is a person to do?
Remember first of all that we develop immunities as we go through life. Thus we unlikely catch the same cold twice. Beyond developing Immunities the hard way there is little you can do to avoid colds. If someone in your family has cold take reasonable precautions to break the chain of transmission.
Encourage everyone to wash their hands frequently.
Make sure the sick person has lots of facial tissue and a paper bag reserved for them.
Promote air circulation in the house.
Try to keep your hands away from your face.
What if you do catch a cold?
You will have a cold for a week or ten days no matter what you do. The following steps however can relive the misery, reduce the severity, and perhaps shorten the illness.
If your cold is severe, stay in bed, drink lots of fluids and relax, chicken soup does help.
If your cold hangs on longer than seems reasonable, you may have flu –or worse. The symptom to watch for is fever.
Steaming might relieve you from a stuffed nose and give you a good night’s sleep.
With most adult colds, there is little or no fever. If fever persists, past the third day you may have pneumonia or sinus infection and should see a doctor.
The safe method of pressure application for vital relief from pain and other ailments.
Acupressure literally the method of applying pressure to certain areas and nerves is one of the safest, simplest, and remarkably effective methods for relief from pain and common ailments.
Acupressure treatment merely requires application of pressure, sometimes both pressure and massage to stimulate the sites or nerves. When properly applied, acupressure not only relieves pain and tension. But also the following
Arthritis
Head Aches and Migraine.
Hemorrhoids
Menstrual cramps
Constipation.
They are easy to learn, use, and can be safely practiced at home.
Let’s see how it give relief from pain
Usually, headaches are common these days, maybe because of stress, tension, and worries, etc. Using medication for this kind of headache might not be advisable. Try this Acupressure to get quick relief from the pain and feel relax.
Shoulder Point
The shoulder point becomes a point that is very useful in neck injuries but it also has very beneficial use in tension headaches and tension in the neck.
Neck Point 1
Neck point 1 is a key point for neck injuries and arthritis pain, tension headaches, and many other ailments. It is found by bending the head forward, but it is better stimulated in most cases by keeping the head upright pressure and rotatory massage both can be cured. This point can be easily located, it can be detected by bending the neck slightly and noting prominent bone of the base of the neck.
Neck Point 2
Neck point 2, This point is located just below the first vertebra located on each side of the spine at the natural level of the hairline.
Migraine Headache
It is one of the painful, mostly affected one half of the head, and lasts from a few hours to 3 days. Associated symptoms may include vomiting, Sensitivity to light, and sound. You can do it yourself pressure application therapy of relief from pain. Let’s see how it works here.
Face Point 1
Face point 1 is the commonly used temple area that becomes almost automatic to the headache sufferer.
It is located in the center of the Forehead midway between the eyebrows.
Pressure more than massage is beneficial if it is the case massage can be tried.
If the headaches are severe enough much effort must be taken to obtain relief.
Help by a friend to press the pressure points.
Face Point 2
Face point 2 is located on each side of the forehead lateral to the eyebrow in the temple area.
Face Point 3
Face point 3 located on each side of the forehead at the outer edge of the eyebrows.
Keep in mind to massage and put pressure on the neck points especially if the pain is in the back.
The efficiency and effectiveness of this technique are tested and proven both in the east, where it has been widely used and practiced over centuries and in the west, where its advantages have now been acknowledged.
