Super Foods To Swear By Daily

Super foods are packed with antioxidants and have amazing health benefits for our bodies without adding additional calories to our diet. They are responsible for warding off diseases as they have some crucial nutrients which are not easily found in other food stuffs. These power- packed superfoods are ideal to be a daily diet staple for all households.

Here is a list of some important superfoods that can easily be incorporated in our daily diet and are also not very difficult to find.

Beans & Pulses

Beans and Pulses are easily available, cheap and easy to cook which makes them edible on a daily basis too. They are a great source of fibre which removes cholesterol by soaking it up before it can stick up on the arterial wall.  They are also rich in iron, a mineral which transports oxygen from our lungs to the cells in the body.

Nuts

Nuts like almonds, cashew, raisins, walnuts and others form a very crucial part of our diet and their intake should be a part of the daily diet as they together are abundant in vitamins and minerals, fulfilling a major need of our body.

Oats

Oats are an excellent source of energy for the body which makes it an ideal breakfast. They are packed with fibers which reduce the risk of heart diseases. They also contain  cancer fighting phytochemicals.  Oats contain biotin, Vitamin E, folic acid and amino acids which make it an ideal superfood.

Yogurt

Yogurt is a superfood as they contain riboflavin, an antioxidant. Daily intake of yogurt provides riboflavin to the body which fights free radicals that could put one against the increased risk of cancer, heart ailments and other chronic conditions. It also provides significant amounts of iodine, zinc, vitamins, potassium and phosphorous.

Tea/ Green Tea

Several studies have stated that regularly drinking tea or green tea reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes and additionally make the gums and teeth stronger. Tea is found with abundant antioxidants called flavonoids when it is freshly brewed.

Tomatoes

A great household food ingredient, tomatoes are packed with major carotenoids like carotene, lutein and lycopene which help fight cancers and reduce the risk of coronary heart diseases. They are abundant in Vitamin E, C & potassium.

Reference:- https://organicshop.in/organic-insights/super-foods-swear-daily/

7 Foods That Help You Fight Cellulite Naturally

From your neighbor to a celebrity any woman you come across will have a dreaded nightmare regarding cellulite on their body. For a woman, the problem of cellulite on their bodies can take center stage as it is a constant struggle for them to get rid of it.

There are many cosmetic creams and diet plans that claim to permanently deal with this problem but in the long run fail to prove their mettle. But we help you with a range of foods that go a long way in fighting the problem of cellulite and gradually getting rid of it.

Consider incorporating these foods in your daily diet to see long term results on your body-

Green Tea

Green tea has antioxidant properties which prevent cellulite before it starts. Cellulites are uneven fat deposition throughout the body and the best way to get rid of these is by fighting the fat with the help of green tea. Sipping green tea helps the body to fight these fat depositions and eventually get rid of cellulite.

Nuts

Raw nuts are very helpful in fighting the absorption of bad cholesterol and also have anti-estrogenic compounds present in them which help balance the female hormones in the body. The nuts which have the properties of fighting the fat are walnuts, peanuts & almonds.

Apple Cider Vinegar

This vinegar has potassium, calcium & magnesium which prevents water retention in the body around the stomach and thighs area and also flushes out toxins which results in reduced bloating and avoids cellulite formation.

Chillies

They are a storehouse of Vitamin B6 which helps restore the connective tissues and fights against the problem of cellulite in your body. Few studies have also highlighted that they are also helpful in boosting the metabolism and arresting the problem of weight gain which leads to pockets of fat deposition and increases blood flow in the body.

Sunflower Seeds

Labeled as the new generation super-nuts they are rich in Vitamin e, Zinc, Potassium and Vitamin B6 which enhances the metabolism mechanism in the body. These are helpful in controlling the problem of excess blotting and flushing out the toxins.

Whole Grains

High in plant sterols which are known to block the absorption of cholesterol. Oat bran, rice bran, whole wheat, wheat germ & brown rice are some grains with good amount of plant sterols. These are rich in fiber which helps provide energy to the body without much fat deposition.

Ginger Roots  

One of the oldest spices known to mankind they are well known for their cold fighting allergies but they are also excellent cellulite busters. They are effective in weight-loss and boosting the metabolism.

Small changes in your dietary plans will go a long way in fighting the problem of cellulite deposition in your body.

Reference:- https://organicshop.in/organic-insights/7-foods-help-fight-cellulite-naturally/

Review Of Organic Tea

Kickstarting your day with a cup of hot tea is a usual affair with most of us. For those who cannot go without a cup of tea in the morning would certainly agree that it’s the first thing they have in the morning to literally wake up.

Since we all wish to make healthier and smarter choices with our food intake- Organic Tea is also a hands up in that direction. The organic tea now a day’s come in various refreshing flavours and a variety to choose from be it classic Darjeeling tea to tulsi tea or even lemon, rose, ginger, masala, hibiscus, cardamom to green tea make up a wide range of popular tea’s.

Priced nominally between Rs. 70 to upto Rs. 300 for a pack, additionally they are also offered in different flavours clubbed together to give you a varied choice and range to choose from and are fairly priced.

When it’s organic you would not have to try too hard to understand what is it that you eventually consuming.

1. You are keeping at bay the pesticides intake that is more likely to be always used in the conventional methods of cultivating crops.
2. The rich nutrients from the soil are absorbed by the crop being grown on them which is essential in managing the health of the crop
3. The crop retains its essential goodness of nutrients which are preserved for our final consumption and benefitting our health.

Some claim that organic products are expensive as compared to the regular products which are readily available in the market in a wider range. But yet again when it comes to your health and well-being in the long- run what is it that you would prefer?

Organic tea has myriad benefits of consuming it. With rich flavours like tulsi, ginger, lemon and green tea, not only do they help detox the body and provide immunity to fight against regular infections/ allergies like flu, cold and cough but also helps replenish the body and in some instances also helps relieve the stress.

My experience of including the organic tea in my daily routine has certainly helped me remain active with a variety of choices in the offing for me. It’s lighter on the stomach, refreshing for the body which adds vitality to my routine and good for the gut.

Reference:- http://organicinsights.in/review-organic-tea/

What has Kendall Jenner’s amazing figure got to do with green tea?

Kendall Jenner, the successful American model is much in news nowadays due to her hot looks and perfectly toned body. She is one of the celebrities to achieve fame and success at a young age of 20 years.

Revealing her diet secrets at Fashion Week, she said a diet rich in fresh fruits, vegetables and lean proteins, and devoid of junk food keeps her high on energy. But her amazing figure can be attributed to her green tea addiction.

She starts her day with a cup of green tea and consumes 12 cups in a day that helps her to stay in shape.

However, the health benefits of green tea are not limited to weight loss. She is the one who vouches for it. And she has a reason to do so.

Let’s have a look at what a cup of green tea offers to you:

• Boosts metabolism – Green tea, due to the presence of catechins , interferes with absorption of lipids in the intestine and thus prevents accumulation of fat in the body. These benefits are added by including High amounts of protein, and less fat and sugar in your diet.

• Lowers cholesterol – Green tea helps in lowering the level of all types of cholesterol thus reducing the risk of heart disease. 

• Prevents cancer – Research studies have concluded the role of green tea in lowering the risk as well as slowing down the growth of ovarian, breast, prostate and endometrial cancers.

• Detoxification – Green tea is rich in antioxidants like catechins that lower the amount of free radicals in the body thus preventing cell damage. Free radicals are a group of atoms having at least one unpaired electron which makes them unstable and highly reactive. They accelerate cell damage and increase the incidence of cancer, heart disease and age-related diseases.

• Improves brain function – Green tea contains caffeine, although less than that of coffee , together with amino acid L-theanine which helps in improving brain function including mood, reaction time and memory. It also protects the brain from neurodegenerative disorders like dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

• Lowers the risk of dental infection – The antioxidants in green tea also inhibit bacterial growth thus lowering the risk of dental infection, caries and bad breath.

• Controls blood sugar – Some research studies have proven the effects of green tea in lowering blood sugar levels in Type II diabetics and also preventing the incidence of diabetes in high risk individuals.

Besides green tea, diet pills and supplements are another option available for those trying to shed extra pounds. Although these diet supplements are advertised as magical solution to lose weight but maximum are not backed by any clinical research. In addition, they carry the risk of harmful effects like increased heart rate, high blood pressure, diarrhoea, anxiety, sleeplessness, and kidney and liver damage.

On the other hand, green tea is a safe, natural and reliable choice to stay in shape and lead a happy, healthy life.

Ideally, you can take 3-5 cups of green tea daily with a maximum of 10, and opt for fresh leaves rather than tea bags.

So, just replace your cup of normal tea with green tea and give a complex to your friends with a perfectly toned body.

Reference:- http://organicinsights.in/kendall-jenners-amazing-figure-got-green-tea/

5 Office food problems and how to avoid them

A couple of health scenarios that may seem relevant to you:

1. “Why do I feel short of breath after ascending the office on the second floor?”
2. “Why do I suffer from regular headaches on returning from the office?”

These certainly are disturbing and what is more so is that you haven’t been able to find out their answers.

Probably, you are either uninformed about them or not able to diagnose the root cause. You may not agree but the main culprit for these problems is your diet plan at the office. You are diligent with your daily workout, but on reaching the office you tend to get fascinated by the foodstuff served there. Mostly ordered from outside.

You feel that you can burn out the calories consumed therein the next day by running more miles or by hitting a gym, but you are mistaken.  The daily workout doesn’t give you the credit to munch upon any foodstuff. A successful drill goes hand-in-hand with your diet plan.

We tell you about the 5 office snacks that are robbing you of health and how to replace them with a more nutritious alternative:

Fried Snacks

Apart from being loaded with high calories, it places you at a high risk of cancer due to the toxins present in cooking oil. Sitting the whole day at your office desk and enjoying those ‘samosas’ gives you a big belly, bloating of the abdomen and high risk of heart disease. Still, you gobble them down with relish.

Are you not concerned about your health? If yes, then go for a healthy snack. Carry an apple or a bowl of salad to munch on whenever you feel hungry. You get all the essential nutrients without gaining weight or bloated abdomen. If getting apples everyday is a problem, apple walnut chutney can come handy.

Beverages

Your daily cup of tea and coffee may keep you awake and mentally alert for long hours but there is also a dark side to it. High amounts of caffeine in these beverages places you at high risk of anxiety, stress, high blood pressure, diabetes and weak bones.

A better alternative is to sip 2-3 cups of green tea without sugar that will help in natural detoxification, boost your metabolism and memory and keep a check on your cholesterol and glucose levels.

Cookies

Fat, sugar, flour and eggs are the basic constituents of all cookies. The fat is usually saturated fat like butter or trans-fat like vegetable oil, both not favourable for your heart. Sugar used is mainly the artificial sweetener and the flour is obtained from processed wheat devoid of all nutrition and bleached with harmful chemicals.

Choose to have a bowl of whole grain cereals like musli. It is a mixture of corn flakes, wheat flakes and oats, and is an excellent source of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and fibre.

Pizza

That cheese dropping from pizza crust may be lip-licking but increases your cholesterol levels. And your poor heart pays the brunt of it.

Why not replace it with healthy vegetable sandwiches prepared from whole wheat bread? It gives you the goodness of both whole grain and veggies, satisfies your hunger and keeps your heart healthy.

Cheese Burger

Another culprit that robs you of a healthy heart due to high amounts of cheese in it. All your weight management also goes waste.

A bowl of sprouts or steamed corn will give you the necessary fill free from trans- fat, carcinogens and other toxins. All the more, they are easy to prepare and carry to the workplace.

Choosing your office food wisely leads you to a happy, healthy life. And more productive hours!

Reference:- http://organicinsights.in/5-office-food-problems-avoid/

Why aren’t all morning runners able to burn fat?

An image of your favourite celebrity, with that perfectly slim waist on the cover page of a magazine lures you to attain the same. And you read their fitness secrets, all talking about running as the best workout to shed kilos.

You made up your mind to follow their fitness mantra and start running miles every morning. But you don’t see any changes in your weight or belly size and just feel like throwing away that weighing scale. You are angered!

But no one is at fault – neither you nor your weighing scale and not even the fitness mantra followed by celebrities. What is at fault is your lack of knowledge about the science behind weight loss.

Maximum people think that their big bellies are due to fat deposition around the abdominal skin and running will burn off this fat giving them slim waistline. But the fact is that all belly fat is not subcutaneous fat, it has some proportion of visceral fat too. Human body fat can be divided into two types – body fat, which gets deposited on muscles and can be seen; and visceral fat, which gets deposited on internal organs and tissues and cannot be seen. The latter is difficult to burn and surely cannot be burnt by making rounds of your neighbourhood park.

Now, what is more about this visceral fat and how will you differentiate it from subcutaneous fat?

Visceral fat is the one that is deposited around your body organs like liver, pancreas and intestines and is the culprit for putting you at high risk of diabetes and heart disease. According to the Journal of American Medical Association, waistline above 40 inches in males and 35 inches in females is an indicator of high amounts of visceral fat in the body.

On the other hand, subcutaneous fat is deposited right beneath the skin, helps you keep warm and stores extra calories. It is these calories that can be burnt by running.

To know whether your belly is holding subcutaneous or visceral fat, grasp and roll the abdominal skin and fat together. If you are able to slide the whole thing up and down, it indicates you are holding subcutaneous fat otherwise it is visceral fat.

So, how to lose visceral fat?

1. Keep a track on your daily diet routine

You sweat out daily by running miles and miles.  But that doesn’t make you deserving of eating anything you like. The daily workout needs to be combined with right diet plan too.

Include lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, lean protein and complex carbohydrates such as beans, lentils and sprouted grains for energy and fibre. Use olive, peanut, sunflower or sesame oils for cooking. Cut down on all trans-fats like doughnuts, cakes, cookies etc, processed food and desserts.

2. Increase the intensity of your exercise

Your should exercise daily for about 30-40 minutes, keeping in mind that the daily caloric balance ( calories consumed minus calories burned) should be negative. Exercise routine may comprise of aerobics, yoga, running or brisk walking.

3. Cut down the intake of alcohol

A study conducted by Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Buffalo, USA has implicated that drinking high amounts of alcohol per day are shown to increase the amount of visceral fat.

4. Take plenty of sleep and avoid stress

Researchers have found a correlation between stress hormone cortisol and visceral fat deposition. So, avoid stress and get at least 7 hours of sleep every night.

5. Reap the benefits of these natural products to get rid of visceral fat

Certain natural products like lemon juice, almonds, cucumber, whole grain cereals, green tea and aloe vera juice help boost your metabolism and aid in your fat reduction.

Reference:- http://organicinsights.in/arent-morning-runners-able-burn-fat/

Tea Tales

No matter how much you try developing taste for coffee or no matter how much you just looove coffee, you just can’t stay away from a steamingly hot cup of tea while it rains and you pick up your favorite book to read and there is no one home. I am transported to the time when while at my grandmas place, we used to enjoy some tea times together at around 4-5 pm in the evening with some matthi and other home-made snacks with cousins and relatives and what a time it was. 

Over long gossip sessions, I still remember, I along with my besties used to sit for long hours and share school trivia back when I was a teenager. Those were the golden days of 1990s, the perfect time of modernization and innocence blended together. Tea has always been there, just right there, ignored yet resorted at every occasion. A couple of days ago, while some browsing pastime I saw an article that explained that those who are tea lovers are always bold, full of conviction, and are the kind of people who follow their dreams, beliefs and reasons till the last. Not stubborn, but proud carriers of immense conviction, enigmatic… What a narration. I can probably relate it to the philosophy that tea has always been the mid-meal-drink in India since ancient times and those who still uphold and stick to it are basically those who still believe in it. 

But long ago, when tea was originally termed more as a medicinal and ayurvedic benefit drink, it was in its purest form. The tea gardens were like visual treat for awestruck admirers. The clear blue sky, sunny but soothing with fresh, pleasantly cold wind caressing your hair while you stand in the middle of aromatic, incredibly green tea estate, just brings in a feeling of fresh breeze to me.

Tea, known for its health invigorating properties, is ideally best to be kept organic, in its purest form, as must be consumed conventionally. For a passionate tea lover, it is easy to identify the quality of the tea leaves. While I was at the Biofach, Nuremberg last year, the biggest convention for organics, I was struck by the kind of teas that we are today offered by different, passionate tea growers from across the world. The Indian beverage has managed homage largely in US and UK. They have now started tea-mixing which is the next best thing for the lovers. There are innumerable flavors of tea, some as weird as cherry infused Sakura Allure, Chocolate tea, Fruta Bomba Green Tea, Tomato Mint, Carot Curry, and thousands of other combinations that you might have never thought about your daily cup of tea. 

Organic Tea would be a perfect choice for those looking for something exotic, yet not as weird as the flavors mentioned above. We Indians like tea in its own original form, authentically made, for which we are really specific about. Today, Organic Green Tea is something that is really very popular and has crossed even Iced Tea in terms of a fun drink to order in any restaurant. 

As I flip through the pages of my favorite book, sitting on the couch outside after a fresh rain, I see my cup with some lingering drop of tea barely left in it. I think some days are just too nostalgic and you end up enjoying your cup of hot tea way too much.

        Thanks

Organic Shop - Team