మాలిక పత్రిక

Dr. Janaki Badugu

Joint pains are THE most common ailment we see every day!  There is not a single patient who will not complain about some pain, it can be just a finger pain or a knee pain or chronic back pain. Whatever may be the pain, first find out what is the pain you are suffering with, than embark on containing it !

Here are some suggestions that will help you:

Program plan one:

General body pains or inflammation or rheumatoid arthritis: these are the pains that are caused primarily due to hormonal changes or endocrine disorders or simply due to nutritional deficit or due to allergic reactions.

What can you plan?

1. Correct hormonal imbalance, especially women with PCO, pre menopause do have inflammations which can be corrected with balanced diet and exercise and medication in some cases.
2. Fruits and vegetables have natural anti-inflammatory agents, include them consciously in your diet.
3. Take a high quality multi vitamin supplement  to fill the nutritional gap for 3 months
4. Avoid refined foods such as sweets, biscuits, syrups and maida. Include fiber in the form of whole grams.
5. Most of our diets are less in omega fatty acids, therefore include fatty white fish atleast 3 times per week or go for a supplement therapeutically for 3 months. Walnuts and flax seeds are rich in omega fatty acids.
6. Stress causes cortisol hormone to be released in the body which causes inflammation. After a hard day’s work find your own USP to relive stress. Exercise is a very good option, games and swimming are best bets.

Sure shot diet tip  :   Blend 5 walnuts +  2  large pine apple pcs +1 centimeter ginger + ½ cup fresh curd + water and take this Anti inflammatory drink every day till you are relived from pains.

Program plan two:

Osteo arthritis: Cartilage cushioning the bone wears off and causes debilitating pain and stiffness of joints like knee. This condition need not be due to ageing, there are some genetic underlying causes too.  Because of the pain during movement, person eventually adopts sedentary life style and starts gaining weight too! Usage of anti inflammatory drugs long term can cause GI (stomach) disturbances. So what can you do?

Here are some suggestions that can help you:

1. Weight loss should be on top of the list to do, as significant weight loss can give great relief from pain.
2. Include cartilage growth promoting nutrients in your diet :

1. Vitamin C helps in collagen formation, therefore take more of citrus fruits in your diet or use not more than 1000mg of vit.c supplement for three months followed by regular fruit intake.
2. Vitamin D promotes over all bone health. Get your daily dose of this vitamin from sunlight, egg yolk, sardines and mackerel fish and milk.
3. Vitamin E also helps to improve cartilage.  Nuts , seeds , green leafy vegetables and oils are rich sources.
4. Take ginger frequently. Shogoals and gingerols in ginger helps ameliorate the pain and swelling.
5. Calcium and phosphorus improve over all bone health. Shell fish and milk are the best choices to get these nutrients.
6. Omega fatty acids are the key to bone health and hormonal balance. Include them from nuts, fish and flax seeds on daily basis. Supplementation also is a good idea.
7. Glucoseamine, chondritin and collagen hydroslysate are the elements of which influence the synthesis and degradation of cartilage positively. Gelatin contains collagen hydroslyate, therefore include gelatin based foods into your diet. Sea foods such as crabs contain glucoseamine and chondritin sulfate, try including sea shell foods. 

Sure shot diet tip: Mix 1 scoop jelly (made with gelatin crystals) + 10 orange sections + 2 teaspoons ginger juice + 1 scoop fresh thick curd in a bowl and sprinkle with sunflower seeds and have as your snack.

Having bones soup on regular basis also helps.

FAST FOOD MAKE OVERS  

Every day at least once we munch on fast foods, so why not have it in a healthy way with very small change/make over? Here we go….

Burgers:  remove tikka inside, it is full of oil and imbalances the nutrients. Try baked filling with green leafy vegetables   or a whole pulse patty

Soft drinks:  imbalances the nutrients and leeches calcium from you. Take as less as possible. Fruit juice a great option. Exercise and don’t forget have your milk every day.

Energy drinks:  gives instant energy and some ‘b’ vitamins. Limit to only one drink per day. Mind your other caffeine intake as energy drinks contain caffeine and can make sleepless. Warning: do not mix with alcohol.

Pizzas: change the toppings to vegetables, low fat cheese, olives and greens. Holds good for sub as well.

Channa chat: good option and great meal replacement.

Paani poori:  good till it is two plates and as long as it is good water. Take with plenty of onions.

Bhel poori: good option, add nuts to improve nutrient quality

Sev poori: sev and poori are deep fried , less is advisable. Add more veggies and nuts

Dahi poori:  good option, take with plenty of onions. This snack acts as a probiotic food..good after antibiotic treatment.

Chicken manchuria: add veg salad and buttermilk to make it healthy.

Gobi manchuria:  add whole grams salad and have buttermilk or juice with it.

Pav bhaji: fat rich snack this is, so, have half of it and fill the remaining half with vegetable or fruits.

Biryani: save it for occasions, have only half plate and don’t forget to have raitha with lots of vegetables and lemon juice at the end.

Noodles: adding whole grams or boiled chicken or egg with green leafy vegetable will make it a balanced meal.

Fried rice: ditto like noodles

Idli : great tifin or snack with sambar or chutney. But limit quantity.

Wada:  have with green chutney and limit quantatity

Poori: dal greens with poori is healthy combination

Tea: best when you limit to one or two based on coffee intake

Coffee: best when you limit to one or two based on tea intake

Smoke: even less is bad

Puffs: very high in calories almost upto 800 calories flat, equaling to two meals …do you relaly want that much at once? Buttermilk is a must to balance out sodium in puffs

Samosa:  though less calories than puff but surely gives calories equaling to a meal. Adding veg salad is a good idea with buttermilk. It’s a meal replacement!

Pastries:  ask for dark chocolate version, you will be saved from extra calories in one go.  Do not take pastries post meal. Take them in between meals to balance the calories. Limit quantity.

Top Ten Tips For Healthy Cooking 

1. A normal adult can use 30g of oil per day. Try use less than this everyday.
2. Pressure cooking and cooking with lid closed are the best methods for coking vegetables to preserve maximum nutrients
3. Stir frying can be used for green leafy vegetables. It cooks the greens just enough and preserves maximum nutrients.
4. Cook rice in pressure cooker or electric cooker or normal cooking , but do not throw the water away, instead cook rice with just sufficient water to preserve B vitamins. Do not add oil or salt to rice while cooking.
5. Non vegetarian food to be cooked with either a vegetable or a green leafy vegetable to benefit maximum nutrients. This method also reduces masala or rich gravy and makes it less oily
6. Do not add oil or ay shortening into chapathi dough while kneading. This will only increase calories.
7. Do not add salt to idli and dosa batter and also in dough. This way one can reduce salt intake
8. To remove cholesterol from non veg food, first boil meat, a fat layer forms on top of the water , this is cholesterol, remove it and cook meat with vegetable or greens.
9. Reheating of the food to be done only once.
10. All fruits, vegetables and greens to be soaked in salt water first for 5 minutes and rinsed in fresh water for three times, before using them.