Drink: Water and other fluids - What? How much?

Let me say this right at the beginning. One should not over-drink. That is as problematic as under-drinking. Thus, we are talking about an OPTIMAL quantity of water to drink. In this post, I am going to talk about drinking water and other fluids in the right amount. 

It is obvious that we cannot survive indefinitely without water. What is not obvious, however, is that one should drink an optimal quantity of water. What constitutes an optimal quantity is a matter of debate, but it seems that we have arrived at a consensus. We should all drink at least 6-8 8-ounce glasses of water or other acceptable fluids every day.

This simple 8X8 rule is quite useful and makes it easy to remember. What are the other fluids we can drink instead of water? Well, we can have one glass of a fruit juice or smoothie, one or two glasses of tea or coffee or low-fat milk, and the rest as plain water. Sparkling water is acceptable if you don't enjoy the taste of plain water. Drinking more than one helping of fruit juice or smoothie is not advisable as these often contain a lot more sugar than is healthy for us to have, and also lack in fibre - something we should try and get from fresh fruit and vegetables.



To reach the optimum of 5 helpings of fruit or vegetable, we should count our juice or smoothie as ONE helping, regardless of how much we actually drink; the remaining 4 helpings should be in the form of fresh and raw fruit and vegetables. In fact, there is new thinking on this issue and the newest recommendations in the U.K. suggest that we should be having TEN, not five, helpings of fruit and vegetables. 

I have come across some articles that say men should have MORE water than females. I could not understand why, unless we are stereotyping males to be bigger than females. According to those recommendations, females can get by with the usual 6-8 glasses of water. Men, on the other hand, need 10-12 glasses. 

We should remember that if we reside in hot, dry regions of the world, it is even more important to keep ourselves properly hydrated with frequent drinks of water or other liquids. 


What drinks are not advisable: Carbonated beverages - because they are very rich in sugar; sweetened juices - for the same reason; full fat milk - because they are rich in calories; excess of tea or coffee - as they are rich in caffeine; and energy drinks and sports drinks - again, because they contain a lot of sugar, and the energy drinks are rich in caffeine as well. 

Why not drink an excess of water? This is because an excess is not physiological, and may lead to what is called water intoxication, a potentially lethal condition of dilution of blood and all our body fluids, causing electrolyte imbalances and irreversible brain damage that can kill us.

To summarise:

• Drink at least 6-8 glasses of fluids, water being the best.
• Restrict the intake of fresh fruit juices to about 1 glass of 150 ml per day.
• Drink more if you are thirsty.
• Drink more if you sweat a lot, e.g. in a hot environment.
• Substitutes like tea, coffee, low-calorie milk, dilute yogurt, smoothie, fruit juice or sparkling water are acceptable within limits.
• A well-hydrated body means more energy, a younger-looking skin and radiance that will stand by you all the time.

Thanks for reading. Do write your comments below.

Live: Long Life - One step at a time

Most of us are either too aware and mindful of the need to exercise - and carry on with it - or are aware of its benefits and yet, continue to shun it. Let me say this then: we should all try a little of it every day. The mantra in the past was to exercise a lot, combine aerobic work with strength, and generally eat carefully to live a long, healthy life. And yet, who among us has not seen men and women who live a hedonistic life and live into the ripe 90's, while health-conscious, exercise-loving younger men and women die like withering leaves that fell from the tree on arrival of the autumn wind?

The last word on the right combination of needed activity levels and food quality and type to live a long life is not yet written. Even as you read this, research on the best way to increase longevity is being done all over the world. It seems that longevity is coded into our DNA. The longer our "telomeres" are, the longer are we likely to live. To understand this, let me first show you what your telomere looks like:

The above is a simplified image of a chromosome of an adult cell. We have 23 pairs of these (one of each pair from each of our parents) in every one of our billions of cells, The chromosome is made up of DNA - which in turn is made up of amino-acid pairs called nucleotide pairs. The terminal pink portions of each of our chromosomes are known as the telomeres (Greek: telos =end and meros = part). 

Trials have shown that people who eat a vegetarian diet rich in fibre, olive oil and greens AND do moderate exercise every day have a 10% increase in the size of their telomeres. Thus, the DNA on the end of our chromosomes determines how long we are going to live. 

So, how do we go about it? It is easier to do bite-sized exercises multiple numbers of day than to devote, say, 45 minutes of uninterrupted exercise like walking briskly, running, or, for example. In the same fashion, try small changes in your daily diet and try not to convert your diet in one overnight go. 

Do write back to me on what your routine is. Thank you.

Recipe: Masoor Pulao and kadhi

There are pulaos and pilaus and pilavs galore when you search for any of these words on a search engine. None, however, resembles this unique recipe that is a Bohra speciality. I am going to go over it step by step this time. None of the general kind of talk. Let's get serious. We'll first make the PULAO.

Now, masoor is nothing but BROWN lentils. This is what they look like: 

The ingredients are as follows:

1. 1 cup of brown lentils
2. 2.5 cups of rice (choose basmati, but you can make the pulao with long rice, brown basmati rice or even other kinds of rice - except for the ones that are parboiled or sticky)
3. Onion - 1 medium, sliced thin
4. Tomato - 1 medium, diced
5. Freshly chopped garlic - 1 clove
6. Cummin seeds - 1/2 tsp
7. Olive oil - 1 tablespoonful
8. Salt, to taste
9. Green chilli - 2, cut into 1 inch long pieces
10. Curry leaves (6-8, optional)
11. Ghee (clarified butter) - 1 tsp

Preparation: You will need to soak the brown lentils for about 3-4 hours so that they become a bit bigger and more nutritious. You may even want to keep them overnight in your refrigerator. The rice should also be soaked for a while, although not as long as the lentils.

1.  Cook the lentils with water, salt, and a little turmeric (optional) in a covered pan for about 10-12 minutes on high flame. This should render them soft, but not mushy. The grains should still have some texture when put in your mouth. Alternatively, cook them in a pressure cooker for just one whistle or for 3 minutes, whichever is less. 
2. Drain off the lentils, but keep the water aside. This will be needed to make the kadhi.
3. Take a stir-fry kadhai (see pic alongside).  
   
4. Heat the olive oil, and when hot, stir-fry some cummin seeds, a few curry leaves (optional) and the green chillis in it. Add the sliced onion and stir fry them till the onions turn golden brown; next, add the diced tomato and cook till the tomato looks appropriately softened. You might want to add some freshly chopped garlic too. This will enhance the taste immensely. 
5. Once fried to your liking, turn the gas to sim, and add the brown lentils to the mix. Continue stirring for another 3 minutes and then take the kadhai off the gas. The lentils are ready.
6. Next, cook the rice with your method of choice, making sure that they are about 75% cooked and not soft or ready to eat. Set the rice aside. 
7. You are now ready to make the amazing pulao. Take your storage-cum-serving vessel and mount it on the stove with simmering heat. Rub the inside of the vessel with some clarified butter (ghee) and then put about 20% of your cooked rice on this to form an even layer. Pour all of the brown lentils on this and spread this again so that it forms a flat top layer. Next, put the rest of the rice over this, so as to cover the lentils completely. This should look like this: 
   
8. You may temper the top of the rice with some "birasta" (that is thinly sliced long onion that is sauteed until they are dark brown in hot oil). Voila. your pulao is now ready.

Let us now see how to make the kadhi. Essentially, kadhi is nothing but a kind of soup made with chick-pea flour (we call it besan in Indian languages) and yogurt. The simple method of making kadhi is really endearing. 

The ingredients for the kadhi are as follows:

1. 1/2 a cup of thick yogurt - if kept for a few days outside the refrigerator, it will become a bit sour, and that is the ideal.
2. 1-1 1/2 tablespoons of chickpea flour.                       
   
3. Curry leaves - 8-10 nos
4. Onion - 1, small, diced into thick pieces
5. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp    (see photo)                                 
6. Cummin seeds - 1/2 tsp
7. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
8. Red chilli powder - 1 tsp (Alternatively, you may use a few green chillis as well, cutting them into 1-inch long pieces)
9. Cooking oil - 1 tablespoonful
10. Salt, to taste.
11. Water saved from the brown lentils (this is the most crucial ingredient - I hope you remember saving that!)

Preparation: There are traditional ways, and there is the Taher-way, which is, simply put, a convenient way, of making the kadhi. What I do is to use a mixer to blend the yogurt and the chickpea flour. Keep this ready. You may even add the salt to this blend.

1. Take a cooking pot. Add the cooking oil and heat till ready to accept all the stuff we are going to throw in. 
2. First, add the curry leaves, wait till they splutter. Next, quickly add the cummin seeds and the fenugreek seeds, and as they splutter, reduce the gas to a sim. Now, add the onions and cook till they are pink to light golden brown (don't turn them to a dark golden brown - the crunchiness of the onion in your mouth is a texture to savour).
3. Add other spices like the turmeric, red chilli powder and, if you wish, some more garlic. Once these are smouldering, add the blended mix of the flour and yogurt, switch the heat back to full and cook for the next few minutes, stirring the whole thing so that the flour gets a bit of a roasting. As the mix dries up, add the brown lentil water to it, slowly, and continue to stir. Once it is all in, turn the heat down and cook for a further 10 minutes. 
4. Some families add tomato to the kadhi as well. I think this is not needed if the yogurt is aged and sour. 
5. Turn off the heat and your kadhi is now ready. You can garnish it with fresh, chopped coriander.
6. To enhance the whole experience, you can add some previously made onion bhajis* to the kadhi. This is known as pakora kadhi or bhajia kadhi. I think this combination goes better with a traditional, non-brown lentil kadhi made simply with masoor dal khichdi and the water of the masoor dal. But, I leave it to you to try it and let me know how this works.  

And that, my friends, is what masoor-pulao kadhi is all about. I will end this with a picture of the final product served on my dinner plate. The photo is not artistic, but I am sure you will get the picture. I put just a little kadhi on the side, but you should actually put a whole lot of it to get the best out of your cooking! Enjoy.

Do let me know how it turned out for you. Cheers. Ah, well, the British would, after serving the food, choose the best wine to go with the food. I am NOT going to do that. The possible combinations that go well with masoor pulao kadhi are - an empty stomach, some lime pickle (Indian style, sour, with mustard seeds) and roasted popadoms.

*bhajis is the same as pakoras. Will write a recipe soon.