Sudhir Ahluwalia's Blog, page 50

How much oil is healthy for a person to take daily and start a no oil diet?

The American Heart Association recommends that an individual’s diet get 5 to 6% of calories from saturated fat.

A daily requirement of 2000 calories a day would calculate about 13 grams of saturated fat per day. American Heart Association recommends limiting saturated fats found in animal-based foods like butter, cheese, red meat, etc., in the diet.

Many experts challenge these recommendations. They advocate a near fat less for people suffering from cardiac illnesses.

Fats are an essential constituent of food. These are a necessary constituent of most cooked food. It is also the most calorie-dense food averaging nine calories per gram. Carbohydrate and protein food, average calorific density is four calories per gram.

Oils contain saturated fats, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Fats form the emergency reserve of energy for the body. Monounsaturated fats are the healthiest. These are cardio-protective and regulate blood sugar.

The Mediterranean diet comprises an abundance of plant foods, fresh fruit, and olive oil as the principal source of fat, dairy products, fish, and poultry which is low in saturated fats (7-8%). The total fat of this food ranges between 25 to 35%. This is an example of healthy food (Willet et al., 1995). This diet is beneficial to health, good for the heart, and protects the body from some forms of cancer (Trichopoulou et al., 1997).

Additional reading references:

Nutrition Facts- A guide to good health

Natural Solutions for Obesity

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What percentages of stroke are diet-related?

There are 2 kinds of stroke: ischemic and hemorrhagic.

Ischemic stroke. This is the most common type of stroke. It happens when a major blood vessel in the brain is blocked. It may be blocked by a blood clot. Or it may be blocked by a buildup of fatty deposits and cholesterol. This buildup is called plaque.Hemorrhagic stroke. This occurs when a blood vessel in your brain bursts, spilling blood into nearby tissues. With a hemorrhagic stroke, pressure builds up in the nearby brain tissue. This causes even more damage and irritation.”

Diet is only one of the many risk factors for stroke. Here is a link that will give you more details on risk factors for stroke:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/stroke/risk-factors-for-stroke

Here is the 2020 link to the American Heart Association report on strokes if you are looking for statistics. Take a look at these, and you will realize that it is not as black and white as you may imagine. It is a complex disease.

Virani, S. S., Alonso, A., Benjamin, E. J., Bittencourt, M. S., Callaway, C. W., Carson, A. P., … & American Heart Association Council on Epidemiology and Prevention Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. (2020). Heart disease and stroke statistics—2020 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 141(9), e139-e596.

If you are looking for content on cardiovascular diseases, you can order here.Similar Posts:

Risk factors for Type 2 diabetesWhat is the best treatment for obesity, and why?What are the complications and cures for diabetes?

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What is the best treatment for obesity, and why?

Obesity is a complex subject.
Many people are looking for a silver bullet to reduce weight with the least effort quickly. They try a variety of weight loss supplements and medication.
Losing weight is best achieved when we proceed systematically. Check with your physician before consulting a weight loss dietitian. The physician will order a series of medical assessments to evaluate medical causes for weight gain and identify the triggers leading to weight gain.
Once the physician’s assessment is completed and the physiological and genetic causes of obesity are ruled out. Suppose any corrective medical interventions are recommended to take care of lifestyle-triggered ailments. If there are no clinical recommendations, then in both cases, we move to the next stage of a weight loss process.
It entails consulting a physical therapist who will recommend an exercise schedule appropriate to your physical condition.
The next step is diet planning. Many people suffering from obesity make the nutritionist or dietitian the first port of call. To my mind, the role of the dietitians comes into play only after the completion of a thorough clinical examination.
Remember, obesity is a disease that requires full attention and treatment. It is essential to address the causes of the condition first before starting any exercise or diet regime.

Additional reading reference:

Natural Solutions for Obesity Similar Posts:

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Are black seed oil supplements and cinnamon good for diabetics?

Black seed (Nigella sativa) and cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) are not listed as major anti-diabetic herbs in Ayurveda research literature. Cinnamomum tamala (common name tejpata, malabathrum) finds mention. The main medicinal action of the plant is its ability to reduce blood sugar. Experiments on rats validate this property. The effect is comparable to the antidiabetic modern drug Glibenclamide (Chakraborty et al., 2010). These studies raise the likelihood of its probable use as an adjunct medicine for treating diabetes (Kumar et al., 2012).

If you have heard about black seed and cinnamon as anti-diabetic plants, then this could be a traditional use that is not yet adequately studied by scientists and reported as an anti-diabetic. This is quite common.

Many anti-diabetic formulations sold in the market contain plants and ingredients whose effectiveness is not supported by credible scientific literature.

In my research, I have found the following four herbs to have the maximum scientific support as anti-diabetic. The four herbs are:

Gymnema sylvestre, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Eugenia jambolana, and Curcuma longa. There are additional herbs from Chinese medicine that have scientific evidence in support of their anti-diabetic properties also.

Many popular and even Ayurveda experts make claims supporting particular formulation effectiveness as an effective anti-diabetic formulation. Readers should be wary of these claims and look for published scientific support before accepting these claims.

Additional reading reference:

Natural Solutions for Diabetes Similar Posts:

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What are the health remedies of Aloe vera?

Aloe vera is a succulent plant from the lily family.

Traditionally, the plant has been used for medicinal purposes by the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Indians, Mexicans, Japanese, and the Chinese. The gel was used as a beauty mask and for treating wounds. There is a reference to the plant in Dioscorides’s De Materia Medica. The plant is also used as a laxative in Ayurveda and other herbal medicinal systems. The plant has also been used to treat skin disorders.

Aloe vera has been tried on head and neck cancer patients who have been treated with radiotherapy. It is claimed that Aloe vera mouthwash can reduce radiation-induced mouth ulcers. This is attributed to its wound healing and anti-inflammatory properties (Richardson et al., 2005). However, no evidence has been found on the plant preventing or minimizing radiation-induced skin reaction in cancer patients (Richardson et al., 2005).

It has been found to inhibit the proliferation of cancer and induce cancer cell death. But clinical studies indicate that the plant did not prevent radiation-therapy-induced lesions. Lesions’ appearance is delayed. It is not recommended to be taken either orally or by injection (Ahmet et al., 2016).

Bryant et al. (2002) also observed that the plant did not help in radiation-induced side effects. It was further observed not to help reduce radiation-therapy-induced ulcers in head and neck radiotherapy cases or improve patient well-being (Su et al., 2004).

Aloe vera is an interesting medicinal plant and catches popular imagination for its laxative and skin moisturizing properties. The scientific support for many of its traditional medicinal uses is not yet been fully established.

Additional reading references:

Natural Solutions for Cancer

Asian herbs-and their wondrous health-giving properties

Holy Herbs: Modern Connections to Ancient Plants Similar Posts:

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What causes constipation? How can constipation be cured with home remedies?

Foods like papaya, cucumber, fiber-rich grain like millets are great facilitators of stool evacuation. Papaya and cucumber can be consumed in fresh form, while millets can be converted into bread.

Dietary fiber, found in fruits, vegetables, and other food types, is not digested in the small intestine. These, undigested passing through the small intestine, reach the large intestine and colon. Fiber bulks up food. These facilitate the movement of waste down the large intestine helping in the convenient evacuation.

Fiber-rich food includes wholegrain food products like bread, breakfast cereal, and pasta. Then we have fruits like berries, melons, oranges, and pears. Vegetables like broccoli, carrots, sweet corn, peas, beans, pulses, nuts, and seeds, potatoes with skin, are rich in fiber. In plants, the woody fiber is generally lignin.

Oats and barley contain beta-glucan fiber. Three grams and more of it, when consumed daily, is said to help reduce cholesterol levels. Dietary fiber helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and bowel cancer.

The UK government nutrition agency recommends using 30 grams of fiber per day for adults over 17 years. The American Dietetic Association recommends using 25 grams of dietary fiber for adult women and 38 grams for adult men.

The average intake of dietary fiber in the US these days is 15 grams per day, much lower than this recommendation. Consuming more than 25 grams per day of dietary fiber reduced obesity (Howarth et al., 2001).

Dietitians recommend consuming a fiber-rich diet to individuals suffering from constipation and a low fiber diet when afflicted by diarrhea. High-fiber diets provide bulk, are more satiating, and have been observed to lower body weights. Consumers, therefore, are turning to fiber supplements and bulk laxatives as additional fiber sources.

Additional reading references:

Nutrition Facts- a guide to good health Similar Posts:

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Risk factors for Type 2 diabetes

My response to this question from a reader

“Why does diabetes occur? Is it only because of eating too much carbs? If so, why is it not easily reversible by simply not eating sugar for a while and people resort to medicines?”

Diabetes manifests itself when insulin produced in the body cannot adequately metabolize the sugar in the blood, causing blood sugar levels to spike.

Cdc lists the following risk factors for diabetes. Diabetes Risk Factors: I am extracting this from their site below:

You’re at risk for developing type 2 diabetes if you:

Have prediabetesAre overweightAre 45 years or olderHave a parent, brother, or sister with type 2 diabetesAre physically active less than 3 times a weekHave ever had gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy) or given birth to a baby who weighed more than 9 poundsAre African American, Hispanic/Latino American, American Indian, or Alaska Native (some Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans are also at higher risk)

If you have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, you may also be at risk for type 2 diabetes.

You can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes with simple, proven lifestyle changes such as losing weight if you’re overweight, eating healthier, and getting regular physical activity.

There is a relationship between eating unhealthy, including too much sugar and carbs, but to assume that you are at risk of diabetes because you are eating sugar is not supported by science.

Reference:

Natural Solutions for Diabetes

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Should we really be putting high BMI in the same eligibility category as pulmonary disease and cancer?

Body Mass Index (BMI) is the standard measure of obesity. BMI takes into account body weight, height, and age. An individual with a BMI equal and above 30 kg/sqm would be called obese. Six hundred fifty million people have a BMI of equal and above 30 kg/square meter (according to WHO estimates).

BMI is, though, an inaccurate measure. For instance, people with a high amount of muscle mass may not be obese but will have a high BMI. Another index for measuring obesity is – the Ponderous index. All of these indices are indicative.

Overweight and obesity are significantly associated with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, arthritis, and poor health status. Intentional weight loss reduces the risk of overweight people developing diabetes.

Obesity and type 2 diabetes both are preventable and require continuing effort to incorporate a balanced diet and physical activity in the lifestyle. These changes aim to achieve healthy weight loss. (Mokdad et al., 2003)

Cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases are complex diseases triggered by a host of factors.

Therefore let us not jump to conclusions and get ourselves worried sick if we have a BMI.

References:

Natural Solutions for ObesityNatural Solutions for CancerNatural Solutions for DiabetesNutrition Facts- A guide to good health

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Intermittent fasting weight-loss diet

Intermittent fasting is a popular weight-loss diet recommendation. This form of diet is also prescribed in some cases to people with diabetes.

This dieting form focuses on intermittent energy restriction to bring about weight loss, enhance insulin sensitivity, and improve health. (Harvie et al., 2011) While following the intermittent fasting plan, eating healthy is essential. When combined with calorie restriction and liquid meals, intermittent fasting was an effective strategy to help obese women lose weight and lower cardiac disease risk. (Klempel et al., 2012).

I did not come across any major study that claims this diet form leads to any health problems.

If the objective is weight-loss, other diets like Paleo, Keto, Atkins diet, etc., also are equally beneficial. It is best to consult a dietitian and select a diet that works best for you.

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What are the natural remedies of onion?

In traditional Chinese medicine, onion is yang food. In Ayurveda too, onion is said to stimulate the human body. Herbal medicine systems of both China and India regard onion to be beneficial to the cardiovascular system. WHO (World Health Organization) supports the use of onions to treat appetite loss and prevent atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries).

Onion and garlic are rich in sulfur compounds. They possess anti-diabetic, antibiotic, hypocholesterolemic, fibrinolytic properties (Augusti, 1996).

Allium cepa extract was shown to have anti-microbial action against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (Eltaweel, 2013). Experiments done by Azu et al. (2006) demonstrated anti-microbial properties of onion and ginger extracts against other bacteria like Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi (causes typhoid), and Bacillus subtillis.

The German Federal Health Agency’s Commission has approved onion as an antibacterial agent. The Commission has concluded that onion is a healthful vegetable that may have many medical benefits. The plant is rich in antioxidants, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds.

Reference:

The above content has been drawn from my book Asian Herbs.

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