Poha is a much-loved Indian breakfast food that has a number of variants in different parts of the country. Whether you like to eat it the traditional way with peanuts, curry leaves, et al, or whether you love to munch on the chivda prepared from this flattened rice dish, poha holds a unique appeal that is almost universal. In Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Rajasthan, poha is eaten topped with some spicy bhujia and with a side of sweet and sugary jalebis or imartis. On the other hand, in Maharashtra, poha has potatoes added to it and is served with a side of some chutney and topped with crunchy, bright yellow sev. But did you know that poha is incredibly healthy too?There's a reason poha is considered the perfect breakfast food and has gained traction not just across India, but also globally. For one, it's incredibly easy-to-prepare and even a novice cook may not go wrong with any basic poha recipe. For another, it's cooked along with a number of vegetables like peas, potato, coriander and even crunchy peanuts are added to it. This makes the dish more nutritious and filling. It's also easily available and packs in a nutritious punch for very cheap!

Here are some health benefits of eating poha:
1. Controls Blood Sugar Levels

Poha is considered a good meal for diabetics. Being rich in fibre, poha promotes a slow and steady release of sugar into the blood stream, thereby preventing any sudden spikes in blood sugar levels


2. A Good Probiotic

This may come as a surprise to many, but poha is a good probiotic food too. This is because the dish is made by parboiling paddy and then drying it out in the sun for a few hours. After this the dried product is beaten flat to make poha. The finished product has undergone fermentation and hence retains the microbial flora from the partially digested carbs and proteins, which is healthy for the gut.

3. A Good Source Of Healthy Carbohydrates

Poha is made up of 76.9 per cent of carbohydrates and about 23 per cent of fats. Hence, it's a great breakfast food as these healthy carbs provide energy to the body to carry out its daily functions.

4. Easily Digestible

Poha is also light on the stomach and can be easily digested. Therefore, it can either be had as the first morning meal or as a light evening meal. Poha will never cause bloating and will also keep you full for longer.

5. Rich In Iron

Lactating or pregnant women are often advised to eat softened poha, as these women are at high risk of gestational anaemia. This is because the production process of poha requires the rice to pass through iron rollers. The flattened rice retains some of the iron from the process and are hence considered to be rich in iron. You may want to squeeze a bit of lemon juice in your bowl of breakfast poha to help your body absorb the iron better.

Also Read: A Nation United by Poha

6. Low In Calories

Poha is also quite low in calories. One bowl of cooked vegetable poha has just around 250 calories, along with a number of essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants too due to the presence of curry leaves in it. If you add some peanuts to the mix, it raises the number of calories in the meal, but if you're watching your weight, you may want to skip the peanuts.

You can make your poha healthier and more nutritious by cooking it in olive oil or coconut oil and by adding more vegetables to it. You may even increase the satiety factor and make it protein-rich by throwing in some soya bean chunks. All in all, the Indian poha is quite a rockstar on the health front and must be included more often in your diet.

It's a well-known fact that breakfast in the most important meal of the day and skipping it can have harmful impacts on our overall health. Not having a proper breakfast is a cardinal sin, especially if you are looking to lose weight and/or maintain weight loss. But, it's not just about achieving and maintaining an ideal body weight - breakfast is important for supplying your body with adequate energy to keep you going through the busiest parts of the day. It's often advised to consume enough healthy foods and nutrients, minerals and vitamins in your breakfast meal to give your body a good jumpstart for the day. However, these things aren't very obvious to many people, who often skip breakfast and end up derailing their weight loss journey, instead of boosting it.But, merely eating something for breakfast isn't going to help you. Your healthy breakfast meal must contain foods that supply your body with energy, to tide over the energy drain of high-stress work mornings. A lot of tend to eat greasy foods or drink sugary beverages for breakfast or consume highly caffeinated drinks. All of these may be counter-productive when it comes to weight loss. It's very important to get your breakfast meals just right. There are some common mistakes that all of us have made or are possibly still continue to make, which are extremely destructive when it comes to weight loss.

Here Are Some Common Breakfast Mistakes That May Lead To Weight Gain:
1. Eating oily or greasy foods: A lot of our traditional breakfast foods are rich in oil and grease. While these breakfast foods are tasty and filling, it's not a very good idea to start your day with them. Greasy foods may cause digestive troubles, distracting you from your work or studies. Moreover, these foods are often devoid of nutrition and may make you feel sluggish in the morning.

2. Eating sugary drinks or foods: A lot of our packaged breakfast cereals or fruit juices contain hidden sugars. These are low on nutrition and high in calories, and hence, should be avoided. Same goes for energy drinks or fizzy drinks with artificial sweeteners, as these are packing in a lot of calories that can derail your diet.

3. Juicing your fruits and veggies: Fruits and vegetables are high in fibre and natural sugars, which are both great for giving your body a natural energy boost in the morning. Fruit or vegetable juices on the other hand eliminate the fibre, making your fruit/veggie portion less filling. Eating a whole fruit for breakfast, instead of juicing it, is healthier.

Also Read: Looking To Lose Weight? 6 foods You Must Avoid For Breakfast

4. Loading up on caffeine: A significantly large number of people around the world prefer to have a caffeinated drink with their morning meal. Tea and coffee are two of the most common and most popular ones and while one-odd cup of either drink may help boost metabolism and mood, over-consumption of the same isn't healthy.

5. Not eating enough: We're often in, too much of a hurry in the morning to care about having a good breakfast. So, we end up having a small and incomplete breakfast meal. Your breakfast should be filling, otherwise you end up feeling hungry soon after. This makes you want to crave unhealthy snacks, which are no friends of your waistline.

6. Not prepping for breakfast: Meal preps are important for anyone wanting to lose weight and ignoring it just won't do. But, while lunch and dinner preps are common, we often forget prepping for breakfast and grabbing anything we see in front of us in the morning. Your breakfast prep may just include stocking up on healthy options like poha, oats, milk, whole wheat bread and eggs, etc. for the next morning.

Also Read: 5 Best Breakfast Ideas to Kick Start Your Morning

7. Eating breakfast outside: A lot of restaurants and cafes nowadays offer all-day breakfast menus and buffets, but these should be indulged in only occasionally. Try and make it a habit to have breakfast at home, so that you are mindful of how many calories and how much nutrition is going into your body. So, no more making coffee stops at that Starbucks for your daily cuppa on your way to work - carry your own homemade coffee instead.

8. Ignoring the fat: A fear of fat has been bred into our psyche and it's making us throw out a lot of nutritious food. Good quality of monounsaturated fatty acids are good for the body, especially when consumed with breakfast, as they promote satiety and keep your skin healthy. So, stop throwing out the yolk of your morning eggs and go ahead and spread a thin layer of peanut butter on your breakfast toast.

9. Eating leftovers for breakfast: The prospect of eating leftover pizza, burger, fried rice, etc. for breakfast is very tempting. But unfortunately, it's not a very good practice. Leftover or re-heated foods have low nutritional value and no matter how well they were stored or refrigerated, leftovers are unhealthy. They may upset your digestive system, which may again, wreak havoc on your weight loss plans.

10. Eating breakfast in bed: Don't start eating right after waking up in the morning. It's always healthier to first drink a glass of warm water, first thing in the morning, to boost your digestive system. Starting your day with a glass of warm water has a number of health benefits, including aiding weight loss. So, pass off on the opportunity of 'breakfast in bed' and instead wait for at least half an hour after you wake up to eat breakfast.

These breakfast practices may not guarantee a dramatic weight loss for you, but if incorporated into your daily routine, these will definitely lead to an overall improvement in your health.

Born and brought up in North India, I didn't have much curd rice growing up, and it was not until my early twenties, that I had curd rice for the first time in my life! Not only that, I had to travel to the other side of the world to discover this yummy food. Once I started living in USA, most of my friends were from South India and they introduced me to this wonderful dish. It was indeed love at "first taste", and I joined the community of lakhs of people around the world (mostly South Indians living globally) who have to have this dish at least once a day to feel that their day is complete.

Having curd rice gives you such a sense of satisfaction, and contentment. It also makes one feel restful and sometimes sleepy too, especially if eaten in excess. Let's examine today why this dish is so sought after and gives us this immense feeling of satiation, contentment and happiness.

The first ingredient in this process of creating a sense of satisfaction is Tryptophan, an essential amino acid present in curd. It is an essential amino acid meaning that it can't be made by the body and must be taken through our diet.
Tryptophan is the building block of a chemical called Serotonin. Serotonin has a wide variety of functions in the body, from playing a role in learning and memory to digestion. Serotonin is also a neuro-chemical and a natural mood regulator, which makes us feel happy, emotionally stable, less anxious, more tranquil and even more focused and energetic. Low levels of Serotonin are also linked to mood disorders like Depression.

Serotonin is also a precursor for Melatonin, the sleep inducing chemical which is necessary to induce sleepiness. That is why sometimes we feel sleepy after eating a lot of curd rice.

Serotonin can not cross the bloodbrain barrier, so for it to make us happy, it has to be produced in the brain. Here is where the rice comes in. Many foods contain tryptophan, but what makes the brain take up tryptophan to create serotonin is the carbs! That is why just eating foods rich in tryptophan might not create the same satisfaction and happiness.

The best way to reap the benefits of tryptophan is to combine complex carbohydrates with it. Extensive studies at MIT carried out by Richard Wurtman, M.D., showed that tryptophan, the building block of serotonin, could get into the brain only after sweet or starchy carbohydrates were eaten. The carb rich foods create production of insulin in the body that clears the competing amino acids from the blood stream so that brain can take up tryptophan. In absence of insulin the brain prefers the competing amino acids, so eating Tryptohan rich foods without the carbs doesn't have the same impact that curd rice has. This is one of the reason when we are sad or upset we reach out for carb heavy foods, so that our brain can take up tryptophan and create serotonin.

So its the combination of Tryptohan containing curd and the carbs in the rice that creates the bliss we experience after eating curd rice! Let's be happy that our ancestors knew these simple ways of creating daily happiness and reach for that pot of curd rice.

Bon Appetit!

Believed to be used by even Christopher Columbus on his discovery voyage, papaya is known as the angel of fruits. While it is not a taste that most usually enjoy the very first time, it can grow on you slowly and then stick on forever. The raw ones are used in salad and curries, the ripe can be eaten either in solid or liquid form, alone or in combination with other fruits.

Some of the wonderful benefits of papaya are listed below.

Anti-inflammatory: The various minerals and vitamins (A, B, C, K) in papaya help improve immunity and prevents infections. It also promotes healing of burns and wounds.

Cholesterol control: The antioxidants, flavonoids and fibre help in cholesterol/plaque accumulation in the arteries. The lipid and triglyceride content can also be reduced with regular consumption of papayas.

Digestive benefits: The enzyme papain contained in papaya is quite effective in reducing the damage caused by eating junk and oily foods. It helps in breaking down proteins and is, therefore, useful as a home remedy for indigestion. It is also rich in fiber and helps relieve constipation.

Diabetes: The high fiber content in papaya combined with the low calories (a medium sized fruit contains about 110 calories) is a boon to diabetes patients. They can eat to their full content without feeling guilty of the sugar levels. Some people also consume the flowers (sautéed in oil) to control diabetes.

Arthritis: The various minerals (potassium, calcium, sodium, and magnesium) in papaya can help keep a check on arthritis and bone and joint pains in the long run.

Weight loss/ cleansing/ detox: The various minerals and vitamins along with the rich fiber content ensure you get a good detox of the system. Papaya is one of the widely used fruits in people who want to lose weight.

Antiaging effects: The antioxidants which reduce the rate of inflammation and the multiple vitamins help in looking younger by improving skin, hair, and overall immunity levels.

Stress buster: Again, the antioxidants and vitamins (C in particular) is a good way to refresh your energy after a long tiring day.

Anti-cancer effects: The flavonoids, phytonutrients, and antioxidants help to prevent free radical damage which is the main cause of cancer. They also contain beta carotene which helps control prostate and colon cancer.

Eye health: The beta carotene, vitamin A, and lutein help in improving moisture in the eyes and controlling macular degeneration.

Hair health: The scalp produces sebum which is rich in vitamin A. Papaya when applied to the scalp gives the same effect as sebum, which keeps the hair shiny, silky, and lustrous.

The development of a girl’s breast at puberty is a major differentiating factor between the silhouette of a boy and a girl. However, sometimes, men too can develop breast tissue. This condition is known as Gynecomastia. While it is not fatal or very harmful to a person’s overall health, it can cause emotional distress and affect a person’s self-confidence.

Gynecomastia can be triggered by a number of factors including diet, lifestyle, hormonal imbalances etc. One of the most surprising causes of this condition is milk. This is because milk is considered to be rich in oestrogen. When talking of milk, it can be categorised as organic and non-organic milk. In order to increase the amount of milk, a cow can produce they are often injected with hormones. Milk collected from cows who have received such treatment is known as non-organic milk while milk collected from cows who have not received any form of treatment to boost milk production can be termed as organic milk. Non-organic milk may also have a higher than normal IGF-I level. This refers to an insulin-like growth factor that aids in the development of breast tissue.

The main reason milk consumption is encouraged is for its high calcium levels. However, you can get your calcium from other natural sources as well. Green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale and bok-choy are very rich in calcium and the calcium from these vegetables can be very easily absorbed by our bodies. Thus, skipping your glass of milk will not give you weak bones.


Gynecomastia can be treated. Increasing your intake of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower can help absorb and remove oestrogen from the digestive tract before it goes into the blood stream. Spices like turmeric can increase testosterone levels and help balance hormones. Phytoestrogens like flax seeds and soy can also help treat gynecomastia by minimising oestrogen levels and reducing cholesterol.

Two ayurvedic herbs that can increase the production of testosterone and thus, help maintain a balance between oestrogen and testosterone are tribulus terrestris and cordycep. Red clover can also help reduce oestrogen levels. Sarsaparilla is yet another ayurvedic herb that can help treat this condition by strengthening muscles.

In addition to these dietary changes and herbal medicines, one must also exercise to reduce fat tissue in the chest area. Lifting weights or chest bench presses are ideal exercises to strengthen chest muscles and reduce gynecomastia.