There has been an intense debate, which is in the loop for years and has been raging back and forth regarding the deficiencies of a vegetarian diet versus the perils of a non-vegetarian one. This heated debate is both accurate as well as unfounded. Probably, that s the entire reason it is still a debate. In fact, if you look into the diet of both groups, you will be able to identify the fact that, there is a space for healthy living in both.

Vegetarian Diet

In a vegetarian diet, the food intake of a person is confined to a large variety of foods derived from plants along with milk and dairy. And, any form of meat and products derived from animals are completely avoided.

Pros

Vegetarians have been noted to consume lesser amount of proteins, but they do not suffer from problems related to a high protein diet, such as osteoporosis (characterized by brittle and weak bones) and kidney failure.
The diet includes high level of antioxidants such as vitamin E & C as well as carotene, which is available in vegetables and fruits.
Additionally, they consume less amount of saturated fats.
Cons

Deficiency of vitamin B12 is common amongst vegetarians, as it is mainly available in meat, eggs and fish. Deficiency of vitamin B12 can yield rare symptoms such as increased fatigue, shortness of breath and a temporary loss of body balance.
Lack of protein, as stated above, along with iron and zinc deficiency is also common. 
Symptoms of protein deficiency can be troublesome and include signs like

Sluggish metabolism
Loss of body muscles (as the body tries to derive the regular protein intake from your muscles, thus making them weak),
Trouble gaining or losing weight
Persistent fatigue
Longer healing time in case of wounds and injuries
Pain in joints
Drastic changes in blood sugar level that might result in diabetes
A weak immune system makes you vulnerable to all kinds of diseases.
Non-vegetarian Diet

A non-vegetarian diet includes all forms of plant foods as well as foods and by-products that are derived from animals, such as poultry, fish, meat, etc.

Pros 

Vitamin B12 is present in adequate level since they are derived from sources such as meat, eggs and fish. Adequate intake of proteins is never an issue for  non-vegetarians
Cons

Meat products are loaded with saturated fats, which increase the risk of heart diseases. Studies have shown that people consuming non-vegetarian diets:
Have shorter lifespan and are more vulnerable to chronic diseases.
Tend to develop diabetes, heart diseases and hypertension.
Usually non vegetarians eat less amount of vegetables and fruits than what is recommended.  
If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a Dietitian/Nutritionist.

Vegetarian vs Non Vegetarian Diet - Which is Better?

Cumin, also known as 'jeera' in the Indian subcontinent, is an ancient seed that has been prized for more than 3000 years. Ayurveda holds this spice in high regards and uses it for treating a host of health disorders including burning of excess fat.

Why are cumin seeds considered to aid in weight loss?

An effective detoxifier: Ayurveda considers the accumulation of toxins to cause weight gain and other medical conditions. While certain toxins are easily removed with water, fatty toxins stick to cells and disrupt cell metabolism resulting in weight gain. To detox such hard-to-remove toxins, cumin seeds are predominantly used in Ayurveda. The seeds remove excess kapha from the intestines and detox liver effectively.
Lowers cholesterol that aids in burning fat effectively: Black cumin is rich in phytosterols which are plant fats resembling cholesterol present in animal fats. When consumed, they limit the amount of cholesterol absorbed by the body. Taking a tablespoon of cumin seeds every day has been medically proven to lower the amount of cholesterol up to 10 percent and bad cholesterol up to 14 percent. This reduction in addition to the cholesterol-lowering measures that you may have adopted would be helpful in burning fat much faster. Taking about 2 grams of cumin seeds combined with light freehand or aerobic exercises can lead to subsequent weight loss in people who lead a sedentary lifestyle.
Lowers blood sugar levels and regulates metabolism: Any person with high blood sugar levels is aware that low insulin levels tend to create a craving for sweets and carbs while high insulin levels can cause extreme thirst and fatigue. Cumin seeds have been proven to lower the blood sugar levels. It lowers blood sugar levels by increasing insulin and glucose sensitivity. In this way, black cumin seeds can aid you to shed off extra pounds by improving the blood glucose levels as well as glucose absorption. In addition to all these benefits, black cumin seeds contain high amounts of oleic acid which is a fatty acid causing acceleration in the way in which the body burns fat.
Other benefits from cumin seeds: Constipation and indigestion are other common reasons for weight gain. An excellent source of fiber, antioxidants, and that has anti-flatulent properties, the cumin seeds can cure constipation, bloating and heaviness, thus, aiding in weight loss. Lack of sleep may also be causing weight gain. Cumin seeds can cure you of insomnia, thus. regulating your sleep pattern and metabolism.
Hence, cumin seeds are a simple and effective ayurvedic remedy for weight loss. Cumin seeds are more potent, and you can take a spoon of roasted or plain cumin seeds every day. Obese or normal, irrespective of your weight, taking cumin seeds regularly have quite a few benefits.

1 Tablespoon Of Cumin - Know How It Can Work Wonders!

A Gastroenterologist is a physician with dedicated training and unique experience in the management of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and liver. If you are planning to visit one, you most likely have a problem in one or many organs like esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon and rectum, pancreas, gallbladder, bile ducts and liver. 

Visit your doctor to understand the severity of your condition and the course of treatment, as it is obvious that during this time you must be suffering from anxiety and you may not ask the questions arising in your mind. That is why you need to prepare in advance for your first visit with a gastroenterologist. Being an active partner in the doctor patient relationship is bound to have its benefits. Here are some handy tips:

1. Come mentally prepared: Don't let the anxiety get to you. If you need some extra help calming down, try yoga or meditation. You can simply go out on a walk alone to help you focus your thoughts. This is just like any other doctor visit. The good part is that you are taking the first step in easing your discomfort and starting treatment, so go with a positive mind.

2. Maintain a diary of symptoms: It is likely that you are experiencing discomfort from past few days or weeks before you finally realize the need to seek out a specialist. Try to remember as much as possible about the symptoms you experienced in a chronological order. Write down any over the counter medicines you've tried or anything unusual that you may have consumed in the past week. 

3. Take stock of your medical history: It is likely that your doctor may want to know about any historic conditions you've suffered that may or may not relate to your present condition. Many ask you to fill out forms during your first time patient registration which includes many minor details about your medical past. List down any allergies, especially food allergies you have. 

4. Take stock of your recent medical tests: Bring your latest blood tests and imaging tests (X-rays, ultrasounds, MRIs, and CT scans) with you for the doctor's visit. If you have a pre-existing condition like diabetes, thyroid or you suffer from other chronic conditions like increased uric acid, carry your most recent medical reports with you. 

5. Make a list of questions for the doctor: In most cases, the first visit is a crucial factor in determining whether you want to continue the course of treatment with a particular doctor. This comes out of your ability to trust the doctor, his knowledge and diagnosis and an overall comfort level that comes with how well he handles your questions. Start by making a list of questions you want to ask about your specific condition and course of treatment and see if you get satisfactory answers. 

6. Brace yourself: If you want to suggest a treatment option, make sure you read up all about it before you tell the doctor.

6 Tips For Your First Visit With A Gastroenterologist

A great alternative to refined sugar, honey is packed with essential nutrients and is really delicious to eat. There are many health benefits of honey. It can be easily added to any diet as a topping, say for fruit salads, ice-creams or as a spread. But are you aware that the jars of this tasty golden liquid can sometimes not be honey at all but syrup that tastes exactly like honey? So, How do you evaluate if you are buying real honey?

In order to boost profits, honey manufacturers dilute their product with adulterants such as flour, syrup or molasses and even sand and chalk. If you want to get the most out of this tick liquid, you should buy only pure honey.

What Is Pure Honey?
Real honey is not produced in factories but from bees. Usually, organic and natural honey are referred to as pure honey. However, it is not always feasible to tell if the honey is pure by just looking at it. Natural honey is made only by honey bees and when these bees are fed only at organically grown flowers, the honey they produced is classified as organic.

What Is Fake Honey?
Also known as artificial, adulterated or impure, fake honey contains additives including corn syrup, glucose, molasses, sugar syrup, dextrose, invert sugar, flour or starch apart from the floral nectar.

How To Find Fake Honey?
Listed below are a few simple tips that you can carry out at the comfort of your home to determine whether the honey you are buying is genuine or fake.



Read The Label: In addition to buying well-known and reputed brands of honey, ensure that you check the label for the logo and brand name. This will guarantee that the jar you pickup is not only good quality but also genuine. The label on the jar should list only one ingredient, honey, no additives, or flavourings.
The Warm Water Test: Add a teaspoon of honey to a glass of warm water. If the honey is pure, then it will sink to the bottom of the glass as a lump or stick to the spoon when the mixture is stirred. If the honey is adulterated with any kind of syrup, it will dissolve in the water.
The Thumb Test: Put a drop of honey on your thumb. If it spreads or spills, then it is not pure. Pure honey is thick in texture and would remain intact on your thumb.
The Flame Test: Honey is inflammable and easily catches fire. Dip a dry matchstick in honey, then strike the matchbox. If the matchstick lights with ease and continues to burn, then the honey is pure. Due to the moisture present as an adulterant in fake honey, a matchstick dipped in fake honey will not light easily.
The Foam Test: Add 2-3 drops of vinegar essence to the honey and mix well. If it becomes foamy within 2-3 minutes, then the product you have purchased is not pure and contains additives.
The Tissue Paper Test: Put a drop of honey on a piece of tissue paper. If it gets absorbed and leaves the paper wet or a watermark on the paper, then it is adulterated and not pure honey.
The Heat Test: If the honey is pure, then on heating, it will caramelize. However, fake honey tends to form bubbles on heating and does not caramelize.
The Bread Test: Pure honey when spread on the bread, makes the bread hardened within a few minutes. On the other hand, the slice of bread remains soft and moisturized if there are any additives present in the honey.
The Crystallization Test: Pure honey has a natural tendency to crystallize over time because of the presence of glucose oxidase, an enzyme that removes water/moisture from honey. Fake honey does not become thick, when stored.
The Egg Yolk Test: When honey is mixed will egg yolk in a bowl and both are blended together, the yolk looks like it is cooked. However, fake honey does not produce this effect on the egg yolk.
You might sometimes be able to spot fake honey by its taste and smell, though not always. Honey being a natural product and produced from the nectar of different flowers, it does not always taste or smell the same. It is also not possible to taste honey before buying it if as the product comes in a sealed bottle or jar. Therefore, it is recommended to only pick branded or organic honey to ensure that the honey you are buying is pure and genuine.

Honey - How To Spot If It Is Fake Or Not?

Colorectal cancer is otherwise known as cancer of the colon or the rectum. This can affect both men and women with age being a major risk factor. Majority of such cancers are seen to occur after age of 50 years.

Type: colorectal cancers can present as one of the following types: 

Adenocarcinomas are the most common type of colorectal cancers. These cancers begin in the cells making mucous and other fluids. Certain colorectal cancers begin as adenomatous polyps (adenomas) that turn cancerous over a period of time. This is precisely why the adenomas are regarded as pre-cancerous or pre-malignant.

Gastrointestinal (GI) carcinoid tumors, GI stromal tumors, primary colorectal lymphoma, leiomyosarcoma, melanoma & squamous cell carcinoma are certain other colorectal cancers

Carcinoid tumors: start in specialized cells that produce hormones, in the intestine.

GI Stromal tumors: start in the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC), in the wall of the colon.

Lymphomas: start typically in the lymph nodes but they may also start in colon or rectum.

Sarcomas: can start in the muscle and the connective tissue in the walls of the colon and rectum.

Gender: it affects both male and female populace.

Etiology: mostly, the factors that are associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer include the following  

Age exceeding 50 years.

Racial & ethnic background such as African Americans, in the USA, are known to have the highest incidence of colorectal cancer, and mortality rates.

Low fibre and high fat diet. Excessive consumption of red meat (e.g. goat meat, beef, pork, lamb, or liver), processed meats, butter, refined grains, sweets, sugary drinks etc all can increase the risk of colorectal cancer.

Personal history of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (e.g. ulcerative colitis), Crohn s disease, adenomatous colorectal polyps, colorectal cancer etc all.

Family history of colorectal cancer or adenomatous polyps etc all.

Inherited syndromes such as familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) and Lynch syndrome (hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer or HNPCC).

Sedentary lifestyle/ associated Obesity.

Type 2 diabetes.

Tobacco and alcohol abuse.

Features or symptoms can vary from person to person depending on the size and location of the tumour. Following are the signs & symptoms mainly -

Changes in bowel habits, diarrhea or constipation or an alternating diarrhea and constipation.

Occult/ blood in the stool, and 

Problems related to blood loss (e.g. anemia, weakness, fatigue, intolerance to exercise, shortness of breath, increased heart rate, chest pain etc all),

Abdominal discomfort (frequent gas/ flatulence, bloating, fullness, cramps, and pain), vomiting etc.

Unexplained weight loss,

Pain with bowel movement,

Feeling that bowel does not empty completely,

Stools are narrower than usual.

Diagnosis: Following are the diagnostics employed. Abnormal blood test results may be indicative of malignancy, but a follow-up imaging/ biopsy is always the gold standard for accurate diagnosis.
Blood: fecal occult blood test, Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) assay values are raised, Hb/ RBC counts may be low.
Imaging: Colonoscopy, Endorectal Scan/ CT Scan followed by Biopsy clinches the diagnosis and the nature of the disease.
Apart from the above-mentioned barium enema X-Ray, USG, Chest X-ray, PET CT scan etc all help detect metastasis, if any. An increase in level of the serum tumor marker  CEA  is indicative of metastatic spread/ proliferation that can be ascertained through a PET CT scan.
Treatment: Conventional treatment includes surgery, radiation and chemotherapy as contextually appropriate. Simultaneously, an adjunctive/ integrative naturopathic treatment with suitable complementary & alternative medicines (CAM)/ therapies too can help improve clinical outcomes and facilitate recovery as feasible contextually.
Prognosis: preventive measures, earlier diagnosis and right early treatment is key for better prognosis and efficient/ effective therapeutic management. Usually, the chances of cure for an early stage cancer are more. Above-mentioned apart, recovery chances are influenced by the grade, stage of cancer, recurrence and the patient s general health & vitality etc all too.

Prevention: rightly said, prevention is always a better choice. Although genetic risks are difficult to modify, still an adherence to a Mediterranean diet, maintaining an ideal body weight and an active lifestyle with due emphasis on regular exercising (for at least 30 minutes daily), de-stressing and relaxation is highly recommended for prevention or reducing the risks of colorectal cancer. A healthy eating plate comprises essentially a low fat diet, fibre rich foods including whole grain cereals, green leafy vegetables cooked using healthy vegetable oils, fresh fruits of all colours as seasonally available and healthy proteins/ fats including fresh fish, poultry, beans, nuts etc all. It is advisable to limit milk/ dairy, preferably of low fat content, to 1 to 2 servings max daily. Although alcohol is optional and is not for everyone, the consumption of the same, if any, has to be strictly in moderation, and is best avoided. Smoking is to be avoided as well. Again, red meat, butter, refined grains, sweets, sugary drinks including carbonated beverages and other high calorie foods etc all, if any, are to be taken sparingly or are best avoided too. Apart from the generic preventive measures as mentioned above, certain pre-malignant conditions, of which adenomas are the most common, can be successfully treated with complementary and alternative medicines too.

Colorectal Cancer - In a Nutshell!

With the growing market for organic products, there is a widespread confusion on which product to choose. The same dilemma holds good in selecting the type of bread. White bread or Brown Bread? People are not sure which one to eat to stay healthy. A few quick facts about the two types of bread and which one should be consumed to stay healthy, are given below

White Bread
White bread is made out of refined wheat flour that has nothing to offer for the body. During the process of making white bread, the bran and wheat germ is removed from the wheat flour and Potassium Bromate, Benzoyl Peroxide or Chlorine Dioxide gas are used for bleaching to generate the whiteness. Potassium Bromate is highly dangerous if consumed in large doses. Chlorine dioxide is also used as a pesticide and is considered hazardous to the environment. When a large amount of white bread is consumed, the refined carbohydrates generate high levels of insulin thus, resulting in higher chances of weight gain. In spite of being globally popular, white bread is highly unhealthy for your body. It is completely devoid of nutrients and it is as harmful as table sugar for the digestive system.

Brown Bread
The American Academy of Pediatrics has revealed that whole wheat brown bread is rich in nutrients compared to the white bread. One major factor contributing to the above-mentioned fact is the amount of fiber present in whole wheat brown bread. The increased fiber content slows down the digestion process and thereby, reduces the effect on blood sugar and production of insulin. Other nutrients that are present in brown bread include vitamin B6, E, Folic acid, Zing, Copper and Manganese. Brown bread has lesser amount of calcium as compared with brown bread. Many manufacturers claim that they produce brown bread with the same amount of calcium as in white bread. Whole wheat bread contains Phytonutrient also called as plant lignans that have been observed to protect against heart diseases and breast cancer.

Things to consider while buying Brown Bread
The declining demand for white bread has forced a lot of manufacturers to use caramel as a coloring agent to darken white to brown bread. So buyers need to carefully look for the ingredients mentioned in the packing to ensure that they are buying the right product. It is important to check the first ingredient to see whether it is whole wheat or whole meal flour. If the word "enriched" is used, it means that the same flour used for white bread is used. Look for the bread with the minimum ingredients to ensure that you get maximum nutrients and very little additives. Also, make sure the amount of the following ingredients are as given below; sodium should be lesser than 401mg, saturated fat should be 1gm and fiber needs to be 4gm per 2 slices of serving.

To conclude, when it comes to organic and fitness oriented scenarios, brown is always better than white.

White Vs Brown Bread - Which One Should You Eat ?

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