Tangy Tomato Chicken - An iron enriched delight!

Iron is one of the most essential element for the human body. It is involved in numerous biological processes of the body. The average adult human contains about 0.005% body weight of iron, or abut four grams, of which three quarters is in hemoglobin- a level that remains constant despite only about one milligram of iron being absorbed each day, because the human body recycles its hemoglobin for the iron content.

Iron is most available to the body when chelated to amino acids and is also available for use as a common iron supplement. Glycine, the cheapest and most common amino acid is most often used to produce iron glycinate supplements.

According to World health organisation, iron deficiency is the most common nutritional disorder in the world, even through the mineral is present in a variety of foods.

Being a doctor, I come across patients with iron deficiency and low hemoglobin very frequently. 

The deficiency symptoms may range from nausea, weakness, ringing and buzzing sound in ears (tinnitus) and many other clear or vague symptoms.

But, a great deal of them can be covered by dietary changes alone. The good news is, iron is found in varying quantities in many a food items that we consume on a daily basis. 

In fact, most of the times, we don't even need to give special attention to our body's iron demand and needs as it is easily met on it's own.

Although, many a times, due to special circumstances specially in case of females, one needs extra iron as demanded by the body. Like in case of pregnant women, iron demand is increased and needs to be tackled by diet as well as supplements to keep the hemoglobin levels normal.

Talking about foods particularly rich in iron -Jaggary (gur) comes on top. It is regarded as the cheapest and richest source of iron. (Undoubtedly, delicious too).

There are many other cheap and easily available sources. Common ones being spinach,oats, nuts,soybean, fish, lentils, tofu , chicken, dates, bread etc. 

Out of these, I think, Chicken is my favourite source. Chicken is not just easily available but can also be cooked easily and is a very versatile food product.

One can eat it by simply boiling it or as a main dish, make rolls or fried snacks. The options are endless. And it tastes delicious early single time (remember KFC?) 

However, not all parts of a chicken provide the same amount of iron. Chicken liver supplies 11.63 milligrams of iron per 3.5-ounce serving, or about 65 percent of the nutrient’s daily value. Equivalent servings of chicken heart and chicken giblets supply about 50 percent and 36 percent of the daily value for iron, respectively. Chicken breasts and light meat broilers or fryers contain just over 1 milligram of iron each per 3.5-ounce serving, or roughly 6 percent of the daily value. Dark meat broilers or fryers have slightly more iron, providing about 7 percent of the nutrient’s daily value per 3.5-ounce serving. (Source -here)

Here I would like to share a very simple Chicken recipe that can be served as a main dish. It contains all the basic ingredients and can be cooked pretty quickly. No marination time, no lengthy procedures but a very delicious , tangy, rich and not to mention iron rich gravy.

I call it 'THE TANGY TOMATO CHICKEN'

Preparation time : 15 minutes

Cooking time : 35-40 minutes

Serves : 6

Ingredients

Chicken : 1/2 kg or about 6 pieces

Tomato : 3 Large (Pureed) 

Onion : 2 Medium ( Coarsely chopped) 

Ginger - Garlic Paste : 1 Tbsp

Red Chilly Powder : 1 tsp or according to taste

Coriander Powder : 1/2 Tsp

Garam Masala Powder : 1 tsp

Salt : According to taste

Refined Oil ( you can use any other oil as well) : 2 tbsp

Water

Method

1) In a wok, take oil and add coarsely chopped onion. Fry it till golden-brown and then sieve through excess oil and keep it aside to cool a bit.( We need to grind it later) 

2) In the same oil , add chicken pieces, cook for about a minutes. Then add ginger-garlic paste, salt and Red chilly powder ( I add it to the chicken directly as it provides enhanced flavour and colour).

3) Fry it till raw smell of spices as well as chicken goes away ( usually 10-12 minutes) and it becomes brownish like this ,

4) In a grinder, add roughly chopped tomatoes, golden- brown onion and grind it to a smooth paste.

5) Add this paste to chicken and also add garam masala here.

6) Simmer the flame and cover it after giving a nice stir. 

7)) Let it cook for about 20-25 minutes, till chicken is soft and oil comes on the surface. Occasionally stirring in between. 
Doesn't it look simply mouth-watering? And believe me, it is extremely easy to cook and tastes delicious while being equally nutritious at the same time. 
x

8) Once the chicken curry is cooked completely, add a few drops of lemon juice if not sour enough. 

9) Take it off the flame and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. 

10) Serve hot with Roti or Naan. 

PS: I am helping in raising awareness against iron deficiency through these recipes with contain iron-rich ingredients in association with Livogen. 
For more details, check this out -  http://www.livogen.in/iron-chef/


Wishing you a happy, healthy and nutritious life!

In health lies happiness.

I remember my younger son Sohail was 3 years old at that time when Meraj, the elder one, had encountered Malaria. Symptoms had started appearing the day he came back home after a “lousy” day at school. 

He had an elevated body temperature and didn't go for evening games. By next morning he was suffering chills and complained of headache. I had a long day ahead with a few presentations to make at a couple of meetings, my preoccupation with its nitty-gritty was intense and I mistook the fever and chills as seasonal change antics. I gave him a concoction and went off to work. 

When I came late at night, he was asleep but his temperature was high. The following day again I suppressed his fever with paracetamols and kept on with my busy schedule. But that night he cried of pain and chills got graver, he vomited too. Next morning, when we took him to the hospital, we came to know that its been half-a week old Malaria that he was suffering from. My initial neglect of his symptoms was visible when doctors admitted him as infection was acute and needed continuous monitoring.

 My husband who was travelling then, immediately came back when he heard about Meraj’s hospitalization. When I explained him his condition, he reprimanded me for negligence. In the following few days, Meraj’s condition worsened and doctors looked sorry. We became frantic and with tears in our eyes almost always, we began making prayers. I got too engrossed with Meraj’s condition and was staying in hospital day and night. I kept asking about Sohail by calling at home, where my mother was looking after him, but wasn't able to attend to him for days in a row. My husband kept chiding me intermittently for the negligence and the delay in diagnosis due to which Meraj was suffering. I only sobbed silently, as his blaming was not entirely misplaced.

 A week later Meraj started showing signs of recovery and the following week he was discharged. A month long ordeal with Malaria had made him severely weak and emaciated. At home, he needed a lot of monitoring with his meals and medication. While I was trying my best to bring about his recovery as early as I could, I began noticing some unwelcome changes in my younger son. He had become irritable, and cried all the time. He was hardly eating anything and would vomit as soon he was made to eat. He also looked pale. I told myself I would be ashamed if my preoccupation with my elder son would be at the cost of my younger son, for both were equally precious to me.

 When Sohail’s symptoms grew weirder, I immediately consulted doctor who confirmed that he was suffering from jaundice. That moment, I still remember was the lowest moment of my life. When my husband came to know about this, he grew worried too. But unlike the time of Meraj’s illness, he didn't burst out immediately. A few days, he didn't even talk to me and when one evening I summoned courage to ask what was wrong with him, he made sit on the dining table and told me that I was not the kind of mother, he would want for his children. Both the children were suffering partly due to my negligence in monitoring them properly. 

My husband was very outright in making clear to me my duties as a mother. This episode left created a gulf between us which took years to fill. I remember how during those days I was constantly in sadness and my husband permanently tense. Gradually, things improved and both the boys were on their feet again. Happiness which had gone away from my home slowly returned with children resuming their playfulness.

 This episode made me realize how central to a successful married life is the health of young children and how the health of young children itself is so fragile. 

They need continuous monitoring and checkups. Their immune system is undeveloped and many a systems in bodies function differently than elders. 

A healthy child is a great boon for the family and so is the importance of keeping our children healthy. 

Above all, a healthy child is the cornerstone of a healthy home, I realized.

Dabur Chyawanprash is known for boosting immunity and helps keep health and happiness intact!

Check out its Official Page here.

This entry has been written for happy hours contest conducted by Indiblogger.

If only...A mother's regret

If only....I sit in the court of law with only these words ringing in my mind. There are endless tears. Tears of remorse, tears of failure. Failure to be a good mother. Failing to see and understand the innumerable warning signs that my child's progressing disorder gave me.

The only reason for my smile,my 16 year old boy Abhay stands in the trial box today.
Abhay has AUTISM. Yes, I accept it today. But If only....I had visualized and accepted it earlier things would have been so different.

When Abhay was born on 23rd September 1996, our happiness knew no bounds. After a series of miscarriages he was my first 'live' child and nothing less than a miracle for me.
As days passed, it was him my life revolved around. His every movement, each smile and cry, those little gestures, I awaited for them impatiently. For him I lived and he lived in me.

Everything was perfect EXCEPT that Abhay as a little baby almost never smiled. He never reciprocated gestures of love like hugs or touch and made almost no baby sounds.
I noticed it. Noticed these SIGNS everyday but IGNORED.

At the age of 2, my dear boy Abhay avoided any conversation. Whatever little words like 'maa' and 'papa' he had learned, he seemed to be forgetting using those too.He made no eye contacts.

While other babies of his age laughed,chatted and played he sat on his bed or cot silently.
I noticed this too and got worried. But my ignorance took the better of me and dismissed it as 'mere shyness' of my sweet boy.

When at 4 years. Abhay joined school, I was happy and hopeful of him becoming 'normal' and 'cooperative' but things never got better. On the contrary he developed a strange obsession for 'tin cans'.
He would collect them from everywhere and arrange them up in rows, piling them on one another.
I could very well sense his behaviour as rather 'inappropriate' but my love, my blind love dismissed this too as my kids 'new hobby'.

Infact I started buying him cans. I woulds get them for him and he would silently retire to his room and sit for hours piling and re-piling them.

At 10, he was facing major problems at school and almost everyone could sense there was something wrong with his attitude, except me. Once when his teacher called me to discuss important matters regarding my child's progress I IGNORED the meeting for I hated to hear anyone call my little bundle of joy as 'abnormal' and 'mad'.

I chose a private tuition as the solution. Mrs. Riya was a wise lady.
 She WARNED me several times about Abhay's behaviour and that his avoiding eye contacts, his reclusive attitude and decreasing grades at school all very clearly suggested 'Autism'.
But blame me, my blind, ignorant, selfish love- I IGNORED this clear and red line sign too! Asking Mrs. Riya to leave then and there.

And as she had warned, thing never got better. My child never laughed or played with me. Never behaved like an adolescent would.

Now at 16 after changing innumerable schools and hearing the children of his age pass rude and cruel taunts with no therapy or medical treatment Abhay's condition progressed to a new phase.
He had developed a violent and criminal frenzy.
And as a doting mother I was still unable to decipher those SIGNS.  If only....I had realized them even at this stage, I could have saved my child's future.

The judge's loud gavel bang broke my reverie. And I heard the unbelievable words reach my ears - 

'After listening and hearing to all the witnesses this court has come up with the decision that juvenile criminal ABHAY GUPTA, 16 years has brutally murdered his classmate on 21st August. He is awarded an imprisonment of 3 years along with rehabilitation and education.The court is adjourned for the day.'

I listened in regret more than disbelief as the court passed its judgement. My little boy Abhay was behind the bars today. My ignorance has cost him his future.I stood there like a complete loser. A helpless woman who destroyed her family.
 If only I had realized that loving my child doesn't mean over looking the imperfections.
And not taken for granted the warning signs that lay before my eyes each day, each moment, in all his gestures and actions.

If only.....

MORAL : Our strength can also become our greatest weaknesses and vice versa if not rationally channelized.
'Continuing to believe in a lie is a lot easier then accepting the truth' but one should learn to be vigilant and accept the realities no matter how harsh and painful.


Friends, the early signs of almost all diseases are the most important yet easily neglected ones. Don't be ignorant and read on to know more about them.
This post is written as a part of 'The moral of the story is...' contest by Colgate and Indiblogger.
To know more about how to keep teeth healthy and avoiding troubles check My healthy speak blog.

Modern health care and you!

Mrs. Shah, a school teacher and mother of two teenagers has been diagnosed with stones in the gall bladder (cholelithiasis) . The doctor advised her surgery.

Surgery? asks an anxious Mrs.Shah.

I can't take a months break to undergo surgery, its just impossible! My job is demanding and who will look after my family? She continues helplessly.

The doctor smiles and explains her about the latest 'Laparoscopic surgery'. Also called band-aid surgery/minimally invasive/keyhole surgery.In this abdominal operations are performed through small incisions which reduces pain and bleeding.
 A week later not only has Mrs. Shah got rid of her stones but is also carrying off her daily chores with ease and health.

No doubt modern health care has arrived as a boon in today's health conscious yet extremely busy and nerve wrecking competitive scenario. Many like Mrs. Shah have been befitted by techniques like endoscopy and laparoscopy whether it be for gall stones or hernia's.

Laparoscopy being performed.

Take another case of Mr. Singh. He was diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus about 3 years back.His work demands regular visits abroad.

 In such a situation it was extremely difficult to keep a check on his fluctuating blood sugar levels but thanks to portable blood sugar monitoring devices popularly known as 'Glucometer' testing is a just a minute away. All they require is a needle prick and the meter displays your sugar level. Very similar pocket size devices are available to keep a tab on your blood pressure and other vitals levels too.

Four generations of blood glucose meter, c. 1993-2005.
 Sample sizes vary from 30 to 0.3 μl.
 Test times vary from 5 seconds to 2 minutes
 (modern meters typically provide results in 5 seconds).

Technology undoubtedly, has been the greatest invention of our century. It has bridged connections and made not just communication but over all life easier and very comfortable. Our health sector has experienced a tremendous bloom owing to technology.

Being a medical student I very well understand the worth of a life, the cost of every single breath.
Thanks to well equipped modern emergency ambulances also known as 'hospital on wheels' the cost of life elevates many notches up. They have all the basic life supporting systems installed in them.
For an accident victim or a heart attack patient those few deciding minutes are in our hands now.

Now imagine if at the age of 75 you have all your check ups and vitals monitored without you moving from the bed? No worries of going to the hospital or tolerating the traffic and noises? you ask me if it is really possible and I say yes! 
All praises to 'Tele medicine'. It is the use of telephones in place of health care devices inside a patients home. This is indeed a great tool for patients who need proper health care but cannot manage to come to hospitals or clinics.

Tele medicine set up

What used to be the most painful part during growing up? And we all would say in a chorus its injections!
They have been dreaded by children and parents alike.
 But with the advent of new 5-in-1 vaccines called 'pentacel' which inoculates against diphtheria,tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and polio all at once! So visit to the doctor gets pain free now.

pentacel vaccine
(available in India)

Our medical infrastructure has been growing by leaps and bounds. The technology used in our country is at par with the developed countries like U.K. and USA but all cost effective. So its  not surprising that medical tourism is a blooming sector of our health care today.

'Medical tourism' is basically travelling abroad for medical purpose in order to obtain a relatively cheap treatment than one's home land.
India has now become a hub from patients coming from Africa and other countries especially for heart surgeries,hip replacements and cosmetic corrections.

How things work - medical tourism

Heart surgery reminds me of someone called Mr.Anand. At 60 he suffered a massive heart attack. The doctors called it as 'coronary artery disease' which is basically narrowing or hardening of arteries due to excessive cholesterol levels.
Mr. Anand has lost almost all hopes of life when 'Coronary stenting' came as a bright ray of life. 
It is the placement for a small wire mesh tube called a stent to help the artery open and decrease the chance of it narrowing again.

 Stenting is combined with 'angioplasty'  sometimes.

 The health care continues to make advancements every second. Robotic surgery, stem cell technology  gene sequencing, uncountable investigative techniques like CT-scan, D & C, MRI that continues to get better, cataract surgery, bypass, organ transplants and grafting and collaboration with IT are only a few names.

All we need is a better connectivity with the population residing in less developed areas and cost effective techniques. Once we are able to amalgamate modern health care with a practical reach and connectivity we would have accomplished one of the greatest achievements history has seen or will ever see!

Fortunately with hospitals like Apollo on the frontier it sure will touch not just skies but a million lives year after year! 
For more details, developments and what Apollo has to offer, check this-apollohospitals.

'Live healthy

Be wise

let modern health care

touch your life....today!'

Homoeopathy - Lets dwell deeper!

Sir William Ostler (Father of Modern Medicine) has said - 

 

"No individual has done more good to the medical profession than Samuel Hahnemann (the father of Homeopathy)".

Homoeopathy has been derived from a Greek word 'homeos' meaning similar ( not same) and 'pathos' meaning suffering. So, it is basically treatment on the principle of 'like cures like'.

The root of this principle dates back to Vedic literature and writings of Hippocrates ( who is the father of medicine). 

But, it was after many years that Samuel Hanhemann, a German physician while translating a book called 'Cullen's Materia Medica' discovered its efficacy.

Hanhemann read in the Materia Medica that 'cinchona bark could cure intermittent (malaria- like) fevers'. This particular sentence did not convince him much and he did something extraordinary. He took the extract of the medicine himself as a part of experimentation! And to his surprise, within a few days he developed malaria-like symptoms. 

This experiment of Hanhemann lead to the birth of homoeopathy. He realized that the same cinchona bark which caused symptoms of malaria in a healthy human ( himself) was responsible for curing it too.

So the popular believes that many people have today that Homoepathy is nothing but a 'magic potion' of sweet pills and stands on 'no scientific principle' is completely wrong.

Time and again when human provings of over 2000 homoeopathic drugs are carried out results are observed and registered.

All over the world, homeopathic clinics and hospitals are curing all kinds of cases. From a simple fever to complex diseases. I do not debate on the fact that homoepathy is the 'quickest' remedy or has 'cure for everything' on earth. That is NOT true. Like any other medical science it too has its limitations and short-comings.

But if prescribed correctly and taken with faith and correct guidance Homoeopathy DOES POSSESS THE POWER TO CURE, by cure I mean ACTUAL CURE and not simply SUPPRESSING A COMPLAINT TO SEE IT RETURNING BACK after a week, a month or an year.

For all those, still in doubt I advice you to - TRY IT ONCE :)

 

 

Samuel Hahnemann Memorial at Scott Circle in Washington, D.C. The memorial is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

PS : You can read the introductory post HERE .
 

HOMOEOPATHY

Being a BHMS student, the course of usual conversation with relatives, acquaintances and at times random strangers is some what like this :

They – What are you doing? 

ME – BHMS

They – BHMS? Now whats that?

Me – Its bachelor of homoeopathic medicine and surgery

They – (utterly astonished) homoeopathy? ( As if I told them I sold fruits in the nearest market)

Why did u choose homoeopathy? :-/

Will you be even recognized as a doctor? What is the duration of the course, 2 yrs? (Did I even answer that?)

Why didn’t you opt for Dental or Ayurveda instead? (Like it would have made any difference to their life!)


And an endless string of (pointless) questions bombard on me till the topic of our conversation somehow feels guilty of its birth and attempts suicide or is lets say, murdered!

What surprises me is when these so- called well wishers of mine don’t even know what BHMS stands for, the duration of the course ( leave aside the amount of hard work a qualified homoeopath puts in), nearly half of them have never tried a single homoeopathic remedy. Who on earth gave them the right to demoralize or look down upon the system I proudly plan to practice?

Their 'sympathetic minds' are too stubborn to accept that homeopathy is much more that 'peddling white pills' and false claims like there exists no scientific proof of this system of medicine is totally baseless.

I wish I could explain their 'reason gifted' minds that the white pills are simply a medium to carry the medicine which is usually a liquid proved on healthy humans, and not just once but the efficacy of it has been established by proving it a dozens of times. Making homeopathy a science so unique and advanced.

Also bring to their knowledge that a 200 year old system couldn’t have survived so long simply on sugar pills. What homoeopathy talked of 200 years ago, the modern medical science struggles to prove today.


From nanotechnology to molecular injections, we are coming to the era of micro dilutions which is precisely the underlying idea of homoeopathy.

As Arthur Schopenhauer has said:

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident".

Its been aeon's that homeopathy has continued to be ridiculed and violently opposed. But we hope that now is the time. Until then homeopaths all over the world would continue to heal and cure.

After all ‘The physician’s high and only mission is to restore the sick to health, to cure, as it is termed’. (aphorism 1- Book of Organon, written by Dr. Samuel Hanhemann, founder of homoeopathy) .


PS : This article has originally been written by me for my college magazine.
 PPS: This is also the 1st post of the series I will be writing on my blog to create awareness about HOMOEOPATHY for the 'ignorants and freelancer conjectures'  !!
your support will be highly appreciated and your queries are welcomed :)

Read more - HERE

An Autobiography of a 'PIMPLE'!!!

THIS POST WON ME  BLOGESHWAR 5.0...yeepieee!!!  :D

WARNING: This is a fun post written for blogeshwar and anubhooti . It seizes to make sense so kindly keep your logical hemispheres (of brain) aside!

I am a Pimple. yes! you read it right! its 'P' not 'D', a classic example of how a single alphabet can change a youngsters life. And of course I write, I write that 'pus-ly' language on faces specially teenagers and do you know? I even draw well..those red marks which turn brown and hollow at times is my creation (grins proudly*)! Forever is my painting, wonder how it has no 'buyers'? maybe its far too common eh? unlike our good old M.F. Husain's who draws lines from different angles and colours to give a fresh look each time!


I am born when hormonal imbalance takes place and I happen to be a girl child. why? coz no one appreciates my arrival :( but do I care?
I am a spoilt brat and I love that part of me. I spoil the poor faces, their moods,their parties and dates (with untime arrival), their teenage and money (which they spend on erasing me). Poor things! little do they know I took my lessons from one and only Rajnikant- mind it! wont leave the industry err.... face i mean so soon baby!!
my favourite song is definitely:
waiting for tonight, oh ohhhhh hoooo,
when you would forget to wash your make-up,
waiting for that night, oh ohhhhh hooooo!


and when its raining men in a girl's life, I crop up just before her date at 5 o'clock to have a nap on her nose. what a feel...I only wonder why is she sooo curious to wake me up? trying everything from rubbing a potato slice to using instant skin clearing gel which has NO effect what-so-ever (remember I m a spoilt brat ;)) and guys....I dont LIKE them! they pinch me soo much and am forced to punch them back and see it gets all bloody and then forever is the scar. why soo serious hmmm? WHYYYY? (joker style) !


                                        
On my birthday, I call my fellow friends- 'virus and bacteria' and we have a party! it could be a common acne rosacea or herpes party!
The only thing that irritates me are those uncaring people. they simply don't care if i exist or not and continue to live peacefully with ME hovering on their faces. They accept me and move on with life not giving slightest attention to my paintings and writing, c'mon am not a new blogger, I have been doing this for ages now people!


And then comes my end and am forced to leave them beautiful!


Now let me send out a serious message (yes i even took some lesson from AB..angry young man)! "stop counting me (pimples) and count whats within you! that will last longer much longer than i do folks"!


So that was my story..be happy and don't worry :D !!!

[image courtesy- google image search]