Tag: Energy

Healthy summer drinks in India

Summer is a time for fun and festivities, but it can also be a time for heat exhaustion and dehydration. Indian summers are particularly hot and humid, which can make it difficult to stay hydrated.

Luckily, there are many delicious and healthy Indian drinks that can help you beat the heat. Here are some of the most popular and healthy Indian summer drinks:

Aam Panna: This refreshing drink is made with raw mango, spices, and sugar. It is a great source of vitamins A and C, and it can help to cool you down on a hot day.   

Shikanji: This lemonade-like drink is made with cumin, coriander, and black salt. It is a great way to rehydrate and replenish electrolytes.   

Bel Sherbet: This sweet and sour drink is made with wood apple pulp, jaggery, and lemon juice. It is a great source of vitamins and minerals, and it can help to boost your immune system.   

Neer Mor: This refreshing drink is made with tender coconut water and sugar. It is a great source of electrolytes and minerals, and it can help to keep you hydrated.   

Lassi: This yogurt-based drink can be made sweet or savory. It is a great source of protein and probiotics, and it can help to keep you feeling full.

Conclusion: These are just a few of the many healthy Indian summer drinks that you can enjoy. So next time you’re feeling hot and bothered, reach for one of these refreshing drinks to cool down and stay hydrated.

Additional Information:Here are some additional tips for staying hydrated during the summer:   

  • Drink plenty of water throughout the day.   
  • Avoid sugary drinks, as they can dehydrate you. 
  • Eat fruits and vegetables that are high in water content, such as watermelon, cucumbers, and tomatoes.   
  • Take cool showers or baths.   
  • Avoid strenuous activity during the hottest part of the day.   
  • Wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothing.   
  • Stay in the shade as much as possible.

One Meal A day..OMAD

A stage comes in everyone’s life when he or she becomes aware that his or her health is not what he or she desires. Everyone wants to have lean physically fit body. 

Our body is like a machine. When born it’s every organ is brand new and works most efficiently. As we grow from childhood, most of us are oblivious of our bodies. Machine is working properly. 

Slowly and slowly, as we grow older, machine become less efficient. It needs the repairs and services. At this stage, many diseases like blood pressure, diabetes and obesity appear which if not addressed to timely will take more harmful conditions.

Many factors like genetics, sedantary life style, indulgence in synthetic foods, drinking and smoking are responsible for such conditions. The visits to the doctors begin.

We daily hear about many dietary regimes being propagated by those who want to make money by this.

The science behind the weight gain is quite simple and based on the principle that mass and energy are two sides of the same coin. Energy is taken in by the body in the form of food especially fat and proteins. The expenditure of energy s basal energy consumption by body and the physical activity done by you. If energy intake is more than consumption, the extra energy will be stored in our bodies in the form of fat both internal and external.

So weight correction is basically the balance between daily intake of energy plus some stored energy and the energy expended in physical activity.

So the rule is to reduce intake of energy by cutting down the richness components and increase in the intake of salads, green vegetables, nuts and plenty of water and stepping up the exercises by walking, yoga, bicycling, running and doing house chores.

The practice of eating one meal a day, also known as OMAD, involves consuming all of one’s daily calorie needs in a single meal and fasting for the rest of the day. While this approach to eating has gained popularity in recent years, it is important to note that it may not be suitable for everyone and should be approached with caution.

Some potential benefits of one meal a day include improved insulin sensitivity, weight loss, and increased mental clarity.

However, it is important to ensure that the single meal consumed is balanced and provides all the necessary nutrients for good health.

Individuals with certain medical conditions, such as diabetes or eating disorders, should not attempt one meal a day without consulting with a healthcare professional first.

Additionally, it is important to ensure that one’s daily caloric needs are met in the single meal consumed to avoid potential health complications.

Overall, one meal a day can be a viable approach to eating for some individuals, but it is important to approach it safely and in consultation with a healthcare professional.

Remember, there is no shortcut or fast track method to become leaner and it requires time, patience and persistence. Neither dieting nor exercise should be done in extreme which can cause more harm than benefits. 

Some good references for OMAD:

The dos and don’ts of eating one meal a day (OMAD)

One Meal A Day (OMAD) Diet: Safety, Benefits, Risks

Everything You Need To Know About the OMAD Diet

Brown and Turbinado Sugars

Sugars are carbohydrates. Carbohydrates break down into Glucose and Fructose. Fructose are the sugars which we obtain from the fruits. Glucose is instantly assimilated into our bodies and provides instant energy. Fructose on the other hand take time to break down and get absorbed into bloodstream.

Sugar is obtained mostly from sugarcane, beets and Palm. Each has many minerals during unprocessed stage which provide more nutrients as well as imparts colour to the sugar which is white.

Most of the world consumes processed sugar which don’t contain any molasses from which it is made by removing all the molasses. It is done to make the product look more aesthetic and also for use in foods where the brownish colour is not desirable. It is just like the polished rice versus unpolished rice.

Turbinado Sugar:

Turbinado sugar is minimally processed sugar. It contains more molasses. It has larger crystals and is more dryer in nature. So it’s solubility is lower than normal white sugar. It is mostly used in hot beverages.

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/turbinado-sugar/amp

Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is obtained by adding a controlled amount of molasses in the white sugar. First of all molasses is stripped off to make the molasses free colourless sugar and then molasses is added in the desired amounts. It has smaller crystals but more moisture as compared to Turbinado sugar. It is used in food preparations where sugar is supposed to dissolve into the food homogeneously and evenly like cakes.

https://browntree.in/product/brown-sugar/

Paleo Diet

For a man who barely gets enough to eat, dieting is irrelevant. For farmer who works all day in the fields, no dieting is required.

Whatever food we eat gives us energy. Energy is required for doing work. So when the intake of calories is more than the spending the amount of energy by means of exercise, walking and other physical activity, the remaining amount of energy gets deposited in the body in the form of fat. Over the time, than body weight will go on increasing. The energy group foods are fat and carbohydrate. Our bodies have evolved in such a way that their first choice is sugar or carbohydrate followed by fat in the form of saturated oils.

Most people who wish to shed the extra pounds, go for exercise and dieting. These diets contain generally more proteins and cut down on the carbohydrates and fats and sodium. Also most of the obese people are those who are generally well off and have occupations which involve very less manual activity. As the time passes by, many ailments take over, forcing such people to go to doctors, dieting and exercise. They want quick results which are unattainable causing frustration.

Many smart health experts take advantage of this and float different types of diet plans with exotic names. There are at least more than dozen such plans. Some of these are Mediterranean diet, Ketogenic diet, Low-carbohydrate diet, Intermittent fasting, Veganism, Vegetarianism, Plant-based diet, South Beach Diet, raw food diet, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig Low-fat diet, Dukan Diet, Mayo Clinic Diet, WW International
Nutrisystem, Whole30 , Alkaline diet, Blood type diet, Diabetic diet, Cabbage soup diet, Zone diet, Atkins diet, Flexitarian.

Paleo or Caveman Diet

One such diet plan is called Paleo Diet. Also called Caveman’s Diet. It’s based on food sources for humans during the Paleolithic area, which spanned the time period of about 2.5 million years to 10,000 years ago.

caveman

From the name, you can guess the type of things one has to eat or avoid. Caveman was our primitive ancestor who barely knew the recipes and ate whatever came his way. He didn’t know agriculture. Although he had learnt to make fire.

He was essentially a hunter and survived on the animal flesh which means that he consumed more protein rich diet with minimal processing. At the most he was roasting the animal. Secondly he ate fruits and flowers and whatever grains were growing naturally.

So the Paleo Diet plans stresses on eating animal proteins, fish, lean meat, fruits, nuts, eggs, and cereals. It rules out eating the dairy products like milk and milk based products like cheese, potatoes, butter, and curds etc. It also emphasis on inclusion of critical ingredients like vitamins and minerals.

Naturally Paleo Diet will be costlier to other diets. Also from the energy point of view whatever food plan you follow, you have to side by side reduce the already deposited extra fats. So exercise is a must along with the dieting. Caveman didn’t have many worries like modern man. Most of his time was spent chasing the animals for hunting and fishing with not efficient tools. So he was always exercising his body.

I doubt that with this type of strenuous physical routine the caveman would have become overweight even after eating the fat from the animals. These diet plans all boil down to the fact that if the intake of the calories is offset by spending those calories through physical exercise and activity leaving a slightly negative balance, you will be fit

By any means tenable or Untenable

Thermodynamics is the most important branch of the science dealing with the energy, work and conversions of one form of energy into other forms.

It cuts across many branches of the courses like physics, chemistry and engineering. All the students in these streams have to come face to face with this subject.

Its laws have become so perfect that they can be bound into mathematical equations. First law of thermodynamics is concerning the conservation of energy. 

Suppose there are two systems which are having energies A & B. If they are connected, then the energy of the resultant system shall be A+B.

But there is a catch. This law does not impose any restrictions on the donors and recipients of the energy. For example, we can heat the water by extracting (suppose we are having such an extracting machine) heat from the ice.

After all the total has to remain constant and sum of the energies of two systems. But the common experience is contrary to this. Heat always flow from higher temperature to lower temperature.

To address this difficulty, second law of thermodynamics was proposed. This takes into account the natural phenomena. Another thermodynamic function called “Entropy” was formulated. This is the measure of randomness of the system. All the systems in nature tends towards chaos or randomness.

Is there life on Mars? Again Microbes hold the key

Earliest life of single cell evolved into 3 branches having distinct traits. The branches further subdivide into more branches on the evolutionary tree of life called Phylogenetic tree of life. The first three branches are called Bacteria, archaea and Eucaryota.

As we can see in this tree, there is a member of archaea family with the name Methanogen. This microbe holds the answer for presence of vast quantities of methane which is trapped inside the ice cages called methane hydrates.

These hydrates are found in Earth’s in permafrost regions having very low temperatures or under the deep sea floor. Water molecules arrange themselves into octahedral cubes in which molecules of many compounds can fit into them.

These are called clathrate compounds. These structures are very fragile and as soon as the overhead pressure is reduced or temperature increases, the structure crumbles and gas is released. So special technology is required to produce the methane from hydrates.

In US, carbon dioxide was pumped into the hydrate layer. It gets substituted into the cages releasing the methane free. It served two important purposes. First the production of fuel gas methane and sequestration of unwanted carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas.

These microbes use carbon dioxide and hydrogen to make their food and also generate methane and water.

These microbes are very enterprising. They can use alternative sources of carbon like acetates which are the products formed by another kind of bacteria by breaking the macro-molecules present in the buried organic matter, for their food. One thing these tiny beings hate is oxygen. They work in anaerobic environments like deep buried locations.

Now this microbe is being held responsible for the methane gas found on Mars indicating that there is life on the planet. It means Mars is not a dead planet.

Professor James Kasting said if there is anything alive on Mars at this time in its history, it would probably be some form of microbial life living deep beneath the planet’s surface. Perhaps the most likely form of microbial life is a type of bacteria known as methanogenic bacteria, or methanogens for short.

The CO2 needed by the methanogens could presumably come from the atmosphere. The H2 could come from chemical reactions between water and certain types of rocks, specifically magnesium- and iron-rich basalts. Such rocks are found on certain parts of the seafloor today on Earth. When they react with water, they form minerals called serpentine minerals.

In the process, hydrogen is produced. The reaction that produces methane is thermodynamically favorable, so Methanogens could use the energy released by this reaction to drive their metabolism.

Microbes can make many reactions happen at much lower temperature by changing the path of reactions through enzyme catalysts which these microbes synthesize.

Simply Mind Boggling

Scientists speculate that all the fundamental particles were created from the energy immediately after the Big Bang event in which Universe was formed.

Then these atoms combined in different permutations and combinations and molecules were born. Context of immediately in the cosmic events is not similar to the usual terms with which define our world. It may be millions of years.

Earth was formed but its climate was not like the present day. There was no life except one algae namely “Blue Algae” known in the scientific language as “Cyanobacteria” where “Cyano” stands for blue color.

It thrived in the water which occupied 70% surface of the Earth. All around in the atmosphere was carbondioxide and metals existed in the solution form because there was no oxygen to react with them and precipitate them as ores. Iron was the most abundant of them. So this was the scene about 3.5 billions of years ago.

How did these small living beings sustain themselves? Where from did they get the energy? .

They developed the photosynthesis and harvested the energy of Sun. They also did much of the chemistry which resulted in critically changing the composition of gases in the atmosphere. They learned to break the water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.

They then used the hydrogen along with carbon dioxide to make carbohydrates which are the store house of energy. The oxygen gas which was generated was very reactive and reacted with the metal ions especially iron species and got fixed up and ores were formed.

This went on for millions of years. Iron acted as a perfect sink for oxygen which was poison for these bacteria themselves because they thrived in the anaerobic conditions.

But a stage reached when no more free iron ions were available. So the concentration of oxygen began building up in the atmosphere and setting a stage in which the new species of life which use oxygen for breathing to evolve.

The life started in the real earnest. The oxygen content stabilized at about 20% by volume in the air. Carbon dioxide has very small percentage. So these humble microbes were responsible for the life as we see today on this Earth.

The algae learned to live with the existing conditions.

How big is the cyanobacteria? It has been estimated that its diameter is about 2 microns if we consider it as a sphere which it is not. But for the sake of simplicity and bring home the point as is done in all the scientific inquiry let us assume that. Such a small size !!

But is it really small in comparison to the smaller things nature can go to. Let us compare it to the size of carbon atom. If we calculate the volume of bacteria and volume of carbon atom, and calculate how many atoms of carbon can fit into the bacteria, you shall be surprised that a mind boggling 1000000000000 atoms is the answer. You are in for more surprise if you go down to fundamental particles like electrons and leptons.

So this is the scale at which the machinery of the Nature works. On one side are the atomic sized particles and on the other are gigantic stars. But one thing is sure that at the base of everything are the fundamental particles. It is also a fact that things behave very differently on the different scale levels. Electrons can behave as particles under one set of conditions and as a wave in the diffraction experiments. Or they may be behaving as they are but with our existing knowledge  we try to explain the things the way which give reasonable answers.

So let us salute to the “Cyanobacteria” to create favorable conditions for the existing worlds to forms and initiation of the diverse kinds of species on this Earth.

Concept of pH in Chemistry

Although the pH of a lake or polluted stream is seldom reported in the media, the people who are monitoring the health of the lake water record it daily religiously. But pH is quite an important physical property of water. pH of a stream gives an indication about the salts and other soluble matter present in the water. These soluble salts affect the organisms living in the water. Also changing pH in a stream can be an indicator of increasing pollution or some other environmental factor.

As we know life on our planet is based on the water. Water is a unique solvent as it dissolves a number of chemicals in it. Water molecule is a simple one with H2O as its formula indicating 2 Hydrogen atoms joined to 1 Oxygen atom. It V shaped geometry imparts it high polarity with which it is able to break down many salt molecules into individual ions called cations and anions. As such water is slightly ionized into equivalent amounts of hydrogen and hydroxyl ions. The value is 10-07 equivalents, a very very tiny value indeed. But this small value is enough to do all the chemistry. When chemicals dissolve in it, the values of hydrogen and hydroxyl ions become unequal. Particularly when any compound containing hydrogen ions is added to water, hydrogen ions become predominant and solution is said to become acidic and such chemicals are called acids. Examples of acids are hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, citric acid and sulphuric acid. On the other hand, when any chemical which have hydroxyl ions is added to water, hydroxyl ions predominate and water becomes basic and such chemicals are called bases.  Examples of bases are sodium hydroxide, washing soda and potassium hydroxide.

pH is a measure of how acidic/basic water is. It is defined as the minus logarithm of hydrogen ions concentration. Since -log[10-07] is 7, the pH of pure water is 7. The range goes from 0-14. Any solution having pH value less than 7 is acidic and above 7 is basic in nature.

The pH of any natural water determines availability of nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon for aquatic life. Many nutrients like phosphorous are very sensitive to pH since it exists in different forms at different pH values. Only a particular form is assimilated by the organism.

Similarly, pH determines the solubility of heavy metals which are generally toxic in nature. Heavy metals are generally more soluble at lower pH and hence lower pH gives a warning about the possibility of these heavier and poisonous metals.

pH of some common liquids of daily use are given below

LiquidpH
Battery acid1.0
Lemon Juice 2.0
Vinegar3.0
Milk6.5
Baking soda, Sea Water8.5
Milk of Magnesia10.5
Ammonia12.0
Lye13.0
Adult fish dies3.0-4.0
Fish Production Affected4.0-5.0
Normal range of Precipitation5.0-6.5
Normal Range of Stream6.0-8.0
Acid Rain1.0-5.0

Elements necessary for humans

At present there are 118 elements listed in the periodic table. Some of these elements are commonly found on the earth in the form of ores. Some are radioactive and have very short half lives. Many such elements have been synthesized in the laboratory and live for a very short time.

Human body like other things existing is made of compounds which are made from the elements. Out of these 118 only some elements are connected with the human body. Although elements as such don’t make up the body it is the combined form that is molecules constitute the human body. But elemental composition is as follows by mass.

Oxygen: 65%

Carbon: 18%

Hydrogen: 10%

Nitrogen: 3%

Other elements: 4%

Other elements include Calcium, Potassium, Phosphorus, Sulphur, Sodium, Chlorine, Magnesium, Boron, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper,  Fluorine, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Selenium, Silicon, Tin, Vanadium and Zinc. Although these elements are used in very minor amount, they are crucial to some body processes. These are micronutrients.

An element can perform one or many functions in the body. Elements roles are defined as follows:

Building Blocks

The main building blocks of the body are proteins which are synthesized from amino acids. For these elements used are Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus and Sulphur. DNA also contains these elements except Sulphur. DNA is the genetic code which encodes the instructions.

Enzymes

Enzymes are chemicals which are catalysts for carrying out chemical reactions like breakdown of sugars and other macro molecules. Such enzymes use some elements like Magnesium, Manganese, Copper, Zinc, Selenium and Molybdenum. Enzymes play role in respiration, digestion, metabolism and immune system.

Nerves and Control

Brain sends messages to different parts of the body and this is a two way communication. Electrical signals are carried through electrolytic solutions like brines. Sodium, Potassium and Calcium ions this play the role of transmitting the signals. Similarly Chloride ions regulate the water in and out of cells. Iodine is used to make hormones which regulate metabolism.

Bones and Teeth

Bones make the template on which our body is hoisted. Strong bones and teeth are essential for the healthy body.  Bones and Teeth are made of Calcium and phosphate. Phosphate contains Phosphorus and Oxygen. Manganese element makes more stronger and resistance to breaking.

Blood

Blood is the lifeline of the body. Blood carries oxygen to the cells and removes the carbon-dioxide gas which is the byproduct of combustion reaction. Oxygen is carried by blood due to the presence of iron which binds the Oxygen. Other elements which are constituents of blood are Carbon, Oxygen, Iron and Cobalt. Cobalt is essential to make red blood cells.

Respiration and Energy

Respiration is inhalation of Oxygen. Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) is formed during respiration which is the compound used by body as energy. Main elements involved here are Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Oxygen. Most prominent sources of energy are Carbohydrates and Fats which contain Carbon, hydrogen and Oxygen elements.

Source: c&en magazine of American Chemical Society (ACS)

1905: Annus Mirabilis of Albert Einstein 

Annus mirabilis is a Latin phrase that means “wonderful year”, “miraculous year” or “amazing year”. This term was originally used to refer to the year 1666, and today is used to refer to several years during which events of major importance are remembered.

Albert Einstein singlehandedly added 1905 as another Annus Mirabilis. In this year, his creativity peaked and he made the revolutionary scientific discoveries. He was just 26 years old. During that year he did:

March: Proved that the light consists of photons thus proving the quantum nature of the light.

May: Proved the existence of the atom.

June: Special Theory of Relativity, which forced the laws of motion by another great physicist Newton as the corollary with the objects moving at lower speeds.

November: The most conscise and beautiful equation relating mass and energy. Proving that mass and energy are two names of the same thing. That enormous amounts of energy are condensed to make small amounts of mass. In other words, enormous amounts of energy are contained in the mass.

E=mc2

And after that he became a superstar

Exit mobile version
%%footer%%