Health Benefits of Mint

The magic of mint: We love the mint leaves in our kababs and our mocktails, and its not without a reason. Mint leaves along with their lovely fragrance also have a number of health benefits that are stated below


Aids in digestion

Mint is a good appetizer. The smell of mint activates the salivary glands that produce digestive enzymes. This helps us in digestion.

Nausea and headache

When you feel nauseous try some mint to drive away that feeling. Smell the aroma of mint oil or fresh mint leaves in order to decrease nausea. If you are having a headache try applying some mint oil.

Reduces congestion

The smell of fresh mint is very effective for respiratory congestion as it opens up nose, throat, and lungs. Mint flavour can also help to overcome cough.

Helps breathe easy

If asthma patients use mint regularly it can provide relaxation, and help relieve breathing.

Gives you skin sheen

Mint juice is great when used as face masks. In addition to the skin, infections, rashes, and acne can also be cured by it. Mint can also heal mosquito bites.

For your smile

Mint leaves helps overcome bacteria and inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria in the mouth, no wonder your mouth breathes fresh when you use it regularly.

Fights cancer

According to recent studies, some enzymes contained in the mint leaves can help fight cancer cells.

Simple Remedies For You

.. Dried mint leaves, boiled in water, form a strong concoction that helps in soothing the digestive tract and easing the severity of stomach aches.

.. Drinking herbal mint tea reduces irritated bowel syndromes and cleanses the stomach.

.. Crushed mint leaves helps in whitening teeth.

.. Inhaling mint gives relief from congestion problems, like sinus infections and common cold.

.. Due to the presence of essential oil called menthol, mint finds its usage in preparing a variety of cosmetics and perfumes.

Amit Tandon Does More Cardio to To Combat Tendency to Bulk Up

‘I have a natural tendency to bulk up’

MY EXERCISE REGIME

I work out religiously through the week. I do a lot of weight training. I work out for a maximum of two hours in the gym, out of which I spend one hour on the treadmill. I focus on a different body part each day, like legs, shoulders, chest and so on. Twice a week, I practise martial arts and American boxing.

MY PROBLEM AREAS

I have a tendency to bulk up a lot. My trainer has advised me to do more cardio to solve this issue. I also do spinning. Honestly, I do not like to look too bulky and want my body to look proportionately balanced. I tend to put on weight easily and so I want to lower my weight, which often fluctuates.

MY STRENGTHS

I have good will power, stamina, strength and I’m very competitive. If I see someone doing heavy weights in the gym, I try to out do that person by doing heavier weights and more repetitions.

MY DIET

I’m a Punjabi and that automatically makes me a big foodie. I’m a non-vegetarian and eat a lot of chicken and egg whites. I have protein shakes twice a day. I have a major sweet tooth. As a kid, I used to eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Even now, I need to have at least one sandwich a day. That’s the only thing that makes me cheat on my diet.

Fitness role model:

Salman Khan because he has a well-balanced physique and has maintained it for years.

Ideal celeb body (male):
Hugh Jackman’s body in Wolverine and Gerard Butler’s body in 300.

Ideal celeb body (female):
Kim Kardashian

Tips For Stress Relief/De-Stress

STRESS is synonymous with modern life. Too much of it wrecks our health and robs us of our personal happiness.

Here are some tips to combat stress: ..

Exercise and Meditate

Run, do some yoga, punch a bag at the gym, that's important. Your hormones need a bit of loosening up. The muscles need to begin working again. Exercise is a way to manage stress that doesn’t have to add to your financial woes. A 20-minute walk or jog around your block can yield up to 12 hours of improved mood. The main thing is to find a physical activity that you enjoy, whether it’s dancing or fly fishing. Practice deep breathing and meditation exercises daily, and when you feel tension rising.

If you like massages, go for them.

Stress often manifests in the form of physical ailments, aches, pains, etc.

Massages are a good for the physical body and also, mentally, it relaxes your frayed nerves.

Consciously incorporate some laughter into your daily regime.

Whether it is in the form of jokes, films, comic strips, comedy shows, a funny friend, treat this as part of an imaginary doctor's prescription. Laughter really is the best medicine. It is proven to lower tension, and at the same time, improves blood flow and the health of your heart. Rent a funny movie or hang out with that wannabe-comedian pal, and forget about your worries for a while

Socialize and Mingle with people.

When you are with people, troubles start feeling less burdensome. You begin to get a sense of what everyone else is living with and automatically lighten up.
Spending time with friends and family who give you a sense of belonging, purpose, and fun may provide all the stress relief you need.

Join a fun class.

It should be something that you enjoy - dancing, yoga, pottery, a book reading club… something that takes you away from the bigger events of the day that are a continuous source of stress, something you can actually label as ' me' time.

Prioritizing healthy eating, physical activity, relationships, and sleep is necessary if you want to avoid making your stress worse.

Neha Desai's Diet and Exercise Regime

TV ACTOR NEHA DESAI who has been seen in a number of TV serials is very particular about her fitness. She loves to workout in the gym whenever she has free time at hand.


She shares her fitness regime:

Gym gyaan

I have been working out rigorously for the past five years or so. I hit the gym at least five days a week. I train specific body parts like chest, shoulders, triceps, back and biceps, legs, abs on different days. As I am already slim, I don’t need any cardio workout.

Also it’s easier to tone my muscles, which is what I concentrate on.

Weighty issue

Genetically, I am quite thin.But since I have a high metabolic rate, I have to balance my workout with my daily food intake. Also, my weight has been stable throughout. I don’t have a tendency to put on kilos. If I don’t work out regularly, I tend to lose weight.

So, I need to exercise to stay healthy.

My diet Regime

I start my morning with a huge glass of warm water, followed by tea with ginger ( I do not compromise on my first tea for the day).

It is followed with a heavy breakfast, which could be a brown bread sandwich ( with lettuce, cucumber, cheese) or Poha / Upma, oats or fruits on somedays with protein shake.

Lunch is normally roti, sabzi, dal and achaar.

In the evenings, I have a protein bar or fruits or Maggie.

My dinner is similar to my lunch.

I drink around three litres of water every day. I try to drink as much water as I can. It's good for my skin and keeps my body hydrated.

Chilling out

I love listening to music. I always have my music on me.

It helps me cut off from people whenever I want to and be in my own zone. Reading novels, watching films and chilling out with my friends also helps me unwind.

Sometimes, just a drive is enough to end the day on a good note.

Causes For Memory Loss and 5 Tips to 'Remember'

Just two weeks ago, you forgot your cell phone in a taxi, only to repeat the same thing again last week. The only difference is that this time it was with your wallet. You are not alone! A recent study by the Hokkaido University of Japan, conducted on 150 volunteers between the ages of 20 and 35, found that one in 10 young people are suffering from severe memory loss.

Another study on women under 30, estimates that a third of women cannot remember their own phone number, leave alone the birthdays of as few as three close relatives. Are we running out of memory space? Neurology specialist Dr Vinay Chauhan says that the tendency for forgetfulness at a younger age is a growing cause for alarm. "It is important to focus on the cause for memory loss in young people, because more often than not it is not an actual brain dysfunction like Alzheimer's, but an environmental or chemical imbalance in the patient's life. Once identified, these causes can usually be treated," he says.

Causes for the early onset of memory loss range from stress to depression, a condition more common in women, to thyroid imbalances and even deficiencies in Vitamins B-12 and B-6. B-12 and B-6 are essential in getting neurotransmitters in our brains to remember things. Neurologist and specialist in memory loss Dr Anu Aggarwal says, "Memory loss is especially high in Mumbai, where gadgets are replacing our memories and young people are multi-tasking at extraordinarily high levels. Our brains are simply not equipped for such an overload."

She stresses the importance of diagnosis and treatment to overrule the possibility of serious long-term condition, including Alzheimer's disease and Dementia, whose likelihood increases with age. Talking to next of kin or a close friend is vital to understanding the gravity of the problem since people tend to either over or underestimate their own forgetfulness. One surefire indication that you (or someone you know), is suffering from a real problem is when your forgetfulness starts to impact your life or aspects of it.

The silver lining is that is that provided the 'memory loss' is an offshoot of the stress of living and working in the city, it is treatable. Dr Chauhan cites the case study of a 45-year old woman, who was suffering from severe memory loss and behavioural changes. While all signs seemed to point towards the early onset of Alzheimer's, tests revealed the cause to be Hashimoto's Encephalopathy disorder, a very rare hypo-thyroid condition.

Post treatment, she returned to a complete state of normalcy. Adequate quality sleep is one of the best ways to combat potential memory loss. Sleep helps the body to consolidate memory, playing an extremely important role in brain function. So, the next time you find yourself struggling to remember things, the best advice might just be to, sleep on it!

5 Tips to 'remember'

1 Exercise. Regular (and preferably daily) exercise results in increased blood flow to the brain. It also puts you in a state of relaxation, which is important for the memory to function.

2 'Me' time counts. Setting aside recreational time for oneself every day is important, as it helps slow down the pace of an otherwise frenzied day.

3 Eat healthy. A healthy balanced diet, which includes a good dose of vitamin B-12 (found in animal products like meat, poultry, eggs and milk products) is good. Vegetarians, who are more prone to this deficiency, can opt for B-12 supplements.

4 Stick to a routine. A regular daily schedule combined with a good night's sleep (at a regulated time), helps regularise a body clock.

5 Avoid addictions in any form, as they increase the chances of memory dysfunction.

Diet is the Key Says Mahaakshay Chakraborty as He Reveals His Fitness Secrets

Mahaakshay Chakraborty talks about his fitness regime and Diet

Mahakshay Chakraborty

MY EXERCISE REGIMEN

My exercise regimen is very intense. I do Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) thrice a week for 90 minutes. I don’t do weights anymore, but concentrate on cardio — whether it’s running 5 km a day, dancing, swimming or squash. I
also do the ‘Insanity’ workout which is cardio to the extreme! And I play a lot of cardio games too.

MY DIET

Of course, diet is key! In fact, I believe that diet is everything! I count even the air that I breathe. Because of my intense training, I make sure I eat the right amount of nutrients. Everything is balanced. But I don’t take supplements. I only take a multi-vitamin. I eat everything under the roof but in moderation. Just enough for the body to absorb and to use.

MY PROBLEM AREAS

Since I’ve been doing MMA I have moved my shoulder tendons on more than one occasion so my shoulders are loose. My lower back pains from time to time and so do my muscles tendons below my right thigh. But I take the pain because I love MMA!

MY STRENGTHS

My strength is my mind because pain is weakness leaving the body. The mind has the ultimate power and in MMA, the mind has to be stronger than the body because you get punched and kicked a lot.

How Anushka Sharma Stays Fit

FIRST THING on my mind when I wake up…
My schedule for the day...

I’m always in TWO MINDS about…
Whether to comment or not to.

THIRD-TIME lucky (something I tried thrice)
Touch wood! I have been very lucky with the kind of films I’m doing…

FOURplay (my all-time favourite songs to work out to)
I don’t have any, as the tempo of my workout drives the music I play.

Gimme 5! (My 5 workout essentials)
I do weight training four times a week to tone my body. Eating right and healthy is a very important part of my wellness routine (Check out Anushka's Wholesome Diet). Yoga is a recent addition to my workout, as it rejuvenates my mind, and gives my skin that inner glow. Sufficient rest is also important for the body to recuperate.

6 am (what I’m most likely to be doing at the time)
Sleeping, unless I have work.

7 days a week (I can’t live without!)
Yoga!

8 and 8 (my favourite guilty indulgence)
My mom’s momos and butter chicken. For Anushka's Recipe of Momo Click here >>

On cloud 9 (my favourite ways to de-stress)
I always have such a stressful schedule that I really appreciate the simple, relaxed things in life, like gossiping with my mom while she gives me a nice head massage, or lunching with my girlfriends.

LAST THING I do before tucking in…
Wash my face and a champi with coconut oil.