Benefits of Coffee

• Caffeine is the principal ingredient of coffee with psychoactive properties and acts by blocking the adenosine receptor activation. The activation of the adenosine receptor causes drowsiness by releasing an inhibitory neuromodulator, adenosine. Therefore, drinking coffee provides the central nervous system with stimulatory effects. 
• Phenolic compounds present in coffee have antioxidant property, which helps to balance the oxidant-antioxidant ratio in the body and assist to normalize metabolic functioning. Intake of such natural antioxidants also improves the antioxidant enzyme functioning in our body.  
• Coffee has a preventive effect against multiple chronic conditions. Health researchers reported prolonged coffee drinking can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes development. 
• A scientific journal published a report, in which it is mentioned that coffee has a hepato-preventive effect and provides a protective effect against the development of hepatic injury, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma in people with higher risk factors.  
• Coffee drinking inversely reduces the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease in men. Women also get this benefit who do not expose to postmenopausal estrogen. 
• Caffeine has Alzheimer’s disease preventive effect. Regular caffeine drinking through coffee is one of the effective ways to reduce Alzheimer’s disease risk.  
• Physical endurance enhancement is significant after drinking coffee beverages.
• The research study evidence shows that the suicidal tendency has also been reduced by 13 percent by increasing the consumption of coffee regularly. 
• The cancer risk-reducing effect of coffee is significant, especially in liver cancer and colorectum cancer. However, the exact mechanism of action of coffee against cancer is unknown. [1]

Side Effects of Coffee

Coffee ingestion has some significant side effects. These are as follows:

• Coffee has direct adverse effects on the cardiovascular system. It has been observed that excessive coffee intake can stimulate cardiac functioning and the outcome of this leads to increased heart rate (tachycardia), hypertension (increase blood pressure than normal), and sporadic arrhythmic (abnormal cardiac rhythm) conditions. The sudden changes in cardiac functioning are noticeable immediately after the intake of coffee. Coffee intake can induce arrhythmia and therefore, a doctor usually does not recommend coffee as a beverage for the cardiac patient. Individuals with frequent coffee-drinking habits often have high blood pressure complaints. Cardiac patients have strict restrictions on coffee drinking because it can increase the risk of cardiac arrhythmia. [1]
• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and cholesterol level enhancement are the major cause of cardiac disorders because the rise in LDL and cholesterol level influences plaque formation. Plaque can develop in any type of blood vessel and often causes obstruction in the blood vessel by stimulating blood clotting. The clot can be dislodged to another site by circulating through the systemic circulation. This phenomenon is termed thrombo-embolism. Thrombotic complications in the brain, pancreas, and ovary are often associated with cancer. Plaque disruption is one of the major cause of coronary thrombosis and emboli formation and trigger atherosclerosis. [2] Cafestol and kahweol are two diterpenes present in coffee and coffee containing these diterpenes is responsible for increasing cholesterol-level in the blood. [1]
• Calcium is an essential mineral for bone health. But, it has been found that coffee drinking can cause hindrance of calcium absorption in the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, elderly people who have developed a risk of osteoporosis should avoid 2–3 cups of coffee consumption per day and also require to increase their consumption of vitamin D and calcium supplements for preventing frequent fractures. [1]
• Caffeine, the bioactive compound of coffee can cross the placental barrier and can reach the fetus, which can cause impaired development of the fetus. Caffeine has the potential to cause spontaneous abortion also. Therefore, pregnant women should limit caffeine-containing coffee drinking during the gestation period. [1]
• Restricted intake of coffee is also necessary for children because it has been observed that exceeding the upper limit of caffeine can trigger altered behavior in children. They often have a complaint of anxiety or nervousness with increasing consumption of coffee. [1]

How many cups are right? 

Although it is easy to understand how many cups are right for coffee intake, it is difficult to estimate the standard coffee intake per day measured through the cup because the volume of a coffee cup can vary. In the United States, the cup measurement used for nutrition labeling is 240 ml, whereas, 1 Canadian cup = 227.3045 milliliters. [3] In addition, the quantity of coffee intake per day varies depending upon several individual factors including body weight, age, and the physical condition of a particular person. However, the following are some evidence-based recommendations:

• Experts estimated that pregnant women should not intake more than 300 mg/day of coffee during the gestation period. [1]
• Federal Department of Health, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada estimated the upper limit of coffee for children. According to this, the consumption of coffee by children should not exceed 2.5 mg/kg body weight/day. [1]
• Experts also recommended filtered coffee for individuals who have a tendency to develop high serum levels because unfiltered coffee contains a significant amount of diterpenes. However, diterpenes can be removed through a filtration process. Filtered coffee consumption is an alternative option to reduce the risk of elevation of serum cholesterol. [1]
• Caffeine energy drinks become popular beverages in Western countries. Excessive drinking of this beverage causes anxiety, sleep disturbances, and cardiac disorders including tachycardia, jitteriness, and gastrointestinal problems. It has also been reported that excessive intake of this can cause seizures and even death in rare cases. To limit these events, Health Canada recommends the dose of caffeine intake. According to this guideline, the upper intake of caffeine for healthy adults is 400 mg/ day; and for adolescents (more than 13 years of age), the calculation depends upon the body weight of an individual. The calculated value of caffeine is 2.5 mg/kg body weight. [1]
• In the Canadian market, a single serving of energy drinks typically contains 80 mg to 180 mg of caffeine (depending on size). Health Canada allows a maximum limit of caffeine per serving is 180 mg /container and 200mg to 400 mg per liter of the drink. [4]
• It is also important to check the product label of the caffeine-containing drink. Health Canada also advises both quantitative and qualitative statements about the declaration of caffeine required to mention in the product label, which is “Do not consume more than (X) container(s)/serving(s) daily” or “Usage: (X) container(s)/serving(s) maximum daily.” The X may be 1 or 2, which depends on the vitamin and mineral content of the product. [4] 

In social activities, coffee drinking is one of the most convenient and safe beverages. It also improves performance and provides a feeling of well-being at the workplace and also in the leisure period. 

The restricted intake of coffee provides several health benefits, but if anyone develops habitual addiction and crosses the upper limit, then it can provide an adverse effect. So, it is advisable to keep drinking coffee within the limit. 

References

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213422014000456
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17903843
3. https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Cup_(unit).html
4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335516301450

Diet is considering the meals containing a variety of foodstuffs instead of secluded food or nutrients. Intake of meals has accountability for complex interactions between nutrients and non-nutrients. 

Why have plant-based food recommendations become highlighted?

Plant-based diet plans usually uplift whole, plant-based foods and dissuade refined and processed foods, meats, eggs, and even dairy products. Plant-based diets are considered a regimen in many folk medicinal practices may due to their contribution to the risk reduction of some chronic conditions like cardiovascular diseases by promoting lower BMI, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and HbA1C.

The consumption of a plant-based diet may also decrease the number of prescribed medications required to treat chronic medical conditions and reduce the incidence rate of ischemic heart disease and related mortality rates. Currently, many naturopathy doctors recommend a plant-based diet to their patients, primarily those with high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or obesity. A plant-based diet has a chemo-preventive role in cancer development. 

A healthy plant-based diet highlights nutrient-dense plant foods and subsequently decreases the intake of processed foods, oil, and animal-based foods (including dairy products, animal fats, and eggs). It encourages having plenty of fruits, raw or cooked vegetables, beans, whole grains, peas, legumes, lentils, soybeans, seeds, and nuts with low-fat content. 

Different diet plans have already been established that limit or omit animal-based food items. But lack of a clear idea of these diet specifications often creates confusion among users. NitaNaturale has published this article to provide a transitory summary of distinctive diets that limit animal products. Multiple research findings agree that a plant-based diet has substantial health benefits. 

What are the different types of plant-based diets?

The terms vegetarian and vegan are often used interchangeably for describing a plant-based diet. Both vegetarian and vegan diets have ethical or religious explanations that may or may not justify their health benefits. It is necessary to differentiate different plant-based diet plans by precisely defining them. Various plant-based diets are distinct because of the variety of compositions that also explains their health value.

• Vegan (or total vegetarian): Eliminates all animal foodstuffs, particularly meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, and dairy products. This diet plan does not restrict to intake of whole foods or limit fat or refined grains.
• Raw food vegan: Same elimination as veganism and the rejection of all foodstuffs prepared at temperatures more than 118°F.
• Lacto-vegetarian Eliminates meat, poultry, eggs, and seafood but includes dairy products.
• Ovo-vegetarian Eliminates meat, poultry, seafood, and milk products but includes eggs.
• Lacto-Ovo vegetarian: Eliminates meat, poultry, and seafood and includes dairy products and eggs.
• Mediterranean: maximum inclusion of whole foods obtained from different plant sources and extensive use of fatty fish and olive oil with limited intake of dairy products, eggs, chicken, and red meat once or twice per month. This diet plant recognizes Omega-3 fatty acids-containing foods.
• Whole foods, plant-based, low-fat: Includes plant foods in their whole form, especially fruits, vegetables, seeds, legumes, and nuts (in lesser amounts). Animal foods are restricted with limited use of fat to obtain ultimate health assistance from this diet. 

Healthy diet tips with multiple alternative options

It is essential to maintain the required calorie level. The appropriate calorie varies from individual to individual. The various factors which interfere with the calorie requirement are age, physical activity, and body weight. The required calorie can be maintained by proper consumption of mixed nutrients and should avoid fulfilling the calorie by taking a few high-calorie foods and beverages. These types of food habits do not provide adequate nutrients. They are usually the source of saturated fats, trans fats, triglycerides, or high glycemic index that increase the risk factors for several chronic diseases. For reference, Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health acknowledged that diet has undoubtedly provided an impact on cardiovascular disease. The following dietary recommendations are preventive measures against various plaque-forming diseases like cardiac disorders, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and dementia.

1. Avoidance of simple carbohydrates which have a high glycemic index is essential to prevent the raising of blood sugar levels. Refined grain products such as white bread, pasta, wheat flour, and white rice are examples of simple carbs with high GI. Marked reduction is necessary for sugar and potato-rich foods. Replacement of simple carbohydrate products with complex carbohydrates like whole-grain foods, beans, and nuts is a smart step towards a healthy diet. Whole-grain foods can raise glucose levels very slowly because of the following interconnected reasons:
   • metabolism takes time
   • accelerated insulin secretion is not required
   • the scope of insulin resistance is limited
   • over activity of the pancreas is not required
   • Prevent the damage in the beta cells from where the insulin is secreted 
   • All these limit type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia. 
2. Reduction or elimination of animal fat consumption specifically beef, pork, and lamb from the diet is another good diet tip. But if anybody cannot follow this rigidity, partial avoidance of red meat (maximum cuts required for pork products) is emphasized. Take necessary precautions during the preparation of the animal products like backed and boiled products must be chosen to avoid much consumption of saturated and trans-fats. 
3. Strict avoidance of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is encouraged. These are one of the prime sources of trans fatty acids. One of the steps to avoid partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is to avert the taking of commercially available packed food items and margarine. Use an adequate amount of olive oil, peanut oil, and canola oil. They are the chief source of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. 
4. Add an abundant amount of fruits and vegetables to your daily diet plan. Expert nutritionists praise 6 to 9 servings of fruits and/or vegetables daily.
5. Highly recommended protein and complex carbohydrates are bean curd products such as tofu.
6. Try to be a pescatarian/vegetarian as possible.
7. Animal-food lovers can use seafood as an alternative source of animal products in their diet. Particularly oily fish from northern oceans, for example, salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines, anchovies, and Alaskan halibut are healthy options. Many animal-food lovers prefer seafood over red and white meat. White meat from chicken and turkey is also a better option than red meat (beef, lamb, and pork) and dark meat from chicken and turkey. Shellfish contain a cholesterol-like substance that does not have much determinantal impact on blood cholesterol. But the amount of saturated animal fat in the diet raises ‘bad’ low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the blood.

Finally, we should be a firm advocate for daily exercise that has enough scientific back-up to improve cardiovascular health. Individuals should exercise for more than 40 minutes per day. Walking, jogging, swimming, and rowing are ideal aerobic exercises with multiple health benefits. Some weight training is also a good idea and can be performed two to three times per week for approximately 30 minutes. If you are not someone who exercises habitually, it would be prudent to consult a physician and a trainer before initiating an exercise program. 

Regular meal management & lifestyle measures

• You need to start your day with physical exercise. Both high-intensity aerobic exercise and resistance exercise control free fatty acid synthesis and lipogenesis. Obesity is one of the primary reasons for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Daily physical exercise can control obesity and reduce the risk of fatty liver symptoms.
•  Avoid drinking artificial beverages drinking habit during and after the completion of the exercise. You can drink lots of homemade lemon water. Lemon water is the simplest way to get the benefits of lemon. You cut two lemons. Put them into a jug of water, and drink this at a regular interval. The antioxidant property of lemon helps to reduce oxidative damage. Flavonoids present in lemon have a protective effect on the liver.   
• You should drink herbal tea made up of 5gm black seed (kalonji) powder with 5 gm of Lemon Balm leaf (Melissa officinalis) instead of tea and coffee. This is an effective way to reduce non-alcoholic fatty liver symptoms. A randomized clinical trial result reported Thymoquinone is a phytochemical of the black seed that can reduce lipid profile and liver enzyme. Lemon balm also has a hypolipidemic effect. Both of these therapeutic effects are beneficial for a fatty liver condition. You can prepare this herbal tea in your own kitchen. For this, you need to prepare a tea bag with require amount of kalonji and Lemon Balm leaf and store these tea bags in an airtight container. You need to boil 250ml water and put off the flame. Add one tea bag to the boiled water and put the lead wait for 10 minutes and enjoy healthy herbal tea.  
• Turmeric is a common kitchen spice in India and an effective regimen for fatty liver. Raw turmeric rhizome is readily available in vegetable shops. Drinking raw turmeric juice every morning on an empty stomach provides great help to control fatty liver conditions.  A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled human trial showed curcumin, a phytochemical present in turmeric could improve non-alcoholic fatty liver conditions. Different human research studies recommended that 600 mg/ day or 0.6 ml turmeric powder or turmeric oil three times per day is safe and effective to provide medicinal value. Simply, you add raw turmeric juice to fruit juice. Fruit juice masks the pungent taste of turmeric without impacting its benefit.
• Oatmeal is a great alternative to rice and wheat for patients with fatty liver. You can introduce this whole grain to your breakfast and dinner. Oatmeal can reduce body weight. It also limits the risk of diabetes. Both obesity and diabetes are commonly associated with fatty liver. The newspaper Hindustan Times published an article on 28th October 2017 that reported fatty liver was a leading cause of the higher prevalence of diabetes in India.
• If you have an advanced stage of fatty liver with swelling of the liver, then omega-3 fatty acids help to reduce the progression of the condition. The omega-3 fatty acid has an anti-inflammatory effect that reduces liver inflammation. It controls other underlying triggering factors including hypertriglyceridemia. A meta-analysis reported by observing ultrasound diagnosis that omega-3 fatty acid supplements significantly reduce liver fat amount. 
• Include β-carotene, vitamins C, and E-rich food items in the diet. Certain natural food sources are effective against non-alcoholic fatty liver condition. Such as

Walnuts – 30 gm per day

Blackcurrants – 100 g

Parsley leaves – 100gm

Red Capsicum – 100 gm

Horseradish – 100gm

Wheat germ -100gm

Carrot – 100 gm

Dried apricot -100gm

Onion leaves – 100 gm

Mushrooms

Apples

Oranges

Green leafy vegetables

Green tea instead of milk tea or black tea and coffee

Tofu instead of Paneer

Soy milk

Yogurt

Chicken

Fish like Katla, Hisla, Chapila, Morola etc.

Eggs (less than two eggs per week)

Food should be boiled, steamed, or baked without added oil, butter, and ghee as much as possible.

Cooking oil must be extra virgin olive oil.

Meal intake instructions

• Break your overall daily intake into 4–5 meals; give 2 to 3 hourly maximum breaks between meals.
• At least 3 hours gap requires between last meal intake and before sleeping
• Slowly intake your meal and do proper chewing before swallowing
• Finish your eating even before the feeling of satiety, as satiety often feels after 15 minutes of completing eating

4 Inexpensive nutritional supplements

• Turmeric Powder or crushed raw turmeric (1 teaspoon) and a pinch of black pepper powder- mix with hot water. Drink it every morning on an empty stomach.
• Raw garlic –2 bulbs daily with morning meal
• Cod liver oil capsules –twice daily after meal
• Nutrilite Milk Thistle with Dandelion supplement (Amway India) – one tablet twice a day along with your meals

Right exercise habit

At least 30 minutes of daily exercise in the morning hours (between 6 am to 9 am) in sunlight to get natural vitamin D.

Periodic diagnostic tests recommendation

• Liver function tests
• Vitamin D level
• USG (with GP recommendation)

Restrictions for progressive fatty liver

• No alcohol
• No smoking

Follow the above-mentioned regimens for at least three months to get an effective result. But necessarily you need to go for periodic diagnosis to check the progression of the condition.   

Diet is considering the meals containing a variety of foodstuffs instead of secluded food or nutrients. Intake of meals has accountability for complex interactions between nutrients and non-nutrients.

Why have plant-based food recommendations become highlighted?

Plant-based diet plans usually uplift whole, plant-based foods and dissuade refined and processed foods, meats, eggs, and even dairy products. Plant-based diets are considered a regimen in many folk medicinal practices may due to their contribution to the risk reduction of some chronic conditions like cardiovascular diseases by promoting lower BMI, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and HbA1C. The consumption of a plant-based diet may also decrease the number of prescribed medications required to treat chronic medical conditions and reduce the incidence rate of ischemic heart disease and related mortality rates. Currently, many naturopathy doctors recommend a plant-based diet to their patients, primarily those with high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or obesity. A plant-based diet has a chemo-preventive role in cancer development.

A healthy plant-based diet highlights nutrient-dense plant foods and subsequently decreases the intake of processed foods, oil, and animal-based foods (including dairy products, animal fats, and eggs). It encourages having plenty of fruits, raw or cooked vegetables, beans, whole grains, peas, legumes, lentils, soybeans, seeds, and nuts with low-fat content.

Different diet plans have already been established that limit or omit animal-based food items. But lack of a clear idea of these diet specifications often creates confusion among users. NitaNaturale has published this article to provide a transitory summary of distinctive diets that limit animal products. Multiple research findings agree that a plant-based diet has substantial health benefits.

What are the different types of plant-based diets?

The terms vegetarian and vegan are often used interchangeably for describing a plant-based diet. Both vegetarian and vegan diets have ethical or religious explanations that may or may not justify their health benefits. It is necessary to differentiate different plant-based diet plans by precisely defining them. Various plant-based diets are distinct because of the variety of compositions that also explains their health value.

• Vegan (or total vegetarian): Eliminates all animal foodstuffs, particularly meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, and dairy products. This diet plan does not restrict to intake of whole foods or limit fat or refined grains.
• Raw food vegan: Same elimination as veganism and the rejection of all foodstuffs prepared at temperatures more than 118°F.
• Lacto-vegetarian Eliminates meat, poultry, eggs, and seafood but includes dairy products.
• Ovo-vegetarian Eliminates meat, poultry, seafood, and milk products but includes eggs.
• Lacto-Ovo vegetarian: Eliminates meat, poultry, and seafood and includes dairy products and eggs.
• Mediterranean: maximum inclusion of whole foods obtained from different plant sources and extensive use of fatty fish and olive oil with limited intake of dairy products, eggs, chicken, and red meat once or twice per month. This diet plant recognizes Omega-3 fatty acids-containing foods.
• Whole foods, plant-based, low-fat: Includes plant foods in their whole form, especially fruits, vegetables, seeds, legumes, and nuts (in lesser amounts). Animal foods are restricted with limited use of fat to obtain ultimate health assistance from this diet.

Healthy diet tips with multiple alternative options

It is essential to maintain the required calorie level. The appropriate calorie varies from individual to individual. The various factors which interfere with the calorie requirement are age, physical activity, and body weight. The required calorie can be maintained by proper consumption of mixed nutrients and should avoid fulfilling the calorie by taking a few high-calorie foods and beverages. These types of food habits do not provide adequate nutrients. They are usually the source of saturated fats, trans fats, triglycerides, or high glycemic index that increase the risk factors for several chronic diseases. For reference, Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health acknowledged that diet has undoubtedly provided an impact on cardiovascular disease.

The following dietary recommendations are preventive measures against various plaque-forming diseases like cardiac disorders, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and dementia.

1. Avoidance of simple carbohydrates which have a high glycemic index is essential to prevent the raising of blood sugar levels. Refined grain products such as white bread, pasta, wheat flour, and white rice are examples of simple carbs with high GI. Marked reduction is necessary for sugar and potato-rich foods. Replacement of simple carbohydrate products with complex carbohydrates like whole-grain foods, beans, and nuts is a smart step towards a healthy diet. Whole-grain foods can raise glucose levels very slowly because of the following interconnected reasons:

• metabolism takes time
• accelerated insulin secretion is not required
• the scope of insulin resistance is limited
• over activity of the pancreas is not required
• Prevent the damage in the beta cells from where the insulin is secreted
• All these limit type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia. Reduction or elimination of animal fat consumption specifically beef, pork, and lamb from the diet is another good diet tip. But if anybody cannot follow this rigidity, partial avoidance of red meat (maximum cuts required for pork products) is emphasized. Take necessary precautions during the preparation of the animal products like backed and boiled products must be chosen to avoid much consumption of saturated and trans-fats.
  2. Strict avoidance of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is encouraged. These are one of the prime sources of transfatty acids. One of the steps to avoid partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is to avert the taking of commercially available packed food items and margarine. Use an adequate amount of olive oil, peanut oil, and canola oil. They are the chief source of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
  3. Add an abundant amount of fruits and vegetables to your daily diet plan. Expert nutritionists praise 6 to 9 servings of fruits and/or vegetables daily.
  4. Highly recommended protein and complex carbohydrates are bean curd products such as tofu.
  5. Try to be a pescetarian/vegetarian as possible.
  6. Animal-food lovers can use seafood as an alternative source of animal products in their diet. Particularly oily fish from northern oceans, for example, salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines, anchovies, and Alaskan halibut are healthy options. Many animal-food lovers prefer seafood over red and white meat. White meat from chicken and turkey is also a better option than red meat (beef, lamb, and pork) and dark meat from chicken and turkey. Shellfish contain a cholesterol-like substance that does not have much determinantal impact on blood cholesterol. But the amount of saturated animal fat in the diet raises ‘bad’ low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the blood.

Finally, we should be a firm advocate for daily exercise that has enough scientific back-up to improve cardiovascular health. Individuals should exercise for more than 40 minutes per day. Walking, jogging, swimming, and rowing are ideal aerobic exercises with multiple health benefits. Some weight training is also a good idea and can be performed two to three times per week for approximately 30 minutes. If you are not someone who exercises habitually, it would be prudent to consult a physician and a trainer before initiating an exercise program.

References

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662288/

http://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/halt-heart-disease-with-a-plant-based-oil-free-diet-

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/circulationaha.111.019828

Is healthy eating sufficient to keep ourselves healthy? It is a very common thought that nutritious foods are healthy. Sometimes, we ignore or forget about cleanliness. Food hygiene or clean eating habit is also a concern to keep ourselves healthy. Both healthy eating and clean eating habits are equally important for utmost health. NitaNaturale gives a brief discussion about healthy eating and clean eating and then continues the discussion on the difference between them. 

What is healthy eating? How do we obtain a healthy eating process?

Understanding the serving size, calorie intake, and calories obtained from the fat content are necessary to understand healthy eating. The calorie requirement varies from individual to individual. In general, the required percent of Daily Value (DV) for particular nutrients is calculated based on a 2000 calorie value. The DV of certain nutrients is less in healthy eating requirements, such as saturated fat, trans-fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, etc. But dietary fibers, vitamins, and protein content have a higher percentage of DV. Less than 5% DV is termed a low nutritional composition and more than 20% DV is considered a high nutritional composition for a particular nutrient. [1] 

Some of the following ingredients provide different health benefits and require adding in healthy eating practices:

• Different natural food sources like whole-grain foods such as oatmeal, brown rice, wheat bran, cereals, fruits & vegetables, nuts & seeds, beans, and peas are the primary sources of dietary fibers. The inclusions of dietary fibers regulate blood glucose level and prevent constipation. Dietary fibers also decrease cardiovascular risk,
• Calcium is an essential mineral for bone health. Almonds, rice, coconut, sea-fish (like salmon and sardines), dairy products, soymilk, fortified cereals, tofu, fruits, and green vegetables (like kale, turnip greens, spinach, and broccoli) are different natural sources of calcium. The deficiency of calcium causes osteoporosis. 
• Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption in our physiological system. The deficiency of vitamin D is indirectly responsible for calcium deficiency. Different natural food items like eggs, fish, fish liver oil, fortified foods, and soy beverages are good sources of vitamin D. 
• Iron is another essential mineral for blood health. Iron is present in the hemoglobin structure. Hemoglobin is the primary structural moiety of red blood cells that assists in oxygen transportation. The deficiency of iron causes anemia. Dark green leafy vegetables, whole grain cereals, resins, meat, and poultry are rich sources of iron. 
• Vitamin C is essential for the proper absorption of iron. Citrus fruits, tomato, broccoli, kiwi fruit, sprouts are different varieties of healthy foods that contain an abundant amount of vitamin C naturally. [2]

Experts recommend planning your healthy diet in such a way that 100% DV can be obtained from the above-mentioned nutrients on most days of the year. 

Healthy eating practice always prefers limited use of salt, sugar, saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. These food ingredients enhance the risk of cardiac disorders, diabetes, and cancer by increasing the risk of hypertension, metabolic disorders, incorrect hormonal secretion, free radical formation, etc. 

Certain action plan for healthy eating is as follows:

• Consume colorful fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat or fat-free dairy products, and intake a variety of protein-containing food (preferably more amount of plant-based proteins, such as beans, peas, soy products, etc.). 
• Avoid consuming processed food items 
• Try more backed, grilled, and boiled foods instead of fried them to reduce fat intake.
• Liquid oils like olive oil and canola oil are healthier than solid fats like butter.
• Limited use of packed food items 
• Rinse canned fish products before eating. [1]

What is clean eating? Why is it important? How can we obtain a clean eating process?

Clean eating is based on food hygiene that ensures the safety of food from production to consumption. Clean eating is not only restricted to food preparation and eating habits, but it includes harvesting, processing, storage, distribution, and transportation also. [3] Different bacterial growths such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Cyclospora in food items cause food poisoning. Besides these, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium botulinum, Cryptosporidium, Hepatitis A, 

Listeria monocytogenes, Shigella, Staphylococcus aureus, and Vibrio vulnificus are common micro-organism that causes different food-borne diseases with multiple symptomatic features. [4] Untreated conditions or ignorance of these infections can provide a fatal outcome. 

Children, the elderly population, and pregnant women are vulnerable to foodborne infections. A clean eating habit is essential to avoid such infections induced by contaminated food. 

Following are some general tips to obtain a clean eating process at home:

• Hand cleaning and surface cleaning are the most important parameters in clean eating habits. Experts always suggest using soapy water for handwashing. Chopping boards and food counter shelves are the surfaces that need washing and mopping for maintaining cleanliness. Wash hand towel and mopping cloth need to wash regularly with hot water. Properly scrub all the kitchen area and sink with detergent and a brush.
• Raw meat, fish, seafood, and poultry items are susceptible to microbial growth. Store them separately from other food items. Refrigerate them at in properly maintained temperature. Wash properly the plate or bowl in which raw meat, fish, or poultry items are stored before reusing them. 
• Cover the food items properly. 
• Safe internal temperature is essential during cooking and can be measured through a food thermometer. Leftover food items, egg dishes, poultry items, and ground meat require the highest temperature than other food ingredients. 
• Perishable food items, including fruits, and cooked food require freezing within 2 hours of preparation and purchase. The temperature needs to be properly maintained. The freezer temperature requires to be set at 00 F or less. Whereas 400F or less need to maintain in the refrigerator compartment. 
• Safe deforestation process is also required to follow can be possible by keeping the frozen food items in the refrigerator, adding cold water, or microwaving them. Never defrost at room temperature. [5]

The above-mentioned tips are only for household purposes. The food industry also has some responsibility in clean eating practices before it comes to our kitchen. Food industries need to take care of food handling by following all the food safety-related laws. 

What is the difference between healthy eating and clean eating? 

• Healthy eating promotes health and prevents different chronic diseases by providing essential nutrients. Essential nutrients regulate normal physiological functioning, such as hormonal secretion, metabolic process, cellular protein synthesis, cellular energy distribution, free radicals formations, bowel movement and strengthen our immune system to fight against diseases. But clean eating is a process through which we can prevent the entrance of harmful foreign bodies and/or particles into our body compartments. 
• Healthy eating mainly prevents non-infectious diseases, whereas clean eating prevents food born infectious diseases.
• Ignorance of healthy eating practices mainly provides long-term health hazards and the progression of chronic diseases with slow onset of symptoms. But ignorance of clean eating practices provides a quick reaction that provides a sudden outbreak that leads to a fast health hazard. In most cases, infections linked with unhygienic food practices are usually short-term. The outcome of ignorance of both eating habits can lead to serious morbidity and premature mortality.
• Healthy eating habit depends on the biological process, whereas clean eating habit depends on the mechanical process.

References

1. https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/ResourcesForYou/HealthCareProfessionals/UCM497015.pdf
2. https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/ResourcesForYou/HealthCareProfessionals/UCM507495.pdf
3. http://www.who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/food-hygiene/en/
4. https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/FoodborneIllnessesNeedToKnow/default.htm
5. https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/ResourcesForYou/HealthCareProfessionals/UCM577498.pdf

Know about anxiety

Let us know the origin of such an unexplainable feeling, which haunts many of us at least once in a lifetime. “Anxietas” is a Latin word from which anxiety term is derived. The literal meaning of anxiety is throttle/choke or upset or trouble that is omnipresent in almost every human being. Mental health science describes anxiety as a situational emotional behavior and occurs in a range of disorders. The intensity of anxiety disorders can vary from mild to severe and negatively affect mental health and cognitive responses. Mild to moderate anxiety is common in every individual in a stressful condition to adapt to the situation and provides a trigger to face the challenge. Hence, it is proved that you can be a victim of it at any point in time.

Anxiety disorders are associated with a wide range of psychological conditions, like panic disorder that may or may not associate with agoraphobia, panic, social anxiety, phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, acute stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and non-specified anxiety disorder. [1]

How physical health illness raises anxiety level?

Good health and good sense are two of life’s greatest blessings. Good health can help us to get an anxiety-free life. To maintain physical health we must follow some common tips to avoid an unnecessary load of ailments.

Individuals suffering from ill-health often have irritated mental condition, which build-up stress and causes anxiety. For example, how anxious do you become when you see sudden rashes in your skin? You must be surprised to know that allergy and anxiety have some correlation. Nutritionists found that anxiety symptoms worsen during food allergen attacks. Excessive anxiety even turns to depression. [2] Childhood anxiety has a direct link with food allergies. [3] Not only food allergy but aeroallergen trigger allergic rhinitis. Attack of asthma also directly impacts mental health by releasing stress-related hormones and alter immune system functioning.

But anxiety is not a solution. Allergy testing is the only way to identify the particular allergen for an individual. Depending upon the test result, avoidance of particular food and exposure to aeroallergens can reduce the onset of allergy and associated stress burden and anxiety. [2]

The Body, Mind, and Spirit are interconnected

The body, mind, and spirit can help to explain human beings in their entirety. The body is the materialistic part that dies. The mind helps the body to live, think and show emotions. Whereas the spirit remains an integral part of body and mind. According to the philosophers and religious beliefs, the spirit has no boundary. It can stay alive after the end of the body and mind.

Body, mind, and spirit have a connection with the personal peace and general wellness of an individual. General well-being maintains in collaboration with physical, psychological, and spiritual health and may all of us understand the overall homeostasis between physical and psychological parameters.

Let us find out what science says all about them. The clinical researchers explain personal world has a significant impact on the thought process of an individual about the outer world. Researchers also believe that our mental setup towards the surroundings influences the personal perception of the outer world. Besides personal thought processes, the environment of a particular surrounding plays a vital role in the mental status of any individual.

Emotional and cognitive well-beings are related to mental health. A healthy mental condition has the ability for the utmost utilization of emotional and cognitive functioning. Understanding reality along with attentiveness, memory power, and processing speed are vital to brain functioning. All these mental abilities have a direct relationship with physical health. [4] Moreover, psychoneuroimmunology researchers also discovered stressful emotions can modify white blood cell functioning.

On a lighter note, stress is bad and cannot burn calories to keep you toned. Let us find out what all the bad things that stress can do to you. Stress reduces the responsiveness of white blood cells against viral infection and invasion of cancer. Vaccination cannot work efficiently in stressed people. The delayed wound healing is a significant health issue in overstressed conditions. An even overstressed condition that is more common in anxiety-affected individuals can trigger some autoimmune disease condition. [5]

How is your health? This easiest question denotes an overall health condition of the external and internal body, rather than only the physical fitness. A strong intuition arises from our awareness which has an intricate association with physical health that creates a health concern when something goes wrong in our internal system. The strong association of neuroendocrine and central nervous systems plays a vital role in the organ functioning of the body. However, physiological functioning, such as immune functioning automatic physical process and does not depend upon our consciousness. For instance, a microorganism invades our physical health immediately antibody production starts. But the rate of production may depend upon mental health conditions. You may experience that your physical exercise training program restores a sense of personal control. All these examples indicate the relationship between physical and mental health.

Spirituality is much broader than this. It is a rational understanding of the inner and outer world. Spirituality creates a tendency to develop a meaningful sense of relatedness to every aspect of life. Spirit empowers our strength and prevents us from devaluing. Do not always relate spirituality to religious connections. Our family, friends, community, and even social involvement influence spirituality. Spirituality has a direct impact on mental as well as physical health. There are symbolic expressions present in the dance ceremonies of different traditions which can help to bypass the mind and directly link to the inner spirit. In cognitive behavior therapy, practicing meditation establishes the connection of spiritual peace, inner power, and recognition of situations. Thus, the mind, body, and spirit jointly help us to regain the sense of personal power and wholeness.

References

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3146193/
2. https://www.cchrflorida.org/can-anxiety-attack-symptoms-be-caused-by-food-allergies/
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5641835/
4. http://alfredadler.edu/sites/default/files/Stoffel%20MP%202013.pdf
5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5263188_The_mind-body_connection_not_just_a_theory_anymore

The eye is the most sensitive organ in our body. Poor eyesight reduces the self-confidence and quality of life of an individual. On the career front, it poses a negative impact and a significant threat to employment opportunities. Light exposure or high metabolic rate along with exposure to chemical and environmental toxins induces oxidative damage. These are some fundamental reasons for growing vision impairment cases all over the world. In 2002, the government of India collaborated with the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness to fight against untreated eye health issues. Evidence from clinical research recognized that nutritional intervention could be one of the measures to avoid the underlying cause of vision damage. Moreover, proper nutrition can impede the progression of eye diseases.

Nutrients for Preventing Eye Disease

Negligence of early preventive initiation and inadequate nutritional balance are primary reasons for eye disease. Essential nutrients such as vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin A (β-carotene), zinc, and copper are playing a role in maintaining the integrity of eye functionality. Although the general population is aware of the importance of these nutrients for eye health, but still, an emergent needs require knowing the exact dosing to obtain a significant effect. National Eye Institute of America has recommended daily dosage of these nutrients for people having a higher risk to develop age-related macular degeneration. However, the daily requirement can vary from an individual’s perspective. In general, the daily dosage of these nutrients is as follows: 

• Vitamin C – 425 mg
• Vitamin E – 400 IU
• Vitamin A – 28,640 IU
• Zinc – 69.6 mg
• Copper – 1.6 mg

All the nutrients follow some specific mechanism of action to prevent eye diseases and maintain eye health. Carotenoids, vitamin C & E, and zinc have potent antioxidant properties. Omega-3 fatty acids provide an anti-inflammatory effect that prevents the risk of age-related eye diseases.

Vitamin C

Oxidative stress damages fundamental structures of the body like protein, DNA, and RNA. The metabolic rate in the eye is high and tends to get intense oxidative damage. Vitamin C has sufficient antioxidant properties. Therefore adequate vitamin C in the diet can minimize oxidative stress damage. Vitamin C can be easily absorbed in the blood because of its water solubility. And reaches the eye tissues and prevents oxidative damage. Sufficient vitamin C consumption also enhances vitamin E production. Vitamin E is another essential nutrient with antioxidant properties. Different fruits and vegetables like orange, grapefruit, papaya, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, broccoli, cabbage, and tomatoes are natural sources of vitamin C.

Vitamin E

Light-sensitive cells of the retina present in the inner structure of the eye play a primary role in visual perception. The retina is made up of fatty acids and is vulnerable to oxidative damage. Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant that prevents lipid oxidation and also acts as a free radical scavenger. It also acts as a vasodilator and inhibits platelet aggregation. Vitamin E prevents inflammation by regulating the immune system’s functioning. There are different natural food items like almonds, peanuts, wheat-germ oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil which are good sources of Vitamin E.

Carotenoids

β-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin are three important carotenoids essential for healthy eyesight. Each of these carotenoids has a significant role in eye health and that are as follows:

β-carotene

β-carotene is present in different dietary products, acts as a pro-vitamin A in our body. This nutritional element assists in vitamin A levels maintenance in blood plasma. Vitamin A is essential for preventing eye dryness and night blindness that can occur in any age group. Lettuce, spinach, kale, carrot, apricots, broccoli, pumpkin, sweet potato are examples of certain fruits and vegetables that contain a sufficient amount of β-carotene. Individuals who have a higher risk to develop lung cancer should avoid excessive intake of β-carotene.

Lutein and zeaxanthin

Lutein and zeaxanthin are two carotenoids collectively referred to as macular pigments. They are primarily present in the retina and lens of the eye. The deficiency of these carotenoids can disturb the normal functioning of the eye. These two nutritional components are carotenoids. But they are not pro-vitamin A. These carotenoids also have antioxidant property decrease the risk of vision impairment. Dietary food items like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, sweet corn, peas, kale, lettuce, spinach are few rich sources of lutein and zeaxanthin.

Omega-3 fatty acids

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are two common omega-3 fatty acids. They have potent anti-inflammatory properties. Both EPA and DHA can effectively reduce the risk of eye diseases and other related visionary disturbances. These two omega-3 fatty acids can prevent oxidative stress and improve vascularization. Omega-three fatty acids assist in proper blood circulation in the retina. 

DHA is one of the primary fatty acids abundantly present in the retina and regulates thickness, permeability, fluidity, lipid-phase properties. Thus, DHA plays a significant role in photoreceptor-membrane functioning. Fish oil supplement is one of the most convenient ways to achieve the required amount of EPA and DHA.

Besides maintaining eye health, both of these omega-3 fatty acids can also prevent cardiovascular diseases. Omega-3 fatty acids have a preventive effect against atherosclerosis.   

Zinc

Zinc is an essential mineral. It can boost immunity and improve the functionality of the natural antioxidant of the body. It reinforces the eye’s functioning by upholding the cell membrane structure. It also has a role in nerve signal transmission, which is essential for sense organ functionality. Multigrain cereals, cooked chicken, yogurt, milk, cheese, corn flakes, cashew nuts, peanuts, and almonds contain an adequate amount of zinc. You should include these items in our daily food consumption list to fulfill the requirement of zinc.

Protein malnutrition is another primary reason for vision impairment, apart from the insufficiency of these micronutrients and bioactive dietary ingredients. Besides leafy green vegetables and colorful fruits, an egg on the plate every day helps to retain strong eyesight. Research evidence supported that the regular intake of sufficient green vegetables and an egg could reduce 18 percent of cataract incidences. This regimen is also highly recommended for growing children and adolescents.

Several dietary supplements are available in the market. But NitaNaturale promotes natural sources for nutrition because of the most cost-effective measures to keep our eyes healthy.

References

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3693724/
• https://jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(15)01183-1/fulltext
• https://www.macularsociety.org/sites/default/files/downloads/Accessible%20Nutrition%20JAN17.pdf
• https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/0911/
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266854432_Certain_Nutrition_Can_Help_Maintain_Vision_and_Eye_Health
• https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/files/Improving_health_worldwide_India.pdf

Are physical activities and exercise the same?

Some of us are often confused between physical activity, and exercise. Many of us have a thought that performing household works or occupational activities are enough for our fitness. It is true that during these physical activities our skeletal muscles move and we lose energy. But is this enough for health-related physical fitness? The answer is a big No.

Exercise is planned, structured, and repetitive physical activities that perform to improve or maintain physical fitness. Physical fitness is not restricted only to health-related but also has skill-related attributes. [2] In this aspect, yoga is one of the best forms of exercise. Yoga not only accomplishes the primary aim of the exercise but also promotes general well-being. [3]

What is the connection between yoga and exercise?

Aerobic, strength training, stretching and balance exercise are four primary forms of exercise. Marching in a place, squat, single knee rotation, knee lifting are examples of aerobic, strength training, stretching, and balance exercise. [3] But yoga is not merely a few postures (asanas) but an integrated system of actual physical fitness that promotes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Yoga envisages health in totality on the principle of a healthy mind in a healthy body. [4]

Regular practice of yoga is a part of a holistic lifestyle. Practicing yoga helps to execute all the goals of exercise that include maintaining or improving one’s heart and lung fitness along with building strength, flexibility, balance, and functional movement. Yoga is an ancient Indian mind-body technique. Worldwide yoga is not only popular as a way to shape up the body but for overall well-being. [5]

Yoga for Cardiovascular physical training

The combination of certain bodily postures (asanas) and breathing techniques during regular practicing of yoga provides a positive impact on both cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Trikonasana (Triangle Pose), Utkatasana (Chair Pose), Marjariasana (Cat Pose), Shavasana (Corpse Pose) are some asanas that help to improve lung capacity and heart rate. Practicing these yoga postures also regulates blood circulation in a better way and lowers cholesterol levels. Step by step performing these asanas broadens the heart muscles, stimulates them by starching the chest cavity to regulate heart rhythm, promote cardiac functioning, blood circulation, and stamina of the respiratory system. Altogether practicing yoga acts as a stress-buster. Performing different yoga postures allows the body to extensive bending and stretching accompanying breathing control. Pranayama or breathing exercise is an integral part of yoga that teaches how to regulate breathing. Pranayama offers immediate relaxation, detoxifies the blood, and helps to treat cardiac disorders. [6, 7]

Muscle-strengthening training

We often have a misconception that only athletes need to perform the muscle-strengthening activity. But the fact is that every individual needs to practice physical activities to strengthen their muscles. The strength of your body comes from the strengthening of your deep muscles present inside the abdomen. These muscles have a connection with the spine and pelvis. These muscles are core muscles of our body that play a vital role in positioning and controlling central body movement. Strengthening of core muscles is also essential for preventing lower back pain.

Ardha Phalakasana (Low plank), Purvottanasana (inclined plane), Sarvangasana (shoulder stand), Vasisthasana (side plank), and Virabhadrasana (Warrior) are five simple yoga poses that are very effective for strengthening core muscles. Your body becomes flexible and strengthens core muscles by regularly practicing these yoga asanas. [8]

One should perform muscle-strengthening yoga for the easy and efficient performance of all our routine tasks including household chores. Muscle-strengthening yoga enhances our capability to do physical works without any pain symptoms.

Flexibility training 

Flexibility is a crucial element of physical fitness. Stretching of skeletal muscle can improve flexibility. Flexibility is an adequate range of motion that is essential for performing everyday tasks, supports good posture and muscle relaxation. Adequate flexibility boosts performance and reduces injury.

In Western countries, Hatha yoga is the most recognizable form of yoga. The aim of practicing Hatha Yoga is to improve physical health as well as general well-being. Iyengar yoga inclines from the most classical Hatha yoga tradition specially designed for improving flexibility.

The regular practice of Iyengar yoga helps the body to become more flexible by providing the muscles and joints a higher range of motion. Iyengar yogic stretching helps to release lactic acid from the muscle cells into the bloodstream to avoid obstruction in muscular contraction. [9]

Balance training

Two types of balances are necessary to maintain the center of gravity during standing or sitting (static balance) and in walking (dynamic balance). Impaired balance increases fear of falling. Such problems are frequent with elderly populations. They often limit their activity level that reduces their confidence along with increases anxiety.

Yoga is a mind-body practice and also has benefits for body balancing. It is well established that yoga improves balance and other psychological factors. Hatha, Iyengar, Bikram, Kripalu, and Silver Yoga are different yoga styles. All these forms of yoga have well-established benefits in improving and maintaining body balance and suitable for elderly populations. [10]

Each of these styles is a bit different from the others. You may also notice some variations depending on the teacher. You must discuss with a yoga expert to settle the suitable style that requires achieving your fitness goal.

NitaNaturale is not describing how to do all these yoga asanas. Often misinterpretation of the written direction leads to in-vain the effort of the performer. It is always better to perform these postures under the guidance of a yoga expert. He/she can also suggest you the precise individualized yoga training program.

References

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1402378/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1424733/
3. https://www.health.harvard.edu/exercise-and-fitness/the-4-most-important-types-of-exercise
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4223195/
5. https://www.yogabradford.co.uk/the-difference-between-yoga-and-exercise/
6. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/more-than-a-stretch-yogas-benefits-may-extend-to-the-heart-201504157868
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4475706/
8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322643294_A_Comprehensive_Review_of_Yoga_and_Core_Strength_Strengthening_Core_Muscles_as_Important_Method_for_Injury_Prevention_Lower_Back_Pain_and_Performance_Enhancement_in_Sports
9. https://daneshyari.com/article/preview/2619161.pdf
10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3995122/

A flexible parental mindset is the foremost important management to deal with these challenges and to reinforce the holistic development among teenagers. Parents should consider every teenager is a person and has diverse needs. Parents need to recognize and respond to these requirements keeping flexibility in their minds. Both teenagers and their parents jointly participate in different awareness programs to increase their understanding of nutritional, personal, sexual, and environmental health and hygiene. This can help parents to update their knowledge and teenagers can be a better decision-maker to live a healthy life.

Supportive care to deal with physical changes

The physical transition during teenage due to the onset of puberty requires some supportive care to avoid misguided your child from unauthentic sources. [2] During this stage, following parental supportive care require to cope up with the changes:

• Give stress to build self-esteem and confidence to your child so that he/she can positively accept his/her physical changes. Do not compare with others or criticize them.
• Play a positive role model by eating and offering nutritious foods and healthy drinks. Teenagers require a more calorie supply to match the physical demand. Healthy eating habit at this crucial stage of life remains its benefits until their later stage of life.
• Encourage physical activity to burn excess calories and help to keep themselves physically fit. [3] This can help to develop a positive self-image and they also tried hard to become a role model for the society.
• Express parental love by showing respect to their physical space but keep in touch with maintaining an open level communication.
• Allow teens to apply grooming habits and accept their prolonged bathroom time to sustain a sense of control over their developing bodies in their advanced adolescence age.
• Answer sex-related questions honestly but in a knowledgeable way. Show them proper images and educational videos for better understanding by referring to educational websites.

Supportive care to build cognitive development

Your child may not decide their life at their nascent stage but start thinking of their life after reaching their teenage. The concrete thinking operation processing in the brain starts developing after seven years of age and is completed at eleven years. At approximately twelve to fifteen years of age, teenagers developed advanced reasoning skills. Teens usually give priority to their feeling during the thinking process because at this stage brain develops meta-cognition processing. Realistic thinking, logical strategies, memory retainment are the parts of cognitive development during adolescence. [4] These cognitive changes require the following parental supportive care:

• Carefully listen to your teens and show respect to their process to develop a genuine trustworthy relationship.
• Discuss with your teenage boy/girl about their opinion on different behavioral rules. And encourage them to act in a safe environment and deal with the consequences of the reality check.
• Give chance to your teens to take risky actions under your supervision in a fully controlled environment.
• Share your bitter experiences with teens and what you learned from them, so that they may not repeat the history.
• Provide an opportunity for teens and encourage them to participate in community services for their overall development.

Supportive care for psychosocial development

How teens interact with family and friends is an indication of their psychosocial development. Often psychosocial development of teens influenced by peer pressure, as they spend more time with their friends and lesser time with family. Therefore, both acceptable and non-acceptable social skills are developed, and teens practice them in the influence of their peer group. But teens tend to make their long-term decisions related to their education and values in the influence of their parental inspirations. But they used to showcase themselves as a cool guy and want to enjoy life. Their interest frequently changes due to their fickle mind. [4]

Teens have a demand for their own space and privacy. They are more curious about sexuality and want to know how their parents handled this issue, but unable to ask. They start reading different articles and watch the video to get the answers. Often, teens tend to feel they know to become argumentative and start questioning the values and judgments of adults. [4] Therefore, following supportive care help teens to build consistent psychosocial behavior.

• Provide a safe and structured environment where a teen can get the opportunity to create their behavioral guidelines and deal with the consequences. This will help them to become a responsible person for their actions.
• Keep a close watch on friends and associations of your son and daughter. Try to make a friendly relationship with parents or guardians of your child’s friend circles. Discuss your views about them with your daughter or son and aware of them if you don’t feel anything right about their behavior.
• Give enough opportunity to your home, so that teens feel comfortable to chill out.
• Do not forget to praise teens for their efforts, and accomplishments.
• Exhibit your cool acceptance of their physiological growth and development. Like, mother and daughter go for lunch to celebrate her first onset of the menstrual cycle or a father can arrange camping and enjoy it with his son when he starts to shave.
• Helps teenagers to attempt realistic goal and reward their achievements and do not forget to praise them. This helps them to know the requirements to live a healthy and happy life.
• Give your teens importance by listening to them carefully and spending quality time with them.

Different supportive care systems require to deal with behavioral changes that occur during teenage. Parents have to understand the situation from their experiences and provide support to overcome the behavioral challenges their teens faced during their adolescent period.  Parents need to be always calm and showcase their care about their child’s help to avoid developing aggressive behavior among their teenagers at this stage.

References

1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222714094_ISSUES_IN_HOLISTIC_DEVELOPMENT_OF_ADOLESCENTS
2. https://ceufast.com/course/adolescent-holistic-health-issues
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201497/
4. https://ceufast.com/course/adolescent-holistic-health-issues

We did not realize the importance of an organized lifestyle, which we followed before the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial phase of lockdown brought lots of changes in our thought. We realized our home is the safest place. And our family members are our best friends. To inspire others, we have started capturing and uploading pictures of our different happy family moments and commenting on posts of others on social media platforms. But we do not realize when it becomes a habit of many of us to stay online for a prolonged period. We used to catch up with our old friends on other social media platforms. Our connections are increasing day by day during this lockdown. Many of us installed different OTT channels on smartphones and SmartTV. ‘Financial Express’ reported a 60% growth in Amazon and Netflix subscriber base during this lockdown. [1]

‘Work from Home’ has become a trend and necessity during the Covid19 lockdown. Many organizations are allowing their employees to serve their job from home. This is a huge opportunity to earn money safely in this pandemic condition. Kids are doing school from their home through e-learning so that their education should not be bothered. But on the other side ‘Work from Home’, ‘e-school’ reduce traveling time, social interactions, and also disturb routine timetable. But we do not realize, ‘Work from Home’, ‘e-school’ trend already increase our screen time, then why should we spend our additional hours on screen. We often scold our children why they playing games on mobile, PC or laptop. But have we, adults comprehend how much time we spend on screen in this lockdown?

Is increasing screen time as serious as an addiction?

Spending screen time for a prolonged time can be classified under behavioral addictions. General people know the consequence of drug addiction, but their screen loving attitude may not know how harmful it is. The popularity of smartphone, Smart TV has a deep correlation with addiction. Most of the addicted people unable to control their behavior due to internal drive which inspires one to give priority to that substance and ignoring other activities. Currently in many families facing issues due to screen addiction symptoms of their loved ones. Frequent irritability due to alteration of mood, relatively low tolerance, salience, conflict, withdrawal symptoms, and relapse are addiction symptoms common problems of many families occur due to increase screen time. [2]

People stay at the same house, but instead of talking with each other, giving priority to the screen should not be a new normal. I know many of us may not take this seriously or think this is part of life in this social distancing moment. But ignoring addiction symptoms may create a new problem in the post-pandemic world.

I am very much optimistic about medical advancement and believe soon we will get the victory over COVID-19. But during this tough period, we must be more concerned about our current lifestyle, because this will negatively impact our post-pandemic health. Excessive screen time not only hampers mental well-being but can cause physical illness like backache, carpal tunnel syndrome, neck pain, headaches, insomnia, dry eyes and other vision problems, poor nutrition due to unmindful eating habit, weight gain or loss, poor personal hygiene due to using a mobile phone in the bathroom. [3]

How to diagnose?

I know if you tell any of your family members that he or she is screen-addicted, they will not believe you and may accuse you of the prejudice. Even you may be concerned about your screen-time. Like any other ill-health condition, screen addiction requires proper diagnosis. The following are five indications of screen addiction: 

• Constant thinking about past and future utilization of screen activities related to the internet, OTT platform, or others. 
• The increasing rate of screen time to gain satisfaction
• Unable to control repeated use of screen 
• Attempt to control screen use leads to depression, irritability, or mood swing
• Increasing online activities than the previous practice 

How to deal with screen addiction and normalize family life?

Not even me, the general population also have a belief that loss of self-control and free will are two factors that inspire one to get addicted. Therefore, self-control and some extent of restriction of free will in our lifestyle can prevent and treat addiction. Everybody loves to add fun to their lifestyle so that our daily life would not be boring. I am sharing some funny lifestyle measures, which will not only help you to stay away from the screen but also improve your overall well-being during this lockdown.  

Gardening

Gardening is a therapy that provides effective health outcomes at multiple levels. Gardening is a rehabilitation tool clinically applied for a personal change of addicted persons. Research evidence has proven that connectedness to nature triggers the positive emotions of the addicted person. [4]

The warm and sunny climate is perfect for gardening. It not only enhances the natural beauty of the home but also helps you to reduce depression, anxiety symptoms. Gardening improves life satisfaction, quality of life, and a sense of community, which are essential to cope up with the present situation. [5] You can select certain herbs like lemon balm, sweet basil, chili pepper for the kitchen garden. Whereas sunflower, lavender are some plants perfect for terrace gardening. They not only enhance the attractiveness of your garden but also have various medicinal benefits. If you do not have enough place in your home, do not worry! Pot gardening, bottle gardening are other options to deal with a screen addiction problem.

Diary writing

Addiction often diminishes the ability to express your feeling with others. Instead of taking verbal mode, start writing your feeling when you feel the urge to sit in front of your digital device. In such a condition, I recommend diary writing is to express your thoughts when you may feel lost and try to recover yourself. Because writing is the best way to communicate when an addicted person does not have control over words and creates unnecessary chaos in the family. Diary writing will also help you to capture this unforgettable condition when every individual is afraid of a Coronavirus attack. This will also help you to intact your feelings years after years. Here I also want to mention that you can also mentally and spiritually emancipate through passionate writing. [6]

Music therapy

Listening to music is an effective entrainment medium than abusing screen time. Replacing screen timing with an audio device is a smart decision to avoid boredom in this lockdown. Listening to music or playing music enhances dopamine secretion in the brain and can give an equivalent mental satisfaction of enjoyment. Also, the endorphins release helps to balance emotion. The benefit of listening to music also controls hypertension due to its vasodilatory effect. [7]

Opt for Off-screen activities

Before this lockdown, we did not have much time to spent in our home with our family members due to our busy work schedule. Then why should we waste this time by unnecessarily keeping ourselves busy in front of the screen? Generally, most of us have some hobbies, but we often don’t want to invest time in it. Most interestingly, many of us even do not know our hobbies, as many things remain unexplored in our life due to lack of time. Therefore, it is the right time to explore those regular activities that could make you happy. I suggest do it for your own, but not for social media posting to get appreciation. I recommend this as you do so, soon you become more conscious, which creates mental pressure that will never be your me-time. Some of you may find some surprising changes within you. Previously, you might have some different thoughts about your hobby, but when you explore those, unable to find the expected mental pleasure as you feel earlier. Our mind and body evolve with time, you may feel happiness after playing sports, but currently, when you try to play table tennis in your home you do not find that spark. You need to give some more time to redevelop your interest. In such condition, involve your family, may your child inspire you to play again. I also suggest exploring new things and discover yourself to resolve screen addiction. I believe the quality of life is not always a health-related term, but it about how much quality time we spent in our life. Positive thoughts during this lockdown can be the best time if you spent quality time with your family by maintaining social distancing. 

• During this Coronavirus pandemic, we have to stay at our home as much as possible to stay away from this virus. In this situation, cleaning and sanitizing your home is a very important job. Apart from this, sit with your family members and plan some home décor tasks to make your home cozier. 
• Practice yoga with your family is the ultimate healthful practice. But I know your children may not interest to do so regularly and gradually you also feel demotivated. If you losing interest to perform yoga or aerobic session every day, then dance with your family with some funny moves. I am sure, this will not only help to manage weight but also freshen-up your mind. I am sure your children also enjoy this activity and inspire you to maintain regularity.  
• Utilize this period to spread our traditional folklore to our next generation by learning and teaching thoseFolklore together by reading books, but not e-books or listening but not watching them in a suitable device.  
• We are mainly concern about our physical and mental health. But spiritual health is equally important for overall well-being. Set a time duration as a family-divine time to improve the spiritual health of your family. And practice it even after everything will become normalized.  
• We all believe, soon the time will come when we can go out without masks. Do not miss this time and inspire each other to the care of skin and hair so that your neighbors feel jealous of your natural makeover by effectively utilizing this time, but not wasting time to spending time on screen. 

The above is some of my mantras which can help you to bring your family harmony. It is always welcome if you invent some more tips to get yourself busy without spending unnecessary screen time. 

References

1. https://www.financialexpress.com/brandwagon/amazon-and-netflix-witnessed-more-than-60-growth-in-subscriber-base-during-lockdown-velocity-mr-study/1965362/
2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325744681_Is_smartphone_addiction_really_an_addiction
3. https://www.psycom.net/iadcriteria.html
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5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335516301401
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