My Dissertation Topic: Herbs and the body.

September 30, 2019 trulyraisa1 Comment

Hello everyone! In just a week I will be starting my third year in university so I decided to talk about my dissertation topic! It’s all about herbs and the affects it can have on some of the systems of our body. Is it good for us? Should we stop eating herbs?

Shall we begin?

So, to explain in detail and in a simple way, herbs are known to have some effects on our body and in a good way. It has been experimented and there are a lot of studies on herbs and the effects it has on our body. My dissertation is focusing on two different things, the effects it has on glucose levels in the body and the antioxidants in the body and the two herbs I am focusing on are Rosemary and Sage.

Glucose is a sugar component that can be found in food sources and is part of the carbohydrate family. Glucose is very important in our bodies and it can be digested and stored in our bodies for use when we are fasting and not eating. The process for glucose being stored and digested needs insulin which is a hormone that allows the process of glucose use in the body. I hope this is all making sense! In some bodies insulin stops being produced and the glucose levels in the body become irregular. This then leads to illnesses such as diabetes. Some foods help maintain and regulate glucose levels in the body, my dissertation is researching the effects of rosemary and sage and what happens to the glucose levels in our body after we have consumed these herbs.

Antioxidants are components that could be found in food sources and are very beneficial for health and reducing what is called ‘oxidative stress’ in the body. This oxidative stress can damage body cells and can lead to illnesses and diseases such as atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes, heart attacks and cardiovascular disease. These antioxidants can be found in herbs that I am studying which is rosemary and sage. My dissertation will be focusing also on the antioxidant activity in these herbs.

So that’s basically what my dissertation is about, in a nutshell. It’s very lab-based and will be very interesting! I will keep you all updated about the progress of the project throughout the year and hopefully it all goes well!

That’s all I had for this week! If you have any requests or any topics you would like me to discuss than be sure to let me know! I actually have a blog post planned which is a little different from what I usually write about and it is more nutrition based.

-Yours Truly, Raisa

Meal Prep #2

June 17, 2019August 13, 2019 trulyraisa2 Comments

Hello everyone! I’m back this week with a post that I have previously done in the past! If any of you don’t know I did a ‘Perfect Ingredients for Meal Prep” blog post a while ago so scroll down more on the nutriton page and you should find it there! Moving on to this post, shall we begin?

In the previous meal prep post I talked about ingredients that would be perfect for meal prep but this time I have a few ideas of meals that would be easy to cook and take with you for lunch for work or school!

Sticky Rice with chilli chicken- I never tried sticky rice before but one of my university friends taught me how she makes it and for those of you who might not know you might not find this very hygienic but it’s not so bad. The trick to sticky rice is not to wash the rice, and this may sound unhygienic but you’re essentially going to be boiling the rice and any bacteria or dirt would be killed in boiling water. FUN FACT: In the Middle Ages when medicine wasn’t so advanced surgeons would disinfect their equipment by boiling them and if that worked for the equipment then surely for rice it should be fine! ( Just clarifying my case in case anyone opposes!) Regardless whether you want sticky rice or just normal rice chilli chicken could be a good option to go along with it! And this is literally boneless chicken covered in chilli sauce so it’s almost effortless to make!

Mixed Salad bowl- If you’re like me and like to take salads to work then this could work for you! Salads are very easy to make and quick too so you can literally throw any vegetables in a box and call it a salad! What I would recommend is the basics some cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, mozzarella chopped into cubes, cherry tomatoes, couscous and if you wanted instead of mozarella you could have some grilled chicken on the side! For salad dressing put two tablespoons of olive oil with one table spoon of vinegar and two tablespoons of lemon juice (you could add more if you like) and season with herbs or store bought salad herbs. I don’t know any salad herb dressings that you could find in London because we always by ours when we visit Germany and theirs is delicious! But you could add mixed herbs to the dressing and it should give a similar if not the same taste.

Pesto prawn pasta with salad- I remember going to Prezzo restaurant once and eating this! It was so delicious so I thought it would be a good lunch idea! I’ve never cooked pesto sauce before but everyday is a new day to learn something new right? Well mixing pesto sauce with pasta and some prawns is absolutely delicious! In the restaurant they served it with a small bowl of salad but it is your choice if you would add salad or not?

Grilled Salmon and rice- If you’re a seafood lover then this is the one for you! It’s very quick and easy to grill a piece of salmon and boil some rice to eat together! I would top it with some green beans or maybe asparagus? I’m not sure about asparagus I’ve never ate it but it’s a vegetable that is packed with nutrients such as folate as well as vitamins A,C,E and K!

Classic stir fry: Another idea for a meal that is easy to cook is cooking a classic stir fry. sauté some of your favourite vegetables and flavour them with soy sauce, I like to use red chilli powder and mixed herbs as the base ingredients and if you want to make it add any extra flavours or spices you’re welcome to do so but those are my base ingredients when I cook stir fry. If you want to add chicken to it then you can do so but maybe try to add something different like prawns etc.

That’s all I had for today, I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time…

-Yours Truly, Raisa

Iftar and Suhoor ideas.

May 25, 2019July 3, 2019 trulyraisa2 Comments

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog, its been a little bit of a while but I am back! Also wanted to wish all my fellow Muslim followers a happy Ramadhan! Which brings me on to today’s topic! Some ideas for iftar and suhoor!! Shall we begin?

So before we begin, I would like to point out that most of these ideas I have found from the internet or through cooking apps. But I will let you know where I found these recipes and ideas from! Let’s begin with Suhoor…

Suhoor

Personally, I’m always full from iftar so my suhoor doesn’t have anything special. I usually eat cereal with a bowl of yoghurt after or a sandwich. But I always stumble across some suhoor recipe or idea on instagram that I really want to try but never end up making. I swear I’m not lazy I’m genuinely tired at that time!

Eggs generally tend to be a good suhoor idea whether it is scrambled or fried egg or even boiled it is a good idea to have eggs accompanied with something. I had scrambled eggs with cherry tomatoes and a slice of toast for suhoor once and I didn’t feel hungry all day!

Oats is also another good idea! For the beginning of Ramadhan I used to eat granola with yoghurt literally every suhoor, it’s a lightweight but filling alternative for someone who maybe had a heavy iftar earlier and feel like their stomach’s going to burst with so much food! I’ve also seen some blogs recommending overnight oats but I’ve never tried it myself, I will put a link to a recipe! Overnight Oats Recipe.

Pancakes are also a great way to go! You can decorate these pancakes any way you can,

Fluffy-Pancakes-New-CMS — These pancakes look so good, can someone make them for me?!

maybe add a few strawberries or blueberries. I know the way we make pancakes in the UK is different to the way they make it in America, but if you would like something filling maybe try the American style of pancakes accompanied with some fruits! Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes.

Iftar:

For iftar my family generally eat quite heavy (even though it’s not on purpose!) We tried to find healthy alternatives but they didn’t last very long! So, instead of sharing our failed attampts at eating something aesthetically healthy I will share with some you some more recipes that I found would be pretty cool iftar ideas!

Salads are one of the things I really wanted to eat more of this Ramadhan, but it didn’t work out, nevertheless I found a delicious and healthy salad bowl you could try! Lebanese Fattoush Salad. This salad contains Fattoush which is a mediterranean fried bread salas that would be useful as a starter or even a main course!

Another recipe I found was another Lebanese dish which is called Shish Tawook and it is

Shish-Tawook-Lebanese-Chicken-Skewers-6932.21 — Shish Tawook.

basically grilled chicken skewers, the photo of it looked delicious so I thought I would share it with you guys! Shish Tawook Recipe.

Another recipe I found to be a delicious and healthy iftar idea is Grilled Chicken Burrito Bowl. This is perfect for anyone who is a burrito lover. All you have to do is add your favourite burrito ingredients in a bowl and whip up a bash of quinoa and you’re good to go! It’s time efficient too, If you’re in a rush to cook something special! Grilled Chicken Quinoa Burrito Bowl.

That’s all I had for today! If you have any special Ramadhan ideas for Suhoor or Iftar then comment down below! I hope you enjoyed today’s delicious special post!

-Yours Truly, Raisa

The Secret Life of Childhood Obesity.

February 8, 2019February 8, 2019 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Hey guys! I’m back with another post! Today’s topic is Childhood Obesity and is a topic I am particularly interested in so I thought I would share some of my thoughts on it and hopefully start up a debate on the increasing amounts of childhood obesity in UK. Shall we begin?

The reason I decided to talk about this topic was because I was discussing it with my friends one day. In the UK there is rising levels of obesity in childhood and it has started to become a national worry. There are so many things that are causing this and these are what I think are the reasons people can’t clearly see.

One reason that we may not realise that is a cause is that there is lack of education about nutrition, eating a balanced diet and the importance of it. Instead children have very few P.E lessons in school a week. Some kids may save their lunch money and don’t eat at school and instead spend it at the local fast food after school . Believe me when I tell you that after school, the masses of children that are either at the local fast foods or at a local shop buying nothing but unhealthy food is insane.

Following up on the after school frenzy, parents give their children pocket money and 90% of their money goes into the unhealthy food they eat after school. The reason why parents may not know about this is because most children in high school come home on their own after school, and on the way back they may go to the local shop with their friends picking up whatever unhealthy food they can see.

I know, I’ve seen it myself.

Parents may also not recognise their child as being overweight or obese and just may find it offensive when you tell them their child is overweight. Of course a parent’s love for a child blinds them in different ways and no one is at fault about that, but unfortunately it is also a factor.

So, these are not all the reasons why there is a rise in childhood obesity, because I only wanted to share with you all my view on the secret side of childhood obesity and things parents or teachers may miss everyday. These issues need to be dealt with not only in the UK but worldwide and that will only happen when we decide to open our eyes to what’s in front of us and try to think objectively about our new generation. I for one, want them to be a fit and healthy generation who may live long rather than fall prey to the tragedy of things that come after obesity.

That’s all I had for today. I know it was a very very different type of blog post than what I usually do but it is an issue I am passionate about solving in the future one day. With that being said, I hope you all have an amazing day!

-Yours Truly, Raisa

Update: A day in the life of me!

January 25, 2019May 13, 2019 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Hello! I am back with another blog post! Everytime I sat down and thought about what to blog about my brain would just go blank so it took me some time to come back with another blog post! I realised I talk a lot about nutrition but I have never shared my own experience and how I go to attempt to maintain a healthy lifestyle (small emphasis on attempt) Today I’m coming all out and being honest! So, shall we begin?

My everyday diet:

Firstly, I’m going to discuss my diet. I wouldnt say that I had the most healthy diet, I dont think everyone can say that they have a fully healthy diet so I dont think I’m alone. To be completely honest I think we throw around and emphasise the idea of eating ‘healthy’ and it could all just be a myth. Just think about it, in nutrition we are taught that we need a little bit of everything including carbs and fats and proteins and all our vitamins and minerals. We have the idea of carbs and fats that we shouldnt be eating them and people tend to avoid fatty foods and foods that are high in carbs. But in reality, we also need everything to be able to have a balanced diet and to be able to survive.

Now going back to my diet, it is a little complicated when talking about my diet because I am British Pakistani and in my home we eat Pakistani food as a family during the evenings, so I find it hard to add into a food diary without having to explain what ingredients are used in a certain dish. Some Pakistani’s reading this might know the struggle as we put a lot of different ingredients and spices into our food. This is why its hard to differentiate if I am eating healthy or not.

Physical Activity:

Physical activity seems to come hand in hand with diet. When we eat we are consumign a lot of energy in our food and there should be a balance of how much energy is being input in our bodies (how many calories we are eating) and how much energy we are expending (expending energyh through physical activity).

I wouldn’t say that I have an intense level of physical activity, however because of my busy schedule I know that I’m not always sitting still! My daily routine doesnt leave me any time to go to a gym or go running so, whenever I know that I dont have to go into work and I also know that I have an afternoon class at university, I make sure to be up early and doing at least 30 minutes of exercise. Adding that on top of the amount of walking I have to do to get to university and also doing household chores, I woud say my physical activity level isn’t too bad but it could definitely be improved!

As long as you are eating a balanced diet and also completing some form of physical activity during the day you can happily pat yourself on the back and say that you are leading somewhat of a healthy lifestyle!

That’s all from me for now, but if you do have any ideas about what I should blog about next, then please let me know in the comments below!

-Yours Truly, Raisa

Update: Where I’ve been.

November 14, 2018February 3, 2019 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Hey guys! Guess who’s back after her long hiatus? Well it’s not me, so time to cry buckets. 😦 But I am back to give you an update on where I have been and when I will be back! Let’s get started!

So for the past few weeks, I have been just so busy working on all my assignments because I am such a good student that I have to be on top of everything. (It’s a joke, I’m probably the most laziest!) So me being me I was stressing over all my assignments.. I also had a few family weddings to attend which also ate a huge chunk of my assignment time so it lead to more stress but ultimately more procrastination (As I am totally doing right now!)

Now that that part is all done I have even more of a headache because in 2 weeks I have a presentation to give which date isn’t even confirmed *smacks head against a lot of books* but I also have a report due on the supposed same date which I have only written like two lines about! Well technically I was doing my research on that so it doesn’t count as procrastinating but my progress level is literally 1.

That being said, the next two weeks will be filled with more stress but knowing myself I tend to get shit done on time. But I have another week which will be filled with last minute packing for my trip back home to Pakistan!

I will be taking my iPad with me so I will be able to blog and show you some pictures! But I also need to be revising for my exams so I will also be cramming revision (Does the stress ever end?)

But dont worry, I’ll be back before you know it with some more entertaining content that I have planned! So all should be fun in the New Year! But for now, it’s really farewell for the next month of so…. 😦

-Yours Truly, Raisa

My semi-hiatus.

October 21, 2018February 3, 2019 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Hey hey hey! Welcome back to another post! I’ve been missing for at least 2 weeks and I’m here to give you all an update! Shall we begin?

So first thing to address is why I have partially been on hiatus for 2 weeks. The first half of my university semester is here so that means I have deadlines piling on and I want to really focus on my assignments for a while so I have my best chance at doing better than last year. I’m very conscious when it comes to grades because even though I have never failed so far I am always competing to get a higher grade so I want to surpass my limit at this point. I’m actually motivated this time!

I do have some fun posts planned and I hope to be more active on the blogosphere by checking out some other blog posts and blogs, so if you have any blog recommendations let me know!

These next few months up until January will be a bit hectic because I have a few weddings to attend here in London and in December I will be going back home to Pakistan! When I am there I have another wedding to attend and during my free time there I have to revise for my exams for the beggining of January, but after that I will be back to blogging regularly and When I finish these assignments I will put a few more posts up before focusing on exams.

I really dont want to go on a semi hiatus but it is necessary and I promise you all I will be back with some new content! More posts on nutrition as well as some brand new catergories so make sure to stay tuned for that!

I promise to be back very soon and I will work harder for you!

-Yours Truly, Raisa

How to keep up a balanced diet as a student

October 1, 2018February 3, 2019 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Hey everyone! I’m back after a very long time with another post! My university classes started and I had so much stress on my head that I became ill and after that I never had anytime to myself! So, I’m back today with a post about keeping up a balanced diet and eating all the right nutrients as a student! Shall we begin>

One of the things first is one bad habit I have recently gotten over. It’s called stress eating, As a student we all have that time where we are stressing over the latest assignment or exam and we cant help but stress eat! I used to do it and I gained weight because of it! The way I got rid of it was because I had someone notice i had gained weight and they actually frowned at me so I vowed to consume less food and to only consume enough that will make my hunger content, In other words, not to eat excessively. And even if I was tempted to eat something I know I shouldn’t be, I would always remind myself of that promise I made for myself.

Of course that doesn’t work for everyone.

So if you are a food junkie like me and find yourself stress eating the best way is to either make yourself a promise and keep by it, or if that doesn’t work swap that piece of chocolate for something different, it could be something like a fruit or yoghurt or a healthy snack. if you dont want to eat fruit alone you can always cut it up and put it into a bowl of yogurt of maybe make some toast. It doesn’t always have to be fruit that you are snacking on. It can be nuts or vegetables as well. because like this you will be consuming vitamins and nutrients as well as stress eating. Just don’t eat too much!

As a student who is in university and doesn’t rely on their mothers home cooked food every night anymore, it must be hard to find time to cook right? The best way to overcome that is to find time in the week and cook a meal that can last you a week. This is called meal prep and you can find a post about it on one of my earlier blog posts! The way I prefer is the best way is to prepare a few different ingredients that you can store in the fridge and just throw together on a plate and that way it wont take time to cook and you have a variety of meals!

Its important to keep up with meals and not to skip any! And try to eat more nutrient rich foods and less pre-packaged foods as you dont know what exactly is in them or how they were prepared so I personally dont prefer it as a healthy option. Home-cooked food really is the best!

Are you a student? What ideas do you have to eat healthy as a student? Let me know your ideas in the comment section and dont forget to give this post a like!

-Yours Truly, Raisa x