Lifestyle here in the US had hit us pretty hard, especially the health aspect and the shocking statement from a doctor mentioning that many packaged foods have very little nutrients that are actually healthy. So we have made it a point to look closely at the nutrient information before purchasing any product for that matter. Rice has always been an important part of our day to day lives, especially for Indians like us until recently but we forced ourselves to switch to brown rice instead of white, and reduced consumption in lower quantities over the week instead of avoiding it entirely which would be very hard.  The premise for all these changes was due to the results from a “CPR blood test” which indicates inflammation in blood and risk for developing heart disease. A very useful test, but at the same time if the results are high then that would indicate “poor diet,” though you think that you have been eating pretty healthy, though not entirely. So back tracking the diet for the past couple of months indicated a lot of soda, a small can everyday during summer months, eating white rice, white flour products and several other packaged food items. Also, trying to make a switch from white products to whole wheat, fruits and vegetables is pretty difficult for us but possible.

In addition to these changes, working out is another thing that we Indians need to add to our schedules, at least a couple of times during the week. Joining a fitness center and getting a trainer would be ideal if you are willing to spend some money to get you back on track, which I would highly recommend in order to understand weight trainings in more detail and getting better results for the time spend. We have been eating a lot of fruits both fresh and dried, which includes mostly berries (strawberry, blue berry, black berry etc), which I read in some health magazine as being nutrient rich. Also a couple of interesting things that I have noticed, while reading up online and in magazines includes, eating free range eggs which are supposed to be lower in cholesterol than regular eggs (based on some study), citrus fruits, beets, celery, chili peppers, pumpkin and their seeds, fresh turmeric, purslane and kale are all supposed to be good, although I haven’t really found purslane or kale at any of the grocery stores I usually shop.