Soma Purana

The so called "Blizzard of 2015" came and went. More than two feet of snow was expected. We got in our place about six inches. Very few places in north est (New England and eastern Long Island) were truly affected. We didn't even lose electricity. Glad blizzard was a flop. But the temperatures are brutal. It is 7 deg F right now.

Fat in the food we eat and the fat in our our body is called triglycerides. Each triglyceride molecule is really three fatty acid chains attached to glycerol. An example image is shown below. Fatty acid may be either saturated or unsaturated. "Saturated" means saturated with hydrogen, i.e., all carbon carbon bonds are single bonds. "Unsaturated" means one or more carbon carbon bonds are double bonds. The term "Saturated" or "Unsaturated" really refers to fatty acid and not to a triglyceride molecule. SFA is saturated fatty acid MUFA is monounsaturated fatty acid (one double bond) PUFA is polyunsaturated fatty acid (more than one double bond) Double bond decrease melting point. 

In this brief post, I just want to focus on words. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) - also called heart disease. "Cardio" means heart. "Vascular" means blood vessels. So, CVD refers to a class of diseases that involve the heart and/or the blood vessels.  The most common form of CVD is coronary heart disease (CHD). Coronary arteries – the blood vessels providing blood to the heart muscle  Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart.  Heart supplies blood to other tissues. But its own muscles need oxygenated blood too. So, these coronary arteries represent arteries that supply blood to heart muscle. In CHD, coronary arteries  become narrow and rigid, restricting blood flow to the heart.  CHD is also called ischemic heart disease.  ischemia   is a restriction in blood supply to tissues Another common form of CVD is stroke.  in stroke, the arteries supplying blood to the brain become blocked and blood flow is impaired.

Yesterday and today are pretty much washed out due to the blizzard. Schools and colleges closed yesterday and remain closed today. My Bikram yoga classes were canceled yesterday and today, which means I have to do two doubles later to make up. It didn't look like it was snowing hard when I looked out and probably it is not done yet. Glad Raghu is here so we two can clear the snow later from the driveway.

Milk, cheese, egg have no fiber at all. The best sources of fiber are (g per 100 g) wheatbran (40!) dried apricot (8.5) muesli (8.5) walnuts  (8.0) oatmeal (7.5) avocado (6.4) chickpeas soaked (5.4) lentils soaked (5.0) whole wheat bread (6.9), carrots (3.4), broccoli (3.5), string beans (3.4) are also great sources.

The numbers show percentage (by weight) of nacronutrients in some common foods. Table sugar, of course, is 100% sugar (basically, a disaccharide with glucose+fructose). Honey is 75% sugar because, the rest is water. The only macronutrient in OJ is pretty much sugar, but it is 10% because the rest is water. Wheat, rice, corn, oats all have respectable amount of protein, and the carbs are almost fiber.

I thought brown rice is different variety or species compared to white rice. I found out, brown rice is just less processed rice. White rice is produced by removing a layer under the husk called bran and germ. Both brown and white rice have similar amounts of carbohydrates and calories, but brown rice more nutrients (vitamins and minerals).