A Lone Stranger

Is red meat bad for health? (Myths busted) (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images) While some Indians are open to the idea of a juicy steak, the majority seems to buy into the school of thought that considers red meat bad for health. Delectable, though creamy rich, red meat Indian gravies aside, it is possible to eat red meat and still live healthy. However, several myths about red meat abound. Some say it causes heart disease, obesity, cancer, even high cholesterol. How true are these claims? We take a look at these red meat myths, and bust them once and for all. 1. Myth about Red Meat: Red meat causes weight gain Fact: There are two separate myths here: 1. Red meat causes obesity: Red meat is like any other food, it comes with a certain number of calories. The more you eat it, the more calories you will consume. However, it is a more dense food, which means that its calorie count is higher (for the same volume) when compared to vegetables or seafood. However, this does not mea...

8 Indian spices that prevent cancer (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images) Not every battle is struck by a wave of violence and not every fight culminates in bloodshed. When the opposition in question is an adamant disease like cancer, our armoury should be packed with a lifestyle of regular health check-ups and a diet including foods that double as anti-cancer agents. When actress Lisa Ray was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a relatively rare cancer of the bone marrow, all she said was, "I'll beat cancer". Carrying this spirit of defeating a disease often labelled 'incurable', we try to find out diet methods, especially in the selection of spices that can avert the multiplying of malignant cells in the body that gradually mature into insurmountable cancer cells. Our grandmothers would in no time prepare us a glass of warm milk with saffron sprinkled on top when we went crying to her with bruise on our knee or wound on the elbow. The herbal turmeric paste soothed mino...

Grief can make you ill Can sadness leave you obese, diabetic or hypertensive? Yes, say doctors, whose research proves that heartbreak, career slumps and bereavement can kill She started out dreaming of a bright career and love. At 25, she hanged herself. In her last letter, actor Jiah Khan wrote of the pain a failed relationship had caused, how it had "destroyed every bit of me, destroyed my soul" and why she was "running away from everything". Khan encountered a frightening enemy — the grief following a romantic break-up and stunted career — and found that she was unable to battle it. In a first of its kind study on the motivations for suicide, published in the official journal of the American Association of Suicidology, two were found to be universal: hopelessness and overwhelming emotional pain. Heartbreak, divorce, the loss of a job, terror attacks, communal riots and accidents — the modern world is fraught with incidents that leave you grieving. The re...