Monday 9 September 2013

The Mighty Mitosis and Meiosis!!!

I have read about this several times in my school days, but it had never been so interesting as it was now. Reading about this was like listening to some fine music.

Reason : I am an expecting father now who is crazy to know more about the magical things that happen during gestation. Wow!!! It's amazing!!! Without this fission process, we would've stayed an unicellular. Probably a microorganism.

These processes divides our cells and makes us into a hundred trillion celled organism. That's around 100,000,000,000,000 cells. The ones who made this possible are the Mighty Mitosis and Meiosis

During Mitosis, 1 cell divides to become 2 cells. The first cell that gets divided is called the Zygote.

Well, how did we get this Zygote in the first place to start the Mitosis process? This is done by fusing 2 special cells (1 from father and 1 from mother) called Haploid cells to create a cell that's capable of dividing by itself. These haploid cells are created by the process called Meiosis.

Except Haploid cells - which have only ONE set of Chromosomes - other cells have TWO sets of Chromosomes.

Alright, which process occurred first? Mitosis or Meiosis? That's the chicken or egg story. 

A Christian would believe the first that would've occurred could've been Mitosis in Eve's womb with Adam's help resulting in Cain.

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Glycemic Index - We are What we eat...

It was in May 2011 during a training session in a fitness club, I got to know this term called Glycemic Index (GI). The one who introduced this term to me is the Fitness Trainer Robert Cliff Hoffman, a 22nd SEA Bronze Medal Winning Body Builder. Many thanks Bro!!!
After reading more about this Glycemic Index, it became apparent that GI food knowledge and Low GI food selection is important to everybody who wants to be in the pink of their health.

So, what is this Glycemic Index all about?
All foods with carbohydrates break down during digestion and release glucose into the bloodstream. If the break down is quick, glucose is released rapidly into the bloodstream causing high Blood Glucose Levels.
Glycemic Index is a scale that ranks carbohydrates by how much they raise blood glucose levels (when they break down and release glucose)  when compared with a reference food (usually Glucose).
The Glycemic Index of the "test food" will be determined by fixing the Glycemic Index of the reference food Glucose as 100.
The one that raises the blood glucose levels rapidly are High Glycemic Index foods. And the ones that releases the glucose slowly in the blood are Low Glycemic Index Foods. Low Glycemic Index Foods are recommended for its slow releasing properties.

What are the benefits of Low GI Foods?
  •     Low Blood Glucose Levels
  •     Low Cholesterol Levels
  •     Reduce Weight
  •     Reduce Heart Disease Risk
  •     Reduce Type 2 Diabetes Risk
What is Glycemic Load (GL)?
As the name implies, Glycemic Load is the measure of quality and quantity of the carbs in our food.
It can be arrived by the below calculation:
GL = GI / 100 * carbs(gms)
So, a 1/2 cup of Chana Dal which has 17gm of carbs and a Low GI of 10 will give a GL of 2.
And, 30 gm of White Bread that has 14 gm of carbs and a High GI of 70 will give a GL of 10.
Below is the GI list of some food items (approximate values):

Name Of Food
GI
Chana Dal
10
Lentils
29
Whole wheat Pasta
40
Green Peas
48
Brown Rice
50
Chick Peas
35
Kidney Beans
32
Lentils
30
Soy Beans
21
Tomatoes
15
Apple
40
Banana
51
Dates
103
Grapefruit
25
Orange
45
Pear
40
Watermelon
85
Cashews
27
Peanuts
27
Hummus
10
White Bread
70
Whole Grain Bread
55

Well, to cut the discussion short, prefer more Low GI foods over High GI foods. As simple as that :)
Some factors influencing GI:
  • The enzymatic action on foods with bran (hard outer layer of the grain including rice, wheat, oats, etc.) is normally slow due to the outer shell, thereby making them good low GI foods.
  • Highly processed foods are quickly digestible making them High GI foods.
  • Cooking softens foods resulting in rapid digestion after intake thus making them High GI foods.
Finally, I would like to remind my favourite quote that many would agree and practice.

"We are what we eat"
So let's eat healthy and think better :)

Saturday 5 May 2012

Gratis or Libre - Free Beer or Free Speech

The words Gratis and Libre are all about the adjective "free", the one thing that I like the most!!!

I was searching for a suitable title for my new blog and felt this would be just nice..
In fact I like libre more than gratis. Yeah, Free Speech over Free Beer... :)
As Free as in Freedom!!!

Gratis is Free Beer - something that has a price/value and is provided free of cost
Libre is Free Speech - the state of being free

Alright, guess it's enough for now. So, see you when I see you :)