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An Awesome Healthy Combo: Coffee and Red Wine
I recently read some really great news. Coffee in the morning and red wine in the evening are good for you. In moderation, of course. Specifically, they help prevent the onset of Alzheimers, along with providing some other really wonderful health benefits that I will get into below. Sure, I had heard this before when various studies came out but it took one article that combined both of these pieces of good news to get my attention. See, now morning and evening are covered. 🙂
But what does any of this have to do with the yin and yang of life in India? Â I’ll tell you what – after years of living in the U.S., you kinda get used to having a Starbucks fix every now and then, and that of course is nowhere to be found in India. Now, don’t you tell me to go to Cafe Coffee Day for the same stuff. Please!
As for wine, two words: Selection and Cost. The first is much less than I’m used to, the second is exorbitant for the good stuff. Do you realize how sad that is?
Enough of my sob story. After all, I do get back to the US every other month or so, when I can have my fill of both – Starbucks as well as excellent, reasonably priced wine.  And, I admit that I do have some 4 bags or so of Starbucks ground espresso coffee beans in my freezer in Mumbai. It’s just so much tougher to bring a few month’s worth of wine from there. Sigh.
But, let’s get into the benefits shall we?
First, the coffee –
The important characteristic and ingredient (for good health, that is) you are looking for in coffee is the caffeine. So, if you feel somehow healthy ordering a decaf, you’re all upside down. It reminds me of the low-cal (go hungry) diet versus the low-carb (be healthy) version. But, I better not get on that soapbox now.
Have you noticed how after you drink coffee you feel more alert and more, for lack of a better word, active? It’s apparently not your imagination. Coffee’s benefits include improved alertness, better moods and endurance for physical activity as well as enhanced memory. So, the wonderful taste of coffee? Well, apparently that’s just thrown in for free.
I love this kind of good news!
So, all in all, studies have shown that coffee – the fully-caffeinated kind –Â helps against Alzheimers, liver disease, Parkinson’s, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer and gallstones.
Just remember, moderation means one or two cups a day. Enjoy!
Now for the wine –
Specifically talking of red wine here (my favorite, so I really don’t care to write about the other kinds), this too offers a range of health benefits. Because the consumption of wine is all too easy (except when you are an expat in India…), it’s a good idea to define moderation first. According to health experts, for a woman, that means one glass a day and for a man, that means two, where a glass of wine is defined as 4 ounces, no more. Â
A word of caution here. Â Say you don’t have wine for a four day period, please don’t drink a bottle on the fifth day to makeup for the lapse! You simply don’t get the same benefits, plus your head will pay for it sooner rather than later.
Great quote on the wall...somewhere
According to scientists, the key to the health benefits of red wine lie in the antioxidants, or flavonoids. Flavonoids help to reduce the production of LDL (also known as “bad” cholesterol). They also have the effect of increasing HDL (“good” cholesterol). These combined effects help to prevent blood clots and improve the lipid profile overall.
A recent study also proposes that red wine is good for muscle mass. Other claims about red wine go beyond cardiovascular benefits. A number of studies have discovered that an antioxidant concentrated in the skin of the grape, resveratrol, may actually help inhibit the growth of cancerous tumors as well as in the formation of nerve cells; therefore they be a factor in the treatment of  diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Dry red wines – cab, pinot noir, shiraz – have more antioxidants than less dry wines such as merlot or zinfandel, so the related benefits are obviously higher as well.
Now, do you all really need any other excuse…er, I mean reason, to indulge? Let’s drink to all of that, shall we? Â Cheers!
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Safe and Warm in the City of Mumbai
Call me Pollyanna if you must, but I believe that people are generally good until proven otherwise. However, it’s very difficult to stick to this truism in many places around the world, especially the very large metro areas. It’s not that people are not good there, it’s just that we see very few demonstrations of it.
Either its a New York City where you are invisible – just one of the multitudes lost in the crowds, or it’s Los Angeles where again you are invisible – in the vast expanse of neighborhoods. Actually, I take that back, in NYC, sometimes you are not invisible but you wish you were, because someone else was rude to you just now…:)
I do see a difference in some of the southern US cities, and I see a difference in smaller towns, wherever they may be.Â
Not that it’s a small town by any account, but that brings me to Mumbai. Â I’ve compared its similiarities to NYC in another post but there are a couple of major differences.
Safe and Warm in the City of Mumbai!
For one, in Mumbai, people are warm to others. You may be a stranger or you may be a lifer, whatever the case may be, you are rarely invisible, and it’s even rarer to encounter rude behavior. People generally have a ‘live and let live’ attitude, and they are helpful when you need help. This is why I enjoy taking my visiting friends and showing them around the city. The weather may be unbearable in summer, but its people are not!
Here’s another quality that may surprise you. Notwithstanding all the stories you hear about the Mafia underworld of Mumbai, this is a safe city. It is said that a woman alone can take a taxi at 2 am in the morning and feel safe about reaching her destination problem-free. I have never done that before. But I could, without being overly concerned, since I have heard about Mumbai’s safety so many times from so many different people. I can’t say I’d do the same in New Delhi! And I won’t even feel that comfortable doing so in Bangalore or Hyderabad.
People in Mumbai - Monsoon Sunday at Gateway of India
Now that I’ve been here for a few months, I really believe in these qualities of Mumbai – people are generally nice to you, and it is known to be a safe city for ordinary people. I say this while acknowledging but ignoring some very special cases such as 26/11 and even the most recent bomb blasts that occurred just a few days ago .  I relegate those to terrible acts of terrorism by a small fringe element – people essentially not from Bombay but seeking to destroy its very essence.
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So, back to the premise that people here are basically good-natured and warm. What I wonder though is, why is this the case?
Is it simply endemic to the region, i.e., are people from Maharashtra just built this way?
Or, rather, is it because Mumbai is a melting pot of so many different cultures from around the country (and world) that it has become that way?
I really don’t know the answer, but would sure love to hear others’ theories about this. Please, enlighten me!
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Photo 1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joezach/90248788/ {{cc-by-2.0}}Â
Photo 2: Sandhya – June 2011
The Yin and Yang of Life Anywhere 