Delhi-based fitness expert and trainer Santosh Sharma shares a few tips to stay fit during a holiday:

- Avoid visiting a restaurant empty stomach. In such cases people end up eating much more. If you’re starving, eat a piece of fruit or have a glass of juice or water in the hotel itself. Later, while having lunch, fill your plate with lightly dressed salads, fish, seafood and lean meats. Fish and meats are hight in proteins and iron.

- Don’t eat unhealthy snacks or junk food like pizzas and burgers while travelling. Otherwise, you will end up gaining extra kilos. Pack healthy items like fruits, juices and low-fat yoghurts.

- Don’t overeat. Order a nice salad as a starter and then either share the main course with your partner or go for selected delicacies that you like. Also, eat slowly and chew the food properly.

- If there’s a mini bar in your hotel room, then lock it and hide the key. Look for healthier alternatives like local fresh fruits or salads. If you are abroad, then try out some local fruits which you don’t get here.

- Avoid local breads served with meals. Ask your fellow diners to keep the bread basket at the other side of the table or ask the waiter to remove it.

- A glass of wine or a bottle of beer with dinner is fine, but avoid too many drinks after the dinner as it may result in weight gain.

- If you happen to be at the beach, don’t end up indulging in lots of ice creams and sugary cold drinks to avoid scorching heat. Keep a bottle of water and some fruits in your bag so you don’t get tempted when you friends or family ask if you want any ice cream.

- Take out time and exercise for at least an hour daily even when you are out on a holiday. Nowadays hotels and resorts do have gymnasiums. Also, you don’t need to get up early morning to exercise. Do it when you feel like, but do it.

ians

New Delhi, May 22

“All the styling aids and chemical products I use through the course of the day is bound to take a toll on my hair. And then of course, there are the usual problems of pollution and stress, which just damages my hair further,” Sonakshi said in a statement.

The 25-year-old says she has tried using other hair oils, but in vain.

“I’ve tried oiling my hair regularly, but that still doesn’t seem enough to counter all the ill effects suffered by my hair on a daily basis. That’s when I discovered Vatika Enriched Coconut Hair Oil; it was actually recommended to me by my stylist,” she added.

Now she feels her hair looks “simply awesome” thanks to the product, which is said to be a pure coconut oil enriched with eight additional herbs like henna, amla, lemon and neem.

The brand also announced southern superstar Samantha Prabhu as its ambassador for south Indian markets.

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What, then, is a curry? It is a generic term to denote a wide variety of dishes originating in India, Pakistan, Bangladeshand Thailand and South and Southeast Asian countries. The common feature in curries is the use of more or less complex concoctions of spices and/or herbs.

Curry making is an art. It takes some practice and some deliberation to learn to put together the spices with seasonings and other flavours. Often, the curry label is given to any spicy dish or blend of spices that has an Indian or eastern flavour. Although the ingredients in curries may vary from one to the other, a good thumb rule is that a curry is a dish containing sauted onions, ginger, garlic and varying amounts of spices like turmeric, cumin, coriander, ginger, chili, cloves and fenugreek, among others.

A few days ago, I had an amazing curry made by grinding a coconut, fresh green chili, dried whole red chili and garlic sauted in coconut oil with raw mango and pumpkin, cooked to perfection and finished with coconut milk, jaggary and tamarind juice.

Believe it or not, each ingredient of a curry has a medicinal value. In fact, each of the ingredients have been used for thousand of years to treat a variety of ailments from stomach cramps to throat infections (although some believe curry has caused far more stomach cramps than it has cured). Also be warned: Those of European origin whose stomachs are used to milder cuisine may also experience the laxative side effects of the curry.

Traditionally, spices can be used whole and/or ground; cooked and/or raw. Spices may be added at different intervals during the cooking process to produce different results.

Curries are the inventions of individuals, curry houses and other restaurants to describe the general flavour of this kind of cuisine. For example the chicken tikka massala, which is one of the most hot selling dish in the West today, eventually boils down to being a derivative of the famous butter chicken invented in the kitchens of the Moti Mahal restaurant in India. However, the story of much loved chicken tikka masala does not end but rather marks the start of a new chapter of innovations and inventions.

Because of this phenomenal global demand for curry, hundreds of Indian restaurants serving Indian food have been established world wide. Also ready -to-eat Indian curries and food that was unheard of a few years back is fast emerging as a new mantra in the world-wide kitchens as the 15-year-old globalization effort is bringing rapid changes in the lifestyles of urban societies.

Here are some interesting facts about curry:

* Sake Dean Mahmed (1759-1851), an Indian traveller and surgeon, opened the first curry house in London in 1810.

* At last count, Britain boasted of over 10,000 curry houses.

* November 9 is celebrated in Britain as National Curry Day.

* A firm has developed Find-A-Loo curry which uses whole chillies to get that extra bite to cater to demands for a hotter than the hottest curry. The curry is also called Mother-in-Law’s Tongue.

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“I began to consider the effects of food when my father was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998. I started to research anti-cancer diets in hopes that he would try to hit it from all angles,” usmagazine.com quoted her as saying.

“Good whole foods are the way we have eaten for generations. It’s amazing how good you feel when you just cut out the processed stuff,” she added.

Bruce Paltrow, who was suffering from cancer and pneumonia, died in October 2002. He was 58.

ians

Make-up expert Nidhi Khurana of Brush Strokes by Nidhi, shares top five beauty products that every woman should carry with her:

Sunscreen: It should be applied after every two to three hours. It saves skin from getting pigmented.

Compact powder: It doesn’t take much time to apply powder on face. It not only controls sweat, but also covers blemishes.

Blush: Compact sized blush can be applied any time of the day. It helps to give a natural look.

Mascara: To enhance your eyes, make sure you carry this. You can also add more coats of mascara for a dramatic, smoky-eye evening look.

Lip gloss: This is the most important and effective make-up tool. You should always buy a shade that is right for you. Gloss looks amazing and will complete the look.

ians

The research carried by dating site Canoodle.com reveals that only 27 percent of women would say yes to something more than friendship with their closest male friend, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Most women are completely happy for their friendship with a male friend to stay as it is rather than progress to romance.

Men, on the other hand, are swinging the other way and are more likely to seduce their female friends.

Over half of the men surveyed said that they would want more than friendship from their close female friends.

Sean Wood, communications director of Cupid Plc, who conducted the research, said: “By and large, men are more likely to find their female friends attractive than the other way around, but sometimes this can lead to love. So you should always keep an eye on your Facebook friends list.”

ians

Chanel remains the queen of the Paris fashion shows a century after Coco Chanel opened her first boutique in Deauville.

The fashion house is marking its centennial under the leadership of creative director Karl Lagerfeld, who has rolled out a short film, “Once Upon a Time”, that tells the story of the start of Chanel.

Keira Knightley, the fashion house’s new face, brings to life the young but self-assured Coco, along with co-star Clotilde Hesme, who plays the designer’s aunt, who worked closely with Chanel until her death.

The black-and-white short premiered in Singapore last week along with the fashion house’s new cruise collection, showing the hard times experienced early on by Coco Chanel, who revolutionized the way women around the world dressed.

“Once Upon a Time”, which was made in two days, faithfully reproduces the street where the first Mademoiselle Chanel boutique opened in 1913.

Coco Chanel selected Deauville, a small town on the Normandy coast, as the location of her first boutique because it was a popular destination for the aristocracy and elites of nearby Paris.

ians/efe

New Delhi, May 13

The 34-year-old follows a strict diet plan.

“I love my food and get all the required nutrition from food only, no supplements. I am eating healthier stuff like stir-fried vegetables, spinach, chicken soup, grilled mushrooms or fish and eggs in all forms,” Bipasha, who was last seen in “Aatma”, said in a statement.

“Basically I mix a lot of green veggies with meat and instead of six small meals now I eat eight to boost my metabolism,” she added.

“When my body craves sugar I eat an apple. It’s like a quick fix. After a wheat grass shot, I take five pre-soaked almonds.

“Breakfast is eggs and oats. When I eat wrong my trick is never to feel guilty just go burn it! I love desserts but now I am not having any sweets for a month,” she said.

ians

Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel have found that whether you look healthy or not, people who work in a stressful job with unfriendly colleagues have higher chances of developing type 2 diabetes, reports dailymail.co.uk.

According to Science Daily, an American news website for topical science articles, research showed that people who have friendly colleagues are 22 percent less likely to develop such diabetic condition.

They also found that people who think they are overworked or underworked have an 18 per cent higher chance of developing the same.

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Nearly all flights bound for Srinagar are reporting 80-100 percent occupancy and the final destination is Gulmarg, Sonamarg or Pahalgam.

Recent events that created tensions in the region seem to have taken away the charm of the Dal Lake and world famous gardens due to security fears. However, a tourist rebound is taking place due to popularity of destinations like Gulmarg, travel industry insiders here say.

“We had a downside in arrivals for a while due to some recent events here. However, things are improving and we hope to continue with our last year’s performance in the coming months,” Shafiul Alam Ishaque, general manager, RK Sarovar Portico, told IANS here.

“Though security still remains a concern, Srinagar is attracting a lot of transit tourists for places like Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Pahalgam which are easily accessible from here.”

Other travel industry professionals say what is attracting tourists to destinations like Gulmarg is the natural beauty, snow and winter sports activities even in the month of May.

“Destinations such as Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonmarg have become must-have inclusions on a holiday to Kashmir. Srinagar serves as the base-camp for trips to Gulmarg and Pahalgam,” said Mohit Gupta, chief business officer (Holidays), MakeMyTrip.

“The snow in Gulmarg even in the summer season and its spectacular beauty make it a truly memorable holiday destination,” he added.

Carriers like Air India are getting healthy passenger loads on its Delhi-Srinagar and Mumbai-Srinagar flights thanks to the transit travellers to places like Gulmarg.

“The average load factor on both flights is 80 percent and around 92 percent on the Delhi-Srinagar rout. We expect the load factors to go up,” a senior Air India official told IANS in New Delhi.

Gulmarg’s tourist industry insiders say that around 150-200 tourists in groups are flocking to the Valley, only to be lured away from the houseboats of Dal Lake to the high mountains where there is still plenty of snow.

“We still have snow in some lower reaches of Gulmarg, at the higher reaches which can be reached by gondola (ropeway); there is plenty of snow and even snowfall,” said Nazir Ahmad, a ski and tourist guide at the tourist spot.

“We have enough snow to at least support winter sports like skiing, while most of the tourists are happy to play in the snow.”

Gulmarg which means “meadow of flowers” is famous as a skiing destination and with the abatement of militancy in the area, it has quickly become one of the state’s most visited destinations.

The hill station also boasts of the longest and highest ski resorts in Asia on the slopes of Afarwat hills of the Pir Panjal Range. The place also houses “Gulmarg Gondola” which is one of the world’s highest cable car, reaching 3,979 metres or nearly 13,000 feet.

The hill station is accessible from Srinagar in under two hours by car or bus.

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