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Hindustan Times
13-06-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
12 traditional Indian ways to approach food as per Ayurveda: Have slightly oily foods but don't eat too fast or slow
Are you looking for more traditional ways of approaching health and wellness? Specifically, are you interested in ancient practices like Ayurveda, one of the world's oldest medical systems, which originated in India thousands of years ago? In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Zankhana M Buch, chief medical officer of Apollo AyurVAID Hospitals, shared how you can incorporate Ayurveda into your diet and meals. Also read | Simple Indian khichdi can be ultimate detox meal for everyone Dr Buch said that Ayurveda doesn't simply prescribe what to eat; it reshapes how you eat — and why. According to her, the buffet serves as a living metaphor for modern food habits — 'mindless nibbling, incompatible pairings, and disruptive drinking patterns'. She said, 'Too many of us fill our plates with conflicting combinations — hot dishes paired with cold, dairy with citrus, heavy mains followed by rich sweets — creating digestive confusion. Meanwhile, cold, fizzy beverages shock the digestive fire (Agni), dilute enzymes, and throw off microbial balance. Even a single night of binge drinking can wreak havoc on gut flora and weaken immunity for weeks. Ayurveda doesn't moralise; it metabolises. Its guidance revolves around protecting or disrupting Agni, the metabolic intelligence at the heart of digestion and health.' Dr Buch added: 'Ayurveda does not cast judgment. Instead, it sensitises us to the profound intelligence inherent in every bite. It reminds us that each meal is an opportunity to heal — and each bite a choice to nourish body, mind, and spirit. So the next time you stand in front of an overflowing buffet, or reach for a hurried snack, remember: you have the power to eat with intelligence. Allow your food nourish not just your body, but your being.' 'Codified in classical texts and validated through centuries of practice', Ayurveda's eating principles offer an intelligent, preventive approach to nutrition, according to Dr Buch: 1. Eat warm, fresh food (Ushna): Stimulates digestion; avoid cold or reheated meals. 2. Include slightly oily foods (Snigdha): Aids nutrient absorption and balances dryness. 3. Portion wisely (Matra): Fill half your stomach with food, a quarter with water, and leave a quarter empty. 4. Wait until previous meal digests (Jirne): Avoid overlapping meals and snacks. 5. Avoid incompatible combinations (Viruddha Ahara): Like milk and citrus, or dessert right after a heavy meal. 6. Eat in a calm, clean space (Ishta Deshe): Your surroundings influence your digestion. 7. Don't eat too fast (Na Ati Drutam): Savour, chew, be mindful. 8. Don't eat too slowly (Na Ati Vilambitam): Finish before the food cools. 9. Avoid talking while eating (Ajalpan): Reduces air ingestion and distractions. 10. Avoid emotional disturbance while eating (Ahasan): Keep laughter and emotional upset away from the table. 11. Eat mindfully (Tan Manabhunjita): Focus fully on the act of eating. 12. Eat what suits you (Atma-Anukul): Based on age, season, digestion, disease, and constitution. According to Dr Buch, food isn't just fuel. It's code. It programs your immunity, metabolism, cognition, and emotional state. When you eat with intelligence, every meal becomes an opportunity to heal, to align, to live more fully. Dr Buch said that when it comes to food, timing plays a crucial role in guiding good health: 'Eat your main meal when your digestive fire is strongest; rest gently afterward rather than dozing off or rushing back to work. Make dinner a light, early affair. Sip water between meals, not during them, to avoid diluting digestive enzymes. Limit screen time and emotional upheaval at the table so that each bite remains a conscious act. Tune your food to your individual needs — your age, activity level, digestion, and even mood.' Here's what to keep in mind according to Dr Buch: 'Breakfast should be warm, fresh, sattvic, and seasonal. The early morning hours (6-10 am) fall under Kapha kala, when the body feels heavy and sluggish. Ayurveda recommends starting the day with warm, light, easily digestible foods to gently awaken the Agni. Unlike contemporary cold or processed breakfast fads that disrupt Agni, Ayurveda suggests real, wholesome, home-cooked meals using local staples. Avoid bathing after breakfast, as it can disturb digestion and cause Ama — the root of many imbalances. Instead, a warm bath before breakfast supports circulation and primes Agni,' Dr Buch said. She added, 'Midday, between 12 pm and 2 pm, marks the zenith of Agni. This is when your digestive fire burns strongest — your body is primed to extract maximum nourishment.' According to her, make lunch your largest and most balanced meal. 'Aim to include all six tastes — sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent — to satisfy both body and mind. Freshly cooked, warm dishes that balance the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, space) will fuel you for the afternoon ahead. Post lunch, practise a brief, power pause - sit in Vajrasana (kneeling posture), or upright with a relaxed spine. Close your eyes, breathing slowly and evenly. This short ritual helps digestion, calms the mind, and stabilizes blood sugar,' she said. Dr Buch concluded, 'Come evening, your digestive fire has begun to wane. Aim to finish dinner by 7 or 8 pm so that at least two hours remain before bedtime. Choose light, warm, and easy-to-digest meals. Repeat the post-meal ritual immediately afterward to encourage restful sleep and overnight recovery.' Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
Top Gear
29-05-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Epic fail: the Ligier JS5 F1 car's 'teapot' airbox
Epic Fail Given a nickname for its unconventional design, regulation changes consigned it to history after four races Skip 1 photos in the image carousel and continue reading The problem with F1 cars today is, they're so ugly. All those slats and fins and petrochemical sponsor logos: it's not like the good old days, when every Grand Prix racer was a sleek, sinuous slice of pure (tobacco branded) beauty. Only, they weren't, were they? Sure, the good old days did contain some very pretty F1 cars – when Epic Fail is sad, Epic Fail spends a while looking at photos of the Lotus 72, which tends to help matters – but they also contained a whole bunch of utter horror shows. Advertisement - Page continues below Such as Ligier's JS5, the 1976 F1 entrant that sported an airbox so bulbous it was christened 'The Teapot'. Consider it an automotive Rorschach test: what do you see in that curvaceous funnel? Smurf hat? Squid Game guard? The exit hole of a marsupial? Quite why the Ligier JS5's extraordinary protuberance was quite so extraordinarily protuberant remains unclear. Its primary purpose was to funnel cool air to the Ligier's 3.0-litre Matra V12, but other teams of the era achieved the same effect with airboxes that didn't look like haunted sculptures from an especially creepy kids' theme park. You might like The JS5 may have been ugly as a fungal toenail, but it wasn't slow. Though it retired early on its first two outings – perhaps out of sympathy for the eyes of onlookers – the Teapot then recorded a fourth place at Long Beach, California, in the hands of French racer Jacques Lafitte, who at least had the benefit of not having to look at the mega snout. But a flower blooms only for a season. After just four races, as F1 tweaked the regulations to prevent any airbox extending beyond the roll hoop, the JS5 was revised to resemble a regular racecar. We have never witnessed the Teapot's like since, and for that we must all be thankful. Advertisement - Page continues below Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Why Weird Classic Cars Are Catching the Eye of More Collectors
At the Bonhams Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris auction in January, it was mostly business as usual: air-cooled Porsches went for predictably high money, as well as other blue chip investments like Bugattis and Ferraris. Sprinkled into the expected assortment of auction lots, however, were a few oddballs that generated some serious interest and equally high sale prices. Perhaps collectors have grown tired of the de rigeur automotive assortment auction houses assemble—I'm looking at you, Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari F40, McLaren F1, and all the other usual suspects. Perhaps the weird cars are finally getting their due. I can only speculate—and perhaps this auction is an anomaly—but the results from this auction are telling: weird seems to be in. More from Robb Report Trump Threatens a 200% Tariff on Wine and Spirits From the E.U. Audi Just Unveiled a Sleek New A6 Avant Station Wagon This Record-Setting 1986 Audi Is Now Heading to Auction Take the following four cars for example, each unusual in their own way, produced by some lesser-known manufacturers, and all coming from the world of motorsports. Some are pretty, some are brutish, but all of them represent a slice of time and technology that contribute to their intrigue. Without further ado, let's get into the details. Best of Robb Report The 2024 Chevy C8 Corvette: Everything We Know About the Powerful Mid-Engine Beast The World's Best Superyacht Shipyards The ABCs of Chartering a Yacht Click here to read the full article. First up is this 1969 Matra MS640, a race car from a French brand that's a deep cut even for automotive enthusiasts. Despite being a lesser-known manufacturer, Matra was quite successful in motorsports, especially between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s when it competed in F3, F2, F1, and even endurance racing. The MS640 was purpose-built as an aerodynamically efficient endurance racer with a singular focus on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it never ended up in competition due to a tragic testing incident that left the sole prototype nearly completely destroyed and its driver seriously injured. This is not that car, however—this is MS640 Continuation, or MS640-02, a car built using the engine and transmission from the damaged original, body panels formed using the original molds, and constructed entirely in accordance with the original blueprints, down to the steel tube-frame chassis. Nestled behind the driver is Matra's legendary MS9 V12, a 3.0-liter unit making nearly 400 horsepower that creates an eardrum-shattering shriek while making that power. Historically, race cars haven't performed particularly well at auction, but given this is the only example of the Matra MS640 its final selling price of nearly $530,000 seems reasonable. Lancia is the stuff of legend, known for its dominance in Group B rally throughout the 1980s with the 037 and the 037's successor, the Delta S4. The Delta S4 was cutting-edge at the time, using all-wheel drive, a reinforced lightweight steel-tube chassis, a twin-charged engine (turbocharged and supercharged), as well as carbon kevlar bodywork. And it was successful right out of the gate, winning the first official race it entered in 1985. As part of the Group B stipulations, Lancia was required to build 200 road going examples to homologate the Delta S, the result of which was the Delta S4 Stradale. It was a comparatively tamer example of the full-on race spec S4 that still featured the tube-frame chassis but had its power capped at 247 horsepower (in race trim, the S4 developed up to 493 horsepower) and a real interior. While there's no official production number for the Delta S4 Stradale, Bonhams claims this example is one of 71, a number far short of the original 200 planned. (This was likely due to the S4 Stradale's steep price—this particular example sold, when new, for £44,442 in 1987. Adjusted for inflation and converted to USD, that comes out to a hair over $162,000.) Finished in Nero Metallizato, this 1985 example has a criminally low 5,600 km on the clock. Its superb condition, low mileage, and rarity helped achieve a final sale price of $677,000. To spread the word about Audi's sporting pretensions in the North American market, the German automaker decided to take one of its unassuming sedans and attempt to set a speed record for an all-wheel drive vehicle at the Talladega Superspeedway in 1986. In standard form, no Audi—not even any Audi used in motorsport at the time—would have come close to being up to the task, so the 5000 CS Quattro sedan selected for the task required major improvements. With the focus being on the fastest achievable speed, Audi revised the car's bodywork to be more aerodynamically efficient, put it on a strict diet, and beefed up its 2.2-liter inline-five cylinder turbocharged engine to develop 650 horsepower. The car bears more than just a striking resemblance to the standard 5000 CS Quattro, too; aside from a racing harness, a turbo boost knob, and a couple of extra gauges here and there, the interior looks stock. Behind the wheel of the 5000 CS Quattro was American racing hero Bobby Unser, who was able to achieve a top speed of 206.3 mph at the Talladega Superspeedway on March 24th, 1986. Used for several other top-speed record attempts in the US, the 5000 CS Quattro would later become a workhouse for tire testing. Some lucky collector clearly understood the significance of this car, which sold for just over $130,000. Last, and possibly the most unusual lot featured here, is the 1954 Autobleu 750 MM Coupé. A one-off prototype, the 750 MM Coupé was built by a small and short-lived automaker in Paris that got its start by creating and selling performance and aesthetic upgrades for the Renault 4CV. Eventually, it would offer complete bodies for the 4CV but that only lasted for several years, ending in 1957. Within the first four years of its existence, Autobleu built the 750 MM, which was effectively a marketing tool to promote the company with the Mille Miglia the chosen event for its debut (hence, 'MM'). Underneath the smoothly shaped bodywork is a tube frame chassis and a 750 cc engine from Renault that was breathed over to be competitive across the 1,000-mile event. As for its in-period race history, the 750 MM Coupé competed in three successive Mille Miglia events from 1954 to 1956, plus several other endurance events. In recent years, the 750 MM Coupé has participated in the Mille Miglia Storica, a modern, much safer version of the Mille Miglia in 2005, 2006, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2023. With a recent restoration and lengthy history, the 750 MM Coupé makes for an excellent choice for the Mille Miglia aficionado and a relative bargain, having sold at just under $400,000.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
French F1 Cars, Drivers, and Teams Celebrated at Retromobile Paris 2025
When you think of Formula 1, it's all too easy to think of staples of the sport like the Italian Ferrari team, McLaren and Williams from the UK, and Mercedes from Germany. Maybe even Honda from Japan. But the French were there, too, with much success. Retromobile remembers. The giant indoor swap meet/art show/car parts party has exhibits, cars, and art—not to mention watches, model cars, and displays by car clubs and car dealers—and is a destination every true car enthusiast must attend at least once in life. And when Retromobile opens its doors at the Porte de Versailles in Paris on February 5, a special exhibit will also open that celebrates French Formula 1 teams and drivers, with 16 French F1 cars on display, along with numerous engines and other memorabilia. 'Our story begins shortly after World War II,' Retromobile states. 'The nascent Formula 1 was beginning to attract a few French car manufacturers like Gordini, Talbot-Lago, and Bugatti. However, success was not in the cards and gradually these constructors left the paddocks. It wasn't until 1968, 12 years after the last appearance of a French team in Formula 1, that a French single-seater was seen again in the discipline.' Surely you've heard of Matra. If you're lucky, you heard this French screamer at full song around a race track. There was nothing else like it. Matra had enjoyed success in Formula 3 and Formula 2, and by 1967 had stepped up to F1. That year, a young Belgian driver named Jacky Ickx surprised the world by taking third on the grid at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, despite his 1,600cc Matra MS7 F2, which was allowed to enter alongside the 3,000cc F1 cars, being down 1.4 liters of engine displacement. A broken suspension meant he failed to finish, but notice had been given. Greater things were coming. 'Matra, under the leadership of managing director, Jean-Luc Lagardère, and with the support of the oil company ELF, gave the British team led by Ken Tyrrell an MS 10 chassis powered by a Ford-Cosworth V8,' Retromobile recalls. 'For its part, the French firm was using a vehicle based on an MS 11 chassis powered by an in-house V12 engine. Both vehicles were in Monaco for the 1967 Grand Prix with Johnny Servoz-Gavin qualifying 11th on the grid. Jean-Pierre Beltoise was a DNQ. 'In 1968, with another Jackie behind the wheel, this one a young Scotsman named Jackie Stewart, victory came in the driving rain at Zandvoort. In 1969, Matra won the Constructors' championship while its lead driver, Jackie Stewart, became World Champion.' But that was it for French constructors for a while. They weren't represented again in Formula 1 until 1975. In the meantime, French drivers rose to prominence. 'Numerous talented French drivers sought out foreign teams,' Retromobile said. '(Jean-Pierre) Beltoise, who had gone to British Racing Motors (BRM), won at Monaco (in 1972). Patrick Depailler, Jean-Pierre Jarier and Jacques Laffite did well representing the tricolour. Ten years later, no less than seven French drivers were on the starting grid in F1: in addition to the three above, there was René Arnoux, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Didier Pironi and Patrick Tambay.' The first all-French victory happened on June 19, 1977 in Anderstorp, Sweden, when French driver Jacques Laffite drove a French Ligier to the win. 'This success was so unexpected that Laffite did not get to hear the Marseillaise (French national anthem) on the podium, as the organizers had never for a moment thought that the Frenchman could win.' On July 1, 1979, Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Renault claimed a historic victory on the Dijon-Prenois track. Then the great Alain Prost took the first world championship by a French driver when he won the first of three titles for McLaren in 1985, followed by wins in 1986 and 1989, all for McLaren, followed by another championship with Williams Renault in 1993. Spaniard Fernando Alonso won titles with Renault power in 2005 and 2006. All of the above will be celebrated at Retromobile February 5-9. 'Through this unique exhibition, Rétromobile aims to pay tribute to the great figures who have shaped the history of French Formula 1. But that's not all: throughout the week, numerous iconic figures from the world of motorsport will join Rétromobile to connect with enthusiasts (including) appearances by drivers Jean Alesi and Olivier Panis.' Flights are cheap, F1 is not. So book a middle seat now and allez-vous to Paris!
