food, Food & Nutrition, Health, Healthy Snacks, Superfoods
These amazing benefits of curd will make you eat some right now!
Dec
Medically reviewed by Ashwathy V. Pillai, Postgraduate Degree in Dietetics & Applied Nutrition
Curd or popularly called Dahi is a staple in the Indian kitchens. It adds flavour to your meal, works as a perfect marinade, can present itself as the best drink (buttermilk) during hot summers and can do a whole host of other things.
But curd is more than a natural flavouring agent. Benefits of curd are plentiful. Our parents and grandparents have always insisted on having a bowl of curd every day and they knew its benefits too.
Table of Content
What is curd?
Curd or Dahi is a dairy product. It is a fermented product which can be found all over the world. For making the curd, you need to add bacteria to the milk. The Lactobacillus bacteria help in thickening of the milk and give it a sour taste.
The process of fermentation helps in retaining the nutrients of the milk for a longer time.
Nutritional Value of Curd[1]
| Time | Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 3 | Plan 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Empty Stomach | Garlic-1-2 with 1⁄2 cup curd or buttermilk | Garlic-1-2 with 1⁄2 cup curd or buttermilk | Garlic-1-2 with 1⁄2 cup curd or buttermilk | Garlic-1-2 with 1⁄2 cup curd or buttermilk |
| Early Morning | Immune boosting tea/ tea/ + Almonds-5 | Metabolic tea + Walnuts – 2 full | Immune boosting tea | Herbal Tea |
| Breakfast | Buttermilk – 200 ml + stuffed veg sandwich – 2 / Dosa – 2 / Idli – 2 With vegetable chutney | Buttermilk – 200 ml + matar Poha / Upma / Broken wheat upma with vegetables 1 bowl | Buttermilk – 200 ml + Moong dal chilla – 2 / Pesarattu – 2 / Adai or mixed dal dosa-2 with mint chutney | Buttermilk – 200 ml + Stuffed chapati -2 + tomato chutney -1 -2 tbsp |
| Mid Meal | Fruits (Banana-1 medium size) | Fruits (Mixed berries – 1 medium bowl) | Fruits (Mix fruit – 1 medium bowl) | Fruits (Banana-1 medium size) |
| Lunch | Brown rice - 1cup + veg curry - 1cup +Rajma curry/ dal | Whole wheat chapati – 2 + beans dry veg + greens dal - 1cup + green salad 1 bowl | Veg pulao 1 cup + veg Raita 1 cup + Mint chutney 1-2 tsp | Veg dal Dalia 1 cup + cucumber raita-1 bowl |
| Snacks | Green tea + roasted makhana 2 tbsp | Green tea + Boiled peanuts-2tbsp | Green tea + roasted chana – 2 tbsp | Green tea + Roasted Bajra |
| Dinner | Veg soup + Dal broken wheat khichdi – 1 bowl + Mint chutney | Tomato soup + veg Stuffed chapati -2 + Raita 1 cup | Pumpkin soup + Millet chapati -2 + any green veg 1cup + Mint chutney | Veg Soup + Paneer bhurji + Multigrain chapati-2 |
| Bedtime | Lukewarm Cinnamon turmeric water - 1 cup (1-1 pinch both) | Lukewarm Cinnamon turmeric water - 1 cup (1-1 pinch both) | Lukewarm Cinnamon turmeric water - 1 cup (1-1 pinch both) | Lukewarm Cinnamon turmeric water - 1 cup (1-1 pinch both) |
Uses of Dahi/ curd
Eating curd is good for your mind and body. It is a versatile food item that can be used in various ways. You can eat it directly as plain curd or can add it to different dishes.
When you want to cool your stomach, you can drink sweet or salty drink made using curd – lassi or buttermilk.
And if you are a skin/hair care freak, you will simply love curd. Various minerals present in curd make it ideal for beauty care. You can prepare different beauty care products using curd which can be used on your skin or hair.
Benefits of Curd
The benefits of curd are tremendous. Apart from enhancing the taste of your meal, curd can help in improving your digestion and will also help in strengthening your bone and teeth.
If you consume curds regularly, you can lower your cholesterol level, maintain your blood pressure level, improve the immunity of your body and control your stress level.
Another biggest advantage of curd is it can help you lose weight since it is rich in calcium and improves body metabolism. And the calories in curd are also quite low. 100 grams of curd has only 61 calories making it an ideal superfood for weight loss.
Likewise, when applied topically, curd can improve your skin and hair health by controlling dandruff.
Here we list the benefits of curd and how it can help your body when consumed every day.
1. Improving digestion:
If you are facing an indigestion problem, our suggestion will be to eat plenty of curds. Curd can maintain a balance between different acid levels in your stomach.
Curd has an amazing ability to manage your pH levels, making it a perfect remedy to treat your indigestion.
By adding curd to other food, you can make the digestion of other foods simpler, and it will provide more nutrition to your body. Moreover, you can even relax your stomach if you are suffering from dysentery.
2. Losing weight:
Curd can come handy for people who are looking to lose some weight. Since it is rich in calcium, it will help you to fight obesity.
Calcium in the diet can regulate your energy metabolism. Studies have proven that calcium in the diet can hinder the adipocyte-lipid accretion, thereby improving lipolysis (the breakdown of fats) and promoting weight loss.
3. Improving Bone Strength:
The curd is rich in phosphorous and calcium, both of which are essential elements for strengthening the bones and teeth. You can consume curd regularly for getting protection against osteoporosis and arthritis.
4. Improving Heart Health:
You can lower and prevent heart-related problems by regularly consuming curd. For keeping a check on your cholesterol level, you can consume dahi regularly. Curd will help in the healthy functioning of your heart.
The lower level of cholesterol in the body will help you to keep your arteries clean and will allow a smooth flow of your blood. Hence, curd can help in lowering the risk of heart disease.
5. Enhancing Immunity:
Along with other benefits, curd is the best probiotic food with live microorganisms which are required by your body. Curd provides strength and power to the metabolism of your body resulting in improved immunity of your body.
The strengthened immunity helps the body to fight against various microorganisms and will help you to stay healthy.
6. Making Skin Shiny and Healthy:
You can use curd for taking care of the skin. As it is rich in minerals, it will help your skin to glow. Moreover, the curd will provide it with essential nutrients for keeping it healthy.
The various nutrients present in the curd such as zinc and vitamin E are extremely beneficial for your skin. For this reason, the curd is generally used in beauty products and homemade skincare products.
When you apply curd topically often, you can see a wonderful glow on your face with improved shine, smoothness, and softness of your skin.
7. Efficient haircare:
You can use curd for treating dull, dry hair and also for treating dandruff. The essential minerals and nutrients through the lactic acid present in the curd which will help in reducing dandruff.
The curd will also improve the softness of your hair. You can even mix curd with some henna for getting more efficient results.
8. Ideal in case of Lactose Intolerance:
If you are lactose intolerant, you can get essential milk nutrients by eating curd. Dahi consists of live bacteria lactobacillus which produces its own lactase which helps in breaking down lactose present in yoghurt.
Hence, curd can be the right alternative for you in the case of lactose intolerance. You will get essential nutrients and proteins from it as it is easy to digest.
9. Ensuring brain health:
Curd also has a relaxing effect on the brain which will help to maintain the balance of your brain. It can help in lowering your stress level and can help you in fighting anxieties according to a study.
It revealed that eating dahi helps in the production of bacteria in the gut which sends molecular signals to the brain for improving its functioning.
10. Stimulating appetite:
The tangy taste of curd helps in stimulating your taste buds and results in improving your appetite.
11. Keeping infections away:
Generally, oral diseases are caused due to the accumulation of bacteria. The good bacterium available in dahi never allows bacteria to accumulate and prevents infections.
So, these are some of the health benefits of curd. It is good for your skin and hair. It helps in improving digestion, bone strength and health of your heart and brain. You can even lose weight quickly by consuming curd. Curd helps in preventing infections and is good for the lactose-intolerant people.
Make sure to eat curd at least once a day. You will see an overall improvement in your health!
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