Tag

lose weight

Browsing
In Articles to munch on

Pinch of salt

No Comments

Sometimes, it’s nice to take life -read food -with a pinch of salt. Or even a few more. Somewhere down the line, salt has gotten a bad rap. It has been battered and bruised in advertisements and dragged through the proverbial mud on the doctor’s table. The condemnation this condiment has been receiving over the years has been confounding.

Yes, an excess of salt is bad but there’s actually no need for more than the daily requirement of 3 grams a day or a little less than a teaspoon. (And since this is the upper limit, a little less can be consumed).But there’s also absolutely no reason to go without it. We need a little salt or sodium every day. Sodium is crucial to maintaining the fluid balance in our bodies, to help send nerve impulses as well as assist with contraction and relaxation of muscles.

What are the different kinds of salt out in the market? And what sets them apart? A few facts.

SEA SALT OR CELTIC SEA SALT

This is an unrefined, unprocessed salt with a unique flavour profile. Sea salt, as its name suggests, is made from evaporating sea water.

ROCK SALT OR HIMALAYAN PINK SALT

`Kala namak’, that nimbupani staple, is found in the Himalayan regions. Again, this is unrefined and adds an interesting dimension of flavour to whatever you prepare.

GARLIC OR CELERY SALT

These flavoured salts are the magic that happens when table, rock or sea salt are combined with dried garlic or celery. They will make a beautiful contribution to your next dish.

REFINED IODIZED SALT

You probably already have this, but just in case you don’t, this is your usual table salt that is mixed with io dine, which has a crucial role in preventing intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The above differ mildly on mineral content and taste but it’s incorrect to assume that one is healthier than the other. And it’s best not to consume salt to get your daily quota of minerals when fruit and vegetables are far better sources for this vital micronutrient.

The only thing to ensure is that you aren’t doing on your daily salt intake. Do remember that there are hidden salt mines buried deep within your favourite packaged and processed foods. Salty foods include additives that contain sodium. Like cold cuts, bacon, microwave or ready to-eat meals, cheeses, soups… the list goes on. Do check the nutritional label when buying these foods, especially if your doc would like you to clamp down on the sodium.

Continue Reading
By
In Lose Weight

Slips don’t lie

No Comments

You know you shouldn’t. And yet, three days into your new diet, you are wiping the crumbs of a very crumbly cupcake off your face. Oops! You had no choice, you reason with yourself, because it was your best friend’s birthday, and, well, one couldn’t hurt, right?
Right. Small slips rarely have any great calorific impact ­ so long as you are able to quickly burn it off. But left unattended, many `slips’ can pile on as calories before you even realise it. It takes 3,500 un-burned calories to gain a pound of weight, and the more slips you have without doing anything about it, the more the calories go unburned, and in turn, the more weight you gain.

But this is not about setting sail on a guilt trip. The larger point of this article is to understand what derails your intentions to eat healthy. And you’d be surprised at how innocuous it may be.

CAN’T SAY `NO’ TO AUNTIE

Social pressure is one of the key reasons our diets fail time and time again. Without realising it, that loving bua or neighbour or host, who is pushing you to eat her laddoos -because she equates food with love -is setting back your efforts to lose weight. And while she may definitely have your best intentions at heart, it’s important to gently let people know that it is not compatible with your health plan at the moment. If they genuinely love you, they will respectfully withdraw. Be strong. The more you say No, the more people will understand.

ARE YOU DIETING?

So many people don’t want to look like they are dieting on social occasions. They would actually eat stuff they never usually eat. While it could come from being self-conscious about dieting, the fact is that it’s more   important to think about what you want. Don’t worry so much about what people think: even if you do incur comments initially, these will slowly slide to a stop as people find other things to talk about.

THE HOLIDAY FROM HEALTH

A lot of people, who go on vacation, seem to take a holiday from healthy eating too. There’s no point working hard to shed the kilos before you leave only to find yourself back to square one on your return. Most cuisines have healthy, low-fat options. Enjoy your holiday but don’t make food a part of the vacation experience. Sightsee, shop, walk around and spend quality time with your loved ones: there are other ways to enjoy your time off.

PACK SAYS `LOW-FAT’

One of sneakiest detailers to any healthy diet can sometimes be something you least ex pect: foods marked `low-fat’. Low fat doesn’t always mean low calorie. It’s also important to be vigilant about the other ingredients that go into low-fat products. Sometimes manufacturers add sugar to add to the taste -which adds to the calorie count -or sometimes eating double of something which has 50% less fat, pretty much amounts to same level of fat being consumed. It’s definitely something worth thinking about.
Enjoy your new lifestyle but whatever you do, be aware of what causes you to get off the healthy eating wagon. Because slips, after a point, don’t lie.

Continue Reading
By
In Articles to munch on

Raising the bar

No Comments

It seems harmless enough and does its best to tell you how healthy it is. But if I were you, I’d be suspicious of the average snack bar. I am referring to the granola bars, protein bars, health bars or fruit bars. Even The New York Times said in a recent article that they can be as calorific as dessert.

 

What started off as an innocuous effort to add more fibre and nuts to i your daily diet has now become a multibillion dollar industry, where the last thing you’re getting is health. To understand how healthy your snack bar is, read the nutritional label: you’d be surprised. To me, an ideal snack bar should be brimming with the goodness of nuts, seeds and nuts, seeds and healthy ingredients that are not so fat and calorie-dense. Have you thought of making your own?

Add more seeds:  Pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, flaxseeds, watermelon seeds, sunflower seeds experiment with the abundance of this fundamental snack bar ingredient. Apart from containing good fats, seeds are fantastic sources of fibre, protein, minerals like zinc and vitamins like Vitamin E. They add a fabulous texture and taste that you will feel in every bite.

Reduce the nuts: Ensure that the seeds to nuts ratio leans more heavily in favour of seeds. Nuts like almonds, cashew, walnuts and macadamia, while healthy, are calorie-dense and need to be used sparingly. A tiny handful per bar should suffice, and abstain from high-fat nuts like cashews.

Puffs: For added texture and bene fits, you could also try quinoa puffs, rice puffs, wheat puffs and other similar foods.

Dates to bind: Commerciallly made snack bars use caramelised sugar or syrups for binding, but it’s better not to use sugar because it will completely negate the good work. How about exploiting the sticky and gooey texture of dates or figs? It’s flavourful and natural.

Season: Go creative with seasoning like sea salt or even sprinkles of paprika if you really like it tangy. At the end of the day, it’s your bar.

Continue Reading
By
In Lose Weight

Waste makes waist

No Comments

Nothing is as satisfying as seeing the food you have worked so hard to cook get quickly consumed by your loved ones. There go the potatoes. All done. And it’s so nice to see your kid polishing off his plate with the last of the buttered pav. But what’s this? Lurking at the bottom of the dish you got as a wedding present is one spoonful of chicken curry. You look up and ask your family if they’ll finish this last teensy weensy bite. But they’re all shaking their heads vehemently, pushing their plates away, looking fit to burst. What do you do? You can’t let it go waste. How horrifying! In goes the spoon, up goes the chicken right into your mouth. Instead of let ting it stay in the dish, you eat it yourself, ignoring the warning your stomach is sending to your brain -that you were done 10 bites ago.

As Indians, we’re culturally ingrained not to waste. We were raised to finish our food and clean our plates. Wasting food was seen as the ultimate sin of excess and an ultimate insult to the preparer of the food who would, more often than not, look wounded as half-empty plates were sent back to the kitchen.

But trying to not waste could be one of the sneakiest ways the weight piles on.

Think about it this way. Let’s assume that you are eating a little bit of leftover food every night to `clean up’ either yours or someone else’s plate. Even if you eat 100 extra calories a day, that’s 36,500 extra calories a year. And if it takes 3,500 extra unburned calories to gain a pound of weight, simply preventing food from going to waste could lead you to gain five kilos over the course of the year. Five kilos. It’s not too late. Prevent waste from going straight to your waist with the help of the WAIST method:

  1. WAIT

It takes 20 minutes for your stomach to send a signal to your brain that you are full. To prevent overeating, try to stop eating when that feeling of fullness starts.

  1. ASSESS

Combat the problem of wastage by not cooking too much to begin with. Estimating quantities takes time and practice and a little heartache but there’ll soon be a time when y o u ‘ r e cooking just the right amount.

  1. IGNORE

Leave someone else’s food alone. If they’ve wasted it, it’s their problem. Not yours.Your meal is done.

  1. SERVE

Don’t serve yourself too much to begin with. You can always add more later but it’s harder and more tempting -to `not waste’ if you’ve piled on too much food to begin with.

  1. THINK

Leftovers can provide a fabulous foundation to your next meal and there are always creative ways to tackle them.

And don’t fret. If nothing works, it’s not the end of the world. You’ll just get it right the next time. Both for the food, and for your body.

Continue Reading
By
In Bombay Times - Ask the expert

Cheated! How do I get back on track?

No Comments

Dear Pooja,
With Diwali just over, I know I have sinned with my eating and exercise. How do I make up? How do I pick up all the efforts where I left off?

 

 

To err is human, right? Well, to fall off the wagon is expected of many but the intensity and gravity to ‘want’ to get back on is that demarcates achievers from the non-achievers. Clap, roll and drums to those who resisted the temptations the week had to tickle and tempt us with – really will power and motivation is an acquired skill, the more you practice the stronger and more successful you get with it. But the cause to get back on track is also noble and commendable (many lose the way just about here) and good part is that it is not difficult to do the same. The first efforts I’d focus on are to get the total oil/fat intake of the day in control. Be more vigilant in the kitchen if maids are cooking or better still you take the initiative – this is the backbone to controlled calorie intake per day.  Ensure an hour (or may 80mins/day) of cardiovascular activity at least 4-5 times a week – regulated output is the best way to burn the ‘cheats’ committed during the festivities. Regulate, control or avoid any more outside food eaten for the coming week or so – do remember however hard you try the oil quota is difficult to control when you dine out. The key to ‘pick the bus’ where you left off is the keen desire and wiliness to forget the errors and start back immediately – the longer you wait to ‘start back’ the more difficult it is – so for all those (and I’m sure the numbers are a vast majority) who slipped – pull up your socks – you erred but now lets make up, be more vigilant, more committed, more dedicated to cause of getting healthier and slimmer cause ‘where there is a will, there is always a way!’

 

Continue Reading
By
In layer2

OLD GOALS, NEW APPROACH

No Comments

This year, let’s try making a different set of health resolutions different because their approach will be changed though the objective is still the same -a healthier, thinner, fitter, happier you. We’re in the second month now. Pay attention.

Start on January 1

DON’T AIM TO BE SOMEONE ELSE

Please remember that actors, models and sport stars get the best out of the bodies that they either have been blessed with; or are working very hard upon, with expert guidance every second. Your body is unique, your body is yours. Appreciate every feature, wrinkle and line ­ it’s god’s gift to you. Enjoy it, revel in it and be the best you can be.

PLAN YOUR EXERCISE

Most resolutions just stay on paper because their foundations are weak. Get a clear conception of what you’re about to begin. It is this first step where most people falter. If you haven’t been exercising for years, aiming to show up at the gym every day is more than a little ambitious.Set exercise goals that you’re confident of achieving. A good place to start would be to clock three to four hours of exercise a week. This gives you the scope to break up your exercise regime into smaller capsules, depending on your specific body needs and time available to you. Be the architect of your workout ­ it usually takes just one missed workout for you to feel as if you have failed your purpose.

WRITE A FOOD DAIRY

When you get into the practice of writing down every single thing you eat -whether it’s a piece of fruit or what you ate at dinner -it makes you accountable. The diary works both as your conscience and guide. If you are not losing weight at the pace you want to, just turn the pages of your diary and you’ll find the honest answer. You cannot fool yourself.

PLAN YOUR `ME’TIME

Stress can kill even the best motivation to get fit. In the madness of our lives, we forget what we are eating, ignore meal times and often use food to combat stress. If you want to stay on track, make a plan to manage your stress in ways that don’t invite food as the chief guest. Engage in relaxation activities, whether it’s a hot bath, a massage, a trip to the spa, meditation, deep breathing or shopping! Unplug, disconnect, rejuvenate ­ even if it’s for 15 to 20 minutes a day.

SLEEP WELL TO BE FIT AND SLIM

Your body does not just run on food, water and air. Sleep is a vital component of its functioning.Without adequate sleep (average of seven to eight hours a day), you are setting yourself up for trouble. In my experience, most people who drop their resolutions midway are sleep-deprived. Depression, irritability, reduced brain function, memory loss are all results of not getting enough sleep. Innumerable studies over the years have shown the definite link between sleep deprivation and weight gain. But still, so many of us just do not pay enough attention to our sleep pattern.

Continue Reading
By
In Articles to munch on

UNDER PRESSURE

No Comments

If your blood pressure consistently starts to hit the roof, check if you have hypertension. Hypertension is when an individual suffers from consistent high blood pressure; even when he’s resting. While hypertension on its own doesn’t necessarily produce symptoms, this condition could lead to a number of related health problems over time to include heart diseases and stroke. So, while you may still need to sort this condition out medically, you’d be surprised at how effectively hypertension can be dealt with nutritionally.

So many conditions -ranging from diabetes and obesity to heart diseases -can be managed and even cured by the food we eat. While a balanced diet works to ensure that your overall health is well managed, for hypertension, you have to take extra care. In other words, it’s time to get hyper about the following:

REDUCING SODIUM

Sodium, or salt, increases blood pressure. If you have been diagnosed with hypertension, cut down on your salt intake. And it’s not just the obvious addition of salt to your daily cooking.Even packaged and processed foods come with their own sodium content. Read the nutritional label to en sure that the intake is permissible.Sometimes, sodium content can mask itself in the form of com pounds like sodium benzoate (a commonly used food preservative). Check if any ingredient has the word `sodium’ before it, and avoid those. To manage hyper tension, the recommended sodium intake per day should not exceed 1,500 mg or 1.5 gm, which is about half a teaspoon. You may also need to watch out for high-sugar beverages and foods, which impact your blood pressure as well.

POTASSIUM AND MAGNESIUM

Where there is low sodium, there is also high potassium and magnesium.Potassium is actually present in tiny quantities in certain fruits and vegetables. Your body only needs these small quantities, and introducing foods with potassium will help reduce hypertension. Fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of potassium and magnesium. Bananas, muskmelon, plums and peaches are a superb source of potassium; plus, they are cheap and easy to carry around for a healthy mid-day snack. Potatoes are high in magnesium and potassium.Leafy vegetables also help manage hypertension beautifully.

WHOLE GRAINS

In addition to the above, eat more whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, poultry, beans, nuts, seeds, fish and veg etable oils. I would also recommend a glass of raw vegetable juice (juice of three or more types of vegetables) blended coarsely in a blender, not a juicer. Drink up im mediately once a day to pave the way for good health.

FRESH FOOD

Buy fresh foods, chuck canned food, eat at home rather than dining out, and you may soon reach a day when your hypertension just disappears! Cutting down on processed foods, snacks and fast food in general is essential. Watch out for canned goods and cured meats too; they could have high sodium con tent because of the way they are preserved or prepared. And word to the wise: if you are going all out on salads, try and avoid salad dressings that are high in fat and sodium.

This could be a setback for your sodium management.

Dietary approaches to manage hypertension are highly recommended because of how easily accessible these foods are. A healthy, balanced diet will also help you be in better shape.

Continue Reading
By
In layer3

THE PAINLESS GUIDE TO NOT GAINING WEIGHT

No Comments

Traditionally, men’s fitness has always been associated with getting bigger and not smaller.From the days of Rocky Balboa and John McClane to Vin Diesel and John Statham, big beefy guys defeated the bad guys and got the girls. The notion of fitness with getting thinner -and not beefier -is a relatively newer phenomenon for men, who, like women, are putting on more weight because of a sedentary lifestyle.

While it’s important to spend more time in the gym, getting off the couch may not be the only way to banish your inner, and outer potato. Paying attention to nutrition becomes crucial to losing weight and keeping it off. While the schools of thought on weight loss are as diverse as the people who graduate from them, I’ve broken them down into Hard and Smart. The difference is replacing the old idea that you need to kill yourself to achieve anything in life (Hard) with the belief that you can have your cake, and eat it too (Smart).

Hard: Eat less, weigh less Smart: Eat to lose

If you’ve been drastically cutting calories when you want to lose weight, here’s why you shouldn’t. Cutting too many calories puts you body into starvation mode. When your body is in this mode, it can’t metabolise, or burn fat (because fat burning occurs only when your body is adequately nour ished). If your body can’t burn fat, it starts to burn the next best thing: muscle. The more muscle you lose, the more your fat cells start to increase: the lost muscle is replaced by fat. And the more fat cells you have, the greater your body’s tendency to store more fat when you get back to eating `normally’. Fat burning is at its optimum when your body is adequately nourished with a balanced and healthy diet. So many of my clients have to eat more than they ever did (healthier stuff like fruits, veggies, egg whites), and that too at frequent intervals.

Hard: No snacking Smart: Eating every 2 hours

Eating between meals was said to be the culprit behind weight gain, with the implication that you needed to eat only during your main meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) to lose weight. However, studies have disproved this belief.You need to get away from the age-old habit of packing your day’s nutrients into three-four meals, and instead, spread them out in the form of smaller, more frequent meals.

Digestion itself is a calorie burning activity ­ just like walking, running or jumping. By eating smaller meals through the day, you allow your body to burn calories through the digestive process. Eating every two hours (not more or less), I find, is the best way to take advantage of this phenomenon.

Hard: Sweat more, eat more Smart: Sweat less, eat smart

So many of my clients come in with the idea that they can eat whatever they want, so long as they are working out. It’s such a hard way to lose weight. It’s really just about the math. If you eat a 1,000 calorie burg er, you will need to jog for approximate ly two hours to burn it off. Would n’t an easier option be to choose a less calorific version of the same dish? Restaurants all over the country can make low-fat versions of your fave foods. Eat smart. Spend less time in the gym. Exercise can only complement, and never replace food as a way to lose weight.

Hard: Fixed workouts Smart: Get moving to get losing

You don’t necessarily have to workout at a set time and at a set place to get your weight loss going. Increase your level of daily activity. Walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator or escalator. Include more activities like hiking or cycling when you vacation. Walk over to your colleague’s desk instead of emailing them. Your body will take note of the cumulative increase in activity and will reward you by losing the weight. You’d be surprised at how effective, and motivating, this is.

Hard: No junk food… ever Smart: Everyone’s invited

Your life is made up of all sorts of buddies: the nerd, the shopaholic, the one you can call at 4 am to bail you out of jail or the one who has seen you through drunken binges and toxic relationships. You’ve got to use the same logic with food. Food exists in all kinds of shapes, sizes and forms. Some you need to be acquaintances with, some you can be good friends with, and some you can be best friends with. But the good news is, you can be friends with all kinds of food.

Best friends (What you can eat daily): Rice, roti, bread, upma, kurmura, dalia, cornflakes, popcorn, noodles, poha, bhel, spaghetti, whole wheat pasta, vegetables, chicken, fish, turkey, dal, grapes, mangoes, bananas, paneer, skimmed milk, curd, egg white, quinoa, khus khus, sweet potato, rava, sooji, bajra, jowar.
Good friends (Once or twice a week): Cheese, fried food, pizza, prawns, cake, ice-cream, samosa, batata vada, pakoda, fried wantons, jalebi.
Acquaintances (Once a month): Lard, bacon, beef, mutton, pork, shellfish, smoothies, fruit juice, aerated beverages.
Continue Reading
By
In layer2

A GUIDE TO ONLINE WEIGHT LOSS

No Comments

Today you can do everything from shopping to watching the latest movies to booking your next holiday without leaving the comforts of your couch. It’s no surprise that a large part of the health and fitness industry has also moved online, providing us with a range of convenient ways to lose weight. These include fitness trackers to track our daily steps; online food diaries, which monitor our daily calorie intake; exercise programs, which delivers a variety of weight loss videos; and online chat apps that allow us to connect with doctors over video consultations.

Needless to say, many of these tools do require us to move off that couch, but they also give us that much needed motivation to lose weight and make doing so a lot more fun! The FitBit fitness tracker, for example, is a wearable with blinking dots that keep increasing as we reach closer to completing the number of steps we’ve set as our daily goal—cross the finish line and the bracelet vibrates in approval. The Nike+ Running app, on the other hand, allows you to compete with people in your network and from around the world and even allows friends to support you by sending in-run cheers. Food diary MyFitnessPal can be customized to suit your specific dietary restrictions or nutritionist’s requirements, and online consultation apps allow you the comfort level of chatting with a doctor from home even when you’re travelling outside the country.

Nourish Genie, one of the new entrants in the online health and wellness arena, attempts to take all these components—community, motivation to lose weight, customization, and remote access to a nutritionist—and fit it into one streamlined package.

The brainchild of nutritionist Pooja Makhija, these online portal offers an easy onboarding process. First you subscribe by entering your details and choosing a plan suited to your health goals; options include weight gain and weight loss packages, pregnancy diet plans, lactation diets, plans for PCOS as well as plans for diabetes, weight maintenance, and muscle training. Next you upload your medical history, followed by your blood reports to your personal dashboard or to the Nourish Genie App, and…you’re done! The portal delivers customized diet menus and easy diet plans for the month to your inbox, and gives you access to an online food diary, as well as trackers to map your food and water intake, exercise, and food quota. Chat forums let you speak with others in the community, trade weight loss tricks, share which was the best diet for your weight loss, or even just vent if you’re feeling frustrated. And, of course, you can sign up for live video chats with Pooja Makhija and receive further motivation and guidance.

An MSc. in Food Science and Nutrition, Pooja Makhija is committed to providing her clients with easy diet plans and the best diet for their individual weight loss needs. Her weight loss packages and weight loss videos espouse a nutrition philosophy that embraces the nourishing aspects of food. Through Nourish Genie, Pooja aims to introduce this philosophy to clients world over.

Don’t feel like getting off that couch just yet? Don’t worry. Stay seated, log onto www.nourishgenie.com, check out the portal, and you may just find yourself naturally inspired to get moving!

Continue Reading
By
In layer3

BEST DIET FOR WEIGHT LOSS

No Comments

What’s the best diet for weight loss? Celebrity nutritionist and founder of www.nourishgenie.com,Pooja Makhija weighs in.

Sometimes the road to body beautiful seems miles away. No matter how hard you try to diet, exercise or sacrifice, you begin to wonder whether you will ever achieve your healthy goals. Fat weight loss sometimes seems as mythical as world peace. In a situation where questions seem to follow questions, I present to you a simple hack: three tricks for identifying whether a weight loss diet is indeed good for you and able to deliver the results you have always wanted. While any calorie-controlled diet should help you lose weight – you can find good diets online or even more customized plans on websites like www.nourishgenie.com – evaluate the diet at hand by asking yourself the following questions:

  1. Is The Diet Helping You In The Long Term?

If you’re going to make the effort anyway, why not choose a diet that helps you both lose weight and keep it off? Liquid diet weight loss is one such short-term, futile approach. Juices cleanses or some detox diets would be examples of a liquid diet weight loss attempt but any diet that is skewed in the favour of liquids and not solids already means that your efforts will literally go down the drain. Liquid diets are akin to starvation, and no starvation diet will do anything for your body in the long run except harm it. If you want to really employ one of the best weight loss tricks ever, how about simply eating healthy instead? Food is one of the best tools for weight loss. Eat to delete.

  1. How Does Your Diet Make You Feel?

Your body is the quickest indicator of your wellness. As weight loss diets are meant to correct an eating pattern but not to punish you for it, the best diets are those that make you feel energetic, happy and motivated. If your meal plan makes you feel tired, lethargic, run down, irritable or depressed, you haven’t chosen right.

  1. What Should You Expect From The Diet?

Make sure that the diet you choose results in permanent weight loss. Obviously when I mean ‘permanent’, I mean that you do not revert to your old weight once you have adopted a new lifestyle. Another good indicator is fat loss. If your diet suits your body, it’ll leave your muscles alone. A good diet for weight loss doesn’t allow the body to use up muscle instead of fat, which happens in cases where nutrition is inadequate.

Apart from a good diet plan for your weight loss, there are a few more weight loss tricks: Make sure you eat every two hours: This’ll not only keep your hands off junk food, but also provide a steady stream of energy through the day. Additionally, like walking or running, even digestion burns calories, and eating frequently helps keep your body in the gym. Eat fruits good for weight loss.Apples, oranges, grapefruit, even mangoes (all except bananas) are all examples of fruits good for weight loss. And don’t forget to drink water and sleep well because it is a holistic approach to health that works the best of all.

Continue Reading
By