Did you miss your breakfast today? Unable to sleep at night? Again late for the class?
Being a student or a working professional, we forget to take care of ourselves. Here taking care does not involve wearing good clothes or pampering ourselves. In the rat race of life and work, we forget about the requirement of our body. The two things that our body requires are nutrition and rest.
Let us talk about nutrition. Have you ever thought of checking out what you generally eat in a day?
We just grab whatever tastes good and is readily available. We don’t even care if our body is intolerant to anything, we hardly know about it right. There are minor and basic things that we need to change in our daily schedule, which will lead us to a better and healthy life in the end.
I would like to share things that will help you to distinguish between myths and reality regarding DIET.
Myth 1: I am gaining weight and should cut off my breakfast and dinner or skip meals and eat as little as possible.
Truth: Skipping meals will trigger the STARVATION MODE of your body, which will store fats in place of burning any.
One should keep track of the amount of calories intake in a day and the amount of calories needed for your body based on individual’s weight and height. In place of skipping meals reduce the meal portion and increase the number of meals, ideally 6-8 meals a day.
Myth 2: I will follow a strict routine for next two weeks and get ready for the event by losing some pounds.
Truth: Always look for a long-term solution rather than a short one. Our body is quite adaptable to changes. Take small steps to achieve the target of weight reduction.
Myth 3: Diet plan effective for someone will also be effective for you.
Truth: Everyone has a different body type and different body composition. The diet plan needs to be prepared according to your body type and requirements. Before starting any diet, just consult a certified nutritionist.
Myth 4: There is no difference between fat loss and weight loss.
Truth: Weight being constant “muscles by volume” is less than “fats by volume”
If you are looking forward to weight loss then you should focus on body fat loss and try to keep the muscles, rather focus on muscle gain. Muscles consume more energy than any other cell in our body for its metabolism. To obtain this energy they start to consume fats as a source, which will help you to lose weight and it is a long-term phenomenon. The percentage of fats we have in our body determines the aging process and leads to various diseases at an early age due to obesity.
Myth 5: Low fat or no-fat diets are good for weight loss.
Truth: For proper metabolism, a human body needs 30-40 grams of fats per day. To lose weight a good metabolism is very important so it is important to have at least 30-40 grams of fat a day for the body to function properly. One should cut down on saturated fats and add more unsaturated fats as found in avocados and olives.
Myth 6: Fattening food will lead to weight gain.
Truth: Occasionally one can have fattening food, it will not add up to your weight. If you consume it regularly or 3500+ calories every day, it will start getting stored as fat in your body.
Myth 7: Low fat food helps to lose weight.
Truth: When we are having ready-made low fat foods we need to check, the nutrition facts because to balance the taste they add other flavourings like thickening agents which will ultimately lead to weight gain. On the other hand, we end up eating more of these foods with a concept of healthy food and forget that calories do count when we think of diet.
You need to look for the quantity and quality of food your body is consuming.
- Check what is the needed of your body,
- Stop skipping meals
- Divide your meals into small portions and have 6-8 number of meals in a day.
Always try to get out of a sedentary lifestyle and walk at least wherever it is possible to walk. Try to get up and stretch after every one-hour or one hour thirty minutes. The human body is not designed to sit for a long stretch of time. A sedentary lifestyle is one of the reasons for which people are getting so many diseases.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not difficult. You need to make some small changes and you will see the difference.
1. Sleep-cycle is very important. We need to have a sound sleep of 7-8 hours for our brain and body to charge up and work properly.
2. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise. You will get a lot of time for yourself once you start getting up early.
3. Check the quantity of food you are consuming. Try to keep a calorie deficit of at least 300-400 calories to put down weight. Or else eat the quantity as per your body mass index.
4. Try to do at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day. You can just turn on your favourite song and dance on it. It will boost up your mood as well.
5. Try to avoid processed foods.
6. Avoid sugar and gluten. Sugar leads to aging and is a very bad addiction. Gluten will cause digestion related problems. It is better to have a cup of rice in place of two roti.
7. Add more green vegetables and fruits in your diet. Try to avoid dairy products and animal protein.
8. Give time to yourself. Out of 24 hours, take out 30 minutes to meditate and observe your thoughts and feelings.
Ayurvedic principles revolve around the concept of three doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. The body type is decided based on these three elements. Each dosha is responsible for specific physiological functions.
For example, the pitta dosha controls hunger, thirst, and body temperature. Meanwhile, the Vata dosha maintains electrolyte balance and movement, while the Kapha dosha promotes joint function.
Despite the fact that the Ayurvedic diet has explicit rules for each dosha, the eating regimen overall emphasizes eating wholesome food like fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes.
This can profit your wellbeing significantly, as these nourishments are wealthy in numerous basic supplements. The eating regimen additionally limits processed food, which frequently needs fiber and significant nutrients and minerals.
Studies show that eating higher measures of processed food results in higher danger of coronary illness, disease, and even demise.
In this manner, the Ayurvedic diet may help ensure against interminable sickness and advance better wellbeing. Nevertheless, more studies are required.
Here I am listing out some popular diets of this era, some of you must be aware of a few of them. They are:
1. Vegan diet
2. Weight watcher diet
3. Volumetric diet
4. Raw food diet
5. DASH diet
6. Paleo diet
7. Keto diet
8. Atkins diet
There is more than this because there is no diet plan that will suit you perfectly for a long period. It is very important to keep changing the diet based on the changes taking place because our body will adapt to one pattern of diet and get into a plateau state where there will be no further changes.
Whenever we start a new thing, it takes time to adjust. Similarly, when we start to focus on our diet, initially it will take some time to fall into that pattern. Once we find the rhythm, we are good to go with a healthy lifestyle and not a punishment.
Hence, we need to keep improving our dietary plans accordingly to make changes in our lifestyle.
