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Coronavirus as an epidemic has already caused countries to lockdown for social distancing and prevention of its further spread. There is an immediate need to take precautions the key is to focus on building one’s immunity as well as overall health. It is important to follow basic hygiene but there’s only so much that hand sanitisers can do. Hence, it’s imperative to boost immunity that helps prevent diseases like noval coronavirus.
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A lot gets said about the best tactics for enhancing your overall health, ranging from all kinds of dramatic dietary recommendations, to adverts for particular exercise routines whose advocates are convinced can solve all the problems experienced by mankind, in short order.
But for all the fine-tuning you can do to try and get your body and mind performing to their optimal standards, there are also a wide range of more straightforward, holistic, and big-picture changes you can make, which can have a disproportionately large impact on your health and well-being as a whole.
Author Charles Duhigg writes in his book, “The Power of Habit”, about “keystone habits” — habits which set off a cascade of positive change, and lead to numerous positive habits, in and of themselves.
Here are some “keystone” approaches, strategies, and techniques, for improving your health.
Go camping
There are many benefits to camping, from getting more fresh air, to spending a larger proportion of your day being physically active, and even just benefiting from the apparently innate healing benefit of trees.
Researchers have, in the past, found evidence that patients in hospital rooms with windows facing trees, experience better health in a shorter timeframe than others.
Other research has suggested that people who live in more rural environments and spend more time in nature tend to be happier and healthier than those who don’t.
Researchers have also suggested that continuous bouts of low-level physical activity throughout the day — such as walking — have a profound impact on health; considerably more than a daily hour in the gym.
Research has also found that chronic insomniacs, when taken camping, quickly have their circadian rhythms rebalanced and are able to fall asleep, probably due to the natural cycles of light and dark. If you need to optimize your circadian rhythm, a few days spent in the great outdoors, without digital devices, may be the key.
Quit caffeine
Caffeine is a ubiquitous substance in today’s world — it’s pretty much everywhere, and it’s in virtually everything. Chocolate bars contain caffeine due to their cocoa content, coffee and energy drinks obviously contain it, but even other soft-drinks you wouldn’t expect — such as Lucozade — contain added caffeine.
Over time, however, constant caffeine use can lead to burnout and adrenal fatigue, as stress hormones are kept constantly high.
Quit caffeine and deal with the withdrawals (which can take a few months) and you’ll likely find that you have much more consistent energy levels as a result.
Eat as much as you need to feel satisfied
Many dieters who think they’re being healthy end up causing themselves severe health problems due to being restrictive eating patterns.
Eating at a caloric deficit — even one deemed “moderate” by modern diet gurus — can lead to major hormonal issues, including the shut-down of the thyroid — as evidenced by the Minnesota Starvation Experiment and similar studies.
There’s also evidence that yo-yo dieting causes the body to gain fat more easily in future.
To avoid these catastrophic outcomes, eat as much as you need, as often as you need it, in order to feel satisfied. Just stick to whole foods and whole-cooked meals, and limit processed food intake to every once in a while for special occasions.
So now as I am on a health roll, soups and salads make a very important part of my diet. I keep experimenting with different favours of soups and keep trying mixing and matching the ingredients.
Here is a recipe I tried over the weekend and turned out really good, simple, flavourful and full of goodness.
These ingredients are good enough for 2 large serves
Do share your feedback in the comments 🙂
Everyone knows that athletes must plan and time their meals and snacks very carefully to reach their performance goals. But what about the rest of us? You try to squeeze in 30-60 minutes of exercise most days of the week. Do you have to be careful about what you eat before and after your workouts, too?
There are some advantages to knowing how your body works and what it needs to perform at its best. The bottom line for healthy weight loss and fitness sounds simple: You must eat fewer calories than you use up—but not fewer than your body needs to function at its best.
The size, timing and content of your pre and post-exercise meals and snacks can play an important role in your energy levels during your workout, how well your body recovers and rebuilds after exercise and whether the calories you eat will be used as fuel or stored as fat. Here’s what you need to eat and drink to get the results you want.
Your Post-Exercise Fluid Needs
Most moderate exercisers will lose about one quart (four cups) of fluid per hour of exercise, so try to drink about 400 ml of water shortly after your workout to aid the recovery process. If you sweat a lot or the weather is hot and/or humid, consider weighing yourself before and after exercise, and drinking 200ml of water for every ounce of weight you’ve lost. Because heavy sweating also causes loss of minerals and electrolytes, consider using a sports drink with electrolytes if you need to replace more than two or three cups of fluid.
We suggest you add ½ chopped any fruit you enjoy, along with few chia seeds and few mint leaves to enhance the taste of water and that also helps in boosting the Vitamin content in water.
Your Post-Exercise Meal or Snack
Many people are very hungry after a workout, making it easy to eat more than you really need or to choose foods that won’t really help your body. Eating too much of the wrong thing can cause your body to store that food as fat instead of using your post-workout meal to refuel and repair your muscles.
So what does the ideal meal or snack look like?
The ideal time to eat after a workout is within 30 minutes to two hours, when your body is ready and waiting to top off its fuel tanks to prepare for your next session.
But if your appetite or schedule doesn’t allow you to eat a meal right after exercise, don’t panic. Your body can still replace your muscle fuel over the next 24 hours, as long as you’re eating enough food to support your activity level. Try to have a smaller snack that contains carbs and protein as soon after exercise as possible. Liquids like smoothies, shakes or chocolate milk, and/or energy bars, can be especially effective post-workout snacks.
Here are some sample food combinations for your post exercise meal:
Article Contributed by nutritionist Kejal Shah, Nutritionist, Weight Management Expert and Founder of Nutrivity.in
No matter what you try and do in regards to managing your weight, there’s always an enemy that keeps confronting you: your appetite.
You can start the day with an absolute devotion to the idea of sticking to calorie control and resisting the urge for sweets and snacks. Then midday rolls around, your energy is crashing, and your stomach is roaring. Despite the fact you should be full from that nutritious breakfast you took the time to craft, you can’t help it – you’re hungry. In fact, you pretty much feel hungry all the time.
If this is the case, then getting to the bottom of your seemingly ceaseless pit of hunger is going to be key to maintaining your weight. So why are you always so hungry – and what can you do about it?
1) You’re Not Eating Enough Calories
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We know that science tells us we need to restrict calories in order to lose weight; that’s pretty much a given. However, it is possible to go a step too far in this regard. If you’re not eating enough calories to sustain your energy levels – and particularly if you’re exercising heavily – then hunger is going to be the result.
While you may like the idea of restricting your calories so you lose weight quicker, it’s actually more beneficial to gradually reduce the amount and always ensure you’re eating at least 1,600 calories per day.
2) You’re Thinking About Food Too Much
Research has found that people who are overweight tend to think about food more than their slender counterparts, which in turn makes them feel hungry. If there is something in your brain that is constantly reminding you of food, then you might want to try Lovidia to see if you can regulate your resultant desire for food. You might not be able to stop thinking about food, but methods such as this will at least help you stop feeling the need to act on those thoughts.
3) You Have A Health Condition
Some health issues can cause excessive hunger. Most noticeably, if you have an overactive thyroid, this can result in not only unexplained weight loss, but a relentless appetite. An overactive thyroid is easily diagnosed and relatively easy to treat, so if this is a relatively new issue for you, it might be worth getting checked over by a doctor.
4) You’re Not Eating Enough Protein
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Ideally, your first meal of the day should be full of protein. The slow-release energy in protein is far more likely to sustain you than carbohydrates; in some ways, it’s far better to have bacon and eggs for breakfast than that healthy, carbohydrate-laden cereal. Nuts have been shown to help suppress appetite throughout the day, so incorporate these into your diet from breakfast and you should be able to manage your hunger better.
Battling with your weight is tough enough in and of itself, but struggling with hunger at the same time makes life even more difficult. Fingers crossed one of the solutions to your issue can be found in the above.
Bloating. Constipation. Stomach aches. Gas. They are all very annoying in their own way, but gut health is about a lot more than just how often you encounter those issues. It’s about enjoying your life, getting in better shape, avoiding sickness, and even dealing with long-term health issues. Here, we’ll look at why you should be more concerned about your gut health.
It might be more than a tummy ache
If you experience the problems mentioned above on a more regular basis, then there might be a couple of reasons. For one, you might eat gassy foods that get in the way of your digestive system working properly. Stress might be shutting down that system. Or you might be dealing with irritable bowel syndrome. The word syndrome makes it sound scary and chronic, but it can be easily dealt with through an IBS natural treatment that targets not only the symptoms but the causes. If you’re dealing with gut problems often, it’s best to get it diagnosed as quickly as possible so you can take preemptive action against it.
Sleeping issues
Poor gut health often plays a key role in insomnia, as well. In return, not getting the correct amount of sleep then makes your digestive system less effective at its job. The two issues need to be tackled together. For one, schedule your meals more regularly and give yourself two-to-three hours between your last meal and bedtime. Improve sleeping habits by tracking your sleep cycles and using therapeutic methods like lavender scents to easier fall asleep at night.
Get more good
Your gut is the key to the rest of your health. That’s because your stomach and intestines are the stars of the show when it comes to absorbing nutrients from the stuff that you eat. Find out what probiotic and prebiotic foods you can include more of in your diet. These foods help create a home for the helpful bacteria that assist in breaking down food properly, allowing your body to better absorb them. If you’re not looking after your gut health, you will never get the full effects of a nutritious and well-balanced diet.
Stop reaching for those tissues
Good gut health also plays a role in helping you stay healthy in general. It’s no understatement when experts say that the gut is where sickness begins. Bacterial diseases, colds, and the flu all have their beginnings here. By helping promote your gut health, you are also promoting a more effective immune system. Beyond the aforementioned healthy foods, you should also look at increasing the amount of vitamin C you get and consider taking fish oil. You’ll start seeing the effects when you breeze past all the bugs and maladies that seem to get everyone else in the family and the workplace.
Foster healthy bacteria in your gut. Avoid foods and habits that get in the way of a healthy digestive system. Sleep better, get better results from health pushes and get sick less often. These are all the things that good gut health can help you with.
Most of us feel like we need to lose a little of that excess weight. But actually making it happen is never as easy as we would like it to be. Taking a sustainable approach to eating is the best way to go. This is not about following fad diets or pushing yourself too far at the gym. Instead, it’s about putting the right things in your body and losing weight safely and properly. You can learn more below.
Create a Solid Meal Plan
The very first thing you should do when you’re trying to eat yourself fit is create a solid meal plan for yourself. When you have this kind of a plan in place, you can be 100% sure that you know where you’re heading and what you need to eat. If you take a more relaxed approach, you will be more likely to give into the temptations that could be less healthy. There are no reasons why you should let that happen, though. It’s very easy and straightforward to come up with a few recipes that you can make a plan out of. These meal plans will help with weight loss, so start using them. You can tweak and change them as you want.
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Eat a Healthy Breakfast, But Don’t Skip It
It’s a big mistake to skip breakfast. All those people that tell you over and over again that breakfast is the most important meal of the day are correct. Eating a healthy breakfast is the perfect way to start the day, and it’s something that you really need to focus on if you want to do well and lose that excess weight. You can get your day off to the right start, and you shouldn’t fall into the trap of skipping it. This is what lots of people do, and it can actually make it harder for you to lose weight.
Cut Down Starchy Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates can be pretty damaging for your health if you eat them too much. Those starchy carbs are full of all the things that your body doesn’t really need. Of course, you can’t cut out carbs altogether because they are an important part of any diet. But that doesn’t mean that you should rely on them too heavily. Far too many people see carbs as the biggest part of their diet. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Find other healthy foods that are less starchy to form your diet
Swap Meat for Fish More Often
Meat can be a good part of your diet. But too much red meat in your diet can be damaging in the long-term. One of the smartest things you can do is replace some of that meat with fish. Fish is very healthy, it’s great for your body and mind, and you can do lots of great things with fish-based recipes. If you don’t have much fish in your diet right now, this is something that you should try to change. It could be the best dietary change you make.
As part of the Diabetic Food Trail, Diabetic Dessert Trail was a day of guilt free indulgence for me. The event which was conceived with the objective of offering diabetics, pre-diabetics and health conscious people a reason to enjoy their food and desserts without any apprehensions, has tied up with 200 restaurants across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Pune. The Diabetic Food Trail is presented by Britannia Nutrichoice Essentials in association with Biocon, the largest Indian Insulins Company. Britannia and Biocon have once again partnered with DFT, this year along with Fitternity.com, Health & Nutrition and Burrp. Its been conceptualised by Seema Pinto, Director, Semora Entertainment Works along with her husband.
This particular dessert trail meant restaurant hopping with 4 different participating outlets showcasing their healthy desserts and it also meant that we were going to eat a lot of desserts but without feeling guilty about it, so all I had to say was bring it on..!!
We began our sweet journey with Bercos in Greater Kailash I, in a cosy atmosphere, we were served with Sugar –Free Lemon Cheesecake (Kcals: 162.2, Fat: 14.2g, Carbs: 4.1g, Protein: 6g) and Sugar –Free Caramel Custard (Kcals: 378, Fat: 28g, Carbs: 32g, Protein: 6g). The Cheese Cake was so delicious and sugary sweet that not even for one moment it felt that it was sugar free, I simply loved it. The Caramel Custard wasn’t as sweet as the cheese cake, but it was nice too.
Our next stop was right across the road, and after one fulfilling experience we went to explore the other. Getafix too appeared a cosy and comfortable place where you could enjoy a happy meal with your family or friends. Here on the menu we had Sugar –Free Carrot Cake (Kcals: 396, Fats: 26.1g, Carbs: 37.1.6g, Protein: 4.9g) and Sugar –Free Lime Pie (Kcals: 136, Fats: 4.7g, Carbs: 21.3g, Protein: 3.1g). The Carrot Cake was simply mind blowing, dense and yet super moist, I could just go on and on with it, it was so delicious, and you must try. The Lime Pie was good too, but somehow I was hooked to the Carrot Cake.
Our next halt was Bohemia in Greater Kailash I, N Block Mkt, the place oozed out comfort and a suave ambience. Though we were now already full from the last two indulgences, I was really looking forward to this one, because they had my favourites Sugar –Free Tiramisu (Kcals: 340, Fat: 18g, Carbs: 40g, Protein: 4g) and Sugar -Free Chocolate Fudge (Kcals: 250, Fat: 10g, Carbs: 38g, Protein: 3g). Guilt free chocolate desserts are like a dream come true. Both the Tiramisu and the Chocolate Fudge were awesome. Extremely delectable they didn’t taste as if they were sugar free, they tasted as normal as prepared with sugar. I loved them both.
Oh, after 3 stops, this dessert trail really seemed very fulfilling, filling the stomach too :), but nevertheless, we reached our last stop, which unlike others wasn’t a restaurant, but it was a bakers den called G’s Patisserie. Here we were served Sugar –Free Warm Apple & Cinnamon Cobbler (Kcals: 237.2, Fats: 9.8, Carbs: 36.7g, Proteins: 3.5g), Sugar –Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake (Kcals: 160.2, Fats: 6.4g, Carbs: 25g, Proteins: 3.3g), Sugar –Free Banana Oats Bar with NutriChoice Essentials Oats Cookies (Kcals: 87, Fats: 1.8g, Carbs: 17.2g, Proteins: 21g). I personally loved the Apple Cobbler and the Oat Cookies, which were also live demonstrated by the owner of the place. The entire experience was worth remembering.
The Healthy Dessert Trail was introduced to give food bloggers and media a glimpse of some of the innovative and healthy desserts that restaurants in each of these cities had specially designed, for the Diabetic Food trail 2016. With desserts featuring on a larger number of menus this year, it was a perfect window to showcase these treats, while debunking the myths that desserts could only be high calorie, and hence not suitable for diabetics.
A key aspect of The Diabetic Food Trail has been to address certain myths associated with what a diabetic can and cannot eat. The most common one being that desserts are a big no no. And thanks to our restaurant partners on the Dessert trail, we were able to demonstrate how easily desserts can be made healthy yet delicious, wherein not only a diabetic, but also a regular individual with a sweet tooth could enjoy them. I am glad I was part of this journey and I really urge to the restaurants to keep continuing these items in their menu on a regular basis so that people can really eat guilt free!
Are you aware what is in the bottle of juice you are drinking or have been drinking because you thought it is healthy? Is your juice really as good as you are made to believe? The reality is that all juices are not born equal.
We opt for fruit juices compared to the frizzy or synthetic drinks that are available in the market are we think that juices are more healthy and natural. But let’s understand if they are. There are majorly 3 types of juices that are available in the market, here is a fact check to decode which is giving you the maximum nutrition:
Centrifugal Juice – The most well-known way to extract juice, it uses metal blades to break down the fruit or vegetable to make juice. The heat generated by the metal blades destroys the delicate enzymes and brings down the nutrition value of the juice. Though it is an easy way to make juice and money, the process leads to high wastage, oxidation in 20 minutes and a juice which is low in nutrition. Popular brands like Real, Tropicana, etc use this technology.
Masticator Juice – This method uses a slow rotating gear to break the fruit or vegetable and then extract juice. Though this method is able to retain more nutrients compared to Centrifugal process due to less heat, it leads to oxidization of the juices limiting its nutritious value. This process leads to a lot of wastage and a modest quality juice.
Cold Pressed Juice – Fruits and vegetables are grounded to a pulp which is then squeezed to extract the juice. This is considered as the healthiest way to make juice. The resultant produce is 5 times healthier than the other processes as it retains the maximum nutrition value of the fruit / vegetable and minimum wastage. The HPP technology also avoids oxidation of the juice. Also, there are no added sugar, flavors, chemicals or preservatives. So technically it is the best thing after consuming the fruit or vegetable in its natural state. Brands like RAW Pressery use this technology.
I tried 4 different flavours from RAW Pressery and have to admit that the juices were simply amazing. I could taste the pulp extraction and the rawness of the juice. It was fresh and authentic and learning about the experience of which juices are the healthiest, my outlook is completely changed.
From all the juice flavours that I tried, I loved Tangerine, Carrot & Ginger Juice the most. My next favourite was Apple, Beetroot, Carrot, Ginger & Lemon Juice. I could taste each and every fruit individually and still none of the taste was overpowering. It was an awesome blend and a truly healthy option.
Here is an interesting video to show how different kind of juices are made.. watch the video, grab a RAW Pressery Juice and make your life healthy with a truly healthy and delicious juice option
