Have you resolved to lose weight? Do you think thin = healthy = not eating? Get real! Eating right can help you knock off those extra pounds.
So have you taken care of your annual donation to the gym knowing that you're never going to step into it? Paying that gym membership makes you think “I'll make it some day”. But let's face it; most of us can barely make the time to draw a deep breath, let alone find a couple of hours, that includes fighting traffic and finding parking space, to work out. Also many have a mental block about the gym and your body will never respond to anything you force it into. So what do you do? You learn to compensate. By eating; only this time correctly.
Go 'figure'
First, study your body; structure, metabolism, hunger pangs, thirst, eating patterns. It's very important to know when you feel hungry, how much and when not; note down the time and contents of your meal for a week so that you realise what you're chomping and what you're missing in terms of essential nutrients. Create a basket that includes all food groups; carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and even fat. Keeping track of all that you eat is also a foolproof system to put an end to bingeing; once you actually see how much you're putting into your body it'll automatically put your meals into perspective.
One simple rule:your body burns most calories as soon as you wake and then goes into slow mode thereafter. So eat your chocolates, fried food, mithai, cakes when you wake up and make the later mouthfuls healthier as the sun goes down.
Frequency
Do you wake up sluggish to a large cup of coffee/adrakwali chai/green tea? Do you have a couple of bites for breakfast and then wake up ravenous late in the afternoon to bite into whatever you see? That's because you probably eat your big meal — batata wada, dal—roti-chawal — at sunset. Now it's impossible to change habits overnight so start slow. An easy trick is to break your three main meals into eight — or may be six initially. Wake up to the heaviest platter and get through the day in descending order.
The golden cycle
A well guarded secret let out by Rujuta Diwekar is— if you ever want to lose weight; eat! The ‘3 Ws' are the deal breakers— What, When and Where you eat. For e.g. eating dal chawal in a restaurant at midnight can do more damage than a big piece of homemade ladoo/bhaji in the morning. Simply because one, your ability to burn fat at midnight is almost zilch and two even dal (proteins) may have unhealthy ingredients (dalda instead of pure ghee) when made outside whereas the bhaji you fry in good oil at home is absorbed into your system pronto because you're burning most fat in the morning.
Eat with your mind
It's essential to finish with supper at sundown because your fat burning ability vanishes with the sunlight. And since you've had your dinner early, you're guaranteed to wake up with an appetite. If you can't stomach the idea of poha/eggs/thepla that early, start with fruit. High carbs like banana or apple (read roughage) are ideal to kickstart that metabolism and also acts as a buffer to that cup you'll sip on. Never, I mean NEVER, begin your day with caffeine as your body will automatically go into slump mode. Water constitutes 70 per cent of the human body so when gulp some down as much as possible through the day to eliminate toxins.
Quick tip
Every time hunger pangs strike, replace every one out of three meals with water and watch that fat melt away.
Keywords: physical fitness, healthy diet
Good article. But the basic fact is that calories in must be calories out to maintain ideal weight. Also, balanced diet, profuse exercise and sound sleep are equally essential to have an ideal body mass.
Good informative article. I want to shed some kilos and I guess this
would help.
The autor has quoted many suggestions but missed a significant point. Intake of healty food and consistent exercise go hand in hand. Does the author mean that intake of healthy food is enough to be fit? Definitly not. Even healthy food has to be digested preperly and it need certain level of exercise. To be more clear, assume a person takes heavy health food, but how do you think he can breakdown those calories without exercise. Though not heavy but Brisk walking and simple exercises are compulsary for any individual to stay fit. If one happened to consume high calory food any day, he can compensate with heavy exercise though not accepted frequently.
Would say the article is heavily borrowed From Rujuta Divekar's book. Personally I feel every person's composition is different. There is no one-size-fits-all method for reducing weight. Healthy diet with regular workout only will give correct results.
Interesting article to boost the mind tempermant as well as health. One should follow hygenic food habit with regular physical exercise to keep them fit.Expecting more articles like this in future to keep motivating.
Good article from THE HINDU. Do regular exercising along with regular
work, eat regularly all type of foods, timings according to body and
work you do.
This article almost drives the point that it is okay to not exercise as long as you eat properly. I am a big health freak and have a good diet going on but I cannot emphasize on the known knowledge of exercising 3 times a week!!
It was Adi Shankaracharya who promoted the concept (hundreds of years ago) that when you eat fill 1/3 of your stomach with food, + 1/3 with Water and leave the 1/3 empty (for chemical reaction and digestion)... This strategy alone should help significantly if followed religiously. But those humble days are long gone, with the gap between have's and havenot's ever increasing.. In the past I remember that a wedding would have one sweet for lunch and one sweet for dinner. Now it is not uncommon to have more than a dozen sweets for such festive meals. In marriage season, one can expect to eat enough for the entire year....
Eating right comes first, exercise after. You can exercise a lot but if
you are not eating right the benefits are minimum. Also it is a fact
that the dinner should be at least 3 hours before sleep. By controlling
the diet and frequency of eating, I was able to drop the body fat levels
to single digits. The key thing is cut all the sugar, lower the carb and
eat the right carb, increase protein levels.
A good piece of mind probably those who haven't read the book of Rujuta Diwekar.There is no subsitute for regular excercise
really inresting..now latest slogan wanna lose weight ..eat in right way..thank you for such nice article.
I agree with the comments above. Gauri Shah, how does this constitute serious journalism? Where does the evidence you cite come from? How do you support statements like "your body will never respond to anything you force it into?" Seriously, how can you encourage people to eat "chocolates, fried food, mithai, cakes", tell them they should not bother exercising, and then tell them they will lose weight, as long as they eat in the morning? It's a good thing The Hindu has serious journalists like Sainath, but maybe others need a bit more training.
An interesting and useful article. I agree that right food at the right time works out wonders than working out the extra calories especially when one does not find the time or motivation to do it.
The topic would be helpful those who want to lose weight but certainly one cannot ignore the good done by regular exercise. When regular exercise and good food habits go hand in hand then only it will lead to the healthy life and also a fit and slim body.
Perhaps this is one of very good article i read on weight loss....very scientific and practical...looks like taken a leaf out from granny's book...
What a poorly written article. Most of the content is regurgitated from "Don't lose your mind..." by Rujuta Diwekar. What exactly is Gauri Shah's contribution here? The latter half of the article is in bold letters - I wonder what purpose that serves. The articles cites no scientific references to the claims it makes. You cannot "compensate" exercise by "eating right". There is no substitute for regular exercise. There is better advice out there on eating, from people with actual qualifications who know what they are talking about. I recommend UC Berkeley professor Michael Pollan's book "Food Rules".
information is realy intresting and useful.
The author claims that the body burns foods faster in the morning, slower later, and "almost zilch" by midnight. Where is the proof that this is correct? Is their any research to back it up? If there is, why does this article fail to mention it. Without any evidence, this article is nonsense.
A very useful article. Eating the right food at the right time certainly works out wonders than working out those extra calories in a gym.
Your article is very informative, however it should also be encouraging people to exercise at home or in their neighbourhood if the Gym is too foreboding. Many exercises can be done at home, alternatively a brisk walk or gentle run in the neighbourhood or park is just as effective and healthy.
Please Email the Editor