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Healthy EatingArticle submission, Tuesday 25th November 2008 Many people don’t know, but one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself from any diseases is to eat a healthy diet, along with being active and maintaining a healthy weight – it is your best defense against disease. When attempting to get to a healthy weight or maintaining healthy weight eating the right food and the right amount is critical, one does not work without the other. People often when trying to loose weight don’t eat much, count calories most of the time but that’s not the right method. Eating not enough is also a major reason why we fall off the diet wagon. By wrong methods you can only bulk up your figure and to avoid this we need to bulk up our diet by eating the right foods.
CARBS: They get bad press but about one third of your diet should be made up of rice, beans and bread or roti. Provided they aren’t smothered with creamy sauces or butter and ghee, resistant starchy foods is the best way to curb hunger without piling on the extra kilos, choose whole wheat cereals and brown rice. Food containing high levels of water are great stomach fillers and low in calories, so have clear soups and shorba’s minus the tempering or khichidi with pureed pulses and lentils it not only gives you bulk but also balances your doshas (ayurveda classification based on constitution).
FATS: Some amount of fat is necessary for healthy skin and hair, but it’s the least bulking food component so its quite easy to overdo, besides our bodies are not apt at telling us when we’ve eaten too much fat. If you tuck into a bag of chips or chocolate, by the time the signal reaches your brain to tell you stop eating, you’ve already had far more than you need. Try water melon, celery, cucumber, tomatoes,apple and cherries, The mix of fibre and watery contents are very filling plus the bonus of valuable vitamins. Swap smoothies to milkshakes, Vinegar and a bit sugar to mayonnaise, strawberries and cream to balsamic berries, chicken salad croissant to whole wheat grilled chicken salad sandwich all these gives you extra large satiety and less calories!
If you have gained a few kilos due to festivities take charge now. Eat small frequent meals, eat proper portions every time You can go in for 400 calorie meals per day. Never go more than four hours without eating. Have monounsaturated fats in at least three meals per day and avoid saturates. When your body is under stress it produces a hormone called cortisol which turns it into belly fat so learn to control stress.
Keep strong social support group; when you are happy and content you feel less hungry. Keep record of what you eat, how much you eat and why you ate, see if you eat more when upset. Be creative when eating your five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. And remember, 5 a day is a minimum...5-9 is even better!
Smart Food such as Pineapples are rich in manganese, a mineral needed for strong bones. Thus recommended daily for both teens and senior citizens alike.
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