Nutrition

Ok, so I just thought of sharing some of the healthy ways of burning calories and maintaining a fit body. The first question is, do you really want to lose weight or do you want to be fit and fine?
Yes, that's a very important question because that determines your complete lifestyle.

Well, the techniques that I point out here are the ways to be fit and fine and not necessarily to lose weight. But I am sure if one follows these techniques, you won't feel the need to consciously lose weight anymore because, these will automatically take care of the weight losing requirement.

There are few important things to remember when it comes to a healthy lifestyle :
1) Nutrition
2) Strength
3) Flexibility
4) Calories
5) Basic Organ functionality

If one can take care of the above aspects, he/she is less likely to be unfit.

I shall start with Nutrition and keep on posting blogs on each of the above 5 topics as and when I get time.

Nutrition: This comes from our diet. Everyone knows what a balanced diet consists of and for those who don't know, there are plenty of books in the market and number of websites to browse to get the information. But there are a few things that I would like to mention here:
"Eat less to lose weight....Starve yourself so that the body fat melts to provide glucose to the hypoglycemic body"......These things are easier said than done. And following such advices( In case you have the determination to follow) only leads to multiple health hazards.

So what is that you can do about it. Here it is :

1) Eat a glass of water 1 hour before your meal followed by a lot of salad ( 40% Cucumber, Rest 60% Tomato+Onions+Cabbage+Carrot+Raddish+Beet+...) about 15-30 mins before you take your meal. You will notice the loss of appetite that you would have while taking the meal. At the same time, your body will be nourished in a far better way than if you would have fed it with processed food alone during the meal.

Why 40% Cucumber?
That's because, cucumber is rich in minerals. Not only that. It is full of roughage that our body cannot digest and therefore it stays in its undigested/heavy form in the stomach for quite some time thereby reducing our appetite. Thirdly, once it reaches the intestine, it has no other option but to increase our bowells thereby helping in the excretion process.

2) Milk is a must for a healthy diet. I won't say milk products because unless you are ready to work out a lot, milk products like thick curd, butter, ghee etc are not for you. But milk in its raw form (only boiled, without sugar, without any of the health drinks, without tea leaves or coffee beans) surely is an important ingredient of one's daily diet and is a must have irrespective of its calorie or fat content.

Why milk?
Milk is one of the two complete foods.
What is meant by a complete food?
A natural food item that has all the possible nutrients. Milk has carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and everything except Vitamin C and Iron.
If Milk is one of the two complete foods, what is the other complete food?
Well, that's what I shall discuss next.

3) Egg is the only other complete food that has all nutrients(Including Iron) except Vitamin C.
But yes, for those who are very particular about calories and cholesterol and those who don't believe in working out hard, egg intake should be less ( 2 eggs a week). For those who are are fit and exercise regularly, an egg a day is a healthy practice. For those who are trying to lose weight and also work out hard, an egg every alternate day or every 2 days is a good dietary habbit.

4) Fish is the king of all non-vegetarian dishes.
If you are a non-vegetarian, try to have more of fishes, slightly less chicken and completely avoid red meat. Fishes are rich in protien and some essential fatty acids like omega-3 fatty acids. Moreover, fishes do not have those harmful saturated fats that other non-veg products have. Atleast twice a week, fish and once a week chicken ( if chicken is not avoidable completely) is a healthy practice. All vegetarian people should compensate this loss by more of pulses intake.

5) Avoid white, have a colourful life with naturally available coloured food items.
Well, God has his own ways of colouring the world. He has his ways of painting good things beautiful and leaving the not so good things bland. So when you see a purple grape, an orange orange, a pink strawberry, a yellow papaya, a green spinach, a brown bread, or a red apple, a red carrot, a maroon beet, a pink raddish, go for it rather than the white rice grains or the white bread or the white potato.

Enough for the day.I shall continue some other time.
Till then, have a nutritious diet.